 Mr. Braden present Mr. Recommend here Mr. Mcdowell yes Mr. Duvall here Mr. Vine here Mr. Davis Mayor Benjamin here and We're gonna work our way through some technical challenges Ms. Devine's camera. She wants to be on camera. We're trying to work through that and also mr. Davis It's one of these technical issues. He's gonna join us momentarily remedy. I would you join us a bless us with a work, please Yes create a God the beauty of this day in raptures us With warmth and grace this past week We have had numerous acts of violence in our city Lives have been lost And for others hope has been that dashed and Our team has worked diligently To help curtail the actions of others But it seems as if there's no hope Persons are calling for hope out of hopelessness We for families That are experiencing the death of others But in the death in the midst of loss We pray for you Personally and individually today the word says Is there a word from the Lord in the midst of chaos Hope and trust in the Lord and And that hope and trust will direct our pain bless us and keep us individually and Collectively as a city To those who put their lives on the line Allow them to sense your nearness We ask it we claim it in the name of him Who comes? Amen, amen Amen, amen All right, how do you propose an emissive agenda? Mr. Mayor, I move I Move approval of the agenda with the following addition additions or deletions of deferring item number 42 and adding to item number forty four Colony apartments and an additional item police policies Thank you, mr. Duvall is there a second Okay, any discussion with the previous question for color all Mr. Brennan Yes, Mr. Rickerman. Hi Mr. McDowell. Yes Mr. Duvall. Hi Mr. Vine. Hi Mr. Davis Mayor Benjamin Hi, thank you, man Is there a motion to approve council minutes of May 4th and May 11th 2021? So move mr. Mayor for a second second discussion seeing none with the previous question for color all Mr. Brennan. Yes Rickerman. Hi Mr. McDowell Yes To do ball. Hi Mr. Vine. Hi Mr. Benjamin. Hi. Thank you And Council I have a few Acknowledgments that I would like to make if you would so indulge me as you know that we as a city we often Find efficiencies by bringing on Young interns to work with us and when we do that they also learn in the process Well, we've also now engaged in a Partnership with CMA, which is the International City and County Managers and Administrators Association With veterans so we realize that we can Get knowledge and share knowledge across the board young and not so young but we At this point even we wanted to do it during When the pandemic had started we couldn't so we've now been able to move forward with this partnership And so I want to take a point of privilege to introduce captain Trayvon Jordan this is Quite an accomplishment for him, but he is participating in the ICMA veteran local government management fellowship program In support of providing transition service members with management training and hands-on experience in the local government environment To prepare them for smooth transition into civilian workforce and potentially public sector Careers and this is a 16 to 20 week program aimed at helping to identify and develop the next generation of talented Individuals to assume management positions within the local government profession So I'm truly excited that trade captain Jordan is has joined us. He's been working with Budget and program management director Missy Kauffman as she on board at him And we're pleased to have Trayvon with us. He was a captain in the US Marines Captain Jordan was most recently stationed at Camp Pendleton in California He's a native of Columbia and is a graduate of the University of South Carolina in criminal justice and a member of 5-8 a Sigma fraternity Mayor Benjamin and Reverend me now and Mr. Davis another one of those wonderful fraternities like you all are Members of he is planning to enroll at William and Mary Law School in the fall of 2021 while at the city of Columbia. He is currently assigned to the Columbia Police Department and to the office of business opportunities Captain Jordan is passionate about serving his community And we are very excited again for this opportunity and to be a part of assisting Captain Jordan in his career development So Captain Jordan missy is or are we sharing our screen? I'm not sure if we were able to have there he is Yes captain Jordan. Thank you so much for the introduction. That's way better than I could have said a hundred percent I've been in the Marine Corps nine years Left out of Fort Jackson in 2012. I'm a field artillery officer and like Miss Wilson said I grew up here this is my home, so I decided to come back and Thanks to the chief and all the crew at OBO I've been able to learn a lot and I'm looking forward to working with a lot more people in the city and just Experience as much as I can Thank you Fantastic. You're welcome. Welcome. Which we see the very best man Even if you go go mob guys, we'll take it. We'll take it. Yes, sir Well, welcome Captain Jordan. I'm looking forward to working with you personally as well See you soon Mayor Benjamin, we also have we've had a series of retirements here lately and so before you before you go on that This is this hearing you read this the amazing achievements in service Endured this at this with it. He's a young man his young age in life service of the country as well as that That felt good. That felt good. No, and no, he's one of our own as well. Absolutely. Yeah Certainly worth recognizing we have to stop and do that sometimes thank you for allowing us to have him and to recognize him Again, we um, you know, we're onboard folks and then we're experiencing retirements as well And we wanted to recognize today miss Susan Ryan CD coordinator for the city of columbia community development department Susan retired on april 30 at 2021 after 20 years of service During susan's tenure with the city. She worked in community development in various capacities She began working as a senior administrative secretary and as a result of her hard work commitment and dedication Susan held the following positions office assistant loan processor senior loan processor nsp coordinator business analyst and grant coordinator She was our go-to person, of course when anyone needed answers About how much money remained in a grant if checks were ordered or funds wired for loan closings or anything To do with the department's budget Susan held a wealth of the institutional knowledge That we all relied on and will truly be missed We congratulate her on her retirement and reaching such a milestone in life and we will miss susan But we wish her the very best Hey man, I was with a smile too always. I don't it's glorious susan on with us today. I'm not sure What technology allowed but we will miss her Okay Thank you. Thank you so much one more pretty special one And I know the video is going to come on for this one But we recognize professional municipal clerks week this month um in 1984 President ronald reagan signed a proclamation that officially declared professional Municipal clerks week the first full week of may and then and in 1994 1996 President bill clinton also signed proclamations confirming professional municipal clerks week The international institute of municipal clerks marks professional municipal clerks week every year to call attention to the wonderful work Of municipal clerks the 52nd annual observance took place on may 2nd through the 8th 2021 Municipal clerk's week is a time of celebration and reflection on the importance of the municipal clerks The purpose is to extend appreciation to the municipal and deputy clerks for the services they provide to their communities We want today to recognize Miss Erica more hammond for her crucial function as the city of columbia clerk One of the oldest positions in local government Mrs. Hammond has been with the city for almost 20 years Coming august of 2021 She plays a critical role in helping administer the city and council meetings She goes above beyond her job duties as we have just watched her do Um getting ready for this meeting with our technical difficulties Mrs. Hammond strives through all and improves the administration of the affairs of the office of the city clerk through participation and education programs seminars workshops and annual meetings of the state county and international professional organizations To better the link between our citizens local government agencies It is most appropriate that we stop and recognize the accomplishments of the office of the city clerk And I think Erica Recently completed another degree amongst all that she is always doing for us I just could not function without her and that's just simply stated and she's the best so There she is. Hey beautiful with your flowers. We're giving your flowers today. Miss Erica. Thank you You said critical and indispensable and amazing In so many different ways We have the very best clerk in the entire country. It's not the world. We love you, Erica. We're thankful for you Thank you for all the hard work you give us every single day. Mr. Mayer That service to do ball I would like to say amen to everything you said about Erica, but I also like to point out that The clerk position is the only position that's required in municipal government in south carolina Every all 271 cities are required to have a clerk and that's it and Huge amount of our small cities in south carolina The clerk does everything finance office Administrator everything and I always told them when we talked when I talked to the municipal finance office and treasured association How important they were and Erica certainly carries on that tradition with With the largest and maybe the largest city in south carolina absolutely Amen, and then thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Middall, please Erica you are a gift to us and of course to this city You are just simply and totally amazing You've helped each one of us in addition to everything that you do for this city Thank you very much for your For your creativity for your wisdom and for the things that are done in a very humble yet demanding way Thank you very much Yes, sir And I appreciate Erica for setting the bar high. She has Always made sure her assistants are trained so that the benches, you know, we keep that bench warm And I wanted to tell you Erica that miss lady grahalis was making sure that we recognize this Um This important position and she's so thankful that she's learning from you and we're thankful for lady as well Yeah Thank you I'm sorry guys could I add one other thing just to add to everything that Erica Does for us. We also know that she she does all of our municipal elections also works It helps russian county during uh elections where there's no municipal elections And currently she is actually working with the pilot program with south colina women in leadership trying to Working on a grant that they have trying to help other cities With their boards and commissions and other things and so when ecce will wanted an expert they went to erica So I just wanted to add not only does she give her all to us But she gives so much to others that makes not just municipal government, but just government in in Carolina so much better Yes, ma'am. Absolutely Beach I just want to I just want to say thank you I thank god for my position with the city of columbia It means so much more than me than you all could ever recognize because you all gave me a chance when I was a single mother raising four kids who are now grown some have graduated from college But they're all out on their own but it gave them the opportunity to have a hero at home And they didn't have to look outside of their house to see A young woman rising above her circumstances. So I just thank you all for that. I love my job I love each and every one of you and I'm just grateful to be here grateful Just for a chance to establish my legacy as part of the city of columbia family and Today what you said and the things that you've done will never be forgotten. Thank you all All right, I move with adjourn I think we're good Before it starts passing the prancing the plate Thank you, erica. Your life really has been a testimony for so many of us more than you could ever imagine my friend Uh, more than you could ever imagine. So thank you for being you Well said mayor, thank you miss e love you See I love y'all to y'all got me on this one. Thank you all Okay, mayor benjamin so We will move into our city council discussion and action items mayor benjamin Um, I know may have a few comments regarding our kovat 19 update and we will also hear from mr. Harry tinsley emergency management director for a situational report So this could go straight to the set record Okay, go ahead harry Okay, hey, thank you. Good afternoon. Mr. Mayor members of council and madam city manager It was to you erica. I love working with you. Um, there's some additional information as normal in your inbox So far the worldwide kovat 19 numbers stand at 163.7 million global cases Uh, unfortunately, there are 3.3 north of 3.3 million deaths due to kovat 19. That's according to johns hopkins university data uh, according to