by physically raising their hand to prevent multiple people speaking at one time council will verbally make a motion and a second we do welcome speakers to address counsel at the public forum meeting council respects the right for the public to speak about matters of concern that can be addressed by council each speaker will be allotted three minutes zoom participants are requested to meet their microphones until they are called upon to speak the city of greensboro is promoted is promoting an environment that is free of discrimination bias and bullying thus harassment words jokes actions or comments on an individual's 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 www.greensborohyphennc.gov we do have a consent agenda this evening for items d1 through d3 these are a grouping of items that are voted on with one single vote to expedite what is believed to be routine and non-controversial 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 september 21st 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. we did have one written comment received for this council meeting from cameron roberts who is in favor of continued downtown expansion and south side development we do have 13 speakers for the public forum portion of this meeting and each speaker will be allowed three minutes um let's see so we our first speakers um in this order are called carl robinson george jones phantom doorly and alex omarosa so madam mayor um this is sharon um two of those speakers those last two maybe or i think are planning to speak on our first uh public hearing item the rescue plan they signed up to speak as speakers from the floor on non-agenda items but if they would like to speak at a later time they can just indicate that yes okay um mr robinson i'm not sure if he has signed on in that case um we will move to george jones mr jones yes uh good evening mayor um madam mayor and and members of the city council uh my name is george jones i am the executive director for piedmont business capital here in greensboro and i'm so excited to be a part of this meeting tonight to just say two things one i appreciate your support for our organization you've been supporting my previous predecessor wilson lester and pbc we are extremely proud of being a part of this community and we continue to look forward to partnerships with the city in terms of expanding small business services to communities across our region i wanted to highlight a few of our businesses that are represented tonight and give them an opportunity as well to sort of share a little bit about their testimonies and how pvc has been supporting their opportunities for growth and expansion in this region but first and foremost i want to just say to you madam mayor and members of the city council pvc is committed um i am excited to be a part of this group i'm a part of i'm excited to be a part of this chapter i'm looking forward to expanding our efforts to uh to really give small businesses not only uh as to ask our businesses as well as um startup businesses but really those mature businesses that are second third generation opportunities to grow and expand so we're looking forward to working with you all we're looking forward to helping the city uh increase its ecosystem and entrepreneurship opportunities for businesses across the region with that i'm going to ask if i can madam mayor to have fun to doorly to speak on behalf of one of our businesses during the enterprises yes thank you mr lee good evening council i see here my video is stopped by the moderator so if we could if we could please put her video on i promise i'll have a smiling face yes great thank you welcome no problem no problem i am so honored to be able to speak on behalf of uh some recipients from the wonderful gift of piedmont business capital i'm excited to have george jones um join the ranks uh you know i'm not going to tell you the bad part of things but i'm glad you're in for the long haul i am just uh representing my small business i have two other partners and it's called journey adult day center and as of today we are you know in the clear financially and it's all starting it all started because of piedmont business capital back in 2018 that took a chance on us it's just like starting a small business and it's not just because it's greensboro but starting a small business it's hard um because it's just like trying to get an executive job you're trying to get the opportunity but you need experience but you can't get experience without getting the opportunity so piedmont business capital was able to step in and give us the opportunity to explore our dream execute our desires so that we can go ahead and help the community we are an adult day center that take care of people ages 18 and up specializing in elder care and because of the need was so great because there were some centers that changed their focus to be more geriatric care we stepped in to take care of those that were being left aside and left on the waiting list and unfortunately uh covet definitely increased the numbers uh so piedmont business capital was able to help sit us down help us meet with score come up with a solid plan and just walk with us along the way and you don't find that in finance companies they basically want you to hand them a report and make sure that their return on investment looked good um but they were really you know just tuned in to our success i just hope that you are able to continue supporting them because as a small business it's hard out there to find anyone just willing to give someone a chance to do the right thing for the community and this organization is definitely that one hopefully we can find some more that will follow suit that's all i got thank you thank you and i believe the next speaker would be um alex omoroso [Music] alex you need to unmute thank you it won't be the last time we say that tonight don't worry my name is alex emerald so i'm located at the cheesecake by alex located in downtown greensboro we've been in business in downtown greensboro for goodness uh 20 years um we've seen changes a lot of companies come and go we've seen a lot of assistants uh come through the area early on with the targeted local program the city of greensboro that helped us to our first expansion i haven't met george yet but i am familiar with um piedmont business capital uh you know they're an important part of our community um they assisted us in our final expansion in downtown um we went with the sva but the sba only covers a certain percentage of your expansions as we all know and piedmont was able to step in and help us get the rest of the way and that's important because as a small business owner you put everything online and you need that assistance which typical banks aren't really willing to give initially to expand or grow a business small businesses as we all know make up the majority of our community it's uh it's part of what we do in our downtown and city in general um most small businesses don't have a lot of access to capital they don't have access to large banking and they need an organization like piedmont to help them get through that to help the things that need and whether it's startup or expansion they they need our support unconditionally without them i think that a lot of the small businesses wouldn't be able to grow or even start up so i'm here to support them and and meet george and i know this city will will support piedmont and we will hope to spend uh some quality time with them in the future as we grow thank you um and i don't believe that mr robinson has signed on yet but i do want to say welcome to mr mr jones we have built quite a relationship with pbc and we know how important it is to our community and to local entrepreneurs so we look forward to getting to know you um and helping you expand your services thank you madam mayor and i want to say two things one i've i've been in this space for about uh 20 years in the economic and enterprise space and i've worked here in greensboro with the university of amt state university i was region director for usdot for about five years from 2008-2013 so i've got a little bit of a track history here but i am so excited about putting in the energy putting in the work and building the team with capacity for growth we think we are we are one of the few cbfis in this area and our goal is to be one of the best if not the largest in this region so our goal is to help you all grow but also see our community grow leaps and bounds with economic uh prosperity for all and um i'm excited about it so thank you that's great thank you and mr jones i just wanted to give him a quick shout out welcome welcome welcome welcome glad to have you thank you my business captain i love what you do what they do so welcome thank you looking forward to working with you and while we are welcoming people to our community our next speaker is um kahari garvin from the united way and i've had the opportunity to see him speak and be in the same space and he um he is welcome to greensboro also mr garvin madam mayor thank you and uh good evening to you and good evening to the city council members i am cary garvin it's my great pleasure to to uh see you again madam mayor and to meet many of you now uh i just want to um uh really just get to know each of you and then to uh let you know that i'm eight weeks in now so this is uh taking the place of michelle gathers clark i'm sure that many of you know that name but it's been my great pleasure to be part of this transition for uh for now for now what has been the last uh seven four weeks and now entering into my eighth um i do want to just mention this uh and and i will end with uh this set of remarks um so uh as as madam mayor uh mentioned uh we did meet each other 13 days ago it was on september 1st at element bain and that was uh when we convened the community on that day to announce what we refer to now both internally and and externally or publicly as the bold goal for our community and that is to end generational poverty in the city of greensboro and we named a specific number of households on that day that we are um uh looking to help to uh transition out of poverty three thousand households by the by the year 2030. uh as we see it it is a community effort it is a community inspired community generated goal we don't own it ourselves but we are happy to uh be the convener and kind of the champion to to lead the way but certainly cannot do it on our own uh i know that my predecessor at some point uh in the past um spoke uh probably to this body about our desire to create and galvanize a network of nonprofits that would be connected in in a particular way and and where those over the services of those non-profits in the city would be coordinated in a particular way such that um they would work together to produce better outcomes for our great residents and so uh so the the coordination would really center on producing better outcomes around financial stability economic growth of jobs both getting new jobs but also retail job retention as well and all of that as we see it is really the recipe for ending poverty and increasing the quality of life so uh we refer to that um network as an integrated service delivery network or the isdn and we are poised to launch a pilot uh for this network of coordination and collaboration that will be technology enabled uh we will launch that in um next year sometime around the third quarter of next year and so uh we really uh hope to partner with the city and of course with many of you as well in that endeavor and hoping that we can establish and deepen our relationship uh with a multi-year commitment uh to um to help partner together to eradicate poverty so thank you so much for giving me these few minutes and uh it's my great pleasure to meet you all thank you um welcome to greensboro and you know we're very interested you know the success of the family success centers and we know that you can just continue to build on that and have a huge impact within our community so thank you i just like to say hello and thank you i'm one of your agencies happy to be one um and i'm just glad you're in greensboro thank you so much for all that you're going to do and and that you've already done thank you for the well wishes thank you um our next um speaker is ralph thomas hey guys um thank you mayor vaughn members of the city council and guests the greensboro regional realtors association and trans alliance of the piedmont jointly invite you to an outdoor public workshop on thursday september 23rd at between 2 30 and 5 30 at labor park that's 208 for those who aren't familiar 208 north daviess street in downtown greensboro with we're inviting you to this function because we have a competitive statewide innovative grant from nc realtors for the purpose was to bring together allied organizations leadership and agencies to coordinate goals and projects for not directing but helping to consider allocation of the american rescue plan or art aka coveted stimulus funds toward better connecting people in our region to jobs housing and services our our mayor has agreed to come and give some words of encouragement as well she'll be there we would like to ask for you to be part of or one of our allies partners to help us with this effort we are going to number one help municipalities coordinate allocating current and future american act recovery plans funds to better connect residents to good jobs homes and services number two engage civic leadership realtors transportation departments developers allied non-profits social services providers transit agencies universities and the general public in helping to influence the policies and goals for allocating those funds the way we're going to do this is through the the opportunity public will have an opportunity to participate within a community workshop and partners in a covert friendly outdoor setting while spending 25 million dollars in outdoor play money uh to your favorite eligible community project so this goes a little bit deeper although it's a lot of fun it's planned to be a lot of fun we want to invite all everyone that we can to engage with this effort we invite all the city