Good evening.

It's six o'clock.

I'd like to call this meeting to order.

We'll start with an invocation led by Councilmember DeBarteley, followed by the pledge led by Council Member Adams.

For tonight's invocation, I would like to read a poem from Knoxville Native Nikki Giovanni.

The title is quilts.

Some folk think a quilt is leftover clothes, but we know it is made up of love pieces.

We have saved and then sewn together.

America is a quilt made up of different folk.

We came together to build something warm and good.

Amen.

Councilman Adams.

Here.

Councilman Devardo Laban?

Here.

Councilman Grant?

Here.

Councilman Helsley.

Councilman Honeycutt?

Here.

Councilman Lloyd.

Here.

Councilman Parker.

And Councilman Thomas.

All members present, Mayor.

Okay, thank you.

Is there a motion on the minutes from the April 14th meeting?

Motion made to approve and second it.

Any questions or discussions?

Seeing none.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

Are there any items on tonight's agenda to be withdrawn?

Vice Mayor.

Thank you.

Um Mayor.

I make a motion to I've got to look up my number.

Here it is.

It's um twelve W.

W.

Yes.

Thank you.

If I'd flipped over, I'd found it.

Twelve W.

Um, the reason I'm asking to withdraw that is the um police department decided not to pursue that grant.

So we'd like to withdraw that.

Okay, motion made to withdraw item twelve W.

Is there a second?

Okay, second.

Any questions or discussions?

Seeing none, all those in favor of this withdrawal, please say aye.

Any opposed?

Motion to withdraw carries.

Are there any other items to be withdrawn?

Okay, are there any items to be postponed?

Are there any items to be added by motion?

Okay, are there any memorials?

No?

Okay.

Um and then uh on the consent agenda, the items in red.

Um, before we hear a motion on that, Councilmember Honeycutt, did you have a clarification?

Yes, I just wanted to say I'll be voting on items E, F, and H.

I will recuse myself from item G during the vote, uh, which is the historic overlay of the amphitheater uh only because a person from my firm is the applicant.

Okay.

Thank you for that point of information.

Uh Vice Mayor Fugit, uh I'm just moving to approve.

Okay.

Just as a one person has signed up to speak on a couple of the items.

If you all want, just as still your decision whether you want to consider it on consent or not.

12 V W and X has one person sign up to speak on those.

To all of them, well, may I have my.

Oh, W's been withdrawn.

So V and X.

I have my light on to remove V and X.

Remove V and X.

Okay.

We'll remove item 12 V as in Victor and X as an Xavier from the consent agenda, and W's been withdrawn.

So now the consent agenda is a little smaller.

Does everyone understand what's on consent?

All the other things in red.

Okay.

Now is there a motion on the consent agenda as adjusted.

Okay, motion made.

Seconded.

Any further questions or discussions seeing none?

All those in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed?

The consent agenda passes.

All right.

Uh time now for my mayor's report.

Uh first I want to start by thanking everyone for coming out to the state of the city.

Um the budget legend luncheon last Friday, uh, the urban wilderness gateway park uh was a really good occasion to share information and celebrate some successes, particularly at that space, which uh was such a transformation of a former dead end to now a wonderful um park and gateway.

Uh, Councilmember Adams, you were a wonderful master mistress of ceremonies.

Thank you.

You did a great job, and I just want to thank all the city staffers who made it possible.

Um, and um Mother Nature uh also cooperated that was really nice.

I've had some, you know, we've had some less good weather in times past, so it's nice to enjoy some beautiful weather together.

So um it was also nice to share uh my budget proposal with council and the community, and as you know, your first reading of that budget is scheduled later on today.

So that's our focus.

Uh, me and my administration is focused on first developing the budget, um, answering your questions at the legislative budget hearing and po uh on May 7th, and then there's a second reading of the budget on May 26th.

So, um, our work uh continues even as we consider the budget, and I want to make sure you guys know and are invited to attend some uh special events coming up.

There's three tomorrow alone, 10 a.m.

tomorrow.

We're gonna cut the ribbon on the newly renovated Pines in West Knoxville.

This is 152 apartment affordable apartment community.

It was originally built in 1978, and LHB Capital renovated it from top to bottom, and this is part of the what the city has supported to the tune of over a half a million dollars uh yeah, about five hundred and ten thousand dollars that we supported this, and it's a classic what we call NOAA's naturally occurring affordable housing that to keep it affordable is something that we um want to celebrate and support financially.

So that's 10 a.m.

tomorrow at 5999 Tannehill Drive, and that's off of Francis Road, uh, right off of Francis Road near Beardon Metal School.

Um also tomorrow.

This is also tomorrow is uh 11 a.m.

The plaque will be unveiled at Covenant Health Park.

Um really big deal.

We built a new stadium in our community and the sports authority, the construction and design team, Denar Construction, Jam Associated Architects, all the subcontractors did such an amazing job uh last spring uh to meet a tough deadline.

Uh and it was such an exciting time.

April 15th last year, the opening, um, our soccer team was undefeated at home last year and league champions.

The baseball team also had a lot of great home stands.

Um, and then there's just all kinds of other events there.

So this unveiling will recognize the power of those partnerships.

That wouldn't have been possible without the partnership with Knox County, with the private sector.

Um, and it's really um a happy occasion.

So it also, as a reminder, finished on time and uh within the budget, which is my favorite kinds of projects.

So um hope you can come out and enjoy that unveiling.

And also tomorrow, some a project that KCDC and the city have been working on for many years.

We're going to be breaking ground on the next phase of Transforming Western, 1 30 p.m.

tomorrow.

We've been partnering with KCDC and Western Heights community members and Beaumont family since day one.

This is a massive over 200 million dollar investment.

That means enhanced access to economic opportunity, transportation, health care, recreation, and youth enrichment for thousands of Knoxville residents.

Over six years, the city is committing 26 and a half million dollars to this game-changing community-led collaboration.

And our next year's budget, this the budget proposal that you'd be um considering tonight and then the next month, includes our next uh you know contribution to this project.

The first phases have been amazing.

I don't know if you've had a chance to see them.

I love seeing the happy residents enjoying those facilities.

We're promised a helping hand and we're delivering.

And so tomorrow, meet at 1700 Reed Street.

There will be parking available on West Oldham Avenue in that area.

Um, rules of decorum.

A quick reminder we are here to do the city's official business.

Those who wish to speak either to a specific agenda item or during public forum need to sign up with the city recorder before 4 p.m.

Please do not use profanity.

And when speaking to specific agenda items, you must stay on topic.

Remarks must be germane to the question ahead of the assembly.

That is statements must have bearing on whether the pending motion should be adopted or not.

Those who fail to adhere to these rules will be ruled out of order.

For those who are listening, please note if you disrupt a public meeting, you will be asked to leave or escorted out.

Thank you in advance for everyone's respect for these rules.

And that concludes my mayor's report.

Are there any reports of committees or council members serving on committees or boards?

Councilmember Parker.

Thank you, Mayor.

I wanted to give a shout out to Knoxville Community Media and Director Amos Oaks for uh leading the charge in our area to educate the community about uh the American Broadband Deployment Act.

Um, the act was pulled from consideration uh last week, uh, which is good news for us because we're worried about how this act could impact uh local media uh right now.

Knoxville community media heavily relies on the franchise fees that are paid by cable companies.

Um, and this act could impact that, it could eliminate those fees, it could impact our own local control and our ability to negotiate and manage uh public land use when it comes to cable companies.

