[Music] [Music] car [Music] [Music] good afternoon everyone and well I want to call the um act consent and action review meeting to order um let's begin with introductions and we'll start with our um city attorney good evening Patrick Baker City attorney good evening Victoria Wallington city council District 3 D Mard six Ed Dres District Seven Malcolm Graham District Two Marcus Jones city manager vs mayor braxon Winston mayor protm happy holidays Lana Mayfield council at large good evening Renee Johnson and I'm honored to serve District 4 Ariel Smith lead city clerk thank you everyone um today and the point of this meeting is for us to um take action on consent items as well as look at items that the manager has prepared for the future for so that he can introduce those items to us in this meeting tonight we have on our um a agenda review um the yearend 2023 year in audit that's going to be presented by our finance team and the 2024 Council calendar which is going to be presented by our city clerk before we do that let's ask Miss Harris um if she has anything that she'd need to share with us on the consent items the information that I have is that several of the property transactions have been resolved and settled and so items 36 30 and 37 do no longer have require adoption and I believe it's 35 36 and 37 35 and 36 and 37 you're right I did Circle 35 I just didn't say it all right so 35 36 and 37 are there any other questions for Miss Parris Johnson Miss Johnson thank you Madame mayor I just want a clarification on those items are they resolved or are they deferred until a later later meeting so they're in reaching um agreement with the de I'm the property owner this the same property owner for all three of those and they're hoping to come back to you in the 11th as a acquisition or they'll be settled and not have to come back but we're we're not 100% sure but that's why that staff pulled them saying that they were settling them I spoke to Angela Charles earlier about them because they're in District Four so I just I wanted some clarification okay thank you yes ma'am thank you hearing any other discussion or question may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda items 17 17 through 49 with 35 36 and 37 that have been settled so move second I have a motion and a second all in favor we've already had discussion all in favor please raise your hands all right that's everyone present thank you very much for for that so the next item on our agenda is the act is the audit I'll add ask the city manager to um introduce the overview so thank you mayor members of council uh normally we would have the uh audit executive summary at the budget committee meeting um so um because we don't have any more budget uh committee meetings for the year and we're required to bring this before uh the body we're having our CFO Teresa Smith introduce a guest and this would fulfill the requirement of having the discussion about the FY uh 23 audit um in front of the council so thank you mayor if there are any questions I'd like to turn it over to Teresa hi good to see you yes I hope you had a good holiday I did thank you I hope you did as well again my name is Teresa Smith I am the CFO in the finance department I appreciate the opportunity to be here with you today to present the FY 23 year-end Financial audit results uh I do have two people with me I have Betty Matos who is our chief accountant in the finance department I also have uh Daniel gogerty who is a director with cherry Becker and uh Mr gogerty is going to be presenting the results to you of the audit uh you may recall that North Carolina General statutes require that the city have an external annual audit of our financial statements and that the local government commission also requires that those results are presented to you on a timely basis so Mr gogerty is here this afternoon to present those results and we'll be available for any questions that you have as we go along so Dan I will turn it over to you thank you and good evening so what we have here is um I'm going to go through our PowerPoint Slide the results of the audit overall so first um just want to uh let you all know so we'll go over first the results of the audit and then I'll go through some of the other required Communications there's a number of items in here that were required to communicate each year a lot of those haven't changed year to year but we are um required to give you that every year first off we audited the financial statements in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards we also audited the financial statements in accordance with government auditing standards this is all in which to form an opinion that the financial statements a reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from Material misstatement we also audit the compliance as it relates to the federal and state dollars that the city spends to ensure that are in compliance with those Grant agreements and the requirements under uniform Grant guidance we issued unmodified opinions in all cases we issued an unmodified opinion on the financial statements and also on compliance with those Federal and State dollars in that uh unmodified opinion is also known as a clean opinion which is the highest level opinion that we can give under our auditing standards this slide here is just communicating to you all that we are in charge of giving an opinion on compliance and we do test internal controls but we do not provide an opinion on the effectiveness of those internal controls in in regards to our audit if we identify any issues with internal controls we are to report those either as a material weakness or significant deficiency if it rises to those levels and here is just a definition of material weakness being one where a material error could go undetected and not reported or not corrected in a timely manner and then we also have and then the significant deficiency being one less than a material weakness but still important enough for us to uh communicate to you all and we noted one material weakness in our audit which I will go over the next slide and this did not relate to the financial statements this related to single audit this related to the Federal grant emergency rental assistance program in which uh you have a subrecipient that oversees your uh funding and oversees the uh spending of this grant money in which uh you had monitored them in the past year but did not have a process in place to continue to monitor them uh throughout the whole granting program and so we had identified that as a material weakness in internal control that needed to be corrected in which management had already developed their corrective action plan and is included within the annual comprehensive financial report and that will also be um that won't be part of any letters to the LGC because this is governed by can you tell us what the amounts are that are affected by that particular weakness What's the magnitude of that problem sure so I think uh overall if you have the CSA I think it's I think it was about 13 million if I all all the money that was uh provided to the subrecipient was the entire amount of expenditures and so you would normally sample that on a sample basis so you wouldn't be looking at every single dollar value of that of those expenditures but um we found no review of the current year expenditures in totality and so it was $3.8 Million that program and there wasn't at finding a a misappropriation of funds or anything you're just talking about controls right correct and controls over just monitoring what they were doing the subrecipient that you uh work with is a sub reian that uh has their own single audit and they did not have any findings in their single audit of this program so their Auditors would be looking at this in more detail making sure that people are receiving eligible funds which they noted no issues in their audit our finding is just the city's responsibility to Monitor and make sure themselves that this subrecipient is also spending the funds wisely um at the same time all right just wanted to make sure to understand that appreciate it on this slide here we have corrected and uncorrected uh misstatement ments in which we had no corrected misstatements which means basically what we audited and receive from Finance is what you uh see in the final U financial report that has been delivered to you all that we had no made made Corrections based on our audit we did have two uncorrected adjustments and so the first one being an understatement of cash and accounts payable by approximately 3.7 million and 1 million related to the general fund and public transit fund and this related to AC crudee payroll that had not that had been recorded as being paid before it actually was paid a day later after the year end and the next one there is an overstatement of beginning net position current year expenses of approximately 27.7 million related to the water sewer fund this is related to capital projects that were no longer viable and needed to be written off that should have been written off in a prior year but I will note this was identified by Finance uh and presented to us and we DET and we determined with Finance we agreed that it was not it was immaterial in terms of not having to go back and restate the prior year balance and just to run it through the current year these next few slides are a lot of those required Communications I alluded to earlier um first of which is that note one includes your signific accounting policies um your note one also includes the adoption of a new accounting standard this year which is the subscription based Information Technology Arrangements which is basically any software that the city owns that they have a commitment to uh pay a vendor for more than one year are required to be reported as an asset and a liability it is very similar to the reporting of capital of leases that was adopted in the prior year and so basically it's really a balance sheet only item with minimal effect on your income statement and minimal effect on your fund balance or net position terms of related parties we are looking at any related parties that uh rise to a level that we need to look at as part of our audit um we've noted no issues with any arms link transactions as it relates to related parties and we noted no related parties that weren't already uh presented to us by management if we find anything that we deem to be significant or unusual and significant or unusual being outside the normal course of business and otherwise un usual do the nature timing or size of the adjustment uh we have to make you aware of that we noted nothing during our audit that we believe met this definition as part of uh any financial statement audit estimates are integral part of the development of the financial statements and so there's a number of things I have listed here um allowance for downall counts appreciation uh Actuarial assumptions as it relates to your pension and other post-employment benefits uh these Specialist or or thirdparty data is being used by manag to develop uh certain Financial items and we are looking to make sure that the items are are uh consistent with the previous year and also uh are are relatable to what we would expect and other things that management may use is historical collection Trends billing dates estimated useful life or those actual valuations I have no particular disclosure to point out as a specific uh disclosure to to draw your attention to but the financial statement discloses are neutral clear and consistent in terms of an audit we sometimes will provide non- a test service the test Services being audit services so this would be anything outside of the audit that we might uh provide to management and one thing we do here is we we uh enter in the data for the data collection form this is the form that is submitted to the federal government that outlines what we audited for the year on federal grants um so that the data the different federal agencies can all uh see the information in a nice uh neat Manner and see what has been spent we uh management has proper skills uh knowledge and expertise to oversee these services and ultimately they are the ones who certify and review uh before it gets submitted to the federal Clearing House we are not aware of any instance of of any issues with independence with our firm couple more things here we had no difficulties encountered as part of our audit we had no disagreements with management um if we have any internal auditor consultations within our firm we are now required to communicate those to you all and we did have one related to the required required consultation related to the It event during the year and then we have the manager representation letter which is dated October 31st the date of the issued financial statements that was signed by management other required Communications if management was Consulting on anything outside of our team that whether they' be shopping for an opinion of some sort from another auditing or accounting firm we make you aware of that there were no such in instances of that there were no other findings or issues noted that we didn't already talk about there were no as of the date of this presentation no fraud or legal Acts or violations of law regulations were noted and there are no events that caus a going concern for the city these uh Limit Out basically are responsibilities on other information that follow that either proceive the not the financial statements or follow the notes of the financial statements required supplement information such as your management discussion and Analysis section and then the pension schedules in the back are uh created by are done by management we look over that information but we provide no Assurance over that information presented and then supplementary information we have here is uh any of those back schedules that show the combining fund statements or budget to actual schedules we look to make