council members because i'm sure that your districts would love to hear what you're what you might want to say or it's not a political this is not a political function it's not a political rally this is something for the people to hear their voices get their voices heard as to what your their needs might be and that's about it and again i invite you guys to uh i cordially invite you to attend thank you um and we are also trying to reach out to as many people as we can to get their input on the arp funds and we've got a great simulator on our city's website so if people can't make it out i hope that they will go to the website and just google in arp simulator and it's it that also gives you the opportunity to move money around from you know to prioritize what topics you feel are most important we really appreciate it and thank you for the city and thank you for your efforts guys thank you so much thank you our next speaker is charlene gladney good evening i'm charlene glenny the founder and executive director of excel serving jackson middle school students at zip code 27403 and swann middle school students at zip code 27405 i appeal to you to consider using arp funds to expand after school programming there is a great need to combat the covet slide in academics as well as addressing social emotional learning for our youth after school programs increase proficiency in reading and math and increase social assets at operation excel we develop targeted interventions for each student demonstrated outcomes include a decrease in insurance and dropout rates and increase in the accrual of credits for school completion and increased literacy 87 of parents rated as more were rated as more supportive of their children's education teachers perceptions of students behavior are positive what 90 percent indicating that students show improvement in homework completion interest in school and attendance and are significantly more likely to be eager to learn follow school rules think ahead about consequences get along with others show respect for others rights and feelings and persist when challenged additionally fund distribution should be equitable as opposed to equal the students who need more to succeed should be given more opportunities to succeed i too am a united way strategic partner so shout out to united way thank you for your funds and just thank you city council for your time thank you thank you um our next speaker is james rosa good evening madame and members of city council i am james rosa executive director and co-founder of the rosa foundation i'm just coming on here just to remind you guys about the um vente vente latin festival that's coming up this weekend at barbara park um just want to make sure that everybody comes out and support um also we are going to be uh old state let me get the name right also old north state medical society will be giving our kobe shots at this event and we're also going to be um las amigos we'll be giving out face masks as well there will be uh porta potties that have hand sanitizers and there will be some wash hand wash stations outside of that as well um we asked everyone to please wear their mask um and if you haven't been vaccinated you have the opportunity to do so at this event and here's the flyer right here and we also want to thank all our sponsors for this event um we are winding down it's just getting very exciting and again we just want to make sure that everybody come out and support and we thank you for for your support thank you thank you mr rosa um our next speaker is hester petty uh good evening um my name is hester petty uh and as you know in 1995 the u.s department of justice issued a bulletin to law enforcement warning that the quote use of maximal prone restraint techniques should be avoided former police chief wayne scott testified at his deposition this year that while he served as a corporal in the gpd from 1999 to 2002 he witnessed the rip hobble being used as a restraint device anywhere from 5 to 10 times a month of those 70 to 80 percent were the maximum restraint uh that was just three years thereabouts after that warning from the doj uh the greensboro police department reports from 2014 to 2018 mentioned 275 incidents where the maximum restraint commonly called hog time was used 68 percent of those victims were black 17 percent were people suffering from a mental health crisis that's 19 years after the warning came out in 1995 to avoid the maximum restraint so for years after police departments were warned about the possibility of sudden death the gpd persisted in using it it wasn't until the police killing of marcus smith in 2018 that the public began to learn just how widespread the problems of biased policing and police violence were within the grainsboro police department and for years multiple greensboro city managers and multiple iterations of city council perhaps decades have looked the other way and allowed these systemic problems to continue and the do-nothing attitude continues to this day in a secret meeting this city council decided not to pursue or even discuss publicly an independent investigation into the greensboro police department so it is up to us the people of greensboro to take matters into our own hands so on tuesday september the 21st a community meeting will be held to begin a citywide discussion about the 30 surrounding the police killing of marcus smith and the greensboro police department for more information go to info at belovedcommunitycenter.org it will be held at new zealand missionary baptist church at 7 pm with representatives from local community groups and it's via zoom for all other attendees thank you thank you our next speaker is louis pitts good evening council members i need not remind you that it's election year and yet you all have known for over a month that there's credible evidence based on greensboro police department body warm recordings that in a period of less than nine months our police department hogtied 50 different individuals 50 individuals 78 of those individuals were people of color 48 percent so nearly half of those people brutally hog-tied were women some of the hog-tying victims included an elderly woman with dementia a pregnant woman it included includes footage of police officers saying that the restraining device he uses usually always gets covered with blood and yet in the 30 days since you've been made aware of this none of you have looked at the body-worn cameras to explore and hold the police accountable you have all been shockingly indifferent to this pattern and practice of police violence degradation and humiliation to our citizens and this very pattern in practice of hog tying is what killed marcus smith three years ago and for which you've spent over a million dollars of taxpayer money on silk stocking lawyers to cover it up not to be accountable for it and yet yesterday when there was finally a hearing in state court on your petition to request to look at those body-worn cameras of the 50 incidents who is there to argue the case for accountability and your full access it's like a tragic joke two foxes guarding the hen house there's police attorney polly sizemore there arguing in your behalf and there's amiel rusabi there arguing for the police officers association and right now they are cooking up and drafting the language for an order 30 seconds that i'm sure will restrict your right to see these and will probably gag you from talking about what you see that's why our entire community particularly our majority non-white community is entitled to have one advocate on council who will speak vigorously for accountability and transparency and that is hester petty and it's certainly not mike barber who would be the worst your time has expired for such thank you mr pets police accountability thank you um i believe those are all of the speakers of on from the floor on non-agenda items that we have signed up um madam clerk wait i'm not done madam clerk okay do we have all of our speakers on non-agenda items yes ma'am i believe um and miss christine hoffner changed her mind from speaking on the public hearing agenda and wanted to speak just as a speaker from the floor um well that that's fine um mrs hightower did you want to finish your comment and then we'll i i can wait to hear her but but i would like an update uh from uh the city attorney we do have a request in for the body-worn camera uh footage um so i i just want to be clear on that and maybe we can get that at the end of the meeting and i do see and i do see that um mary owens who was signed up to speak has has gotten on the zoom call so we have two more speakers um christine hoffner would you like to speak yes can you hear me yes we can good evening my name is christine hoffner i'm speaking to the city's shameful response to the suit brought against it by the family of marcus dean smith shortly after i moved here the city issued an official apology for its and the greensboro police department's involvement in the 1979 greensboro massacre cover up i was so encouraged to see that it seemed like a huge shift away from how things had been done but there are sinister similarities between the greensboro massacre and the treatment of mr smith just as no police were present to protect the marchers or the community that november 42 years ago no police who were present protected mr smith when he was fatally hogtied three years ago this month and in terms of a cover-up denial of wrongdoing and blaming the victims of the massacre has been repeated in the city's behavior in the case of mr smith not to mention outright obscurantism so i think you all would want to think twice about putting future city officials in the position of having to repeat yvonne johnson's personal apology so many years after the massacre at that time she said i'm sad that it took us so long to squarely face this matter squarely facing the matter is the honorable response and it's important to greensboro as a community that city council take that route almost a year ago with its apology for the greensboro massacre city council took a crucial step in the right direction it's time to do the right thing again now and justly and substantively settle the smith family's lawsuit against the city and demonstrate that greensboro can be a community where black lives matter thank you thank you i believe um we did have another speaker get on mary owens ms owens yes hello hello everyone it's my first time attending city council but um i've been working for the last month can you turn your camera on oh okay sure hold on a second thank you um i've been working for a few months um it's in the 1703 area uh hidden forest drive area 27405 is where we live and i've been working with parking enforcement different entities of the city trying to get some type of assistance we have mechanics in our neighborhood is not zoned we have one entrance in and out of our community and literally a mechanic on each side of the entrance of the community which would normally be a problem if it was zone number one and number two if they actually worked on the cars modestly perhaps behind a fence in the backyard but our street is lined up like a car parade with vehicles on both sides obstructing the view coming in and out of the community we have children who are in the yards children that probably are afraid across the street literally one way in and out of the community but no way for cars to pass people literally have to pull over because we have cars lined up with both of the um neighbors working on vehicles i've been told that they have the so-called be caught working on them we've got they've gotten created from the city and told me they would look for expired tax things of that nature it's just concerning to me because i know i've been in greensboro in my life i go to different zip codes and i know some communities wouldn't allow that 27410 in other areas that i know very well you can't even even think about leaving an abandoned car on the side of the street for 24 hours so i'm trying to understand how or what can be done about this um it looks junky it makes our properties look bad and it is a safety hazard because you cannot come in and out of the main street it's a webbing mill road because you don't you're playing chicken with the oncoming main traffic as they come into the community because literally 10 to 12 cars are lined up and they've told me they looked at the cameras on the street cameras and they can see the cars lined up but i would really um i would really like to bring that to the attention code because i know that that's not happening all over greensboro even though it may be a problem what if anything can be done at this point so i wanted to address it thank you thank you for um for coming forward that with that complaint and i can assure you that we have people on this call who will be looking into it tomorrow and hopefully come up with a solution to your problem because i agree that nobody would want um cars up and down the street that are in disrepair thank you very much for listening i appreciate your time on the board thank you thank you and make sure we we have your address please make sure we have your address and i i believe um assistant city manager davis wanted to speak to this yeah same thing the councilman how tower was just asking i just want to make sure i get the address in the area that you're speaking of miss owens okay thank you very much i'll be be sure to submit that what is the best way to submit that via email no okay certainly okay for the sake of time i'll put it in the chat right now for everyone i'm sorry the chat has been disabled for the council meeting but i have your contact information from our correspondence earlier today so i can get that for you and forward it to council and assistant city manager davis okay thank you very much okay yeah thank you mr davis and we did have one other speaker um join us who was signed up carl robinson mr robinson yes um i don't want to speak madame mayor i appreciate it but uh i don't want to take up any more time i appreciate you well thank you and mr jones did a great job um talking about um pbc and so did fantadorly and alex omarosa