 Mr. Recomend, Mr. McDowell, Mr. Ball, Mr. Fedora, Mr. Byn, Mr. Davis, Mr. Benjamin is in the round. He was testifying in DC today, and so he extolled him about 30 minutes ago so he should be here in a couple hours before we start. before we start. He hopes to get here while we're in an executive session. Thank you Madam Mayor, please stand. Yes, Madam McDowell, will you have a patient, please? Let us pray. Lord in all that we see in new words are not adequately grateful and thankful. We thought we simply asked that you would touch us individually and yet give to this our city a sense of hope. Lord, in the midst of tragedy this past weekend, we pray for the family. We pray that you might hold them up in your hands of mercy and grace and yet give to this our city a sense of hope. We pray that those persons who responded so quickly and so efficient we thank them for their service. Bless us and yet bless the city as we struggle to break through this city. We're going to focus on budget area items today so this work session is really a budget workshop. As you know there are multitude of capital needs and capital projects so do not think that the three items listed here in any way takes away from lots of other needs of our city. As you know every budget we try to accomplish much with little and I try to bring to you items that create some priority and how the public is going to respond to this. The reason why I've got Ms. Hensley and Ms. Jenkins and Ms. Davis here is to bring some of those items here. I would like to hopefully find a way to improve our budget as we are with that we have some very brief presentations the first being the Emergency Operations Center and this ties in with some discussions that we're going to continue having the Emergency Operations Center certainly ties to our overall public safety needs and the integration of full time monitoring at the camera. We should have a one pager outlining the recommendation in order to be operation center briefing though. As we have never seen an issue of much of the operations in the older city from the Lady Street to the operations within the background we are looking for a solution. What about seismic requirements? I understand that's one of the issues that a lot of communities are facing is that the emergency command office has to have a seismic that has to be part of it. That would be a long term solution down the road as we push forward. I don't think you could do that building that way could you? I think we need to understand that. The current location where we're at isn't the same position. But it changes now because of the Fed guidelines of the money that we're getting and the new guidelines when you build new or move so you're having just like code requirements that you're going to have to do that so you need to be conscious of that. I'm going to head and acknowledge that we build United Way Building when we acquire it as a well and continue to build as well for the near future. But when I say near future that feels as though. Rather than not utilize the space there and look for new space recognizing that an ideal situation is something much more sustainable that addresses seismic and everything else maybe even the integration of multiple service agencies like PD, FIRE and emergency management. So we get to that point we know we can't stay at Lady Street for the near future. We're trying to utilize the available space at 1800 Main which I will say when Chief Holbrook or Deputy Chief Haley will be here later that the presence of Metro in this corridor has been a good thing as far as dealing with some of the other space you would need to know if you want to know about those. I think that presence has been good and we just make this recommendation to compliment that probably a bigger thing. Don't make sure we don't end up with a clawback because we didn't follow some guidelines. Yes sir. That's come up I think with some other communities and that's why I'm bringing it up. No it's quite fully so you know with the generator to get, we've gotten a grant and to go talk about it we've got to get that in place. Correct so in February we received an award for the federal grant for the standby generator for the location of the emergency operations center and the Metro police substation. That is a federal share, well the total grant is $461, $461,000 to change. The federal share is $346, with a local max of $115,000. Currently the standby generator is part of one phase of the project for $1800 main and the other part would be the first floor would require renovation and an up-fit to house the office of emergency management, the EOC space and safety and risk management. We'll have those co-located in with the Metro and contracts so having those essential functions in one location under one roof with the ability to sustain emergency operations during and after a disaster that's a cost-effective solution to move us forward as we know during the 2015 flood having emergency purchasing, police fire, those kind of functions under one roof as a central clearing house to make those executive decisions air-mount to any successful response. And I think from my perspective our vision is to be ready, responsive, and resilient in what we do from the standpoint of emergency management. So with that being said there are the current situation is there is three phases to the project. As we said in this briefing page the generator is a local match of $115,000. We currently have in general capital funds $250,000 to cover that $115,000 local share so that project is fully funded and we are in the process of support services to move forward on having that installed, that phase. So phase one the standby generator is fully funded and we are holding on that. That leaves in the general capital fund balance of $134,000 and some change. The updated renovation for phase two which would be the renovation of the first floor space is around $750,000. So if we take the remaining balance of $134,000 that leaves us with a current need of $615,391. That's of course an estimate. The one thing that does not include is construction contingency. We're trying to harden those estimates up now as we think those are pretty tight and that's where we are. So that project, that phase of the project requires additional funding as I said of $615,391. The third phase would be once we get the generator installed we get the update done and we're ready to move in. It would require some EOC technology upgrades and some furnishings. And that includes the digital media suite which is in the plan to make sure that we have the capacity to develop a common operating picture in the EOC. Currently right now where we're at in this case we are really in the blind and it's difficult to get situational information on what's really happening during an emergency. So having the canvas to be able to pull in camera feeds as a security platform and our common operating picture platform that we're currently using which is tracking our officers we're doing working with Ritson County and Columbia to pull in CAD data which is computer-aided dispatch information where the calls are populating and the AVL which is our vehicle locator where we see our assets are. We also have the ability to track our assets. Our police officers in the field and that's a big push to increase their public safety where they are, something happens and they need help how to get assistance to them. And that's just one part of it and the other part is the traffic cameras and security cameras that we have and we all know the importance of having security cameras and the benefit that they play in providing or enhancing public safety. So that part would require the additional $180,000 and we currently have those operating funds in our budget. So that project phase is fully funded as well. So the recommendation would be to one-time funding for capital to increase the general capital current fund that we have by 615 to make all three phases whole. And can you get any questions you may have? That's really the short down the brief. You kind of answered my question with some of the discussion about the CAD and all that, but you know over the last few years we've realized we've used EOC a lot more. We're thinking forward, not just weather disasters but we have attitude or any of that stuff. So are you comfortable with although this is more short term until we can get a lot that we want, are you comfortable with what is being requested, gets us what we need or the use that we're getting out of EOC? I appreciate you saying that because I think one of the strategies is you know EOC or emergency management is not just a storm event kind of thing. We want our strategies to integrate emergency management with the day-to-day operation and when we're setting up these platforms and these locations where we're meeting, there's a lot of things that we're doing. One of the reasons we want safety and best management in that same building is Demetrius, Director Rump and I are doing the active intruder training to all city employees and today I think we've done 20 department and divisions so far and that's an ongoing process. So using that location to get that training out and have the ability to have those training events there also on location where these departments are, we are currently partnering with all the department heads to make sure that we have emergency action plans for each building that our employees are working in so they know what to do if we have an active intruder situation or some type of emergency. Those plans would roll up into the emergency management and to the EOC and we also feel like we have platforms that are available to us right now and what we want to do is we want to use them on a daily basis. Part of that is the Genestet camera system. We're logged into that in our office every day that we're there. When we go to 1800 Main we're going to have that up on the video wall with some other camera systems that we hope we can bring in as we go out and grow the system. So I think yes, I think it is a good stop gap for us to be able to manage that. And if something happens then we're going to be right there. We can rewind, provide information. With PD we currently continue to do that on a daily basis with them as we speak now. So yeah, I think that's a great point. So for example like this, because I would like to point that to you something that was a positive thing, the ability from this location to have been actively logged in, I guess that was probably the answer to my question. You would have the capability to do that from this location for this or if it's unfortunately the tragedy it wouldn't have changed anything that happened in the need for real-time monitoring of someone in that video feed as we would now be able to have the opportunity to have more work to do. That would be something that looks suspicious. That would be occurring in this. That is absolutely the route that we want to take. I want to piggyback on this point. Recent