 Here Here Reverend McDowell, could you say a word before we start please? Lord in the midst of this busy time and yet in the midst of your grace that surrounds each of us We know that the time that we spend together here today might be Beneficial informative and that again you might sensitize us to what those things are and what it means to this city of ours Bless us in wondrous ways Allowing your grace Give us utterances that might be beneficial to this city Let's those who are around this table individually and yet collectively Allowing each person to feel your touch And your grace We ask it in the name of the creator Okay, thank you at this time we will begin our presentations with the first being the federal legislative update Mr. Ralph Garbushian and Ms. Deborah Dehaney Howard with Capital Edge LLC I know Deborah couldn't travel today Ralph, so we're really excited to see you though And I'm sure she's listening if she's able so we say hi to her and thanks for always having our back and DC and otherwise Thank you. Oh, thank you so much and it's it's as always good to We just have to adopt the agenda real quick And we have an amendment as well do you have that one Miss me I move we adopt the agenda for the afternoon work session adding to the agenda a discussion of a Negotiations that should propose contractual arrangement pursuant to sd code 30 dash 4 dash 70 a to legislative affairs Second have a motion. We have a second Hearing on seeing them out of clerk. Could you read the role, please? Yes? Yes Hi, hi Thank you Sorry about that. No, I apologize and I was just saying it's always good to be here in Colombia Always good to come down and and visit and see things that are changing and had some good meetings this morning with with city Staff and and I think really that's one of the most valuable parts of our visits is How much we learn from city staff on what they're working on and what their priorities are so so some good meetings I promise this is a really long miss is much longer than any PowerPoint. I've ever given you I promise I'm not going to go through it in painstaking detail But I do want to go through it and hit some highlights And in my defense is another client asked me recently Could you just throw us two slides on the inflation reduction act and my response was no, no, I can't that's Not two slides that are useful in any way. So so but I will try to go through this quickly So just a quick overview. I'm gonna do a quick review of the 116th and 117th Congress Talk about the infrastructure investment and jobs act and I'll do that really quickly because I've spoken to you about that in The past and we've sent a lot of information to the city on that Spend some time on the inflation reduction act and then just do a quick update on FY 2023 appropriations and where we stand with that in The hundred and sixteen hundred seventeenth Congress I I we were just I was just chatting with your your state lobby team It's it was an extraordinary period of legislation and that was largely result of the pandemic and other crises We faced but but I don't think I remember a Period of any two congresses or even any one Congress that had even in 2009 When Congress passed the recovery act, I think if you put it against these pieces of legislation that pales in comparison I think the recovery act was nine hundred million dollars if I recall correctly So, you know right off the bat in 2020 we had the cares act two point two trillion dollars Between the cares act and ARPA I had to fit this on one slide But there were the other pandemic relief bills, which were also very large Then we had ARPA at one point nine trillion the infrastructure bill at one point two trillion And then this summer the chips act fifty four point two billion Appropriated and it authorizes another two hundred eighty billion and then the inflation reduction act, which which is four hundred ninety billion and New spending and tax credits and I think seven hundred sixty billion dollars in tax In new revenue so so an extraordinary period of legislation And I think the message here is is I think that that period is over Regardless of how the elections go I think it would be foolish to predict what the next Congress is going to do until after the elections But I can confidently say that we're not going to see legislation of this scale in the hundred eighteen Congress So really where that puts us is is over the next five to ten years It's implementation of the infrastructure law and Implementation of the inflation reduction act, so I've gone over through this before but but just as a refresher I I J a is really three bills wrapped into one The first three divisions of that were the five-year reauthorization of surface transportation programs that Congress was scheduled to do anyway So that's the five-year transportation bill The rest of it is largely Authorizations of other infrastructure investments and then the important part is division J That's a five-year advance appropriations bill for for a lot of the other programs that are authorized in the bill Transportation and non-transportation So just a quick overview of the surface transportation reauthorization and and just to put the hundred sixteenth and hundred 17th Congress is in perspective In previous years when I talked about a surface transportation reauthorization bill that was the main thing I talked to you about I did a whole presentation just on that I just have a couple of slides here on that but and that's largely because it's a status quo bill apart from pretty significant increases in spending across all of the categories and Is with previous surface transportation reauthorization bills most of the money Will continue to be allocated by formula to state DOTs to metropolitan planning organizations Transit agencies and in this case the big increase for inner-city passenger rail and to Amtrak that said one of the things that sets the infrastructure bill apart from other reauthorization programs is is How much funding there is for competitive surface transportation grant opportunities over the next five years? And these are all five-year programs and they all are funded every year FY 2022 through FY 2026 and these are just some of them kind of the big ones and In Colombia is of course familiar. We've submitted Mega-grant application. We just submitted a railroad crossing elimination grant Application in our preparing a Chrissy application all related to assembly street So so these are the FY 2022 funding notices to these programs are already out and It won't be too long until we start seeing FY 2023 funding notices and then in subsequent years That's the one 28 so there's the all the formula programs It was a status quo bill in that respect most of the money still goes by formula to states to MPOs to transit agencies But just by comparison, it's 28 billion dollars a year FY 2022 through FY 2026. I think pre-infrastructure law You took all of the competitive grant programs at DOT. Maybe the secretary was making awards. I Mean raised as a billion in for was a billion Maybe four or five billion dollars so This is a big Yes, you know the flip side of that of course is the United States is a big country and you know twenty eight billion dollars You know this is where we've made the application We applied to the mega program. We applied to the railroad cross grade crossing elimination and then to another program Chrissy So this is just some of the other competitive grant opportunities outside of DOT that it's in the infrastructure bill So so for example at the Department of Energy, there's eight point one billion dollars for smart grid and grid resilience and DOE just actually put out an RFI asking. How should we run these programs? There's an additional one and a half billion dollars for broadband Over the next five years and then of course there's about 60 billion dollars total for broadband But most of that 60 billion goes to the states 42 billion of the 60 billion goes to the states and the states are really in Charge of how that money gets spent but there are those other broadband programs and then For your school districts, I included there's the five billion dollar