e e e e e e e e e e e good morning we're going to get started this morning with an invocation by Pastor John Arvin of Southwest Church of Christ and that will be followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Prosper Clark representing Boy Scouts troop 68 please stand as you are able all right let's pray God our Father we thank you for our lives we thank you for this home you've blessed us with in Oklahoma City uh we're a blessed Community uh filled with good people people we thank you for the ways that you've blessed our city for good God I personally thank you for each one of these men and women who humbly serve and lead in our community in their various roles I thank you for their sacrifices they make the service they give on behalf of others and I thank you for them and I ask for your blessings upon them and their families as they lead and serve as they lead as they make decisions that impact many lives I pray Justice and mercy are given people are treated fairly and equally and peace and goodness would continue to result in our lives because of it I pray our will is aligned with yours as we live and lead and we thank you for the hope and Grace we find in you it's in your son's name we pray amen please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge of 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 thank you Pastor Arvin and thank you prosper all right I call this meeting of the city council to order and we're on item three Office of the mayor and I do have a few presentations to make so I'll make my way to the front thank you Mark all right how about Aaron you want to join us up here well Aaron you are our safety star of the quarter here to remind us how important safety is uh among our city employees and we'd like to learn a little bit more about the work that you do and so I would ask the clerk to read this resolution whereas Aaron Sears is a dedicated and hardworking team member of the public works department household hazardous waste Division and whereas Aaron is a subject matter expert in safety regarding household hazardous waste and he brings strong safety knowledge and program initiatives to his role as floor supervisor and whereas Aaron is extremely organized and focused on continuously learning and developing best practices to manage routine and novel work directives in a safe efficient and effective Manner and whereas Aaron exhibits true professional attributes that demonstrate his genuine care for delivering excellent work quality and his positive attitude excellent soft skills and Leadership provide consistency and operation from shift start to finish reducing unnecessary scrambling to meet work objectives and whereas Aon actively participates in meetings and trainings enabling him to understand the Department's implicit needs and initiate ideas to support our efforts and he is always available to give safety advice and help problem solve and whereas Aaron provides departmental safety training for employees conduct safety analysis for PPE purchases and instill safe work behaviors through standard operation procedure development and whereas Aaron consistently performs Above and Beyond in pursuing Excellence he is always motivated and positively engaged serves as program lead to maintain a safe working environment and oversees many of the day-to-day work activities of the environmental technicians at the center and whereas the household hazardous waste collection center is incredibly fortunate to have Aaron as the environmental unit specialist now therefore be it resolved by the mayor and councel of the City of Oklahoma City that they do hereby thank and commend Aaron Sears on his selection as the City of Oklahoma City Safety star of the quarter thank you well Erin we know how valuable um your work is obviously to your fellow employees and to our city I mean obviously this is an important hazardous waste disposal is uh very important to our environment so we're very grateful for your work we do want to pass this resolution to demonstrate that and so I would ask if we could get a motion and a second to that effect we have it I vote I passes unanimously we'd love to hear a few words from you Aaron and again how long have you been with the city 18 years okay well very good well congratulations here you go appreciate uh don't have many words to say but I appreciate uh my time with the city um and I appreciate the recognition that me and my team try hard to do to stay safe and perform at our best for the city excellent well thank you let's hear it for Aaron there you go yours [Applause] to jail come on down you're the next contestant all right Jill we'd love to learn a little bit about more about why you are the employee of the month and so I would ask the clerk to read this resolution whereas Jill Walsh has been a city employee for 16 years with the public works department and whereas Jill Walsh is an office coordinator supporting the traffic Services Division and whereas Jill Walsh's duties include managing payroll receptionist duties and recording votes and taking minutes for traffic commission meetings and whereas Jill Walsh is a team player the first to lend a hand to co-workers and always seeks new and better ways to conduct business and improve Communications and whereas Jill Walsh listens to Residents concerns and empathizes with their situations always being friendly and honest with a sincere desire to help and Inspire and whereas Jill Walsh regularly provides positive suggestions and encouragement to help others Master their challenges offer strength to those who face adversity and shares advice to help co-workers look beyond the negative and whereas Jo Walsh has a positive outlook on life laughs out loud enjoys the magic of communicating and offers constructive criticism when she thinks it's warranted and whereas this Council desires to recognize Jill Walsh for her dedication compassion and commitment to the residents of the City of Oklahoma City now therefore be it resolved by the mayor and Council of the City of Oklahoma City that they do hereby thank and commend Jill Walsh August 2024 South Oklahoma City Kanas Club employee of the month well thank you I don't know we'd love to hear that laugh Jill but somebody's there you go all right um so let's pass this resolution let's see if we can get a motion in a second we have it I wish to vote I all right passes unanimously you did it all right Jill we'd love to hear a few words from you yeah yes yes you're going to get multiple multi full Applause we'd love to hear a few words Joe okay well I've been with the city for 16 years seven of them in utilities those were hard hard earned so I'm going to include those um I've learned a lot with the city and I'm real proud to be an employee um my children have are now employees with the city as well I'm proud of that as well um it's just been an experience getting to grow and learn and I've learned so so much through this organization and I really appreciate the opportunity well that's awesome we love to hear the multigenerational story that's awesome well thank you so much for your service Jill congratulations and let's hear it for Jill one more [Applause] time all right finally we've got Jennifer come on up Jennifer is our teacher of the month and okay yes and uh we'd love to hear a little bit bit more about you Jennifer so i' ask the clerk to read this resolution whereas Jennifer Reyes Garcia has been named teacher of the month for August 2024 by the Oklahoma City Public Schools foundation and Rotary Club of Oklahoma City and whereas Jennifer serves as a fourth grade teacher at Mark Twain Elementary School where she delivers top quality classroom instruction collaborates and plans with teammates and works with parents and community members and whereas Jennifer is the Oklahoma City Public Schools district teacher of the year for 2024 and whereas Jennifer Works Tire tirelessly to meet her students individual learning needs by differentiating her instruction and working to accommodate their various learning styles and whereas Jennifer believes her greatest contributions stem from a combination of trusting relationships based on personal connections and high expectations and whereas Jennifer considers her greatest achieve achievement in education to be the completion of her master's degree in administration through the okcps foundation's aspiring administrators pipeline program and whereas Jennifer is extremely passionate about identifying the needs of her students and their families and works to fulfill those needs with the support of District Partners like donors choose and whereas Jennifer believes that young lives can be changed when we take the time to truly know them by name and need now therefore be it resolved by the mayor and Council of the City of Oklahoma City that they do hereby recognize and commend Jennifer Reyes Garcia on her selection as August 2024 teacher of the month by the Oklahoma City Public Schools foundation and Rotary Club of Oklahoma City well thank you Jennifer first of all congratulations on being District teacher of the year maybe the only honor that's a bigger deal than this one today so that's really cool well we're very grateful for your service to our kids and we would like to uh exhibit our gratitude by passing this resolution so let's see if we can get a motion in a second we've got it I'd like to vote I passes unanimously well Jennifer we'd love to hear a few words from you if you don't mind and uh one thing that I noticed here was your aspiration to possibly be an administrator someday which we need those kind of leaders in in the building so that's awesome all right the floor is yours I'll try to keep it short I talked quite a bit um I am really honored to be here today um when I was sent an email from the foundation and they let me know they wanted to recognize me yet again um I was truly shocked I absolutely loved my job I love the work I do in Oklahoma City with my families and with their students their children my kids um I'm really passionate about every part of teaching not just the academic content yes that is so important but also just meeting all of the various needs of my students and my build building we work very hard to make sure that our students are not just learning curriculum but they're also clothed fed and have access to their basic needs like hygiene products so I'm really excited to be here I'm excited to have the podium as teacher of the year for okcps this year and to take it to the whole state I think it's really important that everyone every stakeholder every member of our community understands how much work teachers truly put in um for the students and the families we are servicing here in Oklahoma City we are serving a student population that is historically marginalized and misrepresented and it's our duty and our responsibility to have high expectations for those students and to help them rise above because I truly believe that every single one of my kids no matter their native language no matter their native country their race their religion I believe that they can do whatever they want to do and I think more stakeholders need to hear that message so I'm excited to be here and I hope you continue to support Oklahoma City and Oklahoma City Schools thank you well done well done also I would be remiss if we didn't point out that mom came down from Tulsa this morning for [Laughter] this oh thank you let's hear it for Jennifer one more time [Applause] okay and finally on Office of the mayor we have a resolution approving travel expenses for me to attend the national league of cities Summit in uh Florida in November take a motion on that have a motion in a second cast your votes passes 8 to one and with the necessary six affirmative votes item four items for Council there are none today and so item five our city manager reports Mr city manager we have several on today don't have any formal presentations on these but I did want to note we have the July and August sales tax reports typically it's the end of the month we'll get uh the reports July we a little delayed as we were working through some issues with our targets uh but got that adjusted um I'll really just jump to we did have a decline in July of 1.5% in our sales tax something to take note of but then in um August we had a decline of 5.5% so through the year so far uh beginning of the year we're down 3 and a half% in sales tax um we're about 3.1 between sales and use tax about $3.1 million below Target starting off the year Russell did caution us um that we would have slower growth on sales tax or maybe have some decline at the first part of the year and then see that pick up in the second part of the Year certainly being behind on our revenues we're going to monitor that very closely we're in a good position with our reserves we're in a good position to be able to be responsive to this and not just reactive to be thoughtful about what we do in response but it does kind of just set the tone for kind of where we're headed for the year we'll see where we end up in September we try not to focus just on an individual month when we're looking at our revenues but when you see couple of months that are going this direction is certainly something that's a little bit concerning that we're going to keep watching but we'll keep you up to date as we get more information um the the next report is the hotel tax collections it's for the end of last fiscal year so for the full fiscal year we ended up about 5.7% above the prior year so really strong with sale with hotel tax in the previous year um we'll continue monitoring that and get reports to you on the beginning of the year we do those on a quarterly basis so we'll have our first quarter after September but um uh then we have the revenue enforcement uh program report and it just shows efforts that are led by our Treasurers Office our city Treasurers Office they do great work in making sure the revenues that are due to the city um are received some of this we do through independent Auditors and others that our our staff actually does themselves particularly on collecting the hotel tax because we collect the hotel tax ourselves so um that report is also in here and I just want to recognize the um work of our city Treasurers Office to make sure we're getting the revenues that we um are due and then the last report is the claims and payroll don't have any comments on that is it is available if you want to look at that on okc.gov and that's all the items that I have all right thank you item six Journal of council proceedings we have items A and B we can take with one motion got a motion in a second cast your votes passes unanimously item seven request for uncontested continuances do you have anything Mr city manager we do starting on page 17 of the agenda we have several items that will be stricken from the agenda under unsecured structures we have um all of these items are stricken item a 6600 branif Drive the owner is secured Item B 4305 South Miller Avenue the owner has secured item C 3908 Oak Valley Road the owner has secured item D 515 Northwestern Avenue the owner has secured item H 3737 Southeast 48th Place is to re R notify for additional structures and then item L 8814 Northwest 91st Street the owner has secured then on page 18 under 11 J1 um abandoned buildings these are all stricken from the agenda item a 3908 Oak Valley Road the the owner is secured and item F 814 Northwest 91st Street the owner is secured that's all the items that I have all right that brings us to item eight revocable permits and events uh you can tell that the Fall Festival season is arriving we've got a busy docket here so 8A is a revocable permit with the Asian District Cultural Association for the a for the Asian Night Market Festival in October at Military Park and we do have Le here who signed up to speak all righty well good morning hi Council uh my name is Steve Lee and I am the current Secretary of the Asian District Cultural Association um very excited to be here with um yall today um here to talk about the Asian Night Market Festival very proud of the event uh I've been serving with uh that festival for the past couple years um one great thing about it um just to kind of revise and go over it a little bit is last year uh in the hottest day of the year of 2023 in August um over the uh span of two days we had about 40,000 people come to the Asian Night Market festival and that was just the fifth year of our event um so that exposure to the community and what it does for our community um does go um outwards towards so many things um some examples I want to give you is is um we are one of the largest cultural festivals at this point in the midwest um we have people that reach out to us from Tulsa on how we do this event and also nationally all the way from South Dakota how do we how do we create this event um how do we do this for the community um so I'm so excited to talk about this because um not only does it bring together just the Asian culture that's represented here in Oklahoma City not just Vietnamese but all cultures um that are represented here um also Asian and South Asian and I think that's a really important part right there um one of the coolest things about our night market Festival is the food eating contest and we have featured many different things um like a spicy Ramen AA and also um this year we're very excited to feature a South Asian um item uh samosas uh that's going to be sponsored by Shish Mahal and so um this exposure and this um excitement is what creates uh us here in Oklahoma City uh and the Asian District um I want to say that um personally I I was born and raised here in Oklahoma City lived in Yukon went to Mustang schools uh I've been here my whole life growing up there was nothing like this around and to have this now and to serve on the Asian District culture Association to be able to bring this to the youth and to bring this to the community means so so much to have people recognized us from South Dakota to see us and to say we we know that you are successful at this it means so much and then another part of our uh history Catholic Charities 1975 bringing over so much of the Vietnamese Community here of why we have this Asian District a lot of that Community is getting older and this Festival really does continue the legacy of the Asian district and our culture here and we are now a pillar of what it what it is and so the decision of the Council of you of you all being able to let us close down six Lanes of class in um to be able to do this across the span of two days it means so much again last year we had over 40,000 people come to our event and this is just getting bigger and bigger every single year so again I just want to thank you guys from the simple decision of you closing down six Lanes is impacting and making us a pillar in the Midwest for this event so thank you for supporting the Asian District Cultural Association um I hope that you guys are able to attend October 4th and 5th this year not on the hottest day of the year of 2024 um and we're very excited to be able to do this and again thank you for your support thank you councilman Cooper well let me just say what an honor it is to close down six lanes for this event no and let me also just say listening to what you just said steeve it it is just truly um I mean I hope when I'm no longer in the seat um that I remember days like this because the food you have described whether it's Shish Mahal whether it's Fen wa you name it Le sandwiches quac poow like word two is no offense I love you all y'all know I love y'all know it y'all know it just be prepared we are it it is where the food it's where the culture it's where oh man every day for me every day in my poor bank account and it ain't a lot in there um but I'm grateful for this event I'm even more grateful when I heard from AJ uh this Summer that you all were moving it to October uh specifically October 4th through six and if you all have not had a chance to come experience these food trucks to come see the community come to life to see 40,000 plus people um walking those streets right uh it's in your emphasis on a pedestrian Corridor a bike Corridor a public transit Corridor a corridor for people that is always going to have my heart because you all understand that a corridor for people is a corridor for business that's how we get that sales tax revenue up do not mess with me I've had cold gr I will see you there and if any of you all are there I've seen other Council people there before I think I've even seen a mayor one Once Upon a Time uh come on in say hi to me and uh thanks everyone who's from the community here today I'll move with approval thank you so much thank you thank you all right we have a motion in a second cast your votes pass is unanimously all right we'll we'll take t-shirts please 8B is a joint revocable permit with the Oklahoma City water utilities trust and the committee gualco Oklahoma to hold the festival shaen at the Lake Hefner Reservoir and we've got Marlene Arenas here good morning everyone my name is marlina arenz I'm a member of the Oklahoma waterm committee here in Oklahoma City what we're wanting to do this year for the third year is bring the festival chaping which is a water wateren festival here to the community of Oklahoma to share the culture the food the different ceremonies and music and show it off showcase it to Oklahoma City um this would be our third year doing it last two years ago we started not expecting a lot of people but we did have a lot of people show up every year appears like it's growing so again we would like to have it this third year and you know we're hoping that you would allow us to do it we're going to have activities for children we're actually going to bring a group from Guatemala which are going to have jugglers a m magician um a couple of clowns to have different shows for the children then we're going to bring soloists and different musical groups actually there's going to be a group that's going to play that day um he actually or they actually play it on Friday at the Devon Park and they make it fun you know just fun music everyone can dance and like I said just different foods and it's a lot of fun so I'm hoping that you would allow us to do this again this year thank you we don't have award listed here but we'll go with councilman ston Cipher who's got the lake itself in his word sounds like a great event the food the music we're looking forward to it if there's anything we can do to help please let us know I move for approval thank you oh what time is it it starts at 10: a.m. and ends at 10 p.m. and I'm hoping I see everyone there because it is going to be it is a fun event all right we got a motion in a second pass your votes pass is unanimous thank you okay uh item 8 C this is a joyous crowd this morning uh 8C is a revocable RightWay use permit with uh amation for suicide prevention to hold the out of the darkness Suicide Prevention walk on September 7th um and we don't have anyone signed up to speak on this Council woman nice okay uh well clearly this is a a necessary need for us to acknowledge um the the impacts of what suicide does in the attempts of suicide I know a couple people that have been heavy participants in the out of Darkness um walks I've actually been to one myself so I hope you all will join this year as we acknowledge uh those who have left and and clearly uh speak to the needs of those that we need to continue to care for so I'll move for approval we have a motion in a second cast your votes passes unanimously item 8 8 D is a locable right of way use permit with the Down Syndrome Association of Central Oklahoma to hold the Down Syndrome Festival in 5K on September 28th uh on Sheridan and we have Sarah soul and Addie trout good morning Mr Mayor city councilman my name is Addie Charles and I would like to share this about you and about a special event coming up on September the 28th the down synd room best Festival in 5K we are celebrating 30 years of accept and [Music] conclusion I would like to invite all of you to join my team Addy's Avengers I like to uh run at the very end with my cousin Ellie Ellie Isaacs and support all of the self Advocates like me and families who have a loved one with Down [Music] Syndrome dasco has been a big support to to me and my family and they have empowered me to be a better self Advocate educate families and engaged some community [Music] members this event is very important to me and I hope you will approve our permit we so we may continue to celebrate with the lives people like thank you thank you Addie I would just like to add our event September 28th we expect about 4,000 people we are celebrating 30 years this event brings uh families from all over the state including families travel from Western Oklahoma so hopefully we can have help with those tax dollars on that day as well um but it's truly a special event we kick off the day at 88: a.m. with our 5K and one mile fundr run after that our awareness walk opens up at 9:45 um all the events take place at the married botanical gardens we have a festival activities including this year a bubble machine some of our self- Advocates will be performing their their special talents as well so we would love for everybody to come out and just celebrate with us and enjoy the day and have a festival of fun activities thank you Sarah councilwoman Hammond well congratulations on 30 years and um I'll be happy to move for approval councilwoman do you mind if I just add a quick note I just wanted to say as a teacher thank you for speaking at the podium I just started teaching last week again what I loved about what just happened here is the way you slowed down and the way you guided each other through those words word by word line by line with your hand going there that's something that my college students still have to practice to take on big Concepts and I L seeing you come alive when it was your name and it was your cousin and your friends and these things so thank you that's something I can take back into the classroom tomorrow to remind students that when things look tough they can slow down and kind of go line by line word by word so thank you for Addie wants to go to school at OU she's a senior this year at Edmund Memorial and also I'm a senior Captain for my Swim [Applause] Team all right we are taking a motion in a second to approve this permit cast your votes passes unanimously good job thank you all right next up is item 8e a revocable RightWay use permit with the plaz of District Association to hold the plaza District Festival on September 28th on Northwest 16th and we have Rachel Crawford here good morning city council um my name is Rachel Crawford and I'm the executive director of The Plaza District Association and Plaza business Alliance otherwise known as the plaza district and uh this is our 25th anniversary of Plaza Fest um I am just curious just by a show of hands how many of you have been to Plaza Fest before awesome so imagine just in the beginning when uh this is the days of Susan Hogan Georgie Rees um people who were just neighbors of class and tempin and Gatewood um Gathering maybe a couple hundred people if they were lucky with uh grills and really minimalist activities just getting its start into what it's grown into today and a lot of people will ask me what is it about the plaza District that um people are drawn to and I think it's our experiences since I've been executive director produced 52 events in the plaza District we do a monthly block party but Plaza Fest is a culmination of um four different music stages we also work with Plaza walls mural Expo they welcome in 40 muralists from across the country sometimes across the world they're a volunteer run organization um if you get a chance to come to the plaza District the weekly leading up to the festival which is Saturday September 28th please do it's fun to walk around late they're doing murals until 23 4 in the morning sometimes um but we have heard from business owners that again and again because of our events particularly Plaza Fest it's what helps keep small business owners doors open so in a time where we're seeing a lot of spaces um vacant and available what I think really sets us apart is our City's support um especially City Council of our revocable permits for our events so Plaza Fest um we do a partnership with ACM at UCO where their students manage and book the stage between M and velvet monkey and you have to be in Alum or um current student of ASM at UC to be able to be booked on that stage we also work with the agement community Oklahoma City Thunder and Oklahoma City Arts Council to do a street dance stage between bad Granny's and the margarita Garden we have a main stage where we we book talent and it will culminate into the headliners which are original flow in the waves and skating poly which is a very popular band that actually got their start in Gatewood playing in the back room of bad Granny's um we will have a kids area we'll welcome Ghostbusters OU pick and Hammer um lots of different kids activities and we'll have over 40 artist vendors 10 food trucks and really highlight a lot of the existing small businesses which right now in the plaza District we have 58 small businesses in a three block stretch um I just want to say thank you again mayor last year you were such a great sport we convinced you to get a tattoo at no regrets I don't know why you're using air quotes I know I know we might have something up our sleeves still I'll be in touch if if we uh do have something but I invite all of you and Nikki and really any of you if you want a festival t-shirt let me know and we'll have it ready for you let me know what your size is but please come have some with us pleas it it'll be a great day we appreciate you and I do want to give a very special shout out to our first year co-chairs Shannon sces and Lee Emerson they've been absolutely incredible I've produced a lot of festivals and I'm not supposed to be biased but you're probably my favorite co-chairs that we've ever had just wonderful people so thank you for your consideration thank you Rachel let's see if we can get a motion oh uh councilwoman Hammond sorry um well I was going to say it seems like we're celebrating a lot of Milestones day so congratulations on uh year 25 and I'm very uh Happy move for approval thanks got a motion in a second cast your votes passes unanimously thank you all right item 8f is a revocable right of O use permit with Uptown 23rd to hold Uptown outside on September 14th on Northwest 23rd and Latoya Mason is here to speak hi [Music] friends well before we even start let's give it up for Oklahoma City we are doing it this is an amazing day um and I am just so uh pleased to be here but I am Latoya Mason uh event coordinator for Uptown outside this is Juliana Lopez she is the district manager for Uptown 23rd district and this is David chipwood and he is our uh committee chair uh this is year three y'all uh we have been doing this for three years Uptown outside is uh essentially a call to action for a couple things um it is uh a call to action to bring people back to the businesses after the pandemic uh to to um uh increase Revenue um and bring those businesses back to life in the Uptown 23rd District it's also the answer to the walkability efforts that is happening all over Oklahoma City but specifically in the 23rd Street uh District um if you frequent that area which we all do uh we know how many cars travel up Northwest 23rd Street in a day um and how dangerous it can be uh for pedestrians to walk and and it is so important to the district it's so important to our neighbors it's important to our children to be able to walk in their neighborhoods and feel safe um and so we shut down Northwest 23rd Street and we walk in the middle of the street we play music in the middle of the street we eat food