 And here we go, ooh, new mics. Good afternoon, everyone. Madam City Manager, Madam Clerk. Madam Clerk, could you read the roll, please? Absolutely. Good afternoon. Mr. Brown? Present. Present. Ms. Herbert? Here. Dr. Bussell? Here. Mr. Brennan? Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Present. Mayor Rickerman? Here. Thank you. I would note for the public that Mr. Brennan's not here today, unfortunately, had to attend a funeral out of town for close family friends, if he will not be with us today. If everybody will stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, please. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Reverend McDowell, would you mind saying a few words before we start the meeting? Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Let us bow our heads for your grace and mercy, for your loving kindness. For the tender words you speak to each one of us collaboratively and individually, touch us and yet sensitize us to the will and the needs of this our beloved city. Allow your grace and mercy to overshadow us so that we are able to see you and not us. Lord, we ask it and we claim it in your name. Amen. Amen. Mayor, at this time we would ask that council adopt the agenda as outlined with the following amendments. Add the meal sharing ordinance to item 27 as part of your executive session agenda, receipt of legal advice relating to a matter covered by attorney-client privilege, and number two, add a referral of a proposed policy on tenants' rights to the administrative policy committee as requested by the honorable Daniel J. Rickman Mayor. I move adoption of the amendment as amended. Second. I'll motion the agenda as amended. Any discussion? Hearing none, seeing none, Madam Clerk, could you read the roll? Mr. Brown? Aye. Ms. Herbert? Aye. Dr. Bussells? Aye. Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Aye. Mayor Rickman? Aye. Thank you. Mayor Rickman and council, if there is any public input related to the items on the agenda as outlined, we can hear those at this time. Mayor, we have Ms. Amy Clifford here to speak on the short-term rental ordinance. And Ms. Pamela here to speak on the new public art projects, all other items. We do have a few individuals also signed up to speak on food insecurity. That'd be Reverend Utley and Mr. Jerry Bartley. Yeah, and we'll take those at the end of the agenda at public input currently, just the folks for items related to the current agenda. Yes, sir. So Ms. Amy Clifford at this time. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon. I have to say, I feel a little bit like Don Coyote, but I felt the need to come back. You're much better looking than Don Coyote. Oh, well, you're too kind. Thank you. I just want to address a couple of things I didn't get to address last time. I noted in the preamble to the ordinance that this council prepared that could result to neighborhoods by undue commercialization and disruption into the primary and overreaching purpose of a neighborhood being first and foremost a residential community and recognize the need to have controls. Yet with all due respect, the current ordinance does not have any control other than the requirements necessary to obtain a permit in order to operate a short-term rental. I would encourage this council to consider imposing some, including restricting the number of short-term rentals that could be in residential areas that can vary by the type of residential area to maybe consider instead of having anyone who can apply within the 120-day permit period can get a permit if they comply with the application requirements, maybe operating a lottery system like is being done in San Diego, Clark County, Nevada, and Wilmington, North Carolina. Now, Wilmington's ordinance was struck down because they have a statute that prohibits, a state statute that prohibits local government from requiring people to register rental units. I would also encourage you to include maybe minimum stay requirements to, similar to what you've done for home occupations, to limit the impact on the neighborhoods from traffic. Also, if you have one house that can accommodate six people, if there are six different people coming every night of the week, that's gonna be much more traffic than if you have a three- or five-night minimum stay for that neighborhood. I would encourage you to consider limiting the number of nights that a dwelling can be rented out. I would encourage you to consider defining bedroom. The only definition I could find in your ordinances is in 17-9.4, and that literally says any room that is used for or intended for use for sleeping purposes. And I think that is too broad and would allow a two-bedroom house to be advertised as having sleeping space for more than just four or six people. I would also note having heard your concern during your working sessions about H3253, that that bill has not gotten out. It was sent to committee, the 3M committee over at the State House. It has not had a hearing. The crossover deadline is April 10th next Monday, which is effectively this Thursday. No action is gonna be taken. And the Municipal Association of South Carolina is going to be lobbying or speaking on behalf of cities and local governments to allow them to have the ability to regulate what happens in their own jurisdictions rather than the stake. Thank you. We have Ms. Pamela Zeljak. Hi, good afternoon. I'm Pamela Zeljak. I am a new face to you all because I am the new public art administrator for OneColumbia. I came today to speak to you about the new public art projects. I just came to say that OneColumbia is offering ourselves as a resource for these upcoming and the upcoming projects and moving forward. We're a public art agency and artist support agency for anyone in the room who hasn't heard of OneColumbia before. And in case you weren't aware, we moved our offices to Duke Avenue. We were no longer in the downtown Taylor Street office. And I'm a new resident of Columbia and I just want to say thank you. We love it here and we're looking forward to more of what's going on. Thank you. Thank you for coming. That's all I have there. Ready to proceed, Mayor? Okay. The approval of minutes. Council was asked to approve the February 21st and March 7th, 2023 council meeting minutes. The motion, is there a second? The motion and a second. Any discussion, changes, concerns? Hearing none, seeing none. Madam Clerk, could you read the roll? Mr. Brown. I think I'll abstain since I wasn't here. Thank you. Ms. Herbert. Aye. Dr. Bussells. Aye. Mr. McDowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mayor Rickamon. Aye. Thank you. Moving into a period of presentations, and I'm