But they know how to code.

So they're getting to see topics like that from people that work with coding every single day.

They're getting to meet with some of our accenture leadership, which honestly, we find a lot of value that they just hear about their career paths, whether that be their entire lives from high school to now, some of the courses that they took in college to be able to get to the point that they're at today.

So really just those hands-on kind of tactical skills or what they learned during industry days.

What I would like to emphasize about the importance of exposing the high school youth to our industry is that there's no direct path to get here, and that is the beautiful thing about it.

Those things matter, and those things are of course important, but everyone's path is different, and that's something that we value.

Like if I can do that, then I can do this, and it's just a trickle-down effect.

So I think I know more stuff about business now, and I think it'll work out pretty well.

The program is to teach you how to be a better person in life and teach you how to like work with tools and not that only as a man job, but it could be a for women and girls.

Thank you all for being a part of this meeting today.

And thank you for taking your time and energy around.

I do want to say one thing, you know, I I've got a little bit of a change in my life.

And I just want to make sure that all of you are aware, and I'm just so grateful for the number of people that have been so supportive of me making a decision that was probably the most difficult thing that I've ever had to do.

But if you saw my little girls, oh my gosh, you just know I was doing the right thing.

So thank you all.

I really appreciate it.

Thank you.

You're gonna make me feel like I'm in church.

So I want to say thank you.

I mean, I it's it's just amazing, and um I don't know that I'd ever stop loving the city like I do now.

So thank you so very much.

But today that's not what you guys came for.

You came for real work and real opportunities to talk with all of us that we are in terms of our meetings and things.

So I want to say I'm gonna call our meeting to order, and we are going to start with our action preview, and we're gonna start our action preview with the city manager.

I did not say that.

Oh, introductions.

Oh, introductions.

You need to know who we are, you know.

Maybe everyone should know, that's why.

So let's move around.

We'll start with our city clerk, um staff person, and then we'll come around, and you'll get to know everyone else.

All right.

Victoria Wattlington at large.

Joey Mayo, representing district three.

Good afternoon, and high happy bike month.

Dante Anderson, district one.

Good evening, everybody.

James Mitch and Mayor Pro Tim.

Good evening, and thank you.

I am Vi Laules.

Marcus Jones, City Manager.

Kimberly Owens representing District 6.

Malcolm Graham, District 2.

Ed Drags, District 7.

Good evening, Lawana Mayfield, serving you at large.

Good evening, JD Masueta Adios, probably representing the East Side District 5.

Good evening, Renee Johnson, and I'm honored to represent District 4.

All right.

So thank you, Mayor.

Members for council.

We have uh two items in our action preview tonight.

Uh there will be discussion about data centers as well as the MPTA transition update.

And Mayor, if you'd like to, we can go to the consent and wipe that out before we go into those two.

That's an excellent idea.

Thank you for making that possible for us.

Let's go ahead and take it in.

Thank you.

And good evening, Madam Mayor and Council.

Marie Harris with the strategy and budget.

And I've had a chance to get a couple questions from a few of you, but I was wondering at this time, was there any additional questions on any consent items that I can?

Yes.

Oh, Miss Johnson, yes.

Thank you.

I'd like to pull item number 34.

34.

Let's see, which one is 34?

That one.

Okay, so I don't have the full document for it, so um Ms.

We'll continue.

All right, and Ms.

Mayfield.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I would like to pull number 30 and 31 for separate vote and discussion.

30 and 31 38 and 31, right?

So again, let's go ahead and start out with Ms.

Johnson, who I think was the first to request that.

So Ms.

Johnson.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I have a question about item number 34.

And item 34, the last paragraph.

Yeah.

Refers to the disadvantaged business enterprise.

And in accordance with US DOT interim final rule dated October 3rd, 2025.

DBO DBE goals cannot be established on contracts executed after October 3rd, 2025.

I understand that uh due to the federal policies, but I want to know how does that affect our CBI program.

Yes, ma'am.

If I may.

So it does not affect our CBI.

So that's a good point.

RC that this is a different program, the federal level, but for for locally funded, we still have an active CBI program in place, so it's separate.

Okay, thank you.

All right.

If um that completes Miss Rose, I mean that completes you, Ms.

Johnson.

All right, Miss Mayfield.

Let's start with item 34.

Um mine is actually gonna be item 30, number 30 and 31 that I was pulling for separate vote when the time came, but if we're moving forward now, item number 30 water and sanitary sewer service installation.

Tonight, this is a request to approve a contract in amount of eight million five hundred eighty-five thousand nine hundred fifty-eight dollars and seventy cents.

The challenge that I have is even though this is new, and thank you, Marie, as well as Mr.

Powers, for additional information with us moving this type of bid forward.

Our CBI team identified a 10% goal.

That our established goals really are the bare minimums.

So for a 10% minimum goal to be identified, yet the commitment is 4.26%, which is less than $370,000 is $365,500, so we'll say $366,000.

Out of uh $8.6 million contract, I have very clear concerns that community is understanding the opportunities that we have of not only protecting but growing our small businesses when we read reports that consistently speak of small businesses being the backbone and that being the true job creator when our larger corporate partners are laying off hundreds of individuals at a time to have again an $8.6 million contract before us that has a commitment of less than three hundred and sixty-seven, much less $400,000.

To me, honestly, is extremely disrespectful to what we have said as a council and what we have told the community when we move to vote.

I would like this as a separate vote because I will be voting no against this.

We must figure out how to do a much better job when a bare minimum has been identified, and that bare minimum was 10%.

If you can't even commit to supporting and protecting our residents who are taxpayers here and who are small business owners, that's something we need to be taking into consideration as we seek to put out bids.

I do realize that we had about five or so bids out there, one of them that did meet that 10% goal was also, I believe, around 16 million dollars more.

That's ridiculous, but to tell it's hard for me to understand that out of almost 9 million dollars, the best you could do is say that there's opportunity for a small business, multiple small businesses that will equate to this amount.

The concerns are gonna be the same for number 31 mayor, for state utility contractors.

This one is an amendment.

Tonight we're being asked to support an amendment for $4,317,453.

What was committed for this scope of work, which is also as we move forward and for community for you to understand with these type of projects, the city will negotiate contract participation for design bill contracts after the scope of work is defined, which means you may have the opportunity to build upon it.

The challenge that I have is what is noted is that state utility contractors has committed 136,125, which is the equivalent of 3.15% of the contract again on a $4,317,453 contract, and that minimum amount is split between multiple companies.

When we are in a city that is quickly becoming unaffordable for many, that is also extremely disrespectful as far as I'm concerned.

And what is the message that we're sending to these so-called partners?

Now, I do recognize that one when this contract was originally approved, one of the partners, Stewart, was a minority-owned company.

Well, they sold.

So as far as I'm concerned, that should have triggered an additional opportunity for conversation because you sold your business and is no longer a majority MWSBE, whether that's minority women's small business enterprise.

So what that created was a reduction in the low participation that was already there.

We want companies to grow.

If you choose to scale and sell, we want you to have that ability, but not on the backs of our dollars.

So I again for number 30 and 31 and want to make sure that the record reflects it, that I will be a no with very specific reasoning, because if we do not take the opportunity to stand by the goals after many years of discussion, paying for reports to be done, paying for studies to be done, if our language is not going to support our small businesses, I think we're doing a disservice to all of our partners that go through our trainings, receive our certifications, and that step into this with a genuine desire of good faith.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

If I may um Angela Charles will choke me out if I don't bring out a point for her for it, for um contract, um, the one she mentioned, Miss Mayfield's points are valid for water and sewer service installations.

However, just please note before they self-performed these, so there was no goal.

They got a waiver.

So this is a rolling ongoing, not just a brand new.

So they were trying to test the market, and this was an aspirational 10% goal, but just know this at least we have some goal, and we're working.

So CBI is working on a more calculated formula specific to these, but prior to this, they had no participation.

I'm gonna give the manager an opportunity to um talk about this, madam mayor.

Before it just for clarification, so we're all on the same page, and I do appreciate that.

Because Mr.

Powers and I had that conversation.

Again, we have the opportunity to do something new.

So we're either going to try to do it right or we're not.

So for staff to identify a 10%, we already know historically staff is very conservative with trying to identify the companies.

If they were able to identify that there might be an opportunity, and 10% being the bare minimum, coming in at 4%, coming in with really the salary, what could be considered the salary of one employee in today's market in our city.

I think we have an opportunity.

If we say we're going to break up these contracts to get more participation, that petition participation should not be pennies on a dollar, where it actually costs the company more to want to do business with the city, then it actually benefits them, Mr.

Manager, Mr.

Master.

Uh thank you, Mayor, members of council, and uh council member uh mayfield thank you for your passion around this.

I also want to give you credit for something that's very important and to this council, and years ago, these projects were just low bid, but you've created these alternative methods like construction manager at risk and design bill projects, and just on the docket tonight, you have uh annual care and control, which has an 18% small, I mean 18% MBE and WSB goal.

You have the NASCAR Hall of Fame that has a 22% MBE and WSBE goal.

You have the Remont Road, West Boulevard Intersection Improvements, a 20% um MBE, WSB goal, and 25% for the River District Firehouse 44.

And without these different types of tools in the toolbox, we may have had continuations of the conversation yet earlier.

So just some of your policies have changed the way that we're able to have participation.

So thank you.

All right, thank you very much on this to explain that and the opportunity that we can learn more about what we do on our own.

So Ms.

Johnson.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I'd like to piggyback off what council member Mayfield is is asking.

Can we get a report of the CBI guidelines or contracts per department?

Are we able to get that?

Can you share that with us?

And the reason I ask is because I've heard from a contractor specifically that has a contract with City Water.

And I remember there was a minority company that won a bid, and they vote the all bids were over budget, and the RFP was rescinded.

And this was a minority business that had won a contract that had never gone to a minority um owner before.

And so I asked at that time.

I I shared some concern and asked how often does that happen?

So I I'd like to just just see by department how we're doing as far as meeting our CBI goals.

If you can share that with council, I think that would be helpful.

Thank you.

Any other questions or comments?

Hearing none, let's move on to our next item.

Which would make Madam Mayor, I think would be a motion for consent 24, 43, with the exception of 35 has been deferred to the next meeting, so it's coming off the agenda.

And I believe Miss Mayfield would want to.

And I believe Ms.

Mayfield wanted 30 and 31 voted on separately.

Yes.

So moved.

Okay.

We have a motion and a second.

Is there any further discussion?

Hearing no further discussion, all in favor, please raise your hand.

Anyone opposed?

Alright, so that passes.

So thank you.

Now we can move forward with Ms.

Mayfield.

Do you want to vote together on 30 and 31?

Is it we have to go to the next part?

So number authority, we be uh motion.

And what I am going to motion for number of water and sanitary.

SOAR service installation.

Honestly, I would like to motion for a deferral and get us get support for us to have the opportunity to really identify if we have if this MWSVE established goal is accurate, and if not, why in order to give opportunity?

I don't want to deny it, but I would like to motion for a deferral.

Okay, we have a motion and a second.

Any further conversation or requests hearing none?

Oh, I'm sorry, Miss Ashmira.

Thank you, madam.

I just feel like we have to try water.

Oh, I think so.

Yes, we do.

So is this time sensory or is it okay if you want to leave till the next business meeting?

It can weigh in a few more weeks.

Okay, all right.

So, that addresses your question.

All right, so now let's see where we're going to go through.

We see received a motion and a second.

Thank you, Ms.

Mayfield.

Yeah.

So we have to vote all in favor.

Okay.

Anyone opposed?

I think that was unanimous.

Thank you, Mr.

Dr.

Mr.

Driggs.

Did you raise your hand?

Sorry.

Yeah, it's got their leave.

It's the last minute.

Okay, thank you very much for that.

Madam Mayor, can we consider um item 31, please?

Yes, please.

31.

Water sanitary from Charlotte Water.

Miss Mayfield.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Also, for action item for number 31, I am asking for a deferral.

This is to approve a contract amendment for the 4,317,453 to state utility contractors that has a commitment of 3.15% of the contract, which is 136,125.

I am asking for a deferral.

Second.

Alright, all right.

We have a motion and a second.

So that would delay the project, but it's not, it wouldn't be the end of the world, but it would delay the project.

Madam Mayor, that's gonna be my question.

Is there any kind of time sensitivity around this particular project?

So this would um could someone from Charlotte Water answer would would it cause a delay and how significant of a delay?

Yeah, good evening, Mayor.

Uh members of Council David Zer, Deputy Director with Charlotte Water.

It would cause a delay.

We have this contractor already uh out doing other work for us, but if it's the council's pleasure to defer it, we can keep them uh busy on some other work.

All right, Miss Mayfield.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

So we've had this conversation, I would say earlier this year regarding projects being brought before us that may be time sensitive.

There creates a challenge if the expectation that everything that comes before us is supposed to be a yes.

Council has three options vote to approve, vote to deny, vote to defer.

If there are questions or concerns, the fact that any project that comes before us that doesn't even allow for a deferral in order to receive additional information should be a concern.

Yes, right now across the city, we are having a number of water main breaks, a number of items, community-wise, including an elder that reached out to me earlier today that has had water running in front of their condo.

But we also just approved two Mondays ago, a list of partners that we have identified to help with addressing all the water related concerns.

We're also unfortunately across the region, looking at we're going to experience a drought.

I have great concern that a project is brought before us that says that there's no timeline for us to have a discussion about it when we just approved two Mondays ago, multiple additional partners that's going to be helping us to address some of our water-related needs.

So to have this particular contract that was in the design phase to come in and say, Well, unless we approve this $4,317,453 tonight, they're not going to be able to move forward, and on top of that, you're offering out of that $4,317,453, an additional 136 dollars and 125, 136,125, which is not even the equivalent of our work for a salary that is needed in the city, and that amount is split between four different companies.

My colleagues continue to vote how you tend, however, you see fit, I think it's concerning that to say to defer this to get additional information, that should be concerning because we should never be in a position where the expectation is to automatically be a yes, because then you're telling me I only have two options, and that is either to vote yes or to vote no.

And whereas I am trying to say, versus voting no, let's have a deferral to get a little bit more information.

Now, if the question is that I need to make a motion to vote no, I would gladly do that versus a deferral, which would give time for conversation.

But ultimately, it takes six plus votes.

Thank you, madam mayor.

So, madam mayor, can I follow up?

Because uh Miss Mayfield jumped in there.

I was still I just wanted to continue with my yes, I okay I hear that.

So Miss Anderson.

Thank you.

Um, and thank you for your answer.

Um, here's my perspective, Miss Mayfield.

Um, I agree with you.

I'm getting lots of calls as well about water main breaks and um effectively um down broken areas within the s within our system, and we did in fact just vote to delay something just previously.

So these the all of these projects are not necessarily time sensitive, but given our system and what's going on and the urgency, I I'd like to see us advance this so Charlotte Water can continue to upgrade the system and make sure that we don't have um any breakages, additional breakages, especially during this time where we're experiencing a drought and can potentially be wasting water um through a breakage on the street that can't be used by residents.

So I I hope that we'd advance this particular project.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I think I wanted to have Ms.

Charles who has walked in on this.

Could we have her address the concerns that we're having?

Good evening, Mayor Council, Angela Charles, Director of Charlotte Water.

I just came in because uh deputy directors there is correct.

We are trying to increase capacity for water main repair due to the drought, we're trying to decrease our time frame.

Okay, so I I perfectly understand uh council member may feel about the time to defer.

Um we're just in a situation where we are trying to increase our contractor capacity, all right.

Any uh thank you for your comments.

I think I had after um Ms.

Johnson.

Did you Mr.

Drake?

Sorry.

Um yes, I I think maybe the situation has come about because of the urgency of the situation.

Uh this went out on what Thursday night, this uh agenda was published.

So did you try to get answers to your questions since then in order for us to build on vacation?

So I came back in.

All right, that's not okay.

I'm just saying there was an opportunity for people to read this and address questions to staff and try to get answers to those questions.

And uh I believe if it's at all harmful to the project, especially in the current water environment, that we should move a hold ahead with this and note your concerns so that the staff may recognize situations where questions like that are going to arise in the future and address them earlier.

I hope we can approve this tonight.

Thank you.

All right, um, Ms.

Johnson.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I had a question about the dates.

What's the date that this contract is supposed to begin?

It's upon approval, correct?

Yes, okay.

So then if we wait another week, you're saying it it delays the projects by a week or so.

It would be until your next business meeting, which is yeah, two weeks, three weeks.

Okay, excuse me.

And then uh my next question is can we have the report that I asked for um earlier from Mr.

Jones before we make a uh decision if we decide to defer this?

If we can have that information to consider prior to that.

Thank you.

Can I answer?

I I thought you let me make sure I understand your question.

You want the MWSBE percentage for Charlotte Water and FY25, it was 65.7 million dollars.

I just wanted it for all of the departments if we can get that.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you very much.

Mr.

Jones, I think that ends this discussion before let's have a motion.

Is Ms.

Mayfield?

We did.

Okay, we have a motion.

All in favor.

I'm sorry.

Mayor, just point of uh information.

What is the motion that we're about to vote?

The motion was to defer.

Gotcha.

Right.

So for the deferral, all in favor, please raise your hand.

Oh, two, three.

Oh, like it for eating.

Okay.

So we have four, one, two, three, four.

Anyone else over here?

Okay.

The motion.

Did not pass.

So, madam mayor, can I motion that we approve this particular item?

Second.

We have a motion and a second for approval.

Any other questions or comments?

Okay, all in favor, please raise your hand.

I think that's a majority.

Thank you very much for the opportunity.

All opposed.

All opposed.

So it can be already four.

Anyone else?

Okay.

Thank you, Mayor.

All right, thank you.

I'm sure there'll be another opportunity to have this conversation.

So I don't worry about it too much.

Um, I think we have to continue to figure out how it works and make it possible for us to do this.

Mr.

Jones.

So thank you, uh, Mayor and members of council.

Back to the agenda preview.

Two items tonight.

We'll start off with the data centers update and then a very important update also with the MPTA transition.

So with that said, I'd like to turn it over to Alison Craig.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor, Manager, and members of council.

At your April 27th meeting, we talked about bringing more information about data centers to your May 11th meeting.

I'm going to give you a presentation, giving you just some detailed information about just our land use context, defining different types of data centers, giving you an inventory of what we have in Charlotte, talk about what zoning districts they're allowed in, some trends, some key areas of questions that I know that you've raised to us, also the community has raised, and then talk about next steps.

And I just want to mention that this has been a work involving a lot of different departments, and you'll see I've got a lot of people sitting here in the room to be able to answer questions.

So we've got Monica Holmes from Planning, David Zerf from Charlotte Water, Terree Hagler-Gray from the attorney's office, Heather Bolick from the Office of Sustainability, and Nick Miles from INT, and there's also been other people involved as well, including economic development as well as Duke Energy.

So what I want to start with is what people are not talking about as much, though.

I know we're going to get into talking about water concerns, energy concerns, noise.

But what I want to make sure everyone is really clear on is that in December 11th or on December 11th, 2024, Senate Bill 382, which became session law 2024 57, was a significant occurrence for all municipalities in the state of North Carolina.

Basically, what this legislation did is it severely limits local zoning authority, and so it restricts our ability to reduce development density or to limit permitted land uses, and it really restricts municipal planning authority.

We are watching this right now and have had some conversations that there's some interest in the short session to potentially make some changes to this, and we're hopeful to that because I think it would enable us to have a lot more tools in our toolbox to be able to talk about emerging issues like this.

Okay, so wanting to first just level set on the different types of data centers, and this will become important when I talk a little bit about our ordinance because in our ordinance we define data centers with one definition, and there's a lot of different kinds of data centers.

They're not all the same.

In fact, there have been data centers in Charlotte for decades.

You've probably walked by them and have not ever even noticed that they were there.

They range from facilities in a small server room, serving one business to very large hyperscale campuses, supporting cloud computing, AI, and other things.

However, as scale increases, so does potential impacts to land use infrastructure, power cooling, and community impacts.

So starting with the server room, and going all the way through an edge data center, enterprise data center, a co-location managed service, and a hyperscale facility.

They really range from something that may be in a basement or in a single room to something that is a massive campus.

And then I put some examples on the bottom.

So in the server room, this again, it's a small business owner, they've got a closet with IT equipment.

An edge data center.

This one, this type is really important in urban environments because it helps communicate to larger facilities that may be further away to make sure that you're processing data quickly, like for if you're doing telesurgery or if you're doing banking, you need those things to be really quick, you know, versus when they're in the cloud, it's okay if it takes you know 10-15 seconds to download something.

So those edge data centers are important in our urban areas.

An example of that is a current rezoning, the American Tower rezoning 2025 120.

Uh, the city of Charlotte or a hospital, we all have enterprise types of data centers.

They support our internal systems.

You've got the sort of getting larger the co-location ones.

You've got a couple examples of those in permitting digital has one on North Myers Street, and then we have two hyperscale ones that are approved in Charlotte, and I'm gonna call them Morris Chapel or AREP or Powerhouse are the two that are the larger ones we have.

So this is our current inventory.

I mentioned the one that's um that's in the rezoning process.

It has been deferred this month.

The public hearing will not be until June 15th.

This one is proposing up to 40,000 square feet on 58 acres.

Right now, we've got about one million square feet of single user facilities.

We've identified these using looking in tax parcels, they are identified as a data center in their tax parcel ID, and again, definition matters.

I'm gonna say that a couple times.

