Good evening and welcome to the City Council, Norman Utilities Authority, Norman Municipal Authority, and Norman Tax Increment Finance Authority meeting of August 12th, 2025.

Madam Clerk, will you call the roll?

Council Councilmember Gadisferi.

Here.

Councilmember Peacock.

Councilmember Mongtoya.

Present.

Councilmember Grant.

Present.

Councilmember Nash.

Here.

Councilmember Hinkle?

Here.

Councilmember Village.

Present.

Councilmember Dixon.

Present.

Mayor Holman.

Here.

Um next item is the Pledge of Allegiance.

If you'll choose Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

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

All right.

Okay, awards and presentations.

Um, a resolution of the council of the city of Norman, Oklahoma awarding the 2024 City of Norman Human Rights Award in conjunction with the Norman Human Rights Commission.

I entertain a motion to adopt or reject the resolution.

Motion to adopt do I have a second second?

The motion on the floor is to adopt the resolution.

Council members, you may cast your votes.

All votes have been cast, and the motion to adopt the resolution passes unanimously.

So are we not doing this from go ahead and add her turner for this?

And we really think this is moving in the right direction, and we really wanted to say thank you.

Um with a fully where our goal is, and we hope that you can continue moving forward with appointments and have a fully seated commission.

And we were very happy that she is here today to, and she's been very patient waiting to accept the award in front of City Council.

Ashley Creed was nominated specifically as a co-founder of RDC Red Dirt Collective and the director of the mutual aid fairs for RDC.

The nominator rights.

And the last one that was held at the time of this nomination in 2024 had around 250 participants.

Ashley has developed the overall design of the Mutual Aid Fair over time to not just offer free food, housing supplies, and clothing, but also bringing together many organizations and volunteers to offer services such as haircuts for adults and children alike, bicycle repair, mending of clothes, animal care by St.

Francis Animal Rescue, books by Little Reed Wagon, health care services by agencies, and many other resources.

For me personally, the creation of the Mutual Aid Fair is more than enough to qualify her for the Human Rights Award, as she is continuously seeking new ways to improve services and resources for citizens at the fairs.

The amount of humans helped at the mutual aid fairs is huge.

But there is more.

Ashley can often be found at events like monthly community conversations created to bring the community together to learn and grow.

Monthly Cook for a Crowd events to support Norman Caravans Meal Program, helping at the RDC Community Garden, bringing food to three outdoor pantries or more.

RDC takes care of picking up donations from people in the community or connecting people to other resources.

She is also a board member, the secretary for Norman Caravans to support their mission, and she is the administrator for the social media pantry page at Norman.

Ashley Creed is one of the most amazing humans I know.

She lifts up the entirety of Norman with the work she directly does and indirectly supports.

I think she should be celebrated and recognized for it.

Thank you, Ashley.

On a personal note, I met this woman in COVID, and she was wearing a mask, just paying on her own, putting in her own money-making mask for anyone she could find.

No, please join me here at the podium.

And then if you prefer, you can address the audience instead of us.

Okay, whichever you prefer.

We're experimenting here to try to figure out what the best way is.

So okay.

Um this is a resolution of the Council of the City of Norman, Oklahoma awarding the 2024 City of Norman Human Rights Award in conjunction with the Norman Human Rights Commission.

Whereas the City of Norman entrusts the Norman Human Rights Commission with the duties of studying problems of discrimination, advising city council on human rights issues, and coordinating citizen involvement in the promotion of human rights.

And whereas the Norman Human Rights Commission seeks to promote and encourage fair treatment and mutual understanding among all citizens and to combat all prejudice, bigotry, and discrimination that prevent individuals from reaching their full potential as human beings.

And whereas after receiving nominations from the Norman community, the Norman Human Rights Commission selects a group to receive the Norman Human Rights Award based on exceptional achievement, outstanding effort and or leadership to promote human rights and equality and to serve as an example to all.

Now, therefore, be it resolved by the city by the Council of the City of Norman that the City of Norman, Oklahoma, in conjunction with the Norman Human Rights Commission does hereby award the 2024 City of Norman Human Rights Award to Ashley Creed, passed and adopted this 12th day of August 2025.

Thank you.

There you go.

Fancy.

Although the wait has been long, it's an honor to address this mayor and council.

And thank you to Russell for your nomination and to the Human Rights Commission for accepting the nomination.

I appreciate all of the work HRC does to make Norman a better place for everyone.

Uh five years ago I helped found uh Red Dirt Collective with three others.

Since then, many others have put in their time, care, and resources to strive towards the empowerment of poor and working folks in Norman.

That includes everyone at Redder Collective, Norman Caravans, and our many amazing community partners doing the work every day to take care of each other.

I've got to be honest, it feels a little uncomfortable accepting an award as an individual when the work I'm being honored for is work I've done with an organization that has collective in the title, and this wouldn't be possible without a huge group of energetic, passionate and dedicated individuals committed to equity and justice in Norman.

Ultimately, uh one citizen isn't able to counteract the inherent and purposeful inequality built into our systems of government, finance, and culture.

Collectively, we have much greater impact.

And uh you all as public servants have a huge opportunity to impact this community with your votes and your voice.

Local government has a greater impact on each individual in this community than any other level of government.

And that means everyone, housed or unhoused, regardless of immigration status or sexual orientation.

It's the people whose labor and sweat are the backbone of the success of Norman, and we all deserve to live fulfilling safe and happy lives.

The last election cycle sent a loud and clear message about what Norman stands for.

Specifically, a municipal government that values respects and protects its citizens by making sure we are all cared for.

Thank you all again for giving me the time to address you all tonight and for accepting my nomination.

Please keep these goals in mind in all people in Norman, especially our most vulnerable, when you have the privilege to make these big decisions.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you so much.

And um, items two and three would be will be voted on in one motion.

