Let's see if we are ready.

So we can do that.

Okay.

All right, are we ready, Amanda?

Thank you very much.

So we're gonna start and call this meeting to order.

This is going to be a really um, I think we're pay attention to this agenda because we have three closed session items today, in addition to all of the materials that we have that we will be doing in our regular business meeting.

So we're gonna start off with our consent and action review and call the meeting to order.

We're gonna do introductions.

That was the very next thing on this list.

All right, and now we're going to do introductions.

We'll start with Ms.

Watlington.

Good evening, everyone.

My name is Victoria Watton.

I have the pleasure of serving you as a member at large.

Good evening, Lawana Mayfield, Councilmember at large.

Now from Graham District 2.

Marcus Jones, City Manager.

File Isles Mayor.

Good evening and happy birthday, Councilmember Molina.

Dante Anderson, Mayor Pro Tin, District One.

Good evening, everyone.

Jane Smith at Lodge and happy birthday to my colleague.

I hope you didn't do nothing.

I wouldn't do.

Thank you, colleagues.

Um good evening, and um I'm Marjorie Molina, I represent District 5.

Thank you, colleagues.

Oh, yeah.

Well she'll tell you the stories later on, right?

Exactly.

So I want to say good evening and thank you to Anthony Fabs here in the city.

Here we go, Anthony.

Interim City Attorney.

Billy Tons, Deputy City Clerk.

All right, thank you very much.

Um we have started this and we will move on to our next item.

And that I want to make sure that we appreciate all of you that are joining us, and we'll be here.

Um, especially there are people that I hope will be watching us online for our October 13 council business meeting.

So we have had our introduction, so um we will not oh I'm sorry.

Thank you, Madam Mayor Renee Johnson, and I'm honored to represent District 4.

All right, thank you very much for the time that you're here today.

So um let's start beginning with our consent items on tonight's agenda.

Um we do have a speaker for our consent item.

I believe it's item 23.

Um, and so if we could recognize Miss, I'm not sure that I can get it.

Mr.

Evan Schultz if we would please if you would like to come to the dais.

Um, this is on action item number 23 for the council members.

Right.

Thank you.

Esteemed counselors.

Tonight you will vote on approval of the expenditure of nearly three million in federal grant money on an engineering firm to address road and traffic safety in the city.

I am here to raise the point that this is the fundamental problem with transit costs in Charlotte.

That having little to no in-house staff with the technical knowledge to direct consultancy or engineering firms, much less actually manage and execute projects themselves, is the largest contributor to cost overruns and long delivery timelines for infrastructure in the United States.

A 2023 study by New York University identified a lack of in-house expertise due to a desire to offload risk results in higher bid prices, conflict with other agencies, and low standardization, all of which significantly raises total project costs.

For example, the New York MTA gutted its in-house capital projects management group from 1600 to 124 employees between 1990 and 2011, resulting in nearly 20 percent of total project costs being paid to consultancy firms, double the average in West Europe.

The CRTPO has just 15 employees.

The reality is that outsourcing endless studies and even core design guidelines to firms is pointless when the transit agency does not have the expertise to absorb and utilize that information.

The study compared ballooning project costs to that of nuclear power plants, with a loss of expertise and lack of standardization has resulted in comparable multi-billion dollar costs.

Whereas countries with success successful transit bill programs have used a large cadre of civil servants that retain technical and management know-how, project data, labor force experience, and logistical chains across multi multiple projects.

I realize I likely cannot change the outcome of tonight's vote, but I can ask the city to consider a new direction.

I asked the city to stop outsourcing to consulting and to begin developing an in-house design and engineering team that can execute projects at lower cost and deliver them in shorter timelines, which would better impact safety and transit in the city.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you very much for your comments.

Um I do want to have any follow-up if any council members have any follow-up.

I do want to recognize Bob Cook, who is CRTPO.

I think I was on that 20 years ago.

So it's good to see you.

And I think that you've heard from the speaker, and if there's an opportunity, maybe we can have a little bit of a conversation and see how what you're doing and how that works.

And I appreciate you coming to speak on the item.

So all right.

I did for 23.

Yes, like 23.

Item number 23.

Thank you.

Marie, can you uh explain for um does this have anything to do with the pending referendum?

Does this funding no ma'am?

Any contracts we do, you know, they'd be used for any types of projects pending.

In this particular one, we received, I'm sorry I don't have my readers on, but we see USDOT grant funding for okay, because okay.

Because we have received some concern from the the public that this is related to the um referendum, but this is further debt, but that is not the case.

Is that correct?

No, ma'am.

In any of our contracts that we have in place that we would utilize, we wouldn't do any expenditures.

We might spend more, not in this particular one, but any of them, you know, we just might have more volume for some of them that you'd have to be aware of.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, thank you very much for your contribution.

And now did Miss Mayfield.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, and I want to say thank you to the speaker.

Although I agree that we have an opportunity to look in-house because I also have shared with shared concerns about the amount of funding that is spent on consultants versus in-house for this particular project, because on February 10th, 2025, we approved the budget ordinance accepting the safe streets and roads for all grants from the U.S.

Department of Transportation, which was 3,150,000.

I and that is specific specifically for the development of a regional comprehensive safety action plan for the CRTPO.

So these are funds that are coming in from the federal government and not necessarily our general funds or tax dollars, I am much more comfortable to move this conversation forward.

Since we're board of directors to look at opportunities in-house, whether it's in the attorney's office and other areas to have these specialists to conserve on the tax dollar.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Thank you.

Any other comments?

I do believe that you can noted that um New York had done something that we have not, so we can begin to have some ideas around maybe we should look into this a little bit more considered in the remarks by Miss Mayfield and Miss Johnson.

All right, so that thank you again for bringing this to our attention.

Um so now may there are there any consent items for a separate vote.

Ms.

Mayfield.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I'm gonna ask that we pull 14, 17, and 20.

And it's really for discussion.

Marie and I had a chance to review, but I would like for it to make its way into the minutes, but it will be a separate vote.

Thank you.

All right.

So why don't we go ahead and start with item 14?

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

So item 14 is the right-of-way acquisition and relocation services.

What we are being asked to approve tonight is the unit price contracts for right-of-way acquisition and relocation services for a number for a term of three years to multiple businesses throughout the city.

And we're anticipating a total annual aggregate of expenditures around 7.5 million.

So my question was does this include not only the business fees but also the potential purchase price.

If we're seeing upwards of up to 7.5 million, and Marie did share that these are the contracts, they include real estate negotiation services, and hopefully the projection is not to exceed this amount.

And Marie, did you have additional yes, ma'am?

But to clarify your point, this does not include the purchase price.

Yes, ma'am.

Which was the challenge that I have of we're allocating up to 7.5.

No disrespect to consultants.

Everybody got to have a job, but for you to talk and to negotiate the potential price, but this does not also include the ability to make that purchase price that that will be coming back at a later date through another budget line item.

I just wanted clear clarity on that particular one just to make sure that not only I understood, but the community also knows that contract real estate acquisition agents they charge her per parcel fee that varies based on the type of project and the project specific requirements, and that the city incurs no ancillary charges from agents beyond the cost of the recording easements, but I did have concerns of the up to 7.5 million and that amount not including the actual purchase of land if possible.

All right.

Any other comments from the council?

All right, do I have a motion for the item 14?

Um and a second.

All right, all right.

All we've had a um conversation.

So all in favor of the motion, please say raise your hand.

One, two, three, four, five, six.

That's six of us or six council members.

So um, and so anyone in anyone that does not agree, Miss Mayor, I'm not going to vote against at to the seven, but I do want us to look at moving forward how we identify these contracts.

Okay, so you will have seven in support.

Seven in support of the item 14.

Okay.

And Madam Mayor, uh she has two additional items that she would like to discuss.

Okay.

And you also have the approval of the remainder of the consent agenda still.

Okay.

All right.

So let's go to 17.

We'll get Ms.

Mayfield ready.

17, which is wastewater treatment equipment.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

And this is more for comment.

We did have a chance to reach out to our director of order.

And basically, what we are asking to approve is the purchase of the TriBent aeration blower filters.

Where I had a question is the fact that these TriBent we built of I thought we built a facility in Pineville.

Actually, the county built this facility many years ago, back when we were looking at prior to consolidation.

The question that I had asked of Ms.

Harris is how much is Pineville contributing to the cost?

And when I was looking at costs, I'm thinking, okay, our enterprise fund is set up in a way where we pay increase in our water.

The reality is, since we have the largest population, the bulk of that of those costs are paid out of the city of Charlotte.

So I wanted to know what the contribution from Pineville was, and Marie was able to get more details on that for me.

Yes, ma'am, you like so and Miss Mayfield's point.

This was previously each town had their own water systems, and when we consolidated became one water system that everybody pays the same rate towards.

And so we were we collected basically all the assets into one system now, and everybody pays the same rate towards it, yes.

And although we all pay the same rate, still the bulk of that cost be just based on population.

We're seeing a greater contribution from Charlotte.

Yet what I do appreciate is that Pineville built the system.

We've now for a number of years worked with and move forward with providing a more comprehensive water access for our region, but I wanted clarity on that.

So with that one, move to approve.

Second.

Is there any further discussion?

Hearing none, all in favor of the motion, please raise your hand.

Three, four, five, six.

Thank you.

Seven, Miss Molina.

All right, thank you, Miss Melina.

All right.

So our next um our our next item from Ms.

Mayfield's list is and actually Mayor 20.

I did um Marie was able to get me the information that I need on that.

I did not mean to pull that one for a separate.

Thank you very much, Ms.

Mayfield.

So now may I have a if there's anyone that would also would like to comment on this, please let me know anyone else.

If not, we'll may I have a motion to approve consent agenda items 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, and 25.

So moved.

I have a motion and a second.

Any discussion?

Hearing none.

All in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Anyone in opposition?

None.

So that put that completes our consent agenda.

So thank you very much for that work that you've been doing.

I think 23.

Wow, there was discussion.

Did I say 23?

I did not have to do that.

It was not.

It was there was not a separate vote.

The separate vote was for 14.

Oh, correct.

Separate vote was for 14.

Second.

And then 23?

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

We have a motion on that.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

All in favor, raise your hands again.

Thank you for your patience.

Um, and so anyone opposed, hearing no, no one in opposition, we'll move forward to our next agenda item.

All right, I think we're going to have our next agenda item is a part of the discussion that we've been having on our house affordable housing funding support requests for supportive housing.

Ms.

De Thank Mr.

Manager.

Thank you, Mayor members of council.

As the mayor mentioned earlier, um, we have a number of closed session items, actually, four of them today.

And so I believe we're going to start off with the Metropolitan Public Transit.

Authority appointment process.

That's what we have listed, or we want to go with the housing first.

Oh, housing.

Oh, you want to go for the group?

Okay.

I think we wanted to have housing and then move on, and then we'll come back to your group, Mr.

Mitchell.

Okay.

Which one would you do?

Housing.

Oh.

Housing.

Miss Watlington.

Uh yes, um, Madam Mayor, do you show up attention conflict?

I'm going to ask me to respect this conversation.

Oh, it's over council member Watlington.

All right, we have a motion.

She said due to a potential conflict.

Yes, colleagues want to know why.

Yes.

So we have a hearing.

That's all.

Oh, yeah.

We couldn't hear.

Yeah, yeah.

Due to a potential conflict, uh, and request to be recused from this conversation.

All right.

Um, Miss May Miss Mayfield, would you motion to second allow Ms.

Watlington to it's recuse herself?

All right, for this item.

All right, we have a motion on the floor.

All in favor, please raise your hand.

Anyone anyone in opposition?

Hearing no one in opposition, the motion passes.

Miss Watlington is excuse recused.

Thank you.

All right.

So we did decide that we were going to develop start with our housing program.

And I want to recognize Ms.

Mayfield.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

And I am lobbing it right over to our director, Miss Rebecca Heffer.

Excellent.

Good evening again, Mary members of the council.

Um back to you this week in a follow-up conversation.

So last Monday, uh, we gave a briefing to housing safety and community committee.

Sorry for the breathlessness, the the agenda switch up, you know, uh out of getting gear.

Um so uh on on the recommendations related to the housing trust fund, and then a follow-up conversation with full city council um as part of committee report out.

Um last Thursday in your packets, we provided some additional information specifically around the supportive housing developments, and that's what I'm going to focus a little bit on tonight, but then um open up the uh uh opportunity to discuss any of the recommendations.

I wanted to share a little bit more about supportive housing, partly because these are housing types that you don't see as often.

They don't come through on a regular cadence.

Um and they and they do work a little bit differently.

Um both both transitional housing and emergency shelter.

You have proposals within the housing trust fund for for one of each are types of supportive housing.

So supportive housing is uh characterized by low barrier to entry, shorter median length of stay, and wraparound services that provide supports to the residences, and the role of supportive housing in our communities housing ecosystem is to be a bridge in between um unsheltered homelessness and some type of permanent housing.