Um, and there's other issues with transparency and and other things in 2023, Knoxville City Council passed a resolution supporting the protecting community television act uh to keep these local peg channels, uh public educational governmental channels uh funding and accessible.

So I just wanted to congratulate uh this uh uh wonderful update.

It's definitely not over, but this is good news uh for the moment.

I also wanted to announce that Knoxville Community Media is turning 50 this year, and uh I'll be bringing a resolution uh in May to celebrate this tremendous milestone, and Knoxville Community Media will also be hosting a free two-day festival on June 5th and 6th at the pilot light, and I'll announce that again.

But want to get that on everybody's uh calendars ahead of time, and that's it.

Okay, thank you.

Um, any other reports from committees?

Councilmember Jabard Labins?

Uh yeah, I wanted to announce uh two things.

One is uh this Friday, uh the University of Tennessee School of Architecture and uh two architectural studios uh in particular, along with the East Tennessee Community Design Center, along with uh seven local architectural firms who'll be holding a First Friday event um showing some models of their work, but it's about two specific sites in Knoxville.

One's in North Knoxville and the other is in East Knoxville, where these students are imagining uh what these spaces could become next.

And so it's free and open to the public.

It's at 309 North Central Street, which is in the old city.

Uh it's from five to eight at around six o'clock.

They'll actually be a Pachaka style presentation, seven of them that go really fast where they'll describe their projects.

Uh so that's my first announcement.

The second is that tomorrow our own one Knox heads to Columbus to play the Columbus crew, which is a major league soccer team, and I'll be getting on a bus early in the morning and coming on a bus back in the evening uh to route and represent our team.

Okay, there's only one Knox.

All right.

Uh Councilmember Adams.

Are we moving on to just general?

It seems like it.

Okay.

Excellent.

Um I wanted to uh just say a huge thanks to the Knoxville Knox County Planning um group for the what's next Knoxville events that have been happening.

Um I see a couple of blue buttons.

Uh I wish I had mine on too.

But um those listening sessions, if you haven't participated in one yet, they're still ongoing, and you can go to what's next Knoxville.com to see the remaining events uh that are happening, and you can also participate online, but they've been really well done.

Um, when I first heard listening session, I wasn't sure what to expect.

And then when I went to the one on Sunday, it was outside.

There was all kinds of engagement, there were fun activities.

It was not just sitting and listening, it was a lot of um good good dialogue and good engagement.

So thank you so much for hosting those.

Um, I also wanted to give an announcement about uh Vestival.

I didn't misspeak, Vestival.

Um, and that is a traditional festival that's been happening in the Vestal community for several several years.

And it's happening on May 9th.

It is from 10 o'clock until 5 p.m.

at the Sustainable Future Center.

If you've ever been, you might have been in a different location.

It changed locations last year, and it gave it a little more elbow room.

Um, but would encourage everyone to come out and celebrate in Vestal.

Okay, thank you.

Councilmember Thomas.

Yes, some good news for the Lonsdale neighborhood.

Um, if they haven't seen the press release, Project TLC, which had formerly uh been established in East Knoxville, Montgomery Village and Western Heights, and it's a project to prevent gun violence.

It's worked really well in those areas.

Uh the statistics have shown the effectiveness of it, and happy to say that that will now be um instituted in Lonsdale.

And uh also a little bit about the public process.

Mr.

Chief Noel and I were talking about it a little bit earlier.

I think the public process, the input that was gotten from the neighborhoods, and actually several years ago, um there was a gentleman by the name of Tyrone Fine, he was a friend of mine, he's passed on now, but he was a janitor and a custodian at Salmy Hill School, and he had neighborhood porch meetings where I would go out and neighbors would just come up and we would ask him, what do you think would take to solve these violence problems?

Later on, Mayor Kincannan came out, uh, Miss Middlebrook came out, Cheryl Ely came out, not necessarily at the same time.

There were no cameras there, it was just these open discussions from the people on the street, really, about what it would take to institute uh better uh methods to stop gun violence.

And some of these have been incorporated.

And I know that uh Chief Noel has kind of followed that practice of meeting people on their front porches and getting that kind of input.

And so the real results are showing in the data.

Uh, this is not the only uh effort that has been done to get this overall uh decrease in violence, and I want to thank all the other uh nonprofit groups, you know, uh so um turn up Knoxville for some of the work that they did previously.

But um it's just a good day and a little upon words, uh Tyrone Fine, the man I mentioned.

If he's can hear me somewhere, it's a fine day for Lawnsdale.

So uh that concludes my uh council report.

Okay, thank you.

Uh Councilmember Honeycutt.

Thank you.

Um I'd like to sort of second Councilwoman Adams' uh sentiment about the what's next Knoxville initiative that's just beginning.

Uh Ms.

Brooks uh and uh the the Knoxville Knox County Planning is doing a great job getting that process started.

There's listening sessions happening now, like she talked about, but they're still going on this week.

The next one is tomorrow from 5 to 7 at the City of Knoxville Public Works Facility.

They're fun, they're engaging.

Just stop by, it's a drop-in.

It can only it takes 15-20 minutes to participate, and you can leave.

But it's this is the beginning of a six to nine month process of community meetings and engagement, uh, and it's shaping the future of our city.

So please help us spread the word uh to get it out there uh to start engaging people and make sure we take part, take that we all we all have an opportunity to take part in this process, so help us uh by getting the word out there so we make sure it's it's done well and done right.

Uh the other thing I wanted to mention was the Thursday night is the KPSHA, which is the Kingston Pike Sequoia Hills Association annual meeting, 6:30 at Sequoia Hills Presbyterian Church.

Myself, uh County Commissioner Shane Jackson and School Board Member Cat Bike will be there to uh talk about all of the great things going on in our city.

So if you're interested, please come out.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Councilmember Parker.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

Uh, two things under my general announcements.

I'll start with um, well, I'll start with follow-up to the update shared by council member Thomas.

Um, I also have a lot of questions about the project TLC zones that continue to go unanswered.

And um some of the things that were mentioned were the good results that we're seeing, the good outcomes that we're seeing, and that's the information that I would like to see.

Um, what I'm hearing, um, you know, I hear the program lifted up by folks sitting here around this table, but I'm not hearing it lifted up by the community members.

I'm continuing uh to get tagged on social media, called, contacted, about concerning incidents with KPD, uh we have a uh, you know, uh uh an agenda item on our um agenda today to increase our funding to the law department because of the lawsuits that have come uh up against the city.

Um so I think you know, rather than just saying we're seeing good results, uh we deserve more information about what results we are seeing.

Are the results purely um you know, within criminal justice, or um are we seeing some of those efforts by uh community-led groups that are moving folks from a cycle of violence, you know, out of that circumstance.

I would love to celebrate those things, but I just haven't been shared that information.

Um, so I hope to get that.

I've I've made another request, and I hope that uh we'll we'll get that information soon.

The other thing that I did want to announce is um a gathering tomorrow evening at 5 30.

It's from 5 30 to 7 at Ola Southern Cuisine, and that address is 7220 Chapman Highway, and this is the continued gathering of council members and an opportunity for you uh to meet us in a more casual setting.

Uh and again, this is um an ongoing, I don't know if it's gonna be monthly, but perhaps monthly uh opportunity to engage with council members, and so some of us will be there, some of us will be at each one, but not necessarily all of us.

So just keep that in mind and hope to see some of you all tomorrow at Ola's Southern Cuisine on Chapman Highway, 5:30.

Thank you.

Um Councilmember Parker, we we did receive your email at 3:52 today uh p.m.

and we'll get a response to you uh as soon as we can.

And just a reminder, that's the same question I asked at the budget retreat.