cd the cdc as of the 17th may um, us has over 32.7 million confirmed cases and our death count stands in our In the u.s at 583 000 zero seven four Here in the state, um confirmed case counts as of today's report out is 589 164 But there have been today over 7.7 million, uh, tests completed And the new case count report out today is 112. That's a 3.7 percent positivity rate Unfortunately, there were dehec reported out two additional confirmed deaths today And that brings our state total to 8502 confirmed cases death, excuse me Here in richland county 39,370 cases. We had An additional eight new cases that report out that reported out today Our our deaths for richland county stand at 495 Of noting the uh, recent 14 day reporting, uh zip code period from may 3rd to may 16th There were 599 cases. So we're now averaging in richland county 42 just a little over 42 new cases each day And that's down continues to trend downward, which is encouraging For that sample the zip code with the highest number of cases reported out at 29229 and that was at 75 you'll note That we have been trending over a hundred and many of them over 500 But we've been steadily at 500. So we're uh, we're trending at 100. We're trending down That's encouraging The recent disease activity incident rate that reported out As of may 12th richland county's 14 day. We continue to be at low our case count Rate is 114.7 per 100,000 that continues to trend downward each one of those reporting cycles Our percent positive for richland county is 3.9 percent And the estimated state recovery rate continues to hover at 97.4 percent The case fatality rate is estimated at 1.73 percent And as we are continuing to watch the uh, the case counts that are reported out for our state remain roughly stable and the State experts do not anticipate any large fluctuate fluctuations in case counts over the next several weeks The hospital bed utilization remains stable As of today, there were 319 Patients currently hospitalized due to COVID-19 That's down about 85 percent if you notice it peaked back in january this year at 2004 to 17 So we're in a good position and the data Of all 70 indicators continue to trend downward or trending downward in a roughly stable Be that continues with the vaccine distributions our state has received over 4.7 million Doses and over 3.2 million South South carol Indians have received their doses for COVID-19 vaccine here in richland county 152,700 residents have received at least one vaccine And 123,837 have completed their vaccination process And of noting the federal support federally supported community vaccination site at clungton place mall Has administered over 10,000 Pfizer vaccines over that four week period averaging about 383 Doses per day They're now offering both first and second dose shots also They will begin offering the j and j or the janssen vaccine Will be offered on week seven and eight. That is a eight week program at that site As of may 16th approximately 34.8 percent of stock price population have received vaccines You'll notice that ticked down just the tad That's because those populations from the from the 12 And up to 15 are now included in that so we encourage that that process to continue According to the CDC's latest numbers as of the 17th of may on COVID-19 vaccines Over 123 million Citizens of the u.s population have been fully vaccinated as 37.3 And over 157 million or be seven percent have received at least one dose also of noting the 65 an older group that have been fully vaccinated in the u.s stands at 72.8 percent Um, also as of may 11th the report out there were 125 cases of the south african variant there were also 555 cases of the uk variant and then 19 cases of the brazilian strain and the according to the studies the case studies that are out there now and the data that's being Looked at the the current vaccines do provide some level of of immunity to those strains as well D that continues to monitor that As we continue moving forward in the pandemic and that concludes my report. Thank you Man, can I have one question? Just harry, I know you said 34.8 percent of south carolinas have been vaccinated. Do we have what the richland county percent? In your inbox in a second i'm sorry i was looking at a couple of different things. Um It looks like a hundred and fifty two uh hundred fifty two thousand seven hundred that would be of the population of 12 I have to pull that for richland county. Um, but I would I would say it's over 300 or something thousand But I will I will get that to you here in a sec. Okay. If you could just send it to me and no hurry. Thank you Okay, thank you It'd be interesting harry and seeing that you know county population is over 400 uh thousand but obviously we're talking about those who are Certain agent and up that would be certainly helpful to know If there any other questions, no other questions I want to say um got some good feedback from the city manager and her team On our overall strategy going forward as to how to continue to recurve to Pursue vaccinations. We've been able to assess the uh the strength And some of the technical abilities of our existing system reverse 9-1-1 and every bridge system that actually has some significant flexibility Will help us do some things. They also have some other upcoming meetings with some technical folks who may help us Also stretch a little bit further stuff. Uh, they'll be reporting back to us On that very soon Mr. Mayor the uh, to me could send out the ohio plan This morning and uh, we may be able to get a Miniaturized version of the ohio plan To incentivize vaccinations The million dollar lottery Ohio plan. Well, how about 500 dollar? You'd be you'd be amazed at how I would um insensives work Karen, Karen, Karen stick the um Thank you, Harry. Um, uh, thank you for the continuous data. It's it's it's one of my very first reads every day So, uh, we look forward to it. Let's keep numbers going down. Y'all we can do this We're gonna do it together though Thank you. You're quite welcome. Just just a quick note. Just to pull some quick data According to the dehex vaccine dashboard population plus 12 In this in richland county is 353 173 Gives us a councilman divine. It looks like about 44 percent Have received at least one dose in richland county, but I'll I'll confirm that data and get something back to you Harry anything? Thank you, Harry. Yeah, Harry anything even anecdotal on the response of the 12 and above the the the young teens We're seeing pretty robust response I have not gotten any empirical data on that. Mr. Mayor. I do know that uh, there there have been some, uh But some folks have been going to the uh, the the county place mall location And as you know, that requires a parental waiver But I'll continue to watch that and get you some information on that. So I'll make a note of that Super though. Thank you very much Mr. Mayor I could add I'm working with w a parry and we've got a vaccination Like at the school on saturday and so, uh waivers have gone out into the community And so hopefully we'll see a good good response. I'm gonna have my 15 year old vaccinated at that same time So I'll I'll be able to report to you guys next week how how it's looking as far as our young people My newly minted 14 year old got her shot last week for god She was uh, willing to have it televised but not willing to talk to the camera Didn't take after her daddy Got that part from my mama Mr. May dial. Yeah, it's just one just one note, of course Uh, we had an event on um this past saturday And we had more children not children, of course 12 year olds and above Who wanted to take that shot? This was an outdoor event the nurses were there Under a tent and uh, we plan to do that again that movement is Almost like a groundswell within each community when folk can't get to columbia mall They are coming locally Into that community and that's the intent of trying to make this vaccination effort a success Fantastic fantastic Well, thank you all. Let's just keep moving forward together It's not Don't say manager Yes, sir mayor at this time. We will um also bring mr. Matt kennel On for a presentation. I think there he is. Hi matt Hello President and CEO of the city center partnership and he will present our main street business improvement district renewal Thank you very much The city manager. We really appreciate that honorable mayor city council members City attorney and staff and also erica. I can't say enough about good things about her She's worked here as long as I have and Every experience has been wonderful. We're really blessed to have her in this city Let me let me start a short presentation just to go over what we need to do today And we'll go from there All right, we on slide one All right, we're trying to get this out. There we go. Um Why renew we are at that period? Where we need to renew the city center business improvement district as we now call it the main street business improvement district For the third time. Uh, we started uh in 20 2001 with the help of the city as partners to form the first business improvement district or the first service providing municipal improvement district in south carolina And um, we have renewed it twice and we're asking to start the renewal process again today with The ccp Was formed as I said in 2001 we managed the 36 block you can see the map in front of you District which is bounded by gerbet elmwood assembly and marion streets What we do is we focus on filling vacancies and commercial properties Retaining existing downtown businesses and recruiting new ones And really making the area a safe clean and friendly downtown environment. That's the the baseline of everything that we do As we said, we we we have been working since To to do this a bid for many many years and hope to do it for 10 more years with your help A couple of slides. I'd like to show you at councils urging After the first renewal of the bid in 2007 We really focused on storefronts and creating more retail in in the area city council Funded a retail study which we've been implementing since that time and it's really interesting I wanted to show you this slide. These were the merchants that we had in the area in 2007 and then you can see What we've got now in 2020 it is a dramatic improvement and now at least pre pandemic Our biggest problem was finding good storefronts in the district because So many have been filled with your help and with the capital improvements The city has done for streetscape and parking Another slide that I think is very important to us and to the city Is how property values have increased since the bid started back in 2002 At the end of the first year the total property values the assessed value was just over 300 million By 2018 that had reached 500 million And we haven't updated our slide yet because we've just got this information But as of 2020 it was just under 600 million in value and that's significant We've increased over 100 million dollars in just two years So there has been a large growth in the assessed values of the business improvement district area And that does help the bid it does help the bid Do more but it also helps the city do more because as you know, most of that money goes for schools And for police protection and those kind of things in our city. So it's it's good for everybody in the city As we move along some of the these were 2019 figures pre pandemic But this will give you an idea of where we were or where we are now At that time we had about 800 housing units in the area We had the average residential rent at 1150 and over 2000 People living in the downtown area that is increasing by the way Within the next year we are going to see another year to two years Another thousand people in the business improvement district. As you know, thanks to your help The large edge student housing project was approved and i'm hearing we'll start we'll break ground here this summer In addition to that we now have two Developments underway on either end of lady street And of course the old ba building which the city played an invaluable role in saving that building and not letting me get torn down I will also be renovated. So we're looking at adding another thousand people Within the next two years to the downtown area and that's very significant And I think a good reason to keep the area clean and safe because the demands are going to get much higher They move to the next slide I wanted to show you this figure too. This is one. We actually had the university of south carolina graduate students geography students do an analysis Of taxable value per lot in the downtown area and what you can see from these slides Is the towers and particularly Generate a tremendous amount of revenue for the city and really drive The value of what we would say for the business improvement district We have been all about density. This is one of the areas as you know that does not have parking requirements. So We able to move forward with some very dense development and it pays off as of 2019 the taxable density of the main street district was over Two million dollars per acre And that that's very significant that that exceeds by three times the value per acre for example