Uh proclamations.

The first one is a proclamation of the mayor of the city of Norman, Oklahoma, proclaiming September 5th, 2025 as United Way Day in the City of Norman.

And then item number three is a proclamation of the City of Norman, Oklahoma, proclaiming August 19th, 2025 as World Humanitarian Day in the City of Norman.

And would we oh yeah, let's do this part first.

I will entertain a motion to acknowledge receipt of the proclamations.

Motion.

Second.

The motion on the floor is to acknowledge receipt of the proclamations.

Council members, you may cast your vote.

I'll vote Sammy cast and the motion passes unanimously.

All right.

Or if anybody from United Way is here.

We can do the second one first, and then if Darren shows up, we'll actually.

Okay.

And you're welcome to join me over here if you like.

Okay.

Okay.

A proclamation of the mayor of the city of Norman, Oklahoma, proclaiming Tuesday, August 19th, 2025, as World Humanitarian Day in the City of Norman.

Whereas World Humanitarian Day is observed each year on August 19th to honor the memory of humanitarian workers who have lost their lives in service to others, and to celebrate the spirit that inspires humanitarian work around the globe.

And whereas humanitarian aid workers often operate in some of the most dangerous and challenging environments, dedicate themselves to saving lives, alleviating suffering, and maintaining human dignity during crisis caused by natural disasters, conflict, and displacement.

And whereas the 2025 theme of World Humanitarian Day, strengthening global solidarity, and empowering local communities, highlights the critical importance of working alongside communities as partners, decision makers, and agents of our own futures.

And whereas we honor all those in the city of Norman, past and present, who inspire humanitarian work and dedicate their lives in service to others, and we could reaffirm our commitment to supporting those who are most vulnerable.

Now, therefore, I, mayor of the city of Norman, Oklahoma, do hereby proclaim Tuesday, August 19th, 2025, as World Humanitarian Day in the City of Norman, and encourage all citizens to reflect on the importance of humanitarian efforts, to recognize the courage and dedication of humanitarian workers, and to support initiatives that uphold human dignity worldwide.

Passed and approved this 12th day of August 2025.

We don't have to move it.

Good evening, everybody.

Mayor Hol Holman, thank you so much for that proclamation to the distinguished members of the city council and to the citizens of the great city of Norman.

It's my honor to accept this humanitarian day uh proclamation on behalf of the city that values uh cooperation, that values empathy, that values the belief that all humans can make a difference.

And my story as a humanitarian began 15 years ago when my twin brother and I came to the United States to the state of Oklahoma, and we thought we were gonna see cowboys when we came to Oklahoma.

So to our surprise, we didn't see any.

And then we went to school at OCCC, UCO, USAO, and Chickashay, and we ran into several cowboys.

And the cowboys would ask us questions.

So Patels, y'all are from India.

I bet you can see elephants in the streets of India.

And I would often joke with them, yeah, you sure can, depends on how much you've been drinking.

But, oh well, I mean, maybe it depends on how much Akash was drinking.

He could have probably seen cowboys in the streets in Norman, Oklahoma.

But that brings me to the point that we all see the world through what we read, through what we consume.

But guess what?

The beauty of dialogue, the beauty of sitting down together with somebody who doesn't think like you, who doesn't share the same religion, the same political beliefs, helps you dispel those stereotypes and see that Akasha is just as human as Aisha, and Akash is just as human as Mayor Holman.

And that's the belief that inspired me and my twin brother to create a nonprofit when I started teaching in rural Oklahoma communities.

We created a nonpartisan uh nonprofit organization that I now have named after my twin brother, who is also a Norman resident and died in 2018 to a plane crash, and it's called the Happy World Foundation.

Today, in 2025, we have 2,000 volunteers from a hundred and fifty countries that video call classrooms in all 50 states in the United States at zero cost.

So you can imagine children in Norman, Oklahoma talking to their peeps in Ghana, or in Uganda, or in Australia, or in Germany, at no cost, live and for free.

The whole idea was we foster that cross-cultural understanding.

We foster that understanding between nations, and we do that as citizen diplomats.

Citizens who believe in a world where we can all coexist.

No matter what your beliefs are, independent Republican Democrat, we can all believe we don't want any more wars.

We don't want to tear each other down.

We want to help build each other up.

So that was the idea and belief behind this nonprofit.

And the idea came from the belief that we we see many gaps in life.

And I want to leave you with this message that when I came to Oklahoma and I saw that gap that oh, many of my students had not traveled.

They're just not left their communities, and they wanted to know more about Germany, wanted to know more about Africa.

And I was like, what can I do as an educator to bring that well to the classroom without them having that same privilege and the money and the resources to travel?

So I created this nonprofit and I helped fill that gap.

But many times in life, humanitarians will see gaps, and they're gonna be like, I'm gonna wait for somebody else to fill that gap.

But let us all as citizens be inspired today through uh the mayor's proclamation that we can all be humanitarians.

And we can all not just look at those gaps, but do our small part in filling those gaps and not just stop at filling one gap, but keep on filling those gaps in life.

So thank you, Mayor Holman and the City Council, uh, Aisha and the Human Rights Commission uh for this proclamation.

I I wholeheartedly accept this on behalf of my twin brother, uh, who I would consider an honorary resident, uh, my late twin brother, Happy Patel.

Thank you.

Okay, I don't see Darren here still, so I'll just go ahead and read it and then we'll make sure Darren gets this uh receipt of this um this week.

So a proclamation of the mayor of the city of Norman, Oklahoma, proclaiming September 5th, 2025 as United Way Day in the City of Norman.

Whereas United Way of Norman has served the Norman community for almost 70 years, working to improve lives by mobilizing the caring power of the community, and whereas United Way of Norman supports programs and initiatives that focus on youth, opportunity, financial security, and healthy community.

