Always something.

Any regrets we'll take it to go?

No, no regrets, but it'll be nice this time next year.

I'm back over there.

Yes, sir.

Yes.

How's it going?

Yes.

Really?

Oh, it's not comfortable.

Can you tell you?

No.

Oh, it's no big deal.

His big work is in the bag for the easy one.

Good afternoon.

I call to order the June ninth meeting of the Chattanooga City Council and recognize Councilwombers to lead us in our pledge of allegiance and invocation.

I pledge allegiance to the United States of America.

Okay.

So we don't have any distractions during our meeting.

Um and also want to give just a brief rundown of how our meeting operates for those who might be new or just a reminder for anybody.

Um the first half of our meeting is uh what's called our agenda session where council will go through and look at the items on our agenda to be voted on this evening, as well as those items on our agenda to be voted on for next week, and then we'll also look at some items that will be coming up further out three weeks or later in the future um to answer any questions or concerns that um council might have that uh any council person might wish to discuss.

Um we'll also look at our purchases uh for this evening and again um allow council members a time to ask questions or present any concerns on those purchase items on our agenda for this evening.

Once we've done that, uh we will have a meeting of the parks, public works, and wastewater committee that will be led by councilman Harvey.

Um we'll then take a brief uh well, we'll take a recess.

Um Mr.

Attorney, do we need an attorney client meeting?

Not that I'm aware of it.

If y'all want to have anything, let me know.

Okay.

And so our recess in between our agenda session and our business session might be a little shorter than normal since we don't need to meet with our city attorney as a council this evening, but we will take a recess before coming back to vote on items on the agenda for this evening.

Um with that being said, council, could I get a motion on the minutes from our last meeting?

Please all right, and the minutes will stand as published.

Council, look with me if you would at our agenda for this evening and hit your light if you have any questions.

I see councilwoman Dotley, you're recognized.

Thank you so much, Mr.

Chair.

I did have a few questions, and thank you so much, count uh Vice Chair Elliott for getting the red line version to us uh to review.

So I just had some clarifying questions.

Uh I am in support of it.

I just want to make sure that I completely understand what is what it has uh for the uh taxi ordinance.

So we're going from uh in for my understanding uh Mr.

Attorney, this hasn't been reviewed since 2015.

Yes, correct.

Okay, so we're going from a minimum two dollars, well, a maximum two dollars to a minimum ten dollar base.

Is that right?

Okay, from fifty cents to two dollars and fifty cents per mile.

Yes, okay, and then from twenty cents to fifty cents per waiting minute.

And what is what is determined by per waiting minute from when they if the the cab or the taxi is there waiting on you and no one is there, they can charge you for the amount of time that they're waiting in that location because their engine is still on, they're losing gas at that point in time and trying to make sure they're recouping the amount of money that they have.

Okay, and then it says there, and then uh a four says there will be an additional charge for waiting time, which shall be up to a maximum of it goes from 40 cents to 50 cents.

Is that a different waiting period?

I think that's the same waiting period.

Okay, it's the same waiting period.

Okay, all right.

That works.

That's all I needed, and I appreciate you all so much.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you, Mr.

Vice Chair.

Thank you, Mr.

Attorney.

And this is going to be at the same rate that Knox will was paying right now, so that that's important as well.

Here we're trying to be equivalent to what people would be paying in similar locations.

Okay, that works.

Yes, thank you so much.

Okay.

Vice Chairman Elliott, you're recognized.

I'm good to go.

Oh, okay.

You can clear out.

I will clear it.

Council, any other questions on any ordinances this evening.

Councilman Harvey, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Um, under planning item E.

Uh, after talking with the former councilman for district four, um, he fought for some conditions, and we want to make sure that this is uh is that this is acceptable to the neighboring community or the neighborhood rather.

Is the applicant here by any chance?

Ben Skidmore, are you here?

What's up, uh let's see.

Yep.

You're the man.

I'll get with uh I'll get with you at recess.

Okay, if you need me to talk right now.

No, no.

Okay, cool.

Um I'll get with him at recess and then we'll go from there.

But I may defer this a week.

Depending on our conversation.

Okay.

All right.

Anything else, councilman?

Okay.

Councilwoman Dotley, you're recognized again.

Okay.

Thank you so much, Mr.

Chair.

Uh, for this item at 1601 and 1603 East 49th Street.

Uh this is the one uh that's right, I believe right off Roscoe Boulevard.

And so with the redevelopment of Rosswell Boulevard, I have an intent.

I plan to vote no or to deny this one, but I wanted to just put it on the record uh with the redevelopment that's going on.

This just not this is not in uh conformity to what we're trying to do on the in that corridor.

So just wanted to make that make a note of that and I mention it again uh when it comes up for the vote as well.

Okay.

All right, thank you so much, Mr.

Chair.

Sure.

Councilwoman Burrs, you're recognized.

Chair um I also have an item item F under planning I'm not sure if the applicant is here Mr.

Romero this is the item on Anderson Terrace okay I do plan to deny it I haven't he wasn't at the planning commission meeting and I see that he's not here today so uh I hate to to move on this with that paying an opportunity to talk to him but I I do plan to deny it based on there's been no response from him on that matter okay council any other questions on ordinances before we move to resolutions all right moving on then to resolutions on tonight's agenda I will note um resolution nine a the the dream liquor special exceptions permit um I believe our city attorney has advised us that needs to be deferred one week and so would you let me make that motion if you want that would be great Mr.

Yeah just whenever it comes up this evening if you like that motion okay my apologies for talking at her any questions about resolutions councilor all right we'll turn then to next week's agenda we'll have all of the items that were on first read tonight on final reading next week vice chairman illiot you're recognized thank you mr chair um this is in regards to resolution item c um regarding a memorandum under with memorandum of understanding Kevin can some you or someone else in the administration give us a just a little bit of understanding exactly what this program is staffing this MOV next week between the city the county Chatonica 2.0 the housing authority um first things first and Hamilton County schools it is a continuation of a pilot that was originally launched in February of 2025 to um fund an initiative that that we're calling the end school age homelessness so this is working um with with families and students in the school system who are are experiencing homelessness this is to further that collaboration that has proven successful so far and it's coupled um with the uh with with the provident place in that first things first is going to be the operator of provident place um the funding that we are proposing to provide would fund a couple of staff positions um for first things first to work this program and to continue this collaboration which basically identifies eligible students throughout the school system who are experiencing homelessness and helping match them to to shelter and so provident place the the airport end project that's going to be coming online will be an additional asset in that venture and so the ask from chat 2.0 was for three years of operational support at 1500 per year what the administration is proposing is to pay for it all at once through a reallocation of available ARPA dollars um and so it's a single resolution that you guys through which you guys would grant approval to use those dollars for this purpose over the course of the next three fiscal years okay oh yeah I'm good thanks Kevin I just sorry council this is really just opportunity for us to who are new newer to know about this program sure okay thank you Mr.

Chair thanks Kevin thanks thank you all right councilwoman hill you're recognized thank you very much Mr Chair um items a and b under finance first reading um and then the item item f under resolution so we're gonna be voting first reading on the budget for next year uh next week and I Weston would you just come up to the podium please um the council is uh making some some tweaks to I believe the agency allocations and there's still some conversation to my knowledge um we talked about um the uh funding for community land trust operations and then the million dollars for the quantum um uh incentive package so we see that within the budget ordinance the incentive package IDB but Weston I'd like to request that the council have all of the all the changed itemized pages sure um in print okay um and online before we vote on this next week so it reflects what we've been discussing in our budget education

So we see that within the budget ordinance, the incentive package IDB.