of five points Which is lower density and even the vista It's about 10 times of the vista this area is much smaller and has much bigger buildings. So per acre The citizens of columbia are getting a lot of bang for their buck From the main street business improvement district But um I saved this slide if one of the last because we love for yellow shirt ambassadors We are very very fortunate to have a team of 11 Men and women that are out on the streets seven days a week From 7 30 until 11 30 at night and now until 1 a.m on thursday friday and saturdays with the additional nightlife that we're seeing To really keep this area sparkling clean and friendly And safe We actually have a total of 13 positions We do have two frozen because of the pandemic situation that we've been in for the last year But we hope to get up to 13 again in the very near future and as the bid grows We do hope to increase that staff to provide the necessary cleaning and security for the area One footnote of this that we're very proud of Is the average retention of our yellow shirt ambassadors is over seven years Which is the highest of over a hundred cities that we have studied that have ambassador teams We are number one in retention of our ambassadors and that says a lot about the kind of community this is And uh, these are just great people and thank you for your support to keep them on the job We love the ambassadors matt. We love the ambassadors. Thank you very much. We we do too Uh, we also track everything they do. I'm not sure if city council knows this but We actually use what we call is the smart system and we track everything they do This was pre-pandemic numbers. This was 2019 But to give you an idea in that year we did almost 26 000 hospitality assistants That's helping people with any need they might have in the downtown area In that year we removed over 290 tons of trash and garbage in one year from the downtown area and that that's why it looks so good And gave almost a hundred thousand shuttles a free shuttles of people in and around the downtown area The shuttle program has been put on pause because of the pandemic But we hope to get that cranked up very soon as as as soon as we feel that it's safe to do so for both the public and our employees Another real strong spot in the bid particularly for the past 10 years is we are by far The host for more events and more numbers of people than anywhere in the city and and we have to provide services for them First thursday in 2019 had over 14 000 people. For example famously hot new year 24 000 jam room music festival 10 000 the greek festival 175 000 the sodas city market. Thank you for your support of that over 400 000 pride festival latin festival you just go on and on there are over 100 events here annually in the downtown area once we get back on track and that Has a big impact in the whole quality of life in the area We have now about 450 hotel rooms. We're running 75 occupancy, which we are again By the way, we're back up to that number again And we have 55 restaurants in the area with two just opening up in the next couple of weeks Um Lastly, I just wanted to provide you with a schedule that we've been working on with erica and with the city attorney and the city manager That we'd like I guess for you to endorse today by the resolution which comes up later on the agenda But we are as soon as uh council acts today. We hope to mail out information packets to our over 300 actually 326 property owners in the bid There will be a notice under this schedule in the state newspaper of the notice to renew the bid and the public hearing The deadline for objections would be on June 15th And under the current schedule a public hearing would be held on June 15th To see if there is any Opposition to renewing it and hopefully we will hear from a number of people in support of the bid We can tell you that as of today We have talked to a number of the property owners downtown Starting with the largest property owners and as of today before we even send out the notice We know we have 56 of the support of the property owners in the bid so I can I can tell you that today And that number we hope will increase once those packets go out That's all I have today, but I am available for any questions that you may have and We just want to thank you for your support and hopefully we can keep doing this for another 10 years Fantastic report and fantastic work over the last decade matt. We um Of other places are looking to mimic your success So we we we definitely need to continue the state of course Questions for matt Mr. Mayor, I just have one Matt, um, I know you said that the yellow shirts are going to one on the weekends I know howard and I have received a couple concerns about potential drag racing in the downtown Uh parking garages. I know uh cpd is trying to monitor that but with your folks right there in center Are you observing the same and can you tell us a little bit about what your what your people are seeing? Yes, uh, thank you councilman divine We have seen that it is a problem Our yellow shirts have responded and have done what they could to quiet the situation But I really have to give a shout out to the columbia police department captain bell our metro commander I guess it was two or three weeks ago. We mentioned that being a top concern of ours And what we're hearing right now is that the situation is absolutely under control Since the police have gotten Really made sure that that is is not a problem. We hope That that flare up again later in the summer, but we were concerned about public safety with the Fast driving through that garage and and some of the downtown residents were disturbed disturbed by the by the noise But I believe the police have done a great job with it and right now at this moment are not getting any complaints Thank you Matt the the point zero zero one eight four four that you have In the proposal that's the same that you had the last ten years Yes, and thank you for mentioning that. I actually had that in my notes to tell you that and Did not do it. Yes. The assessment would remain the same Exactly the same and there also is another layer of assessment which a lot of folks don't know about We actually also assess four dollars and a penny per linear foot For the people that front on main street We have actually discussed that assessment with all of the large property owners And they're very happy with it. It generates Only about I say only about 30 000 of the total almost a million dollars collected by the bid But it does show the special emphasis on the main street district and they The the presentation that you had in our packet I believe the figure in the last 10 years and It did not have that last year that you mentioned a few minutes ago. Yes, sir But there was a 42 increase In the property valuation in your bid area That is correct. And that's before adding the additional hundred million that has come on in the last two years And that would translate into a 42 increase in your revenue from the bid That is correct. Since the beginning we we We actually over a 20-year period the total revenue is is about threefold What it was before for us and then of course for the city and the county as well and the school district We would well so maybe a 300 percent increase in the number of people living down And Name counting those working downtown Yeah All right, any other questions for matt Matt, thank you And please and I really mean that we know the yellow shirts are known by name And they they make quality life downtown that much More special. So I appreciate the work you guys do keep it up. Okay. Thank you and thank you so much for your support Okay, buddy. Be well Thank you matt And thanks to all carol and your entire team jennon everyone Thank you. We do have a wonderful staff and thank you Mayor benjamin our next presentation is from miss free matthews the chief executive officer and executive director Of the columbia housing authority and miss cindy herrera the senior vice president of development for columbia housing They will provide a columbia housing update the vision 2030 Hey ladies Hi, good afternoon uh Thank you all for for having us here today. Um on behalf of columbia housings Board of commissioners Who are all joining us today via the youtube channel Um and the staff. Thank you honorable mayor benjamin honorable members of columbia city council City manager wilson and staff for providing columbia housing the opportunity to present vision 2030 We'll go to the next slide sander Um Our vision 2030 is the strategic framework by which we columbia housing will use as our guiding principles Over the next nine years to reposition our entire public housing portfolio and create new quality affordable housing in the city of columbia and Throughout richland county through public private partnerships utilizing capital Excuse me private capital Our plan includes the investment of over 500 million dollars For preservation redevelopment and new construction of affordable housing So in other words, uh, this investment will not only improve the quality of our existing Portfolio, it will also increase the supply of affordable housing in the city of columbia and throughout richland county Through vision 2030. We've engaged partnerships with nationally recognized and experienced affordable housing developers To help us accomplish this aggressive plan I would be remiss if I didn't say this but it is also important to know That this 500 million dollar economic investment will not only provide quality affordable housing But it will also result in a significant contribution to the local economy Expanding opportunities for minority owned businesses Women owned businesses and small business enterprises All of which will satisfy satisfy columbia housing's Mwsbe 30 participation goal A little history about uh, columbia housing for those who may not know in 1934 columbia housing was created under the state of south Carolina's public housing enabling legislation to provide affordable housing for citizens with low and moderate incomes Our mission is to leverage the power of housing to build a foundation for individuals and families to thrive We provide affordable housing to 6500 families throughout the city of uh, columbia and richland county through our housing choice voucher public housing and non subsidized affordable housing programs A little history too about public housing While often used generally to represent all affordable housing Public housing is actually a specific federal program And was the first federal program to provide safe decent and affordable housing for low income families Since the 1990s the federal commitment to the public housing program has greatly diminished And funding has been significantly reduced Resulting in a capital backlog of over 60 billion dollars nationwide Columbia housing as many housing authorities across the country Has been strongly encouraged by HUD to turn to the private market To address our backlog of capital needs Next slide As noted earlier in my presentation vision 2030 Will reposition our entire public housing portfolio and create new affordable housing in the city of columbia and Throughout richland county again using public private partnerships and accessing private capital This private capital capital will be leveraged With conversion tools provided by HUD That will result in the gradual elimination of public housing And transition to another affordable housing platform The HUD conversion tools provide protections for residents For example tenant rent will remain the same, which is based on 30 percent of the monthly adjusted income Tenants will also continue to receive rental assistance from HUD That will pay the difference between the tenant rent and the market rent There is no negative impact on the family in addition to In addition vision 2030 is a culmination Of columbia housing's nearly two years of planning in which every public housing property Our 1684 units 28 communities Which is located in the city of columbia and throughout richland county Has been thoroughly assessed by third party professionals Including architects engineers appraisers and environmental consultants Columbia housing's public housing portfolio has a has capital needs of over 250 million dollars HUD has never adequately funded capital needs and statutorily Prohibits public housing from accessing private capital to address those needs Therefore to address our over 250 million dollar capital needs, we will transition up our entire portfolio Public housing portfolio to HUD's rental assistance demonstration program and other programs that will enable us to access Market debt and equity for the preservation redevelopment and new construction of affordable housing I'm now going to turn the remainder of the presentation over to Cindy Herrera Who is our senior housing? Senior vice president of development and she will elaborate more on the strategic framework and provide information on An update on all of our priorities. Cindy Thank you. Good afternoon honorable mayor and city council members As ivory mentioned, um, we are working with the rad program Which is a HUD program that basically will