There's a lot of different smaller types that may still be in existence, but they're not showing up on our tax roll.

There are three that are approved and then permitting.

I mentioned the AREP, the powerhouse one.

This is up to two and a half million square feet.

It's in the ETJ.

The zoning that was approved in 2023 is I2 C D.

It's on 122 acre campus, and it's got about 1.25 million square feet total.

Morse Chapel, this was up to 3 million square feet.

It's also in the ETJ zoning is similar, I2CD on 156 acres, and it was approved in 2025.

And lastly, the digital realty, this one is a little smaller.

Um, this one is in permitting, it is allowed by right.

The zoning district is um urban core, urban core or uptown core.

Urban core, okay.

I'll forgot for a second.

Um so it's on two and a two and a half acres of 40,000 square foot building.

So right now in the UDO, and again, you know, I mentioned earlier where we are in terms of current legislation.

Right now, uh data centers by the singular definition that we have are allowed in eight different zoning districts, ranging from commercial districts to office or research campus districts, manufacturing and logistics, innovation, mixed use, and uptown core.

And again, those may look pretty much the same in those different districts because all data centers, regardless of size, are treated the same under the UDO and allowed in those eight districts.

There are no prescribed conditions as part of these, and they're subject to the general development standards of anything that's allowed in that particular district.

This is an area where you know we would love to explore changes in the future.

Prescribed conditions are very common in zoning districts where, like as an example, you might have an outdoor storage yard, and it's allowed in certain districts, but when it's adjacent to residential, it has some additional requirements subject to this is a map of the existing and proposed data centers in Charlotte, and you're going to see different maps and different numbers of the total number of data centers because again the definition matters, and some of these are small and they may not hit certain maps, but again, this is what we found in tax parcel IDs.

And so you can see the green are data centers that are existing.

The ones that are orange are ones that are approved and or in permitting, and then the one in yellow is the one that is still going through the rezoning process.

Um there's been a lot of questions about proximity to residential zoning.

Um, and so here's a map showing all of the residential zoning districts in the city of Charlotte and locations of the data centers that we have, and um all of the uh all of the data centers that have been approved and or in permitting are within 500 feet of residential, and so that's something that um again we would like to look at uh in the future.

So, hang on.

Um, wanting to hit on just some uh some data center trends.

So AI is definitely driving uh this demand, and so the growth of AI is increasing the demand for these higher density GPU facilities.

I've learned a lot about data centers in the last couple weeks, and GPU is a lot higher processing uh needs than CPU, and so it requires then more centers, more facilities, more IT.

And then what's really important, I mentioned this earlier with the edge facilities versus the hyperscale facilities.

The distance from the user affects speed, and so there are some types of uses that need to be next to their users because they need to have faster processing.

Um, in terms of water cooling and water needs are rising, um the AI workloads significantly increase water use, cooling demand is rising, including liquid-cooled designs.

Power is a main constraint in terms of the future capacity, but also I would say in the city of Charlotte, land is too, as you could see from the examples of the two larger hyperscale facilities that we have.

Those are really large campuses.

There are 120, 150 acres, and it's hard to find large parcels of land that size zoned in this way for data centers.

Grid connections can take longer than construction, so there's a lot of work that the data center does with Duke Energy in terms of seeing what the power capabilities are.

And then facilities are adapting, they may pursue different types of things, on-site generation, um, closed loop systems are becoming more common because there's a lot of pressure to be more environmentally sensitive.

And so there's um there's this is an area just like technology and AI, it is quickly and and rapidly adapting.

So Duke Energy uh wasn't able to be with us this evening, but they have been in our meetings over the past couple weeks.

Um, so data centers are growing, but they're not the primary driver of the current rate pressure.

So, right now, less than 1% of the current share of statewide peak electric demand comes from data centers.

However, this is projected to grow to 10% by 2030.

That doesn't necessarily mean that's 10% for Charlotte, that's 10% for um for all of North Carolina, and so there may be different areas where this is um there are um they uh find good sites.

There is a threshold, so with Duke, um any project that's over 100 megawatts, they are required to pay a non-refundable impact fee, they're required to pay all of their upgrade costs, and so they do transmission studies and figure out where um where upgrades are needed, and they are responsible for providing those.

Um this can be a benefit to the community because you have the grid infrastructure being being updated and upgraded by um by someone else and not by by Duke.

And they were quick to make sure that we were clear that recent rate increases are really tied to the growth and all the attraction that Charlotte is bringing.

There's a lot of people moving to Charlotte, and that's really uh what is um what is resulting in the recent rate increases and not as a result of data center growth.

So we've had a lot of questions about water consumption, particularly um in the drought conditions that that we've been discussing recently.

A smaller scale facility used about 20 64,000 gallons a day, whereas the larger scale facilities like your hyperscale, etc.

It really depends on the cooling method.

So open loop or evaporative cooling uses a lot more water, whereas closed loop reduces water consumption by as much as 70 percent, um so it's a lot more sustainable as a comparison and some numbers you'll see in a minute.

So the total irrigation demand for all users is 11 million gallons per day.

And so there is a lot of water consumption that occurs in our community by watering our lawns.

And when we're talking about stage two drought conditions, what we're trying to accomplish there is we want to reduce water by 16 million gallons per day, and so of that data centers use 0.4%.

So we have two hyperscale data centers that have been approved.

It's powerhouse.

Their peak summer use is 1.2 million gallons per day.

They are using reclaimed water and not drinking water, and of course, demand is is lower in in cooler seasons because you're not um trying, you don't need as much to cool the equipment.

The Morris Chapel site, they're using domestic water only, about 35,000 gallons per day because their cooling is by electric, it's not water-based.

So Charlotte Water does a very detailed engineering review when these data centers come in.

Again, from their perspective, like Duke Energy, developers are required to pay for required infrastructure improvements.

We certainly prefer that you use a reclaimed water or use closed loop cooling system.

These are more sustainable.

And there's a lot of work that Charlotte Water does in updating its system-wide master plan every five years, accounting for growth, development, rising to water demand and trends.

Noise is something that what we've learned is really the data centers in the past tended to be tended to be noisier.

It's often when there's on-site energy generation or when air cooling is used.

However, there's cities that are considering noise and sound studies as part of permitting, just to ensure in a couple of, I think the 2023 rezoning that came through, I think there was a field trip that a group went and looked at a nearby hyperscale facility.

They found no noise concerns, but in that rezoning process, there were still conditional notes that requires noise mitigation as part of that approved plan.

There's a lot of conversations about are there jobs involved in data centers, what sort of impact or benefit does municipality get.

So next steps.

So again, state law limits some zoning changes, but the city, the city still has tools to study impacts, strengthen review, and consider a temporary moratorium.

So what we cannot do, we cannot change certain zoning criteria per Senate Bill 382.

We cannot revise location, buffer, zoning standards, change the district.

Again, this is limited by that law.

What we can do is we can coordinate an interdisciplinary staff team, as you can see, we already have that underway.

We've been talking about what uh what additional study and standards we could employ under current legislation, including requiring certain application materials like a noise mitigation plan, an energy water conservation plan, looking at other performance-based standards.

And then lastly, we can consider a moratorium.

It must comply with general statutes 160D 107, one of which is uh has a required step to hold a properly noticed public hearing and adopt an ordinance that meets statutory criteria.

There have been a number of cities that have passed moratoriums and recent, and so you can see a list of different municipalities here and the length of time that they have proposed.

One of the things in the right column that I will mention is that there is some distinction in that many of these municipalities did not have a definition of a data center in their ordinance, whereas Charlotte does, and so there is some things we've been talking to the attorney's office about, you know, what additional risk would that involve for Charlotte should we move forward with considering a moratorium.

It's also worth noting that Chatham County was recently challenged in a lawsuit.

Some of it relates to which projects would fall under the moratorium among some procedural issues, but there is one active lawsuit out there right now.

So our recommendation is that we hold a public hearing for a moratorium.

This could be done on May the 26th if we meet certain noticing requirements.

So this, if if the moratorium is more than 60 days, it requires a two-week notice period.

This could potentially set council up for action or decision on June the 8th, should you desire to do so.

We also recommend that we refer this to the TPD committee to talk about next steps and recommended actions and then continue with our interdisciplinary work to convene on policy and what these next steps look like.

And with that, I'm available to answer any questions as um are my colleagues over here.

We're going to style Ms.

Anderson and go around and have the opportunity for everyone chance to speak.

And I certainly do know that we have a lot of people that want to um be able to actually learn and do things with us.

So Ms.

Anderson, will you start us off?

Yes.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

And thank you staff for this information and pulling it all together very, very quickly.

This is a robust presentation, and I appreciate it.

One question I have before I get into it is on slide five, where you have basically gone through our inventory of data centers and the types of data centers.

Do you have a sense of what is the longest 10-year data center in our community?

Have any of these been around for 10 years, eight years, any temporal sense here?

So the American Tower is proposed.

So those are not in existence yet.

It's a replacement.

So we can we would have to we can do research basically.

I mean there are there are, I mean, so I mentioned that there was 1.1 million dollars in tax revenue for 2025.

So there are some smaller ones, and when you look at the map, there are some in existence, as you can see on this map, but I don't know the earliest one, and we'd have to get back to you on that.

Okay.

Um thank you for that.

The other question that I have is you mentioned that the General Assembly has limited some of our flexibility on this area.

When we think about some of the technological advances that you brought up, specifically around cooling and having what's called behind the meter strategies where they can create their power on site, either through solar or battery, etc.

Do we have the ability to bake that into our zoning language and then um have that codified?

So I would say that's not a yes or no answer.

Um I think there are different levels of of risk in terms of being in compliance with with that Senate bill.

I would say things like changing zoning districts and adding buffers is pretty clear that that's not allowed.

Starting to ask for things like a water conservation plan or an energy conservation plan as part of a complete application is probably um, you know, easier to do and carries less risk but not no risk.

I don't know, Terree, if you want to add anything.

Okay.

Okay, so as we um move forward with your recommendations, and I I fully support your recommendation that we hold a public hearing and then take a vote on the moratorium.

But as we do that, I'd like for us this this advisory group here to think about the types of guardrails we could bake into our policy, like behind the meter strategies, like having green field data centers that would require that versus having them retrofit it into existing buildings because then that would tap on our municipal utility function.

Um or or use a liquid cooling for um the chips and things of that nature.

I think if we could tighten that up as as much as we can in terms of the guardworlds we can bake in for our residents, that would be a step in the right direction for us.

Um, the last thing I I want to say here is you talked about the different types of data centers, right?

And thank you for going through those different types because the depending on whether it's a hyper scale or just a server room, very, very different, a very different pull on municipal utility as we think about touching our policy and tighten it up with guardrails.

I think we need to city attorney um redefine data centers in a more robust way because our definition now is just one definition that covers five different types of data centers.

The reality is the growth of data centers is going to grow exponentially over the next 12 to 24 months just within the US.

So I think our definition needs to be expounded upon.

Um, but I certainly support I thank you for this work.

I I certainly support the um the recommendation that we move forward with a public hearing and then we take a vote on the moratorium while we do this work.

Thank you so much, Madam Mayor.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Mayo.

Would you like to?

Ms.

Watlington.

Thank you, and thank you for the presentation.

And thank you, Councilmember Ejmura, for bringing this last week while I appreciate the information that was brought.

Certainly, I would have been prepared and was prepared to support a moratorium last week.

Um it's important because of how often how quickly this industry is changing that we move with the speed of progress.

So thank you for your leadership there.

A couple of quick things for me just going through here.

I wanted to just real quick on slide 14.

The Morse Chapel um data center.

I was just curious.

I noticed that it said that the domestic water only was 35,000 uh GPD, but the cooling is electric, it's not water-based.

What are they using domestic water for at 35,000 GPD?

Yeah, good evening, David Zur again with Charlotte Water.

The water usage they will have is basically for staff and just domestic purposes, such as laboratories, toilets, sinks, exactly 35,000.

Okay.

Um thank you.

And then just a couple things that have jumped out at me.

Um, I see here on the system planning where we've got uh that Charlotte Water updates, it's system wide master plan every five years.

Just as we have this broader discussion around moving at the speed of progress, I would be very interested to understand what it would take to increase that frequency and make us more nimble, because we certainly know that five years is a long time in a growing city.

Um, so would be very interested to know what help looks like to improve that uh to remove the to improve the planning tools.

Um, and then just a few things lifting up.

Do we have a sense of our load or our capacity versus the forecasted load for data centers?

Or I see the information here for existing, but do we have any kind of assumptions built around when we think that or where we think the tipping point would be?

And you're speaking in for water, correct?

My same question is for Duke Energy, but they're not here, so power is well.

Yes, so we build into this uh basin-wide water distribution system master plan that includes forecasting out 30 years.

That forecasting is based upon uh the UDO, it's based upon the comprehensive plan.

So we use that information to develop the water demands as well as for the the respective towns within the community, and so I believe baked into that on an aggregate basis is the type of zoning and development that we would expect to see long term.

So I'd be curious to know load versus capacity.

Um, what do we anticipate the load to be as we think about the data center industry and what we think we might absorb as a community?

Um, are we and I don't expect you to have this answer right now, but that's what I'd be interested in is are we looking at the scale from edge centers to hyper hyperscale centers?

What do we think our community could reasonably even hold that wouldn't trigger additional um increased capacity demand?

Just do you follow what I'm saying?

Yes, understood.

I'd like to understand that because that frames where our limits and our boundaries are.

As it relates to the existing centers, I again, I see some of the information here about what's been approved, and I see some of these smaller existing centers.

Have we any data that would give us forecast it versus the actuals from what's already here in terms of usage?

The information that was provided for the smaller scale data centers, uh I think that was a list of about 22 data centers, and that is the actual usage for all of them about 64,000 gallons.

And do we have the forecast the previous forecasted numbers so that we can see if there's a gap between what they anticipated and what they actually used?

I'm just trying to figure out how we can dial in that.

Most of these, I will tell you, is that same as domestic usage, and in a lot of cases when it's small scale usage, some of these were 300 gallons a day, which is equivalent to a residential house, basically.

We don't necessarily have any initial forecasted numbers for them, but I will go back and check that.

Perfect.

Thank you for that.

I'd be curious just for the ones that were that went through rezoning, if there was any, this is what we think it will take.

I just because if we need to adjust those assumptions, I think that'll be helpful.

As it relates to economic development, and I've had a short conversation with uh economic development staff about this.

I'd be interested to know, given the infrastructure cost, how that's baked into our incentives, if any, when we're dealing with data centers.

I just want to make sure that we are really receiving a net benefit overall when it comes to that shared partnership.

Um, and to that end, I'd be interested to know um how we might incorporate a resource share, because certainly the city has data.

We've got um we've got models to run and we need GPUs.

So I'd love to understand how we might work with potential data centers um to leverage some of their their assets for that end.

Um, and then I lastly, I just want to think about zooming out to a regional perspective.

We're talking about Charlotte and maybe Mecklenburg County when we think about the ETJ, uh, but as we think about the strategy for the broader region, how are we working with surrounding counties to make sure that we're helping to guide development in those places where a data center might be a more appropriate uh play?

Is that from the water perspective or just in general?

In general, when we look at all of our resources, at some point we've got to ask the question does it make more sense to try to build within the city, or are we better served across the region to work with our surrounding counties to help them recruit jobs to help them forecast uh what might be a benefit to them?

So that's just one thing that I think we need to think about as well.

And I think that's something that our group can take a closer look at.

I mean, there are things like being near a wastewater treatment plant where you have access to reclaimed water or land or you know different incentives and things like that.

So certainly we can bring that to the group.

Awesome.

Thank you so much.

I appreciate it.

All right, Ms.

Ashmira.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

So first I think I just want to make sure that um everyone knows this discussion is not about anti-EI or anti-technology or anti-gold.

This is really about protections and putting large roles in place.

Um I appreciate the recommendation finally, if we that you'd like to see the loss.

Um, I wish this would have come in plus before a few months ago.

Because this conversation is not something that is new, other cities and municipalities.

And we are the only municipality that has a definition of data center pre-more volume, which means that our community is at risk right now, unlike other municipalities.

So it's taken this long for you all to recommend a cost.

Um, I I find that I find that concern because we, when it comes to rules, when it comes to deprivation of bassers, we are being, but when it comes to protecting our community, protecting our neighborhoods and protecting our health, we are being reactive.

So I would really like us to be more active in protection of our community and our health and our neighborhoods.

Because I want to acknowledge that this concern around data center uh did not start overnight.

Council member Mayfield questioned the long-term impacts back in 2023 and sounding the alarm early.

And then Councilmember Johnson continued those conversations last year and asked some questions.

Then Councilmember, my council member, my district council member JD, Master RS, as soon as he learned about data center in Far East, where I live, he immediately started asking questions about what this could mean for nearby neighborhoods and residents.

So this concern has been voting across multiple districts, multiple council members for quite some time.

And for me personally, when I started hearing from residents, families, and experts, how much of this could continue moving forward by right, because we do have a data center, we seriously needed to consider temporary costs till we've got our rules in place.

Because I remember back during the retreat, I asked the question.

Um how long would it take for us to put some guard rules in place?

And the answer was six months.

Do we have do we know how long it will take now?

So again, this really depends on the conversations with our attorneys and our partners.

So, as a reminder, Senate Bill 382 came about in 2024, like conversations started occurring then, which very severely limited what staff could do because if that was not in place, there's a lot of really smart people uh sitting at this table right now that would have had something in place already could we actually put something in place, but we weren't.

There is there is very significant legal risk in changing the UDO, and actually having a definition in the UDO does also increase our legal risk in moving forward in this way.

Um, and so that takes some time to really navigate.

You can see that that the all the other municipalities that have done this do not have that, and so there is additional concern that that might be perceived as a downzoning, and so these are things that we have been working through.

So what will happen next is over the course of let's say a couple months, we will look at what performance standards we might be able to incorporate or requirements of an application, and really check that with the attorney's office.

Meanwhile, we're also uh working to um monitor what's happening with the short session.

We have heard that there's a lot of activity occurring right now in conversations about a compromise as it relates to Senate Bill 382, and really hoping that something um gets resolved during this session so that we have clear guidance as to what we can actually change in our ordinance to address some of these emerging issues like this and others.

So I understand that the state law would have considered this video change as the downside, but the moratorium wouldn't because that's what you're recommending now.

So the pause would have given us temporary protection, but I do want to get to the attorney in terms of the legal risk.

So, um, we dislessify, we've talked a lot about the legal risk of taking action.

Could you also speak to the risk of not acting if this project continue moving forward under rules we may later decide on inadequate as clearly stated in this presentation?

Thank you, Councilmember Angela for the question.

So when we talk about the risk that the city has with respect to not taking action, it has everything to do with public safety or public health concerns.

Um there have been a lot of questions about what makes this for this community as it relates to uh the appropriate regulation, there is all like a balance for that for what the city has the power to regulate, it really does have to follow the city of the power and its uh ability to protect health and safety, and so this recommendation as provided by our staff would allow for the appropriate part of the license.

So I hear you say that there is risk on both sides.

So I also want to say something beyond the maps and the zoning language for a moment.

A few weeks ago, I listened to the story of a resident who lives in far east, near where I knew.

And he talked about how he's raising the child with autism.

He talked about the fear of constant 24-hour humming noise from cooling systems and backup generators.

And honestly, as a parent, that stays with you because this conversation is no longer hypothetical.

This is about our children, this is about our health, and this is about whether families can peacefully live in their homes.

So we have residents worried about the noise, air quality, water usage, traffic impacts, and whether their neighborhoods will drastically change.

And those concerns do deserve respect.

So we need to be very specific about how much time it's going to take for the planning to ensure that our community is protected and have a moratorium during that time.

So if we can get some guidance from the planning director as to how long it's going to take.

I apologize.

Yeah, it's fine.

Thank you.

And knowing your calendar, that gives us the adequate amount of time to be able to do the research, look at what potential options may be, get it back to you all.

There's obviously an optional ways of extending it if it took more time, but we think 150 days is appropriate that gets us through the month of October and gives us enough time with the council calendar to have something back in front of you.

I appreciate that timeline, Ms.

Holmes.

So on slide 19, I know we have a whole public hearing for a moratorium.

I just want to make sure that the motion is for a hundred and fifty-day uh moratorium because that gives you all to put some guardrails because it is wild wild west right now.

Um I just wanted to make sure, I think on one of the slides you had mentioned, Ms.

Craig, about 40 million dollars in property tax, but I know that this facilities also get tax incentives from the state under the state law, and I know that Governor Stein has asked state legislatures to eliminate those tax-intensive tax incentives, but currently it is costing our city.

Do we know how much is costing our city and how much are our residents subsidizing for these facilities?

I don't have those numbers, and again, the ones that are actually in existing are small, and so that would be something we'd have to look at for two very large ones that are um uh are approved and starting to come out of the ground, and so I don't have that information, but we can do some some research on that.

Yeah, I think it would be important uh to also consider that because currently they're not paying their fair share because they are getting tax incentives, and some of our revenue comes from sales and use tax, so it is costing us, and our residents having to subsidize that.

Um lastly, so I know that my colleagues uh talked about some of the guardrails and protections as you are looking at that.

I just wanted to highlight some of the organizations that I would like them to be part of the stakeholders groups.

If we can convene a stakeholders group, Action NC has been leading this uh as well as Clean Air Carolina, um, also UNC Professor Williams, who is a who is an expert on data center, uh Craig Reynolds and few others, but also someone from the industry so that we have a balanced perspective as we are developing regulations to protect our communities.

