okay if everybody could mute their likes good evening and welcome to the august 31st 2021 virtual meeting of the greensboro city council due to heightened covet concerns city council will be meeting virtually until further notice i'm going to take a roll call to confirm members in attendance mrs johnson president mrs abuzawader president mrs hightower president mrs hoffman mr outling mrs thurm president and dr wells president and obviously i am here council procedure for conduct of the meeting voting will be conducted by roll call vote as council considers consent public hearing and business items each member of council must vote unless there is a direct conflict council members should remain muted to minimize distracting background noises councils should request to speak by physically raising their hand to prevent multiple speak people speaking at one time council will verbally make a motion and a second we do have a consent agenda for items c1 through c3 which are a grouping of agenda items that are voted on with one single vote to expedite what are believed to be routine and non-controversial items any council member may withdraw an item from the consent agenda due to a conflict of interest or for the purpose of voting no items removed from the consent agenda for discussion will be placed on the september 21st city council business agenda this meet this meeting does include closed captioning depending on the length of tonight's meeting we will take a short recess around 7 30. the seat formerly formerly occupied by council member kennedy is now vacant qualified residents are encouraged to submit an online application located on the city's website www.greensborohyphennc.com government backslash city council by 11 59 pm on september 9th candidates will be allowed three minutes to speak at the september 14th city council meeting following the speakers council shall make nominations for voting on the at-large seat at this point i kind of want to open it up the city council or to staff i believe that donna gray has joined us and um you know donna has been a staple in our council chambers for many many years and we want to wish her well on her retirement there was a nice event that was put together by city staff yesterday and some real heart thanks to donna for the great job that she has done as i said yesterday nobody calls donna or her department in a good mood they're calling with an issue and every issue is important to them and donna no matter what the issue is made sure it was a priority to her so the people that she was working with felt valued and i think that is really important she has left really big shoes to fill we are pleased that she will get some time to enjoy her family and retirement but we are sad for herself ourselves that she's moving on and i just want to give a real heartfelt thank you to donna for all you have done the last 24 years you have really taken our customer service to the to the next level so i'd like to open it up for council comments or anyone else who would like to speak tammy donna i just want to thank you um for all your support and help and everything that you've done for the citizens of district five in greensboro in general um you know when they define public servant they need to have your picture in the dictionary because that's exactly what you epitomize so thank you thank you thank you you will be dearly missed but i know you've created a department that will carry on your work and make you proud so thank you so much for all you've done for us donna i want to just say thank you and um deep gratitude to you it's so wonderful as long as i have served to ask that somebody do something and you don't have to worry about it because you know it's going to be done and it's going to be done well and right um i want you to enjoy your retirement if you want to go fishing give me a call and god bless you donna it's nancy hoffman and um gosh you've been a go-to person uh for me for my entire time on city council i can't thank you enough um you know we we just you've excelled at a level of customer service and handling situations for people and um you know it you did it so easily and um with such finesse and grace and understanding and i appreciate that very much and my warmest and best wishes to you uh as you move on for this next phase of your life please enjoy mary kay yes donna of course i i said a few things yesterday i've known you actually since you came to the city of greensboro and you know all the things you've done with city academy the mayor's committee on persons for disabilities all of the things that you've organized and you know i'm sure a lot of people don't know but you did a lot of things on your own time and that is that really showed me your dedication and compassion for everyone and how much you truly truly cared about the citizens of greensboro um someone said yesterday it's not hundreds of people that you've touched it's thousands it's thousands of people who had a challenge or an issue or just got to know you out in the community so um i know i personally thank you and i know everyone else does too we're just going to miss you terribly i know i know you said your staff will do a good job and i'm assured that they will because i know you trained them but you know you are the face you are the one that we always went to so thank you so much for all you've done for this city and for the residents in this city over all of the many years that you've served um you have served honorably and i thank you for your service karen well goldie had her hand first oh golly i want to say thank you to you for all of the fires that you put out when the complaints came from the citizens and you handled them you and your team i really appreciate that but hearing you yesterday saying that you did it because that's what you really wanted to do so i thought about it i said that that was her it's her god-given gift to work with people she never saw we never saw any differences and and uh you know we pick up things but she just showed every person that came whether they could see whether they could talk whether they could walk she has assisted them but she said it wasn't for the job but it was what she enjoyed doing so you've really had a chance to to um fulfill your call and i'm glad that you were able to do it at the city of greensboro you we will miss you we will but enjoy yourself sharon uh so donna i kind of reiterate everything everybody else said but um just to say again today um i have been very thankful for your service um what many people don't realize is that when uh i call you it's because a citizen has called me and you recognize that you recognize beyond my call and my request it was because somebody had a need for something whatever that was so whether you responded to an email uh or you responded to a call from me or a citizen you just did it and so i mean when i plan things i just called you and you took it over uh people don't know i really didn't worry about it you know you helped with logistics but you took all of it okay and i'm really gonna miss that i understand have a good team and they're gonna do the same things that you've done but there's something really special about you um yesterday i was saying that people don't know what you've done and i didn't recount the story of how you helped someone who was not only blind but uh disabled in the sense that they could no longer lift themselves up out of their chair you found them a lift chair and got it paid for not many people would have done that would have gone to that level uh of being so personable so um you do have big juice um and you're gonna be missed uh i'm gonna miss calling you and knowing it's taken care of so thank you very much for making me look good thank you yes sir donna congratulations on your retirement you really represent the best of greensboro as other council members have said you know crazy hard-working bright intelligent empathetic and also finds a way out of no way to get really great results and figure out solutions to problems even where you know to council member hightower's point the kind of formal abilities of the city as a government ceases you still find a way to solve problems it's really evidenced by all the lives you've touched and all the people that i have met that have had singular interactions with you over the decades but remember you by name and remember and the thing that you did for them their family members and their loved ones so congratulations on your retirement and thank you for your many many years of service and really being the best of our city donna i wish i wish that we were in person so that we could give you a personal goodbye and that we would give you a standing ovation right now one that is truly deserved we will miss you in your position but we will miss you as a person and a friend so thank you for all of your hard work and we wish you best wishes on your retirement we hope that you'll come back and visit absolutely okay so thank you very much um good evening everyone and city leaders and city council um thank you so much for your kind words um i don't often come to tears you have moved me to tears tonight so forgive me it's been my honoring pleasure to serve the people of greensboro for the last 25 plus years i've been blessed to meet and work with people from all i mean members of the community from all walks of life and i'm truly truly grateful for all the experiences that i have had the people i've met the opportunities to assist and work with people over the years has been as i said yesterday it's been fulfilling for me as an individual but i personally could not have ever done this without the support of all of you management our dedicated community relations team which works in my shadow a lot so you see me but they're behind the scenes doing a ton isabelle dawn kathy justice um fellow city employees and let me not forget the wonderful assortment of non-profits that our greensboro is rich with and so fortunate to have