And the role of supportive housing in our communities housing ecosystem is to be a bridge in between unsheltered homelessness and some type of permanent housing.

Transitional housing, excuse me, and low barrier shelters are important part of this ecosystem, especially when they provide access to services that allow households to transition into permanent housing.

Excuse me.

In your housing funding policy, you do have a $9 million investment goal for supportive housing and shelter capacity.

And one of the things that when we evaluate proposals to bring forward to you is, of course, we always look at the the alignment with your affordable housing funding policy.

The place that supportive housing recommendations really fall into alignment with the policy or in three different areas.

One is your serving priority populations.

So this focus on vulnerable populations is an explicit priority within your policy.

Resident services, linking housing and services to create stronger outcomes.

This is one of your investment priorities, and it is inherent in supportive housing to do just that.

And then partnerships and leverage.

In this priority, you have adopted that priority will be given to proposals that incorporate broad partnerships, partnerships that provide resident services, and investments that improve quality of life and access to opportunity.

So just putting that into the context of your funding policy.

And then there were quite a few questions last week about the investment.

So I wanted to make a note about the financial structure as it relates to supportive housing.

The per room in per unit or per room construction costs are typically going to be much higher.

One thing, as we talked about last week, is that these types of housing require more than just the housing unit.

They require space for caseworker and system navigator offices, sometimes medical facilities, classrooms, and other types of amenities that will that will provide direct services to the residents.

Is that supportive housing charges little to no rent?

So in the they can because of that, they cannot carry debt.

So you'll you will often see, and as is the case in in one of these, leverage ratios that are one to two or one to four, because the public and philanthropic dollars are going to constitute actually the majority of the project capital.

So in that way, supportive housing is very different from the per unit investment that you're going to typically see for rental housing production or home ownership.

I also wanted to share a little bit about the need in our community for this type of housing.

So this slide is an update of a slide that was taken directly from the May 2025 presentation that went to housing safety and community committee when you all talked about the uh the potential for a non-congregate shelter here in Charlotte.

The update, the update here is the data.

So according to the last 20 last point in time count, um, this is collected and published by Mecklenburg County, there were 444 people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in Mecklenburg County.

And shelter utilization, as many of you know, is at an all-time high.

Um, our emergency shelter options are full and often on waiting lists.

The need for non-congregate shelter is especially acute.

We don't currently have non-congregate shelter options in our community, especially serving adults who have medical behavioral health or mobility challenges.

In these types of situations, it's often very difficult for households to be accommodated in traditional congregate shelter environments.

And so one to put in context where we are as it relates to the need both for these types of housing and to support our unsheltered households in general.

So we talked last week about these two uh proposed developments.

Um, the first being the Mecklenburg County Hotel Conversion.

This is the same slide that you saw last week.

This information again was included, a deeper dive in your packets from last week.

A couple of things that I wanted to talk about, just in follow-up to the questions that came up.

So the non-congregate emergency shelter has a number of defining attributes that really make it different from quite a number of the types of proposals you've seen in the past.

So by definition, the non-congregate design it is very different than our other shelters currently in the system.

This project design emphasizes privacy, safety, accessibility, and individualized service coordination.

There was a question and concern last week about the investment per bed.

We've updated that language, and I just want to call your attention to that.

We've updated that language to look at it as investment per room or unit, because these in a non-congregate shelter, these are rooms.

So think of it as a standard basic hotel room with a bed, some furniture, and a bathroom.

This emergency shelter would serve adults, and that includes multi-member adult households, but without minor children.

So this is this does this is not a family shelter, it is for specifically for adults.

So one of the things we we have a number of street outreach partners in the community, for example, Hearts for the Invisible.

They're out in the streets building relationships, building trust with our unhoused neighbors, and they often don't have a place to refer people to.

So one of the things that that staff does in bringing forward recommendations is to evaluate the experience and qualifications of the development team.

So the Charlotte Maclenburg Dream Center is a faith-based nonprofit.

They have been engaged in community work since 2014, providing supportive services, and they have partnered with True Homes to develop the housing units.

So True Homes will be the development partner for this proposed transitional housing campus.

But I do want to clarify.

Um they are a 501c3 nonprofit.

Um they were founded by um Jim Noble as part of a global network of dream centers.

Um the original one of which is in Los Angeles.

So this is a model of churches and transitional housing together that that extends at this point across the globe.

It is a nonprofit with a professional staff.

Um and they do have back end administrative and financial oversight provided by the entity Noble Food and Pursuit.

So I want to clarify the relationship there, as we had a number of questions last week.

Um this development proposes a holistic approach to transitional housing that really combines stable housing, health, life skills, and in particular job readiness training.

So the core piece of the job readiness training is a 12 uh typically a 12-month process that serves individuals and families that are impacted by substance use, homelessness, displacement, or who are re-entering the community from institutional settings.

And the resident services on site that are proposed would include wraparound supports for for mental health and addiction recovery, daycare services, and recreational facilities with a with a wide range of partnerships that have been proposed.

So just a couple of points there to clarify a few of your questions from last week.

And the only thing left in the presentation is if uh if any of you have questions about other projects, we can bring those up.

But that's the um the end of my formal presentation for tonight, trying to address a little bit of the context around supportive housing.

Thank you very much for um reposing on this.

And I think Mr.

Drake raised his hand.

Um Mr.

Driggs.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I think this is very responsive to a pressing concern that we have, and one frankly that got even more attention after the tragic murder of Irina Zarutska because of the mental state of the assault.

Uh my question really for both of them has to do with uh operational kind of data, like how many people can be served, how long are they there, and and do we have any indication of the kind of success they have so that uh we know what we're buying into.

Yep.

So the um I'll I'll start with the hotel conversion.

This is an emergency shelter.

There are uh 62 rooms.

Um, and now while emergency shelter is intended to be very short-term stays, I will say that our you know our shelter system is full, in part because we have a limited supply of permanent supportive housing to trans people transition people out of shelter into.

Um, and so typically in our shelters right now, people are staying longer than they typically would in emergency shelter.

But the capacity there is 62 rooms.

Some of those uh would be for one adult, some of them would be for you know an adult family and others where there are two beds.

So think about in a hotel you have some one bed and some two bed where there are two beds, um, they could potentially serve two separate households.

So um, so that's um capacity-wise for the emergency shelter.

So but on that one, the point I'm trying to get at is when you say longer, what's the what is the total annual uh traffic through the facility, like how many people will be served in a year?

Okay, I can I can find that out and and provide it in follow-up.

All right, because I I think that's important, right?

We're looking at a need that we've identified, a number of people, and our ability to kind of make some inroads there would depend on how long they're here and when the capacity is freed up and available for reuse.

Uh and I think the question applies to both.

Um again, I'm generally supportive.

I want to say I think this is very responsive to it.

I would note about the Dream Center that this the length of stay there is more defined.

It's intended to be a one-year program, which is standard for transitional housing.

That's for the uh for the Dream Center campus.

Right.

Okay.

So maybe if you could just sort of think about that and let us know how many people you think we can serve it.

And then the other question is uh people who could come out again, famously mental health patients, for example, have a tendency to get stabilized and so on, and then they relapse.

So uh how are we measuring success?

Sure.

All right, thank you.

All right, Miss Mayfield.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

So a couple of questions, Rebecca.

One will start with the Dream Center since that's the slide that's up.

I have heard from a number of partners that one of the challenges that they are having with placing some of their residents is the in some of our faith-based partners funded programs.

I may not be religious, but yet part of completing your program is to sit through your for one example of it where indoctrin doctrination of what you identify as religion.

What since we're saying this is uh faith-based housing project, how do we ensure the religious freedoms of the individuals that may need assistance?

Sure.

So you you don't have a specific policy about that as it relates to faith and housing, but I can answer in in two ways.

One is the city does say in your contracts that you can't discriminate against people on the basis of a number of things, including religion.

So they would not be able to uh deny access to the program uh to people if they if they did not share the same faith as the partner providing the service.

That's already established.

So I'm gonna tap, I'm gonna pause there.

Manager, we're gonna need to do a little bit more research because what we have in a contract is not necessarily what is actually experienced in communities with individuals and individuals not necessarily feeling like there is a clear path for them to seek guidance or assistance.

So we may have that language in our contract.

That's not necessarily how it's being implemented in some of these facilities.

In in facilities that the city's funding already?

Yeah, okay.

So yes, let's follow up on that um additionally, because that's part part of our contract monitoring.

Um then, oh I lost my track.

Um so uh the language in place.

So and then and then you you have you have uh the um the opportunity if desired to to add to add other parameters, for example, dream center campus.

This is a new partner.

So in the past, you have required additional um additional things from new partners, like um uh additional financial controls or things like that.

So you do have discretion as a council if you choose to fund this to think through uh you know, are are there parameters that go in the contract if if that's the the desire of the council?

Thank you.

So you also noted that this is a program that's pretty much across the globe.

Have we, and since this will be new here in Charlotte, has anyone actually done any research to actually talk to residents or previous residents at any of these other facilities?

Uh our staff has not talked to residents at any of the other facilities, and uh this is it's a it's a network, but it's not implementing a specific model.

So here they would have the opportunity to provide transitional housing services, you know, according to our local context and our local partners.

What we can't do is give you an uh assessment of how successful they've been, because again, this would be a new um venture for them in terms of the adding the housing to their supportive services component.

So we're getting paid.

So manager of which he just stepped out, so whichever staff person that's with ACM that is behind me.

And when we're looking at who we're going to partner with, when you're looking at I'm not, I'm not as concerned if it's two million, a million, eight hundred thousand, or six million.

We need to make sure that one, if it's a pilot, then we say it's a pilot, that's a different pocket.

But when we're talking about our most vulnerable, and we have language in here that identifies who's the target, here's the reality.

Every person that is unhoused is not also in active drug addiction.

We have a number of people in our community where drugs and alcohol is not a part of their reality, and they're not able to get access to services because when they have gone to certain places, the re the question is around here's our treatment plan.

I don't need a treatment plan.

Life happened, but life didn't turn me necessarily to drugs and alcohol.

Also, the trying to clarify for teenagers, because we also have facilities where you might have a single parent, whether it's the mother or the father, and they have both a young girl or a young boy, and some facilities are telling them the young man cannot stay there if he's over the age of 13 or over the age of 14.

We're not gonna put a child into an adult men's shelter.

So for me, if we're having a conversation, because with the other one in partnership with the county, that was clearly for adults, no children, unless it's a facility where families have access and would be able, whether they need assistance or not, are not isolated because they don't need some of the wraparound services, but they just need a little help, and they're not necessarily looking to be indoctrinated one way or another.

Because what we have in here is we'll serve individuals and family impacted by drug and alcohol addiction, homelessness, displaced persons, individuals re entering the community from institutional settings.

If there's very clear language of any one of these versus the expectation that everyone is that's coming in has been impacted by drug and alcohol, one that's a misnomer.

So we're running into challenges, fortunately or unfortunately, with friends and family that I have that work directly with individuals, not being able to direct them to services.

If we're looking to use tax dollars to fund this, I want us to be very clear in our contract.

Now, personally, I've already shared with you, and I've already shared with this council.

There is no alternative universe where I'm going to support something that is funded by Mr.

Noble for the simple fact of what I have witnessed within the West Boulevard Freedom Drive Corridor as the former District 3 rep and things that you have done and speaking with former employees of the King's Kitchen uptown and individuals who fall in this category of our most vulnerable and the experiences directly that they have had and not having a space to actually address some of those concerns, you are not a good partner for me, for me to go and stand in front of the community and say, yes, this is a got good idea for us to not only fund but for you to stay here and know that you're gonna be protected.

So I will not, but I want to make sure that language is in place to not only protect if this council moves forward, those residents, but those families, because we have families out here who do not have access to housing where that parent, mother or father, or two-parent household that have a young male and young female child, because you have to have separate rooms.

By our rules, so we need to make sure if we're gonna make an investment, that investment is going to hit and address the needs that our community is presenting and not just an assumption that everyone is some way connected or related to drug and alcohol addiction.

Miss Mayfield, may I clarify as it relates to the family shelter?

So it it is it it is another important need in our community for family shelter.

Um you are very likely to see another recommendation come forward around that because the family shelter that we have, Booth Commons is currently closed for renovation and some unexpected costs.

So these proposals um cannot and are not intended to address every outstanding need.

Um they they both address a particular um range of needs, um, and just to clarify on this slide um in terms of the language, the proposal is that this would be and so the that the provider has provoked proposed that they would serve families and individuals impacted by drug and alcohol addiction and these other categories.

So if it's unclear from the um from the placement of the verbs and the commas, just to clarify, those are ands.

I appreciate that.

I want there to be very clear expectations that if we are looking to make an investment, even though we have that and there, because it was the same conversation we had in Faith in Housing.

There's a difference between saying faith and housing versus faith in housing.