And whereas the organization collaborates with local nonprofits, businesses, schools, faith groups, government agencies, and volunteers to identify critical needs and develop effective solutions.

And whereas United Way of Norman leads in initiatives like the Community Needs Network and provides vital support during times of disaster while also investing in long-term community development.

And whereas the generosity of individuals, corporations, and community partners during the annual United Way campaign fuels the organization's ability to create lasting change and support local partner agencies.

And whereas the City of Norman recognizes this and celebrates the positive impact United Way of Norman has made and continues to make in the lives of thousands of residents across the region.

Now, therefore, I, mayor of the city of Norman, Oklahoma, do hereby proclaim September 5th, 2025 as United Way Day in the City of Norman, and encourage all residents to uh recognize and support the ongoing work of United Way of Norman in building a stronger, healthier, and thriving community.

Passed and approved this 12th day of August, 2025.

Thank you.

I have a board meeting in the morning.

I can put that in Darren Wilson's hands early tomorrow morning.

Thank you.

Okay.

All right, next item on the agenda is council announcements, and we'll start in Ward 1.

It's gonna be pretty simple.

Hello, Ward 1.

Um, as everybody knows, I am also the coordinator of security at Norman Regional a couple weeks ago.

We had a little event at our hospital some fun.

Wanted to make sure we publicly announce and thank Norman P5D for a quick response.

Took everything as serious as everybody can make it, had our building cleared really, really quick and proficient, had all my staff back to work almost immediately.

So thanks very much for all y'all's hard work and everything you do to keep us safe.

Also, Ashley's already left or out in the hallway at least.

She does a lot in Ward 1.

Her mutual aid fairs are always held in Ward 1.

Ward 1 has a lot of need for programs like hers there.

I know when I attend them, the last one, a lot of our school age kids were there getting free clothes, free supplies for school, things like that, that is much needed in our ward.

So when you do see her or those that want to donate, please reach out to her to do so.

And that's it.

Ward two.

Thank you.

We've got a series of appointments to some committees tonight, and I just want to uh recognize a couple ward two members.

Uh so Aubrey Gibson is going to be appointed to the Animal Welfare Oversight Committee, and Alex Landfree will be appointed to the bicycle advisory committee.

I just want to uh thank these individuals for service.

Thank you.

Ward three well, good evening, ward three in Norman, Oklahoma.

I hope everyone is doing well tonight.

So first, I would like to congratulate the following appointments to some committees and advisory boards.

So to Chuck Thompson and Shelley Cox to their reappointment to the economic um the economic development advisory board as well as Sherry Stansil for your reappointment to the flood permit committee and Aisha Ali for your reappointment to the Human Rights Commission.

Thank you all for your committed volunteerism and service to our community.

And secondly, tomorrow school starts, so please watch out for those school speed zones and the kids that are riding their bikes and walking to school.

And for all of you here with us and watching online, thank you for being here.

Yes.

Good evening, Ward 4 and City of Norman.

First, as this is Councilmember Nash's last meeting with us, I would just like to take the opportunity to thank him for serving on Norman City Council.

And I wish she and his family all the best in their new endeavors.

I also want to extend my congratulations to Ashley Creed and by extension RDC on being awarded and recognized for the 2024 Human Rights Award.

It's been a long time coming.

They also have another mutual aid fair on Saturday, August 17th at Irving Rec Center from 12 to 2 30 p.m.

Next, thank you to Ward 4 resident Susan Skapik for your willingness to serve on our historic district commission.

Last, I want to say this Thursday at 4 p.m.

in oversight, we will discuss shelter updates and in response to community discussion.

We will discuss public access to public restrooms at city facilities.

This will encompass challenges, effective solutions, and desired changes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ward five.

All right, well, I'll keep this short.

Uh this will be my last meeting tonight.

So the road ahead for both Ward 5 residents that might be watching this at home is uh I think the council is going to get together, discuss uh uh an appointment committee, which will be formed sometime in the next month or so.

Then applications will be uh requested from any members of the community that wants to uh apply to put their hat in the ring.

That'll be whittled down to a short list who will be interviewed, and then that appointment committee will nominate one applicant to the council to uh vote on to swear in.

And uh I think I'll save all the rest of the comments till after the bulk of the business is done.

So that's it.

Thank you.

Award six.

I'd also like to extend thank you to Dr.

Nash for his service as a city council person, and uh just wish you well on whatever's next for you.

Um, I'm always a big advocate of people of the city of Norman getting involved in the process of city council, and uh if that is through boards and commissions, that's a really great way to get involved.

So I wanted to take time to thank some ward six residents who have uh either been reappointed or are being appointed for the first time to serve on a few committees.

So uh Ann Wimberly is going to be on the bicycle advisory committee.

Tyler Burns for the Historic District Commission, uh Ramina Navarro Vega for the Human Rights Commission, and then Cynthia Allen for the University of North Park Tech TIFF Oversight Committee.

Uh, thank you all for agreeing to spend your time serving the City of Norman in that volunteer capacity.

And then I also want to wish uh all of the students and teachers, administrators, bus drivers, support staff, everyone a great first day of school tomorrow uh and for the whole school year.

I hope everyone stays safe and learns a lot and grows in exponential ways through our awesome school system.

Thank you.

Ward seven.

Um, yeah, I um have a couple of congratulations also and big thank yous for stepping up um to serve on a committee.

Um one of my dear friends um that lives in ward seven is here tonight and has been here since she every um meeting since she was appointed.

She's already had been appointed.

So I might butcher the name of the committee that I I do believe Brittany Elliott.

I do believe you're on transportation oversight.

Public safety.

Public safety oversight, sorry.

Yes, thank you for doing that.

She was actually sworn in by Mayor Heikula.