so thank you for coming on to support them and we know we'll be talking to you about it soon [Music] um sharon i think um you were holding a comment in advance oh yes ma'am um i just wanted to get the city manager city attorney to update us on the request for the bodywork camera uh video that we had that i think i asked for um and i realized there's a process so i'm not trying to at all circumvent process i want to legally and legitimately get the requests done so that we have the opportunity to see a 50 body one camera i think we've done some things around some of the issues that have come up tonight um but i i would like to see that and so i just want the city attorney to address that if he has a minute if he feels it's appropriate if he thinks it is appropriate jared i do want to say it's it's 50 cases it's about 200 about 210 videos which is about 167 hours um that's okay yes it is it is but i just i just wanted to clarify that it's not yes videos is 50 cases and i i do know that um and attorney watch you can certainly speak to the fact that the city was advocating for that in court yesterday yes we were um we are following the law and the procedures that are required under the statute that allows for disclosure um polly sizemore is an assistant city attorney and is part of the city attorney's office her portfolio is the the police department but she was representing the city to get these uh videos uh disclosed she is probably the most competent person on my staff for doing this i have personally supervised her doing it in the past and she's a former a judge in that courthouse and very experienced in doing this process i'm very comfortable in her work with respect there too there are some issues that the judge was allowing um mr wasabi and polly to try to reach an accommodation on having to do with disclosure of police identification and so forth but the uh i'm sure this matter will be resolved in the next few days and we will be making arrangements for you all to see the video thank you mr y sure thank you at this point um that that um closes comments for speakers from the floor i don't believe um i have any others we'll now move on to the consent agenda um does anybody need to remove an item to vote no or for a conflict of interest madame i i don't have the concentration i i don't have the e-scribe i cannot pull it up and um the last one i had 31st so okay well there are if we can flash it on the screen maybe so two um item number d1 is a resolution authorizing contract in the award in the amount of 289 000 to united behavioral health for administration of the lived work well employee support program and the other two items are budget um adjustments move the item second so it is nothing that involves mwbe no ma'am okay include the item so it was moved by um mrs johnson and i believe seconded by dr wells um so uh imes mrs hightower yes dr wells yes mr outling yes mrs hoffman sorry yes mrs therm yes this is abusive waiter yes and mayor pro tem johnson yes and that passes eight to zero um we now move on to the public hearing portion of our agenda um we have two items two people signed up to speak to item e1 which is a public hearing to receive public comment on the american rescue plan funds i have a travis burrell and a mike yao mr burrell madam mayor i do not see that he has joined the meeting thank you i do see that mr yao has good new madam mayor uh and city council uh my name is mike yao i'm the president and ceo of fellowship poll which is located here in greensboro we are a drug and alcohol recovery center we've been here for uh be 50 years in december and we're we're a 501 c 3 agency that's born of the business community from here in greensboro at our inception and we're making a respectful request for um some of these american rescue plan funds uh to assist us with some recovery assistance as a result of the pandemic and its impact and being a non-profit we thought it appropriate to ask for this funding um just real briefly uh we're an organization that offers substance use disorder uh treatment to those uh suffering with substance use disorders we're a 99 bed non-profit as i said um in the program we propose is medical access um the uh the pandemic has been quite impactful in our census and the people who are seeking treatment not just here but across across the state and across the country quite frankly um our census has been off anywhere between uh 15 to 40 over the past 18 months um and very specifically in a calendar year we treat roughly about a hundred greensboro residents very specifically about 91 percent of our people come from around north carolina um and and we have a lot of people from guilford county but greensboro residents specifically are typically around 100 people and in the past 18 months with those numbers being so impacted uh we've had about 55 people come in from treatment from greensboro so we're probably lacking very specifically queensborough residents around 45 people um in in the fiscal year so to that end our losses have been pretty significant and we think good use of that money as we see at earmark we would make a respectable request for about 945 000 to cover some of our losses and enable us to continue what we think is life-saving work here in the greensboro area and greensboro community as well as the other areas that we draw people from for our census we hope you will take that into consideration for a good use of that money as we see it earmarked thank you mr yao of course we need any requests put in writing so um you know if you could put a proposal and send it into council you know we will look at it for consideration i do want to also mention to people that the county received about 104 million um in arp funds in addition to the 92 million um that they got from the covid funds the county is also having some public hearings you could go to the county website but they've got one on september 20th 22nd 23rd 27th and 29th in areas throughout the county to make it convenient you can also i believe get on zoom and they have a survey which you could find at the county's website so we are not the only um the only uh municipality with arp funds but you know certainly i would encourage people to engage with the county commissioners as well i think we'll we'll get that proposal on uh out to you on um tomorrow thank you thank you for your time um so we do have we now move on to our uh general business agenda we have one item i'm sorry could i get a motion to close the public hearing please moved by um mrs hightower seconded by mrs therm all in favor by affirmation please and that passes unanimously um we now move on to the general business portion of our agenda item f1 is a resolution authorizing encroachment agreement between the city of greensboro and flock corp for encroachment to install cameras polls and other apertures occurrences um at various locations within the city for public safety purposes do i have a motion movement this is therm okay can i just ask have the locations been chosen um or is this for a specific location it says various locations but who is flock group is that the company we getting the cameras from because it says it's an encroachment agreement mr davis could and an encroachment is on somebody's land so um could be our land too um mr davis is it for larry davis or for me mayor oh i'm sorry um mr uh mr trey davis um since this i believe is a public safety issue um but you can pass it off to your cousin if you want so and and i saw turning watts chime in as well uh we've had a number of different departments working on this because of the brevity of what it's going to take this ultimately is allowing the police department to partner with our transportation department to implement the license plate readers what you see is the different locations of the locations where the license plate readers uh will be placed uh all of the the language that you see uh has been prepared by legal so that uh all of the components of us accessing and utilizing the cameras uh for the reasons that we we purchased them for uh are proper thank you and this is part of the overall um the chief's overall strategic plan it is it is so i did have a motion by mrs thurm do i have a second well before before somebody's second i'm sorry i knew mrs johnson did a second well i still want to ask i'm looking at the locations now and they've got district 1 but they got spring gardens can i get some clarity so the locations are based upon their analysis that is done by their their crime analysts and so the locations are where we have had more frequency of crimes and incidents and also we had to make sure that the placement of of the cameras was going to yield the best results as it relates to us trying to address the violent crime that we see right but spring garden street's not in district one so that's why i'm asking the question how did that get designated as district one is that patrolled police district one yes ma'am it is what you see is noted by the police district and so if you see in district 2 it would be police district 2 which normally correlates to council district 1. gotcha okay that's what i wanted some clarity around that's why i think if you look there there's some that on the east market corridor as well as uh in the mlk corridor all right thank you for that clarification yes ma'am so we do have um a motion by mrs therm in a second by mayor pro tem johnson mrs hightower uh yes uh dr wells yes mr outling cheers mrs hoffman yes mrs thurm yeah yes mayor pro tem johnson yes and i am a yes so that passes eight to zero thank you and that is the only item we had on the general business agenda we will now move into consideration of at-large candidates um candidates for the at-large council seat will be allotted three minutes to address city council several candidates were disqualified due to not meeting the requirements to live within the city limits or being a registered voter and several candidates have withdrawn their applications council will hear from candidates alphabetically please you leave your camera and microphones off until called upon um madam clerk i am gonna um i'm gonna call them in the order that you have them listed if um somebody has withdrawn or did not sign on if you could please let me know at that time our first candidate is mr mike barber you thinking adam yes you're good there you go mike barber 5828 carmen away greensboro district 5. our honorable mayor and our honorable city council first of all thanks for giving us the opportunity to do this there are many qualified excellent candidates that uh have signed up on the list another number of factors that uh all of you will consider if you feel this position and thinking about what the council will face over the next seven or eight months i think there are things in my experiences and skill sets that might give us some value or benefit in the area of experience i've had the honor to serve five terms in local government and it has been informed over the past three years learning curve and i feel like i could be an effective team member immediately during the last 20 to 25 years during that period of service i served on a number of both local and state boards and commissions once as you continue the process of filling the city manager's position i'm thinking city and county manager hiring processes so familiar with what you're currently having to and addre with the relationship between council and the city legal department as you evaluate a lot of legal matters before you many of the matters you're managing were active in 2017 and unfamiliar with them i've been involved with a number of local government bombs over the years and i'm very familiar with that process one council member said to me in the last couple weeks these bonds are both needed and transformative and i certainly believe she's correct my family as much as the city staff have continued to work with them since 2017 and have done many of them for years this too would flatten any type of learning curve has a strong reputation in the area of community relations i've always enjoyed building citizen calls and helping navigate to a solution that i would ask you to consider is in 2017 during the election season i finished third in the primary which would have given me a seat on this council and finished fourth in the general election that i'm ready well and able to serve and i don't have some community and private sector support developed over foreign last few years and being a part of the consensus building and compromise that you've displayed thus far and once you've got the chance i'd also like to say this council faced two unprecedented challenges what happens but in this case we should celebrate what could have happened in greensboro but didn't and maybe for your leadership and the leadership of this council we got through a very difficult 2020. and all citizens should be grateful for that you'll consider me for this opportunity and again i appreciate the opportunity to be heard thank you mr barber um our next speaker t diane bellamy small i believe had a conflict with tonight is that true um madame claire so our next speaker is brenton boyce greetings madam mayor council persons and citizens of uh greensboro north carolina my name is brenton boyce uh happily married for four years my wife crystal we have no children i reside in the third district of greensboro um i've been living here since uh 1999 born and raised in gastonia north carolina which is a part of gaston county i moved here in 1999 uh essentially when my parents dropped me off at north carolina ante state university uh where i received uh my bachelor's in economics in 2003. i lived here that entire time and moved away for three years to durham north carolina to attend law school at north carolina central uh university uh graduated earned my uh juris doctor degree in 2007 uh then promptly moved directly back to greensboro uh where i've essentially lived ever since except for one year where i practiced law at a firm in charlotte i spent uh the bulk of my adult life uh in greensboro i grew up here even though i'm not born and raised here i consider this place home and i'm proud to be here and