So when we say that, and the reality is some of our partners, their clients are not getting access to certain things because they didn't fit in certain boxes because we checking off a box when we say this is what we're doing.

These are the people that we're trying to target.

The reality is our landscape is changing.

We have a number of people, and we have funded, and we will continue to fund a number of projects that target those who need additional wraparound services.

I'm saying, and we if we're going to look at new investments, we create a space to address the needs that we're seeing.

So our families that are choosing to live in a vehicle, really not by choice, but to keep their family together versus that family being split up because you're a young man of 1314 or whatever it is, the and is how are we also creating a safe space for them?

Thank you, Rebecca.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Thank you.

Um I think all of us know that this is a very difficult thing to parse out this simply.

Um, and at the same time, we also know that we have so many of these pockets of who does what and how it's done.

But I I do remember um years ago we had Moore's place, and that was a the very top notch of what we were doing, and I think that what Miss Mayfield is doing is pushing us to do the right things for the right groups, and so those are the people that we need to um address, and I think that that's an important part of it.

All of us have been around to all of the towns and places that we go visit, and we know that there are options that people have and should be able to make on their own, even when it's a tough decision to make for anyone else.

But I would hope that we will support the efforts where we would build the facilities that we have, but yet also begin to think about where is the place that this makes the most sense and does the best amount of work.

I think Miss Mayfield has pointed out some of those places that perhaps we need to start thinking about differently, but at the same time, I think it's really important for us as we talk about our center city and the people that are sleeping on the streets.

I would say almost any place they probably want to be able to be safe and be in a place where they know that they're gonna do something, and I believe that this with some work on it should be able to be able to do that for us, and I would hope that the council would support this effort.

Um it I remember Morris Place starting out, and everybody was afraid.

I mean, it was at we were down, and that I don't think that many of us would even know where it is now.

I mean, you do drive by it and you don't even think about it, but they are doing those things that um I think Miss Mayfield was saying.

How do you make sure once you get the person into the place?

How do you make sure that you're treating them with dignity and and to having the ability for them to have choices?

And that's not gonna be everybody, but I do think it's important enough for us to have a dream center campus and to be able to have this campus treat people that make the choices there.

So I appreciate what you've said and done because we all know that.

When I remember when the Salvation Army wouldn't allow you to have even a certain type of blanket, these are small things that um I think most of us have learned that people deserve better than that.

So with that, I have Miss Mayor Pro Tim.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, and thank you, Miss Hefner, for the presentation.

Just a couple of things.

So with these two projects, we would be allocating 6.25 million of our nine million.

So we'll have a little less than a third left.

And you mentioned that there might be some additional projects to come through specifically for families.

So I just wanted to highlight that.

So who is going to actually operate that shelter?

Yep.

So oops, wrong way.

So one one note about the 2.75 million left.

That is the amount that would be left in this particular investment category within the housing bond.

You do have other funding sources that can support some types of shelter and supportive services.

That some of your federal funding sources are able to do that.

That you don't have a balance in those accounts right now, but you will be coming up.

So there are all what what we do is always bring you the recommendation and then try to align it with the funding source that's available and makes the most sense.

So just a note on that.

So the non-congregate emergency shelter, the county would actually solicit for a an experienced service provider through a national search that would actually operate the shelter.

In particular, um because it is a uh a specific set of skills to provide for the the medical and behavioral health services for people experiencing mental illness.

So in this would be in in part um for that population.

Now earlier this year, uh an RFI was put out to do a couple of things.

One, make sure there was interest, make sure there was uh capacity in organizations, um, and to make sure that the budget that had been identified was reasonable.

So I I believe there were two responses to that RFI, one national provider and one local provider.

Um, and so that gave um that gave the team the confidence that they would be able to find someone and to move forward uh with the um plans for acquisition and renovation.

So once uh once the acquisition uh is finalized, then a full request for proposals would be issued to solicit a service provider that again would be able to operate the shelter um for the first three years with private funding, and then a sustainable funding model in year four.

Okay.

Um I I do I absolutely believe we need this.

This is a clear need in the community and the specificity of non-congregate.

Um but every time, and I wasn't here uh last meeting, but I did uh listen to your presentation, and every time we talk about this though, it it's we use this the term some shelter capacity for street outreach.

Where in reality, I'm of the belief that that is really the driver for this type of shelter being stood up, right?

Um, our unhouse uh residents who are afraid to live in the other types of shelters.

So given that we know that there's a direct need for this, um, it's directly correlated with some of the challenges uptown.

Um it's going to I I'm sure be utilized um quite quickly.

I feel like we need tighter language around the percentage of throughput from street outreach, right?

Um I would I would hate for us to make this investment and then a few years down the line, you know, this this facility is full and we're not able to leverage it for emergency street outreach concerns.

So I I don't know if we have the ability to do that, but I would like to see some language that tighten the percentage of capacity at least a minimum, right?

Not a not a ceiling, but a full you certainly have the ability to do that.

So one thing is I would ask if I could have a little bit of time to talk with Macklinburg County in relation to um Councilmember Driggs' question also, what's the total volume?

Um and maybe come back to you with what we think is a percentage or a definition of sum that's workable within this model.

Okay.

And I know that we are 50% of the uh financial investment here, so it really is an intergovernmental um play.

Um but I want to make sure again with the language that we have capacity for Charlotte residents that are experiencing um you know issues and and uh need housing.

So I would like to see the tightening of that language, and then I know you mentioned that there wasn't you're not aware of uh if there's a time limit for this particular one, but for uh is there a time limit for when uh a participant can stay at this non-congregate shelter?

Is there a time in in terms of how long they can stay before they're required to leave?

Yes, that hasn't been defined yet.

That's something that I think would be um defined in partnership with the operating provider uh and in an evaluation of our overall landscape in terms of how um how what what median length of time people are staying in shelters across the landscape.

Okay, I and I I'm really asking that because I've been several conversations with um our DA Maryweather, will he where he talks about you know the gap, right?

So when someone is arrested, they really need wraparound services, they don't have a place to live.

It's it's it's it's um it there's a balance there of like releasing them on to be back on the street, but they don't really have any support or any place to stay.

And so thinking about if this is an opportunity for some of those individuals to go and get a very stringent participate in a in a stringent program that would stand them back up to stability, but allow for the throughput, right?

Of this, because it's not is it's only 62 rooms, so it's not a whole lot.

It's it's gonna fulfill a need, but quite frankly, we could need we we need more.

This is just a uh a fraction of of what we're experiencing.

So I would just like tighter language around that, especially for our investment of being 50 percent.

Um with the with the Dream Center, I I do agree with the mayor about Moore's place and um have spent some time of roof above and know their investment.

They they also um with what's with our support have opened up uh a shelter as well at King's College, converting some of those dorm rooms.

So we're getting slowly right, some of this capacity online.

So I I definitely support both.

Um I just want to make sure we have some language that ensures that Charlotte residents will have capacity and opportunity at this non-congregate shelter.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

All right, thank you.

I have I'm gonna we're it's gonna take a moment, Mr.

Graham, followed up by Ms.

Johnson, followed by Ms.

Ejmer.

And I'll be quick, Madam Mayor.

Uh I just want to thank you for the presentation and and bringing it back and drilling down more.

I think that this is sorely needed um for our community for a wide variety of of reason.

Um you just take a ride down Baysford Road or West Boulevard or or Reagan Drive.

We we need a facility where we can run people to services, just not run them away.

And so I think this is certainly much needed.

Uh both of the projects fall in City Council District 2, in which I represented certainly we welcome it because this is not a about a district issues about providing safe, clean, affordable housing for people throughout the city.

Uh I like the idea that we're focusing and working with Mecklenburg County.

Uh this goes back to a home for all, which there is a three-legged stool between the city, the county, and the private community for support.

I was able to talk since our last meeting with members of the CELC about their commitment for funding the first three years.

I think that commitment is there, and those fundings are there, so I feel real comfortable moving forward uh as relates to both of the projects um providing the funding.

Uh and again, this is just a drop in the bucket, actually, and it's gonna take 18 to 24 months uh to construct and put online.

And so we still have work to do.

Uh, but this certainly is uh a great step in the right direction.

I look forward to supporting it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Graham, Ms.

Johnson.

Johnson.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, and thank you, Rebecca, for the presentation.

I'm excited about the two projects in District 4 that are home ownership, so I I appreciate that.

But I wanted to ask you about the current situation for shelters in Charlotte.

If I'm a uh a family with an adult male child and um that that still lives at home and a and a daughter, a family shelter, where is there to go today?

So currently uh as noted, is there is not an open family shelter.

That's the um the booth commons shelter, which was um uh a shelter purchase or hotel purchase by the Salvation Army during COVID is currently closed for um renovations.

And when is the estimated completion date of the dream center?

So the first so the proposal is for the first phase of the dream center that includes eight units, so 48 rooms along with the clubhouse that would provide um uh the you know space for the resident services.

Uh and so I would I would have to get an a construction schedule um related to that, but because it is it's construction, um it would uh be you know anywhere from 12 to 24 months to go through the full process of uh plan review uh and construction.

So similar to your um you know your your other investments and they're asking for how much two million.

So two million is for the construction cost, and then there will be the cost of operations, correct?

So the the operations um are not a part of the financial ask.

The operations would be funded through philanthropic and other investments in the nonprofit.

So we um the dream center, is this their first?

This is the first ask for dream centers.

Yes, right.

Yeah, there's other projects that this they're asking for a second bite at the of the Apple, right?

No, so the the Dream Center not the Dream Center, but other providers or other projects tonight that were presenting.

Yes, so there are three developments in your overall pool of housing trust fund applications that were previously funded and are seeking additional gap funding.

Those are Abiline at Newell, which is one of your um district four homeownership developments, um the river district apartments and wedding ten apartments.

So thank you.

So I would just like to speak to council or the manager about this.

We've had projects in the past that when they come back to us and seek additional funding, it's been frowned upon uh as if there were some mismanagement or they should have gotten it right the first time.

So I just want to when we talk about equity and fairness.

I just want to to recall when other organizations have asked for additional funding, um they weren't able to receive it.

Um the Hill Charlotte project that was already doing the work, right?

And so when they didn't get additional funding, it kind of created this snowball effect where another organization had to come in, and but that was uh a project that was on the ground doing the work.

Um and I just want to and and when Mr.

Jackson came for additional funding for operations, he wasn't able to get it.

And so it was frowned upon that you know he didn't uh wasn't able to keep the doors open, and again, it caused a snowball effect.

And when we talk about upward mobility, um you said a national organization to do the work, you know, re-entry supportive housing.

We have organizations here in Charlotte that are doing the work, not just Till Charlotte or other organizations, but there might have been opportunities.

So I just want us as council members to feel how all of our work kind of comes together.

We talk about upward mobility and displacement.

There are smaller organizations that could have done this work, especially if they were gonna get two million dollars for the housing or construction, and then there was organizations philanthropic or county that were going to pay to the operations.

The operations is the hardest part.

So just to clarify, it's a national search.

They have not pre-determined that it would be a national service provider.

Okay.

I thought that's what you said.

Okay.

And then also the for the companies or um projects that are asking for the second bite at the Apple.

I I can recall different projects when the market changed or construction costs changed, that it was again seemingly frowned upon to come back.

Can you tell me what would be the what's the reason that was was it a um was it an estimate or the market change and interest rate, or can you tell me why these three projects would be asking for additional funding?

Sure.

So prior, I'll just give a little context, which is prior to COVID, there really wasn't common that a developer would come back to request additional funding.

During the pandemic, um, a whole range of of things happened, including significant price escalation for construction for construction costs, as well as the delay of many projects.

Um and so one thing to to think about when you provide funding, that funding actually doesn't go into the deal until closing.

And so any anything that changes about the project so in those time delays can impact um the amount of gap that a project has.

So coming out of COVID with your ARPA dollars, the city did provide a number of projects with additional gap funding.

And uh as a as a specific um request for proposals that went out to fill some of those gaps.

Since that time, um you have you have done it on occasion.

Um, and what I would say about these um these three in particular.

So I'm gonna go back to to this again.

Um so when we look at river district departments, this is a development that was funded by city council very early in the process of the development.

So uh much earlier than you as a council would typically make an investment, the commitment of funds to this project was specific so that there would be affordable housing and that it would be part of the first phase of the river district.

So this was originally approved in 2021 and and and funded early on purpose.

I think is what um uh the comments that were made from council at the time.

So a lot has changed since that original approval.

Um, and this project did receive funding in that specific round of ARPA funding.

Um there is now an additional $900,000 gap, and that gap is partly created um by previous commitments from LISC and their funding partners to contribute to the project.

Um they they weren't able from their from their funding partners to meet this commitment um you know four four years later.

Um I think you know staff recommends this and uh to to advance this previously funded development.

Uh the developers have indicated that with this gap funding, they would be able to close financing in November and actually start construction in December.

