Thank you.

Thank you for the presentation.

Couple of questions.

So when we go back to the beginning and we look at the NCDLT and C.

Partnerships, and this is something you could bring back later, because I don't expect Peter have this answer.

But if we're thinking about partnerships, it would be nice to know currently how many unfunded role projects that are state responsibility that we have.

We know that we have been having conversations for years off of North Tryon and the Steel Creek area.

But if we're highlighting a partnership, one of our challenges as we experience the growth is the fact that a lot of the roads that need maintenance are crossing over and connected to those state maintained roles that are not being funded.

So as we look to believe that this will give us an opportunity to address some needs, the current needs still need to be identified.

So having an idea of how many unfunded roles in this beautiful little map would be helpful for me.

Good afternoon, everyone.

We are so grateful to see so many of you sitting here helping us decide what you want us to do and how we can do it well.

So I want to say thank you for being here, and um all of us are aware that we are at a time that it's very it's really the time to start putting the rubber against the road, right?

So that's not I shouldn't have said it that way.

Sorry about that.

Okay.

But for the process today, I am proposing that each council member be recognized to have an opportunity to express their perspectives and provide any suggestions for amendments or adjustments to the proposed manager's budget.

The budget staff will record the items for consideration on the screen, and then after we have heard from each council member, we'll go through the list to vote on those items.

As a reminder, that we have a rule around this that we have used, and it's I think pretty successfully is that we have um we have this reminder that says we will have the adjustments receiving the lease, at least five votes will be analyzed and costed out by the staff, and they will come back to the council and begin the work that we would have for a final document.

So before we get started, I want to make sure that we call it that I forgot we should we have a name for it, straw votes.

I don't think we have any straw, but they are votes for it.

So any questions on the process before we begin.

Has someone already picked up these, or is there a need to put these into the I'm not sure.

Okay, I'll read them in, no worries.

Okay, I don't have a copy of that letter.

All right, I'll take care of it.

No worries.

Okay, no, I'm sorry, just turned around on me.

Here we go.

That's fine.

It was covered up.

All right, so um, I hope that we would begin uh with us um beginning.

Um we're gonna start off with uh Miss Ashmira.

Okay, thank you, Madam Mayor.

So are we doing intro or just budget adjustments directly?

Budget adjustments.

This is where we are right now.

Okay.

Um, this helps us with uh keeping our trained officers, firefighters, while contributing uh while we honor their service and uh recovery.

Uh I do not have an amount for that.

Uh so I would like a budget staff to come back with that amount.

That's that's really what we will do as soon as we get up there, and then we'll go from there.

Okay, thanks.

Uh, second line item we have I have is restore safe alliance funding.

Um, in previous years, uh, they were funded approximately 400,000 uh to support victim assistance, uh, court support, and these are really essential services.

Um, from what I understand, the 24-hour hotline would not exist if we do not support it.

So I'm concerned about that.

Uh and I, you know, we are making increased investments in public safety thanks to the manager and the entire budget team.

Uh I think that's great because that shows our commitment to public safety, but I consider safe alliance funding as also part of public safety to protect survivors and domestic domestic violence survivors, and it helps prevent crisis from escalating in our neighborhoods.

Uh number three, so that's I think 393 some change, so roughly you can just put 400k.

Okay, and uh next item I have is allocate 100,000 dollars for to further struggle.

It's an organization that supports our youth uh in most vulnerable neighborhoods, and I've seen their work firsthand, as well as 100,000 to the Carolinas Asian American Chamber of Commerce.

Uh, we did see them speak at our public hearing, they support uh immigrant and refugee communities with language barriers to ensure that uh they have an access to opportunities and economic stability.

Number four I have is you can combine the two.

Uh it's probably better so that people can vote on them separately.

Thank you.

Okay.

So next item I have is transit equity for disabled residents.

Um from what I understood from talking with community members that um there is not currently a fair equity for STS riders, and I would like us to direct CATS to include fair equity for SDS riders, and also fund accessibility for visually impaired riders as part of the modernization plan.

Currently, our uh I looked at our fare table and it shows that SDS fares, it's at $3.50 and monthly passes at $140, while um our bus riders pay $1.10 cents and $44 monthly in our monthly pass.

So that just shows there is an inequity.

So I would like more information on that.

And lastly, I listened um this morning to the conversation about the how the county balanced their investments and held the property tax study, and they got this magic mic that I heard about uh on Charlotte talks this morning, and I'm hopeful that we can also get some little magic markets here going, working for the city of Charlotte.

Obviously, this is not a directive, Mr.

Managers, to cut any of our core services.

Uh, it is really a request for options and trade-offs in terms of alternative funding approaches.

Um I believe we can invest in housing and opportunities and public safety, but while also asking tough questions about efficiencies.

So, my so to give you specific language, Marie, on this, identify potential options to reduce the prop proposed property tax increase while maintaining core investments in safety, transportation, housing, and economic mobility.

I heard from residents uh being concerned about a tax increase, a property tax increase, while South's tax increase goes in effect this July.

So I would like us to uh understand more in terms of um efficiency and opportunities.

And that's all I have.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We'll keep coming around the side.

Ms.

Watlington.

Thank you.

Um a couple of things I see already posted on the board that um are important to me as I look at the budget.

Number one, Safe Alliance funding.

Um, having served in district three, um, had an opportunity to um volunteer with Safe Alliance um year a number of years ago, and see that it has a very specific and large impact to um to our residents.

It's very necessary, it's part of our uh public safety response and frankly a part of our um our workforce development and economic mobility.

Uh so definitely um we'll be supporting restoring uh Safe Alliance funding um to the level that we are able.

Um certainly I can get behind the 400,000, but we'll we'll wait to see what we ultimately are able to do in light of the other requests.

Um, I also want to make sure that we put on the board restoring pay uh parity for our CFD, our firefighters, and learning some of the intricacies about how they're paid versus our um officers uh want to make sure that that parity is not just in word but also in deed and ultimately in their take-home pay.

Um, I believe that one is a $4 million impact to uh the budget.

Um, so but I would I would hope that we are able to find that because that's a critical service to our to our city.

Um, and then also you all have heard many times that I've been working with the university and community partners on um on developing a land use and transportation integrated model to improve the way that we uh plan our city uh for decades to come.

Uh, we have received the scope of work from the university there, um, and as um anticipated it is uh less than $300,000.

Uh so I would be asking that we make that investment uh to to enable ourselves to improve how we're planning our city and our infrastructure, including transportation there.

Um, one thing on this one I did speak with uh folks over in housing and neighborhood services, and we did set aside um dollars in our housing trust fund specific to data analytics, um, and given that this is transportation and land use, and obviously those go together as it relates to um providing affordable housing in our city.

Um, that may be a place to look for those dollars, but I'm posting it here as discussed over the last several weeks.

Um, so those are um the three that come top of mind.

Certainly, there are others that I see here that I'll intend to support, and then I wanted to read uh Mayor Pro Tem's letter into the record as well.

All right, okay.

Thank you.

Sure.

Okay, read the letter, please.

You know, um, dear colleagues, I hope you're all are well today.

I wanted to share that I will not be present at the budget adjustments meeting as today is my birthday.

I would like to offer the following recommendations for consideration during the discussion.

One, I recommend that we include raising all firefighters to the 10% level in alignment with CMPD.

Number two, I support funding the greater enrichment program at the level of 200,000 consistent with our past practice.

This after school program continues to have a meaningful impact on the success of both black and brown students in our community.

And number three, I recommend that we provide funding at some level for Safe Alliance as a demonstration of our support and ongoing partnership in addressing domestic violence.

Lastly, I would like to ask the economic development staff to begin exploring the opportunity to bring the military world games to Charlotte in July 2027.

This is not a funding request at this time, but the effort could have budget implications next April.

Thank you all for your attention to these recommendations.

Please feel free to reach out if additional clarification is needed.

Thank you.

Ms.

Mayo.

Thank you so much.

Um, Councilmember Graham also, sorry, I forgot to turn that on, but I have a loud voice.

So councilmember Graham also provided me a list uh for him as well.

So I kind of like us to double team.

I agree with his list as well.

Um we'd be interested in seeing uh city a four percent increase for all city workers.

Um that is not tied to performance.

We would like to have parity with um police and in the fire department, so if we could explore firefighters receiving a 10% um pay increase.

Um I'd also like to kind of ditto what uh Councilmember Ashmir spoke about with uh safe alliance funding.

Um the manager and I spoke briefly during our one-on-one.

Um, and I do think it's imperative that we think innovatively about that organization and the work that they provide and the support to our community.

I'd be interested in our thinking, could they be under CMPD or uh some type of um opportunity for public safety because we know that uh the support that they provide our um community?

So instead of them having to go through every year going through the process to be uh a public, you know, going through being a partner of the city.

Um I think it'd be a lot easier if we just kind of folded them in because of the invaluable work that they provide our community.

Um so yeah, that's our part about Safe Alliance.

I had a little bit more on there that he did not say, but I'm sure he'd agree.

Um he talked about the intergovernmental department for international affairs recruitment and retention.

I know uh council member Maswera Arias is gonna talk more about that as well, but we are in support of that as well.

Um he would support funding for for the struggle, which Councilmember Ashmir spoke about hearts for the indivisible, adding 10,000, or excuse me, 100,000 in just movement.

100,000 as well.

And please let me know if I went too fast.

I do talk fast sometimes.

Sorry, so you said a hundred thousand for hearts for the visible and then a hundred thousand for the just movement.

Just movement, thank you.

All right, are you done?

I am just gonna make sure.

Okay, thank you so much.

All right, yes.

All right, so our next speaker is who wants to go.

Do you want to go first?

Yeah, okay.

Miss Owens.

Do you want me to do that?

Go ahead.

So um I want to look at the top of the list.

So if we can do these in order, Marie, I just want to make sure I tell you which ones to put my name next to.

Can you buzz down?

Okay, I am um favorable on funding five modified duty positions.

The logic of that and the ability to retain talent really is is something that I think is an impactful element of that.

I also am exceptionally supportive of restoring Safe Alliance funding.

I will only caution to the point made by Councilmember Mayo that I'm not certain that I believe that that should be subsumed because I do think that there are some folks who may be uncomfortable using those services if they were rolled up under the police department.

So that's just that's a topic for another day, but I just I've done volunteer work, I've done uh 50 B restraining orders, I've done that work, and I completely appreciate particularly coming out of uh childhood of domestic violence, the importance of that to public safety.

So I I do uh sign off on that as well.

The Fair Equity for STS writers is also something I'd like to add my name, had a really engaging conversation this past week and and was really um privy to uh a situation that I didn't even know existed around not only the fair equity but the lack of real um usable services, and I say that because the wait times are exceptionally long, and for caregivers of family members who need to ride our paratransit, um they are being left in the lurch often.

They need to go to work, they need to make decisions about their day, and the um the governor of that time period is just so wide open that it really doesn't lend itself.

So I would add to fair equity, and I don't know if this is a separate matter, but I would add whatever staffing or technological improvements that we need to make to make that more seamless, um, particularly if we are gonna lean in on transit and and mobility for all, it needs to be available to people who use that system.

So I'd like my my name to go next to that one.

Um I agree with Councilmember Ashmero with respect to potential options to reduce the property tax increase.

I too spoke with people over the weekend and over the end of last week who are cautious in any tax increase in large part because we've created that environment.

We've made a situation where instead of small incremental property tax increases that um were needed through time, we we kind of need a bigger one now.

And I I need a little bit more uh I need more to go on to make that sales pitch for folks, and so I would like to believe that we've looked at some things more intentionally.

Some that came to my mind, um, you know, I was interested in some of the fees that we collect around code enforcement.

