 everyone good afternoon madam clerk could you read the role please yes sir mr. Brown here mr. Herbert dr. Bussles here mr. Brennan present mr. McDowell mr. Duvall mr. Rickamon here um we're gonna do the pledge of lesions but I would like to ask Troop 8 firm in Carson Lutheran Church to come up and lead us in the pledge of legions if you wouldn't mind gentlemen y'all come up right here to the mic right here whenever y'all are ready y'all can get us going I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic which stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you gentlemen mr. brown can we call on you for an invocation since um our our in house reverend is under the weather and not here today so if you could feel that role we'd highly appreciate it would be my pleasure please bow your heads heavenly father please bless this great city of ours as we meet today to discuss and determine the pathway forward for all of the people of Columbia as we enter this advent in Christmas season let us be open to your words your grace your love and your wisdom keep us mindful that we are not only a servant of the people of Columbia but we are in your service as well please bless this council and staff as we enter into this meeting today and help us to administer all that is right and just for all of our citizens and our community in your name we pray amen amen Mary Coven and council at this point in the agenda we want to get it adopted and with that adoption there are two amendments to add the river alliance board under appointments council is asked to approve the appointment of the honorable peter m brown to the river alliance board as requested by the honorable Howard edewald jr and adding the discussion of jobs for america's graduates jag to item 26 the discussion of negotiations incident to proposed contractual arrangements yes sir okay yes sir part of that yes sir with that is there a motion I move the adoption of the agenda as amended is there a second a motion a second any input questions or concerns hearing unseen um madame clerk could you read the roll please mr brown all right miss harbert dr bustle aye mr brunnan yes mr duvall aye may i recommend aye mayor at this time if there is any public input related to the items on the agenda we can receive that so if there's anybody here that like to speak on an item that is listed on our agenda if you'd like to speak on any separate issue we do that at the end of the meeting and you're welcome to speak for three minutes at that time do anybody signed up madam clerk no sir all right madam city manager next slide yes sir the approval of minutes item number one council is asked to approve that november 21st 2023 council meeting minutes there a motion motion is there a second second any discussion changes or concerns seeing hearing none madame clerk please read the roll mr brown all right miss harbert dr bustle aye mr brunnan yes mr duvall aye may i recommend aye and item number two council is asked to approve the april 18th and 25th 2023 budget workshop minutes is there a motion i moved adoption of april 18 18 and 25 budget workshop is there a second second we have a motion in a second any discussion changes concerns hearing none seeing none madame clerk mr brown all right miss harbert dr bustle mr brunnan yes mr duvall aye may i recommend aye thank you moving into a period of presentations item three is the capital city lake murray country update miss miriam atria of the president and ceo for the capital city lake murray country regional tourism board all right everybody buckle up and get ready for a ride get ready hold on to your seats uh mayor i'll recommend and members of columbia city council thanks for this time today capital city lake murray country just wanted to stop by and deliver our annual report full of some great information of our accomplishments in the tourism industry from last year and a strong factor is that we greeted a record 132,242 walk-ins into our visitor center none of them of which live in this region very proud of that accomplishment we want you to review the information and uh want you to know that you'll be continuing to see that our state regional tourism program and our marketing efforts are impacting tourism for columbia we continue to provide strong magazine ads and many many articles are being published in many national publications of our current reports since july provided 59 articles on various tourism assets in our region which in these 59 articles 2.5 billion impressions were made but the important thing here is the marketing value dollar value was over 23 million dollars had we gone and purchased these pages and these publications we just returned from the world through championship and chef mike ellis with smote first time in the competition in that correct vicki vicki is our assistant vice president of special events and funding and led captain um excuse me chef mike throughout the championship he went head to head with the current world food champion very proud of team lake murray we took three chefs there this year and this is just another way to extend our marketing message and promote the culinary scene that is really growing in columbia last spring we brought unprecedented coverage to the region with the bass master's elite the five hour live show on fox news covering the event bragged over and over again about columbia and lake murray and we hope all of you were able to review a short video clip that we forwarded over here so that you could hear the great comments that were made from all the participants and one of them even said we want them to sign a 10-year contract we can't quite do that but