sure they are consistent with the information Prov provided in the audited financial statements but we do not uh provide any Assurance other than in relation to opinion on that and the last one here is other information which is your introductory schedules at the very top of the uh the annual comprehensive financial report and and then also in the back the statistical information we look over that information but we do not provide Express an opinion or any Assurance on it here's a list of the upcoming accounting standards that will be applicable for the city next year 99 and 100 not being uh significant to the city for the next year we don't believe that will will have a significant impact although 100 does require um now a restatement when a fund goes from major to non- Major so you might see changes in your fund balance because of that due to that standard but that we think is be the biggest change that you might um see going forward and then you have 101 compensated absences uh which relates to your ACR vacation and sick leave in which there could be a potential that sick leave may need to be recruited as well that it hasn't in the past but we're still looking through that standard making sure uh based on the standard and the rules applied what the what the outcome of that would be based on city policy those local government uh uh commission we do have performance indicators concern that that the local government commission has set as as standards that we need to look at for every municipality within the state of North Carolina and I'm happy to say that we had no financial performance indicators of concern noted uh based on those factors that they out outlined um everything was submitted within five was going to be submitted within 5 months of the fiscal year end the fund balance general fund is positive fund balance uh you have a budgeted tax levy that's uh your your budgeted amounts for taxes did not exceed what you collected um for the year you have an effective pre- audit process with no pervasive budget violations as part of that process um you have no l late Debt Service payments you know no violations of any covenants for your revenue bonds and such and no statutory violations within the financial report so with that I'll open it up if anyone has any additional questions thank you you I turn it over to Miss Smith do you have any comments that you would like to make as our finance director all right open list for questions and discussion I have Miss watlington followed by Miss asir thank you mad may I just have a quick question for my own understanding I want to make sure that I understand slide eight where it's got the uncorrected misstatements yep so is there or is there not a material weakness associated with the misstatement I'm trying to am I misunderstanding that there would be a corresponding weakness that would then be exploited in an uncorrected mistake there's not with these I know the the amounts seem to be large but for a city your size we have a certain materiality threshold that we use based on a percentage of certain aspects whether it be your assets whether it be your revenues expenditures and based on that looking at that from a material standpoint it wasn't it didn't meet the level of materiality for any of the funds that were affected thank you mme um thank you Madame mayor I did have an opportunity to speak with Mr gardi a couple of months ago now regarding our financials and see as the chair of the budget governance and intergovernmental committee if I had any concerns um I had shared with him I had no concerns um as you clearly see there are no material misstatements and our uh Financial are in great uh shape obviously there are uh some of this is not Material um but this has been uh already modified as um and I this was already reviewed by the budget governance committee earlier so um and Mr gardi has been our auditor for as long as I remember six seven years at least I've been on Council I know he has moved on from now I think he's a director he used to be a manager or associate so congratulations on your promotion um as our external auditor but clearly I think uh we are in great shape we have the great Finance team uh thanks to our CFO and the entire team for the great work uh I know we had as one of the largest city we had huge arpa fund allocation and usually in the audit you will see when you have that much amount I mean we talking about millions and millions of dollars coming in in multiple phase you'd see uh that would be the scope of the audit and I know there were several audit steps that were being taken as part of that and despite all of that you know they didn't find anything material I think that just speaks to the Great team and processes that we have in place Mr DRS thank you madam mayor uh I was very pleased to note that you had not had any material disagreements with management because I have those all the time so good job well done uh I I just want to emphasize following what the chair said that uh we should not underestimate the significance of of this report uh the the you don't take don't take it for granted the city has been well-managed financially for a long time it starts to feel routine look at other cities it doesn't always look like this so once again congratulations to the manager and the staff I would like to add uh that to what was said um I did have one question uh in the audit you make pretty clear and in fact you've made increasingly clear over recent years what you do and don't do as it were uh so in your mind is is there any ER where we should uh commission extra work or that we need to watch out for in terms of potential exposures or risks or anything like that or or do you feel that the scope of your work can gives us comfort that something couldn't pop up I I feel that in tandem with us and internal audit that you have on on staff that the scope of what needs to be looked at at the city is being looked at um where we don't where we are looking at maybe the smaller what what we would call smaller items or things of of lesser uh materiality based on our large materiality numbers internal audit is there behind us to look at those items a lot of the times and we do uh talk with internal audits part of our process every year and get an understanding of what they're doing and they always ask us the question as well and of what could we be looking at and when we have things come up and we say hey we we've seen this uh Trend in the external audit or something going on you might want to look here you might want to do this um so we try to work in tandem with them but I think between our external and the internal audit things are being covered that need to be covered thank you I do appreciate that and having worked with cherry beckard one way or another for I think 18 years now including nonprofits uh I really appreciate the Excellence of your work so thank you for that and Mr drgs I also wanted to add that in recent years the finance department has created what we call as an internal controls division so we have a small staff of people that are focused just on looking at controls and improving those controls so they sort of work on the very beginning before internal audit which is then before the external audit so we feel like we have multiple layers built in related to our controls good job thank you Miss Anderson thank you Madame mayor um I agree with Mr Driggs this is a very strong audit and um it comes as a result of having really good internal controls and it's certainly something that we should not take for granted I did have a question on slide 20 when you talked about the compensated absences and you were mentioning sick leave will that a cruel process mirror um vacation time or will there be a different acral process for sick leave it would be similar to vacation time but I do want to stress that we're still under the very preliminary of just kind of looking at it the government accounting standard board gby had wanted to rather than make it uh be very clear in terms of do this do that they wanted to make it more uh a little more conceptual in nature and so they added some language in there that might tend to think that sick leave should be accured in my personal opinion sick leave is really not payable out to the employee so it's really should not be accured it's mostly used for credible service at the very end for retirement um but based on what the gasby has out there there's some Chain of Thought that that should be accured regardless depending on how it's worded in your policy so I think one thing here is getting a little bit more clarity from the gby as they they will uh release implementation guides throughout the years getting more clarity on this standard on what they're meaning and wanting from this and then looking at the city's policy and then making sure they align with what is actually a liability are not a liability okay great because that was my follow-up question because sick leave is not typically uh paid out when employees leave uh and it's also something that you don't particularly plan for either so an acrel process for that we just really need to be mindful about that um as it relates to our employees so i' I'd like to see what gasby comes out with this year or not and try try not to get into the details of this but it's it's it's basically they're saying if you have an employee that's going to use sick leave next year you approve for that sick leave well how do you administratively know that and how do you account for that that's not conceptually sometimes work yeah how do you yeah so it's it's estimating that and and getting into that but that's why we just need more information to make sure and and see what the policy is compared to that great thank you madam mayor all right I think all of us um that's sit around this table are very much appreciative of the um first the audit that we have at the end of this year but more importantly to the effort that is taking place every day to make this audit what it is today and so we know we have a great team I like to think of this as something that our city does very well when you start talking about the changes and recognize we're a $3 billion operation this is pretty significant and so congratulations to the manager and the team that he's put together um it is one of the most important aspects of what we can do in other respects because without that ability to have this kind of audit to have that kind of ability to have reserves and fund balances the ability to maintain a AAA credit rating is absolutely essential to the kind of growth and and expectations we have for this community so um thank you you and Mr Jones thank you as well I guess Marie I mean Teresa lets you come in every now and again just look at the computer and then she tells you to go back upstairs so thank you very much um and thank you to Cherry Becker we really appreciate the work that you guys do for us thank you so with that we will now go to the city council calendar for 2024 and um we're going to have our city clerk present on this one I'm pulling it up for you oh it's PDF hold on PDF that's only in PD this is what we have okay thank you okay good evening mayor and councel thank you for allowing me to present briefly um the proposed 2024 calendar that um is at your places I believe they've been a copy has been placed at your desk and also is on on the um screen for your viewing um in order to comply with the North Carolina open meetings law uh notice requirements for city government uh you will be asked to vote on this proposed uh Council calendar or council meeting schedule as you do each calendar year um we are planning to have the calendar for a vote on your December 11th business agenda and I'd like to take a few minutes uh this evening to review the calendar with you and highlight um a few considerations for 2024 um moving forward into the New Year we're proposing to keep the regular meeting schedule consistent with this year's more specifically on the first Mondays of the month to hold Council committee meetings and then an evening committee discussion session on the second Mondays to hold a business meeting and then on the third Mondays for your zoning meetings and on the fourth Mondays to hold a second business meeting with a public forum this is consistent with the current 2023 schedule exceptions for Mondays due to holidays or conferences are noted on the draft at your seats but I would like to draw your attention to um an exception for um January the 8th for January the 8th um there are except exeptions being being proposed typically the first Monday of the month is for your Council committees however due to the new year we are proposing January 8th for committee meetings and a business meeting the First Council committee meetings of the new year will take place on January the 8th and then the time typically used for Action reviews from 5 to 6:30 would be allocated for committee discussions and following that we're proposing um a business meeting also of note for 2024 the majority of the budget meetings are being um being moved to Mondays and this is to help manage your onsite schedules to predominantly Mondays to free up the remaining days of the week for community and constituent meetings and other commitments that you may have um the one exception um is going to be the the um straw votes uh meeting on May 30th um is being proposed on a third for a Thursday instead of a Monday and this is to accommodate um time needed to cost out any additional adjustments that may be proposed during the Monday May 20th budget adjustment session so in addition um based on Council feedback for uh this year we are um proposing that the summer schedule provide for no formal meetings to be scheduled within the month of July to allow for scheduling of Summer commitments and those are the highlights of the proposed 2024 uh calendar and as I mentioned it'll come before you for a vote on December the 11th and I'll entertain any questions