Good morning. We're going to get started this morning with an invocation led by Sir Rob Singh of Interfaith Alliance of Oklahoma and that will be followed by the pledge of allegiance led by Eric Newton of Boy Scouts pack 226. Please stand as you are able. [Music] [Music] Oh divinely friends, let us get together. Let us communicate, reflect, understand and live the divine virtues and be happy. Our voices and sins will be erased and distanced. With humility, embi the divine message to enlighten our ignorant minds. By the grace of divine, our mind will live the oneness with our creator. I have found the eternal message. By the grace of divine, Nanak is constantly in gratitude for that very moment. Divine, our body and mind are yours. You are our parent and we all are your children. In your grace there is endless stability, peace and happiness. No one knows your limits. You are the highest among all highs. The entire creation is strung in your thread. That what has come from you is under your will. You alone know your state and extent. Nanuk is forever in gratitude to you. One eternal divine in all, the Oklahoma City Council invokes your presence, blessing, and guidance at today's meeting led by Mayor David Holt. This council of diverse thinking and background thanks you for the responsibility to serve the people of Oklahoma City. We recognize that our collective wisdom and efforts shape the future and the lives of who live here. Guide our meeting with a unity of purpose in our decisions. keep us focused on our goals and make us work together with love, respect, integrity, and a commitment to excellence. May we work and lead with open minds, hearts, and a spirit of collaboration, striving to create an environment of inclusivity where every voice is valued and every contribution is celebrated. Bless us with strength and discernment of intellect to navigate the complexities and challenges with a bold vision, courageous action, and humble minds. May our council be productive, purposeful, and ultimately serve what is best for Oklahoma City's peace, growth, and prosperity. Unite us all in oneness with the glue of your love and grace. align our minds to work in accordance with your virtues of compassion, forgiveness, positivity kindness sharing and caring. May we feel your protection, remembrance, and connection in this meeting. Connect us with those in whose company may we live your spirituality. Help each other practice it in the name of Nanak and the divine word. May there be total optimism and through divine will, may this council, Oklahoma City, all creation and humanity prosper. Thank you. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Well, thank you, Sir Rob, and thank you, Eric. I call this meeting of the city council to order and we will begin with some presentations and I will make my way to the front for that. All right, why don't we have our friends from Dead Center come forward. Now, all of you come on. Oh, yeah. Photo wall. You got up at early on a Tuesday. You might as well do the whole thing. All right. So, it is in fact, believe it or not, the 25th anniversary of the Dead Center Film Festival here in OKCU. We'd like to learn a little bit more about it. And so I'd ask the clerk to read this proclamation. Whereas Oklahoma City is at the dead center of film culture each June during the annual Dead Center Film Festival. And whereas celebrating its 25th anniversary, Dead Center has grown to become Oklahoma's largest and most celebrated film festival. And whereas Dead Center screens hundreds of films, attracts thousands of annual visitors, and showcases many of Oklahoma City's premier venues and attractions. And whereas Dead Center is the only Oscar qualifying film festival in the state. And whereas Dead Center has been named one of the 20 coolest film festivals in the world by Movie Maker magazine and one of the top 100 best reviewed festivals on Film Freeway. And whereas Dead Center has brought national recognition to some of Oklahoma's most talented film industry professionals through its film icon program. And whereas dead center is one of the pillars upon which Oklahoma's successful film industry has been built. Now therefore, I, David Holt, mayor of the city of Oklahoma City, do hereby proclaim June 11 through 15, 2025 to be Dead Center Film Festival Week in Oklahoma City. Thank you. Um well, we've talked a lot in this chamber over the last few years about our growing um film industry here in Oklahoma City and certainly Dead Center with 25 years of history now was at the forefront of that for a very long time. And at the forefront of the forefront is the unsinkable Khaki Porch. And we would uh love to hear a few words from you, Khaki. The floor is yours. Thank you so much. Actually, hearing that proclamation makes me very uh tearful. Uh I'm very proud of what we've accomplished in 25 years. The the mission of DeadCenter Film is to inspire, promote, and celebrate creativity and community through film. And we do that every day through three pillars: education, continuum, and the festival. And what we've talked about, the festival is coming up. It's June 11th through the 15th. We're so excited about all the things that will be happening that week. Uh we started at City Arts at the fairgrounds with a a handful of films started by Jason and Justin Floyd and we will be returning to Oklahoma Contemporary as a DC hub. And so we'll be coming home to Oklahoma Contemporary and all um all that's happening between Julenter.org. And a shout out to the mayor. We are celebrating him as a community icon this year. Uh, and we will have a conversation with him and Wayne Coin on June 15th at the Oak with our closing night screening, UFOs of the Zoo. And so I hope you will join us throughout the week and in particular, join us on June 15th to celebrate Mayor Holt. Thank you. Thank you. Let's hear it for our Dead Center crew. There you go. That is yours to keep. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Yes, please go ahead. I can't help it. First, congrats on 25 years part of Dead Center. I got to invite you. I get to hang out with these cool kids on a panel. Come on Friday the 13th. Thank you so much. Uh there's going to be a remembering Thank you. Uh that's not for me. We're going to be doing a remembering David Lynch panel discussion and it's part of Dead Centers 25 and that is going to be with myself, Dton Stewart, Bria uh Daniel and Paris Burus and we are going to be at the Oklahoma Contemporary that you just heard. So it's 11:00 a.m. on Friday the 13th and uh congrats on your honor. Yeah. Oh, thank you. Um all right, next up Shannon, come on down. Shannon Cox, our employee of the month, should all of this go well because this does require a vote. So, we'll see how Let's learn a little bit more about you, Shannon. So, I would ask clerk to read this resolution. Whereas, Shannon Cox has served as a city employee for 14 years and is a public information and marketing manager for the public works department. And whereas Shannon leads communication for the public works department, keeping employees and residents informed through timely and transparent updates. And whereas Shannon demonstrates strong leadership by supervising the communications team, handling public inquiries, and supporting creative projects and events. And whereas Shannon launched Centerline, an employee newsletter that strengthens departmentwide communication and coordinates public works heart of the city campaign. And whereas Shannon created the hidden heroes video series which honored the public works department's role in the Oklahoma City bombing response that led to a partnership with the Oklahoma National Memorial. And whereas Shannon highlights public works employees through innovative storytelling that builds pride and awareness across the city. Now therefore, be it resolved by the mayor and council of the city of Oklahoma City that they do hereby thank and commend Shannon Cox, May 2025 South Oklahoma City Kowanas Club employee of the month. Yes. Well, thank you. Okay, so this is a resolution. Before I give the floor to you, I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a vote on this. So, let's see if we can get a motion in a second. We have it. Cast your votes. I wish to vote. I passes unanimously. Shannon is probably one of our better known city employees because it is in fact your role to be out front and uh and on some pretty important issues and certainly uh in a in an area we'll be talking a lot about this year as we head towards a bond issue vote. But, uh, Shannon, we would love to hear a few words from you. The floor is yours. Well, thank you, mayor and council. Um, it's just been an honor and amazing to me because it started as a temporary job here. It's turned into a wonderful career um where I've met some amazing people that I work with um throughout the community as well. And u I'm just thankful to serve Oklahoma City. Well, we we are grateful for you and the way that you represent us. So, let's hear it for Shannon Cox. All right, that concludes Office of the Mayor, which brings us to item four, items from council. We have item 4A. This is a resolution approving travel expenses for council members Carter and Stonecipher to attend an upcoming NLC meeting in uh Columbus in July. We could take a motion on that. I have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. passes 8 to one and with the necessary six affirmative votes. Item five are city manager reports. Mr. City Manager. Yes, we have Oops. We have two items that are on today. We have the sales tax report, sales and use tax report for May. And in this one, uh, we do have improvement in our sales tax, which is very encouraging. Um it's 3.7% growth, but you look at it over the year starting from June going through May, I'm sorry, July going through May, and we're down about seven about 7% from last year. And so we're still seeing a little bit of decline. We do have um 2% growth projected. So the biggest issue between sales and use taxes, we're about $12 million below budget. Our expectation is to finish some of that somewhere in that neighborhood. We'll have one more check that we have for June for sales and use tax, but it is setting the stage for the challenges that we have in the budget for this year. I feel like we're in a good position to manage that with the level of reserves we have in this year going into next year. You all know and we have the budget on today of having to make some adjustments to get ourselves back in line with where we project our revenues to be to be. But it was good to see um the sales tax bounce back a little bit in this month. And then we have claims and payroll law that could be found on OKC.gov. And that's all that I have. All right. Thank you. Item six, are journal of council proceedings. We have items A and B. We could take with one motion. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item seven, request for uncontested continuences. Um, we have listed here 11D and 11F, which will both both be deferred till June 17th. Uh, is there anything else, Mr. City Manager? Yes. Begin on page 17 we have um item 1101 dilapidated structures. All of these items that I will list out and the various areas of the agenda will be stricken from the agenda. Item B 252 North Military Avenues to renotify the owner. Continuing on page uh onto page 18, unsecured structures, item 11P, we have item C, 1533 East Madison Street. The owner is secured. Item E, 3120 South Robinson Avenue. The owner is secured. Item J, 1716 Northwest 17th Street. The owner is secured. Item L, 5930 Northwest 19th Street. The owner is secured. Item N, 4416 Southeast 44th Street. The owner is secured. On item 11, Q1, still on page 18, abandoned buildings. Uh, item B, 1533 East Madison Street. Item E, 252 North Military Avenue. And item J, 1716 Northwest 17th Street. and then K 5930 Northwest 19th Street. And those are um stricken for the same reasons they were on previous uh items. That's all that I have. Okay. Thank you. Item eight, a revocable permits and events. Item 8 A is a revocable permit with the Perry Publishing and Broadcasting Company for the Junth Art and Music Festival, June 13th through the 15th and Booker T. Washington Park and Paige Stadium. Um, we have Connor Neil. Good morning. My name is Connor Neil with Perry Publishers Broadcasting. Um, this will be our 17th year doing the Junth Festival uh on the east side, which is a a remarkable event. I invite everyone out every year. So, if you haven't showed up, it's your turn, you know. Um, but this year we're doing something a little bit different as we added last year. we did Thursday and Friday. Uh Friday is jazz and the sunset and we will be playing uh the thunder game. Then that uh Saturday is the full festival. And we did add something a little bit different this year. Um Thursday uh June 12th, we are doing a men of color that's at OOT triple C. And we are honoring a couple of of city employees, state employees, which is uh Sheriff uh Tommy Johnson's getting award as well as Chief Ron Basy is getting award. So something that we are adding. So it's pretty cool. So if you guys have haven't had opportunity to come out, please come out. Awesome. Thank you, uh Councilman Pennington. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um very excited and looking forward to this event as always. Um it's like a big family reunion and so very relieved to hear the thunder game will be playing um on Friday. So um look forward to seeing you there. And with that, mayor, I'd like to move uh approval. All right. We have a motion in a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Thank you. Item 8 B is a revocable permit with Red Coyote running a fitness for the Red Coyote Love Run 5K and 10K on June 28th um along the River Trail. And we have John Oland here. Good morning. Morning, Mr. Mayor, members of council. This will be the seventh year for the Red Coyote Love Run and our fifth year uh to hold it in partnership with uh Social Capital down by Scissorale Park. Uh got a couple of changes to the route this year due to trail construction on the north side of the river. Going to cross over and run along the South River Trail. Uh we're very excited uh for this event again to be on the same weekend as the Pride Festival. So many of the people who come and participate in the uh celebration of everybody for this particular run uh can move on over to the festival afterwards. Uh we're looking forward to another great year uh great run. has grown each and every year uh and expect to exceed a thousand people this year. So uh appreciate you guys. Invite each and every one of you guys to join us uh on June 28th. Thank you. This crosses into wards four, six, and seven. So anybody who wants to join in. Yeah. I would just like to say sounds like a fantastic event. I'd love to move for its approval. Thank you so much. We have a motion and a second. cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Thank you all. All right. Item 8 C is a revocable permit with the Riverport Foundation for the Stars and Stripes Riata on June 28th in the boat house district. And we have Trisha Downey here. You do. Good morning everyone. I'm Trisha Downey, national event manager at Riverport. We are super excited to host the Stars and Stripes Riata Festival again this year. It starts at 8:00 a.m. with a US rowing sanctioned masters rowing event. It starts at 8, goes to about 1. Then there's a little break in the afternoon and then about 3:00 we started OG night sprints. Um because of a maps 3 project in June of 2013, we became the first raceourse with stadium lights. And they say as you build it, they will come. This river, this stretch, is still the only uh water racecourse that has stadium lights. So, this is an absolute bucket list for rowers to come to Oklahoma City. Um, at 2 3:00 the Paddlefest Dragon Boat Festival starts. Uh, dragon boats uh take 10 people. So, if the city council here wants to get in a boat and uh experience what what it's like to paddle, I will personally set that up for y'all. But it goes till 10:00 at night. We also have a master's rowing event in the evening. Uh fireworks at the end because it's a stars and stripes festival and uh food trucks and fun will be had by all. So, do you have any questions for me? No. Councilman Fington. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, yes, I accept the challenge. I will get in the vote. So, I want another council member to join me. Maybe Councilman Stone, because I know he's experienced with with the vote. So, you want to you want to join me? Sure. Okay. So, you got two. Um, very excited about this event and now looking forward to getting in the uh in the boat for sure. Um, with that, I move approval. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you. Uh item 8 D is a revocable right-of-way use permit with Oklahoma Pride Alliance to hold the Oklahoma Pride Alliance downtown Pride Parade on June 29th uh on Walker. And we have Kylin Durant. Good morning. My name is Kylin Durant. I use he and they pronouns and I'm the president of Oklahoma Pride Alliance. I first want to say um as someone who stands at the intersection of Junth and Pride, it is incredibly important and powerful to me that both Junth and Pride are on the same agenda at our city council. Um we have an incredible festival that happens before the the parade. It starts on Friday and um we will have uh David Archeletta from American Idol performing along with Dea. So it's going to be an incredible evening. That evening also has our artist avenue. And then Saturday kicks off with our wellness Saturday. There's all sorts of exercise, yoga, um cycle bar, rumble boxing that happens. And then we also have our um community zone and that is an incredible place for people to gather information about community resources that support our community. Um and then we will also have baby tape that night. So, we have um two incredible nights of entertainment and then this all culminates in a parade on Sunday that starts at 11:00. Um and it's going to go downtown. It's going to march right past city hall um and then turn on the on the boulevard and end at Scissor Park. It should be a fantastic event. And if you haven't been out there yet, I highly encourage it. Thank you, uh Councilwoman Hammond. Thank you. Well, um very excited to again host um a pride celebration in W 6. So, I'm very happy to move for approval. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Thank you. Okay. Item E is a revocable right-of-way use permit with the Plaza District Chamber of Commerce to hold live on the Plaza on June 13th and August 8th on Northwest 16th. I might also mention um item F is a revocable rightway use permit with the Plaza District Chamber of Commerce to hold the Plaza District Festival on September 27th. We have Rachel Crawford here and you're welcome to kind of talk about both if you want and then we'll vote. Yeah. Good morning, city council. So, I'm Rachel Crawford, executive director with the Plaza District. And um some of you know me, some of you don't. One of the things when people ask me what exactly it is that has given the Plaza District this uh in our renaissance era, if you are a big comeback since the pandemic are events and um we have done Pride on the Plaza since 2019. Some people go, why do we have three three pride festivals? It was never meant to be the third pride festival. We do a different theme every month, but the Plaza District is very, very queer friendly. We have a lot of queer business owners. I myself am part of the community. My colleague Casey Longacre is. And so, um, we take with us our experience from 39th Street Pride and Pridefest downtown and helping produce those organ those events and bring it to the Plaza District. Last year, we had 14,000 people. So, it was absolutely necessary for us to close the street on June 13th. We have a ton of live entertainment, community resources. We're also doing a drag history museum. We want people to understand that um drag has been here and will continue to be here and it is a very very powerful art form. Um I think a lot of people really could consider comparing it to theater in our state theater is right there in the district. Lyric theater. Um so I do encourage you to come. It will be a ton of fun. We're also doing a U-Haul with a lesbian DJ showcase. So that's super fun. Um, we also bring back Skate the Plaza. We partner with Money Runes Everything and it is a ton of fun. We have about 8,000 to 10,000 people out, weather permitting. We turn 16th Street into a giant skate park. Punk bands, hiphop acts, um, heavy metal, ton of fun. And then lastly, we bring back Plaza Fest for its 26th year. We partner with ACM at UCO, Oklahoma City Arts Council. Um, Art Moves does a lot of work with us. We're very grateful for them. And we have three live music stages. It also coincides with the 10th anniversary of Plaza Walls Mural Expo. On that day on September 27th, we see about 35,000 people in the Plaza District. And I believe certainly that with city council's approval, we'll continue to be able to do our events, keep everybody safe, keep the street closed for larger events, and I hope that you will come join us. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Uh, Councilwoman Hammond, if you just want to walk us through both of those votes. Yeah. Well, um, both events or series of events sound, um, like amazing programming as you always do. So, very happy move for approval for item E. Maybe. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. This is on item E. Passes unanimously. and then we'll bring up item F. And I'm happy to move for approval. Have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Thanks. Thank you. All right. Item 8G is a revocable rideway use permit with Red Coyote running and fitness to hold the Red Coyote Junth on the East 5K on June 20th on North Rhode Island. Um and we again have John Osland. Good morning again. Uh we are very excited uh to be a part of the Junth uh weekend. We'd like to thank JB and the Junth on the East committee uh who is going to be up next. But uh it's hard to believe it's already been four years. This will be the fourth running of our event. Uh it is uh we kick off the festival weekend on the Friday evening. Uh we're still waiting for a year when it's not 300°. So, if you guys can make a few calls, we'd appreciate it. Um, but it's grown to be our biggest uh event by participation and uh by registration, and it's uh really just a super exciting time. Uh we're very welcomed in the neighborhood. It runs through the northeast community neighborhoods. Uh really something to see and something to be a part of. So, we invite everyone to join us on Friday evening, uh June 20th, and hope to see you guys all there. All right. Thank you, Councilman Pennington. Um excited once again to welcome the the run back um to our community so you get to see beautiful Northeast OKC 7 heaven. So um I'm excited, Mr. Mayor, to move for approval. A motion and a second. Cast your votes. Thank you guys so much. Pass unanimously. Thank you. 8H is a revocable rightway use permit with with love. OKC to hold Junth on the east on June 21st on Northeast 23rd and we have JB Williams here. Good morning. Good morning. Um so we started with love OKC uh I think 2019. Um, and the idea behind with love was to uplift um, you know, artists who uh, were rarely ever seen and also uplift art on the east side of Oklahoma City. And so we've been doing that. Uh, and this is our fifth year for Junth on the East. And we didn't know when when we started we'd even keep doing it, but the community uh, kept asking for it. So here we are. And um it's all volunteer uh based and you know so many community members and organizations uh help us put this on. So um I'm going to pass it to David so he can kind of give you all a rundown of the events for Junth on the east. Good morning everyone. We're very excited to host this uh celebration of freedom again on northeast side. as JB mentioned uh with love uh really is focused on uplifting northeast community um through the power of education, community and arts. And we do that by cultivating environments for artists to thrive while honoring our history and helping shape our future. And that's what Junth is all about on Junth on the East this year. Um we're excited a number of partnerships. You heard the red coyote run that's happening for the fourth year on uh Friday evening at 7 p.m. We're also partnering with the innovation district um hosting a black creativity panel um and have a worldrenowned uh fashion designer April Walker coming in town to host a panel discussion on fashion um with local um Oklahoma City uh fashion designers as well with a fashion show that's going to be at Innovation Hall um at 5:00 p. a.m. on Thursday, Junth, opening up our weekend. Um, and then what we're here for today is the annual festival um which will happen um on 23rd Street. Um and we'll be shutting down 23rd Street for about three blocks, and we'll have over 80 vendors there um sharing goods and services, over 20 food trucks. Um we'll have a kids zone, and we're grateful for our partnership with the Thunder and the Zoo um and the Arts Council um providing activities for the kids. And then we'll have local performances from people throughout uh the community starting at 3:00 p.m. going all the way until 900 p.m. um with our headliner this year, Big Crit, um coming in from Mississippi. Um so we're c very excited to again celebrate uh freedom, celebrate Junth, and really celebrate one Oklahoma City where we continue to create an environment of belonging for all that are here in our city. So thank you for um having us again. Thank you, Councilman Payton. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, um, first I want to I want to say a really special thank you to you all for the work that you've done and I know we have a tremendous crowd here to actually support this event. So if you're here, if you serve on the Junth committee or you are here in support of this permit, would you raise your hand, stand something? It's a lot of that who are here. Having a strong community, having fantastic events doesn't happen by accident. It happens because we have great leadership and people who are willing to put their time and their talents to work for the betterment of our community. So, I want to say thank you so much. I'm excited to support this event. And with that, Mr. Mayor, I move approval. All right, we have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Thank you. Okay. Now, we'll recess the council and convene as the Oklahoma City Municipal Facilities Authority where we have items A through K. We could take with one motion. Have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. We'll adjourn OCMFA and convene as the Oklahoma City Public Property Authority where we have items A through D. We could take with one motion for a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. We'll adjourn OCPA and reconvene as the council where we're on item nine, the consent docket. And we have a scheduled presentation on item BI. And that is all. Is there anything else that a council member wishes to pull out for a separate vote or comment or question? Yes. Uh Mayor, can we hear a bit or uh would it be possible rather to hear a bit on item BF as in Benjamin Franklin? Sure. Thank you. And then um I also would like to hear a little bit more. I just received a bit more information, but on item BH related to our city's new mobile integrated health team. Okay. And I believe that will be all. Well, I'd like to see this have the public see this public art on item V that's coming to honor Route 66 and 23rd in class. And that's it. Please, just to be clear, that's actually a Oh, we haven't got the art yet. Quest for qualifications. Then we're then I got ahead of myself. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Okay, no worries. It was that Ben Franklin reference. That's what it was. All right. Is there anything else? All right. Hearing none, we'll take them in order then, which means we'll start with BF. Councilman Cooper. Yes. Uh, come on up. So, this is a bit of a sequel to some of our uh Airbnb work that I think is really going to matter a lot to a lot of residents. So, if you wouldn't mind telling us where we're in the process. Kelly Williams, our chief innovation officer, is going to speak to this. I think I just wanted to explain express this my appreciation to Kelly and her work. But having Kelly be able to work with this and be kind of a neutral source that works with helping us look at different areas where we can make improvement I think is just this is just an example of how innovation is really helping us in our organization. And so I'll let Kelly take this. She works with a lot of folks in the departments uh throughout the organization, but Kelly's been a lead on this. So I'll let Kelly take this one. Thank you, city manager. Thank you, mayor and council. Again, Kelly Williams, chief innovation officer for the city of Oklahoma City. Um we are talking about the contract with Decard for a one-year period. Um this is for services related to home share compliance and oversight. Um through this contract, Decard will scrape thousands of um home share listing platforms to identify all short-term rentals in the Oklahoma City area. They will then um compare that to our licensing data to help us identify which home share homeshare sites are and are not licensed. Um, for those that are not licensed, um, the C contract also supports a letter-based outreach campaign that helps us contact, um, property owners who have unlicensed home shares, providing them with information on how to apply for lensure and voluntarily come into compliance. For those that do not, um, the software also helps us capture court admissible documentation of the unlicensed HomeShare site, timestamps of those screenshots from the listings to help us, um, move forward with any compliance efforts there. This contract also includes a 247 live agent hotline answered in both English and Spanish as well as an online complaint portal so that any of our community members who have concerns about home share facilities um can 247 any any day of the year um submit those complaints to a non-emergency number. Uh staff recommends approval and I'm happy to answer any questions. Well, I just want to say it's great work and it was work that we promised residents would come alongside the recent uh home share uh ordinance update. I think this is so thank you, Kelly, and thanks to the city for following through on that. Um I'll just say I think this part of the work is going to be critical. I don't know if you all are on this site called Instagram, but I've noticed in my news feed recently that there are cities banning Airbnb flat out. And not just Airbnb, but just Homeshare. And that would be one thing. Beyond that is the support for it. And the reason why the support for that exists is because of the global housing crisis in which humanity finds itself. So, I'm telling you, I mean, I'm not talking like a couple thousand people are clicking like on this. It's tens of thousands of people are clicking like on this. So, we really got to get this right because I can see actually in this crowd right now some people who are in my mind responsible homeshare stewards who I mean literally take care of their properties. They know who's staying there. Um, so I just we got to get this right and your role in this part of the process is just critical that we have a lot of residents who constantly reach out to us about unlicensed Airbnbs, home shares generally. So can we get like a progress update at some point? Um, I don't know when that would be the right time, but I think having this sort of public um progress report would probably be really useful in terms of boosting the confidence out there. I just wanted to state what I'm starting to pick up on as a national mood, global mood. So, Kelly, what what's the the roll out time right now of like when this would be fully functional and active? So, as soon as we have our kickoff meeting within about 60 days, we'll have access to the platform and be able to um send over our files related to licensed home share and have a sense for who's unlicensed and actually get that first letter campaign out the door probably within two to three months. Yeah. And I and I think get giving it some time to get some traction and get established, but then we can certainly put that on our list to make sure within maybe the first six months or so that we come back with a report on how we're doing. If we have good information before that that we can help to share, we'll make sure that we get that available. I'd be happy to. Okay. Great. Well, thank you all again. All right. Um, next up is BH Councilman Cooper. Yes. The man of the hour, Chief Good good morning, mayor, council. Richard Kelly. I'm the fire chief here in Oklahoma City. And uh just to give a quick update, uh this is actually to be able to apply for this grant. This is an opioid abatement grant which would the maximum for city RSIs could be up to $750,000. and um really appreciate the support and and what we're trying to do obviously in mobile integrated health is really reach out and and deal with the challenges that we see within our city and and opioid the opioid epidemic is one of those challenges we're seeing. This would allow us to uh be able to expand some of the services we're providing in that area. Really looking at we already do leave behind kits with our mobile integrated health, but this allow us to expand those leave behind kits to add more resources in that. um really you know Narcan Nlloxxone that you hear is the the prescribed name that you see a lot of challenges of that to be able to bring those that are on an opioid overdose out of that. So those leave behind kits are very valuable in that area to really save lives and we want to expand that distribution of that. Other part of that is you know partnerships and that's a big part of what we want to do is partnering with key to home to distribute these kits. So it's really a cooperative agreement to work together