proud to have started a family uh here uh and plan to be here for the foreseeable future probably the rest of my life um i love this place um i also teach at north carolina nt state university practice law here in guilford county in greensboro where i have my own law firm i've been running my firm uh since 2013 so roughly uh eight years i also teach at north carolina a t where i taught in the criminal justice department for nine years been transitioned to the liberal studies department where i now teach um i teach classes in human law and human rights and law and social change so i enjoy civics i enjoy government i was recently uh for the last uh approximately four years um i've served on the solid waste commission uh where i was appointed uh by justin outland uh it has been a pleasure to serve the community in that capacity and learn uh just about how things work um i also serve as a board member of the gate city charter academy uh where i get to be a part of educating children i decided of course to take advantage of this opportunity because i wanted to get off the sidelines and become an athlete 30 seconds participant and uh greensboro government uh and uh helping my people and representing the people of greensboro uh so i counted as an honor to be here this uh tonight and i thank you uh for your uh years thank you mr mr boyce uh the next person we have signed up is stephen burns madam mayor i do not see that mr burns has joined the meeting thank you mr harold clayton hello i'm here mr clayton can you put your camera on it was it uh is not now for some reason and i'm trying to sort that out okay here we go there we go thank you thank you madam mayor and council members for the opportunity to speak to you tonight my given name is harold clayton but all my friends call me tinker and have since i was very young so you're all invited to just call me tinker i am a husband uh father of three adult children and a greensboro small business owner i was born and raised in durham but came to greensboro in 1981 to attend uncg where i studied business and marketing while there i met my wife and later we started a family bought a home that we've lived in on newgarden road east if anyone knows where that is for over 30 years and we ultimately started two businesses both located south of the tracks downtown one of those is now 28 years old and the other just celebrated 10 years i understand business how to work with a wide variety of people day in and day out how to make and abide by a budget and how to meet payroll through good times and bad i also understand how important it is for the city and businesses to communicate effectively and work hand in hand to create a positive and open environment between us so we can collectively move forward and grow both individually and as a community i love greensboro i love its people i take pride in the beauty and the livability of our city and i introduce as many friends and family as i can to greensboro as often as i can when they visit and that sort of thing i believe there's more opportunity in greensboro per square mile than just about any place i know and i would like to be a part of continuing to move forward and make greensboro better my family has encouraged me actually for the last several years to step up i'm 58 years old and in some ways looking for what's next and i've always had a heart for service and wanted to put myself out there i really want to be a voice for our residents and for small businesses on the council if given the opportunity and i thank you all for your attention and i would appreciate your vote that's my time thank you i appreciate it um our next speaker is roger cooper madam mayor mr cooper is not online thank you our next speaker is daniel kraft hello hello can you put your camera on yes thank you i'm having trouble with camera can you hear me yes we can okay give me one more second if i can't get the camera i'll just proceed okay okay um mata mayor members of council uh thank you for letting me speak today um my few comments uh this this position requires many skills for success civic involvement awareness plus business experience i think are critical to this position and i'm going to share with you just a few of my experiences i spent six years on the board of downtown greensboro incorporated uh two years as board chair and one of the one of the more interesting and and long-term things we did was implemented the business improvement district which is an important revenue stream for our downtown and we all agree a vibrant downtown is crucial second i serve on the board of presidential in greensboro very rewarding helping preserve greensboro's history and buildings very rewarding uh third probably the most interesting and rewarding experience was a six-year term on the seamless foundation board we held hundreds of greensboro non-profits it was very interesting to learn about the non-profits and how we could aid in their success finally i have a deep understanding about how to run a business my brother and i ran a business for 30 years uh 55 employees with a budget in excess of 5 million you know real world stuff so i have the skills i have the time and i think i have the knowledge to be a successful council person and i appreciate you hearing me thank you thank you mr craft um our next speaker is justin fennell madam mayor he is not in the meeting thank you um our next speaker is theresa furman good evening i am tracy fuhrman and thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak with you this evening in 1993 on my own i bought my first house in baltimore city scaring my mother to death it was a 12 foot wide row house with a famous marble stoop when i bought the house most of my neighbors were about 90 years old but things were changing fast within two years i with some neighbors started the canton neighborhood association i recognized our neighborhood of 12 000 people needed to be able to talk to city hall about what was happening in our neighborhood we had organized ourselves and i had worked to convince people that i that had lived there 50 years and people who had lived there five minutes that their concerns mattered by working together we could ask for change and as a neighborhood association we were able to have a new dog park put in upgrade the neighborhood square streetscape on our main road and have new trees installed in all our sidewalks i was 27 years old fast forward to the year 2000 i moved my young family back to greensboro because i knew this was the right place to raise my children i immediately became involved in the dunleaf neighborhood association where i served as an officer on and off for seven years all these positions often fired thankless i knew it was important work i've lived and worked in many communities in greensboro currently residing in westerwood my kids attended peeler open school near barbara park for over a decade i've worked downtown in east greensboro and i currently have non-profit and for-profit work that takes me all over the city i'm involved in many organizations whose purpose generally is to make our community stronger this includes being a life member of the naacp business professional women of north carolina and others because i truly believe in the mission of equity for all greensboro is who i am my academic qualifications to serve on city council are in accounting business management and master's work in policy and government at johns hopkins i'm also a city academy graduate and i serve on the minimum housing standards commission the calling i had in my 20s to organize my neighbors to bring positive change is the same calling i feel today i see greensboro that is ripe for expansion i see a need to bring more equity and consensus i understand the very important decisions that need to be made in the very near future and i am ready to be a part of that decision making every street in greensboro should be welcoming with clean streets safe affordable houses and grocery stores within reach business should be able to depend on the city to foster growth we are a perfect whistle stop between the mountains and the ocean and we should accommodate our tourists and visitors in the most welcoming way in summary i'm a mother accountant business owner volunteer and public servant with a track record of working in our community my friends and colleagues tell me i'm even tempered and level-headed thank you for your full consideration i would like to have the opportunity to bring a fresh perspective and continue my passion to make greensboro the best city in north carolina thank you um our next speaker is well dr latoya gaithers she submitted a video but i do believe that we want people to speak in person that way if there is a question um counsel is that your in person okay i'm getting some feedback i think that's more than reasonable there right okay and i understand her conflict i really do but um there was somebody who submitted something in writing to um are you going to read that if you show the video i think no yeah right so yeah in person is that the consensus of counsel i believe it is thank you um our next speaker is robin guest i'm here thank you i'm adam mayer thank you and thank you to council for giving me the opportunity to speak this evening i'm going to keep my presentation really short and sweet um so i'm a lifelong resident of greensboro i am a single owner operator of my own business i'm a mother of five i have three children that are currently in school and three different schools in the community and i'm blessed with the opportunity daily because of having children of different ages in different schools through the variety of people that i get to interact with through my work and through my work with boy scouts in my community to interact with a lot of different ages of people and groups and i feel that would make me a good candidate to sit for just this interim term i don't have any political aspirations of continuing on council i do not have any intentions of running for election in the spring but i would like to roll up my sleeves and get involved and be a voice for the people that i interact with on a regular basis and the citizens of greensboro i also have been told and can attest self-attest that i'm a very open-minded person um i would enjoy the opportunity to sit on the council to be a voice for all of those that i interact with that are residents of greensboro and also most importantly to listen and to find out more about the concerns of our residents and how i can help solve problems in our town and that's it thank you very much our next our next speaker is dorothy goble hi my name is dory goebbel 1402 west ridge road district four i'll wave up the street to nancy mayer vaughn um have you ever been working on a big puzzle say like a thousand pieces and you look and look and look for that one particular piece that you just cannot find and then your spouse or your child walks up looks for like a minute and then pops the piece into place that's because they bring fresh eyes and a new perspective greensboro is a fabulous place to live location in the piedmont long history great people right now there are some big puzzle issues greensboro is dealing with public safety sustaining economic development homelessness and the need for affordable housing and geographically balancing access to vital resources i have lived in greensboro for 31 years i have volunteered in many areas across the city and god put it on my heart to apply for this appointment i can be fresh eyes and a new perspective on the puzzle pieces good and bad and challenging that city council is working on right now i am not running for the at-large seat in the 2022 election i am not asking to be appointed tonight so that i can win the seat long term by five of your votes over the majority of greensboro residents in the election what i am asking of you mayor vaughn mayor pro tem johnson and council associator hightower wells outling hoffman and therm is to vote is to appoint me for the next eight or nine months or whenever the election is to be an active seat holder and i am asking that we commit to working together from common ground to build a better greensboro i am asking to be an unexpected choice for this appointment to be fresh eyes and a new perspective thank you thank you and our our next speaker is callie griggs madam mayor miss griggs nor mr goldston have joined the meeting okay um our next speaker is hugh holston good evening madam mayor and members of council first let me thank the council for the process in which you've allowed interested persons to submit applications expressing interest in this open seat i am hugh holston i am a 32-year resident of greensboro i've worked here i've played in greensboro and i've raised a family i'm an applicant for the open seat and i'm offering my skills and experiences in three critical areas civic the city engagement and business on the civic side i have a long term and long record of volunteerism inclusion in helping to improve our city a little bit better each and every day some examples of my commitment to the civic engagement are working with the community theater of greensboro chairing the african-american leadership group at the united way service with the nccj of the piedmont triad and also serving as vice chair of the greensboro housing coalition next in my city engagement with boards and commissions that has helped me to truly understand the tremendous responsibility and accountability to my fellow citizens when you're aligning your personal needs with the city's needs i currently in that area i currently serve as the chair of the planning and zoning commission and i've previously served as chair of the board of adjustments on the business side i've been fortunate enough to work with some wonderful organizations in this area wells fargo att lincoln financial in those organizations i was able to hone and build my skills in strategic planning finance operations customer service economic development on the private nonprofit and small business side and i'll be looking forward to leveraging those skills with the complex uh issues and matters that come before council and i talked about