The meeting will please come to order.

Good evening.

My name is Trippie Congo, president of Wilmington City Council.

And on behalf of all of my colleagues, we want to thank all of you for joining us this evening.

Also for anyone who was with us virtually, thank you as well.

We are going to have our opening prayer by Akira Granado.

Heavenly Father, we have assembled to handle the affairs of our city.

As we do so, we ask for your guidance and understanding.

We pray that our city reaches a place of peace and safety.

Keep us out of harm's way and bless those who are in authority.

Let respect be key in all our endeavors.

Amen.

At this time, we'll we will recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

Councilman Owens, President, Councilwoman Darby, President, Councilwoman Oliver, Councilman Harley, Councilwoman Willower, Councilwoman McCoy, Councilman Johnson, Councilman Johnson.

Councilman Field.

Councilman Spadola.

Present.

Here.

Twelfth present and one absent.

Good evening, everyone.

I'm Yosenia Tavares, Director of Communications for Wilmington City Council.

It is my honor to welcome you to this very special and historic evening.

Thank you all for being here.

Tonight, we gather in a place that holds the very foundation of that story.

Built in 1798, this building once stood as the center of civic life in Wilmington.

It was here that voices were heard, decisions were made, and the future of our city began to take shape.

As we prepare to hear Mayor John Carney deliver the fiscal year twenty twenty-seven budget address, we are reminded that civic engagement is not just about policy.

It's about people.

So embrace this moment.

As tonight is more than a meeting.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And now we are going to have a very special performance from the Womanton Children's Course, which is a tuition-free community course.

Access to high quality music education.

Joining us today are members of the chamber singers, the course's most advanced ensemble.

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the spot on the boards we watch was on God streaming.

God of Jews now who has wrong small way.

This time we are going to have a video of Dr.

Tracy Carey sharing a poem entitled Watch Us Fly.

Why you wanna fly blackbird?

You ain't never gonna fly.

They ask.

Why you wanna fly, black bird?

You ain't never gonna fly.

Why you wanna be blackbird?

You ain't never gonna be.

One street veers left, and another street veers right.

One street declared free, another street declares fight or flight.

Thirteen colonies, Delaware in mid-region, three county divide.

And here we stand in Newcastle County, sixteen seventy-four, in populated Wilmington state, named after Dela War.

English nobleman, third baron, renaming of Lenny Lenape, indigenous land sold off and disputed between the Swedes and the Dutch.

Why you wanna fly black bird?

You ain't never gonna fly.

Three Delaware signers of the declaration of independence, a fly on the walls of this Pennsylvania State House, watching the quill pen in hand, the curvature of inked letters forming names on parchment, a material out of sheep or calf skin, the preservation of such freedom at the expense of another death, one's last breath.

Now removed, but continued subjectivities among a human species, and two out of three Delaware signers still instilling slavery.

And imagine where you might sit and what you might see, and what you might do and who you might be, by fill plantation, Ross Mansion or Cooch's land, and the toiling labor of one's body with a cattle nine tails in the master's hand, and what truth do you require?

And what truth do you require?

And what free shall we speak?

And why you wanna write black bird?

You ain't never gonna write.

Why you wanna write black bird?

You ain't never gonna write.

Early 1800s freedom journals by our very own Reverend Cornish, the start of the black press in the U.S.

And again, what must we write?

And what must we share?

And what must we speak in this state of Delaware?

Like the Wilmington Advocate started by poet Alice, who walked French Street to East Side to Cool Springs, reminding us to tell our own tales, all the while loving a woman from behind the veil.

Laws for same gender loving couples starts in 2012.

But back to this being her tale to tell or not tell.

I digressed.

She, born in the same year, Jim Crow implemented its legal movement.

Same year the General Delaware Assembly funded public schools for black students.

The Milford 11 or the whole Kesson 107 C for colored eight-year-old Shirley Beulow with school days lasting 11 hours long.

Cause the bus with white children come and gone.

Yes, I know the law was a law, and her skin is her skin.

But thank God for the only black lawyer in Delaware named Lewis L.

Redding.

And would you rather be in a resource school that taunts and traumatizes and violates your space?

Or school less resourced and outdated mirror image of you, ensuring you were physically safe.

And what truth do you require?

And what free shall we speak in?

Why you wanna fly blackbird?

You ain't never gonna fly.

Why you wanna fly blackbird?

You ain't never gonna fly.

Power coupling, lit and Jane Mitchell, Howard High School graduates with many firsts, like first teacher to teach white children, like first black RN in a Delaware hospital, like trained the first combat pilot squadron, Tuskegee Airmen, and we become the first of the first of the first excellence at the helm, active, determined, resilient, brilliant, and brown like Millie Cannon and Boise, Loper, Clifford who passed at 25, and living flowers like BB and Chief Coker, and Grio status that continues to thrive.

And what truth do you require?

And what free shall we speak?