incident. Expediency was also the result of camera. This is going to be a central location. Where are we planning the installation of cameras, other parts of the city so we know that there is given active shooters or whatever else in terms of emergency are we looking to make sure that camera installations elsewhere is included in the plan. To answer that in the short term, yes sir. We are actually meeting I think tomorrow with CPD to talk about the camera systems going forward. We are now currently trying to leverage as much as we can to get those camera systems or those camera feeds into our common operating picture platform. But the key is you're looking at a small screen or a computer monitor or just a 60 inch TV panel and you want to have the ability to break that out where you can really see. So this would give us that opportunity moving forward. Yes, we are looking to hopefully as we refer to certain locations and that makes it a little easier to bring camera systems back in. We can do wireless stuff and mesh camera systems. So we are looking at those opportunities currently, yes sir. But we are also during the recent event in St. Pat's we actually put some short term cameras up to do some testing to see where we had PTZ cameras set up in locations, eight cameras and pulled those back in so CPD could have their command post. They're actually looking at those. And then we are too in the EOC. So the key is to have eyes on the ground but also have someone watching the bigger picture constant. And I think that's a plus for having that type of situation and given that PDZ is right on the third floor downstairs everything they need is going to be right there. What were the events? Yes sir. We are actually in discussion right now as I said with PD on their assessments on where they think they need to be from a public safety standpoint. But we also look at those areas that we have, the two static footprints that we have which is famously hot downtown in St. Pat's that we want to make sure that we have specific city camera systems that we can access and have PTZ and be able to pull that data so something more that's going to happen. Then we have an officer right there, we remind him, giving it right to the investigative team and then one of them will come. So our camera contract is going to be a system as far as different systems or expansions or different technologies. All of that will come into play with the solicitation that goes out then. Which we're preparing it now. Yes sir. 1,800 fiber backbone Right now the building is secure. There's an on guard there now. There's also PD there. So from the security standpoint if we need to harden that a little more we'll increase that posture. So to answer that yes as far as the fiber there's fiber here that we're going to send over here across the street that will be each floor that will probably net us about a $15,000 year savings because it'll be direct to our court. We'll have all three floors at 80. Hope it'll be a faster speed than they allow the company to move over here. Talk to the CIO on that. Miss Wilson Miss Wilson this discussion is just coming to you. Thank you for your time and questions. Thank you. So we're going to imagine if we have that I could just say another thing just publicly. We say this before but most people don't even see here until people having an emergency OK so some more professionalism being displayed I know with our other presenters. This is January 29th. February. Oh February, excuse us. I did have a march a month in April one year as you recall. Fire facilities. They're all nauseous now. OK, let me put on my game face. Mayor, chair, divine council members, city manager Wilson thank you all for allowing us to come here do this presentation. Basically we're going to be talking about something that's much needed and I think that once you see the presentation that you all would agree I'm quite sure that you have been hearing about this station for quite some time but the one thing that I would say she's giving her input the one thing that I would say while we're standing here talking about station 2 I just want you all to keep in mind that there are other facilities that has need as well. This is just one of the immediate needs that we have right now. So I'm a digress so my riding stock can increase he's going to make the presentation. Yes sir. Which is off a balloon court off a two-nuts road it is basically in the same shape as station 2 so we definitely need to be taking a look at that as well. That won't be a part of this conversation. It won't be a part of this conversation but I do that's why I want to kind of put that in your mind that we definitely need to be taking a look at that as well. Of course and talk about one of those next steps is overall facilities with 11 and I won't begin to talk about the different stations but 11 is definitely on the short list. Absolutely. Thank you. If you have been fortunate to be here. Afternoon. Again my name is Mickey Folsom for those that don't know who I am. Mayor Portem is divine Miss Wilson City Manager Councilman city leaders and any stakeholders that we have. We're here today to present to you some needs for station 2 and overall we'll talk about some other needs as well. The purposes of this today is to talk about the overview, the purpose, the background and current situation and recommendation. Many of you all know back in 1996 back in 1996 back in 1996 the city purchased a floor shop that was built in 1974 and retrofitted for a fire house in the USC Olympia in a downtown corridor but at the same time at the same time you will notice we built station 9 and station 16 here with the purchase in 1974 I would like for you to understand that that building was 22 years old when we first purchased it and we retrofitted it to be a fire house that was not intended to be it was intended to be a stopgap measure to provide emergency services and to meet highest requirements at that time it was not intended for 7 days a week 24 hours a day 365 days a year to accommodate firemen or a fire house here what we have here is station 2 overview and station 9 an overview and if you can notice here it's a one way end and so on the next slide you'll see more what I'm talking about here at station 9 recommended for safety reasons we should never back a fire truck if we have a chance not to here at station 9 station 16 and most of our other stations you'll see a drive through to go in and drive through without backing up in traffic which put our guys in harm's way that's partially the issue as well and then when we have a single truck which we don't have in the city you know a guy backing the truck by himself in the dark can be a problem as well here at station 2 if you see the pad and you see all these tire marks so when we go back when we go here the guys have to pull all the way in almost to the fence back up then pull back up and then come back into the station and along with some of the deterioration of the concrete pad we have here we can talk about current situations and we're in like I said before we are operating in a building that was not intended to be a firehouse but we will talk about some living accommodations structure concerns safety concerns room no room for expansion and some financial financial improving living accommodations here what we have you can see here we have a bathroom that's somewhat small you have the stalls here and the showers right here together and it's just like you know you can use the bathroom jokingly you can almost take a shower at the same time yeah so and here what we have here you know here is this a limited functionality when we talk about ADA requirements although this station does support ADA requirements you would have to go through the front door to go to the office area and then you have to come back outside go through the bay to get to the living room area so we do we do meet the requirements it's just a you know limited functionality when it comes to that sleeping accommodations here what we have with the growing population and with the growing increase that we have with females and male and in the fire service with the building and the way to build a firehouse now it's it's out it's to our advantage to start looking at different types and different styles of living accommodations it's according to the size of the station like station two you have five you can have up to five moving down the line if we look to replace that what would be the staffing requirement at that point because obviously part of the reason of rebuilding this is obviously the growing population which means we're going to be adding an engine or something there so we looking to build for five more ten more I mean what's the personnel that we're looking at staffing there then anytime you build a station you build up a road so in that particular station the way the population is growing down in the college town down in the building that's coming up probably need to be looking at a road putting another truck down there at least another ladder truck so we keep two ladder trucks and what else one ladder truck an engine and a battalion which we've got nine people but we need it but we don't need to stop there no I mean all of this comes in but just trying so we get our head wrapped around where we're trying to go I you know maybe I get it it's just now where do we go and you know what does it cost to us and obviously we can't rebuild on this site it's not big enough we may not even be able to tear it down so we'll have to figure out how to dispose of it but in this presentation if you kind of touched on just what you're talking about so Chief if you would have had the magic one you'll be able to rebuild if I had the magic one I would be a four but if I just had half a one I would be a three but with four bay your staffing requirements for that would be at least well expand well you know I think there's an opportunity too and I don't want to morph into this presentation there's an opportunity to have partnerships when we do these stations as well there you know I think I don't know if you recall we had a meeting one time with some stakeholders USC AC Russian County City Columbia and we talked about those partnerships but along with Chief Jenkins say when we start talking about expansion we always want to have room to grow and we do a three bay station what it would really do is just meet almost an immediate need at right now a three bay station would probably be the best and also it can help us store like some of our reserve apparatus that we leave out in the weather and those can last us a longer time if we you know we think forward structure integrity concerns back in July 12 2018 City support services did a great job of getting child engineering to come and give us a survey evaluation did not find any major issues but it should be noted that a one inch crack all the way down to a hairline fracture runs the entire length of the bay floor also if you notice here these tie backs was installed