Welcome everybody to community manager.

We changed the name yet.

You have not yet.

Okay.

Community development housing general government meeting.

Oh, we got a real short agenda.

So you all could have left your cause only went back and got in them.

But uh thank you so much, all of you for being here today.

Uh city clerk, we don't have a consent, and we're gonna go with that general agenda one eye.

Uh also it has been mentioned that when we have short agendas, uh city manager, we may look at authority if we can do Zoom because the gas that we use to come down here for 15-20 minutes, each just combine them both.

Just think about it.

If we have really short agendas, and it wouldn't tell staff and you guys to be in here with us as well.

We can do it all on Zoom.

We used to zoom, we did it for two years.

We can do this.

Item G1 resolution authorizing the CY 2025 Federal Action Plan for the City of Winston-Salem.

Thank you, Dr.

Mill.

Good afternoon, MPT Adams and committee members.

I'm here in my inter-governmental relations role today.

Uh each year, federal funding opportunities are a crucial part of supporting our city's operations and growth.

And in order to advocate effectively, we create this federal action plan that reflects our real needs for our departments and our communities.

So with that, the main part of the federal action plan, of course, continues to ask for the local and federal partnership support.

In particular, we ask uh quite a bit in terms of affordable housing and job force, uh, workforce training and job creation.

Transportation is a big piece that has always been funded in terms of road, bridges, greenways, safety.

There's also a piece in here requesting commuter passenger rail and specific support which we know is needed for the Winston and Salem Transit Authority.

In terms of the police department, we asked for continued community uh cops grants, uh BOJ uh grants and help with crime prevention.

And the fire department is slightly different in that it would like to see the funding opportunities change in that there's more no or low cost matching, and that there's more notice in order to prepare these well.

Quality of life also hits it with items for arts humanities, parks, health and wellness, environment and equality, and then we continue to ask in terms of legislation to not have anything that imposes unfunded mandates on local government.

And as part of this today, uh, which we are uh asking as a resolution, is I do have Leslie Mozinga from Strategics here to tell you a little bit about the federal climate at the moment.

Good afternoon.

What's up?

Hello, how are you, Madam Chairwoman?

And members of the council and committee.

Um first before I get started.

I do want to just give a shout out and thank Dr.

Miller.

Um, she stepped into a role um while she was keeping her existing role and stepped into this role.

And I think everybody knows um there's a lot going on in Washington these days, and um and she's done a fantastic job in terms of managing that process and and and learning all the things that she had to learn.

So I I do want to recognize that officially that it's not been an easy task, I'm sure, and we really appreciate the support that she's given strategics so that we can better serve you.

Um she did a great job of going over the federal action plan.

I think most everyone's familiar with that, just to give you that brief um um reminder that we do share this with the congressional delegation so that they're aware of your priorities.

You discuss it when you come to Washington and we go around and see your congressional representatives.

Um you do have new representation, so it'll be very important, and um and we will you know, full disclosure, we will actually share it before you come to Washington to make sure they're familiar with it.

Um when so when you come in the door, they're ready to have that dialogue rather than you know seeing it for the first time and trying to read it while you're sitting there.

So this is not only a way for them to know that you're all on the same page.

Uh we have actually specifically in Winston Salem in the past, we had a member of Congress call and say, hey, somebody came in and they're going for this thing, and they said that the city is providing the match, but it's not on your list.

And we said, Oh, hold on just a second, we've got to go back and check.

And so that's wonderful that they see this document as an endorsement from the elected officials, but also you know it helps them understand that if it's not on this list, they at least need to check in.

I do want to add that it's also flexible enough, though, as new issues come up, and we do have a lot of new issues coming up.

Um, a great example of that again that specifically happened to this city council.

We went to Washington, we had our federal action plan and and and talked with everybody, and the day we got back, Washington shut down from COVID.

In that year, that federal action plan did not have the word COVID in it because we had never heard of it, or we at least hadn't seen it in our own backyard.

So we do, and then we spent the rest of the year working on on recovery money.

So it does remain flexible enough that we can adjust with your permission as we need to.

Um, and then finally, it also serves as um as our marching our marching orders and a way for you all to gauge our success.

I know that you've also been seeing the grants um reports, you've had a lot of really great success that we're excited about, and we there's always room for improvement.

We always want more.

Uh, so we'll continue to go in that direction.

And um, and if you don't mind, I'll pause there briefly to see if there's any questions about the federal action plan and the process, and then they've asked me to make a few comments about Washington, which I'm happy to do.