And I'm tired of you singing why you wanna fly, Blackbird, as if we ain't never gonna fly from Underground Railroad to Eco Activism, Nanico Pow Wow's ACLU, East Side Riot of 68, Burning Buildings, County Town Hall Debates.

We have the Monday Club and Urban League and C C A C late 90s on Fifth and Tatsuites, Peace, Love and Poetry, African Storytelling at TBUAE and Caribbean Heritage.

Shout out to Bob Marley.

We used to have Wanamaker and Woolworth, now Walgreens arrive.

But now Twazi M and Huxley and Hero Bridgeart Riverfront High Rise, Della, where we are, and Della, what we do, stop asking why I want to fly as if it must serve you, cuz I just want to fly.

Yeah.

I just want to fly.

No.

I am gonna fly today.

I would like to recognize a few dignitaries who are with us this evening.

We have our city treasurer, Dwayne Sims, Cyril Property with the Register of Wills, former council president Anifa Shabaz.

Former councilwoman of the Fifth District, Brigita Fields.

If there are any other dignitaries, uh I do apologize, but if you let Asenia know, I would make sure that we recognize you this evening.

And now we are going to have a performance from Caden Art who will render a saxophone selection of America, my country, tears of the most of it.

Usually when I come to something like this, you know, I'll find a backing track off YouTube to be honest and go ahead with that.

But I think that the city deserves more.

Um, to make a rendition that hopefully you guys will appreciate.

So thank you.

You gotta press the button.

Okay, thank you.

Mr.

President, I move that the council suspend the rules for the purpose of the mayor presenting the budget address.

Second.

It's been properly moved and second to suspend the rules for the purpose of the mayor to present his budget address.

On the question, all those in favor signify by saying aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carried.

And this time I would ask for council members Nathan Field and Kobe Owens to escort Mayor Carney and first lady Miss Tracy Quill and Carney.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

I was your governor for eight years.

And I did eight state of the state addresses, eight budget addresses, and never have I had an opening quite like this one.

What beautiful renditions by the roommates in child choir, the saxophonists, beautiful performance wonderfully done, and of course, our friends outside.

Really thank you for inviting me to be here with you tonight, and for your constant collaboration over the past year.

To our city leaders, department leaders, members of the business and nonprofit sectors, my fellow residents.

Thank you for being with us and joining us this morning.

Before I begin, I'd like to thank my wife Tracy, who's sitting up here in the front row.

Not many people know how difficult it is to be the spouse of an elected official.

Tracy does, and she's done it so well for all these years.

Mostly it is a special privilege for me and Tracy to lead a city where we've lived and raised our two boys, and one that we care so much about.

For more than a century, this building served as the center of social and political life here in Wilmington.

It attempts to move us closer to a city where everyone has access to freedom and opportunity and a clear path to the pursuit of happiness.

It's with that in mind that my budget includes no increase in property taxes, and that we limit increases in our water and sewer rate to 9.95%.

Our proposed fiscal year 2027 general fund budget is 212 million, 616, 177.

And the water and sewer fund is 100 million 294,669.

This budget reflects the priorities I've heard over the past year in conversations with residents and through communication with council.

It also reflects what I heard knocking on 11,000 doors during the election.

Here in Wilmington, we can help deliver on our founders' promise of life and liberty by making sure our neighbors are safe and we're moving in the right direction.

Data from last year shows that we achieve significant sustained reductions in crime, including the lowest number of shootings in over two decades.

That progress.

Today, we see our officers at civic association meetings, hosting resource fairs, partnering with local organizations, and troubleshooting safety concerns directly with residents.

And the numbers show that this approach is working.

Please join me again in thanking Chief Campos, his command staff, and his officers for the community.

Despite this progress, we all agree there's more work to do.

One life lost is one too many.

We will not let up.

We will do what it takes to stop the violence.

That's why earlier this month, with the support of many of you, I signed an executive order officially establishing an office of community safety.

This will give us this will give us one central office responsible for coordinating safety initiatives and for driving progress on this challenge, and my budget funds the director for this office.

This approach, sometimes referred to as a whole city approach to safe neighborhoods, has been championed in much larger cities successfully across the country.

The Office of Community Safety will work with police, fire, and other partners to coordinate our efforts.

We will now have a full-time staff for laser focused on making neighborhoods safer across the entire city.

We already put this approach into action with the creation of a citywide ambulance service operated by the fire department.

Since we took over this service in June, our medics have responded to over 14,000 emergency calls for service.

That's a lot of calls.

And yet, their average response time is just over five minutes, well within the national benchmark.

Faster response times save lives and make Wilmington a safer place for all of us.

Please join me again in thanking Chief Looney and his team for their management of this critically important service.

Our medics are often the first ones on the scene with people experiencing mental health and drug related episodes.

I saw this firsthand on a ride along I did with an ambulance crew one late afternoon.

In a very short time, the crew responded to several of these types of calls.