So I'd like to put out there that code enforcement is an area where if we are trying to keep this naturally occurring or affordable housing, it would be nice to be able to know that we're doing what we need to do and making landlords actually give livable dwellings, and I'd like to see code enforcement increased and consequently that that revenue come in.

I'd also like to consider what we can do around our pet community.

I I see a pretty big amount of money that's going, and I'm very supportive of supporting our pet community, but I also um would like to appreciate when and how those fees and those licenses, whether we can revisit some of the costs and and put some of that more on our on our fee owners, our pet owners rather, and and have them um pay a bit more towards that.

So I'd like to consider that.

Um, and then um, you know, my last item, you know, is as always in the housing trust fund.

Um, you know, I I ran on housing, I I ran on an appreciation of of wanting to to retain uh folks who want to move back to Charlotte, particularly folks who go away for school or for whatever opportunities and want to come back here.

Our housing trust fund I think has really done yeoman's work and has become something that the community values, and I'd like to see um what it looks like to to put that, you know, in I I think council member uh Mayfield had asked to see what does 200 look like.

What is you know what what are our options there?

And I I know I'm not asking you to grow a money tree, but that is something that I think does feed public safety.

It feeds perceptions of public safety in as much as we can get folks off of our streets and in housing, and I appreciate a lot of that is with the county.

I I don't I that's not lost on me, but I also do think that you know, if you're looking at code enforcement and we're we're operating with a sense of of um uh of priority around um making just some of our housing that we have livable.

I'd like to I'd like to see that done.

So, yeah, all those elements of the housing trust fund, I I just would like to see what we can imagine there.

But that's it for me.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

And we'll move to Miss Mayfield.

Thank you, excuse me, madam mayor.

So I have some questions because staff has provided some information as my colleague just mentioned.

I asked at the beginning of this conversation for this year's budget for staff to bring back what is our financial capacity if we were to go up to 200, and then we receive the mayor's the manager's budget, and now we're having this discussion, but we have not received the response back from staff.

Because to my understanding, there's a reason and there's a cost with trying to move towards 200,000.

And what I want to understand is if this is a time for staff to actually respond to the questions that have been asked in regard to this budget, and answer to that is yes.

Marie, are you prepared to start answering questions?

Thank you.

So it's gonna be a couple of them, but when we go back and if we scroll back up to the top and we look at once, um staff finish updating.

Look at the question of what our housing trust fund dollars would look like.

You were able to get some information on that, yes, ma'am.

So you were mentioning your request to see what it would take to bring the house.

What is our capacity and what would it look like if we were to look at a 200,000 dollar?

One time, yes.

And this is from Matt Hosstead, the CFO who's beside me and his team, it would be an additional point one five seven cents to the property tax.

So, do you have what that number is based on the proposed since we're also having a conversation right now about possibly reducing manager Jones?

What was your sales tax proposal rate?

1.89.

So yes, ma'am.

So an additional 0.1.57 to that 1.89 in order for us to move to a 200 million.

So I want to make sure that we have that noted and that is clear for community and for council colleagues.

We also have in here my yes, sir.

So let me make sure I understand.

For the CFO, if you put this one point, 0.157.

Is it in perpetuity or you put it in one year, you take it out, it would be in perpetuity.

Okay, all right.

Okay.

So that total new tax rate would be what if we were to do that.

May I ask one more question?

Yes, sir.

So Matt also that only funds it at 200 million for one bond cycle.

That is correct.

That is correct.

The city state were to maintain it 100 million for future bond cycles.

So I want to make sure for clarification for those that are here in the audience as well as for my colleagues.

So when we're talking about a 200 million trust fund balance, we are saying that as a community, if we move forward, we're okay with adding this additional amount to the tax versus the 125 that's proposed right now, which might have a little bit of wiggle wound, but not to 200.

So I want to make sure that we're clear about that piece.

Marie, you did some, I had both you and Matt run the numbers as we're talking about funding our fire department, which is something that has been very important to me as well.

Thank and I'm gonna go back and thank my colleagues and the manager again previously for funding our burns center to get that updated, but we actually ran the numbers if we were to do a reduction in that temper 10% proposed for CMPD.

If you can please share that, that would be approximately six point four million in what reduction?

Yes, ma'am.

So for full clarification, Maria and I had a chance to go through the budget book and what opposed to just saying let's identify this 4.4 million.

At the end of the day, all of us that budget at whatever level we know if we want to add spend somewhere, we got to figure out where we can save.

So what I looked at is I asked staff to look at instead of a 10% increase if CMPD were to receive a seven percent, and what was what Matt was able to identify is that three percent difference would be a reduction of savings of what amount again?

Six point four million.

So if we were to look at seven percent versus ten percent for CMPD, that will give us a savings for our first responders.

For me, when I look at it and recognize I'm biased and I own it, fire shows up first.

That's who shows up immediately.

Law enforcement does an amazing job, and law enforcement shows up afterwards in that reduction or that savings, we have the 4.4 million in order to make sure that fire is whole.

So I would like for council to consider so you can put my name in the box for the 4.4 million, but understanding where I am looking for us to identify those funds is in the reduction from 10% for CMPD to 7%, which gives us enough of a savings to ensure that FIRE has its pay equity as well as you can put my name next to the addition for the additional fire staff, I believe it was four staff members.

I think we already have it on there.

So when we scroll back up, yes, for the five modified duty positions for Charlotte Fire, you can't put my name next to that.

But again, that's what looking at where could we have savings in order to offset it?

Marie, can you remind us?

Because we have an actual application process for our financial partners.

Every year we come to this space.

The financial partners manager remind me 0.01% of our total budget.

So out of that, and I believe you presented it all to us, there was four or six million dollars worth.

What was the total amount in request this year?

It was six million and some change.

Yes, but I wanted the exact number so community and everybody know it.

Okay, exactly six million a hundred and ninety-nine thousand six hundred and eighty-one.

So that was the amount that is to total the total dollar amount that we received in financial application requests.

What is the amount that we actually have available to allocate for financial partners?

Last year it was 812, and based on the scoring, we were able to bring it up to because we had two people at tie at the bottom.

We brought it up to 891,000.

So again, to be very clear, out of the total number of requests, we had less than one million available to actually allocate.

We also have a scoring system where we of which we had this discussion last year, which the previous year, then council voted to support the scoring system, and then suggestions and items were voted on last year.

Marie, how did y'all identify the scoring system this year as far as the numbers?

And I'd like to turn it over to Cherry Smith because she's the one that works with the partners directly and the scoring team, but she can provide a lot more details.

Please introduce yourself and share that.

Carrie Smith strategy and budget.

Um, this year we had a scoring system that focused on applications alignment with council's strategic priorities.

Uh, we ensured that the scoring system was out of 100% so that we could do apples to apples.

Uh, in addition to scoring the applications by staff individually, we then went through applications to ensure their adherence to the financial partner policy that was approved by council.

Uh, so the scores that are reflected for organizations uh include whether or not they submitted mid-year reports on time, whether they attended our mandatory uh information session, uh, in addition to uh meeting the requirement to not request more than 30 percent of the agency's overall operating budget.

Thank you for that clarification, and I'm gonna ask you to repeat.

We do have a mandatory session to for all financial partners.

Yes, ma'am.

Uh, last year at the request of council, we hosted a mandatory information session on October the 17th.

Uh, it was a requirement for organizations to attend that meeting in order to be eligible to apply for the FY27 funding cycle.

Thank you so much.

So, again, I want to make sure that we have as much clarity in this conversation as possible.

Council voted and direct the staff to add this mandatory session in in order to try to give an opportunity for partners to ask questions and or to clearly understand what our process is.

I have a concern with some of the recommendations my colleagues have made.

The lowest score that we received was a score of 48.8 up to 100.

We did have one partner that received 100, but out of the less than 1 million dollars that we have available, seven partners have been identified.

One of the challenges that I have is the Greater enrichment Program does amazing work.

We know that.

I just attended their 50th anniversary.

They did not attend a mandatory session.

I am going to repeat the same thing I said last year.

If we are not going to stick to the scoring process that council identified, voted on, and supported, then we need to remove the scoring process altogether and just let community know that council members are just going to identify what organizations they want to fund because it is not fair for the organizations that complete the application that submit their financials that attend the meeting to then get to this time of the budget and other organizations that may have scored that have may have missed the score by a point or less to be skipped over to fund ones that we just think are doing good work.

Scroll okay, so let's go through this.

For the struggle does amazing work in our community.

I'm not gonna challenge that.

For the struggle scored 82, Carolina Asian American Chamber scored 48.8.

What was the other?

Safe Alliance does amazing work.

I think we may have an opportunity if we identify savings other places.

So the numbers were an organization scored a 95.2, 1100, a 96.5, a 97.6, a 96, and two more 96.5s.

To drop down to an organization that scored 48.8 and to skip everything from 95.2 down to that 40, is a disservice to all of those other organizations.

To identify an organization, no matter how well their work is that did not attend a mandatory meeting that council designated staff to do is disrespectful to everyone that fell in the 90s, that are being not considered at this particular time.

I want us to recognize that we are having, it has been mentioned, Manager Jones, for you to figure out how to reduce this current tax rate.

No, I'm not happy with it because I've said for numerous years, I would have loved for us to have been doing incremental tax increases instead of not doing tax increases, and now we are where we are.

But we cannot do both.

We cannot figure out how to provide all the services to all the organizations and keep our taxes at the current rate.

That math doesn't work out, unfortunately.

Yet I am going to support for you all to look and see where we may have additional cost savings.

I've already identified one place, I'm not in your budget office.

So we have amazing people that do this work that can consider it, but I want to make sure that community clearly hears from me, those that are watching online, those of you thank you that showed up.

When you hear my no, there's a very clear reason that my no.

We have a process, we committed to this process.

We voted on this process, but yet we are in the second round of saying the process was voted on, but we are going to choose to do something else.

We got to figure out where the money's gonna come from.

So for me, while staff has looked into the numbers, there's a reason financially, an additional tax increase for us to get to 200 million capacity-wise, and that tax increase will be forever.

For that one time, 200, and then it automatically goes back down the next bond to 100, and we're starting this conversation all over again for future.

So I want us to understand that.

We also have on the on this board a request for just do it movement.

Also, does amazing work.

They scored a 68.

Now, if we had five million to fund financial partners, I would not have a challenge as much, because I would still have a challenge if it's outside of the process, but when we have organizations that score a 90.2, a 93, a 91, a 91.6, a 90.9, a 94, that we were not able to fund, but we drop down to 48.8 to 68 to 82.

It is very difficult for me to be able to support that.

MPTA has been set up.

Is STS going over all CATS related is going to be going to the MPTA?

If we were to make any adjustments on, because I want us to not be able to just put a number out there without having clarity around what authority as well as what funding line item we're going to identify.

Please explain to me.

If there was support to look at our STS writers, which needs to be funded at a much greater level, and the rates need to be reduced to help our most vulnerable in the community.

What does this MPTA transition look like?

Interesting.

If you'd asked me Thursday, I may have given you a different answer.

But so what's going to happen is both the council and the MPTA is going to approve a budget.

CATS budget is within this budget.

And the way it's designed to work, is that for some portion of the next fiscal year, uh the CATS operations will be the city, and for some portion of the next fiscal year, it'll be the MPTA.

But the goal is for both bodies to approve the same budget.

Do we have will we have the opportunity to influence the funding allocation for STS once it is transferred to MPTA and or during their budget conversation?

I think what's important is if we start to think about uh this transition to the authority, um for the most part the council's actions related to it will be the appointments that you have to the authority, essentially the authority is going to run cats, all of it.

So for clarification, the answer is yes or no, that we will have do will we city council have authority regarding the pay, the fare, anything related to STS.

Not after the authority takes control, no.

And right now, even though PAVE Act has identified June, we know that wasn't necessarily as feasible of a timeline.

We're going into January, but MPTA is working on their own budget.

We work on the same budget.

So we are working on the same budget, it will be helpful if information is going to be brought back after today's discussion to clearly identify what if any role City of Charlotte City Council has with this STS conversation, so that we I do not want to give community false hope.

Sure.

Now if we had discussed this last year, and I believe over time, Manager Jones, you and I have had direct conversations regarding STS as well as our residents who are visually impaired and trying to figure out funding that is needed, but for this discussion, it will be helpful that staff actually responds either.

I will prefer in writing so that the community can be aware that we may put make a suggestion to put something in this budget, but we need to be realistic of where and if those funds are available and who is actually going to be responsible for it.

We are not going to be responsible for STS.

We are only at this point, as the transition happens, responsible for our appointees.

So council member may feel, can I uh help characterize it a little differently?

Please do.

Okay, July 1 comes about and the 1% sales tax funding starts to flow.

And when that money flows, there's opportunities for the MPTA around rail and bus.

So some of the concerns around STS can begin to be addressed with this new money coming in, whether it's the council or the MPTA.

What we didn't have in the past is this influx of money.

So I would say there's going to be a longer runway for this conversation than I think over the next couple of weeks.

So for this budget discussion, I'm trying to have clarity on is this a is this the appropriate time for us to look at the funding for STS.

Because I agree that the rates are high and the level of service is not ideally what we would like because of the 1% sales tax, that's going to help, but I want to make sure that we're having the right conversation in the right context.

Yeah, I'll I'll try it a little differently.

I think this community is going to get there because of the additional funding.

I think to try to get there over the next two weeks is going to be very difficult.

And I just want to say I think that the um PTA understands what you're trying to make possible, and they have a place for all of that to happen, but it's not ready yet to do this.

But I would say that when the meetings that are held with all of the towns and all of the folks that are here and the county and us, is the discussion has always been how do we get the work done and move quickly enough.

I don't I don't know that we are going to be able to move quickly enough, but I do know that they are very much engaged in what they're doing, and I think I thought that I mean council member um Malcolm Graham had an opportunity to talk about this in some respects about who's going to be our representatives, and those representatives need to come be and possible with you because, like, you know, I can say this at the meeting, but I think that having the people that you promoted to the space space should have that opportunity as well.

I appreciate that, Mayor.

So thankfully, uh I did send an email out last week and copied all of council on with the actual invitation.

There has not been any weariness for MPTA to come forward, they had not actually been officially asked yet, so that has gone out.

I just want to make sure that for this conversation, why while we are making recommendations in this budget that we try to be as clear as possible around what is it that we have the ability to do today, and what if any changes are gonna happen in the near future?

Those are all of mine, Mayor.

Thank you, manager Jones.

Madam Mayor, um, I have we're still going around the table, and so JD, would you go ahead and take it on?

Thank you, madam Mayor.

Uh thank you, staff.

Um, I would like to start off with uh suggesting um an increase to staff capacity and increased technical capacity for international relations.

Um manager Jones, you and I have spoken a lot about this, but uh, while thank you so much for including the manager position for international relations, I think we can still get it across the finish line uh to help city staff who already do this work uh in our current organization to increase and expand their capacity.

Um, for example, uh having some funds for staff to attend uh trade shows and additional capacity to promote language access.

I think we'll um in return give us uh a robust team that can really focused on the growing demands of our international business community as well as our international community on the ground.

Um I'm also in support for the uh to restore funding to Safe Alliance, who did score a 91 in our financial partners um rubric.

Um I really want to speak to this uh personally as somebody who has been a victim to sexual assault.

Um I think this is crucial for folks, especially when last year in 2025, reporting came out that homicides related to domestic violence across uh North Carolina um increased and within a five year span.

Um we've seen a 200% increase in District 5 and East Charlotte.

While most of those are traffic fatalities, the other part of them are all related to domestic violence.

Um and in turn, you see one in every four days a domestic violence case.

So I think this is crucial uh to restore funding for Safe Alliance, particularly when they're going to be a part of the forthcoming umbrella center that we all are also supporting as a city um in District 5.

I also would like to support uh restoring funding to Prospera, another um financial partner who scored a 94.

Uh Prospera focuses on small business support to reach economic independence and prosperity, uh particularly now that they intentionally serve within the corridors of opportunity.

Um they help not only Latino but non-Latino owned businesses and entrepreneurs.

So this is not particularly to one community, it's to the entire community.

They've assisted over eleven hundred North Carolina residents per year, 70% of which are Charlotte residents, um, and they've generated um a total uh total economic output uh of uh 126 million as well as 2.1 million in direct local and state tax revenue.

Also like to make a case to increase our business district organizations line item funding um from 600,000 to 1 million.

Um I think we definitely need to, as we continue to focus on small business support and growing our economic engines across the city, a lot of uh the business district organizations that we have spoken to in the past all lie within our quarters of opportunity.

So I think it would uh present a unique opportunity to um help support them even more given the success that our S3 program had for them.

Um I also would like to state my support for what my colleagues have already asked for uh pay parity for the firefighters um as well as the five modified duty positions.

I think that's really crucial.

Um I like to add, you know, firefighters already are putting themselves into impossible situations, and so if they get harmed during while they're doing their job, I do not think it's fair that we turn over um our back on them by relieving them of their duties or retiring them early.

So I think these five modified uh duty positions are crucial to ensure our public safety.

And as you've requested a property tax increase in your budget solely on public safety, I think we can find uh wiggle room in there to make sure that we're taking care of our firefighters.

Um I'm in full support of our men and women in blue uniforms.

Um, but I think one cannot exist without the other.

So it is crucial that we do not step into a 30-year unprecedented territory by unpairing them when it comes to pay parity.

Um and I believe I'm trying to Marie, can you go through the list and see?

I'm in support for the Asian American Chamber as well.

Uh given the economic development um opportunities there.

Um and when it comes to reducing the property tax, don't put my name there.

I think that, you know, it is this council is asking for a lot.

I don't not think it's necessarily impossible.

I will say I do think it's somewhat of a miracle that you and all the incredible skills you bring to this table and your talent have managed to not increase the property tax rate in six years.

That being said, I do think it might be out of reach to ask for a reduction of your proposed tax rate, particularly when we are a growing city.

We're nearing a million folks, and we are we need to ensure that we are delivering exceptional service all the time, and and making sure that we're taking care of our folks as we continue to see more forthcoming issues, particularly when it comes to public safety, transit, housing, etc.

So thank you for the work that you're doing, and and and thank you for uh not only this budget but the previous budgets you provided in the past.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

All right, Ms.

Johnson.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um and Mr.

Jones, thank you for the budget presentation.

I want to understand the MPTA and the city sharing a budget.

Can you can you just help me with that?

Just a little more clarity.

I I would and tell me if this is a possibility.

Could we budget for six months?

And then MPTA budget for six months.

So um, my hesitancy is that I'm in the middle of negotiating in a local agreement, and so it's uh tough to have those conversations.

Let me just raise it up a bit, zoom out in words matter, and I think some of the words that have come out, people may have taken the wrong way, okay.

So whether the MPTA can be ready on July 1 or January 1 or July 1 of next year, I think it's secondary to having a smooth transition.

And what we've tried to do is have our employees first.

So with that, something like health care, which typically begins or in January 1 on the calendar year to help with this transition, um, having the MPTA have health care benefits for their employees, whether they are going to be July 1 of this year or January 1 of 2027 or July 1 of 2027 is really important.

So where we are is this exact same budget is before the council and it's before the MPTA, which is essentially what you just said.

Six months of funding for the city as the city operates cats, and six months of funding for the MPTA as MPTA operates cats, and then past that is the MPTA, and whether we can accelerate that to have it this July or January, right now we're working on a split year where half the city has MPTA.

Hannah did I get that right?

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

Okay.

So council member Owens, you mentioned STS, and that has been a challenge.

Um STS, it's we've had users that have had challenges with the services for a long time.

For instance, if there's not a bus stop, and correct me if I'm wrong, but there's a not a bus stop within I think it's a mile from their home, then they're not eligible for STS services.

So there's a so there's a lot of gaps in the SDS services.

I did share, I received a concern from a constituent, and I was able to share that with MPTA members, so that they're seeing that so that hopefully this will be um as seamless as possible.

And um Mr.

Cagle, he's said there'd been a I think a 48% increase in demand recently for SDS services.

So thank you for for bringing this uh forward.

I would support uh additional funding for STS for that reason, the seven percent increase to the to CMP D and FIRE.

What would the numbers what would be the impact for a seven percent increase across the board for all city employees?

I'd just like to know what that that would be.

Yes, we could cost that out.

Okay, thank you.

And then firefighters, they're interested in bringing back the step increases.

So if we if there were a seven percent increase across the board and also restoring the step increases to the firefighters, one of them said to me, we take less if we just get our step increases back.

So that's something to consider.

Just to clarify, they would get less if you did their steps because if I know there's some that would get about like they said two percent, but a lot of them are topped out, like 40 something percent are topped out, and they'd only get like one and a half percent if you're topped out, and they're now getting seven, but we'll look at whatever scenarios you want us to look at.

Okay, yeah, the restoring the steps, um, and then if we look at take take a look at that, and also the seven percent across the board.

I also and I'll I'll go in order in just a a second, but um, on page two sixty-four, there is a pro, there's information about ten million dollars for a helicopter hanger.

Can I get some information on that, please?

And how that impacts uh the budget, yes, and that's part of our capital budget, and I'm sorry, you said the number two sixty.

What page?

264.

CMPD helicopter hanger.

And that so that is needed because the facility they used to have is no longer um an option anymore and the airport property.

So this is the uh buying a uh parcel and then upfitting it, and it's also it's gonna be more than just the hangar, they're gonna also have facilities for some special use forces and things there as well.

And I know that's important, but I think when when times are tough, and we're tightening our our financial purse strings, I would recommend that we take a look at uh purchasing that or or spending that another year.

So we're moving the 10 million dollars uh for the purchase of a CMPD helicopter hanger.

Um if we can go down the list, would you would you add to what you can?

Sorry, Ms.

Johnson.

If we can we capture what you just said.

Okay.

Remove and the million dollars out of the CIP or the hangar, helicopter hanger.

Okay, okay, to the top, please.

I support the five modified duty positions.

I support restoring safe alliance funding, and all of these are important, but it's just we have to be good stewards of what we have.

So anything that I'm not supporting, it's not that I don't support the mission, but we do have to be selective.

I support the funding for this for the struggle.

And identifying potential options to reduce property tax.

The um exploring opportunities to bring the military world games to CLT.

And if you know any veterans or active military um individuals there really excited about this.

This is like the Olympics for individuals who are in the military.

So I would support that as well.

Funding for the hearts for the invisible.

So that is good news for them, but the need is there.

Homelessness has gone up, you know, 12%, I believe.

So if you scroll down expanding the capacity for international relations, you're welcome.

And I'd also like to ask, um, I support increasing, and this is kind of contradictory, but uh there's for there's a reason the millage increase for the university city partners.

I do support that.

It's in District 4.

You see, okay, sorry.

You would only add something you need to amend.

So did you say that?

Thank you for that.

But you wouldn't have to put it there.

Okay.

Good.

Okay.

All right, that's all I have.

Thank you.

Oh, let me ask one question while I have the mic.

I'm sorry.

Where are these meetings viewable?

They used to be viewable on Facebook.

Is that stopped?

I but I believe there was some technical summer, communications doesn't do them on Facebook.

They might do this on Facebook, but they definitely do it on the Gov channel and the YouTube.

So they can watch it live and they can always go back and watch it as well.

Okay, because I know that last Monday's meeting wasn't on Facebook either.

So I know that there was a push for more transparency.

So when those kind of changes are made, if we could be advised of that, and that was uh over a year ago, sorry that they did that.

I've been sharing Facebook meetings for yeah, up until last week.

So that wasn't done a year ago.

I know done.

Thanks.

The committee meetings are only available on YouTube, but but can't okay, thank you.

All right, Ms.

Sanderson.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um, and yes, Ms.

Johnson, I sadly what rewatch all of our meetings on YouTube.

So there's a CLT gov channel on YouTube that you can watch these meetings live and rewatch them when you get home and you're tired.

So for this budget ad delete um exercise, madam mayor, a couple things.

I'm sorry, real I wasn't saying they weren't on YouTube, but they were also on Facebook.

Not sure about Facebook, but 1,000% on YouTube.

Yes.

Um for this exercise, I I fully want to support the firefighters uh and their continuance of pay parity with CMPD.

I understand the budget constraints and uh Mr.

Jones, you do a yeoman's work in trying to um make sure that our budget is in alignment and not out of alignment, but our firefighters literally are the first.

We talk about first responders, they are the first responder to all things 911, and I want to make sure that they are in parity and not left behind.

And once they're out of pay parity, then it then it begins, then the inertia begins, right?

And so we want to make sure that there's no erosion of their pay or their equity as it relates to public safety.

That's first and foremost.

Um secondarily, safe alliance.

What we what we just heard for those uh those of my colleagues that are on the uh public safety committee, we have the domestic violence um advisory board come in just last week and share some information with us a couple weeks back, actually, and they talked about the increase of 911 calls as it relates to domestic violence.

There's been a a double-digit delta from 2024 to 2025 as it relates to 911 uh emergency calls for domestic violence, over 37,000 calls just in 2025, and it's going to increase in within just the these few months that we've experienced in 26 it has.

So we know that's a that's a direct way to stave off violence, that's a direct way to stave off crime and increase safety in our community.

So I have 1,000 percent uh support the restoring the safe alliance funding.

The umbrella center is is opening, and that's going to be a fantastic one-stop shop for um unfortunately those that are experiencing this um this implication on their life, but we need to make sure that we are um supporting this and undergirding this.

I also support along with uh uh councilmember asmira and um adias the uh funding of the Asian American chamber.

Um they do tremendous work throughout our community, and um I I absolutely support the 100,000 support for them as you move down the um the list here, the the other thing that I and I'm and I'm I I don't necessarily want to provide support for a direct line item, but one thing I just want to just make clear is the funding for the hearts for the invisible uh we know that the unhoused situation is growing in our community and continues to grow.

We know the numbers uh in terms of who's in house and who's right there on the brink.

We have to collectively uh intergovernment intergovernmentally figure out a way that we can support um this ecosystem that Hearts for the Invisible is a part of, and Jessica does uh yeah, Jessica does a phenomenal job with this work, but we have to figure out a way to undergirt this effort that is interdisciplinary to try and keep people in their homes and to get them back into safe secure housing and off the street.

So if a hundred thousand is gonna make a step in the right direction, I support that, but I think more largely it's about what's a larger plan and how we can support this effort of uh ensuring that our unhoused is moving towards safe and secure housing.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

All right, Ms.

Graham.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, and my apologies to you and the council for for being a little bit tardy uh this afternoon.

Um but I just wanted to kind of add content to some of the items that were added on my behalf.

Uh thank you, Councilmember Mayo and Johnson for uh delivering the word for me.

Um, I want to start with the city workers and the four percent increase.

Um and uh Mr.

Manager, I I just need to know again why is there four percents tied to performance?

It's not a pure four percent increase, is it not?

Sure.

Uh Councilmember Graham, can I um try to identify how we pay three sets of people?

I think that's important.

Let me ask another question.

I think then you can do that.

Is the police 10% increase without a performance evaluation?

Is it sure?

So yeah, so they have a step.

So we pay people three different ways.

There's police and fire, they have a step program.

And for the most part, um, I would call it pass-fail, right?

So you move with the STEP program.

We have our, but even in that STEP program, people top out.

So what Marie was saying earlier for firefighters, when you top out, it's really a call of 1.5%.

If I got that right, Marie.

It varies by year to year, but yes.

So about 46% of all firefighters have topped out.

Same thing with police, the STEP system.

At some point, you uh can top out on your STEP system, and you don't have that 5% increase or that 5% plus the 1.5% increase.

When we start talking about uh salaried employees, uh, if you do let's say a three percent increase, it's a pot of money that averages three percent.

Somebody could get zero, somebody could get six.

I'm looking at Sheila, let's make sure I'm right with that.

Um with their hourly employees over the years, we have done it differently.

Um, sometimes it has been, you know, 1.5%, but then a up to 2.5%.

In some years, it's been more like what I just described with salary employees if there's a range.

So what we're trying to do is make sure that as we move forward with our salaried employees or hourly employees, that if we have the ability to get four percent that you can get four percent.

So it's it's it's not a flat, I think it's disingenuous to believe that it's a flat four percent for all frontline workers.

I don't believe that's the way we portray it.

I believe we portray it as a 1.5%, and then the ability for another 2.5 percent.

And if I may just a little bit of context, that's what we have in place currently for this year's budget, and HR ran some numbers on it, and it it's actually they're averaging for their merit, like four and um four point three percent.

So they're actually averaging more, and it does give um people a chance.

It has the component, like you said, the solid pass fail component, but also the component where you can reward um above the merit pool for those the mere average pool for those that are exceeding.

Well, I I certainly appreciate the the starting pay at what I think it's now 52,000 in the budget for uh incoming city employee, but that doesn't take in consideration those who've already been working with the city right for a while and need more than four percent.

Um the city is getting a less and less affordable for those who work in the city uh to live in the city, and I hope that we can find a way uh Mr.

Manager to do four percent or more so can eat that they just need more uh and I clearly understand the uh the budget environment that we're working in in reference to uh the needs and the wants of a wide variety of constituents up there that you see on the board.

Um, but certainly um uh and the budget reality of the tax increase.

Um but I I I just hope that we can find a way to do more for our workers, our frontline workers.

Um I think just that's really important.

Um secondly, the firefighters uh again.

Um I won't dwell on that.

I I think they should get up to 10% as well.

Um my support of the greater enrichment program.

Uh, again, uh after school program, uh historically, um uh offer the babies Fort Road Quarter, a free program for kids who parents uh need that type of um access because again uh the city uh the affordability of daycare for many of our uh constituents, um uh it's expensive, and um this program certainly relieves some of the pressure for many of our families in our community.

So again, the greater enrichment program.

Uh I support along with council member uh Mitchell uh Safe Alliance.

Um I support uh funding them as well.

I think that goes without saying.

Um I will say a lot about the intergovernmental relations department.

Mr.

Manager, me and you have been talking about this for well over a year and a half.

About the necessity for really getting our arms around elevating our posture internationally based on what's happening at the grass top and grassroot level relating to international affairs.

Certainly the bank that came to town from Japan, right?

The World Military Games International.

The soccer mattress are coming to town this year, FIFA International.

I think we really need to be very intentional about corporate recruitment and retention from an international perspective, bringing jobs, economic opportunity.

Charlotte is not only the 13th largest city in the country, but should be mentioned in the same breath as Barcelona, New York, Paris, Charlotte, right?

And we only get there if we are very intentional about that pursuit.

And we talked about this, and I talked with Marie about it last week when we went went over the budget together and I was looking for cuts.

So and uh and cuts were hard to find to balance the budget, to not do a tax increase.

That was our exercise last week, and that was problematic for sure.

But I I think this is something that we really, really should focus on.

Last week I I had the opportunity to um be with an international group from Portugal.

Uh and there's a lot of protocols and stuff that goes along with those type of visits.

I'm not sure we've got our arms around all of that uh that um that produces um the type of results that we need.

Uh in addition, uh the uh the MBA uh African lead is having a summit in Charlotte uh this fall again international.

I think we we really really have an opportunity if we kind of focus on this uh at the grass top level and certainly uh grassroots in terms of relationships um along the Central Avenue Corridor, building those relationships there, that we really really can do something significantly different than we're doing now with a lot more intentionality towards it.

And so that's something I would really like to see um shaped out a little bit more than currently in the budget, and that may go beyond the budget cycle in terms of how we kind of shape that, but certainly um I hope it can start with this budget and getting the appropriate resources, not only in community relations, but I believe there needs more help and economic development, right?

That's where the I think the rubber meets the road in terms of really being very intentional there.

Um lastly, there are three organizations that I uplifted for the struggle hearts for the invisible and just movement.

Um they have three nonprofit organizations.

When we are sleeping, uh, these individuals are on the streets.

Uh they're on Catherine Simmons, uh, they're on Reagan Drive.

Uh, they're all over this uh the city trying to provide service for those who are unhoused.

And I I just and Mr.

Manager Main, you've talked about this before.

I I don't think they should be coming back every year.

I think they should be embedded in the budget as a strategic partner because again, they provide critical essential service.

Um I had breakfast today with Liz Kelly, uh, and again, I mean, roof above, and we we got to find a way of not just pinning bandage on this every budget cycle that they got to be incorporated in our strategic planning, whether it's in housing, whether it's community relations, whatever.

I think uh I think Councilmember Anderson said it in terms of how do we have a um a bigger footprint than just I mean every year that they do a hundred thousand dollars.

I'm not sure that goes afar.

It goes a long way, to be quite honest with you.

Um, and so I support uh again keeping uh the um uh uh investment for those organizations for the struggle, Hearts for the Invisible, just movement um for sure.

Uh, and then I do support Councilmember uh Mitchell um request to kind of just not I don't think it's even a request, just an acknowledgement of the military games uh again international, right?

All these international armies coming to Charlotte.

Uh great opportunity for um recruitment, retention, they come with sponsors, etc.

Right.

Uh showing Charlotte our our blueprint.

So I do support that perspective.

And if you can just scroll it for me, I can kind of think it's at the top.

Okay, scroll, scroll, scroll, uh scroll.

Um that's what I said.

The housing trust fund for sure.

Uh I think council member Mayfield uh requests I I'll put my name down there with her uh for sure.

It goes back to the conversation I had with Ms.

Kelly this morning uh about the continuum of housing uh at the shelter level, right?

That I think that hopefully her committee would take a look at that for sure, right?

Because again, um it doesn't make any sense to fund for the struggle and the hearts for the invisible if we don't have any place for the folks to go, right?

It's a it has to be uh all of it wrapped together, right?

And I don't think we're there yet.

I think we just got strings um all over the place that we need to kind of twirl together.

Um, I did ask the question, Councilmember Johnson about the hangar.

Um I think it's essential that we should probably should do it.

Um so I I um I I can't support that, but I I did ask the question last week and had some conversation even this morning about whether or not that was a need or a want.

Uh, and I'm convinced that it's it's an essential need based on a lot of the other construction at the airport that's happening right now.

Um, but um I think that's it.

Um, I'm not sure how you do all that.

Um but good luck.

Well, thank you for bringing this to the closure.

Um for us.

You know, when I we started out, I said, well, let's go ahead and get everybody out and come back around.

But now I look at this and I see such um ability.

I think that we have the opportunity perhaps to do just like what do we need to do that um if we if we missed anything up on the board, and then the other reason I was thinking about this is that the staff has to go back and actually get this work done, and it's not very far away from us.

I think the way that we're gonna be taking these plans and processes and not get them integrated.

So I was wondering if to your ideas is that we would go ahead and try to do the budget adds and deletes and get five people to speak.

Remember, we go with the five people edge of people that want to have this, for example, expand capacity for international relations.

If five people said yes, we would put it in and have the staff do the work for you to come back with what we would do and how it would be done under the manager's supervision.

So, what I wonder is that if that's acceptable for you, we can go ahead and we can move forward with getting this done.

I say that because we have a zoning meeting coming up right after this.

All right, Mr.

Jones, help me out here.

Yeah, so thank you, Mayor.

Uh one thing I'd like to do that I think may help with some of the discussions of moving forward, um, is frame a few things.

For instance, like with the financial partners, I will not repeat what council member Mayfield said.

She she nailed it in terms of the process, and that's why what you received is what you received.

We didn't put any subjectivity in this whatsoever.

The other thing is really, really important.

And we have no ARPA money.

No longer does Tree Charlotte come in and compete because it was so it is so essential for what we do with with trees.

I would say with safe alliance, because of the connectivity, and I appreciate what you said, Councilmember Owens, about being careful with CMPD.

I wonder if there's a desire to have Safe Alliance, more like Tree Charlotte, than as a financial partner because there are funds.

Kelly, I think I'm right with this, that's left over from Katie Blessing.

From the youth program that could get us through one time this year.

That there's a couple sources cobbled together, but that's one of them.

We could do that.

The other thing is really important.

I love the way we tie the umbrella sensor together.

The CMPD is paying 180,000 in rent to be there.

And so there are things that we believe we could do to make this work for the current year.

But the question is, how would you like to proceed uh in the future?

The other thing is really important, and I'm just trying to help with some of these things.

We have neighbors building neighborhoods, it's a half a million dollars a year for five years, and a lot of that is to try to replicate what's happening uptown or what's happening in Baysford Road, but it's not one size fits all.

So in certain communities, um maybe they would need some of the financial partners to help with whatever the issue may be around trying to make uh communities better.

Uh last next last thing I'll say is that um remember we are trying our best to finish this fiscal year in the black.

We finished last fiscal year 10,000.

That's not that's really great.

So as we start as we try to land the plane this year.

Remember, we took 7.4 million dollars out of the current budget, right?

And so I just want to make sure that if there's this concept that all of a sudden we can find 10 million dollars in savings, we tried that this current year, and and we're struggling to to um get the year in in the black.

The last thing I'll say is it would be great.

I love our employees.

I love police fire, I love I really I love salary, you know that's how I've been the decade I've been here.

We have different plans as I described earlier, and it would be great if the council actually had a policy around parity, you don't.

Okay, and if you have a policy around parity, it will maybe change the way that I come to you with a budget.

The other thing is important that we look at the 20 cities that we um benchmark against, and I'm not sure that we have a majority of them that even have parity, and I think the difference between our police and fire pay is so much better than theirs.

But Ethan, am I wrong with that?

I'm just trying to figure out where we are with pay parity in terms of a policy and and where we're going.

Yeah, so Ethan Smith, um, we we did our peer city review again uh this year, uh, and our most recent review found that uh our our peer cities have about a 14% differential between uh police and fire starting pay.

So compare that to our plan.

Uh we're we're currently at about 4.9% difference at our starting pay.

So the proposed budget would increase that by three percent to 7.9 percent.

All right, anything else, Mr.

Jones?

I I know there are a lot of people around here, but I had Miss Mayfield first, and then Miss Anderson second.

All right, so Ms.

Mayfield, thank you, Madam Mayor.

I want to get some clarification, Manager Jones, and you might not have this information.

We might have staff in here because you had noted that with our fire, we had about 40 percent that was topped out.

So I had with going through this process, HR for fire payroll in actuality, what we have is about 231 of the employees that have topped out with 917 that are due a step, where that's more like 20%, not 40%.

So I wanna make sure that what we're sharing when we're having these conversations, also keep in mind I recognize I identified a line item for us to make try to balance this out, but I want to make sure that what we're sharing, our fire knows that and from our conversations to my understanding, your support for first responders, you look at our first responders from the conversations I've had with members of FIRE, there are some that don't feel like that's reflected when it's time for us to vote our dollars, and just like with a number of our city employees, the cost of living in Charlotte is very different than what it was a decade ago.

So, but for the comment of 40 percent that are topped out, I wanna make sure that we have transparency and clarity.

It's really about 20.

But out of that 231 that might be at the top, we have 917 that's do a step.

I think one of the challenges that I've seen, even when we approve, because Mayor, we've been doing this long enough.

We were here when it was $13 an hour, and we moved to 15 and we consistently moved up, but one of the challenges are those mid-employees.

So we have these new starting rates.

We have those that are salary.

I would like to see when we go through it.

I guess that's when I'll raise my hand or not, but those employees that have been with us, if you're at a salary of 200,000, I'm not necessarily interested in whether or not you get a four percent raise to me.

If you get once upon a time, those of us that work long enough remember when you got that raise, and it's like you got a 75 cent or 50 cent raise.

Those salaried employees are okay.

I'm looking at our non-salary employees to make sure that they are having access to keep up with the cost of living, because there's a gap that is being created between new hires and top pay.

That missing middle that we talk about, those are the ones in our city also that are looking at the challenges of bank layoffs, other company layoffs, being out of work six months to over a year, their HOA can care less because we've approved projects that have specially town homes that have monthly HOA, not annual HOA.

So if you have a 280 plus dollar monthly HOA and you were secure when you got into that home, and now you have not been able to find employment to transition into near at or better salary, you're now looking at the potential of a foreclosure.

We don't have, we have a very small bucket where we have helped people in the community with that.

We ought to have that conversation in housing and neighborhood services as far as what does that look like.

What is the relationships with our banks look like when we're having all of these discussions?

I want to make sure that we're being as transparent as we can with the numbers, so that our fire doesn't feel like they're being isolated or that they're being undervalued because the value is there for first responders.

I also, since Mayor, you said we're gonna come around.

We don't I don't have to go back through and ask for the list to be scrolled up to add the names, but I am going to clarify we created a scorecard, we voted on the scorecard, we direct the staff on how to move forward with the scorecard.

I cannot in good conscience support any additions to the financial partners based on what is being proposed when we had over six million dollars in request, and we didn't have a million dollars to allocate.

So, mayor, Ms.

Mayfield, I am gonna ask Ethan.

There are three components to that 46%.

So Ethan, the they're not just the firefighters, they are the top of the correct, yeah.

Um we have about 500, and that includes engineers, firefighters, and and captains.

So that is about 45, 46%.

That's not what we have to work with when you include Mr.

Brown, you include the engineers and other people we do it as a new question regarding five.

I see I got you.

Just for clarification, because if that number includes engineers and others, I didn't think that that's what you would who you were.

I was basically focusing on frontline workers.

So for that again, to make sure that the conversation we're having isn't a catch-all, and for us to have clarity, I didn't interpret the question or the conversation regarding fire to include all those other people.

What I do know from working with their HR, the number that have hit top is 231.

The number that's due a step is 917.

Somewhere in there, we have the ability to reconcile.

And just to clarify, if I may, so the 7% that's proposed in the manager's budget would um apply to all firefighters that are in the public safety pay plan component, so that does have the engineers and the captains.

That's why we're talking about across the board seven percent.

It's everybody that's in the public safety pay plan.

And I appreciate that clarification, but then that goes back to that seven percent.

We approved a step pay in 23.

It appears that that seven percent includes that five percent in the step pay, which is a separate conversation, so it appears that it's actually only two percent, yet ultimately the request of the 4.4 million, as well as the support for the addition for the five modified positions, the one line item that I've added in.

I've given a recommendation of the line item that can be adjusted to accommodate it.

So, to make sure I understand, Councilman Mayfield, if you take the CMPD down to seven, right?

You get six million and something.

We have the exact number, yes, sir.

But then you're going to take the fire up to 10.

No, what so the what staff is gonna work on the numbers, but that dollar amount that we had identified and that fire has advocated for as well as our partners in the people's budget has allocated for was that 4.4 million dollar difference.

What I did was work to look at how do we identify a funding line item to cover that gap in order to ensure that we are creating the opportunities and the protections for our fire that we need.

So one part of what do we say are our first responders?

One line item had a budget proposal that was at a much higher amount than our other set of first responders, keeping in mind a commitment that we made in 2023 that was not a one-time commitment with looking at pay parity, the 4.4 million.

How do we get there?

So if we say to get to the 4.4 to have that additional 4.4, we're saying it's 10% instead of seven, then I will say what I support is fire at 10% CMPT at seven.

If we need to clarify that.

Thank you.

All right.

So we've got a few folks that want to follow along this.

So I just asked our our visitors if they were okay and comfortable.

So we just want to make sure you are.

Okay, thank you.

Um, and then the um next um is Miss Anderson.

Thank you, madam mayor.

Uh, first and foremost, uh Maria, I just wanted to make sure I may have missed it out the first time around, but I want to make sure that I am advocating for the modified positions for the firefighters that line item, I think it's just above right there, adding the funding for the five modified positions.

This just underscores the fact that you know, when the firefighters are injured in the line of duty, that they have a pathway to continue serving.

And I just want to clarify because everybody keeps saying in the line of duty, a lot of these aren't in the line of duty injuries.

So I just want to make sure we're not creating something that's just in the line of duty, or do you want just in the line of duty?

When you say, Okay, can you say more about that?

So if there's there's different criteria that they have, and so if something happens to you outside of work, you know, you might be on modified duty as well.

Sure, you're in a certain medication or something kind of injury outside of work, you might be on modified duty.

So it's not just in the line of duty that that the um fire policy currently allows.

I got you.

I I think I understand now.

Thank you for that uh clarification.

Um, whether or not it's in the line of duty or uh or not, effectively you can't serve on a truck, right?

So when the when the bell rings, you cannot go out and be on a service call.

I think we need to have space for our uh firefighters to be able to have that grace and that time to get back on to that level where they can serve on a on a service call.

So I support that.

Our budget over time.

Um I just think we're gonna pay this 400,000 is really a drop in the bucket.

Uh we're gonna pay way more than that as it relates to calls and CMPD officers going out on calls, um, our hospitals being overran with injuries.

It it we're gonna pay for this one way or another, and uh my it's my firm belief that we'll pay more.

So as much as we can do to be preventative up front, um, I think we should we should lean into that position.

And so that I certainly support if there's a way, and Marie, you you stated that perhaps there's some funds that we can cobble together to uh cover this 400k as we think about a longer runway.

Uh and using it.

Well, correct for today, you know, just to make it through this budget.

I mean, you know, next budget, you can definitely consider it as an operating, but it's not currently in the operating budget.

So police recognizes the the partnership and the coordinates, it's so they're trying to scrape together with different parts and then some um savings and different funds.

So they're um committed to that this year.

If there's a way that we can cobble funds together this year as we figure out how to make it into our operating costs with at the longer runway, um I would like to see us at least go through the exercise of doing so and bringing it back to council.

Thank you, madam mayor.

I have two little two additional features.

Um, you would and then Victoria, if you would.

You want to add something?

I just want to be okay.

I think if you turn around, somebody will do that for you.

Right.

Thank you, madam mayor.

So just to be clear, I I want to um learn from the experience of those that have shared in the room.

I agree with uh council member Mayfield with respect to the manner in which we put some rigor around the uh partnerships that we strike.

I will make exception for safe alliance um based on the importance that I believe that it fulfills in the community, um, and also based on the discussions around the dais of potentially finding another way to tuck them in someplace so they are not necessarily going through this process each year.

But with respect to the other entities that are up there, I I do want to hue very closely to the scoring mechanics that have been agreed by council, and I appreciate having some discipline around those.

So I won't be supporting any of the others.

Um, if we go back up to the police department, I'm sorry, the the fire department, I did support the modified duty positions, and I am I guess I'll say I'm budget curious with respect to what it does to bring both CMPD and the fire department to seven percent.

I think that was something that has been proposed on there.

I just want to be clear if we're also talking about city workers, because I do feel as though our city workers have an important role to play, and so you know, as I look at at your task of trying to reconcile those percentages, I personally would like to go along with I believe it was Councilmember Johnson who was saying for city workers um is seven to per seven percent across the board as opposed to having um the CMPD be at 10%.

So I I would be supportive of that.

The housing trust fund, I ask for an exploration.

I will sign off on um council member Mayfield and Graham with respect to increasing at one time to 200 million, so I'll withdraw the line item that I had that just considered an increase but without an actual dollar amount associated with it.

And then finally, um I would like to be heard just on the uh concept of international relations.

I am supportive of that one as well.

I think we've had experiences of late where we have had national attention, but I think as we continue to grow as a city and as we continue to provide such uh breadth of opportunity for folks moving here, I think that international relations role is an important one because you know, as they say, you only have one time to make a first impression, and I don't like for us to appear clunky or ham-handed when visitors come to Charlotte and expect um to engage with us uh on an economic basis.

Um, I will say that I too had a notation.

I don't know if you can see my book where I've got all my little notations, but I did have a notation of query, and I appreciate Councilmember Johnson bringing up the helicopter hanger uh funding.

Um let's put me down for consideration of removing that as well.

And I say that only because I did have input from people in my district who queried as well in the days of drones and some of the other technological advances that we have.

Is 10 million for a helicopter hanger?

And I appreciate I was not privy to the conversation that that council member uh Graham had.

So perhaps I could be persuaded.

But 10 million for a helicopter hanger, I didn't have a good answer for that when asked, and so I definitely need some additional speaking points if that's something that um you know that it is is really important.

Um I will just put a final plug in for some of my uh comments I made.

I didn't get any takers yet, but I am inclined towards trying to really look at uh code enforcement and what we are doing, um particularly in the areas of trying to retain housing.

Um I think that there are times when things fall into disrepair and then they get to a place where it is unfortunate, but the best option is for a developer to come in and tear them down.

I'd like that not to happen.

I think if we can be more forward focused, I just don't have a dollar amount that I can put to that.

So again, that's a curiosity more than a point.

The animal adoption fees, I brought that one up not because I'm not pro-animal.

Anybody who knows me knows that's not true, but there is a terrific amount in this budget that is allocated for an animal facility, and I'd like to see folks who love and keep animals as as pets and family members.

Perhaps they pay some of the fray for that as well.

So thank you.

All right, thank you.

Um let's see, I think Ms.

Watlington.

Thank you.

I really just wanted to make sure that I was clear about what we can expect to come back to us as we're considering these um five votes for each line item, because there's been discussion around adding, but also considering how to make that work within the budget in the context of offsetting cost.

Um, and so certainly that would have an implication on whether we ultimately support particular line items or not if they actually resulted in a budget increase or if we were net neutral.

So I wanted to understand how will that information be provided back to us.

And so Dr.

Watlington, typically what we do, and it definitely will not be net neutral, you know, with this list.

So we would come back to you and say, let but for like um council member Anderson mentioned bringing safe Charlotte back, I mean safe alliance back.

We're not playing to bring that back per se, because we've got a commitment from police, and and we've got all counsel saying they want us to move forward with that, but anything else we'd have to say where we're gonna cut or where, and there's not really anything to cut.

So we'd more so come back to you and say what kind of revenue do we need to increase to be able to fund it, like property tax going up more than proposed.

So that's the piece that I'm particularly interested in because what I'm hearing and what I agree with um with many of my council members is what we received here were budget adjustments.

Certainly we haven't seen the full budget, and I may be inclined to say I don't need to eat every time I come to a city council meeting if it saves 400,000 in the budget that I could put somewhere else.

Where are we gonna?

Johnson, I'm speaking for myself.

I'm speaking for myself.

I'd be glad James's not here.

I'm the same.

No, but but seriously, but seriously, uh we're not in a position to make decisions about what the priority is if we're just told that it's gonna be an increase, right?

And so that's where I want to understand, particularly given this line item here where we've talked about um really making a hard choices.

I want to see what what's on the table.

Sure.

And I'll try to help this is how we would typically go about this, and so I don't think we would change at all.

Um the first thing you would do is look at all the enhancements.

Okay, so whether it's the international uh officer, things that nature.

Well, let me let me take a step back.

About uh 81% of this budget is just public safety and core services.

We must do that.

Um, even with the hangar, we have the helicopters.

I don't think we can have helicopters and not have a place to store them.

So we get so it's some of the things we have to do, would start off with how many our enhancements are in this budget, and we would come back to you saying we wouldn't do this, we wouldn't do this, we wouldn't do this, we wouldn't do this.

I think Maurice said it well.

I I don't see a scenario of four million dollars of things that you've asked to put in this budget that all of a sudden we take out.

So I do believe we're going to end up with the property tax rate that's higher than what was proposed.

I got you, and I appreciate the approach.

Um, I would challenge what we call enhancements versus what we say is absolutely base business, because even if you peel back the layer in our public safety, you see that a lot of that money goes to maintenance of buildings, it's not necessarily labor, it's not necessarily you see what I'm saying.

So there are certainly things within these budgets that are baked in.

So I'm just I just want to lean in on this idea of before we say these are enhancements and this is base business.

We need to be able to say that with more certainty instead of just because it sits in public safety doesn't mean that it's uh ahead, for example.

Um, so that's the piece that I don't feel like we have visibility to, and so I want to understand when we're making these choices in the next go-round what it is that we're actually switching out, sure.

And I will say um a lot of the things that are in this budget are just things that if we don't do, we're going to see our service delivery decline.

Agree.

Agree, there's a lot of stuff in there.

I'm saying without understanding what's actually in the budget beyond the the adjustments.

I I'll speak for myself.

I have no way of understanding whether this hundred thousand dollars should go to for the struggle or whoever versus this hundred thousand dollars be saved so we can buy jackets.

Yeah, I don't disagree with you.

I guess what I would say is that it has to be some level of trust that for instance Dallas City Hall is um they may have to demolish it because they didn't take care of it, sure.

A lot of the things that are in this budget is just taking care of it.

I agree, and I don't when it comes to trust, it's not that I think that you're not telling the truth about that.

What I'm saying is trust is not a substitute for oversight.

So I would like to understand how we're going to make these decisions going forward.

How are we going to see what actually might be up for discussion, and how is that going to be presented versus these line items?

Are we going to have an understanding of hey, we were able to find 400,000?

And so we know that if as long as we don't put more than 400,000 in, we are net neutral.

But if you go over that, it's going to be an increase.

That would be meaningful information.

Sure, that's that's great.

No, that's very helpful.

For instance, we don't know what's happening with fuel costs.

So we have um a place in this budget of about 400,000 dollars.

425, yes.

425 with fuel costs, because again, we don't want to get to the end of it, but you may say, Marcus, I'd rather you roll the dice, right?

So we can put things in different buckets like that, and I think what you really want to hear is what are the consequences of not doing those things, and we can do that too.

Okay, all right.

Okay, all right, Miss Ashmir.

Yes.

And then I think Mr.

Graham, did you want to go Mr.

Graham?

Um, Miss John, Ms.

Mayo.

No, no, no, we gotta go wait.

I meant, I mean, the next.

Here we go.

Over here.

Who is next?

Is Malcolm next?

Who next?

Okay, who next?

After next.

Thank you.

Thank you, madam mayor.

So, as part of this exercise, the items that get five or more will move to the next meeting.

But I think I I also want to make sure that as part of this exercise does not mean that it's going to end up in our budget, because this is just an exploration.

It's just we are exploring the idea.

So once to Dr.

Watlington's point, once we get more information and what are the implications in the budget, we will have more holistic uh perspective.

So I just want to make sure that a council understands that this is not definitely going to every line item is gonna go.

So I think the next opportunity in a week, yeah, at the straw votes, meaning we would have a broader perspective because I know we will get probably what, 100 pages, uh uh to review and study.

I know what the answer is when it's 100 pages, nobody reads it.

So no, I I think no, I think some of us read it.

Uh, but I think that really gives us a holistic perspective on what the impacts will be on the budget.

So I think that's important as uh people go line by line, is just we want to explore.

I think that's exactly what I think that's cash year as well.

Right, and then you're exactly right, Danple, that we have to do this in a way that we have a conversation with everyone, and people begin to see where their places will be and what we will be doing, and that includes the departments as well as everything else that we have today.

So that's all right.

I hope that everyone had an opportunity.

Oh, Miss Johnson.

Thank you, madam mayor.

Um, I I wanted an explanation, I guess, about the helicopter.

You said what we would have a helicopter and not have a place to park to store it.

Where is it stored now and what is the change?

So a couple things.

I guess over the course of the last uh six or seven years, the city of the council is approved buying two helicopters, and when you have two helicopters, you really have three.

Um the airport hangar, we have to vacate that.

So these helicopters have to be stored somewhere else.

So we were able to um Phil and Matt and Company, I think, really get a facility that can help us not only store them but some office space too, so that it's seamless between the time we're um we have to vacate the airport.

And we're vacating the airport.

Why because they are construction, yeah.

Well, I think it would be probably helpful.

Um, Ms.

Johnson, if you go out to the copter.

Um, a lot of this is about people that fly high, and where you can see things that are going on that you can't see on the ground, and it's often used for um abilities to be able to do and work with safe and safety people coming in.

So I think it would be great.

Go.

I mean, maybe we can just do that and say showcase what they do, and so that that would be something that would be more explainable, or if you guys, if Maria and the T staff want to do this, just what are the top three things that they've done that made it a difference?

You know, something like that might work.

Okay, I've had the honor of seeing one of the helicopters at one of the national night out events.

Um, but I was just asking why are we spending 10 million dollars?

You know, you gotta cover it up like a movie almost.

So a hanger, you know.

I'm just wanted to put um I wasn't finished, if you don't mind.

Thank you.

Um, secondly, um, on page 30.

There's a list of our special revenue funds.

Now, our general funds, we have details as far as departmental budgets, but is there anywhere in the budget that lists the amount in these funds?

The convention center fund and the um and other hospitality and tourism funds.

Can you point that out?

Yes, ma'am.

Do y'all know that?

Page 225 is where they begin.

So 225 are all of these funds, the balances listed.

We have the the list of non-governmental funds, the emergency telephone system, general grants.

Do we have yes, ma'am?

There's pages on each one of those starting starting on page 225.

225, okay.

Because I think it's important that we take a look at all of our our funds and resources and see if there's a way to reallocate dollars, and also um, while we're talking about the um domestic or the safe alliance and homeless services, I just want to, as the advocate for brain injury on the council that 70 up to 75 percent of domestic violence survivors have a history of head injury, 50 percent of those who are unhoused have a history of brain injury.

We have brain injury uh survivors in our first responders, police and fire, and then I always say if if you recall the something that was very impactful to this city, Keith Lamont Scott's wife was saying he has a TBI.

So I think brain injury awareness and mental health awareness is so important, it could really save our city money in other ways.

Um, if there's some type of fund, if we and maybe not this budget, but if there could be some concentration on mental health, uh and brain injury training for our officers and first responders, I think that would be great.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

All right, Miss, Ms.

Thank you.

Thank you for waiting and being so patient.

No worries.

Do you mind if we start at the top?

I just wanted to make sure I had my name on a couple things.

Can I add first one for the five modified duty positions?

Can you add mail in there?

Please, oh, I think we are.

Yeah, I just want to make sure I have all my stuff.

Um can I make sure I'm under for the struggle as well?

Am I on that?

Can we do that?

What do you what do you guys want to do?

I mean, I'll give you that.

Maybe that would be easier.

But may I say if we would go on there?

We did, but we've kind of device.

I have some I want to add on them to.

Yeah, finally, whatever.

I just want to make sure I don't miss anything.

I don't know.

We had it, we had them.

So, Madame Mayor if I may, just since most people have got if there's nothing new we'd like to add, I think it'd be great just to go through and any of them that already have five.

We can skip over because we know that they have five votes if your name's up there, and then any that have less than five names, then we'll take a vote to see if we get to five, please.

Okay.

So, Madam Mayor, just a point, just a point of information.

Want to make sure that uh CMAO, was there anything that you wanted to add?

No, ma'am.

You just want to add your name.

Yes, okay.

I want to make sure you have that space.

All right, okay.

Thank you.

Okay.

All right.

So okay, we're ready.

We'll go ahead and get started.

Um, we'll start at the top.

It doesn't matter.

Okay, we're starting at the top, adding funding for five modified duty positions for Charlotte Fire.

And Madam Mayor, we have five on that.

So, Sherry, if you will highlight the next one, which is for the struggle.

Is that a check already?

But I think we said the record is reflecting which council members I'd like to still typically we don't use that for a record, but we can make it one if you want to.

We don't, we just have what moves forward from this.

Okay, Ms.

Ashmira.

Yes, so some of us who went first didn't get an opportunity to go through it again.

So that's why I want us to make sure that we go line by line item.

Yeah, sure.

So yeah, you don't have to add my name to some of the later items, but I just want to make sure I I'm on record raising my hand for some of the items because there are a lot of items.

Uh and I was the first one, so of course, of course.

All right, let's go ahead and Mr.

Jones.

So, Mayor, do you want Marie just to go?

Marie, you'll do each one.

Yes, okay, all right.

Yeah, yes.

That's what we need last time.

And so I guess we'll just go through all of them, even if they already have five, because some council members want to make sure.

So, yeah, five modified duty for Charlotte Fire.

Anyone that's not already on there, that wants their name added, because we already voted and it's already moving forward, so was yours.

Anyone whose name is not on there?

Okay, but I think I think we've got it.

I think that's all.

Yeah, okay.

All right.

So we already have five, so that's fine.

My hand is up.

If we could just count the hands, yes, that's right.

Yeah, keep it moving.

That's true.

I think they just wanted them to vote.

Okay.

That okay.

Not the names, the but the votes.

Yes, ma'am, okay.

Sorry.

So look, we'll start again.

Five modified duties for fire.

Any all in any that my name is already in there.

Okay, but still, I need you to raise it.

We're gonna go ahead and why don't we just go ahead and say all in favor, any of all in favor?

Let's let's do this the way we would ordinarily do that.

Yeah, I think all in favor, please raise your hand.

Anyone in opposition, which is anyone now, we know.

Sorry, I think I have the hang of it now.

So next, if you'll scroll down, chair.

Can I read the next one, please?

Um restore.

Is that the next one?

Yes, we endorse eighth alliance funding.

All in favor, please raise your hand.

Any opposed?

So it's moving forward.

And then we have Miss Mayfield.

Did I see a next?

Yeah, but we're not it's not official, so it's fine.

We have enough to move forward.

So for so do we do for the struggle?

Clarification, Mayor.

Only what we're voting on is the proposed dollars that's in front of us.

Thank you.

And that's no, actually, not even the dollars, just for budget staff to work with other departments to come back to you with more information for your official vote on June 1st.

You're gonna give information, right?

Okay, next, okay, and then for the struggle, all in favor of adding to the financial partners a hundred thousand for for the struggle to explore adding explore, yes.

This is our exploration, it'll come around again.

So okay, explore instead of explore, all of these are explored.

All of the floor, I have already stated that we had a process.

If the language on this board does not say to explore the additional funding, because we have several other organizations that scored a lot higher than 48, 64, 68 that are not up here.

So if the request is to explore specifically funding at whatever dollar amount to a specific organization that did not score well, I am going to be a no.

Yes.

Yes, and Madam Mayor's law.

Um Madam Mayor, I want to support what Miss Mayfield is saying.

This is the second year that we have this process, and the committee has gone through and arduously aligned with the process, and now we're at a point now where we're taking votes to effectively supersede that process.

I want to honor the time and the energy that the committee has put into this for two years now to honor that process.

And I'm not sure why we're doing an actual vote here rather than what we we've historically have done.

But I want to make sure the committee has done a process.

We need to at a certain point honor that process and make sure that you know we move forward.

So I agree with Miss Mayfield.

So all in favor of this item as in going forward as the process from Miss Mayfield's work.

And all in favor, please raise your hand.

I'm sorry.

We just we just raised our hands for the struggle.

So I mean, I yes, may we do that again, please?

Sure.

Anybody that would like to explore adding a different a hundred thousand dollars for for the struggle.

Please raise your hand.

And can I just say this too?

Because this is something that I I feel like we've done in the past as well.

Just because that's the number that's there, doesn't mean that's the number that comes back to us before.

So I don't want to, I don't want folks to get hung up on if it's a hundred or a hundred and one thousand dollars here because what I'm accustomed to.

Definition is you're gonna come back with some information, exactly.

It's all about information and getting it done and having the ability to say we're getting closer to where we want to be.

Yeah, so I just I just want to make sure that that's clear that what we're raising our hand for here is exploring, it doesn't necessarily mean we're committing to that dollar amount that's there, correct?

Okay, all right.

Let's continue on.

Explore funding for Carolina's A for Asian American chamber.

For the struggle, I don't think you had your hand either okay.

Sorry, for the struggle, all in favor of exploring that funding, please raise your hand.

Four, six, thank you.

And then explore funding for Carolina's Asian American chamber.

Please raise your hand if you would like to explore that funding.

Okay.

That's four.

So that will not move forward.

So explore fair equity for STS writers.

So that's all in favor.

One, two, three, four.

This is about five.

Okay, okay.

And and that would be, of course, with MPTA.

MTCA.

Identify potential options to reduce property tax while increas while preserve.

I'm gonna choke up trying to even say that.

Increase while preserving investments in safety, transportation, and affordable housing.

All in favor, one, two, three, four, five.

Thank you.

And then explore 10% pay parity for CFD.

All in favor of that, one, two, three four or five there's more than enough for that and then explore opportunity to develop land use and transportation model all in favor of that one two three four five is the one so explore funding for greater enrichment program all in favor of that so again this goes back to yes the idea of the process right as well so I just want to make that open so to everyone can I just ask so the I didn't find this organization in our financial partners so they didn't apply correct they did they did not attend the mandatory session yes so that's why they're not in your packet okay can I just ask a question about that yes ma'am was that mandatory meeting um in person or is there a virtual option it was virtual only okay a virtual only okay okay okay and then so again sorry greater enrichment program exploring funding I think we just did I think we did just do we just did the four okay and then direct which is kind of awkward I think the manager drew it so not you wouldn't direct ED staff sorry cherry be direct the manager I guess direct the manager to explore opportunities to bring military world games to Charlotte can I this can I ask wait wait wait can I ask about this for a little bit I know that it's been something that everyone but if you will recall we had a retreat and at that retreat we had a list of things that we wanted to do as a part of what how we do things in the city and we haven't done that we haven't decided who's going to do what and where and when so would it be um an idea to actually go because these are all things that are activities outside of what we are doing and we're trying to make it work so why don't we if that's possible why don't we go ahead and include this with the other projects that we are supposedly working on probably then the next year okay thank you and I believe the manager has that so then we move forward to ask a question okay uh and it's going back one uh Mitchell's not here but he did indicate that he supported the greater enrichment exploration of funding do we count his vote or not when he's not here so he'll be he'll be back soon it's a straw vote so just go ahead and it's a straw vote and we'll give him all the straws when he gets back from Chicago or wherever he is okay I guess I wasn't here all right that's why I was all right let's go to the next one okay we're we're on and we may I'm sorry just a point of uh clarity here because we've been bouncing around for that one that uh mr graham just spoke to what was the vote or not do we do did you get a good vote on that because I I may have missed it.

There was four votes for the greater enrichment okay but you have two names so I just want to yeah we're not putting we're not so the names were just we usually take a laundry list I gotcha and I just want to make sure if case council has a question they could follow up with you before we vote I just wanted to make sure that my hand was included I'm not sure if it was because yes ma'am okay thank you and we can add your name if you like to just to clarify that thank you okay and then explore four percent increase for all general city workers not tied to performance and may I ask a clarification so when you say general city workers is that hourly only or is this for hourly and salaried employees we're already in the budget so we can okay Mr.

Graham.

I know.

That's what I'm gonna do.

Mr.

Graham, I think that was we didn't question.

I'm sorry.

Is this you say general employees on this one?

Is it for hourly general employees or hourly and when we say general, it's usually hourly and salary that aren't in the so hourly.

So we'll add hourly okay and then basically we'll do that number now without a merit component correct.

Sorry.

That number gets substantially lower.

Yes.

Oh yeah, yeah.

Okay.

All right.

Yeah.

Well, we already have it budgeted, actually.

So it wouldn't really be a budget.

It'd just be across the boards instead of mayor.

Okay, all in favor of exploring across the board versus merit.

I have a question.

Hold on a minute, Marie.

So I just want to make sure.

So Mr.

Jones, in the budget that you'd proposed, there was only a four percent increase.

So how is this different?

So I believe um what council member Graham is asking for is essentially the same thing as police and fire with a step, but don't call the step.

Just everybody gets four percent.

So even the public safety.

No, no.

Just he said hourly employees.

So instead of having lower performers maybe getting less than four and higher performance getting more than four everybody across the board, regardless of performance, we get a four percent.

For hour, it's not ten or two.

Uh-huh.

Got it.

Okay, is everybody aware and comfortable with this?

So I mean aware.

I said aware, all right.

So everybody that's in favor of changing the merit for hourly to pass fail.

Please raise your hand.

Okay, I'll see you.

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

Okay.

Okay, so that moves forward.

Okay.

Uh explore funding for hearts for the invisible.

All in favor.

One, two, three, four.

Okay.

Okay.

And then explore funding for just do it movement.

One, two, three.

Okay.

Uh consider increase to animal adoption fees and code enforcement fees.

One, two, three, four, five.

Isn't that five?

Okay.

Yep.

And then explore a decrease of CMPD increase from ten percent to seven percent.

One, two, three, one, two, three.

And then increase housing trust fund.

And so right now it's at a hundred and twenty-five million, and we're talking about instead of that making a one-time two hundred million.

All in favor.

Exploring it, yes.

Explore.

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

Thank you.

And then next um, explore expanding the capacity for international relations.

So and I and if I heard you right, this is mainly adding um uh budget for well we have two staff support.

So you said more like sorry, tell me, is it more than two staff support?

Because right now we have Saida who does good media integration and Alexis who does international business, and not one person can do and a manager and a manager, so adding more staff so more than four, yeah.

Okay, just a point of information here.

All of these are in the budget here.

I'm sorry.

All right, go ahead, Ms.

Sanderson.

In the budget that the manager presented, I thought there was an increase in head count.

So yes, ma'am.

The baseline of what we're doing now, we have two.

Yes.

So we're incre well the proposed budget says an increase of one, so that would be three.

Yes, ma'am.

So what is this line item is to explore more than three?

That's what he just clarified, yes, ma'am.

Okay.

Council member Anderson is to explore a staff capacity and technical assistance.

So you'll have what's already included in the budget is a manager position.

And then you have existing two positions, Sida who does uh language access and Alexis, who does international business.

We need my what I'm proposing is more staff capacity.

Uh to support them.

I'm sorry, we have several people.

Ms.

Ashmir, Mr.

Graham.

Alright, so thank you, Madam Mayor.

Uh what I would like to see is more of an outcome that we are trying to get to.

So if we can have sort of a memo on where we are trying to get to, and then we leave it up to the manager to figure out where the staffing falls.

So I I would like the manager to tell us based on all the things that Councilmember Masara Aries would like us to explore when it comes to international relations management, uh, that we get a memo on that.

Uh I I just like pre-reed, so that I I'm better informed in terms of decision making.

Yeah, yeah.

All right.

So you've heard the Ms.

No, and I agree with that, um, Councilman Bashmere, but it goes far beyond what he's asking for.