excited about all three of these because they feature our wonderful city departments. The first is the National Public Safety Telecommunicator Week Proclamation. The Honorable Daniel J. Rickamon, Mayor. So, the sheriff is here. Deputy Chief, would you and the, all the telecommunicators stand up, if you wouldn't mind? These are all the folks who are frontline defense in Columbia, South Carolina. So I'd appreciate it if everybody would give them a hand here. Mayor, these are, as you know, our first, first responders. And we're going to be branding it as such and putting more attention to that. I wanted to ask ACM Simons to come forward and Chief Holbrook and Sheriff Lott as well because they've been spending an even more abundance of time with this group and had probably some introductions after you're ready, Mayor. Yeah, I'm gonna let the sheriff and the chief and Henry go first, but I do want just to point a personal privilege. We don't get enough opportunity to thank each and every one of you, what you do every day. And you truly are the glue that keeps our public safety department together. And I'm just personally, on behalf of this council, want to thank each and every one of you for what you do every day for the betterment of our community. So thank you. Sheriff. I'd like to echo that. They're the first line of public safety. That first call that's made to them. They're the ones who send us to please the Sheriff's Department, EMS and FIRE. So it starts with them. Unfortunately, they don't yet recognize as much as we do. So I think it's very appropriate that you're recognizing them today and that they deserve the applause that you gave and much, much more because they are part of public safety that gets forgotten. So thank you for what y'all did today. And three of us are standing here as a group because we support each one of them that works in 911 Center. They do a great job, a very stressful job, and I think we all need to support them as much as we can. So thank you. Thank you, Sheriff. Thank you. You all know what you mean to us. Get an opportunity to meet some of the new ones as they cycle through the police department and you're our lifeline. You mean the world to us. You experience the same stressors that we do. And it's not lost on us, but that's the case. We can't do our job without it. I always talk about, you know, we get frustrated with one another. It's just natural, but we're all on the same team. We're all family. We really mean that. I'm not sure if the Chief actually called for them himself a little while ago before the meeting started. I'm calling him out if you see him bleeding. He was fighting a battle down the street a little while ago. Y'all have a police chief don't sit in an office. He gets out there. Look at the blood all over him. This is something that he just did a few minutes ago. You have a working police chief. And of course our old Chief Jenkins. I too want to echo just say thank you all for what you do. Certainly we're in the same building and I see get an opportunity to walk down in some time to see just how stressful and how hard they work. And it is certainly appreciated. They certainly keep us safe out on the scene because we couldn't do it without them. So thank you all for what you do. Mr. Mayor thank you so much for your recognition and an opportunity to speak on behalf of our CRC 911 Center. Thank you our council, city manager Wilson. Next week is actually officially our national telecommunicators week. And as you have heard from our sheriff and Chief Holbrook as well as Chief Jenkins, we are extremely proud doing countless lives have been saved because of the job that they are doing on every single day. And we are sincerely grateful for their efforts. Words cannot express how appreciative we have been because of the work that they've been doing. And a lot of times not being visible or always recognizing in public eye, they play a critical role in the community as first responders essential to our public safety staff as they take calls for service. So to our call takers, dispatchers, they're the direct link to our law enforcement officers, our firefighters, our emergency medical service personnel in the field. They monitor radios and computers and phones and more answering thousands of calls per day from our community. In fact, in 2022 alone, we handled almost 1.4 million calls for service, which means that that's an average of about a 3,800 calls per day. That's absolutely amazing. And in addition to that, we would like to introduce our new interim director of the Columbia Richland 911 Communications Center, Wendy Royal. Would you stand, Wendy? Wendy Royal has lowly served the 911 Communications Center since 2008, beginning her career as a call taker and diligently working her way up to positions of telecommunicator, supervisor, and manager. We are confident that Wendy will lead our 911 Communications Center with excellence. Also want to acknowledge Deputy Chief Stephanie Snowden. Of course, she have a lot, has already spoken. Major Steve Hare, who's here with us. Would you all stand for just a moment, please? They have been instrumental in working with us with the transition of the 911 Center and we are forever grateful for the work that they're doing and what they'll continue to do for the citizens of our city and county. So please join us as we say thank you to the often heard but not seen, first of first responders are 911 dispatchers and call takers. One more time. None of these two. We'll have to take a picture of you. Come on, man. What? What? Yeah, I did it. Who's laughing? Who's laughing? Kiki. Kiki. Okay, moving right along to more wonderful proclamations, they are related to the first Community Development Week proclamation as well as our National Fair Housing and Financial Literacy Month proclamations. The honorable Daniel J. Rickman Mayor. Well, another great two things to celebrate. We're gonna take them on both at the same time as Community Development, as you see above my head, they're April calendar events that Ms. Clark is gonna talk us through, but what an incredible opportunity to designate this week, National Community Development Association Week is celebrating 49 year anniversary of Community Development Block Grant programs, 31st anniversary of home investment partnerships program. The CBDG program provides annual funding and flexibility to local communities to provide decent, safe, sanitary housing, a suitable living environment and economic opportunities along with the home program to provide funding to local communities to create decent, safe, affordable housing opportunities for low-income persons. This year, the City of Columbia Community Development Department will be ready to do base strategies to enhance economic opportunity, build strong neighborhoods and ensure dynamic framework for quality of growth and development. Over the past three years, Community Development CDBG funds spent $3.5, really almost $3.6 million for various projects that directly benefit our citizens and neighborhoods to include maintenance assistant programs as better known as the MAP program, now known as the Shine. They keep changing all these programs. I don't know how we keep up with them all. Edisto Place, Hyatt, NTS Martin Parks, Resurfacing and Booker Washington Heights and various other activities through our community. We're very excited to continue to work. Ms. Clark is our face, our communicator out there who's constantly working with it. And I'm gonna let Ms. Clark speak and share with us and then we'll do the proclamations and present those to Ms. Clark both for National Community Development Week and the National Fair Housing. Thank you. Good afternoon. May I recommend Council to the Manager Wilson. Just wanna go briefly to highlight some of the activities that Community Development will be doing for the month of April for National Community Development Week in lieu of National Telecommunicator Week. National Community Development Week will be Monday, April the 10th through Friday, April the 14th. Some of the highlights that we will be doing in collaboration with Richland County Community Development Department. We will be uploading the CD Week video on the city website and different social media websites. CD staff will be along with Richland County Community Development Department hosting a volunteerism at Harvest Hope on Wednesday, April the 12th from one to three. We will also be collaborating for North York Tenants Right Workshop on that Thursday, April the 13th from six to 7 p.m. This workshop will be virtual. Some information has already gone out to our neighborhood leaders, different social media as well as news outlets as well. Next for our Financial Literacy Month and Fair Housing Month activities. We have three workshops that we'll be hosting in conjunction with Richland County as well. We have our Home Buying and Financial Workshop which will be Thursday, April the 20th at Busbee Street Community Center from six to 8 p.m. We have Home Owners Workshop that will be on Decca Boulevard that Wednesday, April the 26th. And there will also be Fair Housing billboards and informational booths displayed at these events as well. In lieu, just an overview of community development events, we have the Columbia Cleanup which we have already did the press conference. Thank you everyone that pretended as well for that press conference. We have the Day of Service in lieu of with Columbia International University which will take place on tomorrow, Wednesday, April the 5th. We also have again the showing of the CD Week video, Day of Volunteerism, Know Your Rights Workshop, Home Buying and Financial Literacy Workshop, Home Owners Rights Workshop and our Community Improvement Neighborhood Clean Suite. Those are some of the things that community development is doing to highlight our National Community Development Week as well as Financial Literacy and Fair Housing Month activities. We've been working. So I mean, we wanted to really show a collaborative effort with our Richland County Community Development as well. So those are the things that we have highlighted. Full calendar, lots of opportunities to be engaged and be part of it and look forward to the workshop on tenant rights. Reverend McDowell and I've been working on a new resolution, hopefully ordinance that'll be going, referring today to administrative committee to come back so that we can get something in place for the future here for the residents as we continue to deal with issues that put people in harm's way and we want to eliminate that. So thank you for what you're doing. We really appreciate that. Thank you, you're welcome. Thank you so much. And Ms. Clark, I wanted to add, I'm a commend staff for going out of our normal marketing efforts because on the way to city council, while listening to the big DM, I heard a commercial for our event at the end of the month. So I thought that was pretty cool. Thank you. And listen, we've been working. CD staff, we have been working. Thank you. Hello, ma'am. Yes, sir. Show me. Yes, sir. Uh-huh. Mr. Reuter, thanks to you. You're doing an extraordinary job, which all of our, with all of our communities, and we are indebted to you. And of course, what you've given to us today is a real outline of where we need to be and where we need to go. Thank you so much for your energy and for your vision for this city. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, you're welcome. Ms. Clark. Thank you. Ms. Clark. All right. Thank you. As you all go to take the photo, ma'am, I wanted to also thank the staff. They've been holding it down with ACM Gentry and all of them working really hard as we're searching for our new director of the department as well. So thanks to the staff. Ma'am, I recommend as you all take your seat, I wanted to bring your attention as well. We have a wonderful group of Benedict College students in the house today. We're the Tigers. With their professor, Ms. Cynthia Joseph. So I always wanted to, now they come often, they seem to like following you all. So that's great. We love our Benedict Tigers. Thank y'all for being here. Y'all stand up and be recognized. It's one of our, this is the best of the eight BUs. Thank you, mayor. Moving to our consent agenda items five through 14 for your consideration, mayor. I'm sorry, I didn't know Dr. Bussells. Yeah, a few. He took us, took a step out. We'll give her a moment. There she is. Consent agenda items five through 14, mayor. Is there a motion? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion, questions? Hearing none, seeing none. Madam clerk, could you read the roll? Mr. Brown, Ms. Herbert, Dr. Bussells. Mr. McDowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mayor, recommend. Aye. Thank you. In ordinance second reading item 15, ordinance number 2020 3037 amending the 1998 code of ordinances of the city of Columbia, South Carolina, chapter five, buildings and buildings regulations to add article nine, short-term rentals. The first reading approval was given on March 21st, 2023. Mr. Duvall, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion, questions? Mr. Duvall. Help us in the last 18 minutes. Excuse me. Out of the. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Bad analogy there. Anyway, I'd like to thank David Berkman who represented the SDR industry during our debates. I'd like to thank Kit Smith who represented the neighborhoods. I'd like to thank David Hatcher who gave us expert advice from the code enforcement side. And I'd like to thank in his absence, James Knox who was the lawyer that drew most of this up over the last year and a half. He has now left us for a flying job with frontier airlines. I agree with the lady that made the presentation. There are things that are wanting in this ordinance, but I think it's a great first step. It gives us a procedure for registering and permitting short-term rentals. It gives us safety and the requirements that short-term rentals have to meet. It gives us enforcement and rules and regulation for short-term rentals in the neighborhoods, apples in the SDR industry. So although this is not a perfect ordinance, it is a good step in the right direction. And I call for the question. So is there a motion? Yes. No, we didn't. Oh, we didn't? I moved approval. Yes, sir. You did? Okay. I missed all that. I'll move it again if you want it. All right, Mr. Brown. Excuse me, even though I wasn't here for the first reading, I am voting aye for the overall guide ordinance. Thank you. Ms. Harbert? Aye. Dr. Bussles? Aye. Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Aye. Mayor Rickamon? Aye. Thank you. Mr. Mayor? Mr. Reverend McDowell? Mr. Hatcher, could you perhaps avail yourself to email to us those, the last time we met, there were a set of bullet points as it relates to SDRs. Could you forward those to us? I'm sorry? Would you please? Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Mayor. Ordinance's first reading, item 16, ordinance number 20203028, authorizing a land swap with the University of South Carolina of the unopened right-of-way of College Street between Gadsden Street and Wayne Street in Richland County, in exchange for 0.08 acre of the Gadsden Street right-of-way south of College Street, adjacent to the Eastern Boundary at Richland County is outlined in 0.12 acre of the Gadsden Street right-of-way north of College Street, adjacent to the Eastern Boundary in Richland County. Second. There's a motion to second. Any discussions, questions or concerns? Yes, I just wanna confirm that the maintenance agreement will have the University of South Carolina doing some maintenance as well. And... Yes, ma'am. Thanks. No other questions. Any other questions? Hearing none, seeing none. Madam Clerk, could you read the roll, please? Yes, sir. Mr. Brown? Aye. Ms. Herbert? Aye. Dr. Bussells? Aye. Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Aye. Mayor Rickman? Aye. Thank you. Item 17, ordinance number 2023-029, granting an encroachment to the University of South Carolina for the use of the right-of-way areas of the 700 block of College Street, 700 block of Green Street, 700 block of Pendleton Street, and the 900 block of Gadsden Street for the installation of various improvements adjacent to 720 College Street, 743 Green Street, 706 Pendleton Street, and 925 Gadsden Street in Richland County. Is there a motion? Motion. Is there a second? Second. Any discussions or questions? This too will be maintained, sidewalks and landscaping to be maintained by the University of South Carolina as part of this agreement, along with the tree plantings designated by our forestry department. Any other questions or concerns? Hearing none, seeing none, Madam Clerk, could you read the roll? Mr. Brown? Aye. Ms. Herbert? Aye. Dr. Bussells? Aye. Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Aye. Mayor Rickman? Aye. Thank you. Item 18, ordinance number 2023-039, granting an encroachment to Chick-fil-A, Inc., and WM Columbia Trust for the use of the right-of-way area of the 5,400 block of Ring Road for the installation and maintenance of sidewalks, landscaping, and irrigation adjacent to 5,444's drive in Richland County. Is there a motion? Move approval. Is there a second? Second. Motion is second. Any questions, concerns, comments? Hearing none, seeing none, Madam Clerk, could you read the roll? Mr. Brown? Aye. Ms. Herbert? Aye. Dr. Bussells? Aye. Mr. McDowell? May I recommend? Aye. Item 19, as recommended by the Economic Development and Infrastructure Committee, ordinance number 2023-040, consenting to the inclusion of property in a multi-county industrial business part, QG Flats LLC, formerly referred to as Project Stratus in Richland County. Is there a motion? I move approval. Is there a second? Second. Is there a motion? Any discussions, questions or concerns? Seeing none, hearing none, Madam Clerk, could you read the roll? Mr. Brown? Aye. Ms. Herbert? Aye. Dr. Bussells? Aye. Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Aye. May I recommend? Aye. Item 20, as ordinance number 2023-044, amending section 10 of the franchise agreement between Dominion Energy, South Carolina, and Dominion, formerly known as South Carolina Electric and Gas Company in the City of Columbia to grant a franchise extension for the construction operation. Second. Got a motion and a second? Any questions, comments or concerns? This will include the updated agreement for the second reading. We will have an updated agreement. The actual terms will have to be changed from 15 years to 12 years. Yes. Thank you, Mayor, for making that happen. With that, we'll allow the attorneys to make those changes before final. To be clear, that's 15 to 12. Any other questions or concerns? Hearing none, seeing none. Madam Clerk, could you read the roll please? Mr. Brown? Aye. Ms. Herbert? Aye. Dr. Bussells? Aye. Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Aye. Mayor, recommend? Aye. Resolutions, item 21, as resolution number R2020-044, authorizing the city manager to execute an intergovernmental agreement between Richland County and the city of Columbia for animal care facilities. Motion to approve? Motion, is there a second? Second. Any questions, concern, Madam Councilwoman? Yeah, I just want to take a moment to thank ACM Shealy and his team for continuing to answer a lot of our questions and working with the community for the public. It's good to note that we've received about 62% of our animals from the county and we are working towards that no kill status. But as you all know, that is a hurdle that we're continuing to try and address. And so thank you to your team for trying to find ways in which we can hopefully get that number to a place that we don't have to do it at all. So thanks. Also just want to make a note that we're continuing to look for a new opportunity for the shelter. It needs upgrades, it needs a new facility. We need a more presence in a retail area really to foster two programs, one of the adoption and then the fostering program, which is very important to help keep animals alive as long as possible. Unfortunately, we've had a lot of situations lately where we've had some just real onerous situations that have put us in a bad position on the kill side. But I'm hoping that as we continue to work with the animal mission, folks in the community that are superbly engaged in the welfare of animals and hopefully a new facility, which will drastically reduce that, but I have to give kudos to everybody continuing to try to find a way for us to improve. So thank the staff for that. As we all know, we're not where we want to be, but we're moving towards that goal day in and day out. With that, Madam Clark, could you read the roll? Mr. Brown. Aye. Ms. Herbert. Aye. Dr. Bussos. Aye. Mr. McDowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mayor Rickamon. Aye. Thank you. Item 22, Resolution number R-203031, authorizing the Economic Development and Infrastructure Committee to Act as Designee for City Council to hold business license revocation hearings pursuant to any city code sections allowing such. Second. Motion and a second. Any questions, concerns? Hearing none, seeing none, Madam Clark, could you go ahead and read the roll? Mr. Brown. Aye. Ms. Herbert. Aye. Dr. Bussos. Aye. Mr. McDowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mayor Rickamon. Aye. Moving into a period of other matters, item 23, Council is asked to approve a $200,000 allocation to the Columbia Parks and Recreation Foundation for the Columbia Public Art Program, Columbia Streams Art, as requested by the Honorable Daniel J. Rickamon Mayor, this funding source is out of our fiscal year 2022-2023 hospitality tax budget. Mr. Mayor. Yes. Mr. Mayor, can we refer this to the Arts and Historic Preservation Philanthropy Committee also to work out the details on who's going to ministry and how it's going to be done? We haven't heard the details yet. Well, if you want to let me talk about it first or do you want to just refer it to the committee? Well, I'd be delighted to hear from you, but I'd like to refer it to you. I'll talk about it first. Yeah. Obviously, this program that we put together is actually a three-phase public art program and supporting locally, which is the first one is creating a parade of fish similar to what the cow parade, the horse parade, the apple parade, the oyster parade, and the lion parade have done in other cities, which is take fish and engage not only the students in our community, both at the high school and the college level, but local artists to decorate and create art out of those that we can display and then auction off and then that funding would go back into a fund to replenish public art and continue to grow that program in our community. The second is the mobile canvas art program. The first one we had, Steven Chesley and them had put together along with the folks from our sister city in Germany and celebrating art and it's put on a canvas and that canvas currently is at the art bar. This then will go from what we wanna create is traveling art, so having multiple pieces in each district and those pieces rotating around so that people can not only go out and visit and see this art that celebrates local art and artists and could be collages on these canvases, but at the same time, it requires you to go out and go into the districts, into our four districts and actually visit different neighborhoods and see different thing, where's that art today? It's kind of a little bit of art meets where's Waldo and part of this program is really to engage our community and be part of that. And the third piece is to support the Ernest Finney Cultural Center on Lawrence Street in our historic neighborhood where we continue into highlight, especially African-American artists in our community and so those are three programs that this will be done. Scott over in Parks and Recs will be working to help administrate this process through this as we continue to figure out exactly what roles will be happening with the arts community in the future since Mr. Brennan is not here to talk about what his plan, which is what we designated certain funding to have it so we wanted to make sure we didn't get lost in this shuffle as we continue to figure that out. You know, there's some more details to this but we'll be administrated through our Parks and Recs. Hobbs Group will be the folks who will handle the financing and getting the checks out to folks but we're gonna buy 50 fish. We will provide some funding for the artists, for the professional side, working with the school district and the various universities for the other part of that and then working through Stephen and his group to figure out which artists will go on the canvas and then this funding is to pay for the canvas to be produced for the framing to happen and for the moving of it to be moved around our community and then obviously the last part will be an allocation to the Finney for the arts program there of making sure that we are having continuous our African-American artists being having a place to showcase. I think that's a very good explanation. I still would like to refer it to the arts committee because we've got one Columbia that has been in this business for a number of years and they have just asked us to volunteer their support for this. I think that the program you've got in your mind is good. I'd like to see the details of it as we go forward. So I would like to refer it to the arts and Historic Preservation Committee and let Mr. Brunin's committee look at it and work out the details with Scott and others. How different, Mr. Mayor? Mr. DeVall, how different will that be in terms of referring it to a committee and doing it through Parks and Rec? I'm not sure that Parks and Rec is the place that it needs to be. They don't have, maybe Scott could tell us what they've got over there, but I don't think Parks and Rec Foundation has a staff that can do this. One Columbia does have a staff that's dedicated to public art. All three of them. You know, Mr. Mayor, I'm sorry, I'm not sure if a lot of people remember probably 20 years ago when we did the Palmetto Tree program and Pam and I were actually the chairman of that unbelievable successful and I think to try to derail this thing or sidetrack it, we'll probably do that. So I'd like to keep this thing going. I think it's important for our community to really invest in our local artists. I think it's also important to build almost like a consensus behind art in our community and I think we've kind of lost our way on that in the last 20 years. So I'm super supportive of this effort and would like to make sure that if I can, that it can move forward as quickly as possible. Oh, I'm not trying to kill the program, I support the program, but I do think we need to work out the details a little bit more. Seriously, I've been trying to be acknowledged for several times and folks have gone in front of me. I just had a question, because I've looked at the cow parades and all the various parades in other cities. Will students be a part of the art process? Like, are they the ones that can actually do the art? Yep, so we'll have each high school, which we have eight of in the city limits, partake, the eight higher university, and then the rest of it will be local artists. And so we wouldn't pay students. No, we supply art, some art supplies and stuff. Yes ma'am. That's the only question I had. So, Mr. Mayor, what you're asking is that Parks and Ricks takes care of the allocation of those funds? It'd go through the foundation there. And I'm gonna be honest, the reason it needs to is today is the first day that I actually knew there was a new director at one Columbia. That hadn't been communicated to us. They made a change when somebody left and we didn't even know they made a change. There's been a lot of things going on and I think we have to sort out. What I don't wanna do is wait around and miss an opportunity for us to get a program like this going because these fish don't keep them in a truck or a shelf. They have to be produced, then delivered and then get out and we wanna make sure we're getting out there. If there's an opportunity for us to sit down and have a conversation with the new director and other folks and see what we can collaborate, we'll all for that. But I'd like to move the question forward. I'd like to have a motion and a second. Just so you do that, Mr. Mayor, I do need to say I thoroughly support all three. And when I say that, I say that because of what Justice Finney, that particular emphasis in district two has tremendous, tremendous effects and tremendous value for the city of ours. So I support all three and of course support the arts in general. So I would make the motion that we approve the funding and then ask staff to get collectively together instead of going to a committee and delaying it several months. Let's just get the staffs together for them to have a conversation and see how we work together. I'll accept that compromise. Is there a second? So moved. Second. A motion and a second. Madam Clerk, could you read the roll? Mr. Brown. Aye. Ms. Herbert. Aye. Dr. Bussells. Aye. Mr. DeVos. Aye. Mayor, recommend. Aye. Thank you. City Council Committee referrals, reports and new business item 24. Council is asked to refer the Greater Columbia Community Relations Council's proposal for the Columbia Race and Equity Assessment Project to the Administrative Policy Committee as requested by the Honorable Edward H. McDowell, Jr. So moved. Second. We've got a motion and a second. Any questions, concerns? Hearing none, singing none. Madam Clerk, could you read the roll? Mr. Brown. Aye. Ms. Herbert. Aye. Dr. Bussells. Aye. Mr. McDowell. Yes. Mr. DeVos. Aye. Mayor, recommend. Aye. Thank you. Item 25, Council is asked to refer a proposed policy related to the placement of art within a city-owned facility or right of way to the Arts Historic Preservation and Philanthropy Committee as requested by the Honorable Daniel J. Rickam and Mayor. Motion to move forward to send this policy related to placement of art within the city-owned facilities in the right of way. So we've had extreme amount of folks reaching out to us to donate and so forth. So we need to have a set policy on how that would work and how the maintenance would work. And so directing it to the committee, I think is the right place. We have a motion and a second. Any questions or concerns? Hearing none, seeing none. Madam Clark, could you read the roll? You recall who made the second. I didn't get a second. Second. Thank you. All right, Mr. Brown. Aye. Ms. Herbert. Aye. Dr. Bussells. Aye. Mr. McDowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mayor, recommend. Aye. Thanks. And I believe there is an additional item as part of our amendments to the agenda to propose policy on tenants' rights to the administrative policy committee. Yes, ma'am. As you know, and I want to thank Ms. Clark for setting up her Zoom. We've had a lot of instances in our city where residents are put into a bad position because landlords aren't taking care of the property, still collecting rent, not taking care of them in situations as we saw this past winter. And Reverend McDowell and I have been working with staff to come up with the Tenants' Rights Bill. We'd like to refer that to administration committee to adopt and put into ordinance form that we could get into play for a July 1 start date. And that's my motion. There's a second. Second. I have a motion to second. Any questions or concerns? Hearing none, seeing none. Madam Clark, could you read the roll? Mr. Brown? Aye. Ms. Herbert? Aye. Dr. Bussells? Aye. Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Aye. Mayor Rickerman? Thank you. Mr. Mayor? Yes, ma'am. I have just a report from the Health, Social, and Environmental Affairs Committee. We received a great presentation from Mr. Monty Robertson on the Alliance for Healthier South Carolina, which is a well-established coalition of different groups that are working towards addressing public health for the state. The committee unanimously agreed that we would like to engage the Alliance to help us in developing some of our local efforts around public health and would like to become formally a part of the Alliance, which would allow us access to connections to Medicaid, Medicare, a lot of different community groups that are doing work across the state and of course in the Richland County region. And so I'd like to, I'd like to move that forward and I guess make a motion that we ask the staff to help us in formally becoming a part of that Alliance. Is there a second? To a move. There's a motion and a second. Just how will this coordinate with the blue zone that we're working with on Richland One, will they kind of incorporate together? Yeah, so we- I mean, Richland Memorial, sorry. Yeah, so we asked them, mostly we would like to use our membership with the Alliance to give us resources to help us in grant opportunities, ways in which we can build some of that local support for some of the things that we're doing. Granted that they're more on the state level, but they have a lot of great, I think, entry ways to potential partners that can help us move our projects. That's exciting. Thank you very much. Ms. Herbert. Mayor, I do have, from the Affordable Housing