And so to better meet this expanded mission, this budget will add 12 new firefighter EMT positions, building on the success we've already seen on our streets.

Our public safety personnel are especially focused on hot spots, what I call hot spots.

Areas in our city where those addicted to drugs and alcohol gather to engage in other illegal and nuisance activity.

They're predominantly concentrated in specific areas that members of council have brought to our attention.

Many of these people clearly need our help, but so do the residents who live on blocks where prostitution, panhandling, and drug use exists.

Our police department can't expect to solve these problems by arrests alone.

Addressing these hot spots will be done in partnership with our new Office of Community Safety, and it's gonna be a tough job.

The job of maintaining public safety is made easier when we have strong and vibrant communities.

This starts with making sure every citizen has a clean, safe place to live.

Addressing the needs of our unhoused population is a serious and very difficult challenge, one that's facing cities all across the country.

We've worked hard to find compassionate practical solutions that acknowledge difficult realities, and we have worked with members of council on this problem too.

By working with community partners, marshaling the social service resources of the state, and seeking input from the community.

We're doing our best to meet the needs of the unhoused.

We've installed bathrooms at Christina Park and will soon be providing mobile showers.

During one of the coldest storms in our city's history, for the first time ever, we turned Hicks Anderson into a temporary shelter to keep the unhoused residents protected from the elements.

This effort simply saved lives.

I want to, I don't know where our parks people are out there, but they did an unbelievable job above and beyond, and we need to give them a round of applause as well.

We're also partnering with the Wilmington Housing Authority.

I saw Ray Fitzgerald earlier and the Ministry of Caring to open another Eastside dining hall nearby to ensure residents can get a hot meal.

Thank you, Ray, for your help with that.

We know that making sure these folks take the help they need for mental health and substance use issues has to be part of the solution.

This is a very complex issue.

And while these steps don't solve every problem, this administration will continue to work to get it right.

And I've seen examples of that from each of the members of council whose districts we walked.

Working with the land bank and with local contractors and nonprofits, we have rehabilitated close to 300 vacant properties and sold or rented them to affordable affordable prices to eligible moderate income residents.

My budget allocates $500,000 to the landback to continue this really important work.

And this is a major part of our citywide housing policy because it's also about neighborhood stabilization.

It's also about safety.

Since 2016, thanks to the influx of state and federal dollars, unprecedented amounts, frankly, of state and federal dollars.

The city has added 4,000 total units.

At least 20% of those units were affordable.

That means 800 more low-income families now have a stable place to live.

And we can do more.

Just ask the enthusiastic children who joined us at the River and Cunning, and we're all over that equipment.

The new Rodney Reservoir Park has been transformed into a community space for gathering and gardening.

We're underway with renovations at Barbara Hicks Park in Southbridge.

It will soon be reimagined.

Southbridge is in the house.

And East Lake Park, if you haven't seen it now, it's all torn up.

But with the support of the 76ers will be completed this summer, and it's going to be better than ever.

We're breaking ground on extensive improvements to Camby Park later this month, and the master plan for Brown, Burton, Winchester, and Speakman Parks is well underway.

Councilwoman Oliver.

We have beautiful parks all over the city.

Please help me thank again the hard work of our parks and recreation team for their support.

We're also reshaping how the city helps with the education of our children.

This is a special priority for me, and one that I worked hard on as your governor.

We formed the Wilmington Learning Collaborative to focus on the needs of our city children and to give city parents and residents a stronger voice in their schools, our schools.

Our efforts led to the building of the Maurice Pritchett Academy.

If you haven't been, you gotta go visit.

And with the renovation of the Bard School on the West Side.

But there's still a lot of work to do.

First and foremost is the removal of the Christina School District from the city.

The Reading Consortium has a recommendation, but it's just taking much too long to get it done.

We need to act.

Meanwhile, our children suffer.

While work continues on the redistricting issue, we will do our part by focusing on after school programs and summer programs.

In last summer's pilot program, we tutored over 100 children in partnership with Reading Assist, William Hicks Anderson Community Center, and the Wilmington POW.

More than 80% of the children showed measured growth in their reading.

And this summer we intend to do even more working with the community centers to expand participation.

We want to make sure all our children can read proficiently by third grade.

That's our number one priority.

Because it's clear to me, and I know to all of you, that our success as a city and as a state depends on the success in educating our children.

It's that simple.

We can't be a strong and vibrant city without a strong and growing economy.

This means a thriving business district downtown here and business busy commercial corridors throughout the city.

To be successful, we have to be strategic.

Soon I will sign an executive order establishing an economic development roundtable.

This group will work with small businesses and major corporations, reaffirming our position as Delaware's business hub right here in Wilmington, Delaware.

This collaboration will help drive the next generation of projects in our city.

Already we're seeing real investment taking shape in downtown, the downtown area.

Insight through its new agreement with BPG has committed to moving at least 200 employees into the old Bank of America building on Rodney Square.