or feedback or anything you might have I I wanted to say that we're just beginning to see this and I know that there might be questions and if there are questions that we can't address today we certainly have time next week to do so so I want to recognize Miss Mayfield thank you madam mayor first question actually mayor is for you we're assuming that all of the current committee structure that's the committee structure that's going to be maintained into 24 25 I have um spoken with I think everyone except Miss ashir and I think we've called and you know it's hard she's got kids and I don't so she's busier than I am so I wanted to say that yes the my my goal is to keep things as stable as this calendar would be so that people would have the opportunity for those that need to have work time as well as other commitments that they' have made that we would pretty pretty much stay in the same position and the Committees would be the same thank you Miss Kelly for the first recommendation of January 8 since the New Year comes in on Monday the 1st why would we not move the meeting to Tuesday January the 2nd like sometimes if it's a holiday instead of having to meeting on Monday we would have it on Tuesday so that we don't have a full dat that starts from 10: a.m. that very well can go into 9 to 10:00 p.m. that evening I will have to to check with the um budget office on that particular recommendation but it is the day after um a holiday so that consideration is is factored into that as well so Monday is actual New Year's day but typically we observe the day after as well the second can't okay cuz I know it's a little off because next year is Leap Year right so the dates are shuffled around a little I would like to see if it's to the pleasure of my colleagues for us to look at potentially another alternative cuz that is going to be a really hard day the way this looks for January the 8 to try to have the Quorum and attendance that's going to be needed starting a full day and going late into the evening versus normally we would get done probably about 7 7:30 8 at the latest thank you Madame mayor thank you Miss Kellen yes sir yes ma'am all right so let me make sure that I understand that you're suggesting that we have a meeting on February the 2nd actually mayor I'm wondering if we can so this is a January 8th meeting the first of the year but I'm wondering if we can break it up either have our Council business meeting and readjust our committee meetings or vice versa so as not to try to do all on that night cuz that would just be a very difficult day for a lot of people going into the new year for the my colleagues that do go to work to try to know that they still going to have to maintain all of that to see if maybe we can split it up worst case scenario either have the committee meetings only or have the council business meeting opposed to having the full day starting at 10:00 a.m. I understand I think um a lot of this would depend on the management team pulling out the business items that would be important and so you could have a meeting and the committee meetings would be if you if I would I think that we could probably make that adjustment if we saw the need to based upon what items would be on a council agenda so or business meeting but let's put that on the in the list and see where um we can have some conversation and figure that out yes ma'am all right and the final question do we block out the time so we have we do have on here that January 21st to the 24th that's going that's still going to be identified as our annual strategy meeting will be cuz normally the 22nd that Monday would be our public form so we're saying we're going to push the cuz we don't normally have a meeting on the 5th Monday which will be the 29th so we're not going to have a public public forum on the 22nd because January 2024 January 22nd Monday night falls during the week of our annual strategy meeting right well the public forum is is proposed to be um January 8th but if we break that out to a separate meeting we have to have a public forum um sometime in January so um we'll look at those dates and see how we can break that out and make that happen but there will be a public forum in January right so okay I'll follow up thank you Miss Kelly yes yeah I I do know that our policy requires the or states the public forum on the fourth meeting so we'll just see all right any other questions we will have some time to review this Miss air yes I mean that this is a lot lot of information to just it is um I I might have some uh changes and we can connect uh next week um so that I have an opportunity to review this so I'll I'll reach out to you Miss Kelly and also thank you sure um yes Mr Winston I have no bearing over this this calendar whatsoever the only suggestion I would again hope you guys consider is when you do have your annual Council strategy meeting um that you really take time um uh to do it together and I would suggest that you spend that time um away from this building um doing it it worked really well um uh when we were able to uh honestly even get out the city um and do it um and we benefited through it throughout terms and what we getting um we're not able to do that we paid the price uh so i' encourage you to consider um that time between January 21st and 24th uh that you really uh get out um get to a place uh where you guys can operate as unit and units um in an effective manner thank you thank you um Mr Jones so thank you mayor members of council and thank you Miss Kelly uh so so just a couple things and it may be stating some things that you've stated Miss Kelly but it's been a good partnership with this you know what we tried to do was learn from a lot um that we discovered over this past year and try to concentrate meetings on Mondays not only just um let's say the strategy session but even some of the budget workshops because we were having difficulties with attendance so we thought that if we moved everything to a Monday There's this Clarity with there's one exception Ryan and I arm wrestles he beat me um that we have I think the straw votes on a Thursday as opposed to a Monday one of the reasons that um the eth is there the way that it is I totally agree with the mayor PM about the annual strategy meeting we will um talk with the council members I think sometimes you can ad hoc group together mayor about getting away um being extremely intentional U especially around our Capital Improvement plan and infrastructure the CIP and the bonds and you know we could eat up maybe a day just uh with that um but one of the reasons we had the E the way that it was is because it is coming out of the holidays and it will be a few weeks since you have met and I just wanted to be careful that we're able to um put we want to be careful that while it's a very long day it gives gives us a a bit more prep time because some of the things that we would be talking about on the 8th would include as strategies around safety and some of the things that have been left in the Committees up to that point so I just wanted to tag team with Miss Kelly about some of the thought process around this Mr barari yeah um so I remember the thought process that went into figuring out how to repurpose the first Mondays of the month and I I think I think it was a half successful experiment and half unsuccessful I think the half of centralizing all that we're all around on one day I think makes a lot of sense for us probably a little tough for staff given that it's on a Monday with the prep and stuff in the week before I think what we still haven't figured out is how when the full Council gathers that evening the function of that meeting because mayor you've said it a hundred times and it still hasn't taken hold it's not supposed to be a readout like we can do that in an email and what we end up doing is getting an email readout and then someone reads it to us so I I think that if there's one major thing to rethink it's that it's it's that evening first Monday meeting I still think there's value but I just you know we've we've attempted for over a year and a half now to figure that out and it just hasn't worked so some suggestions of things to think about before we vote on this and again I I we're going to vote on that schedule and it's going to be there I don't know that that's the critical path of figuring this out but I still think there's value to having the Committees meet all together in a day um but like perhaps bringing that group together almost as like a hybrid it's it's it's one big committee for a couple topics maybe it's like you know we go back and forth every other month one month is this is the major infrastructure investment infrastructure strategy committee and then the next month it's the Public Safety Committee some of the things that deserve all of our attention there once a month it's the big committee meeting where we all get down to some of the basics of what we're going to do and when you think about infrastructure and Public Safety we could go back on for and forth on that for the next month or the next year six times and uh and and you know so it puts a little bit of a heavier burden on staff I think the lesson learned from before even in changing that is it still can't be like a readout meeting it's got to be a meeting that people do some offline work maybe some committee stuff that happened earlier help help input it but like we should all be reading the report outs of those committee readouts and that's our update and this big committee thing is like a I struggled I'm not as uh um you know glass half full as I used to be I don't know if you guys have noticed that uh but I'd like to think we could figure out how to whiteboard and brainstorm and do something on those topics where it's one topic a month and then it just rotates but there's got to be some way I think where we structure how we come into that meeting what we do in it and what we take out of it so just some food for thought I I agree with you I think that we've struggled with how do we share information that really helps build something that's stronger and bigger and better and as you've talked about this one of the things that I have thought about is the idea of we choose the priorities that we are going to work on and perhaps the Committees are doing the leg work to make those things happen but are we really doing an assessment that we have seen so perhaps this is kind of consistent with what you're saying is that we actually take our priorities and instead of it being a committee report out which is supposed to be the work that we're doing we talk about where are we on our priorities what do we need what are we missing where is there a gap um that of things that we're doing because so often we end up in a situation but I think open to any discussion should be the idea of how to make better use of that time because it is um so much of let's just read it through we need more thinking we need to have more opportunities to hear what other communities are doing we need to hear from the people that really are in charge of administrating some of these programs and saying is it working do you see what are we learning and how do we adjust to what we can learn so I I completely want to say this is an open place but I have a lot of people that just one followup sorry before I close out I I agree with you and I'll take another uh broken record from uh mayor protim Winston over there I think the other big magic thing in this is we've got to structure it into policy outcomes cuz it will be too too dangerous for us to sit there and try to do staff's job so how how can I think and Mr manager I think this is a good exercise for you guys as a leadership team to go down and really come up with if this is a board level policy designing group that needs to have inputs around two let's say two of our most important things infrastructure and Public Safety like how would you structure that so we're sitting down analyzing what policies are broken what policies are missing and we're doing that in a way where like we're jumping like years ahead each one of those monthly sessions like that I think that could and we're not losing it in a way where like only five people are doing it and then we wait another month for another readout like that's why this has to be scoped perfectly to work but maybe it could it could work all right so I saw several hands I think I saw Mr dggs and then I saw Miss azira and then I saw Miss Anderson Mr Graham I saw after I saw and miss watlington before Mr Graham actually so so mayor we're just to say all right so is I you we can start with that and go this way and then come back around okay Mr dggs uh thank you mayor so I agree with that um I think it's actually useful if the chairs could provide for the full group a very short uh summary of what the topics were in their meeting we talked about this we talked about the as we talked about just for awareness cuz it's actually for me at least a little hard to keep track of what's going on in the Committees that doesn't need to take much time and otherwise I just wanted to mention we have a tendency during regular Council meetings to stray into discussions that are actually inappropriate on those occasions and everybody then agrees hey we ought to have more time to talk to each other we don't get to talk to each other and then we get into that Monday night and nothing particularly significant happens so I think the idea that we're more intentional about what the topics are going to be on Monday night and not expect them to flow from the committee reports makes a lot of sense so trees for example Miss Johnson uh congestion uh the ordinances whether we've uh all of our Public Safety ordinances uh the density conversation in connection with there are these topics which we know are kind of out there somewhere the fact that we we're getting so many petitions that are recommended for approval and do not uh uh line with the so there are a bunch of things we could