 Thank you all for being here this evening, Mr. Acting City Manager, would you please call the roll? I mean, Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll? Yes, sir. Thank you. Mr. Rickerman, Mr. McDowell, Mr. Gouvol, Mr. Vines, Mr. Davis, Mayor Benjamin. Here, I want to thank our Acting City Manager, Jeff Palin for stepping up. Jeff is on an admirable job today as the City Manager is out on medical leave, and we're going to... You said we'd be out here by 6.30, you said? What did you say? 6.30. 6.42. 6.42, okay. Let's see how that goes. I'm going to ask Justin Jalen Ellis and Levi Pfeiffer to come up and lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Come on, Levi. Come on, guys. Stand right here, right in the middle. All right. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Always great. Have a young people lead us in the Pledge. The... Brad, would you please lead us in a brief invocation? Let us pray. We gather in this chamber tonight to discuss, present, and act on issues within our city. We simply ask that thou would sensitize each of us with your care. Sensitize us to all the things that are necessary to make community building and community expansion a reality in every life in Columbia. Bless us all. Amen. Thank you, Brad McDowell. Is there a motion to adopt the agenda? Mr. Rickleman. I'm not sure Mike's on, Daniel. I know this wasn't on the agenda, but I wanted us at some point to acknowledge and ask staff to pursue options for matching funds for the Park Street. We've been working in the Vista for, I don't know how long to address the issues on Park Street when it comes to the trash and everything, which is a real gateway between our convention center, the Colonial Center, and our hospitality there. I know staff has been working on it, but I think it's very important for us as a council to endorse them to move forward and get those matching funds, which will be DOT, COG, and several other sources with that, but I think it's very important that we acknowledge that we're behind it. So I'd like to add that at the appropriate time. I know that I spoke to Mr. Palin about that, and he was running such an efficient meeting downstairs that we just skipped over it because we were moving so fast. All right. We'll take it up on the other matters, okay? We'll take it up on the other matters. With that change, can we adopt the agenda as amended? Is there a motion? Go move. Second. Any discussion? With the previous question, clerk Callarole. Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McDowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. DeVine. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. Public input-related agenda items. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda items 10-23? Go move. Second. Is there a discussion? Yes, sir. Mr. Mayor. I had asked staff if they would come and give us a presentation on item 19 as we continue to move forward on our clean water 2020 and working through the consent agenda. This is a $28 million contract, and I thought it was very important for our constituents to hear about it and where we're going. Absolutely. Go ahead, please. Joey. Yes, sir. This project is a very important project for us at our wastewater treatment plant to ensure that we're meeting our future limits, our discharge limits. The meat of this project is we're replacing on the original train, the original plant at our metro wastewater treatment plant, the aeration basin. We use surface water aerators, which is what was part of the original design. We are replacing those with a more modern aeration system, dissolved air diffusers that we use actually in train 2, but we're improving that process as well. With this, we're improving how we treat at our metro wastewater treatment plant to meet our future limits. It's actually written into our permit that we're negotiating with DHEC right now that we do this project as well. It's really a part of how we're improving our operation at our metro wastewater treatment plant. We're also, as a part of this project, it gives us better control on how we operate that. We've got some operation improvements with that, but also we have some electrical improvements at the treatment plant as well. Is this separate from the anaerobic digester project? Yes, sir. Is this separate from the project? Yes, it is separate. Okay. This was a subcontractor outreach program project. We met the requirements as a part of that. We had CDE requirements, local contractors, minority contractors. We had a part of that. We met our requirement there as well, sir. Thank you. Mr. Duvall. Mr. Jaco, will this increase our capacity for treatment for expansion of our system? This allows us to move that direction. Every improvement we make, we're building in the ability to expand it. Good. Amen. Good deal. All right. Good deal. Any other questions for Clint and Joey? Not with the previous question, Clark, Colorado. Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McDowell. Aye. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Vines. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. If we could go back to item number nine. Absolutely. Council is asked to approve the February 20, 2018 City Council meeting minutes. The minutes, I apologize. Move. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? Seeing none, we'll move the previous question. Clark, Colorado. Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McDowell. Aye. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Vines. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. Next item, number 24, is resolution number R 2018-018, permitting the fire department to collect money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, March 21st through 23rd. Is there a second? Second. Is there a discussion? Let's wait for that, Howard. All right. Mr. Duvall does not believe we should be raising money in the right of way. All right. I noticed that the staff this year moved it off of the consent agenda so that I would have my opportunity to do my yearly protest. It's not that I am against raising money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. I just have a fear that this causes two problems. Number one, it puts our firemen at risk when they go into a busy intersection to collect money. And number two, there is a large amount of money raised in boots. And I think that's a physical risk for the fire department and for the city. So I will vote no on this, Mr. Mayor. And duly noted, Mr. Duvall, please. Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McDowell. Mr. Duvall. No. Mr. Vaughan. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. All right. Thank you. Presentations? Just moving the presentations. Is Ms. Lindler here? I don't believe she'll be here till about 7. So it's 7 p.m., right? We're a little ahead of schedule. She did say 7 p.m., I apologize. All right. Mr. Dunder. All right. 7. Childhood Cancer Awareness Day Proclamation. The honorable Mayor Stephen K. Benjamin. All right. I'm doing this to thank whoever it is who actually, someone I think has increased the font size just a tad bit on these resolutions. I appreciate that. Whereas childhood cancer remains the leading cause of death by disease in children under age of 15. And whereas only 4% of the National Center's National Cancer Institute's budget has dedicated to all forms of pediatric cancer. And whereas, more than 40,000 children undergo treatment for pediatric cancer each year. And whereas in the past 20 years, only three pharmaceutical drugs have been approved by the FDA for childhood cancer treatment. And whereas the lack of profitability by pharmaceutical companies result in fewer clinical trials and no new treatments being proposed for children who are fighting disease. And whereas the Mental Health Children's Hospital Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders is the oldest and largest pediatric cancer facility in South Carolina as a member of the Children's Oncology Group, a National Cancer Institute supported, National Cancer Institute supported clinical trials group. And whereas the Mental Health Children's Hospital Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders is proud to raise awareness of and promote increased funding for childhood cancer. And therefore I, Stephen K. Benjamin, Mayor of the City of Columbia, among my fellow members of Columbia City Council, do hereby proclaim March 12, 2018 to be Childhood Cancer Awareness Day. Instead of Colombian urge our fellow citizens to recognize and participate in its observance. Who's going to receive this on behalf? Okay. Item 28, Bleeding Disorders Awareness Month Proclamation. The Honorable Mayor Stephen K. Benjamin. Whereas March 2018 is nationally recognized as Bleeding Disorders Awareness Month. And whereas this designation will formalize and expand upon the designation 30 years ago of March 1986's Hemophilia Awareness Month by President Ronald Reagan. And whereas these bleeding disorders would share the inability to form a proper blood clot or characterized by extended bleeding after injury, surgery, trauma, or menstruation and can lead to significant morbidity and can be fatal if not treated effectively. And whereas many individuals with hemophilia become infected with HIV and hepatitis C in the 1980s due to the contamination of the blood supply and blood products. And whereas Bleeding Disorders Awareness Month will generate greater awareness and understanding of not only hemophilia, but all inheritable bleeding disorders, including von Wilder Brand Disease, which alone impacts an estimated 1% of the US population of more than 3.2 million individuals. And whereas Bleeding Disorders Awareness Month will foster greater sense of community and shared purpose among individuals with all inheritable bleeding disorders. And whereas Bleeding Disorders Awareness Month will elevate awareness of an engagement in the inheritable bleeding disorders journey beyond our community to the general public enabling the prevention of illness, unnecessary procedures, and disability. Now therefore, I, Stephen K. Benjamin, Mayor of the City of Columbia, along with my fellow members of Columbia City Council do hereby proclaim March 2018 to be Bleeding Disorders Awareness Month. In the great City of Columbia, we urge our fellow citizens to recognize and participate in its observance. All right, please. Doris? In 29, American Red Cross Day proclamation, the Honorable Stephen K. Benjamin. Happy to have our friends from the Red Cross with us as always. Please get that. Whereas the American Red Cross, so our record-breaking year in 2017, of challenging domestic and international response efforts through the support of its volunteers in just 45 days, the Red Cross responded to six of the largest and most complex disasters of 2017, including back-to-back hurricanes, the deadliest week of wildfires in California history, and the horrific mass shooting in Las Vegas. In addition, the Red Cross responded to nearly 50,000 home fires in 2017, providing casework assistance to help 76,000 families recover. Whereas in Central South Carolina, the Red Cross has a long history of helping our neighbors in need. The Central South Carolina Chapter assisted more than 740 local disasters in the past year alone. They installed nearly 7,000 smoke alarms with its partners and reached 1,500 children with fire safety information. In our area, the Red Cross handles an average of 2,600 emergency military calls every year, collects an average of 32,000 units of blood from our generous blood donors. Whereas March is American Red Cross Month, a special time to recognize and thank the Red Cross volunteers and donors who give of their time and resources to help members of the community. The Red Cross depends on these local heroes to deliver help and hope during a disaster. We applaud our heroes here in Columbia who give themselves, of themselves, to assist their neighbors when they need a helping hand. Whereas across the country and around the world, the American Red Cross responds to disasters big and small. It collects about 40 percent of the nation's blood supply, provides 24-hour support to military members, veterans and their families, teaches millions of life-saving skills such as life-guarding and CPR. And through its Restoring Family Links program, connects family members separated by crisis, conflict, or migration. Now, therefore, I, Stephen K. Benjamin, Mayor of the City of Columbia, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and Laws of South Carolina and Columbia do here by proclaiming March 2018 as American Red Cross Month. I encourage all Americans to support this organization and its noble humanitarian mission. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Benjamin. I'm Allison Cranford. I'm the chairman of the Central Carolina as American Red Cross. Thank you, Ms. Divine, for all your past service too on the board. I just wanted to make note that we have been doing this Mayor blood drive for eight years in Columbia. We have collected 1,821 units of blood with the City of Columbia employees. And moreover, that has helped 5,463 lives. Awesome. Which is huge, just from our people here in the City of Columbia. And I wanted to say a special thank you to Kimberly Roof for all your organization and time and service you have provided to the American Red Cross. I'm sure if you guys have been down there, have been running like clockwork, it's an amazing partnership. We're so thankful. Food number 30. Item 31, I apologize. 31. 31. Historic Columbia update. Ms. Kim Jamison, Historic Columbia Board Liaison for the City of Columbia and Ms. Jalen Ellis, student volunteer. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you this evening. Ms. Jamison, one of the City's two liaisons to the Board of Trustees for Historic Columbia. Before I begin, I want to recognize my fellow board members, if they would please stand. We have a lot here today. I also have representation from the Palladium Society as well. So thank you all for being here. And a special thank you to you. I was like looking around there. Our executive director of Historic Columbia, Robin Wait. Thank you so much. On behalf of the Board, I want to thank you for your support of our work and your willingness to entrust some of Columbia's most important historic assets to our care. So I'm here to provide an update to a place that is very near and dear to my heart, the Mann Simon site. As you know, on September 17, 2016, the historic property reopened following comprehensive interpretive enhancements. Findings from archeological excavations and structural investigations combined with extensive analysis of historic images, manuscripts, newspapers, city directories, census records and maps coincided with an institutional shift from a 20th century interpretive approach to a 21st century skills educational model. The interpretive format more effectively engages audiences in conveying how issues and events in our forebearers' lives are relevant to our present community. The site's new multi-dimensional interpretive exhibits offer guests a highly interactive experience. Highlights include artifacts that speak to entrepreneurship, gun violence, late 19th and early 20th century fast food ways and race. Videos include excerpts from historic television news footage covering such topics as urban renewal, segregation, and the Confederate flag. In addition, a contemporary video with Celia Mann's get this great, great, great granddaughter in 2015 is included. In a few minutes, I will yield a microphone to a young woman who was inspired by the site just as I am. As a chair of Historic Columbia's Marketing Committee, I'm pleased to report the success that has been realized thanks in part to the city's investment of H-tax marketing dollars in the site. Historic Columbia saw tremendous promotional success around the reopening and garnered more than 100 media hits. In addition, we saw large advertising impressions and by leveraging it's more, I'm sorry, and leveraging its limited marketing dollars received nearly three times the budgets in free, in-kind advertising from media sponsors. Historic Columbia also saw a spike in social media engagement around the reopening and the Mann's Simon site website saw 1,309 page views which is up 143% over last year at the same time. During Black History Month programming in 2017, more than 300 visitors participated in programming at the site. The new exhibits have also helped Historic Columbia recruit new volunteer tour guides. Since reopening, 58 new guides have been trained to deliver tours of the Mann's Simon site. Additionally, Historic Columbia has welcomed nearly 800 students through the site on guided field trips. The comprehensive upgrades at the Mann's Simon site are illustrative of the organization's most recent 21st century skills-related initiative which builds upon the foundation of other Historic Columbia projects including the transformation of the Woodrow Wilson family home into the only museum in the nation focused on reconstruction error. The reinterpretation of the Mann's Simon site has reaffirmed its position as a thought-provoking cultural attraction in the capital city. We simply could not do this extraordinary work without your support. So thank you. As noted, I'm joined by many others who are inspired by the site and the story. Jalen Ellis is a senior at Blythe Wood High School and she has been working with Historic Columbia staff since her freshman year. She's here tonight to tell you her story. All right. Good evening. Thank you, Ms. Jamison, for the introduction. As she said, my name is Jalen Ellis. I became involved with Historic Columbia my freshman year of high school when I was invited to a listening session through the Columbia chapter of Jack and Jill of America Incorporated to receive input from the community on how to gain more involvement. At the session, I was introduced to Historic Columbia for the first time, as well as the Mann's Simon site, which was under construction at the time of my visit under, I guess, renovation. After learning about the rich African-American history the site had to offer, I was excited to see what further steps I could take to increase awareness about the site in my community, especially to other youth. I chose the site and increasing youth participation with it as my topic for my Girl Scout Gold Award. The Mann's Simon site is significant to me due to its history and potential impact. The site has been historically African-American owned since the 1800s, which is rare, and was especially important to me because in the past my family has searched for our ancestry but has been met with a lack of documentation. Being exposed to an African-American family such as the Mann's that have documentation, pictures and a physical landmark of their lineage was inspiring to me and I wanted to share it with others. Additionally, the rich contributions of the family to Columbia make the Mann's unique and I wanted the