EPA clean school bus grant program a Water and sewer I I J has a lot of money for water and sewer But almost all of it goes directly through the state revolving loan funds So Congress just put more money into the state revolving loan fund programs for water and sewer And then on the energy and broadband I mentioned there's there's the 42 billion dollars for broadband The states DOE just put out the funding notice for grid resilience. That's going to go to the states The one important one on here and not many talk about it, but the weatherization assistance program It's an additional three and a half billion dollars over five years for that That money goes to the states and then on to community action agencies Off the top of my head. I think in a regular year Congress provides about a hundred million dollars for weatherization So that's a big infusion of money into the weatherization of those Competitive grants as well. No, it goes to the states by formula formula and then it goes passes down down to community action agencies So we would have to look to see what our formula would say right in the Columbia area And what your local community action agencies what they're nice for? New roofs new windows for exactly right. I think you can even be used for HVAC Electrical electrical upgrade I beg your pardon. You can do electrical upgrade to help the energy efficiency of the system So that's just a big infusion of money into that program And then I this is I think this is a familiar to you I won't spend much time in this but this is just general strategy for for competitive grants and you all are familiar with with this strategy and I think did a really good job on on Pursuing the the mega grant and the other grants for the assembly Street project Well, I think you were able to meet with Missy and Carol our new grant. Yes, just actually just yeah Ten minutes ago, I know they we've talked and they briefed you on the fact that this council also Is allocated funding for additional? Efforts towards finding these grants and so we'll need your help as well as usual That'll hopefully Supplement that absolutely and just anecdotally a lot of the other cities we work with are also Beeping up their their grants whether internally or hiring consultants It's a good time to be a grant writer or grant administrator. That's great. I'm ten years And then it's and you all are aware of this but you know the administration has their priorities for these competitive grants It's important to be aware of those as you apply They just last week put out a community involvement guide I kind of treat that as a the teacher tells you You might want to look at this before the test I think that community involvement guy is something that guide you something we'll want to look at before we submit future applications This is just a quick overview and you all are familiar with this but we I went over this but we submitted these two applications for assembly Street and We'll be submitting a Chrissy application to the Federal Railroad administration. I think in December And then this is this is important This is because so much of the infrastructure law goes whether it's water and sewer transportation as always Broadband so much of the money goes by formula to the states and the states are in the driver's seat to determine How those funds are spent so it's really important for for the city to be working with state agencies And I think the time is now For example, the Department of Homeland Security just put out the notice for the state and local cybersecurity grant program So the state is right now as we speak developing their plan for the state and local cybersecurity grant program And they have to by law involve local governments But I think it's important to have a seat at the table as the state makes those decisions about those formula grants because so much of the money goes directly to the states and And then the inflation reduction act, this is just the I guess if I had to do the inflation reduction act in one slide This is what I would do. It's it's 490 billion dollars in new spending and tax cuts and then 764 billion in savings and new revenue And you all might remember the build-back better act That's the that's the really huge bill the house passed last year. This is what? This is the final result. This is what they could get 51 votes for in the Senate so The most important part I think for local governments of the of the inflation reduction act is is it has a ton of tax incentives for renewable energy and clean energy and Congress said 13 these 13 specific tax credits are Direct pay tax credits that means that local governments and other tax exempt entities can claim that tax credit Even though they have no tax liability so to the extent the city has Renewable or clean energy projects over the tent next ten years It's worth checking is there a tax credit for that because chances are there are I beg your pardon They are um, yep. Um, yep Like advance manufacturing production all that that's two cents for every kilowatt produced Future income if you bring in a partner to get this stuff done hydroplanned And and that's from the Infrastructure Act and DOE is is getting set to put out the funding notice for those hydro power programs soon Like our solar field that we want to do Water plant, I mean the sewer plant we haven't done yet. This is like getting a 30% tax credit that's what that's what they all did when they did the investment tax credit and You can use that it's sellable tradable Absolutely as in and actually the Treasury just last week put out RFI asking for How should we implement all of these various tax provisions and one of them was specifically how should we implement this direct pay provision in the bill So this is just what I was mentioning allows low taxing entities including local governments to receive those tax credits as direct payments And and the Treasury is is hard at work Determining how are you they're going to set all of this up? This is an important If you're familiar with a new markets tax credit that's a tax credit for economic development that Treasury allocates There's two billion dollars in any given year. Let's say for tax credits and Treasury allocates those competitively the the Inflation Reduction Act allows provides an additional 1.8 gigawatts of investment tax credits for solar and wind facilities That are small less than five megawatts placed in low-income communities, and that's two years 2023 and 2024 So I think they'll set that up similar to new markets tax credit where those are allocated competitively and that's that's a bonus That's a that's a 10% increase in the tax 10 or 20 percent increase in the tax credit depending on the type of project it is and IRA does include a few grant programs There's five billion dollars for climate pollution reduction grants that will be an EPA grant program I think that that's one that's better targeted to regions even though local governments are eligible to apply Despite its name the environmental and climate justice block grant is not really a block grant it's a competitive grant program and and You need to partner with a community organization to apply for that one, but that's three billion dollars This is if you're familiar with reconnecting communities in the infrastructure law This is essentially reconnecting communities with a slightly different name, and there's three point two billion dollars That I just met with DOT staff last week and one of the things they're determining is Are these programs similar enough that we can issue one funding notice or are we gonna have to do two funding notices? So so stay tuned on that for that FY 2023 no foe This is a big part of the inflation reduction act EPA has a hundred eighty days to set up this program Congress gave them a lot of leeway But it's 27 billion dollars for a greenhouse gas reduction fund or what they really call on the media green bank And that's to that's to encourage Men make investments in low-moderate income communities that might not otherwise receive those kinds of investments This is a pretty straight one billion dollars for state and local governments to replace