Good evening and welcome to the City Council, Norman Utilities Authority, Norman Municipal Authority, Norman Tax Increment Finance Authority, and Norman Parking Transit Authority meeting of may twelfth, twenty twenty-six.

Councilmember Bruce.

Councilmember Kirby.

Please join me in the village of the Awards and Presentations.

First one is a recognition of the 2025-2026 Norman Youth Council.

And I'd like to recognize Miss Ashlyn Wilkerson.

Maybe.

No.

Well, okay, let's see.

Is there something I can read or hand out or do?

Okay.

We'll come back to the recognition of the Norman Youth Council.

You can see some of the proclamations get done.

We'll come back to it.

Okay.

Items two through seven will be acknowledged in one vote.

Item two, a proclamation proclaiming Saturday, May 16th, 2026 as Kids to Parks Day in the City of Norman.

Item three, a proclamation proclaiming the week of May 17th through 23rd, 2026 as public works week in the City of Norman.

Item four, a proclamation proclaiming the third week in May 2026 as Norman Arts Festival weekend in the City of Norman.

A proclamation, item five, a proclamation proclaiming the month of May 2026 as bike to month and uh as bike month and Friday, May 15th, 2026 as bike to work day in the City of Norman.

Item six, a proclamation proclaiming the month of May 2026 as Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the City of Norman.

And item seven, a proclamation proclaiming the month of May 2026 as mental health awareness month in the City of Norman.

I'll entertain a motion to acknowledge receipt of the proclamations.

Motion to acknowledge receipt of the proclamations.

Second.

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

Council members, you may cast your votes.

All votes have been cast, and the proclamation passes unanimously with Councilmember Hinkle outside the chambers.

Okay.

And I will recognize Miss Megan Phelan, Park Planner, and Maxwell and Isabel Norman to accept the proclamation for Kids to Parks Day.

Thank you for reading here and said this organization.

A proclamation of the mayor of the City of Norman, Oklahoma, proclaiming Saturday, May 16th, 2026 as Kids to Parks Day in the City of Norman.

Whereas May 16th, 2026 is Kids to Parks Day, organized and launched by the National Park Trust held annually on the third Saturday of May.

And whereas Kids to Park Day empowers kids and encourages families to get outdoors and visit the City of Norman's parks, public lands, and waters.

And whereas we should encourage children to lead a more active lifestyle to combat issues of childhood obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and high hypocholesterol.

I should have practiced that word.

It's very long.

And whereas Kids to Parks Day will broaden children's appreciation for nature and outdoors, and whereas Kids to Parks Day will recognize the importance of rec a recreating responsibly while enjoying the benefits of the outdoors.

And whereas the City of Norman invites the public to celebrate celebrate Kids to Parks Day with a special event on May 16th, 2026 from 10 a.m.

to 12 p.m.

at Cherry Creek Park.

Now therefore I, Mayor of the City of Norman, Oklahoma, do hereby proclaim that Saturday, May 16th, 2026 as Kids to Parks Day in the City of Norman.

Passed and approved this 12th day of May 2026.

All right.

All right, and if you would like to say anything, you're welcome to you want to say why you like parks?

I know it's a surprise that the park director comes comes up and takes the microphone.

But before Maxwell and Isabella talk, I just want to talk a little bit about Kids to Park today, because uh all of our parks are mainly about our children.

And we like to highlight neighborhood parks on these days.

So our neighborhood's parks are the parks uh we have about 55 of them, and they're all spread throughout uh neighborhood developments.

And these are the ones that we consider the heartbeat of our park system.

These are the ones that are within walking distance of the majority of homes in Norman.

So we like to go out and celebrate this in a neighborhood where our our families and residents take a lot of pride in our park system.

And our friends right here, Isabella and Maxwell, are gonna come up here and tell us what they love about parks, right?

Come on, let's come in.

Who would you really want to hear from, anyways?

I just ramble.

I like parks because I like parks because they help bring people together.

I like polks because my mom creates them.

All right.

For public works week, I'll invite Scott Sturts, Director of Public Works for the City of Norman, to join me here at the podium.

A proclamation of the mayor of the City of Norman, Oklahoma, proclaiming the week of May 17th through 23rd, 2026, as Public Works Week in the City of Norman.

Whereas public works professionals focus on infrastructure, facilities, and services that are of vital importance to sustainable and resilient communities and to the public health, high quality of life, and well-being of the people of Norman.

Whereas these infrastructure, facilities, and services could not be provided without the dedicated efforts of public works professionals who are engineers, managers, and employees at all levels of government.

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

And whereas the City of Norman Public Works Department will celebrate by educating local school children in the aspects of public work public works operations on May 18th, volunteering time to improve an educational public space on May 19th, recognizing employees for their outstanding support of the goals of public works on May 20th, and engaging the community with a public works art contest that begins May it runs through May 4th through May 19th.

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

Now, therefore, I, Mayor of the City of Norman, Oklahoma, do hereby designate the week of May 17th through 23rd, 2026 as National Public Works Week.

I urge all citizens to join with representatives of the American Public Works Association and government agencies in activities, events, and ceremonies designated to pay tribute to our public works professionals, engineers, managers, and employees, and to recognize the substantial contributions they make to protecting our national health, safety, and quality of life.

Passed and approved this 12th day of May 2026.

Mayor, Council, thank you very much for this proclamation.

And on behalf of all the public works employees and employees who do public public works duties across multiple departments in the city, we thank you for this recognition.

This is a week that we set aside just to kind of take a little time and celebrate what we do.

And we really appreciate this recognition.

And I'm the only person I know yet that's had a light show during one of these presentations.

I thank you for that.

Thank you.

This is better, right?

Will Kerry Hendricks, CEO founder of Norman Arts Festival, please join me up here at the podium.

Or anybody else with the with the festival that would like to join, please.

Yeah, everybody, come on up.

Thanks for being here.

All right, a proclamation of the mayor of the City of Norman, Oklahoma, proclaiming the third weekend in May 2026 as Norman Arts Festival Weekend in the City of Norman.

Whereas the arts enrich the cultural fabric of the City of Norman and serve as a powerful tool for education, expression, and community connection.

And whereas Norman Arts Festival Inc., NAF, is a 501 C3 nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding access to the arts, supporting artists of all levels, and fostering inclusive opportunities for youth and community engagement.

And whereas the Norman Arts Festival seeks to strengthen community connections through creative expression, interactive experiences, and meaningful partnerships that uplift artists and inspire residents of all ages.

And whereas the inaugural Norman Arts Festival will be held on May 16th through 17th, 2026 at Andrews Park, bringing together local and regional artists, performers, and community members in a vibrant celebration of art, cultural, and unity.

And whereas this festival will contribute to the cultural and economic vitality of the City of Norman by promoting tourism, supporting local businesses, and showcasing the create creativity that defines our community.

And whereas it is fitting to recognize and celebrate the vision and leadership of Carrie Hendricks and Co.

CEO and founder of the Norman Arts Festival, whose dedication has helped bring this meaningful event to life.

Now, therefore, I, mayor of the City of Norman, Oklahoma, do hereby proclaim the third weekend in May 2026 as Norman Arts Festival Weekend in the City of Norman, passed and approved this 12th day of May 2026.

Gather around Steve.

We just want to say thank you so much.

We're very excited for this weekend, first annual arts festival.

Hope to see everyone out there.

Thank you.

All right.

All right, next one is Bike to Work, and I'll ask Hal Cantwell, Chair of the Bicycle Advisory Committee, and Mr.

Sharp, it looks like.

I don't know if Hal is here or not, but Mr.

Sharp from ACOG is here.

We just had a great time at the Wheeler District last weekend for uh bike to work week month celebration.

Uh Mayor or Edmund, former mayor of Edmund Darrell Davis spoke, uh, Councilmember Cooper from OKC spoke, and I spoke about how Norman and OKC and Edmund are trying to work together to make a better connected metro area when it comes to bike infrastructure.

So wouldn't it be great to ride a bike on a single trail that went all the way from Norman to Edmund?

That'd be pretty cool, I think.

All right, a proclamation of the mayor of the City of Norman, Oklahoma, proclaiming the month of May 2026 as bike month and Friday, May 15th, 2026 as bike to work day in the City of Norman.

Whereas today, millions of Americans engage in bicycling because it is viable and environmentally f it is a viable and environmentally friendly form of transportation, an excellent form of fitness, provides quality recreation, and helps relieve the fiscal strain of high gas prices.

And whereas the education of cyclists and motorists as to the proper and safe operation of bicycles is important to ensure the safety and comfort of all users.

And whereas the City of Norman continues to update its bicycle plan and bicycle transportation network, including the continued design and construction of a multimodal off-street bike path along State Highway 9, the construction of a multi of multimodal paths along all major road projects, and adding more bike lanes and or widened shoulders wherever possible in Norman to aid in the safety of bikes both on the road and riding alongside roads.

And whereas the City of Norman has been designated by the League of American Bicyclists as an official bicycle-friendly community for 14 years.

And whereas the Norman Bicycle Advisory Committee, the Bicycle League of Norman, and independent cyclists throughout our state are promoting greater public awareness of bicycle operation and safety education in an effort to reduce accidents, injuries, and fatalities for all.

Now, therefore, I, Mayor of the City of Norman, Oklahoma, do hereby proclaim the month of May 2026 as bike month, and also proclaim Friday, May 15th, 2026 as bike to work day in the city of Norman, Oklahoma, Norman, and encourage all citizens to recognize the importance of bicycle safety, be more aware of cyclists on our streets and highways, and invite all to ride their bicycles, bicycles to Andrews Park that morning as they bike to work for an 8 30 a.m.

rally as a show of support for bicycle use for all those reasons named herein.

Passed and approved this 12th day of May 2026.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

Yeah, please.

Thank you very much, Mayor and Council.

Appreciate you having us here tonight.

We're very excited about this proclamation.

This is the this Friday is the 21st bike to work scheduled in the city of Norman.

We still the state, the United States started in the 50s, and we were a little bit slow in this region, but we got it together and we're starting to get very much into cycling and pedestrian safety in Central Oklahoma.

This is part of over 50 scheduled events in the metro area in the month of May.

So we're very pleased to see that.

And as the mayor mentioned, there's been a lot of development here in regards to bike and pedestrian safety.

Your 12th Avenue, Robinson to Rock Creek segment is just being complete.

I've watched the work about every week I come into town every week.

I see a little bit of work done on that.

And also extending the sidewalk north on the east side.

That's fantastic.

Your staff have been very actively seeking funding through ACOG for these types of projects to help them along the way through the Transportation Alternatives Program and the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program.

We've also got some Watch for Me stuff I'm going to give to the council tonight, and I've also got some keychains.

I'm going to pass those along.

Watch for Me is a campaign that we run here in Central Oklahoma for safety for bikes and bike and pedestrian safety.

One last thing I want to also brag on you guys is that your elementary schools in this town are very active.

Four of your elementary schools, McKinley, Jackson, Roosevelt, and Monroe, have had bike to school events.

We think that's fantastic.

We'd love to see more of that.

If you can bike to school in your community, you have a safe community, so we really want to obviously encourage folks to do that.

And we appreciate all of the investment that you guys have made.

You're a shining star for many of our cities in the state of Oklahoma when it comes to bike facilities.

