For um joining us this afternoon and now I would like to call the to order the Charlotte City Council meeting for August the 25th.

Um before we get started today, I want to remind council and the public that we're going to forego our action review at this meeting and use that time at the end of the meeting for mayor and council topics.

This is the time that we can be used by council to address any item or issue that you would like.

I would like to try to keep that within time to be under an hour and plan for each council member to speak around three minutes.

So I hope everybody considers that and we'll be able to do that.

And now we'll start with introductions going around the dais.

Let us start with our city clerk.

Good evening, Stephanie Kelly, City Clerk.

Anthony Fox, interim city attorney.

Good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Tia Water Brown serving Charlotte City District, Charlotte City Council District 3.

It's an honor and a pleasure.

Good afternoon.

I'm Renee Johnson, and I'm honored to serve District 4.

Good evening, everyone.

James Smithell, City Council at Large.

Hi, Lyles, Mayor.

Good evening, Dante Anderson, Mayor Pro Tem, District 1.

Peacock, District 6.

Good evening, Lowana Mayfields, Councilmember at large.

Good evening.

I'm Victoria Watlington and I have the pleasure of serving you as a council member at large.

Good evening and welcome.

Dimple Ajmera, Councilmember at Lange.

Thank you very much.

We begin our meeting with an invocation, which is an expression or inspiration followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

The invocation is intended to solemnize our proceedings, and we celebrate the religious diversity in our community, including those without a religious faith.

Tonight, Councilmember Watlington will give our invocation.

Thank you so much.

So I'm going to share with you a couple of scriptures that I got from the event today.

And I I would challenge myself and our colleagues to consider this as we leave.

And it's from Isaiah.

The first one is from Isaiah 41 and 10.

And it says, so do not fear, for I am with you.

Do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

And the second one is from Deuteronomy 31 and 6.

And it says, be strong and courageous.

Amen.

Not be afraid or terrified because of them.

For the Lord your God goes with you.

He will never leave you nor forsake you.

Amen.

Amen.

All right.

Thank you very much, Ms.

Watlington.

Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance if you choose to.

I pledge allegiance to the side of the United States of America.

And to the republic for which it stands one nation under God, indivisible.

All right.

As is our practice, our first item is to look at our consent agenda.

Are there any consent agenda items for a separate vote or comment tonight?

All right.

Yes, Ms.

Mayfield.

No, that's the question on the business item.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

So we have a do I have a motion for item 16 through item 37.

We should move.

Second.

We have a motion and a second.

Any discussion?

Hearing no discussion.

All in favor, please raise your hands.

I had discussion.

All right, you had something you wanted to discuss.

Did I hear that?

Yes, ma'am.

Miss Mayfield.

I wanted to.

My apologies when we were going through, I meant to pull out number 21 for question that I had on it.

But we've already moved forward.

So but since we for clarification, since this has been motion for all the items to be approved in one motion since I did not pull it out individually.

If I were to vote no, then it would be a no on all of the items.

Clarification.

Correct.

That's fine.

All right.

So are we moving forward?

We are.

Motion to approve.

Thank you very much.

16 through 37.

All right.

Sorry, motion.

This has already been motion and second.

So Miss Mayfield was just asking for clarification, which she has provided.

So I believe that ends up.

Make sure we've our vote is our vote is what is the vote?

Was there anyone on the motion?

The motion is to approve the consent agenda agenda items 16 through 37.

Right.

That's the motion that's been seconded, and that's before the minute.

Okay, so all in favor of the motion, please raise your hand again.

Go ahead.

I don't think I think that we had people any opposed.

Any opposed?

All right.

That means the motion passes.

Thank you.

Okay.

All right.

So that concludes our consent agenda items.

We're now going to move forward on our public comment comments sections of the agenda.

So we have several folks that are in joining us tonight that would like to speak to us.

And the very first one is Miss Juneteenth pageant, Faith Sanders.

Miss Sanders, where are you?

I see the boat.

I see the whole bow thing.

Come on down.

Please.

Lovely girls.

Lovely.

Now is that the baby gets the gets to do this too?

Oh my gosh, look at all that pink.

That's what wonderful.

Please take your time.

Yes.

I don't think she's quite that excited yet.

But the tiara is like bling bling bling.

Okay.

Hi.

All right.

Come on.

Hello, good evening, you all.

My name is Faith Sanders.

I am the Miss Juneteenth coordinator and pageant director here in Charlotte.

Although it's not my first time doing a Miss Juneteenth pageant, but this is our first time here in Charlotte.

So we thank you all for inviting us tonight to be able to speak on behalf of the Miss Juneteenth pageant.

Um the Miss Juneteenth pageant is over.

Miss Juneteenth has passed.

Our mission as Miss Juneteenth Queens and Coordinators still goes on, right?

So let me see here.

These remarkable young ladies were chosen from a group of 14 girls ranging from the ages of five to 18.

They have taken up on the movement to stepping into a year of leadership, service, and personal growth.

It is more than a pageant title.

That is our queens are actively involved in community outreach efforts, making a lasting impact through education, empowerment, and volunteer volunteering.

They are eager to contribute to any initiatives or events that the city of Charlotte will be hosting.

This year we probably awarded scholarships to participants in our 13 to 18-year-old categories, reinforcing our commitment to education and empowerment.

We invite the Charlotte City Council and the community to encourage uplift and recognize our Juneteenth Queens as the as they continue their 2025 journey.

Your support will affirm their efforts and inspire the next generation of confident empowered leaders in our community.

Looking ahead, we are excited to announce that we will be hosting our next Miss Juneteenth pageant here in Charlotte, the first week of June 2026.

Thank you.

We welcome the community collaborators, sponsorships, and engagement as we prepare for an even greater celebration of heritage, excellence, and youth empowerment.

Let's continue the spirit of Juneteenth, investing in the future of our young girls.

Now I present to you all.

You want more.

Okay.

You present.

Go ahead.

Okay.

We're gonna now present to you all the first time, our Miss Juneteenth Queens.

We have in my hands, Miss Riley for our petite category.

Okay.

All right, that's all right.

Okay.

And we have not here today, little Miss Trinity Steve.

And we have our young Miss London Hillman.

Hi.

Hi, Billy.

Our junior miss, Miss Jordan.

Hello.

And lastly, our Miss Juneteenth, Queen Nabea Higden.

She is currently away attending Shaw Shawan University to become not only the first official Juneteenth Queen to attend the college, but the first in her family history to attend a college.

She is majoring in psychology.

Their presence brings energy, purpose, and deep commitment to making a positive impact.

And we thank you.

Thank you.

We thank you for the work that you're doing.

Thank you very much.

All right.

Thank you very much.

And we are excited to hear what your next steps will be.

Thank you.

Thank you for coming today.

Thank you.

All right.

I um want to make sure that while we have the Juneteenth pageant, we understand that the remaining of you will have three minutes to speak.

So with that in case, let's go.

I mean, two minutes to speak.

And so let's go begin with economic development with Jacqueline McGee.

Miss McGee.

Thank you.

Two minutes.

Two minutes.

Yes.

Okay.

Good afternoon, everyone.

I'm Jacqueline McGee.

I'm the owner of My Story Cafe.

I opened a cafe in 2022 in the French quarters.

At least that's how we call we refer to this as a French quarters.

Everything was absolutely beautiful.

You might want to get a little bit closer to the mic.

Yes, so that we can hear you clearly.

Okay.

I have an accent.

But I noticed security or safety was going down, was declining a little bit in the French quarters.

And knowing me, I am always looking for the next best thing.

The next best thing to know to be on January 7th of this year.

I got a contract with the Spectrum Center to open a cafe slash coffee shop.

No, that's history, because there's no such thing that exists in the country.

There's no cafe in a sporting arena in the country.

So this is history.

We've created history here in North Carolina, really and truly.

But let me hit um, I come back to that, but I want to hit on affordability.

As a small business owner, we cannot afford the rent that the bigger businesses can afford.

As a matter of fact, they can afford a security.

We can't afford security.

I'm struggling to have the amount of employees that I need to have.

So my ask is rent affordability.

Um, what do I have here?

You know, just the ability for us um to be able to afford the rent, especially uptown.

We are giving to the community.

All I'm asking is that the community give back to small businesses.

We are the backbone of any city, any county, any state.

We are the backbone.

I have to say this that the French quarters has lost its best kept secret by me having to leave it and go over to the Spectrum Center for safety for myself.

I'm a single woman running a business in a place that's mostly drinking.

I had uh federal judge that would come to my thank you very much.

We can um if you would like to sit give us your a written statement to the city clerk, that would be really good.

And I think that we'll and we'll have talk with Alison to actually help work through the remainder of your requests.

Thank you very much, Miss McGee.

Peter Galfin.

All right.