But Weston, I'd like to request that the council have all of the all the changed itemized pages um in print okay um and online before we vote on this next week.

So it reflects what we've been discussing in our budget education.

Of course, thank you very much.

Um and Mr.

Attorney, uh I don't believe that those would uh require an amended or a uh a version two of this because they're the itemized pages, but it's gonna be important that we know exactly what's in those and where the funds are coming from.

Sure.

Thanks.

The itemized pages are made part of the record.

Yes.

Yes, they were great.

Thank you very much, Weston.

Okay, that's all, Mr.

Chair.

Okay.

Councilman Clark, you're recognized.

Thank you, Chairman Davis.

I did I've got a follow-up question uh to some of the the remaining dollars of the American Rescue Planes.

Um we mentioned the remaining balance, or how we are utilizing the remaining amount of the ARPA dollars.

And as we're having these conversations with some of the agencies, and maybe this is a question for Kevin, I'm not sure.

Um as we're having conversations about how to fund agencies we did not fund, we do have agencies who never went into contract for monies that were allocated in the American Rescue Plan Act.

What happens with those dollars?

And are you or and I guess are you familiar with what I'm talking about?

Okay.

Because I guess what I'm so the 450,000 for this total amount was what was remaining, but that was never contract.

Oh, sorry, that was never contracted.

Could you give me sure?

So and this is related to the the bottom he just Kevin just spoke on.

Is that right?

Perfect.

So we had as a part of kind of the airport in purchase with ARPA dollars, we had some money in a bucket set aside for utilities and security, just some ongoing costs to maintain that building while we were holding it.

So there's about 200,000 in that line item of ARPA dollars.

So we're reallocating that money that was being spent on that building to as part of that 450, and the remaining 250 is coming out of um the larger bucket that's being held for uh the low barrier shelter.

And so there's roughly 2.8 million dollars set aside for that, I believe is the number.

And so a portion of those funds will be reallocated into to make up the difference for the 450 distinct census.

So for the low barrier shelters 2.84 million.

Correct.

And so that will decrease by 250,000 is what you're telling me.

Okay, right around there.

To be reallocated to this program, which is the end of school age homelessness program, which is in partnership with Profit in place.

Yes.

Okay, so what are the plans for organizations who were awarded or were sub-recipients of ARPA dollars and have not spent them or are not in contract?

What is that conversation looking like?

There are only a handful, I believe, that have not spent them, and we have ongoing talks with those groups, trying to kind of work through the administrative process to get those funds spent.

I think EPB had a some money that was sitting out there, then just kind of changing of hands when Jermaine left and when some folks left on their side, they just realized they had invoices for it, so like things like that where we're trying to just kind of work through some of that.

Um and so our grants team is working to close out as much of that ARPA administrative process as they can.

Um the airport or the uh the low barrier shelter is kind of the one exception to that, I think that is still kind of hanging out there.

And maybe Kevin wants to speak to that a little bit more from just kind of an operation side, but I think we just don't know 100% what the answer on that is yet.

And so that money is being held knowing that something needs to be done with that.

We just don't know kind of what that is yet.

On the update that was provided to council, I think on June the 2nd, 2026, there was there were only two groups that were not in contract, and I don't see you mentioned EPB by the.

I think we probably had that one already marked off the list probably before we sent it.

So the current list that we have as of June 2nd, would that be the most updated special?

And I would like to have another conversation in connection to the HCS ed connect program.

Okay.

They're one of the organizations that was awarded a significant amount of money and it has not started.

And I know we're in talks kind of working through that process with them.

I'm not 100% sure where we're at with it.

Our grants team is kind of managing that, but I can for sure follow up with you on it and have them kind of reconnect.

These just remind me of the year just from brain fog, but what year would this was 2021 or when we were awarded?

Yes, it would have been 21, 21, 22.

Okay.

And we're in 2026, and so we still have organizations who are not in contract for doing the work that we accidentally do almost five years ago.

Yes.

Okay.

Yeah.

I mean I don't know what the the legal contract status of those.

I know we're working we have been in contact with EdConnect, and I don't know if if Kevin's more aware of kind of that program, but I know we we're working with them on it.

I don't know if we have a an actual signed contract with them when it says not in contract, but I know we we are in con we have been in communication with them working through that process, but again, I can follow up on like more specific details.

I'm just looking at the list that you guys sent us that shows us what money that we allocated in 2021 and we're in 2026.

Yep.

So our objective is to close out ARPA.

And we we do have a couple of lingering items.

The potential low barrier shelter is one of those.

We're having conversations that you guys have been a part of, pursuing multiple options to see what makes the most sense in the long run.

So that we can go ahead and and make that appropriation with respect to um Edconnect.

You are catching me a little bit foggy.

It's okay.

But I do think if I if memory serves, I do think that that we may have come in and subsequent subsequently already reallocated a portion of those dollars.

But but here's here's uh big picture how it works.

We don't spend any of that money without explicit permission from the council, and so everything that's enumerated in that report that you have is based off of past resolutions.

The administration, like you wants clarity and wants to move beyond ARPA, and so we're we are being intentional about pushing those conversations forward to get to a place where we can say, hey, this is either gonna happen or it isn't.

If it isn't, what else might we use these dollars for towards advancing our shared objectives and gotcha and getting rid of it?

That's that's what I was getting at.

I mean, we have agencies that we reduce their funding being arts billed, correct?

And I'm looking at a spreadsheet for 1.5 million dollars for this program from five years ago, they have not spent their money.

Sure.

And so you're telling me that the council, and this is I guess the newbie, I get to use the newbie card, uh, that we have the authority to reallocate portions, if not all, but some of that money into other areas and to other agencies.

Is this if that's what I thought you just said?

Yes, that is what I'm telling you.

Okay, uh, that's it.

Um, thank you, Kevin.

Uh and I just want to bring for the record uh Mr.

Chairman that as the vice chair in the absence of our budget chair who is not here today.

I would like for us to um have a more in-depth conversation about the impact of unutilized dollars from five years ago and how we could possibly uh support organizations such as Art Bills, who I think their deficit or not their deficit or the reduction was how much was it?

35,000 dollars.

Sure.

Yeah, yet we have a program with 1.5 million dollars sitting on our books unused from five years ago.

Understood.

Okay, let's have that.

I just want to make sure we're on the same page about that.

And if I'm gonna read it, I need to again need to go back and make sure that I have the latest and greatest in terms of where that project stands.

I just caught I don't recall at the moment, but absolutely let's have that combo.

Okay, thank you.

Uh Mr.

Chief, I appreciate you.

Yes, sir.

Thank you, Chairman Davis.

I yield back.

Okay.

You're recognized.

Oh, I think I'm um good.

You know, I'm I'll be interested in that conversation too.

Thank you, Councilman Clark, for bringing it up and I'll good looking to look forward to that conversation.

Okay, thank you.

Okay.

Councilwoman Burr.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Just to attack on to that, might that be something that gets added to our strategic planning agenda for next week to keep it keep the conversation going since we I think in an education session, because I would I'd like to learn more about that as well if that gives the administration time to put a little presentation together.

Sure.

Yeah, thank you.

Okay, yeah.

Thank you.

All right, council.

Any other questions or comments about any ordinances or resolutions on next week's agenda?

Councilwoman Hill.

Thank you very much.

Um resolution parks and public works item N.

Uh resolution authorizing the administrator of public works to purchase two bike charging stations and 25 eFit bikes to be added to the Bike Chattanooga Network.

Um exciting that uh people are appreciating the e-bikes.

But a question when it's been a few years back since I was chair of education and innovation, but at that point we were discussing um the addition of scooters to the fleet as a way to um help balance the books so that bike Chattanooga would become hopefully more self-sustaining.

