 Good afternoon. I am Sabrina Odom Edwards. I'm with the North Columbia Business Association and I welcome you to the Noma Trestle District and also to warm out who was the first restaurant and bar snuggle in the Cotton Town neighborhood to come to this community six and a half years ago. So I am very excited to welcome our mayor, our council people to this area where people pursue their dreams through the good and bad times with small businesses. I've realized how important it is to have a friendly process in place to invite anyone who would love to start a business. And I know how being a small business owner myself how it is a struggle to start your own business. So I am very excited here to hear the new plans that are gonna be implemented. So anyone who wants to start a business in Columbia in the city of Columbia will have a friendly process to come to. So welcome you all again to the Noma Trestle District and I hope you come back to the warm out this week if you have not been here and have dinner with them. Okay, thank you so much. And now I will introduce our city manager while she don't need any introduction but Teresa Wilson will be back on. Well, thank you all as Sabrina said for joining us this morning. We're really excited. I personally am encouraged to have the leadership that's being displayed by this seated council. City council has really put a focus with the staff and myself on pushing forward on some business friendly initiatives and really just a common sense if you think about it approach and practical initiatives to getting things done for our small businesses making sure that they are working in an environment and have the right conditions to be successful. Some of these things we probably talked about here and there at one point or another we even focused on it a little bit thinking well we can roll this out in one corridor. And as we continue to talk through that it really from a common sense perspective again makes a lot of difference for these initiatives to be for all the city for all the businesses and all the districts and all the corridors. So giving it a little bit more time and with a little bit of fresh voices and faces like council who are certainly focused on it we have definitely put the time in as staff with our council. It's been a lot of good work productive work together. And I think now this summer being able to roll it out get some feedback from you all as small business owners is going to serve us very well. And I'm looking forward to you hearing about these practical common sense approaches to making sure that we are ensuring the conditions are right for our businesses to be successful and that their solutions oriented and that we as staff are being very open to helping you figure things out and not being in your way. So that's really the gist of it. And I think that you're gonna hear a lot more about it with our next speaker who is of course someone who's very used to working under these conditions to make sure economic development and businesses grow. And that is your city councilman from district four Mr. Joe Taylor and our former South Carolina Secretary of Commerce, Mr. Taylor. Thanks Teresa and let me just say welcome everybody here which good business folks and press folks and utility folks, I mean small business and big business. Welcome to North Main Street. I'm surrounded by the four famous bees in Columbia. I see bass, brim, bourbon and barbecue. So let me tell you, I get the honor today of kind of going through the changes that we're in the process of making or have made that I think makes this probably one of the best days for all business, but especially small business growth in Columbia. You're gonna see on these posters around you'll see it outline and I'll just take a few minutes and run through each one so everybody's aware of it. And then after we're through here all of us will be available for questions. I mean the first is on-site parking requirements are being waived for all buildings, new and existing under 7,500 square feet. I know y'all went through it down here and let me say we're following a practice that you see other university capital cities, Raleigh, North Carolina, Fayetteville, Arkansas where we really wanna cease to become or cease to be a city of parking lots. More capital investment, more tax base and frankly in the past what we've done in too many times and I see my man nodding his head we've forced small businesses to go in rent spaces to meet our own site parking requirement and that's just less capital we have to operate and grow their business. So we're saving significant I think monthly rental costs. The second is grease capture costs. We've had a history here, whether it's good or bad of requiring the most dramatic grease traps that you could do that sometimes can cost as much as $75,000 to $100,000. I mean that's a deal stopper for small business folks and what we've done working with our water and sewer department, I see Clint Shealy, our manager of that department, assistant city manager over here as we work to eliminate the first let me say this, what we've done is we're working with your plumbers and your engineers to make sure the system that you need for your place will work. In other words, it's not just a $75,000 grease trap anymore, it can be a series of grease interceptors. We're thinking like a big city. I mean if you're in downtown Atlanta or New York or somewhere it's not that you can go dig the street up and put in a grease trap and new technologies are out. So from an environmental perspective we wanna make sure you collect the grease but from an economic perspective we wanna make sure it's not a deal killer for you to not be able to start your business up. Jeff Pavan raise your hand Jeff. Jeff runs assistant city manager for finance. For me I think this is one of my favorite of all even though it's really not got a monetary deal attached to it but we're gonna make getting your business license a whole lot easier. You know I tell people our country got started because people didn't like taxes and I'm sure people don't like tax returns and I think the fact that we've asked everybody here for too long to show us your tax return before we give you a business license we're gonna trust you now. It's all you know we're gonna make it where it's easy for you to get your license. You don't have to give a day or so up and Jeff has assured us all that by this fall or by the fourth quarter that you'll be able to do everything online and I think that just it really takes a big headache away and it makes things easier. We're gonna make renovations and remodeling a lot easier. Unfortunately we've had some cases where a perfect example is a new automotive shop in the central business district where we made you if you made your outside of your building look really good and you invested in it you would have to bring your landscaper requirements up to what the current rules were and