Heavy-duty vehicles with with clean versions of those heavy-duty vehicles, and those are 100% grants no match and then this is the the inflation reduction act has Has money, but it goes to the states, but it's it's essentially Contractor training and building coded option grants But those will go to the states and states will decide how and whether to share those with local governments and then This is what's going to HUD in the inflation reduction act It's eight hundred thirty seven million dollars for hard loans grants loan subsidies to improve Energy and water efficiency and other environmental factors in in HUD assisted housing This is a interesting slide conservation grants. Oh, I'm sorry That's used primarily for training and facilitation of Talk to me a little bit about sure and this is a this is a brand new program But but I think the the goal there is is to is to Provide training job training and education for for designers and contractors on on home energy and energy efficient techniques building methods products And then the building code adoption is is essentially technical assistance for state and local governments to adopt the the latest energy efficient building codes but Unfortunately from where I stand those go to the state So and it's really up to the states whether that to share those with cities You know you're welcome Conservation grants I highlight this because in any given year Congress appropriates I think 30 million for urban and community forestry and 10 million for the forest legacy program So all of a sudden the Forest Service is going to have one and a half billion and seven hundred million dollars for these two programs They were so small before that they were hardly worth even looking at but One and a half billion dollars for urban and community forestry is is I think worth looking at and It'll be interesting to see what the Forest Service does with those funds And then really quickly that's about as quickly as one can go through the inflation reduction act We are now it's October 18th. So we're 18 days into FY 2023 And we do still do not have a final FY 2023 budget Congress passed the continuing resolution that runs through December 16th So they gave themselves some time after the election to pass a final budget but And we often hand this out. I've handed out our funding chart And that's just our effort to track the appropriations process for programs that of interest to the city I think the the good news at the broadest level is that if you look at the House and Senate Appropriations bills most programs the city cares about are in good shape CDBG home home and security grants Department of Justice grants are all set to receive equal or more funding next year It is it is Yeah, I think we're in good shape and and combined with the infusion of money for a lot of those programs in Inflation Reduction Act and I I J. I think it's it's a good time for federal funding I think the trick is setting priorities over those five years because there's so much. It's overwhelming And happy to take any questions. I know that's a lot Quick question Ralph. Thanks for this information Lots of plates spinning out there, you know, we're all Separately we volunteer on other or we're appointed to other boards as city representatives Tina and I have the pleasure of certain on the comment board and you have offered up in the past and to keep looking at Intermodal funding transportation logistics expansion funding Is that is that something that the executive director or the future executive director just needs to keep in touch with with you on Absolutely that and always happy to help out in the good thing I forget the number off the top of my head, but but if you go back to the reauthorization I think transit receives a pretty significant increase and in most federal transit money is formula funding So and the main source of formula funding for the comet is the 5307 urbanized area formula grants They and every other transit agency is going to see a pretty big jump in their 50 307 allocation over the next five years And hopefully there's some one-time capital improvement facility grants that we can chase as well There are on the transit side, you know transit projects are eligible for most of those surface transportation grant programs In terms of transit specific grant programs, there's the bus and bus facilities discretionary Which is pretty self-explanatory what would that funds and the low or no? Emissioned bus grants, which again is pretty self-explanatory What's that facility? kind of Limits and funding usually if you are awarded they run the gamut. I'm thinking about last year's awards I think they ran the gamut from a million, which I think is probably enough to buy a Bus to 30 million if you're building a new bus facility Either whether it's a transfer facility or maintenance facility For the programs out there that we ought to be looking at for our park system in Columbia And there's Wilson, are we looking at grants federal grant money for rehabilitation of parks and things like that We're always looking ever any opportunity. So our we have a specific grant Do we have Identified any grant process with our consultants and stuff that we can look at for park lighting and safety and broadband Sure, I mean Continuity that we already had a consultant for parks and rec through the foundation So they were already looking at those things, but I think through any of these opportunities. We need to look as well And the the main I mentioned the urban and community forestry program. That's kind of a one-time thing from the inflation reduction Act in 2020 Congress passed the Great American Outdoors Act and And the important part of the great well, there's a lot of important parts of the Great American Outdoors Act But from a city perspective the important part there was it fully funded the land and water conservation fund So in perpetuity the land and water conservation fund is funded at $900 million a year and Half of that is half of that is for federal land But half of it is for state and local assistance Ralph if there was an opportunity to create say State park within the city limits economy Does it behoove us to jointly do something with the state or do we do it alone or do we support a state go to the state? I think anytime you're you're doing You know federal agencies always love it when you're you know doing regional you know state local local regional cooperation That's always going to be more appealing to federal agencies Ms. Wilson, there's a 200 acres above the zoo On the river that at some point I'd like for us to take a look at as maybe a grant application in conjunction with the state as a way to give Ordinary folks and working folks access But I would like to see it really done more as a state park because it would Easier for them to upkeep things and sometimes it is for us But I just think that's something that we might want to begin to explore the opportunity And And in South Carolina The state agency is PRT that administers most of the the state and local money goes by formula to the states There is a competitive portion as well right, but PRT manages those federal funds and and what you just said access to parks for Ordinary working folks. That's very much a focus right now, and it's we are great improvement for us as far as The drive-in to the entrance into the city because it's the sites between the interstate and it could be totally beautiful Well, thank you so much I appreciate it Thank you Continuing with the second presentation is the state legislative update we have our team Consisting of mr. Cal Michelle Michelle law firm LLC. Mr. Ed Givens fellowship strategies LLC and mr. Warren Tompkins and mr. Boyd Brown Tompkins Thompson and Brown governmental affairs Thank you gentlemen As Wilson counsel, thank you for the opportunity to be here today We are gathering the team Around the microphone for our presentation I'm gonna I'm gonna go through this fairly quickly because we really want to hear from counsel on thoughts on state government So, let's see if I can make this thing work. There we go. I'll Michelle Ed Givens Warren Tompkins Boyd Brown For anyone I don't