Um so that's the river district.

And Rebecca, we can go, I'm sorry, we can go over this offline.

I don't want to take up too much time.

It's just that I mean, and not just in in development, but I can think of another situation in the past when when a project or vendors or contractors come before us again to ask for additional funding if the market changed or something changed, and it was and it's not even from you, but it was received differently.

So I just want us to to keep that in mind.

Um, and I would ask the city manager.

So two years is just too long for no family shelter.

There are families that are living in cars, you know, and and that right now.

I just want you all to hear if you're a family with you know who needs a um family shelter, there's just not one available.

So, like I said, we we we did have one that wasn't um continued to be funded, and so now we have this gap.

So I think that we really need to consider doing something before 12 to 24 months because there are families with children that have a need tonight, and there's just nothing.

So thank you.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Uh first, let me thank Rebecca and the team for providing that memo.

Um, so I did my homework over the weekend, and I had an opportunity to review uh what you had sent.

Uh, because I had concerns about non-congregate shelter, especially the cost per room.

We are looking at almost 40 to 68,000 per room cost, which is significantly high than per construction cost per unit.

Um I understand that this is very different because we are we are having on-site medical care and then on-site supportive services.

So it's very different model than our traditional model of building and developing affordable housing.

Uh, certainly I agree with my colleagues, there is a greater need for uh more spaces like emergency shelter that provides non-congregate space uh for those who may not be able to fit into congregate style model.

Uh so I appreciate that, and I understand, and uh I wanted to see if we can look at other examples in the past of similar development that we had approved, and what was the cost.

Certainly the cost has gone up significantly high in past five to six years, but I think that will give us a comparison of how this models we need to have a separate tool to consider this kind of proposals than other model.

Um, I think uh when we use the same template, uh it doesn't do justice to this.

So I think having a separate template just for this kind of proposals uh would be helpful.

Um second, I had an opportunity to review the details for river district as well as Weddington apartments.

I know I had expressed concerns about second or third time the request had come to us for additional funding, and I know that's not certainly something that it's been looked at positively.

Um but I understand when it comes to Weddington apartments, we approved that long time ago uh because of the legal challenges uh and the construction cost has gone up.

Um we have to factor that into per unit cost, and it's still relatively higher than other proposals that we have in front of us, but it's also because of the location, the tax credit has uh now is lower than what it used to be per permit.

Um so there are a lot of factors that have gone into consideration.

I certainly appreciate um hearing from developers.

I did hear from Julie Porter as well as Erin Barby from Dream Key Partners that helped us help me understand some of some of the escalation in construction costs.

What I would like us to do is look at policy when we have uh proposals that come back to us for second time or third time, we need we got to develop some sort of policy about how we how do we address those delays and what criteria we need to set our parameters when proposals come back to us for additional funding.

I right now we don't have anything, so uh I but I think we do need to have something.

Um also for River District, I understand that they had well the challenge that river district apartments had run into was number one that Troy funding uh wasn't delivered to wasn't delivered based on the original commitment.

So and that created a gap.

And the second reason was one of our infrastructure project, which was West Woolworth extension that was delayed.

So if we can get an update as to why that West Bulwark extension was delayed, number one, and number two, also if we can get an update on how are we doing from in terms of fundraising.

I know LISC is in charge of fundraising our CHOIF dollars.

Because if that created a gap, uh I guess the question we have to ask do we always pick up the tab?

Right.

In this case, there was a gap of 400,000.

So LISC had originally committed 3 million.

Let me make sure I'm saying the numbers correctly.

Hold on.

3 million.

And in CHOIF 2, because the project was delayed because of West Bullet extension, CHOIF 2 did not fundraise enough money.

So there was a gap of 400,000.

So original commitment was three million from LISC in under CHOIF 1, but under CHOIF 2, they only provided 2.6 million dollars towards this development.

So that created the gap for the city.

So the question is does the city always pick up the tap, right?

One one note I would make to that, Councilmember Ashmira, while it doesn't exist in your policy.

What staff does any time a developer comes back for additional funding is we first put them through the paces of all of the other available funding sources that they may be eligible for.

And typically we're able to help connect them to at least some funding to help close their gap.

So staff doesn't do we we still do complete underwriting just like we do on the first go round.

And then we look to support them in finding alternative funding sources.

So you do from time to time have developments that come back because other partners in the capital stack haven't been able to meet their full commitment.

And one example recently, the View at Honeywood staff were able to work with them to close that gap in other ways.

Now staff worked very closely with uh River District and Weddington Road to go through that exercise.

And so while there's not a policy, we can assure you that uh under according to the underwriting, um there is a need, and they have evaluated all other uh sources that we would be able to help connect them to.

So, what other sources that uh that you had looked into or that they were connected with?

Yeah, so this this is the kind of question where it would be helpful to have my handy assistant director of affordable housing on hand.

Unfortunately, he's out of town tonight, so I'll have to provide you.

Because I certainly enjoy reading this over the weekend.

Uh but also I think we do need to understand, because I know that LISC gets funding from the city, it's part of our annual process.

They used to be financial partner, now they have moved into uh core partners, what is it called?

Oh, not financial partner where they have to apply every year, but yeah, so I think we need to uh understand how they are doing with fundraising.

In CHOIF One, I appreciate that they were able to help us raise and match our dollars, which was 50 million dollars, with the second phase.

Uh the only reason I found out is because I asked the question why there is additional ask.

Uh so that's when we knew that CHOIF 2 was behind in fundraising, or they weren't able to fundraise as much as they did in CHOIF 1, and that's clearly a concern.

So if we can get an update on that, we'll provide a follow-up report.

Yes, that would be great.

Um and I I understand that there is not a policy, but there is a process underwriting process where we look at other sources, because what I'm worried about is we have finite amount of money, and we've already discussed in housing and safety committee.

I know that councilwoman Mayfield uh always points that out, we have uh during our update you provided that there are uh federal challenges, and we need to be mindful of additional asks that come in front of us as to how do we continue to build more with the limited pool of funding that we have.

Um so I I think we even though you are already going through this exam process of underwriting, we need to codify that in the policy.

If there is an additional ask because the other parties did not meet their commitment, what do we do in that?

Um last but not the left, because we are talking about housing.

I thought I'd bring this up because I read um earlier today in the news that um in 2021 uh we had committed to we had worked with Atrium as they were doing a medical as they were bringing medical campus to our city, we approved a funding to partner with Atrium and the county.

Um, and they were going to incorporate affordable housing in their development.

So I read in the news today news article that was published by CLT Ledger, that as of October 2025, that component had not been realized, which was supposed to be delivered by 2024.

So given the historical significance of Brooklyn development, a Brooklyn neighborhood, and just the our investment in the project, I would like to get an update on how Atrium plans to fulfill on their commitment.

Um if you can provide us a memo, uh that would be great.

And we need concrete timeline and measures in place uh for accountability.

Thank you.

That's all I have.

Thank you so much, madam may.

I won't I don't have a whole lot.

Um my colleagues have said a lot, but I do want to um go back to Councilmember Johnson.

I know you were a lot of times you and I have like minds, and for a great reason we do great work together.

But I did want to speak on Hill Charlotte though.

I know you mentioned their name several times, and when I wasn't on the council, you all were very lenient to Hill Charlotte and Freedom Fighting Missionaries, which are large some sum of money for the great works that they were doing.

For my understanding, Hill Charlotte did not comply and do what he was supposed to do as far as back on the paperwork.

So I do want to speak on that because at the end of the day, when it's all said and done, there's a lot of other organizations that could have received that funding.

And so I'm almost sure, and I'm speaking on facts with the staff that Hill Charlotte wouldn't be eligible to receive funding from us anymore because of not following doing the paperwork.

Now, if you want to follow up on that, and we can circle back around, but I definitely don't want uh they're not there they they've been eliminated for a reason.

And I just wanted to say that on record.

Well uh well, I know that the over 13 I'm sorry.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um in 2013, uh I hadn't been elected yet, and Warren Cookie encouraged me to come along to a community meeting for the original rezoning for this.

600 people were there, and they were all basically protesting.

Oh weddington uh Weddington, yeah, yeah.

I'm sorry, sorry, I'm talking about Weddington.

Is that we're not on Weddington?

No.

Excuse me.

I saw the slide, I was out of the room.

Are we going to talk about Weddington?

Yeah, I was just verifying that that's the one the wedding surviving.

Thank you.

We are talking about Winnington, right?

Okay, all right, thank you.

So that caused then a really citywide discussion about whether or not District 7 was going to allow affordable housing development to occur.

Uh and there was a perception of just hostility down in South Charlotte.

And so uh I really welcome this.

Uh I recognize it's a cost premium, which has to do with the fact that it's expensive, and if our location policy wants dispersion, we have to recognize the costs in some areas are higher than others.

Uh I'm pleased to say that when the community meeting for this took place, there were 30 people there, and they were very calm.

They had routine questions.

We have managed to get several other affordable housing type developments done down in South Charlotte.

So I hope the whole issue of that kind of hostility and resistance uh is no longer a problem, but I'd really think it would be a good thing if we could get this done down there uh to prove a point as well as to create some very useful housing.

Thank you.

Um Ms.

Chatson.

Thank you.

I just wanted to I wasn't I shouldn't have.

Well, I guess I could have referred to Hill Charlotte directly, but I and I don't know if they're eligible in the future or not.

I will say that I know that the work that they did during the year, they were they filled the gap.

And most of the problems didn't start, the public problems didn't start until after they were gone.

I I was referring to a grassroots organization in general, that we have organizations that might have been able to fill this need, and I didn't see the need for a national uh organization to come in and fill the gap.

Thank you.

All right.

I believe that everyone has had an opportunity to speak on this topic.

And I'm I'm really glad that people are determined to have a process that works for us and our neighborhoods and our friends and people that are with us that we need to make sure have the ability to be their very best self.

So I'm going to close out this one and um we'll go moving to the Metropolitan Public Transportation Authority appointment process.

So this is our first action review item as we've set aside additional time.

Okay, I I don't know what that does, but set aside for different time.

Um so for council to discuss and build consensus around the process that will be used for appointments to the Metropolitan Public Transportation Authority Board.

Council has provided feedback since the last discussion on October the 6th, and I would like to ask Councilmember Mitchell to lead us through the updated revised process recommendations.

Thank you, thank you, Mayor and Council.

Let me first start off by thanking my uh ride or die committee members, Councilmember Mayfield, Councilmember Driggs, who we we have met on Sunday, Friday, every day except for Saturday, right?

To try to bring back a recommend uh process recommendation for you all.

And let me thank staff.

Uh interim city attorney Anthony Fox, uh Liz Batson, pose list.

I would not call you on the weekend anymore, Liz.

And then our city clerk uh Stephanie Kelly.

Mayor, you mentioned on October 6th, we heard loud and clear from council members, you gave us great feedback on three key areas.

One, you wanted more opportunity to give input on which candidates will be interviewed, more input into the questions that would be asked, and ability for council members to attend the interviews.

And as you see as we move forward, I think we have addressed all three of those.

So let me walk through the recommendation process we'd like to present to you today.

October 14th, and Amanda has already confirmed we'll do a special delivery.

You will receive all currently, right now, the 126 applications as of 145 today.

126.

It will be closed at midnight tonight, Councilmember Brown.

And so on Tuesday, you'll get a special delivery of all application resume.

Then we ask you on October 20th, our partners, the Alliance, Foundation for Carolinas, and the mayor will give us their nominations, they'll be making.

Then council, loud and clear, we'd like to get your input on the top three applicants per category.

And so when you receive your special delivery package tomorrow, city staff, uh Stephanie Kelly Department will break down each by category.

Thank you, thank you, Councilmember Mayfield.

She is handing out the current list of 126 applicants we have received.

On October 22nd, we will notify all 27 applicants of the schedule and who will be moving forward to the interview.

October 27 through the 31st, Councilmember Driggs, Councilmember Mayfield and myself will be conducting interviews, and we invite all council members to attend.

Give us some flexibility.

I'm sorry, let me rephrase that.

We'll have a group of 22 questions, and we will ask each interviewer 11 questions each.

Flip forward.

Are you clarifying a lot of the one?

Yeah, oh thank you, Councilman Mayfield.

And and so for in Council, this was tough for us because you realize if Dr.

Waddlington interviews on Monday, Councilmember Mitchell interviews on Friday, Council Mitchell has an advantage.

Because four days of interviewing has taken place and they have heard the same question.

And so if you allow us to have some flexibility, we want to be consistent, but we also want to have a different quest so we we can ask through the through the process.

So that's why we're saying give us a total of 22, and each applicant though will be asked, will be asked 11 questions.

Councilmember Mayfield.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

And just for clarity on that, for that day of interviews, everyone will be asked the same question on that day.

But since this process is going to be public, we didn't want to give our unfair advantage by just having one set of questions as Councilmember Mitchell mentioned, where you get a chance to think on it or do a little bit more research.