talk about but that has to be kind of programmed a little bit and and again I think in consistent with what was just said uh so we understand in advance that there is going to be a topic of discussion identified from the conversations that we're having in meetings and from what's going on and then there there's a little bit of structure around that there's like a memo or or kind of a a some suggestions as to policy I mean I talked to Miss Craig for example about the trees and said can you talk tell us what other cities are doing we don't have to wait uh to see the thing uh we can start thinking now about how we want to man what the tools are at least to manage those trees so uh I think I'm just in step with what's been said but uh uh one of the benefits of that would be that we avoid those off topic or conversations in other meetings because the zoning committee the zoning meeting should not be a policy Forum thank you thank you I really think this is consistent with the idea of what are our strategic priorities and are we talking about them in a way that actually benefits change and policy development so policy development is a key part of it so um Miss Anderson and then miss watlington thank you Madame mayor I I absolutely agree that we can repurpose that first Monday meeting time to do something more intentional and and I I I I agree that we need more time to speak together but I also feel like we need the opportunity to hear more outside voices so you know it's rare and from a board perspective you know we should have the opportunity to hear uh what best practices are what other cities are doing who have gone through what we're going through as it relates to growth and infrastructure um we should bring subject matter experts in who are necessarily from the city or the region um so we can learn from um both their successes but also mistakes and I think this would be a great time during that evening centered as it relates to policy and what we see out in front of us if we bring some of those SME those subject matter expert voices to the table to help guide um the shaping of the policy I think that would be um great food for thought but we will end up with a better answer overall as it relates to the policy that we stand up Miss watlington thank you madam mayor um I agree with council member mari's uh comments to add to that I think part of this discussion is about policy part of it is about time back to strategic priorities but I think there is an underlying conversation that we probably need to have in terms of our identity as a board we know that from an operations day-to-day standpoint that we have professional staff that handles that but I think there's an opportunity for us to consider ourselves as more of a working board uh Beyond just the advisory piece I know mayor Pro Tim is looking at me like I've been saying this for six years I agree with you on this I do um because to the extent that these Monday meetings that are planned in advance that tie back to our strategic priorities that are that that connect to policy change um to the extent that those can function as working sessions rather than hearing that shouldn't be the first time we hear the information because it's going to be something substantial coming out of it that requires some level of prep work which may require some one of us to take the lead on doing that investigation um so I think that we could really make something of this work session well I'm what I'm calling a work session I think that it requires a more active role from each one of the council members um so that when we get to the meeting it's about the doing rather than the learning at the meeting thank you all right we'll start with Mr Graham and then come on around here okay Mr Graham miss ashir you get to close us out yeah thank you I I I I I don't mean to be redundant but I I totally agree what I looked at the council committee discussions um the first thing I wrote down is is it is it even necessary right because it was really redundant of the meetings we had before especially if there was a Hot Topic issue we begin to debate it as at the committee meeting then we red debated again that afternoon uh which which led to confusion and Chaos in some cases and so is it even needed right and so I understand the brainstorming about how we can use the time um but um I don't think we need to be meeting just to be meeting uh unless there's a useful purpose for the time that we can come come up with and I don't think we should have to create something just to say that we got to fill this time slot either either there's a useful period for the time or there is it um I think the committee discussions can rest on its own Merit a memo would do the same as an update uh and is for me is how the council utilize our time for the next two years do we start on time um do we have effective meetings um that we operate as a high effective board right um so let's be effective and efficient uh not only in terms of this particular um category um Council committee discussions but throughout the day uh and throughout the year in terms of how do we make sure that we have a we operate as a high performing board uh and that we manage our time in an effective and efficient manner I think last year and we we've really struggled from my perspective you know um in terms of time management and being effective and efficient um and that's something that we would I hope that we can change as we move forward into the um to a new Council and a new um and a new program year for the next two years so um isn't even needed mayor protim thank you um I I I would answer your question Mr Graham uh it is needed and I would agree with Mr barari and Miss watlington I just give you my kind of insight because I spent um Mondays here all all most of all of those days um you need I think we need to commit to those meetings between the meetings um as Miss watlington W was talking about um you can't rely on staff to do this work for a couple reasons first Mondays aren't in those first Mondays are intense and they are is kind of all hands on deck everybody preparing everything from the beginning of the day to the end of the day and what they're preparing is what council what guidance they've already received from Council right so they whatever has basically six votes um or whatever policy direction that they've been given in the past so what we're kind of talking about of the things that we want to be working on or how we want to be working on it's not really a job that count that staff can do because they You by nature don't have those six voices telling them to do something so they can't figure it out for us this has to be something uh that Council as Miss watlington was getting at however we decide to Form and Function in whether it's the committee chairs or or or or whatever groups of the group have to commit to talking to each other figuring out this out week to week I will say not even for that meeting after the meeting on the first Mondays but for the work that goes into in into committees um something that I noticed uh was that at points in time there wasn't actually a lot of policy work getting done in committees there was a lot of information being presented uh and therefore that was kind of the problem when we came back to those those evening sessions we didn't have anything to give our colleagues for us to work on together so we can kind of critically think and come together so I think that I guess what what I'm trying to say is that um there needs to be some however Council decides to to to parse out its leadership and a way to effectively communicate between the whole body of the 11 it's going to take a commitment between Mondays that that group of of council members is working together working together diplomatically to figure this out and we've done this from time to time whether it be around our s whether it be around uh uh safe Charlotte whether it be um in in intergovernmental stuff that that we've done we have examples of it but we need to kind of commit to it in our everyday work path like Miss wson said again um we the the way the form and function of this body has to be um I think reclassified in a way that really does match the moment in time that we're at and we're heading into with the size and scope of work that needs to get done Monday I was a big skeptic on the first Mondays uh it it is a framework for something that can work well but only if 11 council members are committed to figuring out amongst themselves how to bring this whole organization along with it that's what something we haven't done during this term with it but it's new it's a a weird term you guys have a great opportunity to do something really great I appreciate that I I think one of the biggest questions that we have is we often work on projects and not policy and text and not intent so things like that stand in our way so it might be even good for the council committee chairs to go through where are the policy documents for this I mean today we pulled up one and you know we're using it this afternoon um or this evening when we get there but let's go ahead Miss Mayfield and then Miss Johnson thank you madam mayor and thank you mayor protim you took some of the thoughts that I had regarding the policy discussion should happen in committee I did hear and I support the idea of that council member Anderson shared regarding subject subject experts I would say for me that would be in the committee not in that bar cuz that is one of the biggest challenges the fact that we do not have the chance to come and talk together when we are doing just this report out and I will also say that for the years ago Once Upon a Time long long time ago when I was around as a district rep I like the fact that the committee chair and vice chair were in on every conversation so that there was a clear understanding of what the expectations is this year a very short time period it has felt more like just staff reporting out to us and us not really being able to get into okay what is the policy language so looking at some of the work that we were doing in housing I still can't go into community and tell them yeah we started a conversation around tiny Holmes eight years ago where are we today on it we're talking about ad and some other things but we haven't specifically delved into how that can play out and what it looks like so I think moving forward and I know we only have one new council member that will be sworn in in a couple of weeks I still would like to make sure that before we collectively make a decision on this that we include our newly elected council member elect in this decision making so that they can see this calendar as well and be able to have some input on this conversation but but I definitely support the logic that I think we individually and in small group have had discussions about what we would like to see out of our committee discussions and I think you're getting a chance to hear that now as we're looking at this new calendar cuz so it goes beyond just that first Monday and what it looks like it's really how effective can we be when we're in these sessions so that we are looking at policy what do we have what do we need to create what do we need to adapt in order to address the goals thank you I want you to know that I thought the expectation was the chair and the vice chair met with the team or the staff so it if it happens I'm we just clearly state that on a Friday all right Miss Johnson do you want to add anything to the conversation sure thank you Madame mayor I love this conversation um when you talk about projects versus policies it does feel that um that we are always given lots of information and I think I've shared that with you Mr Jones that we're presented with lots of information to the point where at the end of the meeting U there's seems to be exacerbation when there's a discussion by Council I think the council should have opportunities to get into the weeds and when you bring up these subject they not be considered an appropriate when do we have those discussions so um I I think this is a great discuss and if I peel back the layer just a little in our budget we talked about bringing someone on full time as a liaison um maybe between the council and staff so um if if we could get an update with that that would help with the as we're completing projects um Miss Mayfield you talked about you had a discussion about tiny homes in 2000 would you say 2008 maybe okay when I came on board February 2020 I remember talking about the shipping containers so there's been lots of discussion so how are we closing those gaps um another thing that we that we talked about um and it went to Committee in April of 2021 is allowing less than six members to of council to put something on the agenda instead of having a vote before the vote so these are the kind of things that kind of get lost um when we don't have time to to come together and have discussions so I I I love this discussion I like what Mr barari said I think he gave some very concrete recommendations when he talked about safety and infrastructure those are two huge issues in our community and you if you go on any of our social media forums or or hear from the public that's what the public wants us to talk about and I know Mary you and I had a discussion about safety uh discussion when we were talking about the new committees so I agree with what um Mr Bari said um if we could come together as a working group and actually have some time to to discuss policies and and um and have some time to to really get down in the weeds of those conversations and make changes that's what our voters expect from us so thank you thank you uh Madam mayor um I guess you know I've been here for a while now and a year uh which feels like an eternity um and I guess what I've collected in the year um being a part of this body um and I've said it since I walked in the door um and I think a lot of the comments from my perspective lend