to be able to provide those kits. they cost a lot of money to do that. So, this would allow us to to grow in that area. And then also look at maybe adding some staff. Um probably looking more along like a peer support person that would be that we already have those peer people that have experienced that and been able to overcome it because they can speak the to those that are going through challenges. So, we're looking at that opportunity. So, we're really um because it's just the application, we've looked at ways that we could utilize that to to benefit the services, you know, to our community. And that's kind of what we're looking at expanding that area. Just to let you know that the application is required to be turned in by June 13th and we're work working very hard in that area. We have Emma supporting us in that which uh takes a lot to uh really help us to get across the line. So we appreciate any support we have in that area. Any question other questions you might have? No, I appreciate the clarification. Same from ACM Thompson. Um I I because the memo just said $750,000 and I wanted to know a bit more and I really appreciate you walking us through what sounds like a lot of vital um aspects that would come with this. So thanks chief and keep us posted. Thank you. Next up is our scheduled presentation on item BI. This uh relates to the marketing plan and budget request from our CVB. Yeah, Zack Craig is here with us from the Convention of Visitors Bureau and um Zach's a great partner with us in the community here and he's going to give us a presentation on their budget and the proposal for FY26. Thank you, city manager. Thank you, mayor. Well, I feel like it's a very timely presentation today with all that's going on with sports tourism right now and the visitation economy and the city of Oklahoma City. I mean, you all know this, but it's it's just an incredible time to be here with all the transformation going on. I'm here to present to you the FY26 marketing plan or scope of work or budget request. I've got a few slides in partnership with Jane to go through with you this morning. And I want to start with a a renewed vision statement and a mission statement for Visit Oklahoma City. We'll start with vision. You know, as we look forward, this is not a place that pleasantly surprised visitors. This is a place of national prominence and global intrigue. Our visitors in the future are going to know about us and they're going to want to be here. Whether it's a convention, a leisure trip, sporting event, an equin show, and whatnot. So, you can see that in the new vision as it relates to mission statement. You know, visit Oklahoma City. We're we're really, if you boil it down, two things. We're brand ambassadors for the community, but we're also demand generators for the community as it relates to bringing travelers here as well. And so, the refined words on the page say it much better than I just did, but I wanted to share that with you all. Kind of speaking to um demand generation. I've brought this up before, but I wanted to echo what we call community vitality will again. And because of this is really important. This is why visitation should be so important to all of us because it all starts with a visit everything. And when people visit and they come here and they get a great visitor experience, then in the short term that produces sales tax dollars that really support municipalities and general funds. But in the long term, there's such a beautiful halo effect that happens as it relates to word of mouth, as it relates to people taking a chance on our community, whether they're a creative, whether they want to start a new business here, retire here, go to college here, the list goes on and on. And that's really the true mission and the work that we do each and every day. Yeah, as we look at fiscal 26, there's a lot of opportunity to do that as we welcome, I think, really an incredible slate of marquee events for FY26. Uh we've got a lot going on in June, obviously, but we've got a lot going on for the next um 12 months as well. That'll start in July. That'll start the week after the 4th of July with Porsche Club of America where we're going to um really welcome car enthusiasts from coast to coast. that'll be right here in Oklahoma City and you can see that on the list. Several days later, uh we're going to welcome a habitat conservation group called Delta Waterfell. That'll be followed by a chemical citywide convention called Norwex that we're really excited about, too. I think I'm mostly excited when I look at fiscal 26 at the body of the work that the team has done is in the latter half of the year. For example, let's fast forward to the month of February where we welcome Nation's Best Sports. This is a group of independent sports retailers that'll be at the convention center, not only for the month of February, but they'll be with us for August as well. We relocated it from Fort Worth, Texas. They do two conventions a year. And what's even more exciting is not only do they have two conventions on slave for 2026, they have confirmed for 2027, 2028, and 2029 as well. So, I'm really excited about that long-term partnership in partnership with the convention center in Nation's Best Sports. Let's fast forward to the next month where we welcome the NCAA March Madness tournament, first and second rounds. That'll be slated at Paycom Arena. We're excited about that. And I've mentioned this group in the past, but it's worth mentioning again. This is the month, it's already a busy month of April for us. Um, but this is Lonear Volleyball. And this is a group, last time I was here, I I told you that we confirmed this for three consecutive weekends. They'll be utilizing the Bennett Center and the Oklahoma City Convention Center. I think from hotel partners, we're up to about 45 hotels that we're working with right now to accommodate 12,000 people each and every weekend, including our traditionally slower Easter weekend as well. So, really excited about that and the economic impact that it's going to spin off next year. So, as we go to the next slide, um want to dig in with the time I've got left with our marketing plan for this year. We framed it a little bit differently. We used a traditional marketing kind of funnel approach and I want to start with the next slide with inspire um because the hotel tax as we go to the next slide this slide um we've been afforded to really re-evaluate our brand and do a brand refresh um that's going to happen in fiscal 26 in a more comprehensive way than we've ever done before in the history of Oklahoma City. So, I'm really excited about that. I look forward obviously to getting your feedback as it relates to that process over the coming months. I think in the short term, something that I want to commend, I want to thank the mayor for his time next week and for really uh being a partner as we've recontracted with the national PR firm called DCI. And I'm thinking the mayor because he's given some time next week and some over some forthcoming weeks to really be our spokesperson with national media as it relates to major business journals, sports journals, leisure publications as well. So look forward to seeing the results on that. Mayor, sure. By the way, we set all that up before we made the NBA finals. So now people are returning our calls even more. Absolutely. And these are the catalysts as we look at 2028 in the NBA finals. you know, we use that as a byproduct to show the community off. So again, just really pleased and grateful for your time. That moves to engage. Engage is when we get a little bit of visceral interest in someone. Obviously, we can do that from afar. We do that with technology like Skynav. I've showed you that in the past, but that's a virtual kind of immersion immersive site inspection experience uh to get people kind of a little bit more interested in what we're doing. That also includes going out and meeting face tof face with people. And I'm grateful for the buildout of our trade show presence as we compete with other aspirational peer set cities. I'm pleased to share with you. Um, in my opinion, we always really outperformed them and look just a little bit sharper than some of these other aspirational peer cities that we're competing against. And then of course bringing them here and then showing them an incredible experience once they get here on a site that leads to convert. Uh, a few things I want to mention here. because of the dollars in FY26, we're contracting right now a new attribution tool u for our paid media. So, it's really going to be able to allow us to optimize and strategically navigate our paid media. We'll have incredible performance reporting. Perhaps I can show you that at a later city council meeting once we get that off the ground. But I'm excited about that. you know, from ad exposure to arrival in the destination. Um, we're really going to see some incredible things from Zardico and that attri attribution modeling. Um, the next slide is all about numbers and the great thing about these numbers is they keep going up as they should be. I'm really proud of the team and the high watermarks that you see up on this screen as it relates to goals for citywide conventions, international tourism, um partner referrals from our website, all-time highs, like just for example, convention sales, uh definite room nights booked in fiscal 19 was around 80,000. That goal in fiscal 26 you can see at 170. sports sales FY19 that goal was around 105,000. You can see that goal this banner year at 190,000 room nights and climbing and that's due to the community that's due to the investments that we see and some of the investments forthcoming as well. And then the final thing that I want to share is cultivate. You know, cultivate has to do a lot with delivering an exceptional brand and visitor experience when people get here. Everything that I've just said over the last five or six minutes means nothing unless people come here and they really feel the warm genuine welcome of the residents and our community. And so, you know, the idea here is to continue to train our frontline staff. It's to increase our volunteer pool. It's to do some more innovative placemaking that's needed especially in some of the areas that we need it the most in the city of Oklahoma City. I'll um I'll end on a story because cultivate I feel like is is uh this story will resonate and part of cultivating is equipping our small businesses as well. We've got a lady in our digital marketing team. Her name is Karen Mahoney. And she is brilliant. And Kieran has been conducting workshops with our districts and our small businesses for some time as it relates to improving their own website, their social media presence. Um, showcasing our digital assets or video assets and allowing them to use them complimentary. and then also joining us when we pay and bring social media influencers to market uh to be a part of that itinerary. And so there's a business in the plaza. It's called the refillery. It's really a cool business. The proprietor, her name is Megan, and Megan took us up on some of these offers. Uh we welcomed an influencer from Houston recently. She went and went to the refillery and loved it and promoted it and better yet actually became a customer herself. She's a monthly subscriber of that business and just goes to show you some of the behindthescenes work that's going on at Visit Oklahoma City. And again, really proud of Kieran and a job well done. And so with that, so many things to speak about, including the budget, but I'll rest and field any questions that you might have. Um, thank you for the presentation. I do have a question. Um, so in my full-time job, um, I plan and attend a lot of annual meetings throughout the year, um, in sort of the medical academic medical field. Um and one of the things that is a conversation for us right now is um cuts at the federal level sort of dominoing to where planning for the future as far as meetings where we're going to go, how many people might be able to attend um is very um uncertain and in particular one of the meetings I attend annually um had a reduction in of or yeah a a 40% % reduction in call responses to call for papers is sort of um recognizing that a lot of their staff and faculty will not be able to travel based on cuts to their grants. Um so I'm just curious to know and understand better from our perspective locally if that's a conversation you all are hearing from meeting planners about those domino effects. Um, and I and maybe it's not an issue for maybe this year's budget, but especially like I said, kind of that future planning becomes a little more difficult of like will people be able to send their faculty to meetings um and and knowing that's maybe just one industry, not really knowing if it's sort of um across the board in other areas that might be experiencing like federal restructuring or cuts. and just curious if that's a conversation for you all right now and kind of what that might mean for um sort of the meeting uh economy uh being able to come to Oklahoma City in the future. Yeah. Thank you, Councilwoman. It's been a major discussion year to date as we engage. First of all, when we do this budget process, it goes through kind of uh many channels, but it starts with our local general managers. I mean, we want to know specifically or attraction partners or general managers, people that have boots on the ground, what's going inside their building, how are they forecasting, what are they seeing on a day-to-day basis that we perhaps are not seeing. And so there's sensitivity to um any association corporation around or that has has to be fueled by a government contract much like in a lot of the gateway cities right now international tourism um has been very sensitive as well. So, we continue to monitor both of those things. And I think as we worked in partnership with Chris York, uh, the budget director, this was a big topic as we looked at our contracted amount and still trying to say it a somewhat conservative mount for fiscal 26. I'll tell you something really great about the city of Oklahoma City. I've mentioned before, we're very diversified. So our mix, our portfolio, if you think of a financial portfolio, we've got an incredible mix. When you think about sports economy, equin and livestock, conventions or emerging leisure traffic, you think about new supply and results coming from Okana. So that really helps us weather storms, but it's something we're still monitoring on a monthly basis. Okay. Thank you. I just like I said, this is a little bit of a newer conversation to me working in this space. Um, and so it it kind of it's since it's been such a large conversation and recognizing how much we interact with CDBs and hotels to book um space and and room nights. um just I I think it it speaks to the connection and recognizing that like what's having happen happening at a different governmental level does have some domino effects that could affect our um you know these spaces that we're interacting with. So, I just really appreciate that and if there's any updates or as that continues um please let us know if there's any advocacy we can be doing to kind of support um those folks still being able to come to the city. So, okay, we'll do Thank you, council. You know, the one thing I wanted to say, Zach, is um you mentioned sports tourism and we look back 25 years ago and you think about Oklahoma City and sports tourism and there wasn't much to do. And so last night when I was looking at all this, I printed out just off of velocity sports, OKC velocity sports, what's going on this week in Oklahoma City and we have the Women's College World Series. We have two Thunder NBA Final games. We have bike tours. We have the Oklahoma City Comets playing and we have what I think is going to be a really cool event is uh learn to road day out at Riverport. And so there's a lot going on and I just want to make sure people are plugging into this and not missing opportunities um that exist with our sports tourism. So thank you very much. Thank you council councilman. You know I'm excited about the future. We we we tend to focus on uh this new arena which is going to be magical uh for a primary tenant but we focus on secondary and tertiary tenants and demand generators in between seasons. You think about the new uh multi-purpose stadium maps 4 and how that's going to be transformational. Um but you also think about the Cameron Parkerville and you think about uh youth and amateur sports and what that does for our community or youth health and wellness. Um it's really powerful and yes, Councilman, things have changed greatly over the past couple decades. Thank you. Thank you, Zach. Appreciate it. Thank you for the partnership. All right. Well, now we're in a position where we can adopt the consent docket. We have items A through CI. Got a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. All right. Item 10, the concurrence docket. We have items A through K. We could take with one motion. Got a motion in a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. All right. Item 11, items for individual consideration. Item 11 A is an ordinance on final hearing. It was recommended for approval reszoning 3716 Cromwell from C3 to R1. Councilman Cooper, no one has signed up to speak. Thanks, Mayor. Is Is the applicant here though? Is Brandon here? Why don't you come on up? I'm Brandon with Elevation Homes. Uh we're just looking to see if we can get this lot reszoned in order to have access to the the property that we're going to be building. Uh would you tell us a little bit more about why what's going on there? They're just they're they're actually the our client is wanting to build just to the I guess it would be just to the east of the property. Um and there is no access other than through the bike trail. So, we're looking to have access through Cromwell uh in order to for him to be able to access his property. Well, and I just want to say thank you for reaching out to me really early in the process. I mean, like back during the planning commission, maybe even pre-planning commission if memory serves, and I just appreciate that level of engagement. Uh, initially in the memo, council members, there were three protests, 3%, I'm sorry, three legal, 9%, but uh, I received from the city clerk this morning that as of this morning, zero protests. So, I just wanted to give you all that update. I didn't know if you'all had any questions about that. Okay. Otherwise, I would move for approval. Motion and a second. Cast your votes. passes unanimously. Thank you. Item 11B is an ordinance on final hearing. It was recommended for approval resoning 7690 North Central from R1 to I2. Councilman Pennington, no one has signed to speak. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um I don't know if Pat if you want to give any comments about about tell us about the case quickly. Uh just that we are final place we get a new volleyball uh arena set over there off the central avenue there in Wilshire. Awesome. And this is just to let everyone know this area is trending um industrial in general in this area and I know we have a companion item that's the area right next to it where there's um development coming in. So, um, strongly in support. It's consistent with, um, where things are trending. And so, with that, I move, um, approval. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item 11 C is an ordinance on final hearing. It was recommended for approval reszoning 7722 North Central from R1 I2. Back to you, Councilman Pennington. Thank you. Um, this is right next door to the property we just reszoned. Um, so I think this is just uh making things consistent throughout both um uh properties. So um with that, I move approval. Have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Thank you. Okay. Item D was previously deferred, which brings us to item E. This is an ordinance on final hearing recommended for approval. Reszoning 7303 South Anderson from PUD 1794 and AE2 to PUD 2060 and AE2. This was deferred from May 20th. Councilman Stone, no one assigned to speak. Thank you, Mayor. I'll go ahead and move for its approval. Have a motion in a second. Cast your votes. Councilman St. Cipher, have you voted? passes unanimously. Item F was previously deferred, which brings us to item G. This is an ordinance on final hearing recommended for approval resoning 11100 North Kelly from SPD 902 to SPD 1723. Councilman Pennington, no assignment to speak. Thank you. Um this is taking an existing indoor soccer facility and just expanding um the uses to include some warehouse uses. um no protests even though there are some homes nearby and some other businesses but we received no protests and um I move approval. We have a motion and a second on item G. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item 11H is an ordinance on final hearing recommended for approval establishing a special permit to operate use unit 83000.33 drinking establishment in the C3 district found at 13801 Northwestern. Um, Councilman Stone Cipher, no one has signed up to speak. Thank you, honor. Um, I'm not aware of any protests. No one signed up to speak, so I'll move for the approval at this time. A motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item I is an ordinance on final hearing recommended for approval establishing a special permit to operate use unit 83000.33 drinking establishment in the C4 commercial district at 2120 Northwest 39th. Councilman Cooper know and is signed up to speak. Yes. But is the applicant or their representative here by any chance? Would you mind? It's a bit of a unique um item. It both is and it isn't. So, if you might wouldn't mind telling us a little bit about um what you're wanting to do there, that'd be helpful, please. And introduce yourself, of course. I'm Randy Malone. I'm an attorney. I represent the the applicant and answer the question. Floor is yours. It's going to be a nightclub. All right. What we're trying to do is have a nightclub. We're trying to have a space safe for people to come and drink, hang out, get a few cocktails to have a place to enjoy. We're going to try to do sporting sporting events in the afternoon. We got some TVs hung up. We've renovated the building. So, we're just trying to have a safe place for people to hang out on the strip. Mhm. The traditional use of this Oh, if you want to come to the microphone, please. The traditional use of this space has been a nightclub for a long time. Yeah. Well, and that's what I mean by it's a little unique, but it's also not. So, I've, you know, many years, uh, I'm 43 now, so I'm 21 onward. I've definitely visited this spot in various forms. And I'm big fan of, for instance, the patio space behind there. Um, but I was confused why if some if a bar has existed there previously, why one would have to come there again. And so I just wanted to let the reason let known publicly why. And it's the because the last alcohol license at this property expired in 2023 and so the non-con uh conforming status has ceased. So a special permit is required to reestablish the use as a bar. So that I just wanted to make sure everyone understood because you know this this particular space is uh one that's known to the uh residents of OKC. Um so I think they would probably have a question of wait if it's already been a bar why are we having to go through this? So I just wanted to make sure that was uh something stated for the public record and I'll wish you well and move for approval. All right, we have a motion and a second on item I. cast your votes. Passes unanimously. All right. Item J is an ordinance on final hearing. It was recommended for denial reszoning 2821 Northwest 57th from C1 SPD 1675. This is deferred from May 20th. Councilman Cooper known as signed up to speak. Yes. Uh Rachel, if you wouldn't mind coming back up and then I spoke with our municipal council. Would you remind everyone again uh what the situation is here for you? Yeah, my name is Rachel Bertid. I have City Paws Urgent Care. We're an after hours clinic for small animals. Um uh two and a half years ago, we put in a CT trailer to better be able to care for our patients. Um did so I called the city, thought it was okay to place it there. Um neighbors were fine with it about a year and a half in. One of the neighbors complained. Um so I went through the process of what I need to do. Um, I was told I had to reszone it. Gone through that process, realizing that the neighbor is never going to be happy with the trailer being there. So, I'm in the process of building a new location. It's just taken time to get it there. Um, and so I'm asking to have this deferred until the end of summer, at which point my new location should be up and running and I can move the CT trailer. This is just the only way I could um have the trailer until uh I could get that new facility open. And would you just remind us one more time this trailer what sort of services it provides the patients. So it has a a CT tra um CT machine in it. So that's what we use for advanced imaging um for emergency services in particular for um it's commonly used for dxins that go down in their back and they need emergency back surgery. Um we use it to look for cancers that are hard to identify. Um sometimes trauma. if we can't identify um injuries out externally, we can um use that and there's not many of them available in the city. So um having it is really important to be able to take care of our patients. Yeah. And as I noted previously to you and to council, um you know, when my cat, the honorable first cat of Wu, um unfortunately passed away at the beginning of the year when she got sick suddenly, um we were looking for a place to go and we Googled and we found you and it was it even though we lost Mary and we still had you all there and I'm really grateful for the service that you all provide. Um, and so I spoke with uh just knowing what you had walked me through on the phone, um, I spoke with, uh, municipal council and what they recommended is that um, and I'm going to make this um, this uh, motion, but I'd like to vote to move to defer to the first meeting in September, be September 9th. Thank you, city clerk. Uh, to allow the applicant additional time to locate to this other property you've identified. Um so you can get that mobile vet uh unit moved. Uh in terms of a justification again um and munic if I wanted to offer one but I do want to offer one which is that you know this this would require if we if we say no this it's an immediate removal. It's going to require the shutdown of this mobile vet clinic and that will in fact cause a great hardship for the veterinarians involved the patients they treat and for the owners of those patients and that is my concern. um as someone who knocked doors in this area uh three times over now, um I can tell you that our our pet ones are loved ones that people care a lot about. And so we're just I'd like to just get us through the end of the summer and I'd ask council to join me in that. Thank you. You said September 9th, city clerk, that would be my request for your consideration, council members. All right. All right. Well, we can bring that up electronically for a motion to defer this item to September 9th. We have a motion in a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Okay. Item K1 is a public hearing regarding the Capitol Hill Business Improvement District. Um Amy, has anyone signed up to speak? No, they haven't. They have not. So we can advance to the resolution adopting and confirming an assessment role for year 2520 uh 2025 2026 for the Capitol Hill Business Improvement District found at K2. Um we'll have a companion item at L. There's no presentation. This is something we do pretty routinely as you know. We can take a motion in a second if that's the council's desire. And we have one and so cast your votes on K2. passes unanimously. Uh that brings us to item L, which is the ordinance on final hearing adopting and setting the assessment role for the Capitol Hill Business Improvement District. Have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. passes unanimously. Okay. Item M is an ordinance on final hearing relating to a general schedule of fees. There was a presentation uh previously. This updates a variety of fees for our city. We do have some residents who have signed up to speak on this item. Um and so I think we'll probably begin there. Um and so I would uh we have quite a few. So I would say u what I'll do is I'll state your name. I'll also state the name of the person who would speak after in hopes that that person will maybe make their way uh down and be ready to go. Please, when you do come to the microphone, state your name and address and limit your remarks to no more than 3 minutes. Um the clerk will give you a verbal warning at 30 seconds. All right. First up is Libby Ross who will be followed by Lynn Smith. Oh, good day, council, mayor, manager. I'm Libby Ross. Um, I live at 8500 Vinnie Brew Street in Norman, Oklahoma. I am the state community volunteer leader for Airbnb across the state and a co-host for short-term rentals across Oklahoma City as well. I'm here to advocate for fair and sustainable permitting system that works for the city and for responsible host. It's important to know who's actually hosting a Airbnb in Oklahoma City. 47% of the host are using their income to afford basic necessities. 55% of those are women. 11% of those are retired individuals. Currently, STR operators in Oklahoma City must reapply for permits every 1 to three years. Now, the city is proposing to raise the permit fee from $300 to $1,100, a significant financial burden that is not required from other homebased businesses or other applicants going before the BOA. I hear the city compare short-term rentals to home daycarees, but the treatment isn't equal. Home daycarees receive lifetime permits after their approval. Home shares, we repeat the process every three years, and we pay taxes on every booking month after month. I know a host who operated without a permit for two years. Their punishment $188 fine. This system, it penalizes responsible behav or irresponsible behavior. Meanwhile, those who are trying to be responsible and do the right thing, we pay hundreds of dollars and we spend hours of our time to stay compliant. To better understand our impact as host, I asked Airbnb to provide me with some numbers. Airbnbs actively supported over 9,000 jobs across Oklahoma. And I believe that my company alone supports 20 people full-time in the Oklahoma City metro. Guests spend about $180 a day in the neighborhoods in which they stay. We actually fill real gaps. We house infrastructure crews here to build so that we can grow. Film professionals who seek privacy. We also uh host a lot of families traveling for funerals or medical care. They just need a soft place to land. And I personally host a lot of children with autism who need a quiet, stable environment that feels less institutionalized. We provide what hotels cannot. The big picture, short-term rentals helped cultivate over $669 million in ne e economic impact across Oklahoma last year. That is huge to our economy. Today, I believe there are just under 1,900 active short-term rentals in Oklahoma City, generating an estimated over 4 million per year in hotel tax revenues alone. I ask this council to reconsider the permit hike and the reoccurring burden. Create a clear long-term path for compliance just like others that are going before the BA. I think together we should support those who are doing it right. Thank you, Lynn Smith, followed by Julisa Valdez. Good morning. My name is Lynn Smith and I'm a small business owner and a licensed short-term rental host here in Oklahoma City. I live and host in W 2. I'm also concerned about the proposed 267% increase in the board of adjustment fees for home shares. Most of us, like me, are just small business owners. And nationwide, the majority of hosts host less than three properties. When we started our short-term rental journey in 2020, of course, it was for our long-term retirement plan, but what we didn't expect was the reciprocity we would receive from our guests. So, a few examples of some of our favorite stays and our favorite guests. We had a couple in our neighborhood whose home flooded from a a broken pipe. They had six dogs and needed a place to stay. No hotel would take them, but we could. We also hosted an Oklahoma legislator who was recovering from surgery at a nearby hospital. She stayed with us over the Christmas holiday with her furry furball friend and a family driving to MD Anderson Cancer Center for their child's medical treatment. They needed a quiet, homelike place to stay after a long day on the road. These aren't just bookings. These are human moments. And hosting is about people, not profits. So, let me be clear. I'm not against paying fair fees. I know there's time, resources involved in bringing the board together to execute its mission. But a fee hike from $300 to $1,100 every three years, which has just been limited by the recent short-term rental ordinance update, is going to hit our bottom line. It's going to force us to delay improvements to our property and to pull back on the contributions we make to our neighborhoods. I would urge the city to reconsider this steep increase or create a tiered structure or a modest adjustment that would give responsible hosts a chance to plan and continue to offer meaningful, safe, and supportive spaces for people during life's biggest moments. Thank you for listening. Thank you. Um, Julisa Valdez, followed by Patricia Eing. Okay. Okay. Good morning. Um, sorry I'm not very prepared, but my name is Julisa Valdez. Address 2609 Northwest 31st Street. Um, I have been a host with Airbnb for going on four years. Um, kind of like the last two ladies had, u I think explained it very well. Um, you know, my main thing is just to urge to reconsider the fees. Um, maybe give it some more time. Can can we come up with a better resolution to help, you know, us as hosts. I'm a independent independent business uh person as well and we have one