So out of the total 22 questions, it will be mixed up, but everybody that's on the schedule for that day will be asked the same question.

Thank you, Councilmember Mayfield.

November uh next slide, please.

Thank you.

On November 6th, then the work group will make recommendations and we will rank them first, second, and third per category.

This will be included in your package, so you will receive November 6th.

And part of our normal nominating process on November 10th, each council member would nominate one applicant, and then the final vote.

If no one receives six, then the final vote will be on November 24th.

We have a timeline.

Next slide, please.

So here's a timeline, council of kind we have laid everything out.

October 14th is a big day for all of us.

You will receive every resume and every application.

October 22nd, we will make a list of those who you have asked to move forward for the interview process.

In the interview process, we're going to encourage as many of you all, Councilmember Johnson brought up a good point.

So we're going to make this virtual as well as in person.

Now the three of us will be in person.

You can join us if you want to, or you can do the leisure of your home to join us up virtually.

All appointments must be approved, and then the authority actually uh per mo you the first day is January the first, 2026.

Mayor Pro Tim, at this time I entertain any questions from council.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Any questions for the group?

Sounds like you did a fantastic job.

No questions.

Thank you, Council.

Thank you, committee.

Okay.

Okay.

Miss Azure.

So thank you to the committee.

Thank you.

Um for putting in a lot of work and meeting over the weekend to meet the timeline.

A couple of questions.

So you said there will be 27 people that you that the committee will be interviewing.

Yes.

That's from the input from council members.

You're gonna be ranking one, two, and three.

And so you will be giving input.

And one thing is not on here should be we're using Survey Monkey.

Uh yes.

Oh, to make it easy to vote.

Right, to make it easy to vote.

So yeah, we we missed that.

We uh yeah, it's there, it's on the bottom.

Okay, thank you.

We're using Survey Monkey to make it very easy.

So I'd like to thank Councilmember Mayfield for introducing technology to make it simple for two.

So if each council member selects three people, no, no, no, no, three per category.

Three per category.

Yes.

Remember, we have not yes.

We have nine categories.

There you go.

So each person selects three.

Yes, right.

That's 27.

Yeah, so that's 27.

Okay.

So each person selects three, but that doesn't mean all three will be interviewed.

That's correct.

There you go, only the top, based on all of us.

Okay, so we have to rank them.

That's right.

Okay.

So the survey survey monkey will tell us one, two, and three.

You got it.

Got it.

Okay.

Uh but the results.

Would we all get the results at the same time?

Yes, we will.

Yes, we will.

The results should come back.

Can we turn to the slide?

October 22nd.

Yes.

You will have the results.

Okay, so no one can see who selected what until then.

Right.

Got it.

Okay.

And um, what nine categories are this, if you can remind me?

Ooh.

Oh, law, logistics, transportation, public transportation, small business, architect, urban planning, and accounting.

And transportation.

But also remember the attorney said that we have the ability to interpret that.

So as an example, you're a 30-plus year bus driver, you got transportation experience.

So council member Mayfield um made a very good point.

Because there will be there might be an individual that might meet multiple categories.

And we're leaving that up to you.

You can have the application and the resume.

So we're empowering you to make that decision.

Okay, so you will select top from each one of us to interview as part of this 27 members interview panel.

Yes.

Got it.

Yeah.

Survey market will.

Okay, I got it.

Um and then you guys will make recommendations first, second, and third.

Correct.

After the interview.

So how many will be in the first, how many will be in the second, and how many will be in the third?

Um first will be nine.

Okay, second would be nine, and third would be nine.

Okay.

And so our appointments are only seven, because two are mayoral appointments.

Correct.

So are you making a point suggest recommendations to mayoral appointments as well, or that's independent?

That's independent.

Remember, you have the mayor or two appointments, you have business alliance has two, and foundation of Carolina has one.

Okay, so even from the first, we still have two extras.

Let's say in the first because you are you're recommending nine people in each category.

Recommending three people per each category, not nine.

We got first and second and third, and you said nine, nine, nine each, right?

Right.

But first we'll recommend nine, right?

Represent each category.

Right.

Okay, so it's still one per category.

There you go.

That's right.

But then there are nine people.

There are nine categories, but there are only seven appointments.

That's correct.

So we we're hoping some of the appointments that are made will help us fit those other categories.

Oh, so hopefully the mayor will use that recommendation to fit the remaining.

Yes.

To ensure that there is a balanced representation.

Exactly right.

Got it.

Well, certainly you all have figured this out.

Uh I will say that one of my uh concerns when you all presented this last week was that the committee would make no recommendations to keep this process as fair, as objective, as transparent as possible.

Um that concern is still not addressed.

Um so I will certainly keep some of these recommendations in mind, but at the end of the day, the council will ultimately make their own decision.

Exactly right, Miss Edmir.

We and we want to make sure it follows our normal process, so we want to make sure council still had the ability to vote.

Oh, that's all I have.

Thank you.

Okay.

Okay.

Uh Mr.

Graham.

Thank you.

Um, I just want to make sure that it still holds true that the other appointments will be made prior to our appointment.

Yes.

That's the mayor, the the foundation, and the CELC.

So council graham, we hope to get those on October 20 correct before you stop voting.

Okay.

Yes, sir.

And and while we're dividing the list by categories, there may be, for an example, five candidates that we like in law, but maybe none in logistics.

So do we have to be forced to vote for someone in logistics?

And in this process.

Those are just qualifiers, right?

So you can have five in one category and maybe zero another one, right?

The payback describes what categories for membership are appropriate.

Yeah.

It doesn't mandate though that you have to have a specific number of uh representation from each category.

Yeah, yeah.

So again, just wanted to point that out.

And uh and I sent a memo to all the council members in terms of things that were important to me.

That I wish that you guys would ask, right?

But I'm with council member Ash Mayor, I will support it for sure.

But uh, you know, those things are important to me.

And those are the type of qualifications and skill sets that I'm looking for, and someone that I will win my support to, certainly someone who can hit the ground running on day one and require leadership positions as committee chairs and even chair the board, and someone that's willing to commit the time.

It's gonna be a lot of time.

So we don't need folks that just want to see their name on the letter head.

We need folks that's willing to commit the time right up front as we kind of put together an organization.

So I think that's really critical.

Um the time commitment, are they willing to put in the time?

And then, secondly, issues that we talked about before surround displacement, uh small business, uh, i.e.

minority business, we can outreach for sure to those communities to let them know what the opportunities are.

No goals, outreach.

I think that's really important.

And so hopefully that would be some guiding principles.

And I'm hopefully the other council members will do the same, but I support the process, but I think the um we gotta get it right.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Wattlington.

Thank you.

Um, I have a few questions just as I'm listening to this conversation.

I think I'm some things I thought I understood are a little bit different than what I anticipated.

So what you all are suggesting, like building on what council member Graham was asking, given that there is no mandate that there's one of each category, and we're not assigning people to particular categories to be judged against each other within a framework, it feels quite possible that we could end up clipping people out of the process simply because I might have made this person my top three in logistics, and you made that person your top three in law, and we don't actually end up with a real representation of the preferences of the group.

Um did I understand that correctly, first of all.

City attorney for the interpretation.

I guess she actually do we're the process is uh processed based upon the selection within the categories, the top three of each category.

There's no mandate though that you have to select based upon the categories, and there's also no consistency in terms of where this person would be considered.

I just think about what you're doing.

But the reality is that you've got an applicant pool of 130 some people, many of whom include multiple categories in their own uh description and application.

And record and the the PAVE Act really just requires uh qualifications or demonstrated experience, and they have proffered that in their application.

Yeah, so thank you.

I just want to be careful.

I think about some time ago with the budget conversation, Councilmember Mayfield had gone through an exercise, and there were questions about if this particular organization had been in a different category, they may have made it into the process.

Um, and so I'm just reminded of that, and I'm very concerned that we may be putting ourselves, we're putting boundaries around the process such that the integrity of the selection may be impacted.

When I say integrity, I don't mean how people are choosing, but the the that the choices reflect the actual preferences of the body.

Um I think we're we're running a very significant risk in that regard.

Um, I like that there that you all have done a lot of work to get us here.

Um with that, I hear some of my colleagues say appreciate the recommendations, I'll keep these in mind.

But at the end of the day, the council will determine who ends up in the seats.

So with that, then I want to make sure last time we spoke.

Um, we talked about if somebody was to go through the list and say, hey, this person I want them interviewed that they could be added to the list.

Um has that changed?

Yes.

Well, so Dr.

Wallington, we hope in the first part that with all council input that we would get down to 27.

That this council say well, we want to move to the to the next phase of interviewing.

Right.

No, I appreciate that that's the the should, but in the event that we look across and we say, hey, we got some gaps here.

I want to make sure that it's clear that from where I sit, I would expect that we have that conversation.

And if we've got to add some folks and there's some flexibility there, then we can do that.

I think even Council McGraham made a comment last time.

Uh it's about quality.

Exactly.

And not quantity.

And I think we all was open to have that conversation if we don't if we don't have the right quality, we think.

Um okay, so then the other question that I had is around well, two more.

Number one, evaluation criteria was mentioned that there would be another priorization by the work group based on the interview.

Um can you just help me understand?

When you say prioritization, does that mean that you all are going to reduce the number or are you simply assigning okay?

Yeah, reduce no mail.

Okay, and that evaluation criteria is going to be developed by whom, or is it already here somewhere?

It's it'll be developed by the work group.

Give us a little latitude because we didn't want to uh publicly announce it, but you you would see that once we see the recommendation, how what was our criteria?

Once we see the I'm not sure I understand the last part of what you said.

Once you receive what recommendation, we want to be careful and make sure that uh those who will be interviewed will be interviewed based on the uh loving question we'll be at asking them and start and not be interviewed based on the right the criteria we are using.

Is that better?

I'm I may be the only one that doesn't understand, so I don't understand I think I'll jump in.

I think the goal of the committee from what I heard is to make sure you don't put criteria out there that forecast what the interview process and selection process is going to be because applicants will then tell her their interviews to that criteria.

Okay, that's why the interest, as I understood, was not too publish the criteria, but to share with the council after that the the rated uh list was provided to the council okay, okay, and then finally, um I think I just want to be sure and I've had some conversations.

We we talked about this the last time we had this conversation around here, and I've had some conversations offline with the um architects of the bill.

Um as we talk about how we do our appointments, ultimately statutorily they are council appointments, but we are saying as a group that we would like to take two of those appointments and make a selection upon the recommendation of the mayor, somewhere that needs to be codified.

So is this this um presentation going to show up as a council policy?

I think what you're referring to is that the governing body makes the appointments, right?

And the governing body makes the appointment for all 12.

Right.

I don't think I think that's the codification right there.

Where the 12th comes comes from is a product of this board adopting the recommendations, be it from the um alliance or from the foundation of the Carolinas or from the mayor.

But the ultimate action will be this body as the governing body making the appointment of the 12 individuals.

Understood.

The difference between the two is that the foundation and the business community is in the statute, but there is no documentation that says the mayoral recommendation will be yielded to for these appointments.

So if we want to do that, and it sounds like there's a will for that, it needs to be documented as part of a policy somewhere because it's not in the statute.

I think the action that's required and contemplated under the act is the appointment to be made by the governing body.

Right.

How the governing body gets at those appointments is not the act is silent on that.

Exactly.

So it doesn't say we need to document it.

But you don't want to codify everything, otherwise you're gonna codify the selection criteria of how you determine the number of membership.

And I'm okay if we do that too, because three years from now, if someone says, all right, there's a vacancy here.

Well, that was something that was a person that was recommended by the mayor, but that was just tradition, there's no guarantee at that point that the mayor will be able to make a recommendation there.

Like we do things by tradition, but if we don't document it via some kind of standing policy, then down the road we're having conversations as to whether or not we execute to that same standard.

And I think that's gonna cause us some issues later on.

Let me try this on then.

Why wouldn't you just do the appointment of the 12 by resolution of the council?

The resolution will spell out who the appointees are and what seats they sit in.

I'm fine with that.

Um, as long as the resolution is not just for that day, but it is spelling out this is going to be the ongoing process unless and until the council makes a change.

Can I ask the maybe that final question?

So just I think I hear what you're saying, Dr.

Waddlington, because it's not about mayor, it's about the office of the mayor.

Correct.

And in perpetuity to have the language in place and have it on record that the office of the mayor for these appointments will have two recommendations.

Appointments, and that stays with the office of the mayor.

Correct.

That I just wanted to make sure that I was hearing you.

Thank you.

Yep.

Okay, so with that said, then whenever this official vote comes to place, we'll see it as I hear from you.

If nobody else has an issue with that, we will see it as a resolution.

Yeah.

All right.

Um thank you for that.

So I appreciate that.

I think I understand where we are.

I think I sit somewhere near where the other two council members have said that certainly appreciate the recommendations, um, reserve the right to to execute to deliver the quality.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um Ms.