What what I'm looking at, right?

It's really uh establishing an office that is based in community relations.

I I think we need to have a lot more focus on economic development.

Two things can be happening at the same time, right?

On the ground, but very intentional um collaboration of all the efforts in the city under one umbrella so we can know what we're doing and be very intentional about the outcomes, right?

Recruit recruitment, retention, grass top, grassroots, uh, and protocols, etc.

etc.

I think those Mr.

Manager, I think you've based on our conversation, you shouldn't know where I'm trying to edge it.

Yeah, and I agree with uh council members, we've added the position, and I'd like to try to sort it out before we create something that may have the unintended, I'm sorry, there's no such thing as unintended consequences that we create something that is not aligned with maybe your various thoughts are.

Okay, so all right.

We have I just wanted to want to finish it out.

Yeah, it's just wanted to follow.

So I think Mr.

Jones obviously that council member Maserarias has some ideas from what I heard from Councilmember Graham, he has an idea about collaboration between community relations, economic development.

I think we need to all put it together so that we understand what the expectations really are from this uh expansion of international relations department or team, team, yeah.

All right, Miss Mayfield.

Oh Miss Watlington.

Why are you chuckling?

Oh my gosh, because anyway, um, on this one, I too um I want to see what is coming out of this.

I didn't realize that the international relations and the work that you were pushing forward were being lumped into one, and as I'm listening, I'm wondering where does where's the line between a budget item and establishing a council priority?

I would have thought that would have come up during our council retreat.

It did.

Well, so can you tell me where did let me ask you differently?

I know that you brought it up, but was it an adopted council priority?

Because if we're making that change, then I need a little bit more information than just a budget line item.

As I said, I recall that when we talked about this, it would have that kind of substance at the middle of it, but we have not gone back and taken what was done in the retreat to inform what's being asked for now.

So that feels like an enormous gap.

Yeah, um, because I would imagine that this budget would be reflective of what we've said are the council priorities.

So I'm not I'm certainly supportive of going in a direction here, but there feels like we are putting into budget policy something that we haven't finished baking from our strategic perspective.

Yeah, so uh I I too would like to understand or have that a little bit more flushed out as input into this one.

I think that's this whole point of Marie getting all of that so that you can get that information, all of this up here.

So okay.

Thank you.

What's next?

Prospera, exploring interior ad exploring, exploring funding to prospera.

Summary, I'm putting it on back up because the mayor, we still hadn't gone around the role regarding the international relations.

I'm sorry.

Comment manager, I think what will also be helpful is what staff brings back, is what all does Alexis do?

Because we have companies that are represented from Japan, from India, from Russia.

We have one person that's actually out in the community on that team that's building these business relationships, that's coordinating whenever we have a dignitary visit, the city coordinate all their meetings with council members with upper leadership staff with economic development with CRVA with Greater Alliance, and as we are becoming more and more of an international city, I think what I'm hearing and what I'm supporting is the fact that that is a lot of work for one person to do that's actually building the business, the economic development, the corporate, the job creator that's creating that connection.

I know we had a manager, I've never seen them.

So I'm not saying that to, I'm saying that because when I am at multiple international discussions, meetings, introductions, events, who I see doing the introductions and translating is one individual.

I'm supporting us expanding that role, but I also hear my colleagues, in order for us to be fair, I think our staff persons, all three of them need to actually provide what is it that they do, because there may be work that is going above and beyond that your office does is not aware of.

Council, we're policymakers.

We're not gonna get all of the day today, but there may be more work that's happening than your office realizes is happening, and there might be an opportunity to create support there so that when we think about all the money we've invested in health and wellness, we're not burning anyone out, and we put a true commitment to growing the international businesses that we already have here, and those that are looking to expand.

So I wanted to have clarity on that's what I'm hoping staff will bring back.

Give our international staff the opportunity to write up what do you do?

Yeah, I would say it's three different uh issues out there, and here's the um opportunity.

So we won't use names.

One there is protocol, and that can be anywhere, yeah.

Sometimes it's in the mayor's office, sometimes it's in the clerk's office.

Right now it happens to be in economic development.

Then when we start to think about business recruitment and what we're doing from an economic development standpoint, is should there be some capacity in ED that's more um proactive with trying to, and then there's a community level of how do we form relationships with their international community that's already here.

My dilemma, I'll own it, is how do we satisfy all three and do it in such a way that two years from now we don't come back and say what did we do?

This is where I would oh that was louder than I expected.

Um agree with council member Graham and him and I have spoken about this uh previously is the designation of a separate office that would marry both of those approaches to increase the capacity.

It is yes, I see the reasoning and merit behind protocol being and an international business being under economic development, as well as right now language access and community integration is under human resources, if I'm not mistaken, that needs to leave that that area.

When you think about international business and recruiting for businesses that are headquartered elsewhere in the globe, you have to think about it interchangeably with the community on the ground.

AKA, the Asian American Chamber of Commerce, the Latin American Coalition, all these folks that are on the ground.

And remind all of my colleagues here, we you, the city just released an impact report about our mobility plan, right?

Which identified a gap in our construction workforce as we will soon roll out millions of dollars worth of jobs, right?

And worth of of tasks.

I won't explicitly say why there's a gap, but the reasons are obvious given what we saw last November in our city.

Both economic development, community integration, language access, to me, colleagues, is something that lives together, and we can make it live together, and I'm full support of what councilmember Graham just mentioned, exploring a separate office for this that will increase our viability and attraction as an economic engine in the Carolinas, as well as our support to our international community who are seeking workforce development opportunities as well.

So would agree with also Councilmember Wallington about a memo that would kind of outline this as well as Councilmember Mayfield, you know, what support do our protocol team of one and our language access team member of one as well need in order to move this along, aside from the proposed, and Councilmember Mayfield, just to just I'm providing some clarity.

We don't have a manager now.

What's proposed in the budget is a manager position.

Yeah, thank you.

She doesn't.

All right, Ms.

Johnson.

Do you want to have a comment?

All right.

Let's see.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Uh, just a quick comment.

I I want to make sure we're not getting over our skis as it relates to how we're dictating um attracting international business to the city of Charlotte.

Um, I was looking surveying the room to see if uh Mr.

Rana was here.

Um, but we brought him on specifically to run ED and through a lens that it includes um international business.

We just attracted SMBC, which is an incredibly large Japanese bank, and Japan is fifth in terms of our foreign direct investment.

We are we are actually hitting those milestones for for attracting international business at a clip that that surpasses what our goal was.

So I don't want us to um put a whole lot of energy in a space that we're not even ready to actually uh we're not ready to receive or even be prepared for.

So as you are um Mr.

Manager writing this incredible memo that's gonna come out.

Um I'd love to hear from uh Mr.

Rana about his intentionality as it relates to attracting international business and what his goals are for his um his his team for the city of Charlotte because I I get it, I understand it, and FDI is incredibly important to any major city.

Um we are attracting foreign direct investment.

But we just had a milestone of over 2,000 jobs coming here.

I want to make sure that we're not we're not out over our skis as we as it relates to receiving that.

So I would just I would just like to hear from a point of view from Mr.

Rana on all the things that my colleagues have said, but what his charge is for his department.

Thank you.

If I can make one again, uh that I think this is really important because it's it's about being very intentional.

It's like our efforts internationally is like a boat in the middle of the ocean, going where the wave takes us.

Right.

We were very fortunate to get that bank.

Uh and the jobs and investment that came along with it.

We're very fortunate to be talking about the military games and all the international armies coming to Charlotte.

We're very fortunate to be talking about maybe WTA international, uh, the soccer matches, uh, the uh when we went to Germany with the Panthers two years ago.

If we are very intentional about that, uh and organize in a way structurally internally, providing instruction to ED, not getting instructions from them, right?

We're very intentional about that.

I think we can do it far much better, and and and like I said earlier, you know, I don't want to be um compared to Nashville or Austin or Dallas, it's Barcelona, it's Paris, it's New York, is Charlotte.

If we are very intentional about what we're trying to do, uh and wrap our arms around that.

I've obviously I've already done some research, right?

So I know there's bits and pieces everywhere.

What I'm trying to do is try to create a team, right?

Consolidate the resources we already have in a place that that's identifiable and providing more backbone to our International Affairs Cabinet Committee, uh, that is just kind of out there.

They want to do some work with us, and I think we should be very intentional about how we organize the work, supporting my colleague in district five on the ground, grassroots, and also being very focused and targeted grass top, and I think we can accomplish that with this wonderful memo that's coming out.

It's gonna be so it's gonna be a magical memo, it's gonna be everything.

I could just add one statement, madam.

Move on to the next item.

I think it's been a great discussion.

Thank you guys for making it possible for everyone.

I know international downstairs waiting for the rest of us, and so let's go ahead and see what we can do.

Thank you.

So explore funding for Prospera.

Yeah, all in favor, one, two, three, four, four, five, okay, thank you.

All right, next increase business district organization funding is currently in the proposed budget as 600 and add additional 400,000 to that.

All in favor, one, two, okay.

Increase all employees to seven percent.

So that currently salary and hourly are at four percent.

So this would be uh add an additional three percent.

I have a question.

All right, we have a question from Ms.

Ashmer.

Yes, so thank you, madam mayor.

So, does this mean that it will reduce CFD?

I'm sorry, C MPD from ten percent to seven percent.

Is that what that is?

Yeah, okay, just want to make sure that's it.

Wait, wait, wait, wait.

I don't I want to make sure that's not what they're doing.

Johnson put it forward and she just clarified.

Oh, okay.

Yes, all right, got it.

Okay, okay.

Right, it wouldn't be the 10 for CMPD that you propose, this will apply seven percent equally to all employees.

All in favor, exploring um that.

Please raise your hand.

One, two, three.

Okay, all right.

Let's go.

And then restore steps for fire pay plan, and just to clarify clarifying this, you're talking about for this year, because no the steps are still there, they're just frozen for this year.

So you're talking about do a different pay plan that includes some sort of fire step.

Okay, so I have a go ahead.

Wait a minute.

I was looking at okay, all right.

So Miss Ashmira has a question.

Yeah, so I just want to make sure.

Staffs for fire pay plan.

So you're referring to the public safety pay plan, the staffs we had previously, yeah.

So I the fi I heard from a firefighter just yesterday that they would like this the steps to be restored.

For fire.

It is important.

In addition to the seven percent, yes, I mean, we're exploring, so either way, let's explore.

Okay.

No, I just want to make sure I'm understanding before I raise my hand because this okay.

Mr.

Jones has his hand up, so I'm sure.

Yeah, so thank you, uh Councilmember Johnson.

I'd like to make sure I understand what this is because we have a step plan, step plan, step plan is the step plan.

And nothing was taken from the step plan.

So I don't know what is being asked of us.

I'm just being the voice of the people, right?

So uh they asked for he his words were we'll take two percent if our steps are restored.

But I didn't say that part.

So yeah, has been frozen.

So what's happening in the buttons is like five, and if you had two, it's seven.

So I just still don't know what the we can get the answers if you come back with the information on what that will look like.

Thank you.

Okay, all in favor of unfreezing pay plan steps for this current year.

One, two, three, the exploration.

What do you like?

Oh five, okay.

Sorry, say again.

So all in favor of exploring.

I'm not sure what that is.

I'm not sure.

Okay.

I don't understand.

And all in favor of exploring removing the helicopter hanger.

Like 10 minutes.

One, two, okay.

Thank you.

And thank you.

And and as the major said, we'll be uh diligently working on exploring these for your consideration and get them out to you in your packet, not this week, but next week.

So you'll definitely have for your June 1st.

We're gonna proceed downstairs.

Do we need an adjournment?

Is there a motion to adjourn?

Is there a second?

All right, thank you.

All right.

Oh, my God.

Let's walk.