So appreciate that.

Thank you very much.

All right.

See, we've got the Bruce with the American Asian Student Association.

And Ashley Wigglesworth, Norman High School receptionist.

Okay, come on up.

Come on around.

Absolutely.

All right.

A proclamation of the mayor of the City of Norman, Oklahoma, proclaiming the month of May 2026 as Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the City of Norman.

Whereas Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is observed annually in May to recognize and celebrate the rich history, cultural, culture, and contributions of communities to our nation.

That's AANHPI communities to our nation.

Whereas this observance originated 1978 as a week long recognition and was expanded to a full month in 1992, reflect reflecting the growing growing appreciate appreciation.

I can't talk right now.

Hold on a second.

The growing appreci appreciation of AANHPI contributions.

And whereas the month of May commemorates the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants to the United States on May 7, 1843, and the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad on May 10th, 1869, built with significant contributions from Chinese laborers.

And whereas AANHPI individuals have made lasting impacts in fields such as education, business, public service, science, and the arts, enriching communities like Norman through cultural diversity, innovation, and civic engagement.

Whereas the 2026 theme, Power and Unity, strengthening communities together, focuses on leveraging collective strength, storytelling, and building bridges to foster resilience.

Now, therefore, I, mayor of the city of Norman, Oklahoma, do hereby proclaim the month of May 2026 as Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the City of Norman, and recognize the importance of celebrating the diverse culturals, cultures, histories, and contributions of AH AANHPI communities and continuing to build a welcoming and inclusive community for all.

Passed and approved this 12th day of May 2026.

We'll get a picture of facing this way, and then you can say a few words if you'd like one, two.

Yes, sir.

Anyone like to say a few words?

You're welcome to email.

Yes, I have this prepare a speech.

Okay.

Yeah.

Um I'm Ashley.

I am the current club sponsor for the AAPIA here at Norman High School.

Um I'm going to actually kick it over to Junior here.

He has been the club sponsor for the last two years, and he has helped me get into the role that I am now, so I'm gonna give it to him for a second because he's done more work for this.

All right.

Yeah, my name is Junior.

Uh I've been the club sponsor for AAPIA at Norman High the last two years, like she said, and I just wanted to speak to the uh amazing things I've seen come from the club.

Uh I'm not from Norman, I'm from Colorado Springs.

And so growing up San Juan in Colorado Springs, I pretty much stuck out like a sore thumb, you know.

And my sister and I, we actually had this joke in high school, we didn't have a club like this to express our cultural background with our peers at the time.

Uh it was just her and I at our high school, and when you looked up the high school's demographics, it showed Pacific Islander as 2%.

And then when she graduated, they actually updated it because then it was just me, and then it was just 1%.

So I share that because uh that's uh probably a similar experience that many of these students have.

They are that minority in their school amongst their peers, and so having that outlet for these kids to come together and celebrate each other's ethnic backgrounds, uh different cultures, is really important.

You know, it helps them feel not alone uh while they're at school and around other people.

Uh at Norman High, we've had Culture Week where they've been able to express their culture through garment wear, through uh fundraisers with food sales uh and uh dance as well.

I'm very thankful for this proclamation here.

I hope that as a community, we can uh it can help highlight the ethnic diff ethnic differences between each other, but also help us come together as one city of Norman.

So thank you.

Good afternoon, uh mayor and council member on behalf of the Asian American Student Association at the University of Oklahoma.

It's really an honor to accept this proclamation uh was like incredible student.

One of like I want uh point out one of the students, sorry, who is uh incoming OU Asian Asa Royalty, she uh like us I have like an annual scholarship program for the royalty pageant, she has the current pageant for this year.

And Tiffany, she is truly a rock star.

And also was this recognition is really meaning not only for the student, it's also meaning to the broad of the community because we know Harold Hitchmonts, we're here to uh celebrate our rich culture, uh history, and even the contributes to the community, which all reflect like our voice, and then we are together to build the uh society.

And at the University of Oklahoma SIS, like they play like the can't say their umbrella org, they work with a lot of like different other Asian student org to represent Asian community on the campus and to ensure not only on the OU campus, they also have like to the broader Norman community, except like events such as the Lunar New Year, Live Music Night, which bring people together to explain the cultural creativity and community.

This moment not only like celebrate the culture, but also create showcase our students, their unique talent and their like the future for the community and all the stuff.

So, on behalf of all that, uh it's really an honor to accept this proclamation, and we're uh proud to accept this and looking forward to contribute, builds the community and recognize our Asian heritage balance.

Ashley and I are old friends from uh working at Hydaway on campus corner for many years together.

Uh all right.

I thought you were here with the Norman Youth Youth Council.

That's when I saw you and I was like, Ashley, is you're okay.

Okay, the next one is mental health awareness, uh, Katrina Heim, director of counseling and advocacy with Norman Public Schools.

Thank you for being here.

All right, a proclamation of the mayor of the city of Norman, Oklahoma, proclaiming the month of May 2026 as mental health awareness month in the city of Norman.

Whereas since 1949, Mental Health America and its affiliates have led the observance of May as mental health month to raise awareness, educate communities, eliminate stigma, and encourage treatment.

And whereas mental illness affects millions of Americans and does not discriminate among gender, races, ethnicities, and socioeconomic statuses.

And whereas Mental Health America's 2026 theme, More Good Days Together, focuses on community support, meeting individuals where they are, and fostering connection to improve mental wellness.

And whereas one in five US adults experience mental illness each year, including one in 20 who experience serious mental illness.

One in six US youth age 16 to 17 experience a mental health disorder each year.

And 50% of all lifetime mental illness begins by age 14, and 75% by age 24.

And whereas prioritizing mental health during stressful times is essential, and supporting one another is an as individuals and as a community helps us stay well and move forward together.

Now, therefore, I, mayor of the city of Norman, Oklahoma, to hereby proclaim the month of May 2026 as mental health awareness month in the city of Norman and encourage all citizens, government agencies, public and private institutions, businesses, and schools to recommit our community to increasing awareness and understanding of mental health and the and to work together to support one another so that we may continue to thrive individually and as a community.

Passed and approved this 12th day of May 2026.

Hello.

Well, um, thanks for having us, and thanks for this proclamation.

Um I'm happy to accept this from Norman Public Schools and as the director of counseling and advocacy.

Um mental health impacts every um classroom, every single school site, every family in our community.

It affects how students learn, how they build relationships, manage stress, and see themselves and how they see their future.

For many students, school is not only a place for academic learning, but also the place where they experience safety, connection, encouragement, and hope.

Over the last three years, MPS has made a significant investment in strengthening mental health support for students and families through assistance of grant funding and strong community partnerships.

We've been able to dramatically expand access to care across our district.

Today, we have 12 licensed therapeutic staff members serving students across all school sites this year alone.

We supported 28 student interns at the master's level to enter into the mental health profession.

When combined with our phenomenal school counseling staff, we nearly have nearly doubled our district's mental health support network in three short years.

And those numbers matter because it behind every number is a student who needed support.

During this school year alone, our therapeutic staff directly supported over 800 students.

These services help students navigate the challenges such as anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, emotional regulation, peer relationships, and family stress so that they can remain engaged, connected, and successful in school.

But our support doesn't stop with students.

We know that families are essential partners in student wellness.

We provide resources and support for parents, including opportunities to learn more about specific mental health and behavioral concerns affecting children and adolescents.

Families have access to free parent coaching and guidance to help navigate difficult situations at home and strengthen support for their children.

In addition, we have a partnership with Care Solace, and families can be connected to community counseling and mental health providers and social services quickly with no cost to access to that referral service.

This partnership helps remove barriers and ensures families do not have to navigate the system alone.

If you've ever tried to find a therapist, you know it's not easy.

So that really helps us connect people with therapy quickly and not be on six month wait lists.

Students learn best when they feel safe, supported, and emotionally well.

And I encourage everyone in the community to get out and go to a park or ride a bicycle or go to the arts festival because all of those will also support your your mental wellness.

So thank you for this proclamation.

I appreciate it.

Staff would like to postpone that to next meeting.

So we'll have that on the agenda for May 26th.

Um this is not an action item, so we do not need any um votes.

Any objection to that?

Sounds good.

Okay.

Thank you very much, Ward One, all of Norman.

Um want to give a couple shout-outs to some ward one specific groups and some big things at the breeding to our city to help us.

Um leadership Norman alumni person that for securing a big old four million dollar investment for Hitachi.

They're gonna be doing a big equipment upgrade, trying to lead them into capturing that new AI that's all coming around us and everything, and to be able to facilitate that equipment into the future and that business into the future for us here in Norman.

Also, those with Red Dirt Collective, happy sixth birthday.

As we know, Red Dirt Collected does quite a bit of things, especially surrounded Norman Ward One.

Um, they do the crucial conversations where they bring in different people to teach different classes and things to those in my community.

They also hold and just held a mutual aid fair where they bring in tons of resources, given way to very, very neighborhood that utilizes that greatly and everything throughout the school year, especially.

And then they also have a community garden.

And that's where we celebrated the birthday party at this year and had a little kickball game and maybe a video of me somewhere fallen or not fallen.

I don't know.

Um and then lastly but not least, the course, happy 80th birthday to Norman Regional Health System.

Ward two.

Thank you.

Uh so I was hoping to be able to do this with a little more people in the room.

But if you've uh followed Councilmember Gansbury on social media at all, uh you have seen his journey uh over at the food and shelter site.

Um really doing an amazing job, just taking it on himself to go above and beyond the call of a council member and uh you know just picking up trash, making the site prettier, doing the hard work that a lot of people wouldn't get out there and do.

And so I just felt like it was appropriate to give the man uh, you know, his public recognition, give him some flowers because he absolutely deserves them.

The guy's got a heart of gold, and uh I wish more people were like Dave Gansbury.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Ward three.

Uh no comments except for hey, thank you for the face-to-face discussions, the emails, the calls, the text.

I appreciate it.

Please keep it up.

Thank you.

Yes, good evening, Ward 4, City of Norman.

A little sad that the youth council won't be presenting tonight, and their topic was environmental sustainability.

But last year they presented on um Norman Youth having more accessibility to the arts.

And when we hear feedback about this stuff, this makes it into our retreat priorities.

Um I don't know that we got super far with that last year, but I am glad the Norman Arts Festival is um starting its inaugural year as it is with a focus on youth and art.

Um, and then not that they stayed in the room, but I'm actually Guamanian, aka Chamorro, which is an island out there in the Pacific.

So representation.

Um, I'd like to do a community call on our homeless issue.

Um, you know, this city has worked to secure land for permanent supportive housing.

We have um, I think we'll be potentially ribbon cutting this year on affordable housing units over in Ward One, actually.

Um, you know, we were able to put on a ballot that passed so thank you voters, a permanent homeless shelter.

Um, and yet we're still struggling with people who are very hard to house, and it's a systemic issue, and it's not just something that the city can solve alone.

And I know our partners with the COC and in other areas are doing what they can.

We have a bottleneck of housing.

We discussed that in the previous meeting.

Um, there is somewhere north of 600 people who are waiting to get into housing, but the voucher system is underfunded.

Um, we talked about Title 74, Section 317.2, which allows churches that have sprinklers, um, alarm systems, and a few other things per building code uh to allow certain people to stay up to 75 days.