Johnson.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tim.

I just want to clarify.

Um Councilmember Mitchell, you said on 1020, the Alliance will make the recommendations.

Did you also say the mayor would make her recommendations at that time?

Yes.

Okay.

Because um, the mayor will make her recommendations, and then each council member will have nine recommendations.

27.

Each council member would have three recommendations per category.

So that's nine categories.

So 27.

Each council-seven.

So this so potentially we could have what's that number?

281 or something potentially.

So but you're not going to interview all of our recommendations.

You want to narrow that number down to 27.

The survey market would narrow it down.

Service survey monkey.

Okay.

And then the interviews start on what date?

Uh Amanda, can you bring up uh interview will start October 27th through through October 31st.

And then election day is what date?

Election date is November 4th.

So what is the hurry that we wouldn't wait until after to see if the referendum passes?

Because if it didn't pass, then you've interviewed 27 people.

There's a lot of time the council is is spending on this.

Um what is the harm waiting an additional week?

Uh that's a good question.

I think from a time frame Stephanie Kelly was a product, I think it was a product of the memorandum of understanding that was entered into by this council as well as by the county, and that was brought before this board and agreed to by this body.

Okay.

But I mean, do you understand what I'm saying?

Because I think we have this, we have to stand by December 3rd.

Right.

But yes.

So if you started the interviews on December 5th, I mean November 5th, you still would have time.

I mean, that's just something to think about from a practical perspective.

That was just, I mean, it's an it's a week, and then if it didn't pass, I mean, we really are moving forward.

We really should take transparency to into consideration when we're hearing from people.

I mean, it's not to appear tone-deaf.

Um, you also mentioned something, Mr.

Fox, that I want to clarify what you said.

You said that we're not publicizing the eligibility because we don't want we don't want people to um prepare their interview based on the eligibility.

Or can you repeat what you said?

I said that we're the committee's discussion centered around not publicizing the criteria under which they will re they'll rank the applicants because the applicants, if they are aware of the criteria, may be able to tell her their their interviews according to the end result that you're measuring.

So this is a public position.

And when we're uh issuing like RFPs, the criteria is listed and it's a transparent process.

I just think that's something we should think about.

This is a public seat, and if I think as much should be publicized as possible, I ask for uh a website or something.

I want for for the public to really feel like they're engaged in this process, and so I think even a uh a matrix or metrics would be appropriate in this pos in this situation so that the public knows how this is being evaluated.

I think the eligibility should be publicized before and after.

How are these individuals selected?

I think we really really need to be intentional about this.

We have a reputation, council members, and if we want to change it, you have to do things differently.

So I think this is an opportunity to do things differently.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tim.

I don't uh disagree with Ms.

Johnson.

I won't be here after the fourth, so it doesn't matter.

I don't support it anyway.

But I do support you, um, Mr.

Mitchell for your process, even though I don't support the referendum and I will be voting no and encouraging others to do so.

I support your work.

And so since I sit on the council, I do want the work to be as transparent as it possibly can.

I think you worked hard, you called everybody to get their opinion, even me coming off the airplane to speak with you to see if I had any questions.

So if it went to after November 4th, it would not hurt my feelings at all.

It would be a problem for the new council, and I wouldn't have to worry about it.

But your process that you and uh your colleagues, the board have worked on.

I I take um dignity in you going back and receiving what we did on last week, took it, took our feedback, work with it, try to work through some of the puzzles and the pieces.

So I do appreciate that.

So if you move forward, I'm good.

I'm gonna do my due diligence, look through the list, make my recommendation, listen to the interviews, and listen attentively because if I start to go through this list, some folks should be exed off already.

I'm just saying that's just my brown.

And um, I'm still gonna be as fair as I possibly can be or need to be.

And if it's somebody I don't think I can be fair on just recuse myself away from those folks, Ms.

Johnson, I don't disagree with what you just said.

I yield.

Thank you.

Uh Mr.

Mitchell, I wanna I want to um I I wanted the opportunity to speak, and then we can circle back around.

Okay.

Yeah, I have you, I have you.

I just haven't spoken yet, so I wanted to um thank you in the the work group for the work that you're you've done.

I I really appreciate the fact that we have a process, um, and you guys were very thoughtful about that, and um we'll still have the opportunity to debate and discourse after we've gone through that process.

So um we have a process to guide us, but it's not so rigid that we we're not able to have discourse and debate at the end, especially as we look at where we're at as it relates to uh the individuals who make it through, and then thinking about if there are any potential holes, as was said before, maybe there might be some duplication in certain um groups, and we might have some holes here and there.

So to be able to streamline that um through debate and discourse is is very helpful.

I also think we should start immediately.

I I think we you know this is a serious process, and we don't know how long our our debate will will actually uh take.

So I want to make sure we utilize maximize the time that we have we we didn't we didn't have the capacity to dictate how much time we have, but we need to utilize and leverage as much of that time um as possible.

I'm also encouraged by the number of people who have applied, and that's that's that's quite a bit, and you have um you have applications represented throughout all seven districts, which is also very good.

So I will lean in and join you in the interview process that day and uh just provide as much of support as I can to the working group.

Okay, all right.

I have uh Miss Mayfield, did you want to speak again?

Okay, I had uh Miss Ash on the committee.

Thank you.

I have Miss Ashmir, and then I have Mr.

Graham So I just wanted to follow off Mr.

Mitchell, committee chairman.

I know you had mentioned that there are nine recommendations in the first category that your committee will be making, and even though the council only has seven appointments, the remaining two will be recommended to the mayor, but I know that your committee is making recommendations on November 6th while the mayor makes her appointments on 20th.

October's on October 20th, but you will be making recommendations on the 6th November.

November 6th.

Right.

October, November, October 20th.

The mayor make a recommendation.

That's what I'm saying.

So if your committee is making recommendations on the sixth of nine people, where two are for the mayor, right?

Then that's late because the mayor makes recommendations.

Mayor makes the appointments on October 20th.

November 6th is after October 20th.

So why are we late?

No.

So the mayor will make her appointments on October 20th.

Correct.

Right?

Correct.

And you are the committee is making recommendations, nine recommendations on November 6th, but two are meant for the mayor.

Correct.

Right.

We'll make hers.

But she would so you would give her your recommendations ahead of time.

No, I would tell you the recommendations ahead of time.

You would know more.

They're her recommendations.

No, I'm saying because you said there are extra two recommendations you're making.

You're making nine recommendations.

And we only have seven appointments.

The mayor's two makes nine.

Yeah, Hugo.

So council member Mitchell, the mayor will have already made her appointments.

Exactly.

So our nine is outside of the mayor's appointment.

Okay.

Ours are only seven.

Yes, we only have seven.

Oh, well, that's okay.

You were saying nine, the whole okay.

So of our 20 of our 27 recommendations, only seven will be recommended.

Only seven be recommended by city council.

Okay.

Good point.

Right.

Yeah.

Okay.

Another thing.

So I know that evaluation criteria.

We talked about this last Monday, where we wanted this process to be as transparent, as objective, and as factual as possible.

But if you're not putting out the evaluation criteria, that takes that um transparency away from the process.

I believe that we need to have evaluation criteria so we know how we are evaluating each candidate based on uh council's input.

Um I know that's not in your in this process, but I believe that the committee should come back and tell us here are the evaluation criteria.

They will before the after the interviews done, you guys will come back.

Yes, let me put it on record.

So after the interview, we will come back and share with council evaluation criteria.

Okay.

Yes.

Okay.

With council and the public.

Thank you, Councilman.

Yes, that that would help with transparency.

And uh I just want to highlight um another point.

I know that there in PAVE Act, there are it specifically highlights that lobbyists and elected officials cannot serve uh on this authority board.

Does it have anything about potential conflict of interest uh with development or any of that?

It does not, and it says specifically with regards to elected official, says a member cannot concurrently serve as elected official and be on the authority.

Okay, so what happens if there is uh significant development interest?

Would that in candidate or they are trying to get uh business uh from that authority?

Would that prevent them or would they be required to do disclosure?

Would there be any requirement for economic of interest form like we fill we complete you've got to remember that we're standing up an authority authorities yet to be formed?

The authority will adopt the pro appropriate policies and procedures which may include appropriate conflict of interest provisions at the time of the at the time they have said still up.

That's all I have, thank you.

Thank you, uh Mr.

Graham.

Uh I yield, thank you.

Okay, Miss Brown.

Miss Brown, did you have a did you say Mr.

Graham?

Oh now?

Oh yeah, yeah.

That's all you know.

Yeah, cool.

Uh great, thank you.

I didn't know it was coming around to me that fast.

So I have a couple questions here.

I've already uh spoke my piece, but um as far as how I favor it, but I want to know, and this is coming from some constituents that are watching online, and just because I you know use my position as its intended purpose to for the people have there historically um been a board that's sets his own salary or has its own tax and authority, and then why does um where where or why doesn't the history of this process the mayor getting two votes uh factor in?

That's just coming from folks that are watching and wanted me to ask the question.

So of course I'm gonna act to Mayor, uh Mr.

Attorney, did you want to attorney?

The the pay what powers we have to set up this board, our powers derived from the general assembly.

The general assembly coming from Raleigh.

Coming from Raleigh, they established the criteria under which this act, I mean this this authority can be stood up.

They provided in the PAVE Act the ability for the authority to set compensation.

There's no compensation to date, and we don't know if they'll exercise that authority.

The issue, moving to your next issue with regards to the mayoral vote.

I mean, mayor ability, the mayor's ability to select two candidates.

That was discussed by this board with regards to the tradition and precedent that this board has established in the years past.

The council.

Okay.

And it was and uh while it was not in writing, the process and the tradition had been to cede a third of appointments to boards and commission to the mayor.

I think this was a compromise to between this is important.

This was a compromise from three from a third to allow the mayor to have two members, and the committee chair can speak to that better than me to carry forth that tradition.

Okay, committee chair, I'm listening.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Right.

Right.

So to madam, go ahead.

Councilmember Brown to assist with that because historically, one paying respect to the office of the mayor.

So the mayor has always had the ability to do additional appointments outside of our appointments for committees.

So initially, what was submitted was that the mayor would have three votes.

We reached out in order to at least have seven for counsel, had a conversation with the mayor, still respecting the office of the mayor, or if you having more than one vote that we have, the mayor did concede to say, okay, we will give that one versus us having six and her having three, because the other challenge was the fact that those three seats were taken from us right off the top, with us being told to have to be from Greater Sharp Alliance, one has to be for Foundation for Carolinas, because initially we thought we had 12 seats, but in actual actuality it was nine minus two to respect the office of the mayor, and also thinking about what council member Wallington shared tonight as far as putting the language in place, just thinking in perpetuity, the office of the mayor having the ability to have a minimum of two votes with council having one.

So that's how we got to that number, because initially what was presented back to us had the mayor having three votes, but she was gracious enough.

So what we originally received in the PAVE Act, where it broke down, here's the appointments, also recognizing that historically for any of our nominations, the mayor's the office of the mayor, whoever the mayor is, the office of the mayor has always had access for additional votes.

You mean to receive something.

Yeah.

So Stephanie Kelly said part of the advisor handbook, it states there that the mayoral the mayor has three appointments to all our boards and commissions.

So from that perspective, we were utilizing the current language of appointments, and was able to have the discussion, and the mayor graciously was like, Yeah.

Okay.

So this board would be no exception to all the other boards and commissions that we have.

Is that what I'm saying?

Because this board is so important once it's set up.

So for you know, normally we just read through the applications, maybe reach out, solicit each other to say, hey, can I get your support on this particular person when we do our regular nominations?

The difference here is the way that we the three of us worked on this was to say, okay, every council member gets to submit three names for each category to give us a robust number.

Every council member has the ability to be a part of the interview process if they choose to.

But by us doing it on Survey Monkey, that takes us out of the process, and we don't even see it until we receive the information back because clerk's office as well as human resources work together from where we've used Survey Monkey before to do like the managers review and other things to make sure that it is a fully transparent process as far as you are choosing your top three for each of these categories and submitting it, and then the system's gonna calculate for us to know where the majority aligned.

But this is still the time as council that we reach out and have conversation with each other.

Right.

So that's all I'm doing is to ask some questions.

And so going back to you, uh attorney Fox, please, if you don't mind, you said that um we were established the guidelines, which would probably be done.

I'm gone and the C to speak about a new council member, but I wanted to ask, you said that there was not any specification on a salary right now, and it may not be a salary.

Yes, the payback just merely provides that the authority once it's stood up, could could address compensation, but it does not mandate compensation, nor does it set any compensation for any member of the um of the authority.

So the body, the council, the sitting council, when that comes in front of them will make that decision.

Yes, they will have the opportunity if that's presented to them.

Yes, sir.

Thank you so much for answering my question.

Okay, we have one more comment and then we'll move forward.