And then my next door neighbor, um Kelly Fiel um uh stepped up and is serving on the Human Rights Commission.

So thank you, Kelly.

And I also wanted to wish um Dr.

Nash and his family all the best.

And he informed me informed me a little while ago that we are now neighbors.

So he joined us in Ward 7.

So how exciting.

Um that's awesome.

And I also want to send a big congratulations to Ashley Creed, very well deserved.

Thank you.

Ward 8.

Um just a few announcements tonight.

Uh let's see, uh, we nominated uh longtime uh Norman volunteer um for all kinds of anything the city needs.

Uh Jackie Farley to the Human Rights Commission.

Um on that note, uh I need more Ward 8 residents to reach out and uh let me know what boards they would like to be on.

Um I think we need that kind of citywide.

You can go to our website, uh click on your government and then boards and commissions and then board application, uh fill out the application online.

I believe it goes to the mayor, um, but then also email your city council person that you would like you have an interest of being on a certain board that will help immensely, and we appreciate everyone who volunteers their time on all these very important committees.

Um like to say uh oh um I joined uh Parks and Rec and Scott Sturts along with um the Howard family at uh from Baked Bear at Whittier on uh Monday and handed out uh ice cream sandwiches to all the teachers.

And uh I think they were they were excited about the ice cream sandwiches, but they were real excited that they got to take a break from their professional development that they were in the middle of.

Um I think they were super stoked about that.

Um and again, like everybody said, NPS is back to school tomorrow when those stop signs come out on those big yellow school buses.

Please stop.

Um there's gonna be kids who haven't ridden buses, they don't know, they're just gonna be excited to get on that big yellow dog, and they're not looking out, so please stop when that stop sign's out.

And that's it for ward eight.

Thank you.

Um I would just also um extend my appreciation to Councilman Nash and his family uh for the his service and their service to our community.

Um I think we'll have a formal resolution recognizing Councilmore Nash on whatever night we make the appointment for the next council member.

And so hopefully we'll be able to get you to come back and maybe say a few things.

Um and with that, I'm planning uh we'll have a selection committee of ward five residents.

And um we hope I think that by the end of this week on the city's website will be live application process for any ward five residents that are registered voters in Ward 5 that are interested in being appointed to serve Ward 5 on the city council.

Um there'll be about a week-long apple open application process, and then after that closes, the selection committee would interview those applicants and make a recommendation to the city council for who they think should be appointed.

And then um the way I envision that is that somebody would be appointed hopefully by the first or second meeting in September, uh, so that Ward 5 does not go unrepresented in that seat uh for more than at least one or two meetings, hopefully.

And then there would be a ward five election along with the other city council elections this spring in February.

So whoever's appointed would serve until someone is elected in either February or April if there's a runoff, and then that person, whoever is elected, would serve a one-year remaining term of councilmember Nash.

And then there'd be another Ward 5 election the following spring in 2027 to fill the full regular two-year term.

So that's typically how we've done it, formed a committee and done a selection process that way.

And so that's what we'll plan to do here.

So if you're interested and you're in Ward 5, keep an eye out to the city website for any um uh notices about that going live this week.

And if you have any questions or anything, um feel free to contact Clerk's office or me or um any of us up here.

And then also wanted to um extend my thanks again to Ashley Creed and and everybody that she mentioned.

It really does take a community to organize the the mutual aid fair and the other events.

And so, you know, but you know, there's always people that kind of get those things going, and Ashley's definitely one of the people that help do that, and I really appreciate her efforts and others for um for what they're doing to help those in our community that are really in need.

So and then on also just wanted to thank everybody who was willing to serve on our boards and commissions.

Um we do have still have a some more vacancies that we're we're filling, planning to fill within the next few weeks.

Um but there's always an opportunity if you're out there and you're interested in helping out with the city or being involved in city issues more, um, and you have a particular thing you're most interested in, whether it be bicycles or parks or uh streets and things like that, then uh please fill out an application on the city website, contact your council member, express your interest if that's the case, and we'd be happy to um to consider you for an appointment when something comes up.

So uh want to encourage everybody to do that.

And then lastly, again, as everybody else said, school starting tomorrow.

I just want to um wish good luck to all of our students and teachers and faculty and staff throughout the whole district, um, norm public schools and all the other school districts that are in Norman, and and hope you all have a very productive year and you learn a lot of really valuable things and life lessons, and um and that it's just a really wonderful time for everybody.

So, with that, we will move on to the consent docket.

This item is placed on the agenda so that the city council by unanimous consent can designate those routine agenda items that they wish to be approved or acknowledged by one motion.

If any item proposed is not meet the approval of all council members, that item will be heard in regular order.

Stack staff recommends item four through twenty-six be placed on the consent docket.

I'll entertain a motion to place items four through twenty-six on the consent docket.

Motion second.

The motion on the floor is to place items four through twenty-six on the consent docket.

Council members, you may cast your votes.

I'll vote to place items four through twenty-six on the consent docket, passage unanimously.

I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent docket.

Motion to approve second.

Are there any comments from council on any item on the consent docket?

Seeing none.

The motion on the floor is to approve it.

Council members, you pass your votes.

I'll votes have been consent document passes unanimously.

All right, moving on to the non-consent agenda.

Second reading ordinance, item number 27 is an ordinance of the city council of the city of Norman, Oklahoma, amending building codes, building code to establish a visitable incentive program for residences, visitable dwellings, and providing for the severability thereof.

I'll entertain a motion to adopt or reject the ordinance on second reading, section by section.

Motion.

Second.

I will recognize Greg Clark, Development Services Manager, to make a presentation.

Mayor, thank you, council uh for coming out tonight.

I appreciate the opportunity.

A lot of times uh when I come to this council, I'm asking for something.

Uh and tonight I'm not I don't feel like we're asking as much, but we want to give back.