Um I know that a winter plan may include some churches, and that will take time.

And I've heard there's challenges, but I would just like to extend an invitation to any faith-based organizations that want to help us meet this very big challenge.

Um, like hit us up.

We want we want to collaborate.

Um, same to our county leadership and our state leadership.

Uh, there's been some laws that were signed recently that is gonna be very challenging past November, potentially for us, more than likely for Cleveland County, um, as counties are also responsible for addressing encampments.

Um, in oversight this Thursday, we are gonna talk about potential emergency ordinances or changes to current ordinances that may help us address encampments.

Um, and that could have a sunset date when temporary shelter expansion happens, as we directed staff last meeting, or when a permit shelter opens up.

But um, for all the people who said that we should be supporting Salvation Army, yes, please step up and fund their third phase, which has no funding and no timeline.

Uh, we need all the beds.

Um, there's so many encampments that I don't really think people understand how big they are and where they're hidden.

Um, and I just don't see in the future this discussion getting any easier, and I foresee the city holding the bag in a lot of ways.

So take your advocacy efforts up higher too.

Um that's all I have to say.

Oh, and thank you, David, for cleaning up over at Food and Shelter.

And I will, I said I was that was it.

But also those people over at Kate do have community rules, and I'm happy to post those.

Those are their own, like keeping the dogs on the leash, cleaning up.

They got some keep Norman neat gear to do trash pickup this week.

I I would just say if you want to help some of these individuals, I do believe that there are those who are camping that could possibly maintain their area.

Maybe you can't accept 20 of them, but you might be interested in one or two.

Just gonna throw that out there.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Ward five.

It's summertime coming.

Um I think it'd be a good time to acknowledge most of the little farms in Ward 5 who appreciate all business from anybody from within any other ward.

We have little farm stands out here, a lot of farms.

So I figured over the next few meetings, I will announce some of the local little businesses, and then hopefully people can make their way out tour ward five and do a little local shopping.

Out off Alameda, we have the Skiba family homestead.

They do sourdough breads, jams, uh several other items out off Franklin Road.

You have the Pines Coffee Toffee Shop at the uh Wales Christmas Tree Farm.

They open up almost every day.

You can go catch a cup of coffee and see a beautiful building with a nice morale on it.

Um you have the Red Hills Farms and Thunder Valley Hay and Cattle, which both sell local meat to the community, and then you have the McDaniels Dairy, who provides local dairy products, eggs.

Um, and then if you just want to get your house painted, you have King's painting and remodeling also out in Ward 5.

So every little dollar spent with the local business really means a lot.

Ward six.

No comments.

Thank you.

Ward seven.

Um, yeah, I have just a few, and not even necessarily ward seven.

Um, but it's important stuff.

Um at oh my goodness.

Hang on.

I'm okay.

I didn't I'm I missed up and didn't write down the day, but I will come back in a little while with the day.

But at Riverwind Casino conference room, there's going to be a blood drive from 10 to 6.

I just didn't write down the day, but I will get you that.

And if you go, and I'm only mentioning this because uh donating blood is very important, very important.

Say it saves lives.

So um, if you do donate, you get $10 bonus play.

Um and then I wanted to re-mention the kids to park day, because that is very special to me and my children.

We go to parks every single weekend, and so you'll always catch us out um either at our neighborhood park, we go to Reeves Park a lot, Lions Park, we go to Ruby Grant, we go to Brookhaven.

We we always let the kids pick and they tell us what park they want to go to.

So we're always out at the park.

So that's important.

That's Saturday at 10 a.m.

And then this is a big one too to my family.

Uh opening day at Westwood 2026 season.

So May 23rd at 12 o'clock.

So that's a big one too.

So that's it.

Thank you, Ward 8.

Um, if you guys hurry up, you can probably catch the second half of the uh girls Norman versus Westmore.

Um Norman High versus Westmore um semifinal soccer game.

It's out of Irving.

Um Norman High ladies are having a great season.

Um their goalkeeper is a freshman, she's a former uh neighbor of mine, Emory Brenda Mill.

Um they're doing great.

And I want to give a shout out on the consent item or consent docket item 16 uh some boards and commissions.

Um Dr.

Brent Norwood um being uh nominated and accepted to the uh EDAB uh commission, and then Laura Dowdy and Jason uh Bingham to the uh Norman Public Library Board.

Please, if you're interested in in um helping and serving the City of Norman boards and commissions um are always looking for good people uh that want to help and serve.

And so I want to give a shout out to those three Ward 8 uh members who have uh volunteered their time and their uh talents to help the city out.

That's it for me.

Thank you.

And um also mentioned the Norman High boys' soccer is playing at Broken Arrow right now, I think, in the semi semis of the playoffs, too.

So both Norman High Boys and Girls got a chance to potentially win state in soccer this year, so that'd be pretty neat.

Um then um also want to just mention the um police memorial service this Friday, 9 30 a.m.

at Legacy Park.

It's about a 30-minute or so long service, but just recognizes officers in Norman Police Department, Moore Police Department, and the Cleveland County Sheriff's Department who have lost their life in the line of duty serving our community and our county since since we've existed.

So it's a pretty short ceremony, but it's informative and I think it's worthwhile for anybody that's lived in Norman for a long time or even a short amount of time to get to know who those people were and who their families are still.

So that's a good opportunity.

I encourage everybody to attend at Legacy Park at 9 30 on Friday.

And then Council Merc Grant mentioned a continued discussion on Thursday about camping and parks and homelessness in general about how we deal with those who are not able or willing to seek indoor shelter.

How do we deal with encampments, which are current longstanding policy is when there's a complaint or wait till there's a complaint, go in and break it up generally and then just repeat that over and over again.

So I would definitely encourage anybody who's interested to watch the replay of our prior meeting this afternoon that started at five and discuss the issue of Cape Park, the encampment there and potential policies that we might be able to put in to address at least in the short term some of those issues.

But as others have mentioned, that's not going to go away.

And every time we break up an encampment, one was broken up two weeks ago next to food and shelter for friends.

So the folks just migrated to another area at Cape or Francis Cape Park.

And now we're going to be asking them to move from that location to somewhere else.

And then we'll be asking them to move from that location somewhere else too.

So it's just unsustainable that action, and it isn't solving any of the problem.

It's just shuffling it around endlessly.

So I a hundred percent agree that this issue is bigger than just the city of Norman.

I talked to local elected officials from all across the state as part of the Oklahoma Municipal League.

I was talking to the mayor of Wilburton recently, which is a very small town in Southeast Oklahoma that is about 30 miles from the nearest other town.

And they have about 2,000 people.

And she's dealing, the mayor there is dealing with encampments on private property.

And they have no resources to even try to enforce anything.

So it's just an issue that they live with in the smaller towns.

So it's happening everywhere across the state.

And it's going to continue happening in Norman as well.

And so we really need some comprehensive solutions that are bigger than the city that are statewide, that are nationwide, in my opinion.

But we will continue having that discussion this Thursday, and we'll probably end up having discussion again next Tuesday about that general issue.

So I'd encourage everybody to tune in for that and attend if you'd like.

Next Thursday at 4 p.m.

here at City Hall and on the City YouTube channel.

And also just that we'll be also continuing like we did this afternoon, continuing discussions about TIFF policy, about how TIFFs in the future are done, the process that they would have to go through, and potential charter amendments and different things like that that address TIFFs going forward.

So stay tuned for that conversation, that continued conversation as well.

And then last thing, just um with school getting out, just want to congratulate all the graduates at OU at Norman Public Schools at Little Axe at Community Christian School in Red Robin and Terra Verde and any and uh Lamond and any other schools in Norman that we have that have people graduating this uh this May.

Uh we're real proud of you as Norman residents and the accomplishments that you've already had, and that we know that you'll make after this point.

So that's all I have for this week, and we'll go ahead and get started with the consent docket.

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

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

Staff recommends that item eight through 23 be placed on the consent docket.

I'll entertain a motion to place items eight through 23 on the consent docket.

Motion second.

Second the motion on the floor is to place items eight through 23 on the consent docket.

Council members passed your vote.

All votes have been cast in the motion to place items eight through 23 on the consent docket passes unanimously.

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

Motion to approve second.

The motion on the floor is to approve the consent docket.

Council members, you may cast your votes.

All votes have been cast, and the motion to approve the consent docket passes unanimously.

All right, item 24, non-consent docket.

Public hearings conducting a public hearing reform for the proposed second year action plan for the Norman Community Development Block Grant and Home Investment Partnerships program, totaling 1,395,502 and 80 cents to meet to be submitted to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development HUD.

I'll entertain a motion to open the public hearing.

Motion to open the public hearing.

Second.

The motion on the floor is to open the public hearing.

Council members, you may cast your votes.

The public hearing is now open.

All right, I'll recognize Lisa Craig, uh CDBG grants manager, to make a presentation.

Mayor and council, I'd like to introduce to you, Tara Reynolds, the CDBG financial management analyst who's going to help me out tonight with the presentation.

So good evening, council members and mayor.

Like she said, I'm Chair of Reynolds, and we work in the grants division in the planning department.

Tonight we're going to present to you our second year annual action plan for the upcoming fiscal year for two of our federal grant programs.

The city receives two different.

Oh the city receives two different annual grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The first one is the Community Development Block Grant or CDBG, and then there's the home investment partnerships programs.

The City of Norman is an entitlement community for both of these grant programs, which means that every time when Congress passes an annual budget, HUD then goes and does its formula and it tells us how much funding we'll be receiving.

We don't apply for these funds.

Since the program began in 1975, over 44 million in CDBG dollars has been invested within our city.

For the upcoming year, we are allocated about 969,000 dollars, which is about 15,000 less than our current year.

The home investment partnerships programs is a federal grant to create affordable housing for low to moderate income people.

Over 14 million dollars of home funds have been invested in the city since the program began in 1995.

Um for this upcoming year, we are allocated 425,000 dollars, which is a reduction of about 15,000 again from this current year.

So this one that makes sense.

But then we look to our consolidated plan, which is our five-year plan.

Um the five-year plan outlines the priority needs of our community.

Our current consolidated plan was passed by city council and by HUD in 2025, and it ends in 2030.

Um the consolidated plan identified housing rehabilitation, affordable housing, and public improvements as our top priority for our community.

That brings us to our annual action plan, which we are presenting to you tonight.

The action plan identifies the programs, the projects, and the budget for the upcoming year.

To assist us in formulating this plan, we have to go through a HUD-mandated citizen participation process.

Much like the city's months-long budgeting process, we go through our own as well.

We held our first public hearing on January 28th, where we invited members of the community to come and help us identify the needs of low to moderate income citizens.

We then held two different meetings of our CDBG policy committee, which is our advisory committee made up of citizens, social service agencies, and members of our target neighborhoods.

At the April 15th meeting, they voted unanimously to approve our annual action plan, which we are presenting to you tonight.

We also conduct direct consultations with neighborhood representatives and social service agencies throughout our community.

Tonight is the final step of that citizen participation process in the second public hearing and council vote.

Without further ado, I present to you our CDBG budget.

As I said, we received an allocation of 969,000.

182,000 is for the planning and administration of this grant, which is under our cap of 20%.

We have $65,000 budgeted for the housing navigator, which is a position that's embedded at the Norman Housing Authority.