Yeah, and um, it's just a reminder, but it's not we'll answer it again and share it with all of you who haven't answered.

Okay.

How many people have benefited from Project TLC and taken advantage of the social services?

We'll we'll give you an answer and uh share it with all of council and also if you want a whole workshop on it later, that's fine too.

Yeah, that'd be great.

We're really proud of our results and happy to share that.

Um other council member reports or announcements.

Seeing none, we'll move on with the agenda.

9B is the resolution appointing Jack Coker to serve as the fourth district representative on the Knoxville Golf Course Advisory Committee for a term expiring December 18, 2029.

I'd like to make a motion to approve.

Okay, motion made to approve and second it.

Any questions or discussion?

Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

Next item, please.

9C is a resolution appointing Garrett Howe to serve as the third district representative on the Knoxville Golf Golf Course Advisory Committee for a term expiring December 18, 2029.

I'd like to make a motion.

We approve.

Motion made to approve and second it.

Any questions or discussion?

Seeing none.

All the oh, Councilmember Grant?

Oh.

Okay, seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

9D is a resolution reappointing Curtis Brown to serve as the sixth district representative on the Knoxville Golf Course Advisory Committee for a term expiring December 18, 2029.

Move to approve.

Okay, motion made to approve and second it.

Any questions or discussions?

Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

12th I is a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement with agreement with Kimley Horn and Associates Incorporated to provide professional design services for the Chutman Highway Improvements Project in an amount not to exceed 565,300.

Move to approve.

Motion made to approve and seconded.

Councilmember Parker.

Oh, I think it would be good if we could just go over a quick um uh description of what this process will look like moving forward.

Mr.

Claybo?

Sure, I'd be happy to uh Tom Claybell Engineer Director.

So um this project is really a vision zero initiative.

So through that program, um we uh back in 2023 implemented a vision zero action plan that qualified us for safe streets for all grant funding, which is the funding we're using for this.

It's 80 percent uh federal funds.

Um and basically we're we're looking at a uh essentially a five-lane uh corridor along Chapman Highway that's that's primarily used for vehicles.

Uh very little uh pedestrian facilities or bike facilities along that multimodal facilities along that corridor.

Um we want to look at ways uh to make that more of a uh um urban uh boulevard kind of uh and I've used uh I've been using Magnolia as an example of the work that we did over at Magnolia near Jeze Mine.

Um so I could envision being some landscape medians um with really trying to uh limit or minimize those conflict points between vehicles and and uh bikes and pedestrians.

Um also we will incorporate uh a sidewalk on the east side of the road and a shared use path 10 feet wide on the west side of the road, so it it uh uh separates those bikes and pads from from the vehicles, uh, and then trying to lower those speeds along that corridor.

We've had uh over the last five years uh eight uh either uh fatalities or serious uh uh crashes along that corridor, five of those involve pedestrians.

And so it's it's uh a corridor that's been identified on our high injury network in our action plan, and so we're trying to address those issues.

And as the process moves along, there'll be a public meeting to update the public on this.

That's correct.

There'll be stakeholder meetings and a and a public meeting to to go through that process, yes.

Wonderful, thank you.

Councilmember Adams.

Yeah, I thank you for going through the description.

I just want to say thank you for leading this process.

I am so excited about this work beginning.

I know it's a long process, but I'm looking forward to the day when we have those different pathways that keep people safe.

So thank you.

Councilmember Honeycutt.

Really quick, I think you skimmed over a pretty important part, which is we're getting a significant amount of money from the federal government for this work too, right?

So we're leveraging some city dollars, but it's a pretty yeah, almost 17.8 or something like that million from the federal government.

That's correct.

So it's a great use of city dollars to then leverage big larger sums of money from the federal government to improve our city.

So uh it's it's a win-win, and and uh the second the uh councilwoman Adams and Councilwoman Parker's uh, you know, sentiments about great getting great community input in the process.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Any further questions or discussion?

Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

12J is a resolution, expressing appreciation to the United Way of Greater Knoxville and generous contributors to our community for the donation of 440,000 to be used for the affordable housing fund and authorizing the mayor to execute all documents necessary to accept said donation.

Motion made to approve and seconded.

Any questions or discussion?

Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

12K is a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute any and all documents necessary to award an amount not to exceed 440,000 dollars from the Affordable Rental Housing Fund to Knoxville Habitat for Humanity for the development of 22 affordable multifamily housing units for homeownership to be located at 4325 Pinehurst Drive as more specifically described here in 4th district.

I'd like to make a motion to approve.

Motion made to approve and second, Councilmember DeBarde Labans.

Did you speak?

Um yeah, I would like to just add one thing.

Uh it's been almost I've been told it's been almost 10 years since Habitat for Humanity has been able to do a project within city limits.

And so uh that particularly excites me about this one.

Thank you.

We do have one person signed up to speak in favor of this.

Mr.

Drew Harper.

If you could come to the podium, state your name and address for the record, and you'll have up to three minutes to address council.

Hey, I'm Drew Harper.

I am at 1205 Kenyon Street.

I am speaking in support of this item.

I think it is absolutely appropriate for the city to uh chip in from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund uh for this project.

I was part of Justice Knox when we were first working on um getting the mayoral candidates to commit to the housing trust fund.

That was like 10 years ago, so it's really great to see some fruits of that labor.

I think that the proposed um development is almost too good.

It's like tailor-made to address everybody's complaints of it's it's not displacing anyone, it's on virgin ground, it's not tearing down any historic buildings.

The church is being preserved, a new church is already there.

It's not rentals, it's home ownership, it's not for wealthy people, it's income restricted.

Um, so it's uh it's not a hundred foot apartment tower, it's uh series of duplexes, and it's in city limits, it's infill, so we know that that's better for um infrastructure, roads, sidewalks, sewers, uh KUB, fiber, internet, all those things are cheaper when we build denser and of course we know our choices are density or sprawl or homelessness.

Uh I want to leave you with one or two things you decide just um just one.

Uh at the neighborhood association meeting that I attended where there was some opposition to this.

One of the things I mentioned was school overcrowding, uh, which uh drove me insane because the exact opposite is true.

Um, Belmoris is losing students, it has lost almost 200 students in the past 40 years, uh, which is a massive decline.

And uh in getting some new life into the neighborhood and people with children that will go to this school, which is one of the only schools you can walk to in Knoxville.

I uh I I used to drive by Belmores every day and see people walking, and uh I really want the school to not close and stay uh active vibrant part of our community, and the only way to do that is to not freeze our communities in amber, but to allow them to grow and change and people move in and out, and that is part of why one of yes Knoxville's tenants is uh we I try to say housing choice, uh, because the more different kinds of things we build that allows people to move from one type of home to another as their needs change and uh it contributes overall to the vibrant community.

So I thank you for supporting this item.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Uh Council Member Parker.

Oh, thank you.

That concludes the people who signed up to speak on this.

Um, I just wanted to kind of echo what um uh councilmember stated that it has been quite some time since uh we've had a Habitat for Humanity um project coming for us, and I don't think there's been one since I've been on council, and I believe the last one I remember was while I was running for city council.

Um, and at that time this room was full of people in opposition uh to that project that was approved that night, and folks, you know, reached out to me about this project, and I said, you know, things have shifted in Knoxville, and there's such a need for housing.

Um, you know, there may be some uh some folks who who speak some opposition to it, but we're definitely not seeing what we saw um, you know, even five years ago.

Uh I think there's a new understanding of the need, and a particularly for single-family homes.