Thanks to the support of council, the state of Delaware, and the Longwood Foundation, we're also transforming multiple Bracebridge buildings into a new higher education complex.

Soon, Widener University's Delaware Law School, the University of Delaware Associate Degree Program, and Delaware State University's nursing program will all be right here in Wilmington.

This downtown momentum is bolstered by Corteva, a DuPont split spin-off, which has recently located its offices to the city, bringing with them over 200 high-paying jobs.

WSFS has recommitted to its beautiful building across from the central YMCA.

And JP Morgan Chase is investing 400 million dollars in their buildings near the train station, right down the road from where we sit tonight.

At the same time, we have grown and diversified the number of small businesses on Market Street.

This is all good for Wilmington's downtown and for our tax base, which supports every resident of the city.

My budget adds $4 million to the strategic fund to continue to attract more jobs and private investment downtown and to other areas of the city.

Our economic development plan will expand our focus with special attention to our commercial corridors.

We will set aside one million dollars for disadvantaged businesses, the largest infusion of funds for the DBA program since its inception.

In case you missed that, that's the largest infusion of funds in the DBA programs in since its inception.

By focusing on confirmed disparities, by updating our contract review board, and by updating our procurement thresholds.

With the help of this council, we're moving forward here in the city on the issues that matter.

But before I close, I want to acknowledge so many of our city employees who aren't probably in the room tonight, but who went above and beyond in helping our city deal with the recent snowstorms.

Police and fire were out on the roads responding to rescue calls in treacherous conditions and helping with traffic control as the plows were hard at work.

Our three one call takers were busy tracking calls, and I was busy taking your calls after the storm helping us direct the location of snow removal efforts.

This is once in a century occurrence.

As the snow piled higher and eventually turned to ice, our public works, Team Kelly put in long shifts at salting and plowing snow covered streets, kind of trying to get to those curves that everybody was so interested in seeing again.

Some of our team had never worked a big storm before, but they worked in the freezing cold to get our residents out of their houses and back to work, our children back to school, and our business is up and running again.

Please join me in thanking all of our city employees for the work they do every day, and especially for the work they did responding to these forms.

Tracy and I have lived in Wilmington now for nearly 40 years, and I've worked in public service for most of that time.

One thing I've learned is that I've learned that you make progress when you work together.

The fact is we represent the same people, and we can make a real difference in each of them in their pursuit of happiness guaranteed by the aspirations of 1776.

There has never been a better time to recommit to these principles, and that should inspire all of us to do better this year.

It's a real honor for me to serve as your mayor, and I look forward to doing this work together with all of you.

Thank you very much.

Second.

All in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed motion carry.

Okay, well, not any respect for you.

Oh no blame him for leaving.

Not at all.

I would do the same thing.

Mental breakdowns we need.

I would like to recognize Councilmember Maria Cabera.

And also Councilmember Johnson has been with us.

This time we're gonna have the reading of the minutes of our previous meeting.

March 5th, 2026.

City Council met in regular session with remote participation on the above date at 6 33 p.m.

President Ernest M.

Congo, the second presiding.

I move that the minutes be accepted as written.

Second this one properly moved and seconded the minutes be accepted as written on the question.

All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carried.

Now we will have our city treasurer's report.

March 19, 2026, total investments 560 million 91,107 and 34 cents.

Total cash on hand, 17 million one hundred and ninety-five thousand two hundred and twenty-four dollars and seven cents.

Grant total five hundred and seventy-seven million two hundred and eighty-six thousand three hundred and thirty-one dollars and forty-one cents.

Submitted city treasurer Dwayne Sims.

I move that the treasury report be received, recorded, and filed.

It's been properly moved and second the report be received, recorded, and filed on the question.

All in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carried.

At this time, we are going to move to public comment.

As a friendly reminder, you do have a three-minute time frame.

Once you have around 30 seconds left, I will give you a friendly reminder to please wrap up your comments.

Also, please remember to introduce yourself before you do begin your comments.

If you are representing a certain district within the city, you may also announce that district, but you're not required to.

First, we have and we do have several people who have signed up for public comment.

So we're going to ask again for everyone to please respect the three-minute time frame.

First, we have Brandon Fletcher.

Brandon Fletcher.

Next we have, I will come back to Mr.

Fletcher.

Next, we have a Lord As Vivera.

I can't see Lord S.

Rivera.

I'm here.

Okay, thank you for joining us.

Maybe again.

Yes.

Can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

Thank you.

I think this is off.

Can you hear me good?

Yes, we can hear you.

Good evening.

Council members.

My name is Lord Des Ribera, and I have been a homeowner for the last 37 years.

There are a few topics that if I asked questions, yes, we we can still hear you.

She's leaving here.

I'm sorry.

Somebody speaking.

I'm sorry.

Um, there are a few topics that I want to talk to you tonight.

