 Madam boot camp part could you call the role please here here here we're on my top we already legislative affairs staffer everybody has the titles today yes sir second I yes sir we are so in front of you you have our agenda for this meeting and attached to that agenda are the list of priorities as you see for our list of discussion items it's the city of Columbia legislative priorities and that's the topic for today's discussion in this meeting so we have listed on the second page a list of policy and budget related legislative priorities that we wanted you all to discuss and give us some guidance about which ones were at which ones were most important yes sir that's the second page after your agenda and then we've also included some information that Kyle sent to us about the Municipal Association M.A.S.C. 2022 regional advocacy meeting so we'll discuss that in some detail and then we also included the minutes from our last work session on Tuesday October 18th where we talked about legislative priorities and issues so we wanted to have that for you for your reference to go through the Municipal Association items first I was just thinking we'd hear here this this stuff thoughts from from perhaps our our lobbyist and then probably should kind of end after hearing all that with what our priorities should be that works go through I agree with that this is a simply a summary not this is a summary of one of the regional meetings I think the Municipal Association had either nine or ten regional meetings around the state and they try to do one close to all of their well all the local governments around the state municipalities last week they did wanted Casey City Hall this is just a summary of what was talked about there at that meeting we were able I go to the I go to one of these a year just to kind of listen and at the end if you look on the second page down there at the bottom when they go around the room asking the different mayors and council members from the different local governments that that attend what are issues that they'd like to see addressed I did because we just been in here the day before was able to raise down there at the very bottom of the page the increasing municipal fine limits and ordinance violations fine limits and then the red light cameras for traffic calming so we were we were represented there and put that on the list they will consider everything that they heard at all their different meetings and then they will come out with a agenda over the last 10 years some years the municipal association has a very tight legislative agenda of four maybe five issues sometimes they put out an expansive list of things that they'd like to see addressed so this is not a recommendation from them of what local governments should be concentrating on at the state house this is simply their listening summary of their listening session meeting I think this is much more operative this first page is much more operative for our team being effective for the council and for your purposes given direction well let me ask you this call for the sake of discussion if we go to the issues that we want the MASC to focus on you'd specifically just go through those just so we have an understanding whether we're on the same page or on a different page than what their issues are okay that was I'm totally fine with that and I would actually okay well I'd like to add to the opioid discussion just to what you have here to what are what got the buses you make this you know what are the type of things that we should be looking at the city for the abatement strategies for abatement strategies what should we be doing grant requests what should we have these guys working on for us so for the for the guaranteed funds it's a pretty it's gonna be a pretty straightforward process because it's guaranteed but we do have to formally apply it's something I think our lobbyists could take care of on our behalf and we send we simply have to just let them know under what major bucket of abatement strategies it's going to be used we don't have to do a program application or anything like that to get these guaranteed funds abatement strategies can be anywhere from prevention programs for different populations those perfect protective or at-risk intervention programs treatment programs it could also be you know related to some of the city services that indirectly affect the health and well-being of our citizens so it's very broad which is good and we want to get this money out as quickly as possible and we're gonna be doing it in cycles so the guaranteed funds is it gonna be again a very straightforward application that's one bucket of funds there's also discretionary funds that we're also eligible for that's going to be more of a traditional grant process where we talk about the types of programs that we would be working on yep so that could fall under that some of the workforce readiness things that you've been interested in and youth engagement and that that would also fall under that so it's so it's going we are we've really tried to make the guaranteed funds as easy to access as possible because the committee will simply just say yes no we have an application we don't it's not a approval process in the same way now again if we apply for the discretionary funds that's more of a more of a level of scrutiny as to how those funds will be used we know how much the guarantee portion is I don't have it off the top of my so but there's more coming so every year Johnson and Johnson is paying off the second page second page 420,000 today if everyone paid incrementally evenly over the 18 year period and each year that would step up Johnson and Johnson wants to pay their amount all at once to get it off the balance sheet I guess so when they pay this 60 million dollars which is expected in the next period of months then that 420,000 dollars to the city of Columbia will jump to whatever proportion of that 60 million dollars we don't know what that is but it's going to be a pretty good money and I'd like to and I'd like to read on to the record as well some of the other strategies I just pulled up our report so we have you can expand training for first responders schools community to address opioids you could also use it for of course traditional treatment focus on pregnant and postpartum women expanding treatment for kids expansion of warm handoff programs and recovery services where some of the wraparound stuff would could go under that treatment for incarcerated population it could be media campaigns prevention programs in schools funding medical providers funding community drug disposal programs so there's a wide range of things that fall under what's what would be eligible we have any recommendations I think we can talk about some of the things we're already working on around homelessness around some of the youth engagement around some of the workforce and that would all be okay we don't have to go super in depth for the guaranteed funds so we plan on making the deadline sometime in quarter one of 2023 so yeah and that's for the discretionary and for the guaranteed we hope to have an update in the next month because that's a quick process we just need to see that we submitted an application and the funds go out there's an application including I think a letter of support yeah because I don't know that that would be one of our consultants thinking more that that would be an internal that answers the question on the guarantee discretionary stuff y'all haven't said the deadline that's gonna be quarter one I just suggest that we consider doing now we haven't gotten that update yet so I have not but that might be the most recent they haven't sent us any updates on the discretion yeah the only thing that I would that I remember from listening to this I'm not sure if it's reflected in this document is that they were encouraging applicants to partner with