So I'd like to understand prior to next week where that stands and how you know how much subsidy are we really requiring for this program at this point.

Councilwoman, can you say that last part again?

Yeah, I'd like to understand how much the scooter income is helping self-subsidize the cost of bike Chattanooga versus how much of the bike Chattanooga program we are carrying as part of our public transit.

Okay, I'll have to collect that for you and send it to you.

Okay, thank you, Jay.

Yes, ma'am.

Okay.

Anything else, Councilwoman?

No, sir.

Okay.

Council, let's look at the purchasing items on our agenda this evening.

We do have a just a couple of purchase requests and one sole source purchase.

Any questions about those?

Seeing none, we will look at future considerations.

Please look through our future considerations list and hit your light if you have any questions or comments.

Any questions, council?

I don't see any on the board.

Okay.

All right.

That takes us through our agendas.

And with that, I will yield the chair to Councilman Harvey to lead our parks, public works, and wastewater committee meeting for this evening.

All right, good afternoon.

I call to order um our parks and public works committee meeting today.

Can I get an approval on the minutes, please?

Wonderful.

First, before we get uh Councilman Elliott up to the podium so we can grill him with some questions.

Um I just want to say how proud I am to be a Chattanoogan.

Uh last week we got to experience uh Team Spain coming to our city.

And uh being a native of Chattanooga and live here all my life, I would have never in a million years imagined uh the second best soccer team in the world, team USA's first.

We're gonna say Teams USA were root for them.

But if they can't win, then we're root for Spain.

But um I never in a million years could imagine uh some superstars like Team Spain coming to Chattanooga, and it was just a moment of uh pride that I felt that I hope you all felt as well.

Um seeing the streets lined with people celebrating this accomplishment and uh I mean they could have chosen anywhere in the world in the country to be, and they chose Chattanooga, Tennessee, which I thought was pretty cool.

So uh just wanted to say that.

Uh without further ado, I want to uh let Councilman Elliott come up to the podium and introduce the new city's litter program.

Thank you, Councilman.

Um first want to start off by thanking you, my colleagues, for supporting this resolution, and it's been a pleasure working with Jay and the rest of his team to really figure out what this is gonna look like.

Um for context, um we are looking to keep Chattanooga beautiful and making sure we're doing all we can to clean up the city.

I'm sure many folks experience litter throughout the uh the city on our um way home or wherever we're going traveling, and I know we all hear it from our constituents.

I'm sure many folks experienced litter throughout the uh the city on our um way home or wherever we're going traveling, and I know we all hear it from our constituents, and you know, this was a thought I had um some time ago of like how can we put paid dedicated staff toward helping keeping our city beautiful.

If we're gonna live up to what it means to be a national park city, if we're gonna live up to what it means to serve our constituents and really improve our way of life, we have to start with the basics and just get that right.

So working with the administration was able to find some very um smart solutions where we can absorb a lot of this through our stormwater funds as something that is sustainable, uh, but also making sure we're environmental stewards of our community.

So I'm not gonna speak, I just want to thank everybody for their support so far throughout this, and I am looking forward to seeing this program launch, and I am looking forward to seeing the impact it can truly have in communities across Chattanooga.

So, Jay, I'll turn it over to you.

Thank you, councilman.

I appreciate it.

How's everyone doing today?

Good.

Council members, staff, constituents.

I would like to introduce you to the keep Chattanooga beautiful, comprehensive litter abatement, and community ownership strategy.

This is a strategy where we're combining the efforts of the city and the communities so that we can make the most out of what we have and creating opportunities across the board.

I would first like to bring your attention to the map that's on the screen.

The map right there depicts almost every effort that we've made to collect some kind of litter, either as a city or as a community, collectively, both hands, uh the litter booms out in the wall, the waterways, and individual little projects that everybody has put together.

In this year alone, we've done 5,433 of those different operations.

I think that speaks a lot to what the community and the city are trying to do, especially whenever you look across the city and you see that there's still a lot more that can be done.

So I thought that was a very uh insightful picture whenever you look at it.

And if you were to, if I was just drill down into it and scroll in, little bubbles would stop populating all over the place.

So little interesting piece.

So right now, I'm looking at building a program that has litter controlled abatement, ensures the cleanliness across the city, the waterways, and the diverse public habitats.

This will be a three-phase program.

It will be constantly assessed, and it will be inclusive to everybody across the city, city people, city personnel, and community members.

If you look up top, we have three three different pillars.

The first one is eradication.

Eradication is the physical removal of all the trash that we have here in Chattanooga.

That is a combined effort that will be collected by the city and disposed of properly.

The second one is education.

Education is where we're trying to put an emphasis so that we are bringing up people that understand the the recycling efforts, the separation efforts, the contamination efforts or decontamination efforts, and everything that goes into that.

And I also think that it would be incredibly helpful if we were to improve our signage and just education materials that we're putting out.

So currently I am looking at uh getting some of this stuff put out on billboards, just as a little marketing piece.

The last one is enforcement.

Enforcement comes from all different angles.

Enforcement comes from the accountability of the city on the constituents and the constituents on the city.

It's a joint process.

It is something that we owe each other, and it's something that requires a little bit of ownership at the end of the day, and it's truly a collective platform.

With this, I have a code enforcement team that is going to be instructed on expansion, a little bit of more aggression, and ways that we can get creative to fix the problems that we're having right now.

Who does it include?

Literally, it includes everybody.

The one that I really want to point out the most on here is City Council.

And I say that because City Council speaks for the people of Chattanooga.

City Council has a huge impact on the culture and the mindset that is here in Chattanooga.

And that's something that we need to attack and change because just literally, I've watched people pour 55 gallon drums of grease into storm drains.

I've watched an individual get out of his car, drop his styrofoam platter of food with uh aluminum foil, kick it into a storm drain, get back in their car and drive away.

That's all mindset.

That's all because it's okay.

Nobody's holding accountability at the end of the day.

Now I did I did take a picture of it.

I did contact the company that he was driving for and all that, but at the end of the day, it is all mindset.

And I'm asking for your help so that we can concentrate on the culture and making that shift change altogether because it is needed.

In order for us to be effective, we have to cover 33.9 days or 33.9 miles per day.

That might not sound like very much until you think about 33 miles of trash pickup.

That's a lot of work.

That's a lot of investment.

There's a lot of different obstacles that you encounter on that.

The city has 152 square miles total and 2,327 lane miles just within the city constructs.

If you think about that, if we hit 33.9 miles a day, then we will be able to hit every street within the city once a month.

Is that enough?

Absolutely not, but it is a very good impact.

So if we get that and we start building our efficiencies, then we can exceed that.

And that's collectively with the efforts across the board.

All right.

As I said earlier, this would be a phase concept.

Phase one is getting the the workforce and the equipment.

So I'm looking at 19 personnel and approximately 10 vehicles and 16 localized tools.

Those tools range from blowers, weed eaters, uh litter grabbers, trash bags, all that kind of stuff.

The vehicles are the more large vehicles, uh, knuckle booms, Pac Mac, vacuum trucks, uh, a couple of the Ford F250s, I think it is F 250s that transport the personnel around and pull the trailers that they need as well.

The workforce itself would be composed of one general supervisor, four crew foremen, four crew workers, four laborers, and six truck drivers.

This will not be something that goes in today.

This would be something that we build as we go.

Now we have requested that those 19 personnel be included in the FY27 budget, but we don't have to hire them right off the bat.

My goal is to put those jobs out whenever it gets approved, if it gets approved in budget, and then start bringing those personnel in so that we can start the actual hard work.