we have some of them to return this may to lake murray also bass and the magazine and bass masters named lake murray number one in the southeast for bass fishing and number four in the united states also very proud of that we just returned from the recent teams conference with 12 new potential groups and not all of them fishing right vicki and we've already confirmed out of those twills we're working the bookings we've confirmed four of those for 24 25 but all these groups are related in some way to outdoor recreation which our region shines in may I recommend your judging fork is ordered for the southeast barbecue showdown we got a lot of news we're getting ready to break with that but we're very excited about that upcoming event finally we greatly appreciate the support of all city of columbia council members but today we wanted to find out if we could get Howard Deval council member to come over to the podium with us because we want to recognize Howard Howard has provided years of support to our organization as we have grown served along with our board of directors and actually constantly given some great advice to our staff all of these have helped us in the growth of tourism for the region so Howard rest assured you're going to have a front seat at the southeast barbecue showdown that's my first and to help you navigate some waters we're presenting you with this lovely paddle we have it and also a nice gift for your home to take home but we have a saying when we present folks with our paddles first of all thank you for everything you've done what a blessing you are to the city of columbia but you know what Howard consider yourself paddled thank you all thank you ma'am you can try it i'd be impressed thanks Miriam Mirakum been a quick personal um privilege moment but it's actually actually chief Jenkins moment so i'm gonna ask him to come to the podium and make a quick recognition oh there he is you don't you know you don't tell a preacher and a politician a quick moment yeah mayor council city manager thank you for this opportunity i really want to do this publicly because what you stand for not me not to my side what you stand miss carling foster uh she had been with us for uh 21 years and put with the city she has worked directly with me for 18 years back when i was uh um adaptive chief but i would tell you that and i would tell you all this i don't think you will find a better committed lawyer employee employee named miss carling foster she's really been dedicated what she does she's type person that she don't like recognition i had to drag her here because she don't like recognition but she has just been that that glue for me and for our fire department everybody goes to calling the officer to talk to her get advice she has stuff with her she got a chair in her room that everybody comes sit in and she's just that type person so i want to recognize her publicly because she's retiring this is her last week well she got one more day next week which is on monday and so she'll be leaving us and i'll tell you uh we are losing a very um lawyer and honest employee and she could not have been any better for me in my role as fire chief i'm quite sure you all have executive systems that you work with and the biggest thing is trust and commitment and and stick to do to do the job so i wouldn't recognize her publicly and and i want you i want to share this with you all but also we want to you know they say um beauty is in the eyes of the beholder but i would tell you um when you talk about beauty being in the eyes of the beholder people don't realize what it really means it really means your spirit your inner person we're not talking about that out out of beauty spirit she has such a beautiful spirit and i wanted to make sure she got some flowers too so you can see on the outside was really on the inside of her which is that beauty which is on the inside of her oh that's sweet now she said about no means for she going to speak so thank y'all that's all right we're gonna call her later because now that i know she's been with you for 18 years i'm gonna get some i need some answers thank y'all for this for this moment congratulations calleen uh mr. devol a moment of personal privilege i want to thank mariam atria for for the paddle and uh we we've i've enjoyed knowing mariam for many years but in the last eight years as we've worked together to help lake murray country help the midlands it's been a pleasure to work with her we always look forward when mariam comes to the city council because we know we're going to get an energetic presentation because she is so full of energy for promoting the midlands of south carolina and thank you i've enjoyed working with you madam city manager yes sir the consent agenda items are four through 17 mr. mayor and council for your consideration is there a motion i move approval of the consent agenda items four through 17 second there's a second any questions concerns hearing none seeing none madame clark could you read the roll please mr. brown hi mr. harbert and dr. bustles hi mr. brennan yes mr. duvall hi america man all right thank you i'm a team is a zoning planning matter second reading is there a motion mo that's moved you what i don't know but i just said so moved i've got a motion is there a second second motion a second any further discussion here and i'm seeing no madame clark could you read the roll mr. brown hi mr. harbert hi dr. bustles hi mr. brennan yes mr. duvall no america man hi thank you item 19 an ordinance first reading ordinance number 2023 131 consenting to the inclusion of property in a multi county industrial business park southern realty