Um lastly, I just wanted to ask um so uh Miss Leslie Fight, if you can just talk about, so I know that under this timeline.

If you can go back to slide number 19, so till June 8th, uh, there is no pause.

So could you speak in terms of if projects continue moving forward during by right while we are taking an action on the pause, could they gain vested rights before council has a chance to adopt uh a pause?

I'm gonna defer this question to Miss Hagler Gray, I believe she's able to.

Sure.

Um, with respect to uh moratorium, it's very specific in 160 107 that there are certain projects that are exempt once the moratorium is in place.

So if there are approved rezonings, those would be exempt once the moratorium takes place, and if there are applications in the pipeline that have not been approved but are have been um submitted and completed prior to the moratorium, then they would have an opportunity to get what we call permit choice so they could proceed under the previous rules, or if we were to adopt if council rather were to adopt any um new rules, they would have the choice about under which they proceed, but that but so during the before a moratorium they could proceed by right, so they could proceed by right uh before June 8th.

Yes, right.

They would have to have a complete application.

You can't just turn in a form and and then the complete application.

How long does it take generally?

It it really depends on.

I mean, it's it's a matter of having there's a full checklist and full construction plans and all of that.

So it can't just be like a site plan and that's it.

It would be very difficult.

It would be unlikely, right?

Yeah, because you if you it yeah, you can't just fill out an application, you have to actually clear what we call gateway, which is that full checklist.

Detailed construction plans are not done overnight.

Yeah.

So what I'm hearing, you say it's it's highly unlikely before June 8th that by right any of this hyperscale data centers could get approved.

We are allowed by right.

Oh, uh it's highly unlikely.

I mean, never say never, but it would be very difficult.

We've we have tried to do our research of anything that may be in development that we're unaware of, and we have not found one that is in development.

Again, I don't want to say that with, you know, there could be something out there, but we believe that there is nothing.

There is not a project out there that we do not know about.

We do get signaled because in order for Duke Energy to move forward with some of the things that they do, they have to have a zoning verification letter issued from the city, and so we don't have any of those uh currently.

Okay.

Well, that's all I have, Madam Mayor.

I will make a motion after everyone is done speaking.

So I'll hold that, but that's all I have.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um, okay, thank you.

As the district rep in District 4, just outside of 2023 030, the petition, the massive petition, uh 2.5 million square feet.

For the record, I do want to say I did vote against it along with council member Mayfield, however, it did pass.

I will be holding a community meeting about this petition tomorrow, a virtual community meeting, just to share some additional details regarding the rezoning so that residents are familiar with what's being proposed.

Interestingly, when that when that petition went to hearing in 2023, um, we did not have a lot of community opposition.

There was one person that that led the opposition and as stated uh residents went to on a field trip in Forest City to take a look at the rezoning so that um they could hear the noise.

That was the primary concern back then was the noise, and we did ask specific language in the site plan to address the noise ordinance.

I do have questions.

Um specifically, Miss Craig, why are you recommending a moratorium?

Um this is something that we have been talking about.

There's um, I think one of my greatest challenges is that it is hard to introduce changes into the ordinance right now because of where we are with current state legislation.

Um, I think the community has been um very vocal and some concerns that they have and they would like to see things introduced into our process that provide them assurances that we would like to research to see if we could actually incorporate so assurances due to concerns, right?

And to make sure that we are um you know uh a sustainable city, we you know, are looking at you know, as um we talked about with Charlotte Water, um, are there possibilities to require you know a closed loop system, and we can do that in the rezoning process or be able to do more with our reclaimed water uh system.

So my question is if we know that there are potential concerns enough to recommend a moratorium for future petitions, we as council need that ability to um incorporate guidelines on data centers that are existing and pending.

If we are concerned about the impact on the environment and and if we're concerned about the impact on our water, if we're concerned about the impact to our residents, um utility bills, those same impacts are going to be felt from an existing or a pending petition, specifically a hyper uh massive data center of 2.5 million square feet.

So I've asked the city attorney, and I'm asking again, and I'm asking our state legislators and our whomever, we have to take a look at at what we as council members can do for this petition.

And I've said this.

If we if someone came to us and wanted to build a asbestosis factory, we would say no due to our police power.

I believe, I hope, due to our police power because of our duty of care to our residents.

So I would just suggest, if possible, any moratorium that we enact, if we could include petitions for those petition by right data centers and also for pending.

We we need to stop.

We need to pause, we need to rescind.

We need to do we need to halt until we know that there's that there's no harm to our residents.

I mean, think of the tobacco industry 100 years ago.

We just really I just really think if we're going to pause this and take a thoughtful approach.

If there's any way, madam city attorney, we need the ability to pause um petitions and and permits also.

I do have some questions as far as the presentation.

Is there any information about the environmental impact of data centers in the presentation?

Um we focused really on the key things that we've been hearing as it relates to energy, water, and noise.

Um, but we've been working closely with um the Office of Sustainability and Heather's been involved in this work group.

I don't know if there's anything that you want to add, Heather.

No, I think the I think that's exactly what it is.

Is water, it's air pollution, um, or sound pollution and energy usage.

Those are the key issues in terms of environment.

Okay, so the air pollution and also um can we get some information?

I've heard that the temperature around data center increases by a certain percentage.

If we can get that information as well, the environmental impact.

Also regarding power outages, are they increased surrounding data centers?

And I'll tell you in District 4, my power goes out a lot most times when it's storms.

So I like information on power outages as well.

Umployment.

There was a number for employment, the number of employees near data centers.

Can you tell me what kind of jobs those are?

Um, so there are there's two different kinds of jobs as part of data centers.

It's um when it's under construction, and I think there's a lot more um employed as part of that.

Um, but then um when the actual data center is up and running, um, steady state, so anywhere from 20 to 50 um typical new jobs per data center.

Um, salaries can range from 50 to 80 or so um annual salary for for technicians that work there, and there may also be uh adjustments to some data centers have um ancillary office uses, things like that.

So a lot of it depends on the actual type of data center, if it's standalone, if it's an enterprise, or if it's one that's got co-location, so there's multiple different um companies that have um have IT there, so it can range, but this is probably a good um average.

Okay, so some of these are construction jobs, some of those.

So these are this is these numbers are for steady state.

So okay.

Did you say can we go back?

Can you go to the slide that shows the map of the existing data centers?

Yeah.

Okay, thank you.

Now I see quite a bit in District 4.

Um, is that the research park area?

Yes, okay.

And can you give us information?

I know you couldn't answer uh council member Anderson's question, but can you give us information on those existing data centers with this with the square footage and I may have I know I've sent you emails um historically, so uh we may have that information and also I want to give a shout out to a district four represent uh resident, Miss Antoinette Mingo, who has been on this since day one.

Thank you.

She was on this when she was the chair of the uh district four coalition.

So go ahead and give her a hand.

She has been.

Thank you.

She has led uh she's led the discussion on this.

She's pushed back, and and also her successor, Juan Yuven, who's the chair of the data, the district four coalition.

We've received information from him.

I think you all have received information as far as the tax incentives.

He did a calculation.

I think there's a tax break of about 12 million dollars he calculated for this petition, this 2.5 million square foot.

So if you could get us uh confirmation of that number, if that sounds right, thank you.

Did you did you say that these existing data centers, the average was 500 feet uh near residential area?

So I was mentioning the ones that are in orange or yellow, the ones that are approved or proposed are within 500 feet of residential.

There are probably a mix of proximity and the existing ones because again, some of those are really small facilities that um have maybe have been there for decades.

Okay, and I'm almost finished.

Thank you.

Uh slide 13.

I wanna understand the usage.

Total irrigation demand for all users is 11 MGD.

What does MGD stand for?

Sorry.

That's it's a million gallons per day.

So total irrigation demand from watering our lawns are is 11 million gallons per day.

Correct, and that's citywide.

Is that right?

It's the city, county, and all of the towns that we serve.

City, county, and all of the areas that we serve, is 11 million gallons per day, correct?

Yes.

Can you go to the next slide?

Maybe not the next slide.

Let's see, hold on.

Maybe it's the slide before that.

I gotta find it.

It's the slide that talked about the large data center, and I believe I gotta find it.

Are you talking about the powerhouse using 1.2?

1.2 million gallons per day.

One place, one site.

Is that am I understanding that one site uses 1.2 million gallons per day?

And city area-wide, we're using 11 million gallons per day.

Yeah, but there's a a difference there, that 1.2 million gallons is of reclaimed water, which is uh highly treated wastewater effluent from the Mallard Creek facility.

So it's not drinking water that they are using.

So they're the sole user of that water plant.

Um the the discharge would otherwise be going to the creek, but reclaimed water again is that highly treated effluent.

Uh we have a small distribution system, and UNC Charlotte will be using it for irrigation, and the traditions golf course likewise uses it for irrigation.

And can we require that process for all data centers?

Not right now, not right now.

It could we could make that we don't have the capacity to do that, or you're saying we can't add additional restrictions to um applications per state law.

Is there any risk of that recycled water leaking?

No.

No.

It it could leak.

There is not a risk from it leaking.

The degree that it is is treated to, I would categorize that as safe.

Safe, okay.

It's not fit for drinking.

It's not fit for drinking, but it would be safe if it leaked, right?

That's what you said.

Okay.

I think that's all my questions for now.

Thank you.

Thank you.

If I if I may respond quickly, uh, council member Johnson to your your earlier comments with respect to the those applications that are vested, if you will.

Senate Bill 382 is the downzoning statute that we are talking about that prohibits us from limiting or prohibits the city from limiting uh any sort of regulation on those data centers that already exist.

When you talk about what are our avenues to potentially aid in that effort, this the Senate Bill 587 that is pending before the General Assembly is an opportunity to restore some of the police powers that cities are accustomed to with respect to zoning.

But again, this well, let me specifically call it the session law.

I I've used the term Senate Bill 382, but it is it is a statute now and it's session law 2024-57 that limited cities' ability to utilize certain zoning tools that we would have ordinarily used in the past.

And so the opportunity there is for the General Assembly perhaps to consider uh restoring that type of power to municipalities.

Thank you for that.

Do we have any law that gives us a duty of care?

Like a do like, like I said, we would if if someone proposed and anything that we know is harmful, that's proven harmful, and we had approved it, surely we would send it.

So that's what I'm asking for.

What ability do we have if if in if they if we know this is enough for us to pause?

New applications for five months.

If there's potential harm, and we know that what do what can we as council do?

And what's the risk if we do something?

What is the risk if we do if we were to do something else?

Those are my questions.

And so that's a landscape that that is very layered.

But what I will say is generally um cities and local governments generally don't have a duty of care to individuals.

However, um, your your duty is to the to the masses by way of your regulations.

In this instance, I think your staff is proposing an interdisciplinary conversation and exploratory um set of processes that would look not just at zoning but some of your other uh mechanisms to address this question.

And so as those uh as as your staff comes forward with recommendations, there are opportunities.

And and when I will talk, I will say this, when it comes to some of the environmental concerns, the city is not in this alone, right?

There are other state and federal regulatory agencies that would play a part in the conversation.

And so as your staff bring bring those stakeholders to the table, that's an opportunity to look at ways to mitigate it.

But um, I I think the risks are, I wouldn't say they're non-existent because the risks are always abounding, right?

But the the duty of this body is to certainly explore it, do the due diligence, and this is part of the exercise that's happening now.

Thank you.

And then residents can also reach out to their state representatives.

Um, and again, laws that need to be changed.

That's right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, madam mayor.

Thanks, Stuff, for the presentation.

Um, you know, we were talking about earlier um, you know, the need for urgency for this, and I and I think it's crucial because I want to thank Councilmember Mayfield Johnson Ashmira for leading on this, and I want to thank the city attorney for uh picking up my phone call when I first brought this up in December uh when I learned about the rezoning that's happening in District 5 in the Far East, American Towers.

Um, I listen, I I gotta be frank and honest.

Uh we there's so much we don't know about data centers, but it's also there's so much we do know about data centers that we should have acted on this way beforehand, especially since uh Councilmember Mayfield brought this up in 2023.

Yep, 2023.

We knew this was coming down the pipeline, um, and we're really should stop reacting when things are happening.

Um, I mean, a perfect example is we we define data centers in our UDO.

That's a direct consequence of us moving at the pace of of growth in our city because we want to grow, grow, grow, grow, that we are often superseding the concerns of the people that already live here, not the 157 people that are not yet here to come.

Um I also think when we talk about the legal risks, um, as a governing body, we will always have legal risks, right?

Whether it is um our men and women in uniform uh and the crossfires when they're on duty, whether it's our firefighters protecting our residents of being the first responders on scene, um, whether it is development, whether it is infrastructure, whether it's a bad construction um project that went a disarray, we will always have a legal risk as a governing body, but there is more of a human risk and not acting now in protecting our residents.

And legal risk should not take a precedent.

And legal risk should not take a precedent over human risk, especially when what we are considering right now with this moratorium is the right thing to do for the people.

Were they challenged by the developer proposing a data center, which they profit off of, or was it challenged by our state legislators and Raleigh?

But the lawsuit was filed by EcoTip, which I believe is the data center itself.

Okay.

The developer.

The reason I say that is because just recently up in Raleigh, our state legislators are doing a bipartisan effort to not exempt data centers from tax credit.

I mean to exempt them from to not extend it, to roll back that uh regulation or that statute that they pass, which would give them tax credits, right?

And they're considering that.

So this is a bipartisan approach.

Um and and oftentimes we need to be good faith partners with Raleigh instead of being um uh hesitant to partner with Raleigh when it comes to doing something like this.

Um the other thing is I wanted to ask about um when we talk about guardrails as we consider a moratorium, um, Alison, if you may, um who will have jurisdiction over these guardrails?

City staff, independent third party, um, as we move forward.

I kind of I'm asking more of a hypothetical question when we move forward.

Certainly there's gonna be an interdisciplinary team from multiple departments weighing in on that of what we have control and authority over, but that also um means that there are other stakeholders and and those that we should be partnering with and getting their perspective.

And so I think ultimately we have to make sure that we understand what we as a city can do and what we can do in the UDO or in other ordinances that we have, but that that doesn't mean that there aren't other people that will be um part of the process to come up with solutions.

And do you think we could consider if there's appetite for the frequency of visits from let's say code enforcement to these data centers to ensure they're not out of code or out of practice?

Sure, I'd be happy to talk to housing and neighborhood services about that.

Got it.

Um I'm also um pleased that we did not have a corporation who profits off of data centers telling us how good data centers are for our community, um, especially when they just uh recorded uh record profits and were continue to lobby to increase the costs of consumers.

Um, did we talk about in this presentation the health impacts of data centers?

I would like to see more information about the health impacts.

Um and for the closed loop water systems, did we um did we make a difference between the open loop water systems versus the closed ones?

Did we see the pros and cons for each one?

So the open is uh uses a lot more water.

So I think the example that I was given about closed loop is that it's kind of like a radiator, you fill it up, and if you're having to add water to it, there's probably a problem.

And so the water continues to recycle through that.

So it tends to be a much more sustainable um way to run.

And I think um that's really what the trends are for data centers going forward is to use that um closed loop system.

Thank you.

Uh, the reason I bring that up is because the um what's it called?

The what's that data center type called that's going into East Charlotte, the edge data center of American Tower that's going into East Charlotte, um, is going to use a closed loop water system.

And I'm interested to learn more because I've had two weeks to do my research on closed loop water systems uh with data centers.

Um, although they require less water, they do have a higher electricity demand 10 to 40 percent more.

They increase greenhouse emissions, and they require chemical um adhesives such as anti-corrosives and pH adjusters, which must be carefully managed to avoid environmental harm if leaks occur.

And in order to use clean water occlusive closed loop water systems, the water waste has to be discharged through evaporation.

That is mineral discharge going into our air that increases air pollution, and so I would like to know a little bit more about closed loop water systems because typically it is used as an argument um to mislead the public that close who close loop water system data centers are better for the environment.

I will be in support of the recommendation staff will make of the motion that I'm sure will be on the floor um for a moratorium.

Um, and I would like to be also more specific in ensuring that any pending petitions are also part of that moratorium, as well as making sure that we start working on policy that would restrict data centers near residential areas because they just simply don't have a place in residential areas.

Thank you.

If I may, I just want to clarify something that um the city attorney said earlier, and what I said is that either we are bound by state law, which is North Carolina 160 D 107, and is very specific about what types of um uh developments are exempt from moratoria.

So we want to make sure that we're in compliance with state law as you consider this moratorium.

Perfect, thank you so much.

All right, thank you, Madam Mayor, staff.

Thank you for the presentation.

I wish we had had this conversation prior to today, because as you can hear, there are a lot of questions and concerns.

I want to get some clarifying information when we think of whether it's a closed loop or an internal recycling system, on what end are PFAs being tracked?

Is that on our end through the water?

Because if it's on our end, it's already in the water before we see it.

So, what is the mechanism to ensure the protection of our water quality?

Yeah, that's a that's a good question.

So, first I'd like to say that Charlotte Water does its own PFAS testing and everything from the raw water in the lakes through drinking water through wastewater.

Um, if we have suspicion that one of our um significant industrial users um could have PFOS, we can we can build that into their permit um for testing.

We're not aware of that currently, though.

So you say it can be built into the expectation of the water testing?

Correct, yes, for the for the private company.

Thank you.

And for clarification, you also noted earlier that Duke Energy needs a zoning verification letter.

So if we move forward when we move forward with this moratorium, would that zoning verification letter also be on pause?

So the zoning verification letter is a request to check to see if the zoning is um valid.

And so that would, in essence, there would be no way to proceed forward if there was a moratorium in place.

So we could verify that the district is what it is, but they still would not be able to move forward with any type of um construction plans.

So for me, for clarity, it makes more sense for it to clearly be stated that any zoning verification letters will also be on pause because and I say that because even though it is not this particular situation, we are dealing with a project that permitting allow to have happen, even though that's on the county side in a deed restricted area of our community, and uh clear cutting has already happened, construction is starting, and now everyone's throwing their hands up and saying, Well, I don't know how that slipped through.

If we're going to have a moratorium, it should be clearly explicit so whoever desk it runs across, whether it's someone who's been here for years or it's a trainee, they would clearly know that a zoning verification letter should not be going out.

Sure, and we do zoning verification letters for lots of different reasons and for different things, but we can certainly make sure that any zoning verification request for this use is clearly um under the guidelines of a moratorium if it goes into place.

So manager, I would like for us to make sure because again we're going through major conversations right now regarding a project that moved forward that should not have moved forward in the first place because there were deed restrictions in place.

So we have created a fee and loop on a number of particular projects, and this might be for our attorney.

Is there a way for us to have the ability to adjust the cost of basically can we create a service fee that's tied to the G for the GPD?

So if we're gonna have gallons per day, is there a way for us to have a service fee that that's directly tied to that for the simple fact that because of state statute, because individuals went talk to the right people, figure out the right language that supersedes whatever we're trying to do on a municipal level?

Again, we have three options move to approve, move to deny, possibly move to defer.

If, like with one particular project, they receive funds of tax dollars from a state that ain't passed the budget in two years, but they found money to give tax incentives to a company, and when that company then comes to us, it is almost a mandate that we're supposed to just approve whatever comes for us, whatever language that we may have to create the space for us to do our job, which is to protect our residents to the best of our ability, would be helpful.

So, is there a way you do you can say it is or it isn't to not, but you can bring it back later for us to identify a cost of service when we are in the budget discussion, and we are talking about as part of water and sour services are increased, but we're also recognizing that our state has created incentives for certain companies, which is putting a strain on our resources.

We need to figure out a way for them to cover basically what is the cost of doing business in Charlotte versus the cost to the residents.

Go ahead, Charlie, let me know something.

I can speak a bit to that.

We can certainly take a deeper dive, but first on the on the front end, any new customer pays a system development fee that is proportional to the amount of water that they would be using.

So a larger industry will pay a higher fee, and that's to uh cover a portion of the capital infrastructure cost that has been invested.

Uh the other thing that I can tell you is that our water rates and fees currently use a tiered system, so the more water volume uh you are using, you pay more per gallon for that, and that's designed to encourage conservation.

Having that information would be helpful during this conversation as we're working on the moratorium.

Also, is there a way and Ms.

Holmes, you may know the answer to this one.

When we look at potential locations, not a lot we can do about the currently approved, but I'm trying to understand why it would not do we have the ability to directly encourage that if it is the development of a center, we're looking specifically in our industrial area.

So let's think of the fact that the airport has basically purchased the entire community behind it.

That's going to be industrial warehouse space, which is more than a couple of hundred feet from the nearest residential when we know that there are environmental impacts, the humming, the other things.

Is there a way in our language that through the UDO, we can identify the more desirable spaces for these type of buildings to be placed in our community?

Yes, I think there is, and I think that that's one of the things with the interdisciplinary team that we would want to explore, specifically in partnership with Charlotte Water, Duke Energy to understand where there are to your point, land use is appropriate.

Access to, you know, we have access to water that's maybe in the most efficient way, but we under want to understand like the pros and cons of that strategy.

Other cities are taking that approach where it's they're being strategic about saying we want them here.

Um so I think that is one of the strategies that with 382 we can take.

That is helpful to know, and I would again manage a like for us.

Well, like it to be noted that I share some of my colleagues' concern that when we have this team, that team needs to be made up of some community members.