The equipment will be something that we have to phase out over time because it is so expensive, and I don't want to jeopardize the budget by pulling everything at one time.

And if we if we do this right, the 33.9 miles a day will be an easy accomplishment.

Here's a graphic depiction of personnel and equipment that's needed, just so you can put a little bit of figure to face.

I told you it would be good.

All right.

Phase two.

Phase two is where you start bringing in the public aspect of it.

Phase two is where we as a city have to build incentives.

Phase two is where we as a city have to provide the opportunity for ownership.

Phase two is where everybody starts coming together and working cohesively so that we can actually do something about what we have.

And the biggest thing about this is creating opportunity for everybody across the board.

There are different programs that we can consider.

Uh, this is an adopter spot program, proud, proud of our patch or anything else that you may want to call it.

This is not in place right now.

This is something that we can look at.

And if you notice it's broken down by urban corridors, I think in the orange urban corridors, there can be a lot of uh businesses and corporations that own the medians in front of their operations, and they can do different things on how they how they want to decorate.

They can have competitions with other neighboring corporations.

You know, it's about getting that spirit of everybody working collectively for a positive good instead of the stuff that we're doing now.

The second one would be neighborhood corridors, that's where the neighborhood associations and neighbor for neighbor come into play.

As a city, we'll go through and pick it all up, but there has to be that pride and ownership in the neighborhoods so that it all starts.

That's where I was coming from with the mindset.

This is where the mindset has to change because people have to own that.

People have to be proud.

They have to say, you know what, I'm gonna clean this up at the end of the day, and then I'm gonna call the city to come get it.

Or if you just wait on the city to do it, it's gonna be an extended timeline because we have routes and everything else that we have to do.

So it just works better if everybody works together.

Node three is green spaces and transitions, those are the public areas, uh different trails, things like that.

And it's real simple.

If you see it, pick it up.

It's literally that simple.

As I'm walking from the DRC to City Hall, if I see a piece of trash, I pick it up and I throw it in trash can.

It's that simple.

One little piece helps.

And if somebody sees that, then they're a lot more engaged and more willing to do it themselves.

So, like I said, this is an opportunity for buy-in, community pride, and a little bit of competition for us to then build incentive on the backside.

So, how would we recognize it?

This slide shows you the combination of the two and what it equals as.

So you have the municipal baseline, which is all of our hard workers in public works, going out collecting trash, knuckle booms picking up uh bulk items, leaves, all that kind of stuff, vacuum trucks downtown, street sweepers, all of that.

The second one is the citizens, companies, organizations all coming together.

And if you combine the two, then we could have a beautiful national park city, just like we talk about all the time.

This kind of shows the four-step process on how someone would gain the interest, get the application in, build the rapport, and start the process of the adopting programs, the competition programs, the meet and greets, and all things like that.

And it's a way for us to track it so that we know who's putting in the most, how we're gonna recognize them, what they deserve, and how we just bring this all together as one cohesive piece.

Doing routine things routinely.

That's probably one of the easiest statements that I've ever had in my life.

That is one of the most difficult things that I can actually input every day.

This is a one-year plan broken down into four different sections.

As you can see, it has opportunity for personnel to get involved in committees, it has launches of different informational and instructional programs that the city can launch as far as like GIS maps and things of that sort.

You can have a main street matchup where you challenge different blocks to different things, and just who's cleaner, who's out there with a pressure washer cleaning off the sidewalk, who's pulling the roots, who's pulling the weeds, things of that sort.

We can incorporate news so that we actually get good news stories instead of the bad news stories all the time, to where we're bettering our city.

You can get morning mixers where personnel go to different coffee shops and meet there and do collective cleanups around there, and maybe the coffee shops give them a free voucher for coffee or something like that.

It's all about building that opportunity again.

And then there's the framework of the social responsibility, re-engaging that, changing that mindset, continuously going back to it so that you can remind everybody why we're doing this.

This is a program that if if one team doesn't want to do it, then it can cripple everything.

So we have to have that constant reinforcement saying, hey, we're doing this, this is why we're doing it, this is how we're doing it, and I appreciate your effort.

And then the fall drive would be aligning the messages so that we're pushing out the accountability pieces and saying, hey, this is exactly what we've removed.

These are the types of trash that we're seeing, these are the instances that we have.

This is the collection of this community coming into this area and helping out these people, and you just do that continuously.

Phase three is the combination of all of that, and you end with your macro impact, which is your introduction to the the three pillars eradication, education, and enforcement, and your micro impact, which is changing what we have today to what we could have tomorrow.

And I think that's a very beautiful picture of Chattanooga that we could all work toward.

I now open it up to all your questions, and I want to acknowledge the goats.

Department of Public Works, greatest of all times.

What questions may you have?

Okay, counsel.

Any questions?

Councilmember Burrs.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh Jay, I just wanted to say thank you.

Uh you hit on so many things that I had made notes about, and I've had a couple of companies in my district call about the trash along the road into their business, and one of the first things I said was would you like to help be a part of you know the solution?

But it to have a program to then be able to take to them, because I agree that it's all of our responsibility.

So thank you for making that point.

I think that's so important.

We've got to teach, remind ourselves, and then teach the people that are coming behind us.

Absolutely.

The humans that are coming behind us how important it is to be aware.

So thank you.

Absolutely.

And thank you, Councilman Elliott, for bringing this to the front.

Yes, that's all.

Thank you.

Councilman Clark.

Thank you, Councilman Harvey.

The accumulation of litter prohibited deemed nuisance.

My question has to do with the the last E, which is enforcement.

Because we currently do have litter um regulations on our books, and people, regardless of how many rules and how many programs you're going to do, people will break the rules.

And what we have are punitive, you know, consequences, and then we have I guess what we consider remediation, like if we put a lien on somebody's private property.

And this is a question for you, city attorney.

We are, just to be clear, we are restricted by the state constitution not to find people more than $50 for littering per day.

Per day.

Okay.

And that's our city courts.

Yes, sir.

Usually city courts make that determination.

And then there may be a municipal lien that's placed on the property there to go with the land.

Gotcha.

And I guess my question for this council, uh, Councilman Harvey is that I I personally believe we need to figure out how to increase the punitive um consequences.

I think $50, um, especially in this day and time for some people who I mean, I literally have heard people say I can afford to break the rules.

And we saw something go viral of someone doing something to an animal, and he was wealthy, and he said, you know, I can afford to do that.

It's like parking tickets.

Um what can we do?

And maybe this is a question, this is an enforcement.

What are some remediation things that we can do to increase to increase the consequences of litter?

I think it's too vague.

I think it's not strong enough.

I know we would have to go to the state legislative body to get them to change that rule, but it's in our constitution.

I don't even think we could even do that.

But what can we do?

What what's a workaround, I guess, on how we can increase fines?

Um Councilman, I think at the end of the day, it's about understanding what we can do and sticking to what we can do routinely.

So if we have an opportunity where we're putting those fines on someone they're not producing, we go back and we do put that lien on their home.

If someone loses their house, I think that's a pretty serious and rather large deficit money-wise, that is gonna be a remember uh memorable impact.

And having the team to truly understand what it takes to get there means that we might have to escalate timelines.

We might have to move forward on instead of giving that $50 fine, just move forward on hey, we're going to court and we're gonna talk about this because we've talked about it enough on the on the street.

And it's I think at the end of the day, it's my responsibility to hold code enforcement to what they're supposed to be doing, and I have to jump on that for you.

So I have to give them the tools that they need so that they can be accomplished so they can accomplish the tasks ahead of them.

Yeah, I just got a question about how we can increase some of the administrative abatement.

That's something that you have to recommend.