This position is tasked with building relationships with landlords to increase the amount of units that will accept Section 8 vouchers.

We have had an increase of 50 landlords and over 750 units that now accept Section 8 vouchers that didn't before.

There's also $60,000 budgeted for the neighborhood improvements, and this is for the three core neighborhoods Old Silk Stocking, Original Townsite, and First Courthouse.

These are projects that the neighborhood residents will identify themselves.

Some examples of previous neighborhood projects that we've done has been sidewalk repair, tree plantings, small parks improvements like a community message board.

The bulk of our CDBG funds are for our housing rehabilitation program.

This is a program that offers free emergency repairs and accessibility modifications for low-to-income residents within the city of Norman.

This helps preserve our current stock of affordable housing and helps our seniors to age in place.

201,000 is for the project delivery, which includes 1.8 staff positions, and 460,000 is for the rehabilitation projects themselves.

This is more than we budgeted previously.

That is because we are seeing a greater need for this from our citizens, and also because of the increased cost.

So I want to talk to you guys tonight about the home projects.

As the administration of the CDBG program does also.

Included in our budget is a little over $319,000 for the development of further affordable housing.

We will be partnering most likely with the CHOTO and the Affordable Housing Corporation, the development of a project.

And what we will do is work with them either to expand an existing project that we have underway, which is the home ARP project that's designated for Triad, depending on how the budget, you know, construction budgets, how those go.

Or we will work to develop another project utilizing the home framework.

So the home program, as I said, is a very unique program within the state of Oklahoma.

It's only Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Norman, and Lawton that receive home funds.

And what that allows us to do is to develop rental housing, homeowner, you know, provide opportunities for homeownership.

So with the history of what we have done since 1995, we have developed 45 units in partnership with the Affordable Housing Corporation and our Troto.

It is a far stretch from the 9,000 that we need within this town, but every unit helps, especially for the households that will be going into those.

We also have a down payment program that is available within our three target neighborhoods.

These are older neighborhoods in Norman that still have a good supply of naturally occurring affordable housing.

This allows us to stabilize the homeownership within those neighborhoods as they begin to revitalize.

And then because we are a home entitlement, it does allow us to leverage resources, such as the home ARP, the city received 1.5 million dollars through the COVID relief that we are being being working towards.

We have categorized an affordable housing project that's permanent supportive housing that will be on Triad Village Drive.

We have purchased the lot, we are working through the technical details and getting ready to engage an architect in the design.

Hopefully by the end of the year, we'll be coming back to you with the contract for construction.

In addition, because of the staff that is with the CDBG and home programs and our efforts within affordable housing, we have managed to educate ourselves on somehow these things get done.

And so we were able to work with the council and the manager's office to leverage some of the city ARPA funds for a tax credit project, Crimson Flats that is well underway if you haven't driven by South Corner of Oakhurst and Imhoff.

Walls are going up, roofs are happening, and the project is moving right along.

That'll be 75 units of affordable housing.

Thanks to the investment of the City of Norman, a low interest loan was made to the developer as those funds come back to the city.

It will go into a housing trust fund so we can do this again.

And so it's these opportunities, both from the CDBG program as well as the home program that helps us leverage these federal funds that come into the city many times over.

And at this time, I will talk about the next steps.

As we said, tonight, your job is to approve the second year action plan.

From there it will go to HUD for a 45-day review so that we will have a start date of the program on July 1st of this year.

And we will entertain any questions you may have about the programs.

All right.

Councilmember Blodgett.

Yes.

I'm sorry, my question wasn't on that, it was on the announcement.

So I'm sorry about that.

Okay, Councilmember Bruce.

Yes.

Council Mr Grant.

Yes.

Um I just wanted to go back to the affordable housing trust fund that was mentioned.

This one?

Yes.

Okay.

Um, so we already have that trust fund set up, where is that another action counseling?

The legal is legal is still ironing that out.

Um, it is not time for the repayments to begin yet.

And so they are working with the economic development law firm to set that to set the trust fund up.

Okay, cool.

I'm glad we're getting closer.

Thank you.

Okay, Councilman Bruce.

Lisa, um, a couple of questions for you.

So there were some public meetings you had.

And during those public meetings, there were there is quite a bit of education going on.

Yes.

And you enlightened uh a lot of folks in those meetings about all the different things that can be invested in associated with CBDG program.

Yes.

What did you do with those comments and how do they impact this plan going forward?

Okay.

Um, as you see, each year we bring forward basically the same program uh proposals.

Housing rehabilitation, sometimes we have some acquisition, we have neighborhood projects.

Um a lot of the input we get from those meetings are for specific neighborhood projects that are brought forth by the representatives of those neighborhoods.

Umcasionally we will get proposals from nonprofit organizations for us to investigate the possibility of funding for specific entity.

Um the CDBG program has 18 or 20 different eligible activities that uh that can be done with CDBG funds.

We have over the years, because of the limited amount of funds, you know, we receiving 944,000 or so.

In comparison, Oklahoma City receives $8 million.

Um, they have a lot more options than what they can do.

We are constrained not only by the budget but by the staff and what the staff is able to entertain.

Um certainly we would love to be able to do more varied things with the program year after year, we entertain those things that come up and see if they are a fit with our program, talk with the co-chairs of our committee about those as we craft this budget.

Talk with the co-chairs of our committee about those as we craft this budget.

So just some follow-up questions.

So the the projects didn't change, the five project areas, including administration of one, as your first one.

So the percentages didn't change based upon those discussions.

We increased the budget for housing rehab.

We did not do acquisition of property for affordable housing this year.

We spoke with the two entities that normally receive those funds, which is Habitat, as well as the Affordable Housing Corporation.

They both had funds remaining from prior years because they had not been able to find an appropriate property since then the affordable housing corporation has located one and explained why we were holding off on funding that this year to increase the budget for housing rehab.

I can understand that as far as housing rehabs and you increased your numbers, I guess 45 projects in our housing rehab average cost of $14,000 per project for that.

And you you took that from what are the project?

What other we had previously had two capital projects to create affordable housing working with that Norman Affordable Housing Corporation and the Habitat for Humanity.

So we're not doing that this coming year, and that's where that funding came from.

Yes.

It was $140,000 that was budgeted last year for those two entities that were was then rolled into the housing rehabilitation program.

Now I understand your section does other grants besides these, like the Progrants.

Is that correct?

So how does the programs and the other grants you may have affect the administrative costs associated with the CBDG?

What we do is both Tara and I salaries are prorated between CDBG and the general fund for for working on non-CDBG activities, uh such as the pro housing grant.

Um the home ARP, which has its own little batch of admin money in it.

Um a lot of times these grants do not come with administrative funds, or they are so small in discussing with city leadership, we forego the administrative costs in order to put more money within the actual project that is being funded.

So I know there was a lot of discussion associated with Reed Street and the opportunities that were available in their CBDG to invest in that area associated with the shelter, the community, low and medium income community, and what things that could be done.

The talking about the shelter in particular, we were asked to investigate if the possibility of CDB funds to help with the operation of the shelter.

Um there is a HUD rule that says that if a municipality is funding something, you cannot decrease that funding of that entity and supplant those funds with CDBG funds without an increase of services.

Um currently the the shelter, there is no proposal within this next year to actually increase services provided by the shelter.

Once the new shelter is built, obviously, more capacity and things like that.

That could be considered in the future.

I'm thinking more like lighting security, stuff of that nature associated with the low-income, medium income residents that live over there.

Additionally, I understand that you can use the funds for uh buying property.

Uh so it's another area that to explore.

Yes.

Uh I think that's the beauty of our neighborhood improvements programs is that we let the neighborhoods choose the projects themselves.

So if they if the volunteer neighborhood association decides that they need more lighting, they can you know make that decision.

Well, it was an opportunity.

It was an opportunity to reconsider your plan and uh what we were going to do this fiscal year compared to what's in your five-year plan, what we're gonna do this year, modify it to address potential needs there.

The other question I have as far as uh the home development, uh, the affordable housing, home development.

I saw it almost 400,000 allocated to it for two units.

Am I am I did I misread something?

You saw what?

I'm sorry.

The uh development of affordable housing $383,000.

Yes.

The goal was to build two units.

Am I misreading something?

Is that $319,000 for the for the home program for the development of affordable housing?

Basically, um projects are actually brought to us for evaluation.

Uh currently we are working on the home ARP funds that we received.

We have some prior years of home funds that we are using with those ARP funds to develop a 16-unit permanent supportive housing development on Triad.

At this point, until we really get down to the bare nubbins with the architect, we are not for sure if these funds would be needed to get us to those 16 units.

It's 383,000 dollars.

These funds are anticipated utilized for two units of affordable rural housing.

To build new units.

To build new units.

Yes.

And as part of our action plan, we are to estimate the number of units that we we can produce with the funds that are provided.

And so those two units will either be two standalone units, a duplex, or they will be two units within the development that we are currently working towards on Triad Village.

And I'm sorry, just one more time on this as far as these are fence funds for affordable housing and not under the CBD umbrella.

These are home funds versus CDBG funds, yes.

Got it.

Very similar rules, but different.

So thank you.

Any other questions on council?

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, is anyone signed up to speak on this item?

Yes, Mayor.

Uh Wood Carroll.

He left earlier.

Okay.

Heidi Smith.

I'm Heidi Smith from Ward 5.

I have been on CDBG as either the chair or co-chair, I think for 10 years.

So I've been around this was my gateway drug to other things in the city like homelessness.

For those of you who don't know, I am the administrative lead, my agency, Thunderbird Club House is the administrative lead for the continuum of care.

So I like to tell people that affordable housing and homelessness are not the same thing, but they're like kissing cousins.

They are interrelated.

Many of you have received a book from me called homelessness is a housing problem.

I forgot it.

I will get it to you.

Affordable housing is a huge issue in our community.

It's a huge issue in all communities.

And CDBG is some of the only funds we have to directly affect affordable housing in our community.

It allows us to build workforce housing, or what Lee Hall likes to call hero housing.

Not only is homelessness important for low-income affordable housing, which is a whole nother beast unto itself, but we're talking about building housing for nurses and plumbers and the people who work in service industries that's affordable for them to be able to live in our communities so that we have a broad spectrum so that everybody is represented.

So that's what CDBG and home funds are for our community.

It's also giving us citizens who want to be involved a voice and to say this is what's important to us.

These are the kind of projects that we want to choose.

And with amazing help from Lisa Craig, who I'm still hurt in my heart that she's decided to retire in July, and I will not accept it.

But I believe that we are in amazing hands with Tara.

So I would just urge you, the committee puts good thought and effort into this.

A lot of us have been doing this for many years.

We're informed.

I pretty sure at this point I could give the speech about how home funds work.

I mean, I would need the slides.

I'm not gonna lie, I can't do it off the top of my head.

But this planning department has made sure that we are informed people and an informed committee making informed decisions.

So I would highly urge you to vote yes for this.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mary Catherine.

Mary Catherine Longward 2.

I just want to echo what Tara said and encourage a yes vote on this.

This is a well planned out, well thought out, citizen-driven process.

Um it is thoughtful, it is complete, and it takes into need into account the needs of our community.

Um, I want to highlight one particular program that I, as a member of the demographic that is the largest growing segment of homeless people in our country, which is senior citizens, particularly women.