Many of us are senior or leave.

We try our best to pay our bearers, but now everything is expensive.

Why do fancy building downtown or commercial property pay less in property taxes than homeowner of a residential house or renters?

The landlord has increased the rent because of this issue.

Please, I'm asking the city to help us please find rental assistance so everybody can stay in their home.

Second, please improve 311.

We need our Spanish translation services, so we can't access to it.

All the time, many of Spanish neighbors are asking me to call because sometime the Spanish line is being answered by someone that speaks Spanish.

Maybe pay someone as a translator to answer this line all the time.

So when we request it, we are able to be helped or sending our court to four full boys mayor, and when you leave, boys mayor at least only 50% return your card.

Third, please do not raise our water bill.

So many all over the city.

This is so irresponsible for those who are in charge.

We need an answer now.

Please, sanitation department, can please do a better job when you pick up our trash because you leave garbage behind.

How do we suppose to keep our city clean if we're starting sanitation departments are not doing their job properly?

Please make our budget that will support not only working family, but also senior.

And please do not forget our immigrant as well.

Thank you so much for your time and support.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next we have Kathleen Patterson.

Is Kathleen Patterson still with us?

Thank you for joining us.

Good evening.

I'm Kathleen Patterson.

I live in the second district of Wilmington.

I would like to say that I am happy to see that the mayor's budget uh includes funds for neighborhood stabilization, but what I noticed lacking from the appropriation of those funds or the proposed appropriation is rental assistance.

Many of our families in town I visit often, they're looking for help with their rent.

And I was at the community development meeting the other night, and someone from the mayor's office said that the mayor's office opposed the rental assistance because that was duplicative and there were programs out there.

Um if those programs do exist, a program that where someone's close to the full amount of their rent for one, two, three months, please uh contact me and let me know who that is, because I'm not aware of them, and many of the nonprofits here in the city.

We can only offer a small portion of someone's rent.

And oftentimes our residents in a city where you know the poverty rate's around 20%, many of our residents don't have paid time off, and if they're miss a day of work, they miss pay.

If their employer suddenly closes, they're out of pay.

The unemployment office is behind, they're not getting that in a timely fashion.

And what stabilizes someone's life or a neighborhood more than folks being able to pay the rent and stay in their homes.

I think that should be um the rent stabiliz not stabilization, the rent assistance should be included as part of the rent stabilization, the uh neighborhood stabilization funding program.

Um I'm happy that we are working on stabilizing neighborhoods, but uh rent is a very important part of that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next we have Vonda Smack is Vonda Smack still with us.

Next we have next we have Cheryl Paul.

Shell Paul.

All right, thank you for joining us, and please introduce yourself.

Ciao Paul, Dover, Delaware, with the Vi that we fall of Delaware.

Um the first thing we need to talk about is the fact that when the mayor was giving his address, we do understand he was our former governor.

But when you speak on these people, we speak on people in the community as our constituents.

They are not these people as if they are different class or separated from outside of where we are.

And when we deal with regards to people that are in the marginalized community, we need to make sure that we are understanding that you know, on an average of $600 a week being paid on an average of rent that is being having to be paid for a one-bedroom apartment at $1,450.

And for those that have more than one child, and it's more than just themselves, you know, they could be averaging a monthly rent of anywhere from 22 to 2,500 a month.

It is not standard or it's not economically feasible for them to be able to sustain their rent as well as their utilities.

As city council, it's for you to vote on the budget.

And when you are you we know that you can't control the dollar amount that is giving within your budget, but it's for you to find out where you can make the cuts at to give the people that are within the marginalized community the assistance that's needed.

When you are dealing with low-income families and homelessness, you are going to make your homelessness rate even more increase to where you are not able, you're not gonna be able to sustain the mac that the individuals that will become homeless if you don't give some type of care or assistance to these individuals, these marginalized families that are literally going through to continue to fight.

Some people don't um fit into the threshold of being able to get the assistance, and even when they are, what happens if they're sick, what happens if they don't have the sick pay, what happens if their children are sick, they lose those hours from their job and they're unable to sustain.

Keep in mind you're dealing with increased electric bills, increased water bills, everything is increasing around the board.

However, we are not getting increased pay.

You need to figure out where you are going to find that money within your budget so that you can actually be able to help those families that are actually needing rent assistance, not the ones that are homeless, but that need the extra assistance for the rent.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Brandon Fletcher.

Council.

Um, my name is Brendan Fletcher.

In the 1600s, waves of Europeans made a dangerous sea voyage to America seeking something radical.

The freedom to govern themselves.

They came for religious liberty for economic opportunity for a new beginning.

But this nation was not built by settlers alone.

It was built on the black backs of enslaved Africans who were torn from their homes and brought here in chains.

People who never chose this land, yet whose labor and suffering became the foundation for its wealth.

The abuse of power by a distant authority that oppose its will on people without their consent.