Our next speaker Smith, Mr.

Galfin is not in.

Our next speaker is Mahendra Rathhor.

Good evening, your Excellency, Ms.

Mayor, Council members, and everybody here.

I'm here to give voice to the voiceless this afternoon.

I've been a resident of Charlotte for last several years since 1999.

And the point I want to really make here today, before the August audience, is really that we are expanding in terms of our population, in terms of our development, industry, residential development.

But are we also giving voice to the voiceless, the abandoned, the forgotten and the rescue animals of Charlotte?

And you have done, madam, excellent job.

You are really one of the foremost mayor of this country.

And I'm here to appeal to you to do a little extra for the animals.

So here are a couple of my suggestions for you that we have to develop a systematic vision for the animals, welfare and care, and our city's current shelter is single, overburdened facility near the airport.

It's doing a great job.

We commend everyone there, but operating at the mixed capacity and leading a tragic outcome.

The location itself is a significant barrier for the resident to drive all the way and care for the animals.

And also volunteer.

So I'm here not asking for charity, but for your leadership to really consider making micro centers all across the city, maybe four centers in the each direction, east, west, south, and north.

So residents can get involved, children can get involved.

On the weekends, people can go and contribute as volunteers and care for those animals.

I also have a small suggestion that major parts of the city, we can host some sort of satellite mini shelters, making animal care visible, local, and accessible, where children can walk, shelter dogs after school, senior can feed the rescued animal on the weekends, and corporation can also adopt the kennels to sponsor wellness rights and fund adoption events for our pets.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

And so I think Liz, would you be helpful in getting some additional information and some of the ideas that you've talked about?

So thank you very much.

Thank you, ma'am.

Really appreciate it.

Appreciate everyone.

Thank you for the invitation.

Our next speaker is Fred Marney.

I hope I said that correctly.

Fred Mani.

See here.

All right.

Our next speaker is Cortez Washington.

Mr.

Washington.

Is Mr.

Washington here?

All right.

Our next speaker is Christopher Scott.

Christopher Scott.

Our following speaker is Coritha Blunt.

All right.

Justin Perry.

I think I saw Justin.

Yes, there's Justin.

Okay, now I know.

Thank you very much, Justin, for coming.

Come on down.

You have two minutes.

I'll be trying to trim down.

Well, you can always come back another day.

All right.

Good to see you.

Good to see you all as well.

Good evening.

Ten years ago, a group named OneMec took a multifaceted approach to address school resegregation.

First good in CMS to reprioritize economic diversity and student assignment while knowing we could not go back to the busing program that I had when I grew up here.

We challenged not only CMS but said we would need support in developing mixed income housing and needing help from the city, the philanthropic faith communities, as well as the county.

That's right, the county who forever disengaged from housing, with some of us helping to flip long held seats, decided to engage in housing.

A subgroup of us met with commissioners and the county manager and encouraged them to take the land they own near Greer Heights and DSS toward Eastover and to develop affordable housing, including that in the 30% AMI range instead of selling it to developers.

They're now in partnership with Dream Key, developing mixed income rental and ownership units while having a county manager who was wanting to pursue affordable housing and address mobility even more assertively.

We help create and lead the color of law community read, encouraging houses of faith to step up and tackling our housing crisis while addressing other issues like source of income discrimination.

One of our members, Tom Hansett, has written a book, Affordable Housing in Charlotte, what one city's history tells us about America's pressing problem.

Unlike others, it's a Charlotte-specific book chronicling the ebbs and flows of working to tackle housing in Charlotte with the focus on the role government can do and leaning into it.

He's given the clerk a copy of all the for all of you to read as well as a packet to go with that reading.

We're partnering with the library, the foundation, houses of faith, and other members of the community to write the next chapter of our story.

We're inviting you to read the book, take the packet, and partner with us and shift into Paradigmatous community while taking substantive steps to create and keep affordable housing in every district here in Charlotte.

An event will take place early in 2026 at the Carolina Theater as we are committed to moving from forums to focus action in housing, not only the 157 new people moving here that we always hear about, but as well as the longtime members who've always been here and build this community as a world-class city we say we want to be.

Thank you for that.

Thank you so much.

And for those with you, thank you very much.

Um our next speaker is Jacob Kerminsky.

I hope I got it close to correct.

It was close, yeah.

Oh, you know, some days.

Um, if you give them to the clerk.

Oh yeah.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members and uh Charlotte residents.

My name is Jacob Krisminski, and I'm here to share a solution to transform our 311 call line and make it smarter, more accessible, and more cost effective for uh every resident here in Charlotte.

A personal experience of mine inspired this idea, and I believe it can make Charlotte a leader and 311 innovation.

I'm 24.

I work for a bank here in Charlotte and their treasury department, and this is my first time presenting to the city council.

Uh a few months ago, my girlfriend's car got towed, and it was a bit of a stressful situation because we weren't sure if it was stolen or towed.

We called the 311 line after a long hold, we had to call 911.

Uh, in that situation, we had multiple calls back and forth, and the operator um kindly helped us, although it did seem like she had dealt with this situation before.

Uh the police did have to come, and then we ended up finding the car 15 minutes down the road.

I started utilizing some of my free time to uh build out an automation call line.

Uh my dad helped me who has uh startup experience across the nation and is a computer scientist.

Uh in similar trials, we've seen uh response times get cut by 30% uh when adopting strategies like this.

Uh, it also is built for Charlotte's growth using a cloud native infrastructure that can handle 10,000 concurrent users at one time.

Um right now, the prototype is built and it has a modular design that can be integrated into all of our cities um you know databases, for example, Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department's towing database.

Um together, I believe we can make a model, uh Charlotte, a model of 311 innovation, and I would love the opportunity to pilot this program in partnership with you and Charlotte.

Thank you.

Thank you for presenting.

Let us let us open a shot Sean Heath is going to help you decide how we can do that.

So thank you very much.

Awesome.

All right.

Thank you.

Very special.

All right, Douglas Sheriff.

Mr.

Sheriff.

I think Sean.

Thank you, Daddy.

Well, that's a tough act to follow.

Um, yeah, I'm here today.

Please uh probably not for anything as complicated uh as needing to show up to the meeting.

If you're driving out of Charlotte over the years, I've been here about 30 years.

You've noticed that there's a lot more trash along the highways and things of that nature.

Um the issues I have is the this road spam signage that you see that gets peppered all over Charlotte.

There's one company in particular, it's L I M E Lyme, something Lyme.

If you're driving home, then I just look around the city as you're driving.

Uh my thought is I know there's a fining system in place, it's like a hundred dollars per fine.

Um, maybe a tiered approach where if you know I think they view it as basically basically a cheap marketing expense where it's cheaper than a billboard, you can target the audience to where you want the signs to be, and they just they pay the fines and move on.

And I've had conversations with the folks in Charlotte as you're reporting sort of these zoning ordinances, the software works awesome.

It's just that I don't think they care that much.

So you know, I'll leave this with the clerk, but it's a couple other ideas too on what I think we should be doing as a city, but I think that's an easy one for the for the council to you know just do a tiered approach or something of that nature, where if they're gonna abuse it, just increase the fine, and um hopefully that'll work.

So that's it.

Thank you for taking the time and we'll take this.

And Alison, would you follow up with uh it's more than one idea?

We can I think we can give it to Alison over here, and she will do some follow-up on it.

So how we do that.

Lyme is like lime, right?

Okay.

Our next speaker is Sheila Nordon.

Hello, everybody.

My name is Sheila Nordone.

Some of you know me.

I'm here to discuss gang violence in Druid Hills and the policy failures of the city to prevent gang violence and violent crime in residential neighborhoods.

Those of you who know me know my daughter's house was shot with 29 bullets over two separate shootings, April 29th and August 9th.

At first, I could not understand how this could happen.

CMPD knew within 24 hours it was mistaken gang uh gang retaliation, and that the people across the street were the intended targets.

These were renters in a house using housing vouchers.

My daughter tried to talk to the DA and the city council.

I tried to talk to the city council.

We got nowhere.

Here's the bottom line.

It is due to policy failure.

If this street were in Wake County, they do full criminal background checks for all housing vouchers, full.

They go back five years, and any felonies class A through I are disqualifiers.

If this were a habitat house, habitat for humanity in Charlotte, exact same thing, full criminal background checks, five-year look back, and they take it a step further, and they look at misdemeanors going two years back, and I quote they do this to ensure community safety.

Finally, I want to discuss the word.

Oh, I do want to discuss CMPD, they have been amazing throughout this whole thing.

They are not the problem in Charlotte at all.

They did a thorough investigation, they executed a no-knock warrant, they confiscated semi-automatic weapons from the house across the street, they made arrest.