The emergency repair program is something that keeps people in their homes.

It keeps elderly people and it keeps people with disabilities and it keeps low-income people in their homes.

It's a really quick and it's I'm not gonna say it's easy, but it's a very simple thing.

You live in a home, your heating system went out.

Losing your heating system could keep you from being able to stay in your home.

And if you meet the guidelines, which are really pretty generous, you can get help and you can stay in your home.

And I personally have two friends who are both senior women who um have disabilities who are able to stay in their home because of the emergency repair program assistance.

So it's not just about the big picture, it's about those little things that you all are able to do that really impact people who live in our community.

So two thumbs up.

Thank you.

That's all, Mayor.

Anyone else from the public that has not spoken on this item that would like to speak, please.

Caleb McGee, Ward 4.

Uh affordable housing, uh as has been said by others much more uh eloquently than I'm capable of uh on this lack of sleep and long day.

Um affordable housing is the answer to homelessness.

Well, what people need is to be able to live somewhere.

That's that's it.

It's it's not very complicated, and with wages that a minimum wage that is 18 years old, a lack of entry-level jobs that pay enough to sustain housing, and a continual increase in rent and groceries and gas and everything else.

Uh there's no there has to be housing for people to live in, or we're going to continue to have homeless people.

The population will continue to grow.

And I would also like to back what Mary Catherine said uh after spending a couple of years or working at the shelter just next door.

Uh there are a ton of seniors, a ton of disabled people on the streets.

Uh some of them have family problems, some of them get scammed, uh, but it it takes one buck of that bull and you're in the dirt.

And once you get there, it's extremely difficult to get out.

I have watched people wait the entire year that a housing voucher lasts looking for a house that they could afford to move into and that would allow them to move in, and they wouldn't do it, and that and the voucher expires, and then you just have to start over at square one.

Uh disability and social security income are pathetically low.

Uh and they are not enough to rent a house.

So if someone has a repair that drives them out of their house, like you can't afford an apartment on a social security income.

Like if if you get an apartment, if you're paying a single bedroom complex apartment rent, you're not eating, you're not paying car insurance.

It's and the condition continues because we don't address what it is, and it's greed.

It is greed.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Okay.

Are there any final comments from council regarding this item?

Council Bruce.

I was gonna speak to Lisa on a couple of help.

There we go.

Just a couple clarifying clear questions.

So this is spinner for uh individuals with special needs.

I I'm sure I'm sure there's a definition for special needs under hood.

Do we have a priority when we consider such as for the clients that we are well, yeah.

I'm thinking elderly, I'm I'm 100%, you know, I get it.

I get it.

There's there's way too much demand uh to well the good and bad news is it's a steady stream of the demand, and so we we take them as they come.

And like right now, we have about 14 projects going on, um, which is during my tenure, that is the most that we have ever had.

Um the good side is they tend to be spaced out in the manner in which we can handle them.

Um, you know, there's there's uh we're limited with with staff, we're limited with funds, we're limited with contractors, believe it or not, because everybody is so busy.

And so as if if someone calls in, um we're able to screen them over the phone as far as eligibility, uh, both for the income and the problem that they're having, and then from there uh staff will assist them and um gathering the documents that they need, income documents, um ownership documents, things like that, and prepare scope to work to go out to bid to address the problem that they have.

Um, they could it can be turned around in a matter of days if it needs to be, depending on the availability of of the clients.

That's the other thing is people people are busy.

You'd be surprised they call up.

Oh my gosh, I've got X, Y, and Z.

And it takes two weeks to get a hold of them again.

Uh and so, you know, the way it is right now, uh we simply prioritize them as they come in.

Obviously, if we get three on one day and one of them is an open sewer line, that's gonna be a priority.

So yeah.

You're hope to do 45.

You know, you have something, some queuing mechanisms.

I hope you do a lot more than 45.

I hope you have some type of pricing mechanism as far as that's a reasonable price to pay for that upgrade.

And you know, so I'm hoping you get a lot more done than 45 for 669,000.

Uh the other question I had, so we talked about the special needs and definition.

The other question I had was uh, oh there are you spending $60,000 on um uh uh voucher program, and that's just to get individuals that are capable of running property, their awareness are gonna spend sixty thousand dollars on their awareness, from what I understand.

So they'll do take the uh the the vouchers.

Is that correct?

Well, the situation that we had starting at about 2020 was there were several large complexes in Norman that sold, and they were under new management out of state, and they just came in and said we are no longer accepting Section 8 vouchers for whatever reason.

They had bad experiences in other communities or whatever, and overnight we lost the majority of units that were available for Section 8 rental.

And so as Caleb was saying is people would get a voucher and they would have six months, 12 months to try to locate a unit.

There were no units available, and so that voucher would go back.

Umce we have in implemented this program, we now have larger complexes that uh Mike, the gentleman that does this, has been able to educate them on not just how the Section 8 program works, but what a wonderful partner of the Norman Housing Authority is and how they support the landlords in this endeavors.

You may not have had that in California, but you get that in Norman, Oklahoma.

And so we have been able to substantially increase the number of landlords that will accept Section 8, therefore accepting the number of units.

Now we're in the situation that the housing authority is not able to issue as many vouchers because of various budget constraints.

Understand great answer.

I the really hard of the question we're gonna spend $65,000, try to get 10 additional units that will take uh voucher program.

No, no, no, that's a very small goal.

You know, if we're gonna spend sixty-five thousand dollars on this program, that's a small goal.

You know, if we're gonna submit this package up to HUD, I'm thinking if I'm the guy reviewing this, I'm actually in the three years since we have done this, he has increased by 750 units.

But I'm saying what's in your plan you're submitting to HUD.

Yes.

You're gonna submit the on our vote to the same.

That is what we are estimating for the upcoming year.

We're so we're gonna spend sixty five thousand dollars on 10 units.

That's what we're telling HUD.

That that is our estimate, yeah.

Okay.

So the uh the other thing, does this close tonight?

I mean, is does the public comment close tonight?

No, it closes for uh tomorrow.

Okay, so we're gonna vote on this tonight, but it closes tomorrow for public.

There's there's a few days left.

I can't remember.

I can let you know.

So why would I why would I vote on this tonight?

Well, because we have a 30-day comment period mandated by HUD, in which this public hearing isn't is part of that 30 days, and so there's still a day or two available for comment from the public that can be written or called, emailed that will be included and forwarded to HUD as far as part public comment.

You know, the comments that we received here will be noted and sent to HUD as part of the public comment process.

So I don't I don't we don't take those comments into considerations which already been submitted to the city.

We don't take those in consideration.

Yeah, we have not had any public comments.

Well you had public comments during the meetings.

During the meeting, yeah, yeah.

During during the comment period for the action plan, other than what has been said here tonight, we have not had any public comments.

Okay.

We have we have summaries of the meetings that we have had that are included, but they aren't specific comments about the action plan.

So council member Kirby.

Yeah.

I just want to say thank you for everything you do.

Uh I have worked with your agency over the years with the different realtors that I've worked for, and y'all do go above and beyond to make sure that the realtors are not put in harm's way, uh any damage is done.

Uh so I feel like y'all really do utilize your funding like you present it to us.

So I just wanted to say thank you for taking your time and doing such a great job over the years, uh representing the community.

All right, thank you all for your support over the years.

So council member grant?

Yes.

Um, thank you for all the work that you put into this as well as the committee members that were giving uh their time to you know work with what we have.

Um when you said that funding is down.

Um what did we lose compared to last year's?

Um I think both of them were between 15 and 20,000, both programs were a reduction, and it's based upon the formula hasn't changed.

It's the congressional appropriation for the programs, right?

So when we talk about systemic issues, um and then construction is also up.

So what we could build for 319,000 and change that doesn't go as far in today's dollars.

Not at all.

Um other thoughts about this.

Oh, yes.

Um, you know, maybe some people weren't in the previous meeting.

So there, what was the number of people waiting currently to get like approved for vote?

641, I believe, are on the Section A waiting list.

Yeah, so what a mountain to climb.

And then we had like 14 people waiting in our current shelter who have vouchers but can't leave, so that leaves 14 people on the street.

Yes.

Well, no, I'm sorry, they have been they have they're on the waiting list, and they the waiting list is is a couple steps, and they have met everything to where on the waiting list, just waiting to move up to get their voucher, right?

So, yeah, so there we got a big bottleneck.

Um, but anyways, I appreciate the work that's went into this, and I don't plan to obstruct anything.

I plan to vote to get this moving.

So thank you.

All right, thank you.

Okay, all right.

Seeing no further comments from council.

Okay, thank you very much, Lisa for all your work and your staff.

Okay, I'll entertain a motion to close the public hearing.

Motion to close the public hearing.

Second, the motion on the floor is to close the public hearing.

Council members, you may cast your votes.

I'll entertain a motion to housing and urban development.

Second the motion on the floor is to authorize submission of the application to HUD.

Council members, you may cast your votes.

All votes have been all votes have been cast in the submission to and submission of the application to HUD passes unanimously.

All right, item 25 awarding of the bid for the purchase of 10 million general obligation bonds.

Series 2026A of the City of Norman, Oklahoma, and vote to award said bonds to the lowest bidder complying with the notice of sale and instructions to bidders or to reject all bids.

I'll entertain a motion to accept the bids and award the bonds to the lowest bidder, T D financial products LLC.

Motion to accept.

Second to accept.

I'd like to recognize Mr.

Clint Mercer, uh Finance Director for the City of Norman to make a presentation.

Thank you, Mayor.

Council members clip Mercer, finance director.

Um for the 2026 A bonds, uh, we received three bids.

Uh the lowest was TD financial products out of Chicago, Illinois for uh 3.807451, which we felt like was a really good rate.

So the interest rate would you say that again?

It was 3.807451.

Okay.

Um you need to that's okay.

All right.

Um are there any comments from council for uh Mr.

Mercer?

Looks like a yeah, 3.8 on that.

Okay, yeah, that's pretty good.

Anything under we were going to be happy with.

Okay.

Uh seeing no comments.

Okay.

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

Madam Clerk, are there any comments from the public?

Yes, Mayor.

Uh Mayumi Windler.

Hello, uhimi Winlayer, Word Two.

Um so when I was looking at the agenda, I was kind of curious.

Okay, so this one is for the bridge bonds, and I wanted to know, you know, what the progress had been made.

And uh I did get that information in in an email, but I kind of wish that it would have been presented here also for the public so that everybody would know that okay.

This was from the bridge bonds, these are the ones that have been completed, these are the ones that are in progress, these are the ones left to do.

Um, my other question now is is that percentage a good percentage?

What did we get in 2024 for the original set of the bridge bonds?

Or do we know?

Not off the top of our heads.

Okay, so pretty complicated.

Okay, all right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um next week's CPTC.

I don't think Scott's still here, but uh maybe we can get a update from staff about the bridge bond and what what's been done so far.

I know we've completed a couple, we've completed a couple already, so okay.

Any other on public comments budget?

Uh yeah, I'm just writing this note down, so yeah, get it on your agenda.

Thank you.

Okay.

Uh Cindy Rogers.

Okay.

Yeah.

Two weeks, CPT.

I didn't sign up for the question.

She's trying to figure out some money.

Oh, yeah, you're right.

The 28th, yeah.