I have Miss Watlington with a final comment.

Thank you.

I just wanted to circle back in light of the conversation that um council member mayfield just shared.

Um this you need I'm looking at the uh board member handbook.

Am I to understand that this is the policy that captures appointments?

Because if so, rather than the resolution that you mentioned earlier, if this is speaking to the composition of each board, this would be where I would expect it to be reflected.

I don't know.

Are you looking at the appointment process language?

Um I'm looking at I just got in here.

I'm looking at the handbook for advisory board, commission, and committee members, a comprehensive guide to the city of Charlotte's boards, commissions, and committees.

And so I think what I just heard Charlotte and C Doug G O V.

Uh yes.

Okay, and she's on the City of Charlotte's website, and then typed in yeah, so and I just Googled it.

I just said the City of Charlotte uh boards and commissions handbook.

I think and what that provision provides for is with few exceptions, appointment powers are divided on a one-third and two-thirds ratio between the mayor and the council member.

So that policy will give the mayor more votes than what is before the board tonight.

Exactly, which is why I think that it the exception needs to be noted in here for this particular board.

That way we don't put a policy in place that's inconsistent with the existing policy.

Again, the resolution and the appointment process will mirror and reflect the appropriateness of the action taken by this body, right?

And I'm fine with that.

In addition to that, this book, if this is where the policy that we have today, the overarching policy sits, it needs to be called out here.

We can call that out.

That's an externally facing document, though, not a policy of this board.

Oh, well, then what I just heard is that we use this as a guideline.

But if this is not our policy, then it seems like it wasn't intended for us to use it's externally facing.

Either way, let's just make sure that these match.

Okay.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Did you have any yes?

Uh well, m oh okay.

I thought Mr.

Peacock had raised his hand.

Yes, he did.

Mr.

Peacock.

I just wanted to compliment the chair.

Thank you for doing a great job.

I like how we have um used what I'll call a sorting, not a screening tool.

Um, and I think it's very fair because we're gonna be able to see everything throughout the entire process.

So, Mr.

Chair, I'm making a recommendation that uh making a motion that we move forward with the council's work group process recommendation today.

That's my motion.

Love to have a second.

We need um we have a motion on the floor.

Do we have a second?

Second.

I know we've had a lot of discussion, so I think that we can probably uh make a determination.

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

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, plus, all right.

And so we have those anyone in our position.

Miss Wallett Miss Johnson and Miss Brown and Miss Brown.

Okay, so that means that we'll move forward.

So right now we are um getting ready for our business meeting.

Thank you, Polly.

I know.

I just want to say um this is really good.

But now let's go ahead.

We need to.

I'm sorry.

Do you want to close session?

Oh my gosh.

We have four closed sessions tonight.

We have four close.

Can we begin now?

We we have a council meeting as well.

So the question is what?

Well, that's what we're going to talk about right now.

So um, I think that it would be a good one.

I can not, I cannot hear.

You want me to take it mayor?

I think Anthony.

Yeah.

You want to go ahead and all right.

We're the city attorney has suggested that we have this close, the first closed session in this space, and he's going to give us a mo a resolution.

Or notice.

I think there's a the the plan is to have a closed session on economic development here.

And then when we go to chamber to the chamber, we will have a closed session at the end of that meeting as well.

The closed session here is in the motion should be to go into closed session pursuant to one forty three dash three eighteen eleven A four to discuss matters relating to the locational expansion of industries or other businesses in the area served by the public body, including agreement on a tentative list of economic development incentives that may be offered by the public body in negotiations.

So moved.

We have a motion and seconds.

And is there a second?

Somebody please.

Okay, we have a second.

All in favor, please raise your hands.

Can we have a discussion?

About that.

Do we I'm can we discuss?

Can we do one thing at finish the motion first?

No, you have a discussion before you take the vote.

Powerful discussion.

You do.

Okay, we want to have a discussion first.

Yes, thank you.

So we're going to have a closed session and then go down to our council meeting.

We still have business things to do.

Are are there um guests in the chamber?

Yes.

Yes.

Since six thirty.

So shouldn't we have go to our meeting and then have our closed sessions afterwards?

I think that this would be our it depends on what you want to do.

You want to be here longer after the night, or we have two that we believe that are economic development that may not take as much time.

So do your your choice.

I'd rather go down with the public.

We're an hour late.

All right, the rest of the members?

No, let's let's get to economic now and then legal.

Okay, so that's second and a second.

We'll do the two AD up here.

I know we're that's what I'm saying.

We have a motion and a second for the two that would be economic development to be done now.

All right, so all in favor?

All right, I think that passes.

So anyone opposed, feel free to say that to as well.

Okay.

Thank you so much.

Who's gonna introduce this?

And thank you for joining us here in person and those watching online for our October 13th council business meeting.

Um, let's start with introductions around the dais, and we'll start with our city clerk.

Good evening, Stephanie Kelly, City Clerk.

Hello, wonderful folks.

Thank you for joining us.

I'm Council Member Brown, District Three.

Good evening, I am Marjorie Molina.

I represent District Five.

Good evening, I'm Renee Johnson, and I'm honored to represent District Four.

Marcus Jones, City Manager.

Dr.

Anderson, Mayor Pro Tem, District 1.

Edries, District 6.

Good evening, Lawana Mayfield, Councilmember at large.

Good evening, Victoria Wattlington.

Councilmember at Larch.

Welcome, Dimpoin Jair at Large.

Did I miss okay?

Introduce yourself.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Good evening.

Council member James Mitchell at large.

Oh, did I mention that the Panthers are undefeated at home?

Come on.

Come on.

I know what's coming.

I didn't know.

No, no, no.

Not enough anyway.

So we came on Sunday.

All right.

They need to win away.

Mr.

Graham.

Introduction.

Now from Graham District 2.

All right.

Thank you, everyone for joining us tonight.

Um, we began our meeting with an invocation, which is an expression, our inspiration, followed by our pledge of allegiance.

The invocation is intended to solemnize our work and our proceedings.

We celebrate the religious diversity of our community, including those without a religious faith.

Tonight, Councilmember Brown will give our invocation.

Yes, ma'am.

Give me a second.

Can you believe I wrote something down?

Okay, thank you so much.

So I am very spiritual.

So if you like, you can bow your heads.

If not, you don't have to.

But God, we come before you tonight with humble hearts and grateful spirits.

We thank you for the opportunity to serve, for the chance to lead, to listen, and to lift the people up of this great city.

As we sit here, as I sit here for the last time, I'm reminded of the leadership, and I say the last time for invocation.

Politics and purpose.

Remind us that every decision in this chamber affects the lives of real people, workers, families, children, neighborhoods across Charlotte.

God, this city, the 14th largest city in the United States, home of one of the six busiest airports in the world, and our top economic driver is thriving on paper.

Yet too many people who help make it thrive can't afford to live here.

Our airport workers, our service workers, our unhoused brothers and sisters, they deserve more than an applause.

They deserve action.

Help us, Lord, to make people our number one agenda.

Not just when it's convenient, not just when it's popular, but especially when it's hard.

Because putting politics over people is unacceptable.

And it always will be.

Tonight, I ask for your covering over this council, our mayor, the old, and especially the new.

Guide their words, purify their motives, and fill their hearts with compassion.

May they remember that leadership is a calling, one that demands courage, humility, and integrity.

May they remember that leadership is a calling, one that demands courage, humility, and integrity, and may the season of service on this council, and as my season of service on this council comes to a close, I thank you, God for trusting me with this assignment for allowing me to serve your people to speak unapologetically in my truth, using the voice that you gave me, standing on purpose.

May I continue to serve and be of good service in this community, not just in the building and business, but justice, love, and humanity for all.

And what you don't recommend.

We also want to have a proclamation because we know that this is the month for Hispanic Heritage Month.

And I do believe that we have some people that we're going to provide this proclamation to.

And so, Mayor Pro Tim.

Absolutely.

Whereas for decades, each year, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15th to October 15th, by celebrating the histories, culture, and contributions of American citizens, residents, and immigrants of Hispanic origin from Mexico, Central America, South America, the Caribbean, and Spain.

And whereas in September 1968, 55 years ago, Congress and President Lyndon B.

Johnson proclaimed National Hisp Hispanic Heritage Month, and whereas in 1988, 35 years later, Congress and President Ronald Reagan expanded the celebration of the Hispanic presence in the United States of America to a month-long commemoration.

And whereas every year, the United States Congress and the White House call for public officials, educators, librarians, and all Americans to observe National Hispanic Heritage Month with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs, and whereas, according to the Office of the U.S.

Census, Mecklenburg County is home to a hundred and seventy thousand Latinos.

And whereas the City of Charlotte recognizes the extraordinary contributions made to this community by immigrants, residents, and citizens of the Latino origin.

Now today, she by Alexander Lyles, the mayor of Charlotte, does hereby proclaim the month of September 15th to October 15th, 2025 as Hispanic Heritage Month in Charlotte and commends its observance to all citizens, and it's signed by her hand.

And I am so pleased to present this to some of our fantastic community leaders who have been doing work.

Great chat.

Okay, not all the pretty pictures over there now.

All right, thank you so much.

You know how much we appreciate you.

Thank you for being here.

So thank you, Mayor Pro Tem for that reading of our first um item.

So, but before we move on, I'd like to ask the clerk to um provide us the information that we need for our closed sessions.

One of them businesses, yeah, she's gonna read it into the record.

Okay, yes.

Of a proper session.

The Charlotte City Council convened in closed session on Monday, October the 6th, 2025 to consider matters related to the qualifications, competence, performance, character, fitness, conditions of appointment, and conditions of initial employment of a public officer or employee, or a prospective public officer or employee.

Following deliberation, the city council approved an employment contract with Andrea Leslie Fight to serve as city attorney effective November 3rd, 2025.

Thank you, Madam Clerk, for um putting that in our record for us as we continue to have the have the work done.

And I think Mr.

Fox is actually wanting to do a back lead actually having the I know he's like ready.

This is like he had to break out of the courtroom.

I know.

So next I want to ask if the city manager has anything to report or any updates for the council.

No report.

Smart man.

All right.

We'll now move to the business agenda items.

We have several business agenda items, and then after finishing those business items, we have a closed session items.

Um so item number eight donation of artwork to the Harvey B.

Gantt Center and Mecklenburg County.

We have a motion and a second.

Any discussion?

Hearing none.

All in favor, please raise your hands.

Anyone in opposition?

All right.

Mr.

Graham, do you want to say, JC?

It should have stayed up.

I mean, we're gonna keep going.

Okay.

Um for item number nine, initial findings resolutions for special obligation bonds.

Is there a motion to adopt an initial finding ABS?

And a second or do I have to read the whole thing?

A B and C motion to approve A, B and C.

Okay, we have a motion for A B and C.

Is there any discussion?

Miss Mayfield and Mr.

Graham.

Thank you.

Uh insurance attorney, have all the contracts been signed that we need to have signed because I'm just verifying since this is the resolute the resolution for the obligation bonds.

I thought what we said is that we will be paying the vendors directly as work is completed.

So I want to be sure exactly what are we being asked to approve tonight since we're providing the issuance of a commercial paper program as part of the special obligation bonds financing plan and an amount not to exceed the 650.

Uh, we're seeing that we're pulling that trigger, but the city's holding this money, and then we're paying the vendors as their payments are due.

We're releasing this money to who?

I see Matt's there, but I think the the this is to get us in the appropriate posture to go before the LGC, which has to approve the debt.

And so this is the vehicle that gets us to that.

So this is not actually releasing money, this is setting us up to be in a position for the next step.

So I wanted clarity because I think I may have seen something online in response to tonight's item.

So I wanted to be clear exactly what we're doing tonight.

Yeah, and I don't want to advance above my pay grade, so Matt.

Matt Hassett, CFO and Finance Director.

Um, for appreciate the question, Councilmember.

Um, so this is to allow us to go the sort of a two-step process to basically start the process with a local government commission.

No payment has been made to Tepper Sports and Entertainment or any vendors because the contracts have not been finalized by this by City Council yet or the NFL.

So this is a part of the process to allow us to get all the contracts fully executed.

Um, but until that, until the all the agreements are in place, no payments will be actually made to anyone.

Thank you for that clarification.

Thank you, madam in all right.

Um, Mr.

Graham.

Uh thank you, madam mayor.

Uh, I just wanted to take this opportunity really to acknowledge that over the past year, Matt and his team as well as the city attorney's office has really been working with temper sports and entertainment to really dot eyes and crosses versus the initial vote that we took almost a year ago.

And so I would be remiss from the economic development committee if we don't thank Matt and his team and as well as the city attorney's office for really doing a lot of work over the last year to get us in the position where we are ready to go to uh to the local government commission to seek approval to kind of unlock the the funds uh moving forward.

Uh this is one of two items that's coming before us tonight uh in reference to Bank of America Stadium.

I'll uh do the other one when it comes up.