business and talked about the city engagement talked about the civic engagement but there's always a common denominator several common denominators and they are people outcomes and the quality of life and i am committed to each and every one of those tenants i'm committed to representing everyone i'm committed to having a voice but i'm also committed to respecting the voices of others i'm also committing to collaborating and communicating with my fellow council members and also with the constituents for the greater good so i'm prepared and i'm ready to continue my service my community service into public service for the city of greensboro and be proud honored and humbled to do so as a member of the greensboro city council and i'd be remiss if i didn't say thank you to my wife my son my family and friends for their support uh given me during this journey thank you so much madam mayor thank you mr holston our next speaker is matthew kennedy mr kennedy is not in the meeting madam mayor our next speaker is joel landau i'm sorry madame mr landau and mr levy emailed saying they were unavailable tonight thank you our next speaker is gary mccants good evening madam mayor mayor pro tem yvonne johnson and members of city council i'm gary mccants and i reside at 1101 north elm street i'm asking for your support in your vote tonight to fill the vacant seat of large i have 31 years of experience in business also working with community-based organizations one of the organizations that you talked with tonight was the piedmont business capital where i chaired that organization when it was the greensboro community development fund and i was the person that helped recruit wilson lester to transform greensboro community development fund and now it's paid my business capital some very good people there they do a lot of hard work i'm also the economic development chair for the naacp state and local i have worked with the city of greensboro as mwbe chair in 2011 i was appointed by city manager denise turner roth and sandy nirman during that time actually helped them develop the mwb plan that we're working from i served on wells fargo's advisory board i served in capacity with north carolina and t state university with their entrepreneurship program over the past 31 years i have been committed i have been influenced by all the community leaders that i work with particularly not just in north carolina but in virginia south carolina georgia florida and so i have built those relationships over the over the over the past 31 years if you talk about working with the chamber of commerce i was the person that used to meet with jim westballin at that time when he was city manager talking about how we can make significant impact with small african-american owned businesses he found the minority business accelerator i contracted with the greens greensboro chamber i drove to cincinnati to meet with the chamber in cincinnati and business owners to bring back the minority business accelerators so we could launch that program here in greensboro so i've been very very active uh certainly active with my fraternity omega sapphire fraternity was the bacillus for a number of years we do great community service uh in greensboro and i'm the economic development chair for the omegas in north and south carolina so i'm 20 seconds to economic development i want to be a part of this process i ask for your support and vote i'll also say that i've worked on three disparity studies as you know and still working on the guilford county disparity study as we speak so i want to be a part of this process i think i can work with all the council members and the mayor and i ask for your support and vote thank you so much thank you our next speaker is christopher meadows madam mayor christopher meadows nor john merritt have joined the meeting okay um derek mobley hey everybody can you hear me yes all right so thank you my name is derek mobley i'm a resident of district 3 in the city of greensboro so i'm originally from lexington north carolina i've lived in the piedmont triad for most of my life but my family has ties to greensboro that go back several decades so we've been spartans and aggies and local educators and i personally chose to move here 12 years ago for graduate school so i have a master's degree in economics from the bryan school i also have a bachelor's degree in the same subject from chapel hill and with that comes over a decade of professional experience in data science and financial analysis with some of the largest companies in our region so the volvo group and bb t now truest i also believe in volunteering my time with the civic and non-profit groups in our city so i'm a graduate of the greensboro city academy i've served as board president for the jaycees for the brine school alumni association i've also served on the guilford county transportation advisory board i also volunteer my time i've been a chairman for the wyndham championship for the past five years and i've also had the honor of representing our community at the state level as a state president of the jaycees and i'm also a recent graduate of leadership north carolina i'm co-chairing their environmental summit next year so i think my background and experience have helped prepare me for this level of public service now i understand this is going to be a significant appointment because the council has a lot of near-term decisions that are going to shape uh our city's future for the next decade or more so we've got to hire a new city manager we're trying to prudently spend tens of millions in ar p funding we're trying to you know retain the acc headquarters we're redrawing our districts we're trying to safely navigate this latest covet wave we've got a goal next year to increase the supply of affordable housing we're trying to address you know fatigue and staff shortages among our first responders and i'm sure i could go on you know i'm sure you're familiar with all these issues so uh if i'm appointed to this position i'm going to focus on using this limited time to make sure we rise to these challenges effectively so i would not be running in the upcoming city elections and i really think i could add a lot of value over the next nine months because i've interviewed managers and executives for fortune 500 companies i've managed business and volunteer projects i have multi-million dollar budgets i've successfully prepared and defended some pretty complex business cases and i've even had experience navigating competing interests that come with mapping territories with bank branch networks and you know dealer networks so that's the professional reasons and finally just from a personal standpoint so i moved here to greensboro 12 years ago for school i was a new college grad i was worried about my future because it was during the financial crisis but today i'm married to my wife penn juan that i met here i've got a great job two wonderful kids gregory and jacqueline so all that's happened to me over the past 12 years in greensboro so i'd really appreciate the opportunity to make the next 12 years really great and give other people stories like that so i appreciate your consideration thank you thank you very much um jason norris mr norris has not joined the meeting thank you um blake odom good evening uh madam mayor uh city council members i first want to say i i want to extend my gratitude for her service the grace our madame pro tem as we call her affectionately mary yvonne johnson and she knows why it's a myriad of reasons uh but i applied for this vacancy uh after speaking with several community leaders uh who thought that i may be an appropriate fit uh just you all have my resume i don't have to go down the boards that i sit on and so on and so forth but just as a point of reference for the general public while serving in this area i have amassed a strong reputation for leadership within this community you know even as a motivational speaker here um and a non-profit consultant i was invited to open as a preliminary speaker on behalf of the late iconic civil rights leader uh congressman john lewis during his visit to greensboro promoting voting participation and civic engagement i've been very involved since i've been in this community my my track record of being involved on a local level does not just stop in greensboro i was very heavily involved in helping mayor karen weber in flint michigan sound the alarm on a very serious problem the flint water crisis i was involved in that as well i applied because you all have seen the support that has come in behind me and i just want to say that as a young progressive leader in the city you all may know me from running for board of education almost beating the incumbent uh falling short by about 71 votes out of 38 000 people um in our community in our local triad community so uh i applied because i bring a different perspective to the council we have to understand that this appointment is a temporary appointment so a lot of important work has to be done in a very short amount of time but that important work is not enough to turn this big ship in the middle of the water it is enough to start to point it in the right direction for the person who will come in um and take the seat after the election but there has to be a cultural paradigm shift to set the foundation for what is next for greensboro i bring an aerial view of a number of issues because i am connected to leaders i serve as a bridge to establish leadership in the community business leaders our local school system 30 seconds young people charging them up to get out and vote and being involved civically i want to say that i support the council's decision um in whatever way you go and i also want to say that i respect the process um i thank you all for considering me um thank you to all of you i've had conversations with all of you um and i want you to know that i think our relationships have strengthened out of these conversations and whatever your decision is please know that i respect it thank you thank you mr odom our next speaker is jacqueline perkins madam mayor does not appear that mrs perkins is in the meeting thank you our next speaker is hester petty uh good evening my name is hester petty i live at 3402 canterbury street here in greensboro north carolina um let me start by saying i am not a politician i have no intention of running for city council seat in 2022. uh notwithstanding uh louis pitts endorsement my sole intention tonight is to remind you of what uh councilwoman kennedy stood for and why her replacement should reflect her progressive values ms kennedy wasn't a politician but she was a public servant in the best sense of the term and she was elected to her at large seat because of her progressive views by people who shared those views her seat needs to be filled by a progressive and her constituents deserve to have a progressive representation during the last months of her tenure we need someone who will vote as she would have voted things like mwbe accountability affordable housing truly affordable housing a settlement in the smith family lawsuit that reflects that black lives matter in greensboro the problem of racial profiling and police misconduct within the greensboro police department ms kennedy wanted an open discussion about an investigation into the greensboro police department this issue will not go away and we need someone in her seat who will continue to fight for a police department that is accountable to the public if you don't choose a progressive applicant you will deny representation to many people in greensboro please we don't need someone just using this as a stepping stone there are some issues that need to be resolved in the next few months and we need a progressive replacement for ms kennedy thank you thank you our next speaker is rebecca phillips um good evening mayor and council i appreciate the time to advocate for the open uh council at large position my name is becky phillips and i'm a resident of district 4 and business owner in greensboro as a resident i bring more than 35 years of experience utilizing city services and having my children attend guilford county schools as a business owner i also bring more than 35 years of experience in administration operations budget and management i have held leadership positions with athletic and non-profit organizations i have also worked as a collegiate mentor and held leadership positions with the national industry association being an entrepreneur means i am naturally a risk taker but also commit to full understanding of goals resources and system management my combination of experiences makes me uniquely qualified to serve my community at this point in our history i believe that all people wherever they are from or look like are striving for the same things to be known to be heard and to have their own identity recognized and seen as worthy i have worked with others to foster economic development for all within the city's mwpe program and other initiatives during my work i have learned to listen and learn from different voices those discussions solidified even more my beliefs that equality does not necessarily lead to equity i firmly believe that equitable economic development across our city will generate leadership for us within the triad region our state and nation we have historically been leaders in civil rights we now need to be leaders in economic rights the local naacp chapter has been running informative town halls called the green color line about the connections between business and household economics and while linking many of the social issues of our communities including housing food education and crime it is imperative that city leaders embrace what dynamic economics can mean to our community and our common goals the current health and social justice crises have created opportunities for us to engage in real change for our community and its future effectively manage the influx of funding and the recognition of needs can result in fundamental change we all we will need to tackle long-term problems innovative programming to move forward i think i can contribute the skills energy and commitment to this