That's right.

Yeah, yeah, two weeks.

That's all I have, but I think Mr.

Ellis has some.

Okay.

Anyone else from the audience that would like to speak on this item?

Come on out.

Steve Ellis Ward 4.

Um, I'm just deaf, so I didn't hear all of the things that came after the decimal.

It was 3.8 what?

07451.

07451.

0741.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else in the audience that would like to speak on this item?

Seeing none.

All right.

Any final comments from council regarding this item?

Councilmember Bruce.

I just I need a clarification here regarding this the staff report, and I haven't been around for bonds.

There's a statement here is Article 13, Section 5 of the City Charter requires council to vote on emergency uh section of the ordinance separately and adopted by vote two-thirds of the membership of the council.

Emergency section of the ordinance.

How does that apply to so typically an ordinance becomes effective 30 days after council's action?

In this case, we have bids pending.

Uh so an emergency clause allows it to become effective immediately so we can execute and actually move proceeds into the budget and allow that work to begin pretty darn quick.

It's a timing thing with the with the bids.

So we do we have any outstanding items on this?

I don't think there is, but it's not that I'm aware of.

Okay.

All right.

Any other comments from council?

Seeing none.

Okay.

The motion on the floor is to accept the bids and award the bonds to the lowest bidder to do financial products LLC.

Council members, you may cast your votes.

All votes have been cast and the motion passes unanimously.

All right, item 26.

An ordinance providing for the issuance of general obligation bonds, series 2026A in the sum of 10 million dollars by the city of Norman, Oklahoma, authorized at an election duly called and held for such purpose, prescribing form of bonds, providing for registration thereof, designating the registrar for the issue, providing for levy of annual tax for the payment of principal and interest on the bonds, and fixing other details of the issue, approving the forms of a continuing disclosure agreement and an official statement authorizing executions and actions necessary for the issuance and delivery of the bonds and declaring an emergency.

This is a companion item to the previous item.

I'll entertain a motion to adopt or reject the ordinance on first reading by title only.

Motion to adopt the motion on the floor is to adopt the ordinance on first reading by title only.

Councilmembers, you may cast your votes.

All votes have been cast, and the motion to adopt the ordinance on first reading by title only passes unanimously.

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

Are there any comments from council?

Seeing none.

Okay.

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

Madam Clerk, is anyone signed up to speak?

Yes, Mayor.

Um Stephen Ellis.

Steve Ellis Ward 4.

Uh I I was gonna ask about the the uh emergency provision here as well.

Uh in general, I'm sort of opposed to pushing these things through on emergency, uh, especially when it's something like a bond issue that we should have plenty of time to do, but I recognize that there are outstanding uh offers being made, and it's probably not gonna be getting any cheaper the way the economy is going.

So uh the emergency here seems okay, but note and I'll get back to this later, that we're uh doing something here to respond to the exigencies of a situation uh that was unforeseeable before, and we need to maintain the flexibility to do things like that.

So more later on that thank you.

Thank you.

Sorry, they're gone.

That's all I have anyone else from the audience that would like to speak on this item.

Seeing none.

Okay, any final comments from council regarding this item.

Seeing none.

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

Council members, you may cast your votes.

All votes have been cast in the motion to adopt the ordinance on second reading section by section passes unanimously.

Because this ordinance has an emergency clause.

The next this next motion does require a supermajority of votes to pass.

I'll entertain a motion to approve the emergency clause in section 10.

Second.

Okay, and clerk will provide results.

Um go ahead and cast your votes.

Yes.

All votes have been cast, and the motion approving the emergency clause passes by a vote of eight to one with council member Bruce voting against, but the motion passes.

Okay.

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

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

Council members, you may cast your votes.

Item 27, awarding the bid for the purchase of 17 million dollars general obligation bonds, series 2026b of the City of Norman, Oklahoma, and vote to award said bonds to the lowest bidder complying with the notice of sale and instructions to bidders or to reject all bids.

I'll entertain a motion to accept the bids and award the bonds to the lowest bidder, T D Financial Products LLC.

All right, I'd like to recognize Mr.

Clint Mercer, Finance Director, to make a presentation again.

Um this is a uh the second tranche, or I'm sorry, this is the first tranche on the street maintenance bonds that were 35 million that were passed uh April 7th.

So we got two bids.

Uh the lowest bid was TD financial uh products LLC out of Chicago, Illinois at um 2.903 297.

Uh the the lowest bid was TD financial uh products LLC out of Chicago, Illinois at um 2.903 297 again that was 2.903 297 and and this this is a five-year bond, too.

Just just to throw that out there too.

Five years.

Yes, because it's shorter.

Shorter time period, correct?

Okay.

Um are there any comments from council?

Councilmember Bruce.

Same same situation here where emergency what's the emergency?

It has to do with the timing of the bids.

The bids don't they're not gonna be able to do that.

So long, yes.

How many days?

Um today.

Today the thought is if there's a uh horrible news event globally tomorrow, the interest rates are gonna change dramatically in the appetite for the instrument.

Could do we historically do this historically, yes, just like this.

Yeah.

That's why the bids were open today because the meeting was today.

So fit in that time period.

Yeah, I'm and there's no other opinion issues out there, right?

No, sir, not on this one, no.

On this particular bond.

Right.

Okay.

Seeing no further comments from council.

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

Madam Clerk, is anyone signed up?

Cindy Rogers.

Cindy Rogers, word for um I share concerns about the emergency clause.

So we have to why couldn't you have approved this and then issued bids or approved issuing bonds a month ago or weeks ago?

So this sort of sets it up like oh, it's an emergency now.

And I think that process of doing that is convoluted, and I would prefer we didn't do it that way.

Like you approve getting bids, and then you approve, and then you see what the bids are and you decide to accept them or not.

So sort of forcing it to be an emergency because you like the bids.

I I don't think that's an appropriate way of doing it.

Thank you.

Okay, anyone else from the audience that would like to speak on this item?

Okay.

Seeing none.

The motion on the floor is to accept the bids and award the bonds to the lowest bidder, T D financial products LLC.

Council members, you may cast your votes.

All votes have been cast and the motion passes unanimously.

Item 28 ordinance 0-2526-62, an ordinance providing for the issuance of general obligation bonds, series two zero two six B and the sum of seventeen million dollars by the City of Norman, Oklahoma, authorized at an election duly called and held for such purpose, prescribing form prescribing form of bonds, providing for a registration thereof, designating the registrar for the issue, providing for levy of an annual tax for the payment of principal and interest on the bonds, and fixing other details of the issue, approving the forms of a continuing disclosure agreement and an official statement authorizing executions and actions necessary for the issuance and delivery of the bonds and declaring an emergency.

This is a companion item to the previous item.

I'll entertain a motion to adopt or reject the ordinance on first reading by title only.

Motion to adopt second to adopt the motion on the floor is to adopt the ordinance on first reading by title only.

Council members, you may cast your votes.

All votes have been cast in the motion to adopt the ordinance on first reading by title only, passes unanimously.

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

Are there any comments from council regarding this item?

Seeing none.

Um yes, Mayor.

Uh Stephen Ellis.

I've good.

That's all.

Anyone else in the audience that would like to speak on this item?

Seeing none.

Are there any final comments from council regarding this item?

Seeing none.

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

Council members, you may cast your votes.

All votes have been cast in the motion to adopt the ordinance on second reading section by section passes unanimously.

Because this ordinance has an emergency clause.

This next motion does require a supermajority of votes to pass.

I'll entertain a motion to approve the emergency clause in section 10.

All right, council members, you may cast your votes.

Peacock.

I'll entertain a motion to adopt all votes have been cast in the motion approving the emergency clause passes by a vote of eight to one with council member Bruce voting against.

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

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

Council members, you may cast your votes.

Item 29, awarding of the bid for the purchase of $8 million general obligation bonds series 2026 of the city of Norman, Oklahoma, and vote to award said bonds to the lowest bidder complying with the notice of sale and instructions to bidders or to reject all bids.

I'll entertain a motion to accept the bid and award the bonds to the lowest bidder.

Robert W.

Baird and Company.

Okay, uh as you guys know, this is for the homeless shelter.

Uh that was approved on April 7th.

And we had one bid come in for this uh with with from Robert Baird and company out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the rate was 3.0.

I mean sorry, 3.80114.

Again, that's 3.80114.

So there wasn't a little bit of concern in that we only got one bid on this, but it is important to know that um that's this is a 20-year bond.

So uh as a comparable number, this is actually just a little bit lower than the first bond 2026A, so we felt like it's a it's a really good rate.

So okay.

Council Murganzbury.

Thank you for pointing that out about the interest rate.

I was gonna point that out as well to let everybody that all the watchdogs out there about the shelter know that that's 3.801114 compared to 3.807451.

Yes, which great job with only having the one, and for also the math people for the shelter that wants transparency that comes out to 3,416, 312, just in case you wonder.

All right.

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

Madam Clerk, is anyone signed up?

Cindy Rogers.

That's all.

Anyone else in the audience that would like to speak, please?

Thank you.

Caitlin Gee, Ward 4.

Um This item is very near and dear to my heart.

Um this is really what I came here to talk about tonight.

Uh the I just went nuts earlier about the affordable housing thing.

Um I've been on the street uh and I have made a lot of friends who have been as well throughout my time in this town, which has been my entire life.

I I grew up here and there have always been unhoused people here.

Um there are more now because of a wide uh array of reasons, but um we have 238 neighbors on the streets and we voted to put them up, and the court challenge didn't go through.

Um I I hope that you will vote yes for this because I think our city sorely needs it.

If you don't want to see homeless people around, give them somewhere to go.

Uh there'll be social workers there, and I'll be one of them.

And like uh we're serious about taking care of people and about getting them on their feet and teaching them to do better and to recover.

Recovery is the name of the game.

We're all trying to get through this, and it's not gonna get any better if we just neglect it and do nothing.

We'll we'll just get more of the same, it'll keep going, it'll get worse.

Thank you.

Thank you.

There are any final comments from council regarding this item.

Seeing none.

The motion on the floor is to accept the bids and award the bonds to the lowest bidder, dub Robert W.

Baird and Company.

Councilmember Bruce.

How long is it?

How long is that one good for?

How long?

How long is the offer good for?

How long is the offer good for?

It just today.

Just right now.

Okay.

That's really the industry standard in these types of things.

So any other comment from council.

Okay.

The motion on the floor is to accept the bids and award the bonds to the lowest bidder, Robert W.

Baird and Company.

Council members, you may cast your votes.

All votes have been cast and the motion passes unanimously.

All right, item 30, ordinance 0-2526-63, an ordinance providing for the issuance of general obligation bonds, series 2026 C in the sum of $8 million by the City of Norman, Oklahoma, authorized at an election duly called and held for such purpose.

Prescribing form of bonds, providing for the registration thereof, designating the registrar for the issue, providing for levy of an annual tax for the payment of principal and interest on the bonds, and fixing other details of the issue.

Approving the forms of a continuing disclosure agreement and an official statement authorizing executions and actions necessary for the issuance and delivery of the bonds and declaring an emergency.

This is a companion item to the previous item.

I'll entertain a motion to adopt or reject the ordinance on first reading by title only.

The motion on the floor is to adopt the ordinance on first reading by title only.

Council members, you may cast your votes.