And so we we have a program that we've worked with over the years.

It's called the visitable dwelling program.

And so most of you in council have probably heard about this through several different presentations, but a lot of the public is probably not familiar with it.

So I'll go in a little bit of detail about what it is and kind of how the program works and what it aims to accomplish.

And so before I get too deep, um, I think there's an important definition, a couple definitions that everybody really does have to know.

And most people are familiar with the term accessibility, right?

Uh it means a home that's built to like an ADA type home or similar, you know, design for folks with certain challenges.

But accessibility is not just a one-stop shop, right?

There's a full spectrum for someone with accessible needs.

On the lower end of that spectrum is what they call a visitable dwelling.

And so I have a definition up there, I'll read it.

A visible dwelling would be a home that has a very few Pacific features that makes a home easier for somebody with mobile be impaired and for people with some challenges to live in and visit.

Another term you would hear for a visitable home that uh is very common is a home that's well designed for aging in place as well.

And so what if if you we move this forward program forward, the homes that crack meet that criteria will be able to fall into that blanket, which is certainly a good thing.

A few differences between what you might think of as a fully accessible home versus visible home.

I kind of have a list of them, and I won't go over all of them, but there's some similarities.

They both would have no step entries, they both would have wider doorways.

Uh they start to differ a little bit when you get into the bathroom areas.

A visitable home would have some minimum clearances that make it wider, has backing in the walls for potentially future grab bars.

But an accessible dwelling would actually have a much larger turning radius, say for someone in a wheelchair.

The count not only would have backing, but you would actually have grab bars installed for the uh the person who lived there.

Um moving on, the kitchen.

Again, a visitable kitchen is going to have some wider pathways to make sure people uh with mobility issues can get through.

But an accessible one's not only going to have the wider pathways, it's going to have to have appliances within reach distances and uh even more features built in so the person living there can have it.

So there's there's various differences.

Um just sometimes a picture is uh maybe worth more to folks.

So you'll see the picture on the left there, is uh what we'd call a type B kitchen, and you'll notice it has a much wider turning space, a 60-inch minimum.

So person in a chair could probably make a full turn, whereas the visitable kitchen on the right there is allowed to have a smaller pathway, a 40-inch wide path, but it's still usually amply big, even if even a person in a chair could get through that 40-inch path, they just wouldn't be able to turn around in that exact dimension there, at least not easily.

So, again, good features for them.

So, currently, the City of Norman has adopted the 2018 IRC and the ICC ANSI 117 code, which governs accessibility.

Uh the standard uh in the 2009 version when it came out, it included a brand new section called Type C units.

And so this was new to the code back when this was published.

Uh Norman adopted this a handful of years back, uh, about the same time they came to me about starting a program for visitable homes.

And so this is not uh in a new program, it's been around for a handful of years, and I'll talk a little bit about the history.

But how the program works is this.

Uh builders uh of single family, two family, even ADUs, can apply for the program when they make an application for a permit.

It's we we make it really easy.

They just have to check a box on our online permitting software saying they want to be enrolled, and at that time uh we do not charge them for what we call the building permit fee.

That building permit fee is 14 cents per square feet of all the areas under the roof.

And my example up there, if someone was going to build a 3,000 square foot house, they'd be eligible for a 420 dollar reduction in fee.

Uh once they're near completion of the home, uh they have to request a single inspection.

Uh a city city building inspector will go out to the site, confirm all the uh you know hot items that make it visible, the no-step entry and a lot of the items I covered there after their verification is approved, is the home is deemed compliant and they're done.

Uh they they get to essentially they earn the credit.

If for some reason they failed the program, uh they have two choices.

So they could either repay the fee, essentially uh withdrawing from the from the program, or they can make the corrections to it, and then we can come back out and see the corrections and then potentially approve the home.

So they don't get punished.

This is not a mandatory program, it's an elective program.

Uh, and so with that, you know, we're not we're we're we're telling our citizens, we're telling our building community these are this is something we want, and here's here's a little bit of incentive to help you do it.

And one thing I would say about that 420 bucks doesn't sound like much, and it's not, right?

It's not a huge number.

But really, that most of the changes that are required to make a home visitable are really not large impact cost.

I mean, putting frankly the doors that most people put in, the width of them anyway, are amply big.

Uh if you're pouring concrete, like you see in my picture there, um, it doesn't cost you any more money to not put a step there, right?

I mean, there's some there's some homes where putting a step there would be a problem, but in the end, it really doesn't cost a lot more.

Having a pathway in the kitchen that I described there, a lot of kitchens, a lot of your U all's kitchens already now probably meet that criteria.

But the bathroom requirement, yeah, there's a bathroom requirement, and it requires some backing in the wall, but the backing, you know, there's usually enough material on the job they could put the backing in at zero cost, frankly.

Uh and the dimensional requirements to meet it, you know, it we would have to you know convince a few of the designers to change, but they're not dramatic.

And so it's not a huge, not a huge credit, but it doesn't need to be, uh Frankly, it just doesn't.

A little bit of history, and I won't go into uh a lot of depth, but I do want to uh point out a few things.

So this didn't start yesterday.

Uh that this was born back in 2019.

There was a citizen ad hoc committee uh that was formed, and they really wanted to study and look to see how we could get you know more of these aging in place, more of these visitable homes in our market.

And so it was kind of their initial brainchild to come up with a credit program uh to try to help fund this.

And so they that their their initial work was started around what we call the fair housing design manual.

It was a document from 1998.

It's a little bit dated, frankly.

A lot of the concepts in the book uh wouldn't even meet our current code, let alone uh you know uh future code.

So there were some good things in there, but it it had to be updated.

So uh I I became your building official around 21, and they uh uh it kind of sat there and they came to me and they was I was asked to research this and come up with a program that uh you know would have longevity to it and would meet the intent of that ad hoc committee.