position to help our city move forward towards its true position of recognizing the equal worth and dignity of all people who live within our boundaries thank you for your consideration thank you mrs phillips um our next speaker is jeffrey roberts good evening good morning my name is jeff roberts um i live at five nil town way here in greensboro north carolina i've been a resident of greensboro um since 1988 um i would offer my service to greensboro for these next six seven eight months um to be a voice for the voiceless um i think many of you are familiar or aware um 30 of the school-aged children in greensboro uh live in poverty um and we're doing a lot of talk about small businesses and business development uh and that's good um but we need to improve the quality of life of all the residents of beaufort county of greensboro um in um and we have resources in greensboro that can be used to improve that quality of life we have 14 acres a 14-acre urban park um off franklin boulevard and um host chapel road um then these programs there's some playground equipment being added there's a parking lot that has been uh been built uh has been expanded but you know soccer fields flag football fields families can come out and and and cheer for their fan cheer for their kids we want kids to grow up in a situation where they're not going to set a police car on fire in the police uh office parking lot they're not going to come downtown and uh have a shootout in front of the courthouse we need to have some long-range planning some long-range planning when i came to greensboro 1988 you probably couldn't buy it would be difficult to buy a hamburger in downtown greensboro after six o'clock p.m but the citizens of greensboro the city council made a long-range plan to develop downtown greensboro and today from 1988 is night and day difference as far as downtown greensboro downtown greeceburg being a very livable uh a very active good for small business is good for commercial work so when greensboro decides and when greensboro takes a lead or when the city council takes the lead it makes a long-range commitment to greensboro things happen successful things happen there was a comment made earlier or some weeks ago about crime crime always being happy crime always happened in district one in district 2. 30 seconds it's it's it's been that way for years if we make a concerted effort to change things for our kids things will be different things will be different thank you for your time and your consideration thank you mr roberts our next speaker is michaela rohr madam mayor apsc has left the meeting thank you our next speaker is katie warsawi mayor vaughn and city council members my name is katie rasabi and i'm running for city council at large i appreciate the opportunity to speak with you regarding the vacant at-large city council seat formerly held by michelle kennedy my concerns around the selection process are one can you actually properly evaluate 47 candidates as you sit here tonight and listen to potentially two and a half plus hours of information and two does this selection process give a clear edge to the person selected should they be running in the general election being then an incumbent the beauty of our country is that it is a representative republic and it is the people who decide who they want to represent them not the government with these concerns had the three at-large city council and mayoral elections been held in november as allowed this process would be unnecessary and the people of this city would be deciding who represents them not the city council thank you for your time and the opportunity to speak with you tonight my name is katie rasabi and i'm running for city council at large thank you our next speaker is michael rubin thank you madam mayor thank you city council members i appreciate the opportunity my family moved down here in 2013 were relatively newcomers and um i remember when he first came to visit uh walking and friendly center ironically the gentleman started coming towards me and i'm being a new yorker i immediately uh close up that's our nature and he said to me howdy i was not expecting that and i had to stop for a second reassess and say howdy and suddenly i understood what was so warm and wonderful about this city uh we've managed to keep our child alive for an additional eight years since we've been here he's now a junior at weaver academy he's thriving there he's had the opportunities that frankly are pretty incredible anywhere in this world i am not a politician i have no desire to run after this however i do love this city and i am a cheerleader for the city and we are in an inflection point right now with so much happening kovit is not letting up right now we know that there's so much that has to be done that affects health it affects economics it affects so much of what goes on in the day-to-day lives of people and unfortunately we are in a crisis right now not just of physical health but of mental health due to the pandemic and we need to make sure that these kids and i see it with my son and his peers that they are going to be all right as we move forward so obviously some of the you know 59 million or so that's in the city and then of course in the county since they are responsible for the schools i have to say 100 million plus go towards those roles we have so much opportunity in the city but i look around as i drive around the city and every day i drive to high point and back six days a week my wife drives to jamestown and there's so much that we need to do to make sure that everyone not only has the opportunity but recognizes that those opportunities exist some great points were made by mr roberts prior to me i've heard a lot of great things from many people and i'm confident that whoever is selected for this position for the short term position is going to do a great job and hopefully they come to the understanding that is not about them but it is about us and that we as a community can thrive and that everyone has i appreciate the opportunity to speak to you i appreciate the moments and the time and if selected i promise to do my absolute best to serve the citizens and the people of this great city thank you very much and god bless thank you mr rubin our next speaker is nikki smith yes i'm here thank you very much uh first and foremost i'm so impressed with the the quality of people that you have brought the table here at night so um i want to say thank you to that first of all my name is nikki smith my wife and i live on camp road west in greensboro in the hamilton lakes area i am a business owner so i'm going to come with this from a little different perspective i've been a business owner since 1980 in the technology sphere and have always been involved in technology i've never been involved in politics but this position when it was announced a number of days ago almost a week and a half ago had a number of great people in greensboro both leaders and others encouraged me to pursue this role i have a son who went to nc state university he works as a computer software engineer at for red hat in raleigh and have a daughter who plans to stay in the raleigh area also after completing her masters of accounting at unc chapel hill in the spring it will work for arson young in audit and cpa um i would like my children come back to greensboro someday and that's my point of this born and raised in this area in the piedmont triad i completed my education at appalachian state university started my first business in charlotte with some venture capital money in 1984 i brought my business to greensboro where i've been ever since i moved my business to downtown greensboro in 1993 where i have currently about half a floor of the old guilford building and have had as many as 45 employees on a data center which is obviously a very technology sphere internet business where we host websites business applications for companies throughout the state the last 15 years my business has been focused on cloud-based telephone services hosted messaging video collaboration like we're using this soon tonight for school districts for small towns for county governments government agencies including a number of health departments in north carolina i've raised my family in greensboro and this is my home i have a strong commitment to my church community and i'm involved in crescent rotary i have a successful business in greensboro since 1984 and provide them great careers and opportunities provide their families with greater income and the ability to learn more about technology and take on major projects that excite them every day during the most recent in the reason pandemic i did not lay off people but in fact i hired three new high-end support engineers during 30 seconds during with the the gift of the ppp money i will jump to the end of this the one important thing i ask of each of you council members tonight is number one does the person have the experiences as a successful leader in growing business as a business owner number two does the canada understand technology and the potential to grow in greensboro number three are the they committed to greensboro growth and being new business friendly time has expired i'm sorry i can't thank you thank you very much thank you mr smith um our next speaker is heather stinson ms stinson has not joined the meeting mayor dr linda wilson good evening adam mayer and members of the city council i'm a district 3 a resident at to philadelphia lake court and i want to serve in the vacant position on the gift account excuse me on the greensboro city council i am a native north carolinian a long-term greensboro resident ready and committed to working hard to improve the quality of life from rooms for residents there are a lot of important decisions to be made over the next couple of months i want to be a part of it i came to greensboro to attend north carolina a and c state university and i earned three degrees from north carolina amt i raised my two daughters here and they both attended different county schools for over 35 years i found a lucrative career serving as a healthcare professional in both the administrative and educational arenas doing budgetary issues and strategic planning the experience i acquired in healthcare laid the foundation for my current position which is director of community and business partnerships for a local school district i also serve in a very strategic position as regional director for one of the largest african-american sororities in the nation during that time i was responsible for three state program management three-state budgeting and programming greensboro is a wonderful city and has been my home for a long time i have watched this great community become a beacon of the piedmont triad area like many communities we face some challenges in economic development affordable housing public safety each of these issues can and must continue to be addressed i stand ready to begin addressing these issues immediately i seek this vacant position on the greensboro city council at large not only because of my years of experience in the community serving on numerous boards but as i am running because i know that our work today will create a better greensboro for tomorrow i am ready to serve as your greensboro city councilperson i will support small local and women-owned businesses and work to improve opportunities for inspiring small business owners to excel and recover from the atrocity of this pandemic i will work to attract companies that will provide top paying jobs for our citizens so they can provide for their families affordable housing tops my list of issues that we can continue to address low-income residents spend 30 to 40 percent of their monthly gross income on housing we need top-hand jobs in our community the safety of our community is important i am running for this office because i believe in the city of greensboro and i believe that the group that the greensboro need and deserve access to affordable housing and a safe and thriving community thank you for your time and i look forward to the results of this opportunity thank you dr wilson um our next speaker is gerald wong mr wong is not in the meeting thank you our next speaker is carolyn woodruff is my video on could yeah mayor pro tem johnson and esteemed members of the city council of greensboro thank you for this opportunity my name is carolyn woodruff and i've worked as a lawyer one city block from the greensboro municipal building for more than 20 years i live in downtown greensboro i understand the heart of greensboro a city of diversity as its strength and equality as its mission i have no special agenda for application for this position it is my offer to help i have no special motives and i do not plan to serve beyond the remainder of this term some of you know my record as a community activist i come before you tonight as someone who has worked in domestic violence in our community activist for the hungry and an advocate for our city's youth and other social justice issues these are the reasons i offer my service to fill the remainder of michelle kennedy's term on city council some years ago i came before city council to ask for a resolution for greensboro dance day you approved this resolution i started a dance troupe with the boys and girls club with one of the missions as unity in the community some of you attended these dance day events i invited the greensboro police officers to dance with the children with the idea of creating a common language you see i believe that understanding each other is key to the reduction of friction in a community with covid domestic violence and child abuse in greensboro has soared recently i've spent countless hours working on funding for family service where i serve on the board to meet these needs i've spoken at candlelight vigils on domestic violence i have spoken at public information sessions on domestic violence at the greensboro public library and the civil rights museum i currently am working on greensboro hunger issues with the run the runway program at the airport to be held this saturday proceeds feed the hungry in our community public safety affordable