know if this is being live broadcast or how it's streamed in any case We we you're on the mic, so they're gonna hear mostly At the beginning, okay First of all, I think I would say on behalf of all of us we a appreciate the opportunity to work for the city Be enjoy working together and see as we'll talk about in a little bit We've enjoyed a good year on the budget side and and that's always gratifying for us Just as lobbyists to be able to see some successes like that. So let's let's Go through this state Budget, I'm sorry state affairs review for this for for 2022 or maybe report a little bit of both This was the year of the budget I had more clients in in addition to the city of Columbia, but also the city of Columbia Where what you heard back from members was this is a year We have money you guys come to us with the things that you need funded and so we had I think in the end By the time they announced the last be a Report in May This the total state budget surplus was a little below or a little above three billion dollars Sort of lost count because it just kept going up up up the ARPA discretionary amount that was the state had to spend was 2.49 billion that does not include the ARPA money that went to the Department of Education The ARPA money that went to other departments and agencies Directly in South Carolina So there was a tremendous amount of money that was allocated spent put into reserves, etc by the state With the city and You guys have seen these we worked to develop over a long period of time with a lot of input from a lot of city Staff some input from some council members some input from us working going back and forth with Members at the legislature this list of general projects just and this are the general capital projects Which you guys have seen before and you've got it there in front of you And then these were the water and sewer projects for the ARPA water sewer money This this was the water sewer projects were prime and broadband We're primarily developed by Clint Shealy and his team and then I'm not exactly sure who was working on the broadband Side of that but the city staff did a good job of putting these together and then again. These are the budget priorities. So These were what we were working off of our our work Got kind of cut in half because the water sewer money all went over to the rural infrastructure Authority to so all of the water sewer projects were were had to be bundled and applied to the rural infrastructure Authority that that deadline was September 12th. They'll announce the the grants in the first quarter of 2023 for that money Right, right with a big bank. They have they have funding for loans. Yes. Yes, mayor. That's exactly And that money was not as that low-interest money was not as attractive Until inflation started making low-interest money hard to find so That and as Ralph knows that's State money as well in that SRF fund So in addition to these budget parties, we have let we had legislative priorities. This was this. This is the January 18th Presentation that we did here at the beginning of the year These were the issues that we were tracking for the city from feedback from staff from feedback from Chief Holbrook from feedback from council. This is what was laid out if you go back and look at in the January 20 22 Legislative the last time we were before you Property tax reform which actually the speaker mentioned two weeks ago in a meeting I was at at the legislature So there may be some some pressure coming to bear on some proper on actually taking a look at lack 388 Which has been sort of a third rail for the last 10 or 12 years? Gun violence measures, obviously the others you see up here The up and then this is the second Pardon, I think there was 11 of them total. So these were what we were watching at the beginning of the session for the interest of the Every time you go through a legislative session new issues come up New bills get introduced. So this wasn't all we did. We also were taking care of things as they arose during the session The results on the budget side going back to the money now Was the local government fund that was our allocation this year. It was funded per The changes to the local government fund Law that were made a few years ago, which is now funded automatically up to 5% If the budget goes it's funded at the same amount that the budget increases up to 5% So our local government fund for this current year increased by 5% over last year our out the city of Columbia's allocation You see the large large projects here that we that I was talking about earlier 20 million dollars for the assembly street railroad separation or grade separation project the William Street project of nine million one million for Findlay Park and 1.5 million from the city of Columbia Greenway That's all new money in addition to that The nine million dollars that was appropriated in 2021 for the convention center was moved over to these three other projects this year All total that's I believe 40.5 million. It might be for see 20 30 40.5 million if you take out the nine million dollars, it's 31.5 million if we we've got a analysis of this That I don't have at my fingertips right now and I didn't put this PowerPoint City of Columbia received more money than any other local government in the state by a long shot I don't think there was any other look. I think there are only two other local governments that got more than 15 million dollars most of them were sub ten million dollars Even if you take out the convention center of funds, we were over 30 million dollars No one got over 30 million dollars other than us So it was a good year projects that were large sums were ocean And stormwater management projects of city of myrtle beach and city of north middle beach So those kind of go hand in hand with some federal funds that they intercede So as you're thumbing through that Fairly tedious information Of the of the projects here that are listed the one The three million for belvedere flood mitigation that was a priority of one of our delegation That was the only project that was not one of the ones That was back up here on this list this one It was called conglary commons on the list right It's the fourth or fifth one down the fifth one down. It's called conglary commons on the list that we on this list Right here I think by the time the list was compiled mayor The different discussions that occurred and I think that's what the they're getting at with the members of the delegation who Were supporting the various project maybe in their original form But the way we were directed to include it on this list was for healthy living and accessible food focus And then the we also had the assembly street wrote assembly street wrote roadway rehabilitation and safety enhancements the first phase on here as well, which obviously The railroad railroad relocation came out of Is a complementary project May I Cal you mentioned at the very beginning of this conversation just a moment ago The three million dollars for belvedere Is that included on the list? Where are we with I know where we are with it, but is it included on the list belvedere was funded? Yes funded. That's correct. Yes. It was funded It was not on one of our original Requests it was not one of our original requests. It wasn't on the on the list that we sent them. Okay. Thank you, sir Councilor McDowell, what what happened on that was when we went to see chairman leon haward On help of some of the stuff. He said this is something he wanted done And that's where that originated when it then ultimately became part of what we were walking It sounds good just wanted to make sure we were on same And hopefully that that that project's very important. Yes, sir very helpful And and that's a that's a good point that Makes our job fun and complicated which is a lot of times the state State budget work is is kind of a push me pull you between What the city says this is what we would like to get funded and the members say well, you know, I've got a higher priority And so I'd like to do something different And so we kind of have to work back and forth with them and a lot of times as you guys know