previously in 2014 it does indicate that we didn't have any movement since these were installed but this goes to show you that this building was not designed to hold a 24,000 pound vehicle the average size of a fire truck or fire apparatus and here what we have is safety considerations and where the fire service is heading if you take an incident we talk about hot zone, cold zone and warm zone and so we want to take the same initiative when we start thinking about building a new fire station here what we have is the apparatus bay and some of the equipment rooms, mechanical rooms and stuff like that which will be considered the hot zone you see it's red here what we would have is the coat I mean the warm zone your PPE will be stored here they can decon here so when I go out into a fire if you see most guys in a fireman they come back filthy dirty nasty got polycarbon fuse on them sometimes we don't even know what we have on us and so what this does when we can come here we can decon before we go into what we call our clean area or our living quarters and so just like you don't want to track poisons and stuff into your home the idea and the new building code for fire service in a sense this is what we're using and here quite obviously this is a for the exhaust system I wish I knew the stations that we have the exhaust system we do have them at station 16 station 9 and I believe I'm not I think those are two stations we have them but we haven't done I do diligence of having operational citizen stakeholder there is a really good thank you miss Wilson this these pictures came from that symposium that plan for this station not yet moving forward most new stations will start to incorporate this design just because of the change in the stuff that we know now in the past now we can upgrade move forward and then start looking at this type of design as we talked about before no roof expansion so if you look here in the low height clearance this is very very tight this engine is right at 8.3 feet wide and this door itself is only 12 foot wide which only leaves you one foot on each side to back into and so we already talked about how tight it is even back up into the situation like this now imagine trying to put a almost 9 feet apparatus into a 10 foot opening the new station now is common and average size is 16 feet for the door so here here what you have is the a quarter living quarters for the battalion chief this room is a 7 by 12 and this office area right beside it is a 6 by 12 so just imagine you have your office and your living quarters in a bathroom so pretty much is just the size of what they have here is just an unprotected pillar that's load bearing some of our financial concerns I talked to Calvin and I didn't do my due diligence to get the recommendations or the funding that we spent on station 2 in the last several years or the last couple of months but I will let you know that we are continuously spending money on you know cabinet outfits where they did a really good job on they replaced the floors to distant painting so our support services are doing a great job but it just takes time and time and time away from them to keep you know added to this building that's not designed for a firehouse. Increased population density I think this is a good news for the city as a whole because we're getting tax dollars the main reason for this up here is I want you all to see the different type of apartments that we have multi-fine me dwellings we have here right here what you have is I think it's 10 apartments and all of these apartments added 4300 beds and that's just this that's not counting the new homes that's not counting the hub none of those different locations so we are increasing our population we're shifting it to areas a lot of it's being shifted from other areas so we're pulling people from Shannon pushing them there because a lot of student housing which is causing the concentration that you're talking about which puts the pressure on to you versus one of the other houses that is a great point because if now what you're going to see this is a heat map that we use this area right here that you see in green this is you know per ISO this is our mile and a half radius that engine two responds in and so what you're looking at here is the for the downtown area this is the main call some of the main call areas for that area so we have a lot of calls in this area and when you see these yellow dots what these are and we can't get rid of them but this is the railroad tracks and potentially you know blocking hazard that we may we may find when it to cause right here is engine two right here is station nine and station one here in black what we have is all our residents that's in this in these locations residents and also apartments and in red what we have is commercial property well back this way what we have is station three it's one of our stations of back this way down by 277 that's what you guys were asking that would be station three yes sir as we talked about earlier chief Jenkins came up and talked about you know having partners see what we have here you still in this in this in this radius you still have station choose territory in the light blue is gray what we have is the city of Columbia and I know it's hard to see but right here in the light the lighter green and this white you're looking at Richland County and so it would be who of us to you know partner with them USC to see what we can come together and work as a team Mr. David it varies I mean I was at station two I was when I was an engineer and and sometimes we could find a way around but we all we always have a avenue you know we'll start another engine or you know another truck to to combat those things but it does happen but the percentage it happens I cannot say moving forward we transition wise are we able to stay in here till we can build the new one and then transition over so you're not going to have a gap that that would be your plan yes sir I believe that that will be the plan you know again you know our support services do a good job of you know maintaining what we have plan do we need to build this concept I mean I mean if we're going to make the move we need to we need to think ahead you know and I know that some cities are doing all kinds of stuff where they got fire station in the bottom and apartments and businesses on top trying to take advantage of space but I think we need to go through it with our eyes open because I think we're going to see that area continue to grow it is a growth pattern three acres three and a half whatever the number is I think we need to plan who covers that little area I'll just finna point something out to you as you said that can I right here no up a little bit up towards your base that would that would be our engine one engine two would be on the other side of the other side but this area right here is I believe this is Casey right here where they annexed so as you see cases all the way over here so they had no coverage at all over here so if we're going to do something and if we're going to help them I think they need to come to the table well that's above my paycheck that's in my wheelhouse we've talked about the structure we're very prepared to talk about we've done a lot as far as the equipment that the firefighters have access to but again there's some additional things that I know about that is another long subject that we can start talking a lot about so I don't want to bore you with a long drawn explanation on that but it does have some impact actually have a shower and a bathroom along it so that there's not going to be any but what are the health issues in terms of mold, fracture and I know that that years is a long period but it's a long period what I can tell you is what we do is when we find them and they report it to us we do the proper testing quality testing and we mitigate whatever that situation is we do not allow our personnel to live in those areas without doing the proper checks and balances meaning we're going to follow protocol because they're just like our family and we want to make sure that we're taking care of them and make sure they're comfortable when they come to work because they're not comfortable the citizens are not going to be served correctly very very seriously and we are working through those issues the support services they do a great job anytime we call them or they indicate any foreign substance that may be mold we will address that situation immediately and we are that's a great question and I totally agree sir and that's why site selection is going to be so important and also the way we construct these stations is going to be important too so we can't alleviate all that so that's what's going to be important I don't think in times past we probably didn't collect our sites pretty good but that's why I think going forward we really got to make sure we're doing a good site selection Station 2 obviously there's not enough footprint to rebuild that same location so within the vicinity without being so specific do you want to be on this side of the track on the other side of the track left north or south or what when it comes to designing when it comes to designing a station chief what do you look for I understand the density as part of it the demand is another but typically what would you look for I think one thing in that area down there I don't think it matters well there's certain play where we just do not want to build but for the most part trains run all kind of ways down there but it just all depends on the time of day so ideally we want to be down there on a semi street identify three possible sites that you want to if we move forward what we want to do is be able to identify those sites at least three when we start this assessment but they also want to use the outside person to kind of validate and help well we have a very preliminary from some of their architect of record who is the patient for the design whether it's design build or design and then who would construct in next year's budget we feel like once we have that assessment that would be the point I think we're going to have to own that we would take that and then talk to the partners and they would be willing to participate with the final construction we may be taught here as we get ready for this assessment maybe with the chief and yourself and others it could be something that we could do very unique that would solve several problems both for the fire department maybe in a project and I think we ought to look at some questions from all of you really about what was the plan I want y'all to know this has stayed on the radar for at least with an assessment of feasibility to design and build but yes we can do that before the assessment I think it would be good just to talk about it just so we can maybe think about looking at options that may be creative and give something really long a committee of the whole maybe one afternoon I also want us to look at public private no I mean in