that caused us in lots of cases to take away parking places and things like that which practically sometimes even had a negative result where it caused you not to have the own site parking requirement that we used to have. So today if you're doing if you're gonna invest in your building and renovating it, making it look better you'll be able to keep your landscaping as it is you'll not have to be compelled to bring it straight up to the new standards. My favorite of all and again this is where I would again thank Clint Shealy and Teresa Wiltson for working hard on this as we're eliminating the water and sewer capacity fee or expansion fee on meters less than four inches. So if you buy a building on North Main take this building here it was an automotive shop it used to be you convert it from an automotive shop into a cool little restaurant like this you would have to pay a change of use fee which could be as much as 35 or even $45,000. We've eliminated that and I can just tell you from a personal perspective I've watched people walk away from us on hospitality opportunities because of that. On bigger meters we will you get credit for what the service was there to begin with it's a different approach. I don't think it will have a negative fiscal impact at all as a matter of fact I think it will have a positive fiscal impact because the deals we lost before we'll get now that pay more taxes hire more people, buy more water, pay for more sewer. If you have questions about that afterwards Clint will be right over there. And I would just say that the last thing we're doing too is we're taking a whole new look at economic development and how we operate it here. You know bringing we expect in 23 to bring recruiters in here that will work for the city that will go out away from Columbia and bring that capital back here. I mean concentrating on urban economic development I think too many times and again I saw this at commerce everybody wants to go chase what we call chasing buffaloes. Airplane manufacturing plants, automotive manufacturing plants but we're not gonna be able to put one of those on North Main Street or in Five Points or on Jervay Street. But what we can do is we can put hotels, restaurants, corporate offices, call centers, things that work in a downtown environment and we're gonna concentrate on that and we're adding in project managers to match with those recruiters. So whether you're an existing business that's going through a permitting process, a new business or a new person coming to invest in Columbia, there'll be a dedicated person on that economic team that can help you through the process. We saw it work and have seen it work extraordinarily well at the state level and I am extremely excited to see that here. I mean, like you say, I think this is a big day for small business. I think it's a good day for all business and I want to thank our staff for working hard on these things. Frankly, these are some of the things, the reasons that I ran for city council is to make our city as easy to operate in, as easy to start a business in as anywhere else I've seen. And frankly, if we can just fix these property taxes on small business and get our permit and process shortened up, I just think we'll be the next great success story in the south. Thank you. And I guess, Ms. Harbert, I get to introduce you, right? My favorite city council member, the representative of district two, Ms. Tina Herb. Joe, thank you for that awesome introduction. So no, I'm really excited to be here. One of the first things is because this particular building, Wormouth is a city of Columbia project from my old OBO office, but it is an example of the things that we can do with good financing and good support for great ideas and sustainability because we don't, we don't want businesses just to start. We want them to be able to stay and be sustainable. So I'm super excited about that success. And then one thing that we know is that startup costs for small minority women-owned businesses can be a complete barrier, complete barrier sometimes, or delay a project. And so by implementing the things that we're doing today, I am hoping that that will allow more small minority women-owned businesses to be able to open up, particularly around along my north main corridor, and then Sabrina, maybe to help Sabrina out with, back in the day, Sabrina used to have to bring all the complaints, all the complaints from the business community with NCBA, and I'm hoping that with some of the things that we're doing, we won't have, you can have more fun and not bring us the complaints from the city businesses. So I look forward to working with my fellow council folks, as we finalize a lot of these. Joe, great leadership on our economic and community development. I love economics because I love money and I love community development. So this has been a pleasure working on this, and I'm excited about the future. Good morning, everybody. I am Will Brennan. I'll introduce myself since Councilman Herber. District three, so proud to be here today and so proud to be a part of the Economic Development Subcommittee. A large thank you to Ms. Wilson for all your work on these initiatives, to the mayor for your leadership on these initiatives and to my fellow council members for making this happen. But most importantly, I see our city staff huddled over there. Thank you for taking on the challenge that we put in front of you. How to make it easier to start and grow a business in our fantastic city. All signs are pointing to historic growth and population in our state, our county, and in our city. Not just recently, but in the near future. With growth comes challenges that we need to keep up with as a city and as a city council and as a city staff. We need to keep up with our need to grow efficiently and effectively deliver the basic services that our residents and businesses deserve. We need to keep up with providing the foundations for innovation and talent to spread their wings in our city. We've got so much talent in our grade schools, our tech schools, our higher education institutions. We need to continue to grow those foundations to keep that talent here to start a small business. Innovate with us here at the city of Columbia. It's tough, as mentioned earlier, to start a business in general. Startup entrepreneurs and small business owners have a tough road from concept of a business to jump and head first into what is a passion project for most small business startups. Finding the funding, going through the permitting and licensing outlets. It's a challenge a lot of times, but we're here to help make that easier for you as a small business owner and innovator to get to turn that open for business sign on. We are open for business here in the city of Columbia and look to help our small businesses. Any hiccup in that process can turn off that innovative spirit, and we recognize that. So shortening that process, making that