continue to provide rental assistance for converted public housing properties It does this through a project-based voucher platform And a long-term contract that has to be renewed in perpetuity If the rad program requires that the ownership of the properties continue to be through a public or a non-profit entity And in addition to that there is a use agreement that's recorded on the properties to assure that they remain permanently affordable To date under the rad program, there have been over 200 000 units of public housing that have converted Those conversions have resulted in 11.6 billion dollars of private capital That has been invested in our nationwide public housing stock And in the state of south carolina, there's been over 1800 units that have been converted And raising 53.3 million dollars of private capital In october when we began to, um, launch this plan We solicited, uh, we issued a national solicitation to bring in private partners that will work with us in this, um, 2030 vision And this is a a sign of some of our partners We are very pleased to see the response that we received. We have some of the best national affordable housing developers that have partnered with Local organizations within the city of columbia as well to build more capacity And so we're very excited about the partners that we're working with as we move towards our vision for 2030 So i'm going to go through our various properties and share with you what their repositioning strategy is Oaks at st. Anna's park, which is the former gonzalez gardens property This one has actually been in development for a while and has has made significant progress Um at this site, um, we are partnered with mongo construction urban manners Um an affordable housing firm out of washington dc that partnered with mongo Um at the oaks at st. Anna's park development. We will be Providing 95 units of housing specifically designated for seniors age 62 and older We will have 190 family townhome units the total development costs that will be brought into this project is a little over $58 million. All of that represents private capital We anticipate closing in november of this year and we the construction would take not quite 18 months So we would anticipate occupancy in april of 2023 Mr. R. R. U. And miss matthews remind me how many units were at the garden about 200 220 the 20 to 20 were there. So we're actually bringing back more units than what was originally there awesome yes The next project that we anticipate closing this year is the haven at palmer point This is located at carter street in two-notch road this site that the housing authority has owned for about five years This project is going to represent the replacement of the marion street high-rise units Um, this is a three-story State of the art senior citizen building on the left hand side. You'll see the site plan We are partnered with a company called brinshore a nationally recognized affordable housing developer They're based in the chicago area This project will have 150 units of senior housing again age 62 and older The total development costs are a little over 31 million dollars for this project all private capital And this one we also hope to close in november with occupancy around the same time in april of 2023 The um allen benedict court in the oak reed high-rise The our partners for these developments is south carolina community uplift And the benoit group benoit has partnered with south carolina uplift Benoit is based in atlanta Um, and we're excited that they've partnered with a local startup development organization in the city of columbia Allen benedict court will be demolished. Um, and right now the preliminary plans call for new constructions We're estimating 168 units of senior housing and 195 units of family housing We anticipate that this will close in the early second quarter of 2022 We are just beginning all of our preliminary planning We hope to begin the demolition In june, we are awaiting hud's final approval of the environmental release for the allen benedict court project The oak reed high-rise done what we will do is we will utilize the new senior housing To be located at allen benedict court to transfer the assistance from oak reed to the new senior building Oak reed currently has 111 units. We'll actually be adding additional units Um, and then we will basically be rehabbing the oak reed high-rise building And we'll be reducing the unit somewhat there because we have multiple efficiency apartments Which are just not found real desirable by today's seniors So we're going to be reducing oak reed high-rise through a substantial rehab That will not happen in 2023 in order to give us time to be able to relocate those residents Um to the new senior housing that will be built The next two projects um that we have targeted um is laddermer manner Um, which is a family development of 200 units currently an errington manner Which is a small senior development of 56 units We've partnered with the hallmark companies For laddermer manner laddermer manner will be a rad project. However, it will be a rad demolition We anticipate that we would demolish the existing units We will replace then with new construction approximately 220 rental units And we're also adding a home ownership component to the ladder more manner project and anticipate we would have Give or take approximately 50 home ownership units and again, we anticipate a closing on this one in quarter of 2022 errington manner we've partnered with pennrose development um, and we anticipate that for errington manner um when we Rebuild the between the senior housing that we'll be adding Would move the residents from errington manner to new senior housing which would allow us to be able to Use the rad program to demolish the existing building and build a new senior facility on that site with approximately 80 units The next projects um are both of our family projects known as the reserves at far away As well as dora randal and we've partnered with a very good joint venture partnership of mercy housing Mercy housing is the largest non-profit affordable housing developer in the country And they have partnered with a local fa johnson consulting group um, so again very excited to see local um developers partnered with larger organizations um, they're both of these properties We anticipate will be rad projects that will be redeveloped by demolishing the existing housing and replacing it with new construction These are very early in the planning stage So we don't have exact numbers to share with you today We'll bring that information back as we continue to update our 2030 plan And then there are some properties that the housing authority will be Managing and basically doing ourselves through our non-profit We have a um a new non-profit called the south carolina affordable housing initiatives ink. We refer to it as sky Both ham and village and lewis scott court, which is an east over in the county Our two properties that will be substantially rehab. They will be converted under rad We will utilize an fha mortgage tool that will allow us to be able to rehab up to about $40,000 a door for these two properties This will be done internally by housing authority. Um, and we'll solicit general contractors who will do the rehab work The next part of our portfolio is our very interesting port and challenging portfolio and these are our scattered site properties We have a total of 18 small properties that range in size from about 10 units to 25 units Um, there are 18 of them with a total of 476 units that are scattered throughout the city Um, as we've assessed these properties, we've identified about Identified about 70 units that will need to be demolished and are not viable And the other remaining units of this part part of our portfolio will be rehabbed Again, the housing authority will undertake this rehab ourselves And then finally our single family portfolio Um, we have 295 single family homes that are scattered throughout the city As we've assessed over the last four months an architect and engineering firm have been into every single home We've identified that about 155 of these homes are in a condition in which they can be substantially rehab We also have about 140 homes that are really not financially or physically viable to be able to rehab So the units that we rehab these units will be um taken out of the public housing program under a disposition and partial demolition Once they are removed from public housing the units that will be rehab We will Launch a lease purchase program that will enable existing residents or new residents to be able to lease these homes For a period of time and be able to purchase them The other units that are not viable to rehab will either be sold or some of them are in such poor condition that they would be demolished In addition to that recognizing that we're going to lose some of our units because of their current condition Part of our solicitation was to bring in new development at sites that were controlled by the development team and not necessarily by the housing authority So one of the projects that came forth and that we selected was the village at Nazareth This is a project with columbia empowerment zone and integral development Currently they are anticipating that there would be a mixed-use property there that would consist of 90 senior units 160 family And some commercial development This project is still in the discussions with the development team So we do not have any more specifics at this point in time on that project We also have a project. Um, we have three projects that are in richland county Um, the willows at watery. Um, we are partnered with paces preservation partners again They are a large nonprofit developer and soho housing partners Um, this this project will have two components. It is located On shakespeare road and roof street behind where the new watery community development. Um, central office will be out by the columbia mall This will have 104 senior units 160 family units the total development cost are a little over 64 million dollars This one we anticipate closing early in 2022 with initial occupancy occurring in july of 23 Another project that we've partnered with both paces and soho on is called hunt club This is the new development on hunt club road in the county. This would be 160 family townhome units The total development cost is a little over 39 million dollars. This one also We hope to close in january with occupancy in july of 23 And then finally another project in the county with connelly builders Connelly is a longtime affordable housing developer in the columbia area Hunting hunting concourt. Um, it's located at trentum road and o'neill court also Not far from the columbia mall and this will consist of 228 family units with the total Development cost of more than 40 million dollars the closing date in june of 2022 an initial occupancy in december of 23 So to kind of summarize our public housing portfolio What we did is we went back and looked at in 1998 the housing authority had 2,911 units of public housing That included a lot of the developments that we've already begun to redevelop Today we have 1,684 units of public housing In our vision 2030 plan We anticipate that there'll be an additional 323 units that we will lose because they simply aren't viable to be able to um to maintain But we will also convert 1,361 units So by by 2030 The housing authority in the city of columbia will no longer have any traditional public housing But our vision 2030 plan calls for 1,550 units of new development does not currently exist Plus the 1,361 units that we will preserve through conversion Will take us back to our pre 1999 portfolio of 2,911 units So one of the primary goals of our vision 2030 plan Was not not only to make sure that we do not have any net loss of affordable housing units But really to bring back to the original public housing units that the housing authority had And so these will be units that will be affordable to the very low income families that we've always served through the columbia housing authority In addition to our own portfolio The housing authority is also serving as a conduit for multifamily housing revenue bonds We facilitate affordable housing for private developers These are developments in which the housing authority does not have any ownership interest does not provide any subsidy But through the multifamily tax exempt bond program We're able to make sure that the developers can build affordable housing The reason that that we do this is because the tax exempt bonds provide a substantial savings and interest cost On the long-term debt which enables these units to become affordable And this is this is doable as long as the issue of the bonds is a unit of local government In addition to that what what a fight a significant financial advantage is that these particular bonds Allow for 50 of the costs that are financed with the bonds to qualify for non competitive Federal and now very happily state low-income housing tax credits, which creates equity So through the lower interest cost as well as the equity that's generated these properties have restricted rents And they serve families