that i can call on to help people and i can you know facilitate that and they come and help people and um it's it's incredible we have a wonderful community but i do want to thank all the city employees that work hard every day to provide the services of greensboro because they are the where the rubber meets the road um and that's what that support system looks like so spend my literal pleasure to serve every one of you and everyone in our community so i wish you all the best in the future community relations will be there for you i have no doubt and i'm not gonna be a stranger i'll flip by occasionally so thank you all very much i appreciate your kind words thank you donna and thank you for spending a little time with us this evening we hope we'll see you soon thank you we will now move on to our consent agenda does anybody wish to remove any items from the consent agenda due to a conflict of interest or for the purpose of voting no do i have a motion for the consent agenda move the item second moved by mrs thurm seconded by dr wells i am a yes mrs johnson yes mrs abuzawader yes mrs hightower yes mrs hoffman yes mr outling yes mrs thurm yes and dr wells yes and that passes eight to zero um we will now move on to the um public hearing portion of our agenda and they are items d1 d2 d3 d4 d5 and d6 we have no speakers signed up to participate in tonight's public hearings i'm going ahead um and i will read them into the record at one time um you left off d step um d7 is separate this is probably here i know but we're taking one through six together separate votes but it's being read in together proceedings of the public hearing on bond orders authorizing housing bonds parks and recreation bonds firefighting bonds law enforcement facility bonds and transportation this public hearing is being held upon the orders entitled order author authorizing 30 million housing bonds 70 million parks and recreation bonds 14 million firefighting facility bonds 6 million law enforcement facility bonds and 15 million transportation bonds and that the city council will immediately hear anyone who might wish to be heard or have questions on the validity of said orders or for the advisability of issuing said bonds these items were postponed from our august 17th city council meeting to allow for additional advertising we do not have any speakers on these items so do i have um a motion for d1 i move so moved by mrs hoffman seconded by mrs um abuse waiter um i am a yes mrs johnson mrs abuzawader yes mrs hightower yes mrs hoffman yes mr outland at the appropriate time i like to make comments on the bond items themselves i defer to you obviously in terms of when the appropriate time to do so um i would say the appropriate time is now since we're voting on them and already have a motion on the floor sure i i attempted to raise my hand to make a comment before we started voting but i don't i don't know if you saw me at that time but in any event you know with regard to all the bond items you know it's almost cliche at times that people kind of attempt to analogize city or government uh family households in many ways you know those analogies don't work but one way in which it does make a whole lot of sense is with regard to bonds and browning um certainly my household poor and i there are situations and we in which we sometimes have to borrow for expensive things that we can't pay for out of our normal budget when we do so you know as any community should they're looking at bonds should plan for that and not take out more than is necessary um as a household core and i do it you know really to make sure that we're able to meet unexpected needs in the future as well as to make sure that we have enough in the future to provide for our household including our children effectively bonds are much like taking out and opening up a credit card or opening up a mortgage to borrow money and really they should they're borrowing and they should be really used for priorities that can be paid for in the short run and with that it means that it's really important that if we talk about and we go through the process of borrowing money that we plan carefully get input from the community on its needs and priorities on the front end and make sure that we're not taking away from our ability to meet future needs and that is something that is really about the future and leaves the future community members better off than they would have been but for the borrowing um you know this bond proposal which we're obviously going to go through calls upon the city to ask voters whether or not the city should borrow 135 million dollars uh in the past i've certainly not only voted to give community residents an opportunity to have their say on whether or not the city should borrow money in millions of dollars but in the past i've actually affirmatively advocated for residents to in fact support the city borrowing those monies here you know i'm really concerned about this process as well as the outcome and really the the prospect of the city doing something that if it were a person if it were a family it would not do and that's borrowing a lot of money without a clear plan for how to pay for it and without evaluating whether or not the borrowing is actually needed now as we've discussed at many meetings including our most recent city council meeting um last week the city fortunately is going to be receiving nearly 60 million dollars that really was unexpected from the the federal government in connection with the american rescue plan we're also going to be receiving and have received 10 million dollars from the federal government in connection with the coliseum so another unexpected millions and millions of dollars that the city has received uh we are still in the process as a community of receiving feedback from community members about their needs and desires for those monies and really the public is still hopefully getting an opportunity to share their thoughts on that topic moreover you know as many of us are aware in connection with the most recent bond you know which i certainly did support at all levels 2016 you know approximately half or approximately only half of the money in connection with that bond has been borrowed and spent um so you know i i think community residents should get an opportunity to have their say on whether or not the city should borrow this money i support community residents having their say you know i'm going to vote in favor of giving everyone an opportunity to have their say whenever these uh referendums are put before community members but i would just encourage people to really think carefully about this borrowing think carefully about the need and the burden that'll place on future generations and possibly other members of our community would be more adversely affected than than many folks as a result of the borrowing and be sure to continue to hopefully let us as a city council know your thoughts priorities and needs around the american rescue plan um and i think that's that's something that's really important and that should really be going into these decisions that the city makes so thank you madam mayor i appreciate the opportunity and your vote is is yes um mrs thurm yes and dr wells yes thank you and let me just add that people and families are really behind every single one of these bonds we just voted to put on a 30 million dollar bond for affordable housing we did a 10-year plan um that showed that we were looking at 50 million dollars at the time so 30 million dollars is only going to get us started and we know that construction prices and opportunity prices have risen since then we are making an investment in our future i think that's very very important to point out while we may have received some unexpected funds from arp we certainly had very many expect unexpected revenues due to covid and they will continue to be unexpected revenue expenses it's also very important to point out that marlene deruga at both of our work sessions have said we have spent that last bond on schedule that when people pass a bond they pass it to be spent out over a five-year period it's not that people pass a bond and we run down the hall and we cash a check or take out a loan it takes a while to put that financing in place it could take a year to 18 months before we start spending so we our last bond were very well thought out i believe that this bonds these bonds are very well thought out we do have a 10-year housing plan which goes towards this 30 million and it will be spent according according to what the payout looks like unless we have a way to accelerate some of it it's possible we can use arp funding to offset some of this but certainly not all of it we are also limited in the arp funding to two very specific buckets of money as went over at our last arp work session so i think this is a very good opportunity to allow our residents to weigh in on their future so i obviously agree with the ultimate conclusion but to be clear for me my point is when you borrow money this is what bonds are it's merely a tool it's just about borrowing money it doesn't bring you new money it's just borrowing money you have a plan for how you spend the money and when you spend the money first and so that's just like with the household you borrow when you need it when your other resources are not adequate here you know where there's over 60 million dollars that the city still has a decision to make about how to spend it i think it's important to take that into consideration in terms of whether or not to borrow at all and so certainly i and i think you know you're certainly correct most community members support additional housing and a whole host of other things but it really goes to when do you borrow money and mortgage essentially the future or decide to open up the equivalent of a city credit card and that's a judgment that every community resident can make about whether or not it's an appropriate time i want to be very clear with