housing and equal access to community resources are all critical issues that face greensboro that we work together to build an economy and city infrastructure that will benefit our entire community my background as a cpa and a lawyer would enable me to provide in-depth analysis on these topics and help move our community forward i think heart matters in your selection my nature is collaborative i would listen to all the evidence on issues i would focus on the issues of greensboro i am here to serve if i should be the consensus pick thank you so much for your time tonight thank you ms woodruff our last speaker is john wright good evening everybody good evening council um i want to thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak um good news is that we're finally at the end of this uh i i find myself envious of of council member abu zader uh in terms of going out in alphabetical order uh it's it's going last is the worst and that's sort of a theme of what i want to talk about is taking care of those who who are last uh in our city i've heard everybody speak today and i i think that my first point is that you guys have a heck of a time ahead of you trying to select a member out of this very qualified group which i'm honored to be a part of i had prepared a speech like everybody else but in the risk of becoming an internet meme i want to go a little bit off the cuff and and actually recognize one of the earliest speakers tonight mr george jones um i was really impressed with him because he embodies a lot of what i believe in greensboro uh you know here's a guy who cares about his community and is doing work to help grow our city and that's what i want to do because i i'm very proud of our city and i'm proud of of what has become i'm proud that it's a thriving city that continues to grow every year uh and i'm proud that i know a lot of people who have decided to relocate here to raise a family and and to to work and and to live life um but being somebody that was born and raised here uh i also know people who remain here that may have been passed by by some of the opportunities that have come with the city and so what i want to bring to the council is sort of a balance because we hear a lot of people talk about how it's important to be a business owner and to understand business i believe that's true but it's not enough you have to understand business as well as understand what the role of government is and to know that government isn't necessarily business and that government is here to protect our rights not just our our pocketbooks i i do think that ultimately rising tides lift all boats and that what is what is good for the affluent may also be good for those that are in poverty but i think that uh to assume that that's the case at the time is wrong and so what i want to bring is a balance between pride in the growth of what we're doing but an understanding too that that government is more than just the sum of all the parts that there has to be a holistic approach to things uh i would bring a a sort of a progressive view in the light of council member kennedy and i think that i'm the person to fill this in and i thank you all for your time thank you and um mr wright is our final speaker our final candidate and i want to say thank you to all of the speakers who really did a fabulous job um they are dedicated and and qualified candidates and it has been a pleasure to receive the applications and read the resumes and um thank you for this evening the madam mayor i just wanted to um um echo what you're saying and this has been fantastic to be able to see and to hear these candidates some people i knew some i didn't know but i was very impressed i think the process was a good process and um i just want to commend all of the candidates that applied and came on and shared with us your thoughts about the city and what what gifts and talents you have because we all have gifts and talents and just thank you so much and i it was great to to hear it i didn't get bored i didn't get tired i was just excited just to hear so many wonderful people thank you and and we need to consider this sometimes for crucial boards all right yes you know that's a good point we do have a um a good list of resumes and applications and um you know certainly i think that there would be good places in the data bank for a lot of these people so again i want to say thank you to everybody for the wonderful job that you did mrs hightower oh well i i wanted to echo um mayor pro tim johnson um this process was very good um you heard from everybody and everybody had a different specific area they were focused on i am supporting one candidate that i feel that addresses many of our issues that we have been working on for the last since i've been here seven years um and i'd like to go on and nominate here mccance to fill that slot um so because uh that's kind of where i feel like i'm at right now at this point second so we we do have um a motion and a second for mr mccance um council will will vote mrs hightower yes dr wells no mr outling no mrs hoffman no mrs thurm no um uh who mrs abusa waiter no mayor pro tim johnson yes and i am a no so that um that fails on a vote of two to six ms wales has a hannah dr wells uh mayor and and i'd like to proceed to say that i have been impressed with all of the speeches tonight and such uh potential but i would like to place a nomination are hugh holsten as the replacement for michelle kennedy seat second so we have a motion and a second for hugh holston mrs hightower well since my candidate lost um that i absolutely support and i will support mr olsen thank you dr wells yes mr outland yes um mrs hoffman yes mrs thurm yeah miss abusivator yes mayor pro tem johnson yes and i am a yes so that passes eight to zero so at this point um that stops the voting process because we do have um a candidate who received um the majority of the vote so i would like to welcome mr holston um i don't know if you have a comment you would like to make um you would be sworn in at our next meeting which i believe is next tuesday uh i do thank you so very much wow and i'm so thankful and let me first say again thank you to my wife my son uh our new daughter-in-law family and friends for their support i also want to thank uh the many supporters that i have across the city uh for all their advice and their suggestions and uh i'll say their their tough love when needed and then also to you uh city council i want to thank you for entrusting with me the confidence to serve with you as we uh set out to ensure that greensboro is and remains the best place to live i'm honored and i'm humbled and i'm ready to serve and it's time to get to work let's go thank you mr halston and city staff will be getting in touch with you um to set up the information that you need and to um show your your office um you will be sworn in at the at the next meeting um i do know that there is a zoning meeting on monday and um attorney watts he would he would not be a member of the city council until tuesday um so he he can still chair the um the zoning meeting on monday and be sworn in on tuesday yes okay so um mr holstein you'll have a busy week next week certainly well looking forward to it and we'll make sure that you know we work with you on the agendas and getting you up to speed on things i want to again i want to thank all of the um the candidates for their um for reaching out and being a part of this process i think they've certainly highlighted a lot of things that we need to do within the next six to seven months so madam may i have a question um yes if i and maybe mr city attorney um first of all congratulations mr holston um it's kind of bittersweet however because um district one loses you as chair of the zoning board but this you are representative of district one so welcome how um does he now he would have to officially resign on monday is that correct so that i can start to appoint someone at our next meeting because that is a district 1c correct so if you if you'll have an appointment ready at next tuesday's meeting and we have an awful lot of full um zoning agendas in the next few months which is a good thing because it shows that we've got a lot of um interest in the city and uh um you know a lot of zoning means that there are a lot of good things happening so we've got to make sure that we have a good person um as we have had in district one okay someone comes to mind i mean it's just kind of quick this kind of all just happened but um i will be prepared to go ahead and do that next tuesday thank you thank you so um that actually um closes our agenda for today um if there are any quick comments from um from council uh mrs hightower um yes and i told jew that i would have some um and uh i'm starting i would like to appoint a young man by the name of lacy coulson i believe i put him in the data bank already injured to the minimum housing commission replacing carolyn bigger staff whose term has expired i have one more and i have not gotten that person but i'll be prepared next tuesday for that one so can i get a second on that one please um yes uh seconded by mrs thurm all in favor say aye aye any opposed so that passes eight to zero uh i would like to appoint a young lady by the name of brittany jackson a glenn wood resident uh to the human relations commission she would be replacing mr izzard that you know i uh appointed over to the clarkson rec thank you and that is seconded by mayor pro tem johnson all in favor say aye aye aye any opposed that passes eight to zero i would like to appoint mr carlos townsend to the war memorial um he had served a couple other commissions in the past um and one of the last ones he did he couldn't get his schedule worked out but he has now gotten a schedule where he's able to make a meeting at 12 o'clock in the day and he would be replacing uh mr andrea coleman uh andreina sorry whose term is also expired um do i have a second seconded by mrs thurm all in favor say aye aye aye aye any any in opposition i'd just like to say andrea nicoleman did a great job while she was on there thank you sharon for i pointed her first and you appointed her i appreciate that yeah she did yeah she did a great job and uh i hate to see her go from that but i got some other ideas if she's open i don't know okay so that passes eight to zero okay and that's all i have for tonight uh i will have some others next tuesday okay dr wells um i i have a uh you took it off okay i thought that um councilwoman hightower would mention that the um a t farm opening on the 20th in the celebration 10 o'clock on the 21st well she only asked me for appointments so i didn't know she wanted me to nancy didn't do that just cancel council comments oh so yeah so just just do it all oh oh okay okay i thought it was council comment okay well that's okay i mean i was you go sharon go on and talk about a t farm well yeah the ant from the pavilion um is uh opening next week at ant um and it is a grand opening i believe the 21st um that it will be held next is it the 21st or when it's 21st at 10 o'clock 10 o'clock so um i would ask you all to come out i think dr wells and i of course will be there obviously i'm there because i'm excited because it's in dis one it's on the farm behind my house but the pavilion opening um is part of the improvements uh the auntie is doing on the farm you know they're gonna also be open to cream freak uh which is net uh so they will have aggie ice cream aggie milk uh aggie product um but the pavilion is the first with the community to be able to come in uh and also host community events as well as a t will be doing uh different types of meeting venues there so i'm excited about that um i also want to congratulate miss xena thompson i was at habitat for humanity uh home dedication this past thursday uh she's in east greensboro it is a house that was built by habitat that replaces one that totally destroyed uh by the april 2018 tornado and uh we do have about five more coming online uh from habitat as well as there are going to be about 10 houses uh in willow oaks as well so the tornado area is being rebuilt it has been slow uh slower than i would like to see it uh but it is being done intentional and deliberate uh the homes are very good quality and homeowners are very excited and they're creating generational wealth for their family i think that's an important aspect of home ownership uh for many of that's the one house we'll ever have in a lifetime we may never move from one to another uh but certainly one we can claim our own um and so that was exciting time uh last thursday and then uh last thursday we had a 9-1-1 experience uh that is very enjoyable gm metro 9-1-1 um got a chance to sit uh those who take those calls in and trust me they take a lot of calls in so it was a very interesting experience some sometimes they're just listening and sounding bored people are just calling in uh because they don't know where else to call often time it may not be an emergency in the sense of an emergency but it's an emergency to the person calling in um and that's done very well so i was very impressed with that uh i was enjoying taking the calls i think i could become a 9-1-1 uh dispatcher um in a short time i could jump right in take all kinds of calls and send people all kinds didn't get any kind of yucky stuff but i did get some very good things that came in for my community so i appreciate melanie and her team at metro 911 for having us over there so thank you thank you um now back to dr wells okay now i i just wanted to say that uh the the whole process that we went through tonight i thought it was was enlightening quite enlightening and i want to encourage folks to please still wear your mask if you haven't gotten a shot get your shot those of us who um can get the booster go ahead and get the booster shot also we've got to look out for ourselves and our neighbors so please wear your mask thank you dr wells mayor pro tem johnson i guess mayor i covered for you at kindred hospital yes thank you i'm glad that you had something else to do because i certainly enjoyed it um they have been ranked very high among the hospital rankings and it was a