with um incomes at no more than 60 of the area median Currently in our pipeline. This is a list of the multifamily bond transactions that are pending Palmetto tears actually closed Thank you city of columbia for supporting that once the housing authority issues the bonds It also goes through the through the city and the city ultimately approves all of these projects And as you can see We have a couple of additional preservation projects these three projects that are preservation These are a total of over 49 million dollars of uh of Of redevelopment that will go into these three projects These are existing projects in which a new developer is acquiring and conducting rehab these three properties all have a current Section eight subsidy contract that goes directly through the department of housing and urban development The housing authority does not administer these subsidy contracts And then in addition to that we have in the pipeline 1128 affordable housing units that are all new construction And this total is about 222 million dollars All of these projects that we have currently induced and are on the on the in the pending um in the pending pipeline Basically are expected to close throughout the middle of middle to late 2022 So we're very pleased to be able to facilitate additional affordable housing Through private developers that the housing authority doesn't necessarily own manage or control So that's our presentation and we'd like to be happy to answer any questions that you might have Yeah, but before we move to questions, I'd just like to say again, uh, just want to thank you, uh to city staff and and The mayor and city council we cannot do any of this work without your support All of these projects must come through your office in some form. So so thank you so much for supporting affordable housing For our for our citizens here in the city of columbia Well, thank you all. Well, what a great and comprehensive report Um, thank you. I had a couple of brief questions about nothing. Um heavy I assume a lot a lot of projects and keep them coming. Oh, we we we like it Uh, as you take people out of units or demolish or we're sequencing kind of where people move to so There's no disruption as much as as much as possible Yes, yes, our goal is is certainly to sequence as much as possible um With the maryon street project since that's the first um that you know, we're currently moving people out of the maryon street property Uh, of course those units that the replacement units that we're building on car to street won't be available uh during the move process, but but those residents will Have the opportunity to relocate to that car to street property And then after that everything else will be sequenced so that as we're taking uh down the development We'll have something new for our residents to relocate to And obviously I know with the red program, I mean it's an exciting program and no folks have been using the full private sector capital in How's that treated? For property taxes, we know do we treat it just as it's owned by the by the housing authority as it Is Yeah, it's it's owned in a partnership, but with the housing authority's non-profit affiliate Serving as the um managing member of that partnership and so under state law those properties do continue to be property tax except Okay, yeah We they can they can uh, it's still uh pay some form of payment and lieu of taxes But but we hope that you guys would allow us to be completely exempt And let me let me clarify that the the bond transactions that we serve as a conduit Those do pay property taxes. Those are not exempt. Yeah, no, no that I know I know some places do pay pilots, but I know It's always a Yes Important we gotta get get those those numbers back up to where where they once were Um, no, that's this is exciting. They're deciding with this. Let's keep it moving. Uh questions. Yo Miss matthew is mr. Mr. McDowell Yes, thank you so much miss matthew the mr. Rarer is there any two questions? Um, when you when you move someone when you've moved Someone out of marion street Is there is Is there assistance given for them when they relocate? Oh, yes Um, they we have to comply with the federal uniform relocation act and it's very specific We pay for all moving cost all packing materials all packing supplies We pay their security deposit to the new unit they go to we pay for any utility deposits or utility Connection fees. We have three low relocation specialists that are assigned to the marion street residents right now And they each carry a caseload working with about 25 residents 25 to 30 residents as of last friday We had 73 residents left at marion street. Um that are in the process of relocating Um, we have about 20 of the residents are relocating to other public housing Um, about um 70 of them are relocating with the housing choice voucher to private market rental housing And then we have about 10 that are relocating to other areas outside of columbia where they have family They want to go back to where their family is so the voucher allows them to do that So if they go into private if they go into the private market piece Those same things apply to them in terms of what they get and they're moving assistance and that's Yeah, and then and then on an ongoing basis they receive rental subsidies So the residents would continue to pay the same rent that they've been paying at marion street Okay, last question. Mr. Mayor. Mr. Guerrero, is it possible and I appreciate the Presentation today, but is it possible for us to give a hard copy of that in our inboxes? Yes, we'll be happy to provide that no problem. Yes, very much so that would help that would help tremendously Thank you, ma'am. Thank you I I also know um, we we do have if you see any corrections, please feel free to let us know I do know that their um village at nazareth. I think we had was in uh city council district one I think it's in district two, so we'll make sure to um to know that and and and I want to say to um anytime that we are um meeting with uh community neighborhood associations or or um have some update as a relates to the properties that are in specific council districts will certainly continue to keep that line of communications open with uh council person to to keep you guys updated Ms. Matthews, you're exactly right. That's that's one of the reasons I asked for a hard copy of that And I think it would be good for all four all four of the persons who are in districts to look at that and see if they're Just to make sure we all of us are on the right track Thank you, ma'am It's in your inbox Reverend McDowell. I know Erica sent I think the most recent version I've been sending today But we can send another updated version if you want me Well, I thank you that means haven't looked okay Oh Thank you. Thank you. You know the questions. It's a great report y'all Mr. Mayor I'm trying to figure out the best way since you can't see me. So I put my little hand up and I try and put Get a little hand. I'll keep my out for the hand and that's a miss the body Um, but but just a couple things and and um, thank you. It's Matthews and miss Herrera I will say for for us at large members. Uh, don't leave us out. Uh, we represent the entire Those Um, because we get more questions than just as we represent the entire city Um, but I have two questions. Uh, quickly number one, um, just I know miss miss matthews You've mentioned this before but I want to um for the public that's watching and and for all of us Who might not have constant communications with you. I know that sometimes there there appears to be A lack of communication. Um between the housing authority and the residents or at least perceived So can you tell us like as you're going through this process? How are you involving the current residents of the housing authority? How are they being informed of the plans movement? Everything else and if there is Um any misinformation that we seem to get a hold of within the community How best should we direct the residents? Uh to get the right information? Absolutely. Um, I would say um if if you're you know on city council or you know The mayor's office if you get any information from the community Please redirect them to me Um, you know as the first point of contact and and I'll make sure to to resolve those questions or concerns that um any Any anybody might have Communication so one of the things that um that we do is we over communicate. We use every avenue of communications tools that we Uh that we have at our disposal We do a lot of face-to-face communications When prior to covet we met with families in a group setting over at the tiller center Where we provided transportation and we met with the families to update them on our plans um for um Marion street and then when covet 19 hit we continued to have to face-to-face communications We do what is called socially distance? uh safe Door-to-door chats and so we met with each family What a door to answer all of their questions and we did that we do that a couple of times Just every other month and then we also have assigned um staff persons to We've deemed as relocation specialists who meet and they're assigned to individuals and meet with them to answer any questions that they might have we also um document our communications through um providing written letters written correspondence uh to all of our residents and um And then we also have virtual Meetings with our residents and we record our virtual conversations And so we have those virtual meeting the tapes and recordings of those virtual meetings Where we provide that information to residents that they want to go back And and take a look at any of the things that we reviewed So we're we're pretty flexible. We know that all of our families have different You know different means of communications work better based on the individual And so we we're very aware of it. Um, you know and and and want to make sure that we make this process as seamless as possible. So You know, that's that's that's our communications plan and and we'll continue to do that Thank you And then my final question just is as as anybody's reading or watching this presentation What they're seeing is that within the next 10 years Public housing as we know it in the Midlands is will be no more. There will of course be affordable units, but um I know and and uh councilman McDowell and I had this conversation with you when it came up about Mayor and street But I would like you to address for for the mayor members of city council um gentrification and and the reality that as you demolish and and take away places Um and relocate that is a huge concern not just for our city, but you know everybody and I would like to know how You and Ms. Herrera are addressing that as you're relocating people and and planning For the future for the housing authority Certainly one of the things I you know, I'd like to point everybody back to and and that is um You know at at its heyday the housing authority had 2900 units of affordable housing and um and our plans today show that we are uh not only um putting back those units But we're also increasing the number of affordable housing stock in our community And so for us, you know, we've been around for 87 years and our um Focus and our mission is not on gentrification It is on providing quality affordable housing options for our families. And so we typically um I know it's kind of unfortunate for us to be lumped in a gentrification conversation But we're we're not gentrifiers. We're we're mission driven. We're created by state law We're funded federally. We have a a mission and a vision to to create affordable housing And that's that's just that's the space that we're in and um and and I think that we'll continue to Provide more affordable housing options for our families in the city of colombia I'd like to add to that also that this is a federal oversight as we undertake this rad conversion And there are very very specific HUD and federal regulations Every resident in a rad conversion has a guaranteed right of return um Now a few of the properties will not necessarily go through rad They'll go through a different type of conversion And that doesn't necessarily apply in those instances the residents have preferences But they may have to meet some new admission criteria But under the rad program There is a federal mandate that every single resident has a guaranteed right to return with no Rescreening they cannot be rescreened to be able to come back to the new property If they were living in the property at the time of the rad conversion They are able to return to the property And we must work with the developers to assure that there is a unit for each and every family that was that was Temporarily moved from that rad conversion property. Yes, ma'am That's several. I mean I've been reading through a lot of rad stuff recently a lot of uh Um hooks in there to ensure that existing residents are are protected and Uh, and that's that's uh, that's important. Um, mr. Brennan. I think city manager has a question as well Yes, miss matthew. This is great. I You have a large portfolio of exciting projects ahead of you. Um Excited to see that you're