Um this one is actually townhouses, two-unit townhouses rather than uh duplexes, so three-bedroom, two-bath, two and a half bath homes, but um uh, you know, the type of housing that we need uh developed at affordable rates and in addition to the rental and other types.

So I'm excited for this development and excited to support it tonight.

Thank you, Councilmember Thomas.

Yes, part of the reason why this one is probably an accepted where earlier ones 10 years ago weren't, is there's been an improvement by design of habitat for humanity, and so this one is townhouses, as uh council person Parker said it's not duplexes or not uh yeah, duplexes, I'm sorry, and then um just earlier issues years ago uh there were significant uh opposition in some neighborhoods, and it mainly had to do with the design of the houses, and uh at that time habitat uh for humanity was um advocating for some houses that just completely did not fit in the neighborhood.

That's just a fact, and it wasn't good for the future residents of those houses because they were given houses, but they stuck out in a neighborhood where you could drive down the street, and everybody could identify that as a low-income house.

And um, there was a specific specific example in Oakwood Lincoln Park.

This was years ago, where the neighborhood association, you know, had some resistance, but we sat down, they said down and talked to habitat for humanity, and they tweaked the design of it, and uh you can drive down the street and you can't tell at all that that's not uh anything other than a market value house.

So there's a reason why there was resistance in the past uh for some of the designs.

Um, but I'm I'm happy to see the improvement and that there was no significant opposition.

So just some commentary on that, and that's kind of the reason why there's been a hiatus.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Seeing no further lights on, all those in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

12th L is the resolution authorizing the mayor to execute an amendment to agreements number C-22-0082 and C-24-0067 with Knoxville's community development corporation for phases three and four infrastructure to reallocate the remaining funding designated for use on those earlier phases to any work contemplated in the site's master plan for the revitalization of the Austin homes redevelopment and surrounding areas of East Knoxville 6th District.

Move to approve.

Motion made to approve and second it.

Any questions or discussion?

Seeing none, all those in favor please say aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

12 M is a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute documents for the purchase of tax parcel 094 LE 027, known as 314 Union Avenue from Knoxville Hotel Partners LLC for the part purchase price of 450,000 dollars and to execute documents for the assumption of a lease of tax parcel 094 LE 029 and a joining parcel at the corner of Union Avenue and Strong Street identified as Zero Union Avenue, which is presently leased by the various beneficiaries of the estate of Bridget Kirk to Knoxville Hotel Partners LLC 6th District.

Move to approve.

Motion made to approve and seconded.

Uh Councilmember Grant.

Oh no, just okay.

Any further questions or discussions?

Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

12 N is a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute a collaboration and grant agreement with Legacy Parks Foundation in an amount not to exceed 150,000.

Move to approve.

Motion made to approve and seconded.

Any questions or discussion?

Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

120 is a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute agreement with Legacy Parks Foundation for the collaborative use of the urban wilderness trademark.

Move to approve.

Motion made to approve and seconded.

Any questions or discussion?

Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

12 P is a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute a lease agreement with Legacy Parks Foundation for water access at Bicentennial Park for a non-motorized boat launch and the gateway pavilion building for $1,000 per month for the purposes of providing recreational programs.

Motion made to approve and second it.

Any questions or discussion?

Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

I did want to note uh Carol Evans is here and uh appreciate your partnership with the city on so many efforts.

Thank you.

Next item, please.

12 P is a or Q rather.

12 Q is a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement with Lakeshore Park Conservancy to provide budgetary support for administrative costs associated with managing Lakeshore Park in an annual amount not to exceed $50,000.

Motion made to approve and seconded.

Any questions or discussion?

Council member Honeycutt.

Well, just real quick, I'm in favor of this, obviously, and and but I just wanted to again uh commend this as an opportunity where you know we've city funds are being leveraged with private money in this instance um in Lakeshore Park to manage it through the Conservancy, and it's a great example again of partnership uh and and use of city money to to to have a greater impact.

So thank you very much.

Absolutely.

Any further questions or discussions?

Seeing none, you're done.

Okay, all those in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

Thank you, Julianne Foy, for being here and for all you've done.

I know uh you're in uh looking for a successor, so uh we appreciate all that you've done for Lakeshore Park Conservancy and in partnership with the city.

Thank you very much.

Next item, please.

12 R is a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute any and all documents to award a total amount not to exceed $60,000 from the historic preservation and facade improvement program to Governor William Blunt Mansion Association for restoration of the William Blunt Mansion located at 200 West Hill Avenue 6th District.

Move to approve.

Motion made to approve and seconded uh council member Parker.

Uh yes.

Following up on our conversation at the grant making um workshop.

This is another area where I'm more interested in the funding that we allocate and award through programs that don't have a clear application process.

And what does this process look like to determine who is allocated funding through the historic preservation and facade improvement program?

Uh Ms.

Justice, would you answer that, please?

Sure.

These uh for the program for the historic and facade program, similar to our pilot and TIFF applications, they go through the public private partnership application process, which starts really with a conversation to get to know the project and its context and how it fits within our key development priorities.

So I had mentioned that many of our public-private partnership tools are tailored to meet the needs of various scales and complexities of projects, and this one is a really great example.

So as we get to know the project intent and the project scale, the public private partnership review team approves those as they align with key development priorities, and then the staff works with the applicant and our legal team to craft a document for in this case a development agreement for this funding to support their project.

And that's just a year-round process.

Yes, it's on a case-by-case basis and as funding is available.

And so what I'm trying to understand is when we have a funding that can be allocated that doesn't necessarily need to go through a um a competitive process.

Would you consider this a competitive process?

Um it I don't know that competitive is the right word.

It's these projects are evaluated on how they align with our key development priorities.

So it's are they suitable and appropriate for the area that they're in and part of the project context?

And how do people now to apply?

We have resources on our web page on the historic and facade program, and also a step-by-step process on the public private partnership page.

And this is so we also have a um we also have a separate facade program through the housing, maybe two other facade.

They're not they're not.

That program, our facade and historic program in the past was facilitated by housing and neighborhood development, but since we've created the public and private partnership process, those programs have been aligned with our key development priorities just to simplify the group.

Okay, so any facade funding is gonna go through you.

Correct, okay.

That that's helpful.

Thanks.

Okay, any further questions or discussion?

Seeing none, all those in favor please say aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

We want to thank uh David Hearns uh for being here from Blunt Mansion.

Thank you.

12S 12S is the resolution authorizing the mayor to execute any all documents to award an amount not to exceed 125,958 dollars from the historic preservation and facade improvement program to 3517 Sutherland LLC for improvements and or preservation, a property located at 3517 Sutherland Avenue 6th District.

Move to approve.

Motion made to approve and seconded.

Council member Adams.

I just wanted to say I'm excited about this happening on this property because I've driven by it so many times and wondered, like that could be so cool.

That could be so cool.

So I'm really glad to see this property getting uh revitalized in that way.

Thank you.

Any further questions or discussions?

Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

12 T is a resolution authorizing the Industrial development board of the City of Knoxville to negotiate and accept from 100 West Depot Investors LLC or an affiliate thereof payments Lou and Badvalorum taxes with respect to certain real property located at 100 West Depot Avenue, 108 West Depot Avenue, and zero West Depot Avenue, and a portion of 300 West Depot Avenue in the City of Knoxville, Tennessee, and finding that such payments are deemed to be in the furtherance of the public purposes of the board as defined in Tennessee Code annotated section 7-53-305 district.

Move to approve.

Motion made to approve and seconded.

Councilmember Grant.

Yeah, I just want to, you know, speak on this particular line item.

You know, I had the opportunity to go by the site.

