 I'm going to call this work session of the Durham City Council to order at one o'clock on May the 7th of 2020 and I want to welcome everyone who is listening to this extraordinary session of our Durham City Council and I want to as always thank our tech staff, all the folks that have helped to make this possible in technology solutions and public affairs. You're just very grateful for you. Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll? Good afternoon, everyone. Mayor Schuyl. Here. Mayor Pro Tem Johnson. Here. Councilmember Caballero. Here. Councilmember Freeman. Present. Councilmember Middleton. Here. Councilmember East. Here. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Clerk. I'll now ask if there are announcements by members of the council. I think I saw councilmember Freeman's hand and councilmember Middleton. Go ahead, councilmember Freeman. Thank you. I just wanted to share that in these extraordinary times, it's been a pleasure to serve on a number of panels and discussions around the issues we're facing in our community and I really just wanted to share that I'm leaving a call from Episcopal United against racism on decolonizing wealth and acknowledging the parody of all that's going on in our COVID-19 crisis with how Ega Villa-Nueva spells out what a decolonizing wealth will look like. And just noting that in addition to that fund that I've been talking about at these council meetings, there's a lot of uncertainty in how we move forward. And I wanted to put folks at ease and noting that we are in this together and we will get through it. It's not going to happen without each of us making the sacrifices and stepping up to do what's necessary. And then along those lines, I also wanted to thank Durham Cares for pulling together a policy panel around COVID-19 to share out some responses from a variety of community members. Thank you. I'm sorry. Thank you, Council Member. Council Member Middleton. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good afternoon to you and good afternoon to my colleagues and to all that are watching. Mr. Mayor, this afternoon I want to raise my voice in solidarity with the family of Ahmaud Arbery of Brunswick, Georgia. Our hearts were rendered as a nation as we watched a public lynching of a young black man doing something that we said in our order was okay to do. That was to get some exercise during this COVID-19 pandemic. We are all pretty well rehearsed on how the disparities on how this pandemic is affecting black and brown people, people of color, poor people. And the disparities in the numbers, be it death, be it economic impact, be it emotional impact, a lot of the frontline workers, people that have to go to work during this time are people of color, black and brown people. And then in the midst of this, to have to deal with this horrific, horrific attack on our conscience as a nation just sickens us. Oftentimes it feels like you're a tennis ball caught in this perpetual volley between rage and fear. And whether you are wearing a jogging suit or whether you're wearing a suit with a bow tie, whether you have a title behind your name or not. It is just, there's no, there's no refuge for us. And none of us that are privileged or think we hold powerful positions are immune from this. So on today I want to send regards to our elected colleagues in Glen County and asked that they would just hold a line and wherever the facts take them in this investigation, folks need to be held accountable that they would do that. I want to send a shout out to my fraternity brother who's the mayor of Runsway, Georgia Cornell Harvey as his city now gets the attention from our nation that he would be strengthened in leading that city through these times. And again, I just want that name to be on our record and perpetuity, the name of Maude Harvey, just another name added to this long list, this sad list of folk who were just living, who was jogging, who was doing something that we said was okay to do during this pandemic and that's to be out and get some exercise. May God bless and comfort his family. I'm praying for Brunsway, Georgia and Glen County. May God bless and protect our city. Black Lives Matter. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you very much for those remarks, Council Member Mayor Pro Tem. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just wanted to thank Council Member Middleton for bringing that up. It's been a real struggle the last couple of days. Knowing that this has happened again than another black person, another black man has lost their life to violence, to vigilante violence. And so thank you for bringing that into the room. I wanted to also bring up a press conference that I was on yesterday with a public advocate of the City of New York who has, as I have, along with him and several dozen other elected officials signed a letter asking the Department of Justice to investigate the COVID response throughout the country in light of the racial disparities that we've seen in infections and deaths disproportionately affecting people of color, primarily black folks, Native Americans and Latinos across the United States. And so we've called for a Department of Justice investigation of that. We know that here in North Carolina, those disparities exist. They exist all over the country. And it's very important for us to think about why those are happening and to change our policy so that we don't see this kind of disparity moving forward. I'm happy to share more with my colleagues about that, but I hope that y'all will support. I think there's an open letter for sign-on that I'll send out. Thank you. Thank you for those remarks, Madam Mayor Pro Tem. Are there other announcements? Council Member Freeman. Yes, thank you. I also wanted to thank Council Member Middleton for raising a mod, Arbery. I'm just catching on. I haven't been on social media and just hearing about it, but I do want to raise the consciousness of how we respond in our community and acknowledging that in addition to what has happened to a mod, Arbery, that the Durham community on the affairs of black people has also raised an issue here in Durham. And I'm unfortunately disappointed in how it's being addressed. And I would hope that we would all consider our role as the fact that race is a protective factor for people who are advantaged as white. And so just noting that I hope to have some response to that letter in the coming days, but I am just noting that there is definitely an ongoing and heartbreaking reality in addressing issues of racism in this country and right here in Durham that I've yet to figure out how to wrap my arms around, but I am consistently pushing in that, realizing that we have to do this together and we have to find ways to meet each other and move past what has happened in the past to a better future. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member. Madam Mayor Pro Tem. I'm sorry, Council Member Freeman, have we received a letter from the committee? Yes, we were CC'd on the letter. So it's a, I can forward it to you. We were CC'd along with the county. Is it a letter to us though that we need to respond to? Because I don't know that I know what letter you mean. Yes, I'll forward it along. Okay. Thank you. Are there any other comments? Announcements. I do have one announcement. And I'm going to begin with an apology to you all. I realized that I didn't give you all the heads up on our chairs of our renewal and recovery task force. And I apologize. I always, as you know, I really try to keep everybody as informed as I can, but I just blew it. And so I just want to say that we have the two chairs of our recovery and renewal task force as you all know, we're announced yesterday and I'm very happy about them. The first is Katie Gale-Braith, who is the president of Duke Regional Hospital and the second is Matisha Sims. Matisha is vice president of Blue Cross and Blue Shield and controller of Blue Cross and Blue Shield. A lot of us know Katie from various civic activities and a lot of us know Matisha, especially those of us who have served on the audit services committee. She now chairs that committee of the city has been on our committee for a long time. So I apologize for not giving you all the heads up on those names, but I'm very excited about those. All right. Now we're going to move to, once I get my iPad ready here, we're going to move to our budget and management, we're going to move to our departmental items and we'll begin with our budget and management services. Mr. Mayor, could we do a priority item from the city manager? I'm sorry. Yes, my apologies. I apologize, Tom. Thank you. Yes, priority items by the city manager. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good afternoon, mayor, members of council. I have two priority items this afternoon. One is listed in the agenda memo, which is item number two, the Raleigh Durham Airport Authority acceptance of a federal aviation administration grant. The airport authority has asked that the city council consider suspending the rules and voting on the approval of the acceptance of that grant today. As you know, any of those FAA grants, which we've done many, many times have to be accepted by the four owners of the airport and before the airport authority is allowed to accept them. Obviously it's a substantial amount of money that came through some of the CARES legislation to assist the airport in many of their revenue shortfalls. It's very important that that process move along and not wait for the council meetings. Hopefully you will consider that. Secondly, an item that's not on the agenda, Mr. Mayor, I talked to you about yesterday. At the end of the work session today, I would request a few minutes to talk with the council about future council meetings and the need for some additional council meetings in June, in particular to handle a mounting number of land use related public hearing items. So I'll wait and talk about that whenever you feel it's appropriate, Mr. Mayor, but probably at the end of the meeting will be fine. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Manager. And can I have a motion to approve the manager's priority items? So moved. Seconded. It's been moved and seconded that we approve the manager's priority items. I'm going to ask everyone in favor to please raise your hand in a way that the clerk can see it. Madam clerk, are we good? Yes, we are. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. The motion passes unanimously. And now we'll move to the city attorney. Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, members of city council. The city attorney's office has no priority items today. Thank you, madam attorney. And madam clerk, madam clerk, you're muted. Excuse me. The city clerk's office has no priority items today. Thank you, madam clerk. Now we will move to. Now we'll move to the departmental items. First budget and management services department. Item one FY 2021 budget development guidelines. We'll pull this item under the city manager's office. Item two, Raleigh Durham airport authority, federal aviation administration, FAA, coronavirus aid relief and economic security act, CARES grant offer. And this is an item that the manager has asked us to go ahead and suspend the rules and vote on today. I'll ask first, if there are any questions or are any issues that anyone wants to raise before we take action on this. All right. Then I'll ask for a motion to suspend the rules and vote. So moved. Second. Thank you. It's been moved and seconded that we suspend the rules and vote. And again, I'll ask all in favor to please raise your hand in a way that the clerk can see it. How are we madam clerk? Perfect. Thank you. Thank you. The eyes have it. The motion passes unanimously. And now I'll accept a motion to approve the acceptance of this grant. Second. It's been moved and seconded that we accept the grant. All in favor, please raise your hand in a way that the clerk can also identify