agencies in the area so in other words City of Columbia takes a look at what nonprofits in our area are in this space yeah for discretionary absolutely so that we are not trying to sit around and figure out how our city staff goes out and does all this sort of work or whatever but that we're putting together basically a team of people that already do this work that we can help fund them in their work yeah yeah and that was something we talked about especially for organizations or ideas that don't have a robust infrastructure behind it but I think it would still be pretty competitive if you know one of our offices that's going to grant this these dollars to do specific things applies as well and has a hand in it again the political funds very straightforward we just have to formally ask for it and we get it this is again the discretionary in deciding what additional funds we want so it's now the score which is the South Carolina opioid recovery Commission and so that is falling under the Attorney General's office we can certainly come up with a list of areas that we feel that we can immediately be impacted whether it's the first responders fire peace or it's the wraparound services at the rapid shelter and then but do we feel good about the December 2nd deadline to just submit a application for the political guaranteed funds it's very straightforward like there's not you know the discretionary is a little more complicated but yeah we'll get maybe Missy's group grants to work out we'll get a staffer assigned to review making our application with Miss Bonnie Ammons to eliminate the ten million dollar per entity cap and so she worked with us we felt like that was inappropriate because Greenville has a separate water utility a separate sewer utility in a separate stormwater the city does the stormwater administration Columbia has one entity that administers all three or them to potentially get ten million dollars per entity and only us only get ten million is not fair and so she now before the applications went in she eliminated the per entity and said it's ten million dollar cap per project and we're allowed to submit more than one project but she is looking at geographic diversity so that the major cities don't get all the money and and so that was her play of I'm still looking at geographic diversity and I can't promise that you'll get these but we submitted two large projects that were would allow us to get the full ten million dollar grant if each project were selected so we're hopeful at least to get 20 million that's kind of way we've left it and I think she said if there happens to be money left over there'd be another round of applications I'm not hopeful that I'm not love it if there was money left over but I'm hoping we'll get based on the report that you showed us recently like let's just say for example we service the water in sewer for Arcadia Lake you know do we do we do an application in conjunction with Arcadia Lakes for projects within Arcadia Lakes I mean if you look at we're probably today look at the municipalities the city of Columbia East over we probably have some some reach into forest acres Arcadia Lakes wood yeah so Chatham yeah exactly or mo I mean we had any discussions with them on looking at it on a city by city type basis because that creates geographic diversity yes sorry it does our understanding was at the time was that it had to be a war you have to be a water and sewer entity to apply and so we couldn't really submit a co-application with or mo because they're not a water and sewer entity since we were the provider we would be the one having to submit the application Richland County is a provider they submitted their own application for projects for their wastewater utility so we didn't see a window to say forest a combined with forest acres to get the money specifically carved out for water and sewer infrastructure I was just wondering it might be worth going back and talking to her because here's the deal if you've got two big projects that are ten million dollars these other ones might be eight hundred thousand dollar projects you don't want to jeopardize losing the second ten million for to get one eight hundred thousand but it could certainly especially on the on the second go around you could submit four or five million to two million dollars yes sir and I think there are some opportunities you know town of Chapin they have a utility we're also the provider wholesale provider and they do and and so we there are some smaller bites of the apple so we'll absolutely thank you sir so there was a mention the short-term rentals that there's likely to be state legislation on that this year and in the past that state legislation has been to bar a local government from doing anything I'm not sure that it will be something as inelegant as that although something like that will probably be introduced I think that we should look though we should anticipate that there will be short-term rental legislation and so we would have to then look to the city we your lobbying team would look to you to give us feedback on what's being debated PTSD services this is the same issue that we deal with every year which involves the compensation of first responders for PTSD under the health insurance plan of the state I believe that where we are now on that issue is that if the person suffering PTSD was present and actively involved in the situation that gave rise to the PTSD then it is compensable but it's not compensable otherwise under the state plan I think that's where we are right now that comes up almost every year tort claims limit like we talked about last week I believe that where we are today is that if the person who is suffering from PTSD is a short is a first responder covered by the state plan if that person was on active duty and at the scene of the circumstance that gave rise to PTSD then it's compensable it's really difficult we're to draw the line on what's compensable and what's not under the state what state playing can cover what the state plan does excuse me we talked about tort claims tort claim limits last week that is the maximum amount that the city will be liable in any lawsuit against the city for negligence torts etc etc it's been at the same amount I think since 1997 maybe 1998 and Ms. Knox could could probably talk to you more intelligently about this than I can it was proposed to be raised proposed by Senator Harputlian two years to be raised to two million yes the trial lawyer would like to raise it up no we were we got out of the house I got out of the senate in 2021 and did not come up in 2022 in the house so we should look for that the next one doesn't apply to us it's the requirement for small towns to have audits that has to do with small towns not having enough you know a small town with a $20,000 budget having to do a $7,000 audit the client is the concern the next one is a critical need for local government employees and this goes to the issue that we talked about last week about people being able to retire and come back to work waving the cap with a shorter time period and then any anything else that can help serve getting the needs it can can help address the need for local government employees like I said I raised the next one and the next one which are for the record here increasing municipal fine limits and increasing ordinance violation fines and then the then that that's one and then the next one is allowing the use of red light cameras for the purpose of traffic calming that's mr. Duvall's issue that he won't include was it that you were proposing last year the actual fine was there a fine amount or was it just simply we'd like to see it be raised no we did not we there was there was nothing done legislatively on that last year that was that was an issue that the mayor raised at our meeting here a week ago and so we raised it as something the city of