Let me let me say this.

I'll say a little bit more point than Jay.

Um, if I'm not mistaken, the previous councils have moved for litter issues to go to administrative hearing officer.

And that administrative hearing officer has the ability to find people $500 per day per incident.

And I have asked Jay this, and I say this, all knowing that my community is just as much impacted.

But if we find private property owners who continue to allow uh litter to build up on their property, and they neglect that.

I don't care if you live here, I don't care if you live in California.

If you own it, it's your responsibility to clean it up because it's an eyesore on your neighbors, it's environmental hazard, and we should not suffer for your irresponsibility.

We will fine you, they will send it to administrative hearing officer, uh, and they will face whatever that uh AHO decides to place.

And if you do not clean it up, just like we do with overgrowth.

If we have to go on your property and clean it up, we will, but we will put that lien and that civil penalty on your property to recoup those um recoup those dollars.

And so that's something I want to make sure that the community knows, right?

I think code enforcement tries to be very generous and patient with people.

But frankly, we just have some property owners here who are just absent, and we have to suffer.

I have one on McDowell Street.

It's one of the worst dumping sites in this city.

I am eagerly looking for us to go deal with that dumping site over there at Eastdale.

So uh excuse Menlo Park area.

Um so I hope that answered your question, Council.

Yeah, put one follow-up question, Councilman Harvey.

Is there anybody else on the other's other people on the board out of your back?

Thank you, Councilman.

Councilwoman Dulley.

Thank you so much, and thank you so much, Councilman Clark for asking that question because enforcement has always been an issue, whether it's litter or and we have yet to solve for exactly what you just said.

So that perked up my attention a lot.

Um, and then councilman uh last year Elliott came in with the with actually what we need to do, which is you know, with those cases that are persistent, moving those to the administrative hearing officer because we had code blitz um, I think like maybe last year or so, and we saw the list of people that actually corrected their issues once they got notification.

But then there are some, like Vice Chair Elliott said that I have two in my district, and we both share a little bit of East Lake that refuse.

They just not gonna do it.

And so those are the instances, you know, um that I think we really do need to meet move people to that administrative hearing officer because $50 a day per incident is one thing, $500 a day per incident per day, that really that moves you a little different.

Um, so I just wanted to respond to that because I thought you know, from last council to this council enforcement is still an issue, even before I got here, they had always been an issue with enforcement.

Um, and so with my all I really wanted was a copy of the presentation.

I love what you're doing.

I love everything about it.

Uh can't wait to see, I think it's phase two with the civic engagement.

Yes, ma'am.

For us to really get involved with the neighborhood associations, neighborhood services with Kim Strong and her team to really get this information out the communities and start scheduling those days and getting those um retailers involved and things like that.

So that this is this is a major uh thing.

So I appreciate you.

Absolutely.

Yes, and I thank you so much by Cher Elliott, and also thank you, Councilman Clark for bringing that enforcement back because that is you know something that we have to we're gonna have to do with.

I mean, uh I gotta keep my yard clean.

That's right, you know.

So that is it.

Thank you so much, Mr.

Chair.

I appreciate it.

Councilwoman Hill.

Thank you very much.

Um Jay, I appreciate your work uh on this issue.

Wanted to just get uh clarity again on the um on the record about the 19 positions.

Yes, ma'am.

Um tell us again how you have found the funding for these, and if we are we net 19 more, or are we even?

I believe that you recaptured some unfilled positions for the case.

Yes, ma'am.

We have we have we have moved some positions around, we have added additional positions, and I am constantly looking at the books so that if we have anything that's lingering out there for a long time, then we transfer that into something different so that we can actually get some use out of it.

Uh these positions will be funded through stormwater fees.

Uh the stormwater funds will provide the coverage, and we do have that available, and we have the incumbent as well for future use.

So looking at the progression for it, we this is not something we would start today and then stop in a year and try to restart later on.

Okay, we'd be able to keep going through it.

So, in your department, how many net new um positions do you have in this budget?

Uh this budget I've requested 43 positions as we've tried to get uh we're trying to streamline and I will say that with those 43 positions, I have zero intention of coming back next year and saying, Hey, I need these positions.

Okay.

So I think that that's the sweet spot for us in the direction that we're going and the strategy that I've laid out for my team.

And how many positions have so that's our net new?

So you've captured a certain number, but you still need 43 new.

Okay.

Um the other thing I just wanted to add to the conversation council.

Um, when it comes to repeat um code violations, um, and commercial or uh residential, I want to commend um the work of the operation better neighbor team that brought uh code enforcement, legal, public works, uh police, everybody to the table to work on really really hard cases.

Um, you know, commercial sometimes you've just got people who are um belligerent and they they just don't want to follow the law, but residential can often be much more complex with regard to elder abuse, um addiction, lots of things, and I have seen in my district um what Donna Castile and Bruce Hunt in my district related to code enforcement have been able to achieve with just continual effort, and so um I would encourage you to reach out to them because if you've got a spot that you want to turn that you know it's time to turn the heat up, um we have neighborhoods that I mean genuinely had a celebration last week um to say thank you to their code enforcement officer because of the the a 15 year problem that got cleaned up by the city.

So um it took a lot of effort on the part of a lot of folks to do that.

So just want to let you know that's a resource for you if you need it.

That's the one.

I wanted to I would like to reiterate on that aspect itself.

You know, Bruce went in there and he was dedicated to that one thing so that he could learn that process and see exactly what was going wrong and what was going right and what he needed to do to action appropriately.

So that was a huge lesson learned for us.

I think with with those lessons being learned, we now have a much more dedicated strategy and an avenue approach to accomplish these things, and you know, we up we should all be applauding Bruce at the end of the day for what he was doing.

And and to have the coordination with our legal team to have an attorney that goes to the judge with a request, right?

Not just a you tell me what you want to do, uh judge.

Um it all worked together.

So I think goes back to your doing you didn't say typical things typical.

Routine things routine.

Um like establishing a more clear flow chart of if then procedures that are that are going to be fair, um, but that we don't end up just in this cycle of mess, um, but we have a clear path for staff of if if it gets to this point, then it's really important that legal have a plan, right?

And that they back you up, that kind of thing.

So thank you.

Councilman Clark.

Uh thank you, Chairman Harvey.

Two questions and I'm done, I promise.

Yes, sir.

Who as the administrator, and this might be a legal question, I'm so sorry to keep deferring it to you, but when we make the decision when we have a chronic violator that's consistently doing litter on their private property, who has the authority to make that referral to the administrative hearing officer?

Can your code enforcement person do that unilaterally, or do you have to do that in coordination with the city attorney's office?

That one I I truly don't know.

I'd have to look into that.

If if there is a what is the referral process of the councilman Clark, uh councilman Elliott said council has to vote on that?

No.

No.

The previous council voted um last term to send litter issues to the administrative hearing officer.

Right.

So they're automatically should be sent over.

From who?

Code, of course.

Okay, so that that's your so basically if I say, Jay, there's a chronic issue, your courting, and you can confirm this, but he's saying that because we've already voted on it.

Your people, I guess, in however your work chart is, you have the authority to do a referral to the administrative hearing officer without having to come back to the city attorney's office or the council.

Is that correct?

Correct.

It kind of acts almost like another judge in many regards.

They just have more broader power.

So Phil, you clean up all that as you need be, but if it's a litter issue, it will be sent to the administrative hearing officer, not the city judge.

The issue becomes one of whether it is a fine or a civil penalty.

Civil penalty is not prohibited by the constitution to be uh only limited to a $50 amount as the fine is under the Tennessee Constitution.

So if there is an issue where we have uh, I guess continued violator here, that violator is causing a problem, then they can send that directly on to an administrative hearing officer to make a determination in that case of whether that's a problem.

And that that goes the the issues for uh I guess the litter violations here are allowed under the code to not just collect the fines or the civil penalties that are out there, they are also allowed to collect the pain up of the cleanup costs.

So if there are cleanup costs that are involved to uh avoid uh that occurring on there, and sometimes these are pretty substantial when you have areas that are just really full of stuff, then that can be assessed against the landowner who owns that property at that time, and the landowner will have a municipal lien placed against that property for the amount of the cost, and then if they want to be able to sell that property, they have to clear that municipal lien.

So that's that's your protection.

You also have situations where folks just can't do anything about it, and they end up uh keeping that on their property until they die.

That's that's an issue, unless we sue to be able to enforce that municipal lien.

If you have a large lien, then our office has been instructed to go out and file suit and try to collect that.

So answer a question, council.

Yeah, I just wanted to make sure there was some SOP in place that from the city attorney's office, like a one-pager that if we get to that point, that it doesn't become like an a detailed inquiry of like what do we do?

Who has you know, because I do foresee um just kind of piggybacking on what councilwoman Dotley said, we have some chronic I we need the general public to understand that we're serious about this, um, because I think the E, the last E in that is enforcement, and if people knew that there was a punitive consequence, larger than fifty dollars per day, I think that people would take these this new litter policy more serious.

Yep, sir.

I want us to be clear on what that process is because I you know I'm the first person to be like please clean up toe clean, take them to court, uh, because our people are asking for this absolutely for cleanup.

So I just want to be clear on what the policies are on.

Yes, sir.

I'll get that for everyone.

Thank you so much.

Councilwoman Hill.

Thank you.

Just to add a little more clarity to this, everything Phil said is true, but not necessarily actively in place.

And yes, we did pass a resolution that included noise, litter, um, some other items that are able to go to an administrative hearing officer.

Um, and Chris may be able to speak to this, but to my knowledge, the administrative hearing officers have not ever reached a capacity at which they're seeing all of these cases.

Most of these cases, like the one I just told you about the 15 years, like I it never went to an AHO.

So don't assume as a council person that that is in place.

That's something that if we want to put more emphasis on, we're gonna need to give it more attention.

Um, I think like the legal team.

I mean I went to a whole like half-day seminar on here's all the things you can do.

And the state municipal people were like, and you can do this and you can do this and you can do this.

And then another attorney from the state stood up and said, Yeah, but you really can't do this or this or this or this or this, like because of the burden of proof.

And so it it's just not a straight line.

Chris, maybe you can shed some additional light on just the AHO.

Yes, councilwoman.

Uh, first of all, you're correct.

Uh the Chris Anderson mayor's office, uh, the administrative hearing officer is well below capacity and could handle many more cases.

Wonderful.

And the state constitution, as well as the city ordinance passed by the last council, gives the AHO the right uh to assess a civil penalty fill of up to $500 per day per incident on anything that we deem related to building or property maintenance.

Anything that's land, buildings, development, that kind of stuff, that's what the AHO is for specifically.

So litter would very clearly fall under that.

So what I heard you just say is we do have capacity now.

That's great news.

We have quite a bit.

We have extra time that we can use in the courtroom if we need to book more time, but we're not even anywhere near our max time now.

Okay, so when it comes to that standard operating procedure that you mentioned, councilman.

Um, I think we have room to be more clear.

Great, thank you.

That's something that I'll take on as well for educating my enforcement team, so that we will hammer all these things out and have the SOPs and all that for everybody.

Thanks, Jim.

Absolutely.

Council, any more questions.

If not, I do have a few.

Um so maybe this is something we need to discuss in strategic planning next week.

But um, it do we, you know, is this something we need to give more teeth to uh to to strengthen the resolution?

I don't know.

I'm just opening that up for uh discussion, and maybe that's a fill question as well.

Uh, but just something to consider.

Uh councilman you gives.

No, I'm listening, go ahead.

Okay.

Um the other suggestion that I I might have is I wonder if we could put signs in some high litter areas that say, you know, litter fines up to 500.

You know, when I see signs like that, especially on the highway, I slow down.

I mean, I'm I'm not about to owe anybody $500.

Absolutely.

So maybe that's something we could consider is placing some well, you know, some visible signs that say if you litter, you know, you get a fine up to $500.

That's what in the slide where I was talking about the education process and head and signage.

That's exactly what I was talking about.

Perfect.

Awesome.

Okay, great.

And your lawyer would tell you to make sure it's not a fine that it is a civil penalty.

Civil penalty up to five hundred dollars.

I'll write that down.

Good to know.

Um yeah, I mean, it's so Jay, great presentation.

One of the things that came to mind when I was listening was uh raise your hand if you've been to Disney World.

Is immaculate, right?

Well, it's a it's a culture thing.

Walt Disney had uh a program that he called Stoop to Excellence.

And that was what he himself would go throughout the amusement park and stoop down, pick up trash as he saw it.

Um I've done that a number of times throughout the city because I take pride in the city.

And I think we, you know, uh, we should do that as citizens.

I mean, frankly, I think, you know, if you if you litter, you got some moral problems.

I mean, I I mean you really do.

It's an easy one of the easiest smallest things that you can take your trash, put it in a uh trash bin, and move about your life.

But uh, you know, if you just throw something in the in the street.

Come on, you know, what are we doing?

So um anyway, I I just wanted to say that, and it's something I think that we can all contribute to.

Um, but certainly I think you've put uh a great plan together, and uh, we're glad to be your partner on that.

So thank you.

Thanks for keeping Chen again beautiful.

Yes, sir, absolutely.

Any more questions?

Recess until five fifteen.

All right, we'll be in recess until five fifteen.

We are back in session.

Madam Clerk, if you would please read item eight A.

An ordinance amending Chattanooga City Code, Part Two, Chapter Thirty Five, Section Thirty Five Twenty Six Race Affairs Schedule.

Council, we do have a motion properly seconded.

Are there any questions or comments on this ordinance?

All in favor?

Any opposed.

An ordinance passes on first reading.

Item eight B, please, Madam Clerk.

And ordinance to amend Chattanooga City call, part two, chapter ten, section ten three to delete section four twenty-three of the two thousand eighteen edition of the International Building Code in its entirety as the official building code of the City of Chattanooga.

Any opposed this item passes.

Item 8D, please.

In ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code Part 2, Chap 38 Zone and Ordinance.

So it's rezone property located at 140 Browns Ferry Road from RN 17.5 residential neighborhood zones to CN Neighborhood Commercial Zone.

Move to approve.

Council, we don't have a motion properly seconded on this planning item on first reading.

And this is uh for the record planning item 2026-0054.

Is the applicant present?

And is there any opposition present?

Any opposition?

Okay.

Council, are there any questions or comments on this item?

Councilwoman Hill.

Thank you, Chairman.

I was not here last week, so I may have missed.

This is in District 1.

Is this something that Councilman Henderson has requested council move forward on tonight?

It is.

Okay, great.

Thank you very much.

That's all I need to know.

Any other questions or comments before we vote, Council?

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

And the ordinance passes on first reading.

Item 8E, please, Madam Clerk.

In ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, part two, chapter 38 zoning ordinance.

So it's amend conditions two and three from ordinance numbers 13875 and 14144 of previous case numbers 2022 0097 and 2024 0107 on properties located at 7514 and 7518 Stanley for Gap Road subject to certain conditions.

And this is planning item 2026-0069.

Um is the applicant present?

And is there any opposition present?

Okay.

And Councilman Harvey, this is in your district.