celebration you know we're always celebrating cone which they deserve to be celebrated but it was nice to celebrate kindred hospital and and realize remember that that's the hospital was l richardson all four of my children were born in so i had a great time and um spoke on behalf of the city and um the chamber of commerce was there was a great day and i just want to thank you for having something else to do thank you i appreciate this stand-in you do me proud all the time well i'm proud to do it thank you um mr outling yes thank you mayor uh three points uh first of course congratulations to to mr holston look forward to working with you as uh greensboro's newest city council member as others have said remarkably impressive applications from those uh who sought to fill the vacancy and look forward to working with uh all of those applicants in different contexts but definitely congratulations to mr holston uh second i would like to reappoint zach engel to the planning and zoning commission reappointing to the seat that he is currently in i believe there's second by mrs thurm um all in favor by affirmation um opposed and that passes eight to zero uh lastly over the course of the last week or so of course a lot of wonderful events uh sharon goldie and others have made reference to many of them i do however get to be the first i think to say how wonderful the north carolina state folk festival was this past weekend extend a hearty congratulations to all of the persons who made that possible uh the board of the organization all the terrific sponsors many of the volunteers which includes a number of uh council members who are out there on the bucket brigade and doing other things it was a remarkable festival uh heartening to see people um appropriately take health and safety precautions so congratulations to all those involved in coming together to have such a wonderful event in our community and that is all thank you man maybe i forgot something could i yes um i i just like um i and i saw nancy hoffman i saw mary kay a boozer waiter uh at the uh opening of the tanger center which was absolutely fabulous and um i i just want to shout give kudos in the shout outs to um for the titans those who were involved and had making the tangerson of what it is it's a fabulous place and i just want the council to know i will not be available after the 25th of this month i'm going to take a vacation but i will be back what is the first what's the date of the first meeting in october um it is october 5th i'll be back okay good all right i'll be back for that thank you for letting me do that mayor thank you mrs hoffman um yes uh again i would really like to thank all of the people who um committed as candidates and and they're speaking with us this evening and i hope that um certainly some of you will find another way perhaps of being involved in the city and there i've certainly made a couple of notes of people that i wanted to reach out to so i i appreciate your your involvement um and um and and coming and talking with us this evening um to just reiterate the uh the tanger center has had two fabulous opening weekends um i i think um thursday thursday friday and saturday of this past weekend which was the folk festival weekend we nearly were sold out for the performances at the tanger center on thursday night friday night and it was a double header on saturday night the first one was sold out and the the second show um was kept was very close to being sold out i would also really like to thank uh amy grossman and our folk festival staff and the folk festival board and the city and all of the many others who made the folk festival this weekend another success this is our fourth north carolina folk festival it was just a fabulous weekend in every way i think we've i think we've gotten better every year i think the footprint that we had for the festival this year is the best ever i think there were some other things that the fact that we had food trucks really available very close to all stages really made the food and drink situation a lot better for people so there were just a lot of things that we changed and that made for a better festival this weekend so um you know we had certainly good crowds and again it's the most i think it's the most diverse uh activity that we that we sponsor uh in this city and um i i think everybody had a great time and so uh kudos to our city for being able to support uh a festival like this and thank you you're right i just want to jump in i have forgot but i went all day summer so i enjoyed myself the gospel music was great it was very great enjoyed it yes uh mrs thurm um yeah i have a couple things i want to start out with making two quick appointments uh i'd like to appoint planted planted doorly to participatory budgeting um is she replacing anyone and it's just an open seat that's not okay so we have a motion in a second by mrs hightower all in favor by affirmation is there anyone opposed no one opposed that passes eight to zero my second appointment is deborah kaufman to historic preservation she'll be taking max carter's seat who has um finished his first term and goes not to say okay um second for that i'm seconded by mayor pro tem all in favor um say aye affirmation uh um that passes um eight to zero thank you um i wanted to make put in a request to our human relations department um i think we're at a point where we really need to [Music] have a coordinated calendar of um religious important religious occasions and religious holidays for all the major religions in that are celebrated in our community i know several religions all religions have multiple holidays their minor holidays their major holidays but i think it's important that a city we acknowledge the major holidays for all these all the various religions that are celebrated here and put out a city calendar each year um marking those holidays making notes for city staff on what days would be offensive to schedule meetings and programs for etcetera so that we can respect the diversity that we we greatly love in our community so if i can ask city staff to have somebody work on that i think that would be beneficial thank you chris um and be very helpful you know we can also make it available to the general public because i think there are a lot of business people that would also appreciate and non-profits that would appreciate that information as well um i know that different religions have set days versus floating days this will be something we need to keep up on an ongoing basis it's not a one and done it'll have to be done annually but i think it's worthwhile um i also want to thank all the applicants we had a great applicant pull and appreciate hearing from everybody um going on the folk festival can i say it was great but i want to give a special shout out to our field ops folks um you know working downtown last week you could from the went from the window of my office i could watch field ups at work you know delivering things and blocking off streets and and i have to say you know i left downtown sunday evening at 6 15 with the festival ended and there were roads closed everywhere and there was stuff in the middle of the road and it was kind of like magic because i went downtown to work on monday morning and all the roads were open and i could park where i usually parked and things weren't blocked off and i know that takes a lot of hard work and a lot of coordination um by city staff to to pull that off and just a shout out to all those folks because i know they worked hard sunday night after a long week of setup and it's truly appreciated and i know our our businesses and all the folks that work downtown really appreciated that so please express our appreciation to city staff for for being the magical little elves that made all that happen you are right that they did a fabulous job that's it that's all i've got miss abuse waiter thank you madam mayor and i just want to echo i won't say it all but all the applicants uh thank them and i really want to thank the applicants who stay till the end because i think that's very important to finish hearing what happens on council i know that uh many of them have figured well they haven't gotten the position and i understand that but i do want to commend those who stayed on to the very end and helped all of us congratulate mr holston because it was a wide range of applicants uh and and it seemed that most everyone had kind of done their homework and submitted other materials so i certainly want to thank them and of course i want to congratulate you mr holston i very much appreciate you applying and being willing to serve so thank you very much um everyone's talked about the wonderful opening of the tangers center uh the folk festival and along with what tami's saying i think our d.o.t office uh field ops our police department everyone worked together and uh especially thanks to all the volunteers who made it happen i know that was a massive endeavor for those directors to get volunteers but it seemed like everything was working well i know the mayor has volunteered uh mrs thurm and i volunteered bucket brigade and that's really a lot of fun if y'all ever get a chance to do it please volunteer there may be other council members who volunteer i'm just the ones i saw um everyone oh i want to mention uh to my colleagues if you get a chance get up with dabney sanders and take the greenway tour i know there's some people taking it uh perhaps in a week or so but it was amazing to go on a golf course cart around the whole greenway and see all of the artwork and it just made me want to go walk the greenway more you see so much more when you do the entire loop so uh hoping to get the rest of it done soon so we can have a continuous loop around the city of the downtown portion of the city of greensboro um and also was mentioned about our gm 911 experience mrs hightower mentioned that that was a great experience to to see what the operators go through all day long for 12 hours they sit at those consoles and i i can't imagine uh some of the calls they get so i know they're looking for employees if anyone knows anyone out there who might consider that for a career they can get a hold of the gm 9-1-1 i did fail to appoint someone uh boarding commission i would like to reappoint chidi aquari to the war memorial commission second and seconded by mrs um hightower and i think the city attorney said that i can do so what was the phrase you used mr city attorney um without objection without objection so that passes without objection ah there you go thank you all so much that's all i had other than everyone still please wear your mask if you know people are unvaccinated gently entice them to get a vaccination if you so wish and you know i still think social distancing is is something we need to think about so everyone be careful and be safe thank you thank you cohn did a great job at the folk festival they had a tent set up every time i went by it was full which was a great thing i think they did a couple hundred um of vaccinations and i believe that um that most are eligible to get the booster if you want it and that they're relatively easy to schedule um i do want to just mention again uh reiterate what everybody has said about the folk festival it really was an amazing weekend and i do like the new um footprint i like that we went across the tracks and on saturday we had the um the celebration for the first responders in recognition of um 911 the 20th anniversary right by the you know wonderful statue that jim gallucci did along with the steel from the trade centers we had two great bands down there there was food it um it was a great space and it activated some of the stores and restaurants across the tracks who in the past have said you know we need to close up because nobody comes this way during the folk festival it was one of the busiest weekends that that greensboro has ever had ever had in addition to the folk festival there were events at the coliseum there was the state fair as was said there were a bunch of tango performances there was the 911 um stair climb and then the increase of the footprint so that was an extremely busy weekend and greensboro did a really great job of doing all of those simultaneously and it couldn't have been done without our wonderful volunteers they did a fabulous job and i do want to thank all of our city employees who were involved um in arts greensboro it was uh it was a great event um you know they just keep topping it every year and field ops again as uh tammy said did a wonderful job they were out there emptying the trash all the time making sure um you know that that it looked good and it was good and for that i uh i appreciate and i do want to thank our our sponsors i know there were many but lee wrangler and town bank um you know they come through every year and so i just want to say thank you to all of that um and i think um i think that is all i have this evening um mr mr city manager nothing this evening other than to say i would echo all the comments with regard to the activities this weekend and we actually are going to recognize the employees at an event coming up soon to make sure they know how much we appreciate all the hard work good thank you chris for doing that because yes thank you they they often don't get the recognition they deserve and they are some great guys and they had great personality on sunday commissioner coleman came on sunday and they attended to her like she was a city council person they they took very good care of people they they they are a good group of workers they really are great guys and great women yes yes well yeah there are some of them too let's don't leave them out by no means but yeah they they they need the recognition they deserve it thank you mr um mr city attorney uh i have nothing other than to congratulate you all for making it through this process thank you thank you it was really it was a smooth evening thank you all very much um if we could have a motion to object adjourn moved by mrs um johnson seconded by dr wells and without objection we will adjourn thank you new phrase for the year yes without objection good night good night