creating a lot of new affordable housing But I wanted to ask you about maintaining Property management. I think as we have all seen The best quality of life is uh from from those property managers that commit To the compassion and engagement of their residents. Uh, can you just briefly speak to How who who in this public-private partnership is really going to go the the step beyond when it comes to The property management that we as a city council in city Would desire for our residents Certainly um, I'll start off and I'll turn it over just to sendy one of the things When we enter these public-private partnerships our property management, um is vetted thoroughly um, and um, it has to be improved because Private investors are bringing their private capital And so they want to make sure that whoever is maintaining this property Understands how to maintain the property and keep it at at the best standard as possible And that is also vetting tenants too And so I think um, you know, one of the things that we did Just a couple of months ago is uh, we we have some property where we just recently changed our our Property management For those properties and so we went through the we've already begun to do that process and we have New property manager management companies that we've engaged In partnership with who are managing our properties. Um, that's not on the public housing side Under our nonprofit. Um, sendy, would you like to add some additional? Yeah, these these properties The investors and the lenders Have to approve and underwrite the property management component So each of the development teams that we're working with they brought to their team a property management company So that property management company will initially be managing these properties Because the lender and the investor will require that Until the housing authority can build the capacity to get the lenders and the equity investors comfortable With property management being done in-house versus externally by third party companies Yeah, just a Continued of of you know, not just the bottom line practices, but really engaging neighborhood building I think would be a a wonderful addition to any future property management Paths for thank y'all so much. Thank you. Yeah I was just going to continue the same point. I think my question was along the same lines This is certainly exciting and I wanted to thank iver and sendy for their Partnerships as we work with them quite often members of my team and in your team But from a public safety and health safety perspective What i'm hearing you say is going forward Initially, it will be these identified property managers I mean the inventory you've described that are coming online in the short term Certainly look impressive as most do when you first Build these properties as we know and we want to to the point made by mr. Brennan Ensure that the maintenance is there for the long haul But also it has to be there and I think What you know has become apparent to all of us along the way is the relationships between our chiefs Um and their teams and and those responsible for the property So I just want to be really clear that i'm understanding where that responsibility lies ultimately And who should chief jinkins and fire marshals and chief holbrook and his teams be You know really going to when we're getting down to on a daily basis what's transpiring at the properties Absolutely as we yeah as we bring these Properties on before we bring them online. We'll we'll we'll engage those communications with The the fire department the the police department in all of the staff at the city that needs to have that Relationship with the property management company so that we can continue to keep That line of communications open Okay, but it would be the external property managers over time Yeah, it'll it'll be a partnership of the property management company and the housing authority We will serve as an asset manager in other words We'll be still ultimately overseeing the properties because even once the developer exits because they provided all of their guarantees The housing authority to the lender and the investor still has to provide an ongoing operating guarantee And so, you know, it'll be a partnership with the third party property management companies And we will have the responsibility to make sure they're doing what they're supposed to be doing But as I said, most of the development teams have very experienced property management companies That they either have that are part of part of their entities or that they've worked with And so we'll have a variety of property management entities on these properties And we'll be engaged with that with the property management companies and with the city You know leaders and departments in all of the the ongoing process Thank you Mr. Duval Mr. Rarer, you mentioned the relocation specialist Yes, sir The most important question has not been asked by this group yet is can you put in the packet for relocation? A a redoing of their voter registration Sure, I think that's absolutely doable when they transfer the relocation specialist can make sure We're making sure every all of their other services get transferred Make sure to vote a registration gets An important one to add to the checklist we'll make sure that's on there. Thank you, sir Is that is that everyone? um Well, thank you all for comprehensive presentation Another couple of important dates coming up this summer and this fall mentioned the presentation But let's let's hit them off. Um, we want we want to at least I want to run through the tape Let's let's get as much done as possible what we can do to facilitate development I think all the concerns have been raised are are very real and legitimate, but we're talking by real just a truly new era and And public housing as we know it The the the number of units was significant many years ago But the quality of those units were not and not indicative of the quality of life that The amazing families many of whom now still work for the city of columbia so many have gone on to do amazing things in science the arts and industry and religion um The quality of the housing years back was not representative of of what this city of this country should have offered those families Going forward with with these new and exciting public-private partnerships We can we can give them so much more and and i'm excited about About what what the future holds over this next decade with the housing authority? What would we do and provide these families? I would be remiss if I did not say How impressed I am on the number of partnerships pulled together with some of our african-american and minority-owned businesses as well Um, you pulled together some national concerns and some incredible folks who've done great work In columbia for years and why like connelly included in a role of a great project on on main street But this this this is a really good mosaic of the of the talent that we have all across the country bringing Bring brought the bear on this metro area the tune of Well, it's like, you know, half a billion dollars. It's a big deal So let's let's execute execute execute and thanks for a comprehensive Presentation and and certainly all the other concerns raised. Let's let's kind of keep those top the top of mind And let's let's let's work our way through the challenges that that will come that we are we are human Well, well, well, we won't we won't get all perfect every step of the way, but this is a significant Step forward in the right direction. So thank you both Thank you. Thank you. Please thank you. I know I know the commissioners are listening. Thank the commissioners as well Yes, sir. Mr. McDowell Mr. Matt, just a word of thanks. I just want to thank not only for the presentation, but Ms. Matthews Thank you very much for allowing We got a big food distribution on the 26th And uh, thank you very much for ch cha's hip and getting food out to all of units Thank you very much for Allowing this effort to making sure that our seniors and those who are in Marion street and the other facilities get a box of food. Thank you very much. Thank you. Anytime Thank you all. Thank you Okay, thank you Yes, sir, mr. Mayor and council at this time the consent agenda items five through 16 are here for your consideration There motion to move a second In this in this question, we'll move the previous question part called wrong Mr. Brennan Yes Yes How are you on mute? Hi Mr. Vaughan Mr. Davis Hi Mayor Benjamin Hi, thank you, ma'am Mayor Benjamin and council. Thank you so much again for your support as we moved through an expedited budget process and Now the budget ordinances second reading Item 17 is ordinance number 2021 022 to raise revenue and adopt the budget for the city of colombia south carolina for the fiscal year ending june 30 2022 they're pushing Move approval of the 022 ordinance All right. Is there a second? We'll move the previous question part called wrong mr. Brennan. Yes Mr. Rickman. Hi Mr. McDowell. Yes Mr. Duvall. Hi Mr. Vine. Hi Mr. Davis Hi Mayor Benjamin Hi, and let that reflect that this era will end with no tax increases All right, we're gonna hear that for six months. No actually for 60 Uh the um, um item 18. Yes, our ordinance number 2021 041 amending the 1998 code of ordinances of the city of colombia south carolina Chapter 23 utilities and engineering article 5 water and sewer rates section 23 143 water service rates in section 23 149 sewer service rate a and b is in motion Move approval of orders number 041 Second it is in discussion With the previous question for all Mr. Brennan. Yes Mr. Rickman Mr. McDowell. Yes Mr. Duvall. Hi Mr. Vine. Hi Mr. Davis No Mayor Benjamin I Encourage about continuing to make the necessary improvements in our water system our sewer system storm water system. So, thank you Yes, sir Item 19 ordinance number 2021 042 amending the 1998 code of ordinances of the city of colombia south carolina chapter 23 utilities and engineering article 5 Water and sewer rates section 23 144 special water service speeds All right, is there a motion? Move approval of orders number 042 Good second Second Discussion Again, we gotta continue to make sure we protect our rivers of streams Darry's and divide and clean water. This is important with the previous question for all Mr. Brennan. Yes Mr. Rickman Mr. McDowell Yes Mr. Duvall. Hi Mr. Vine. Hi Mr. Davis. Hi Mayor Benjamin. Hi Item 20 ordinance number 2021 043 amending the 1998 code of ordinances of the city of colombia south carolina chapter 23 Utilities and engineering article 5 water and sewer rates section 23 152 sewer plant expansion fee Is there a motion? So move Is there a second? second Discussion Again on this this will be my last budget and my last time building on water and sewer Investment uh, I remember when I first became mayor we'd just gotten in trouble the EPA We were looking at consent this consent decree staring down on phase because we had not made the required investments In our water sewer system. We have steadily made those investments over the last decade It's it's it's interesting because it's a kind of improvement you make that people don't see so sometimes we don't necessarily Appreciate then subterranean investments. We've got the right team on the job and I'm so encouraged Teresa The entire team We've been able to do together this type of investment continues to make sure we keep A beautiful three rows clean and a water clean and uh, I need to say for um for posterity We'll move the previous question for a call to roll Mr. Vernon, yes Mr. Wickeman Mr. Mcdowell Yes Mr. Duvall Hi Mr. Vines Hi Mr. Davis Hi comment Mayor Benjamin Hi Thank you You have a comment to uh, well, yeah just that um You know, I I think I've had very good reasons for for my no answers On the others now the uh this I I can live with uh moving forward knowing How we've gotten to this point with um Where we want to stand with the federal government and and our goals to Go with clean water and and keep the the rivers clean and that sort of thing uh The reason I I can I can live with this is that um, I honestly remember the conditions We had on the rivers And the penalties We as a city had to pay uh to the federal government And the period of time it took to uh to get to this point. So that I could see as a necessary, um Effort to make sure that we don't repeat That situation as a city Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Cost us a lot of money. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Thank you Um Have seen manager Yes, sir. Thank you, Mayor Benjamin and council We are we're moving to a period of ordinances first reading item 21 ordinance number 2021 026 granting an encroachment to Lawrence McGuckin and Sandra McGuckin for the use of the right-of-way area of the 2000 block of wheat street and 500 block of congery avenue for the installation in Maine Is there a second? Second Any discussion with the group's question part called a row? Mr. Brennan. Yes Mr. Rickerman Mr. Mcdowell Yes Mr. Duvall Hi Mr. Vine Hi Mr. David Hi Mayor Benjamin Hi Item 22 is an ordinance number 2021 044 and it's an 8.8 acre portion on Old Leesburg Road Ms. Hampton's available if y'all have any questions for the next set of items near Benjamin So move a second Okay Any discussion With the previous question with the group's question part called a row Mr. Brennan Yes Mr. Rickerman What number is this because my agenda says 20 the next item is the resolution. I don't have a a second 22 It was It was item 28 on the agenda that went out on Friday Okay All right And then Mr. Rickerman I was referring to that when the public hearing or zoning public zoning matters occur Ms. Hampton is available for those but you I think we do have some resolutions right after this Okay. Yeah, for some reason the agenda I have printed off. It's not the same All right, so we're taking up on 2021-44. I think we're in the roll call Yes, sir. Mr. Mcdowell Yes Mr. Duvall Hi Thank you Mr. Vine Mr. Davis Hi Mayor Benjamin Hi Now a period of resolutions item 23 resolution number R 2021-046 authorizing a public hearing for the improvement plan for the city center improvement district I will approve the move Move move mr. Mr. Duvall second move Mr. Mcdowell in discussion With the previous question part called a row Mr. Brennan Yes Mr. Rickerman Hi Mr. Mcdowell Yes Mr. Duvall Hi Mr. Vine Hi Mr. Davis Hi Mayor Benjamin All right And Ms. Hammond or Ms. Noz the public hearing authorized here will Can we remind the public how that will Work when will when will it occur? The public hearing is scheduled for June 15th at 2 p.m Thank you You're welcome Item 24 is resolution number R 2021-051 authorizing the city manager to execute a ground lease between the city Columbia and tomorrow's LLC for the lease of 721 Saluta Avenue in Richland County to be used as a public parking lot Then we'll approve them I second Second In discussion with the previous question part called a row Mr. Brennan Yes Mr. Rickerman Hi Mr. Mcdowell Yes Mr. Duvall Hi Mr. Vine Hi Mr. Davis Hi Mayor Benjamin All right Item 25 resolution number R 2021-055 authorizing condemnation for easement acquisition for sanitary sewer main relocation along Lee's Burke Road from near Greenland Drive to near more Richland Boulevard The motion will move The second Second In discussion We'll move the previous question part called a row Mr. Brennan Yes Mr. Rickerman Hi Mr. Mcdowell Yes Mr. Duvall Hi Mr. Vine Hi Mr. Davis Hi Mayor Benjamin Hi Item 26 resolution number R 2021-057 authorizing condemnation for easement acquisition for sanitary sewer main relocation along Lee's Burke Road in Richland County All right the motion We'll move Second In discussion We'll move the previous question part called a row Mr. Brennan Yes Mr. Rickerman Hi Mr. Mcdowell Yes Mr. Duvall Hi Mr. Vine Mr. Davis Hi Mayor Benjamin Hi Item 27 resolution number R 2021-056 authorizing the purchase of a 0.02 acre portion of 7313 Lightner Road identified as the galaxy sewer lift station site in Richland County Yeah, motion Move approval Second Second Any discussion? We'll move the previous question part called a row Mr. Brennan Yes Mr. Rickerman Hi Mr. Mcdowell Yes Mr. Duvall Hi Mr. Vine Hi Mr. Davis Hi Mayor Benjamin Hi, thank you Public input Yes, sir. This public input is related to a street closing and transfer resolution number R 2021-054. The public input is meeting on closing and transfer of Scriven's Alley between Jervais Street and Cinnich Street All right Do we have any citizens who are even non-citizens anyone from the public who signed to speak on this issue? Mr. Mayor Yes, sir. Mr. Davis I'm still having problems with my volume. I did not hear your comments. Can you repeat those please on this item? This is resolution 21-054. We're just seeing if there's any public input on the closing and transfer of Scriven's Alley between Jervais and Cinnich Street Did you hear me, Sam? I'm hearing that. I believe I missed the purpose for the closure. It's a very small area between two buildings. It's been there for a while and so far. It's been there for a while. That's great. Why is it being closed? My understanding is the nearby property owner requested it, Mr. Davis. Are you able to hear us? And I'm go ahead. I'm doing my best. My understanding is the nearby property owner made the request and after review of staff and going through the legal department is it's on here for the normal process of the council to open it for public input, but you all don't take any other action on the item. Okay. Thanks. I just did not get the reason for the closing. That's all. So the owner of the adjoining Alley request the closure. Is that right, Mr. Wilson? That's my understanding. If I think it has to do with some clearing of title perhaps, I'm not sure if legal is on to provide any other information because it went through the legal process to get here. That's good. Thank you. I'm educated. I just didn't get it in the beginning. Okay. Is that something we need to act on? I'm sure we're going to be talking about this later on. Is that something we need to act on today? You don't take any action, Reverend Dowell. It will be an executive session in case you all have any additional feedback for legal counsel. All right. Thank you. Do we have any on members of the public who sign up to speak on the issue of Givens Alley? All right, let's keep moving. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Item 29 begins the public hearing, Mayor, and first reading for zoning and planning matters. Good evening. Good evening, Kristen. Our first, so first we'll let folks know how they can comment for the zoning public hearing. In addition to viewing the meeting at the city's website, the public may listen to audio and participate in the meeting via telephone and by calling 855-925-2801. When prompted, enter the meeting code for this evening, which is 4978, and then you can press star one and listen and stay on the line until the case is announced. If you wish to provide input when the case is called, you can press star two to leave a voice message to be played back, or star three to be placed in the speaker queue to speak live. City staff will unmute callers during the comment period. Callers are limited to three minutes, and if you are participating by phone, please remember to turn off any audio on other devices before you speak to avoid feedback. And that brings us to our first case, which is an annexation, future land use, and zoning map amendment at 504 Percival Road. A request to annex, assign a land use classification of UEMR, and assign a zoning classification of general commercial that's... Do we have anyone who's signed up to speak on this item? No, sir, not at this time. Okay. All right, is that a second? Second. Is there any discussion? Will the previous question occur to call the roll? Vernon? Yes. Mr. Rickamon? Aye. Mr. Mcdowell? Yes. Mr. Gowall? Aye. Mr. Vines? Aye. Mr. Davis? Aye. Mayor Benjamin? Aye. An annexation with future land use and zoning map amendment at 2213 Apple Valley Road, request to annex, assign a land use classification of urban edge residential, and a zoning classification of general residential. All right. Is there anyone who's signed up to speak in favor of or against this item? Is there a motion? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? Will the previous question occur to call the roll? Mr. Vernon? Yes. Mr. Rickamon? Aye. Mr. Mcdowell? Yes. Mr. Gowall? Aye. Mr. Vines? Aye. Mr. Davis? Aye. Mayor Benjamin? Aye. An annexation with future land use and zoning map amendment for a 40.18 acre portion on the south side of Old Leesburg Road, request to annex, assign a land use classification of urban edge residential, small lot, and a zoning of single family residential. Is there anyone who's signed up to speak in favor of or against this item? Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? Will the previous question occur to call the roll? Mr. Vernon? Yes. Mr. Rickamon? Aye. Mr. Mcdowell? Yes. Mr. Gowall? Aye. Mr. Vines? Aye. Mr. Davis? Aye. Mayor Benjamin? Aye. An annexation, future land use and zoning map amendment for an 80 acre portion of the north side of Percival Road and various addresses along Percival Road. Request to annex, assign a land use classification of urban edge residential, small lot, and the zoning of general residential and a portion within the flood plain. Does anyone speak in favor of or against this item? Not that. Thank you, ma'am. Is there a motion? Let's say a second. Second. Any discussion? Will the previous question occur to call the roll? Mr. Vernon? Yes. Mr. Rickamon? Aye. Mr. Mcdowell? Yes. Mr. Gowall? Aye. Mr. Vines? Aye. Mr. Davis? Aye. Mayor Benjamin? Aye. An annexation with future land use and zoning map amendment at 7315 Coach Maker. Request to annex, assign the land use classification of urban edge residential, large lot, and the zoning of single family residential. Does anyone speak in favor of or against this item? Yes, ma'am. Is there a motion? Move approval. Yes, second. Second. Any discussion? Will the previous question occur to call the roll? Mr. Vernon? Yes. Mr. Rickamon? Aye. Mr. Mcdowell? I'm going to mute it. Yes. Mr. Gowall? Aye. Mr. Vines? Aye. Mr. Davis? Aye. Mayor Benjamin? Aye. Moving into zoning map amendments, also known as rezonings. The first is at 707 Catawba Street. Mr. Gowall? You're still, you're still, you're now on mute now, Ed. So, at 707 Catawba Street, a request to rezone the parcel from heavy industrial M2 plan development to office and institutional that C1 plan development. So, anyone speak in favor of or against this item? Move approval. Is there a second? Second. Yes. Any discussion? We'll move the previous question in the protocol. Mr. Vernon? Yes. Mr. Rickamon? Aye. Mr. Mcdowell? Yes. Mr. Gowall? Aye. I'm sorry, I don't want to see you call. Mr. Davis? Aye. Mayor Benjamin? Aye. A zoning map amendment at 1041 Ponderosa Point Drive. Request to rezone the parcel from light industrial M1 to heavy industrial M2. So, anyone speak in favor of or against this item? Thank you, ma'am. All right. Move approval. Move. All right. All right. Second. Any discussion? Move the previous question in the protocol. Mr. Vernon? Yes. Mr. Rickamon? Aye. Mr. Mcdowell? Yes. Mr. Gowall? Aye. Mr. Barnes? Aye. Mr. Davis? Aye. Mayor Benjamin? Aye. A zoning map amendment for the Congreep Point PUD. It's 64.17 acres on the north side of Bluff Road and multiple properties along at least Colorado. There's a second. Second. Any discussion? Move the previous question in the protocol. Mr. Vernon? Yes. Mr. Rickamon? Aye. Mr. Gowall? Aye. Mr. Gowall? Aye. Mr. Barnes? Aye. Mr. Davis? Aye. Mayor Benjamin? Aye. If it pleases Council 37 and 38 are related to the same property and can be taken together. The first is the future land use map confirmation. 4.418 acres on the south side of Maybron Road to confirm the classification of urban edge residential and a zoning map amendment confirmation for the same property request to confirm the zoning of single family residential. Move the motion. Move the move. 37 and 38. Is that a motion? Yes. Mr. Gowall? Aye. Mr. Gowall? Aye. Mr. Gowall? Aye. Mr. Gowall? Aye. Mr. Gowall? Aye. Mr. Gowall? Aye. Mr. Gowall? Aye. Does that ask for a public comment or is anyone who signed up to speak on this matter? Not fair. All right, thank you. Move the approval of 37 and 38. Yes, second. Second. Discussion. Seeing none, we'll move the previous question for a follow-up. Yes, Mr. Brennan? Yes. Mr. Rickerman? Aye. Mr. McGowall? Yes. Mr. Gowall? Aye. Mr. Gowall? Aye. Mr. David? Aye. Mr. Gowall? Thank you. Moving into zoning text amendments, number 39 is a text amendment to amend 17674, the criteria for review of design structures in Landmark districts. All right. Is there anyone who's signed to speak in favor of this? Okay. I move approval. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? We'll move the previous question, let the clerk call the roll. Mr. Brennan? Yes. Mr. Rickerman? Aye. Mr. McGowall? Yes. Mr. Gowall? Aye. Mr. Vine? Aye. Mr. David? Aye. Mayor Benjamin? Aye. Final item in your public hearing is a zoning text amendment to amend 17283 of the code of ordinances to remove the special exception requirement for wireless communication facilities. This is being pursued. Ms. Bailey has drafted this to be in compliance with recent FCC orders on preemption. Don't move. Is there a second? I'm sorry. Is anyone who's signed to speak in favor of against this? That's fair. All right. I move approval. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? We'll move the previous question, let the clerk call the roll. Mr. Brennan? Yes. Mr. Rickerman? Aye. Mr. McGowall? Yes. Mr. Gowall? Aye. Mr. Vine? Aye. Mr. David? Aye. Mayor Benjamin? Aye. Aye. That concludes your zoning public hearing. Thank you. Thank you so much, Kristen. I haven't had a chance to dig into the BOSA applications. If we wait until the next meeting, y'all, we've got a whole lot going on there, unless you guys have something to add up. We have. We have only one appointment. Only one. Sam's already got his name written. You got somebody happy with Sam? Yeah. All right. So I'm going to have to sue. I'm sorry. Now this one comes highly recommended from the neighborhood. Go for it. The name's Sam. Well, we'll see. Is Ashley going to run this? Who's on? Yes. I'm sorry, I can't. Oh, Ashley, can you assist Mr. Davis? I think he's maybe having some. No, I just didn't hear the mayor's. I thought he had a question. No, I'm fine. I do not. I do not. Who we have for BOSA, Ashley? Mayor, there's Philia Mackintosh from council district one is being recommended by Mr. Davis. All right. I second. All right. See you, Mackintosh. Nomination has been moved in second. Any discussion? We'll move the previous question. Mr. Brennan? Yes. Mr. Rickman? Aye. Mr. McBowell? Yes. Mr. DeVall? Aye. Mr. Vines? Yes. Aye. Mr. Davis? Aye. Mayor Benjamin? Aye. Thank you. Also holding item 42, Mayor Benjamin and Council, we have one other matter, item 43. Council is asked to approve the installation of four speed humps and a speed limit reduction from 30 miles per hour to 25 miles per hour along Lakewood Drive in the Earlwood neighborhood. Just a second. Second. I'm sorry. I forgot. I meant to ask TK, can I vote on this? Earlwood neighborhood speed bump. Yeah. This is my street. Oh. No, I wouldn't know if I was you. All right, Ms. Hammond, if you could send me the form. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Is the first bump right at the beginning of your house and the second bump at the end of your house? They actually asked me permission if it could be on front of my house, but I honestly don't know where we landed because I'm so close to the stop sign, but nobody really wanted it. Everybody wants a speed hump, but nobody wanted the sign in their yard. So I'm not exactly sure where it's going. Yeah, I dealt with that issue last night at the neighborhood meeting. Yes, tell folks. Some people want it. Some don't, especially if it's in front of their house or blocks their driveway. We'll move to previous question. Mr. Vernon. Yes. Mr. Rickerman. Mr. McDowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Vine. Not voting. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. Thank you. Mayor Benjamin, I'm not sure if your colleagues have any committee referrals or reports. No. Anyone? All right. So we'll hold the reports and no referrals. Fantastic. Mr. Duvall, you got something from me? Mr. Mayor, I move we go into executive session for receipt of legal advice related to matters covered by attorney client privilege pursuant to SC code 30-4-78-2 COVID-19 executive order 2021-23 conversion therapy, closing and transfer of Scriven's Alley, colony apartments, and political process, fleet of legal advice relating to pending and unlawful claims to attorney code 30-4-78-2 to one Taylor White versus COC. And Mayor Benjamin, you may want to just make sure there was no additional public input prior to going into executive session, sir. Yes, ma'am. Thank you so much. As we second Mr. Duvall's motion, but let's go into discussion period, having one of the speakers, Madam Clark. All right. So we have three callers in the speaker queue. Okay. We want to definitely take them as soon procedurally, polamentarily, we could just hold that motion in advance right now. And let's take the citizens. Thank you, Theresa, for the catch. Yes, sorry, Miss America, of course. I'll add the first caller now. Yes. Hello. Can everyone hear me okay? Please begin. Thank you. Fantastic. Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor, City Council, for all of the hard work that you do. And I especially want to applaud you for considering this motion to ban conversion therapy in the city of Columbia. My name is Edwin Hayes. I'm an infectious disease physician and an internal medicine physician. I work with the Prisma Health System at Richland and Baptist hospitals, Park Ridge, as well as with the Providence Health System. I also do primary care. I treat COVID-19. I treat HIV. As you can imagine, it's been a very busy year. I also do a lot of primary care. And I see a lot of patients from the gay, lesbian, transgender community in my office. And I can tell you emphatically that the only outcomes that I've seen from conversion therapy have been trauma and suicidality. I've studied this closely. There are many scientific papers that reinforce the idea that there is no benefit to conversion therapy. And if anything, we see that it causes harm, especially in the youth. And this is something that I've personally seen in my patients, increased issues of suicidality, people traumatized, who become re-traumatized even by trying to hug their family members of the same sex because of things that they've gone through either emotionally, mentally, or even physically, attempting to change something about themselves. I think it's very important that treatments that we give, including therapy, are done in a way that is supportive of our local community and is based on science and proven outcomes that will lead to healthier, more productive, safe lives. And that's not something that we see with conversion therapy time and time again. This is something that's been come out against by the American Medical Association, the Counseling Associations that oversee ethics and credentialing for counselors across the country. And when you look at the training that goes into things like therapy, you'll see that there are no standard conversion therapy classes because it's something that's been discounted time and time again by the studies showing how it could work. So there is no accredited training, which means there is no ethical standard to hold conversion therapy to. It has the efficacy of snake oil. And I think that its utility is something that really just brings about bad outcomes. And that's something I see with my patient population. I can't emphasize enough how damaging conversion therapy has been to the local patient population here. And I really applaud you for looking at this motion and considering banning it, especially for our most vulnerable population, who certainly should not be experimented on with therapies that have been proven not to work and are often harmful. I'm welcome to take if there are any questions or comments. I don't have any. No, thank you, Dr. Hayes. Thank you for participating and thank you and all of our medical professionals for your incredible work over the last year and a half, but certainly even before that and no continues. So thank you for sharing with us your professional experience. Yes, thank you all so much. Be well. Our next caller. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, city council representatives and staff. My name is Dylan Gunnels. I'm founder and equity designer at the Agape table, which is an organization dedicated to creating spaces of healing for our queer friends and people of faith. I have spoken with many of you individually at this point about this ordinance and very, very thankful to each of you, Tamika and Howard, who have been working on this ordinance and putting it out for consideration and thankful to each of you who have listened to my concerns regarding the ordinance. We know that the psychological and psychiatric as well as pediatric associations have made it clear from a scientific perspective that conversion therapy does not work, that it is ineffective and oftentimes leads to trauma and suicide. So I'm not here to speak to you as an expert today. I'm here to speak to you as two things. One, as a queer person who has been through conversion therapy myself and also a queer person of faith. I understand that this ordinance has been a lot of backlash, a lot of pressure from religious entities and more conservative religious entities. Let me say it boldly and say it clearly. I'm queer and I love Jesus. I'm queer and I'm a person of faith. I'm queer and I went through conversion therapy without choice. It didn't help me. It only harmed me. At 28 years old, I am still dealing with some of the traumas with my therapist now who is actually licensed and able to walk me through those issues that I faced. I know that you are facing pressures from places all across the country regarding this ordinance. All I can do is tell you as a person who's experienced it, please, please do what is right for the sake of our youth. Please do what is right for the sake of our most vulnerable populations here in the city. You are sending a message by doing this. You are sending a message to people that equity is the forefront city of Columbia and protection of our youth is at the forefront for the city of Columbia. Thank you so much for consideration of this today and I hope that you will pass this ordinance. Thank you, Dylan. Thank you for the leadership you provide in our neighborhoods. Thank you so much. Okay. Yes. Hello. This is Dr. Richard McCain. Can you hear me? Yes. I assume so. Yes. I want to thank Edwin Hayes and the Agape gentlemen for their passionate discussion this afternoon and I want to thank you, Mr. Mayor, and City Council for the great work you do. I can only imagine the lengthy hours that you devote to our city. I'm so proud of your work over these past years during the flood. Sewer line repairs and enhancements in the housing that was discussed earlier this day is just actually amazing. I am concerned on several fronts about a recent recent motion to outlaw conversion therapy for adolescents confused about their sexual orientation or gender. I am going to disagree with my friend's fellow physician. The science simply does not support this direction. It is accepted that 85% of minors who are confused about their sexual identity or gender will desist with watchful waiting. This includes supportive counseling and not conversion therapy. I sent Mr. Rickerman earlier today this afternoon a published study out of Sweden, which is really the only long-term study on gender transition surgery. It has 30 years of follow-up. This study showed an increase in suicide. The graph Mr. Rickerman is on page 7 of 18. The Swedish study is a 30-year study. It shows an increase in suicide and a marked increase in mortality for those who have completed sexual reassignment surgery. The popular misquoted American Psychological Association's Gay and Lesbian Task Force in 2009 reports specifically that modern change allowing therapy since 1978 was non-inversive meaning free of painful or shame inflection which is what people refer to when they speak of conversion therapy. The same American Psychological Association's Gay and Lesbian Task Force in 2009 said that research meeting scientific standards did not allow attributing harm or inefficacy to change allowing therapy. I should also say that minors can many people feel minors cannot give truly informed consent. They have a developing brain. Their minds change often and sometimes they don't grasp long-term consequences. In addition, puberty blockers chemically castrate at a level of the brain. They risk infertility by blocking the maturation of sperm and eggs. Following them with cross-sex hormones assures sterility. So here we are dealing with adolescents who in 85% of the time will settle with their biological sex and we're actually chemically castrating them at the level of the brain. And as for cross-sex hormones estrogen use in male biology strongly increases the risk of blood clots, heart attack, strokes, and breast cancer. And testosterone use in female biology strongly increases the risk of heart attack, strokes, breast, and uterine cancer. Gats. Suicide reduction claim is a myth. It simply is not true. And if you look at the study, Mr. Rickerman perhaps during the executive session can share that study with you. Page 7 of 18, you can look for yourself a 30-year follow-up from sex reassignment surgery to 324 transsexual persons in Sweden, female to male, excuse me, male to female, 191 and female to male, 133. You can read the graph for yourself. There's a marked increase in all cause mortality and there is an increase in suicide, not a decrease in suicide. So yes, we are to follow the science. The science will disagree, but this is the only long-term study and I challenge Mr. Hayes for a long-term study. Gender dysphoria somewhat. Dr. McCain, we got to wrap up. I do hope you can share the study with the rest of us or Daniel can forward that on, but give you a few more moments to let me wrap up the comments if you don't mind. Absolutely. So what would I say? I am all for compassion. I hate no one. I'm in healthcare for healing and restoration, but I would just caution us as a city council. There is a difference of opinion and there is a difference in scientific validity of a long-term study versus a short-term study. We have to be so careful with gender dysphoria. It somewhat resembles body dysmorphic disorder. No one would ever offer a patient with anorexia nervosa, a stomach stapling procedure. It's illogical. So I just urge caution. Something like this probably belongs more under the state board of medical examiners or LLR than a city council. But thank you for your work. Thank you for listening to me and my prayers it will make a reasoned decision. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Madam clerk, those are three of three. Any other citizens on the speak? Thank you ma'am. I'll move the previous question on understanding motion. Mr. Brennan? Yes. Mr. Wickelman? Aye. Mr. McAllen? You're muted. I'm sorry. Yes. Mr. Duvall? Aye. Mr. Vines? Aye. Mr. Davis? Aye. Mayor Benjamin? Aye. Thank you ma'am.