Task Force along with Fair Housing folks are gone. But along with Fair Housing rights is the image. One thing that we really wanna work on is the image of affordable housing. And a lot of people have a negative stigma. And sometimes I think it's because they don't understand. So we'll be, the committee will be working on that launch throughout the month. We'll have a website up. We're gonna have some testimonials. I wanna thank you for participating. So I'm kind of excited. And you all will be, I will be even more excited when we can see it, but they're waiting on me. So, but we're doing that as a part of again, Fair Housing. The other thing is I'm with respect to the tenants' rights. I'm really interested in us having, because they have talked about that on the task force, a really nice piece of material that is easy to read and easily understandable. Or maybe just a phone number to calls so that the folks who need the information can understand it and get access. Once it gets through administrative committee, we'll probably send it over and just have your committee take a glance and make comments about the best way to condense that and make sure that not only is that, hopefully being a writer to everybody's least, but also something people can get off the website and others so they know exactly where they stand and what their rights are and what should be done in situations like we've been dealing with this winter. And where they can go. I think a lot of times folks just don't know what to do. Yeah. I run it, Mr. Aaron. Ironically enough, I think you're right, Ms. Herbert. Ironically enough, we don't have that in existence right now. And of course, what we want to do, of course, is to make sure that all of our residents, wherever they live, have a simplistic understanding. And I think you're absolutely right, a simplistic understanding of what that means to them and where they are. Thank you, ma'am. Mayor, we had a motion on the floor that was made by Dr. Bussell. Yep, in second by me. Oh, we didn't vote on it. No, we need to. You ready? Yeah, I am. I thought Ms. Herbert was commenting on that version. I really didn't hear that part. I'm on the way over here. That's okay. We got you. Mr. Brown. Aye. Ms. Herbert. Aye. Dr. Bussells. Aye. Mr. McDowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Aye. American. Aye. Thank you. Do we have any other referrals or reports that need to be given at this time? All right. Mayor, I will say, and there may be others regarding the tenants' rights, but I know the director of the non-profit Healthy Learners, Ms. Joe Paul and Jones, have reached out about wanting to collaborate with the city on the tenants' rights. So if there are others, we'll make sure that they are aware of the administrative policy committee. Yeah, let's just make sure that everybody knows when it is. So if they want to present, comment, or be engaged, we'd love to have them there. Yes, sir. Okay. And that takes you to public input, Mayor. Madam Clerk. Yes, sir. At this time, we have Mr. Lee Carroll of Save Our Kids to be followed by Reverend Jackie Utley. I think Mr. Carroll has gotten his issue resolved and has left. All right, thank you. So Reverend Utley, please be reminded that you have three minutes to speak. The light will turn yellow and beep when you have 30 seconds remaining. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Members of the council, I am Reverend Jackie Utley and I am representing Ascension Lutheran Church and our work with more justice. Today, I am accompanied by other members of more justice if they will stand at this time. There are more than 65,000 Richland County residents who do not know where their next meal is coming from. We know that our food system is not working for us or for everyone else because every week, our 27 congregate 260 volunteers and spend over 280 hours working to address the gaps in our food system. It is time for us to do something to help our near my action last Monday, March 27th where over 800, we are very thankful for Mayor Rickerman and Chief Holbrook for their attendance and council members Herbert and DeVall for their written statements. However, it was disheartening to see that a majority of our elected officials directly that night. So we have come to council today to present to you information because our work continues until we see a significant reduction in the number of our fellow community members who are facing this problem. We see and appreciate the efforts of the council to address this issue like the current community gardens, the funding of the mobile market and the free delivery program. These are all great first steps to address food insecurity. However, these efforts have the potential to be great but only if we support them. And when we are trying to serve communities which have been taught over generations to not expect or trust services, there must be intention to meet so that we can discuss the future of food in Columbia. The success of these programs needs it because serving low income communities should not be reliant on making a profit when people are starving. So I'm here today to charge you to listen and to act and you will receive an email from more justice on tomorrow requesting a meeting to discuss these ideas in more depth. Please respond with the urgency that this problem demands. Thank you. Thank you Reverend Utley. Let me ask you, has there been any conversation with our city's food policy committee? The food policy committee we have. Has there been conversation with them? Yes, we have. That's why our research team committee met with them and that's how we were able to become aware of the food initiatives that the city are supporting at this time, like the mobile markets and such. Okay. Yes. Now as more justice wants to become a part of the food policy or the food policy wants to become a part of the more justice. I mean, it would almost be synonymous with each other. Well, we want to have a conversation. We want to be in discussion with the city council because we are aware that the food, the mobile, for instance, the mobile markets as a timeframe limited on that particular initiative and we're trying to push for more, push for an extension on that. So that's why more justice wants to have a conversation with the council. Thank you. Hello? Can y'all hear me? I would just note, so I have not met with the food policy council. I think they come to our meeting. Which one is it? Economic and community development, I think they came. So y'all may want to use the same approach. When we have those items, we have a committee meeting and they come to the committee. But I personally have not been to one