opportunity to help tell their story. Through working with Historic Columbia I feel I've learned better communication skills and finding out how to present information to youth. I have a better understanding of my local history and have been able to help other people become more interested as well. My own interest has expanded and I have begun more aggressively pursuing my family genealogy and I have developed an appreciation for local history in general that I can apply wherever I go. Thank you. Again, on behalf of the board and staff of Historic Columbia thank you all for your support. We're in the process of undergoing a similar transformation at the Majesca Simpkins site and look forward to reporting on that progress in the coming months. Thank you so much and I'll open up the floor questions if you have any. Just thank you all so much for all the work that you do. So your wonderful stewards not just of these buildings but of our history and saving them for our future and Jalen, fantastic job. Fantastic job. All right. We're good to go and we will not take offense if you guys slip out of here. We know you've got things to do. I'll tell you twice how Doug. Thank you all so much for all you do. Justin, thank you too son. All right. Mr. Administrative Manager we're going to still hold for item 26. 26 and 30 for right now, right? 30. Yes. Next item is item 32, ordinance first reading ordinance number 2018-004 authorizing the city manager execute an 11. Second. Second. I think it's important that we note the public understands what we're doing here. We are moving forward with an amendment. That amendment includes that we will be able to draw down the money that has been put into escrow so that we can go ahead and demolish the stadium down there and start clearing that lot. We've extended the contract out until the end for one year and that is so that we can give Bright Myers an opportunity to work with some folks they are, but as part of the structure for moving forward we ask to go ahead and draw down the escrow money and take care of that stadium so we'll start making improvements in that corridor hopefully that will be a lot better looking than it is now and I just thought it was important that everybody understand what we're doing and why we're extending. Absolutely. Thank you Mr. Rickerman. With the previous question, Kurt Colorado. Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McDowell. Aye. Mr. DeVall. Aye. Mr. DeVine. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. Alright. Next item is item 33. Resolution number R2018-002 First extension of Bull Street Development Agreement. Is there a motion? Move approval. Second. Second. Second Mr. Davis discussion. Mr. Mayor. Mr. Rickerman. I do want District 4 constituents have asked a lot about this and so I want to explain our process. We did what you should do and due diligence. We had outside council look at the extension to make sure that we weren't missing anything. We've looked at all the numbers. We've met with the developer. One of the things that we are looking to do with the developer is to cap the cost of the garages so we limit our liability going forward. At this point we haven't gotten there but it is important to know that you know we're currently paying interest on bonds and investment over there of about 1.6 and until we have negotiated out of garage we're really not sure what that debt payment will be and so we're going to have to look at that and I think at a later date it's important for the public to know that. There's no reason for us not to extend this contract but I do think it's important that we have done our due diligence. The staff has provided all the documentation. They've gone through all of the funds that we've spent today and have all the backup for that. The outside council went through each thing to make sure that we were doing what we are supposed to and the developer was doing what so I just want to make sure that people understand that we have done the homework and the research in this and that's why the staff's moving forward. However I still would like I'm not voting for it until we can get the deal done with the capping of the garage and that's going to have to be some more negotiation with our staff and the developer and I just wanted that to be clear. Thank you Mr. Mayor. Thank you Mr. Rickerman. We'll move the previous question and call her up. Mr. Rickerman. Nope. Mr. McDowell. Mr. Duvall. Hi. Mr. Devine. Hi. Mr. Davis. Hi. Mayor Benjamin. Hi. Thank you. Thank you Daniel. Jeff. Are you all ready for item 30? Yeah we'll we'll keep we'll get 30. All right. Mr. McDowell has the floor for recognition of the canvas eruption award recipients. Do you want to wait a little bit longer? Are they coming tonight? Yeah. We're way ahead of schedule although we started late. Whatever works for you. All right sounds good. Okay. Item 34. Resolution number R2018-008 ratifying the execution of the district office lease amendment and lease of attachment between the city of Columbia and U.S. House Representative James E. Clyburn for approximately 5199 square feet of office space known as suite 200 1225 Lady Street. We'll go to approve. Second. Second discussion. With the previous question. Mr. Macdowell. Mr. Duvall. Hi. Mr. Davis. Hi. Mayor Benjamin. All right. Item 35. Item 35. Before I read the resolution I believe we have a director representing Norwegian technologies with a presentation. We do and I will briefly introduce Boeigen. We have Bernino from Boeigen here to make a quick presentation. He is aware that this is a council meeting and we like these to be concise but I thought it was worth y'all hearing from Boeigen who will be our bike share vendor and we're really excited to be at this point. You've heard a lot about Walt bike Columbia and connectivity throughout the city and the region and this is a really big step forward and I'm here to give his presentation. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity for being here today. We're really excited about the bike share program. As Missy said, I'm director of business development and marketing at Boeigen and I'll get right into it so I don't take too much. I think that's the you verse remote actually. I know it kind of by heart so I could get into it and then we'll catch up if we need to. So Boeigen technology is a company from Canada, an industry leader in electric bike sharing systems and we're getting some electric bikes within the fleet so that's really exciting. We're in right now 18 cities throughout the world, mainly in the US closer to here we'll be launching this summer in Raleigh, North Carolina we're already in Richmond, Virginia Baltimore, Maryland we'll also be launching in Columbia Riverside, California, Summit County Utah so all over the place in just five years of existence of our company. Our company is a high tech company with active GPS on the bikes which makes it really fun for planning purposes and other you can use the data from the bikes to plan bike paths or other different things so we no longer are a docking based system we're a smart bike company and really all the technology is on the bike so each bike is smart in itself has a computer, a GPS and telecommunications our company is partnered for the bike manufacturing the company that owns Rocky Mountain a leading mountain bike company and as well as electric bikes so these are the 18 cities I was talking about I forgot Costa Rica in the countries Portugal Germany England as well so really we're getting quite popular throughout the world and really it's because of the like means electric assist bikes so that that's really our specialty where is Papaguayo? Papaguayo is in Costa Rica that's one of my favorite spots to go and Colombia's weather is pretty similar so I like here as well okay so we go so BWGN system as I said we're cutting edge we have different types of products available not only do we do electric bikes we do fully powered shelters as well for some of our systems so it's really the best of the best as far as technology goes so there will be solar panels the power of them are you going to sell them? the first phase there are not that's something we could put in and add a later phase it's always about the budget so as many bikes as we can for the price and then build from there I guess can I ask you a question I guess about the powered bikes so are all of the bikes that we're getting powered bikes? there's a percentage of the bikes I believe it's one third okay I'm like if we're encouraging people to ride and be healthy it's an option you can turn it off and on you'd be the bottom of that hill if you wanted you'd be like okay so why is it important to include pedal-like bikes in the fleet? pedal-like does attract new users to biking so people that would not normally bike, people that are used to staying at home or not taking any active transportation because they are not completely fit they are a little bit older they have not ridden bikes in a long time pedal-like does really allow these people to ride even people with certain injuries, recovering from injuries I'll talk a little bit about the veterans that we help a little bit later but some of the guys that work for us are veterans, injured veterans and could not ride bikes and when they got on our bike we were able to ride it so I really do think that to answer your question it's the people that currently ride bikes, ride bikes because they already ride bikes is getting new people to ride bikes and really making it an alternative mode of transportation to the car a little bit of our data that shows exactly that is that we have systems with electric bikes and regular bikes, our regular bikes are used three times more than our electric bikes are used three times more than our regular bikes in the system, there was also a study from University of Tennessee in Knoxville that showed that 17% of bike share users were willing to leave the car to go to bike share if it was electric whereas only 8% would do it if it was irregular bikes so these are just examples of stations so you were asking what kind of stations we're getting you'll have some of these which are payment kiosk stations wayfinding stations and just regular docking stations we can also do virtual stations because we have GPS technology so we can geofence areas temporarily or permanently so making it cheaper on infrastructure and we could also do it for special events so games at the stadium or what not where you know that a station would never be big enough to accommodate the bikes that are going at that one particular moment we could geofence a parking lot or a specific area where we can leave as many bikes as we want lock them up with the secondary lock and people could go in and then we could also designate for example the university campus as a completely free-floating area where people could go to and from where they wish when they wish without actually docking it into a station our IT solution is proven it's very solid so 95% of uptime and the GPS capabilities which I've already talked about users can unlock the bike with different means they can sign up get a fob through the mail or use the mobile app or get a card at the payment kiosk and then tap it directly on the bike some of the stats that we can get out of the system it's just an example of how precise our GPS it's anonymous data but it's important data I think for your planning department if you're looking to do multi-mode integrations and planning of bike paths and different things that you're looking to do for bikes and pedestrians well this data I think will be very useful for you as far as marketing goes we really do a tailored marketing ongoing and launch plan for each city there's four steps I will go through all of them but the main important is to implicate local businesses and stakeholders because we're not from here so if I try to do a cookie cutter marketing campaign it's not going to work no one's going to use the bikes if we do a standard so implicate local influencers and have equity in mind in each one of those marketing steps some examples of marketing events that we do in Baltimore Richmond so parades, special Valentine's Day promotions rides in different business areas all types of stuff also for that equity that I was talking about we partnered we started in Raleigh, North Carolina for this but we partnered with Kristin Jeffers she runs the blog that's the Black Urbanist and what she'll do for us is help us she's from North Carolina I know it's not local local but she does know the area so we're making sure that the system is equitable to everyone she will be consulting for us in Raleigh but