All votes have been cast in the motion to adopt the ordinance on first reading by title only.

Passes by a vote of eight to one.

The council member Bruce voting against.

Because we have to get it awarded.

Yes, sir.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It does put you in a box, doesn't it?

It does.

That is the system, unfortunately, and it's this is not unique to Norman Oklahoma.

This is the municipal bond market nationwide.

It really has to do with the ordinance part.

They that's required to accept bids.

Is that our ordinance or a state or what?

Uh well, it's it's just the industry.

They're not they're not gonna put a bid out there just like uh city manager was saying, they're not gonna put that out there if things could change dramatically and be locked in for that period of time.

So and these are big players.

I understand.

I understand.

These are these are big guys.

So you would think our internal process would think through that and we'd be ahead of that before we call for hey, we gotta get this done tonight.

Well, we don't we don't know what the bid is, so we can't call for it any sooner.

That's why we have the bid on the day of the council meeting.

Um everything's written, and we just need to fill in the blank.

We got that this morning.

We took we accepted bids this morning.

Yeah, they bid at 10 30, 10 30, uh 1045 and 11, the three different series.

So any other comments from council?

Okay.

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

Madam Clerk's anyone signed up.

Um yes, Mayor, uh Stephen Ellis.

Okay.

That's all.

Anyone else in the audience that would like to speak on this item?

Okay.

Are there any final comments from council regarding this item?

Seeing none.

We're gonna take another vote on the emergency item.

Correct.

Yes.

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

Council members, you may cast your votes.

All votes have been cast and the motion to adopt the ordinance on second reading section by section passes unanimously.

Because this ordinance has an emergency clause.

The next motion does require a supermajority of votes to pass.

I'll entertain a motion to approve the emergency clause in section 10.

All right, council members, you may cast your votes.

Sorry.

All votes have been cast in the motion approving the emergency clause passes by a vote of eight to one with council member Bruce voting against.

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

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

Council members, you may cast your votes.

I mean, he's here.

Um, the last vote, too.

Okay.

Umber Gandisberry.

Um, we are doing the final vote for the final reading.

Oh, you did okay.

Thank you, sir.

I'm sorry.

Okay.

Okay.

Now all votes have been cast.

The motion passes by a vote of eight to one with council member Bruce voting against.

Okay.

All right.

Anyone signed up for miscellaneous?

Uh yes, Mayor.

Uh Stephen Ellis.

Steve Ellis for the President.

For uh I want to address something that happened in the uh the council session uh you know before we came to the big meeting here.

Uh and I think what needs to be clear tonight is whether or not the Kate Park campers are going to be trespassed this week.

Uh can we let them just get to next Tuesday by means of enforcement discretion?

The grounds of which would be that dispersion of this encampment would be worse for both the campier campers and riskier for the city.

If the city is really going to be held liable for the impact of unhoused people on neighborhoods, then it doesn't escape that liability by dispersing the Kate encampment.

If anything, it increases its liability risk by adding more neighborhoods to the people who might want to sue or something like that.

Um it also doesn't make any sense for the people who are there.

Uh it's not good to push people away from sanitary facilities, trash services, transportation, mental health appointments, and the like.

This is actually a pretty good place for them to be.

Admittedly, the shelter area will be better.

Uh we don't need to give people the right to be there, however.

I mean, one of the things that I thought was screwing up the conversation before the idea was well, we have to make a nice little legal loophole for people to be there.

And it doesn't actually have to be that way.

We can just not cite or arrest them unless they're committing a non-trespass harm.

We can acknowledge general rule without using that rule to harm people.

That's how policing discretion works, right?

You don't go after fleeing felons in uh in a high-speed car chase because of the dangers that it poses to the community, even if it turns out that the felon might get away, right?

We try to take into account those things.

Uh that might even be enough to avoid any problems with the state, right?

It's not like the state is trumping at the bit to act.

Uh the mental health department is in huge disarray, the sheriff's office is in disarray.

We're acknowledging the point of the park, so we're not going back on our word on what we said we were gonna do.

No one's getting the right to violate the law.

We're just not making things worse.

Um my plan was to quote to you some Aristotle that's really classic on this uh from his politics.

I am a philosophy professor in my day job.

Um, but it was easier to find the point in Aquinas on my phone.

So I'm gonna give you a little acquinas here that goes to this point.

Every law is directed at the common wheel of men and derives the force and nature of law accordingly.

Now it happens that often the observance of some point of law conduces to the common wheel in the majority of cases, and yet in some cases is very hurtful.

Since the lawgiver cannot give view to every single case, he shapes the law according to what happens most frequently by directing his attention to the common good.

Wherefore, if a case arise wherein the observance of that law would be hurtful to the general welfare, it should not be observed.

You just don't enforce it when it turns out to be bad.

That's actually something that we can do.

We let our law enforcement officers do that.

That's the main thing with this Kate camp.

It it by law should not be there, and the law is not a crazy law.

This is something that we should have.

I don't think we need a loophole.

What we need is some discretion on enforcement of this curfew in order to help the common good.

So let's look at that before we do anything like hello again.

Uh Miami Winlawy Award 2.

Um, about all these bonds.

I was just looking at the budget book, and so in the capital improvement projects, is that the only place where we have bonds that we're paying money back on for?

Um, like for the 2024 year, it ends up being like 13 million ish for the money we're paying back, and then for the uh adopted 2025, it was something like 16-ish million, and then the estimated for 2025 is a lot more.

Um so I understand with the bonds that you know it's difficult to just come up with money and pay for projects as we go, and that's why we're doing the bonds.

But um, I don't know, I just kind of wonder is that the best way of managing the city's finances of you know, taking out these loans, and then you have to pay back the loans after you know, for however long.

Um like taking out a mortgage and then taking out a second mortgage, and then you know, a third mortgage.

I don't know how far you can go on that path.

I don't know.

Um, then the other thing is about the whole TIFF conversation again.

Um okay, so the city attorney uh his interests are to protect the city, not to protect the council or the mayor.

That's something that you have to remember.

And you know, if you're wanting advice as to if you are personally gonna be liable for something, you should really get your own attorney because the city's attorney is not yours.

So thanks.

Thank you.

Gillian Megan Strawn.

Hi, all.

My name is Megan Strawn.

I live in Ward 2.

Um, I'm a clinical social worker, and I have the privilege of working with some of Norman's Unhoused every day, and I'll try to keep this short because the folks I would prefer you hear from are back there.

Um I think we've all felt quite a bit of whiplash this week, or that those of us that have been wondering about the fate of Francis Kate certainly have been.

I've been mostly on the outside looking in, and I know you all have been, many of you have been just scrambling behind the scenes trying to figure something out, which I really appreciate.

I think the folks that have experienced the most whiplash are the people in the camps that pretty much every day have to think about whether they're gonna be able to lay their head down at night.

Where should they go?

And if we don't have an answer, then we shouldn't be moving them.

Um I recognize the immense difficulty and discomfort when faced with a situation that requires this amount of flexibility, especially when the council has experienced so much litigation and difficulty.

Um but I think that the situation calls for it.

I'm reminded of when the council had to do lots of creative problem solving during COVID.

At least Mayor Holman was still on the council at that point.

Maybe no, just kidding.

But okay, so under immense pressure and fear, you all made lots of creative decisions to help keep Norman safe.

And I would just encourage you to use that same amount of creativity because the housing crisis is just as real a crisis as COVID was.

So I'll I'll leave it there.

I I appreciate you all working on this, and um, I just urge you to wait uh to use enforcement until we have some real solutions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ella Crenshaw.

Hi y'all, Ella Drenshaw, Ward 6.

Um, I'm also here to talk to you about the encampment in Francis State Park and also homeless encampments in general.

Uh, I'm an archaeologist by training, that's what I went to school for, and that involves extended periods of time that are spent living in groups in tents, generally in somebody's field or out on somebody's property near where we were working.

And I just want to point out that it is entirely possible for large groups of people to live in a tent safely and sanitarily for extended periods of time.

Um, you just need somewhere to use the restroom, somewhere to throw away your trash.

Uh, when we were lucky, sometimes we had an outdoor shower that was a plywood box with big rain barrel on top.

And you know, these don't necessarily always look like the most organized groups of people, right?

You're out here in tents, you're living outside almost entirely.

Uh and to outside observers, especially in the case of homeless encampments, that can look unsafe or unsanitary, but when really it's very well managed.

Uh, you know, if you had seen me walking down the street, dirty clothes, unwashed hair with my big old backpack on, I wouldn't have looked too much different during that time when I was working in the field than any of the homeless folks in Norman.

And you know, I think people have this perception when they see an encampment that something's going on here that's wrong, but it's just not necessarily true, and it doesn't have to be true.

And yeah, uh a group of people can manage themselves living in tents just fine.

And I think that the city should just let them go about their business, just let them exist.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Marguerite Larson.

Marguerite Larson Ward 6.

I too am here to discuss our unhoused friends.

And they are our friends, and you all just I know that you have been taking time to go out there and visit with them and get to know them, but this is their community.

This is this is how they are building relationships.

And this is how they're learning to live together.

So basically, these are life skills that they're learning in this camp.

And granted, y'all don't want them out there in the particular area that they're in.

However, by moving them from here or there or there or here, you are disrupting their community.

You're disrupt you are disrupting their way of life.

You're disrupting the fact that they are learning life skills, so hopefully they will become housed at some point and use these skills in their in their life, their daily living.

So I think the fact that there is an option that you can have someone just as an intervention mediator between the council and the Norman police department was mentioned, which is a fairly good idea.

Thank you.

Ms.

Kim.

You could you could always just, if you feel entrapped, why not just build a little fence around it so that you're basically keeping our unhouse friends in an area that's safe for them.

And then you have little kids that are running around doing because they feel safe as well.

And I understand that when you see people that don't look like you and they don't act like you and they don't talk like you, it can kind of give people a little scary feeling.

But these these my house friends are just like you guys.

They have stories, they have families and they have feelings.

And I just find it very difficult.

The constant movement from one place to the other.

So I'm hoping that you all can find some kind of resolution that is satisfactory to our own house friends, to you, and to the community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Cindy Rogers.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Cindy Rogers still ward four.

Um I want to talk about the proposed um TIFF ordinance.

And more generally about how we do these things.

So we have the first reading, and I know this has been taught, things have been talked about in meetings, many of which I've watched or attended, but the public really can't ask questions.

Um get answers.

Um so you have the first reading, which is letting the public who maybe doesn't pay as much attention as me know.

Hey, there's this thing happening.

So the public gets a couple weeks to digest it.

I expect it takes people some time.

And then in two weeks, maybe you'll have the second hearing, which is when people can ask questions.

So all that is good.

My problem is that usually the second hearing is when you have the vote.

So if somebody is just sort of getting up to speed or having questions, they don't you don't have time to respond to their questions to really digest those to see if you might want to make a tweak here or there.

So amendments on the fly are really not good.

So I would just recommend requests that we don't do that.

Have some time to digest after the second hearing.

That's just general me, Cindy Rogers would like that.

Um I do have some suggestions about the proposed TIFF ordinance.

I will send them to you, but I want to make a couple comments about them.

Um I don't know what general preference means.

I don't know what care should be exercise means.