itself to a capacity issue um a lot of what I see as far as deliverables are concerned from a council member perspective we don't have the proper infrastructure as a as a council body to really in my opinion carry out some of what we're talking about uh one human being who from a district perspective has a responsibility potentially of 125,000 plus residents and we all share a person with someone else so at any given moment one human being um is able to you know and and ourselves we we share that so some some of this feels clerical in in addition to constituent relations in addition to um you know maintaining relationships in the community in addition to now you know the conversation that sounds as though we should be immediately Adept at what policy should be um implement it from a a Citywide perspective um I've just never felt as though the offices are structured as offices we are structured as humans who hold a lot juggle a lot of balls um and we have for a very long time in my opinion made it look to the public that it's easy and it is immensely hard to hold it and and you don't even have to be a mother with kids you could be a single person with no children and this is immensely hard it is much harder if you got children male or female um and so I I before I say that we need to now do more I think it in my opinion is time as a body to press pause in my opinion and look comprehensively at this body and decide what it means to actually have a district in the 15th largest city in the country and how do we conduct business and how do we then you know start a policy discussion and how does there how is there a Continuum um in you know like some of the examples with some of the people who've been around longer they say that they've you know discussed things at some point in the past and then for some reason or another those conversations have never continued or they fell off or whatever the case um and I think if if we were conducted as offices I think some of that would um be minimized not that it would disappear because someone else would take this office and they would decide that something else would be important um the turnover rate you know we get on again right in in one year I've ran two campaigns right I I had someone chew me out literally like two weeks ago um and they were like we can't get in contact with you and da d d d and I'm like well you you know and dare I go somewhere and I posted on social media that means that I'm like I must be like Gallivan and I'm like no actually it was like 50 other places that I went I just didn't post that on social media right and I do that myself too um so I mean it's just it's it's an immense amount for one human to hold to go to the next level because it's in my opinion time for us to look at ourselves comprehensively in what it means to be a large city um and and one human with like I said especially from a district perspective 125,00 th people we share someone I I share with tar barari one human being who I have to you know look at my emails daily my emails go with me um you know so and then at the same time I got to like lend myself to the mental you know State and capacity that I need to hold the job so I mean if people could see kind of behind the scenes and all the strings we got to pull to make this job work and then you you know the ones that maybe have lighter loads than others can actually be punctual because there's no additional determinant um I like I said I just before I say you know let's be here every day well that's that's not even the structure of governance that we have we call ourselves part-time right U right now we're formulated as a part-time body um and people very happily tell me oh you're like fulltime and I'm like but that's that's almost toxic but uh you know I just from my perspective that's what I see that's what I think and I'd like to see us before we run off and say that we need to now make it look even more structured without the proper infrastructure I think we need to have an infrastructure conversation thank you very in this room before we leave there's a second one that we will have to do after the meeting um but we will need need to do the one in in this room before we go downstairs and I hope that all of you got my memo today about the um resolution and all of that okay thank you all right so so thank you madam mayor I have a couple of things um well council member Molina thank you for acknowledging this job is difficult I think it takes a lot of courage to say that uh whether you're a parent or not it's this job is difficult especially the decisions that we make every time you had to make a decision it's tough uh because you're bound to make someone uh upset and you're bound to make someone happy uh I do agree we do need more support but I think that it's more to come I'm sure we'll have discussion on that in coming weeks uh but there are a couple of things that I was going through this calendar um and I highlighted first our budget sessions if you look look at that workshops we had 1 to five and now that's been condensed to 2 to five which I'm fine with but I think we have to be very Mindful and focus on big topics especially going into our budget cycle next year focus on Capital Improvements infrastructure because I know that has been that coming up for past several years uh and not get caught up in the details otherwise we won't be able to finish it um in two hours well 3 hours 2 to 5 um because we have council meeting that starts right at 5: so I I just I don't know if it's realistic but we can I'm I'm willing to give it a try let's let's let's and if it doesn't work uh we might have to revisit the schedule um if 2 to five budget Workshop time is not enough I you know I'm a half glass full person so I'm willing to give it a try and see uh we might might be able to get it done in 2 and a half hours we never know um but I just want to set the realistic expectations going into this um there a second item that I have like when it comes to committee meetings uh if the committee structure stays the same uh I I would like to have a little bit of breathing period in between committee meetings cuz I have backto back committee meetings budget and then 2:00 jobs and economic development if he can have at least 30 minutes in between currently there are there is schedule 30 minutes but that rarely happens um when we lot of the times we are taking up entire two hours uh so if we can have just a little bit of breathing room I think that would help um because there's so much information being just thrown at us so so maybe 30 minutes uh in between committee meeting I think would help and there are a few more things that I have but uh I'll come back to that um because I know we are running out of time here but those are the two items uh I would definitely like to see uh being addressed before this gets adopted thank you please feel free to send um in information that we should have your additional comments on on this matter we also can talk about this when we are at the um Council strategy session as well some of these things like how we're structured and you know how we choose to serve we've talked about and I think it's a matter of focus as well so thank you everyone for this opportunity to speak clearly and your your heart and and head to make this possible um before we I one last we have this ccel strategy meeting from January 21st to 2 does it start on Sunday Sunday I'm sorry oh go ahead much like we've done in the past Sunday evening has been an opportunity to travel to get there to have a meal so that you start uh bright and early on Monday morning so do we know the location the reason I asked because I think we got to be mindful of those who have infants and Partners at home can uh so got to be mindful of the location where we have that meeting so that we can travel back uh and take care of the babies at home and that's all I have thank you okay thank you all right um I'm going to ask the City attorney to help us with the Clos session um portion of this okay thank you um Madam Clerk and we're going to have a the first closed session regarding Mr Baker uh I need a motion to go into close session to view a la law enforcement recording pursuant to ncgs 143 31811 810 second all right we have a motion and a second all any discussion hearing none all in favor please raise your hands I all right thank you very much [Music] um [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] n [Music] pleas [Music] h [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] n [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] get I don't really need much I I don't really [Music] need [Music] just K [Music] it must be [Music] [Music] car [Music] [Music] [Music] she [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you for your patience and consideration um this council is working very hard on trying to do a number of um e take on on a number of efforts and sometimes our timing isn't always exact as we would choose it to be but we're grateful that you're attending our meeting tonight I want to call the business meeting of the Charlotte City Council um to order this is our November 27th meeting and I'll begin with introductions and we'll start with our city clerk Stephanie Kelly city clerk dle as at large and welcome good evening Marjorie Molina District 5 welcome I'm Renee Johnson and I'm honored to serve District 4 good evening Lana Mayfield council member at large Marcus Jones city manager B mayor braxon Winston mayor protown malcol District Two Ed dggs district 7 T parar six good evening Dante Anderson District One Patrick Baker City attorney um the city council begins our meeting with an expression of inspiration this is something to solemnize our work that we continue to work together and and represent you with respect and dignity and so tonight I will ask um mayor protim who is experiencing his last formal meeting a business meeting with us since is going to run for another office um I would like to ask him to give his expressions and then following that if you choose to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance we will have the Pledge of Allegiance and then we'll go into our agenda mayor protm thank you mayor LS um allow me to have just a moment of of personal privilege um I grateful to have been given the privilege and responsibility of serving six years immersed in the Democratic experiment uh American self-governance Municipal councils are the most direct form of democracy in action democracy provides us a vehicle that despite our differences in cultural values Rel religious beliefs personal particularities of distances of space this vehicle provides us a tool to decide and take action for the good of the people the councils that I've served on have got a lot done while there is certainly a lot more to get done democracy necessitates necessitates changes in governments whether that be determined by time or the people tonight marks the last time I will officially take part in the decision-making on behalf of the people of Charlotte as a part of this government this also marks the last meeting of this government in its current form next week Charlotte will swear in a reconstituted form of our municipal government I'm not going to lie I've been thinking about this moment a lot over the past weeks and months uh the reoccurring feelings and emotions I I get considered in this moment are not driven driven by the debates and arguments or the the votes won or lost or the policy successful or failed the feeling is gratitude that so many in our community provided me with the privilege of playing such a prominent role in this radical experiment of democracy to that end I would like to invoke the words of one of the most radical texts humankind has ever written and a document I spent a lot of time with seven or so years ago when I was trying to figure out the role I was supposed to be playing in our community the Declaration of Independence I hope you find this similar inspiration that this has given me uh and grounds us as to why we are all in this chamber this evening when the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the Earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of Nature's God entitle them a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights that among those are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the government that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it and to Institute new government laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness Prudence in effect their safety and uh Prudence indeed will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes and accordingly all experience ha shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while Evils are sufferable than to write themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed but when a long train of abuses and usurpations are pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute depois it is their right it is their duty to throw off such government and to provide new guards for their future security thank you thank you please stand if you would like to for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with libery and justice for all um before we go to our public forum I'd like to recognize the city manager thank you mayor members of the council uh tonight we have a a presentation that uh is long overdue and I'd like to uh invite Ben Hitchens who is a member of the American Planning Association board of directors he's joined us to recognize the city and some of its efforts thanks so much mayor lyes uh manager Jones members of the Charlotte City Council it's a pleasure to be with you this evening I had a wonderful tour this afternoon of the city with the planning staff with Alison Craig and her team uh and uh was a delight to learn more about your beautiful city my name is Ben hitchings I'm the chair of the APA Awards jury and a member of the American planning association's board of directors the American Planning