But because one of the offenders was a juvenile, he was out within three hours back in this house, and within hours, he re-entered that cycle of gang violence, was able to acquire more weapons that led to the second shooting on August 9th.

Thank you.

Thank you very much for that.

And and we we certainly hear what you're saying.

Maggie's first difficult at this time.

Just a quick question for clarification.

It seems like a lot of the things that she addressed really should be addressed with the courts since it's the magistrate and the judges, not CMPD that had the conversation to determine whether or not an individual, so just for clarity sake for your daughter and for you, just for clarification.

Once CMPD does their job, unfortunately, of having to do an arrest, then it goes to the courts.

So that will be the magistrate or the judge, of which district attorney mayorwether has been working closely with CMPD as well as hoping to get legislation legislation in Raleigh, but that's where I think a little more movement regarding the individuals once they've been arrested, we have more impact versus the city council, because CMPD, once they make that arrest, then that individual then goes through the court system, and our officers have no control what a magistrate and what a judge does.

So I just want to make sure that there's clarification.

Thank you for coming down to share.

Yet I want to make sure that your daughter, as the resident of the home, is aware of the steps to help ensure future protections.

Thank you, Mayor Mayor.

Very much.

So now we're on that real quick.

Um manager or attorney, wouldn't we have authority over housing?

Anything as it relates to that or these uh county vouchers or are these city but what what is her reference to that?

The vouchers are issued by the housing and living in the housing authority.

Right.

So the housing authority or living in wouldn't make maybe another avenue for her to seek because of what I heard in her comments were practices that are being employed in by other jurisdictions, and they may want to consider those practices as well.

So is it a duty of the city or the county?

It's in Libyan, which is an authority.

It's not a hood, and Madam Mayor, just for clarity.

So that everybody can hear.

Just for clarity.

Uh thank you, Dr.

Norton, for coming down and speaking.

Um I've spoken with with um the doctor about this, and she's absolutely aware and on top of it, and very capable around the logistics between uh the district attorney's office and um and what needs to occur as it relates to engagement with our General Assembly on this.

All right, thank you very much.

So our next speaker is Alden Picard.

Mr.

Picard.

And Mr.

Picard will be followed by Tyler Koch.

By Tyler Koch.

Thank you.

Don't have to see it.

So we'll see.

Good evening, Mayor Lyles, members of the council, and Mr.

Jones.

My name is Alden Picard, and I'm speaking on behalf of the coalition to protect our urban nature here in Charlotte.

We have one simple request.

Please protect our pollinators by amending the city's outdated overgrown vegetation ordinance and add a height exemption for naturalistic landscapes.

Now I'd like to ask those in the room who support this ordinance amendment to please stand up.

There we are.

Okay.

As you can see, our coalition is a large network of organizations and individuals who care deeply about the city's outdated ordinance.

It discourages, even prohibits Charlotte residents from practicing land stewardship and pollinator conservations on their properties.

Our work is supported by Wild One, Charlotte Piemont Chapter, Native Plant Society, Southern Piedmont Chapter, Charlotte Wildlife Stewards, NC Wildlife Federation, Charlotte Mecklenburg League of Women's Voters, Mason Wallace Park Advocates, Lad of Park Volunteers, Mecklenburg Audubon Society, Clean Air and Sea, Surfrider Foundation, Charlotte Chapter, Constructive Plant Rescue, and a long, long, long list of individuals who really care and support naturalistic landscapes.

These are carefully planned and managed aesthetically pleasing gardens that use native plants to conserve wildlife, to promote clean air, clean water, healthy soils, and climate resiliency.

We are the voice for thousands of Charlotte residents.

We are telling you, urging you, now is the time for the city to commit to sustainability by taking action for pollinators and wildlife.

As a B city affiliate, as a certified wildlife habitat, we are telling you that Charlotte's current current ordinance undermines the great work the city is doing for sustainability.

Our coalition asks you to prioritize this issue by amending the city's outdated overgrown vegetation ordinance to protect our urban nature.

Let us honor the city's mayor's monarch pledge commitments and take decisive policy action today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And we have a book.

We have a book for each and every one of you to get your feet wet.

We know that.

We know we know that.

All right, so let's see.

Mr.

Koch, Mayor, if you can get an update on this.

I know I had brought this up two weeks ago on the Arden and Subdate.

And I know Alison was working on it.

If the council can get in, I'm going to ask Allison to work on it a little bit more so that it can be responsive to the request tonight.

So Alison, it's your day.

Your day.

So but we also want to hear from Mr.

Koch.

Tyler Koch.

Yes.

Good evening.

Can you hear me well?

Now I see.

All right, lovely.

I'm Tyler Cox from the founder and owner of Pizar Pizza in South End Charlotte.

Tonight, I'm here not just as a business owner, but as a member of this community deeply concerned about public safety.

South end is one of Charlotte's greatest assets.

And it's at risk right now.

Unregulated food vendors set up every Thursday through Sunday.

Propane tanks, gas generators, just feed away from crowds of businesses and apartments.

My favorite phrase is the South End State Fair.

That's what it looks like every single weekend now.

This isn't a speculation, it's a serious hazard.

For example, last year's Love and Life Music Festival had a fully permanent inspected food truck catch fire in the middle of thousands of people.

Imagine that multiplied by 20 with no permits, no inspections, no safety oversight, and thousands of people walking past these potential explosions every single weekend.

It's not safe to have open flames and fuel tanks scattered across South End sidewalks and roads, and it's not safe to eat food without health inspections.

Meanwhile, local businesses in this community, our restaurants, bars, and shops collectively generate millions of dollars of payroll, putting money directly into the pockets of Charlotte residents.

We hire locally, we train locally, we pay taxes, and we invest in this city.

But unpermanted vendors, they're coming from other cities.

They come here, they take Charlotte residents' money, and they bring it back to their own cities.

The city council is allowing outsiders to profit from the expense of Charlotte's small businesses and Charlotte's workers.

All the while we see zero enforcement from the departments with that just point fingers at each other.

Noise ordinances on brick and mortar and businesses are getting enforced, but public safety and illegal vending is being ignored.

As city council, you have the rep you have the responsibility to protect the health and safety of the community and to support small local businesses to make Charlotte strong.

Right now, the lack of action rewards lawlessness and neglects the very people who invest their lives, money, and their futures here.

South end businesses don't want special treatment.

We want equal enforcement.

Most of all, we want safety for thousands of residents and visitors who walk the streets every day.

So tonight, what I'm asking you, have CMP and CMPD enforce the current laws to deter vending in South End, immediately expand the NOTA pilot program to South End and other Charlotte City areas, and finally put small business in your community safety at priority number one.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

I'd like to before you go step up away.

I would like for you to meet Marcus Jones, he's the city manager, and I think instead of one of these guys.

So thanks, uh Mayor, members of council.

I appreciate you coming down tonight.

I don't know if you were a part of the group that Sean Heath met with late last week.

Yep, sure was.

So we'll we'll make sure we continue that conversation.

Uh thank you for putting it on the record tonight.

Sean will walk with you out.

And so, mayor, members of council is the work that's happened with Uptown as well as uh NOTA.

I think we knew that when there was an opportunity to do something in NOTA, other communities would also wonder what we could do with the permitting process.

So we're beginning the discussions with the South End and Sean.

If you can have additional conversation, I'd appreciate it.

Thank you.

Awesome, thank you.

And all we're doing is looking for action.

So we appreciate you guys so much.

Thank you.

All right, our next speaker is David Molinara.

Just won't anything.

Good evening, Mayor Lyles, Council members, and Mr.

Jones.

Uh I'm here today, like Alden was, uh, to speak in support of amending our landscaping ordinance to remove restricted grass height limits and allow for naturalistic gardens, spaces that reflect not only personal choice, but also public good.

Naturalistic gardens are more than aesthetic.

They are acts of sustainability.

They reduce water use, restore soil health, and provide vital habitat for pollinators and birds.

They reconnect us to seasonal rhythms and remind us that beauty doesn't always come manicured.

It often comes wild, layered, and alive.

Some may call this approach radical.

I call it woke.

Wildly open to kindness and empathy.

Open to the kindness of milkweed feeding monarchs.

Empathy for neighbors who care to care for their land.

Kindness toward future generations who deserve a city of biodiversity.

Sustainability isn't just about what we plant, it's about what we value.

Do we value ecological resilience?

The right to foster care in our own yards.

Outdated height restrictions treat naturalistic gardens as violations.

Visions of a Charlotte where sustainability is not just policy, it's practice.

Where kindness and ecology go side by side.

Let's be woke in the most meaningful way.

Open hearted, forward thinking, and rooted in care.

Let's update that ordinance.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Teresa Moore.

Miss Moore.

Please be woke coming down those steps.

I'd like that.

Good evening.