Um I think we should be worried about ad velorum uh TIFFs because they take money from the school districts, particularly if you're gonna target areas that are gonna grow within the next five years, because those are likely to be areas that are gonna grow in the next five years pretty much no matter what.

I appreciate that the proposal says that you're going to follow the rules of the Economic Development Act, so that's always good.

Um I have concerns about um staff having the uh manpower and the expertise to do a bunch of things that are listed in here.

Um, because we know from past experience, the arena TIFF, the UNP TIF number one, that some of the required analysis was not done, and some of it was really not credible.

Um, or it was done for a completely different project than what you approved.

So I have some concerns that this is city staff will do this, but um not really clear how they will do that and how that will be vetted.

Um love to see that you're talking about economic risk and risk analysis, but again, the devil is in the detail.

If somebody says it pays off, what are where the numbers come from?

How is the analysis done?

I'm very well versed in economic modeling and impact studies, so I can sniff out when the when there's garbage put into those models, so what you get out of it isn't very credible.

Um, but I'm weird, the average person can't do that.

Um I wasn't sure why there's all those questions.

Do you have to answer one?

Do you have to answer all of them?

That seems just weird to me.

Um I'll send you more details later, but I think we need some more work, and I do like that you switch the order of the EDAB.

And also you'll have an economist on it now.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That's all I have, Mayor.

Anyone else?

Would like to speak in miscellaneous comment?

Please approach the podium.

And just identify your name and uh what ward you live in.

Uh, my name is Derek Howell.

Um, I believe it's ward four.

Okay.

Uh members of the council I stand before you representing 50 neighbors currently sheltering in our city park.

We're not just seeking a place to survive until the next day.

We are committed to being stewards of the space we occupy.

We understand the concerns regarding the park's condition, and we are here to offer a solution based on mutual respect and accountability to ensure this area remains safe and welcoming for every resident of the city.

We have organized ourselves to implement the following active maintenance.

We are establishing a rotating clean team to patrol the grounds hourly, ensuring that no litter or debris is left behind.

Zero tolerance to prepare fenilion.

We are committed to a strict clean zone policy.

We will actively monitor the area to ensure it remains free of hazardous waste and paraphernalia, protecting both our group and the public.

Self-governance, providing us a stable place of refuge during these times, you allow us the stability to manage our own footprint and keep the park in better condition than we found it.

Please don't see us as a burden on the park, but as partners in this care.

We are asking for safety in return.

We pledge to maintain the dignity and cleanliness of this shared community space.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else that would like to speak?

Please come forward.

Yeah.

Hi, I'm Brooklyn.

Um please identify yourself.

Huh?

I didn't get your name.

I'm Brooklyn.

Brooklyn.

Sorry.

What's your last name?

Bill's.

And what ward do you live in?

Um.

Thank you.

Sorry.

I'm sorry.

Um, so since our community has moved to the Francis Kate, we have all came together and we understand the city's concerns and want to take full accountability for our part.

And by doing that, we have come together and we've, as a community, we've made rules for ourselves.

We work together to keep the trash cleaned up and provide a healthier and safer and cleaner environment for everyone.

Um sorry.

Our rules, they take everyone's consideration, not only our considerations, but the city and the surrounding neighborhoods' considerations or concerns into consideration.

Uh, we as a community, we've been made out to be such horrible people when we are people just like everyone else in this community.

Um of us yet we do struggle in some areas that most don't.

I'm so sorry.

That most don't, but that doesn't mean we should have to fight for our homes so we can also grow for our homes.

We also we also ah, sorry.

We also should be given a chance to grow and be be able to build for ourselves and make progress in our lives to create a better and stable situation for us in the future.

You can't expect us to be able to go to work and make progress to improve our situation when we have to worry about being able to survive and being able to lay our heads somewhere at night that night at night afterwards.

You can't, I mean, you can't even expect us to uh I can't even do this, or how are we able to focus on provide improving our situation when every day we have to worry about surviving that that night or that day and every other day moving forward?

If we were given the chance to show everyone that we can follow rules and work together and to better our community, not only our community, but everyone's community to maintain and maintain a safe and clean environment.

I believe that y'all would see a lot better progress, honestly, if you were to give us a chance.

Hold on, I'm so sorry.

Yeah, I think that's really it.

But I honestly, when you build a home, you expect you need a foundation.

And without that foundation, you have nothing.

You can't grow, you can't build, you can't make anything better in your situation if you don't have that foundation.

And if you keep taking our foundation, how do you expect us to be able to grow and build like I mean you can't expect progress without being able to have something just like a main structure, honestly?

Um I don't know really what I'm trying to say, but I mean a lot of us we we see what everybody is saying, and we take y'all's concerns and we we want to fix that.

We want to work with everyone and to make a better environment and create something better for us.

We don't uh not all of us, they we don't extend permanent for us.

We know that's not permanent for us.

We want better, but we can't get better if we're sitting here trying to survive every single day of our lives just to be able to have just a little found a temporary foundation for that day or that night or however long it may be until they come and rip it, rip our homes from us again.

Um a lot of us out here are mentally ill, disabled, and if you're asking like a woman like Lana, my my she's like my mom out there.

If you're asking her to move her stuff every day, which her herself, she cannot do that by herself.

She has to hope somebody will help her.

She doesn't have anybody out there helping her.

Really, she don't like most of the time, it's either what me or one of my friends helping her.

How do you expect her to be able to go and improve her situation if you're if she's sitting here having to find somebody to help her move if she can find that help?

The time is up, but thank you very much for speaking.

Sorry.

You're all good, thank you.

Anyone else, please come on.

I have hi, my name is Carrie Tity Council.

Well, as you know, we live in Tanta Francis Tate Park.

I'm not speaking for everyone, but my tent is my home.

My clothes from head to toe show shows, shoe uh shows, uh sandals, sandals, leather jacket that I'm holding on to for my daughter that's in maple bathroom prison right now for more than three years.

Right now I'm trying to get my birth certificate from central mental health.

Central mental health is helping me get on section eight housing, just a process, have to have an ID, birth certificate, fill out form.

Then I'll be put on Section 8 waiting list.

Six months starting out is a waiting list for Section 8 housing as a process.

So I just got out of prison November 25th.

Some of us are just getting out of prison, some of us are having to start over from nothing.

Like I had to start with just a cold on my back.

I now have a five-man tent that I work because of a better way program that they offer for the homeless.

I did that for two months.

I did that the first time and the second round when you had to wait for three months or four months before you could do it again.

I went back in four months and did it again, and I bought my five-man tent.

Uh six months starting out uh for six months.

Um we're taking no apartments for two or three tight felonies on your record.

So please don't make us move.

Don't make, don't have nowhere to go or way to get there.

I respect any rules given to us.

Uh I get my medication at central mental health.

I take medication during twice a day, one in the morning, one at night, and plus a shot of hell doll, and plus hell doll medication at night too, as well as my sleeping medication that I have to keep up with inside my tent.

I keep up with it very well been on this medication since 1998.

I have three children.

I'm 47 years old.

My oldest daughter is um 28.

She's at Mayo Bassett Prison right now.

I wrote her letters and sent her cards and and uh food and shelter.

Uh sends her sends my mail for free.

I'm also a member of Thunderbird Clubhouse.

I've been a member there for six years.

Uh I don't know if you remember.

We do that because for being members of Thunderbird Clubhouse, uh, Land and Heidi.

I don't know if you if you're familiar for them.

Thank you, sir.

Uh that they were out of funding when I get out of prison November 25th, this past November 25th of 2026.

Uh I I talked to Thunderbird Clubhouse about talk to Lynn personally myself, and she said that the that Thunderbird Clubhouse housing was uh was uh not didn't have any housing money uh project money available so she don't want to go through um central mental health so I'm going through central mental health to uh get my sex to eight housing.

So anyways, uh I take showers at food and shelter.

I have hand sanitizer in my tent, name brand hair, and body spray.

If not, food and shelter offers it.

Uh I have I have no family except my daughter who's in prison right now.

Please let us stay till the new shelter is open, or maybe offer uh uh or maybe come up with some option with food and shelter to maybe out offer for them to be open 24 hours a day and maybe include some beds in there for us, or just let's keep our beds and mattress, make that a 24-hour shelter instead of just a shelter instead of just eight to noon, and then from noon they call then it'll make up at one and then one to four, make it a 24-hour shelter until the new shelter is built that way that we can get our kids out of the park and enter the food and shelter overnight, or let us stay on sleep on food and shelter property, except for when it rains or snow or ice, we can sleep inside.

Thank you.

The the time is up, but thank you so much for speaking.

Thank you.

All right, can I figure this out?

That one I'm gonna do.

All right, all right.

My name is Nancy McCormick and uh board four, and I'd like to start out by thanking you all for this chance to speak to you.

Okay, now none of us were born saying when I grow up I want to be homeless and discarded as garbage, and we understand your concerns, they are valid, and we are working together to not be a liability to y'all, to not be a disgrace.

We are accountable to each other.

We are working on that to be sure we are safe and take pride in ourselves and pride and respect in our community.

We are grateful to all of you, uh the Norman people, our people, our community.

If it wasn't for all of you, we wouldn't be here tonight speaking to you.

We wouldn't have survived.

And we definitely wouldn't have the opportunity to thrive.

I know and believe with all my heart that there is hope for us because we are all willing to learn.

I was in housing for over three years.

I took a wrong turn and got lost and couldn't find my way home.

And I want to go home.

We all want to go home.

Thank you all for everything.

Bye.

Thank you.

Oh, one more thing.

And and yes, I do.

I have been a part of this community.

All of us have, you know, for many years, some since childhood.

I've been here for oh since 2007.

And and I do have an income, and and I now my income has changed, you know, and it has increased and and things and to owe you, you know.

I get and stuff.

So I I go sooners, you know.

And so anyway, with all that, um, I like to, and I do we do understand, and the mess that was made that we have were responsible for.

They have taken it upon themselves to go clean it up and with no pay.

And um, and we are trying to do better.

And and thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Have a good night.

You as well.

Any other anybody else in the audience that has not spoken that would like to speak?

Okay.

Seeing none, any final comments from council.

Council McGrant.

Yes.

I would just like to thank all of you who were who are at Kate currently who are trying to maintain community rules.

I would say this conversation isn't over.

We'll be back in oversight trying to be creative.

But I really appreciate you coming out this evening.

I know it wasn't easy and you have a lot of stress uh compounding the issues you're already facing.

So, anyways, just want to acknowledge you and hopefully you don't have to come up and prove your humanity every month.

Thank you.

Councilmember.

Yes, um, I also um I second what Councilmember Grant just said, and I just want you to know that we see you and we acknowledge you, and that you do have allies up here on the dais.

So I just need you to know that we're we are trying really hard for you.

Thank you.

Well, we are uh most of us anyway, I think are closer to living in that park than we are to being Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk.

So I just want everybody to think about that and how easy it could happen to any of us.

Um and we would hope that if it did happen to us, that we might live in a place like Norman where we might have a shelter, we might have somewhere we could go as dysfunctional as our situation is.

Um, but everyone is a neighbor, everyone is a friend, um, and some a member of our community that we need to care about.

So we will continue to discuss this issue.

It's gonna continue, like I said earlier, to be an issue we all deal with.

So with that, thank you all so much for coming this evening and having the courage to get up and speak, and this meeting is adjourned.