Airbnb. I do it because I love hosting. I love uh seeing new people from out of state, other state, you know, um helping them, giving back to the community. um you know um letting them know about things that are happening in the city versus a hotel that wouldn't be able to tell them you know especially families they come in with the budget um helping them you know find different things to do with the family um that normally people wouldn't know about um and really just um you know thank you I wanted to say James for uh the other statement the other lady that came up um that was having a system about um getting more people into compliance. That's something we want to do. You know, from the beginning, we have been, you know, trying to do everything right and it just it feels like it's a blow to us, you know, increasing fees for the people that are really trying to do the right thing. So, just my statements, um, you know, please just give us more time, see if we can come up with a better system statement for the fees. Thank you. Would you remind us where you you reside in the city? I'm sorry. Would you remind us where you reside in the city? Um, uh, address is 20 the my address is 2609 Northwest 31st and my Airbnb is actually 2608 Northwest 31st Street. It's right across right across the way. And um, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Patricia Eing, followed by Ailing, followed by Melinda Irwin. Good morning. My name is Patricia Ailing. I live at 2627 Northwest 55th Terrace and I'm a gal that likes a microphone, but I'll be brief. So, I think to to sum up what what we're saying here um as as property owners and and um um homeshare um host, what we're really asking you to look at is uh just for for this to be fair and equitable. Everybody understands there needs to be an increase and the increase from 300 to,100 although it's it's it's staggering um could could very well be ab absorbed except for that we pay that every 1 2 or 3 years and it's at the whim of the um of the adjustments board whether you get a one year or whether you get a two-year or whether you get a three-year and that could be different every year that you apply. And so that's vastly different than most other businesses that are that are needing an exception. And so what we're asking is for this to be a fair and equitable increase for all businesses. Thank you. Thank you. Melinda Irwin, followed by Jay Glegley. Excuse me. Hi, I'm Melinda Irwin and I am a longtime Messa Park and Heritage Hills resident and 12-year Airbnb superhost. Many of you may remember me from when we passed the original ordinance seven years ago because that was a a big time for us. Um, this fee increase doesn't impact my three Airbnbs because I'm grandfathered under the original ordinance. It would impact any future Airbnbs I choose to add. I started hosting in my garage apartment in 2012 to help cover increasing taxes, insurance, and property maintenance costs on my home of almost 30 years. We were literally being priced out of our own neighborhood and the place I've called home since 1992. I'm here because I think this increase is unfair and not comparable to other small businesses. This fee increase is makes it difficult for any future host to enter the market. Most are only given a one-year special exception permit and then a $110 business license fee on top of that. Profit margins are very slim in the Oklahoma City market due to all the unlicensed operators. There are few if any in the cities that other cities in the US that I can find that have this double like you have to go get a special exception permit that frequently. Um, I requested a bunch of information from the city like on the number of Airbnbs that are currently licensed, the number that require board of adjustment approval, and I haven't got any of that. I got some spreadsheets, but didn't give me this the thing I asked for. Um, I think it's a huge burden on small businesses. Um, and I also if it takes staff that long to do it the first time that a host applies, but it shouldn't take as long the second and third and fourth. I don't know why it would always be,00 maybe, you know, a higher fee and then as it's a renewal make it less there. I just think there has to be a better solution to this huge fee increase. Um, I feel like if it passes, it's going to urge people to try to go unlicensed because they just can't afford all the time and effort it takes to get the special exception. I would urge all of you as a council to defer this vote until you have data that supports the decision. Thank you. Okay Jay Glegley followed by Pedro Depaz. Hello, Jay Galligley. Um, I'm kind of new to this topic, so I apologize if I'm trying to catch up here. I learned about it last night. Um, I appreciate your comments earlier when she was giving the presentation. Um, so I operate several Airbnbs throughout Oklahoma City. I've got several licenses at this point for all of them. It feels like this rate increase is a little bit punishing the wrong people. I feel like I've done everything in my power and doing it the right way. Um, and it feels like the rate increase is just punishing people like me that are doing the right thing. I would urge you to consider um raising the enforcement fines perhaps instead of punishing uh the people that are doing the right thing. Try to go after the people that are operating illegally. I've always tried to operate my properties as a business. In doing so, I have noise monitors at all of my properties. My neighbors are very happy. They all have my contact information. I'm trying to raise the bar for Airbnb. Like your your point was, you know, people are trying to shut down Airbnbs. I'm trying to do it the right way. I'm trying to make, you know, it a business and keep my neighbors happy. And I feel like this rate increase is a little bit unjustified towards the wrong people. Um, my second point that I'd like you to consider is, um, during the presentation she talked about the software that I believe is $212,000. Um, is there any proof that it actually works? Um, she mentioned that they're scraping data from the internet, which I know Airbnb doesn't provide a whole lot of public information on the internet besides pictures. So, do we a know that it works? And I would I would actually also, you know, volunteer my time if I'm able to help in any way with um the enforcement part. I've reported several people myself um just through different processes. I've been able to identify certain individuals in operating illegally. So, if there's any way for me to help personally, I would be happy to do that. But again, my main opposition for this is just that uh go after the people that are doing it illegally and not people that are trying to get their licenses. So that's all I have. Can I ask I'm sorry I know you said you were new to this, but just your address and anyone else who speaks because I think that's going to be an important aspect of the Yeah. So my home address is 1309 Glen Brook Terrace. Um but I have like I said several properties throughout Oklahoma City in different areas. Thank you so much. Thank you. Pedro Depaz followed by Rob Littlefield. Rob Littlefield. My name is Rob Littlefield. I live at 1148 Northwest 56 Street. Um, I'm very grateful to be standing here for all of you today. Um, I I have three Airbnbs that I've been operating for the past 10 years. They're grandfathered. I don't have a stake in this decision here today because I'm I have no intentions of getting any more Airbnbs, but I'm considering my colleagues in this kind of work. where I have an issue is a perception issue. Um I worked diligently back in 2018 2019 when when the uh city council of Oklahoma City decided to invite home sharing into our community. uh that decision was made um with conditions that were reasonable conditions and it gave the message that we welcome home sharing in our city. So, so what has happened and what I've observed since then is a board of adjustments in our city that is overwhelmed with these applications for home sharing. I've actually heard people on the board of adjustments say that they're overwhelmed by that. I've heard past um uh municipal um assistant city managers make the comment that they're looking for a way to to lower the lower the the task of listening to so many applications. kind of figuring out a way how to um maybe turn more down or something like that, you know, like le lessening their load. So, my problem for my colleagues moving forward in the future in home sharing and and the city of Oklahoma City is the perception that this fee is putting upon the the people that want to do this. It it seems to me like like doing this kind of a a fee increase is is a tactic to get less people to come before the board of adjustments to get a special exception permit. It's it that's a perception that I'm seeing could be a possibility. And I think that that's extremely unfair. The other thing that um that I thought I had learned were things that that people pay in our city to accomplish SPUDs, PUDS, licensing, all of those sorts of things. That fee is determined to cover the cost of city staff to produce that item to get on an agenda before whatever board. It's it's a fee designed to cover the cost of of developing that staff report. It's not designed to make a profit. It's not designed to punish anybody. It's it's designed to cover the cost. So for for me back whenever this was, you know, if I had to do a $300 fee to apply for a special exception permit before the board of adjustments, if it's a $100 an hour, that's three hours. Thanks, Rob. We're at time. Okay, I'm done. Yeah, I think you get my point. Thank you. Thank you. All right, that concludes the citizens who've signed up to speak on this item. Um, mayor, may I make a couple of comments? Uh, I got somewhat of a frantic phone call this morning, uh, from Gary Jones, uh, who's with the Oklahoma Metropolitan Association of Realators. Gary and his organization have always been really helpful to me when they've had when I've had housing issues in my ward. They've been a wonderful source of research and materials. And the one thing that he asked was some of their members have requested some information from the city that they have not received yet. He had two specific questions he'd like to visit with staff about. And so I I think just to be fair to the entire process, I'd like to defer this for two weeks. So some of uh the association's questions can be answered and materials be provided to the association that they've requested. So at this time I'm going to move for a deferral that if that's okay with you, mayor. Sure. Councilman, can I ask would it could it make sense to maybe even defer it a month? Just knowing timing wise and like how much like because I also would like to be involved in some meetings and conversations and just knowing scheduling can be difficult. It feels like maybe a month would be helpful to get all that information collected. I'd like to leave it at two weeks just because this is a funding source for us that's going to play into our our next budget, the budget that we're about to approve. If we do need additional time, I'm I'm all for doing that. But but let's try to limit it to two weeks, get Gary's association's questions answered, and see if we can move this process forward with either a tiered system or something else. Thank you. Well, uh, let me also just add though, and if we're going to do this in a two-eek time period Councilman Councilwoman uh the folk who signed up to speak, you know, including my own W 2 traffic commissioner, um, I would love for them to join you all at the planning, um, to get a little bit of input about where we should be heading, whether it's a tiered system or what have you you know uh the though Messa Park's not word too right across the street and that story really resonated with me you know as I'm looking at you know this Ludwig Institute report that says the bottom 60% of our people right now cannot even really afford the basic quality of life right and and you know that really one needs to make around $67,000 a year to even have a shot at at that at quality of life uh and so hearing you talk about the Airbnb becoming that way to you almost got priced out of your neighborhood, right? Some a place you've lived since 1992. And that's the stuff that is literally the stuff that keeps me up at night. I and when I wake up, I'm thinking about it. I'm I I I'm terrified of that. So I on the one hand and that's when you all sit and talk. I think where I would ask the challenge I would put to you is how can we put in place a fee structure that allows you all to you know have these sort of businesses but I think my challenge back is that there is a housing crisis at the same time and I really worry about this depleting housing stock being used for Airbnb when we have people in need of a place to live. So, I would love to hear that's just a challenge like what is your response to that and how what you know I know the city's going to have a bit of a bigger response when we talk about in the bond building affordable housing. So, I think I'm not putting it all on you all, but I just think that that needs to be part of an honest conversation right now. Um, but I'd like to hear you all meet with with planning staff just like we've done before when there's moments where residents have asked us to, you know, kind of hear them out on whatever it is. city manager. I don't need to be involved in those. I'll trust my traffic commissioner and my W two people. So So I've got a motion to defer it for two weeks to June 17th, please. Electronically. Got a motion and a second. Cast your votes on the deferral of item M to June 17th. Passes unanimously. Okay, now we're on item N. This is an ordinance to be introduced and set for final hearing on June 17th amending our municipal code relating to roofing permits and contractors. And I believe there's a presentation. Yes, Brock Row, our development service director, will present this item. Good morning, council mayor. Um, we're here to present to you the uh a new re-roof permit for the city of Oklahoma City. You go ahead and go to the next slide, Tony. So, I wanted to bring this to you because um it's important and that's the why. That's what we're talking about first is the why. Why are we doing this? Go back. Go ahead back, Tony. I'm going to talk about these pictures real quick. So, these pictures represent um different kinds of contractors. Well, actually just one really in this picture, these two pictures, but there are there are several different contractors, roofing contractors out there in in our uh city. You have the really good ones that go above and beyond that make sure everything's taken care of. Uh you have the ones that do just the bare minimum, but they still give you a good roof. And then you have the contractors who are the you can't see it from my house. Um these pictures represent the the last group, the you can't see it from my house. Uh that first picture there, you see that house roof that has about five or six layers of shingles on it. Um, and then that second picture is someone decided to go ahead and put some sheathing over existing shingles and um, and then put a new roof on it, which then that roof need to be repaired. Now, these pictures are not exclusively to Oklahoma City. These are pictures I found over the years of working in the trades. But what they do represent is uh, negligence and um, inadequate application of roofing material. Um, why that's important, the layers of shingles on a roof, is because of structural issues. Um, roofs are designed to only hold a certain amount of weight. If you think about, uh, I don't know if have you guys ever picked up a a bundle of shingles, maybe at Home Depot or something, they're about 80 lb. And it takes about three of those pound three of those shingles to, uh, make about a 10ft x 10t section of your roof. So, you're looking at about 240 lb. And if you add more weight to that extra layers, you start ended up with, you know, 200, 500, 600, 700 lb in that specific 10-ft area. And the roof isn't really designed to hold that. So, I wanted to bring the Y to you. So, one thing I want to also point out to you is that we've already actually adopted the code for this uh when we adopted the 2018 residential code. Um, it's actually section uh R908. And there's kind of I'm going to kind of give you a little bit of an overview of that. Um, so the so what it does is it's just basically for residential that is the residential code the IRC and it covers uh the replacement uh of existing roofs. So this isn't going to come in this isn't going to be an issue with new construction where the roofs are being uh put on during the the initial construction of the building. this is actually, you know, 5, 10, 15 years later after a major hell storm, things like that, that this would affect um you would have to get a permit for the that application. Um the Oklahoma State Code has actually modified the 2018 IRC 908 a little bit more. Originally, uh if you read the IRC now, it says that