clearly. Yes, I have it. Thank you. Thank you, madam clerk. The eyes have it. The motion passes unanimously under department of community development item three affordable housing loan portfolio servicing. Also would like to pull this item. Item four under department of transportation municipal agreement for east club Boulevard sidewalk spot safety funds. Item five under department of water management supervision supervisory control and data acquisition scatter on call services contract. Item six south Durham water reclamation facility administration building renovations. Award of professional architectural services contract to DTW architects and planners limited. Like to pull that item, Mr. Mayor. All right. Thank you. Item seven under general services proposed advanced acquisition for the future expansion of Lake Mickey property of Russell Ellis estate parcel. One nine two two seven six. I just will say awesome. Still my favorite city program in history. Congratulations to water management for this long-term planning. Item eight city of Durham employment training 2018 twenty grant project ordinance superseding project ordinance number one five three oh five. Item nine public works department ordinance recognizing the reference guide for development and establishing a related fee. I just want to say on this item. Congratulations to Mario to all the people in the departments that worked on this thing. This is a giant. Multi departmental project and I just want to thank you and congratulate you on this. Item 10 contract amendment number one for ST 302 street repairs and repaving. 2020 project. Great, I would say. Item 11 contract number one for ST 300 C utility location services. Item 12 contract amendment number one for ST 301 C paving services 2020. Mr mayor wanted to pull that item. Item 12 thank you. All righty. Item 13 is contract amendment. Number one SW 39 C for additional construction engineering and inspection for SW 39. University drive bicycle and pedestrian facilities project will pull that as well. Item 14 utility extension agreement with non 19 storage NC 98 LLC to serve Carthage industrial. I'm going to pull that item as well. All right. Pull item 14 item 15 street and infrastructure acceptances and that item as well. All right. Under presentations budget and management services department item 16. 2021 proposed budget. FY 21 26 cap for improvement plan CIP to be provided at the upcoming council meeting. Under public hearings community development department proposed amendments to the FY 2015 2016 2016 17. 2017 18 18 19 and 19 and 20 annual action plans. I would add that we have heard from a clerk that we have no public comment on any of our items today. So Mr manager the items that I have are one 36. 12 13 14 and 15. 12 13 and 15. I concur. Thank you so much. Mr mayor. Yes, sir. Just real quick. I didn't want to. If we had been meeting in person, I would have done a couple of, I don't want to pull this item, but I just want to say. I'll just say that this agenda today. Is one of the best examples I can think of the fact that we are in the midst of this epidemic. And we're getting the additional spot spot safety funds for to complete the East Club Boulevard sidewalk project, which is a great project. That's been in our plans for a number of years that that's finally going to happen. It's fantastic. And as you said, the acquisition of land around Lake Mickey. And the reference guide for development is an incredible achievement. I didn't I'll be honest. I'll be honest. I'll get through all 275 pages. Fair, fair warning. Full disclosure. But I will say that it's, um, it's, it's amazing that this kind of work can, can keep going forward. You know, street paving. Um, just all of the things that, that make city government work are still happening right now as we speak. I just want to thank the city manager and our staff for that relentless focus on essential services because it really makes a difference. So, um, time minds together as well. Because similarly, I pulled 10, 10, 12, 13 and 14. Um, similarly to say that it's great that the, that we're moving forward, but acknowledging the equity and aspect of how, if we're not conscious of what happens, um, in the midst of going through the motions, um, work for statistics outline and share a lot of information that we might not see. And if we don't request it from those vendors, um, we don't necessarily know that we're just, you know, handed over, especially when the numbers are in the millions. So I know for at least one or two of those items, I think it was 13 or 12, but one of them, um, we have to, we have to use the opportunity to make sure that we're, we're actually living into our values and acknowledging what racial equity means. And so those items were pulled just to note that, um, I'm not sure what the process was, but I know in one of them, um, the goal wasn't met because they extended, um, the subcontracting. And I just wanted to note that the relationships that are created when you have people of color on staff, um, can, can, can assist in that. And so asking for work for statistics is still important. And, um, if, if along those lines, uh, 10, 10, 12, 13 and 14, you can, um, exclude because that was all I wanted to say. And the only item I really wanted to speak on was 15. Thank you, council member. 10, 12, 13 and 14. Thank you. Um, I want to add, uh, we, um, I think I'll just ask our city attorney to make the comment, uh, that is in the chat, um, important comment. Madam attorney, would you, would you, uh, like to add about the, uh, the work on the reference guide for development? I would. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to also thank deputy city attorney, Don O'Toole, who I know has worked very carefully and closely with Maryl Klein and others at, you know, many in the planning department on the reference public works on the reference guide for development. It was a labor of love, I think from everyone. And I know he put a lot of thought and energy into it. And I just wanted him to know I appreciate his efforts. I am impressed that anyone could think that the reference, the editing and fixing up a 275 page reference guide would be a labor of love. It was. Attorney, but that's awesome. I guess that's what it takes to work in city government. Or, or, or to be an attorney. Or be an attorney. You get deep doubt about that stuff. Yeah. Thank you. I could, I could tell by the amount of work that was done that somebody must have loved it. Honestly. There was a lot of effort put into that. Yes it was. I don't know, I don't know if Don has told you this, but I call them spot whenever I see them. Well, as a cucumber. Thank you so much for. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Okay. And council member Reese, thank you for the comments on that and, and council member Freeman. We'll now move to our first item, which is the budget development guidelines. And I have a question about those, which I sent an email to, and I think David responded to me today, but I didn't have a chance to look at it and apologize. My question is. Well, first of all, thank you for the guidelines. I think they are fully in keeping with what we decided last time. We had a unanimous support for them. And I was glad to see that you had codified them in the guidelines. How much does the 12% fund balance represent? And what is the difference between that and our 8% fund balance? Good afternoon, Bertha Johnson, director of budget management services. David did respond to the email and I wasn't sure if he was on the call, but the number that he sent to you was 12% at the 24.6 million and 16.7% at the 34.2 million. And that difference was 9.6 million. And I'm not sure if we had the, if David has, if he's on the call, the 8% number. David Boyd, finance director. I don't have that 8% calculation in front of me. That's not actually a number that we really pay much attention to. It's not calculated the same way that we calculate our 12 and 16% numbers. And we've always been well above the 12% number. That's a state guideline that they use. And it's generally a indication of governments that are really struggling to maintain fund balance. David, can you say again, I know Bertha just said this, can one of y'all say again, the 12% number? 24.6 million. And the 16%. 34.2. So roughly a $10 million difference. Yes. 9.6 million. 9.6. Okay. Thank you very much. That's what I was wanting to know. All right. Colleagues, any questions or comments? Council member Caballero. Thank you, Mayor. I just had a quick question. The guidelines were great, but on, on the third page, the second to last bullet where we discussed the $5 million kind of set aside, you know, the. Working towards the 5 million. I just had a clarifying question. If that was mostly what are we anticipating that as mostly relief or are we anticipating it as a combination of relief? And then also having to shore up operational parts for the city to meet, you know, social distancing guides, you know, I'm thinking like retrofitting buildings to be safer. Thinking plexiglass and distancing and things like that. So just wanted to know what that 5 million encompasses. Yes. Council member Caballero. It is really all encompassing at this point. Because we have not, we don't know many aspects of things, both in terms of what are the pressures for relief and response going to be as well as, as we're working through the, the review of operational requirements as it relates to employee protection, public protection. So I would say at this point it's likely to be some of both. But we felt we just know we're not going to be in a position of knowing those details when it comes time to adopt the budget. But that's why I felt like it's important that we at least reserve some funds so we know we have a resource when we, when we get those details worked out. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you, council member. Are there other questions or comments about these budget guidelines at this point? Thank you, everybody. Thank you, Bertha. Thank you, David. We'll now move to item three, affordable housing loan fund portfolio servicing. And this was the one I also had some questions about. And welcome, Reginald. Greetings, mayor. Mayor pro 10 members of city council, Reginald Johnson, director, department of community development. Reginald. The, I wanted to just get a little bit more insight into. Our loan portfolio. There, as I read this, there are 638 loans that are serving being serviced. And I wondered if you could, I saw the list in the evaluation attachment. Of the various kinds of loans that are there. But I had two questions. One is to understand kind of what the bulk of these loans are. And also try to understand. I guess three questions. One is, are many of these loans forgivable or are these loans that we are? Clearly some of them we're working actively to collect, which is why we have this. This agency on board for the portfolio servicing. But, and then. Delinquency. I was wondering about our delinquency issues with the loans and how they're handled. Is this how they handle by this loan portfolio servicing agency. So those are my questions. I can ask them one at a time if that be easier. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, but if Miss one, I'll be glad to, if you chime in. So the loans are loans that we receive payments on. So that's, that's number one. The loan portfolio that AmeriNational services actually is about 384 loans. You asked what's the makeup of those loans. It's valued at about $35 million. So 79 of those loans are developer loans. So 79 of the 300 developer loans. But the value of those are about 30.8 million dollars. Of the 384 loans, 305 of those are residential loans. 