A king who tax without representation, a tiny island across the sea regulating the price of our tea, a government that answered to itself, not the people it ruled.

That is exactly why the founders built a system of checks and balances so that no single person, no single office, no ever person could hold unchecked power ever again.

So I want to remind council of that history today because it's alive in this room in the old town hall that we're standing in today.

And while the mayor proposes this budget, the authority to review, amend, and approve it rests with this body.

That is not a technicality, it is the architecture of democracy itself.

This council has both the power and the responsibility to ensure that the city's spending reflects what the residents actually need.

Housing stability, community well-being, and a government that answers to its people.

Right now, Wilmington's working families are being squeezed from every angle.

Rents have gotten so high, almost everyone we talk to can barely keep afloat in this city.

Folks who own single family homes in Hilltop are paying more in property taxes than some of the newly renovated homes on this very block, and many more are struggling just to keep up with their water bills.

I urge this council to vote yes on legislation creating a Wilmington rental assistance program.

This would directly benefit the citizens of this city as an immediate eviction prevention tool and one that would keep hundreds and hundreds of cost burdened renters in their homes while ensuring that small landlords can still earn an income.

We look forward to collaborating with Chairwoman Harley and other members of the Finance and Economic Development Committee to prioritize renters' issues in this year's budget and to ensure that the recommendations from this year's hearings are implemented.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next we have Cheyenne Miller.

Cheyenne Miller.

Next we have George Johnson.

George Johnson.

Virtually we have Chris.

George.

My name is George Johnson.

I'm here standing in truth, standing in the community and standing with people who don't get a chance to be heard in a room like this.

Let me be clear.

Woman is in a crisis right now, and we already know that.

Your leader said it.

This city is becoming unaffordable for the for too many people.

So the question is not where the problem.

So the question is not what's the problem is how can we fix the problem?

What are we choosing to do about it?

Right now, families are being priced out of priced out while luxury development goes up, starting at 1,500 plus with no guarantees of affordability.

Meanwhile, over half of low-income houses are severally caused abore burden, severely cost burden, paying more than they can afford just to survive.

So we're asking for for we're asking for this plainly.

Funding for rental assistance to be put into this budget.

Investing people, not just building.

Because just housing is not a privilege.

Housing is a human right.

Stop criminalizing poverty.

Let's talk about those loadering bonds and policies targeting people on the streets.

We are watching homeless rise across Delaware.

We are not enough.

Now I want to speak a bit speak on is if we if we as a city and whole and we know that we got a crisis, and yet we we ourselves can sit on the outside and see that the new housing that's being put up starting at 2200 a month, 1900 a month, but yet the jobs that people are making, they're only affording 3200 a month.

If you take 2200 from that, how do you pay the rest of the bills, daycare, schools, food, clothing, car notes, car insurance, phone bills, the list goes on.

So we can be smart enough to sit down as a group and come up with a bill.

We can sit down smart enough to create a problem with a solution.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, virtually we have Chris Diamond.

Diamond still with us.

All right, we will return.

Next, we have DJ Shepard.

Next is Claire.

Demather.

Next is Lisa Torres.

I'm gonna go back to Chris Diamond.

Oh, okay, we see.

Thank you.

Thank you for joining us.

Hello, everyone.

Um I name's Lisa Torres, and I'm here because I truly believe in what everyone said about um rent assistance being needed and rent stabilization needing to be put forth through the city council.

I understand that there was a motion to to do that, or there was at least an initiative to do that, but it didn't get voted on, and now working families parties has um a coalition outside to push for it.

So the people are speaking up and saying that this is a priority for them to cap the rent at a three to five percent so that way people aren't pushed out of their homes in Wilmington.

I also am a teacher um in the Red Clay School District.

I'm speaking for myself, not for the district, but I do want to say that I see the impacts of the high rents in the city of Wilmington when students have to move from different districts because their families can't afford the rent, and that puts a toll on students' education and with the comments that mom Carney said about the Reading Consortium, which I think was a great effort in terms of getting community support, and I think the people within the community, you know, um we're really pushing for um the decision that was made, but I caution um your comment because nothing should be rushed when there are kids' lives that have when we are looking at kids' lives and their education.

So please um take the efforts to speak to communities to speak to teachers to speak to family members about moving forward with um the plans for that, and let's make a transition that is equitable for our communities because our kids deserve it, and um yeah, that's all I want to say.

Thank you very much.

We are going to circle back to our virtual public comment section, Chris Diamond.

You're still with us.

Okay.

All right, that does conclude public comment for this evening.

We want to thank everyone who came down to our meeting and gave public comment.

You'll always welcome at any of our council meetings and any of our committee meetings to give public comment either in-house or virtually.

If you need assistance or if you need to know when our council meetings are and what time they begin, or committee meetings, please call us at the city council building at 302 576 2140.

302 576 2140.

And now we will move to legislative business, council member Harley.

Yes, Mr.