That involves a lot of meetings and a lot of discussion And sometimes we end up With those final budget amounts being closer to what we had originally proposed and sometimes they're a little closer to What members had wanted so that's that's part of everything that we that we manage Okay, so those are the results on the budget side On the policy side What's the two million for the belt line boulevard community that's Oh, yeah And Leon asked for the three who asked for the two Todd Any more questions on this Okay, and I have to say we this this is on the policy side of things so back to those 11 policy issues There just wasn't a whole lot of things that came up this Year that had a lot of peril for the city or a lot of opportunity for great advancement for the city the mayor was very effective in advocating on affordable housing and chief holbrook was there to talk on rehiring public safety officials and a few other things this year but in the end We we we were watching and working on and talking to people about the mask mandate because we didn't want the mask mandate to do Something that would that would impact negatively what the city had done and we worked closely with them to pass that That's a little bit of defense on that too. I put it under offense There's a little defense on that too to make sure that we weren't Significantly negative negatively impacted by the mask mandate bill to pass the affordable housing Bill did pass it didn't receive as many credits as a lot of people the state credit limit was at 20 million dollars A lot of people wanted more than that, but we got it passed and got the program back on stable footing rehiring public safety officials, which has been a high priority for the chief high priority for the council mayor We got that bill through through I believe we got it through the senate But we did not get it through the house. It does have a provision in it that says that if the retired whores Employee police officer retirement system employee is designated as a critical job Uh is being rehired for a critical job that they can come back to work immediately with no break in service And be paid up to $50,000 a year As as you all know right now if someone retires they have to take a one-year break in service before they can come back And then there's a limitation on how much they can be paid 10 000 So we're trying that this is so we made some progress on that bill and hopefully with all the focus on crime Um, not just here in in columbia, but also across the state and the country We'll be able to get that bill Through to the finish line this next year as you can imagine it that that kind of a provision always brings up A lot of red lights from the retirement system because the retirement system says if you let them retire and come back to work immediately It's going to be a run on the system that will not be Good for the financial stability of the system. So we've been working through that for a few years on the defense side this First two years ago started with a big push to raise the tort claim limits And from the $600,000 that they are today Um, Ms. Knox can tell you what the tort claims limits means to the city of columbia and our budget in the end nothing passed There was a bill to limit stormwater rates to being no more than the property tax for any property that has stormwater Pay stormwater rates That bill did not pass. There was a bill that would take away the city's ability to have any tree ordinance restrictions whatsoever That had some legs for a while in the house. That bill did not pass Tree ordinance, yeah No, the tree ordinance came out of I think it came out of mr. Hewitt out of myrtle beach Who is uh in property? and development From one of his it might have been a different it might not have been mr. Hewitt. I don't want to I don't want to Pag him if it was it might have been mr. Jordan I'm sorry No, well, I know It was at myrtle beach, but it but it jumped up and got through committee and was on the house floor and The same the same with the you know in these things about stormwater rates a bill like that that came out of the Upstate out of pickings county if you don't hurry up there and explain to people that this is a really bad idea Because we have a lot of property in our city that doesn't pay any property taxes And if we've got somebody located on that city and we can't assess them stormwater rates Because they don't pay any property taxes. That's not good for the stability of everything. We're trying to keep going forward Am I talking too much? Okay Okay all right In the age of disney plus espn plus and hulu plus I thought I would throw on here state government plus So we don't just do the budget and the bills But we work on these other items that i'll let you read through These keep us in touch with staff throughout the year One of which we'll address in just a minute, which is the the reception legislative reception So We're kind of constantly all As a team working back and forth with the different city staff We get questions from you guys about bills. We're what's the status of this bill? I heard someone introduced to this We happy to find that information out and pass it back to you And that's part of what we do all year long. How do we make that easier so that I don't have to find out after a vote at the house that our delegation voted for something like ankle monitoring counting against time serve How do we get that information before that so that we're not having to go beg somebody at the senate side to kill it? Because what I've discovered is a lot of people don't even And i'm trying to be nice about it But that's a major bill that every our sheriff our police department all of our guys were completely unglued about and you know it happened After the fact, how do we get that information ahead of time so that we can make sure that I think the answer on that particular bill What or I guess what I would say on that particular bill was that surprised a lot of people right after that vote was taken I was out in the lobby. I think everybody was up there that day was a busy Thursday afternoon Right before they go to cocktail hour and ryan mccabe walked out and he said gosh I think some people just don't read this This legislation and I said you talking about what did you just guys just vote on because when you're in the lobby You can't keep up with the blow-by-blow and he said what was this ankle monitoring thing and all but eight of us voted in favor of it And he said I don't think we knew what we were voting for and so It turns out he was right It was there was I don't remember who the sponsor was but there was a herd mentality But the bill after that came to light and after so many people raised so much Um awareness of it it it that bill came to a halt and I don't remember what the house did But I know it didn't go any farther after that vote Maybe got killed in the Senate. So but but it's really hard. It's really hard for us to know Um about every single thing before it happens Just just no different than being in in city government What I would like to explore though is how do we have a better communication system among all of us because we all have We're also busy and we all have so many ways that we go for things quickly that To report on when they do happen or that we can have feedback among each other and I don't want to dominate this conversation But I would love to hear from To see where they are and they are they are actively Not all the rest of the other things that are going on So it would help us coordinate with them There we have monitoring Y'all let us we ought to find your priority with us Let us as they file legislation we can have those monitoring terms and update I think some of it may not be priority stuff that stuff that if something comes up, you know hot button issues that we need to know about like that Okay, so on that note love to hear from council to help set Priorities for next year To get a sense of the policy items That you guys have and then I would also like to propose three different dates for our reception And we don't usually do it in this forum, but it's october now And we're running a little bit