First, I'd like to recognize the delicate juggling act maintained by our city leaders to keep Charlotte a vibrant and growing community where we live and work.

To help Charlotte keep its ecosystems and natural resources healthy and sustainable, we are asking to amend the 12-inch ordinance for overgrown vegetation and weeds to allow for more native plantings that require the height exemption to thrive in our city homes and properties.

More native plantings, as we've heard, will assist with stormwater management as the roots grow deep, keeping erosion to a minimum.

More plants utilizing photosynthesis helps keep the air clean for our growing population.

As important, the diversity of native plantings will help maintain our sense of place and support the landscape that makes North Carolina and Charlotte keep its natural and unique beauty.

We want to emphasize that the native gardeners who are supporting this change will respect the concerns of the Department of Housing and neighborhoods, and it is not our intention to allow the non-native invasive grasses and weeds to go unchecked.

Residents are still responsible for the upkeep and neat appearance of their yards.

A well-planned and well-maintained yard of native plants often adds to the value of the home and the neighborhood.

We thank you for considering this change and adding no cost but providing much value to the community.

Thank you very much.

Our next speaker is Elaine Alexander.

Elaine Alexander.

All right.

Our next speaker following if Elaine Alexander is not available.

Zach Kahn.

Zach.

Be careful.

Be careful.

Good evening, Council.

My name is Zach Kahn.

I'm a student at Providence Day School.

I'm 18 years old.

So my speech.

So Charlotte is booming.

There are a lot of neighborhoods that are growing.

Charlotte has doubled in growth over the last uh 30 years.

It's supposed to double again in the next 30 years.

That's another million people.

However, uh, what I've learned recently, um, there's a big problem.

The Dillon rule means Charlotte can only do what state legislators says that we can.

So want to wait, want to raise uh want to raise wages for airport workers.

You can't just do it.

You have to ask the state first.

Want to let voters decide on a new transit sales tax.

You can't put it on the ballot unless you ask the state first.

Want to protect renters uh from uh from big rent hikes.

You can't.

The state already blocked that power.

Back in 2016, when the state passed stronger civil rights protections, Raleigh stepped in with HB2 and took them away.

That's what the Dillon rule means.

Charlotte has to ask permission from Raleigh before solving Charlotte's problems.

But here's the truth.

This city is the economic engine of North Carolina.

We create the jobs, we attract the people, we drive the state's growth.

Yet when it comes to governing ourselves, we're stuck in the back seat while Raleigh holds the wheel.

Council, I'm asking you, don't just live with this, push back, make noise, ask the General Assembly for more home rule authority so that Charlotte can actually govern Charlotte.

Because if we don't change this, the Dillon rule won't just hold Charlotte back.

It'll hold North Carolina back.

And that's something none of us can afford.

Thank you so much.

Yes.

We may have to wait until you run for re-election.

We may have to wait for you.

So thank you so very much, Zach.

Our next speaker is Chandler Busique.

Chandler Bazik.

I think that is the end of our speaker's list, unless we had someone that came in later.

So thank you very much for all of you.

I like it.

You know, it's such an honor to see people come down and express what is important to them and actually to present it in this way.

And so we're grateful that we have the opportunity to respond to you.

So and what we know is that the staff will follow up with speakers and or the speakers' concerns and provide council with additional context as is as appropriate.

And also council can also discuss or ask for follow-up information during the discussion time at the end of this meeting.

So is everybody aware of what's possible?

All right.

We also know that we'll have a packet coming from the staff on public forum speaker topics, as well as updates from the staff on actions taken to address issues that are brought up in by all of you.

So I would ask council to really take a look at that and where you find something that really resonates with you.

Let's figure out how to make it possible.

All right.

So thank you.

All right, Mr.

Jones.

Mayor and members of council.

In your Thursday packet, we were able to provide you input for all the questions that came up last business meeting that you had around the day, yes.

All right, thank you.

All right, so now we come to the portion of our agenda, which is the public hearing.

So it's the public hearings, and the first item is public hearings and adopting the bond order on general obligation refunding bonds.

So we're now going to open the public hearing for this general obligations bond per Madam Clerk.

Do we have any speakers?

Hearing no speakers.

Um we have a motion and a second.

All in favor, say aye.

Aye.

All right.

If that's the case, do we have an item B to adopt a bond order to provide for the issuance of general obligation refunding bonds not to exceed two million?

Two million.

That's a lot of money.

So okay.

All right, so and as stated in our agenda.

Um we have a motion, and is there a second?

No, is there's not a motion on that.

Motion for action A and B.

Second.

That's okay.

She did say the motion.

Oh, sorry.

That's okay.

So we have a motion on the floor, and so I guess one of them will be to um be the second.

Is that all right with you, Mr.

Mitchell?

Yes, Mr.

All right, thank you.

All right, the motion is second.

Is there any further discussion?

Hearing none, all in favor of the item, please raise your hands.

Is there anyone in opposition?

Hearing none, we'll go to the next public hearing, which is a public hearing and decision on Dr.

Charles Williams and Vivian Williams House Historic Landmark designation.

And we're going to open this up as a public hearing for the decision on this um first house, and we will have a second one as well.

Are there any speakers for the item on item five with um High Park?

No, ma'am.

All right, no speakers.

Move to close.

We have a motion to close the public hearing and a second.

Is there any discussion?

Hearing, no discussion.

All in favor of closing the public hearing, please raise your hand.

All right.

So everybody is unanimous on that.

And so now we will have.

Do I have a motion to adopt the ordinance as an effective date of August the 25th, 2020 25th, designating the property known as Dr.

Charles Williams and Vivian Williams House?

Okay.

Second.

All right.

We have a motion and a second.

Is there any further discussion?

Mr.

Mitchell.

Uh Mayor, I see the property owners are here, and I would like for them to please stand up.

I read the article in the paper on Sunday.

High Park is always looked upon as procedures African American community.

And so I think this is very important.

So Chuck, will you and your lovely wife please stand up?

Okay.

Thank you all.

I I have to say it's truly an honor to do this in this house after we played in it a number of times.

So I want to say thank you.

You guys, all clear.

Thank you so very much.

So all right, so I think we made a motion.

So I think we made a motion.

Yes.

And a second, and all in favor of the ordinance with the effective date of August 25th, designating the property known as Dr.

Williams and Vivian Williams House.

Please raise your hand.

All right.

Is there anyone in opposition considering that there's no room?

There's no room for opposition on this one, guys.

All right, our next item is public item six public hearing and decision on the Ziegler Bowers House historic landmark designation.

Is there an anyone that would like to speak as a public hearing before we begin our discussion?

We have no speakers.

We have a move motion and a closure to close the public hearing.

Any all in favor?

Anyone opposed?

No one's opposed.

So the next item that we are going to have is do I have a motion to close the public hearing and adopt an ordinance with the effective date of August 25th, 25, designating the property known as Ziegler Bowers House as a historic landmark.

Second.

We have a motion and a second.

Is there any discussion?

Hearing no discussion, all in favor of the motion, please raise your hand.

Anyone opposed with no opposition?

This motion passes.

So thank you very much for the work that we do to maintain some of the dignity that we have in this community around housing.

All right, the next item is the item seven.

And does the manager do you have a report?

Yes, Mayor, members of council.

So I have a brief report tonight.

And before I make some uh introductions of uh new team members and team members who have been promoted, I do want to talk a little bit about uh the council's creation of the Office of Youth Opportunities.

As you may recall during this last budget, there were three uh big moves uh in the budget related to the departments.

Uh one is that we took procurement and CBI and combined that department to um purchasing and contracts, and we'll talk a little bit more about that before I conclude.

Um we also had uh animal care control move over to General Services and with the great um beginning there.

Uh but uh lastly we we had the Office of Youth Opportunities, and I think it's really important because we had remnants of all of these different programs in various departments, whether it was community relations or CMPD or housing and neighborhood services.

So we believe this realignment will better serve youth by aligning programming and goals around youth engagement, youth employment, and youth safety.

Uh behind me are some photos of a recent graduation events, including the mayor's youth employment program.

We're super excited.

But we're also taking this approach and combining uh some of the different elements of what we do as a horizontal um organization.

So, in other words, we're looking for opportunities for uh work and career exploration, resource connections, violence prevention, and helping youth stay active and connected.

We provided paid employment this summer uh for career exploration for 400 uh young people, and as we continue down this pathway, two additional career pathways are under development.

One is the access pathway, which provides uh individuals 18 and older with career opportunities around uh leasing and apartment leasing and maintenance, and then lastly, the business and entrepreneurship pathway.

Um 14 to 15 year olds will learn the basics of starting a business as well as entrepreneurship.

And so we're really excited about what's happening with this very, very young office, but we believe that there are some opportunities there that have been untapped.

And finally, I have just a few announcements of some movements that I would like to do publicly.