a new building I think there's been some really unique things that achieve everything that we need in a building with expansion but also could possibly feel some needs we have as a community and I think if we're going to go down that path especially in this area where all this growth is and stuff it may be something that could it could be a win-win all the way around may not oh you got this building you gotta sell part of the assessment was some stakeholder conversations I mean if y'all are fine with us moving forward with the assessment that can all be incorporated I think you gotta get the parameters out there and see what your options is there's no reason to do a conceptual drawing until you know what the what the what the site's like and Mr. Rickman Mr. Rickman I have seen some designs where stakeholders came together and you actually had residential on top of the fire station to get other businesses around the fire station that the fire station built into those there are some opportunities out there to become a big big big thing I hear the fire trucks already in the middle of the night but you haven't moved have you point exactly hey my office is next door to the Divine Street Station all day every day after a while we can put them in quiet zones yeah I think that wouldn't work I told Jamie that something was going on I knew something was going on I hear them all into that structure it was 74 when it was built so it was 22 years old when we back to your point if we go here with this assessment we go here with an assessment for that area and on any kind of property and we can list the property you know three site location if you have some other ideas but what we will get is a cost construction cost also station size and standards if we don't have a say we don't get the two acres that we want and it's a smaller acre so he can do a conceptual design showing that we may have to build up so reality is you know it doesn't have to be whatever place that we find you know we can move that drawing or ideas somewhere else you got parameters you got to give them what I think my point was is I don't think we need to have a full layout because you may make a bunch of adjustments based on finding a site that hey it may be smaller we may do this going up because we think this is a better location for us to provide long term service that was my only point north main cotton town and their area is smaller but I think you as some possibilities are just thinking we could probably do that in a busy area or maybe start to think of a central location that's multi-perfect especially if we're going to work with some of our other partners but I agree we probably need to help y'all think through this before we break ground on something outgrow the needs in one day it could be centrally located by multi-purpose with other partners assessment what the assessment would give us is the construction cost size and standards and conceptual site options and this will honestly this would only be the first phase of the project for station two and here again we're talking about station two to a certain degree here but then after we do an initial assessment for station two then we want to as a department do an assessment of all our needs and where we can move forward from there so this would be an initial step and then we'll do a bigger grand study and assessment of everything that we have and where we want to go growth of the Olympian USC downtown quarter and a lot of things we already hit on today when we talked about getting land this is great for us this is tax dollars when we see stuff building up we're growing and so what this means is you know we're going to start having competition for land the longer we wait the more competition we're going to have you know to buy or purchase land so great I'm glad we're growing but we need to grow with it as well this presentation y'all have any questions we'd be glad to answer one at a time correct we want we want to do first this is the first step you know station two in somewhat sense will give us an idea a general idea of cost what it's going to cost conceptual designs and then we can move forward and we are going to move forward on without I mean not that we're going to do it ourselves we want to do a total assessment of where we are within the city of Columbia and how we're going to grow and what changes we want to make I would hope so but no what we're really talking about is the total fire service which I think is we have some new members at county council who are engaged and I think we need to make sure that they're brought in at the ground level so that we don't run into issues that we have in the past where we have this gap in funding because I think they fully understand what needs to be done and I think we keep them in the loop I think it's going to be very important to get the new members involved because they're very interested in making sure that the service is levelized all the way across well you will present them tonight tonight I'll be talking about and Mr. McDowell your question when we do our assessment of the city stations it's not going to include what we currently have but we're going to talk about what we need going forward as well so we already got the placement for a station that we need inside city limits and we already got those identified so that would be a part of that study as well but your assessment will be capital projects the other part of it has to improve some stations not maintain but improve other stations and how do we make them in the female quarters that you need to add to them handicap accessible other issues that we might have in some of them we need to consider rehabbing all of our stations well you know after his presentation I wouldn't give him ten million dollars I'm willing great job alright very good our next capital project presentation is Mr. Randy Davis good afternoon council I'm presenting to you today some priority projects that are high on our list of needed improvements as we go forward southeast park is a high priority on our list in which we have allocated $492,000 thus for needing an additional $500,000 it was originally the environmental education center was part of the original plan for southeast park the environmental center will include restrooms, meeting space as well as stores for outdoor recreation equipment for outdoor recreation programming it will also include a tennis pro shop that you don't see in that document that you have an outdoor amenity deck in stores again for outdoor recreation equipment so we are at that threshold of working with the developer for that educational environment center in order to move forward we needed additional funding high at park is work that is underway currently with the approved funding of $625,000 which includes you go back to southeast I'm sorry I had walked out do we have any numbers on the parks usage how many people are actually using the park and what they're using it for do we have any background information I don't have any on me at the present time but I know it's heavily used by tennis players and many people walk the park and ask is we planned this we planned an education center and facilities which was planned almost 20 years ago so you're right and I think USC was part of this conversation when we planned that center and that idea how it can be part of it I don't know if USC was part of it we talked to USC back in 2012 maybe a little later the reason I ask is it the same needs we're constantly building more buildings that create maintenance issues and other things I often hear from the tennis players about the restroom do I hear from folks who go and they happen upon it or they go out there for it they're like they really like it the restrooms are the issue that I hear a lot and I keep hearing from folks that if it were fully built out probably more people would go because it would be more of an amenity we can have more structured programming going on up there I think Daniel was right this was an idea that Jim had his thought was the educational center would go for scouting they were like kayak and all that kind of stuff and just to add I think Randy in the park I've done a really good job maintaining especially the pond and the neighborhood does use it there's another neighborhood developing so I think there's the need there we just need to find the little fun to finish up hopefully if we get one tennis tournament the host there any other questions on selfies I guess to me it brings up the question what do we need to look at re-evaluate before we pledge more money to it is this a massive need to justify all the maintenance and everything else I'm going to bring it up right now because I've been inundated with phone calls but if we don't do something about the soccer field we've got kids falling in holes all these other communities are putting up some really this is out of Owens field and I just think we've got to fix some of the things we already got on the table about the soccer fields we don't have any irrigation out there going back to your question on southeast I'm not sure there's a real way to I mean the bathrooms I know and all that do you want to build another big building unless we have a real program for it that's going to cost us to maintain and everything I just think that there's a need there because there's nothing else for residents that live on that side of town to visit anything or do any park every time I go there there's people walking the trails the tennis courts are 16 right I mean there's good tournaments can come to that park and if we have the facilities for it I don't think that would be a hard sell for a tournament to come and host an event there I'm saying just justify it I just did I thought I just I mean I think there is a need I mean that's why I bring these discussions to this table because I think depending on it does it gets justified so what we tried to do and now I'm taking that part here and about is there any number I mean we can spend as you all know millions of dollars on the park system I think where we find ourselves oftentimes we try to just bring suggestions to if Owensville, Delfield, Patentville, Fresno, and Southview with all the parties involved aren't three of these four projects in one district and if there's any safety needs of course I mean the park's district well welcome to Columbia but I won't let him finish but there's some method behind what's the amount what's the amount that's a complete with the educational educational center support outdoor recreational programming I mean well it makes sense to me I mean how many people are going to participate you gotta have a plan you can't just go out and build it and they'll come they are people participating in the park but what I'm saying is the educational part of it where the you know the canoeing and the boats or whatever they were going to utilize for the pond to you know educate some of the marine life it's not there yet because there's nothing there for them to do