Was able to spend some time there really just to understand, you know, the benefit that's going to come out of this particular development, uh, what exactly a TIFF is and how us as a city how we benefit by offering these incentives to um developers coming in.

So definitely looking forward to this particular project, having retail, having some more housing, uh 27 units that you know they're gonna be for the workforce.

Um, I'm definitely looking forward to this to this project.

Thank you.

Any for uh council member Thomas.

Yeah, just had a question.

I think I heard the word retail.

Is there gonna be some retail as part of this project or is it gonna be all housing?

Yes, there is retail about 7,000 square feet on the ground floor facing North Central Street.

I've been another stop for you.

Yeah, and I've been waiting for that to happen because some of the um construction downtown, not that it's bad, but it's been multifamily units, and we've kind of allowed them not to have retail on the ground floor, and for some some valid reasons.

I'm not saying it wasn't, but I'm really glad to see one that has the retail uh on the ground floor because that you know kind of brings the community together.

It's kind of like the quilt, uh Matthew was talking about.

Councilmember Healthley, I'd just like to say our city recorder is super pumped about this development down here.

Because he can't say it for himself.

Okay.

Councilmember Parker.

Um yes, I also like that there's parking included with this development.

So I'll add to the list of things we like.

Um, I will say I do think it's important to point out I um appreciate and and require for my support uh 10% of workforce housing to be included.

But I also like to remind myself and others that this doesn't necessarily represent long-term affordable housing in that area.

You know, if this project is sold, they're no longer obligated to some of these things we've asked them to do.

Uh sold and pay back the pilot.

Let me add that in there.

Um, but uh I think this is a good process for bringing new developments to our city um and and shaping them in ways that we hope will benefit our residents.

Thank you.

Seeing no further lights on, all those in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

I know the um developers are here in the audience.

Thank you for this proposal, and we're glad for your investment in our city.

Next item, please.

12U is a resolution.

Respectfully requesting the mayor, that mayor can canon modify her executive order of February 15, 2025, relative to waste fraud and abuse reporting to insert the internal auditor to also be included as receiving a copy of all reports.

We have one person signed up to speak in favor of this item.

Rick Roach.

Is Mr.

Roach present?

Come up to this podium, state your name and address for the record, and you'll have up to three minutes to address council.

Um February of 2025, something of this in this order.

You would think that that's um, I wouldn't say a no-brainer, but you would think that the auditor would be included in the language is the was the auditor up to this point in time included in the process.

Um maybe member of the audit committee could um speak to that.

Members of the audit committee could speak to that, but to take um a year over a year or two.

Oh, hey, oh yeah, our internal auditor might want to be included in this.

So maybe we can have a full education in this particular situation.

That concludes people signed up to speak to this council.

Oh, there's no motion.

Oh, is there a motion?

Move to approve.

Motion made to approve and second, council member Parker, and then Vice Mayor.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

Um, for me, this is a as a matter of process and a matter of uh putting processes in place that show the um residents that we are doing our due diligence as city council, um, and um, you know, providing a level of oversight that the charter imagines uh that this legislative body would provide.

Um I believe that uh the way that this um uh fraud waste and abuse process was established um was a little rocky and a little unfortunate.

Um but as we move forward, I think we need to listen to the concerns that have been raised, which are um and have been documented by the media that that um you know if the executive branch is managing a process um to investigate potential complaints against them, then we're not necessarily gonna get the best outcome.

And so while I see uh it is an improvement to add the internal auditor, I do think that we are um uh coming short of what we need to be doing in terms of establishing a process by ordinance.

Uh and to the public forum speakers' point, um, we're now a year later uh from when this process was established.

Uh, and the reason for the process being established by executive order was told to me as to um, you know, quickly facilitate that process of of putting up putting something in place that that the uh audit committee and city council would then uh formalize through the adoption of an ordinance.

So uh it just concerns me that we're not moving in that direction of uh city council being um over this process essentially rather than asking uh the administration to make this change to the process.

So um I would encourage us, this is some uh a priority of mine as a member of council, is that I would like to see uh the legislative body strengthened.

I think for the public to have trust and faith in our local government, uh they need to believe that the legislative body is doing the work that is outlined in the charter for us to do.

And uh I think sometimes we uh it can be easier to defer to the administration, and of course, also we have sometimes advice given to us that can deter um our willingness to put in the work, but I think on these issues, especially when we're talking about internal audits, um it has to be under the city council's purview.

So I would push for us to um move forward with uh the developing an ordinance that can be based on this uh executive order uh and I hope that others agree and with and with uh support an ordinance coming forward I think this year it would be fine for an ordinance to come forward if we want to make a uh changes to the process in the future we can amend that ordinance but it's uh but it would be within our authority to do that rather than asking whether the administration agrees and would be willing to so those are my thoughts on this vice mayor if you get thank you um I I too I do intend to support this I just want for the record and for some historical context of how we got here um for the years that I was on the audit committee um I have to give a lot of credit to our former council member uh lauren writer who was the chair of the audit committee to first bring up the issue of creating a waste fraud and abuse hotline which the city had not ever talked about or had ever had so this did come from the legislative body to create the waste fraud and abuse hotline that was the first step.

The second the other thing that councilwoman rider did which I think was a significant improvement to the audit committee is she moved for us to add three external people who had a background in finance or audit so that they would be technical experts on a committee which council members don't always bring to the table.

The luck of the draw is who gets elected whether you have an audit background or financial background or not so I think that the previous city council it uh took a bold step took its legislative authority and started doing some things to improve that process.

In the first step this was by design this would be the way we would do this and it would be reviewed in a year.

It has since come up for review and this is the recommendation of the audit committee to change this.

So I think this is not anything that is been hidden could it have been more robust way back probably so but we're getting there.

So I think that um I'll you know I do intend to support this and we'll um continue to work with the internal auditor and the chair of the audit committee to um make sure that this goes smoothly and that we keep moving forward to do what we do as the legislative branch.

So I um and I don't and I haven't heard the uh mayor scream an objection to that when I've discussed it with her so thank you.

Well just since you mentioned that I'll say I have no objection to this we believe in checks and balances we believe in transparency we have nothing to hide and um we want to work with the audit committee and council for make sure we have strong checks and balances.

So this uh sounds like a reasonable thing for me.

So councilmember DeBart Laban.

Yeah councilwoman thank you for explaining the process to us we were on our first year here in my experience uh short experience on the audit committee if I feel like this process has served us well and I agree wholeheartedly adding this extra layer of city council's internal auditor to this process is useful.

I would love to see it explored as becoming an ordinance so that future mayors and administrations have to abide by it and uh so it's something I would love for to see us explore going forward.

Councilmember Grant Yeah so just co-signing with my counterpart um just said you know um I think we've made progress I mean you know given from where we started to where we are now um and in realizing, you know, that our internal auditor does work for council, right?

So, you know, she would be council's representation um on this particular uh wasteline so um you know I I don't think we give uh our internal auditor auditor uh enough credit.

Um Savannah, she's done a great job, uh, just in terms of uh communicating, um, being real informal, being on audit committee.

Uh, we had some intense conversation uh with credit to you know the finance department for even being able to take that feedback and apply it as well.

Um yesterday the Knox County Commission actually voted on a resolution recognizing uh internal audit awareness month.

Uh and so you know, I do want to give a shout out to Miss Savannah and say thank you for all the work that she's doing again, and hopefully, as a city, we can adopt that same practice um because I said our auditors um they're very very vital in terms of how we manage our money uh to make sure that we are doing the right thing.