Columbia would like to see and so that would be something that we would have to find somebody to introduce that legislation well let me ask you this I mean rather than leaving that so open ended um we'll speak with mesonox on what our current limits are and let's let's let's push for not to raise it but to raise it to x I just I I think that takes a we were in a meeting earlier today and we discussed that the fear of the unknown stops lots of stuff and the fact that if you're asking for something and it's not known what you're asking for it makes it more difficult to get so if today for example our limit is $500 we may want to see it raised to $1,500 or $2,000 litter and dumping are our biggest issue I actually think that would go hand in hand too if we're able to push the litter stuff forward then we want to see an increase what is the state law what is the state cap on local governments ordinance violation fines is that a thousand dollars or is it 500 500 so we cannot find the state law prevents us from finding anyone over $500 for I think it's five I think that may be what they unfortunately with the inflection area economy that we've been experiencing I'm not so sure $500 is is the deterrent we need especially when it comes to some of these dumping issues right that we're seeing in our no I'm only laughing because you're making the same argument such trial laws are making on the tort claims act you know relationary pressures in the last 25 years we need to raise it but we but I would and I withdraw my comment I'll just say I would for and to incentivize people not to break the law it needs to be higher than it is today so we're talking about people breaking the law they're talking about their next vacation there's a big difference when we when we go to the legislature let's cut to the chase here $2,000 what will we want to raise it to $2,500 limit $2,000 limit I mean I would say I would say start high I would say 20 I would say raise it to where we got the ability to go to the state limits but I mean why wouldn't we have our lower level of fence fines be the same as the state lower level for example if littering is a thousand dollar fine state level why would we cap it $500 I mean in other words when we start right it's a thousand dollar tickets it's gonna be some people quit dumping in our neighborhood well us though why don't we say that we have a we move up from 500 to I'm fine with a thousand and a thousand or the state level whichever is greater like a kid 1500 more than you expect so let's ask for two and I hope we love yeah don't y'all think that makes it a little bit easier to at least talk about it over there I would I would let these guys talk so I don't talk the whole time I would I would say at least $2,000 or why aren't we know we don't break our pick on $500 that's all that effort at a certain level that's right it's it's up to even on littering it's up to uh it's always up to there I don't think that there's an I don't think that the I'll pay the fences and step up right we just want to raise the cap from 500 to that's real judge is discretionary we were getting close to getting finished with this yeah on the on the red light camera stuff I think we've got to sit down and discuss just a little deeper about the approach um I know that there's several groups working on it but a solid approach that actually has chance to catch us and you know red light is not the first place to start them in cameras because school zones and other places where we're having to spend extra resource officers to be there could be captured with this work zones and others so I think we've got to do a little work on what we present over there we've got data to show really what it is and I know Howard and his group been working on it I just think we've got to tweak it because I think they're going to make it hard for us to get movement on it and I've talked to several other mayors who want may want to join in on on rafting something because they all have the same situation especially with our limited resources and the average rack at an intersection takes about two and a half hours and I would reiterate that any any legislation that we propose if you're talking about it getting legs I think that you're going to enhance it getting legs if it includes some participation by the State Department of Transportation in saying yes this is a problem that's why you get paid the big bucks and we don't because we want you guys to build those alliances on these things this is really just about us us letting you know as these things come up because these are more than citywide these are a lot of these are state issues and we'll talk about mental health funding in a minute for urban areas I mean this is not something for just Columbia alone we need for you guys to help build partnerships with the with the Greenville's the Charleston's in some cases even our smaller communities in South Carolina because because again this is a lot some of these help the city but also help the whole state and that's what we just said and some other folks on board let's see we are at that the next one was someone from a different municipality talking about making sure that officials and local governments know about the funding options for roads and then the last one is enclave annexation and donut holes there continues to be a lot of pressure on that issue and we'll just see what it brings let's take can we take and go back one just a second on the road situation I just I think it might be helpful for us to understand more locally than and statewide because this is how the road funding does work I mean Mr. Mayor you at one point time were involved I think or even on member of the Richland County Transportation Commission and then that's who the C funds go through they did but I will I will tell you as a committee member those decisions were made before the committee came to the meeting a lot of us didn't have a lot of input on the decision of those but that is the main source for for that funding so I mean here the question would be do we ever approach and this would just be not necessarily a legislative issue this year but is there some dialogue that we have at some point in time with Secretary Hall or others about you know cities that have you know because you and I we all know that DOT has been putting a lot of pressure on municipalities to take over some local roads yet unnecessarily thinking that the amount of proper amount of funding follows those those acceptance of those roads I mean is it is it worth our while to have some discussion at some point in time about municipalities that have road programs being able to participate or getting their own C fund allowance rather than having it all controlled by the county I mean well I think I think there's a big discussion about that you know having sat down with the commissioner the county council and and other folks discussing about the shortfalls because you know in a city like Columbia 40 have 492 miles worth of roads 71 I'm controlled by DOT and the response to me from staff was well all our maintenance money goes to the highway well wait a minute I pay gas tax I pay this my constituents should have the same so I do think this is a legislative period where we got to have a discussion about how we we designate those funds to make sure that we're getting that money to take care of our roads in our community you know there is some effort on the beautification where DOT is invested in street sweepers and some new programs to help in the gateways but it's very limited and the reason it's it's actually happening is because the county and the city are are helping contribute to that that program but I think this legislation we've got to make sure that we are seeing some funding put back into that 492 miles worth of road now how we carve that up or how we do it there's a lot of discussion that's my point mr. mayor