I mean it's just a pond around a wooded area I understand that 492,000 they died a few years back they wanted 992 well if we use the hospitality bond money and free up that $500,000 for Owensfield wouldn't that be a start in them how would Owensfield is a totally different discussion I am will be glad to fix 100% of Owensfield if y'all agree to it but there's a lot more to the story behind I think Owensfield you know I think we ought to be looking at having a conversation with somebody like a modern turf having them maintain it and do it like they do these other high schools and other places that we have a playing field because we're missing opportunities on that field every day and you go to Sumter you go to Augusta they used hospitality money to fix it and those clubs are engaged and they have no more 4 fields and those fields are pristine and play on and people go in there and utilize it I'm not saying you don't do southeastern park my problem is is that I haven't received one phone call since 2004 about southeastern park in up or forth so my question is are we putting a bunch of money in a park that's not going to get utilized and nobody seems to be able to provide any information that says different it's a simple question we can give you the data I can get you some data from the tennis associations that take part in the number of league matches that take place the bathrooms have always been an issue and maybe a small building but I'm trying to understand because when you start talking about this is all capital I hadn't seen in the budget how we're going to afford to pay staff to run all these programs how many people are going to utilize it I mean I think these are pertinent questions I think we already have a park ranger there don't we yes staff is already established there you know maintaining the building of course I think that does need to be in the in the conversation and to see what the long-term maintenance is and is still a viable plan but regardless if you don't go with the education center then you need to do something else whether it's like the you know the pool or you know somehow well you need you probably need some kind of meeting where somebody can have a picnic and this and that but I'm just to me it's it's an overall thing what are we putting in for a million dollars and what we get now I know it's a little dated but the assessment that we did a few years ago on programming in the parks does that address or does that yeah address some of Daniel's questions regarding the program and the needs and the desires when we did that survey from the standpoint of the facilities it addresses the facilities out of it I thought we did a survey of programming remember we did I thought we did like two parts and there was this thing that was yeah it was about programming what people would like to see in the park what activities that they do I'm just wondering if there's any data in that would be beneficial from the first year I can look that up from the standpoint of this just strategic plan and what types of programs that we offer and I'd love to go back to Owen's field and figure out a way to fix the finish I mean not the finish for the soccer field I mean that's a discussion we've had and I think we've done some maintenance with the spring core system and we've fixed some of the turf and we've improved some of that part of it and I understand the county and the school district and us all bundled in this and the YMCA of course I think we need to bring all those to the table and bring a resolution for all of it I'm a hundred percent agreeing on that in terms of what you see before here for the southeast and the various other parts that you see listed some are safety related some are projects that have already begun and in order to finish the project in order across the finish line we need additional funding so it was already approved for 492 to move forward with the project of southeast park however with the increased cost of materials and supplies those prices have gone up Randy just going back to the Owen's field can you bring us next time or email us with maybe some estimate for what you would like to do at Owen's field when it comes to the soccer field I know I've tried that one time with overhaul design for the whole thing some of that email is back to us so everybody can be aware of what we discussed yeah that's fine and we do have some numbers on the type of turf what would it cost depending on the type of turf we choose to use if we were to maintain it I know a water company where we can get water too for free now nothing's free nothing's free gentlemen Randy my understanding of these are in addition to what you already budgeted for this is above and beyond what we're working on now correct if you're talking about high at park no I'm not at no park in particular there are only two left let's see great I just mentioned that because one question that's out there is how else what other resources can we tap into we don't get any money from parks from PRT am I correct I mean as an example as an example correct can we tap into some of the we qualify that's one question I don't know what we can get from the feds but there's also the parks you say we could tap into PR have we been approaching that yes and with some of the I think smaller items like the play equipment the parks commission we had they're gearing up in the morning to do something I think from time to time we could rely on them they've been helpful in the past I can attest to that so I think anything that can help create a cost on some of this we ought to really be vigilant in trying to we take every opportunity to pursue additional funding wherever funding is available you know you don't always get what you apply for in terms of grants but whenever we have an opportunity to do aggressively pursue opportunities for funding for various projects what's the name of that new game that stays on the tennis court pickleball pickleball pickleball and we got a pickleball well you obviously haven't been playing you don't even know the name of it I have gotten lots of calls there's a center and we willness has a program well it's probably the slowest fasting game is that a challenge we're going to have a little pickleball challenge so if you recall there's a number of park improvements that we've continuously submit each annually these are some of the projects that you funded but we need additional funding in terms of your question Mr. Davis under the request this is what we're asking for in terms of additional funding in order to continue to move these projects forward I don't have a problem but also you know we're determining usage I think that's something we should always look at I can't evaluate whether one area or another is or is probably one of the most utilized tennis courts we have in the city and I mean I think it's a priority if I had to choose out of these just off the top because it is so widely used a host of folks I mean they're in the time you can't go out there they've found a parking space we've had complaints so I mean we've already said that that's a safety issue my question on so going back to the high part I see the work underway and then the additional work requested and then the requested amount is over a million dollars that's to do this additional work under additional work requested that will continue to move that project forward near completion whether we allocate it in phases and I think that's been the kind of discussion is somehow figuring out phasing but I don't know I guess my question would be because we know that we have so many part meetings and we know that there are there's not enough money every year do we do an assessment and put the request in under a priority because I mean and I know Sam has been out there and talking a lot more but the folks that I hear from the fact that we're moving forward with something shows our commitment and they're you know of course they certainly want to keep going but they wanted to know that we were committed looking at a million dollars and we know that we've got other part meetings and requests I think that the best way for people to understand why you're prioritizing certain projects is that they were doing this assessment this is why this is being put in the budget well and I guess my question really is if you put this in here because there's been a push I mean I just don't know if that million dollars is the best use of our money for next year I think one thing you need to consider is that you go the highest part other than that building it's on a major quarter they've been asking for years a recent request and we have been adding it was not a one lumped from year and this puts us in the last phase let's be realistic about a couple things from a discussion standpoint Pearlwood Park amphitheater why do we need another amphitheater right there why not look at the things that are important ball field improvement you know flashplad picnic area you know the outdoor gym fixing those things that can be really utilized but some parks folks have got to start sharing some assets we just can't afford to replicate everything everywhere I don't think the amphitheater they're calling it I don't know I can't tell from this I'm just you know it's asking for a sculpture to me a sculpture is not that's not a priority I'm not going to make that one or the other what I'm telling you is that's an area that we're trying to help develop not just that location this is the park parks and recreation are an attraction for development people move into an area of what the theater is you have folks who would not right now don't even look at that area look at that park it has the appearance of being neglected not being neglected parks and records doing what they can to look decent if that's all you're doing then that's you've got folks that want to invest in that I guess the question comes back to what's the most important and we get the biggest bang for our buck to make those differences because I don't know if we could find another million honest with you the remaining dollars are not one million that's the total total 1.7 million it says the delta is 1.1 million none of the points that you made disagree as far as investment in the area however when you're looking again as a park system and citywide if you're doing something there's some things in the park right now and we all supported that allocation to do that phase one I'm just questioning whether or not it makes sense to go back immediately and continue this project at 1.1 when you've got ball field at the parks that we're trying to do we've got other areas of the town I'm just saying that I think that we need to we run a risk of pushing one area over another and I think that staff needs to have and I think sometimes they feel pressure I would say that I would say that I think staff needs to have independent way to say this is why this is where why we're recommending this this is where we can best suit the money and then of course we