of their monthly meetings since 2017 or so. And so I think in that structure, you're more likely to get a positive answer and full involvement of the committee. Okay, well, they have been cooperative and they've let us know some of the initiatives that are in some of what, there's an obstacle that we see in, as far as the supporting of the mobile markets and that's what more justice is interested in having a conversation concerning an extension of the time that those mobile markets will be available to the community. I think it'd be helpful, too, if you would have your research team send us the research that you've done to go along prior to having a meeting so that we can understand what you've seen and what information you were shared. Be very helpful for us as well. We'll be happy to do that. Thank you. Thank you. Mayor, do you have any issues with us referring this to the community development committee since that's the committee that deals with the mobile food market? I think it would be great because I think it'd be a great opportunity for both the food policy and more justice to present a set of just listen. I like it. All right. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Madam Clerk, before we refer to committee, I think we'll make sure there is anything else to add to it. I just wanted to be clear on what is being referred to the committee. Well, we'll come back. We'll come back to that. Yes, ma'am. We'll make a motion. All right, thank you. I believe it's Mr. Jerry Bartley. Miss Jerry Bartley? No. No, okay. Well, those are all the names that I have. With that, Miss Herbert, did you want to make the motion? Yes, I wanted to refer more justices input and discussion regarding the mobile food market to the community development committee. And it's next meeting? Yes. No, Miss Herbert, is that with participation from the food policy? So food policy council, they don't necessarily, right now the staff is actually working on the mobile market. So we have one or two. Because they've been working on that. Right. So one or two representatives come just to make sure. All right. Good. But those are two. More justice and food policy council, two totally different things. Second, that motion. Thank you. Madam Clark, could you read the roll? Yes, sir. Mr. Peter, I mean, Mr. Brown, Mr. Peter Brown. I was doing good. Miss Herbert? Aye. Dr. Bussells? Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Aye. Mary Cummins? Aye. Thank you. So you want else signed up at this point for public input? There is, was there anyone else who wanted to speak at this time? John. John Black, council of neighborhoods. Good evening. It's after five, so good evening now. We call that happy hour. OK. It's always happy hour someplace, though. On behalf of the Columbia Council of Neighborhoods, we want to welcome Councilman Brown. Congratulations. Nice help in, by the way. Thank you very much. Appreciate that. That's where I got that. Thank you. As announced at the Columbia Cleanup Press Conference last week, the Columbia Council of Neighborhoods will be giving our $400 community neighborhood grants one per city council district who participate in the Columbia Cleanup Program. Now, thanks to some additional funding provided by Keep the Midlands Beautiful and the Salvation Army of the Midlands, we are happy to announce that we now have the potential of giving up to $14, $100 grants. For district? No. Combined, combined. So those $14, $100 grants will be depended on. There's none for two. Let's just make it clear. I mean, if you want to give us some more money, we'd love to give it out now. You know? But depending on the community and neighborhood submissions, to qualify for grant entry, your community or neighborhood must be certified member of the CCN. If you have not yet certified for 2023, you can go to our website, www.columbiacouncilofneighborhoods.com on the landing page. We have a membership thing you can button. You can click on, and you can do your recertification online. In order to be eligible, you must complete a CCN Columbia cleanup participation form. And that's on our landing page as well. The deadlines for those will be the Thursday end date of your respective council district. So for instance, District 1, anyone who participates in District 1, their submission date deadline will be this Thursday. It's Tuesday. No, the deadline to submit for the grant is Thursday. And I said it's Tuesday. You got the days left. OK. The days left. So here's something that some of you may like. And I know some hairstylists that might appreciate this as well. All entries will be separated by council district on May 2, just prior to the city council meeting, at which time the respective council member of each district will then randomly draw the eligible submissions. And the winners will be announced probably during the public portion of the meeting. And what's random? How will you randomly select? Everybody that submits a grant application will literally put in a bowl. And then you'll pick out however many. I just don't want any issues. That's random. Yeah, I don't want any issues. The last thing I want to say is, Mayor Rickerman said at the end of the press conference that this is collaboration. And that's what this is. As we announced our initial grants, the $400 grants, because we haven't received any funding from the city in years, our resources are quite scarce. But at the conclusion of that, we were approached by the Salvation Army and the Keep the Midlands Beautiful, who each offered up additional funds. So again, thank you, Mayor Rickerman, for your words of wisdom there. And it is a true collaboration because they've come to us so we can benefit more communities within our community. John, can you make sure you share that information with us so that we can get that out on our social media outlets to make sure that our neighborhoods take part? This is a great opportunity. Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, John. Was there anyone else to speak? No, sir. Benedict students, thank you all very much for being here. We appreciate your involvement. Please tell Dr. Artis we said hello. And we look forward to seeing y'all soon. But thank you for being here with that. Mr. DeVall, I'll entertain a motion. Mr. Mayor, I move to go into the second session for receipt of legal advice related to attorney claim pursuant to 30-4 days 78-2 colony apartments and meal-sharing ordinance. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion, questions? Hearing none, see none. Madam Clerk, read the roll. Mr. Brown. Aye. Ms. Herbert. Aye. Dr. Bussells. Aye. Mr. McDowell. Yes. Mr. DeVall. Aye. Mayor, recommend? Aye.