And so at the time I they came to me, I wasn't even familiar with the term visitable, but reading the codes, looking at it, this term uh had literally just shown up in the code we had just adopted, and it it was you know it's gonna be there, it's gonna be in the it's it's gonna live on for a long time.

So it made a lot of sense to work with the codes we have and that uh to gear this program around there.

So we devised uh a program that was adopted by resolution twice now, and I'm here today to ask you to make it a permanent ordinance instead of having to come back as a resolution over and over year in and year out.

We've have enough experience with the program that we can manage it.

Uh you know, we can certainly do better at certain parts of it, but in terms of the bare bones of getting it out there, managing the program and having the inspectors trained on it and having the knowledge to do it.

We were absolutely equipped for it.

And so instead of having to come back every couple years and extend, extend, extend.

We thought it was just time to make it a permanent adoption.

It'd be a good program, hopefully, with that, hopefully with a long-term adoption, we can make you know, can sell it if you will.

So if you all adopt this today, I I plan to do a little lunch and learn with the builders here in a few months where we bring them in-house, try to educate them about it, let them know it's still out there, and try to push the program again, and maybe we can get even more participation and get more of these visitable aging in place homes in our community, which I think everybody would uh agree is a good is a good thing.

Uh so that's pretty much all I have for you today.

I'm happy to take any questions.

Thank you, Greg.

Are there any questions from council regarding this item?

Not seeing any.

Okay.

This is an opportunity for members of the public to make comments regarding this item.

Remarks should be directed to council only.

Madam Clerk, are there any speakers registered for this item?

Uh yes, we have a couple.

I'll start with Cynthia Rogers.

Cynthia Rogers, Ward 4.

I very much appreciate this having spent a bunch of time making my home more visitable, um, also more livable for my um my daughter.

I look at it and I think, wow, they didn't have to make this hallway so narrow, they didn't have to make these doors so narrow.

Um I spent a lot more money undoing that than if uh those would have just the doors would have just been wider to begin with.

Fortunately, it's a ranch, so no steps.

So I hope we can also think about ways to help people age in place, and I know there's some programs, um, and maybe provide whatever incentives a city can to help folks um stay in their homes that are almost visitable but need some key changes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Evan Dunn.

Hi, thank you.

Uh Evan Dunn, 1400 Garfield Avenue.

Uh, there were a couple things that came to mind.

I love incentives, and I'm not sure quite if this is enough of an incentive, but um what about accessibility incentives?

Uh what participation rate do we kind of anticipate?

Because this is obviously going to be giving back some amount of funding, but uh, you know, how accurate can we estimate that?

Some some things to consider.

Thank you.

Okay.

Okay, are there any final comments from council?

This item.

Not seeing any.

Okay.

Um, I just want to extend my thanks to Greg and all the city staff that worked on this over the last five, six years.

Um, and all the former current council members that worked on this.

And um, I think it's something that we can it there's been some success with it.

We can make it a permanent policy and then hopefully expand it and make adjustments to it as we go along.

So with that, uh let's see.

And the motion on the floor is to adopt the ordinance on second reading, section by section.

Council members, you may cast your vote.

All votes have been cast adopt the ordinance upon second reading, passes unanimously.

Okay, I'll entertain a motion to adopt or reject the ordinance on final reading as a whole.

Motion.

Second.

The motion on the floor is to adopt the ordinance on final reading as a whole.

Council members, you may cast your votes.

I'll vote to adopt the ordinance on final reading, passes unanimously.

All right.

Item number 28, a preliminary plat for MINIC materials edition, generally located one half mile north of Indian Hills Road on the east side of Interstate Drive, 6665 Interstate Drive.

I'll entertain a motion to approve or reject the preliminary plat.

Motion.

Is there a representative of the applicant to make a presentation?

Uh good after good evening, and uh thank you, Mayor and Council, for hearing this item.

I'm Caleb Morgan with Johnson Associates.

I'm the civil engineer.

Uh designed the plan that is representing this item.

Uh what you have before you is a development that is currently in existence and operation, uh, medic materials.

They provide landscaping items and paving items uh to many different construction projects around the state and in other states even.

Um, and they have a current building there now.

The proposal is to tear down that building and build one in its place, basically the same size in the same location.

And we are bringing everything up to code as we do that.

So uh we appreciate the staff's input and their thorough review and uh assisting us and getting this uh to meet all the current requirements.

So we've met all the requirements, which is part of that.

Um we have to replat the lot, and it's just one single lot, so this is just a lot to meet those requirements.

And I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Okay.

I'm sorry.

Oh, this is Councilmember Peacock.

Thank you.

Uh I see that you have uh grass surrounding the immediately around the building, and then there's a it looks like to be a road.

What what's occurring kind of outside the road and in the rest of the property there?

Is that gravel?

Is that yes, it's gravel, that's the way it is right now, and so it's all storage area for the so it's currently gravel right now.

And were you required to provide any detention or anything on the property?

No, we're not really changing the uh current runoff from the site.

We did make some adjustments to account for some minor changes.

So uh to do to meet that requirement for detention, we added additional landscape areas to less impervious area, basically.

So we're actually discharging less water from the site than we did historically.

So we okay, as well as meeting the landscape requirements.

So that's gonna be my next question, and then uh lighting.

Are you do you have perimeter lighting around the whole property or just up near the building?

Uh I believe just up near the building.

So they're gonna have lights on the building.

Excellent.

Okay, thank you very much.

Right.

Okay, any okay.

This is an opportunity for members of the public to make comments regarding this item.

Remarks should be directed to council only.

Madam Clerk, are there any speakers registered for this item?

Um yes, we'll start with Cynthia.

Okay.

Um Curtis Watson.

Okay.

And then that was Kayla.