make the decision but I'm just looking at what the additional work is requested looking at what we're currently doing and then looking at you know what's being requested additionally at this point knowing that we've got other part needs I'm just not sure that there's been an argument made that this is the best use of our money I think we've made the argument for over the years we've also made the argument for it and we've listened to the people who live in that area and I'm not going to argue with that. I'm not going to argue with you either but what I'm telling you is they are taxpayers also they that park has this is like the priority for that area as the others I don't I don't begrudge any one of these requests because I think it's necessary. Right but you always want to argue that your parks get priority over anything else as far as it is that's never been an argument for priority I'm going to put a vote for Philly Park because before Hyatt Park that's me that's not showing you know I mean and again it's not arguing over his park so he has me to his park I'm just saying that we all have to work together. Making the same pitch to parks am I correct? Yes he is. I understand that and I expect you to as a district member but as a member of a uniform body or budget I'm just saying that at some point you need to say okay I've gotten Reamview Park is getting this Hyatt Park has gotten this. Is it needed? That's not an argument that's correct because it needed it so again look at what the needs are citywide that's all I'm asking that's all I'm not saying that there isn't a need there but what I'm saying is when you're prioritizing dollars and that's what we're asking I am asking is Wilson for staff to come back with an independent assessment of what the needs are on the park. Let me finish let me finish. We don't have it in front of us right here. We just had a whole discussion about Southeast so I'm just saying I would like to have independent assessment and I would like to know if a million dollars million one point one million dollars is the priority of the park system to finish Hyatt Park next year if the staff believes that then okay fine but if we're looking at our citywide system we're looking at amenities citywide then I want to know what else should be considered and what should be on this. Well that's that's fine but I'm telling you is nobody is pressuring staff and don't imply that staff is buckling under pressure I didn't apply it I said. You implied. I said it. And you're wrong and you're not accurate. We disagree on that. Well we'll disagree but I'm telling you for years these areas have been lagging and quite frankly beating some of us up but what they don't have there has been no push to bump any of these other projects and I've always been willing to live and agree to every project that has come to this desk to this table and on this one we've met with those folks staff has met with those folks those folks have come up here not because they're looking for frills they're looking for some of the basic necessity of health and recreation that improves their area their quality of life everybody deserves that and this is not an overnight request I wouldn't be fair to my colleagues if I took them. No one said it was overnight. No that's not what I said. Well you're not listening I'm listening I'm hearing everything you're saying. You have to be fair. I'm asking fine I'm asking this Wilson to staff to give us an assessment to include the park at Belvedere that we promised ten years ago to include T.S. Martin that we promised ten years ago to include what we want to do. I'm just saying we have to look at all of our needs city-wide and the arguments that you made for North Maine are valid but we also have to look at the investments we've made in the park system and I love honestly to look at the investments we've made in the park system per district. I want to know what we've invested in the last ten years. Well I think you also if you want to be fair to everybody around you you need to ask for this investment on that area not because of one area not because they've gone in one area not because one person has asked for it. I know there Owensfield has come up in a discussion in a couple other parks in your district. Can you maybe email us or give us a rough number into I mean I calculated five million for the wish list that you have in there and I'm guessing there's probably a couple more millions between all the other wish list that we have we just talked about. I mean it's five million a good number that you think that would take care of the parks because if there is a possibility obviously we've issued a hospitality tax bond for southeast park at one time whether we have that eligibility or that flexibility to do the same thing for the other parks on the city you know legal has to get involved whether we're capable of doing that or not but maybe that's something that we should consider and talk about because I think this comes up every single year at a very pointed if you're able to all of this but again I am part raised with them all the time every year I think part of the part of the part of the anyway ultimately for the community is not a location that people do it's a relatively small amount of money I agree with you but I agree with you these are items that my opinion does it always take priority over something else the site improvements on the work that I think are listed here for $635,000 we're discussed with this council yeah is the whole gamut does it that it continues to be coming up and I'm not saying none of this stuff should be done but I think you have to prioritize and I mean things can get done but they shouldn't get done at the detriment to others and then what we tend to do is we'll trade among each other and say okay we'll support this or whatever but then something happens someone gets hurt at Owens field and then everybody's clamoring at staff saying we should have done this we should have done that and so I just think that we need a better process and we have to acknowledge I mean southeast park is in Daniel's district but Daniel sat here and said what are the priorities there I think that's the kind of give and take you need used to be in his district but I'm just saying you need to have that kind of saying yes I want this and there's nothing wrong with saying and advocating for it and saying I want this but you also have to recognize that in the scheme of things when we vote we're not voting per district you're voting for the city and what's best for the city I want this and I want to keep this on the list and I want to keep pushing for it but to bump something else because you know it's been promised you have to understand what that does to the other needs that we have of the city I'm not going to pick on southeast park, southeast park was designed to have a house and to have the dwestrooms and all that when we first built the park and you know I think that has developed a bond was issued you have all that included for some reason you guys are out of money and I was before my time it might have been before your time nevertheless every time I go over there people remind me of the same subject they spent our money what happened to my building and I brought it up I mean I brought it up I don't know how many years ago I still bring it up because I still hear it but it does serve the whole city it doesn't just serve the southeast part of the city I mean I don't think some don't it brings outside that being said 100% agree with you the park system is what makes our city a jewel people bring people live in neighborhoods people make choices where they live because of the park system you know it needs it I need it Sam needs it Daniel needs it I mean where there is no perfect equation to this but I feel like if we take one big lump sum of money somehow and get it over with so we're not having this discussion every single year it might be the right solution I mean it's going to take us 15 years to pay it off anyway so you know it's better just to get it off the table and buy the bullet one year and you know be stingent about or how we spend our money and let's just fix it so we don't hear about Sam complaining or Ed about you know say anything but you're going to buy Rolls Royce but you can't maintain it I mean we can't maintain it I think what Ms. Wilson is saying we talked about that that if we gave direction at our retreat regarding where we want to go to Finley so and she made it very clear if we make that direction what that does to our ability to do other things so it would be great if we had the ability to do a bond and do all these other parts but we don't so again you've got to prioritize and figure out how are we going to get all of these done and still keep it on the list before we say we don't have the capability let's find out if you know if Jeff or anybody else will tell us whether we have that ability or not but nevertheless you know I'll leave this alone I think I've said my piece I'll let y'all a perfect example all right next well I've heard you loud and clear and I can get some information back to you based on what was discussed around the table when we do the budget Ms. Wilson you do always give us the full list but it'd be good if every time we had this discussion we had that full list we can all be reminded because there are still projects I think you know I think people forget that we have that property in Belvedere that we had said we would be something and you know so we've got to keep those things going and here comes Robert with another $500 man I go I go outside of all parameters to try and find who I'm still asking you about other sources and a number of these facilities like Hyatt and Parks for some reason over the years we haven't been putting the dollars in there so now they've all come to the table you want to continue this has been good it has been good it's good to get it out we can still smile Sam you're still friends with them? I love anybody at the table I think it's critically important I think one of the things we can do we're doing some work there we're doing a great job over there and if there are any donations please forward them our way the other thing is I want to say to all of our colleagues that it is extremely important that while there are issues within our park system that we need to pay close attention to that each park represents I think one is economic development and the other of course is our particular particular that this is this is the city park not ours it's a city and I think it's so emphasizing assessing it provides us an opportunity to really get our mail for our corn there are places in our district that doesn't have a car but it's brand new that was simply say it's some music that one particular area offers to not play that has not been a whole lot of conversation that I'm glad to hear say that that's something we can put on the table to talk about yeah it's on our list so it provides us an opportunity to have