Association is an organization of nearly 40,000 planners across the country and around the globe dedicated to creating great communities for all every year we present just four national awards to honor exceptional planning efforts across the country one of them the Burnham award is presented for a comprehensive plan that advances the science and art of planning the award honors America's most famous planner Daniel Burnham known among other things for his work on the 1909 plan of Chicago Burnham believed deeply in the power of planning to improve the lives of people in our communities the Charlotte future 2040 comprehensive plan truly embodies this Vision our Awards jury noted that the Charlotte 2040 plan is the product of extensive public Outreach which included Innovative techniques ranging from the creation of board games to a tick tock challenge to engage stakeholders with more than 40 different Outreach techniques used in all the result was engagement with thousands of voices in the city and a total of more than half a million interactions the Charlotte 2040 plan is also the product of thoughtful technical analysis with particular attention to understanding and addressing systemic inequities and the needs of the city's most vulnerable populations the result is a vision rooted in advancing Equitable growth for current and future Generations in the city a key Challenge and opportunity for communities everywhere in the 21st century the awards jury observed that the 2040 plan is a modern plan beautifully displayed online with a logical structure well-considered strategies and compelling presentation that reflects the voices needs and desires of the Charlotte Community but the plan is just the beginning the Charlotte 2040 approach includes strong implementation techniques including an anti-displacement strategy and other measures that are being operationalized through the preparation of a unified development ordinance 14 community area plans and the work of a neighborhood equity and stabilization committee and Equitable development commission and a community benefits task force an essential ingredient in this work to realize the community's vision is you the city council to help fuel implementation with your leadership guidance and resources We Salute the collaborative efforts of the Charlotte Community working together to make the city a vibrant and Equitable Hub of Commerce culture and community and to develop a plan that we are proud to hold up as an example for other places across the country and around the globe to learn from and replicate and so on behalf of the American Planning Association it is my great pleasure to recognize the city of Charlotte North Carolina with our 2023 Daniel Burnham National planning award for its Charlotte future 2040 comprehensive plan and to present this recognition to The Honorable mayor lyes thank [Applause] you I I accept this award on behalf of the Charlotte City Council of course I would like to say that it was a unanimous vote but it wasn't i' like to say that sometimes those kinds of votes that are split are the best times that we can address what we need to do um because we have to come to some place that we will all agree I also would like to say that we have one of the best teams in the country and I appreciate your recognition of them because we are provided the opportunity to work with a group that cares deeply about what's in happening in this community because most of them live here and they expect that they live just like the people in our other residents and so that in itself is an important part of what creates the fabric of this community but I'd also like to recognize um Mr Winston who really could probably quote the unified development ordinance if required to in a schooled event um but I would like to ask him to make a few remarks on his behalf as this is his last council meeting thank you very much may once again um first uh I I would like to thank uh thank staff uh for all of your work that you've done drafting this plan it provides us a road map for our future growth I know often times you know I say from this Das that you know that the data is there the data is there but please let this be a representation this award is the highest honor uh the highest uh uh level of of honor honor that can uh uh planning document can get by the N its National professional um um peers this isn't somebody we hired to audit the report these are these are folks who do this day in and day out and honestly have no real interest in what's going on specifically in Charlotte they're dealing with everything around the country so this is proof that the work that we've done um is good work and we should also thank uh the thousands of our residents who participated um in the process and thank you to the city council uh for adopting this important Vision this award serves as a reminder that by working together we can overcome challenges address disparities and build a future where every Community member's needs are not only heard but prioritized uh we're inspired by this recognition to continue our mission of a city that truly serves and uplifts uplifts all residents uh especially when looking at how we grow and develop as a city at this time I would like to invite staff to please stand up and so we can recognize you as we accept this [Applause] award there we go sorry all right so the next portion of our agenda is the public forum um on the fourth meeting me the last meeting of each month we invite people to come down to address the city council we have a process by which we do this we have 15 people who are signed up to speak we do have a waiting list for those that if someone is not speaking that the next person but we will hear from 15 people and these um people will be identified by calling into the city clerk's office to be placed on our agenda for this and so what we do in this respect is we listen to what you want to say and tell tell us and then later on if necessary we will have a response to a question or an issue that you have so I'm going to begin with our first um first a couple of things I always say when you're in the building these steps are very Steep and we would love to have you be careful I will ask for two people to come down we have two podiums and we'll continue that process until we have heard from each speaker because we have 15 speakers each speaker is given two minutes and there is a um a bell would we call it that will ring and at that point then please conclude your remarks and we will go to the next speaker so everyone has an opportunity to participate so our first two speakers today are Ria Tu and Liam carar would you please come down if you're here right here we are thank you a is a very short time I'm sorry I I'm very short time two minutes I I can't understand what I can't hear are too short it is our Pro our procedure that way so it will be the two minutes um so let's start with Raa R thank you hello Council my name is Risa I am a volunteer and a foster for animal care and control our group has attended many times now advocating for our city shelter which is overcrowded and underfunded as volunteers we have hands-on experience we spend a lot of our free time walking and enriching dogs we do anything possible for others to see what we see that we have some amazing dogs in our community sadly due to the amount of Strays coming in lately these amazing dogs get put on euthanasia list to make room for the new ones just last week the shelter had an intake rate of 26 dogs per day that's 26 new dogs per day for an already overc capacity shelter this puts all of the dogs that we have cared for at risk we have seen too many on their last day now we just can't keep up as a foster I try to take the dogs from the list to give them a chance nothing really beats seeing a dog from the list get adopted and pick a Christmas tree with his family as I saw over the weekend I wish they all had this chance we Fosters had 125 dogs in our Cara as of November 6 that's 125 lives that would not be here had it not been for Fosters and although we have grown in numbers we just can't keep up the only way to keep up is for the shelter to be equipped with what it needs to handle this massive population growth they need adequate space they need adequate Staffing a department structural change and funding for Community programs this is the only way for us to solve the problem now and to have sustainable lasting change for the future for all of the animals in our community thank you thank you thank you all right Mr carara please hello Council my name is Liam and I am 10 years old I've been the Foster brother of all the dogs my mom has brought home and though I've asked can we keep it more times than I can count I understand that fostering saves lives and there are a lot of homeless dogs that need help dogs like our dog Luna we lost her a few months ago she was adopted from Animal Control 16 years ago at a time where the population of Charlotte it was not what it is today my mom always tells me the story of how Luna was adopted and returned but she was terrible on a leash nippy and jumpy my mom found her months later and adopted her into what would be her forever home she went on to be the best dog and she was loved until the very end it breaks my heart that dogs are not getting a chance let alone too like Luna the shelter is so overcrowded that a lot of good dogs don't have a fair chance to find a forever home often the dogs that have been there for a few weeks are the first to go they'll never get their chance of finding finding a loving family and fosters like my mom want to help as many dogs as they can but they can't keep up with the amount of dogs that come in to keep up with the amount of homeless animals in our community Animal Control is desperate need is in desperate need for funding a lot has changed in 16 years and is time for a bigger shelter for more staff to care for the animals and for other life-saving programs this is the only way for real change for the animals in our community and to save some more lives thank you thank you very much our our next two speakers are Jennifer Bartell and Cindy Campbell good evening um I volunteer for friends of feral fee lines I'm also a foster at cmpd animal care and control you've heard uh people come and speak over the past couple months about the need for a new shelter um I am here to talk about another way to um lessen the burden uh at cmpd cmpd animal care and control and that is uh lowcost bay neuter and particularly um lowcost TNR for Community cats um TNR involves fixing vaccinating and ear tipping Community cats and then returning them to their territory Community cats are cats who do not have owners they live outside through no fault of their own and rely on human caregivers to survive they may be friendly or feral and it's estimated there are around 100,000 roaming or Community cats in Charlotte without human intervention feline populations can triple in the span of a year female cats can have up to three lit per year with an average of four kittens per liter these kittens that are born out and found outside or often taken taken to animal care and control which directly impacts the shelter's ability to provide services to other animals in need through friends of feral Fel lines I'm helping community members try and find um uh resources for lowcost TNR appointments which are very limited and cannot be found uh in the Charlotte area spay neuter appointments at a regular vet can typically cost around $450 lowcost TNR should be around $25 to $50 but recent if you can find an appointment it's not uncommon to pay $1 to $150 per cat um Humane Society used to offer same day appointments they don't any longer animal care and control post that they have a TNR program I applied for uh TNR appointments in May I've never heard back it's just very difficult for people to find appointments so I would ask that city council please look at giving some kind of funding either a grant or a line item in the budget for lowcost Bay neuter and TNR surgeries thank you all right Miss Campbell thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening on the city of Charlotte's homepage there are six icons the fourth is upon underneath of the words pet adoption with the phrase give a pet a loving home upon clicking that icon one is routed to the city's orphan Pet Care Division right now there are five faces peering out from that page if you dare to look wolf Ferris dandelion crush and Sage are their names Shameless pug they are available for adoption to kind and loving homes but why why are they in the shelter in the first place why is there a need for a shelter let me first say the caretakers employees and volunteers alike of our homeless friends whether at the city shelter or many of the other overworked at capacity rescue groups in Charlotte deserve Medals of Honor for their daily acts of kindness and compassion to the vulnerable Souls who have found themselves in need of good humans in our city I can only speak for myself but I'm tired I'm angry I'm sad I'm stressed I'm heartbroken and I find myself at a Breaking Point citizens are willingly exploiting fellow residents by not being part of a solution that starts with prevention spaying and neutering is the only way out of this situation most of us know the Albert Einstein definition of insanity doing the same thing over again and expecting different results Charlotte and its residents are engaged in Insanity we are not a pet for friendly City having dog parks and breweries where one can take their dog is not the definition of pet friendly the missing ingredient is awareness education and free or lowcost resources for spay neuter services in 2023 this is inhumane and outright stupid for a city this size and allegedly so Progressive to not have spay neuter information and resource access broadcast on all media platforms buses murals Billboards and Charlotte I'll end with a nod to Bob Barker who died earlier this year