305 of the 384 residential loans at a value of 4.1 million dollars. You asked about the delinquency. So all these 384 loans are 64 of them are 30 days or less. But in terms of delinquency, that's the lowest that it's been in a year. And so in terms of a reflection of what's been happening recently, we haven't had that impact on our loan portfolio yet. And that is of April the 30th. So today it's May the 5th, May the 7th. The report that I just gave you about the 64 loans is as of April the 30th. Thank you. So a couple of questions. Why did I have the number 638 in my head? I thought I had read where 638 loans and I'm looking for it. Am I just, yeah, if it. Some page three. Yeah, it's on page three of the memo reginal, but maybe that's not the number of loans. Maybe I'm. Well, let me, I'm going, I don't have it in front of me. And so what I'll do is just let me reconcile that. And just, I'll send you a commune. Actually. My staff is listening. The staff is listening. That is texting me that some of those loans of the 604 are forgivable. So the portion I gave you are the loans that are where persons are paying. Okay. That's where the difference in the number. Got it. And can you give me an example of one of the developer loans? What, what would be, what would be an example of one of those? One of the developer loans that comes to, to mine is the. Holds remit. That's one of our long, long-term loans. I can provide a list to you. I can provide a list to you. But these are loans that typically have multifamily projects. They have a range of, of, of financing that we've done. I can, we can give you a list. I would love that list. Okay. I feel not very well versed in that. And I would love to just have a list at some point, not, you know, not urgent, but thank you for that. Okay. We'll provide that to you as follow up. Thank you. Colleagues. Any questions? Thank you. I just was working, looking at the workforce statistics for this firm. And I just wanted to say they're very impressive. Some of the. Better numbers that I've seen in a firm and just was curious. Where, where, maybe it is in the memo. I just missed it. But where are they based? The firm is actually based in law in California. Okay. They do have offices in the northern part of the country. I think in Minnesota. We've, they've done a great job and then we've been doing business with them since 2004. And they do service other cities around the country in the same way. I just wanted to highlight that because I thought it was terrific. And also going back to the mask. Question. There are some loans that we have from Casa. That are part of the portfolio as well in DCLT that are considered developer loans. Thank you. Council member premium. I believe you had your hand up. Thank you. I just wanted to follow up. Just for clarity. The loans that you're talking about that are forgivable. Are they forgivable because they're CBDG or home funds? Are they because of some. Plan or ordinance that was put in place locally. No, it's a, it's a range in terms of the funding source. And it depends upon the deal that arrangement that was made when we constructed the, the deal with the, with the developer. And so it, some of the loans might be 10 or 15 years old. Definitely some of them predate my coming to the department and most of the staff's coming to the department, but it depends upon the arrangement that we have at the particular time. Thank you very much, Reginald. Are there any other questions? Okay. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Now we'll move to item six and council member carburetor. I believe you pulled this item. No, no. Who pulled out in six. It was me. It was me, Mr. Mayor. Oh, okay. Charlie. Thank you. Council memory. Sorry. Hi, Mr. Greely. How are you today? Good. Good afternoon, Mayor, Pro Tem members of council, Don Greely, department of water management. I think you win the zoom background contest for the day. That is glorious. That's tier quarry. I thought so. Very nice. I had a question about the architect that you're proposing to hire for this project. Once in the agenda memo and once in the compliance memo, it indicates that the firm is minority owned. Can you talk a little bit more about that? Cause that's, that's not my understanding about DTW architecture. Yes. That's our understanding from the equity inclusion department. We're circling back with them to confirm that it's, it's our understanding. They're Latino owned business firm. So. Okay. Do they fall under the MBE? But we'll, we're circling back and making sure that that's correct. And we'll get back to you. Thank you. I appreciate it. That's all I have, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. And I just had the, I'm sorry, Mr. Mayor, I had the item marked as, um, I really appreciate the compliance report being included. I know that, um, I've pressed on that a few times and I really appreciate it. I'm including it. Thank you. Thank you. Um, I, here's my question about this item. Why did this item come to us, Mr. Manager? Isn't this under the threshold for our approval for your approval? Uh, Mr. Mayor, I'm not sure about that. I'll have to defer to the staff as to what was the background on that. Um, I didn't pick up on the difference there. So I don't know if somebody has comment. Well, I just, I just, uh, don't know that we need to comment, but in general, um, You know, I support your discretionary authority and just want to make that clear. Yeah. Um, mayor, I thought there was a certain trigger that I think made it go into the, uh, council agenda cycle. I'll follow up with staff, what trigger that was and let you know. Yeah. You don't need to let me know. I'll follow up with staff. I'll follow up with staff. I'll follow up with staff. Okay. Don't do the extra work on my account, but, um, just flagging that the ones that you all can do, we like you to do. So thank you. Thank you, Mr. Thank you, everybody. Uh, any other questions on that item? Uh, if not, we'll move to item 15. Uh, this was pulled by council member Freeman and it is street and infrastructure acceptances. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I, I really, um, I was wondering if there was a, I was wondering if there was a, I was wondering if there were street and infrastructure team does. And I was really, I was looking at the item and just trying to understand, I noticed there were a lot of, uh, departments included, but I didn't see NIS or the office of equity and inclusion included. And so I was just wondering if there was a engagement plan around all the outreach that would happen. To the, um, perimeter, I guess property owners. Um, I was just wondering if there was any feedback on, on how he would. Thank you. I'll ask the manager if he wants to respond to that. Um, Mr. Mayor, I would just want to see a bow where Marvin Williams could respond to that place. But, uh, I'll ask the manager if he wants to respond to that. Uh, Mr. Mayor, I would just want to see a bow where Marvin Williams could respond to that place. Uh, Marvin Williams public works. Typically we don't do any formal outreach to neighboring communities. We accept infrastructure in for city maintenance. Um, it's pretty standard that a lot of these are just different phases of developments that the city already owns and maintains. So there hasn't been any type of formal plan developed to do any additional outreach. It's just part of our normal maintenance operations. Once we assume ownership of the city, I would just add that it might be helpful to just make, um, Some of the community engagement staff aware, because then they could share that when they're doing outreach or as they're doing their update newsletters. I mean, they could be sharing. Um, This information that's coming along because you're sharing the locations and I'm sure they could break that out by, um, their teams. Um, We can absolutely include NIS and OEWD or any other departments on the notification process when we formally accept infrastructure. So that's not a problem at all. Thank you. Any other questions or comments on this item? All right. Thank you very much. Um, I believe we have now reached the end of our agenda. And I'll ask, uh, the manager, uh, to recommend settling the agenda. Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'll give you the information to settle the agenda. Then I would like to come back to my, my fault. Let's do that first. And then we'll start. You want to do that first? Yeah, sure. Okay. So thank you. So, uh, Mr. Mayor, members of the council, um, as you know, um, we have, um, continued to, uh, to plan for, uh, a variety of council meetings, uh, you know, during this, uh, this environment and up until now have suspended, uh, all of the, uh, public hearing, uh, items, uh, going all the way back to, uh, to March, uh, obviously because we couldn't meet in person. We were trying to think through, uh, what are the legal and practical requirements. Uh, the legal requirements. Uh, the thoroughness of public input for public hearings. And, uh, and what's the technology requirements associated with that. So, uh, we are at a point that, uh, I think we have mostly figured that out. Also though, I'm sure when we get there, there'll be a few bumps along the road. I think we, we have a plan in place. So currently we have, uh, upwards of 20. Public hearing land use related type items that have been held in abeyance or will likely be held in abeyance, uh, before, uh, the end of, uh, or need to be dealt with before the end of June. Uh, the planning department would like to, uh, begin, uh, review of those or have those items, uh, considered at the June, uh, planning department. Uh, review of those or have those items considered at the June 1st, uh, city council meeting. So we have currently two council meetings in June. Obviously June 1st, where we'll have the budget public hearing June the 15th. We'll have the acting on the budget in both cases, but the rest of the agenda items. So I don't think it's practical by the way, this will have to be structured that we're going to be able to, to follow the, uh, the typical process by putting, putting a many, many, many public hearing items on these agendas or, or we're going to have very, very long nights. So what we have been discussing and are suggesting is that we take, take a few items, a few of those public hearing items at the June 1st meeting, some at the June 15th meeting, but that we also schedule two or three additional, uh, special council meetings for these public hearings. Um, and then what I wanted to talk to you about was one to see if that was a suitable, um, or acceptable process for you, but two to get your feedback on, uh, your preferences for how they would be scheduled. Uh, our initial thought was that we would do, do them during the intervening weeks of council meetings, but certainly would defer if you feel like, uh, that you want to have three meetings in a week, uh, versus the next week have none. The other question that we, uh, have been kicking around, we wanted some feedback from the council. Obviously what day of the week is a preferable day. Um, and then, um, if, you know, depending on how we do that, but also a preferable time, uh, we do have some flexibility, quite a bit of flexibility, uh, as to how we can schedule those. Uh, but I know that, uh, many members of council have are balancing a variety of challenges, uh, at home, uh, with families and business and all those kinds of things. So, you know, we, we could, for example, uh, do like we have done and start those public hearings at seven o'clock, just acknowledging that we will likely go way, way into the evening, even for handling two or three of them. Uh, or we could start earlier in the afternoon, say four o'clock, uh, acknowledging that we get done earlier in the evening, but likely would, uh, have those, those meetings run through the dinner hour, or we could start sometime earlier in the day, uh, and then just acknowledge that, uh, there may be some issues that some level of participation may be impacted by people who can't participate because of work requirements or those kinds of things. So that's generally what we, uh, we would like to get some feedback and discussion from the council