Uh two members of Team Charlotte have been promoted.

One, Marie Harris, is no longer our interim budget director.

She is now the permanent budget director.

And I don't think I even need to say anything about Marie because everybody knows the value we have for Marie.

So we really appreciate you uh hanging in there over the last year and really filling this uh a big void.

And then we also have uh Matt Haste, who has been promoted to our chief financial officer.

But it's uh really difficult to not say to say something about Matt and not say anything about Teresa.

So Theresa, if you can stand up.

Teresa, our CFO is retiring this September 30th.

Oh what uh she has done too young to retire.

What she has done uh over the years is maintain our coveted triple triple A bond rating, as well as a number of very difficult financial transactions that we've gone through, including purchasing a rail line.

Uh so we're very appreciative for um Theresa, but also appreciate that Teresa's going to stay on a bit so we can have a good transition between Teresa and Matt.

Matt has served as in the finance department uh since 2013.

Currently he's the city's uh um treasurer and uh deputy uh director of the department.

So we're super excited uh about Matt.

And then lastly, is Cheryl Wright in the House.

Okay, Cheryl Wright.

So Cheryl Wright is a new director of our department of contracting and procurement, as I mentioned earlier.

So uh Cheryl is uh led procurement and contract management for Union County, where she's been responsible for the oversight of the the county's purchasing its MWSBE outreach uh program.

But I think what's really neat about having Cheryl on the team is their team won the North Carolina Association of Government Purchasing Sustained Professional Purchasing Award for nine consecutive years.

Okay, no pressure, no pressure.

And before that, Cheryl was the director of procurement services with the city of Richmond.

She spent time with the U.S.

Department of Commerce here in Charlotte as well as the Chicago Housing Authority.

So we're excited to have Cheryl on the team, and it really shows with Team Sherl, a mixture of opportunities within the organization as well as the attractiveness of getting uh great people on the team like Cheryl.

So that's my report, Mayor and uh members of council.

Thank you.

Any questions for the manager?

Of course, later there there'd be lots of time for I have one question that you and you all know.

I sent a I sent out a memo to you as well, Manager Jones.

I know that you're working.

We have an announcement that our police chief will be retiring in less than four months.

Hope we'll be hearing some updates and news from you.

I know it will be held either in closed session, but hopefully to share something with the public as well, too.

Sure, and we will have um surveys of both the council interviews with the council as well as surveys of CMPD and the general public for input.

Yes.

All right, thank you.

So, Mayor, uh, this is Mr.

Mitchell.

Welcome.

So, City Manager, I told Sher, I wouldn't bother I would not bother her for 90 days.

Yeah, that's a blessing.

Look at Liz on the cloud.

So I would not call you for 90 days.

So you can get you could do a great job, but don't be interrupted.

Change your phone number.

Change your phone number.

Okay, thank you.

All right, so I know that Councilmember Mitchell said he was not going to bother Cheryl.

I just want to, before I make that same commitment, I want to ask one question, and I apologize in advance.

No, I'm just kidding.

Um, we've been talking about the uh small business participation with the transit tax, and I know that work's been going on for some time.

I want to make sure I understand where that work sits in relation to Cheryl's new role.

Sure.

Uh that's a great question.

There's a couple things that are going on right now.

We are doing the city is performing a gap analysis of what are the opportunities for small businesses based on um both the let's call it the 40 percent of the tax that will stay here in the city, uh, as well as this transportation related as well as the 60 percent that will move over to the authority.

What's kind of interesting, and and uh and I'll I'll be brief, but I I really like the stuff that's going on again.

If you think about the strategic investment areas, it was a test to see how we could take 55 million dollars and really finish projects.

And in both of those areas, we will finish all of these projects within two years, and it will be less costly than what we thought and faster.

So we believe that that's a beginning, and with that, there are some things that we're finding about gaps in uh the availability of small business, women-owned business minority businesses, and we are upscaling them to be able to take on some of the projects in the CIAs.

So if you think about that on a larger scale, 25 billion dollars over 30 years, how can we now look at the opportunities to scale up these um small businesses?

But maybe just as important, we are doing an evaluation on the workforce opportunities that come with this.

So many times people think it's just really horizontal construction.

That could be so far from the truth.

So we uh I'm looking at Liz, I think by the end of September, we'll have um both of those uh gap analysis completed, both for the transportation piece and the transit piece.

Fantastic.

Thank you.

All right, thank you very much.

All right, Mr.

Johnson, thank you.

Thank you, madam mayor, and thank you, Mr.

Manager.

While we're talking about procurement, welcome to Ms.

Wright.

I wanted to ask if we could get an update, Marcus, or if we can get an update from the city attorney.

So the city, there's a policy or an ordinance.

GS 143129.

That if bids are outside of budget, then the council has the ability or the authority to negotiate with the lowest bidder.

Um that they would either lower their price or negotiate rates where uh where we can negotiate.

But there's also a separate uh authority.

There's a separate session law that's specific to Charlotte, and it's 1987 151.

And it grants the authority to the city manager to reject all bids for the city of Charlotte without further action by city council.

So those two and the local act is separate authority from the general statutes 143-129B.

So I wanted to understand how those two laws or how they they correlate.

If we can get an update on that, I can give you a little bit of insight into it right now.

Thanks.

Um the 143-129 is a general statute.

It's the statute that we that governs purchasing of and uh and construction repair by governmental entities, including the city of Charlotte.

It sets out the requirements for competitive bids, and it does, as you correctly state it does provide though when bids exceed the amount of when the bids exceeds the amount of the budget that the it authorizes the city in that situation to negotiate with the apparent low bidder to see if that bidder thing can drop their price and come within budget.

Charlotte is unique.

Charlotte adopted, not Charlotte didn't adopt, but the General Assembly through a local act gave to Charlotte the authority for the manager to reject bids.

The language of that local act, and I'll provide it to you, removes the uh the general authority uh to reject bids and negotiate, and it gives the manager the authority to reject bids.

Doesn't talk about negotiate bids, and because there's the difference between those two pieces of legislation, it's my belief that the the local act will control and the only way to remove that is to seek uh an amendment of that act from the general assembly, which actually granted the the the city that authority okay.

So I I'd like to know more about it, how often that's used.

Um so we can maybe we can talk offline or get an update or you send that to council.

How often is that used?

How often does the city manager reject bids when they're over budget?

Because I don't know if that's done every time or if it's selected, but I I'd like some information on that.

Thank you.

All right.

Well, let's proceed before we go to our open session.

Um so the next item affordable housing general obligation bonds.

Is there a motion to adopt a bond order and resolution to provide for the issuance of general obligation bonds for affordable housing um not to exceed 75 million dollars?

So move you.

You got it in two now, you know.

The whole committee, thank you for that second, and I think that's enough people.

Perhaps we only need one more person to make it six.

All in favor of the motion, please raise your hand.

Anyone in opposition?

Thank you very much.

So the next item is um item nine, where we have a motion to adopt a resolution authorizing the city manager as designate to negotiate and execute revenue interlocal agreements with Mecklenburg County through which the city will receive funding to support youth diversion programs.

So move second motion and a second on the floor.

Any discussion?

Madam Mayor, I have a comment.

All right, Miss Don Taver, I read.

I'm sorry.

That's all right.

That's all right, one of those things.

I just wanted to say that um I think this is a really great opportunity to highlight how we're working intergovernmentally with the county on an issue that's very important to to our community, um, which is around youth violence violence and trying to ensure that our our youth has support and wraparound services and opportunities.

So I'm glad we are working with the county.

We need more of this, and I'd love to have some updates as the work continues to progress.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

Any other comments?

Yes, ma'am.

Ms.

Brown?

Yes, ma'am.

Thank you so much.

So along with what Mayor Pro Tim said, but this is amazing.

You know, there's a lot going on with our youth.

There's a lot, a lot going on with our youth, and we that we can never have enough programs.

We can never have enough resources, so this is great.

We'd definitely like to see more of it.

I know we are crunched for where the resources are going to come from and how we allocating them.

But this is we got it right on this one.

So let's see what we do with it.

Thank you very much.

All right, with no other speak um speakers, all in favor of the motion, please raise your hand.

Anyone opposed?

No opposition to this.

So we move on to item 10.

Is there a motion to approve a federal home investment partnerships program allocation for up to 600,000 to community housing partner cooperation for the development of the family residences at Oak Hill Apartments and authorize the manager to negotiate, execute, amend, extend, and renew contracts as needed to complete this transaction.

Do we have a motion?

All right, Miss We have a second.

Okay.

Is there any discussion?

Miss Yeah, I guess.

Miss Mayfield.

Mayfield.

Thank you.

I have a question for staff on this.

So as Mr.