President.

I have an ordinance to present and call for the first and second reading.

Ordinance number 26-022, agenda number 0203, an ordinance establishing a rate of taxation on real property and the taxable property of public utilities for the fiscal year beginning on July 1st, 2026 and ending on June 30th, 2027.

First reading of the ordinance, an ordinance establishing a rate of taxation on real property and the taxable property of public utilities for the fiscal year beginning on July 1st, 2026 and ending on June 30th, 2027.

Second reading of the ordinance.

Second.

Mr.

President, I have an ordinance to present agenda item number 0204 and call for the first and second reading.

Ordinance number 26-023, agenda number 0204, an ordinance to adopt a capital program for the sixth fiscal years 2027 to 2032 inclusive.

First reading of the ordinance, an ordinance to adopt a capital program for the sixth fiscal years 2027 to 2032 inclusive.

Second reading of the ordinance.

Mr.

President, I have an ordinance to present agenda item number 0205 and call for the first and second reading.

Ordinance number 26-024, agenda number 0205.

In ordinance to adopt a capital budget for fiscal year 2027.

First reading of the ordinance.

Second reading of the ordinance.

Second.

Mr.

President, I have ordinance number agenda item number 0206 to present and call for the first and second reading.

Ordinance number 26-025.

Agenda number 0206.

An ordinance adopting the annual operating budget for the fiscal year beginning on July 1st, 2026, and ending on June 30th, 2027.

First reading of the ordinance.

Second reading of the ordinance.

Second.

It's been properly moved and second that be known as the first and second reading of the ordinance and refer to the finance and economic development committee.

I have an ordinance, agenda number 0207 to present and call for the first and second reading.

Ordinance number 26-026, agenda number 0207.

An ordinance to amend chapter 45 of the city code regarding sewer system rates and charges, water rates and charges, and stormwater rates and charges for fiscal year 2027.

First reading of the ordinance.

Second reading of the ordinance.

Second.

Second, that be known as the first and second reading of the ordinance and refer to the finance and economic development committee.

That's what we have, Mr.

President.

Thank you.

This time we will move to petitions and communication.

Starting with Council Member Owens.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Um, earlier today we broke ground at 2923 North Market Street.

Um, a young developer who's um doing amazing work in the city of Wilmington, um, is looking to invest more in our city.

This will be a mixed use project um that will have commercial two commercial spaces and housing um above it.

This is the type of development that we want to see more of here in the city of Wilmington, especially in the first district and on that North uh Market Street corridor.

So again, I just want to give him a shout out for the amazing work he's doing, and that's all I have for tonight.

Thank you, Councilmember Darby.

Councilmember Darby.

Yeah, um, I don't really have a petition or communication.

Um, I know you probably want to call a point of order on me, but I just need y'all to screen the room, and I want to make it very clear that the mayor administration and the whole room left after his budget address that is so disrespectful to the community who came out of here.

I need y'all to screen, I want y'all to really screen it so the people at home can see it.

Please put it.

Y'all had the camera on the audience earlier.

Let them see the empty seats.

This is how disrespectful they are to city council and to the community.

After the mayor's address, they all got up and left.

And nobody else is probably gonna not want to say anything, but I'ma say something tonight.

It's disrespectful, and I got a lot more to say, but I don't want to point an order in and get in trouble, but that's all I'm gonna say.

And I know y'all didn't pan on it, but I'm gonna post a picture and I got videos of how they all got up and left, and all of us sitting here sat here.

How disrespectful to all of y'all sitting here that they did that to y'all.

He didn't have enough decency to sit here and listen to y'all for the rest of the meeting.

He didn't have enough decency to come listen to the community, talk about and address his budget hearing, his budget address.

Man, this is our budget, it's the people's budget.

And I want y'all to remember that when it's time for us to um decide what's in this budget.

Thank you.

Can I be excused?

Thank you.

Yeah, she may be excused.

Point of order.

You're gonna leave us after you just made that big speech.

I'm leaving.

I'm leaving.

It's just straight this respect on here.

Councilmember Oliver.

Yeah, thank thank you, Mr.

President.

Um, I'd like to thank everybody who wish me happy birthday, who came out, who text me.

Um, I just like to thank everybody for you know coming out.

Um, especially um Tiffany Hackett for all her work she did uh at the last minute, and really she did an excellent job.

Um, also it just kind of threw me off, but um uh that's it.

I don't wait.

I can't get my head together.

All right, thank you, Councilmember Harley.

Yes, thank you, Mr.

President.

I only want to mention that our budget hearings are going to be starting um in the first uh week of April, um, the first Monday in April.

I don't have the date in front of me right now, and I'm just encouraging those that um are interested in hearing what is going to be presented from the different departments to just uh tune in.

Um, you can tune in virtually, you can come into the chambers, and we're just inviting you to come to be a part to listen, um, to share your comments um when we start uh the budget hearing.