Um did Evan leave.

I think he's out there with okay.

Are there any other comments?

Seeing none.

Okay.

All right.

Um there any final comments from the council on this item?

Seeing none.

The motion on the floor is to approve the preliminary plat.

Council members, you may cast your vote.

All votes have been cast, and the motion to approve the preliminary plat passes unanimously.

All right.

Um item number 29 is a consideration.

You want to do that first?

Okay.

I will recognize council member Nash to make a statement.

Thank you, Mayor.

Well, it's been uh a long few years.

In fact, if I remember right, I think it was five years yesterday that the same meeting happened with Sarita Wilson's resignation.

Uh and yeah, and so this this is an opportunity for uh members of the public who would otherwise not to go through the uh the whole ordeal and chaos of running a campaign uh you know to in pursuit of trying to win a seat for a job that you don't understand completely.

This is one of those chances where it's kind of like uh not the back door, it's more the side door.

And uh I never would have found myself in this seat had Sarita not resigned back then because you know I'm not gonna run a campaign to sit up here and get yelled at by the public for hours on end.

That's it's insane.

I'll apply to do it, but uh yeah, and so you know, I thought about maybe staying in the seat until a replacement were found, if that would make sense or stretching it out.

But one of the things I've been saying since the beginning is that the only thing worse than no representation is the illusion of representation.

And I'm gonna be very busy over the next few weeks packing everything up, moving, and uh, you know, so if I were to stay here in the seat, I wouldn't be giving the ward my entire uh attention or bandwidth.

And uh so that's why decided to go ahead and you know, before we get the keys, go ahead and make it official, and we can get on the the track on the path to uh finding somebody new and a replacement for uh I will say that the last couple of years have been kind of a walk in the park compared to 2020.

So I think the day after or the day of when my name reached the the newspapers that I was gonna be the one that is appointed, uh council member Perry passed away.

And so as soon as I was sworn in, there was the appointment process going all over again with ward two, and I think it was my second meeting, maybe the third, that uh we had a vote on whether or not to uh to appoint Sean Boyd to the seat.

That one didn't go through, and then luckily Joe Carter stepped up to uh to take the seat, and then we had a big old ice storm, and then there's a bunch of storm debris everywhere, and then there was campaign season, and uh during the 2021 election, you know, my loss ushered in three weeks of darkness and cold where we didn't get above freezing until like day 21 or two.

Uh but it's this time around it's been a little bit more relaxed.

You know, these new kids on the council have no idea what we salt's been through, but you know.

Do I think that they should go through a little bit of that pain and suffering like we did?

Yeah, maybe a little bit.

Toughen them up, I don't know.

But it is bittersweet.

It's gonna be a little difficult to pivot.

Uh and you know, not and try to tell myself not to pay as much attention anymore.

Yeah.

Many years ago, why didn't I take the uh the blue pill?

Yeah, but once you get hooked into city politics, it's hard to get off of it.

So it's been a pleasure serving with all of you.

I'm Mr.

Pyle.

I'm sure that after uh this meeting is concluded, you guys will be cracking the champagne and city staff has tomorrow off.

He worked tomorrow.

Well, I tried, so um, yeah, so I guess that's that pretty much sums it up.

Okay.

Well, thank you again, Councilmember Nash.

And um, like I said, uh, when we are ready to make the replacement appointment, I think we'll have a formal recognition of you know all that stuff.

All right.

Item number 29 is consideration of approval of a declaration of vacancy in Ward 5 under Article 2, Section 22 of the Norman City Charter.

I'll entertain a motion to approve the declaration of vacancy.

Motion to approve.

Second.

Are there any questions from council regarding this item?

Seeing none, the motion on the floor is to approve the declaration of vacancy.

Council members, you may cast your vote.

All votes have been cast, and the motion passes unanimously.

Okay.

And our next item is miscellaneous comments.

This is an opportunity for citizens to address city council due to the open meetings meeting act regulations.

Council is not able to participate in discussion during miscellaneous comments.

Remarks should be directed to the council as a whole and limited to four minutes or less.

Do we have anybody signed up for miscellaneous comments?

Um, yes, we do, Mayor.

We'll start with Trey Kirby.

Thank you, Michael, uh, for your time and congratulations on your house.

I'm coming up today to speak with you because I know we have an issue in Norman with uh low income and housing.

I know y'all are trying to solve this issue.

Me and my wife took it upon ourselves to try to assist in that.

We were going to try to build a little area out in East Norman that would have allowed 10 to 24 people to come out.

We went through all the DQ regulations, getting the well approval for a minor uh municipal water service, and as well as doing uh septic.

The problem is when we ran into it with OEC, um, we were doing 10 individual meters.

That way people could each have their own meter and pay their electric.

We are in a HUD opportunity zone, so it should be welcoming to housing, but OEC has decided to deny to give us 10 meters.

They want to do one big transformer in one meter, which would make us responsible for the bill, and we're not a utilities company.

Um maybe y'all should reach out and try to encourage OEC that when people in opportunity zones try to offer housing for veterans or elders or low income.

It would have been nice for them to participate.

I mean, we were talking about housing at under $800 a month, and OEC is probably going to be the shutdown of it all after dealing with the DEQ.

So just letting you know people in Norman are trying, but we're being shut down.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Cynthia Rogers.

So back in 214, Dr.

Ellis, Dr.

Hayden, and I wrote this paper that was published in the Arizona Law Review.

And the paper had to do with um well, political economy and basically how elected officials and and governing boards had an obligation to follow due diligence.

The same as board of directors for corporations do.

No, there haven't been any legal cases using this, but I think the point of this is um is relevant for thinking about TIFS and for thinking about the arena TIF in particular.

So based on that, here's my what due diligence would entail, and I'm gonna encourage you to pursue some of these.