this kind of interaction but to realistically say let's handle this thing in a way that is not singular of collaboration could be us just coming forward let me bring you that would be that that would be help over me let's do it thank you grand empty bottle next time another wish list project but we are five million dollars right here won't be able to let's just start off up front Caleb and say we won't be able to do everything on this list but you all did ask for it and we wanted to provide you information and it's very well done so I want you to have information so that when we are as we're identifying funding we can help this interaction our expert has a sign that he was a million dollars if we get it right we have lots of gateways as opposed to there's we need a close view of and there's a line of pay for it so afternoon everyone my name is Caleb King I'm the superintendent of forestry and beautification we'll add that on a cold day in April we can talk about flowers and some warm thoughts so hopefully you guys will enjoy I think what's important to look at when we look at this project is understanding where our gateways are at and so my goal is to kind of walk you through this packet that I've handed out and identify some of these gateways and then some of these gateways could look like so as you can see we've identified 18 gateways in the this area see what it means of these 18 gateways we have some main interstates that are in these areas we have some secondary and tertiary roads and these are identified by my peers and myself as areas that are access to the city where we're getting high traffic counts and geographically where they're located and just their importance throughout the city and their access to our city so with that we kind of pulled out a few of those and took a closer look and there's some maps that you can reference in the back as well but just going through some of those I want to talk about the quadrants so that's basically I pulled out each quadrant to show a site plan that can be seen on each of those quadrants also the quadrant is important because some of these interstates and these right-of-ways some of them don't fall within the path of it may fall within the city right-of-way or the city owned area yes go ahead I just want to be clear because where you have the quadrant if you have wildflowers and landscaping no at one time we were talking about actual signage what you're proposing doesn't include a sign this is not currently but we're open to all things I'm just simply providing some ideas this is their version of the green new deal the green new deal what we were talking about that was that was kind of breaks and mortar that was kind of our discussion I mean I think I think that's kind of where a lot of I don't mind I don't mind to address the signs there were two versions of the sign one of them came from Keep the Middles Beautiful and an organization they worked with and the other one came from Lake Murray Tourism I believe the original sign for only to keep the Middles Beautiful at Harbison was like 1.3 or 4 million dollars for one sign I think there's about 15 gateways that would equate to quite a bit of money so we've also been to design that Stuart Munger we have the design firm okay I don't know who it was I think Caleb's presentation is directed more towards making things enhanced and making sure that the yards are mowed when we do have visitors in the family and I like the beautification I think it'd be helpful as we go through your first one kind of layout so when you say installation costs of two hundred thousand what that includes so we have a conceptual idea of what that means for sure and I'll walk you through that so as you just referenced that's a one-time fee that's to basically are installed I'm going to go through all the things that are going to be listed in that so it's your one-time fee and then you have your annual cost which is going to be basically year-round cost you're going to have every year that expense to do the maintenance of that specific landscape and I think Miss Wilson I think too as we move forward we ought to be considering meeting with some of the corporate folks and finding sponsors to take on some of these as for the other proposed gateways we wanted to just break out the mowing and the mowing cost and the brief pickup, weeding and those types of things of what those would be as well so you kind of see that on paper and then also I wanted to make sure that you were as aware of that we do have six completed gateways there's a landscape at six gateways our staff, the four-stream beautification staff takes care of on five of those six and we have a contract with the city of Irmo that takes care of the I-26 and Lake Murray Boulevard landscape so Blossom Street and William Street when we say that completely, where are we on the maintenance of that because you ride that stretch over the bridge especially when you get to our side of the river but this is really what we're talking about there always seems to be tall grass trash and things there as we come in that gateway so when we do, when we look at these contracts is that because it's a DOT that it's not being consistently cut and I'm talking about in the roadway because that's where the tall grass is growing and where the medians and all that that's what looks so bad so anything that's completed we will maintain so generally when you come across the Blossom Street bridge we take care of the palmetto trees and the floor peddlums on the side up to that when you're coming on a fair field or you're coming on a forest drive that's under a DOT contract their contract mows it four times a year so that is so everything that we've done completed and I believe we try to get it every 10 days to 14 days but if they're not hitting the medians and the roadway and the sidewalks that's where that tall grass is the weeds are growing up I mean that's what you see during the summertime when you come across there so to keep to maintain the grass and maybe it's just a contractual thing guys we need you to hit this and we need you to pick up the trash there because that's what people see when they roll in and I'm pretty honest I believe the city manager for the program in the place about a year and a half ago that I think addresses some of those needs so what we do is we have a gateway crew Caleb has two crews right now using two full-time employees and champs instead of worrying about and I hate to pick an area town North Main Street instead of worrying about going out North Main Street and one person mow in their yard one week and the other person mow in their yard four weeks later and we actually mow and edge everything on that road to make that sidewalk look presentable you know before the NCAA tournament I know Caleb and his staff did Uger Street to make sure that is an event but the problem is is Robert is not we don't have the ability to do that and I think long term we are doing it on a rotating basis if you've got an area that we're not doing I'd love to see it I ride over it all the time I notice it going over Blossom Street so breaking down some of those installation costs so you can see it on paper so we're looking at plant material it could be equipment or rental tree and plant material removal some of these major interchanges could have trees could have debris that's on and that's going to have to be removed before a landscape could be put in place whether it be wildflowers or a landscape another big hurdle is water access and installation so being able to get water to these specific locations especially the landscape would be an issue irrigation parts and labor excavation as part of the wildflower program there would be some tilling and disking in the installation process for wildflowers also soil amendments, mulch and just labor is kind of what you're looking at for your installation costs so how many planting initial planting would be year one and then after that would be the maintenance how many would we have to go back are these all annuals so we would landscape it in a way that would have low maintenance but there's no landscape that's not going to have any maintenance so unfortunately so we have some power to be able to put stuff in there that's going to be low maintenance but regardless there's still going to be annual maintenance to keep it looking nice low maintenance well it's high when you plant them but during the season it requires very little if no mowing and all that wildflowers are talking about landscape either or in general the landscape will tend to be a little bit more high maintenance throughout the year whereas wildflowers you kind of install it and you let it do its thing much as much and the mowing is less as well in wildflowers and I'll get to some of the pros and cons of those two different types one question I know it didn't happen but since we and some of these are connecting with the highway the DOT properties do they don't partner with us at all in sharing some of them not this time they just keep that fuel for tax for something I'm not quite sure what it's for Robert and I have to talk about that I don't I just think there's ought to be a way where they could participate in that Councilman Currant we can have that conversation with DOT in the past they are more than willing to sign their areas over to us to mow 10 to 14 days to keep their money for their four times so in the annual maintenance it's kind of a schedule that our crews currently follow and there's two different regimes that we'd ask a contractor to do and there's a summer mowing schedule so we'd ask them to be out on those interchanges or those gateways three times a month and they'd be mowing picking up debris, edging beds and weeding and then in the winter time they would scale back a little bit as grasses aren't growing as much but they'd be expected to be out there at least once a year doing the same task other maintenance that can occur or we'll have a seasonal time to it as far as maintenance could be weeding and herbiciting irrigation maintenance so fixing drip fixing sprinkler heads those are things that are just going to be ongoing maintenance replanting or remulching so a lot of times these landscape beds are going to need to be refreshed over time that could be on a two or three year cycle and unfortunately plants do die out so just the maintenance of continuing to keep that looking well tree trimming and shrub pruning and debris removal I know it sounds simple but as you see in the picture down below and you have 50 to 100 loripedalum and you go to prune that back there's a lot of debris and a lot of work and a lot of maintenance to keep that looking the way it does unfortunately so that's something to take into consideration could I ask you a question on the planting just looking at it obviously you're adding a lot of color in the hybrid stuff planting grasses and other things that create you know substance and beauty that are even lower maintenance is that it is the only thing