You're recognized.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Um did speak with the applicant at recess, and uh this is to um extend a fence, which the uh neighbors there in the neighboring um neighboring neighborhood are uh in favor of.

In fact, they signed a uh petition um agreeing to this uh lift of conditions as they would also like uh the fence to be there in uh an increased barrier.

So I move to approve.

Second.

Council, we do have a motion properly seconded on this planning ordinance.

Are there any other questions or comments?

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

And this ordinance passes on first reading.

Item 8F, please, Madam Clerk.

In ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code Part 2, Chapter 38 zoning ordinance, so it's resonant property located at 2836 Anderson Terrace from RN16 residential neighborhood zone to TRN3 traditional residential neighborhood zone motion to deny second all right.

Council, we do have a motion properly seconded to deny this item.

Um, and for the record, this is planning item 2026-0056.

Is the applicant present?

And is there any opposition present?

Okay, council.

Are there any questions or comments on this item before we vote?

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

And the motion to deny is upheld.

Um item 8G, please, madam clerk.

In ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, part two, chapter 38 zoning ordinance, so it's reasonable part of a property located at 7777 East Brainerd Road from CMU 1, commercial misuse zone with conditions to CC commercial corridor zone, subject serve conditions.

And this is uh planning item 2026-0060.

Um councilman Harvey, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Um I've met with this applicant and uh discuss the project in depth, and this is another great investment in the city of Chattanooga by the Walford family.

You all may be uh familiar with as uh they've done some uh great charity work with UTC and um so this is another good development for District 4 in one of our commercial corridors.

Uh move to approve.

Second council we don't have a motion properly seconded to approve this item.

Are there any other questions or comments?

All in favor?

Aye any opposed and this ordinance passes on first reading.

Item 8H, please, Madam Clerk.

An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code Part 2, chapter 38 zoning ordinance.

So it's a resonant properties located at 1211 Boynton Drive and 1301 Grove Street from RN3 resident to neighborhood zone to form base code WN7 West Side Neighborhood Zone.

Councilwoman Dotley, you're recognized.

Uh is the applicant present.

The applicant, we do have the applicant.

Is there any opposition present?

Okay.

All right, as it shouldn't be.

This is a great project on the west side.

Uh the west side, uh, the one west side plan is doing what it's supposed to do, which is starting to redevelop the area around it.

So excited about that.

So um I move to approve.

Second.

All right, council doesn't have a motion properly seconded on this planning ordinance.

Are there any questions or comments?

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

An ordinance passes on first reading.

Item 8i, please, madam clerk.

And ordinance summit in Chattanooga City Call Part 2, Chapter 38 zoning ordinance.

So I'm serious on properties located at 1601 and 1603 East 49th Street from CC Commercial Corridor Zone and RN15 Residential Neighborhood Zone to IH industrial heavy zone.

And this is planning item 2026-0073.

Um is the applicant present?

And is there any opposition present?

Councilwoman Dotley, you're recognized.

Yes, thank you so much, Mr.

Chair.

Uh, this is the one I mentioned earlier that um they're not in is not in line with the Rossville plan, is not in line with the current redevelopment efforts, and it is non-conforming as well.

Uh so with that I move to deny.

Second.

We do have a motion to deny properly seconded, council.

Is there any question or comment?

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

And the motion to deny is upheld.

Item uh 9A, please, Madam Clerk.

A resolution approving a new special exceptions permit for a new liquor store located at 7703 Lee Highway.

And Councilwoman Burrs, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh it's my understanding from our city attorney that we're still waiting on some information from this applicant, and I'd like to defer for one week, please.

Okay, we do have a motion properly seconded to defer one week until June 16th.

Are there any questions or comments?

Council.

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

And this item be deferred until June 16th.

Yeah.

Item 9B, please, Madam Clerk.

A resolution authorizing the appointment of Emily Wood as a special police officer on the arm floor of the city of Chattanooga Department of Public Works, Land Development Office Code Enforcement to perform duties expressly limited to the performance of the duties in the position of development review planner.

Second.

Do I have a motion properly seconded on this resolution?

Council.

Are there any questions or comments?

All in favor?

Any opposed?

And the resolution passes.

And we are now to the point where we're we will consider our purchases on the agenda for this evening.

The first one is for wastewater.

This is a one-time purchase of laboratory equipment to be used by wastewater.

The purchase from Fisher Scientific will be in the amount of 127, 898 dollars and 79 cents utilizing the Omnia contract.

The second one is for public works.

This is a one-time purchase of a knuckle boom truck to be used by street maintenance.

The purchase from String Fellow will be in the amount of 236, 814 utilizing the source well contract.

Second.

Council, we do have a motion properly seconded to approve these purchases.

Are there any questions or comments?

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

And the purchases are approved.

I have one sole source to report.

This is for technology services.

This is for a hub spot software subscription used by public works information officers to manage official social media, track public engagement, and automate digital communications.

This is a continuation of a single source contract that consolidates services and replaces two older platforms.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you, Debbie.

Go around the dais now for committee reports.

We'll start with Chairwoman or Councilwoman Hill.

No.

Councilman Harvey.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

We had a uh parks and public works committee meeting today where Councilman Elliott and Jeremy Wood introduced our new litter program to keep Chattanooga beautiful, and we're looking forward to that.

Okay.

That's all.

Thank you.

Councilman Clark.

Thank you, Chairman Davis.

I don't have a report for education innovation, but I do have a readout from our historic council historic preservation town hall meeting that took place last Wednesday.

Uh co-hosted uh by myself, Councilman Harvey, and Vice Chairman Elliott.

And uh we're pretty now pretty packed room, and we were able to hear from the public about different areas, different sites, cemeteries.

Um we as a council that has been trusted with the authority uh to add historic sites as a part of our historic zoning commission guidelines.

Um and we will be discussing that in a strategic planning meeting in a couple weeks, not next week, but a couple weeks after that, uh, to discuss that process and to have some initial conversations about what key historic sites and buildings, which it may include Lincoln Parks, CSAS, some cemeteries, um, including um RH Hunt architectural buildings, and so we want to kind of flush that out and um have a conversation about what the next steps are with that.

But it was well attended.

Um very happy to know that we are having the conversation, a robust conversation about what historic preservation looks like in our communities.

Um, as council people, I would encourage you to do your own independent homework.

Um, you know, to do your Google searches about our historic zoning process in Chattanooga and what we have not done since the 90s, since 1991, I believe, is when we added um, I think can't remember if it was Furger Place or Fort Wood, but this is a conversation uh that was well received by the community, and um we hope to continue that conversation and to move that process forward.

Okay, okay, thank you.

Uh yes, Councilman Harvey.

Yeah, you might I just want to want to commend Councilman Clark for a extremely well-run put together meeting of preserve Chattanooga.

It was smooth as silk, and everybody in the the right folks in the room, and it was just it was a really really good meeting.

So excellent work.

Thank you, sir.

Excellent.

Okay.

Councilwoman Noel.

Councilwoman Noel.

No report.

Okay.

Councilwoman Dotley.

No report.

Councilwoman Burrs.

No report.

Vice Chairman Elliott.

No report.

Okay.

And we're now to other business.

Um, there's an item on here, Mr.

Attorney.

This is normally the certificate of compliance for drained liquor that we uh your resolution has deferred until next week.

Uh, we're waiting at this point in time on approved of publication on that, and once that is occurred, then it should be ready next week.

Okay.

So that's the reason it's been deferred to the 16th.

Okay.

Okay.

We're now to that portion of our meeting where we're happy to recognize members of the public who would like to address council.

Um, and would if you're here for that purpose, just invite you to come to the podium down front and um please listen carefully to the rules that our city attorney um will read.