later than we should have and so January 24th, january 31st or february 1st January 24th, january 31st or february 1st are all dates that right now As of today only one or one other organization has a reception planned January 24th, january 31st and february 1st And I guess what I would love to know is priority like number one number two number three Because as of this morning These three dates have only one other person one other organization That has scheduled All three of them all all dates for the entire year have one other organization that is scheduled There's no date open with that doesn't have one some of them already have two Others have three you don't want to be more than two You don't want to be number three number three doesn't get listed in the journal it gets listed on the calendar It's hard to explain the difference. It doesn't get put in the journal So we expect a better turnout this year than we had last year We had the best turnout that we've had since I've been working with the city of garland It was not great, but it's a lot better than it has been clear. Don't be proud of that. No, I Councilman earlier in the session you do events The more likely you're gonna have with a higher I was talking about of our own delegation That part that that part was I'll be honest. It is important that they support us as well because when you got I think four of them next door at hall meeting dinner Or especially when their colleagues were telling us that they were But uh, I'm with y'all the earlier day to me we can call yes, I'll call over there 24th Let's say it's birthday. So of course we can have big cake and everything And if somebody has jumped in front of us just through today, can I go for the 31st? Yeah, okay I think I think getting it in january It's too hard vantage. I agree. We had we had a not we have an offer from time to time Boyd Warren in will hear me sometimes will hear That the that the governor is looking for someone to serve on a board that fits these criteria and so this year we had an opportunity to Assess miss bustles onto the opioid recovery task force for which she was uniquely qualified In which I believe she's serving as the vice chair of now or the chair and so that was Something that we something that we worked on, um, you know another thing just outside of the the back and forth of working with legislators on well It was what they were looking for was someone was public health background who was also They're looking for somebody with a They were looking for someone with a public health background background who also had some government experience And it and so that let me have this one, please Let me get this one That gave us something You see how they are Let's if you would have Go into the weeds on that Thank you, sir With no interruptions. Thank you In this case When the governor's office called actually it's the municipal association The municipal association called and said the governor's office is looking for someone Who's serving in local government who has a public health Background health or public health health care or public health background to serve on this opioid Uh Task force and in fact, I think now thinking back on it The municipal association got to appoint someone to the board and so miss bustles was one we submitted miss bustles name after After after talking to her that she would be Willing to do it And so he wants to be on the barber commission Do you have a commission where the mayor talks too much? He would like to have that If we could form a commission who will synchronize The mayor's conversation is what we're talking about. I'm all for it. But for right now Let's look at that bullet point that I asked you about number five. Thank you, sir. Okay You can concretize that The other thing if if some of us Ed or us want to serve on a commission pick out the commission you want to serve on see what kind of criteria it has and tell them you You're interested in it Uh, how many commissions are in the state government? Well, I would um the bottom line of course is just making sure that word gets out. I'm not particularly interested clear But there may be others who are interested And meet that kind of criteria. Well, we could do the governor's office the boards and commissions That's my point just making sure all of us have that kind of How um, I guess we can move into the priorities portion of this presentation if that works for you Um to echo councilman taylor's comments when ralph was up there parks and recreation outlets for funding Um small big, you know, whether it's a new swing set whether it's uh upgrade to a a long Uh deferred maintenance facility we have at a park That's that's something I'd really like us to really push and I know that Comes from our delegation initiating that with the prt whatever that funding source is I think through the the um I forget the name of it, um But just really being on the offense going on finding more getting ahead of maybe some other counties and municipalities for that for that funding Submit that request and this isn't I mean, I hopefully this wouldn't be a particular surplus funding. This is getting If you look at this and throughout the bucket, there are a lot of There are a lot of requests and a lot of fulfill requests for small things like parks and local projects Perfect And in prt has they get funds for things like that also Right exactly Just to their Generally when they get an appropriation line with all those things, they've already got their Their lists Years down the road. Yeah, perfect and let me mention this that just today. In fact, I had a discussion with john scott about a project that henry and I have been working on for um Mr. Simons, I should say and I have been working on for Actually a year or so now Because there are d and r funds d and r recreation funds for richland county that Are for recreation that touches state waters so It this we have a we have a I'll let him explain exactly what is a river access project And that fund has a substantial amount of money in it right now. We're trying to get funding for the city to build a river access Point On the saluta river. I believe it's a it's up near salute above the above near the rapids above the zoo Oh the step in the Okay, yeah, right. So so we're so we're working on that but I know that there's a lot of other things like that But we will we'll see what we can find out about the other sort of fun funds like that That the county delegation directs for the state. That's the one that came to our attention Thanks, Kyle. I think the other thing that we want to make sure that We're addressing is is the ability to work with the legislature to get the levels of fines up for littering and everything that we tried To before and this year it's very important as we look across the structure If it's littering we had a laundry list of things that we wanted to to see and and Working with them. So that's going to be one of the things that we want to look at Keep that feedback coming So we've met with representative finley about some of the department of mental health stuff in response to a growing need in the capital city and the concern around homelessness and one of the things that we'd like for you all to assist us with is Building an infrastructure after 5 p.m. There is no services available After 5 p.m. Everybody works kind of the banking hours Which results in our business districts or entertainment districts really having no path To getting folks into the services that they need And a lot of that falls with the department of mental health In terms of the hours that they're working in a shortage that they may be experiencing So that's one thing and then the second thing I wanted to mention was In general, I think that there is a interest on this council in terms of beautification and appearance And given that a lot of our roads are owned by dot That is going to be something that I certainly will be pushing that I'd like to see especially the major roads and downtown neighborhoods Really be repaved and cleaned up because it's long overdue Let me add to that since I've been working with the dot commission in the county One