regard to my comments there with regard to the finance department you know so we're also clear there um the bonds are spent on a schedule according to the amount of resources the city has at any given moment and so if the city wants to spend and borrow more quickly the city needs to increase its revenues that includes taxes and our finance department has been very clear that the 2016 bonds have gone on a schedule that still means that there's the money hasn't been spent in connection with them merely because the city has not had enough revenues to cover that um but in any event for this next bond or prospective bond they will result in a tax increase that all community members would have to bear and so obviously for some people they think that that's a good idea others may not uh most importantly i think it's a matter for which all community residents at this point should have their say but i appreciate you giving me an opportunity to make sure my points were clear thank you mrs hoffman uh yes thanks mayor um yeah i just wanted to note that you know i think that we had really looked at uh these categories and the long-term needs of the bonds outside of covid and what's happened as a result of that be it cares funding that we that we got that helped us um cover ex some some of the expenses that we had or now the the arp fund so i think you know i think we had we had determined the needs for these categories of bonds and that arp funding will simply allow us to make some additional uh investments particularly in infrastructure in the in the city that we would not have an opportunity to do otherwise so i sort of think that we're talking about two different things here um but i just kind of wanted to to make that comment thanks very much thank you so much america that's a question this is sharon because i'm reading some of the verbiage uh in the bond this is to allow a public hearing what we're voting on today is this our second reading this is our this is the second reading so there will be there will be plenty of opportunities for the public to continue to comment okay because um we can also reduce bonds um if we choose to it's not too late to reduce a bond um let me be very clear i really truly only support two that's housing parts and rec um because of the transformation that the parts direct mom would do for this community this community the black community the east side of town hadn't seen investment like it ought to have and so that bond will allow that plus arp money will allow us because it is in the statute to in the arp that it should be going toward underserved communities as well so we don't need to get off track on that either we got to start doing something that we have never done before that is put investment in community that is lacking and we have the only way we have to do it right now is this bond so um i'm going to support others because i know others have a reason but my real two bonds for my heart it's parts and rec and housing to help improve people living conditions and improve people's quality of life and do an uplift for an area that has not seen a boost up in the way it looks uh for years and the way it provides services um this is transformational arp money says it is also for transformational projects so i don't want us to get too bogged down and doing some things um because we got some money now that we wouldn't have had um and that we just do some things that i think we can find other ways to do um as well so i just want to be clear about my position but i want to make sure i wasn't thinking that the right thinking so this will go on a month a voter referendum come next march or april correct have not decided which one but it will be march or april okay i just wanted to be clear because i want to make sure i was reading it correctly mrs stern yeah i just wanted to be clear for some of the viewers out there um that as councilwoman hightower said um it is not too late for us to do something less than this amount on these bonds but we're at a point where we have to say based on the calendar that it will be no more than this so we will be in the upcoming months we'll be talking about the arp money will be figuring out how to allocate funds and trying to pin down project costs and that kind of thing but we're just at a calendar point in time where we have to say this is the maximum that we will consider we're not locking ourselves into this amount um so i just wanted to clarify that for those that are watching and i know this whole process can be very confusing um i appreciate assistant city manager um davis being taking time to explain it to me as this is my first walk down bond lane so to speak um and so i wanted to make sure people understand we have not just approved these bonds at these amounts going on the ballot all we've done is called for hearing and said that the bonds should we decide to put them on it can be no more than this amount and that's all i wanted to clarify thank you no i think we are voting to put them on about we can reduce the number we can reduce the amount mr davis correct and but we can't switch it to another cap in another category we're locking in the maximum amounts to these categories i believe that's correct if you want to go higher on any of the individual categories we have to start the calendar over again thank you miss abuse awaiter thank you madam mayor um i i just wanted to mention i hear some back and forth it almost sounds like a debate on here but uh um you know we've had work sessions staff has worked so hard on all of this identifying areas when the the talk of bonds first came up uh mr davis and his staff uh told us okay it may mean that we would have a slight tax increase in re year three or four but yet if revenues increase um then we perhaps will not need any of that which is what i'm banking on and hoping for but so many of the things in the uh that we've talked about council members and staff are things that seriously need to be taken care of um you know that our infrastructure our housing i mean these are not um things that we're doing just to look pretty these are things that we really really need and i i would just find it hard to believe that that we as a council could not support all of the times we spent on how much is the dollar amount how much is this going to be how much is that going to be what does this entail what does public safety need what does the fire department need um it just kind of boggles my mind that we're now having this discussion after we've had all of this the work sessions before about it and you know we are here to vote on allowing it to go before the public so i'm not quite sure why why all the back and forth i think we need all of this i think we need to keep it the same just my humble opinion i'm not speaking for anyone else but um you know there's been a lot of work put into this and all of a sudden now um we're trying to to micromanage it apart so just my thoughts i could be wrong anyone can differ with what i've said but that's the way i feel dr wells i'd like to call for the question i'd like to question um we're we're still on the housing bonds and uh mr thurm and if i could make one uh one more brief remark just to be clear staff has done a wonderful job and i've commended them many times both in public as well as private for the terrific job that they did especially providing information about what the likely consequences will be if the bond is approved by voters and the council borrows the amount that it contemplates borrowing in connection there with my concern and my point is that bonds are tools and so just like a credit card or a mortgage is a tool it's not an ending of itself the fact that you have a mortgage or have a credit card exists independent of the actual need for which you borrow money and so there are certainly needs across our city they are tremendous um whether or not you borrow 135 million dollars to address those needs or whether or not you use arp money or 10 million dollars from uh relief that effectively was provided to the coliseum that was already in our budget to be covered by our normal budget that's really the question it's is this the best tool for us right now given everything that exists and as i said i think it's ultimately something that i hope all council members support allowing voters to decide because ultimately it's we as a community who bear the consequences of it but i think it's important to be really clear about what bonds are there they're a tool they're a tool thank you thank you um item number d2 and that is for 70 million um parks and recreation mrs power move the item moved by mrs hightower seconded by dr wells um i apologize can i interrupt for just a second yes please i apologize uh i do want to be very clear about the calendar that we're working on so that all council members know what your options are tonight is our second reading of the bond orders you had your original bond order reading on july 20th so tonight is our second reading so this does put into place the dollar amounts that would go to the referendum so any change any up or down after this point we would have to redo that initial referendum bond work it doesn't necessarily affect our timing for march or april you would just be seeing these similar types of items on your agenda in october or november but i want to make sure that um i don't i did not explain that well the first time through movements after tonight in either direction up or down would have us reintroduce those bond orders so you would see them back on another agenda for a first reading and then a second reading and a public hearing so the confusion on that no that's fine um item number d2 is 70 million um parks and rec and that was uh the motion was made by mrs hightower it was seconded by dr wells i am a yes mrs johnson i see you shaking yes uh miss abusa waiter yes mrs hightower yes mrs hoffman yes mr outling yes mrs thurm yes and dr wells yes thank you and that passes eight to zero um d3 is for