They again please listen carefully, and there are several.

Um, they will all be in force, and I want to apologize to the council for my oversight in that regard last week.

Um, but uh please do listen carefully and and obey our our rules.

Um they're reasonable and and here for us to have a civil meeting.

So at the end of each council business meeting, the chair will recognize members of the public who wish to address the council.

And here's your rules.

Uh each speaker wishing to address the council can only be recognized with the microphone up front for that purpose, and you can't have more than three minutes to speak.

Then you can address the council only upon matters within their legislative and quasi judicial authority and not on matters which are not under their authority or regulated by other governmental bodies or agencies.

And please, this this evening, do not engage in any vulgar or obscene language, nor use the floor to personally attack or personally denigrate others.

If you're addressing the council, address it as a whole and not make comments directed towards individual council members.

Lastly, do not engage in disorderly conduct or disrupting a public meeting, which is prohibited by Tennessee law, and someone commits an offense if a person substantially obstructs or interferes with the meeting by physical action or verbal utterance with the intent to prevent or disrupt a lawful meeting or gathering.

And someone commits an offense if a person substantially obstructs or interferes with the meeting by physical action or verbal utterance with the intent to prevent or disrupt a lawful meeting or gathering.

That's a lot of rules, so just try to comply the best you can.

And when you come forward, please state your name and your district.

Thank you.

Good evening, council.

My name is McKenzie Kelly, and I live in District One.

I serve as the executive director of the Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition, the lead agency for our region's homeless response system.

I'm here today to express my support for the proposed donation of the airport in property, and to thank both the Kelly administration and city council for their leadership in moving this project forward.

Every day, the homeless coalition works alongside service providers, schools, healthcare systems, faith communities, government agencies, and other partners to better understand the needs of families experiencing housing instability and homelessness in our community.

One thing we know from both the data and our direct experience is that Chattanooga faces a significant short of shortage of shelter and housing resources designated specifically for families with children.

Our most recent state of homelessness report shows that more than 1,600 students in Hamilton County experienced homelessness during a single school year.

We also know that family shelter capacity remains extremely limited, and that many families seeking help are turned away simply because there's nowhere for them to go.

That's why this project matters.

This project represents a meaningful investment in a population that often has very few options when a crisis occurs.

It creates additional capacity for families, provides a pathway for greater stability, and helps move our community closer to the goals we have collectively identified through years of collaboration.

This project also reflects what we know works best partnership.

Government, philanthropy, service providers, faith organizations, and community stakeholders all bring their strengths together to address a challenge that no single organization can solve alone.

There's still plenty of work ahead.

This project alone doesn't end homelessness in Chattanooga, but it is a significant step forward and one that will strengthen our community's ability to respond when families and children need help the most.

On behalf of the Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition and our many community partners, thank you for your consideration and for your continued commitment to addressing homelessness in Chattanooga.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Council.

Uh Brooks outerfield district two.

Uh, some of you may be having flashbacks from the last time I was at this podium, but I'm not going to read any purchases tonight.

Um, I did serve in the Kelly administration as deputy chief of staff and chief policy officer, but I wanted to speak tonight as one of the original people involved in the airport and project uh when the city first acquired the property several years ago.

This project was always an ambitious one meant to transform a blighted property into something that would support some of our most vulnerable residents.

As many of you know, the original vision ultimately did not come to fruition, and to say that there were challenges and set acts would be an understatement.

When I left the mayor when I left Mayor Kelly's office two years ago, this is one of the projects that was hard to walk away from because I always felt strongly about this property becoming something helpful to people in crisis, which is why I'm so encouraged to be here this afternoon.

While the proposal before you certainly looks different than the original concept, it remains true to the core purpose that motivated the city's investment in the first place.

Using the property to serve people who needed help and support during the most difficult moment, difficult moments of their lives.

I want to thank Mayor Kelly and the administration for continuing to push this project forward, especially Richard Beeland, who I know has worked hard to keep this project alive.

I know how much she cared about finding the right solution for the airport in, and I know she'd be proud to see it become a place serving women, families, and children.

I also want to congratulate the many partners who stepped up to make this possible, including the McClellan Foundation, first things first, and the many organizations that have and will invest their time, resources, and expertise to bring this vision to life.

This project won't end homelessness in Chattanooga, and we know that.

More shelter capacity, more housing options, and continued investment in long-term solutions.

But I think one of the most important lessons I learned working in government is that we should never allow the fact that a solution is incomplete to become an excuse for inaction.

Progress matters.

So when this facility opens, there will be more than 120 shelter beds available for families.

There will be cribs for babies.

There will be mothers, fathers, and children who walk through the doors during what is likely one of the hardest times of their lives.

And instead of sleeping in a car or even on the streets, not knowing where they'll go next, they'll walk into Provident Place to be met with safety, stability, and people ready to help them take the next step forward.

That is meaningful and it's significant.

And for those families, it will make a difference.

Good afternoon.

I'm Mary Morris, the president of the Bushtown Neighborhood Association, which is part of the Great District Eight.

I'm here today to talk about community haven and the great work that they have done, not only for Bushtown, but Churchfield, Orchard Knob, and Lincoln Park.

They have a constant and consistent presence in our community.

They patrol daily.

With their patrolling, it has helped in reducing the crime in our area.

Gangs and people are no longer standing around on corners making it uncomfortable for you to pass by.

We've seen where they will even there with school buses let out.

They're there at the bus stops to ensure that fights don't break out.

They've intervened and stopped many fights.

They engage with the community.

They're just not there by name, but they engage with the young and the old.

Some people don't want to talk to the police.

But they are there.

They go into these communities.

They interact with the people.

Where we may never tell the police.

That information is passed on to the police.

But they are appreciated, and we want you all to know that we appreciate them, and we depend on your continued support of the community haven't been.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else who would like to address the council?

I guess I want to talk to anybody who is in government, anywhere and everywhere.

I have several things.

Give us your name and district.

Oh, I'm sorry, Shelley Lichild.

And I don't know the number of my district.

I'm sorry.

I've lived through surrounding Chattanooga for the past 36 years, but I'm in a new place and I don't know the number.

Anyway, I I just will be brief.

I want to speak to two issues.

Already two people have talked about homelessness.

Only recently in my life have I become involved with a woman who has experienced being unhoused for quite a while.

And let me tell you, it was quite an experience.

It just opened my eyes, and I realized there are so many reasons why people are homeless.

She happened to be the one person I got really involved with, and I'm so pleased that there were two people already who spoke to this issue, and our city cares and is doing things, and I want to say, please keep that up.

These are people, as was mentioned, that often don't have a voice.

And something else that has greatly um affected my sleep is another vulnerable portion of our society, especially at the moment, and that is those who are immigrants.

And I am so pleased that the Chattanooga Police Department does not have a 287 G agreement because I think that ICE and the Border Patrol, they have plenty of billions.

I think our police should be allowed to do their work and where necessary, of course, uh they will abide by laws, but I am so pleased that the Chattanooga police do not have that agreement.

And I just want to say that in all of our actions, I hope that Chattanooga will realize that we care about people no matter where they're from, no matter why they're here.

Of course, we believe in legality, but I'm so concerned this is what affects my sleep is that things are happening in this country to affect vulnerable populations that just defy explanation.

I just don't understand it why human beings, Americans have uh such things going on that I feel are cruel and unjust and unneeded.

And I just want to say please keep Chattanooga a place of concern and care for human beings.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else who'd like to address the council this evening?

Council, I don't see anyone, and we've reached the end of our business.

Motion to adjourn, probably second at all in favor.

We are adjourned.