of the things that was brought to our light was that the state has not designated maintenance money For our roads are everything's being directed to the interstate Well 71 of the 492 miles of roads in our community are owned by them So it is something we need to talk to them about especially when it comes to appropriations putting money now They've done a test project From u g street all the way up jervais to millwood And they're doing one in the county, which is killian road All the way I can't remember what the crossroad is maybe long ponds road or something With street sweeping paving cleaning and etc. So we know they have the capability of doing it We need to just make sure that we legislatively get them funded because all the funding is going to the highway cleanup And maintenance fund I have a question on affordable housing I see that we had a dollar amount um six million that we were looking for Um and I want to know how realistic it is to get a dollar amount allocated to affordable housing Since they are funding the state housing, you know program I could speak to that. Okay The when you look at the budget under state housing It's Zero state dollars. It's all federal dollars state housing finance administration basically administers the federal dollars from HUD that come to the state The low income housing tax credit program that the mayor Was speaking on last year is a federal program that allocates federal tax credits to programs to to The one the the the developments that are accepted right i'm familiar state now has a matching state credit program So they don't allocate any dollars to it. They just allocate credits to it the lack of dollars coming in So there are no dollars there at state housing for different affordable housing projects or developments around the state Their only tool are those credits. No, and that's what I wanted to say Okay, maybe federal grants. Okay. No, I was going to say I just wanted to know do we need to continue to have that on the list? Um Or look on the policy. Well, and I also want to look on the policy side revisiting inclusionary housing Um, but I'm just wondering do we need to keep the six million? Is the six million for a particular Um development or is it for affordable housing in general? I don't I don't I I it was here before I got here. So i'm not sure. Okay But inclusionary zoning is an issue that has come up. Um the legislature Okay We'll work on that don't worry about this Okay, yeah inclusionary zoning has come up every year for the last several years as pressure pressures rise on you know rents and housing affordability That that that i'm sure that there will be a bill or two Introduced on that again the bills so far just give local governments the authority to to to require inclusionary zoning So far those have been defeated by the property rights interests who don't want anybody They won't they don't want any more restrictions on property But there are things that we can talk about at the local government level that other um Kyle and group There's a group committee in the city of columbia that's working on automatic traffic safety devices We used to be calling them red light cameras The cities do not have the authority to use cameras and enforcing safety We have had a meeting last week and there's a committee in charlston gringville sparkberg Camden and i think augusta north augusta That is also trying to do the same thing and we are using senator har putlian's bill that went in two years ago We are marking it up changing it changing the wording changing some of the authority in it But that I think that piece of legislation will be something that this council will endorse As we get it firmed up and the mayor's Legislative aid has was attending the meeting and had a lot of good ideas on how to move this thing forward We'll bring that to y'all when we part of it was looking at Traffic comment through speed speed cameras And looking at civil fines versus criminal fines You know It's kind of interesting that the the pushback that it's been for that considering we got license plate readers. We got cameras on every corner Everywhere so information's already being gathered. So i'm not quite sure what to hold up, but it has proven to reduce red light crashes slow down in school zones It'd be quite honest that average crash takes about two hours of an officer's time and if we could eliminate that Praise in their head. Yep We're changing the name of it. It's not gonna be red light We did we did uh, yeah, we did a test did a pilot test with some equipment And it was very interesting to see what was out there And how much especially in in some pretty high residential areas Especially around school zones Yeah, and then mr. Taylor We will marry the groups I have not involved in municipal association yet, but I think when we get the different cities together The first thing we need to do is go to the municipal association association of counties and get their support on My other sort of reflection on that is that There's a there's a pretty good deal of confidence right now in the secretary of transportation and department transportation And I think that if you if if legislation had some element of uh, department of transportation Sort of certification in other words department transportation Conducted a study and the department transportation says that this is an area where traffic calming is needed the department transportation Is is has some role in saying yes, this would be good here. It may increase the chances of that at least At least and let me let me hasten to add right here. Councilman Taylor real fast You can't under you can't understate or you can't overstate how much our legislature is very hesitant of giving local government too much power As you well know, I would be shocked That's why I said excuse me for interrupting councilman I A couple holistic things in a couple of specifics Because I want to make sure we do capture them and and and our city attorney can give you the information I mean, we're very serious on looking at how we can raise the municipal fines To a level they haven't been adjusted in decades Maybe for inflation or anything and we're we're held at limits today that I don't know Frankly, how how much they stop people from bad behavior? And so we need we need the ability and I think that's something I think a couple Three of these are things that we can join together with other cities Where it's not just a columbia deal. So that one is raising municipal fines ability The second in dr. Bussell's mentioned it a minute ago and that's a statewide issue, especially in the urban areas is mental health You know all the money that we had And surplus is this past year none got committed to mental health and that is a huge issue And these in these major urban environments that we have You know, there was a form there was a pre pandemic or pre covid. There was a Something done for four cities And we need to look at that and and frankly I would tell you again whether it's through the municipal association Or whether it's just the Greenville's Charleston's Spartanburg's Florence's Sumptuous coming together Um, we need more things like the state hospital to be to be increased. I mean, we're seeing this Really and truly in columbia where families on these chronic unsheltered homeless Families can't take care of these folks and and they don't respond well to shelters I mean, we just we just gonna have to as a state and as a government bring some of that back I know I know I know But but again, I think I don't think I really don't think that the general assembly is hearing it from the from the bigger cities that Hey guys, we got a real issue here. It affects our law enforcement ability. It affects the quality of life Uh, it affects the quality of life for the citizens and for the individuals with the issues Third thing is we will have special legislation. I don't want us to get Through this discussion without being reminded That if we can move our tax modernization program forward Between now and and and the general assembly, we will have special legislation that we'll be asking for and we probably need to go ahead and begin You