with grass though is you're still going to have it brown out and they're still going to be pretty heavy maintenance as far as cutting that seasonally there are some grasses that you don't have to do that as much but on the interstate you're going to need grasses that are large anyways because they have that impact and so they're going to mostly be grasses that are going to have to be cut back at some point and so there's maintenance with that as well but I'm not changing your design I'm just thinking when USC redid the football stadium they have the palm trees it looks like low maintenance rubries and stuff is that something did y'all look at that Sarah that's not in our landscape ordinance can't use palm trees let's change the ordinance then we're open to all options and we're excited to look through the maps and these are just ideas and possibilities of what some of these interchanges could look like but the plant material and all that it has to go through the permoring process and we're going to make it work for us as well we all kind of wanted to design and I think that it still needs to like we just talked about the part that needs to stay on our list because eventually it needs it but what about you remember that might have been orange bird too remember like some place had the big smiley face oh no no we're not doing that not the smiley face but I wonder if could we do our skyline you know the Columbia skyline yeah but it changes all the time why can't you just have something do the one that's behind our you know the Columbia I think we should find us a natural stone or a rock and do the logo that's what I'm saying kind of the logo that little thing and maybe do that and I'm wondering if you could do that I know y'all all play interior and exterior designers on television but leave it up to the experts I'm just saying something that's specific to Columbia if we're not going to have science say welcome to Columbia just something that kind of that's Columbia and I don't think we're talking about every interchange but you know coming in on 126 where that rock formation or whatever's there you know where the road splits and Columbia did that yeah having something nice there that you know welcomes people you know that looks good I think is what you're not talking about every gateway you're talking about having it in certain places so it becomes inviting and we could plant because the one I don't know which the I-26 and Harveston Road layout that you did I think I like the mix of what it is because it's got you know the Palmetto's it's got junipers it's got all kinds of great myrtles it's gorgeous and having that you know and I know you plant things because of where the sun and all that is but having that kind of grouping is inviting coming into the city I think yeah and that's what we're going for with some of these different options it's great to explore another option we have wall flowers I know that's been mentioned as something that we wanted to look into and in doing that I reached out to the head of the road the wall flower in North Carolina the head of North Carolina Department of Transportation he's a roadside engineer and I spoke with him and just wanted to hear some of the benefits and some of the downfalls and some of the stuff that makes executing a wall flower plan tough that was a good talk with him it allowed me to figure out where we could possibly utilize some of those things so some of the pros of that lower installation costs so seeds pretty cheap no irrigations needed less grass to mow pollinator friendly for insects and bees and then also provides a place for birds and habitat for them also a more natural look that some people prefer and then we can also get a larger coverage area with a wall flower look the cons of that though are it's going to be an annual installation there's going to be a minimal winter curb appeal the floristic display is somewhat weather dependent so the drought or it's really rainy then that could affect what the outcome could look like also will require some seasonal herbiciding to keep the weeds down and gain some good tips on how to execute something like that properly North Carolina really yes I was I was very impressed with he was able to send me some ledger and they were doing it very well so I didn't know you left the town was only last week so in that in that conversation they kind of honed in on three specific flowers crops that we use mainly these three were chosen due to high germination rate doesn't take much seed and soil compact contact to make those grow they also they grow rapidly and they're they're kind of suited for this area so those are a cosmos zinnias and hybrid sunflowers and I'm just preferred in executing one of these plans that you don't intermix them but it'd be a monoculture of that just so it's easier maintenance you can do you can do selective herbicide spraying to be able to get the desired landscape gateways so this is what we have in some of our some of our current locations on the pros of that you have a one-time installation fee you have year-round curb appeal variety of plants and material can be used to design or designs that and then uniform look and design what some people prefer just kind of a neater look to it some of the cons irrigation so in some of these locations getting water to these landscapes could be very tough that could be boring under interstates or just tying in from other locations that could present some issues less coverage of the interchange weeds and debris will stand out in an environment like this because you're going to have mulch something in there and it's just visually you can see it a little bit more then also a higher annual maintenance whether that be pruning or trimmed up trees and then also you also have more grass to mow so there's edging and grass to mow as well yes yes for sure it does yes so I think in the plans there there is a drawing of a packet of the north of the north side of the Greystone so with all that being said I just wanted to allow you guys to look at see what some of these interchanges could look like and also remember that DOT would be involved in the permitting process and also would have to approve all these plants and designs we've worked with them before and kind of know their specs and what they're looking for but yet we would need to present those to them as we hone in on what kind of places we'd like to look at the future it'd be securing contracts figuring out who can do the work since it's kind of something we haven't done before especially with the wildflower side of things but I think we have with Plainchart and some of these other places we have some ideas as to who could execute that other than that it'd be just a matter of getting it out to see the bidding process and what would happen with that I'm not sure I don't if we could find sponsors for some of the I don't want to get the sponsors for the annual maintenance for the annual maintenance and some I mean that's where you really want because you're not, you're going to be tough to get a sponsor to pick up all of the initial installations but the maintenance is something that's cheap there's 180 plus and I can tell you exactly what I'm telling you Councilman DeVall, we'd be glad to do it just up our hospitality money about $125,000 they get right off our backs bill they just ask for more money on your tax bill Councilman Badura, I think to answer your question we could probably do two or three a year the reason we brought a hybrid system in is to make sure that if we wanted to tackle one this year and do a couple wildflower locations a couple years from now those wildflower locations can convert to something else that's funding because of that I don't think my thought is tackle two or three different locations and give them a year or two to wildflower and then maybe attack the rest of it rather than invest in an ocean location I think that would be my idea I think that's big that the top of the list depends on how we work and what it will be that would be how did you miss that one I didn't miss it I noticed it when I turned the page up in the first one I was like here we go and Mayor Benjamin I hate he's not here what about the signage because the initial conversations we had were signage coming in I've seen some of them in towns smaller than Columbia somehow they managed to make it happen couldn't we for budget purposes talk to some of the corporate partners in the area we have done some research spent a couple years and we can update those numbers the Rock Hill sign was a million dollars the sign that was designed for Columbia was like 1.3, 1.4 the sign that goes into Lexington off of 378 I believe is over 600,000 I think as Columbia looks you know where and I think it would be a reverse question almost back to the council is we can make a recommendation where the sign goes but I think council holds that key of where does the sign go do you want it at I-77 on Bluff Road or you'd want it on Main Street or you want it on 77 at 277 or do you want it at Harbison in 126 we don't know where that sign would go and if you add more than one you know you're just doubling the cost every time you do so we don't want to update our cost and we think that we're probably close on where we would be at with something that is a design like keep the middle of this beautiful design there have been tab crats I'm not sure one example of that time was only for the sake of discussing if we looked at North Main and I-20 that was one of the ones we had thought maybe Pepsi would help but it's right there at the doorstep we also believe that Blanchard could be a very big partner because of the location on Bluff Road and what they do on the interstate frontage you know somewhere down the road you know I used to tie two intersections there together there's a new soccer complex over there that's bringing in thousands of people also I want to sell it I think we just need to keep thinking so put it on the list thank you very much we need to talk about the priorities that heavily waited again alright is there a motion Mr. Duvall I'm going to change my district the district one Madam Mayor Pro Tem I'd like to go into executive session for the seat of legal advice related to matters covered by attorney-client pursuant to 34-78-2 ban the box ordinance revenue options Green Street Penny Project McLean's Penny Projects lower Richmond Sewer for Rocky Branch Green discussion of matters related to proposed location or expansion of services to encourage location or expansion of industry 78-2 plan discussion of negotiations proposed contractual arrangement pursuant to 78-2 wayfinding MOU discussion of employment of an employee pursuant to 78-2 ECDC discussion of matters related to proposed location or expansion of services to encourage location or expansion of industries or other business pursuant to 78-2 There is a second Second We will probably move the second We will move the roll Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye