Council will please come to order.

Members will please rise while Councilmember Overstreet leads us in prayer this evening.

We should never take this for granted.

I thank you for the diversity of this body because it is truly our strength.

And the chaos that we are enduring in this country, I thank you that our city can be a shining light on a heel.

That we have empathy for those that are hurting and in need, that we have compassion for those who are broken, that we love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

But help us to never get hardened hearts towards those who are homeless, mentally ill, or have drug addiction, but bless us with practical solutions.

Technology can be our friend sometimes, and not so much.

So hang tight.

If you want to do old school, the clerk will please call the roll.

Please announce yourself if you're here with gusto.

Hoover Jenkins, Jones, Kearns, King, Moore, Overstreet, Pepper, Farr, Robinson, Rubio, Silango, Snodgrass, Solomon, Steelhammer, Taylor, Mayor Goodwin.

Here.

Thank you so much.

The clerk will please read the journal.

Madam President.

Yes.

Madam Mayor, I request unanimous consent to suspense with the reading of the journal.

And I'm not sure why that little thing is.

Mr.

Moore, please, thank you.

Mr.

Microphone.

Yes, sir.

Uh good evening, council members.

My name is Rico Moore.

I am a lifelong resident of Charleston from grade school, high school, middle school, high school, even college in West Virginia State.

I'm sure all of you have received a letter that was uh signed by myself, Miss Frazier, and Mr.

Cullup.

I didn't write that letter.

I didn't send it to the news station.

I wrote it to you all.

And I didn't write that letter as an attorney.

I wrote that letter as a concerned citizen.

One thing about being an attorney here, everybody, especially in my community, the black community, they know me.

And I got tired of receiving phone calls, complaints about a specific police unit.

And you know, I we see this happen over and over, and these officers and these individuals get moved from place to place, and the problem is never really addressed.

I'm not a politician, and I don't want to be, but you all are, and you're standing in the gap.

You stand between the citizens and the city, and it's your job to make sure that this is taken care of.

Don't put a band-aid on it, it needs to be fixed.

This is not a situation in which something has happened once or twice, and so I waited because I've had cases involving this specific individual and the unit.

These two attorneys had the same issues with these individuals.

Other attorneys have had the same issues with these individuals, and it doesn't seem to change.

So I wrote a letter to all of you, because you represent those individuals.

The individuals that keep getting beat up.

And I don't have the videos, but I'm pretty sure there are items that come up missing.

That's not what I'm looking for.

What I'm looking for is some real accountability from the city council and from the police department.

I had to come to you because most of these people don't feel safe making complaints to the same people that abuse them.

They just don't.

And since this letter's gone out, and since the um newspaper decided to, you know, report about it, which wasn't my intent.

I've had additional calls, additional videos, additional people come forward.

So with that being said, I think that I've given you guys, we've given you guys enough ammunition that you should be able to take care of the problem, not put a band-aid on.

Thank you, Mr.

Moore.

Our next public speaker, Boomy Casimo Fraser.

Good evening.

Good evening.

Um, my name is Alubo Mikushima Fraser.

I too am a lifelong resident of Charleston, proud.