Um, and you know, to say, I can agree with councilwoman Parker and uh to Barbara Lehman in terms of visiting the ordinance in the future, um, just to be able to give future mayors an understanding on what to expect coming in.

Um, so you know that's something that I also would like the council to possibly consider in the future.

So um, but we are making progress.

Uh baby steps are still moving forward, and so I just want us to make sure that we we realize that as well.

Thank you.

Okay, any further questions or comments?

Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

12 V is a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute any of documents necessary to apply jointly with Knox County for the 2025 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Award of 156,082 from the U.S.

Department of Justice for improved operation of the criminal justice system, and if such applications authorized, is approved rather authorizing the mayor to accept such a grant award.

Motion made to approve, seconded.

Um, one person has signed up to speak against this item.

12 V, Rick Roach.

Report Knoxville.

There are two more um items following when I was looking at the agenda and I called in to sign up to speak on these.

Um they were red lettered.

What is that where you the ideal process would have been to vote on the three of them together?

Is that by consent or whatever?

Um, council's considering this one item right now, okay.

So you okay um if you if I could request that I reserve because I'm signed up to speak on the other two?

One was with move.

Um, Mr.

Rich, when we get to 12x, you'll be called on again if that's what you wish, and you still have uh two minutes and to speak on this one if you wish.

Um no, I'll wait.

I'll wait.

Okay.

That concludes the people have signed up to speak to item 12 V.

Council Member Parker.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

And this um agenda item um, I believe was this application this grant application was due today, so it's already been submitted.

Could you give us an overview of what's in that proposal?

What's in that application?

Chief Noel.

Sure.

Um we're asking for mobile radio on consoles for our real-time information center, 40,000, 40 about 48,000 for red dot sites, which are optics for firearms and holsters to accommodate um those optics on the firearms, and there's also a sub-award for um Knox County for 42,000.

Okay, thank you.

Any further questions or discussions?

Seeing none, all those in favor please say aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

12x is a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute any and all documents necessary to apply for and accept a grant award of up to $50,000 dollars with no required local match from the University of Virginia Center for Public Safety and Justice and the Howard and Carroll Safer Foundation to address forward thinking innovation and public safety.

Motion made to approve and seconded.

There's Mr.

Roach to sign up to speak against this item.

12x is under consideration.

If you could come to the podium, please state your name and address for the record, and you'll have up to three minutes to address council.

Again, as councilwoman Parker had requested previously to get a breakdown of what, you know, what this entails.

And also the concern that I have raised and others have raised over the last several years, is about the oversight process.

The audit committee can only do what's so much.

And you know, um with just one internal auditor, I understand that you know, when it comes time to do the big the big one, you know, we contract out, send contracts out.

However, um the concerns about the influx in this particular case of a private foundation, um, private, I guess public since it's from uh University of Virginia, um, and to make sure that the monies are expended as stated as agreed to.

Um, private foundation, federal government, state, Lieutenant C.

It's a tad bit bewildering um for the average person to understand how their tax dollars uh and then private foundation monies are all kind of mingled in to a municipal government, and whether or not that should be the path to bring in revenue to do whatever programs or uh whatever needs uh any department says that they need in order to fulfill the wishes of the people.

Um it just I think there should be a deeper discussion amongst city council with the mayor in earnest, um, and to think about whatever needs to be done in terms of the city code still staying in compliance with the state of Tennessee and also the federal government, um, about how these monies are used.

If you wanted to do a little tracking, I remember we had oh well I'm almost out.

Um I'd just like to you guys to start to do that.

Thank you.

Uh council that concludes if people sign up to speak to this item.

Council member Parker, uh thank you, Mayor.

This um grant award would fund uh efforts to address forward thinking innovation and public safety, um which can you know um when it comes to public safety, it can be good or it can be dystopian.

So that's why I ask these questions.

Um could you give us a uh overview of what you anticipate through this program?

Yeah, sure.

So this is innovation pilots.

So what UVA is doing is um putting this out there to um let police departments try some new things, so I could kind of nerd out about stuff like this.

So what we're looking at here is overdoses.

So, you know, there's no secret, we've talked about this a lot, um, both privately and publicly, that we're experiencing an increase of overdoses in our community.

So, what we want to what we want to propose to UVA is use our analysts to kind of take some of the um social network analysis tools that we've used for focus to target approach violence to look at overdoses to see if there's something that we could learn from that to try to either employ law enforcement measures in those areas with some of our narcotics enforcement or direct social um addiction service providers to some of those clusters to try to reduce some of the overdoses in our community.

Um and again, my only concern with the with the with the uh the work addressing the opioid crisis in our community is you know, when running for office, especially when running for office, because we were talking about it a lot more in 2019.

Um I was approached by multiple families, multiple parents who wanted an alternative to calling the police when their child uh was experiencing an overdose.

And um uh multiple parents that I've met who've lost children um since I first talked with them.

Uh and I was gonna bring this up on the previous agenda item 12W before it was removed, because when it comes to these opioid issues, um my concern is that KPD is not the best response.

Um, now if we're talking about some of the law enforcement issues that arise, okay, but a lot of these funding programs that have been coming before us, like the the one dealing with uh youth and families, um, and I went, you know, and looked directly at the funding program to get a better sense of what they're looking for, and um, you know, it seems like they're they're they're these efforts are to address it from a public health crisis rather than a criminal justice um approach.

Um and so it's uh you know, we don't have a health department in the city uh because of that it seems we rely on KPD a lot uh for these social issues, but it seems like something that community safety and empowerment could take the lead on and be able to connect uh it you know um when when in a community is needing more social services, that would be you know, the department that we could look to to connect folks to those services or bring those services into community.

I'm just failing to understand why we are leaning so much on KPD when it comes to the opioid issues.

I see your light on, are you wanting to?

Is that a question you want to know?

That is a question for the administration, yeah.

Um, well, KPD is not the only entity we rely on.

We also uh work with uh Metro Drug Coalition Positively Living, uh the National Fire Department, I'd say they respond to more overdose calls than any single entity in our city.

Uh so this is one $50,000 grant that if we uh if you all approve that and we get it, uh, we could use to think through some of those issues.

Obviously, uh we've had a public health approach to addressing violence in our city uh that's been very effective, and that's been a partnership and collaboration with the Office of Community Safety and Empowerment and KPD and various community partners and neighbors.

Um, so this is all of a piece of that.

It's just one more possible way to continue innovating and addressing these needs.

It's not the only one.

Well, and and on this one, you know, what we're seeing is KPD is taking the lead.

All I'm suggesting is let's let community safety and empowerment or uh a non-police response or approach take the lead on these issues.

Vice Mayor, if you get, thank you.

Um, Mayor, my um question on this one in particular.

I assume since it goes from the center of public safety and justice, only KPD could only a law enforcement agency could apply for this one.

Yeah, I believe it's a law enforcement grant, and again, it's a it's a small amount of money, and you know, they, you know, UVA works with uh, you know, police agencies across the the country.

I'm I'm on their board of advisors, that's how I was made aware of this grant, and they're just looking to fund innovation to see what um fund stuff is you know out there, new things that we could do to impact public safety and hopefully, you know, change change law enforcement and in the communities for the better.

And um, you know, there's a lot more we all could be doing on overdoses, but we're well willing to step up now, and this isn't an analytical approach.

I have analysts in my shop right now that are learning how to do this and getting better with it.

And I'm I'm super excited about it.

I don't know if we're gonna get it or not, um, but I'm super excited to take a crack at it if we do, and and mayor, the last thing I would say is you mentioned the Metropolitan Drug Commission and uh coalition and Bethany Lemon's fuel wave.