also in Columbia as far as the operations go I think that this is where I want to spend my time is that we hire a US veteran owned business to operate the bike so everyone that you're going to see on the street almost everyone is going to be a veteran they need to be also supported because we work with local organizations to have mainly veterans recovering from addiction or previously homeless veterans corp logistics led by First Sergeant Jim Duffney from the National Guard Air Force recently had a national partnership with the VA so the VA helps us get kind of the employees that we need in every city and make sure that it's veterans that need help and they basically vet the veterans before Jim can hire them in each one of the programs this is just some examples of what First Sergeant Duffney does he picked up a veteran off the street and hired him brought him to the VA hospital some barbecue events on every Sunday they do food drives for the homeless in the city so they really become a part of the community and create this local completely local operation with veterans I'd like to show you this video that shows a little bit of a testimony of some of the veterans that First Sergeant Duffney has hired in Baltimore Ivan Baylor's job at the Baltimore Bike Share isn't just a nine to five I love making people all the time and everywhere I go they say here come bike men for this homeless veteran it's a second chance so when I came back home there was no jobs no where but bike men isn't alone here at the operations branch of the bike share business his story is one of many the real mission is the homelessness amongst veterans and create jobs for those people in an environment where we give them the most success to be to keep going forward and that's what we do here a mission started by owner Jim Duffney two years ago if we can't take care of our own who are we going to take care of through a partnership with the Baltimore Station a recovery house for veterans who are homeless and addicted lost a job got evicted okay lost my relationship with my children mother that is no life for anyone I mean all it does is just tear you down and when it does it kills you by the grace of God this opportunity came came by and you know I jumped on it four veterans now back in the trenches facing the battle of addiction together if you served in the military then there's a camaraderie all of us together and everybody's so happy you know we all feel the same way about working together and excelling together and for these guys spending their days maintaining the bikes and parking them at stations across the city is the opportunity they've been waiting for I don't even think about the drugs or the alcohol it's just you know be productive I don't know too many words to express the joy that I have you know the way I'm living my life now you know it's beautiful and the job of a lifetime in Baltimore Angelo Bavaro, CNSTV so core logistics currently have throughout the U.S. over 40 previously homeless vets that they now hire with full-time jobs and will continue doing that in Columbia really giving it a local flair but also really helping the community while providing a true transportation service and really as I said we'll make this project a priority with those kinds of initiatives and you know really creating a local operation and working as partners and not only a supplier of a bike-share system thank you thank you and you expect here we'll also engage a number of homeless citizens veterans in Baltimore we first hired only previously homeless but we've had a couple that kind of were struggling with addiction and had relapses so we've established this new model where we hire a percentage maybe 50% of previously homeless are previously struggling with addiction and support them with stronger models that are maybe didn't have the same types of problems so we'll do the same thing here in Columbia we're excited about it up and running ASAP right I was going to say what's the time frame the time frame is the end of summer so August to September time frame Mr. Rickman can somebody explain how it works with us I've been trying to read all the documents but I couldn't quite figure out is it we just supply you the property and then they put in and we get a share of it I'm not I couldn't understand the capital need requirement in this and so we as a city have talked about bike-share for quite a while so we went through a procurement process to select the vendor we want to represent bike-share in our city we are also working with the vendor to secure sponsorships so there will be no upfront money from the city of Columbia required we do have a bike-share plan or a walk bike plan that identifies the locations for the initial rollout and phase 2 of the rollout we will obviously work with the vendor and any sponsors that are secured to confirm those locations there is a cost share after operations and maintenance are covered I believe 80% comes back to the city to be used for bike infrastructure throughout the city which as you heard us talk about walk bike Columbia there is a lot of infrastructure needs as well so we are excited about that potential I think we need to also be realistic that it might take a little bit of time to see any of those funds because there are certainly are some upfront costs with rolling the program out so will this also work like it in New York or anywhere else people will put in their credit card and then have various places to drop off so as I said you can either put your credit card but in the equity plan we also provide cash payment options for the unbiked population at different locations with partners throughout the city so as New York with electric bikes and more advance you can unlock with the mobile app now and what not but essentially yes it's a little bit of a jogger when you ride one in New York Miss Divine Two quick things, number one Sam and I were at the cog when there was a presentation that West Columbia and Casey are also exploring different bike things I think it's come to the cog now that I actually go to both city councils the recommendation really was that number one that they work on structure first instead of before they explore bike share but then the biggest one was they needed to wait and see what Columbia was going to do because they might want to piggyback on what we have and so I would urge you Missy to let them know where we are with the process I didn't know exactly where we were so I didn't want to say anything but we need to let them know where we are and that might impact their decision making as they move forward but we need to do that we've talked about this being regional so while we may be the ones getting it started and we're doing that in conjunction with cog and USC and all of our colleges and universities so we'll also reach out to our regional partners we really do want this to be a one system for our whole region and you can go over to West Columbia but we want you to come back to Columbia as well but certainly we want to reach out to West Columbia and Casey and Forest Acres as well you're going to want that electric bike to make it I know North Maine is a bear that's why I don't do North Maine anymore on my bike the second thing was and I think it's great to have the partnership with the consultant from North Carolina and everything I will say that we do have probably a local resource that might work in conjunction April, what's James Jones but she and Jones lives in Pinehurst she's a biker and very much into what we're trying to do here and so and she's a blogger as well and so I think that she wants to be engaged that might be a good resource as well lots of great resources and of course work closely with BPAC as well I'll move approvals there, second? Second with a previous question Mr. Rickerman Mr. McDowell Mr. Duvall Mr. DeVine Mr. Davis Hi, looking forward to the partnership thank y'all please they are electric only a portion of them have electric assist will there be any for those of us who will use one of the bikes and we run out of power going up a hill I'll let you answer that so first of all it's important to note it's not an electric bike, it's an electric assist bike so there's no throttle you have to pedal so it's human powered it just gives you that little push when you need it through an algorithm it does not, it has a battery but that battery is a 690 watt battery which lasts 60 miles so if I'm going up a okay good okay we'll be looking for that picture we'll be looking for that picture here I suggest you stay off of me good evening everyone as most of you know of the last five weeks the office of business opportunities we partnered with MBDA Diane Sopter and we provided at MP our mentor college for not only our mentor protégé participants but also those that have an interest in becoming mentor protégé program participants the program was very very successful and this year we actually did something different before our previous trainings regarding the mentor protégé program just focused more on providing information about the program itself but what we did this year for this five week college we actually bring in industry professionals to talk about realistic approaches that different companies get used to not only participate in contractual opportunities with the city but also how can you build the infrastructure of your existing businesses so that you have the capacity not only to participate and seize these opportunities that the city has to offer but do a good job at it so we're very very fortunate this year we have 23 participants of the mentor protégé program representing 18 different companies but we also had a number of about 23 24 companies of people that were represented from other individuals that are not actual participants but they have an interest in becoming participants so we're very excited we have some of our presenters here today that I would like to recognize as I stated this was a joint venture with MBDA Diane Sopter but we also had city staff involved we brought in other departments department of utilities and engineer they participated as well as procurement they also participated in this training so we're very very fortunate that it was not only a joint venture outside of the city but we also worked with our departments within to make sure that everybody understands the procurement process here but also other capital improvement projects that we have here through the city things that they can actually take advantage of so we're very very it was very very successful what I do want to do is ask that the mayor come and join me in presenting our certificates to the graduates for the program if you don't mind thank you sir and I also would like to just recognize before we get started Erica Wade from the office of OBO who also helped us bring this program together Aisha is she back here she's back there and Juliette Nellie they're our compliance staff and they work diligently to put this project together along with MBDA staff so we're very very fortunate to have them in our office I've already recognized Diane Sumter I would also like to recognize our presenters Mr. William Bill Davis Mr. Phillip Drickman I'm sorry about that Wayne By David Myers Ryan Cully thank you very much and we actually ran over our sessions for every Tuesday for the last five weeks and no one wanted to go home so that's just how good the sessions were for five until eight but we stay there until about 8.30 okay we can do it right over here bring them bring them all up you want them all to come we're trying to be lazy today Mr. Allen Brown they can go I want them, what say get their certificate, they can walk around this way stay back here for me Jeremy Brown Tom Connariup Tom Carwell David Choi Chow, I'm sorry I've been talking to you all week Ulysses sorry Mayor Ulysses Chavez Charlie Depp Charlie Deep, I'm sorry not the actor Janet Deep sorry, it's not that many Savannah Escarino Savannah Savannah Willie Farmer Deon Fleshman James Spudder Antonio Goodwin Brian Green Jason Patrick Heywith Kenneth Isaac Leslie Joseph Robert Kim Evans Conn Abby Latsen Gerald Lee David Lewis Ogrupa Jennifer Powers Jacques Raleigh Robert Van Horn David Chow I didn't Lucinta Ellis Lewis Michelle Rosenthal I want to say one more thing we did have some very, very dedicated staff at MBDA as I mentioned earlier I wanted to take this time to acknowledge Tijuana Clifton and also Camille Shaw without those ladies we would not have been able to do this project thank the mayor and council for your dedication to this program and your leadership without you we would not have been able to do this program and thank you for your continued support as well we do have a reception for everyone down in the lobby we hope that everyone can join us thank you Thank you Hey, right cousin Mr. Palin Next item We're not going back to 30 At all We'll pick it up another time 36 36 That was reception Mr. Rock and Roll Mr. Palin Next item is item 36 Council has asked to approve requests for funding from the hospitality tax fund and to amend the fiscal year 2017-2018 hospitality tax budget three items deferred at the last meeting and then we're going to take those up now with leave to take up additional items at another meeting but just those three Mr. McDowell Yes, I move that excuse me I move that the three items that we left on the table last at our last meeting be resurrected and I move approval Second Move the previous question Mr. Rickerman No Mr. McDowell Mr. Duvall Mr. Davis Mr. Benjamin I know John a call that we had several other requests emerge via email at least over the last several days and of course we always maintain the latitude to address additional issues as they come up within the confines of whatever was it Jan our policy says All right I will do that I is my vote I am 37 Walk on my avenue It was removed but I have gotten a couple calls on that today I did speak to Mr. Brewer to understand that the neighborhood is meeting this Sunday and so there will be I guess a confirmation that this is a request by the neighborhood You guys keep the great work very proud of you all Jamelle, very proud you got some awesome young people So I would ask that David touch bases with the neighborhood if my understanding is there is some confusion regarding people who wanted or not I would like to have it on our agenda next meeting Mr. Palin regardless of what the neighborhood says so that we can at least hear from some of the residents who actually live on Walk-a-Mall All right I would like to quickly go back to item 36 for the record I do need to read those three items out Absolutely please Three items item one is the black expo for $25,000 and the orange buds Cinco de Mayo Festival for $5,000 and the Palmetto opera for $10,000 Those numbers That is correct Is that correct? Okay Moving on Item 38 Councils ask to approve the Boyd Island project temporary construction license So moved Mr. Davis Next time with the previous question Mr. Rickerman Mr. McDowell Mr. Duvall Mr. DeVine Mr. Davis Next item is consideration of matters discussed during the work session Meeting We need to take up this evening Just the endorsement of the Park Street We need to take up this evening's consultation So we can authorize staff to move forward with cobbling together matching funds for the sidewalk improvement the waste Right now they're looking at two options for how to handle the trash cans that are there along with realigning the parking So you and Missy and Rosie going to work it all out and Robert can work it all out That's Missy coming along That's the word about But yeah, let's authorize staff. Let's pull together some type of solution to the issue that might address it finally and we did it in the temporary way many years ago but the amount of growth we've seen down there and what's coming just to that street alone does require we address it with some degree of finality We good We need a vote or some direction of staff to address and come back to us with something This motion, Mr. Rickerman Second Second discussion Mr. Rickerman Mr. McDowell Mr. Duval Mr. Davis Your charges to leverage as many different sources as you can and come back to us with a plan for approval but of course it would include our financial participation All right Another item calendar If it's okay I did talk to Daniel and Tameka and Mr. Davis I didn't talk to you about not having April 3rd meeting, we're in the middle of spring break and staff has looked at the various calendars, nothing pressing so we forego April 3rd meeting Is there a second? Second You guys really look forward to seeing each other and everything else We'll move the previous question Mr. Rickerman Mr. McDowell Mr. Duval Mr. Davis Mr. Benjamin The staff is probably really happy about that All right The next item is city council committee reports or referrals Reports or referrals Public safety meeting held two public hearings on the after two hours extended permit We listened to testimony from all parties neighborhoods business owners interested parties for close to about seven hours I think total along with taking in lots of information We have provided some information to legal to put together an ordinance to address some of the issues that have been brought forward for this council to considerate The process would be there is that once legal has been able to do that that they would put it on our agenda for us to review there'd be a public hearing and two readings for that to move forward We took in a lot of consideration spent a great deal of time as a committee communicating We hope that y'all will be pleased with what we have done I have nothing to add I have nothing to add Mr. Duval I would just request that as soon as we have a draft that we council be given that draft to study there are a lot of different issues involved and more eyes we have on this proposal more likely it is to get a majority of the council to agree No worries We are going to have this proposal go to legal and then to full council We'll take it up As soon as legal is able to put it into form for us to reconsider But as soon as let's get it to everybody Alright It comes actually come out of the three person committee let's go ahead move forward with the motion to approve the committee report So we'll move Second Mr. Rickerman Hi Mr. McDowell Mr. Duval to approve the committee report You're approving the committee report I'll approve that Mr. Devine Mr. Davis And as soon as let's make sure everybody has it Alright Any other referrals or reports Seeing none We have one citizen who's signed up to speak Did I miss anything Jeff Mr. Cliff You're good to go You're on the subcommittee but Missy and crew Alright Any other appearance of the public Seeing none A non-debatable motion to adjourn Move Any discussion Thank you all so much for a productive meeting Teresa if you're watching us Go find something better to do Go get some rest Mr. Rickerman Mr. McDowell Good evening Mr. Davis Have a good evening