please be a responsible pet pet owner and stay or new to your pet thank you thank you very [Applause] much our next two speakers are Le I hope I'm close and I apologize for not being literate in everyone's name as well oh I'm sorry [Music] Wagner and Carla Aon Lopez hold on I get I get several copies of these during the day and I had a copy that was done at early as followed by Carla Lopez Aron Lopez this good evening and thank you for this opportunity to speak to you my name is Jerome Wagner I'm a retired environmental engineer who's been a climate activist for a decade I lead a climate Justice focused group named 350 Charlotte and I convene the capap accountability Committee of the Charlotte meinberg climate leaders the ca accountability committee has been active for two years at this point despite our principled and persistent effort we have not been able to assure ourselves that the city will meet its near-term sustainability goal adopted during the summer of 2018 for carbon-free City buildings and city fleet by 2030 we went so far as to assert to you on June 7th 2023 that the city will not meet its 2020 2030 sustainability goal we asserted further that the shortfall from the approved goals would be significant our findings have not been rebutted by Yuan Council counil nor by executive staff nor by operational staff I'll State at this time further that the city is not implementing the detailed tactical approach and timelines identified in the Strategic energy action plan the seap that plan was approved by the seated Council in December of 2018 the cmcl and accountability committee remain appreciative of the efforts being made by Sarah Hazel her direct reports and the city staff who are working with them but the S thanks and appreciation stop there as we approach the halfway point of this program we Echo and amplify the city's original sustainability goals further we know that there are many in the city who value and prioritize the climate mitigation goals and activities I'm referring to here net I assert that there has been very little real progress so far in terms of decarbonizing the city in closing I beg the council to redouble attention and progress in this area during 2024 thank you very much thank for your comment Sharon Lopez excuse me good evening Charlotte City Council on this eve of my 40th birthday I and my biggest collaborators the Mt Museum and Charlotte is creative would like to express our gratitude for the opportunity fund and let me tell you why for 3 years local Street has given a diverse display of all of the different types of artists and creatives we have in Charlotte and for the first time this year just to go along with industry standards I was able to not only pay each participating artist but also participate in ethical practices to where volunteers who worked hanging works of art for8 hours a day in a short amount of time period were able to be compensated as well as you continue forward and hats change at the same time I want you to think about moments like these when city council makes decisions like those that impact entire communities in the city of Charlotte when I first started local Street in 2021 it was in response to the black lives matter mural I did not want those artists pigeon hold for performative Action that is now disappeared on the street instead I saw the entire communities of Charlotte the diversity of Charlotte come together year one three days we saw 1,000 residents many of whom did not go to a museum ever year two we saw that same amount on the opening night 2,000 people in two weeks this very last year 1,000 people on opening night on a Sunday 2,000 people during the course of one week when we create collaborative actions as such between individuals local government and major institutions what we know is that in 3 years over 5,000 people majority on from the black and brown communities now know Charlotte you're welcome I appreciate you all thank you very all right our our next two speakers are is that Sami and Brian kid wait a minute I have got now somebody's people have handed me to okay we'll go in this order we'll come back to that Stephanie we will catch up with the next person okay all right before my time starts I apologize I thought we were limited to 3 minutes that's why I out of line that's what we were told by your U I think City Clerk or someone in in the city anyway do I start can you tell us your name again please yes ma'am okay good evening respected members of the council good evening good evening good evening thank you for the this forum I am is s a proud Palestinian American a local businessman an entrepreneur a father and a longtime Charlotte resident can you hear me yes can Council can you see me we expect and demand our elected officials to hear us and see us we expect you to lead we expect you to lead in spite of any tough blowback any political football being played or political calculations be the voice of the voiceless human lives and the safety of innocent citizens are supreme too and supersede any other calculations and considerations we should not just par at meaninglessly self-evident values but rather Implement them in our private and public lives our community has sent over to the city council as well as the County Commissioners a resolution denouncing Israeli genocide and supporting a just cause the Palestinian cause have you taken a look at it have you we need a commitment from you to truly consider passing it Palestinians not only want to be free but want to live in dignity as well four score years and many generations ago of Suffocation suffocating blockades massacres occupation and stifling apartheid are more than enough American Weaponry political cover has greenlighted Israeli bombing campaign last 6 weeks 15,000 innocent lives taken 6200 children do you have children I do 38,000 people injured speak up against atrocities and a genocide taking place today 21st century thank you very much pleas consider the you resolution it's in your EMA email box ma'am thank [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you could you give me your name please could could you give me your name uh my name's Brian kid I believe I was up next I understand thank you we will go ahead and proceed yes okay all right um actually would I be able to hand it off to him first and I can go after Miss ad Madam clerk my era so Ryan will go ahead and speak would you like the schedule we all have no I'm fine thank you we'll manage I understand and I appreciate the support and the help and assistance but we'll go with that please thank you for that all right Brian yes uh my name is Brian kid and I am one of the newly elected co-chairs of the Charlotte Metro Democratic Socialist of America and I'm here representing my chapter but also joining the supporters of the Palestinian um cause in calling on you to support a permanent ceasefire in the Israeli Gaza conflict and also condemn the genocidal actions of the Israeli government after 50 days of conflict it's clear that what Israel is doing is just a complete overreaction to the pain that they suffered on October 7th over 10,000 civilians I believe I heard an even updated number over 15,000 civilians have been killed tens of thousands more have been um injured and over hundreds of thousands have been been displaced from their homes and don't even know if they'll have a home to return to after the bombing stops I believe as an American we should have learned by now that bombing countries into the ground does not solve anything we saw in Vietnam and Afghanistan that the resistance of the people in those countries outlasted what damage we did to those countries and in Libya and in Iraq we saw that those bombings just led to an even worse decivilization which led to even worse civilian deaths and terrorism in its wake I think as Americans we should be pushing Israel to learn not from repeating the same actions as us but rather look to countries like the UK look to countries like Spain which dealt with their separatist issues with the IRA and with ETA by after learning after Decades of conflict that diplomacy was the way to solve it bringing them to the table deciding to lay down arms and find an agreement that finally ends the cycles and cycles of conflicts that have just embittered the people of Palestine and Israel thank you give me your name please I can't hear you mayor I'm sorry can you give me your read yes my name is Le Jara and I was after isan thank you very much please you have two minutes okay uh thank you to the council and to the mayor for uh listening to us today my name is Le shahada I'm 26 years old resident of Charlotte and I am a proud Palestinian American my parents came to this country a year before I was born escaping apartheid and a brutal occupation into search for the American dream 26 years later I like to think that I live that dream I hold a master's degree in quantitive Finance which allows me to work my dream job I enjoy the freedom to travel and have the privilege to play soccer and spread my spend my free time outside my home is safe free from the sounds of gunfire bombs and frequent military raids but today I want to share the story of my family most of which who still live in Palestine and have very different life stories for many generations we have lived in a town called uif just above the mountain facing a reef is an Israeli Jewish only City what is referred to as a settlement built on land that belongs to my family our land was stolen to build the settlement our land which used to house thousands of olive trees and produce some of the world's richest olive oil now houses hatred and extremism what used to be a source of income for my family is now stolen these settlers many of whom are American citizens often descend onto our town in an effort to intimidate people and more often than not these settlers are armed and have killed family members and friends of mine recently one of them was relative by the name of Nadal he had a wife a young daughter also he was shot in the back three times and died Nadal story is just one of those from my Village among many others killed for the crime of being born Palestinians their aspirations and dreams were Shattered by those who couldn't find peace in an American Dream but immigrated to a Promised Land far away in search of blood driven by an evil and racist anti-semitic ideology called Zionism in the last few weeks we have seen 20,000 more of these stories happen and we asked the city council to do what it can to intervene my my purpose of coming before all of you today is to consider standing in the face of Injustice and having the city of Charlotte take a stand against apartheid and genocide myself and many Charlotte residents are here to ask you to stand on the right side of history and immediately issue a ceasefire resolution following other cities like caror North Carolina Atlanta Georgia and Richmond California we ask the city council to speak to listen to its citizens thank you you very much I'm sorry if we if we if we are going to hear the speakers then we can't hear everyone in the room at one time so I'd like for us to get the speakers through and then of course there is not there is space in this building for you to have other remarks or additional meetings with each other um our next speaker is jab huff and Parker deos know we'll get him the last person was La was the last person the young man M all right all right I know all right Mr Huff good evening like you said I'm Jael Huff I'm here representing the Islamic Center of Charlotte in one of about 30,000 Charlotte Area Muslims we are facing a humanitarian crisis and genocide in Gaza a crisis that is not just confined to the Gaza Strip we have people in Charlotte who have lost family members in Gaza due to the US Israeli bombing we live in a global village a village that if you're Palestinian and or Muslim your life and concerns are are not as valuable to most elected officials and political leaders we are here tonight to say the lives of Palestinians and Muslims deserves the same kind of respect that you would give any other community most of you on Council have had some type of relationship with myself or other Muslims and Palestinians in the community of Charlotte you visited our masjids you received our votes our money we we've shared void together we have stood for justice together tonight that Justice must include us I must include it must include the Palestinians and Muslims when our government and elected leaders turn their backs on us we get genocide over 14 now 15,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza islamophobia is on the rise in America three Palestinian young men Sunday night were shot in Vermont and this weekend one of our fellow community members who had signed up was harass at his door because his uh the address is publicly known if you're speaking here we need to change that it has been said that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crisis maintain their neutrality worse than that I would say the hottest place is reserved for those who are not just neutral but support the moral crisis we must fight this racism Zionism and islamophobia we must free [Applause] Palestine what your name please my name is Parker deos thank you I would like underscoring what I'm about to say um I want it to be known that the person who was just skipped was the person who was harassed last night right okay what grounds this resolution we have proposed which has been brought forth by constituents of meinberg County and is being considered by our city council is an ethic rooted in community solidarity and love the call for Palestinian Liberation and sovereignty Echoes around the world I have never in my life seen such consistent and widespread Global direct action and international solidarity the message is clear the people of this world reject the dying clutches of imperialism we know there is a world after imperialism imperialism is an unsustainable failed project we know