We have members in the community that have been following this for quite some time, who are in the community who have family members who are already in community that where centers are already identified and up and running.

We have limited information based on what we thought a data center, what a data center was considered back in 2012, versus what it could be today.

If we're gonna have transparency, the community needs to be at the front end and not an afterthought to make sure we're taking all the considerations on the front end, and I would like for us to see us move quicker, because again, we're in 2026, we could have started this conversation more than two years ago, which would at least give us some type of leeway when you look at all of our partners around the state that have moved forward.

A lot of it that legislation just happened in February and April.

We were already having this conversation.

Start attempted to start it a couple of years ago.

Imagine where we could be right now with having a better understanding if we did not just kick it down the road back then, being a little bit more nimble to address the concerns of the community versus being so proactive to give business whatever they want, I think would be to the benefit of us.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, Mr.

Dribgs.

Thank you.

I agree that we need to study this.

We need a framework, and I'm in support of the staff recommendation.

Uh I'm curious, the other communities that don't have a definition, can they just do whatever they want without downzoning?

Or how does that work?

I'll say that because they don't have a definition of data center, they are using their moratorium periods to uh research and create definitions and to add a data center use um to a UDO, would obviously not um go be in violation of the downzoning law.

So they are able to add a particular data center use.

They had some basis for considering data centers before, and now they introduce these regulations.

Could that be interpreted as a downzoning of whatever they were using prior?

So it will depend on, so we don't know the exact details of all the jurisdictions, it would depend on if they have a they have existing data centers.

So that makes a difference, all right.

Um I'm interested that there's nothing in the pipeline at all.

With this boom going on in AI and data center demand everywhere and the projections of growth, why isn't there anything in the works that we should be thinking about?

I mean, I wouldn't say that there's absolutely nothing in the works.

We're just saying that we haven't gotten a pre-submittal request or a zoning verification letter, but there may be land transactions going on that we're unaware of.

So exactly.

What does the moratorium when does the moratorium bite?

Like that uh peep that there are different stages in this process.

We have a moratorium, and that says that for this period of time we will not do what?

So we will not be approving any new plans for new data centers.

Approving or accepting applications.

Yeah, I would say you you have the discretion to craft it the way you'd like, but um typically would be not accepting applications or approving uh new new new data centers.

Right.

If there's a data center under construction and they're subject to site plan inspections, do those uh would would anything that's currently underway get stopped?

Uh so uh that's what I was um referencing earlier is that complete applications would probably have the opportunity to they may be paused, but they would have the opportunity to resume once the moratorium expires and get a choice as to whether they would like to proceed under the existing rules or whatever new rules the council may um adopt.

That's per state statute.

So on the legal point uh our ability to give land use permission cannot be changed according to state law, but can we come up with new policies about the kind of pollution impacts that you can make and so on, but they couldn't be part of the decision process about the land use.

Is that the way that would work?

Because those would then also be applicable to existing or other facilities, and we do have latitude to make policies like that, but uh I think the critical thing is that the state should understand we do not intend to uh to get really tricky about our compliance with state law.

We're considering what policies are available to us away from the approval of a rezoning, because there are other ways, right?

I mean, you could tell somebody, sure, you know, you can do your rezoning, but bear in mind you may not make more than such and such, you know, hot water or pollution.

So I'll be interested to see how you want to bring that forward.

Um I was wondering also uh are we following discussions between Duke Power and the Utilities Commission and the sort of larger power demand landscape?

So we've had a couple conversations with Duke Energy, and I think as part of this process of um, if we'd go into a moratorium, there would be a lot more detailed conversations.

They're an important stakeholder in the conversation, and you know, they're not um controlling city ordinances and rules, but they are a very important provider of of data centers, and so we need to understand that context.

So there are also discussions going on between Duke Power and the Utilities Commission, and they're talking about various complicated arrangements for buying future meeting future power needs, all of which could have implications for the public.

So I'm wondering how this might relate to that, if you could just think about that.

Absolutely.

All right, thank you.

It's up to Mr.

Graham.

He's up coming.

Mr.

Graham is next, so it's up to Mr.

Graham.

Thank you.

So council member Drake made a point, and I I think it's he said the same thing that I was asking.

And so and and there wasn't a confirmation of what he said.

I think that's important.

I know we can't change rezoning laws for or rezoning policies for petitions that have already been approved, but he said that we could create policies, environmental policies that would be uh that that previous or or petitions already approved would have to apply comply with.

Did you all hear him say that?

So I asked a question as to whether we had the latitude to create policies that might be applicable to existing as well as prospective facilities trying to make a disseparation between a land use decision and our exercise of our rights in terms of environmental regulation.

Thank you.

Is that the case I I believe that's the sort of thing that uh the staff is recommending be studied during this moratorium period.

It's difficult to say without knowing specifically what type policies we're talking about.

It would really depend on the policy and how it's applied.

So but yes Councilmember Johnson it's something that I think this um team would like to explore.

Great.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you madam mayor I don't have much because much has already been said in reference to the impact of data centers on our community I think the action step that we're taking today which is to thank the staff for their presentation and the recommendations moving forward I um I support just one question in reference to the General Assembly and as chairman of the Intergovernmental relations committee I would just like to get a lot more information in terms of where that pending legislation is at.

At the end of the day that's going to determine what we can and what we can't do right because the state's going to have the last word uh certainly on what we can do so the conversation is great.

I agree with everything that's been said around the table but I think we really should I don't see all government affairs person here but I think that's what we really need to be focusing on even making sure that after legislation is being written that our MPID is there right because that's where at the end of the day we'll decide what we can and what we can't do here in Charlotte and throughout the state thank you.

All right Kimberly thank you madam mayor I um I appreciate the opportunity to um just very briefly address a couple of things I was one of the people who voted to get more information on this before I was confident and comfortable making decision and I really do appreciate the engagement.

I've also had a good opportunity to have some engagement with my residents and have tried to escalate and elevate some of their questions many of which have been answered a few of which have not and I'll just put these into the conversation as well as a as a good steward of of their inquiries one of the questions I had was around the generator backups and the underground storage tanks and risks to the water table I didn't hear any of that addressed but it's my understanding and again this was transmitted by one of my um one of my constituents was that particularly centers you know that 2.5 million square foot three million square foot I mean that's that's a large center to have to have a generator backup and so for me that does suggest some diesel underground storage tanks and so if we could put that into the calculation of some of our expectations I think that would be very helpful um in addition I will say that um you know uh council member um or or Dr.

Watlington spoke of moving at the speed of progress a couple of things that I have heard about these data centers is that there is appetite to move these uh literally offshore like into the ocean and or into space and I'm just wondering as we look at three and a half million square foot spaces and things do we have any sense for what you know the timeline maybe before even these are obsolete if we now find different ways to do things better.

I just I would caution us around those giant data centers and the the end use of that really not being uh foreseen sure so um those are two things that I would put out um and then very briefly I want to draw your attention and just have a query on um slide number I believe it's 12 and um there's a number here that I don't know what the genesis of it is it gives a 100 plus I guess that's megawatt threshold whereby projects pay a non refundable impact fee and all upgrade costs um who sets that?

Is that statutory or is that a Duke energy energy?

Okay.

Is there an appetite to have Duke Energy at the table to perhaps question whether that threshold is appropriate at this stage in time?

That's certainly part of this conversation.

Because we've talked amongst ourselves too, is that I think we all can agree that the server closet is really small and has minimal impacts, and that the hyperscale facility has more significant impacts, but there's a continuum in between that we need to look at further, which is why wanting to bring forward the definitions and talk through that.

So yeah.

Well, and to that point, and this is the last comment that I'll make.

I am again very appreciative of the fact that I never want to overpromise and underperform in this community, and having folks understand what we were talking about when we were talking about a moratorium because it could mean very different things, particularly when we have such a um single definition of data center, but a reality of the myriad different types of data centers and making sure that we actually are addressing the problem.

So I'm excited to um support this.

I'm excited to now feel as though I have been able to escalate some of the concerns by my constituents, and I look forward to working with all of you to get to a good place on this.

So thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Let's see if we'll go ahead with Mayor Pro Tim.

Just thank you for my colleagues Johnson, uh Mayfield, JD, and Ashmir for bringing this to our attention.

Thank you to staff for making a recommendation I will be supporting to do the moratorium and then have the hearing of June 8th and definitely referring this to TPD committee.

Because I think what's very important for us to update our definition of data center.

That's right.

It's long overdue, and so I do think that conversation will be very helpful.

Let me just make sure I'm clear on the recommendation.

It'll be 150 days from June 8th.

That's when the clock will start ticking, correct?

Assuming council votes that evening, then yes.

Yep.

Okay.

Thank you.

We need we have certain noticing requirements in order to have the um May 26th public hearing.

We just need to make sure we hit those.

Thank you, thank you, staff.

I want to recognize Ms.

Mira.

Thank you.

Um, Madam Mayor and Mr.

Mayor Pro Time, thank you.

So I move uh I make a motion to hold a public hearing for a moratorium of 150 days and have a public hearing on May 26th second.

Okay, we have a motion and a second.

All in favor, please raise your hands.

And lastly, I just want to recognize the city attorney, they led on this issue.

Her and her team, they deserve a big hand.

Thank you.

I appreciate your help.

All right, so I believe that is the end of this part of our agenda.

So thank you, Mayor.

Uh, mayor members of council.

The last uh item that we have uh tonight on the agenda preview is the uh MPTA transition discussion, and that'll be led by our city attorney as well as well as uh Catherine Claude Felter from Parker Po Parker Poe.

Um I do want to just frame this a little bit and start off by um expressing my appreciation for uh members of the MPTA as well as uh their officers.

I do believe we have Minister Mack in the room, one of the members of the MPTA, so thank you.

Uh and it's a it's a partnership and it's very very important to understand that you just can't cut the switch on to tonight or July 1st or January 1st or maybe even July 1st of 2027.

There are three free phases in this process, and each one is always designed to have the employee first.

So with that said, I'd like to turn it over to the city attorney.

All right, so um the city attorney is gonna if we can if we can um start with our city attorney, and then we could continue.

Thank you.

Good good evening, Mayor Member.

Can we kind of keep our noise so that we can all hear in this room?

I know it's not exactly the best way, it's not a movie theater, it's just the conference room.

So if we could do that and have everybody understand what's going on, okay.

Thank you.

All right, then attorney.

Thank you, madam Mayor, members of the council.

Go back to the manager to the attorney.

To the attorney, sorry, we'll keep going.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, members of council.

Um, good evening, and Mr.

Manager.

The establishment of the MPTA is a generational and transformational project that will impact transit operations in Charlotte for many years to come in the region.

Today's presentation is a continuation of council's March retreat discussion about how the Charlotte City Council and the MPTA will jointly undertake an orderly transition of the Charlotte area transit system as contemplated by the PAVE Act.

At this point, the city has secured the law firm of Parker Poe to assist with the transactional work needed to effectuate the transfer.

As the city and the MPTA continue to facilitate the orderly transition, the trustees and the council members will continue to explore the appropriate cadence and format for update between the parties.

At this point, see your your city staff has worked diligently with the MPTA transition staff led by Deborah Campbell and Carolyn Flowers to ensure that the PAVE Act's requirements are achieved.

As part of that orderly transition, there are a couple things that have to happen, and that is upholding CATS obligations, including federal compliance and grant compliance, also supporting strong transit operations through an efficient transition.

And lastly, but also importantly, it encourages the stability the stability of the system and that transit riders and our community community can expect a strong system.

So with that, I would like to turn it over to Catherine Claudfelter, a partner with Parker Poe to walk us through where we are as of today.

Catherine, the floor is yours.

Thank you.

It's a pleasure to be back with you all.

We were first together at a workshop a couple of months ago speaking at a high level of what transfers of assets of the city uh would normally look like or have looked like in other situations.

Today we're gonna dive into a little bit more detail, and that is because we have a draft proposed agreement for the interlocal agreement that's required under the PAVE Act to transfer assets, liabilities to the MPTA.

So what I would like to do is just ground you all with the shared vision that we took away from our last meeting, and that is a commitment to orderly smooth transition of the public transportation system.

A collaborative transition is of course essential for supporting and retaining employees, maintaining an uninterrupted transit service, and protecting the interests of the riders and encouraging growth.

We are proceeding in this agreement with the shared discretion that's afforded to the city and the MPTA under the PAVE Act to determine what that transfer looks like.

Recall that this agreement we are talking about the proposed draft that you all should have received in your packets is required to be passed by July 1st by both the city and the MPTA.

I'm sorry to interrupt, but the okay.

So staff can you all provide copies of this handout?

I purposely did not bring my did y'all pass them out today.

Yeah, it was only there.

I didn't get one, so it might have a I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, but I didn't get one of them.

I think seven of us did not get a copy.

Thank you.

As Mayor Mayo Anderson and Johnson, we don't we don't have a copy, so can you just bear with us, please?

Absolutely.

While along with you, happy to make sure we're all on the same page.

Mayo no, I thought I was the only one.

Councilmember Johnson, do you have a copy?

Okay.

Staff, can we provide thank you, Sean?

I'm sorry, Mayor.

I just want to make sure we are okay.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

So again, the reminder that the proposed agreement that you all are are uh hearing an update about today is required by the PAVE Act to be passed by July 1st.

The PAVE Act specifically requires certain things to be in this agreement.

It requires the agreement to set out how transfer of ownership personnel from the city to the MPTA would occur and on what timeline to speak about the funds that will need to be paid back to the city once the flow starts to go to the MPTA in order to pay the city for the debt outstanding on the public transportation system.

And talk about any interim agreements, use agreements that are needed while those transfers happen.

What you have is not a final agreement, it is a proposed draft.

We are at a place of needing input and needing to have this type of discussion.

What my plan is is to re-ground you a little bit in the basics of what we're doing and why, and then talk you through in summary where we are with the proposed provisions, and then tell you what the next steps are for receiving more input and how this will come back before you because this will come back before you in a couple of different ways.

So let's briefly touch base on the factors that are impacting this transfer.

You'll recall that the city currently holds debt related to the public transportation system.

That debt cannot transfer to the MPTA, and some of the assets that are serving as collateral won't be able to transfer to the MPTA until that debt is paid.

In addition, there are federal and state grants that have certain requirements that must be met while they are outstanding.

So again, the the thought is that a phased approach to this transfer, because some assets must remain with the city, debt must remain with the city, that phased collaborative transition is what is going to help us meet the requirements of the PAVE Act.

What this proposed draft seeks to do first and foremost is to satisfy all the requirements of the city and the MPTA under the PAVE Act.

It sets out a timeline for transfer of all the assets, the liabilities, the operations, and the employees, and conditions that must be met for those transfers to happen.

And I'll talk you through what those conditions are.

The important thing to know is again, we're relying on the need for a smooth transition to set some of those conditions.

That first big point, dot point, I will call those sort of a point in time or a milestone.

That first big point in time is the July 1st, 2026 requirement to have an agreement passed.

Leading up to that time in the green background, that's the MPTA being set up.

That will continue through July 1st and for a while.

Once we hit July 1st, phase one of this proposed agreement will start.

Again, that's where the MPTA receiving operational control under the PAVE Act is going to delegate that back to the city for a very brief period of time during phase one.

Ownership of the assets will remain with the city as will debt as required by law.

We will then move towards phase two, and the intent is for phase two to start January 1st, 2027.

So for six six months is what we contemplate for phase one.

When phase two starts on the same day, employees all transfer from the city to the MPTA, operational control, all transfers back to the MPTA from the delegation that was made to the city.

At that time, some assets that aren't covered by debt or other grant funding obligations will transfer.

And we will be in what's known as phase two for a very brief period of time as well.

The intent behind another brief phase is because there are most likely some services, back office services that the city may need to continue to provide to the MPTA in order to be able to ensure this operational continuity.

If that occurs, that we are contemplating that the latest that the city would still be providing those kinds of back office services would be July 1st, 2027.

So phase two, if it is a period of time at all, will be again brief and we contemplate six months.

We have now the benefit of professional input for the MPTA's transition experts to be able to better identify those time periods.

So that's phase two ending as the third point in time that you see there.

We next enter into phase three, which is when what you're really looking at is the MPTA paying off all the debt that the city holds and assets beginning to transfer as that debt is paid.

We have three small points in time there just to represent the three pieces of debt that will first come out into maturity be able to be prepaid first, and then a fourth, just noting the final debt paid, either paid or refinanced.

It would at least come off city books and moved to the MPTA.

If you are uh wanting to see it more on a date timeline and see the dates associated, these are the dates that are contemplated.

What I think might be helpful is for me to give you a very brief, in summary form walk through of what the phases will look like again.

Again, these are this is just a summary.

The agreement that you have, the proposed draft goes through in more detail.

But to summarize, again, if you think back to we will be in phase one, we contemplate from July 1st, 2026 through January 1st, 2027.

The city is still owning assets.

The MPTA and the city are agreeing to joint operation of the public transportation of the system with the city holding operational control and authority delegated back from the MPTA.

The MPTA is the policy body, and so at that point in time they will be providing budget approval, approval of the FTA requirements safety plan, and a long-term governance oversight.

The contracting would be performed by the city, and you will note I'll take the moment to say, you will note different places in this proposed draft where you see brackets or the word placeholder.

That's to tell you that discussions are still in progress to really better flesh out what this sum of these provisions will need to look like.

So the provision that is in progress right now is to present to you all for further discussion and consideration is a discussion of what, if any, input into contracting the MPTA needs to have from July 1st to January 1st, that brief period of time, because there are policy implications to the contracts.

Still in phase one, July 1st to January 1st, all state taxes, tax revenues are going to start flowing to the MPTA as of that date.

We contemplate currently in the draft that they flow to the city for this period of time.

There's another placeholder, and a lot of the flow of funds provisions simply because the MPTA is still being set up and there's still an ongoing discussion of the structure of how the MPTA will hold funds ongoing.

Liability will be paid by the public enterprise funds.

So that will be consistent with the budget that everyone is also considering and will be approved before July 1st.

Again, there will need to be established coordination, and there currently is practically established coordination between the executive committee and the committee with the city, and that will need to remain in phase one as well.

So before we enter phase two, there are certain things that need to occur for that smooth transition to continue.

One of the main ones is that the MPTA is able to receive the transfer of CATS personnel on the first day of that phase one, and as it's currently contemplated, what we are expecting on day one is that CATS personnel are informed that they have salary or hourly wages, bonus opportunities and retirement and health and welfare benefits that are no less than the base salary or the current wages, bonus opportunities, retirement and health and welfare benefits provided by the city.

That their service be counted for vesting, eligibility, and accrual purposes, except where it would be double dipping, of course, and that benefit plans will waive or cause to be waived preexisting condition exclusions and activity at work requirements.

That's what's currently in the draft, and it's there, of course, with the emphasis we heard you loud and clear to protect the employees in the transition.

Again, another gate for phase two that the assets that are encumbered or unencumbered need to be determined so that they can start being transferred from the city to the MPTA.

So we will determine during this phase before January 1st what assets are not collateral for debt and that can be transferred.

Contract assignment will also be prepared.

What contracts can be assigned and which would remain with the city based on the assets.

Equally important for the flow of funds is that the MPTA have the capability, the capacity and the infrastructure to direct funds for debt service payments back to the city once all of the operations transfer to the MPTA.

And another in progress discussion is what reserve the city will keep so that the city is able to pay off any of the liabilities that are incurred from it's really the October 1st through the January 1st, 2027 operating period.

We contemplate, of course, the capability of continued requirements with grant agreements, and that the MPTA is ready to take on all of the operation functions, and that includes receiving approvals from federal and state authorities.

Once those conditions have been met, then phase two starts, and again, we contemplate that being January 1st, 2027.

Day one operations and employees transfer.

The governance and policy, which has been with the MPTA, remains with the MPTA.

There is going to be the need, and this will be long-term, to have coordination between the city and the MPTA when it comes to transit infrastructure planning.

So we hope to have those conversations and work out what that looks like long term.

That'll be something new to get used to at the city at that point in time.

Once again, flow of revenue, the funds will come back to the city for debt service payments, and there's just a note that work in progress is to determine exactly what the structure of how the MPTA holds funds looks like.

Fund balance will transfer to the MPTA at this point in time, and liabilities will start to be all paid now through the funds, the operating and capital that the MPTA is holding because all of those funds remain with the MPTA.

There are gates for entering phase three.

If you remember phase three is just going back to assets coming out of being encumbering uh encumbered by debt and moving from the city to the MPTA.

So we will transfer assets and contracts through phase three.

Those are the phases.

Phase three will probably take a little bit of time.

I want to tell you some of the provisions, and these are just a few that I think you might be most interested in that occur throughout the entire agreement.

This is a public enterprise, so the city should expect there to be no general fund liability.

You will not continue the maintenance of effort payments that you've been making, you should expect that grant compliance be maintained uh throughout the life of the agreement, certainly when the grants are there.

Um the parties will need to coordinate with each other to make sure each other have the information necessary for auditing, etc.

And there are probably going to be some additional agreements that come before you.

Some of those will be required by statute to have council approval, uh, then things like leases.

Uh and some of those might be better determined uh at the discretion and and for a designee.

Uh things like the services that are required after January 1st.

Those would need to be any additional agreements that didn't come before you would need to be consistent with what you all have approved in July 1st.

Uh and then a final big placeholder for something that remains in progress are the indemnification provisions that the city uh will expect when performing some of the services uh for for the MPTA after July 1st.

This is where I tell you next steps, all the additional times this will come before you.

Um there you will be receiving by email information about staff availability for office hours.

Uh this is in parallel to how the MPTA board is also being able to provide input so you will hear from staff times that you can uh provide input, comments, questions.

You will also be receiving in your Thursday packets updates as this agreement progresses.

Um we do have on the calendar a placeholder for an additional discussion on June 1st at the Transportation Planning and Development Committee, and we also have a placeholder for additional discussion on the June 8th action review.

Following that, this will need to be determined uh before July 1st.

So we contemplate that you consider adopting the proposed agreement on the June 22nd date.

Those for me.

Mr.

The Manager, so mayor members, mayor members of council, um, so thank you so much for the presentation.

We started an hour earlier today with two agenda items.

I would like to make a suggestion.

It's that we have two.

We have the chamber filled right now with the expectation of a public hearing on the budget and a discussion about I-77 south on managed lanes.

Um I would hope, Catherine, that you would be available to stay a bit later.

And that we could come back and have any questions for her after we deal with those two issues in which we have a packed chamber for.

That's fine.

Does anybody have questions for Catherine?

I have no questions.

I don't want to have to stay for no reason.

This is coming.

Is this going to TPD?

Colleagues, I just wanted to ask about it, so I think Ed wanted to.

I just wanted to say the working group that was established, consisting of myself and Dr.

Wellington and Miss Owens met today to go over in detail the draft contract with an eye towards identifying issues for the benefit of the council.

We did not express like opinions or or participate in policy.

What we're doing is looking at it and trying to lay it out for the council as accessibly as possible because it's complicated.

And there are a lot of questions that need to be answered.

On Wednesday, the meeting will take place, the biweekly meeting will take place between MPTA and the city.

And so before the end of the week, you'll have a staff report on what was discussed that meeting, and also our comments for your benefit of what we saw in the agreement.

Things that we need to think about.

My concern is that's a tight schedule.

This is a big deal, right?

It's an important agreement, and we don't have any latitude to go past the first of July without breaking the requirements of the payback.

So we're trying to make sure everybody can keep up and knows exactly what's going on.

Thank you.

Manager, you want us to all go downstairs and let's get this done at the beginning, okay?

Good evening, everyone.

Good evening.

Hi, I'm Bilals, and I am so proud to be see this room so full and so ready.

I this is a wonderful experience because it's so much to have you come in and be a part of this work that we try to do to make everyone feel good and safe and make it possible for everyone to have a part of what we're doing in this great city that we have.

So I want to call this meeting to order.

I want to say good evening and thank you for joining us here in person.

And we also have people watching online for our May 2011 business meeting.

Let's begin with introductions around the dais, and we'll start with our city clerk, Billy Cons, Deputy City Clerk.

Andrea Leslie Fight, City Attorney.

Good evening, Dimple Ashmira at large.

Hey, Charlotte, Victoria Watlington, I have the pleasure of serving you as a member at large.

Joy Mayo, representing District 3.

Dante Anderson, District 1, and welcome to District 1 this evening.

Marcus Jones, City Manager.

Good evening, everyone.

Jane Smith, Mayor Pro Tim.

Good evening, Kimberly Owens, representing District 6.

Ed Driggs, District 7.

Good evening, Luana Mayfield, Council Member at Large.

Good evening, JD Masueta Adios, proudly representing the East Side District 5.

Good evening, I'm Renee Johnson, and I'm honored to represent District 4.

So I really would say thank you.

We have a few special guests that we have today, and I hope that they would be happy enough to be recognized.

Where is our DA, District Attorney?

Where are you?

And someone that I know well, Jennifer Roberts, where are you, Jennifer?

So thank you again.

Oh, Woodson, where are you?

I can't see.

Usually you see Woodson at another kind of event.

She's always busy doing something.

I can tell you that now.

So but tonight we're going to try to follow up our recognitions as well as do some business.

And so now I'm going to turn it over to I'm going to turn it over to our community leaders who are Victoria Watlington.

Thank you.

We have that presentation.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um, we'd like to give a special thanks to U.S.

Navy Captain Wade Smith.

Is he in the building?

If so, please stand.

Oh, doesn't look like he's with us tonight either.

Okay, well, um, so that you'll know Captain Smith is a native of Matthews and a graduate of North Carolina State University.

Um, we also want to thank all of the Navy sailors who were here in Charlotte during Navy Week participating in various service projects and community projects.

We thank you for your service to your community, and of course, from a grateful nation to our country.

Thank you very much.

All right, and now I'd like to ask our umana mayfield to also talk about someone that's done something really good in our city.

Thank you, madam mayor.

I have the honor of reading this proclamation.

Whereas public works professionals focus on infrastructure, facilities, and services that are a vital importance to sustainable and resilient communities and to public health, high quality of life and well-being of the people of Charlotte, and whereas these infrastructure facilities and services could not be provided without the dedicated efforts of public works professionals who are engineers, managers, and employees at all levels of government and the private sector, who are responsible for rebuilding, improving and protecting our nation's transportation, water supply, water treatment, and solid waste systems, public buildings, and other structures and facilities essential for our citizens.

And whereas it is in the public interest for the citizens, civic leaders, and children in Charlotte, to gain knowledge of and maintain an ongoing interest and understanding of the importance of public works and public works programs in their respective communities.

And whereas the year 2026 marks the 66th annual National Public Works Week, sponsored by the American Public Works Association.

Now, therefore, our mayor by Alexander Lyles, Mayor of Charlotte, do hereby proclaim May 17th to the 23rd, 2026 as National Public Works Week in Charlotte and commend its observance to all citizens.

I encourage everyone to join with representatives of the American Public Works Association and government agencies and activities, events, and ceremonies designed to pay tribute to our public works professionals, engineers, managers, and employees, and to recognize the substantial contributions they make to protecting our national health, safety, and advancing quality of life for all, witness the hand and official seal of the city of Charlotte, our mayor by Alexander Lyles.

Mayor, did you tell me that we have any public works employees?

Well, I see some sitting around the room.

We definitely see a few.

I think they're wearing.

Thank you guys for what you do.

Thank you very much.

I think we're going to go back and ask Miss Watlington to, while the person is not here, we need to understand that they are going to be a part of what our cities do.

And so we'll go ahead and ask Ms.

Watlington to do this.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Whereas the United States Navy was founded on October 13th, 1775, and the Department of the Navy was established on April 30th, 1798.

And whereas the Navy's mission is to maintain, train, and equipped combat-ready naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression, and maintaining freedom of the seas.

And whereas the United States Navy has announced May 4th through 10th, 2026 as Navy Week in Charlotte, North Carolina, returning after 20 years and bringing sailors to directly and meaningfully engage with the community, whereas the Navy Week program has served as the Navy's principal outreach effort in areas of the nation without a significant Navy presence, with over 300 Navy weeks held in 95 different U.S.

cities.

And whereas Charlotte is a leading city that has a rich connection to Navy history and heritage with thousands of veteran residents living in Charlotte-Mecklenburg area, one of which is sitting at this diet.

Whereas Navy Week showcases a lineup of service projects, performances, demonstrations, and community engagement opportunities designed to inspire, educate, and strengthen the bond between the Navy and the people of Charlotte, and whereas currently there are approximately 341,000 sailors serving actively in the U.S.

Navy, in addition to 59,000 reserve personnel who also exemplify courage and selflessness to protect our nation.

Now, therefore, by Alexander Lyles, Mayor of Charlotte, does hereby proclaim May 4th through 10th, 2026 as Navy Week in Charlotte and commend its observance to all people.

So do we have any Navy folks out there stand up, please?

Please, if you're Navy, Armer Marie.

Thank you so much for all of that service and thank you for this proclamation for all of them.

So now we're going to go ahead and begin our meeting.

And we start our meeting with an invocation, an expression or inspiration, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

This invocation is intended to solemnize our proceedings.

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

Tonight, I'm going to ask Mayor Pro Tim to provide our invocation.

And as he finishes and completes, please stand to join us with our pledge of allegiance to our flag.

Thank you very much.

Can we all stand, please?

Please bow your head if you feel so.

O wise and gracious father, we thank you for another day called life in the city of Charlotte.

Lord, now we ask that you be with this mayor and city council, be with our city staff, be with all the citizens that call Charlotte home.

Lord, let your spirit be in this chamber this evening.

So we were here and listened to our residents.

Be with the city council as we make the decision that we'll continue to uplift your city, the city we love, the city we call Charlotte.

That all believers on my voice say Amen.

I pleasure to the United States of America.

One nation under God, individual with liberty and justice for all.

Now thank you all for being a part of this.

Um I believe that our next item is a public hearing decision that we're going to have, and I believe Ms.

Rudasil would like to speak in opposition to this process.

If you would come down, be careful, those steps can be tricky.

We're eating.

I don't know.

This is what we for my blocking.

Okay, honorable honorable council members.

I appreciate the opportunity to talk today.

Is my lipstick all right?

Well, it's always all right.

Thank you.

Okay.

I'm Lisa Rudisal, a Charlotte native whose people came to this area in 1760.

I'm almost that old.

The Rudassel Goldmine is the main reason that we've had the second largest banking center in the United States here.

But things have changed too much here in Charlotte in the years that I've seen.

Over the past two decades, banks and other corporations have come here from across the United States.

From Bank of America, we have added Wells Fargo, which is one of our tallest skyscrapers downtown.

Truest Sun Trust, U.S.

Bank, Chase.

You can go on and on with it.

Actually, all of this is overwhelming our locals, our banks, our citizens, and just the people here.

Sumitomo Masatomo from the 1500s was from a family of samurai warriors.

He became a monk and then started a business.

From this group, Sumitomo Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, one of the largest and diversified businesses in the world.

They already own land on Arcatawa River, the source of drinking and electricity for over a million people just in the Charlotte area.

And I don't want to say this, but I'm going to.

P.S.

the guitar out by I-85 now smells because we have new sewage treatment plan out there.

And you guys have a do we want a foreign company to have a big stake here?

That's from the other side of the world from Japan.

Do we want our their profit dollars to go to that country?

They say they will bring 1200 good paying jobs here, but we get it.

I'm sorry, I thought it was three.

When you have a crowd like this, you have to have two.

Oh, I didn't know that.

Thank you.

So if you can provide the information to the clerk, then we'll go ahead and proceed to the next item.

So I just wanted to end by saying, Mayor Mayor Lyles, that you've done a wonderful job.

Thank you so very much.

I'll tell someone about that, right?

Okay.

Um, so do I have a we also have um we are now going to open the public hearings for on the SMBC Business Investment Grant.

Madam Clerk, do we have any speakers beside Ms.

Rudis?

No, ma'am.

All right.

So close the hearing second.

We have a motion to close and move forward.

All in favor of that motion, please raise your hands.

Anyone unrighteous?

Everybody's good down here.

So it passes unanimously.

All right, so the next item is we're going to now open a public hearing on municipal service districts in District 5 boundaries expansion.

Madam Clerk, do we have any speakers?

I don't know.

Our speaker for this.

Jason Davies.

Mr.

Davies, come on down, they listed.

Okay, take the time, please.

The camera's in the way.

Exactly.

Maybe Mr.

Julians.

Hi, good evening.

I'm speaking on behalf of the Wellwyn neighborhood, which is part of the district that'll be moved from district four into district five here as University City Partners takes over our area.

We understand that there is a uh a proposal underway to both move the border, the northern border that is going to be covered by University City Partners to include our neighborhood and a millage increase as well.

For the last several years since our neighborhood was created in the late 1980s, we've paid into another group called UPOA.

These fees that we pay them for the maintenance of the lake up by JW Clay up there, amount to something on the order of $800 a month for our HOA.

We're only a 30 person HOA.

It's uh it's rather extensive, and now we're going to be asked to, as we move into District 5, pay for the same services again through a millage hike.

We're not opposed to being great partners with the city.

We have been for years.

When the greenway was being expanded into the university city area and the Barton Creek extension was being done there by the county, we ceded land out of our neighborhood directly to uh the county so that they could just immediately begin construction.

Um we wholeheartedly approve of anything that's going to improve our community and the efforts of uh university city partners are very very much appreciated.

What we would like is some commitments from University City Partners and uh the district to help us negotiate an exit from the UPOA agreements, the UPO covenants that have existed since the 1980s, and then some commitments around simple things like making sure our green spaces up there are going to be maintained.

I know that's important to university city partners as well, so we have every faith that that will be uh that will be executed too.

Um I've held my remarks here very short as we have a lot to get through tonight, obviously, but I have registered with the clerk of courts uh an extended version of these remarks, and I would invite you all to read those.

It's uh we're available to chat at any time.

Our HOA has been around for 30 plus years, and we are uh we are here to uh communicate with you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

We really appreciate people coming down and expressing themselves.

I believe that's Miss Johnson's your neighbor, your district.

So thank you.

May I come to speak?

She wanted to speak.

Oh, you wanted to speak?

Yeah, okay, yes.

We're just on the agenda item.

Okay, okay.

So I want to be clear that this is the MSD district five, that's but not district four.

It's the district four um city council district, it's just the MSD, it's the that's their number, district five, correct?

Also, um thank you, Mr.

Davies, for coming out.

I've also asked uh Mr.

Stanley, the ED, the executive director of University City Partners.

I'm looking for a granular street map so we know as residents which streets will be impacted.

So I am waiting on that information, working closely with Keith Stanley, and I will certainly bring your concerns to his attention.

Thank you for coming second.

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

Is there any discussion?

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

I think that's unanimous.

And so now we're going to open the public hearing on the, I think we did the millage.

Do we have to do the millage separately?

All right.

So we'll have to do the millage separately.

Um Madam Clerk, do we have any speakers on the millage?

Portion.

None.

So close to hearing second.

We have a move motion to close the public hearing.

All in favor, please raise your hand.

Anyone that's all unanimous.

Thank you very much.

The next item is public item 11 public hearing on the proposal, proposed fiscal year 2027 operating budget and fiscal service year services 2027 2020 32 31 capital investment plan.

We're getting ready to open the public hearing, and so I want to make a few notes on that.

When we have this with the city manager's proposed fiscal bill recommendations, operating the budget and fiscal years for this year for the capital investment plan.

Before we get started, I want to say thank you for every one of you that are participating tonight.

And I really want us to be able to listen to you and get you your feedback on our budget.

After tonight, your feedback will be considered as council discusses any potential changes to the proposed budget on the next Monday, which is on at 2 o'clock at 2 67.

Tonight is us hearing directly from you, and then the discussions will take place on Monday.

So I want to thank you.

Thank you, the clerk who's got to do everything for two for everybody to get this done.

And so I want to make sure that we get this um appropriately.

So do we have a motion to begin our program or meetings?

Let's go with our meetings.

The first meeting that we have is Jason, has been done.

So Jennifer Dacia.

Okay.

Thank you.

Okay.

All right, so Jennifer.

Thank you.

Please, you have two minutes.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor Lyles, members of City Council and City Leadership.

My name is Jennifer Diesa.

I live in District 5, and I'm speaking tonight on behalf of the community that supports Charlotte Mecklenburg animal care and control.

I'm also a volunteer advocate and board member who has seen firsthand both the challenges and the incredible impact this department has on the animals and the people of Charlotte Mecklenburg.

Not only are we thrilled to be realigned to a division within general services, I also want to sincerely thank you for recognizing the growing needs of animal care and control and for including critical resources in the proposed fiscal year 27 budget.

Your support sends a strong message that animal welfare, public safety, and compassionate community services matter in Charlotte.

We especially want to express our gratitude for the proposed additional veterinarian.

Also the proposed foster coordinator and a volunteer coordinator.

These positions are not just administrative additions.

They are life-saving resources.

The veterinarian helps provide desperately needed medical care to injured, neglected, and sick animals, and the proposed foster and volunteer coordinators strengthen the network of community members who step forward every day to help save lives, reduce overcrowding, and support adoptions.

We're incredibly encouraged by the continued investment in the future satellite adoption center on South Tryon Street.

This facility represents hope for a more modern, humane, and efficient system that better serves animals, staff, volunteers, and our communicate our community.

Dedicated space for dogs, cats, and small pets will improve care, reduce stress on the animals, and expand adoption opportunities across our region.

Charlotte continues to grow rapidly, and with that growth comes increased demand on shelter services.

These investments are necessary, responsible, and long overdue.

And we want city council to know we're a strong community.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, really.

Um, so we have two sides here that we probably can have people walk down on each side, and I'm gonna try this to say could we have two people?

The first being Annalise Eberber Everhart and Terry White.

And if you would come down and have a come be a part of that, and then we'll go further.

All right, all right, please.

Yes, please, and Annalise, that's a beautiful name.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Annalise Eberhard, and I'm a resident of District 3.

I'm also a volunteer and a foster with Charlotte Mecklenburg Animal Care and Control.

As a volunteer, I choose to show up to support some of our community's most vulnerable pets.

On difficult days, I can put on my grossest clothes, walk into the shelter, and still be greeted with wagging tails and slobbery kisses.

I choose to help train new volunteers.

I choose to exercise animals and I choose to advocate for them.

But when the emotional weight of this work becomes overwhelming, I can also choose to step away from my own mental health.

Our staff do not have that option.

As Charlotte continues to grow and more families struggle with affordable housing and financial instability, the shelter increasingly reflects those challenges.

Pets are often caught in the middle of housing transitions, economic hardships, and crisis situations.

Even on the hardest of days, staff continue showing up.

I have seen employees stay hours after closing to unload fans, process incoming animals, clean kennels, and care for pets that need immediate attention.

They are compassionate, resilient, and deeply committed.

They are also exhausted.

As our foster and volunteer programs continue to expand, we are grateful for the proposed additional staffing positions for this upcoming fiscal year budget.

These positions are not luxuries.

They are essential supports for workers carrying an enormous responsibility every day.

And while we eagerly await the new remote facility to be completed, our staff, volunteers, fosters, and animals still need continued investment in enrichment resources, medical care, outreach services, and community clinics.

Thank you for your continued support for both the people and animals who depend on these services.

Thank you.

Alright, so Ms.

White, would you begin?

Thank you.

Good evening.

You know I have comments about Charlotte Museum of History, but I will just email those because tonight I'm not just representing Charlotte Museum of History, but the broader arts and culture sector of Charlotte.

I'm here to challenge the idea that public funding of the arts is frivolous, or worse, should only be increased or considered when all other social ills have been remedied, and our city has a robust budget surplus.

History tells us that that perfect moment never materializes and in fact shows us that the arts and culture sector are often a part of the solution.

The Harlem Renaissance flourished during an era marked by some of the worst racial violence and economic instability of our nation.

During the Great Depression, the federal government invested in artists, writers, theaters, musicians, and the public art spaces through the WPA with the understanding that culture is key to America's recovery and identity.

During World War II, it was our sector that troubled the world to strengthen morale with our troops and to spread our democratic values.

After September 11th, museums, libraries, and memorials forced us all to make good on our collective promise that we would never forget, including here in this very building.

The arts should not become an afterthought when challenges arise.

History again has shown us that they matter more during difficult times than ever, and are qualitatively and quantitatively a part of the solution.

We are ready to shape to continue shaping the quality of life, economic development, tourism, education, and our civic identity.

Charlotte has the opportunity to be brave and innovative.

We are more than ready, are you?

Thank you.

All right, and so our next two people, um, Cass Otley and Dominique Harris.

Miss Otley, I saw you turning.

Yes.

Hello.

Good evening, City Council.

Um, on average, 157 people move to Charlotte Mecklenburg every day.

And with that, we have to factor in the added amount of trash, water usage, new roads, transportation, and infrastructure wear and tear.

City workers are the ones that fill the gap, pick up the trash, pick up the slack, and make sure that Charlotte is working.

I know that most folks don't think about it when they turn on their water or they put their trash outside, but we need them to understand that city workers work in all extreme weather, cold heat, storms to make sure this city works.

Each year, police automatically get a 10% raise with fire close behind.

City workers are always dead last every year.

When city workers receive a 4% raise, most of them only receive about 2% of that raise.

I'm not sure if everybody knows that due to um performance reviews.

And so while other workers in the city are climbing the economic ladder, a lot of our workers are unfairly being left behind.

And when they get this performance reviews, a lot of times they are by supervisors that have never driven with them, never ridden with them, and never been in the vehicle with them.

And that's unfair.

So city workers absolutely deserve more than a 4% raise.

Um we are excited about the 25% minimum wage moving up, but a 4% raise is just not enough.

City workers are essential to the work that police and fire do because if there is not water, fire department cannot do their job.

So we would like our workers to be recognized.

We would like them to get a 10% raise.

We would like them to be able to thrive and be able to move up the economic ladder like everyone else uh in this city.

I'd like to thank all of you for your time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, Mr.

Harris.

All right, good evening, everybody.

Thank y'all for coming out.

Um, I know I'm glad to be here just to let y'all hear what I got on my mind.

Um, so the $25 now, I'd like to appreciate y'all for that.

We finally got there.

We tried to get there last year, but this year that's good.

Um got workers coming in, making more than uh any job I know of starting.

So I think that's great for the guys coming through the door.

For the people that was here, we saw that 10% come out for the police.

We was like, all right, saw the 7% come out for the fire.

All right, and saw that 4% come out for us.

We've heads were down.

Yeah, we just didn't think it was enough not to represent us in the work that we were doing.

I mean, we work for the past year, we like to get rewarded just as well as anybody else.

We want to be respected as much as you guys say we are, and just looking at those guys getting more than us, everybody getting more than us, we don't feel that respect.

Like, and then we gotta fight for it on top of that.

So it's not just it's four percent, but then we gotta fight for it by by uh proving to a manager that might not like us that hey, I deserve that other percent on top of that.

So, I mean, it's tough for us.

We're getting maybe four percent.

It's not four percent automatic, it's maybe four percent.

We like to see ten.

I know I like to see ten.

If I saw that 10 of my check, I know my wife would be happy.

She's up there.

That's really all I got to say.

If y'all guys can do better, we want you guys to go in there, think about it, talk about it, and just show put some respect on it.

Put some respect on our chicks.

That's right.

All right, our next, our next two speakers are Laura Boucher and Holly Savoy.

So here's the revolution.

Two minutes.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council, County, and City Manager.

I'm Laura Belcher.

I am the president and CEO of Habitat Charlotte Region.

And I am thrilled that we have a great partnership with the City of Charlotte in bringing affordable home ownership to this community through housing trust fund dollars and other investments.

I want to thank each of you for your partnership, and want to acknowledge and thank Mayor Lyles for your partnership and work over the years.

Tonight I'm here to express strong support for the city manager's proposal of 125 million dollar housing bond placed on the November ballot and encourage long-term strategic approach in housing investment in Charlotte.

As in the past, this bond proposal is more than a funding request.

It is a clear signal that Charlotte is serious about protecting residents from displacement, expanding housing affordability, and responding to this true scale of our need.

At a time when housing costs continue to outpace wages, the level of investment is not only appropriate, it is responsible and it is necessary.

I also want to emphasize the importance of steady, predictable growth in the bond funding over time.

Affordable housing developments work best when cities can make reliable long-term commitments and consistent bond strategy allows developers and lenders and nonprofit partners to plan to manage cost and to bring projects to market more efficiently.

Housing projects takes years to plan, and sustained investment enables developers, especially mission-driven nonprofits, to be intentional and strategic in the way that we can meet the council's goals.

With strategic planning and continued growth in investments in housing, we can align housing investments with transit and infrastructure, we can preserve existing affordable housing, minimizing displacement.

We can ensure new developments reach families across the community, and we can create the time and flexibility needed to explore innovation and new housing solutions.

In short, this 125 million dollar bond is a smart investment in Charlotte's future, and its impact will be strongest if sustained and increased over time.

Thank you all.

Ms.

Please begin.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Dr.

Holly Savoy, and I'm the executive director of Charlotte Trans Health.

I'm also a resident of District One and working closely with transgender and gender diverse individuals navigating housing and healthcare systems across our city.

We recently worked with a client, an older transgender woman who came to us after being exposed to unsafe housing conditions and facing eviction when she tried to advocate for herself.

At that point, her health was declining and she had nowhere to turn.

Through coordinated support, she was able to access affirming health care, stabilize her health, and begin rebuilding her life.

Today she describes that support as life-saving.

Her experience is not unique.

We regularly encounter situations where housing instability, discrimination, and gaps in provider knowledge make it harder for people to access care and feel safe in the systems meant to support them.

These are not abstract issues.

They affect our clients, our neighbors, our friends, and our family members.

And those impacts are felt especially deeply by black transgender women and members of immigrant communities already facing disproportionate barriers to safety and housing stability.

When housing systems aren't accessible, neither is care.

Housing is often the front door to stability to health care and to mental health support.

But the good news is that there are actionable solutions.

Charlotte Trans Health, alongside many of our community partners already doing this work on the ground, have a model that works.

Training providers and organizations in practical evidence-based affirming practices that translate into real world change.

With targeted support from the city, we could expand this work within housing systems, providing ongoing education and capacity building for shelters and housing programs.

So today we are asking the city to dedicate funding toward regular sustained training for housing providers on non-discrimination and affirming practices.

When we invest in equipping our systems to serve everyone, we make Charlotte safer and stronger for all of us.

So thank you for your time and commitment to Charlotte.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Oshana Hunter as well and John Jonah Smith.

Good evening.

Hello, everyone, mayor, council members, and city staff.

My name is Oshana Hunter, and I'm speaking tonight on behalf of OneMet, which is a coalition of community members committed to advancing equity and affordability in housing across Mecklenburg County.

Our members include leaders with experience in affordable housing development, homelessness response, legal services, housing stability, and community development.

Collectively, we work alongside organizations who are working every day to address the affordable housing crisis here in Charlotte.

I'm here today to strongly urge Council to increase the housing trust fund to 200 million dollars.

From both a system and implementation perspective, the current funding level is not sufficient to meet the scale of need.

Charlotte currently has nearly 2,500 residents experiencing homelessness, more than 110,000 cost burden residents and renters, and a shortage of nearly 40,000 affordable housing homes.

The last bond increase from 50 to 100 million created important new opportunities, especially around anti-displacement and supportive housing along with home ownership.

But once the funds were divided across multiple priorities, there was still not enough capacity to fund many strong affordable housing developments and critical programs.

This has real consequences.

When Charlotte cannot fully fund rental production and the services needed to address homelessness and housing instability, the impact is felt for generations.

I've seen what happens when our community comes together to meet the need.

This is a manageable investment, increasing the housing trust fund, an additional 100 million would increase Charlotte's overall debt by only 1.5%, while significantly increasing and strengthening our ability to preserve housing stability and economic diversity across our city.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Did Jonah Smith come well?

Okay, we'll Shannon Benz.

Sorry.

Jonah Smith.

All right, yes.

Mark Wilson.

Shannon Benn and Frankie Clark.

Mark Wilson.

Skip one.

Okay.

Shannon Benn.

Okay, Mark Wilson.

Mark Wilson.

Oh, yeah.

Whoever gets down here first.

No, I'm just kidding.

We have overflow outside.

I don't know.

Oh, Jonah too.

She's keeping two minutes.

Just give two hands.

Wait, Jonah's first.

Jonah's first.

Jonah.

Oh, okay.

Yes.

That's not true.

You're not.

All right.

Let's go ahead and um tell me your name.

Mark Wilson.

Mark Wilson.

Do we have you on the schedule?

There we go.

Let's go ahead.

Mr.

Wilson.

And Smith.

Number two.

Good evening, Council.

I'm Mark Wilson, Secretary for Charlotte Firefighters Association Local 660.

I spoke here in January about the important needs of the firefighters.

I've been in meetings with many of you since then, explaining the importance of these needs.

You echoed the importance of these needs.

If the budget does not get adjusted to meet the need of pay parity, lower health care costs, and modified duty positions, then the trust between this city and its citizens has been violated.

The voters put your their trust and faith in you to ensure their safety.

During the budget meetings, many of you stressed the return on investment.

The investment in the fire department has been low, and that low return has come calling.

The below regional and national average pay we receive is hurting recruitment and retention.

A Charlotte firefighter's career is supposed to be at least 25 years.

The city is losing their investment of training, equipment, and knowledge of the firefighter when they leave because they can no longer support their families or afford health care coverage.

This city has campaigns all over the city preaching fairness, equity, and justice.

However, these are ignored when it comes to the firefighters.

The true raise for over 80% of the fire department out of the proposed budget is really two percent.

The other 5% of the proposed seven was already set for November date when firefighters would get their annual step increase.

The step increase is an annual adjustment to move the firefighter closer to their fair market value of the position.

Firefighters work for less than their market value for years until they reach this top step, which is the true market value.

This process is built on the idea of more of the experience the firefighter is, the more value they have.

The more the firefighters invested themselves in the city, the more the city receives in return, return on investment.

That 2% raise is quickly washed away by the increase of health care costs.

Firefighters are forced to resign from the department and are even terminated when they can no longer ride the fire truck after they are injured on the job.

These firefighters perform essential and critical jobs off the truck while healing.

The needs of the firefighters are an investment of the city needs to make.

Shannon, would you like to let me go first?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor, and um all of our distinguished council.

My name is Frankie Clark, and and I'm a member of Action North Carolina.

And even though you mainly hear from our political director, Robert Dawkins, we senior members, and I'm 80.

We have a part in action, North Carolina.

And I just wanted to stop by tonight to um spend a couple of minutes addressing the issues uh Robert keeps in front of you.

Uh this action, North Carolina is a partner organization to the redress movement.

This is the third people's budget.

We do this every year to ensure organizations big and small that work on issues facing low and moderate income communities leave their issues, have their issues addressed.

We have spent the last few months knocking on doors, talking to residents and churches, bus stops, wherever we can, and um in grocery stores to address these issues.

Now, this year we present you with the people's budget calling for our increase in the same housing trust fund, um, more money for displacement caused by the new mobility plan, and transportation tax, discounting people.

Legal eviction assistance for residents who are facing evictions, unfair evictions, um, improvements to CATS bus service for those riders with disabilities.

Please listen to the speakers that come behind me because it's important that we address these issues for the low and moderate incomes.

It's important that you pay attention to the people's budget.

It includes a whole lot of organizations that have come together that do a good service for Charlotte.

Now, listen here, Charlotte.

This is your time to shine.

Thank you.

Um, before we go to Shannon, I'd like to recognize a former council member here, Tijuana Brown.

Are you wave to everybody, please?

Who else?

I don't know why they all came at the same time, but obviously there's something good about it.

So thank you guys so very much.

Alright, so let's go, Shannon Benz.

Thank you, Mayor, and council members.

First, I want to say that Sustained Charlotte strongly supports the people's budget.

It reflects community priorities around housing, transportation, and equity, and we appreciate the leadership behind it.

I know you'll be discussing I-77 later tonight, which also has uh a massive impact on our budget now and in the future.

And over the past several weeks, our coalition has worked in good faith with several members of council.

We provided detailed written feedback, including specific word edits to strengthen the proposed resolution.

Yet none of those recommendations are reflected in the current draft before you tonight.

Instead, the resolution keeps the analysis in the hands of NCBOT and refocuses on refining the current proposal rather than evaluating fundamentally different solutions, and does not ensure that this analysis will occur before the RFP is issued.

In other words, this resolution reflects what NCDOT is already doing and keeps the project moving forward toward a predetermined outcome.

The toll lanes will be built rather than determining whether that is the right solution at all.

So we need to be clear.

We cannot support this resolution in its current form.

That said, it is not too late.

If this council adds an independent study that fairly evaluates the full range of toll lane alternatives, including non-highway options, and clear timing so that this is done before the RFP is issued, then this will be something the community can stand behind.

I brought each of you printed copies of three design concepts for 77 developed by local professional design firms.

These show what it could look like to repair and reconnect communities along this corridor.

These designs were developed at no cost to taxpayers, local or state, and I'm sharing them because you deserve to see what's possible before making this decision.

Those same teams will present Thursday at one o'clock p.m.

in this building.

Thank you.

I hope you will attend.

This is a moment for leadership, and we hope you will rise to the occasion.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Shanika Robinson.

Ms.

Robinson.

And Ted Fillette.

So you're up there.

I thought I saw you moving around.

Did the sheriff?

I mean, did the police?

No, just say, did the fire chief treat you well?

All right, thank you.

All right, Reggie, thanks so much for helping out.

And please.

Thank you, Councilmember and Mayor, for sharing me out.

I'm the vice president of National Federation for the Blind at the Charlotte McElbert chapter.

We're the biggest chapter in North and South Carolina.

I'm here to talk about parent transit and transportation.

Right now, with parent transit, we pay the highest for people with disabilities and our seniors, yet and still we get less and treated like second-class citizens.

We're never approached or asked anything with transit or any transparency with SCS.

We're here to just tell you to throw us a bone or give us something in your budget with the morale of the staff and the low morale of the staff.

And with that and them being stressed out, we get the blunt of that stress.

We're here to just ask you council people, please.

I know you got the light run, I know the tragedy, but we're over here, your seniors and your disability, the most vulnerable, asking for you to please remember us, even with the MTPA, we're asking for you to please think about us over here at transit.

We need operators, we need new buses.

I'm tired of being stuck on 85, coming from dialysis in 90 degree weather with buses that do not work or just breaking down and sitting there with that driver for an hour waiting for somebody to come because you put the maintenance crew with the regular and we don't have our own maintenance crew, so we have to wait for them to do the buses regular buses for us before they give us priority.

I had to come here today for a whole hour.

I live in a university area.

A couple of weeks ago, I was on the bus for four hours.

I'm over here with one leg.

County, please think about us.

One day you're gonna be here.

One day you're gonna be a senior, and then to think that you was in a leadership position where you could have did something.

Thank you.

Thank you, and we'll come for sharing that with us.

Mr.

Fallett, how are you?

Hello.

Mayor, members of council, I'm Ted Fillette, and I'm here speaking on the housing trust fund amount for the people's budget.

We recommend a 200 million dollar trust fund effort in the November referendum.

When the council adopted the policy in 2024 to target uh the different types of housing methods, it allocated 35 million dollars for new construction of rental housing, which is 15 million dollars less than what was available when we had a 50 million dollar bond.

Now there were so many other good forms of housing included in the allocation system, but nevertheless, it reduced the the amount available for the new construction.

And as a result of this, in the 2025 spring cycle of trust fund awards, some meritorious proposals for new construction were passed over in that year.

Wake and Durham counties together received about four times as many tax credit awards as we got in Mecklenburg.

We only had one in Charlotte.

In April of 26, some meritorious rental new construction proposals in Charlotte were passed over again.

One of them was a really outstanding site right on the border of East Over and Greer Heights.

It would have provided 150 new units of affordable housing, 103 two bedrooms, uh 27 three-bedrooms.

We don't need to lose these opportunities.

We don't need to have competition between new construction of rental, homeownership, good uh NOAA preservation.

What we need is a bigger pot of money so that you can do all of these different strategies that are successful.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Our next two speakers are Dr.

Kimberly Bird and Bobby Drakeford.

Okay.

Good evening.

My name is Kimberly Byrd, and I serve on the board of Spring Clean.

Spring Clean builds pathways to green economy careers while diverting material from landfills.

We do this by repurposing donated textile materials, providing community awareness about sustainability, and offering flexible jobs that pay good wages.

We foresee a future where nothing goes to waste, and everyone has opportunities to earn money while creating positive impact on the planet.

Spring King's in a click period of growth, and we were 300% over the last year.

Our move to Camp North End, located in the corridor of opportunity, has allowed us to magnify our impact.

We were able to partner with Renaissance West Steam Academy in another corridor of opportunity.

At the academy, we operate an active school program that uses sustainable fashion as a way to enhance core academic skills.

We have created more than 80 roles in the past seven years.

Contractors, internships, and more recently, full-time roles as part of NC Works.

Spring Clean has two funding requests.

The first is a financial partner request to expand our operations at Camp Northin.

The second is the people's budget request to fund internships and apprenticeships.

We're going to partner with the Mayor's Office of Youth Opportunities in this effort.

Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you very much.

Mr.

Drakeford.

Good evening, mayor of city council and staff.

Thanks for allowing us to speak.

I'm here as an advocate for the people's budget, in particular to address some of the needs that we have with displacement in the housing arena.

Very much related to the expansion of the transit tax, knowing the impact it will have with the examples we see throughout the city that we reference many times as lessons we've learned from the green line or blue line.

We believe very much it requires a specific allocation of funds not subject to annual approval, dedicated to that particular geography that we know will be impacted.

So the request is to exceed the uh allocated funding amount with dedicated funds for particular geographies and a variety of uh housing measures that would include homeownership land banking and affordable housing for rental as well.

Uh, that's my request.

I was here last year to speak on topics like this, including a request to learn a lot more about opportunity corridors.

Um, speaks as an individual, uh, because I'm curious about the components of it and how it compares to other areas in particular the components of it, and uh I'm not sure where to go with that request again this year.

But thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Our next our next speaker is Carol Hardison and Jessica Moreno.

You want to come up next?

Good evening, Madam Mayor, members of City Council.

Um, Madam Mayor, thank you for your decades of dedicated service.

I'm Carol Hardison with Crisis Assistance Ministry, and I'm here tonight in support of the people's budget.

At crisis assistance, every day we see the impact of a lack of affordable housing combined with a lack of living wages has on individuals and families forced to choose between rent and food, medicine, or utilities.

And we see the impact of mass displacement when no matter how hard a family work to provide stable housing, it can be taken away on a moment's notice.

We support 200 million dollar housing bond.

And despite emergency federal stimulus funding pouring millions into rental assistance to stabilize the economy for several years, eviction filings in this city have surged with a record-breaking 52,625 filings last fiscal year alone.

That's moms, dads, and their kids faced with eviction, over 52,000.

The lesson is clear.

Financial assistance alone doesn't create housing stability.

That's why the public-private partnership that we have with the city and crisis assistance ministry is so much appreciated and so important.

Your public funds target the city's priorities, and we combine them with philanthropic dollars and other public dollars to ensure individualized services, budget assessments, targeted support services, connections to wraparound services, not just short-term crisis management.

And access to legal representation helps stop unlawful evictions and ensure tenants understand their rights.

Your investment in this work pays enormous dividends for families who would otherwise have no voice in the process.

In summary, as Mr.

Follette said, we appreciate your support.

Large funding for affordable housing would be much appreciated, and you guys work day in and day out tirelessly.

It is appreciated.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Hannah Marie Warfill.

I'm sorry, did we miss?

We missed one.

Jessica, I'm up here.

She's up top.

Thank you.

My name is Jessica Moreno.

I'm a housing organizer with Action NC and part of the People's Budget Coalition.

I'm going to talk about how Charlotte is growing rapidly.

We all know that.

157 about every day move to Charlotte.

And about 181 people if we're counting new births.

Growth is coming, whether we are prepared or not for it.

But the question is will Charlotte remain a city where working people can afford to stay, or a city only for those with the highest incomes.

Under the joint program, a home for all.

The county already invested 1.2 million, but the city has now made its smaller commitment of 200K.

I'm here asking for the city to invest that money to avert unlawful evictions.

Last year, over 52,000 tenants in Mecklenburg County faced eviction filings.

We know landlords, about 80%, have lawyers.

Only 4% of tenants do.

And when tenants receive legal support, they win.

And so we're asking for a fighting chance for the families, for the children, who, if we don't provide the support, they're gonna end up living in multiple families in a household, living in cars, living on the street.

If we can provide this money to help our community, that's what we should do.

Um yeah, I mean, we're gonna help seniors, families, and the people that are working here should be able to live here.

Charlotte says it values affordable housing, safety and opportunity.

Preventing unnecessary evictions is all three.

Our city needs to be compassionate and responsible, and I urge you to include this investment in the budget.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So now our next speaker is Hannah Marie Waffle and Judith Brown.

It's gonna be up top.

You're up top, Judith.

I'm up top.

Gotcha.

Okay, I think that's good.

Okay, where's Hannah?

Hannah's not on.

Can she start?

Greetings and good evening, City of Charlotte.

Council members, city manager, and good evening, my dear Madam Mayor.

My name is Judith Brown.

I am a disabled resident of Charlotte, a mother of two sons on autism, and the executive director of Project 704, a nonprofit committed to the support of people with disabilities.

Through my work, I engage directly with individuals and families with disabilities across all of the districts.

And I see firsthand the barriers that continue to limit access, independence, and opportunity.

This is not just a disabled disability issue, it is a Charlotte issue because when residents with disabilities are excluded, our entire city is less strong, less connected, and less just why I'm proud to endorse the people's budget.

We are asking the city of Charlotte to remove physical and systemic accessibility barriers throughout the city, invest in fully accessible infrastructure and the modes of transportation, expand the construction and the number of not only affordable but accessible homes to be added to our housing stock, and ensure that people with disabilities continue to be included in the decision making process because true accessibility means nothing about us without all of us.

Charlotte has the opportunity to lead to become a world-class city where everyone, regardless of ability, can live, work, and thrive with dignity.

I urge you to support policies and funding decisions that reflect that vision.

Thank you for your time.

I thank you, my sons, thank you.

And we thank you for your commitment to building a more inclusive Charlotte.

Our next two speakers are Greg Jarrell and Stephanie Van Luck.

If I hope I hope that's appropriately close enough.

Thank you, Greg.

Good evening, Councilman Madam Mayor.

Uh, Reverend Greg Gerald, uh, to the redress movements, where uh that I organize with.

We think that the highest aim of our work is not always to be oppositional, but rather something that we call co-governance with elected bodies, that is that we work together as partners in a political world that's full of friction, that I think could fairly be described as full contact conflict.

It can be refreshing not to feel like we have to come stand up here and scream all the time, and you probably don't want to be screamed at.

There are plenty of people that do need to be screamed at, but we can aim that elsewhere.

So, that's what the people's budget coalition works for each year.

That is that we want to we together in that coalition do the work of research to present to you well-informed proposals.

We listen to grassroots communities, to grassroots residents, to grassroots nonprofits and organizations.

We solicit support from several thousand Charlotte residents, and then we discuss and test proposals with staff and elected officials year-round so that we can present to you a complete package of strong proposals.

In our work, we're doing what we hear from you that you want, that is an active and engaged and informed citizenry.

You've heard from our people tonight from nearly a dozen of them, and we're asking you now to listen and to vote with us.

That is to take action for the things that we have proposed to you.

I brought with me the names of uh going on now 1,500 folks from around Charlotte who have signed on in support of the people's budget.

I've got the first half of these cards for you.

And we want you to support a 200,000 200 million dollar housing trust fund bond, a 25 dollar minimum wage for our city workers, a $200,000 fund to prevent unnecessary evictions, a trend uh better transit equity for disabled riders.

Support the people's budget tonight.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speakers are Suzanne.

Stephanie.

Stephanie Van Lul.

She's right here.

Go ahead.

Yes, okay.

Good evening.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

I am Reverend Stephanie Vanderlect.

I'm the co-founder and executive director of Kinship Plot, which is a community-based organization developing affordable housing on underutilized church-owned land.

And I am here alongside the People's Budget Coalition in strong support of funding the Housing Trust Fund at 200 million.

Kinsha Plot has directly benefited from the city's investment in the faith and housing initiative, funded by the last HTF bond.

And as part of that cohort, currently, we have received critical technical assistance and early support that has helped move us from vision to viability.

It has bridged real gaps in knowledge, relationships, and capacity, especially for organizations like ours rooted in the community and working in partnership with houses of worship.

And still, I want to be honest that it only scratches the surface.

We are currently advancing a 24 unit affordable housing development on underutilized church owned land, serving households earning 40 to 70 percent of the area median income.

And we've completed predevelopment and we are ready to move forward.

But the path ahead is very steep.

And the cost of building deeply affordable housing is simply beyond what small community-based developers can carry alone.

And yet, organizations like ours are essential to meeting the need.

And we're close to the community that we are designing and building with.

And our partnership with the church brings trust, stability, and long-term commitment to the work.

We are not driven by profit.

We are driven by a vision of a stronger, more connected community.

And right now, groups like ours are asked to compete with large, well capitalized developers.

Without deeper public investment, many community-rooted projects will not make it across the finish line.

So if the city wants more local developers, more faith-based partnerships, and more housing that truly reflects our neighborhoods, then the city must partner with us at scale.

Expanding the Housing Trust Fund is not just about more units.

It's about who gets to build, who benefits, and how we shape Charlotte's future together.

Thank you.

Our next, our next speakers are Dana King and Laura Lawrence.

I hope I said that correctly.

Thank you.

Oh, Safe Alliance.

Good evening.

My name is Suzanne Canale, and I am the Chief Legal Officer of Safe Alliance.

I am here to request that you restore funding for Safe Alliance to the fiscal year 2027 budget.

Through Safe Alliance's victim assistance court program and our 24 7 Hopeline, we provide critical services to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking that help to reduce repeat violence.

Without connection to Safe Alliance services, many survivors return to dangerous situations because they have nowhere else to turn.

The tools Safe Alliance provides are often the only barriers between escalating violence and homicide after police leave the scene.

Safe Alliance is part of a community response to violence.

We work closely with law enforcement, our elected district attorney Spencer Merriweather and his office, as well as other key community partners.

Together, we ensure survivors are connected to protection, justice, advocacy, and support immediately and effectively.

Safe Alliance's services directly support the city's priorities.

Our work increases community safety, preventing repeat calls and escalation of violence, and reduces homelessness by increasing family stability.

Domestic violence is a leading cause of family homelessness, and our office helps individuals obtain domestic violence protective orders that help them stay in their homes or provide alternative housing, gain economic mobility, and secure temporary custody to keep children safe.

Our Greater Charlotte Hopeline is available 24 hours a day and is an access point for survivors.

They can get immediate access to safety planning, emergency housing, and access to legal advocacy.

Without Safe Alliance, victims are far more likely to be left without protection and support during the most dangerous vulnerable moments of their life.

A loss of funding is a loss that will be felt across our community through increased violence, destabilized families, and preventable tragedies that ripple far beyond one household.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Good evening, Mayor Lyles, City Council, and City staff.

I am Laura Lawrence.

I'm the president and CEO of Safe Alliance.

And for over 20 years, the city has partnered with Safe Alliance to ensure that survivors have the life-saving skills and support they need to live a violence-free life.

One in three women and one in four men will experience intimate partner violence in their lifetime.

Cutting funding will not reduce cost, it will increase them.

The city will pay more through more repeat police calls, more emergency room visits, more homelessness, and greater strains on our courts and our law enforcement.

The human cost is even greater.

Traumatized children, families living in fear and in danger, increased danger to our officers, and life's lost to preventable violence.

CMPD has already reported an increase in domestic violence-related homicides this year.

Domestic violence cases are often where escalating homicide risk shows up first, long before it turns lethal.

Police can respond in the moment, but arrest alone do not create accountability.

As a former prosecutor myself, I can say clearly, cases are many times won or lost based on sustained survivor engagement.

These cases often take years, and without ongoing support, survivors disengage.

When this happens, cases collapse, victims and children remain in danger, and dangerous offenders return and remain in our community.

This is why the victim assistance court program matters.

VACP provides long-term legal advocacy, court accompaniment, protective orders, and access to pro-bono attorneys.

Thank you very much.

She is actually ill this evening.

Okay, thank you.

Well, she's pretty cool to do that.

Thank you so much.

So our next two speakers are Audra Toussaint and Craig Varnum.

Thank you.

There you are, thank you.

Good evening.

My name is Audra Toussaint, and I am a survivor of domestic violence.

I'm here with my daughter today, standing right in front of Spencer Merriweather.

And we are alive because of the support services that I received from Safe Alliance and victims assistance.

I ended a violent relationship in 2014, but things only intensified as they often do.

I filed for my first restraining order and paid a lawyer to represent me because I didn't know about the free legal services that Safe Alliance provides victims.

Throughout that year, I lived in constant fear.

I was afraid that I would not get a renewal of my order, so I called the Greater Charlotte Hopeline.

They encouraged me to file it, so I did, and I got a two-year renewal.

That phone call saved my life.

My abuser violated that order 14 times over the next decade.

I met a Safe Alliance Court advocate at the hearing for those at a hearing for those violations in 2016.

Her support helped me face him in court.

Safe Alliance provides ongoing advocacy as survivors move through complex systems that can otherwise feel overwhelming.

The court system is daunting and difficult to navigate.

I found out about their legal advocacy with the victim assistance court program in 2018.

I have been represented by a Safe Alliance lawyer at five renewal hearings, and I was granted a renewal every time.

I'm not sure that I would have or could have kept going without them.

I have seen countless women give up, and it's heartbreaking.

Having a court advocate in criminal court and free legal representation in domestic violence court is a game changer for victims that are trying to navigate the system.

When survivors remain connected from the hope line through the court resolution, outcomes are stronger.

Calling 911 was only the beginning of my journey to becoming a survivor.

Victims need to have the support to follow through, sometimes for years like me.

That's where Safe Alliance comes in, partnering with law enforcement to help victims get protection and services they need.

They save countless lives in our community, like my daughter Kinsey and myself.

Thank you, Mayor.

Good evening.

My name is Craig Varnum.

I retired from the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department last year.

And prior to that, I had the honor to serve as the domestic violence unit supervisor for about five years.

I'm also a current board member for Safe Alliance, and I'm here tonight to strongly urge you to continue funding Safe Alliance in fiscal year 27.

During my time with the domestic violence unit, I had the incredible honor and privilege to meet, to work with, to get to know and to be inspired by the incredible people, the staff, the employees, the volunteers, and the survivors with Safe Alliance, and to see firsthand the incredible transformational and life-saving work that they provide.

I also got to be on the ground floor of bringing a family justice center to this community.

Many people in that in this room were part of that movement.

Mr.

Jones, you were gracious enough to join us on a visit to Nashville to see that they built their family justice center.

For those that don't know, it's a one-stop shop for victims of domestic violence, uh sexual assault, child abuse, human trafficking, elder abuse.

It puts all of the services and resources that a victim needs in one place.

As such, funding for Safe Alliance has never been more critical.

Not only, as you heard from Audra and from Laura and from Susie and the other survivors that you'll hear from tonight, not only does that life-saving work help our victims become survivors and ultimately thrivers, it also makes our police officers and our community safer.

As it turns out, men that abuse women, particularly men that strangle women are some of the most violent human beings on planet Earth.

A man who strangles a woman is 80% more likely to kill her, and up to 90% of convicted cop killers have a history of strangling women, right?

So when we hold the most violent abusers accountable, we make our community safer, we make our police officers safer.

Funding for Safe Alliance is funding for our community, for our police officers, for the entire community, our next speaker is Larissa Pore.

I hope I said that correctly or close enough.

As a survivor of domestic violence, I'm able to lift my head up high and know that the resources help me.

Knowing that I've been an advocate before I lived in shame.

Not knowing that a phone call could save my life, a police officer coming to my home and helping me, a sane nurse and an advocate coming to the actual hospital room as my very own mother had to listen to the horrific story of what happened to me here in Charlotte, North Carolina.

I want to let you know that these funds present hope.

And the hope that is needed from Safe Alliance, it cannot go away.

Right now, I work in the detention center right here in Charlotte, North Carolina, teaching domestic violence awareness and intervention and prevention to the ladies who are currently incarcerated for reactive aggression due to being fed up from the domestic violence that has been presented to them.

This is the opportunity for us to stand and let people know that if it doesn't happen to you, doesn't mean it doesn't impact you.

The whole city is impacted by the increase of domestic violence.

And because of that, we have some work to do.

We have the work to do in front of us, and we cannot sit down, we cannot shy back, we cannot stop the movement of the awareness of domestic violence.

So I'm here to stand before you as presenting hope.

That I have came out of the situation of domestic violence strong, that I can empower other women and other men to know that there is more on the other side.

I am a recipient of great services that needs to continue on, not just for me, but for people who are scared to stand up and to talk about the domestic violence that's happening in Charlotte, North Carolina.

All right, our next speaker, Mr.

Davis.

As well as Adams Ulm and Espinosa, no, yes.

Jamila Espinosa.

Oh, yes, you can't see me.

I see you're so petite.

Okay, thank you.

All right.

Good evening, mayor, city council members, and city manager.

My name is Jamila Espinosa, and I um respectfully ask that the city continue funding Safe Alliance in fiscal year 2027, because this work remains essential to the safety and stability of our community.

For more than 100 years, yes, 100 years, Safe Alliance has helped Charlotte respond to violence by building systems that protect survivors like Audra and Larisha.

Strengthen accountability and support public safety.

This is not duplicate work.

This is the work that happens after that 911 call, when the long-term safety outcome is actually determined.

If community safety is truly one of this city's priorities, and I believe it is, then we cannot weaken one of the systems specifically designed to interrupt escalating violence before it becomes more lethal, more widespread, and more costly to contain.

For more than 20 years, the City of Charlotte has been a critical partner through direct financial support.

That investment reflects a shared understanding that domestic violence and sexual violence response is not peripheral.

It is a core public safety safety infrastructure.

Because of this partnership, Charlotte has built a coordinated response that includes 24-7 crisis intervention, immediate legal protection, as Audra explained, and long-term core advocacy.

Housing stabilization and close alignment with law enforcement, as Mr.

Varnum explained, and the district attorney's office.

The bottom line is that cutting safe alliance does not reduce the cost of violence, it just transfers it.

Charlotte will pay for it later through more repeated calls, more overwhelmed emergency systems, more failed prosecutions, and more housing instability.

We ask that you do not allow that to happen.

Safe Alliance is a critical part of our community, and we ask that you consider it as such through your actions.

Thank you.

So our next speaker is Kenny Robinson and Derek Davis.

I see, go ahead and get it in there now.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, City Council.

I know who I am.

I got my stuff wrote down that I was gonna say, but when I walked in here, because it was so full I couldn't even get in here when I walked in here and I seen all these red shirts.

I said, Man, this is a shame.

I'm here to talk about what I'm in here to talk about for the people that I represent, but to see firefighters in here asking for money, something ain't right.

But y'all got to y'all got to do something about that.

I'm here to talk about affordable housing and request an additional 25 million dollars in the housing trust fund, simply because organizations like mine are being left out of the housing trust fund, having to compete with major established developers.

You know who they are.

Time and time again, they get the money, we get left out.

I've been trying to build this project for three years now.

I can't raise 102 million dollars.

I'm trying to raise two million dollars, can't do that.

So we need some additional housing trust fund money that targets small emerging developers like us and others.

Now, when it comes to the people's budget, I am in support of that.

And I would ask that the city council and the county under city manager do a revision to public safety and put a portion in there for prevention, right?

Because there has to be a preventative measure.

Nonprofits like ours are doing the work each and every day.

We are preventing crimes from happening.

I can assure you that some of the nonprofit organizations that's doing the work, if it wasn't for us, there would be more crime.

There will be more devastating crime.

So look at that when you go back and I'm asking to the city manager, sharpen that pencil.

And if you don't do nothing else, find some money for these firefighters.

Find some money for safe alliance.

Find some money for four and a half, four and a half billion dollars.

You can make some shake for some of these smaller organizations.

I seen the financial partners, it's almost a shame.

You're talking about 0.0001% to financial partners.

Thank you.

Mr.

Davis.

Hello, city council.

I wanted to dispute the 4% and ask for the same 10% of police are getting.

I understand the sacrifice that comes with the police jobs, but police aren't the only one who has died in the line of duty.

Robert Taylor was killed on duty while working for solid waste.

Ethan Riviera was murdered while on duty for cats as a bus driver.

As much as we need law enforcement, they can't be everywhere all the time.

That's why we had a second amendment.

We need to think past the knee-jerk reaction of throwing money into law enforcement.

It doesn't guarantee safety, it only insults citizens' intelligence as a lame attempt to appease and pacify.

Safety comes from healthy, thriving economies.

Would do that.

Safety comes from mental health.

The light rear incident, the assailant mother was complaining that she could not get mental health for her son.

So we need to be able to see past the smoke in the mirrors and to understand that we have to invest in the community in order for the community to be safe.

Thank you for my time.

I want to say thank you.

Oh no, wait a minute.

We still have more.

We have another page.

We got you, Brexit.

We got you.

Right.

Sorry.

Let's keep on going, guys.

So Brantley Stallings.

No, Adam.

Bradley.

No, Adam.

We try to get Adam.

Adam's.

No, we didn't do it.

We're right here.

Easy.

Adam.

No, we got it.

Good evening, Council.

My name is Adam Alman.

I'm a shower with firefighter.

I'm not here representing the fire department nor the union.

If you guys have to let them be heard, please.

Thank you.

I'm not here representing the fire department nor the union.

I'm here representing myself and my family.

I want to share a few facts that you may or may not know.

The statement that all city employees are now making $25 is not true.

Even with the 7% race, firefighters will still be making under $25 an hour.

We work roughly $900 more hours a year than a standard 40-hour employee.

That's more than 22 extra work weeks.

After four years, firefighters stop receiving raises unless they promote.

To do that, we are required to complete 23 days of unpaid training to reach the rank of captain.

It's another 28 days unpaid.

In just a few years, that's over 50 days of unpaid work.

If we take a sick day or vacation in the same month, we work overtime, we lose our overtime pay in the same month.

More than 90% of firefighters work a second job.

Last year, I personally worked an additional 1,500 hours, putting me over 80 hours a week to make ends meet.

We're told new trucks and equipment are part of our compensation.

They're not.

That's like saying city council isn't getting paid because these chambers got new microphones.

That's our essential to do our job.

We clean our stations, we maintain our grounds, we do landscaping.

No other city department does that.

Firefighters are even buying cleaning supplies out of pocket because our budget has been frozen since February.

Sometimes frontline trucks aren't responding to your emergencies because they're waiting on repairs that aren't funded.

This forces us to respond in reserve units that are less broken.

You guys promised paperity that promises not been kept.

We're asking you one thing.

Keep your word.

Take care of the people who take care of the city.

I hope that everybody can get out of here before midnight.

So thank you guys for having this opportunity.

So let's go on.

Brantley Stallings.

Good evening, Council.

My name is Brantley Stylins, and I'm a 16-year veteran with the Charlotte Fire Department, and I'm the public safety chair of the pay plan committee for the Charlotte Fire Department.

I'm speaking tonight to ask that you look at the budget for fiscal year 27 and maintain pay parity with CMPD and not to freeze both sides of the pay plan.

This will be the second time since I've been on that pay that the steps have been frozen.

This is the time when individuals need to progress through the pay plan, especially since insurance premiums and deductibles are increasing in the upcoming budget year.

It will only cost four million dollars more to fund the fire department 10% out of a $4 billion budget.

This budget will create an this current but this upcoming budget will create an 8% separation between police and fire, not including two and a half percent that CMPD receives for shift differential.

With the new city minimum being $25 an hour, it will take our newly hired firefighters four years to accomplish this $25 minimum hour that they have that you have set.

Whereas new higher CMPD will currently start at $31 an hour.

Thank you for your time tonight.

Thank you.

Our next two speakers are Meredith Barbie and Maggie Cummins.

Good evening.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Meredith Barbie, and my husband is a Charlotte firefighter.

I'm here tonight asking you to maintain pay parity between Charlotte firefighters and police officers because in 2023, this council voted to do so, and I'm asking you to honor that commitment now.

As a prosecutor myself, I understand the value of police, and I'm glad that council also takes that seriously.

But both professions are vital.

And the reality is that these jobs are not financially equivalent outside of base pay.

Firefighters work roughly 2,700 hours per year compared with about 2,184 for police.

So even when pay is equal, firefighters are working more hours for the same salary.

CMPD also has more opportunities for off-duty employment through the department, starting at 46 dollars per hour.

Those opportunities are much more limited for firefighters and often mean working additional 12 to 24 hour shifts elsewhere for half that rate or less.

At the same time, we ask firefighters to work 24 hour shifts.

We ask them to give up entire days at a time.

That means all of Christmas Eve, all of Thanksgiving, their child's birthday, an entire day in the life of their family from wake up to bedtime.

We have four children, and on shift days, I manage our household alone while also working full-time in public service.

We depend on friends, family, and neighbors to make it work.

Tonight, instead of being here with me, my husband is at our children's practices.

That's the family side of a 24-hour shift.

The physical side is that many times firefighters are not sleeping during those shifts.

They are running calls throughout the day and night.

My husband sometimes comes home and spends much of his recovery day catching up on sleep before he can fully engage with our family again.

When pay parity disappears, that was promised firefighters' notice, their families notice, recruitment and retention notice.

If parity was the right decision in 2023, it's still the right decision now.

Please keep fire and police equal in this budget as you promised.

Thank you.

Maggie Cummins.

Come here.

Sorry, that's okay.

Mayor Lyles, City Manager Jones, and members of the City Council.

I have to start by saying I'm humbled to be here with all these people here and all the wonderful things that they are saying and advocating for.

I'm a professor of political science at Queen's University of Charlotte and the chair of the Charlotte International Cabinet.

As you know, the cabinet is tasked with advising the Marin City Council on issues affecting the international community.

During my term, the CIC is focusing on two primary areas: community integration and international business.

We're currently working on two white papers that we will be presenting to you all by early fall.

These white papers will include some historical context for the city's international attention or international affairs.

Data eliminating how much Charlotte has changed, indeed been transformed in the past two decades, in terms of the share of the foreign-born population and also the amount of foreign direct investment we're attracting.

And a comparison of the City of Charlotte's resources with those that are allocated to our peer cities.

I want to thank the city manager for including funding for an international relations manager in the proposed FY27 budget.

Expanding city infrastructure and support to international affairs is something for which the CIC has consistently advocated.

We truly appreciate the progress indicated by this proposed position.

We recognize that funds are constrained and that your decisions are difficult.

The funding is included under the Elevate's engagement strategic priority, and we are grateful that you are committing resources to this goal.

In addition to expanding engagement, as my colleague Satoshi Watanobi, who's going to speak after me, will explain, we have important opportunities to enhance our attractiveness to foreign direct investment.

As my colleague Dina Shiso will explain, she's also going to speak after me.

The city's population has transformed over the past two decades.

Our large and growing foreign-born population seeks enhanced engagement with the city.

We are proud of our status as a welcoming city.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor Manager, and Council.

Council members, I stand up before you this evening to encourage you to look at this FY27 budget as a unique opportunity.

The budget is the annual opportunity for the city council to update its priorities and visions on the work needed to run, build, and grow our city.

If the 11 of you work together in the coming days and weeks to go beyond the numbers, you have the ability to do with few, if any other councils have had the opportunity to do, and that is to set the agenda for the next mayor of the city of Charlotte.

In our system, it is the mayor's job to work with the manager and the community to implement and achieve the vision set by you, the council.

While you have a lot of work to do on many issues before you, none is more in your control than the budget.

An approving one that explicitly sets the expectations that you have for the next mayor of Charlotte.

If you are able to define your expectations in a clear and bold fashion, then you can choose the person who you believe will most be willing and equipped to carry out your vision.

Don't choose the next mayor based on who will or who won't run next year or whether they are currently on council or not.

Please choose the next mayor based on who will implement and carry out the vision of the city council in the way that pleases this city council.

The FY2027 budget is the best way to set those parameters and therefore the agenda of the next mayor of Charlotte.

Thank you.

Connie's here.

Connie's here.

Connie Proctor.

Good evening.

My name is Connie Proctor, current chair of the Bicycle Advisory Committee.

As I have heard many of you say, the budget is a reflection of your values and priorities.

Currently, it is leaving people on bicycles behind.

To invite people to cycle, we need a safe, connected bicycle network.

A network that allows people to choose something other than a car, to run to the store, to drop off their kids at school, to grab a cup of coffee.

A network that allows children and older adults to move on their own, to ride to activities and visit friends.

A network that reduces cars on the street.

We can build that network.

We just have to invest accordingly.

When I come to the CMGC by bike, I use the county's greenway infrastructure until I have to cross two 77.

Then I am forced onto a narrow sidewalk on Third Street, directly beside four lanes of fast-moving cars.

I often pass people walking.