One, the arena TIFF in the Rock Creek Entertainment District does not currently have any um language for an oversight board.

We should have an oversight board.

Somebody should be checking on whatever the county's doing.

Um, there should be outside analysis provided to the statutory review commission so they can make a recommendation, not six months a year down the road when you are making a recommendation.

They didn't have all the information they needed.

Um three, an educational impact analysis should be completed.

It's actually required in the TIFF legislation.

But there was one paragraph and one note about oh, what the impact will be when the TIFF increment diversion ends.

That doesn't fulfill the requirements, and that was never done.

I did do my attempts at um estimating the impacts, and I tried to run it through the Board of Education and the schools.

Due diligence requires these sorts of steps for us to think about TIFFs.

Not every single the UNP TIFF, every single vote that this council past councils have had been a five-four vote.

And that's reflected the contention in the division and the tension with this in the community.

The supermajority vote could have made a difference.

There would have been evidence of more support on council.

Also, um if there is a big change, more than 10% change, or whatever you want to set it at, from what the statutory review commission committee has seen, you send it back.

You don't say, well, they didn't see this.

You send it back for them to review because that's their job.

Um and then also I would like for you to pass some legislation that says we should vote on TIFS if they're large, if they're 25 years, if they're a lot of money, if they're two years worth of general fund budget.

That should be something the community should vote on.

And as council, you could make that happen.

Thank you.

Thank you.

David De Vila.

I'm from Ward 1.

I live over there in uh Trid Village Drive Apartments over there.

And I was wondering what's been going on with the land sale.

Is it happening?

Is it not happening?

There's all kind of rumors.

Uh apparently there's other places that it can be done, but it's not gonna be.

So we just would like to know, and some of my residents would like to know before they fill their leases and they want to move out.

Personally, if it works, I'm fine with that program as long as we got the security, and apparently there's still been a lot of crime in uh certain areas.

What percentage of people are homeless?

What percentage is just regular robberies and stuff going on?

Is there enough security for all this new projects?

I hope so.

That's what I have to say.

Thanks.

Nancy Ashton.

We're back again.

Nancy Ashton Ward 1.

I live in Wendham Senior Residences.

It's been two and a half months since we learned on Facebook, thanks to Ms.

Rogers, that uh the city council had passed a purchase agreement to purchase the lot in our front yard to use for permanent supportive housing.

And you guys came out, some of you and heard our concerns, which was great, but crickets since then.

Crickets, I mean, you're our lives are on hold here.

So if anybody, I um contacted Lisa Krieg last Wednesday, and she just said you're still in a due diligence phase.

I mean, it's been two and a half months.

I don't know.

Are you gonna do it or not gonna do it?

We need to know.

Um, and uh boomer sooner.

Thank you.

I have asked the city manager to give it to Council Murray's bearing whatever update there might be.

Um Evan Dunn.

See all these books that I have.

I doubt I'll be able to get through them all.

Uh okay, 1400 Garfield Avenue, that's where I live.

Thank you to everybody who's watching.

Thank you to everybody who cares.

Um, the Sunday, 2 p.m.

Everybody's invited to Sunday croquet.

Yard games.

If we must have them, let's get some more value out of them.

Okay.

Uh what else we got?

Oh my gosh, I got so much stuff to give you guys.

Okay.

Uh this.

The great courses.

799.

It's an alternative to going back to school.

Everyone, I think, should take an astronomy class.

If we don't know where all of those higher elements, uranium, you know, Francium, all of those higher elements.

If we don't know that they come from a supernova, we are miseducating people.

Okay.

This is a book written by Bill Brighton.

And he says, called the body.

And he says, altogether it takes seven billion billion billion atoms to make you.

No one can say why those seven billion billion billion have such an urgent desire to be you.

They're mindless particles after all, without a single thought or notion between them.

Yet somehow, for the length of your existence, they will build and maintain all the countless systems that make you you.

And they're going to keep you humming.

They'll give you form and shape, and let you enjoy the rare and supremely agreeable condition known as life.

There is a deficiency in our culture of curiosity.

And all around us, electromagnetism, the photoelectric effect.

It's changing everything.

And that brings me to this guy.

All right, so he says, read Carl Jung.

Okay.

And when you do, what you learn is that Carl Jung is talking about the shadow, this instinctual part of us that we don't deny, or excuse me, that we all deny because we're so caught up in the modern world.

Well, he goes on to say that whenever he started to read Carl Jung, he discovered that you could see, not just, you couldn't just read people, you could see into them.

And that I think has distorted his view of humanity.

He thinks he's so confident that he can see into you, and you can he can see all those isms, those racisms, those sexisms, and he can prey upon it.

He's not out there emancipating us by talking about how you have a capacity to do sadistic things.

I have a capacity.

She, he, everyone has that capacity.

But if we deny it and we suppress it, then it explodes.

We're all suffering.

The more ignorant we become, this is from Jefferson, the less value we set on science, the less that we know, the less curious that we are, the fewer questions that we're asking, the less value we set on science, and the less inclination we shall have to seek it.

Hundreds of years ago, hundreds of years ago, and you know, on that last item, we didn't get to have miscellaneous discussion.

Do you mind if I say a few words to Councilman Nash?

Okay, well, yeah, uh maybe you all can pass it on to him.

Uh I he is a tragic loss.

Uh his insight and the precision of his I didn't know that he was a doctor, I knew he was an engineer, I didn't know he was a doctor.

You know, but it makes sense, you know.

His ability to drill down and to find these discrepancies.

That uh, whenever he was the aim amendments, oh my gosh, finding fundamental assumptions that were just fallacious.

He's gonna be a huge loss, but you know, like Kim said, he's now one of our neighbors.

So uh thank you all.

I'll see you next, or two weeks from now.

Okay, then this meeting is adjourned.

Thank you.