development corporation 1101 wane llc columbia ch holdings llc and vbh holdings llc in richland county this item was endorsed by the economic development and infrastructure committee on october 17 2023 there a motion motion to approve there a second second a motion a second any further discussion then we look forward to the 135 million dollars you're going to invest and invest thank you with that madame clark could you read the roll mr. brown hi mr. harbert hi dr. bustles hi mr. brennan yes mr. duvall hi i resolutions item 20 is resolution number 2020 3093 authorizing the city manager to execute a memorandum of understanding between columbia richland 911 communications and lexington county 911 communications motion to approve got a motion is there a second a second any further discussion hearing none seeing none madame clark could you read the roll please mr. brown hi mr. harbert hi dr. bustles hi mr. brennan yes mr. duvall hi may i recommend hi thank you item 21 resolution number r2020 3092 approving the issuance by the housing authority of the city of columbia south carolina of its multifamily housing revenue notes or bonds brookfield point in the minute maximum principal amount of twelve million five hundred thousand dollars in one or more series pursuant to section 147 f of the internal revenue code of 1986 as amended providing certain other matters in connection therewith and providing an effective date is there a motion i move approval is there a second second a motion and a second just for public clarification this is just a pass through this is a formality that the city has to do for the housing authority these aren't actually city of columbia bonds or obligations but part of the process is we have to approve it so i just want to make sure everybody understood that with that madame clark could you read the roll mr. brown hi mr. harbert hi dr. bustles hi mr. brennan yes mr. duvall hi may i recommend hi under appointments we are deferring the three items as listed but did at the river alliance board appointment with my their motion mr. mayor i move we appoint uh honorable peter brown to the river alliance board second we've got a motion in a second any discussion hearing none seeing none madame clark could you read the roll mr. brown hi mr. harbert hi dr. bustles hi mr. brennan yes mr. duvall hi may i recommend hi other matters item 25 council is asked to approve a certificate of convenience and necessity as requested by the business license division the award to miss deandra l walley doing business as d's classy writer llc motion to deny second there's a motion in a second any discussion hearing none seeing none madame clark mr. brown hi mr. harbert hi dr. bustles hi mr. brennan yes mr. duvall hi may i recommend hi thank you moving into a period of city council committee reports referrals and new business um i would like to refer or ask the uh environmental health committee committee to they've been in discussions about spade neuter along with requests that we have had for the community and one of the discussion points is really understanding where the county is and i would like if the chair for the committee on behalf of the committee would send a letter to the county to understand what their thoughts and processes are um so that we can look at that jointly because it doesn't make sense for it to be done individually it would need to be done countywide um so if we could make that happen that would be great absolutely we've been in discussion about a potential spade neuter ordinance um including examining some sample language from other municipalities but decided to put that conversation on hold until we had a better idea of what the county was doing and we've also been simultaneously getting updates from animal services around a revamped licensing program in partnership with veterinarians across the city um to hopefully you know fix some of the issues with that um licensing program and also be able to have more funding to support um free spade neuter efforts so we will keep you posted great thank you anybody have any other reports or referrals to share i'd like to give an update on the economic development infrastructure committee which we met today um one of the things we're trying to do is continue to have uh representatives from the midlands come speak to our committee uh today we had mike gula executive director of the columbia airport uh talked to us and i think it's really important um from the city level that that we support the columbia airport um too many times including myself uh conna charlotte fawn out of atlanta and other things i think the airport is in a um real position of growth and involvement um there's a lot of improvements out there so i would like to uh encourage our community to support the airport that supports our community as well um and supports the growth of this area we also discussed uh other economic developments today that also the uh development of our continuing to invest in local partners for economic development as well as the development uh eventually of a economic pipeline of new projects similar to mr arnold's columbia is on the verge of a real growth spurt um i think we're all very positive about uh columbia right now the staff council and the collaboration and coordination with our business community so we'll continue to uh have our economic development committees i would also invite anyone who ever wants to come to those meetings either contact me or uh the staff and uh feel free to participate thank you any other referrals all right madam we're back at public input mayor all right at this time we have mr lee carol of save our kids mr