members on. The other, uh, piece that, um, is kind of related, uh, but I think it's something that we should just practically talk about today as well is the, uh, is whether or not the council will, uh, retain the virtual meeting environment for what period of time. Uh, my suggestion, uh, based on everything that I read and I think where we're going to be, is that we just acknowledge that we will be in the virtual environment, at least through the end of June, possibly longer, but I don't feel comfortable at all that we will be in a place that we can, uh, hold, uh, full meetings and certainly public hearing type meetings in the council chambers. So, uh, that's all the variety, variety of things that I want to talk to you about today. We can take them in any particular order, however you decide, uh, but it's something that we do need to, uh, one, uh, start planning around because we have, uh, notice requirements and those kinds of things. Obviously lots of interest from the, uh, the persons who have filed these petitions to, uh, have them considered in advance. Um, and then, uh, also, I think we should be clear with the public about what expectations are for, uh, virtual or in-person meetings, uh, at least in the near future. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Manager. I think that what I'd like to do is take the first issue first. Um, as I understand it, uh, your recommendation is that we let the public know that at least through the end of June, we will be having our meetings virtually. And so I just want to hear if there are any comments from members of the council. I certainly support that, but just want to hear if there are any comments or concerns, uh, by anyone. So Mr. Manager, I think we can take that as an affirmation, uh, that you can let the staff know and we can let the public know, uh, that for the next, that would leave us basically for the next couple of months. Uh, we will be having our meetings virtually. And then as we get into June, uh, we'll, we'll await your further recommendation. Great. Thank you. And then the second question is more complicated colleagues and about, uh, uh, I think we, we have, we've got to start, uh, uh, these public hearings. We owe it to the people that are waiting for them, uh, and to our public. Uh, and that means we are going to have to have some longer meetings with more complicated processes. Uh, and you've heard the manager, uh, ask for some guidance on when we would like these special meetings in terms of the time of day. Uh, and also, uh, whether we would prefer a certain day of the week or especially whether we'd like to have the meetings in the week in which we have our other meetings, our regular meetings, or would we rather spread them out, uh, into what is traditionally our off week. So maybe I'll take those, try to try to make it easier for us by separating those and ask, uh, maybe I'll use the third, the last question first, which is how do people feel? What are your opinions about whether or not we should have it on the off week or whether we should have it. Uh, in the same week, we have our main council meeting and work session. Any thoughts? Council member. Yeah, I just want to make sure. So right now we have a meeting on the first and the 15th. And then we're just trying to pick extra days and times to fit. And it's a total of 20 or there's more. Uh, it's close to 20 and could be more depending on how many more come in the door. Um, you know, but it's, it's upwards of 20. Yeah. And also we would have the work session on the was on those. Right. Um, I think my only, we wouldn't normally have the work session scheduled for that. Thursday after the 15th meeting, uh, because we, you know, that would be done here. Right. Uh, I think my only thing is that zooms are harder for whatever reason for me, they're harder to stay on longer. Uh, so I think even if it's in and everyone may have a different opinion, but it's harder. I think the first council meeting that we did, uh, virtually where we got wonderful information, but it went pretty late. It was harder than it would have been in person just because of what's happening in my house. So, um, uh, chunking it even, and I know that means more meetings. So I want to respect everyone else's times, but a four hour meeting is a lot harder for me virtually than like a two hour meetings. Thank you. Can we hear other comments? Just to hear people's preferences and. Hi. Um, I don't, uh, I don't have any preferences. We'll figure it out here. I want to make sure we accommodate everybody else. Obviously a two hour meeting is better than a four hour meeting, but I'm not sure to two hour meetings or any better for me than one four hour meeting. But I understand other people have different stuff going on. Um, but I did want to say before we get off of this subject entirely, I do want to talk about kind of what the staff's plan is for public comment. Um, as some of us may have heard the general assembly passed a law over the weekend that set out what we're kind of how we're, how we're supposed to do it. And I just want to make sure we're on board with that. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We will definitely have that discussion once we settle to kind of win. So thank you for bringing that up, council member. And we're working on that. I would say, Mr. Mayor, and, um, I can say from the feedback that I've had discussions with the city attorney's office as well as the planning department, uh, their proposal will far and exceed the minimal requirements that were laid out by the new legislation. Thank you so much. Madam attorney. Hi, Mr. Mayor. I also wanted to add that Chris, a Cougarow who is the assistant city attorney that works on our legislative matters is sitting in a training as we speak, uh, where the school of government and some other entities are updating folks on the legislative changes that were made. And so we're going to be sending out guidance to the administration and the council as well. She's just going to kind of summarize what the new rules are, what we need to make sure we're covering as we have public hearings online. Thank you. In the next three to five days. Great. Thank you. Council member Reese is that satisfy you for now. Thank you so much. Colleagues, um, other people want to comment on their preferences. Council member Freeman. Thank you. I appreciate, um, the city manager trying to move us forward with the public hearings. And I appreciate a council member Reese's questions about how that will work. I also have concerns. Um, and then I also know, um, I am still working full time. Um, and, um, as an essential worker, there is actually like. Physically, I like a day like Thursdays in the mornings. I'm, um, Engaged in traffic calming measures and, you know, directing traffic. So for people to pick up food, I just want to make sure that the, it doesn't overlap with any of the meetings or work that I'm doing. So just cognizant that it will depend on which week, because I do have alternating meetings, um, depending on the week. So I would just, um, I would just like to make sure that we're, I'll try to as move as much as I can. I don't think I'll be too much of an issue, but I do want to make a note that there is some time frame that I cannot quite alter. Thank you. That's really important. Thank you for bringing us that. And Mr. Manager, you can make sure you're all are closely, uh, coordinating with council member Freeman. That will be important. All right. That sounds like more of a conflict for early morning or late afternoon. I don't think we'll make more of a discussion, but we're not going to do that. I'm sorry. I just want to make sure that we have more tables than maybe late afternoon or evening. Okay. Um, other people want to express, I'm sorry. The preference is more around, um, late afternoon. So I can't, I mean, like around three o'clock. I'm open. I'm a little bit more open. I don't have meeting scheduled regularly around. Uh, council member Freeman, do you have a preference between a late afternoon and don't I don't okay thank you open on that thank you mayor pro tem thank you mr. Mayor I was just gonna say I also have a preference for shorter more shorter meetings rather than longer meetings also because if my child cares my 13 year old I'd rather not have him doing it for four hours at a time but I in terms of dates and times I'm flexible thank you so much would it be helpful to send it I have one I have two kids who are gonna be having promotion ceremonies I have no idea how they're doing this if they're doing it virtually if we're supposed to be doing a drive whatever but I know that it will be around the 10th or 11th of June should we just send some of these kind of please don't schedule things on these dates to through our admin to Tom would that be easier yeah you could send them to the admin or to the clerk's office so we could accumulate those thank you I'm gonna ask Councilmember Middleton I think is the only person who hasn't expressed a preference if you have any preferences or concerns yeah you know I'll govern myself according to what my colleagues and I'm pretty flexible to really Tuesday nights are really kind of blocked out for me other than that I'm pretty flexible how are you on how are you on Sunday mornings councilmember not not really good I mean I could do it but I'll be multitasking okay yeah yeah I like to see that too having attended church at abundant hope I can tell you that it would be hard to do okay so mr. manager I think we gave you a little guidance I think that there's some preference for shorter meetings more frequently than long meetings and I think it's there's there's a somewhat of a preference for more of the late afternoon evening kind of schedule then a morning schedule I think did I did I fairly summarize colleagues anybody have any and I would add I don't know I wanted to check with councilmember Kali capillero and mayor protim Johnson if the three hours would be okay because I realized four is a long time but if it's possible to do three I'd rather have fewer meetings to bump out people from then more frequent meetings so that's good question not I mean again if there's a little bit of screaming in the background just cope with it no one is in danger it's just that after a couple of hours together my kids are gonna start to hate each other but yeah I mean we can make it work thank you Tom do you feel like you have the guidance that I do we'll go ahead and try to put together a schedule but before we advertise it and publish it I will run it through everybody just to make sure we don't have any major challenges we'll try to get that done early next week I'll get with mr. young and the staff and see see that we can you know put it together we will still try to do a couple hearings on those nights we're already meeting I think that we can make that work without prolonging that night too long those nights too long and then we'll look for some intervening nights with the goal of trying to get through them all before the end of June that's okay thank you thank you colleagues I believe we have now run through our agenda and I'm going to ask the manager again now at the appropriate time to recommend settling the agenda thank you mr. mayor I have items for consent items one and three through 15 the GBA item is item 16 GBA public hearing is item 17 and you dispose of item number two thank you so much can I have a motion that we settle the agenda per the manager's recommendation so moved second it's been moved and second that we that we settle the agenda per the manager's recommendation could I ask the show of hands for all in favor in a way that the clerk can see our hands madam clerk yes thank you thank you so much the eyes have it the motion passes unanimously there being no other meeting no other business to come before this meeting I'm going to declare the meeting adjourned at 1.55 p.m. thank you colleagues hi everybody have a great weekend stay home wash your hands