But I just want to uh acknowledge also the the president of uh President Coleman and her team for being here uh tonight.

Uh they were also with me at the um economic development committee um at first of the month, talking about this issue as well as others and extended me the opportunity to visit with them to talk more about the relationship between uh TEPRA Sports and Entertainment and the City of Charlotte relating to the 650 million dollar proposal.

So uh I want to thank everyone for uh their support um staffers for getting us to this point, Mr.

Manager.

I think really a lot of good work is done in uh in a short period of time, short being a year.

Uh Matt and this team, but I think we're really at a point now where uh this thing is really becoming real uh from a um construction perspective and um lining up darting ice and crossing tees and ready for the next step, which is releasing the fund.

So wanted to thank the team for all the work that they've done to get us to this point.

Okay, Miss Ashmera.

Yes, uh thank you, Madam Mayor.

So I did not support the original $650 million ask uh because of concerns around transparency and accountability.

However, the majority of the council approved the framework.

Uh so today's action I see it as a formality, a contractual obligation to move the financing plan forward.

Um so while I stand by my original concerns, I will be supporting this because it is a contractual obligation that the city has.

Um, and I'll continue to push for transparency and full vision full visibility into how this funds are used.

Thank you.

All right, Mr.

Driggs.

Uh, just briefly, this is a procedural step in our ongoing relationship with the team.

Uh appreciate you guys.

And uh, we have another vote tonight, but uh very happy to support this.

Well, I see that we have a few people that actually um I hope that I really enjoyed yesterday.

I just want you to know it was a real treat.

So we're grateful for that, and um, I hope that we can do it again.

Let's start.

Hey, you know, we're ready.

I think James Mitchell is more ready than the rest of us.

He's looking for a contract to play with basketball is his game, not this one.

Not this one.

Thank you guys for um being here for tonight's it it makes a difference when we see you and what you are doing for us.

So thank you very much.

All right, so we have to vote first on this.

All in favor, please raise your hands.

Is there anyone opposed here?

Miss Johnson and Miss Brown would be opposed.

Okay, so this is for both A, B, and C.

Okay.

All right, let's go to item 10.

Is there a motion to adopt a resolution to approve a ground lease of city-owned property at 705 West 4th Street with PS Marks LLC for a 60-month term for construction, laydown, parking, and related purposes, authorizing the city manager to negotiate and execute and amend all documents necessary to complete the transaction.

Adopt the budget ordinance, B and C.

Okay, and all of those together.

A, B, and C second.

All right, we have a motion and a second.

Any further discussion?

Mr.

Graham.

Mr.

Graham.

Uh again, this is yet another step forward in our relationship with um sports and entertainment, providing a lease for construction setup.

I mean, so again, um the process of working with them and and renovating the stadium starts with a uh place for them to uh lay down their construction equipment and get ready.

And this is in District 2, and uh so we're ready to build something.

Okay, so any further discussion.

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

Anyone opposed?

Ms.

Johnson and Miss Brown.

The next item is item 11 to approve new provisions to the Bank of America Stadium amended and restated ground lease that it contemplate future scenarios supporting the ongoing use of a performance venue.

Move to approve A and B.

We have a motion and a second for A and B.

Any questions, any comments?

All in favor, raise your hand.

Oh, we have comments.

Oh, I thought you were raising your hand for yes, Ms.

Ms.

All right.

I'm sorry, let's go around with Mr.

Graham was first, and then we'll come down to Ms.

Ashmira.

You don't want to go around.

I can't feel positive stuff.

Think about the colleagues.

Uh no, I I I think you know, here we are, right?

Um, so this is probably the most exciting news of the night.

Um travel and entertainment continues to be a part of the uh fabric of the city of Charlotte, and certainly in Uptown Charlotte.

And here's a part of the uh agreement that we signed uh with the Panthers.

And here's a part of the uh agreement that we signed uh with the Panthers that was outlined as a skeleton when we first approved it a year ago now has a lot more meets on the bone in terms of the performance center uh in conjunction to the uh the stadium.

Uh it does fall in district two again.

Uh it brings uh a 44 um 44 seat facility for performing um 4400.

4400, yeah.

Right for performance uh uptown Charlotte.

And again, that brings heads and beds, uh, and it gives people who work in the travel and tourism industry 80 to 100 more uh opportunities to earn a living um every day of the week when that facility is operating.

Uh Uber drivers, Lyft drivers, uh bars, restaurant, um, you name it, uh, will have an opportunity to uh be a part of uh this new venue in Uptown Charlotte.

Uh it energize uh the lower end of Graham Street that needs some excitement and enthusiasm to go along with it.

Um city funds will be uh uh a goal to it.

Um the parking is there uh and it's accessible to the parking spaces is already there, and so this is really a good news story uh along with all the other votes that we took tonight that kind of moves our relationship forward with Tepper Sports and Entertainment and the Carolina Panthers, and again, this really uh is an icing on the cake and really provides a shot in the arm for the redevelopment of the lower end of Graham Street uh and getting more heads and beds and more employment opportunity for those who work in that industry.

So I'm really excited about it.

And 44 inches sounds like a good size for uh to see um uh Kirk Whalem or uh Bob James or some jazz performance.

Don't leave out Ed Driggs.

Well, you know we're gonna need a 10,000 seats facility for uh that might be that might be too small, but it's just the right size for great jazz and other entertainment uh in uptown Charlotte and Graham Street.

So I'm really excited about that.

Thank you.

Ms.

Miracle.

So thank you, Madam Mayor.

I agree with my colleague, Councilmember Graham.

This is certainly exciting.

Um as a mom, uh I want my daughters to grow up in a city that is uh full of opportunities that is uh that values culture and music.

So this performance venue helps fill that gap and uh it really creates space to celebrate culture and music without public dollars.

So please bring more of this.

Um I want to thank Tepper Sports and Entertainment for investing in this venue.

I'm very excited.

All right, Ms.

Mayfield, thank you.

Miss Watlington, did you want to come around, Miss Mayfield?

Yes.

The staff can come forward because I actually have a question.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Sean.

Just for clarification, I want to ensure or make sure that I understand.

Would this facility be subject to our current noise ordinance?

Meaning when construction is going on, and have we identified because we have so much residential in uptown, we've received concerns not for this project but for other projects with the time of morning that the trucks start when you're hearing the beeping of the trucks backing in, the impact of workers coming in.

What parameters do we have around this since we do have a large number of residential in that area?

Yes, this facility would be subject to all local ordinances.

I I would underscore this is an indoor performance venue, so there's not a lot of things.

Yeah, but I'm talking about the trucks that for construction.

So that's one of the challenges that we have across the city is that when the construction is happening.

Luckily, we have a lot, so they're not going hopefully impact community.

Yet when you hear that beeping at three for sometimes five o'clock in the morning when our noise ordinance says that construction, I think it's supposed to start around seven.

Just want to verify.

Yes, there are no accommodations in terms of the construction of the facility or the operation of the facility related to noise or other ordinances.

That's correct.

That's what I wanted to verify.

Thank you.

Of course.

Thank you, Mr.

Driggs.

Yes, thank you, Mayor.

Um, this is actually a pretty minor action tonight.

We're just making a very small adjustment to a lease.

Uh good opportunity though, every opportunity to uh remind ourselves about the magnitude of our relationship with Tepper Sports.

And I believe $375 million or so to bring us a major league soccer franchise.

Big investments also in the community by Mr.

Tepper.

So I hope you'll send Dave our regards.

And thank you to you.

And I wanted to mention also it appears that the team wins before council action.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

That was good.

Ms.

Johnson.

Good job.

Oh thank you.

I just I just want to reiterate that there are no public dollars being used for this, and this is a private, privately funded project.

So I will be supporting it.

You sat down.

I think council member Mayfield's question was excellent.

It's it's a little off topic, but we do hear that a lot.

There's a lot of construction in the city, and and maybe we can do this in the future, Mayor.

We really need to take a look at some good neighbor policies with with constructions as far as the um the hours and when there's construction outside of those hours, what the recourse is for um residents.

There's the Autumnwood project, you all are familiar with it.

There's like 150 acres, and I think I've sent you the email where there's a lot of ongoing concern.

So I'd like to talk about that maybe in our great neighborhoods committee or talk to you.

Residents need to have a voice, and there's so much construction in the city that we there has to be some recourse.

And what are we doing?

And are we tracking the bad actors?

So that's all I thank you.

Yep, thank you.

Miss Molina.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

It's hard to come behind that because I wasn't gonna say nothing close to that.

Um so not to rebuttal anything that councilwoman uh Johnson said.

But first I want to uh thank the Tepper team for hanging out with us tonight.

I know that we went over a lot, um, but thank you guys for being a great partner.

It it means a lot, especially in some of these tougher decisions that we've had to make um to have you come to the table um and and be willing to uh be in it with us for the long haul.

It it means a lot.

It it also helps that we kicked butt last night, and it was just so great.

Um it was my birthday, of course, so um I gotta go ahead and say that.

Um it was the best birthday gift ever to watch us hand the cowboys you know their their bottoms at the bank and protect the bank.

Um so I I think we're all you know excited about the team, um, what we've built, and and also, you know, I listen, this has been this has been one of those conversations because we've approved three things related to the Tepper team tonight.

Very different things, very different items for very different purposes.

Um, but this is actually uh what I opine a move of just good partnership, right?

The city is not being axed for anything, literally, this is ground lease space that would not be used but for this decision tonight.

So um not only are we going to activate this space, but we're going to give 4400 seats, right?

Butts in beds.

We're going to invigorate the hospitality industry, we're going to invigorate tourism for our city, um, and and so much more.

So I am absolutely proud to support this move for partnership and um Panthers.

All right, thank you, Madam Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I definitely echo the sentiments of having a team winning.

It's just a great spirit around the city after the games, um, and of course, the soccer team doing well is as well.

But you know, this I this is such a um a great move for us and for uh the city because we don't have a facility that's 4400 seats.

Um I sit on the board of Blumenthal Arts, and um, you know, we've done inventory of all the various venues, and this is fitting right within the sweet spot that will allow us to attract certain artists who really don't really have a home in Charlotte.

And the activation of this facility means there's more money circulating in our community, um, uptown and bringing that vitality to uh third ward, which is so so deeply needed.

And uh I I always remember, you know, when I talked to uh Mr.

Tepper about he talks about how some of the bars and some of the restaurants uptown personally thanked him because they those small businesses were feel the impact when games happen.

Well, now they're gonna feel the impact when there are concerts and shows and other things of that nature.

So I think this is a win-win for us.

I look forward uh to attending a concert and maybe uh being able to um lobby to attract some artists that I'd like to see, like like Mr.

Graham as well.

So I just want to say thank you for the partnership and thank you for seeing the need for a facility like this in our community.

Um it will certainly add to what we've been talking about over the last several months around uh the fact that public safety is tied to vitality when you have spaces that are activated and people are around and the lights are bright and people are spending money and enjoying themselves, that helps to stave off crime as well.

So it's a it's a good move for us.

Thank you.

All right, Mr.

Jones.

Uh thank you, Mayor, members of council.

Uh so uh Christy, while we don't have you know the uh the uh Panthers or um you know some of the strength of the volume of the team.

I just want to brag on Team Charlotte for a moment.

Uh this was something that we had a lot of players in different seats who came in to uh land the plane.

So uh I really think uh interim city attorney Fox, but and and Anna for being a part.

Um clearly what Matt has done um stepping in.

Uh and Sean, I really appreciate that you took something that wasn't even in your portfolio, and you helped us get to a place where we can be here tonight.

So just wanted to thank Team Charlotte.

Okay, I think we have one more person that would like to speak in some respect.

She gave up okay, there we go.

Oh, sorry.

Okay, okay.

On the left side, yeah, I know what y'all are gonna say, right?

Yes, on the count of three on a count of three.

One, two, three.

Oh, let's do this again.

Better than that.

Happy birthday.

One, two, three.

There we go.

We work hard at this thing.

Thank you very much.

We're not a football team, though.

Thank you very much.

So thank you.

We've got to vote on that.

All right.

Yes, we gotta vote on it.

We do have to vote.

Let's vote on this one.

Item 11.

Do you all in favor?

Please raise your hand.

Anyone, oh, no one's in no one in opposing that passes.

Okay, thank you guys.

Um, so now we are.

I think that's our last business item.

And that we can close session.

Um, need to go into our closed session.

So I'm gonna ask our attorney to help us start us with the three closed sessions that are planned.

Um, my mayor members of council uh the motion should be the go to the closed session.

So into Joan Statute 143-318-11A uh and six to consult with the city attorney to preserve the attorney client privilege.

So moved second.

Okay, we have a motion.

All in um all in favor, raise your hand.

Anyone opposed?

All right, let's go back and I know it's been a long day, but if we can just get there, we can probably get out.

As well.

So we're in the room right behind us.

Okay.

No, it's not.