carol your time allocation is three minutes my name is on lee carol save our kids uh i was just wanting to do the city have a youth committee you know i see we've got a committee for everything else do we have a committee for you youth programs well most of our youth programs is you know run through our parks and recs so we don't have a youth commission um not for folks under 18 i don't believe in any way possible we can establish one there was one at one point and there was some youth that we're talking about be glad to have that conversation with you to see how we could reconstitute that to get more young people because one of the things that we'd like to talk to them about too is helping as we talk about future how do we protect the assets that we have our riverfronts and and our parks and everything else that is surrounding so yeah i think it'd be a great conversation okay and mr risa can we get that appointment okay thank you all right appreciate it yes sir thank you for being here mr carol next up we have mr wade fulmer i will remind mr fulmer that the time allocation is three minutes mr mayor council members i'd like to thank you first for honoring vietnam veterans and the veterans parade is the grand marshal this year i'll start off where i was last month nuisance the code says a noise subverts health welfare repose whether it's recurring or cyclical or intermittent uh can refer to the owner always refers to the owner whether an animal barks wines are excessive uh are untimely fashion so i recent the information with some updates today to each of you and i'm still wanting some answers as to why it took 17 months for a first ticket to be issued and i was hearing hours of dog barking uh not only after dark but into the night and up to uh three o'clock in the morning sometimes and it took 17 months excuse me um so we got into two years an additional occurrences happened there's been two of those and i was assured that they would be acted on uh meaning that there should be in some enforcement action which those occurred after the 17 months but there's been two of those and nothing has happened and my last concern is with the two years of evidence that was accumulated by uh columbia police department and um the dispatch that was turned over to uh to uh animal control but did not go any farther than that and i have confirmed through captain blendowski and officer um uh gorman that that information was turned over however when the situation did go to court it was not there so and this is ongoing i know i have to finish up here i still listen to some dog barking at night including last night between uh 140 and 205 in the morning there were several barkings and uh the neighbor gets home late at night they don't go to bed early but they still can put the dog out in the yard i'm giving you a lot of detail you don't know but you have my general and specific concerns and i am getting have talked with several people and my counsel on mr brennan is looking into it mr anderson is looking into it but my request today is as i was referred to mr anderson back in october i would now like to get an official referral so i can hear somebody and maybe talk with the city manager because the city manager is over these two levels and uh even in these codes there's one or two places where it says well in this particular case the city manager has to sign off before anything can be done but animal control and public works are under the city manager and um i think the city manager i i believe in face-to-face uh discussion and ask questions and we get to places where we need to be a lot sooner and i thank you very much thank you mr fulmer i would also maybe suggest since um he has shared with us some nuisance and questions and it's not the first time that's come up that dr bustles would you entertain looking into this as part of your animal services on your committee yes we um are planning on requesting an update from animal services as we had laid out that we were giving them three months to come back to us so we'll ask them to include this and i think that'd be healthy for us to to look at the ordinance and understand and that's a public meeting so you'll be able to hear everything that's discussed and i think hopefully that will maybe clear up get some clarity around the issue hopefully cut to a swifter resolve yes thank you yes sir you have a good evening thank you and mr duvall we will miss you madam claire that's it that's it no one else is signed up we're going to move to executive session to figure out some legal items here mr duvall is there a motion miss mr mayor i make a motion we go into executive session for discussion of negotiations incident incident to propose contractual arrangement pursuant to sc code 30-4 s 78 to server city you know usc columbia technology incubator discussion of employment of an employee pursuant to sc code 30-4 that 70 a one city manager your city attorney receipt of legal advice related to matters covered by attorney class purpose pursuant to sc code 30-4 that 70 a two safety program and discussion of matters related to the proposed location expansion or provision of services for encouraging location or expansion of industries or other businesses in the area served by the public body pursuant to sc code 30-4 that 70 a five project studio a discussion of the negotiations instance proposed contractual arrangement pursuant to sc code 30-4 s 70 a two jobs for america graduate program motion is there second second any discussion hearing non-seeing numb madam clerk could you read the role mr brown hi mr harbert hi dr bustles hi mr brennan yes mr duvall may i recommend hi thank you