Wooden is making his way down, what we have on here is each year the city receives home investment partnership program home funds from the U.S.

Department of Housing and Urban Development HUD.

These funds are intended to support the development, rehabilitation, and preservation of affordable housing for low-income households in the fiscal year 2026.

The city received 2 million 976,749.

The question that I have is that this request is one in partnership, and it does say that our support is contingent upon the developers securing for project, but this is for a project in Davidson.

Now, although the request amount is a relatively small amount in comparison, it's around 600,000.

Why would we be the one to allocate this from the city for a project in Davidson versus the county handling all of this, especially since the county has expanded to cover their own housing conversations?

Sure, thank you, Miss Mayfield.

The city is the lead agency on your home consortium.

So this is a funding source that the city uh participates in with the other municipalities in Mecklenburg County, and we are the lead agency of that.

So it is fairly common that we will fund projects and other municipalities because we are the lead agency for this funding source, uh, and those requests come through through us.

Thank you for that.

So we have it also noted as I mentioned, the city support is contingent upon the developer securing full project funding, and this project amount is anticipated to be about six million.

Well, we're looking at a rent savings of six million and some change.

This is a $15 million.

$15 million project, and they have asks out so the city of David Tom Davidson and Mecklenburg County are also being asked to participate.

Uh Davidson approved $500,000 of funding on this project, and the Board of Commissioners uh is slated to uh consider a $600,000 request in September.

So our $600,000 would basically be set aside if something were to happen on the county side, since both the city and county are looking at potential financial shortfalls.

What happens with that $600,000 if the county chooses not to move forward?

Yes, ma'am.

In all of your projects, city staff always waits for full funding on an apartment uh development before we will fund the loan.

So if for some reason the funding does not um is not approved by one of the other partners, then your funding will go back into uh your available balance for expenditure.

Thank you.

That's all I needed, ma'am.

All right, ladies first.

Thank you, Councilmember Mitchell.

I just wanted to say um I'm actually very happy to see projects outside of the city center and city limits because we know that um our housing um challenge is much broader than the city of Charlotte, but it is a regional um issue.

We see we hear the 157 people per day moving to Charlotte.

It's the Charlotte region.

And so as we think about how to work intergovernmentally to put housing in places where people want to be and that are in the path of progress, I think it's excellent when we can work with developers to identify opportunities outside the city limits.

Okay.

Any other questions or comments?

All right, Miss Johnson, followed by Miss I was gonna say Tier 1, Miss Brown.

So thank you for the presentation.

And I see that it's there are the 30% AMI, which is the truly affordable rate, which I'm always advocating for, but my concern would be that it's outside of Charlotte also.

And I don't know how individuals would be able to get if they work in Charlotte.

You know, our goal is for people to be able to live, work, and play in the city.

So I don't I don't see that I'm going to be supporting this because it is outside of the city.

Thank you.

Ms.

Brown.

Yes, I I love the fact that um you know it's affordable as well.

The problem I have though is um for maybe some folks that are watching that are concerned about being able to have affordable housing just right in the area of Charlotte.

And I know we're growing in 157 people moving here per day, but I'm gonna have to um be with council member Johnson on this one.

As far as um reaching up to Davidson, we have uh so many concerned people right here in right here, just in Charlotte City Limit, like right in my district, for instance, district three.

And so I I wouldn't be able to support this.

It's a nice project.

It looks good, but I would you know this allocate, I get it, but I would have to say no.

All right, thank you.

All right, Miss Mayfield.

Um thank you, madam mayor.

I had a follow-up, Mr.

Wooten and for my colleagues.

I wanted to clarify why I asked the question, because it's been a little while since we've had one of these.

I think we've had more of them in previous years, but because the largest, we house the funds that then go out to other areas.

So it's been done years ago, but I think this is one of the first times that this council has had an opportunity to see one of these projects.

And I probably didn't preface it the right way in the beginning when I asked you, Mr.

Wooten, so it sounded more like a setup versus I knew that you knew to give the answer as to the why, but I wanted to make sure that we all since this again the first time that we've had our opportunity, but for the 600,000, because we are the largest agency, and the fact that we did identify that what we received was 2,976,749 in the home funds, the home funds, just that one pocket of money is what's opened up with a rolling RFP.

This just happened to be one of the times in this correct site.

Thank you, Miss Mayfield.

Let me provide a little bit of clarification.

Again, we're only talking about your home funds, which is a federal pass-through dollar.

Not the trust again.

We are the lead agency, but the funding is is funding that's available to the entire county.

Uh, this is the third project that I know that you funded, um, you funded projects also in Matthews and in Huntersville in the same in the same method.

But yeah, over the period of years.

Correct.

So I think it would have just for Mr.

Manager and for team when we have because it's so far and few between that there's just a reminder blurb in the explanation that that is why we do this because just these home funds, not our housing trust fund dollars.

This is open to the region, and here's why.

That is correct.

Okay, just for clarification, thank you.

Okay, and this is one of those that we might have gotten a presentation about, a small presentation.

So, yeah.

Thank you.

And it's the community.

So we would move.

All right, we have a motion on the floor.

Did Mr.

Mitchell speaker?

I'm sorry, we have not make a motion of A and B.

Yeah, we have a motion.

We have a motion from Mr.

Mitchell and now any discussion, any further discussion.

Okay, all in favor of the motion, please raise your hands.

One, two, three, four.

And P Cart, you got six six, right?

So we have six.

All right, and can you make a note of I'm gonna go back and say on anyone that opposes two?

Thank you very much.

All right, so the next item is item 11.

Approve an allocation of the American Rescue Plan Act ERA, two funds in the amount of two million six hundred thousand dollars to Dreamkey Partners, Inc.

for the acquisition of new Wesley Apartments and authorize the city manager, his design to negotiate, execute amendment and renew contracts as needed to complete these transactions.

Do I have a motion?

So moved second.

Is there any discussion?

Miss Mayfield.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I want to share one why I am supportive of this, mainly because this is a building that already has residents in it that are at the 60% AMI, which is different than a lot of our other projects because I have shared with my colleagues and with the manager the concern that I have of our city becoming a heavily residential rental and more transient city versus owner occupied.

So which, if we can remember last Monday, without a lot of discussion, I was just a note on a number of projects, mainly because I'm concerned about all the apartments that we're getting.

But for this particular project, I had a chance to do a little bit more research and just like my colleagues actually meet and have a conversation with representation of Dream Key and learn that this particular project, whereas corporate buyers are coming in and buying up almost all the older apartments, rehabbing them, and the residents are having to leave.

I appreciate that the work of Dream Key with identifying this one.

We are going to be able to keep people in place that are in that 60% area median income and be able to go in and make some investments to bring this property up to today's standards.

So I just wanted to share that.

Thank you, Mayor.

All right.

Any other comments on the motion?

Hearing none, all in favor, please raise your hand.

All right, I think that's unanimous.

Thank you very much.

A lot of hard work going on out there, and we appreciate what you guys do.

Thanks so much.

All right, so now we have come to the place where we have appointments.

So the city council will um consider nominations to various boards and commissions.

Council members have voted, I think, by ballot and submitted their ballots to the clerk.

Is there anyone that needs to submit their ballot hearing none?

Any nominee receiving six or more votes is automatically appointed.

If no nominee receives at least six votes, a runoff is necessary, and the council will be asked to vote at some point to have a runoff.

So but tonight we are here to determine the highest vote getter.

That person again will be appointed to the board.

All appointments will be recorded in the official minutes of this meeting, and the clerk will now proceed with the announcing of the results of the ballots.

Our appointments are appointments to the business advisory committee.

Um, yes, ma'am, mayor and council.

Um for the business advisory committee, Perry Joiner has been appointed.

And for the firefighters relief fund board of trustees, there is a tie vote that will have to come back at your September 22nd meeting.

Okay, thank you.

Miss Mayfield?

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I actually want to apologize directly to our clerk.

I sent the email when we get received all the information, and I was unclear when I was I read the nominations for tonight differently, even though the nominations were coming back to us, what I didn't realize when I went through my packet that my paper was stuck to something else and that we had received it.

So I was wondering why the names were coming back.

So I appreciate you immediately responding to clear that up.

But since I copy all of us on our emails when I send over all my questions over, I did want to acknowledge that because thank you, Madam Clerk Kelly, for reminding me that this was us having to come back because we still haven't hit that six plus.

Yet I did have a question, and I don't know if it would be a question for our attorney or for our manager, because one of the candidates for an appointment is someone that's on the ballot right now.

So I'm just wondering do we have anything regarding when people since it's election season, sometimes things shift, sometimes they don't like there's things that we can't do as city members, but if someone is actively seeking office, will we would they still be in consideration for an appointment basically a month or two months prior to election, or would that be something that we possibly shouldn't consider?

I don't know.