the 14 million in uh firefighting facility bonds move the item moved by mrs johnson seconded by mrs thurm um i am a yes mrs johnson yes mr boosawader yes mrs hightower yes mrs hoffman yes mr outling yes mrs thurm yes and dr wells yes thank you that passes eight to zero um the next item is for six million law enforcement facility bonds remove the item moved by mrs therm beckett um seconded by ms abusa waiter i am a yes mrs johnson yes was that a yes yes um miss abuse awaiter sorry my screen flip okay mrs hightower uh yeah i'm um i voted no the last time but i am voting yesterday so it can go on a bond referendum so let the people decide thank you um mrs hoffman yes mr outling yes mrs thurm yes and dr wells yes thank you that passes eight to zero then we have six million dollars in law enforcement facility bonds move the item i think yeah we just did that i just did that wasn't that the firefighting bonds um and then 15 million in transportation bonds will pardon me madam mayor i am on item d5 and that one is showing for the law enforcement facilities bond and i had that move by nancy hoffman and i did not get a second well that's what i said and i was told we had done it already yeah i loved law enforcement the law enforcement um seconded by six million law enforcement facility bonds i am a yes mrs johnson yes mr boos the waiter yes this is hightower yes mrs hoffman yes mr outling yes mrs thurm yes and dr wells yes and lastly 15 million in transportation bonds and that is moved by miss abuse later seconded by mrs johnson imes mrs johnson yeah mr boosawader yes mrs hightower yes hoffman yes mr outling yes mrs thurm yes and dr wells yes and that passes eight to zero um now we move on to di item number d7 and this is um actually a very long reading of d7 public hearing for refunding of coliseum complex limited obligation bonds series 2014 and 2018 a this is the time and place of the public hearing on a trust agreement or similar financing agreement called the agreement to be entered into by the city of greensboro north carolina called the city pursuant to section 168-20 of the general statutes of north carolina in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed 50 million for the purpose of providing funds together with any other available funds to a refund all of the city's outstanding limited obligation bonds series 2014 dated october 7 2014 the proceeds of which were used to finance and refinance the cost of various renovations and improvements to the city's coliseum compact complex and b refund all of the city's outstanding limited obligation bonds coliseum complex project series 2018 a dated november 1st 2018 the proceeds of which were used to finance and refinance the cost of various renovations and improvements to the city's coliseum complex if the city enters into the agreement its obligations there under will be secured by a deed of trust on a portion of the site of the city's coliseum complex together with any improvements or fixtures located or or do or to be located therein section 160-20 g of the general statutes of north carolina requires that the city hold a public hearing prior to entering into the agreement the public the publication of the notice for the public hearing was placed on august 20 2021 in the news and record a newspaper with a general circulation in the city and directed the city clerk to attach the affidavit in the proceedings um we do not have anybody signed up to speak to this item but mr davis maybe you could just give us a brief overview in everyday language at least the first part i'll try the everyday language part essentially this is uh paying off and re uh instituting debt at the coliseum they're essentially two benefits from this first of all the new debt will carry a lower tax a lower interest rate uh we estimate that uh savings will be somewhere in the neighborhood of about 1.2 million dollars in interest savings over the life of these new bonds on average about 60 60 to 65 000 a year will be saved also in the process the new debt that we're issuing will be considered by the irs taxable debt and with that comes some flexibility in how we and how we establish contracts for concessions facilities and other activities that go on at the coliseum so we're really getting the benefit of two changes here we're getting uh lower interest costs on our debt and greater flexibility in the use of the facilities that are financed by that debt and so that's what's brought this before council for your action tonight moved by mrs johnson sector seconded by dr wells and i think the important part of this is this is not new debt this is kind of a refi where we get to save some money thank you um i am yes i am a yes mrs johnson yes mr boosawader yes mrs hightower yes mrs hoffman yes mr outling yes mrs thurm yes and dr wells yes thank you and that passes eight to zero that brings us to our close of the um public hearing items we now move on to the general business agenda item e1 is a resolution making certain findings and determinations regarding the proposed refinancing of a certain outstanding bonds to the city of greensboro north carolina related to the city's coliseum complex and requesting the local government commission to approve the financing arrangement this item was postponed from the august 17th agenda to allow for proper advertising okay um moved by mrs hoffman second seconded by mrs johnson imes mrs johnson yes ma'am mr boosawader yes mrs hightower yes mrs hoffman yes mr outling yes mrs thurm yes and dr wells yes um item number e2 is an ordinance amending chapter 12 of the greensboro code of ordinances to add enforcement procedures and civil penalties for discrimination in public accommodations and employment move the item section um well does it move by mrs johnson secondary mrs thurm mrs kennedy yes i mean um mrs hightower wow okay you expecting her to say something again [Music] um i just want a little clarity because i think the attorney i think james tried to he made some clarifications last time but this basically is just to change some language in the body of this ordinance correct and to is there imposing any type of penalty for discrimination so there was a penalty in the amended discrimination ordinance that was passed this arranges for the enforcement of those penalties okay all right as one okay thank you okay good so we did have a motion and a second i am a yes mrs johnson yes ma'am this abuse awaiter yes mrs hightower yes um mrs hoffman yes mr outling yes mrs thurm yes and dr wells yes and that passes eight to zero in addition to this i had a conversation with um our interim city manager regarding something called a badge buddy program that i heard about that is being done elsewhere and i wanted um the city manager and perhaps um maria hicks few or dr jones review and see if this is something we could use in the city and basically what it is behind the badge that every city employee wears there would be another badge that hangs down a little bit and what it would do is it would show that that those individuals have taken a course and that they're better um informed to talk to people about issues whether it's race or sexual orientation or gender and at the bottom of the badge it shows you kind of what topics these people um have a little extra knowledge about or can help advocate for the other employee um and it just raises awareness and resources for support and it's um it's a way to appreciate the people for going above and beyond so this is something that i hope that we can bring back to council at a later idea at a later date so i just wanted to let people know that that was something that was under discussion um let's see and then item number e2 is an ordinance amending oh that's what we did item number bear with me i got out of so now we are going on to um the resolution e3 establishing a redistricting committee um we had some good discussions about it at our work session and i see that mr mccarley is on the phone if um if you would like to bring us up to date and also attorney matthews who is in our work session thank you mayor my colleague ladies matthews and i are ready to present to you resolution tonight that takes into account the comments made by council at your meeting last thursday there are now seven community organizations proposed who would be invited to appoint a member to the citizens advisory committee on redistricting those seven would now be the league of women voters of the piedmont triad the international advisory committee the greensboro neighborhood congress the greensboro chapter of the naacp the simkins pac chamber of commerce and trevic i've gotten gender and race data from those seven organizations describing the people they would appoint if invited to a point and what the data shows is that your seven-member committee would have four women on it and three men the breakdown would be two white females two black males one black female one latina female and one white male be glad to answer any questions that you may have mayor i like i i want to first say i i appreciate you doing that because it's a much better um diversity in many ways and i would support this thank you um i would say that um i think that this is good work i think it shows that it reflects the demographics of our city much better and it's a good of broadca so i want to thank you for your hard work for um the last couple weeks looking at um a different way that you could bring this committee before us and i think it was work well done thank you both thank you yeah i would like to thank them too because they heard what you're saying uh i feel a little bit more comfortable that it does and women rule so women should be in charge it should be the majority like what you heard on that as well um but uh the way our city is trending uh i i think this is more uh the way we need to be looking at it of course now would i like would have been all black women but i understand the rationale and i support the rationale thank you for hearing and talking the ditra uh good conversation we had so uh thank you for hearing what we were saying and being very intentional uh to make sure this is done in a fair amount mr outling yeah thank you to the attorneys at parker po mr mccarley ms matthews um i i've heard mixed feedback from community members who've raised this topic with me you know some people think that it's really terrific others have raised concerns about the composition of some of the groups and their connections to city council persons or perceptions of bias that may exist i have confidence in all the groups that they will do a really terrific job i would also note you know just so everyone has an understanding this committee will come back to the city council with a recommendation and ultimately it will be the city council which makes a decision so you know i've hired lots of concerns uh at least among some with regard to the group i think it's important for them to understand that the city council will ultimately make a decision and hopefully will be informed by this group's wonderful recommendations so thank you mr mccarley thank you ms matthews and i think that's a very good point and also there will be a series of public hearings that the city council will have about these maps so people will have plenty of opportunity for input um so do i have a motion and a second a move so i was moved by dr wells seconded by mrs johnson um i am a yes mrs johnson yes mr boosawader yes this is hightower yes mrs hoffman yes mr outling yes mrs thurm yes and dr wells yes and that passes eight to zero um mr mccarly could you give us or do you have yet kind of a a calendar just a quick calendar of how this will go over the next couple of weeks uh yes ma'am uh as you know we have a very short time frame in which to accomplish this task we need to have information to the board of elections by november 12th telling them whether or not we will have a final map by november 17th backing that up looking at your meeting schedule if there are no special meetings called to handle this issue the last council meeting before that deadline is november 16th i think that's too late to wait we will be targeting either your november 1st or your october 19th meeting for your official public hearing on the recommendations from the committee i think that the committee will probably have four meetings their meetings will be first an educational meeting to go over to talk about how redistricting is actually done on a map and to talk about the schedule and the criteria to be used uh then the second me and if they if they come back with criteria at that meeting then your staff and ms matthews and i will work on some maps that match that criteria to bring to them at their second meeting i think the third meeting for that group could be a public input meeting and then the fourth meeting would be a recommendation back to you so we need to accomplish that in something between 45 and 60 days it will be a fast ride but i believe that we can do it and thank you for saying that because i do want everybody to understand this will be an open process these will be public meetings so people can come in and observe the process so um you know we are going to be as transparent as we can be yes ma'am i'm not american i ask a question may not fit here but if somebody was is there mr mccarthy space if somebody was to bring another map from somewhere if they wanted us to see that um does your schedule allow for that absolutely miss hightower uh a frequent occurrence in a redistricting plan is for citizens or groups to bring forward a map they think would be appropriate and the job of your staff ms matthews and me will be to analyze that map and give you data and then bring it to the full committee your redistricting committee to make a recommendation on but yes there there is ample opportunity for anyone or any group to submit their proposed map okay thank you i just wanted to make sure people understood that if they want to draw up a map you know that they could bring it you know but it would have to be analyzed so thank you for that and again i want to thank you both for your hard work and we look forward um to the outcome thank you thank you man yeah thank you so um this brings us to the end of our agenda but i would like to um call on our interim city manager chris wilson thank you madam mayor as many of you know we suffered a very serious incident at police headquarters downtown last friday and we've requested the opportunity to update you on our assessment work in particular police chief brian james and assistant city manager trey davis are going to cover some of the work that's been going on and some of the work that will continue to go on with regard to assessing safety for our residents and our staff but before i turn it over i would like to commend our police chief for not only swift action but swift communications in getting messaging out about the situation and how it was handled so with that said i'm going to turn it over to chief james uh thanks chris good evening mayor and city council uh thank you for the opportunity to speak chris has already referenced the incident from friday i just want to give you a little bit about what we've done yesterday i directed senior command staff to set up work groups at each facility which will be led by command staff members it'll be comprised by sworn as well as civilian members but what we're going to do is look at the security measures that we currently have in place at each facility and make sure that they are actually working as they should uh in effect cameras uh various doors and things like that but also looking at what type of enhancements we can do at our different facilities obviously this incident was the worst that we've ever seen at a facility i've never seen a crime scene at a police facility throughout my entire career so certainly it was unnerving but we've had a number of incidents at various facilities over the years i'm speaking specifically about police facilities and there have have been talk and concerns about security at various times throughout my career i think this incident is probably one of the worst things that possibly could happen but it does give us an idea of the possibilities of what could happen if you have a person or persons that are determined in doing something so we're going to look at enhancements that can be made within our facilities and we're going to do that quickly and after we vet those recommendations within the department i will send interim city manager wilson those recommendations about what we would like to see going forward to try to make our facilities as safe as possible for all of our employees as well as the public i'd be glad to answer any questions if anyone has any keith i just want to thank you for your your very quick response um it really was shocking what happened on friday and certainly our best wishes are to all of those who were involved um i know that you're going to be doing this safety evaluation through your facilities and i just want to say as a city council please know that we're going to support whatever we need to do in order to keep the public and our employees safety safe i know that the last substation that was built was d2 over on sobar street and that has a really good fence around it i've heard a lot that you know other facilities would like similar fencing similar security and i know that will go um part of your plan as you're looking forward to moving ahead i do want to thank you for your swift response for something that was you know so unexpected but we want to make sure certainly that nothing like that happens again you know a lot of us yvonne you probably remember this pre-911 we didn't have um the card swipes to get under our building and there was not that mechanical arm that goes up and down that was really a result of 9 11 and what could happen on city facilities and i think we need to continue to look as as things change what we have to do to strengthen all of our city facilities so thank you for starting that thank you for those comments i am going to ask acm davis to comment as well but to your point uh we've evolved over time i was actually one of the first members of the facility security assessments committee post 911 and the city suffered or didn't suffer but we all suffered but we made a lot of changes as a result of what happened at that time and made a lot of changes around the protection of our facilities and resources with that in mind we've had other incidents in the governmental plaza downtown area over the past couple of years so acm davis has been working with the county uh to provide some additional security measures there and i'd like him to go over that quickly if he wouldn't mind thank you manager wilson and mayor and council uh and you know as as the chief uh gave him the description of what happened and then the comments regarding uh safety of all facilities we have been looking at that and doing a a a total assessment and so back in may we began meeting with the county uh and on the heels of another incident that had taken place downtown and we've been meeting with county staff to include the courthouse staff as well as the da's and and judges are part of that conversation as well uh so that we could have a combined effort and better communication between all of the agencies that are that are represented because you have a number of different components that are that have staff and uh have people that come to our facilities uh to access resources that we might have uh so along with that we will continue to meet uh in addition to our efforts to communicate we have partnered with them uh for a security consultant firm uh to come in and provide a preliminary uh audit or assessment of our facilities uh part of that uh was the mmob or the the main municipal building was was evaluated we should receive the report back the written report within uh the next few weeks uh just some examples uh there will be some enhancements to uh our facilities uh pertaining to uh the threats that we they assessed uh to include uh security cameras uh our our access ways uh as well as any repairs that might present themselves to be a security hazard or security measure that could be defeated also with surveys we're surveying our employees to make sure that our employees feel safe with or our employees might have recommendations or questions uh regarding how those procedures may take place uh one of the bigger things that i'm hoping that we can accomplish really quickly is our communication efforts uh as um manager wilson indicated uh the communication to all of our employees is important to us and so those are just some of the quick things that we're working on uh and we will continue to update you as we move through those thank you um and i just want to say regarding the incident itself there is limited information that's out i i will say that the chief called the sbi in right away there is an investigation going through the sbi it'll go through professional standards and um you know sbi will turn the report over to the da i believe that's the chain of events so um you know we'll we'll wait to hear what those reports have to say gentlemen thank you very much um we appreciate the the safety security update and you know we look forward to getting those results and um trey you had mentioned cameras i think cameras are a very important part of public safety and we probably need to look at expanding that network of cameras that we have and to make sure that the cameras that we have are operational um and that they've got a good field of vision so you know that might be a phase two of this study but you know we've talked about cameras and lighting and i don't think that that can be um overly stressed in addition to you know city buildings you know we've heard from the people along spring garden about safety measures that they would like to see and that includes cameras and lights and any other things we can do to help them because they seem to be a hotbed at this point so i know that this is all part of an ongoing discussion well just for the purposes of public madam mayor i'll say that it's not only a discussion but some of that work is taking place right now okay so if you walk through our plaza area you'll see additional cameras have already been put in place we've activated other cameras that may not have been uh in use before we are continuing to work you mentioned spring garden we're continuing work on that the lighting was phase one in addition to some of the police work that's going on there so that that work is continuing discussions have to be had but action will continue as we have those discussions and you know for my for my own my own opinion anyway is that as we add cameras i think we should sign it i think we should let people know that there are cameras around and it might make them think twice before they do something they wish they hadn't done so that um we can move on to council comments gentlemen thank you for that update um if council let's do um appointments i think somebody had an appointment um mrs hightower do you have any appointments yes i i actually do um i have um received the resignation uh from sylvia stanbach who's on historic preservation and i would like to appoint sharon braber uh in her place uh second that she sharon graves is an excellent choice she is he'll be really good so i am a yes mrs johnson yes mr boos waiter yes mrs hightower yes mrs hoffman yes mr outling yes mrs thurm yes dr wells yes that passes eight to zero um i'm not sure if uh you received this gentleman's name uh lacey colson i need to put him in the data bank um and um angie i don't know if you received i received a couple of phone calls from him so i don't know you did have his information okay um i know that you are automatically now putting people in data bank but i still kind of like to be sure um just for my own peace of mind and guarantee as i speak to people um that i and he wants a position but i have to work some things out um i also am waiting on a resignation um actually moving anthony izzard from the human rights commission to the parks and rec commission who will replace kim alexander henderson she no longer can be reappointed and her term is at in so um sharon are you asking to do that now or kind of just putting us on you are no yeah i need to do that now because by the time they get started it'll be october okay so um who is replacing kim anthony izzard and that is for the human relations human rights commission no he's leaving where was kim was parts and wrecked she was parks and rec okay and her term is up her turn as well as her chair okay do we have a second for that second um second by dr wells i am a yes mrs johnson yes mrs abuzawader yes this is hightower yes this is hoffman yes mr outling yes this is thurm yes and dr wells yes thank you i also need to reappoint camille bess to the commission for the status of women second and that is second by ms abusa waiter i am a yes mrs johnson yes this abuse awaiter yes mrs hoffman yes mrs hightower yes mr outling yes mrs thurm yes and dr wells yes that passes eight to zero okay thank you i i will have about eight more next meeting thank you for the party because i'm cleaning up my data base anybody out there listening living d1 call me for an appointment i got some openings thank you dr wells uh i'd like to reappoint um blake odom to the park and wreck uh commission exactly uh seconded by mrs hightower i am a yes mrs johnson absolutely mr boosawader yes this is hightower yes this is hoffman yes mr outling yes mrs thurm yes and dr wells yes and that passes eight to zero i also would like to reappoint tiffany rudd to the commission on the status of women and um seconded by mrs hightower i am a yes mrs johnson yes mr boos the waiter yes mrs hightower yes mrs hoffman yes mr outling mrs thurm yes and dr wells yes that passes eight to zero and i'd like to make an appeal to district two folks i have i need someone for participatory budgeting and i need someone for the redevelopment commission and for the minimum housing standard commission so if you're interested in any of those areas please contact me thank you very much mr outling no appointments this evening thank you thank you um uh mrs hoffman no appointment smear um mrs thurm none tonight madame pro 10 none tonight mr boosawader none this evening thank you okay council comments mrs hightower um yes uh madam mayor um want to first of all next meeting i would like to invite and he's been trying to get here mr george jones as you know piedmont business capital has a new executive director replacing our very good friend wilson lester um i'm excited about him because he has the same enthusiasm for celeste so i think it's going to be a good team so hopefully at our next meeting he will be able to come and meet all council introduce himself and i'm sure he's going to be reaching out to each and every one of you um we also this past weekend uh worked in conjunction with reginald mccaskill from winston salem having the uh his eighth annual triad minority uh mwbe uh workshop and um this year was a little different uh the award ceremony was held in winston we recognized uh savor the moment bakery we recognized african-american the store in the mall kept the name slips in my mind uh right now jackie white and her mama uh who have the african-american and more store in the mall uh was recognized uh they were given miss unis dudley award uh and we recognized some other uh small minority businesses here but on saturday we had a fair a minority mwbe fair over at haley and there was over 40 minority vendors the 40 and we can't let winston-salem come into greensboro and host something that we should be hosting uh so next year we are going to do it at coliseum in august um and we're going to explode it we have a lot of local minorities uh my little girl who was there who makes the lemonade uh she was there as well as several coconut oil lady our mwbe office of course was there uh i hate that you all missed it it was 12-5 it was great turnout uh great participation of our minority local businesses entrepreneurship is certainly the way uh we know as the undergirdman of a community and so i was thrilled to hang out with them and celebrate with them but again uh these are our greensboro people we need to be lifting them up and supporting them in all ways possible so look for that next year in august at the coliseum my final we did have a tour down random road last week i think it was where city staff uh was uh i think i may have brought this up already but we are looking to highlight some things uh lighting is of course very concerning um you know there are areas that are pretty dark so we could probably use some lighting and some cameras too uh so we need to start to focus in on that and i think i did ask for us to have an area plan around that and then lastly i'm a little concerned sometimes i think we all have an opinion we're all very opinionated i don't try to squash anybody else's opinion i may not agree with you but i don't try to squash anybody's opinion debate is good the bait is good for the soul if nothing else but it get you thinking so i think we as council members sometimes i don't want to just be a check-off box i don't want to come here and just always shake my head i am going to disagree and uh i think that's my right my community feels a certain way they voice their concerns to me i pass those on to everybody else so as we sit in this forum people need to know how we feel and how we think um and so i just sometime i'm a little disturbed uh by what i sit and hear sometimes while i don't agree with them about some things i respect your right to have a difference of opinion and i hope we can look at that as adults and realize that that's what we need to be doing as elected leaders in this city um not just to be a consensus group so that's all i have to say thank you thank you dr wells i don't have any any comments tonight thank you mr outling yes thank you uh you know as our community and certainly council members are aware the atlantic coast conference acc has indicated that it is considering relocating out of greensboro which is obviously it's historic home in really a large basis on which we are tournament town there are essentially two steps to a possible relocation the first step is considering whether or not to essentially explore it further and then the second step is to look at what other options may be i know that many of us have talked with uh different members of our community in furtherance of doing everything we can to keep both the acc as a headquarters as well as the tournaments that have a really tremendous economic impact um i will say however there's no substitute for collective council discussion where all of the council is working together and from the same playbook and so um mr intro manager kind of consistent with our conversations i would encourage that um you know even if it's in private since it's an economic development matter that a meeting of council members be scheduled so that we can address things proactively especially if it moves from the first step to the second step hopefully it will not and hopefully the case will be made and the acc will come to a great conclusion to stay home in greensboro but really obviously the old idiom is always true the failing prepare is preparing to fail and so i would encourage that we have you know that collective discussion to make sure all of our efforts are maximized together thank you thank you um mrs thurm yes a couple things um number one today is international overdose awareness day um i just wanted to mention the folks um we don't realize all the time how big a problem this is in our community but it is um we've had 571 overdosed and 93 deaths in our community and their resources out there and please you don't know where to reach out to or don't have a way to reach out you know let us know let somebody know um speak out to somebody and let's get folks help um in addition um several meetings ago we had talked about having a work session on traffic within neighborhoods and i believe miss cockburn was going to come back to us and schedule a work session on traffic and speed mitigation and those types of things in neighborhoods um and i would like to make sure follow up on that make sure that does get on the calendar soon and my last item is i want to thank the folks at random woods neighborhood we had a get get-together in random woods i guess it was two weeks ago now had a great turnout a lot of activity a lot of interest from people in the community we are going to be doing a walk through of random woods park this friday with miss washington and someone for parks and rec and look forward to helping focus even further on improving that park in addition to the improvements that are coming down from participatory budgeting um so i just wanted to thank those neighbors in reno woods that showed up and it was great to see you all again and thank you very much for inviting me and i think that is about all i have for tonight thank you mrs johnson yes i wanted to let you know that there's a vigil tomorrow evening at 6 30 at south street and randleman road cure violence is um sponsoring this and um it is in reference to a shooting and killing last week so those of you who can come i would invite you to come thank you miss abuse the waiter thank you madam mayor um we won't be having our next council meeting until the 14th of september so i wanted to remind everyone about the national folk festival uh it's certainly free uh i know i think tammy and i did the bucket brigade before i know tammy volunteered and i know the mayor's volunteer maybe others but um it's a really really uh enlightening and inspirational time when you're downtown and everything's going on um they are asking that people wear masks if they are not six feet away from other people so there are some rules that are going to need to be followed and those are on the website just wanted to remind everybody and on saturday um the firefighters are doing the 911 memorial that is on the 11th the actual 20th anniversary of 9 11. so they are doing that i think it starts at nine o'clock uh i i know it starts between 8 30 and 9. um i did want to address just briefly uh something mr allen was talking about you know the acc and yes we all need to be cognizant and we all need to be aware of what's going on with that but um i'm sir on the sports foundation i'm on the board of directors and i actually had rob goodman speak to my kiwanis group today so that was very enlightening because he talked quite a bit about the acc it's really something that that actually happened today um it a lot of people think that the acc staff are the ones going to decide whether or not to move they don't that's not the way it is this is an assessment and the 15 presidents of the colleges and universities are the ones who select and madam mayor you may be able to support me on that that that is done yeah so um i learned a lot about it today and of course i think we all need to be vigilant and i know all of us are pushing we want you to stay here um but it's not anything that you know is specifically he was talking about you know so many of the colleges and universities love it when they come here um we've got some challenges here um but overall everyone talks about how wonderful greensboro is and i i really think we will rise to the top but i want to make it clear it is an assessment of greensboro it's not all of a sudden they're going to pick up and move um there's a lot that goes on in doing the assessment how it's all discussed and how everything is finalized and then how the the presidents of the colleges and universities vote on it so i just wanted to make that clarification last thing i'll talk about um mrs johnson mentioned about a vigil tomorrow evening last friday there was a vigil for angela evans who was killed in a bicycle uh crash of the sunday before that she was hit on english street and what we had uh last friday with the family uh bikesboro was involved in the vigil bicycling in greensboro uh the family of course and our own greensboro department of transportation lydia mcintyre there were several there and vision zeros so i hear we had another pedestrian killed i believe today um we're gonna really be pushing out vision zero because unfortunately those are areas that are increasing by the day so um don't know if it's distracted driving i don't know what caused the one on english street specifically but i do know that distracted driving is causing a lot of this and i certainly hope the legislature will try to bring that bill back up when they can because i i certainly think that is something that would help us reduce the pedestrian and bicycle fatalities so that's all i had for this evening madam mayor thank you very much um you know regarding the acc i'm i'm thankful that commissioner phillips has been as transparent as he has been and as he said when he was interviewing that they were going to look at all of the operations of the acc this is not about the location only they'll be looking at their their media contracts um you know with name licensing and image that is really something new to college sports we're looking really at a changing landscape um they recently announced their alignment with the um the big ten and the pac-12 so we see that college athletics are changing but you know the acc has been here for over 60 years they're part of our fabric but you know the sec is run out of birmingham and birmingham is a similar city to we are and i think that we along with our community leaders and certainly the city council and the county commissioners can really give a good case on why they should stay here you know there is the rise of football that football generates the most revenue when it comes to college athletics so there are a lot of different things that the acc is considering this assessment is not focused just on location it is a large operational assessment and we are just one portion of it to us we it is the most important portion i get that um you know this is something that all of us have grown up with and you know to be in the middle of tobacco row with the big four schools of the acc those legacy institutions we really want to keep it home because this is where it belongs this truly is the home of the acc so you know i will appreciate um you know input and you know certainly we can get together this is not where it is uh an economic development incentive issue at this point this is just whether or not the location is right is the right fit for the acc right now i would say that it is the right fit they have thrived since 1953 right here in greensboro they can continue to thrive i remember when i moved here they were over at the at the corner of cornwallis and battleground in one of those small little condo offices and then they moved over off of wendover to landmark square and now they're out by um by grand over so i think that we in our community can pitch a really good case on we are why we are the right fit for the acc um today i had the opportunity to sit on a mayor's round table discussion with a mayor out of georgia and one out of mississippi um by the stacey abrams run southern economic advancement project and it was really interesting to hear you know these fellow mayors talk about things that they wanted to spend arp funding on and three things came up which i thought was really interesting and one is violence interrupters that they thought that this was a good time to look at a program like cure violence and look at violence interrupters the other was participatory budgeting that um they knew that other cities did participatory budgeting and that they wanted to use some of their arp funds for participatory budgeting and to get people involved in the budgeting process and the third was deploying mental health workers with the police department so um it was all i could say not to say we're doing that we're doing that but i felt real good because there are other cities looking around to emulate the programs that we have right here in greensboro and sometimes um i think we we forget that um again mary kay you're right we've got the folk festival it is right around the corner um i will be volunteering but i think it's in one of the beer tents not the bucket for great but great but maybe we'll pass we'll cross paths they do want all volunteers to wear masks working with the guilford county health department we think that we can run this in the safest way possible and then of course of course the stair climb on 9 11 and this year we're going to do something a little different and have expand the footprint of the folk festival down to where elman lewis is and do a concert for our first responders on that sad 20th memory of 9 11. um you know i think people walk down elm street and they walk by that gallucci statue and don't even really realize what it is you know that statue that monument that mrs hoffman helped bring downtown has part of the steel that was in the twin towers um you know i look at that and to me that really is a sacred ground and i think as a as a community we need to recognize how important that statue is and what it represents and when we say never forget there we really can't forget what happened and for a while there we were really united as a country and i look forward to the days when we are united as a country once again but hopefully under much better circumstances so we have an awful lot to look forward to over the next couple of weeks before our next meeting our next meeting we will vote to fill the vacant seat and i believe we may be up to about 36 applications thereabouts i think two or three of those applications are from people who don't live in the city so they will be disqualified but that still leaves us with a lot of applications pending we really didn't put any um any qualifications other than living in the city on on those applications and i was wondering if there was any thought if there was a way to um to address some of the pending applications i know one thing that's important to me is that is that people have voted in past city council elections i think if you want to sit on the city council you should have at least voted in city council elections um i don't know if there's a threshold that anybody wants to put out there or if there are any other qualifications that we might want to look at now um or just be prepared you know to hear from over 30 people at this point um dr wells i see your hand i said i i did hear you say that they would have three minutes i wish they would include what they've done in the city or in their community that you know helped they think would uh give them uh or qualify them to sit on the council because we when we listen to so many and you have to do it in such a short time if they would try to include some of the things that they've done it's on that application to gold if they've had some involvement you know it is but you know um just like we all campaign people will be campaigning for this seat what they've done is important the mayor for me um if i may i have my hand up i don't know after coding um and i'll just be transparent um i anyone who has announced that they are publicly running i'm not considering so i mean they can send their application in that's the freedom of right but for me um that is something i think would give one who already has publicly done that they've had fundraisers been on facebook made announcements um an unfair advantage um so uh and and for me that's my threshold i don't know about anyone else but that's mine so thank you any other thoughts or comments or so we did reduce it to three minutes from the five minutes um because we still have another um 10 days or so to go i imagine we can get quite a few applications in the meantime um so at that meeting which you know tonight's meeting was actually scheduled to replace the first meeting in september due to rosh hashanah we just scheduled the meeting the second tuesday in september to accommodate speakers from the floor and for um and for this very important item madam mayor have you gotten a consensus on how many would like for their municipal voting records to be checked personally i'm fine with that i think they need to have voted at least at least the last three municipal elections but you know i i just didn't hear any more discussion about it the pool of applicants that's what i was going for that's what the mayor was talking about i was just throwing ideas out there um but at this point we'll move ahead as it as it is um yes i like the idea of requiring somebody to vote uh or to have voted um however i'm thinking three years that means you had to have lived in greensboro at least eight years or nine years um you know if council wanted to put something like that in i would reduce that number of votes because i think there are great qualified people that may have been here in less than nine years thank you that's a very good point all right so we'll move on as it is um those are the um end of my comments mr city manager just really quickly i appreciate the focus dialogue tonight on our highest priorities i will say that wallet hub gave us a favorable ranking again this year we moved from number four to number three as it relates to best cities to drive in i'm sure folks may debate that here and there but drive them in charlotte and see how you like it we're very proud of that ranking and wanted to share that with you all again this evening i also would just ask you to continue to keep the family of desmond cornelius and your thoughts and prayers 22 year veteran of our team as you all know we consider this to be family and when we lose one of our own it it hurts deeply so uh please keep his family and your thoughts and prayers thank you and thank you for mentioning that that really is a huge loss to um to the gpd family and to our community um mrs hoffman i'm sorry solid waste i apologize for that um mrs hoffman i know you had a comment you wanted to make um yes just yeah just a general comment i appreciate you're mentioning the 911 sculpture by jim gallucci that's downtown you know i i always make it a point on 9 11 of going there early in the morning and um usually sometimes there's one another person or so but it's a it's a quiet place to be and uh just a place to you know sit for a few minutes in a in a quiet uh place and sort of think about that and the the impact on our country so um you know thanks for mentioning that and i and i hope that you we can that more more people in our city don't realize that that sculpture is there and the meaning of it um going back to the folk festival which will be um uh weekend after this weekend after labor day will be the 10th 11th and 12th it's hard to believe that we've that we sponsored the national folk festival going back to 2015 16 and 17 and moved to the north carolina folk festival and this will be our fourth year as the north carolina so a great lineup opportunity for people to be out again in the open and with protocols in place um so um i think everybody's looking forward to that most of us are volunteering i think i'm volunteering on saturday night in one of the areas so um know that everyone is looking forward to that one other thing um we've got a couple of things going on at the cultural center now for the last year we've had a residency program there and a couple of areas where uh artists are able to come in and over um you know a several month period of time really create a work and it's public and you know you can go and watch them talk with them so we have a couple of things going on there now as a part of that program and you can look that up on the city website or if you're in the building just take a look so um just best wishes to everyone for a um a safe labor day weekend coming up and i i actually forgot to mention something but mrs johnson go ahead well nancy triggered something and so did you mayor um i think as as often as we can um we need to use our um cable to educate our community and the st educating them about the stature and why it's there and uh where it is and what it's it it um what the significance of it is i think would be a great thing for us to put on that that station i think i think that's um a very good point um so thank you i think we should and i i forgot to mention 531 days does anybody know what 531 days is so it is when tony bennett was supposed to open the performing arts center on um i'm sorry josh groban was supposed to open the performing arts center on march 20th to september 2nd 2021 when rhiannon will be our first act so the performing arts center has been effectively closed for 531 days and i look forward to that first performance i want to congratulate the staff the coliseum for keep getting the coliseum booked and getting the performing arts center booked um those have been big revenue generators for us and they're big revenue generators for our small businesses so i just wanted us to keep in mind i don't know that we've realized how long it's been but it's been 531 days so far and um mr ant again rihanna is a greensboro native yep and we need to educate our community and we need to use the the free tools that we have to do so yep and i think it's so appropriate um to open the performing arts center right now with local talent so mr andrews um yes ma'am just to remind not to remind but to notify council members uh previously you've made a request about body-worn cameras in the smith case and being able to see those you'll send your inboxes uh an update on that information but they'll be hearing coming up about that to seek to provide the release that you're seeking and we'll keep you posted on how that goes thank you all right do i have a motion to adjourn moved by mrs therms seconded by dr wells all in favor raise your hand oh my hand didn't show up okay there it is and um we are done thank you you