we have our families there we have our friends uh and we enjoy uh the Melting Pot that is uh Oklahoma City and the Melting Pot that is uh Northwest 23rd Street we standing here are a perfect example of what this district is uh it is diversity it is inclusion uh it is fun it is a band of Misfits that hang out on Northwest 23rd Street uh and we are just so excited about this event it is September 14th uh from 4: to 10: uh we shut down the street starting at 8:00 a.m. uh we have food trucks we have a main stage with tons of uh local uh and abroad um Talent uh we have a skate park because we have money ruins everything right there uh on Northwest 23rd Street and it is just a funky good time and so uh we hope to get a unanimous a unanimous vote today and we also hope to see you all there um we really really uh have enjoyed the support of Oklahoma City and we want to uh to continue that and we want you all to enjoy that as well thank you so uh this crosses into two Wards so just jump in whoever wants what wordss two and six they're going to think I paid you to come up here talking about walkability like that I did not receive any payment no it's just this is thank you for what you're saying it's just what I heard at the doors over and over and over and over and over again to prioritize being able to walk safely from people's home to businesses I I and I love when the residents come back up to this Podium and Echo that because sometimes there are some people in leadership positions who don't seem to hear me when I talk like you are speaking right now so I want to amplify your voice your voices and your vision that's why I'm in the seat and it was so fun last year doing the hosting for this event and get and meet these cool bands some on my heard enough I heard of them because I'm 42 so I'm not cool anymore um but it I'm just not it is what it is I play Zelda but uh no just thank you for what you're doing and I'll turn it over to councilwoman Hammond well I'm not 42 too but I don't know if I was ever cool so usually I have not heard of the Bands but it's always a very fun time um and I'm really looking forward to again this year um happy to move for approval can I say the band y'all had last year I had to put on repeat on my I hadn't heard of them but it was a good band so bring another one like that please we will we got you all right we've got a motion in a second to cast your votes passes unanimously you thank you all right now we're going to recess the council meeting and convene as the Oklahoma City Municipal facilities Authority where we have items a through D and item C1 C2 staff is not requesting an executive session I'd like to request um we move into executive session all right we have a motion for coming for C two to enter in executive session we have a motion in a second pass your votes fails four to five and uh so we could take the items a a through D then with one motion have a motion in a second cast your votes passes 7 to2 now we'll adjourn OC MFA and convene as the Oklahoma City public property Authority where we have items uh a through C we could take with one motion a motion in a second cast your votes passes unanimously we'll adjourn ocpa and re reconvene as the council where we are on item nine the consent docket uh there are no items here today for a presentation but if there's something that a council member wishes to pull out for a separate Vote or question or comment now is the time um I would like to vote separately on item AF did you say AF this is the land use typology okay okay can we hear a little bit mayor about I think these are pretty neat um item AJ and a and am please I think that's was that last one M or n m is in Mary okay and then um also just an update on item ba is in uh Bachelor's of Arts I don't know very clever um I'd like since we're going to go with AJ ah and AI they're along that cusp of the subject okay all right then we will take these in order which means we'll start with a separate vote on item a app good morning mayor and Council uh Justin Henry from the we're going to do separate vot we'll you we have a motion in a second cast your votes passes 7 to one where also going to back up real quick I saw that uh Joy Reen has signed up to speak on the zoning cases being introduced today hello oh hello Council I'm back Joy re 125 Northwest 9th uh I've actually got three of them in the nine section okay uh the zoning is my normal zoning uh why do we keep building out we we have no resources to keep building out way people are uh wanting to build out the developers and stuff like that I understand everybody's uh position on on the building out portion of it how about we uh build in and figure out uh why people don't want to be in the city I've heard arguments at this uh horseshoe many many times and they still you still haven't convinced me not to come up here uh and talk about the zoning stuff and then the stuff that yall just voted on plus all the resolutions to uh do the surface thing you're going to do what you want to do no matter uh who the citizens if they if there was a thousand citizens in here which would be overcapacity you're not listening to them you're not listening to the average citizen and quite frankly I know that there's a bunch of us that are sick and tired of it we come up here time and time again and y'all vote to uh not hear us you only hear the uh people from like Nicholls Hills or way up on the North side a lot of this stuff doesn't make any sense the streets that y'all want to put on this thing to uh fix don't need to be fixed we've got streets right hello we've got streets right here in in uh Central Court of Oklahoma City they're literally falling apart look at uh exchange from the uh from where the fivepoint area is all the way over to agnu it's literally uh they're having to patch it all the time there's several there are several other streets that really need to look at and you're talking about walkability how about the Ada I've come up here time and time again and ask for y'all to do something about them scooters I'll bring that up again later and then uh with the funding that y'all y'all uh the budget for uh 30 seconds please the budget for uh the bus system please give them more so they can get some newer buses cuz the buses they've gotten uh the older buses the 1100 13 the 09s they're literally falling apart please help us out and then I'll be back for the rest of okay so items ah AI AJ a l and a m were all called out they are all relating to surface Transportation block grant urbanized area funds and now I think we'll hear from staff that sorry for jumping the gun uh good morning mayor and Council my name is Justin Henry with the uh City Planning Department um helping kind of organize some of these gr applications um every year the city applies to uh the association of Central Oklahoma governments ACOG for funding for projects um of of various kinds uh the selection of projects kind of AJ through as this year is our selection of uh applications to stbg which is the surface Transportation block grant and tap which is the transportation Alternatives programs these are federal funds that are received by AOG and then they put out a call opportunities for their municipalities so that's what we're applying to on on these um most of these are existing projects of some kind we're hoping to either get some of the funding uh covered by the federal program or to supplement and make a bigger and better project so so specifically here uh on AI on the Martin Luther King um right now the city has a a fairly small traffic impact fee project to reduce some of the intersections there on I i44 this would expand that and add some resurfacing elements some additional sidewalks and possibly a trail that could kind of connect from the wood area back down to the existing Trail um let's see um AJ is the myo Vision Opticon project that is something that's kind of come out of our initial Vision zero planning and in coordination with our new office of innovation um there's a technology now we already use some smart traffic signals but this is kind of an expanded upgraded version that would allow for things like emergency vehicle preemption so fire trucks approaching a intersection would get preferential treatment it would clear all green so that they can go through more quickly and respond faster it also has the ability to for the signals to talk to one another so that they can more appropriately time the traffic flow and make it flow better and then it also has the option to put cameras up on some of them as well and it'll record accidents or near misses and that's data that we can go back and use to try to make some of the intersection safer um Al is the north Portland Street enhancement this is already an existing project that's pretty CL far along in plans but one of the things that the project didn't currently include was Street resurfacing so we're hoping to add Street resurfacing to the project and then am is the Northwestern this would just be some additional sidewalks um and uh supplementing some of the funding we we don't have so we can go farther happy to answer any additional questions um will you I see AO is there a specific reason for in purpose for that project yes so AO um there's there's a couple of reasons it's something that we've uh kind of put forward uh it's in bike walk OKC we've offered as an optional project that'll be coming to the maps 4 boards for consideration for their phase two bike Lanes um it will also uh it would kind of also supplement if there is an Olympics event this would allow for some additional access uh to the the river sports venues as well so yeah um thank you for that update uh the Portland one is of course very important this was the areas I've reminded Council before that a woman in a wheelchair you saw in the news last the last few months uh was hit uh excuse me a vehicle hit her three different times in her wheelchair as she was trying to cross Portland right so when we talk about ADA and when we talk about walkability it's projects like this one that are Paramount so I just want to thank voters back in 2017 who approved the initial round of funding and I want to thank you all for applying for the resurfacing funding here because I know that director Miller in public works has identified this area for consideration in the next Bond for resurfacing so if you all can get this grant funding that frees up the next street on that list to move into priority on the bond consideration so I'm really happy when I hear you all thinking ahead and applying for Grants um so I just wanted to draw attention to that and then I would just also say it's not just sidewalks that you're putting it Western it is sidewalks you putting in on Western they important and so I just really want to thank you for that but it's really again trying to find these different Revenue sources frees up money and bond consideration so just wanted to draw attention to that as well and these are areas that people have asked me in word to to prioritize for walkability so thank you thank you all right thank you let's see um that brings us to ba councilman Cooper okay yes speaking of walkability and bike improvements would you mind just kind of describing to us what this uh Amendment does please here Debbie Miller with the public works department item ba is an amendment to the engineering contract this project provides um a bike route along Northwest Grand Boulevard and Independence and it connects to the Burke Cooper Trail uh it also provides intersection improvements at Independence and Northwest Expressway and sidewalks on North Independence I believe this is also a match to the brt Northwest brt um this is actually in construction and we expect it to be completed late this year so I thank you for that update so I had a resident um ask on um I think it was on Facebook when I was posting about the maps for sidewalks recently they had also asked about independent in the Mayfair West area so I see this is going down to 47th when I say down I mean South to 47th do we know now will this complete pedestrian infrastructure on independence from 50th heading back to i44 do we know what gaps will remain I can find those out for you I don't have those right now but I'd be glad to get it to you that' be great uh because Amanda had asked for that don't I I I recommended to her she send an email to word to but if we can find out for her then I can just give her that response uh yes that's it thank you thank you thank you and we have a resident who signed up to speak on item BR Billy Lewis thank you mayor um it's BR and Bs it's the downtown improvement district so I'm the chairman of the downtown business Improvement District board we have a number of our people here in support of this I know this is just a placeholder until we have a public hearing but I wanted to take a minute and thank you guys for for having us um as you know we do beautification maintenance event management underground and Canal we cover the Deep Deuce area all the way over to West Village and Midtown and the downtown improvement district uh you probably see us mostly with the green team project you'll see those green cars GRE around and they do some extra cleaning and safe uh downtown in December we maintain over a th of the city trees in the downtown core um and we have all voted to tax ourselves as Property Owners I'm a property owner in the downtown business district and this board gets together and we've voted to tax ourselves to provide these extra services um just wanted to advise that the the subd districts have all approved theirs we have 23 people on our board on our bid improvement district and we actually passed our budget unanimously this year so uh that was a good thing we actually are assessment rates are actually for each property owner going to go down a little bit because of new projects that came on even though our budget went up as Services come on but I wanted to thank specifically Jennifer who's the president and and fi again they are fabulous at what they do we couldn't do it without them we wanted to thank the city staff that works with us uh you guys are you guys have multiple people in our meetings our quarterly meetings every and they're very active I also want to thank you all uh this is the third iteration it's coming up on 25 years now uh it wouldn't be that this downtown would not be as vibrant and safe and beautiful without all of you and so I wanted to take a minute and thank all of you and so we'd vote in favor of this I know there's a public hearing coming up on it next but thank you very much thank you well that concludes uh our items on the consent docket that had been pulled out so we could take a motion now to adopt that which is remaining have a motion in a second cast your votes passes unanimously item 10 is the concurrence docket we have items a through n we could take with one motion we've got a motion in a second cast your votes passes unanimously item 11 items for individual consideration item 11a is an ordinance on Final hearing it was recommended for approval resoning 7200 North Santa from R1 to doublea this is deferred from July 30th councilwoman nice Jeff vanus has signed up to speak okay I know um I miss Debbie did speak with him and I did speak with the property owner this week and so I'm going to ask that we defer this until our next meeting um as far as our first meeting in in September because there are still some compliance violations that I want to um get taken care of because I am very concerned about the property owner and the violations that are currently existing in order to um deem the property and and necessary for the zoning request um and they have advised me that they will take care of that they just needed a little time so I'm going to grant them that time and uh ask that we just move this to our first meeting in September and after that that will be my final decision thank you all right so that would be September 10th all right we have a motion to defer item 11a Motion in a second cast your votes passes unanimously uh Joy rean has signed up to speak on the zoning cases in general okay Joy waves 11 B is an ordinance on Final hearing recommended for approval resoning 3301 Northeast 11th from R1 to R2 this was deferred from August 13th uh councilwoman nice no one is signed to speak okay I did speak to Mr pores um and talked about his development and I just wanted to thank him for his time uh for that conversation I did advise him that he if he didn't show up it was okay uh but I also want to thank him for his Comm commitment to talking to the neighbors as far as his development is concerned and I did watch the um the Planning Commission meeting pertaining to this particular case and the one that's coming up after and uh we had neighbors that showed up in support uh for this particular development so uh again I will move for approval we have a motion and a second cast your votes pass unanimously item 11 C is an ordinance on Final hearing recommended for approval resoning 1500 Northeast 25th from R1 and hno to R3 and hno this was deferred from August 13th councilwoman nice know and assigned to speak thank you I know uh the applicant is here Miss Brown uh So you you're fine I was able to speak with her about her development and as I I previously stated I was able to watch the Planning Commission meeting um so we were able to discuss what's coming and I know she's going to be getting with me soon so I can actually see what she's bringing to the to the neighborhood and she has uh committed to also um connecting with the neighbors in this particular neighborhood as well so with that um I will move for approval we have a motion in a second C votes passes unanimously all right 11d uh two is an ordinance on Final hearing recommended for approval resoning 501 East i44 service road from R1 PUD 1842 PUD 1228 and O2 to PUD 2019 and then D1 is an amendment to the master design statement related to this application uh this was deferred from July 30th and August 13th and councilwoman nice noan has signed up to speak okay uh thank you for this we did have a a couple of more Amendment changes so would I be able to just want to ensure to the clerk um would I be able to add those into this amendment to the master design statement for one those additional changes or do we need to add for the record state two votes two votes okay no problem all right um for this particular application and and thank you to uh the applicant um I heard from the community so there are just a couple of more asks that we we were able to to receive so under 9.0 uh we would like to eliminate 82 50.2 82 50.3 in 82501 to the master design statement to amend the M master design statement so I would ask uh for approval of that Amendment first okay so is this the the amendment listed on the agenda or is this a further Amendment okay so we have a motion to amend as stated we got a motion in a second cast your votes passes unanimously and um I will ask that we amend the master design as stated with those additions all right so this is a motion for D1 we have a motion in a second cast your votes passes unanimously and now I ask that we will approve the application as amended this is a motion to adopt item D2 got a motion in a second cast your votes pass is unanimously all right item 11e is on Final hearing it was recommended for approval resoning 1821 North MacArthur from R4 uh to Spud 1621 this was deferred July 2nd 16th and 30th and August 13th councilman Cooper no one has signed up to speaker thank you mayor yes I just stepped away again to verify if we had received any communication from the applicant and we had not and for the public record I'd like to say that I just asked Boyd fton our staff to give them another call we did no answer we left a voicemail and I just say that because there's that number of deferrals I really appreciate council's uh patience and Grace there you know and um I understand I didn't want to deny this because you know you have this whole administrative process one must go through when you're applying for zoning um I hate sending someone back through that but just as Portland is getting a street skate to address the walk ility concerns we heard earlier so to is MacArthur and I wanted to make sure that this particular uh development is you know complimenting that working alongside that and I had asked for renderings and we just have not received those and I don't think that's of any ill will from the uh applicant I just for whatever reason we just haven't received that um and I I I would have liked to so unfortunately I'm going to have to move for denial here um if you have any questions feel free to ask that pleas I'm I I don't have a strong opinion here but I wonder if like a table indefinitely would be because you're right if you deny it and this person shows up and uh they were in the hospital this whole time or something they've got to go through the entire planning process with all those notices again I don't know if that's even legally possible or but it's just a like a motion essentially a motion to postpone indefinitely it would just never appear again until until somebody until wants to bring it back it may just go into limbo forever but um I'll take a quick look so if we want to move that to the end of the do okay I mean are you open to that I don't I don't have a strong opinion I'm not in a punitive mood you know I'm not trying to yeah I just that way we don't have to keep bringing it back it's just out there and if it ever the gentleman ever yeah surfaces that that's totally fine with me I I just again I just can't stress enough we have the streetcape coming and I just want to make sure that this development is compatible in terms of its literal design um and he was fine with doing that we just haven't heard from him so if if you move to postpone it indefinitely well she's looking it up to make sure that comfortable you can you can you can raise it again at any subsequent meeting right okay so get that we'll we'll we'll pause on that and and let Laura look that up and then we'll move on and we'll come back I think it's article 11 maybe Mar tools of order okay so item f is an ordinance on Final hearing uh this is the third of three meetings where we have considered this proposed ordinance that addresses electricians doing work for the city itself this was presented a couple meetings ago and then there was a public hearing and today we could adopt if that is what the council desires we have a motion in a second cast your votes passes unanimously okay 11g is an ordinance to be introduced set for public hearing on September 10th final hearing on September 24th relating to drainage and flood control and we have a presentation yes Debbie Miller our Public Works director will just give us an update on the uh proposed amendments to this ordinance good morning mayor council uh Debbie Miller I'm excited to be here today um this I'm to introduce the uh changes to chapter 16 of the municipal ordinance that we affectionately call the drainage ordinance um there hasn't been a major update to the ordinance since the early 1980s and with the growth of the city it's time that we need to Institute some uh Stronger requirements um we started in 2021 with two engineering firms who helped us review the existing ordinance and to make recommendations um we had two public meetings in 21 we took all of those comments we've addressed those and we came back out in May of this year and had two more public meetings um we have talked with everyone who had any concerns um are major changes detention is going to be required for all development there is an opportunity for a waiver uh drainage Channel design will be increased to 100e instead of just 50 and uh the current ordinance currently includes design criteria we wanted to remove that from that and put it into the drainage criteria manual which will be part of the ordinance and we'll be able to make changes as uh things change and we need to change the way we calculate so we'll be able to do that easier without having to come back to you every time um we are removing the storm sewer criteria and we're creating the drainage CR I said that sorry increasing uh storm sewer requirements is part of what we're doing and and we are clarifying the public versus private storm sir I'd be happy to answer any questions just a couple um as far as the 2021 uh meetings that we had in comparison to the most recent meetings uh did we have around the same amount of people or less people show up and I asked that um in relation to all of the other ordinance conversations that we've had most recently with um people I would say just putting all of these things together if you will and and some of us just getting fatigue from continuously having these types of meetings and um essentially putting them by the wayside because of of having to go to more meetings so just curious as far as our numbers are concerned um with the same amount of people being able to be contacted this this round in comparison to two to three years ago um we use the same contact list we sent out emails to all the firms I uh contacted the developers to make sure they were aware of what was going on we did not have as many people attend the public meetings in May and we think it's due to the fact that we'd addressed all their comments from the 2021 meetings Okay um and I I kind of heard you address this so I would like for maybe just some more explanation um I understand in this particular ordinance change as well that that there's going to be more of an administrative function um where you you did say that that wouldn't have to come to the council for a vote I'm I'm just curious I understand maybe we're going to say it's timing in order for these things to be done more efficiently um but at the same time um not being able to understand as far as with the concerns of some of our our developers that will come to us asking these question questions um we will not be able to have that type of way to assist um from our administrative uh view view of being able to work with that said developer so just curious why this change uh in comparison to keeping at least that function the way it was um typically design criteria should be in the ordinance um as things develop um as more I guess how I'm trying to say that um climate change and we may change the way that we determine what the rainfall is or we may determine what the drainage um is coming to that system so giving it into the drainage criteria we can make those changes but we don't just do that we actually put it out for public comment we send it to everyone and say hey we're going to make these changes and here is why please give us your comments so it's it's not like we just change it and it's done we actually reach out to everybody and make sure they're aware and understand why we're doing that de is there also a notification requirement is there some time time period that we have to provide that notification 45 days Debbie is there projects that are already in the works are not affected by um this will go into effect January 1 so projects that are going through the system now will not be subject to this change um at the at the risk of sounding like a bit of a broken record um my big picture concern when it comes to drainage and of course director Miller's heard this and again the broken record is that I'm Council I've said this to you all before my understanding is that we have you know a half billion dollar to billion dollar infrastructure need when it comes to drainage and when we are in this early phase of of crafting our upcoming bond for the 2025 uh election where voters will get to approve projects when I've looked at my list of drainage projects for w two it's barely a handful that we're going to be able to fund barely and while I'm happy about that that I can actually address some of these issues that I've heard from residents I mean I literally get there are two residents right now that I am telling you it is a constant email or uh text whenever these rains come you know um but there's so many other and so I just really worry about how we're going to be able to longterm address this in other words My worry is that the only plan the city of OKC has in place right now to to address its drainage needs for INF in terms of infrastructure is that every 10 years on the sevens when we have a bond election that that's when we do it and I just think that is a constant reactionary approach and I'm not interested in that I'm interested in like a proactive way at it so are what do we do we have a plan in motion that's going to allow us to study what our ongoing Revenue source is going to be outside of the bond I just don't think that this constant you know backlog is is a good thing for our residents I mean we can study how much we need it doesn't create Revenue right it's like and we look at all kinds of ways that we can generate Revenue we do want to make sure that we're keeping up with fees we're going to have some fee increases coming in the future that we need to do to tr try to help address some of these issues but really I see that ultimately I mean for us the bond the bond issue is the primary source of funding for um for drainage improvements that we need so the question might be do we look at adjusting the rate on our bonds I mean the the millage rate that we have that that might you know that provides us some potential there as well because as much as we need with have issues with drainage we also have the same kind of needs with streets so it's the same it's the same challenge that we have there but then on the other side you look at other Revenue sources that we have available to us like sales tax and we have significant operational needs that we really need to be addressing so it's always trying to strike that balance I don't mean that in any way discounting what you're saying you're absolutely right we need a better way to fund or more you know additional funding additional resources but I really do see keeping the capital Investments primarily on that Geo Bond side is is the direction that we're on right now I he while we're having this discussion I would also add to the list traffic lights um I've got I've got traffic lights that were approved going back to 2017 and still don't have it yeah no I mean and I guess that's where yes my traffic commissioner that is a topic he brings up all the time is the the light um but impact fees has been one way we've thought thought outside the box to address that it's just that we haven't gotten to a place where we're implementing that but we haven't brought that sort of creativity yet in terms of thinking outside the box with the street lights to drainage we haven't done that and so that's what I'm kind of asking for is for a long let's start thinking long term and the millage rate increase that you're talking about I you know I support that as you know but when I'm looking at the list right now of what we are proposing to address in terms of drainage with the increase Mill with going up from 16 to 20 Ms I still only have less than a handful of drainage projects that we are able to fund that's what I'm saying that there is still that even with that approach there is a li a a a huge limitation and that's just word two I'm thinking all of our words like this is not and by the way you don't win elections by being like drainage like you know this is me trying to really get to the root of of of a need yes please I would I mean I have the same frustration and this like you said I'm sure we all get the calls from a handful of people who have really bad um flooding that comes with these increased uh severity of storm events and um you know something I'd be interested in seeing is you know the how and you mention you know you know street lights and resurfacing and all these other needs you know better Street saer City uh that interim uh penny that we use to try to take a huge chunk out of our resurfacing needs and other Street needs you know I would think that's maybe a creative way that once you know we maybe had the opportunity to collect a billion dollars to you know benefit our residents in that way but that we didn't think creatively to do so but maybe in that in room uh for between another proposal maybe there's an opportunity to um take a chunk out of that because in my mind we are like people we're bearing we as a city whether that is individuals or thinking proactively and like actually helping with these we're bearing the cost like our residents are bearing the cost of these flooding issues they're doing the cleanup they're losing days of business um um they maybe their insurance premiums are going up whatever it is they are privately bearing the cost of us not collectively addressing these infrastructure needs um and so that is money that they can't spend on things that are sales taxable that is money that they can't spend on uh you know improving their properties the things that you know would give back to the city and then County coffers that help with things like Bond Bond uh issues so that's that's kind of you know that's one thing that I've been thinking about as maybe a creative way um because I don't think it is new Revenue but it is a way to use it is a qu in my mind it's a quality of life issue um because knowing the handful of people that I do hear from there's likely so many more people that I'm not hearing from because they don't know that they can or should reach out to the city about drain about flooding and their property um regardless of how sever it is um but that's that's an idea that I just was like well if we're talking about it I'm going to throw that out into the hopper so and I'm glad you did because you know right now that Penny sales tax will find itself after you know the 16 Maps projects going to this new Arena but we need to be thinking about that sales tax that Penny and being creative again with it I and I just think it's so important and I know sometimes this makes some of us up here uncomfortable because we I I and I understand it as someone who has a tendency toward perfectionism when one hears the critique it hurts and like no but I thought I was doing it perfect remember everyone who stood at this Podium earlier before director Miller whether it was Uptown or you know whatever the event was there are exciting things happening here and I hear all the time people be very excited not just about those events but all the construction in the investment so this isn't like me being like Boo OKC it's me going yes and right we're making these moves forward and we need to be thinking about these longer term kind of issues here so don't Mis understand when you're hearing us say these things that this is like you know just misery it's it's like how do we keep moving forward so and to the point of of that uh we'll say you know talking about drainage is not sexy it's not a sexy subject to talk about but um as I was listening to the conversation it made me think about residents who have reached out to talk talk about even their their drainage channels that they said the city used to maintain and now we don't do that anymore and therefore those are also um causing issues for some of our residents to have that backup as far as that flooding is concerned so there can also be a caveat of ways for us to bring that type of of work back to the Forefront in order for us to help maintain some of those those channels for our residents as well because you know it's it's a hard it's hard to have the conversation with some of our more senior residents that are used to us doing that and now telling them we don't do that and and they will fuss you down um the conversation to let you know what used to happen so if there is a way as we're having these conversations what does that look like to bring even some of that type of of work back to the Forefront of of us maintaining some if not all of of the ways that we look at those drainage channels in neighborhoods thank you D thank you all right so this is to again introduce this proposed ordinance change relating to drainage and then uh the hearing on September 10th final hearing September 24th could take a motion there's a motion in a second cast your votes passes unanimously ordinance is introduced okay we're still uh looking into that previous issue so let's move on then to item H and this is a public hearing regarding the dilapidated structures here listed we do have some folks who have signed up to speak uh bla nice has signed up to speak on Item B sure come on please this is a matter he postponed two weeks ago at council member Carter's request he said no more continuances and I respect that so I have no no issues with that I just my clients have advised me they didn't get closed in those two weeks it looks like it's going to be the first or second week in September more likely the second week because of the labor a holiday um this has been going on for a while and I understand is concerned staff has been helpful what's going to happen if if you approve this today they're going to file their notice of intent to file a lean and my concern is that that's going to muck up the financing which is where we're at everything in place and just that notice itself is going to raise other issues I realize once the city files that we have 30 days to take action or submitt a plan to correct this these are two uh separate units out of a 100 unit apartment complex they can be repaired um they're trying to get the financing in place as as staff will tell you the council's aware if you take this action and it doesn't get repaired the city only has the option of raising the buildings so that will take a number of affordable you know Apartments away but the main thing right now is we're just they're close I know it's time to fish or cut bait I totally understand that and I just humbly ask you to put this off until the second meeting in September um I think I may say but I I will not come and ask again um I've told my client that I told my client I would come over to today and implore you to consider putting it off until the end of September uh but that you know I'm not going to lose my you know reputation and my credit with the council by keep coming back here and begging and say it's going to get done um you know I've talked to them we've told them about the importance of getting this done but this is you know $55 million refinancing there's a lot of moving Parts as you well know and it's happening up in New York but this is is as my client told the council member the idea of this is for affordable housing and and those units they were mismanaged for years now that they've been involved they had a manager on site that wasn't doing a very good job they've replaced them they've got a lot more boots on the ground and they're really more involved they were supposed to at council member Carter's request put a I think a rollway out there and start kind of cleaning some things up because the issue is there's a neighborhood next to it where a lot of people are coming through the fence on this apartments and going next door to the neighborhood now quite Frank Frankly they're not necessarily our residence there's a lot of displaced people out there and they're going over and doing it so but obviously we're responsible for our property so I appreciate council members Carter position I would just humbly ask that this be postponed till the second meeting of September see if they can get this done because the notice of intent got it it's going to hurt us councilman Carter can I ask a question real quick um just to point of clarification because I heard there were two units but I see all of the units on our two large buildings that hold all of these thank you yes ma'am can we see the pictures for you Mr Nice while I can I appreciate and and I do appreciate you coming forth and speaking on behalf of your client um this has been going on for six months I know and I gave him my word last meeting and I'm going to have to keep that so it's going to be be my my desire that we keep this on the dilapidated structures list for now and I appreciate that I just asked that the rest of the council vote know and and give us two more meetings but I I appreciate that I well that's awesome my understanding with this even on here you're going to have 30 days before we actually do it's just it's just the notice of intent to file a lean that will be filed by Friday that could impact of financing that's I because once that notice is out there is U uh the municipal will tell you you know there's going to be a title attorney it's just going to it's going to raise a red flag and that's just my concern um it's the time I I mean they could get some things done submit a plan as you can see from the pictures they've secured it and that that matter has been withdrawn I mean it's just um and they want to rehab these buildings they don't want to tear them down I know they'll submit a plan it's just like I said it's just the notice of intent to file the lean and I'm you know I've seen title attorneys you know those just go nuts and and the financing you know these people there's a lot of people involved and and it just it could slow it down I'm not saying it would keep it from getting done it could just make it even more difficult so and I I respect your word and you said that so I had no disillusions when I came here today you were going to do anything other so and I certainly don't take it personal appreciate that may I add and councilman Stone thank you for your request to pull up these images my hope when I join this vote I appreciate where you're taking us councilman Carter um it is not about in my opinion my humble opinion it is not about the neighborhood and I know this is not toward you because you're representing the people who built this structure it is not about the neighborhood beside it it is not about the people within it it is about how Once Upon a Time someone constructed this building this building you see the holes you see every everything like that but when they constructed this in the first place and you can see it you can see it it was never designed to lend itself to creating Community that's the problem here there are people all across the city when they look at these apartments they don't see the Apartments they see the people inside these apartments and they think that something is inherently fundamentally wrong with these people that's I hear this all the time they think that these are people who are almost like born to be drug dealers Born to Be criminals born to commit violence they are not whoever did this and built this and then left it to years of mismanagement created an environment that shaped people in horrible ways and I think it's unforgivable what is there hang on I know you want to interrupt me but this is this is important this is important I when I first took Council when I took this seat we were talking about putting a youth center over in this area to try to intervene in the lives of the the families who live over here that's the steps the city was willing to make to be proactive in here I think this building is a a a warning a lesson to any developer going forward in terms of how not to construct multif family apartment units you go look in the poo and you can see what community constructed apartment units look like and this ain't it and so I know that's not you you're the you're their councel but I just we can't keep letting apartment buildings like this come into existence because they create the conditions for crime and they make people think that certain types of people are criminals and I'm tired of that I'm tired of that I'm tired of that so that's that's all I have to say here there's not even a reason to to respond Mr Mayor may I respond I mean with all due respect my clients didn't build this they owned it since then and this is their intention is for affordable housing there I don't think um I understand where you're coming from I've been in zoning and planning for years and and I appreciate the designs you're talking about hopefully things are changing but the issue here today is whether or not this is uh you you guys vote that this to be condemned like I said that's going to impact our financing that's that's my only request I I just respectfully request that you vote down the motion and then maybe reconsider postponing it uh if if we are keeping that on I would ask that we defer item a 1213 North Page Avenue okay and oh Mr is this Mr lofties no I know that's not you I have I'm looking at the gentleman behind you I'm looking at the gentleman behind you no yeah you all right I've talked to uh two different lofties of the family and um I the request was because this is an a a family uh family property that we defered there some things going on in the family that they want to get taken care of so I I have um said gave them my word that I would work through that so I'm going to ask that we defer this for four weeks as they work through the concerns that they have for the family can we see the pictures of that as well sure and um in the process of this I understand to the parents were deceased and that's where the notice went some went elsewhere and therefore um now the notice is is working to go towards one of the other children and they are working to secure the property to make sure that those things will be taken care of as we work through this process and I don't need to speak for Mr Lopes but if that's okay um uh that was enough to be said so again I I'll ask for just uh for our time to work with them and I did ask the lofties that I did speak with he's going to continue to keep me updated on on what they're doing in the Pro process of of this application of this uh particular structure are there any questions or concerns so they're they're working so like the the holes and the gaps that we're seeing there they're working right now to secure that that's correct thank you and uh this is a historic property is built in the 1930s so I I'd hate for us to just allow for the dilapidation if there's a way for this family to take care of this family heirloom U that they would want to keep in the family if you'll come to the mic Mr lofties if you have a comment my grandfather purchased this house in 1939 it's been in a family for all of those years I was going to do more there have been many people many persons uh we had trouble trying to keep people out of the house they tore uh they tore people would come in and vandalize the house they came in and took the copper out of the the house and uh they came in and tore the can you believe they took a tu four something and damaged the roof so it would go there so I retired from I retired from the University of Oklahoma a few years ago and I thought I would have you know time to do some work to the house but then my mother died and then my my wife and then my father father passed away so in between that time it got even a little worse but we we boarded it up we tried to keep people out of there but it was uh quite a job and and I was busy taking care of my dad take seeing after my wife and it just got away from us but I ask that you all will give us some time Mr L I just want you to know I I'm sorry for your loss of of your family and um to to those I don't want to give all of all of the family business that I I have been um privy to hearing but I do know that I talked to Mr this Mr lofty yesterday but I talked to another Mr lofties last week uh one of the brothers and he advised that that brother was stepping up to assist to ensure that we were able to take care of this so as you can tell um unfortunately these are these are the things that happen in in our communities and in our neighborhoods and I would also uh hearing the appeal of Mr lofties ask that we again uh extend some Grace for them to to take care of not only this family heirloom but to take care of each other in this time um that we need to to get this done but I will ask Mr lofties that um as I ask the your brother to please help keep us updated with what you're doing because my goal is to get this off of my dilapidated list I'd like to do that before four weeks so if you can help me with all of the all of the brothers and sisters that you have to put all hands on deck that would be I would be most grateful because I want to make sure I'm helping you in the process okay thank you you so I I'll ask again if we will defer that for four weeks and I'll be in contact with u the lofties as much as I can and hopefully they'll do the same with us September 24th so this is a motion to defer item h1a to September 24th we have a motion in a second cast your votes I got to refresh I he stepped out he's not fast as unanimously okay we still have a resident who to speak on this item Michael Washington thank you everyone wonderful people 100 Park Place middle west City we have a tight squeeze here from what I've heard heard so far I know that this is not going to be an easy task on your parts know there these gentlemen that spoke before me but Society requires that delapidated structures be fixed repaired off what of identity you want to give it I agree with cwom NI this gentleman to my right these people should be given an extended period to get things straight but at the same time let us not forget this has to be done because the DAP dilapidated structures have a tendency to decrease homes and values in that area where it may be lying a buildings such as this gentleman here I kept seeing the ak ak now I know the actual units that's you know attached to those addresses we do know that that uh increases and creates an environment for vagrants to come in and actually take hold of structure like that and call it their homes we know that now we imine not crazy about that idea but because this is a fact we have to look at this seriously we have to to make sure that everyone understands that before we can rule or accept a resolution regarding these situations that we use our god-given right as compassion in our hearts I don't believe these people just did this on purpose I wasn't there nor am I applicating that you give them in 9,000 years but I do say this in my time closure 53 minutes seconds if these structures are not fixed up and in place as they had been agreed upon you must take step and guess what you've never heard Michael agree much with the council but today I'm going to why because others in those areas have a right to live in structures where their value values of their property is not decreased or whatever the case may be okay 30 seconds thank you but let me say in closing I see 4 448 48 oh my God I'm not going ready to finish let me leave it at this thank you all for ly I know it's been a while y'all thought I was going to come back I am but thank y'all for this opportunity and I will as I promise be B all right now we're on the resolution found at 11 H2 declaring that the structures are dilapidated save for the one previously deferred we've got a motion in a second cast your votes fast as unanimously item i1 is a public hearing regarding the 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 founded I2 declaring that the structures are unsecured got a motion in a second cast your votes passes unanimously now we're at 11 J1 the public hearing regarding the abandoned buildings here listed um Mr Nice do you wish to speak again Mr Nice bla nice do you wish to speak again I just same request previously right got it okay and Michael Washington as I stand previously okay all right well no one else has signed to speak so we can advance to the resolution at J2 declaring that the buildings are abandoned Mark I think you went back out of here again got a motion in a second cast your votes passes unanimously okay now we're going to back up to item 11e so I think what I hate that she ran but I think I can interpret what she said basically if you do a motion to postpone indefinitely at some point in the future if you wish to bring it back you'll tell clerk legal staff they will need because of the unique nature of zoning cases they will need to notice the neighbors again for the council hearing so they know it's coming back but I haven't missed much I'm explaining your B advice my apologies and so uh they'll receive notice just as they did this time around so they'll know that it's coming back and then it'll be placed on the agenda at your request at a future date if the spirit should so mu you and I guess I mean technically speaking the motion to postpone indefinitely could be revived anytime into perpetuity right and we would just need to get an updated property list so that we would be able to notice the appropriate property owners and yeah but that could be handled administratively yes okay so again I don't have a strong opinion but if you'd like to make that motion um it struck me as more fair to potential situations that we may not know about regarding the applicant councilman has a look on his face got a question for you I understand you're worried about the streetcape on MacArthur but this thing is offset off MacArthur by I don't know it doesn't have a meure measurement I'm going to say at least 100 ft mhm so I'm just curious like how that would impact the streetcape on mathur sure so initially when this came before the planning department or Department commission and Department there was a conversation about for instance where the parking is in relation to MacArthur and so this is going to ultimately be like a strip mall project and I'm of the strong belief just because of what I understand about you know best practices in the planning world that if you're going to make a street a bit more walkable then you don't want a giant Gulf of parking spaces between the structure and the the street the sidewalk Etc so when I spoke with Terry he was like yeah actually that was kind of my initial plan so we were going to look at together what that what that was that's why the renderings were so important and we just haven't just haven't gotten those yet he was going to get them to to us so I just think it's a question of where cuz right now he's wanting to set that back really far from the street right that's how that is right is that how you see that you see that Lea and it's and it's labeled as a personal storage unit well so it was a bit more complicated than that so on the one hand there was storage on the other hand there was him wanting to do this kind of strip mall type uh structure that would allow for like for instance and I'm just from Terry like a coffee shop right and so yeah these sorts of things so yeah there's just kind of couple things happening thank you Todd councilman okay well do you wish to make a motion councilman yeah I would I would make a motion to table this indefinitely um and with the process we just heard the mayor outline for us okay we've got a motion in a second cast your votes passes unanimously item is postponed indefinitely okay now we're back uh in the regular order at item 11k this is a joint resolution the Oklahoma City Airport trust renaming Will Rogers World Airport to OKC Will Rogers International Airport and we have a presentation yes Jeff Moulder our airports direct director we'll talk through the process that we went through to to make this selection this recommendation and in uh the recommended uh change in the name good morning good morning Jeff Moulder director of airports um so in front of you you'll see some slides that provide some background as Craig mentioned on the process that we've taken it kind of started last fall we uh determined we really needed to update our website for the airport to bring up to some more modern standards and make them more usable and um at that point in time we wanted to take a look at the name and the brand for the for the airport so uh we worked with nominee a local company to put together some information you can see some of the bullet points there U just doing some research uh doing local interviews uh doing in passenger interviews and we also did some public surveys so next slide Stacy I think you jumped there you go um really the the questions that were posed was the name of the airport the logo those were the primary questions that were posed and asked to the interviewees and um the issue that um really myself and Stacey and others we uh go outside the community quite a bit and uh we are promoting the airport and the community wave in the flag uh to bring Air Service and or our property development to the airports one of the challenges is that Will Rogers World Airport is not the name is not well known outside of Oklahoma City because it doesn't identify where it's at so that was some of the conversation and so really that was one of the points of adding Oklahoma City or OKC into the name uh certainly there was support for retaining Will Rogers and history and the of Will Rogers and the community and and his is linked to Aviation and then uh the third part that came out was world to International um and there was support for changing that or or moving from World International some of that I think is also important for us on the timing we are in the middle of developing a customs facility at the airport which will allow us to then bring your Inter National service to Oklahoma City so I think that kind of the timing for that also was of importance so a positioning statement um you know just identifying really what we think um the airport and the community offers and that is a welcoming welcoming Travelers uh vibrant culture offering easy in and out travel experiences so those are some of our touch points certainly want to retain the connection to the history and Aviation this is a photo that I'm sure many of you seen before it's Will Rogers and Wy post the aircraft uh it was actually Will Rogers aircraft and so that was a connection that we saw that we'd like to fold into the logo and um if you go to the next slide um so that um also then that is incorporated into the logo and the K as part of OKC and also um you'll see as in some of the uh sub subsequent slides also incorporating the state bird the scissor tail and so those are some of the elements that were brought into the logo so that's the logo go um OKC is as you know um really is an international brand um obviously a lot of that's to do with our Oklahoma City Thunder but people know OKC wherever you travel and so this is with our recommendation to uh was approved by the airport trust and now was in front of you is to OKC Will Rogers International Airport um coming with that is the brand and some of that is the colors and the pet that we propos to use for various signage and Logo applications can keep going some other ideas that we have and Nomine has proposed to us to use as we implement this and uh some more signage signage is important of course at the airport so we use that a lot and uh ultimately for advertisements for for air service and and other um opportunities and I think that's the last slide um we are we will be upon approval going through an implementation process of course this will take some time the logo is in lots of different locations um all over the place at the airport but we will begin an effort here we've developed a video that we can make available to the media that kind of explains the process and how we've uh want to transition to this new logo and brand and it will ultimately include some Billboards and um and over time a lot of our branded things like our shuttles uh will begin that process to transition them to this new name and this new logo so that's my update P to take any questions from anybody I don't really have a question but um my as I was hearing the presentation um when I think of international that's not something I I just say I'm traveling internationally I travel the world and so for us to remove world to me that takes away the Nostalgia of Oklahoma City because I say from OKC to the world um but and that that is what it is but um I think for us to look forward is is great but to keep the Nostalgia I I believe would have been necessary because that continues to create the uniqueness of what Oklahoma City my opinion is but uh otherwise I like the colors I like the the other pieces of of what this is and um I'm hoping that as we as we use this new branding um that we also look at how we incorporate International branding in the airport if this is something that we're planning on doing um the diversity of branding in this airport if this is something that we continue to say we want to to note as a a landing Point Andor um a way to to go see the world um as we would like to do for a lot of us so that's just my personal opinion again not really of a horrible critique of it but I just I hate for that world piece to go away from from where we are as far as being able to to say it and I agree when you're in Oklahoma City um you know Will Rogers World Airport um so to now change it to International is is interesting in itself I think that was a very interesting comment by councilwoman nice there I love the OKC branding on the front of it I think that's fantastic I wish it was going to remain World Airport uh just because it's different right so you look at it differently going wow that's different um and I'm glad we're keeping the will Roger's piece in it for sure I appreciate all the work you do uh director Moulder and your staff and you know I love our airport um if you don't like our airport go fly to a different airport in and out and then fly back to our airport and you'll love our airport I just wish we were keeping at Will Rogers Oklahoma City Will Rogers World airport but thank you for all your work see and as he was talking it made me think of even in the O having the globe in the O that shows how much of the world we would like to see something to think about director Moulder thank you again for the presentation and and for the opportunity really since my time on Council you know I've had the opportunity to be here at such an interesting time it wasn't long after I started and the mayor so kindly appointed me to the airport trust um that I had the opportunity to see the opening of the new uh terminal expansion and that step forward for our airport was extremely significant um significant for our Travelers going out of Oklahoma City significant for travelers coming into Oklahoma City and I think that this is kind of the next step in that process and I know that um there's a lot of love for the world um on the council um but I will I will take a little bit of a different stance with the international I'm very excited to see that I do think it puts our airport in a class um that is different than it has been in the past um you know with the development of international flights and the monies that we have put into that and to really have an opportunity to draw attention to that in a way that the Aerospace industry understands um you know when we're advertising this advertising this airport it is to Airlines and to uh not just to Consumers and to encourage them to come and bring more non-stop flights and bring international flights and bring all of those different amenities so that our consumers have more options and so I I hope that this accomplishes that in the way that you know we've kind of talked about in the past so that we we can expand those offerings and that um you know to that International Point um not only going out of our airport but also coming in you know I know that there are discussions going on um with uh visit KC and bringing um some visuals of our districts out to the airport so that as our Travelers are coming in that they're seeing the different um International qualities of our city and so I'm very excited about that as well so thank you again for a great presentation and cons considerable effort and responding to Citizens requests to you know retain uh the Will Rogers it is very important to us into our history so thank you you know at first when I heard about this I I was really fearful that Will Rogers name would be lost from a part of our airport and um so I started doing some research and next year uh Will Rogers will be gone 90 years and uh you know he's originally from Clare Moore and a lot of people today don't associate Will Rogers with Oklahoma City uh but the point is what what people do associate Will Rogers with is Aviation and its infancy and how important he was the role he played uh in in moving Aviation forward and um I one of my favorite sayings by Will Rogers is your train may be on the right track but if you're not moving forward you're going to get run over and I think if Will Rogers was here today if he were here here today uh he'd be he'd be proud of this and he'd like it uh but I think the most important thing that does in my mind is it emphasizes Oklahoma City which now people know about it all over the world not just because of the basketball but because we're the 20th largest city we're the sixth fastest growing and we're getting ready to have some Olympic events so um I'm going to support this I think you did a great job with it and I'm glad you kept the name Will Rogers thanks Jeff y all right I'd like to move for approval okay does that come up because it do come up for me all right we have a motion and a second cast your votes and I wish to vote I passes unanimously thanks for all the work that went into that okay item L is a resolution amending the current budgeting and financial planning policies uh the last adopted in 2022 we have a presentation yes Chris York our budget director will give a presentation on the proposed update on the the uh PL Financial budgeting and financial planning policies good morning so the item today just has a few minor updates that I will walk you through they're really targeted at a couple of different things um one is we're looking to improve our processing times for financial transactions we're also looking to update an area that was caused by uh migration to our new Financial system Oracle and we're adding some clarifying language that uh better describes our existing process so uh referencing page four of the policy um you'll note that we're updating the workflow and signature authority of our budget transfers the idea there if I could give you an example is a department might have budg budgeted $100 for paper which is a supply and then determine that they actually want to use a printing service so that would require a budget transfer the current process is they have to get that approved through their Department then send it to the budget office a budget analyst reviews it signs it sends it to my desk I review it sign it and then it goes to the CFO who reviews it and signs it it's it's a bit overkill for that basic and routine of a transaction and meanwhile the department by the way is waiting for us um to complete all that before they're open able to open a PO and move forward this um update would push that signature Authority down to the budget analyst and we expect it to uh improve our turnaround times uh significantly you can imagine at those levels it could take anywhere from a couple hours to a couple of days to get those processed we're also cleaning up some language um that clarifies the non departmental um uh Department which contains our general fund contingency and that transfers involving general fund contingency require the highest level of signature from the city manager um but there are also routine transactions in non-departmental like for example our uh natural gas budget is there uh those shouldn't require the same level of authority and so we were making that distinction between the two uh but still maintaining that high level for contingency specific transactions moving on to page five we have an update regarding the purchase order rollover process you'll uh uh might be familiar with that we bring you a budget amendment every year that facilitates that process and the reason we do that it's actually a bit of a workaround the prior Financial system did not allow us to systematically roll forward POS from the prior year into the current year and so we work around that by bringing you a budget amendment um which you adopt every year the constraint to that is that the department is now waiting on that budget to be restored for however long it takes us to put together a budget amend Amendment then the public hearings and so forth the new system does allow us um to do it systematically and that is also Allowed by the municipal budget act so we're recommending that we move in that direction um Council will still have oversight of the process because as you do receive budget amendments throughout the year you will note there will be a column there it just won't be isolated to its own individual budget amendment it'll happen in the system automatically and then finally we're adding some language there that better defines the idea of transfer to transfers from uh and the reason this is a little bit of uh uh Financial housekeeping but the reason for that is is that we have a number of documents that we have to comply with from the municipal budget act to gasby recommendations to Gap and so on and as we're referencing these Financial transactions in each one of these governing bodies they might be called something different I might consider it a budget transfer they may consider it a payment to from some folks just say they're moving funds around um and even internally we call it something different so what this language does for us is it defines those types of transactions and makes it very clear that we are playing by the rules for each of these governing bodies per the type of transaction um and with that those are all the changes but I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have thanks all right so we could take up the resolution if that's the will of the council we have a motion in a second cast your votes passage unanimously item m is a resolution authorizing legal council to participate in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission proceedings and to initiate litigation to enforce the settlement agreement and protect the rights and interests of our city related to the Settlement Act act settlement agreement Sardis lak storage rights kichi River stream water rights and other related rights and interests Etc uh this was previously briefed so there's no presentation today um we could check up the resolution if there's any like super superficial questions we could handle those but otherwise we'd probably have to defer it because there's no executive session on the agenda we've got a motion in a second cast your votes passes unanimously all right item N1 is a resolution authorizing the municipal counselor to confess judgment without admitting liability in the case of May G May G uh V city of OKC executive session is not requested got a motion in a second cast your votes passes unanimously item 1101 is a joint resolution with the City of Oklahoma City shouldn't that say a joint resolution with the1 yes um with the municipal facilities Authority or yeah since it was already on the agenda earlier I think properly listed I think this is sufficient I don't think it's an open meetings act violation scrier error right it is a scrier error all right o1 is a joint resolution with technically the Oklahoma City Municipal facilities Authority authorizing The Firm Colin saor and Wagner to represent uh Kimberly Vance and Mark Fields in the case of Koffman MC Koffman V Vance executive session is not requested I would like to request the executive session for 01 all right we have a request to go into executive session approve item 1102 we have a motion in a second cast your vote fails 2 to six we're back on the item 1101 the joint resolution take a motion we have a motion in a second cast your votes passes six to2 now we're on item P this is executive session on advice of the municipal counselor to receive confidential Communications regarding the case of uh Mitchell V clicka Landers atal U we can handle this at the end of our other business but we can do the vote right now to approve an executive session we have a motion in a second cast your votes passes unanimously we as I stated we'll handle the executive session itself at the end of our other business item q1 uh are claims recommended for denial and staff would like to strike item q1c that is their request today so we could take a motion on that perhaps first we have a motion to strike item q1c and a second C your votes passes unanimously executive session is not requested on this so we could take up the recommended denials still found at q1 A and B with one motion motion a second cast your votes passes unanimously item R are claims recommended for approval um executive session is not requested we can take them with one motion got a motion in a second cast your votes passes unanimously all right item 12 or from Council W one not today sir thank you two uh yes so uh ocu had its matriculation event a couple weeks ago and uh really nice seeing those freshmen run across campus uh in preparation of uh graduation four years from now so um yesterday at 4:00 would have been my world uh literature class I'm a bit with councilwoman nice and stone on this the we don't call it International literature class we call it world literature class uh thank you for smiling at that mayor um moments before that class began uh my English composition class had ended and in that brief span of time I had received a text message from councilwoman nice letting me know that Pastor Reed uh from Fairview had passed away and uh it's always a difficult moment as an adult in a position of authority when you receive upsetting news in front of young people right it's like yes it's like how do I react to this news right um and so so what I ended up doing as we went into that 4:00 hour is I told the students at the start of class that um I was going to say something a bit heavy to them they had just watched I know it's a world literature class but to prepare students who are mostly used to uh screens TV shows Tik Tok film uh there were more used to that than they are literature I always start the class with the film and so they watch 1960s py considered a masterpiece Hitchcock it's a way to get them thinking about narrative structure and and uh perspective it just so happened that as I pulled up an article from the Oklahoma on Pastor Reed his story really takes off in 1963 and it allowed me as the professor in this moment to honor him and to talk about what it was like for him I just read from the article what it was like for him to have met uh the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr uh just a few months um before the bombing uh there in Birmingham of that church um he had been there and he uh just a few months later would learn about the the bombing of those that church and the loss of those four girls and he was there for the sanitation strike here um this is a man who has had a half century worth of just dedication to the people of OKC to the cause of nonviolence right to the cause of justice and equality and I got to hear him speak uh for the first time really the first time um when we were talking about where the county jail should go and he was 85 when he was at the end of that town hall when he got up in spoke and I remember turning to representative Jason low who was on the panel with me and I was like it's like looking into the future isn't it like he he has paved the way for for us but on a much more personal note um I had the honor of going to his church you might recall earlier this year in February Black History Month when I was one of the recipients of an award in his name and anyone who knows me knows that I am almost almost always late and I got there right on time that day and I made a deal with myself this Summer that I would send him a thank you card and I kept putting it off and putting it off and putting it off and then finally a few weeks ago I sent him that thank you card and that was the first thought I had yesterday was what if I had not sent that thank you card to let him know how much it meant to me and my family to receive that award I just say this to you all to say if there's someone in your life that means a lot to you close friend a neighbor a family member and you have not told them lately that they mean a lot to you if you've kind of let it slip slide into the familiar Now's the Time now is the time to do that a simple note of gratitude for their existence will go a really Long Way um I would have been devastated had I not sent that note um so I'm really glad that somehow I was able to and that was the message I shared with my students yesterday I told them look to your left look to your right and if that person means a lot to you send them a note or if they're not here send a note so that's just something I wanted to to share today that was something that my world literature students that now has taken on a much deeper meaning so um to the family at Fairview um much love from my my family and from W two thank you w three word four word five interesting facts and figures from me today in July of 2023 early wi YMCA had 28,200 check-ins in July of 24 they had 28,100 checkins and why is that relevant well between then and now we opened up a senior center just three or four blocks away in reality well I'm happy to report that in July of this year the senior center had 16,500 checkins so it didn't affect the why at all and they're getting about somewhere between 530 people and 800 people a day utilizing that Center which just makes me really happy that's a great add to South Oklahoma City and on a sad note it's been three years since we lost Mark Ruffin and he's always in my thoughts so that's it word seven so are you in that number I am all right excellent um I don't want to play pickle ball fine we still haven't had our pickle ball day so uh very grateful that we're all getting to Revel in in the the joy of our seniors having some Recreation and I'm sure um like that one ours our seniors call hours the adult the senior playground so they like to have fun that's for sure um I just had a couple things first I wanted to thank the community as well as our parks department for the Min slate view grand reopening that they had this past Saturday if you hadn't come out Saturday to enjoy I would encourage those who have not yet seen some of the improvements to to please go by there and the way that we support the center is to sign up for programming so there is programming for our seniors there's programming for our kids before and after school programming um and uh to our residents they have organized they have a committee that helps to support it and I know that they will continue to support this particular Center and I also want to uh lift up Naisha Morris because she has worked extremely hard in our Parks Department Department uh with our seniors to make sure that they had all of the the programming that they needed in order for this effort to take place so uh again wanted to to say to Naisha job well done and continue to do the great work uh for our communities in the within the parks department um I'm not sure still waiting to understand uh who responsibility are as far as our our our facilities Library facilities are concerned um I'm I've been someone reached out to me actually a couple people reached out to me about Ralph Ellison library with there being a leak um in on the top of the building and now there's a tarp over the building and some mold so I'm hoping that with those concerns we can get our residents and and those who who Patron the library taken care of uh to make sure that further action doesn't have to be remediated for this particular Center um I wanted to also congratulate the Ambassador concert choir they officially on Saturday kicked off their celebration of 45 years as far as their season their new season will begin and their asking for everyone to continue to support So for a choir like that to be around uh for 45 years is definitely a blessing especially when The Visionaries of the main one of the main Visionaries of of the efforts um is no longer with with the organization and no longer with us uh but being able to carry that torch of of Life of what that Vision was is always an accomplishment and um it seems as if it's continued to stay steady as far as the membership is concerned and Northeast U Street enhancements just to let folks know their are some ways for you to get get involved vision. okc.gov /n noreast 23rd Street enhancement uh so if you have a opportunity to do that we're excited about what this will bring to our community uh but we need people's voices at the table so there will be a couple meetings one the 5th one the 6th and I believe one on the 12th of September so please make plans to attend or find out more information for yourself so you can at least be a participant um this Saturday there will be a peace walk uh that's going to begin at 1:00 p.m. from the Ralph Ellison Library so looking forward uh to being u a part of that especially with some of the things that have happened within the community over the past couple of weeks um and extending our uh peace to the community within it and I wanted to also uh extend my condolences to the family of of Pastor Reed and one of the things that I would personally say about Pastor Reed is um and I said in my Facebook post yesterday that uh he was definitely a giant in our community and for one person to Pastor one church for over over at least 62 years that says something that says something to his leadership that says something to his voice uh that says something to the trust in the church family to have him as as their leader and and uh since Thursday it's been pretty heavy within the the the fair viiew family because uh everyone was was worried we all because it just happened suddenly as far as his his health concerns uh for us to to wonder what's going to happen can he make it we need him to make it and ultimately um he talked about running the race and finishing the race but he finally finished the race and has received that crme but I I would say this one of the things that I was able to experience was probably one of his last sermons and that was with our freedom Fiesta that occurred um two Sundays ago the Sunday before last and the title of his sermon was be a dreamer and one of the things that I wrote down because he mentioned it again after he preached that even evening uh was be a dreamer and I said uh Reverend Reed you better tell somebody to dream and he said that's right baby if your mind can conceive it and your mind can believe it you can achieve it those are his last words to me and I pray for his family I pray for the church family um and this is a devastating loss for our community as well as uh it was very inspirational to see the mayor of Stillwater acknowledge him because he he broke barriers at Stillwater high school before going to Langston University to uh be an advocate for our HBCU and I I think it's very important for us to know if we do not already just as uh council person Cooper mentioned his his when he was a part of the the strike sanitation worker strike he was a a young pastor and he mentioned that actually at that service he gave his account of um being a participant in the sanitation worker strike and I'm very grateful even when I called him he came and talked U the day we talked about the county jail the city gel excuse me um the possibility of tearing that building down I called him the night before I said rever Reed I need you and he said okay baby I'll be there and that next morning he was in front of us speaking to him being jailed from the sanitation worker strike and his experiences of of being a part of the Civil Rights Movement so um no one can take away uh that part of what Reverend Reed has brought to our city our state as well as our nation and for those who may not know I'm sorry that this is boring you but um um U for those who may not know that he also uh for for our national Baptist convention um it's a national Convention for our Baptist Churches he was still an office holder so they'll be having their convention next week and I can tell you that it's definitely going to be on everybody's Minds with him not being there next week so please again continue to keep that read his daughters and their families and your prayers as well as the the fair viiew Missionary Baptist Church because uh there's definitely going to be uh need to be some prayers and healing uh for the loss that has happened within this part of our community um and also um just a couple weeks ago he received a lent Institute lifetime Legacy award and he was surprised because he didn't even know he was getting it and they called him to the stage to receive that so um congratulations to our other um holders of that and I was also fortunate enough to re receive that Spirit of the community award by him and and to to know that he sees us as he was seeing us in our work that meant something so again his legacy will never be forgotten thank you ward8 you know on Sunday afternoons um I like to and I've mentioned this before read articles about other cities the issues they're they're facing and and read articles about Oklahoma City and I Came Upon This one that says uh Oklahoma lands two spots on the national list of most scenic locations it was a survey polling 3,000 Americans to rank the nation's most scenic locations and our very own Myriad botanical gardens is on that list um I'd like to read what it says uh the Myriad botanical gardens in downtown Oklahoma City is a photographers Paradise offering breathtaking seasonal displays of plants and flowers that transform the outdoor Gardens into a vibrant vibrant colorful canvas so uh to the staff on the foundation and to the board of directors of the foundation congratulations on this award thank you thank you that concludes comments from Council now we're on citizens to be heard Debbie Eddie thank you mayor and counil people for hearing me and giving me this time I'm Debbie Eddie I'm from the May pin area um My Little neighborhood is um very small surrounded by May Avenue pen Avenue and Northwest uh 39th expressway service road to i44 and also Northwest 36 Street in 1966 there was a declaration signed that that the row the ride of way of which I am a homeowner a portion of it was to be um no vehicular traffic but open to pedestrian traffic only of course utilities emergency vehicles police those would be the exceptions that was signed and it is um on the books everything moved along in that direction until 2017 when one of the row owners came before this Council uh requesting to fence in a portion of the property south of the Little Foot bridge that is south of me over the Deep Fork U Creek um he was granted that privilege but the understanding was each homeowner if they wanted to fence in the property it would be up to them individually to pay for it to my knowledge at that time his was the only one that was not fenced in within a time period of about a year that person fenced in um south of the bridge fenced in the bridge fenced in south of me on 37th Street and 37th Place joins 37th Street it's called the saac fence that in with um the stockade fencing then uh after that he fenced in with temporary construction Str um fencing um Northwest 38th Street East West all these are East West fencing that has been replaced in the last couple of months with another Stockade Fence Year my neighbor to the east of me put in an illegal fence taking a portion of my property away I took her to court and I prevailed and was able to get that stockade fencing taken down and it cost me a great deal of money um when that fencing came down at the same time I put up a bound boundary line fencing that strictly adheres to the private survey that I had done on my property it is both a north south and an East West uh two sections of what what would have been a rectangle but I did not finish filling it in because I have all of the utilities on my property and it must be available to utilities and they have come up uh over the last 50 years on my property to work on those utilities since all of these East West um fences have been put in it has put a stop it has curtailed quite a bit of the um transs of people that don't live there but walk across there leave trash they set up tenting all illegal so for that that has been a positive but it is causing extreme problems for anybody who wants wants to move or walk um between Northwest 38th and Chicago and U south of the little bridge to go to um variety care which is now at sequa elementary so miss Eddie we are pretty over at this point I'm sure staff would I'm sure staff would be happy to meet with you and and take all the time you need to describe the situation we have a three minute limit here so it's kind of not the best atmosphere for that explanation but um Public Work Director here our Public Works director is right there in the first row and would love to step outside and hear it all thank you very much can as you excuse me U as you're talking with director Miller can I just hear just real quick like as you're heading into that like what is it you're asking from the council just real like super quick okay that's one they're gonna they're gon to get mad at me what are the other two questions please okay okay and we'll get those to counsel those answers thank you for that appreciate you okay next up is Ronnie Kirk don't see Ronnie here Michael Washington Michael Washington here Steve hunt hello my name is Steve hunt as I was uh getting ready today I thought about a quote from gor M the brain fragments itself to fragment the pain um there's a lot that concerns me about everything here so I grabbed this notebook to take some notes and amazingly out fill this letter from Tim Carney from 2009 uh K Street editor Washington examiner um thanks for reading I'm always interested in spreading the word and I am aware of Oklahoma City's Chamber of Commerce one of the worst as far as regulatory robbery and subsidy sucking um that that was totally random um so I'm here to talk about the hotel motel tax that's today also airb NB taxt that's not mentioned on the Flyers but what is mentioned is that police and fire will benefit I got a message just a minute ago from a former okcpd person not my supreme court lawyer who represented me against your egregious illegal Proclamation you made to keep me off the uh Council he says the hotel motel tax is just another Shady money grab while the problems we have go unresolved I wonder who has already scooped up all the land to sell back at huge prices um as I mentioned it's hard to address everything that I need to um yesterday I was on 96.9 FM for 30 minutes with a former FDIC lawyer during the pin Square Bank days and also Aiden from Oklahoma's against occupation uh if the fine folks out in uh Channel 20 land and watching on YouTube would like to go to my Facebook page Steve hunt to learn more about this grotesque vote that is going on today that is really nothing more than another money grab by the big money private Equity Chamber of Commerce folks uh they can go to Steve hunt on Facebook and watch that 30-minute interview yesterday um another thing I want to talk about is uh June 20th Dave could you look at me please um Dave get off your Snapchat and would you look at me okay so on June 20th mayol appeared at the sacred grounds of the mura building memorial to speak about the importance of engaging with others some of you all know that I work downtown during the bombing and that changed me as a person and I tell you what um for Dave to sit on a panel in that space and talk about the importance of engaging with others and be completely unwilling to even look at me right now 30 seconds remaining Dave all right so um the hotel motel tax I had like all this stuff to talk about obviously you know it's it's 4 minutes is not enough so if people would take a look at that also I'd like to announce on September the last Thursday of September we're going to have a forum we're going to have a forum at the B Library entitled we need to talk forward you're up and the Chamber and um Joy come on get ready Dave Joy Reen you in 125 Northwest 9th that's a really hard act to go after but thank you all for hearing me um a lot of what I've said uh about ADA and stuff uh I know that we can do better um do you know how long it's been since they signed the law for Ada can anybody answer that no one 34 years I think do you know who put who enacted it in law George Bush Senior enacted it in into law um y'all have got to do something about uh a couple issues that I've got uh Miss Nice you know where I'm going with this right you're favorite your favorite uh people over on Fourth Street uh we literally have mold in our building black mold we've had uh these uh they keep key to home is one of the worst things that could ever come out 65% of the people people that they put in key to home the ROI and the uh p&l for housing is ridiculous it's a revolving door that we keep getting more and more uh mentally unstable people in our buildings are buildings the 22 sites that uh that supposedly uh senior housing but we keep getting people that uh are not seeing years we keep getting people that keeps getting evicted out of the buildings it's a major problem we've had we've had major fires over our building alone on Ninth Street we've got problems with transients that keeps hanging around our buildings that the PD at Police Department keeps uh taking them away from our building and everything else but they keep showing back up when is this going to change it's a scary situation we got females that almost refuse to go to take their trash out to the back of the building because we got people trying to acost them right now i' I've got uh a VP and I was assaulted inside my building by a transient that's been that's viol VP 37 times Joy we're at time thank you Carl Williams come up here my name is Carl Williams I'm nervous too uh I live off with 27th and Martin Martin Luther King where they supposed to knock down the housing authorities duplexes in 2019 like the pandemic hit but uh the other day on 28th Street I can give y'all these pictures they uh 28th Street they read we did put concrete on the whole street but on my street 27th that's where the school bus that's where all the traffic is and we got Pooles and everything where they can pass the streets and then uh the uh one of the duplexes caught on fire July 18th and all they did was board it up so it it's a i sore and then it's graffiti on the building cuz you know these all vacing that they they uh put the people out because they going to knock them down in 2019 and uh let's see what else I'm nervous when I walked there yesterday one of the man hoes the coving fell down off in there so all we need is kids to fall down off in there see is that all I think that's about it but Nikki's got the pictur to show y'all what it look look like over there okay just for clarification Mr Williams the uh resurfacing was done on which street 28 28th in the pictures that you had show patched up or on what street 27th my street okay all right um in what street are the did the fire it's on 27th Street uh 2042 his address 2042 uhhuh okay all right and the man ho is on 27th to at the bottom of the the housing manhole is on 27th as well yes okay all right I'll we'll work on this and I'll get get I'll get back to you we'll get back to you all right thank you thank you for being here all right that concludes citizens to be heard we do have an executive session we previously approved we'll go into that now and uh vice mayor peek will be presiding when we come back for adjournment e e e e e e e e e e e and we have returned from executive session and now we are adjourned thank you