know with working with the mayor and dr. Gunn-Logson and and the county and chairman walker On exactly what that's going to be because I suspect That will be our number one priority going into the general assembly as far as legislation goes specifically Let's remember we did not get all the funding that we asked for for the railroad. We were 15 million dollars light there Uh, that has to be a serious priority Senator har puttley and is committed to getting the money for phase two For the quiet zones coming through colombia. We need that to not stop just right here But to go all the way all the way through to to the district too Um, and that has to be a a major priority There's a specific amount that we will come to you with That I think that we need to begin and ask for For homeless sheltering in colombia. Dr. Bussell's made mention of it a minute ago I mean, we think there's a specific amount And a specific task that we want to identify that with you It'll be a first time I don't ever say one time But it'll be a it'll be a first time ask and again with the you know rb in the capital city We house all all government. Uh, I think it's an equitable thing that we that we need to ask for Well, perfect I would like to ask you to take point on that if you would at a nine million dollar number With with representative rutherford Thank you for bringing it up. Um, and the last thing I wanted to mention is Plus five I would have asked her way more you can get nine for William street and homeless ought to be easy um, and I'll see mr. Shealy here today, but Um, I think that and and miss wilson, I'd ask you maybe to make some comments on this My understanding is on the ARPA money for water and sewer They've kind of capped it at ten million dollars or so a system And and frankly that's just not equitable to the major to the major cities in our in our state with these big these big systems But there's granted a lot of theirs is granted out Yeah, but my point is simply my point is simply this A 10 million dollar cap with the amount of ARPA money that's coming into this state on a system that's multi-jurisdictional Now remember that multi-jurisdictional. It's not just the city of clumb. It's the city the county forest acres And we can name all the others to be capped at 10 million. It's just I just think that's just Unfortunately, and I got a lot of experience with these rural systems in the state 10 million is not a fair amount to cap the city on and I think a very good case can be made by y'all um And the governor's office because I believe most of that's coming through the executive branch You know to raise that cap either on and look instead of looking at it as a flat dollar amount Maybe it's a cap based on how many customers you have in a system And if that's the case, like I said, we need to know that so we can we can we can be in the game Okay, but I mean you follow where I'm coming from a 10 million dollar cap on that. It's just it's just not Not not fair And I yeah, I was gonna say he's on the working group. So he made a lot of those pitches I want to make sure the fellows that get paid to represent our interest. We are fully aware of what we're looking for you know on this thing because uh I don't you know, they can get in the governor's office They can get in secretary likes his office, but I don't know, you know, I don't know if clint can't so You know, and again, I think those are good ideas Boyd whether it's you know, 10 million dollar cap per per unit local government within the system But 10 million is just that ain't equitable That's fine warm, but y'all get paid a lot more than any of us said at this table do So you gotta you got to lead the charge on that No, no, but I'm saying you got to work you got to work with us to organize That's what I'm saying And so that takes us right into where I'd like to get clear instructions So and I think the lobbyist too and we've talked about this Going forward because we didn't have the legislative committee before is that the will of the group and mr. Mayor your intention for We take this discussion these different priorities that have been Articulated and we now come to committee and kind of streamline and narrowly focus in So we will make sure we get legislative committee set up with mirrick and then At the will of the council, I mean as long as and all of you all have said a lot of things today So I don't mind the legislative committee being the quarterbacks for this thing But they need to keep the other four of us in form You three of us can't do that We would be we would be breaking the freedom of information When you're sitting at the table So in terms of process we'll schedule a legislative committee meeting and then the staff will kind of assist us in Getting something together to get to them in terms of priorities Yes, I'm gonna I took copious notes. I think I did and madame clerk always helps me out So we'll make sure we get with the team ahead of your legislative committee And then we'll work with you all to maybe prioritize these items that have been said today It's a secret nobody telling You already did so we'll make we'll make sure Through the process now you all that we as you said, there's the policy side of things I heard a lot of policy type items and there's the budget side of house And I definitely heard some budget related items very specific items We'll get that compiled together and come to legislative committee Just on that on that note real fast and I this has been exceedingly helpful Thank you, but also before we break up here. We should also note Warren talked about catch and release The University of South Carolina board is going to come back up again. That's going to be part of the discussion Certificate of need is expected to be back up again It went down right at the end of session and did not pass that affects hospitals in our region They have hospitals in our region have different positions on the certificate of need bill The s2 de hack breakup chairman peeler's priority will be back up again Drugs and crime We talked about catch and release also hate crimes will come back up interlock Drump driving interlock legislation is being talked about On the education I haven't heard anything about that The um, uh, but but that doesn't mean just this is just the chatter of what people are talking about in the hallways right now Um Education saving account possibly district open enrollment, which would affect us wouldn't affect places like charleson and greenville so much and then and then uh Economic development speakers priorities economic development Very nice. Thank you all for your feedback and discussion. That's great We we added an item. Thank you as an amendment. Do you all need the item for Do you have any further discussion regarding? I just know that one's on yes, but it was definitely on but I think there was some discussion about heaven. Are we good? Yeah Just a word of thanks mr. Mayor To this team. Thank you all so very very much you all came to us with Gender don't do both that was short. It was short sweet and complete. Thank you all so much boy Warren Cal it Thank you all again for your continued leadership the city of I think the mayor wants a position Only those that come with a special one I want to thank you all very much. I'll be in touch. I want to thank one. Thank you for calling the order Yes, sir, and want to always helps to be the glue to get everything together with them and we're um, also Uh, very thankful from acm benjamin's Assistance as well. So thank y'all can y'all confirm that date too as soon as possible so we can make sure it's on their everyone's calendar Thank you Mr. Mayor, I make a motion we go into executive session for discussion of matters related to the proposed location Expansion or provision of services encouraging location or expansion of industries or other businesses in the area served by the public body pursuant to 30-4-70 a 5 project framework Discussion of negotiations answer proposed contractual arrangement pursuing the seco 30-4-70 a 2 legislative affair second There's a motion in a second Hearing no discussion seeing none. Madam clerk. Can you read? I I I Yes Yes