I apologize because we should not be forced into a five-foot space while people in cars are given 50.

This is a clear gap in the network, a gap that keeps people from riding.

As currently proposed, the share of bicycle funding does not grow proportionally with the other mobility funding.

And while high injury network and SEA projects improve specific areas and intersections, they are not the nimble tool that can bridge the gaps.

That is where the bicycle program funding is most useful.

If the budget is a reflection of our values and priorities, does not currently prioritize bicycle mobility, it leaves the funding for filling the gaps behind.

We, the members of the bicycle advisory committee, ask that you adjust the budget to dedicate 20 million per bond cycle to bicycle facilities.

Because a cycle lane is not the same as a cycle network.

Thank you.

Please.

Very sharp.

It's Japanese.

I don't know who's going.

Am I going first?

Michael first.

Yes, please.

Hello, everyone.

I'm glad to be here.

My name is Jessica Lefkowitz.

I am the founder and executive director of Hearts for the Invisible.

Um, we are the lead homeless street outreach in Mecklenburg County.

Um, some of my community partners that spoke before me mentioned a few disturbing numbers, one of which is the 52,000 households that are that have evictions filed against them.

I want to also put some other numbers into perspective as to what happens to these families once they get evicted.

In our very, very small street outreach program over the last three years, we have had over 400 children come through our program.

That means children that were sleeping in a place not meant for human habitation.

The housing I am in firm support of the Housing Trust Fund increase as well as the people's budget.

We need more supportive services, we need more help going out to these families, and I also want to make mention to the increase in public safety.

Well, I know we all know why this why there's a big draw or big concerns about public safety, but I also think it's very, very important to mention that there should be an increase in supportive services and uptown and on the trains to combat that.

We need street outreach programs, working with CMPD to help these people.

The jails are full.

We heard the sheriff say that.

The jails are full.

So we cannot arrest our way out of homelessness.

We can't arrest our way out of poverty.

Um, so I'm just that's all I got.

Please start.

Thank you.

My name is Satoshi Watanabe.

I'm a member of Child International Cabinet, and I'm kindly leading its uh international business subcommittee.

I'm here today to express my strong support for a proposed international relationship manager position, included in the budget, and also recommend additional investment for economic development.

Since last fall, our subcommittee has been developing a white paper on how to attract more foreign-owned businesses that will create more jobs and support a long-time economic growth.

Through this work, we have found that the shower has tremendous untoped potential.

Today, foreign-owned businesses account for only three to four percent of employment in the SHA region, compared to roughly five to seven percent in peer markets such as Atlanta, Dallas, and Raleigh Dallas.

Closing even part of the gap could translate into tens of thousands of uh additional jobs over time.

Our research also shows that Shalloty has many of uh many of the right ingredients for success, including competitive cost, strong infrastructure, high quality of life, leading financial services to have and so on.

At the same time, our benchmarking suggests that PRCs are investing more aggressively in international business development.

You know, in our white paper, we have identified a long list of opportunities and recommendations to attract more foreign-owned businesses.

Some focus on increasing Charlotte's attractiveness, and others focus on promoting Charlotte's attractiveness more effectively.

But those opportunities cannot be fully realized without uh without dedicated resources and financial investment.

That's why I'm very excited about the proposed uh international relational manager position, but I believe this could be viewed as only a first step moving toward additional resources.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Our next speakers are Khalisman Ortez and David Bradshaw.

If you would give me your name, please.

Thank you.

Good evening, Council members of city leadership.

My name is Khalissima Ortiz.

I'm proud to stand here today as a Charlotte Water employee speaker not only for myself, but for many of the hardworking men and women who keep this city functioning every single day.

Charlotte Water is one of the only three true 24-hour operational departments within the city of Charlotte.

While most residents are asleep, our crews are responding to water main breaks, sewer overflows, emergency shutoffs, infrastructure failures, and public health hazards.

We also do complete on calls.

We work through storms, holidays, overnight emergencies, dangerous field conditions because water is not optional.

It's essential.

What many people may not realize is that Charlotte fire ISO certification, which directly impacts emergency preparedness rating and insurance costs for residents depend heavily on the reliability and performance of Charlotte Water, infrastructure, and personnel without adequate water pressure, hydro maintenance, transmission systems, and emergency response from Charlotte Water employees that certification cannot be maintained.

Simply put, if Charlotte Water fails, critical public safety system fails with it.

Yet, despite the fact that our work directly supports public safety every single day, Charlotte Water employees are excluded from the same level of compensation, recognition provided to other public safety supported departments.

According to the city manager's proposed fiscal year 2027 budget presentation, police personnel receiving a 10% pay increase, and the fire personnel receiving a 7% increase through the public safety pay plan.

Charlotte Water employees have our instead being told that portions of our increase are tied to performance review struct structures, meaning many employees may never even receive the full advertised percentage increase.

We're asking for fairness and recognition of the role we play in protecting this city.

Charlotte Water employees operate heavy equipment, enter hazardous environments, respond to emercy at all hours, and maintain the infrastructure that supports hospitals, fire suppression system, schools, businesses, and every home in Charlotte.

Public safety does not begin when the truck arrives.

Public safety begins when the hydrant works.

Public safety begins when the clean water flows, and public safety begins when the sewer system functions properly during emergencies.

This is Charlotte Water.

And I'll thank you all for listening.

Our next speaker is Kanai Adan Bermudez Bay.

That is hopefully and Kelsey Joseph.

Kelsey Joseph.

Kelsey's here, is he?

Kelsey.

Okay, both of them.

I'm really surprised how well y'all pronounced my name.

That's like never happens.

Ever.

But yeah, I pronounced it right.

Does my time start now?

All right, cool.

Uh revolutionary love.

Mayor, council members, city leadership, beautiful community.

Uh my name's Kanaya Don Bay.

I'm a community violence intervention organizer for North Carolina's against gun violence.

And I'm a proud Charlotte native who grew up in Steel Creek.

So gun violence is deeply personal to me.

I lost three neighborhood friends, Nate Rodriguez, Kylie Holmes, and Anthony White to gun violence, along with countless others.

I've been shot at, have been robbed at gunpoint, I've witnessed gun violence firsthand in my own community.

Steel Creek knows this pain, and I no longer want us to normalize it because this violence is not who we are.

That's why I want to thank the city for its 1.2 million uh annual investment in alternatives to violence.

This investment is producing real results.

This is some good news here.

Uh in the Southwest Charlotte, uh, alternative violence have helped reduce violent crime by 25 to 28 percent since their finding in 2023.

Um, in uh Beatty's Ford Corridor, ATV continues to create safer communities, and this quarter alone, violence interrupters successfully prevented at least six potentially deadly conflicts.

Definitely some claps for that.

Not easy.

It's not easy, not easy work at all.

It's hard work and it's hard work.

Um but uh this is exactly why uh proactive public safety looks like.

Um ATV workers are saving lives, building trust, and creating opportunities that they deserve a livable wage of at least 24 an hour.

Now we must expand that work to bring ATV into Steel Creek where I grew up, where communities like mine urgently need these invest in interventions.

We know prevention is cheaper than tragedy, one homicide cost society approximately six hundred and twenty-five thousand, while a single gunshot wound is three hundred and thirty thousand.

Preventing violence saves lives and taxpayer dollars.

Thank you so much.

Power to the people.

Oh, that wonderful promises.

Yes, please.

Council and city manager, thank you for your time.

My name is Kelsey Joseph.

I've spoken to many of you throughout the years.

There are so many important initiatives represented here tonight, many of which are intersectional.

I don't have a robust speech paired um prepared.

I just want to share my support for the proposed animal care and control budget items, which includes critical staff positions and operational funds.

With a growing population and increasing housing insecurity in our city in our city, this work serving our neighbors is ever more important.

For the last five days, I've been in Utah at a national conference, presenting on the profound work we're doing to keep pets and people together here in Charlotte.

That's because of the strong shelter staff, shelter volunteer, and city staff partnerships we've built.

As you vote on the budget, I hope you'll keep this momentum going and approve the requested staff positions and operational funds.

Thank you.

Wow, we move fast.

And Evan Salatus.

I hope that's living close.

I know they're so steep.

Madam Mayor.

Members of the Council.

Mr.

City Manager and staff.

Good evening, and thank you for the opportunities to speak.

First of all, happy 31 days of business month.

My name is Jose Alvarez, and I am the state vice president for Prospera North Carolina based here in Charlotte.

For the past nine years, Prospera has been proud to serve this community through its free entrepreneurial assistance program, which offers bilingual support and helps approximately 1100 established and aspiring small business owners, both Latino and Non Latino, in North Carolina every year, of which 70% are Charlotte region residents.

For the past few years, the City of Charlotte has partnered with Prospera to help city residents become financially independent through entrepreneurship, focusing particularly on underserved areas.

In fact, our statewide headquarters recently moved to District 5 inside the Albemar Road Central Avenue Corridor.

As a local resident myself, I have witnessed this council's service and commitment to serve the city's residents.

In addition to the trust and vital task you have given the city manager to make sure the residents' tax dollars are put to efficient and valuable use.

I want to thank you and Marcus for that.

Thank you.

However, I'm here to express my concern about our program not being recommended for funding under the financial partner program in the next fiscal year.

On behalf of our staff and volunteers, I respectfully request the city's reconsideration.

Our program focuses on serving everyone, everyone to reach financial independence and prosperity by empowering them to be responsible and successful small business owners.

Especially now that we're even more intentionally serving the corridors of opportunity.

And again, we serve both Latinos and non-Latinos.

That is why our program is bilingual so that everyone has access to it.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Our next speakers are Evan.

Sorry.

Please.

Esteemed city counselors.

Exactly one year ago, I spoke before council about the deaths of cyclist Bill Yoder and Alecky Langley on the streets of Charlotte.

They were then followed by Paul Rucker and University City, Officer Gabriel Stein Steinbach in Cornelius, and a little over a month ago, Naomi Summers, who was barely eight years old.

And these are just the deaths.

The debilitating injuries go unreported and unheard.

None of them had protected facilities along their regular travel routes.

As gas prices continue to increase, we will soon be seeing far more bicycles on our roads, and therefore many more deaths due to their poor design.

This budget commits an additional two million to bicycle infrastructure in Charlotte, but this infrastructure is not enough and it is failing us.

This two million is also, like many other budgetary items, an overall decrease in spending disguised as an increase as the bicycle facilities budget drops from 6% to 3% of CDOT spending.

Furthermore, CDOT's 2022 road design manual is only a recommendation, not policy, and only recommends protected bicycle facilities on boulevards while failing to include narrower travel lanes, fixed concrete barriers, neckdowns, and other infrastructure that keeps pedestrians and cyclists alive.

I therefore ask the city to maintain the current percentage of bicycle spending in the bond cycle at 6%, that being 20 million dollars.

I furthermore request that the city update its road design manual to include narrower vehicle lanes, neck downs, raised crosswalks, fixed, not breakaway bollards and poles, and to make separation with concrete barriers the standard for protected bike facilities rather than the broken flexi posts we see all over the road.

Our city needs to commit to connecting and protecting our sporadic bicycle infrastructure.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So our next speakers are Danao and Jocelyn Ramirez.

Good evening, Council.

My name is Dina Limba Kaninda Shiso, a resident of District 3.

I serve as a community health practitioner and a local nonprofit, a language access advocates, and a member of the Charlotte International Cabinet.

I'm here today to urge the City Council to consider establishing a dedicated Office of International Affairs.

Within the international cabinets, we are actively exploring how such an office is a mechanical necessity for both the economic development and successful community integration of our city.

The census reflect our reality.

Charlotte is a global city.

In 2015, immigrants made up 15% of our population.

Today, that number has grown to 20%.

In the last decade alone, our foreign born population increased by 44%, compared to under 5% for U.S.

born residents.

Immigrants are not just part of Charlotte's fabric, they are also drivers of our growth.

As my fellow Charlotte, international cabinet member and community researcher Lenin noted in his research, people move to Charlotte to work, start businesses, and build families.

The Office of International Affairs will formalize our global connections and maximize our economic prowess.

It ensures that all Charlotteans, regardless of origin, have the resources to achieve upward mobility.

Thank you for including funding for International Affairs Office Officer in the FY2027 budget.

This is a vital step.

I ask you to consider further funding to support two staff members currently managing this workload.

Adding one or two additional staff members will ensure Charlotte remained competitive on the global stage.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We have one more.

Yes, that's right.

Sorry.

Good evening, Mayor, Council members, and community leaders.

My name is Jocelyn Ramirez.

I'm a resident of Charlotte and one of the co-leaders of the Charlotte region of the North Carolina Moms Demand Action Chapter.

I am here because violence prevention and community safety are deeply important to me and to the future of our city.

Like many families across Charlotte, I have seen the impact that gun violence and instability can have on individuals, families, and neighborhoods.

That is why I strongly support secure gun storage and continued investment in alternatives to gun.

I'm sorry, alternatives to violence.

Alternatives to violence has demonstrated improvement success since its launch.

That progress reflects the power of community violence intervention and the importance of investing in strategies that build trust, interrupt cycles of violence, and create safer neighborhoods.

We all deserve to feel and be safe.

However, this work requires sustained investment in the people doing it.

I urge the city to ensure that alternatives to violence workers receive a livable wage.

These workers are at the front lines every day helping to prevent gun violence before it happens.

Mendoring youth and supporting families in crisis.

Their compensation should reflect both the value and the demands of this life-saving work.

I also encourage the city to prioritize expansion efforts.

We should invest in programs that are already producing measurable results rather than delaying support until pro problems worsen.

Expanding secure gun storage and proven violence intervention strategies will help protect more communities across Charlotte.

Charlotte has a real opportunity to strengthen public safety by sustaining and expanding alternatives to violence.

Fund the workers, grow the infrastructure, and invest in what works.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you all.

And I'm really appreciative of all of the time that you spend and all of the wisdom that you've given to us.

I would just want to have as a reminder that the city council will convene for budget adjustment discussions on May the 18th.

Then budget straw votes will take place on June 1st, and council will consider adoption of the FY 2027 budget on June the 8th.

So thank you again.

I want to say that it's really important that we all understand and we have the opportunity to share the information that's necessary for us to do this great work.

So what now we are going to go to our business, and we're going to have our city managers.

Just one moment of procedural.

If we could just close the public hearing.

Will the public hearing be closed?

Okay.

We have a second.

Is there any discussion?

Hearing no discussion.

All in favor, please raise your hands.

I think that's unanimous.

Yes.

All right.

So Mr.

Jones.

Thank you, Mayor.

Members of Council.

I guess another little bit of a gut check to make sure we have resolved all the issues from 267 earlier today.

Well, let me say I'd like to move I-77 South resolution to the next item.

I want to make sure whether or not we need a manager's report if there needs to be any other discussions related to the MPTA presentation that was made earlier tonight.

And if we don't, we're going to let Miss Claude Belger lead.

But if we there are more questions, she will stay back until after we do the I-77 South.

So you do want her to stay.

I'm not going to ask her a single thing.

She's been waiting for two hours.

But I don't mind if Renee has our thank you.

That's just a quick question.

During the uh TV TPD meeting, we talked about having the MPTA members report to council during this interim period.

So I wanted to know when we're going to discuss that.

And it's kind of the details of the agreement.

So there might be another opportunity to discuss the details of the agreement.

So you just tell us.

Yes, the um I think in the earlier outline of the different touches that council will have with the agreement.

There are additional touches this month.

There's June 1st.

There's uh another touch before the 22nd, I think, of June.

So multiple touches as well as a packet that goes out Thursday also.

As long as we have an opportunity to discuss that.

Council Member Graham led that discussion, and we did talk about that during committee.

So I think we just need the opportunity to get into the weeds a little bit.

Okay.

Okay, thank you.

So with that's it, Mayor.

Then and uh council, that's my manager's report.

Okay.

And we can go back to uh item number 13.

Okay.

Let's do item number 30.

Our next policy item is the I-77 resolution for item 13.

Is there a motion?

A motion to approve the resolution of SATA City Council as relate to I 77.

Second.

I have a motion and a second.

Second.

Yes, yes, we have a motion and a second.

So I'd like to thank you, Madam Mayor.

I would like to make a uh friendly amendment to the resolution on section two request for targeted reevaluation and design analysis.

Um I would like to uh redmark NC dot and replace it with that the city council calls for an independent third-party reevaluation and alternative analysis of the I 77 South Corridor, including multimodal, non-highway, and transportation demand management strategies, and encourages that any draft RFP for toll lane development be paused until the findings are presented to council and the public.

Second, right?

We have a motion and a second item voted.

Thank you.

I'm sorry, friendly amendment.

Friendly amendment.

Okay.

That's actually a substitute motion.

Oh, okay.

Um I think I've now said Kimberley wanted to be recognized as well.

I don't know the proprietor.

I mean, I am good with we do not need to vote on the discussion.

We vote on the substitute motion, but you can have a discussion before the vote.

Okay.

So yeah, I just um I I appreciate the ability to speak on this.

You know, I um in my representation of my district, I've committed to not only identifying problems, but to trying to offer a means to resolve them.

And that was the energy and curiosity that I brought to my very first drafts of this resolution many weeks ago.

And through engagement with the city attorney and many of my colleagues, you know, the resolution has evolved in some really positive ways, not least of which the one that was just offered by Councilmember Maswararius.

I intend this resolution to be a true third party or to cause rather a true third-party evaluation of alternatives and to explore more than just what murals we should paint on the supports of an elevated toll lane.

In addition, through its provisions, I seek acknowledgement of current and historical community harm of the I 77 corridor.

I seek to provide real acknowledgement of the true costs of this project.

Um I hear it described as a 600 million dollar project, but we all know it's a $4 billion project, and the billions are not coming out of some developers' kindness or large ass.

These dollars are coming out of our pockets for 50 years, um, I'll be gone, but my kids and my grandkids are going to be paying for the decisions that we make here today, and this is a big decision with generational impact.

With that said, I support the resolution as a first step in this council's accountability to the people of the region.

We've come far from the early days when we were told that the project was entirely out of our hands, that the project was out of uh Carpo's hands, and that our citizens needed to simply do their own do their best on their own to engage with the NEPA process and elevate what they had perceived as the burdens of the project.

With this resolution, I find that we're being honest that we cannot and should not absolve ourselves of the taint of decisions that affect the lives and livelihoods of our residents and the pockets and prosperity of our descendants.

We need to lead on this.

We need to challenge the narrative that NCDOT knows best when it comes to engagement with our region.

No one on this dais made the decisions that originally prioritize growth and progress over people when these roads originally tore through black neighborhoods, but that doesn't absolve us of responsibility now to mitigate the damaging practices in the name of growth, efficiency, and economic development.

We've seen that the rising tide doesn't always lift all boats, especially those boats that have been dry docked by years of neglect.

I support this resolution, but I want to be clear that it does not pass the buck on our responsibility as a council and as a community to expect more out of our state with regard to this project and others.

We are the citizens, we are the taxpayers, and we want decisions made that reflect the values we place on neighborhoods, on connections, and on the prosperity of people, not just on maximization of throughput and on cutting commute times.

I will continue to expect better out of this project and encourage our citizens to stay focused and intentional in advocating for what serves the region now on assessing whether the burdens we ask of our children and grandchildren are worth it.

On this resolution, I don't want to over sell its reach or undersell the need for continued involvement of this council in the project.

We're not done, but this is a step in an ongoing need for true leadership and advocacy for the communities we serve.

I believe our residents deserve more than murals of strong black success stories of the past.

They deserve municipal action that enables strong black success stories of the future.

My hope is through this resolution we can enable those protections to be afforded on this generational product project and can send our message to NCDOT of what we want for Charlotte.

I humbly ask for your support of this resolution and for independent assessment of the project and a fulsome assessment of the true environmental impacts.

So I'm before we do this, I wanted to say I wanted to make sure that you had the opportunity to make the remarks that you've been making.

Who have who have signed up to speak on this item?

So I think that we have to go with that and have those because otherwise then we'll be in front of without they would not have the opportunity to hear what we've been talking about as well.

So let's start with our speakers' lists.

And the first one is Cole Garday.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Following is Rocky McGregor.

Thank you.

I don't think I've been two minutes.

Okay.

Council members, thank you for the opportunity to speak today.

Einstein once said Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Tonight I ask you to consider if that applies to this project.

The interstate highway system is nearly seven years old.

For decades, cities expanded their highways, assuming one more lane would solve the congestion.

And sometimes it helped, but very briefly.

Houston, LA, Phoenix, and our beloved Atlanta, or South are all examples that we've all experienced that expanding highways don't work.

These cities follow that model and built sprawling car-dependent communities that are now disconnected, underfunded, and in a debt spiral.

We know this history.

The question is whether Charlotte will repeat it.

Many people call Charlotte a big little city.

That may be true today, but it won't be for long.

We are all aware of the explosive growth this region is experiencing, and our response to it will define us for generations.

To this point, our response has been smart.

Job growth and housing development have tracked along deliberately planned corridors, and we've been building a city not just to commute.

This that is placemaking, and it's working.

These toll lanes threaten to reverse that progress.

NCDOT themselves does not project that these lanes will meaningfully solve congestion.

And what highway expansions reliably do produce is induced demand.

More lanes attract more cars, more sprawl, and more strain on infrastructure budgets that are already not built to scale.

The numbers bear this out.

Over the last 30 years, construction inflation has averaged 4.4% annually, while NCDOT's total budget for the state has only grown 3.9% annually.