I think we begin the discussion on how it gets done and probably then look look for a solution you know maybe maybe in the next year or so but again whether it's you know again whether it's even penny tax money and things like that it seems that all the all the road money decisions are made outside of the city when when again I would argue that our contributions to those funding streams are large maybe far superior far more than what we're seeing come back and I and again I I think having part of this discussion is for you guys to begin to have some discussions with leadership over there and see what the appetite is for some for some of these type changes you know and then come hopefully come back to us at the next meeting after the you know you know say in January or February saying we've talked in there you're going to say yeah the people understand that the cities need more control over repairing their city streets or you may come back and say these guys they ain't getting in the middle of it I mean and then maybe then we can decide whether we need to sit down with again other cities and build a coalition to have a discussion I know it's a hot discussion with all the regional mayors as well it is always a need and what is it that they can do now just moving to the next one though let's what is it that the state can do to make it to help with the annexation of donut holes there has been legislation proposed for the last few sessions that would allow a government by council decision to annex donut holes that are completely surrounded by the city or a state line or something like Fort Jackson if it's I believe if it's 25 acres or less so what's been what's been the attitude towards those proposals in the past the county association is 100 opposed to it and the property rights the people who are concerned about protecting property rights at all costs are 100 opposed to it because people ought to be able to do whatever they want with their land why would a county oppose it I mean I mean for example more money to service that area well it's not even that in richland county today in the city of columbia the county I believe jeff paglinson I believe the county gets a percentage more in property tax in the city does aren't they at like 198 20 percent we're like at 19 oh it is okay well my point would be if we take it over the property tax stays about the split and we actually savings for them that's my property on the service standpoint but it costs the county more in those unincorporated areas because they're having to bring a truck totally into it for but the other issue too remember we talked about this with with our last meeting on on water and sewers our stormwater program on a donut hole we're managing all the stormwater yet the neighbors are having to pay for all the cost for the guy in the donut hole so you know I said there's an you know an equitable situation there when it comes to to the deal I think I think if we can move that thing forward that would be very good you know there's there's a process for annexing today and the process is I read an article on greenville recently anybody in here knows it you can tell me it's something like 50 percent of the people 50 percent of the property owners in the donut hole have to petition to have a vote and then 70 percent have to agree or maybe it's 70 percent have to petition and 50 percent agree and that is a reverse this is 74 okay yeah right so so when you when you bring up these bills that would allow it to be done by a council vote the pushback is not that we want our donut holes forever the pushback is there's a process in place and if people want to come into the city they're more than welcome to come into the city if they don't want to come in the city it's because they want to live in the county so don't take people's right away and I'm giving you the argument the other side and I totally no I totally understand that that's where so if we wanted to local government cities have the ability have the option to spend the money to do what you're tossing right now has a annexation coordinator and I think and I say she because I'm pretty sure it's a woman has a staff of two or three people and their entire job every day is to go push people to annex into the city we understand very encumbering process though yeah right and it involves a lot and I can tell you there are areas that have been working on it for probably three or four years and still can't get across because property owners are rental I mean moves and so you get a renter who signs on which they can but then they can't they can't they're not there to come back and vote so it starts the whole process over and I think what we're looking for is a clearer path to eliminate this because what's happening is is to get when the county redid their their zoning they ended up rezoning some of these donut holes give you an example one that was between the city and forest acres that that allowed them to add mobile homes and all this stuff just basically through their zoning away and so you you have all these people who were up but they have nowhere to go they're literally stuck because of the process so I think you know as we go through this maybe we should present a path forward that we could get other people to join in on and say hey it's time to update this and make it a smoother it makes much more sense for everybody I think the property rights people I think they're they're a little off on that one there's also everybody has their opinion but there's also there's safeguards in the process of a council vote too right we need to bring that out and there's gonna be plenty of times where you can oppose something just like any other vote that we do so I agree I think that that's something we should look at and part of this is public awareness too I mean again I don't think for example it never occurred to me until we had the presentation by by Mr. Shealy uh a couple weeks ago that on our storm water fees that everybody you know all your neighbors are paying for all your storm water repairs and and so forth if you're not in the city I mean so so I think making those type things a little bit more known to folks just something that helps I think yeah we got that but it's most of these doughnut holes are not very big the honest way and you know and I'll just echo what the mayor said I probably I mean calls in y'alls maybe not your neighborhood but over around satchel forward that little doughnut holes there that all of a sudden it was interesting because when the county did their rezoning and they reclassed what was formerly single family residential in a doughnut hole to multi-family and mobile home parks I mean the interesting thing was people calling up complaining that their property all of a sudden got made multi-family instead of single family when we all know what the value probably happened so I think that's one of the reasons what the county actually went in and withdrew their their their zoning deal and reworking it now so anyway um that'd give rise to the idea that pass a law that says if a county rezones a doughnut hole that the city has the option of I don't know it's it's it's a it's a it's up every year I talked to folks in the lobby about this every single year so that was a good discussion because Kyle talked about a lot of things that were already on the minutes from that work session and that's where this list got compiled was from those those minutes and the things that you all discussed in there we've talked about a couple of those things but we have them listed Mr. Taylor did you all the mayor you want to go by one by one down this list and then try to prioritize them tell us which ones right yes sir all right well let's start with that first one that's the tax modernization right yeah this is just so you're aware you know we we've been building a model for a year for for a property tax modernization program or probably even a better word would be a property tax competitiveness it's going to require some special legislation I think sometime in the next three weeks we'll have the outline on that I think representative Finley and representative Rutherford I think are two ways and means committee members from inside the city I think these tax rules don't they have to start in the house isn't that right not like this okay well regardless we're you know we're just I think we'll get them I know I'll talk to mr. family to take take our outline to what's it called legislative council that writes the legislation and that will probably have to be I think frankly our number one priority when it comes to new legislation being passed um and and once we have that we'll want to sit down with with y'all and look at the strategy on what's the best way to get that that's right we've done it twice very important that's what yeah well that's the strategy would probably we just need to discuss whether y'all we all think it's best and what the members of what our ways and means committee members say do we make it a statewide option for everybody which is kind of what I think we probably should do and um and yeah the council would have to adopt it there'd be some you know but like Ramair saying it's it's very similar to what act 98 did or whatever it was that took whether you can't change the assessment rate because it's a constitutional deal where it creates a credit off of growth without raising anybody else's tax or fees that will apply same thing they did to take industrial from originally what 10.5 to 9 and now from 9 to 6 this would allow us to take all of our commercial property and even more important apartments and rental homes from us net equivalent of a six percent essential rate to four over a year period so not just a whack yeah well the first two years are build-ups and then eight you start to feel it but it's we'll have a draft legislation as well I think the next one we've talked about talking about it responds for so for the next one for mental health services in addition to councilman taylor's discussion around pairing up with other local governments to just increase access generally speaking to mental health services this is in direct response to a gap that was identified through the task force that there are no services available after five we've been hearing about a stabilization unit and you know the city has been doing their part but it's it's been really slow and so we've spoken already with Representative Finley about this and he's very keen on pushing this forward and making sure that we have clinicians or some sort of triage process available for individuals experiencing mental health crisis after 5 p.m. and I think it's the it's going to be really down to funding from yeah it's going to be funding for dmh so this is a state issue in the state yeah this is a statewide issue that especially in our urban markets where we have a higher concentrations you know what's happened and I think I think between Dr. Bussles the mayor me and especially miss wilson I think what we're seeing and and especially here is these chronically unsheltered homeless people just can't take care of those folks at home I mean there it's a disruptive deal and what has happened is we all know from growing up here you know bull streets gone away and the institutionalized position that the state has role has been reduced almost to the point to use Dr. Bussles words earlier where we put take them out of the institutions put them in the street so we I think I think especially our urban markets we need that we need to make sure that our general assembly understands that we really do have a mental health crisis especially especially in the chronic unsheltered space where we need to see we need to we need to see a statewide attention really put put money into our mental health department yes sir this is a state deal this is a state department of mental health deal where you know where you got to take crash fair on fair road and do bring that type of these it's an institutional deal you know and I just at the same time though I will say that one thing that we do want to make aware and we've certainly be doing our part with our delegation is for folks to know that oftentimes we are bearing the social cost of the rest of the state when it comes to homelessness and mental health and so they will be the state must step in and help us in Columbia because um you know when we look at how things are even funded folks from Rock Hill all the way to Allendale come to Columbia for services and that's a problem when it's just the city putting in money and and so that's something that I'd like to see us have conversations about as well so we have something to ask for we can ask all that funding was still there it's not it's just there's there needs to be a push call me today about that and it's and they've done that in Charleston Charleston Greenville is in the process we have one and somebody else for right well you're getting money correct they're what we're going to do this is it's really two products we have an existing program that we probably the easiest fund based on what you're saying is we need to make sure it stood up and that we maybe even ask for additional funding and we can get you a memo on what it is and what we need correct that may be the easiest one funding no I understand they may agree or just agencies have their own fund they'll take any money that's appropriated to them that somebody else of you for funding only they think they're basic no I understand but I would tell you we're dealing with two things here one is this this great this is a good program it's it really needs I think it's only 11 beds at a time see it needs to be bigger if we're going to look at it individually but when you're in these discussions with our members of a general assembly I'm not so really I'm not so sure that that especially our folks from our more rural areas and smaller towns understand what's going on in these bigger urban cities in South Carolina with mental health issues I mean again if you have one person you know if you had one tenth of the percent population of Summerton you got one and a half problem people problems that same number in Columbia may be a thousand you know so I mean so let's let's let's get a memo on this on this this program it's good and and to make it bigger and then but I think we should have this broader discussion sorry go ahead go I was just going to say I would probably then move this to budget instead of policy and simultaneously I think we could speak to a little bit of some of the homeless supportive and transitional housing options going back to the whole discussion about us bearing the social cost and how we need we need the nine million to be able to move forward with some of the homeless services that we need for the city for the record try to talk into the mic we're getting people texting in saying they can't hear y'all converse with us I'm being told by the boss lady back here an old lobbyist strategy yeah you can do anything about anybody in this building but they're a clerk whatever she says goes so we owe you a memo on the mental health right and what I just wanted to jump in real fast before so we can capture this I think what Warren talked about earlier is a smart approach to this which is let's talk about how to put something under the Department of Mental Health that let's let's let's go to our legislators and talk to them about the possibility of putting something in the Department of Mental Health's budget that that focuses on this issue and that's that's a very doable something right that's what we're just talking about yeah there's an existing program that we need to make sure it continues and is made bigger and we can see if there is a possibility that in this coming year that we can put extra funds in there so that we can expand the program more than 11 minutes have it that's right we're on the same page we're just saying I think we're good there yeah just so you know that program is available they do it in Greenville do it in Charleston so when you've got to allies on this when you this hasn't been a priority for leadership anyone who leaves mental health has just not been a priority for years probably since bern smith no it's been 25 years yeah it is more critical now it's causing Matt we have backlogs we have issues and everything from our un-sheltered to our our pediatric units are overwhelmed it's causing physician fatigue I mean I could go on listing why it's so important that they invest in this and we want to be you know pushing it and if we got a call Knox and we got a call Tecklenburg or whoever will you know be the next mayor if there is you know we'll get a coalition but we've got to make sure this happens we talked about red light cameras and all I think we've got a we've got to come up with a different name and a different program on how we push that forward but you know in today's world I think we ought to be able to get some movement on that if we put it together correctly so we're going to have to spend a little time carving that together speed cameras well I mean you know look today you got license plate readers you got street cameras everywhere it's it's not different but I think it's how we put it together and how we put the program together and you know going not being a criminal fine but a civil fine and then some of that money going into some other programs to help community oriented problems get solved so I think we just we got a really kind of it needs a little updating and a little different strategy but definitely on our list for those of us who have to cross the city street you don't like being frogger who's an area zoning bill who's got the detail on this is local government ability to do it this is councilwoman councilor perverts what it would what it would right now the local governments do not have the ability to require that or even give an incentive for affordable units to be included in a development an inclusionary zoning ordinance would either require a developer building a new development with over x number of units to reserve a certain percentage of them for affordable units or it would not require but give an incentive for the person to do that and there's no you can't do there are no inclusionary zoning ordinances now because it's not allowed in the state why do you know why I don't I don't know why I think it's probably because the bills that have been proposed in the past would have allowed local government to require and that doesn't meet with a lot of favor so maybe a permissive I mean I'm sorry a a bill that would allow local governments to have a inclusionary zoning if it's just incentivized as opposed to required might be possible some other communities that I remember discussing this previously before had also given an option so maybe not included in that but then they would go build the x amount of units somewhere else because depending on the price of land and your limitations on height and parking requirements and all the things that went around it the goal was let's get the units doesn't matter how we get it but have the flexibility to get those units so I think as we talked through this would look at what what the options are and the local governments that have been pushing for it have wanted I'm not going to name any names because I don't think that's productive but those cities wanted to be able to require their developers that are building like you know prairie fire around here y'all are going to have to put some local government some some affordable units and like I said that's met with pushback the other like you said mayor they would be allowed maybe you don't have to put them here but you can build them here or you could make a contribution into our housing fund at the at the local government to offset it that those those knowing that those local governments wanted to require that of developers cause enough pushback that it doesn't go well you know and I think the other thing that we got to continue is until we regulate our own zoning to open up the opportunity for the middle market stuff you know everything we built we pushed it over to single families so we still have to open up the door to allow our own lots to be before we push on to the other so there's there's work on both sides I see the value that you could have I think it's all how you craft it but I think it needs to be to where we are in a market we need to be incentivized not punitive in the process so our recommendation there would be just to continue to kind of explore that as opposed to taking informal action right now we will monitor and if opportunities come up to be helpful in passing an inclusionary zoning bill that allows that that that's not that doesn't give us an incentive based it's incentive based thank you workforce development for young adults hey goes the old theory you get more flies with honey and workforce development obviously you know this goes hand in hand and we're in a community where 18 to 24 year olds are we've got a real issue and obviously you know it plays into violent crime and the other things that are going on so obviously as we continue to look for for opportunities there to work with a state on you know and this may something fall under due you know that that we could we could look at that and how that could be part of that I have not yet but I'd like to that we could access I have not been aware of that so if we could set that up let's go over there and visit with them all right so that brings us to the budget I think our number one priority has got to be to get the balance of the railroad crossing money which we were looking for which would be another 15 million that puts us at 35 which is what I think we put in our in our deal and we're we're we're close on the quiet that process well on the on the next one yeah yeah this one I think senator harpoon has said that he would work he would work with all his his influence to get us is 2.4 3 million and I just want to give you the number 3 million to build phase two of the quiet zones we rather than we had enough at his suggestion we split it into two phases we took the money that we've put the city put in the state put in to do phase one and so that's one the key on senator harpoon in 3 million 3 million for phase two of the quiet zone and miss gentry that so everybody knows it's in the room that takes the quiet zone all the way to which frankly yeah as we look to build out more residences in the city it makes it a really big difference I think that's that's three three million three million senator harpoon and should be your lead your lead on that since we have all of us here can we get a quick update on where we are with the implementation of phase one because that's the first you please come to the podium we have we've approved it and it's just a matter of working through the contract with the railroad frankly that's right and unfortunately if you can move the railroad we would be deaded to you and you would in that kind of basically just exactly it so I mean we're really and and you have any estimation of when we should expect so we have secured a consultant that's helping us now push it along we've met with norfolk since the council approved the agreement we're probably a month or two away from getting an agreement signed with them there's some work that has to go into that once it's signed they'll start being norfolk so right once it's signed they'll start working on construction plans hard construction plans so we'll be able to bring back an update I'd say in the coming month or so but we do have a consultant on board and council has approved the agreement it'll go from Gadsden to college is the phase one and then the next phase is starting at Taylor I believe all the way to Beltland so it's Norfolk not CSX that's Frank Machiaverna Frank's been gone Frank gone and John Diller great John CSX Brian Gwen is the local guy yeah he's their economic development guy but Brian's been replaced and I have his name but I don't have it with me point being is you can relate to the senator that that we've you know we've retained a consultant to speed the process up you know he knows the city's approved it and that we're counting on him for phase two we talked a little bit about the next one anything you want to add councilman Taylor well this is actually what we're looking at is we it's for a housing homeless facility I mean whether it's you know hopefully we either have to get to a more permanent rapid housing deal or better yet maybe even have the funding to move existing facilities into more centralized location away from the core of the city we're talking about creating a camp an all-around wraparound service campus yep away from Elm what away from the Main Street corridor yeah yeah I mean our rapid shelter that we're propping up is a temporary version but it's not meant for long term so you know we've got to start moving towards that solution and there's a couple ideas that we can talk about outside of of the meeting at some point when we can sit down and have some one-on-ones about how we need to move that forward nine million is what we were looking at and I think going back to the discussions and I'm happy to talk with you offline I don't know that's the total amount but that's what we're going to start that's where we're starting yeah we look we would like to look for a state appropriation of nine million towards the new facility which I you know I suspect will be in the north of 20 when it's done but we'll end up putting our grant writers on federal programs and some other some other programs as well as raising money within the community it'll be all hands-on deck this is this is this is like I say you know besides the promise that we made on the quiet zones and finishing out that railroad deal I think I think addressing this homeless situation it is a city-wide issue it's not you know we have the shelters are downtown but the problems are everywhere Garner's Fair Road Harbison Forest Drive and and I think this is a major step and I think I would repeat or ask Dr. Bussells to even reiterate what she said earlier that we take we take on the social cost of the rest of the state I mean for our friends in York County we're in their district those people come here we're the center for 17 counties for interesting care so it all plays here well it's like our police one of our police major said it's easy to be homeless in Columbia so my thing is if we're going to be known for being good at providing services then you need to pay because I'm not going to provide for services for free when our taxpayers are the ones that are paying for it um so rep rep Todd and I have talked about this so this is not going to be something that's a surprise um also talk to Representative Johnson who's been concerned about some of the homelessness situation in lower Richland so they may be two people to talk to next is the home repair assistance we continue to be updating that as we we move forward I would just I think that's something that's important to Mr. McDowell but it's kind of in progress right well this is this is going to make it clear we got three million dollars in this last budget that's going through a process of some sort and and I would say from a priority perspective we always want to have home assistants and things like that but we probably need to figure out how we're going to address this one before we look at the second one yes no maybe okay so we just need to we just need to have it on everybody's forefront because as we're addressing and and taking down and moving forward on on what was captured last year there could be some some extra needs so we just need to be prepared for that this is also a priority for Ms. Herbert one of the things that that that that we may want to look at at some point in time is perhaps we're working with the state prt group to look at the track that's between the river between the zoo on the river and the I-26 flyway as a potential state park you know for you guys that grew up here that's the old police club property and again I don't know how a discussion like that that handles it gives the you know it would be a wonderful place to give give our everyday folks access to the river I think it would probably be better managed cost effectively done as a state park versus versus versus a city type facility so just put that in the back of your in your mind and at some point we probably ought to have a sit down with Dwayne Parrish and just see what the possibilities are we may get we may get our senators and house members to from up that way I think the other thing too is really though also sitting now at prt I think we've been missing some opportunities there are funding sources to enhance our parks and access to the river and other places even some small places boat landings and other other options you know especially with some opportunities they've come available on the broad river on the soluticide and some other places on the congloree so you know I think it this is a good opportunity for us to to let them get to know the capital city a little bit better right so but I think I think I mean exactly we probably it would probably be good for for for for us to have just just to go have some interaction with the agency heads for both DNR and PRT there's some options for us that the boating alliance and some other folks may also put some funding sources up to match anything that we can get from the state to create more options but there's been an interest by a legislator to actually propose a walkway across the Elmwood Earlwood area over Elmwood avenue to connect to the other side which makes it easier to access it because I don't know how the city feels about that well we've been talking about that for a while with the Elmwood neighborhood association others there's there's an interesting opportunity there and if we could leverage some state funding with some private donation money that that's willing to help us with that we can address it there it is because of the situation of where it is it is a little costlier than other connectivity points but it's it would then allow us to have complete access connectivity so everybody from from our from basically Richland Memorial over could have direct access and go to the zoo and with what's happening on the soluticide you'll be able to go all the way to the dam well that's actually to add to that I think I think with the grant that was secured last year's budget with some other private sector grants that the money is in place now to build the river walk all the way to the dam what we what the mayor's talking about is I think it's under Elmwood instead of over but it's the connectivity to Bull Street is that what's it wasn't you know that what's something green it's a green one it's got to have a name river greenway whatever that's the green way is that what you're talking about the green and so like I say then you can come from downtown or all the way through I mean it's and I think what you're going to see us do is the back of the old cemeteries yeah I was going to ask you um on the original list something like from last year there total request was four million in total four so you're now at what was this the green way we're now up to about are we okay do we need to ask for more money point five so you got two minutes that does not include the bridge that connectivity is a bridge is a different location we're both street it's going towards the river yeah absolutely long pursuit Mr. Tom because Ms. Gentry will give you the number they they're going to verify it with engineering okay but we have but on our original request we're with two million we're still still two million short from the other I know but I'm going to make sure with inflation it's not two and a half million now one point five you've gotten two I think total representative Roche was doing the funding for parks so we're including Tindley Park all right that's good we got the meeting so we should add for the purposes of making sure that we get down what we need to do we should add vista trail to this to this budget list vista greenway yeah the vista greenway bridge connectivity yeah we'll get you a hard number to complete it the only other one y'all had is there a with the nine million that was appropriate for weekend street is that the end of the question we in street is good where it is right now we look at what our spending priorities are from the state it wouldn't make my personally we're we're no we're working through the river we're one of the things that with that with that is that we believe there's funding to do what needs to be done now we're trying to work through actually having an agreement because right now there hasn't been agreement so we've been spending a lot of time chasing money that we don't have an agreement to do anything but I would say this to one of the and we you know this is kind of from what we're from the committee today the order I think our priorities are but they're probably going to be some smaller things that other people have some prep you know that we'll reserve the right to come back and maybe add to it but I think from a technical perspective we wanted to have a smaller list that that that you know that that frankly concentrated on the bigger ass because if you add a whole lots of other little things that lets folks do the little ones and say well that was on your list and we understand that our members of the general assembly here all have their own special things that that they're going to go do regardless and and that's just the way the world works but I think what we're talking about here the are the big ticket items that are important important to to us and I would just reiterate that as these kind of ad hoc things come up one gap that I think exists is just continuing to have some sort of dialogue whether it's through email or just giving us these updates of just maybe those hallway conversations or things that you're hearing that would be helpful in terms of some of our priorities because I think that this is a very active committee and we're happy to come with you to these meetings and have these discussions establish a regular I think it'd be helpful you know man last last session you know we had that spring up on a Thursday afternoon at five o'clock the ankle monitoring bill that really threw us all for a loop luckily we we got somebody in the Senate to take it down that's the kind of stuff that we need to know what's going on because that affects all of our community I think I having a regular cadence of meetings one session begins so if we could circle back and find I think 15 minutes is perfect to just even get a verbal update yeah generally from my standpoint I think the rest of the stuff in here we've we've talked about beautification of DFT roads in the city and how we look at that from a budgeting standpoint and I do think that needs to be conversation with DOT to make sure that you know not all the money's going to the highway programs I know that they want to raise the cap we talked about talked about that already and then obviously anytime we can get extra sidewalk money or improvement money we want to be there for that I would just point out something especially for our media folks in the room the mayor and our DOT commissioner Mr. Dukes and the DOT maintenance director for this area and the county and chairman Walker yep and chairman Walker this just shows you what can happen they get together and I don't know if y'all have noticed Chervais Street and Hugh G Street and I was looking at Taylor Street there are no crops growing in the median anymore that they got in form of dealing and I think DOT sprayed and our street sweepers have swept I mean it may get a remarkable difference on these gateways and and if you know I hate to say it but if you believe in the broken window theory there's some major step in the right direction and restored pride in how our city looks and and people taking better care so I want to thank the mayor and commissioner Dukes and chairman Walker and uh and and our Mr. Anderson at our public works department who has really done a great job in the county for that's why when we talk about the stuff it's not just about money sometimes it's about about going together and that's again it making a big difference and I say well that the collaboration piece especially in our focus was the gateways and you know if you look at all the gate we have a lot of entrance ways to our community that are are traveled every day by people from out of town and when you look at us at the state and people realize that we get 15 million visitors a year Myrtle Beach gets 22 so we get a significant number of visitors on a day-to-day basis and so when we see our gateways and for us to grow all parts of our community those gateways and that's where we started our focus but it's the interior that we got to focus on so we as we think about formulating let's figure out how we get some more of that DOT money for for maintenance I mean painting and and taking the weeds out of the median and making everything look uniformed goes a long way for us improving properties next door you know as the folks on Farrell Road say that my road should look exactly like the road in Jervay Street and they're absolutely right but unfortunately both of them are both of them had weeds growing in them so we're working on that you can say that now I mean I feel like some of our major gateways you know when we came in they were not looking that great so I think just a second to Mr. Mayor explain because people I don't think people understand that DOT owns a lot of those roads and we can't just go in you got to work together and you know we can't just go in and clean it up we can't go back in and patch stuff we can't do a lot of things and so it is I mean 71% of the 492 might be 93 I can't remember these days but somewhere in there is controlled by DOT so creating a better partnership in the county's in the same situation you know they did theirs was Killian Road and out that way that's where they chose to do this first kind of program but us coming together sharing resources has made a difference and I hope we can keep it up I need to add before we finish the city's reception is January 31st 5 30 to 8 o'clock the Capitol Center at the Capitol Center which Ms. Benjamin secured and the other reception that's on the official list that night is the South Carolina Economic Development Association and they are having their reception at the Capitol City Club so legislators will be coming to that building so that should enhance the number of legislators that come to our reception because we'll be on the first floor oh don't worry I'm gonna be knocking on everybody's door good not gonna let we're not gonna let people be next door and not come over and visit and say hello good all right do we move to exactly what's what's the difference between that and the legislative hometown that's municipal associations everybody come to Columbia and get a briefing and go meet with your legislators hometown action day excuse me bless you thank you bless you so would you all like to share this list so the rest of council make a report out at the november 1st council meeting absolutely that'd be you um I'm glad to do it all right we'll put that on the agenda well sounds like we don't need executive session we're gonna we're gonna entertain a motion to adjourn their second second