I was wanting I was that's was one of the questions that I had on that.

I think an individual still remains uh eligible to serve until elected and then once elected.

And if elected, then we will have to go through the process of appointing someone else.

Watington had to do that when she served on the civil service board.

Thank you.

And was elected.

Okay.

All right.

So you have some experience people to rely on.

So all right.

So that now concludes our business items for the vote this evening.

Um now we're gonna open up from council topics, and I think the last the last time we did this, we started here, so I thought we might start with Ms.

Ashmira first around this side and come around this way.

Ms.

Mira.

Okay.

Guard me off guard.

Oh, thank you, Madam Mayor.

First, I just want to recognize uh we had AP government class here from Providence Day.

Um so I just wanted to recognize uh there are a couple of students here from Providence.

So that's that's great to see young people here.

Um second, in past couple of days, I've heard from several constituents regarding um how they're afraid to ride our public buses, especially after recent violent incidents.

And that is concerning.

Um clearly our current safety policies is are not enough.

And with the referendum this November, I'm even more concerned because we cannot let fear drive people away.

So I would like uh city manager to provide us immediate steps that are being taken to ensure the safety of our writers, our operators, and to restore the confidence in our system.

Thank you.

All right, Miss Watlington.

Are you are you done?

Sash Mayor, Miss Watlington.

I have anything at this moment.

I'll let you ask the changes.

Ms.

Mayfield.

I'm gonna take all of Dr.

Watlington's time.

I I wasn't surprised by that.

Right, right, Mr.

Manager.

You have someone backing you up on notes.

Yes, yes, okay.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

So one, the gentleman that came down earlier that gave a recommendation regarding 311.

We put a lot of energy and time in the creation of CLT Plus in the packet that he noted.

He also noted some recommendations on how we can update that.

It would be helpful to receive an update on where we are with the CLT Plus app and making it more useful and more accessible for our residents.

Also, regarding the natural pollinators, I think we have an opportunity to have a conversation with partnering with Tree Charlotte.

Since when you actually utilize Tree Charlotte, they actually take you through a 30, 45 minute training.

That would be a great way for us to look at the type of trees that homeowners may be planting and or neighborhoods with identifying ways to protect our pollination.

When we're looking at our housing funds, the funds that we actually contribute to the housing trust funds.

Meaning a number of our elders, including an elder that I spoke with just earlier this morning at Hal Marshall, are being priced out of these senior housing projects that we have.

So the North Carolina Finance Housing Agency has an escalation clause in their application.

Just because you can do it doesn't mean you have to do it.

So we have individual homeowners that have not increased their rents because their rents you have a stable resident, other things.

I would like for us to put some real energy and identifying more accountability on our end with these partners, because when I also reached out to the North Carolina Finance Housing Agency, one of the lead personnel said the majority of their complaints are coming from Charlotte regarding multifamily and specifically tied to our elders and what is happening at facilities as well as if we have a senior facility, it should be in our planning language or somewhere the type of bathroom it is.

Grab bars should be an automatic versus a person having to and or requested without submitting a letter saying that they have a disability.

Also, we have tubs versus walk-in or a garden shower.

Those tubs are a hindrance for someone who may have different physical challenges with getting in and out of them when we're saying this is housing specifically for our older community.

Even though we just said that we're putting out a survey, there is a name that has been mentioned, and evidently someone in the media has also mentioned a name.

It would be nice if this just seen it or heard it.

Thank God.

I think they were I don't know the name.

So that's that's why I'm bringing it to you for us to have clarification because what I share with them is no, according to our leadership team.

We have not.

I don't know where you have this name from yet.

At the same time, we are talking about putting out a survey, so then the question was asked, how is that gonna be done?

So I think clarification on that would be helpful coming from your office.

Are we looking at you mentioned earlier that you have staff working on the positives regarding the transit tax?

What I would like to know is are we also looking at the challenges that may arise with a sales tax, specifically with it being managed by an authority, as we have had challenges with MTC as an authority.

And when we made that decision, long before you and I ever came here, but are we looking at both sides so that we can present that to the community because there is a lot of conversation happening regarding this 27 board 27 member board looking at Dallas or Denver, some other places that don't have boards nearly as large as the one we're talking about, what exactly would be the third the authority and when it has basically been mandated that this in large part are going to be business people versus community riders, that is part of the conversation that's happening on the ground in community.

I just think if we're bringing and trying to identify the positives, we also need to be very transparent.

Of here are some of the challenges we run into with the blue line, the blue line extension.

Here are some of the challenges with MTC under an authority.

Here are the possibilities because I don't believe in unintended consequences.

So if we have that conversation and present all that information, I think that would be received by more people because the conversation that I am hearing any in different community events is really leading to the no's and there are very valid concerns that the community has.

So on our end, I think it would benefit us to be able to identify that as well as something that was identified that I think would be very helpful.

We look at best practices from other cities.

There are other communities where their bus and their rail are on a computer system where they're aligned.

So right now, if you're on the bus, I was speaking to a bus rider earlier today.

If his driver is five minutes late, he mixes that next bus.

The bus, if you go to the CATS app, the CATS app doesn't give you the ability to do a round trip.

The CAS app isn't necessarily giving you the ability to go from that bus to get to bus two to get to the rail to do what you need to do and give you the route to come back.

So we have an opportunity, still utilizing technology of creating some synergy to actually align so that you don't have that two or three minute delay on leg one that then puts you in a position where you're waiting 30, 40 minutes for that next bus to come.

That seems like, and the question would be the type of system that we have because we have an MTC.

Is that something that we can get in alignment?

Because I believe with the other cities, they actually control their transportation system, so it may be a little easier, but I think that would help us when we look at how we utilize AI and technology.

And that's it.

Thank you, Mayor.

Mr.

Peacock.

Okay.

Um, on a positive note, uh, last week from District 6, I wanted to report out uh a really great visit, as we all know, South Park area partners and the public-private partnership that we approved for eight million dollars with Symphony Park was also a transformative uh decision for the South Park area.

But just last week, and being the newest council member being appointed on May 20th, I got the good fortune to get caught up with St.

Lloyd's Presbyterian Church in the cemetery that's located on Colony and Sharon Road, which is predominantly a historically black cemetery.

I have lived in District 6 my whole life and was simply unaware and very very impressed to see that we are taking efforts for the county as well as the city side, and I believe that they will be coming in concert with others that are raising money to elevate that really powerful site uh that's located not very far from this dais right here that many did not know.

Most people don't believe that South Park has any history at all.

In fact, it actually has a lot.

Uh, and as evidenced by Sharon Presbyterian and then its sister St.

Lloyd's Presbyterian tied to tied to uh career heights in District One as well, too.

So that was a big positive to see that working in concert with South Park Area Partners, our um our municipal area plan.

Second topic I want to shift to um I think everybody at this diocese received the same news as as we all have to hear about the criminal activity that's been occurring throughout this summer.

Uh we know about the mass shooting that occurred in uptown Charlotte that led uh to a lot of fear in that area.

We just last week learned that a bus rider on a CATS bus not far from Carolina Place Mall was assailed by four individuals.

Um and we just learned on Friday night that there was a stabbing at a very prominent area right in the heart of South End, probably at the very apex of what many people consider to actually be the South End.

Uh manager, you know that I emailed you.

I wanted to make it public what my request was.

Um also just building off what Mrs.

Ajme wanted.

I wanted to know any details about the victim on this East Boulevard shooting, uh, as well as this victim that we have at Carolina Place Mall.

Any information about the accused suspect, including past records that can be disclosed, um, and then data and trends on criminal activity along the light rail over the past 36 months and any actions that have been taken by cats and CMPD.

Now, why I'm underscoring this and why I think it's so important is the very reason that Ashmira and all of us here who know what is on the ballot this November, which is the continued continuance of the expansion of our our transit system and the transit system that we have all put so much energy and effort into, and but we feel is one of the best in the in the country.

And all I know from my experience living in Washington, D.C.

and having a lot of friends in Atlanta is that the moment that the transit system starts to become something where it's not considered to be safe, is the moment in which you begin to lose riders, you begin to lose the momentum that you want to keep.

And I don't want to see our community, I know our council doesn't want to see that as well, too.

And that's why I want to request do we have a trend, Mr.

Manager.

Do we have something that we need to respond to?

We are in a gap period right now.

We do not have a police chief that is coming in, he is going out.

Is that the cause of this?

I don't believe so.

I'm not pointing a finger at CMPD, but what I do want is I want us to be proactive and not be reactive to this.

And most importantly, I want our public to know that we care about citizens that are being harmed, and especially at such an egregious nature on a public transit system that we have direct authority over.

Thank you, Mrs.

Mayor, and Mr.

Manager.

Thank you.

Mayor Pro Tim.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um, I just have three points I wanted to speak on.