there is a world after this genocide Palestine will be free Palestinian children who play Under the cool shades of olive trees will be free Palestinian women and men who are human beings who are sensitive who are not barbaric they deserve social Mobility full citizenship and reparations from the Decades of apari violence at the hands of the failed racist genocidal Zionist state of d guys this is the right thing to do your community believes in you and finally to my Palestinian and Palestinian American friends and allies you are loved you will see Justice you will decide your own Justice from The River To The Sea Palestine will be free thank [Applause] you Le Shad is if I said getting close please and Then followed by Abraham elock come down hey yes please come down yes please go uh my name is you Aisa um all right here we go I'm here to share my thoughts on the objective truth that any and all people have the right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness this isn't just a belief and I refer to it as an objective truth because any person not devoid of humanity would agree with these words so impactful that they are enshrined in our nation's Declaration of Independence our country holds these values dear in theory as does the overwhelming majority of the world as evidenced by the passage of the un's Declaration of human rights a vote wherein the United States voted yes similarly I ask this Council to support a simple call for a permanent and Lasting end to the violence in occupied Palestine a Nation Under Siege and Devastation from an oppressive Force who seeks only to use its assets to subjugate and exterminate others in the interest of expansion similar to what brought the United States into World War II it is patently unamerican to support these acts of Terror and the federal government in so doing has demonstrated how far out of touch it is with the people only Fringe elements of our Society support the genocide being carried out in another affect evidence affect evidence by my being accosted and threatened in my own home last night this is a police report and this is your fault a man crossed the threshold into a space I should expect safety in seeking to do me harm the cancerous ideologies allowing for genocide are no longer just foreign but are as deep rooted in this country as islamophobia has shown to be so I ask you council do you Aid and abet these acts in the same way I have a right to free speech under our constitution the people of Palestine have the right to freedom and so be like the man who tried to intimidate me out of making this statement represent the beautiful and diverse people you were elected and ordered to represent and call for peace you serve at our pleasure you do not dictate our opinion do your jobs or we will soon sit in those seats thank you Council [Applause] our next speaker I believe is Ibraham elop good evening council members my name is Ibrahim and I'm I'm concerned resident whose grandfather is a survivor of the 1948 nagba from northern Palestine my grandfather tell us the story where he had to flee with his family from Israel's militias terrorism as they embarked on their fishing boat towards Southern Lebanon and they're never allowed to go back in the current invasion of Gaza un has described it as the worst ever humanitarian crisis they have witnessed usually in classifying genocide Scholars scramble to prove the motive while for Gaza Israel has made it clear in their own statements to quote Mo the laan and justify killing quot animals Benjamin Netanyahu himself uh invoked the biblical reference of the amalik from Deuteronomy 25 which continues to read now go attack the amalekites put to death men women and children I'm trying to understand why people could be hesitant to see it for what it is indeed if we take a look at history at the injustices that have happened and we see why people have stayed silent for a long time to name a few of of these injustices slavery South Africa's aperti Jim Crow the Holocaust the Vietnam War and so more do you ever wonder at that time how did mainstream public address these situations were they reluctant were they unsure what to say or they just deferred it as completely complicated here comes today and we abhorrently view this as as human right violations atrocities war crimes genocides it's easier for us to look back at back at history and judge it with a clean slate when it's all said and done only the courageous ones stand up and call it for what it is this is the case of the Palestines Palestinians plight for freedom from pal from Israeli occupation for the over 75 years City Council Members please don't underestimate the action you take in standing up for justice thank you our next speaker is coo love followed by Katie gunzenhauser and could you give us your name please yes I'm Katie gunsen Houser um is Coco love in this in the space in the room if not Samar El hiok hello good evening as I said earlier my name is Katie gunsen Houser and I have been a citizen of Charlotte for 5 years like many of you I love this city I love the trees the people the Charlotte's got a lot slogan um and the potential and Vibrance in the past when I imagined speaking in front of all of you I never thought I would have to come here with such a heavy heart and a very simple request I am taking the podium tonight to urge each of you to read the statement that people have written and to make a statement and take action in solidarity with Palestinians our government built on the promised ideology of freedom and prosperity for all is neglecting and obliterating the rights and livelihoods of Milli millions of Palestinians at our big age in 2023 as a public health professional I am deeply Disturbed to see what is happening in what our country's continual weaponization of our economic and social power to uproot the lives of Ians and Palestinians since October 7th the Biden's administration's drastic devastating and quite frankly illogical response to The Siege on Gaza has made me find myself not asking for you to do anything but simply stand I urge you to stand in solidarity with us with our people facing a world no one deserves and to write and share this resolution stating these claims by failing to do this you are complicit in genocide side and ins stealing the rights of human safety health and home that all of us deserve to not do this is to fail me to fail our Charlotte citizens who truly believe in equality to not do this is to condone the massacre of people who just like us are passionate about their jobs about their educations about their communities and their families thank you very much thank you all so much I believe in you have a good evening [Applause] good evening my name is Samar Alik I'm American with a Palestinian and Lebanese Heritage my great-grandfather had to flee from his own home because of the Israelis in 1948 I'm 12 years old girl and I'm here to advocate for a ceasefire in Gazza I'm advocating for a word I didn't even know the meaning of until now I'm here to speak up for children like me who are being killed in gazda every single day I'm hurt by the images and videos of men women and children's bodies scattered across a seats streets and under buildings I can't imagine that Palestinians are living without water food medication electricity and proper shelter while it is a basic necessity for every human being I can't imagine that while I'm talking a child dies another could be killed in the next 10 minutes thankfully there is a pause at the moment I can't imagine that my country is funding for the killing of a whole nation this needs to stop now call for a ceasefire permanently free [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Palestine that concludes our public forum for this evening um and and so we have heard you and um thank you for being as respectful as you've been I appreciate that very much I apologize but not always but there's a lot of paper up here and I want to especially recognize that um we understand that this is an effort that we are paying attention to and so appreciate what you've done and said so that concludes our presentation from the public forum um again as I say please be careful as you leave the chamber or if you choose to leave this chamber but you're welcome to stay for the remaining portion of our agenda tonight thank you very much all right let me go to public caring the next item are on our agenda is item number seven a public hearing and a decision public hearing to close a portion of Alleyway off of Roland Street um do we have any speakers Madam clerk hearing no do we have an second could I have a motion to um close the public hearing and adopt the resolution closing the closing adop second you have a motion and a second any discussion hearing none if please if your approval please raise your hand in favor of the motion all right thank you the next item is um a public hearing to close a portion of Paragon Drive and adopt a resolution we have no speakers on this so we have a motion to conduct close the public hearing and adopt a resolution so moved second we have a motion and a second any discussion hearing none all in favor of the closure raise your hand thank you thank you unanimous the next is a public hearing and a decision on the Savona Mill Historic Landmark designation and we do not have any speakers for the um public hearing do we have a motion to close the public hearing and adopt an ordinance with the effective date of November 27 designating the property closing it up second right we have a motion and a second any discussion hearing no discussion all in favor please raise your hand all in favor please raise your hand thank you the next item is item 10 public hearing and a decision on the white McCoy house Landmark designation um do we have any speakers no ma' hearing none do we have Clos the public hearing adopt the ordinance with the effective date of November 27 designating the property of the McCoy House close and adopt have a motion and a second any discussion hearing no discussion all in favor please raise your hand thank you I have to say that I think her one of the daughters of the whites house is actually works for um the clinic on on Wilkerson Boulevard yeah so all right the next item is item 12 an extension uh we will be pulling this item from the agenda Mr Jones so we will not take a vote on item 12 we will be coming back with that when the manager is prepared for an approval or adoption the next item is 13 I'm sorry mad did we just pull thank the next item is agenda item 13 to approve payment to the ncdot for the removal of a deep restriction in the amount of $141,000 and adopting a budget ordinance appropriating that fund from the Beltway 77 phase owner to the cats capital projects fund are do I have a motion so moved second we have a motion and a second is there any discussion hearing no discussion all in favor please raise your hand thank you the next item is Independence Boulevard 14 Independence Boulevard busway restoration project adopted resolution authorizing the manager to negotiate and execute 950,000 for a municipal agreement with ncdot for the design and construction of the busway entrance and exit on Independent bouevard second and adopt that ordinance have a motion and a second any discussion I would like to say that um Mr Driggs and I were with the MTC when they actually voted unanimously to recommend this it is particularly important as we talk about the far East and the ability to get to the center city so all in favor raise your hands anyone oppose thank you the next item is 15 the next item is 15 Eastland property transfer to me mberg County to adopt a resolution for the transfer 4.5 Acres of city-owned property to meinberg County for the use as a public park the manager to execute all documents we have a motion and a second any discussion hearing no discussion all in favor please raise your hand that's unanimous as well the next item is item 16 for the sale of city-owned land for the West Boulevard remount development adopt a resolution approving the sale of 7 Acres to Lambert commercial real EST State LLC for $500,000 with the manager to negotiate and execute documents and adopt a budget ordinance appropriating the $500,000 from Lambert to the general fund capital projects fund so moved second we have a motion and a second any discussion hearing none oh miss watlington I'm sorry couldn't move fast enough no you're you're fine um I won't belabor the point um but I did just want to recognize Lambert commercial and um lulus and Tracy and the rest our Economic Development staff for the work that they did on coming to some mutually beneficial Community benefit agreements with um the community on this one without a resoning there really wasn't a required conversation so I'm immensely appreciative of the the work that they've done to get to a place where the community can feel comfortable that that what will be done here will be supportive of the Playbook all right any other questions or comments caring none all in favor of the motion please raise your hand all right the next item that we have is to go back into Clos session so Mr Baker we have one two items I think total that's correct Madame mayor I need a motion to go into close session to consult with the attorney to in order to preserve the attorney client privilege uh pursuant to ncgs 143 31811 A3 and to view a law enforcement recording pursuant to ncgs 143 31811 A10 and we will go back up to room 267 oh we down back here we're going to go to the rear the room behind us so we have a motion in a second everybody raise your hand thank you very much let's goj afterward we will have an adjournment after the present after the two items are discussed okay thank you everyone we just want to make a note to the people that are watching us that we will be in a Clos session and we'll adjourn our meeting as a at the end of that closed session so thank you very much for those of you who have watched us this [Music] evening [Music]