you can have two layers of shingles on your roof. Um but, uh Oklahoma state law has amended that down to only one layer. So, it's really important that we are able to verify that application, making sure that those are taken care of. Um, there's also some other code language there that you can see um that you know, just making sure that you have positive drainage on your roofs. Um, some things are exempt on that. And then making sure that if you have combustible wood roof, shingles like shakes and things like that that you are protecting those from fire. Go ahead and move to the next slide. So, the re-roof permit, um, it's going to be very easy to apply for. Um, we're going to make it where it's super simple. You're going to apply online or with your smartphone, your tablet, or computer, or you can visit our development center as well, um, in person. And, uh, if you prefer that face toface service, um, the P the permits will be typically issued day the same day you apply for them, even maybe the morning of if it's if you go through a digital source. Um, and the cost will be $90. So, our inspection overview is kind of important just to understand what we're going to be doing. We're going to be doing a visual inspection from the ground. Our inspectors won't be climbing on the roof and climbing around it just for safety reasons. But that visual inspection will look for uh abnormalities in the how they applied the shingles, making sure there's no more than one or two layer, one layer of shingles on the roof. Um, if there's any of the structural sheathing that's been replaced, we're going to require the contractor to actually take a photo of it. All of our inspectors have um um smartphones so they can receive pictures on it um just to make sure that things are replaced. Um a lot of times when you have re- roofs, you will have moisture that builds up underneath the shingle and you'll have some rot around the eaves and the edges and things like that. So, we want to make sure that that's all replaced correctly. If it's a if it's a major uh if you have major damage, it will require a building permit to replace all the sheathing, but the just for the re-roof, uh it's a small percentage that you can replace. Um we're just going to check for also the venting on the roof to make sure that it's been applied correctly. Um looking to make sure that gas ventilation that stacks that come out of the roof are are still there that that hasn't been removed and just protecting our citizens from from any of those issues. So, um, that's kind of our inspection overview. I think that's all I have for you. Go ahead. The next slide. Yeah, just questions about it if you have any. How are we going to do follow through with this? Do follow through with it. Yeah. I mean, we have a hard time with inspections as it is right now. I mean, adding something to this nature, especially when we have our hail storms and as many roofs get done daily, how are we going to have follow through? So, what we've what we figured out is that the inspection takes about maybe 30 minutes uh to walk around a residence. Um we have uh this will be our building inspectors, our electrical inspectors, our mechanical inspectors. All of them can do this inspection as well as code enforcement inspectors that work in code enforcement if we need in a in a crisis like that and that in type of situation where there's this major hell storm where we have 80,000 properties being done. But this will be just basically like our regular permitting system and we will be uh bringing in um um you know they it'll go through our seller program and they'll request an inspection through that way. Okay. So on the building permit aspect if like they're having to redeck the roof. Mhm. How long do you expect that building permit to take to get Yeah. With the that will be through the same process that we do with a building permit. um those those situations. We will take those as they come and if it's a we don't want to leave anybody's roof open to where they have to have, you know, that's my concern. Yeah, we will we will make sure that we can expedite that and get that taken care of with something like that. That should be a one-day permit approval as well um immediately. If it if they open up the roof and they tear off the shingles and they realize that they got to replace a lot more decking, uh we can we can take care of that. And there'll be an expedited service for that. Absolutely. Okay. How are you going to enforce this? How are you going to enforce it? Yeah. What keeps just a roofer from going and putting a roof on? Takes a day and then you don't know. And so is there a penalty, a fine? Is there Well, it' be the same penalty and fines we have with working without a permit that we currently have with any of our permits. Um with even with those anytime someone does a remodel on their house or they, you know, they do any kind of construction, you know, it's a a lot of times it's a catch me if you can. Um, I hate to say that, but you know, with the vast land that we have in the city, um, it's it's word of mouth, people complaining. It's our inspectors driving around, seeing things, catching things. And with this, we have, you know, a multitude of code enforcement inspectors, too, who can say, "Hey, you need to get a permit." And so, I mean, we'll give people grace because this is something new that's coming along. Um, but it's uh it's important that they get their permit so that we can do those those inspections on it. Do you know what the fine will be if they don't get the permit? I don't know that off the top of my head, but it should be the same as what we already approved as our working without a permit fee. So, the permit's 50 bucks, right? The permit's $90. $90, excuse me. Yep. Okay. Y So, just to be clear on the inspections, it's a single post installation inspection. Is that right? Yeah, it'll be a single in it'll be a single inspection when it's when it's completed. Got Thank you. Thank you, Brock. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Well, we can take a motion to introduce the item, setting it for final hearing on June 17th. We have a motion in a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Okay. Item 01 is a public hearing regarding the dilapidated structures here listed except for one previously struck. Amy, has anyone signed up to speak? No, they haven't. They have not. So, we'll advance to the resolution at O2 declaring that structures are dilapidated. Have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item 11 P1 is a public hearing regarding unsecured structures here listed except for those previously struck. Amy, has anyone signed up to speak? No, they haven't. They have not. And so we'll advance to the resolution found at P2 declaring that structures are unsecured. We have a motion in a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. 11 Q1 is a public hearing regarding the abandoned buildings here listed except for those previously struck. Um Amy, has anyone sent to speak? No, they haven't. We have not. So, we'll advance to the resolution found at Q2 declaring that the buildings are abandoned. Have a motion in a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Okay. Okay. 11R1 is a public hearing regarding a resolution adopting an amendment to the fiscal year 2020 2020 2025 budget. Amy, has anyone signed to speak? No, they haven't. They have not. So, we'll advance to the resolution at R2 uh adopting said amendment to the fiscal year 2025 budget. This relates to emergency management, fire, utilities. Yes, Chris. Uh yeah, on this one, this is the first one. This is the second hearing that we already presented on this one. Yeah, I'm sorry. This is a second of two meetings on this. So, you've heard about this already. Have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. And then 11S is the second public hearing regarding 11S1 is the second public hearing regarding a resolution amending the June 18th, 2024 resolution uh regarding fire expenditures. Uh Amy, has anyone signed up to speak under this public hearing? No, they haven't. They have not. So we'll advance to the resolution founded S2 amending the June 18th, 2024 resolution regarding certain fire expenditures. Again, second meeting for this topic. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Now we have arrived finally at the budget. Let's talk about that in a second. Yeah. Okay. Maybe maybe at the end. Um okay. Sorry. We are now at the budget. Uh there is a public hearing regarding adoption of the fiscal year 2026 annual budget and we do have someone who has signed up to speak. Aurelius Francisco. Sorry, we're on the public hearing first. Sorry Francisco. Sorry. Good morning, council. My name is Aurelius Francisco, East Side Ward 7. I'm here once again. I'll keep my remarks brief uh as an organizer here in Oklahoma City with home base and the participatory budget uh push. Uh I'm also a a researcher, a student, and an educator in the community. uh and I come to you all um with the continued ask to change the budget process here in the city and also to change our priorities. Our budget is indicative of our priorities as a city and what our city has shown we prioritize is policing over actual safety for our community. uh as a part of the people's budget coalition, what we have worked to do is to engage residents across each of the wards, not just in my ward of W 7, but in each of the wards to talk to residents about what they need within the community. So many of those folks aren't here today for various reasons. It's an 8:30 on a Tuesday morning, right? Folks got work, got kids, it's summertime. Um and so one potential change could be to the meeting time, right? uh of of these hearings uh and then also to make sure that the accessibility of the forms and the feedback that we are acquiring from residents is as accessible as possible and again offer to you all as I did last year the support of community organizations like mine uh to help you all acquire some of that feedback. Um I would also say I know that we are looking at a budget shortfall this year uh and some departments are having to cut more than others. Um, and my call to you all is to prioritize violence prevention and to think about visionary solutions for violence and harm in our communities that aren't reactive. Uh, and the police react to crime, they react to harm, right? And so violence prevention um really is about the assets uh and the solutions that are community- based. Uh, in our city, we have so many amazing things happening two days from now. The finals are coming. We've talked about all these great great events. my alma m just lost in the softball world series but it's still here we're making a lot of money from it right these are amazing amazing things and I also want us to consider uh the least of these the people in our community who often get looked over who we don't think about the marginalized folks the homeless folks right we're looking at a planning budget majority of which for homeless homelessness support uh comes from federal grants which is rather precarious right now right uh and so I want us to be thinking about how we are going to continue to ensure that our funding priorities 30 seconds are centering thank you are centering u the least uh and most vulnerable people in our communities uh and not just Oklahoma City Thunder and I'm the biggest sports fan in the city. You can ask Joe Beth. Appreciate y'all's time. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, that concludes our public hearing at T1 and now we're at T2, the resolution adopting the fiscal year 2026 annual budget. And I think we are looking for maybe a quick recap of the last few months. Exactly. Right. Yeah. Chris York, our budget director, will give us a quick recap on the budget. Yeah. Good morning, Mayor and Council. Uh again, just a quick overview um to button up the process a little bit. I I want to start off by again thanking the staff members that were involved in this process. It's a long journey getting us here. Um, and then also, um, as the gentleman said, it's it's a cut year. And so I think it's impossible to get a budget we would all, um, think was perfect in our own minds in an ad year, uh, much less in a cut year. It's certainly going to be a compilation of compromises. Um, and that's what you have here today. But I'm still very proud of all the work that was put into it. So, just a quick recap of where it got us here. So, we opened up um, with uh, council receiving the proposed budget April 29th, and that's when we started our comment period. Several departments presented over the next few meetings. Um, and then you received your initial batch of comments that contain 19 items from residents uh on May the 27th. We continue to compile those for you and sent you the next batch um yesterday. H and in that there were an additional 12 comments. If I had to summarize those for you, I'd say that they were focused on investing in infrastructure, parks, transit. Uh there were several uh comments uh requesting that the police department budget be rep prioritized into alternative public safety programs similar to uh the comment that we just heard earlier. Um and then the other priorities that I just listed. Um we also captured 18 comments from that were received live during our public hearings and that is also in the packet that you received. So that brings us to today. Um this is the chart that we presented back on the 29th and it is still good. There has been uh some conversation about uh changes based on uh feedback from council as well as our residents, but those things were able to be accomplished administratively. Um and so there is no change uh in the the figures that you're seeing here from what you saw earlier. I'll just go back through them very quickly. Starting with the general fund, we do have a slight contraction there uh in the general fund at being down about a half percent or $611 million. That's what prompted us to have to request the four and a half% cuts in most cases um for most general fund support departments um and about a one and a half% cut for our public safety departments. Other operating funds uh which starts pulling in things like our airports and utilities and stormwater drainage funds um does have a slight increase at 5% um but that's being propped up almost exclusively by the increase in the hotel motel tax. And then the big mover this year is for as usual our non-operating funds. are our capital investments with an increase of 3.39%. Um, and that's being pushed by a $66 million increase for MAPS 4. So, just giving you some further context of how those cuts um are being achieved throughout the city. You'll note that we are down um 27 positions in this current year. Um, I'll note for you again that this does not include the 20 uh frozen police officer positions. So we will be down to 50 70 uh positions effectively throughout the city. If we break that up uh by departments um we have 10 departments that ended up with a reduced headcount for this year. Um and again this does not include the uh 20 frozen police officer positions. And that is all the slides that I have for you this morning. Uh but happy to answer any questions that you might have. Thanks Chris. I appreciate your work on this and um appreciate the leadership that you've provided, but then also all the departments who worked on this to help put this together. Thank you. That's all that we have, Mayor. Okay. Is there any questions or comments from the council before we vote on the resolution? I'll make just a few quick comments. Um, one I want to thank Aurelius for coming and sharing his comments as well and just um echo the idea that we we our our budget is a reflection of our values and I hope that we can um in this downtime consider ways that we can continue to support the most needy people in our community and and one thing that I'm very pleased two things that victories I think in this budget that I want to lift up are one our continued investment in mobile integrated health. Um, I think that is such a great strategy for um improving conditions in the community, for ensuring that the people who are experiencing mental health crisis get the support that they need. And so I I appreciate city manager um the continued support of that um effort. Secondly, I want to thank um the city manager again and team for all ACM Furbush uh director Rush for their support of Route 19 in Spencer. Um, I know that we are going to spend the next year working on alternatives and finding another way to get that funded, but I appreciate this extension to give us some more time to find some reasonable alternatives. Appreciate the conversation that I had with uh, Councilwoman Avers about helping me and and trying to figure out some uh, some solutions. And so, just really appreciate those efforts. Um, just a couple remarks. one, I'd like to uh join Councilman Pennington in lifting up uh helping to amplify the voices of the community members who came to advocate um regarding Route 19 um and our route to Norman. Uh one of those residents lives in W 2. Uh, I can see their intersection in my head right now. And they use maps for sidewalks that we just built on Chartell and the bike lane that's there to get down here to the bus and that bus takes them to their job and he relies on that 5:50 a.m. bus. So while I am a very data driven person, I will I I will never let data remove the humanity, right? The real human being who needs to get to work um or wherever they need to get to. So um I I really want to thank Sherman for coming and advocating for himself. Uh that Lynette who is homeless coming to advocate. Um, you know, that's that's powerful stuff. Um, and I just really want to lift them up and say I'm really grateful that they added their voice to us not cutting that route uh and giving us the next year to figure out how best to figure out what targeted um in its delivery of service to the people who need it. Um so and thank you city manager for being receptive to those conversations and the embark for hosting um the space for those conversations um as well. Um, I'd like to make also a request, city manager, I think you might be the one to hear. When I've looked at um press releases or when I go to the page right now about mobile integrated health, I'm really happy of course to see that, you know, we mentioned that this was developed in collaboration with the OKC public safety partnership and the city's crisis intervention advisory group. I would request that we include the fact that this mobile integrated health care, this historic uh moment for our city where we are better connecting people in a mental health crisis to the folk who can bel stabilize them. This was born um during a tumultuous summer of 2020 where people ac from the FOP to the NAACP came together on the mayor's law enforcement task force, the community policing working group to do some of the most painful work I have ever done in my life that I'm guessing many of us who were here at the time will remember how painful that was. protest in the streets, protest here at this uh this horseshoe and all of us not always rowing together. But because of our efforts, so many wonderful things are now finding themselves implemented. And one of them during mental health awareness month is mobile integrated healthc care. But missing from this page is any reference to the community policing working group and the members who served from police majors, uh, former Chief Gorly, uh, W 2 resident Paula Sophia, my neighbor, uh, former police officer, current counselor, um, you know, we have people Grace Franklin on the east side who's who volunteered, we have volunteers who took the spirit of the pro protest and channel that energy into something very tangible um and productive which will reduce harm and save lives and something that will be all of our legacy long when we are dust. And so it really would mean a lot to me if we could put the the community policing resolution crafted not just by me but by Amanda Carpenter, former municipal counselor's office. This was a community effort. As Aurelius is coming up here and talking about uh participatory budgets, we need to remember that these 39 recommendations in front of us were communitydriven. Um, I will never forget knocking doors in Ward uh two, formerly parts of WI three, a very conservative man um who I never met before. And when I gave him my brochure, he looked at me and he said, "Are you taking money from police?" I was like, "We're not having that conversation right now. I want to talk to you about this mobile integrated health, which we weren't even calling it that at the time." I said, "An alternative response to mental health uh care." And he said, "That is a good idea." I want you to think about that. a half black progressive, gay progressive talking to a conservative and we figured it out together. I don't know how he voted, but I know he liked the work we were doing. And I I want our community to know that their voices mattered and that their work and their volunteer mattered, and it's just missing from this. It's been missing from press releases. Um, and I just think it's important. I think it's important for uh residents to be able to just like when Sherman and that nice young uh woman who's experiencing homelessness came and advocated. I want people to always know their voices matter up here. No, I appreciate that and and I also appreciate that you lift up that the police department had a role in this. When we look at this and we bring forward the mental health, you know, the mobile integrated health, it's in the fire department. That's by design from the work that we did. it was the police department, the fire department also working together in this agreeing that this is a better better way to do the response. And so I think it is lifting up what we're doing with the task force and the working group making sure that we highlight that and we'll look at that. But it's been a partnership of all of us working together and this doesn't happen without all the groups working together and continuing to work together as we actually implement it. So I appreciate you pointing that out. I I really appreciate you hearing me because I just think that this was a his not I think I know this was a historic moment and I think for just a simple omission can lead to an eraser of a a critical historic moment in in Oklahoma City's history. Um so I just wanted to say that and then I'll just conclude by and I really appreciate you hearing me on that and I really again thank you for for being here. I would like just two other things. city manager sometime between now and when you task the departments um to come up with their budgets at the end of the year to start coming up thinking about their budgets. I would at least like to hear some research. I'm new to the idea of participatory budgets. I don't really know much about it but I'm intrigued. I'm intrigued and I'm looking at Brent Bryant smart finance background or you come from a finance background. I I consider Jason Fairbrush an AC who is our ACM a mentor and he comes from a finance background. I would love to start hearing from people from our own city, you know, our our instrument or our our institution of the city. Um, learn from you all, but start learning a little bit more from some community members. Maybe we don't do anything. Maybe we don't, but can we at least learn a little bit more? That's one ask that I have. Um, and then the comment is I and I've said it before, I'm not a fan of this budget. I really am not. Um, but I'm going to keep advocating because I have the patience of Job. Um, 5 years ago, um, there were community members who said some horrible mean things to me. Um, and and not just to me, but to the people who were on that community policing working group who did not believe that the day would come that a mobile integrated health care system would happen in Oklahoma City. And 5 years later, here we are. And I wish it had happened then. You remember when we proposed it, we want councilwoman nice, councilwoman him, we wanted it right then and so did community. And um I will I will continue that patience because the work of that resolution is not done until a violence interruption program exists until we are better connecting our residents to the resources working with our faith community to do it as well, which is something I know Councilman Carter uh is always heavy on his heart. Um, which is why I'm going to be hosting a faith outreach in W 2 about homelessness with Jamie Caves. So, I'm not giving up. Um, I don't like this budget, but um, like I said, patience of job and um, quite quite the workhorse. So, that's all I have to say. I have something to say. Sure. Woohoo. Did I Did I make it work? Yes. Um, so first of all, Christian, kudos on putting together this budget. I know that there have been hundreds and thousands of hours that have gone into it and uh I think as you're building and transforming there's lots of additional challenges and moving parts that make it even more complex than if you're just executing year after year. And so um that challenge is recognized. And I can tell you as the new person at the council that you know I've been trying to get up to speed very very quickly so that I could appreciate um the complexity and the impact of it. Um you I think that it's pretty well established that I try to look at things in a little bit different way. Um I like to tell uh Councilman Cooper it's heart and numbers. Um, just like whenever I go to the store with my kids, they may want everything at the store, but if I only have a certain amount in my budget, that has to be part of the conversation. And I think that that's what we've been really trying to to do as we've gotten our presentations of budgets. Um, so I think that uh it's not just about do you have enough money to do this, but are we getting value for the money that we're spending? And that's an important piece of the conversation from a a budget and performance perspective. So, um, one of the things that I've heard as we've talked about different budgets, um, in some elements we've talked about pure cities, sometimes we've talked about industry standards, but I haven't fully been able to, um, connect those dots on every single budget thus far. Um, as I was writing down my notes of where are my concerns, and I'm not saying concerns like it's wrong, it's just I don't have a full understanding yet. It's actually the items that were covered just in this last this last budget meeting. So, I still have questions remaining um tied to our planning budget, our police budget, and then I would appreciate a briefing from the city manager's office on administrative changes that have been made to the budgets that were presented previously. Um so, because of that, not I would like to request a defer to our next meeting. I know that is unnormal, but we can still get it done within the time frame that we have to get it done. And it would give me great comfort to know that um I've done my due diligence and representing and collecting the information and having real conversations um about those three areas. Okay. Well, you've heard the request for a motion. We can handle that electronically. And uh does anyone want to debate on the motion? If not, we'll take it up. Okay. I'm I'll just my own personal debate. I'm going to vote no and normally grant deferrals, but I mean this is we've had months that we've been working on this and I certainly I always want you to have all the time that you need, but uh this is certainly not a process that comes at us all of a sudden. It's uh something we've been working on. Although granted, you didn't have quite as much time as everybody else because of your um arrival here a little later through election, but um certainly I'll move forward and we'll all move forward if that is the will of the council. I'll personally be voting no, but it is no, it's not personal. Okay, we have a motion now for a deferral of two weeks to June 17th. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. motion fails 3 to six. Um, is there any other com comments, debate on item T2, the resolution adopting the fiscal year 2026 annual budget? All right. If not, we could take up the resolution if that is the desire of the council. Have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes seven to two. All right. Next up are some items that we always vote separately because they relate to the special public safety sales tax that was passed decades ago. So, we always kind of handle them in separate votes, but they are sort of all tied to the budget. Uh, first up is U1, which is a public hearing regarding the fire sales tax appropriations. Uh, sorry, Amy, is there anyone who signed up to speak? No, they haven't. They have not. So, we'll advance to the resolution found at U2. Um, this is actually set for final hearing on June 17th. It is being introduced today. It does pertain, as stated, to appropriations for the fire department for fiscal year 2526. And these do align with what we presented everything in the budget. Right. All right. We can bring it up if it is council's desire to introduce the resolution today. We have a motion and a second. passes unanimously. And item 11, V1, is a public hearing regarding a similar police sales tax appropriation. Amy, has anyone signed up to speak? No, they haven't. They have not. So, we'll advance to the resolution found at V2. Um, this is to be introduced and set for final hearing on June 17th. We have a motion and a second. cast your votes. Uh passes 8 to one. Uh and again, that's for final hearing on June 17th. All right. Well, that concludes the budget votes. Uh thanks to your team. I know how much work goes into it and it's uh kind of the next process starts tomorrow pretty much. Yes. Yeah. Well, a lot effectively. Yeah. And I would say too that that I understand that there are challenges and questions on the budget and concerns. I don't like everything in the budget ever. And so I do appreciate the cooperation and participation and I know that regardless of where we stand and how we feel about these, we're moving forward together. And that's the intent and that's the goal. But I just want to recognize all the work from Chris and his team, but all the departments, this is a budget that's developed by those that are actually in the work and doing the work. And so I just want to express my appreciation to them uh for their leadership in this. and um appreciate the support of the council. City manager, what would it look like to start studying some of that participatory budget? We can look at that and evaluate that. I want to just clarify too that like the charter calls for me to the budget and present that. We definitely can take a look. Chris has looked at what we can do with more engagement, providing more opportunities for engagement. The real difficulty that I see is it's very, very difficult to make sure you're reaching a full community. I know. Yeah. And that's the real challenge is like just the people that show up that have a concern. And I can say the people that showed up and spoke on the budget I do not believe represents the majority of the community. And I'm not saying it's right or wrong. I'm just saying we make sure that we get a voice. You know, the concern of taking funding out of the police department doing other things. People want to do other things, but I don't believe by and large in our community that people want to take money out of the police department to do that. They may want us to look at how we're managing that and how we're using our resources and we're always evaluating that. But I think that's the biggest challenge that I see. I'm open to considering other processes to look at what we incorporate to make sure we have the engagement. Ultimately, we have to make professional decisions and what we're doing to manage this budget going forward to bring to the council. And that's that that ultimate responsibility. All of this can be information that provide that informs our decisions, but it doesn't make the decisions for us. Yeah. I think what I would how I respond a bit back to that is my challenge back to you for consideration is divorce in your mind if you can. I know you heard residents speak about moving money from the police budget. divorce in your mind if you can from a conversation about participatory budget right maybe and you because you see what I mean and I think it's again it's that challenge of making sure that we're getting all the voices but I understand what you're saying and I think I'd want to hear maybe it's an email to explain a little bit more some ideas of what that outreach that engagement and Christian too you know I would like to hear more from our residents about their priorities throughout the year heading into the to the budget process that's all Okay. Thank you. All right. So, it's been brought to my attention that Councilman Cooper would like to adopt an emergency on a previously passed zoning item. And this is item 11 I. Um, so this was to remind you the um ordinance uh establishing a special permit at 2120 Northwest 39th. Um, as you see, we always do note the potential opportunity for an emergency vote, but very rarely uh do we do them, but it's certainly there if uh that is the desire of the council member and the applicant. And apparently in this case it is. And so would you like to make that motion item I to adopt an emergency? Councilman Cooper, I would 11 I sorry. Yes. 11 I Yes. Items for individual consideration. Councilman. Yes, they spoke and I'm so sorry. They had sent me an email where they had in fact requested the emergency. I sometimes rely on people to ask for it when they're at the podium. So, I forgive that oversight. So, I would just request an emergency um for that. All right, let's bring that up. We have a motion and a second on the emergency for item 11. I cast your votes. passes unanimously and with the necessary supermajority for adoption of an emergency. Uh we're back in order at 11W and Vice Mayor Cooper presiding building. Yeah. Thank you, Mayor. You're fine. We are now on item W and that is a resolution uh authorizing the municipal counselor to confess judgment without uh without admitting liability in the case of Sarah Britain versus city of Oklahoma City Oklahoma County District Court. There is no request for executive uh session. I don't know if council members have anything they say about that. Okay, I'll entertain a motion. Motion and a second received. Cast your votes, please. Motion passes. Thank you so much, councel. We will move on now to item X. And this is a resolution authorizing municipal counselor to confess judgment without admitting liability in the case of Steve and Jane Clark versus the city of Oklahoma City in District Court of Oklahoma County. Um, there was no request for executive session. Unless council members have a comment, I would accept a motion one way or the other. And we have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you councel. We will now move on to item Y and this is a request uh to actually enter into executive session to discuss collective bargaining negotiations for fiscal year 25 2026 with the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 123, International Association of Firefighters, Local 157, and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 246 as authorized by uh 25 section. Okay, there we go. Uh I will accept either a uh motion one way or the other. I have a motion and a second. Cast your vote to council and then uh city man, make sure I'm getting this right. We would move this item to the end after citizens to be heard and we'd move into executive session then. Okay, just want to make sure that process was clear to everyone. Motion passes and we will enter an executive session at the end of our council meeting or after the citizens to be heard which will be item uh 13. Moving on, we're going to move to item uh 11 Z and that is claims recommended for denial and we do have one on uh no request to enter into executive uh session. I would entertain a motion. Have a motion and a second. Please cast your votes, council. Motion for denial approved. Thank you, council. And we will now move to 11 A. And that is claims recommended for approval. And we do have a claim on there under 1A. Um unless there is a request to move into executive session, I would uh seek a motion. Have a motion and a second. Cast your votes, please. Okay. And we approve that unanimously. Thank you, councel. We will now move into item 12, and that is comments from council. And we'll start with Ward One. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Yes. Um, in lie of all the sports things that are going on, I wanted to give my appreciation and condolences to the the OU women's softball team. They played a great game last night. Fought very hard. U, they've done a great job throughout the year. And of course, our Oklahoma City Thunder who are going to be starting their game one on Thursday. Um, but I've got one that we don't always get to talk about very often, and I was gone a couple weeks ago, so I didn't get to bring it up, but I got to go to Florida a few weeks back and witness the Oklahoma City Broncos homeschool baseball team bring home the World Series championship for our city. And so, I just wanted to give a big shout out to those guys who who busted their tail throughout the year. Um, and I am a little biased because a couple of my boys play on that team, but they did an amazing job and they brought home the W. And I wanted to give a big shout out to Councilman Stones, Councilman Stone Cipher, and Municipal Council Lord McDivet for their birthdays this week. And happy birthday. Thank you, Councelor Carter. W three. Okay, W four. Uh w I want to, excuse me, want to thank TuneWin for inviting me to the by aval Alex. I'm not even going to try to say the name of the church. It's the St. Andrews Vietnamese church. Um, couple of weekends ago, they had a big um, huge event, probably 2,000 people there, and they were very welcoming and uh, glad that we were involved. So, thank you. Thank you, councelor. Ward six, ward seven, w eight. I was able to go to the uh last home game with you and others. And uh I just wanted to comment that uh we have some of the greatest basketball fans in the world. I have never heard that facility that loud that night. Um I'm I'm looking forward to that happening again this Thursday. So, uh all I have to say is go Thunder. Thank you. Um, and I'll just add briefly, and I'll have some photos next time I'm up here, but I just wanted to say uh thank you to utilities and to waste management. I was able to take a tour of our recycling facility on on Northwest Fourth Street and walk through the whole process. And uh, like I said, I'll put some photos to it next time I'm up here. But for now, for people who are concerned uh regarding them placing materials in their recycling bin and wondering where they go, we learned that 70% of the materials that our recycling facility receives, makes its way not to our landfills, but through a recycling process. And uh this is an important thing. You know, during the tour, y'all know me. I love to start bringing up PBS or something like that. But during the tour, I I did I brought up a PBS NewsHour article that was talking about I think where a lot of those concerns come from because China as a country once upon a time, very recently, Once Upon a Time was a one of the major purchasers of recyclable materials and they no longer do that. And so something smartly that waste management alongside utilities is doing right now is there are local and regional partnerships, manufacturing partnerships um that they have entered uh into and that's where we send a lot of our 70% of our material that residents uh send in. So I just wanted to give a little bit of a a gratitude but also um not just to waste management and to utilities but to our residents for actually participating in this recycling program. So and also just thank you for arranging that that tour. And then just as a bit of a public safety or sorry public service announcement and I'll have the photos with me next time to kind of drive it on home but uh the 30% is where I I still have the concerns. Right. One of the major things we see is people will put their recyclables in a plastic bag. That plastic bag, no plastic bags need to go into the green. It needs to go into the big blue. Unfortunately, you might remember our state legislature passed preeemption laws that prevented municipalities from banning the use or prohibiting or even reducing the use of plastic bags. And um those plastic bags find that was in 2019 by the way. um those plastic bags make their way into the gears and those gears get gummed up and for hours shut down um the work of recycling. And so it's very important that you Google OKC recycling program because we have the dos and the don'ts of what to put in there and those plastics are what we call a a major contaminant um and literally will disrupt the work uh that needs to go on there. Speaking of the work, I really want to give much love and gratitude to the workers there. It is so impressive. They have the personal protective gear on, the gloves to keep them from as the glass that they're receiving and all this material that they're just sorting through. They've never seen the material before. They don't know what's in there, but on this conveyor belt, they're just with the protective gear being able to, you know, just like the flash. Um, and then unfortunately we get this 30% pile of uh of the contamination. So brittle plastics is another big one. So if if you can drop it to the ground and it can shatter as plastic, that's something that does not need to go in there as well. Um, so I'll have some photos for us next time kind of walk us through precisely what those photos are. But for now, much love and gratitude to the workers and to our team for getting us out there and to the residents for their participation. And that is all I have. And we will now move on to uh item 13. And that is citizens to be heard. And we do in fact have three citizens. We'll start with Ronnie Kirk. And if you wouldn't mind um stating your first and last name, you know the drill. But first and last name, your address, and then you'll have three minutes. And you'll want to keep an eye on the TV because those three minutes will be there. City clerk will tell you when your 30 seconds are ready. My name is My name is Ronnie Kirk. My address is 2328 North Missouri. I come down today once again to talk about giving our police more training. You know, two weeks ago over in our county jail, a man got beat to death for 20 minutes. You know, all them jail cells got a buzzer where you can call down to where the jail is. She didn't answer the phone. By the time she did answer the phone, the man was dead. Two weeks ago, there's some training for about 60 new police. It was for them to take stress test, for our new police to take stress test. They need to take tests in deescalation. They need to take test to find out if Ronnie Kirks is mental. They need to know if I'm drunk. They shouldn't assume since we got all these open gun laws, a marijuana joint on every corner and two of them in some blocks. They shouldn't assume I'm high. They give us all these things for recreation. So they shouldn't have to assume the person that's taking the call. They should ask more question. Is that person known to you? Do we have a weapon? Is he mental or is she mental? So you know how the police should respond to the person instead of asking questions after the man is dead. I didn't know he was me. Those are the person that the dispatcher should be already given the police. Then they know how to handle the situation. You know the city's really grown. Boy, we got many place to go to. You ride down the street, kids, families, man with a AR-15 on his side. You don't even know if he's mental, but he got permit to carry this AR-15. You know, y'all need to get together. You're doing a great job for the city. Just make it better for us. Give it to them senators having to repeal them gun laws. We're going into the future. Well, we should be able to enjoy this city. Boy, it's beautiful. I want to say thank y'all. Thank you, Mr. Kirk. I appreciate you. Okay, next up we have Steve Hunt. And you'll want to give your first and last name and your address. And you'll uh keep an eye on the three minutes and TD clerk will tell you when you have their 30 seconds at the end. Right. Uh Steve Hunt, 2825 Northwest 57th, Ward James. Um just want to apologize to Joe Beth and Craig for last time I was here. just um said some things that you know very passionate person as they say and a friend uh said don't do anything within a couple years after losing your mother and I I just have been in a really difficult place the things that I saw um over the past several years dealing with that [Music] um obviously I'm in a weird place with the thunder you know I have a lot of interactions with the thunder swindles and I lost my job at the national when um Dave had me speak after Gary Brooks. You know, I was working as concier at the National and um two days after speaking um they had me in the office and they're like, "Steve, you're you're one of our best employees. Just can't have you here." And um that that killed me. I mean cuz I was driving people from out of town to Red Cup and Golden Phoenix and you know it was it was great and and like two days after that Dave's wife gets a $300,000 job at United Way is like is a bit much to handle. So [Music] um I had wanted to mention this thing about patients latting and having uh more native blood in her than Dave. I think everyone has seen this. I don't know if you all have looked at this, but it's very troubling to me that Dave is running around talking about being the first native mayor. Not just because he's 78 wedico, bro, but also that patience actually was. And she didn't broadcast her native heritage because her her family or her father got rid of his Dow's role because that would prevent him from owning a home. And so it's kind of but you know, whatever. I don't really think any of that matters anymore cuz he's going to do what he's going to do. Um, James, thanks for mentioning Fertile Ground. I I think one thing that bothers me about the Thunder is that so many good people like them have been left out of the equation. You know, like years ago, I was trying to get uh Perry Broadcasting in on the broadcast rights and you know, they just laughed at me like we're going to give it to Nevada Citadel and now here we are. Um, the TV broadcasts are a Maryland company. It's It's FanDuel Sports because Bali went bankrupt. And interestingly interestingly, Bali and FanDuel are owned by the same person. And I was at SNB the other day. I'm just kind of rambling now with my I was at SNB the other day and they they weren't able to show the game there because they don't have the cable or whatever. And so there's a lot uh that's something that I'd like to consider in the future is that a lot of local owners uh like SMB are are being hurt by the decisions that have been made and all that. So once again, yeah, sorry about last time. You know, Joe Beth, I really like you. Um Craig sorry. First and last name and your address and you'll have the three minutes. um you know the drill and I'll let you know your 30 seconds at the end. Yeah, my name is Mark Faulk. My address is 803 Northwest 32nd Street in Oklahoma City. Um I want to talk a little bit today about our county jail which which seems like it would not have anything to do with Oklahoma City, but it very much does. Um Oklahoma City puts about I believe around 60% of the people in the jail are from Oklahoma City. Um, as you all some of you know, um, with the People's Council for Justice Reform, we've spent the last four to five years trying to reduce the jail population. Um, I applaud the city for the 39 um, things that we're implementing with the uh, police department of Oklahoma City. I think one that is very important would be to implement sight and release. At this point in our history, we do not need to continue to put people in jail for low-level offenses. Um, I would say there is no better example of that than two weeks ago when 60 police officers arrested 154 mostly Hispanic people at what was described, depending on who's doing the describing, as either a block party or street racing. But I do know this, the vast majority of those charges, the vast majority of them were for unlawful assembly. The jail was overwhelmed. They only have at the most six people working on the weekends under staffed. That's a separate problem to deal with with the county. But when you bring in 154 people, of which 92 were booked into that jail, many of them were held in handcuffs for up to six hours. Many of them were held for hours and I believe some of them even overnight once their bond was made. There was no communication between the jail and the police department that these people were coming into the jail. Was it a racist arrest? I I won't go into that today. I have my own opinion of that. But I will say this. I believe that it's important that we as a city begin to look at how we can work with the county to reduce the jail population. They don't have the money to build a new jail. So right now, what we need to do is do what other municipalities have done. reduce the population 30 seconds and then maybe we get away with building a smaller jail. I would urge uh those those charges were kicked down to municipal level. I would urge councelor Kenneth Jordan to dismiss any of the lowest level charges on that. I think they were unnecessary. Um and finally the other thing I want to say first of all happy pride but I also want to say there is an employee who works for Oklahoma City. His name um let's see let me think of it. He is he is the anchor Baptist church preacher. I believe his last name is Laws. You all may know that. But um he is an employee of Oklahoma City. He is also the preacher of a church where he has preached the execution of homosexuals and where he has preached the execution of other pastors or preachers who support the LGBTQ community. I would suggest that um you all take a long hard look at that. I would like to see him fired from Oklahoma City. This was reported in the media. We do not need that kind of hatred in our city. We do not need that kind of people working for the city. Other employees have spoken out and said that they fear for their safety once they heard who he was and what he said. So I again would suggest that you have a discussion about that. And um I would just like to say I hope that in the end everyone is busy. Everyone is welcome in Oklahoma City and that's what we need to work towards. Thank you. Thank you for your comments and uh I believe with that we Oh, we have the executive session. Thank you, counselor. I was going to not and thank you all for your comments. We're going to come right back in. Not well, right back in here. But we'll be back. Leave it open. Yes, ma'am. We are here uh for item 14 after executive session and that is adjournment and we are journed. Thank you all.