First is just to thank our civil servants, so our firemen and uh police officer as well as medic for very successful pride uh fests that we had.

There was several calls around heat exhaustion, but there was really no real issues.

And it was in a new location in First Ward Park.

And I was out there on both days speaking to uh several participants and a lot of people visiting our city for the first time.

So I I just wanted to thank publicly our our officers and medic officers as well because they they did an incredible job.

The other point I want to bring up is and one of the residents spoke about it, is you know, we continue to hear about the street vendors, but in particular food vendors in South End and Uptown and other parts of the city as well.

And I I want to make sure that yes, uh that the public knows the city of Charlotte.

We are doing our part, but we also have to tap into our partners in Mecklenburg County, in particular for these food vendors.

Um it is a it's a public health concern, and they should reach out to their um board of county commissioners representation around the food vending that's going on because it is a violation, and uh we need the county to help us with that.

And then lastly, Mr.

Manager, I just wanted to talk about the Office for Youth Opportunities that you are standing up.

I think this is a wonderful, wonderful opportunity for us as a city to begin to address some of the underlying challenges we have with our youth.

We know, and some of us have have sort of held up, you know what Baltimore has done over the last year or so.

And their mayor, I I know their mayor doing a great job of reducing um violent incidents by investing in youth and giving them opportunities.

What I also know is that 90% of the conversations I have with CMPD about arrest and other things going on in district one, 90% of them are young males under the age of 25 who have guns, who are distributing drugs and other things.

So we just really need to ensure that this doesn't get lost in everything that we do, uh, Mr.

Manager.

We need to make sure that we're getting updates on what the office is doing, what the office needs.

Um I hope that we're we all as council members um can connect and be advocates for this office because it's going to directly impact public safety and hopefully directly impact the reduction of violent crime.

That's it, madam mayor.

Thank you.

Mr.

Mitchell.

Nothing for me, Mayor.

All right, Miss Johnson.

Um thank you, Madam Mayor.

Just two things.

I also want to some information about the incidents on cats.

Uh the the blue line.

We have an email that cats consolidated our safety and security to a vendor professional security services.

Is that correct?

Okay.

So I think we should get an update from that vendor.

Some information about the security services because it we have a contractor.

So I'd like to know when their contract is up, and you know, just more information about this vendor and what reports we're receiving, or what outcomes or outputs that we are requiring for for the vendor.

We we do need our our citizens to to feel safe and to be safe on the train.

So I'd like some information on the security company.

And secondly, I want to lift up uh Tommy Nichols and the Queen City Arts Festival this weekend over at the boardwalk from 3 to 8 p.m.

It's going to be a great event, Labor Day weekend at the boardwalk.

So I hope everyone comes out to District 4 to the Queen City Arts Festival.

Thank you.

Miss Brown.

Yeah, thank you so much, Madam Mayor.

That is a good festival.

It's not in my district, but I always go.

And I like being up there on the water.

So shout out to Tommy Nick's who's doing a great great job with that festival, and people come in from all over the city.

I want to go back to our youth.

One, this young man is still here.

Um see.

It's Zach, correct?

I just want to say thank you so much, Zach.

I um really connect with the youth, I'm forever young.

I claim that.

And um, but what you said, your knowledge of policy and what we can do or what we can try to do.

A good example of making good trouble.

And so I just want to say thank you so much, and I want to acknowledge you again for addressing us and bringing the Dillon Rule to the council for us to reimagine and rethink that.

So thank you so much for that.

That I had it on here and I sent you your picture, so thank you.

Thank you.

It means a lot to me to hear that from you.

And our young people are truly our future and our leaders, and so think about coming on down this way.

Okay, really truly.

Um the three million dollars that uh, Madam Mayor, the three million dollars that we're being you know, using to um get out the word for the transit.

Is there is that I'm I'm just asking, is that that's a question that I'm asking that of city money?

No, no, not city money, no, no, is it MEC something?

Sorry.

Yes, Mack, the Alliance.

Oh, the MEC the Alliance.

Yes, I don't not the city.

That's why I'm asking for clarification.

It is from the um right.

So some of my constituents as they're coming out to the polls, and people are asking about um how it's being used and where I'm not sure if we know or but but when when money comes out, people don't know if it's different through the city and county.

We all get that's cruise.

I just want to try to get the clarification very on it.

But um, a lot of them have concerns which my colleagues have already expressed about transit riders, the workers, and just the violence that come with that, so we could kind of address that.

I don't know how we would address that, but that's something that I would like to address.

And then I wanted to go back to um the city manager with um I've been advocating for the animal shelter to be over.

So can you explain that talk about that general services and what that looks like?

Do you mind?

Oh, you want to.

No, that's sure.

Uh thank you, Councilmember Member Brown.

So, one of the things we found out by moving animal care and control from uh CMPD into the general services, it was very difficult going through CMPD's processes to even foster animals.

So that was step one, trying to make sure that it's a lot easier for the general public to engage.

The other thing that we're doing is I think it's an investment about 30 million dollars to um build out a new uh adoption center.

I think that's the best way to describe it.

As well as as we continue to evolve, trying to find ways to make sure that the experience uh is a better experience for all of those who are involved.

So we're spending time with Dr.

Fisher.

We're spending time with the fish is amazing.

Yes, yes, with this transition to um you know provide for a better opportunities.

Okay, thank you so much.

That's a start.

Good.

They are really uh that group, that tribe, yeah, the people that support the animal shelter, they show up and they show out.

So thank you for just hearing us, not just me, because other council members uh had that initiative as well, but that's something that they've been pounding on.

So I think it's a great start in the right direction.

So I think Dr.

Fisher and his team and the animal lovers of those four little creatures, they'll be happy about that.

I want to go back to the game balance.

There's um uh there's a couple of young people that I know that have died in the city recently.

I'll be attending, I think a funeral this week.

And in addition to me attending the the homeborn celebration and funeral services, it the the game balance is very, very concerning.

Um not only is so they've lost somebody, but then the retaliators are going back to the house and like still initiating gun violence while the loved ones are trying to prepare for someone that they've lost.

That was brought to my attention this week.

It's not in my district, but it's in our city, so it affects all of us.

And so I anything that we can do.

I know that we got the Katie Blessing Center coming, and I'm so excited about that.

Congratulations.

Yes, it did open this week.

I thought it was gonna be next week.

Is this week?

No, it's it's it's just so just open.

Okay, so that's awesome.

That's good stuff.

Was it open?

I didn't even know.

Did we do a ribbon cutting or anything?

I I think they're a long time ago we didn't know.

But they just had, I think, an opening today.

A real opener.

Okay, all right, no problem.

So that young lady, her mom was here.

Um Shila Nordon.

I just want her to know that we do hear her loud and clear, and uh, we do we are very concerned about um the valets with our youth.

But I think the more activities that we have for our youth, the more that we are engaged with them and involved with them and put people in front of them that can identify um according to data and metrics, some of the things that they've been through, we'll be able to address that.

And of course, West Boulevard, you and I have been talking about West Boulevard for a long time.

We can do that drive down West Boulevard from one end to the other, because I can tell you about West Boulevard, what it used to be and what it is now, and how concerned I'm concerned about all of my district, every all of district three, but West Boulevard has been if we can reimagine West Boulevard looking like Badisford Road, and I a bank on um on West Boulevard would just change the whole trajectory of what West Boulevard could be and what it could look like.

We we care about West Bull Board, the small businesses over there.

So I would like to do that ride with you.

I know we prolonged it, but after September the night, can we schedule the ride?

Because I'm busy at the phone.

I got some work to do.

And last but not least, Tyler, um the South and vendors, we do care.

We hear you loud and clear.

Some of those concerns cannot be addressed and fixed overnight.

But when we get an email and we respond to it, doesn't mean that we don't care.

We have 10 other amazing people that sit on this council, and we have to collaborate because I have one vote, even though it's in my district, and I'm trying to get people to understand that I can lead the charge and lead a project, but I still have to get my colleagues on board to support it because we still need five other votes with mine.

District three, I love y'all, but I still need five other votes.

So that concern is something I know that they want the palette to be launched, but we have to look at the specifications of NOTA versus the specifications of South End and see how we can make those work together like a puzzle, and it don't always work that way.

Absolutely right because of regulations and different things like that.

So Tyler, we hear you, South End, we hear you.

We care about you just like we care about NOTA.

Just have a little bit of patience for us, and we'll work through it for you.

That's all that I have.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

I think that is had everyone has had the opportunity.

So um, I think there's opportunity for a motion to adjourn.

So we'll second a motion and second, and all in favor, say aye.

All right, thank you very much, all of you.

I think this is working better for us, so that people, I think, especially to communicate with each other.

Thank you all.

For this, we will see you.