Uh, for folks who don't know, she is now the director of preventative services for MDC, so she is the person out doing a whole lot of work, working with lots of partners to help increase awareness about opioid and opioid prevention, opioid abuse prevention.

So thank you.

Yeah, we're very grateful for Metro Drug Coalition.

Uh council member Parker.

Well, I just wanted to emphasize that.

Um, you know, when when we have uh we've had KPD take the lead on uh grant funding applications that uh uh bring in other partners at the beginning of that process, and that would be lovely to see.

You know, let's not just hear about how KPD is approaching an issue, but I would love to see that at the beginning of a project of who else will be brought into it.

So if I may, so I think really talk through that, and because this is such a small amount of money.

What we want to do first, if we get this grant, um we want to see what what the information we gather shows us, and it may very well be an opportunity to partner with Metro Drug on this.

We work with Metro Drug closely every single day.

Partnering them on a front end without knowing before we do the analysis, without show knowing what that information is going to show us is probably a little premature, but that is something we absolutely talk through with my team and a lot of people are a lot smarter than I am.

Recommended that approach.

So if we're lucky enough to get this, um that that may absolutely be an opportunity for us.

Okay, seeing no further questions or comments, all those in favor please say aye.

Any opposed motion carries.

Thank you.

Motion made to approve and seconded.

Any questions or discussion?

Seeing none, all those in favor please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

13 A is an ordinance making and fixing the annual appropriations for the several departments, agencies, and funds of the city of Knoxville for the fiscal period beginning July 1, 2026 and ending June 30, 2027, and providing for the authority to reappropriate non-project-related encumbrances at the end of fiscal year 2025-2026 into fiscal year 2026-2027.

Motion made to approve and seconded.

Council members, we have one person signed up to speak.

Uh against item 13AA.

Um, Miss Vivian Scheip, if you would come to the podium, you'll have up to three minutes to address council.

Vivian Scheit, 3615 MLK Knoxville 37914.

Tonight I want you to take a pause as you begin begin to discuss this budget.

There are several areas of concern that I feel were not addressed in the budget reveal.

Where are the dollars for the cooling centers?

If it is as hot as it was cold this past winter, people will die in the heat, just like they did in the cold.

Why are you not funding the Office of Housing Stability to where they can have full staff?

So you can run the warming centers at 32 degrees.

Full funding will allow you to work with the churches and get volunteers instead of depending on them to lead the charge to care for our fellow citizens.

Why are the dollars allotted for the warming centers so scant, especially since relaunch will not be open next winter?

Where are monies in this budget for mental health and the opioid problems that we're talking about?

Why aren't there more dollars allotted for affordable housing?

The numbers given are not enough.

This time last year, you were rushing to fund the California group to the tune of almost a million dollars for the violence training with monies allotted for one year.

What's next?

Where is that report?

Who will be hired?

How will it be run?

That information was not presented at the budget reveal, but we did not forget.

These are just some issues that you need to look at.

Slow your role on approving this budget.

All is not right.

Thank you.

That concludes people who signed up to speak to this item.

Council members, uh, just want to say uh first thank you for um helping me and my administration develop this budget.

This is something that doesn't just take a couple weeks or a couple months, it's something we have conversations about uh year round.

And um, this is a leaner budget than years past, uh, but still focuses and supports our core essential services and keeps our lowest tax rate since 1974, which is uh important.

Public safety is job one, and this budget reflects that.

Another uh critical need in our community that we're all deeply and acutely aware of is the need for more affordable housing and homelessness prevention and uh shelter and you know, warming centers, and this budget supports affordable housing and support for homelessness prevention and services as well.

Um, also thanks to um all the people who worked on developing our parks master plan, the first one we've done in a while, maybe around 20 years, uh we can effectively move forward with investments in our parks, recreation, and greenways improvements to the tune of seven million dollars, including transforming Shahwi Park from an event venue to a park.

Um there's a lot to digest, and I know you just got your budget books on Friday, so I appreciate that in the coming weeks.

Not only will you have a lengthy legislative hearing, which my staff will be prepared to answer your questions, and we will that will be next week, and we are also I've directed my team to you know be there, give like a one-minute overview, and then just be ready to answer your questions.

We're not gonna um have PowerPoint presentations, we'll have plenty of information available to share, but it's your hearings to ask the questions that you and our job to answer those questions.

Um, so that's next week, and then four weeks from today on May 26th is the second reading.

So appreciate everyone's contributions to this discussion so far, and uh look forward to further discussions in the weeks ahead.

Vice Mayor Fugit.

Thank you.

Um, I just want to um do a public reminder.

Um, all the new council people were made aware of this by our attorney, Mr.

Frost, but the charter requires that city council pass the budget on first reading.

We typically have a second reading of all ordinances passed on first reading within two weeks.

So if this motion passes and it needs to, it has to, um, I intend to make an immediate motion to delay the second reading for four weeks until May 26, which is why the mayor keeps talking about May 26, because that is not the sequence of our normal first reading, second reading timeline.

So, just for the benefit of everybody, that's what I'm gonna be doing up here as we go through these budget amendments.

Budget ordinances, excuse me.

Making and fixing.

Each year I like to bring attention to my concerns with the budget process.

And Vice Mayor laid out some of that timeline.

So I can't remember what year it was now.

I think it might have been 2023, but a few years ago I brought forward some amendments to the charter that were not approved or adopted, and so they did not go up for a vote.

But those amendments were uh the purpose of them were to, in my opinion, make some improvements to our budget process, including um changing our charter to put four weeks between each reading.

Previously we had uh the first reading of the budget.

Uh everyone would vote in favor of the budget, or you know, before this council was in place.

Uh the media would report, you know, the budget unanimously approved on first reading.

Uh, then a few days later we have our legislative budget hearings.

We used to have two days of legislative budget hearings, which I appreciated and miss, but then quickly, you know, the following week we would have the second reading and vote on the budget that barely gave us any time to hear from uh the public, uh, for the public to engage in the process, uh, for us to ask all of our questions, and for us to consider any amendments to the budget.

Without a charter amendment, I brought forward a resolution that would essentially uh um ask that other council members would be in agreement with me that we would postpone that second reading for two weeks.

Um, and so we've made some adjustments to the calendar, but as was described, there's no final process in place.

Um, once this council is gone, um, unless we are remembering this process and wanting to continue it, um, someone has to make that motion to postpone uh the budget rather than us having a process kind of codified already in place.

Um so each year I do vote against uh the budget in the first reading.

Um that helps bring some attention uh from the public, um, and it helps it keep the media from saying the budget was unanimously approved, and we just have one more vote on the budget before it moves forward.

I think this is a really important part of our process.

This is the only time we have a public hearing on the budget.

Uh the mayor has, you know, the meetings that she has with department heads, we have the budget retreat.

Um, but when it comes to the public and hearing from the public and allowing the public to give input on the budget, that starts now, once the public has once the budget becomes available, and we have a public hearing scheduled on it.

So I also push back on these ideas that um, you know, because this has been a collaborative process and and lots of folks have weighed in on the budget, uh, that it's a done deal at this point.

I don't want to send that message out.

Uh, we are still in the midst of a budget um process that will include a public hearing, where we hope to hear from the public.

Uh now part of the reason why this process is not taken as seriously as as I would hope, is because we often don't have folks show up for that public hearing.

So I'm hoping, you know, people will show up this year, and and you know, be in agreement with me that this process is important enough that the public should weigh in.

The public hearings start at 5 p.m.

on May 7th, and I encourage as many members of the public as are able to please participate.