Our mayor uh presented his address on tonight, and the next thing is to hear what each department head um has to say in terms of their budget.

That's all I have, Mr.

President.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Wallaur.

Nothing tonight, Mr.

President.

Thank you, Councilmember McCormick.

Uh yes, I just like to uh remind everyone that the sixth district will have their fourth annual town hall on uh Tuesday, March 24th at 6 p.m.

The location will be at the Claymore Senior Center, which is located at 504 South Clayton Street.

Um the other thing that I do would like to add is the fact that um I'm not certain whether or not everyone who's watching the program has ever seen what it looks like after the budget address, but there's a little difference tonight because we are in this special environment because now we get a chance to actually look at our audience.

Normally everyone leaves, but we are always faced our president, so it may look a little different this time, but there's nothing much more changed than every budget address that we've ever had.

So I just wanted to make certain that that was clear.

Thank you.

Thank you, council member field.

Um, I just um I want to think this is gonna good.

It's it's a good event tonight to be in this room, kind of mix things up on city council.

Literally, every decision almost every major city development decision was made in this room, and I think it's very interesting to meet here today, and I really hope that the Delaware History Society will become more engaged on City of Wilmington issues.

I think there's a lot of room for more focus on Wilmington issues, more use of this room, more interactive programming focused on the city, and more collaboration between the city of Wilmington and the Delaware History Society and these types of activities.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Bracey.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

I just want to say to every member of council staff, to every intern, to every fellow to WITN, to the entire team that worked very hard to put this together.

Thank you.

We appreciate it.

As we're kicking off the 250th, this is not our normal location for the budget address, as councilman uh Field meant mentioned.

We're in a historic location.

Um, we appreciate all the work the the historical society for hosting us.

Um, and so I just want to make sure that it's on the record that we all appreciate our staff for working hard to make sure this happened.

Thank you all.

Thank you, Councilmember Kabara.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

I want to echo the comments that were made by my colleagues.

And thank you to the staff, which we want to know that we do appreciate you, and I'm sure it was very hard to do something off site.

Uh so thank you for the great work.

I am very happy to hear about things in the budget that focus on housing, neighborhood stabilization.

As you know, that is my passion.

And to focus on the undeserved and to have more affordable housing so we can prevent the homelessness.

Um, so with that, we look forward to the budget meeting, as long as they may be to really put in there the things that are thoughtful and meaningful for our community, and perhaps even the rental assistance, um, if possible.

But just want to say that it was a great night, and um sorry I could not be there in person.

I miss you all.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Hackett.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

My mic on there.

Uh I just want to say happy birthday to Councilwoman Oliver.

Happy birthday to Councilwoman Harley.

Yeah, I know y'all had an amazing time.

I was singing, but like you said, we're in different settings.

Um, you know, tonight was my first budget address, so you know I'm excited.

I think it was some amazing things that's going to be happening in our city of Wilmington.

Uh, the one thing I do say is um this is the people's budget.

And at the end of the day, we're getting ready to go into budget season, and we're going to continue to try to figure out ways to fight for our people in the city.

I just think it's a great idea.

We do a lot of things together, like turkey drives and different things where we call it one council.

And I think it's a great opportunity for us to go back in our community as one council and do some town halls, maybe possibly do some road trips and sit down and talk and see what our residents want in the city as they address and looked at the budget tonight just like we did.

So hopefully we can come together once again as one council and make sure we continue to get what we need to get for our people in the city of Wilmington.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Spadola.

Thank you.

We all just rolled up in here and we're totally ignorant of all the work that all the WITN and our council staff and DHS staff did behind the scenes and everybody has acknowledged it.

But I I would feel uh remiss if I did also not acknowledge all the the stress of blood, undoubtedly moving all the big equipment around.

And so this was a uh a great event and uh you know a historic and good to be here with all of you.

Thank you, Councilmember Hackett.

Yeah, uh, before we leave, thank you, President.

I just want to say to your single, you did a great job.

You was up there, you represented well.

So thank you so much for being part of our team.

Thank you.

I also want to thank our staff who helped uh put this evening together.

Uh special shout out to Councilmember Nathan Field.

I believe that this was your idea initially to have a council meeting here.

So thank you for your for your vision.

I want to thank everyone who who joined us this evening for our our meeting, those who came and gave public comment.

We appreciate you again.

You are always welcome to give public comment.

Um, but like has has already been mentioned.

This is our budget season.

We welcome you all and we are inviting everyone to come down to be a part of the budget hearing process to give us your input.

If you can't make the meeting in person, you can be a part of it virtually.

If you cannot do that, just please call us and give us your your feedback and your input.

Again, our number if you need any assistance, or if you just want to give us some input of what you think needs to be in the budget, please call us at 302 576 2140.

302 576 2140.

With that, I will accept the motion to adjourn.

Motion to adjourn.

Signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carried.

Meeting adjourned.

Thank you.