If you're not able to participate, please reach out, send an email, make a phone call, uh, and engage in this process around this budget.

Um, I'm gonna save my comments.

I have lots of them for the uh the legislative budget hearings, and I hope that we have enough time, and I hope that we have all the staff there necessary to go through all of the sections of the budget.

Thank you.

Seeing no further lights, uh all those in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries, Vice Mayor Fugit.

I'd like I would like to make a motion to postpone the second reading of this ordinance to for four weeks to May 26th.

Second.

Okay, motion made to postpone second reading to May 26th has been made and seconded.

Any questions or discussion about that motion?

Councilmember Grant?

Yeah, and so just for clarity for myself and clarity for the public, we're gonna have between now and May 26th, so we'll have four weeks.

It used to be two weeks, council members said they needed more time, and that seems reasonable, and so we just make it four weeks.

Okay, okay.

Well, yeah, I mean, I um, just in reference to the budget, um, you know, I've had the opportunity obviously not to look over its entirety.

Um, I will say that I'm I'm I'm proud that you know our first responders are are getting uh a raise, um, but I also want to keep in mind um our public works department.

Um, and I know we have a compensation study down the pipeline.

We are making steps towards that, um, but realizing the level of urgency that we need in terms of our public works, right?

Um, when I looked at the budget, you know, citywide, all city staff is getting a 2.5 increase in our uniform staff is getting an additional 1.7 uh percent as well, which I think is great.

Um, but when I look at our public work staff, they're uniformed, right?

They put on a uniform every day as well and make sure that you know other city services that we don't necessarily see behind the scenes, they go on full display and they get out there every day and provide that service.

And so while that compensation study is coming down the pipeline, I know it's gonna take time as council members as this administration, um, trying to do it with as much urgency as possible to get our public works service department to realize that we do care.

Um, but I just wanted to go ahead and put that on a record.

And you know, I know this administration, I know us as council members, we're doing what we can, um, but just keep that level of urgency for our public work staff as well.

That's it.

Okay, thank you.

Uh just a reminder the motion on the floor is to postpone second meeting to May 26th.

Any further questions or comments?

Seeing none, all those in favor please say aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

Next item, please.

13 AB is an ordinance to levy a tax on all taxable properties, real personal and mixed within the corporate limits of the city of Knoxville to provide sufficient revenues to fund the general fund and debt service fund operations and debt service obligations of the city of Knoxville for the fiscal period beginning July 1, 2026 and ending June 30, 2027.

Motion made to approve and seconded.

Any questions or discussion?

Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries Vice Mayor Fugit.

Thank you, Mayor.

I make a motion to postpone the second reading of this ordinance to the May 26th meeting, which is four weeks from today.

Motion made to postpone second meeting to May 26th.

It's been made and seconded.

Any questions or discussion?

Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

13 AC is an ordinance of the council of the city of Knoxville to amend Chapter 2, Article 3, Division 2, Sections 2-450, 2-458, and 2-459 of the Knoxville City Code to adjust the classification and compensation plans.

Motion made to approve and seconded.

Any questions or discussion?

Councilmember Parker.

Yes, Mayor.

This is an area of the budget that I'm trying to get a better handle on, and so I'll have more questions.

Over the next few weeks, as I have over the last few weeks.

But there was a and I didn't get a chance to ask this to Ms.

Director Henderson before um tonight's meeting, but there was a there was a salary increase for general government employees listed in here, required by the ump study ordinance.

Is um Miss Cunningham?

Did you know Cunningham?

I have done that.

How many times?

That's okay.

Uh Miss Cunningham, director of human resources.

I'm so sorry.

If you could come to the podium, she's only been in office a couple months, so we uh it's okay.

Um maybe say your name and not your address, but your role for the record since um you're relatively new to our city.

We're glad to have you.

Betsy Cunningham.

Thank you.

Can you restate your question again for me?

I'm sorry.

There's a section of this, um ordinance that says that we are implementing uh a salary, uh overall salary increase for general government employees, um, as required by the comp study ordinance.

Yes.

Um, yes, and what this is, this is um typically submitted uh this time of year.

We we do some cleanup, but specifically uh per the compensation study that the council approved previously, we provide an increase of the salary scales, so that's what we're doing.

So that we increase general government pay rates by one and a half percent, and then we increase uh the pay steps on uniformed by two and a half, and then an additional one point seven on the steps.

So I think um if you will look, I did a summary in the email that uh we have a all of the new pay skills attached to the actual AIS, which shows that increase that's granted per the this was the final year.

I think of the compensation study that the council agreed to do this for.

Okay, and so the language I'm talking about is um the Knoxville City Code require, and this is in the ordinance, the second, whereas, um each of the minimum and maximum pay rates for general government employees to be increased by amount not less than 1.5 percent affected July 1st.

Okay, so that's what you're talking about, the pay rates.

Yes, yes, ma'am.

Yes.

I've been talking also about to some city staff about this because uh initially I said congratulations on your pay raise.

And then as we were just increasing the pay rate exactly, not individuals' pay.

Okay, thank you.

That clarifies things.

Okay, any further questions or discussion?

Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed?

Uh motion carries, vice mayor, and for the third and final time, um, I make a motion to postpone the second reading of this ordinance for four weeks until the May 26th council meeting.

Second.

Motion made to postpone this item until May 26th has been made and seconded.

Any questions or discussion?

Seeing none, all those in favor.

What I think is just the same.

What is the delay?

It's just postponing it till the May 26th.

Because it's tied to the budget.

It's all tied to the budget.

Oh, I don't.

Okay.

Excuse me.

We have to pass a budget to fund it, so it's tied to the budget.

Any further questions or discussions?

Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

Thirteen A D is an ordinance appropriating the total sum of 21,000.

21,513.

Twenty-one thousand five hundred thirteen dollars twenty-nine cents from the parks and recreation department's fiscal year twenty-six operating budget and donating same for completed projects to various qualified organizations as part of the annual challenge grant award program.

Motion made to approve and seconded.

Any questions or discussion?

Seeing none.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

Council members, we have two people signed up for public forum.

The first is Vivian Scheip.

Ms.

Scheipe.

She's declining to speak a public forum.

Next is Patty Thomas.

Ms.

Thomas, if you could come to the podium, please state your name and address for the record, and you'll have up to three minutes to address counsel.

Inquiring about the city trees.

This is not the damage is not cosmetic.

It's structured and uh poses a long-term risk for the integrity of my home.

When I was here on April the 14th, I was advised that someone will follow up, come out, I'm sorry.

We'll um do an assessment on my property.

Well, that has failed to happen again.

Uh I do have the pictures that I have taken of two thousand and twenty-four is when I really start pushing for this, but it goes way beyond twenty-four, probably like 10 years.

I'm still asking the city for someone to come out to do this assessment on my property.

Um, so um I request that the city inspect and acknowledge responsibility for the damage that caused the trees located on the city property.

Uh I'm asking for correction action including uh the migration of the tree roots and process addressing property repairs related to the issue.

I don't understand how, why I have to wait so long to get this done.

It's been over ten years.

I've been up and down risk management, I've been at the city council, I've been up to the mayor's office, and I'm still asking for someone to come out to do an assessment on my property because of the trees.

It's it's turning up my house and my homeowner and showing said it is not their responsibility, they keep sending me back to the city.

No one will come out to come out to do an assessment on the tree roots or whatever.

So someone please come out to do an assessment on my property because that's my home where I have to live.

Thank you.

Council, that concludes public forum, and without objection, this meeting is adjourned.