process less of a headache and easier is something we are continued to be committed to, and we're going to continue to work on that. I represent district three, though I've been to the warm-mouth many times. I see a hunter-gatherer, high-ZIPA, up there on tap, which is a district three representative. We're very fortunate to have the Vista, five points, Divine Street, Millwood Avenue, Rosewood Drive, and the Garner's Ferry commercial corridors in district three. All these are great districts that are looking for small business growth, and we want to help to track small business and innovators to these districts as well as our entire city. So the new business stormwater credits, Streamline business license process, the Grease Trap Assistance Program, on-site parking changes, and the city commitment. This is my favorite one, I think, Councilman Taylor. The city commitment to marketing our assets regionally, nationally, and how about internationally with your Department of Commerce experience? Let's do it. Let's look for, let's reach for that investment on all corners of the planet. It's a great start. You know, you've heard me say it many times. The only reason city and local governments exist is to give you the citizens of this wonderful city the best quality of life. And we're gonna continue to do that through these efforts, making small businesses welcome in the city of Columbia. So at this time, I would like to introduce Ms. Jean Cecil Frick, the current president of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce, a great partner in this process. Thank you, Will. And thank you, Mayor Rickman and members of Council for your commitment to improving policies and procedures at the city that will continue to make our community more business-friendly. On behalf of the Columbia Chamber, our Board of Directors, and the 1,200 businesses we represent, both large and small, these changes are vital to the growth of the city's economic base. We all want to foster an environment that allows existing businesses to expand while also creating an environment that welcomes new businesses. Far too often, we hear from our partners about the burden of doing business in the city, whether it's lengthy processes, needless requirements, or just too much red tape, not to mention high taxes. We can do better. And today, we are taking an important step forward in taking care of our business community by increasing the speed to market from the moment a business applies for a permit to having the permit in hand. The measures being announced today further enhance our city and the integrity of doing business here. We want all businesses to know not only are they valued, but they are being heard. These initiatives are another reminder that the city of Columbia is open for business. We all want to see our businesses succeed. The Columbia Chamber is thrilled to see that the city developed these measures on behalf of the business community. And we also want to publicly thank you for your efforts with the Tax Modernization Committee. We look forward to seeing more business-friendly recommendations come out of those efforts. Again, thank you, Mayor Rickerman, city council and city staff for your commitment to identifying and resolving some of the challenges of doing business in the city. We look forward to expanding our economic base by implementing these business-friendly measures announced today. On behalf of our partners and future partners, please know how much the chamber appreciates the city's efforts to foster a more business-friendly environment. We welcome the opportunity to move our business community forward together. Thank you. And now, Mayor Rickerman needs no introduction. Thank you, Jean. Thank you, everybody, for being here. It's amazing when you listen to the conversations that are going on and the excitement that's befalling. But since we've started talking about more business-friendly and being open, every corner of this community I go through, I hear people excited about it. There's a new sense of energy. And we need to harvest that energy and continue to help support all these businesses. But if you think about it, we've had Swift brands locate in five points. We had a ribbon cutting for paint and sip right up here on the street. We have Uncle Willie's opened up. We have the strudel on Lady Street. Then we ended up looking at all these businesses from the falafel king on continuing to grow. It's very exciting to go to a lot of ribbon cuttings. Even though I get ribbed quite a bit about it, I love it because if you think about it, nothing but wings has opened up. We've had all these people who are investing and are excited and the public supporting them. And that's the energy we want because we are an incredible community that supports its small businesses. I'd be remiss if I didn't take this moment to thank Joe, Tina, and Will, and Teresa for all of their hard work, and of course our staff. But more so, I also need to make sure that I take a minute. Reverend McDowell's here. I want you to look behind me right now. You have all four districts represented here. That's how important the initiatives that we're doing is to every corner of our community, that we have every council member representing those districts here today. And I can't tell you how much I appreciate all the efforts that everybody's doing together if it's the city staff who are all here in support who wanna make our city have a much better quality of life, more opportunity to do business and change those conditions. But I also wanna make sure everybody understands that we're not done yet. This is just the beginning. We want to encourage the economic growth. We wanna get more people in the city center. There are other cities in our state that have upwards of nine and 10,000 people living downtown. We're at about 3,000. We need to encourage more growth downtown. We need more people living, breathing, eating, living right here in downtown. But to do that, we gotta still continue to focus on changes. You heard everybody talk about processes. We need to make sure that permit processing is easy and predictable. Make it real easy for us to step in. I think the part of that we have to look at, we just spent thousands of staff hours, public meetings, and a huge investment in new zoning laws. We need to use those zoning laws. We need to give the staff the ability to do their job so that they can move forward. We need to take those hurdles that are still in the way out of the way so that people can easily start their business. As you remember, today's currency is time. Time is money, folks. And it is important for everybody who's trying to open business, who's trying to make an investment, who's trying to move forward. Time is money. And then a second, we've talked a lot about modernizing our taxes. And obviously that's very important because that's the taxes on apartments, small businesses, and investments. As a homeowner, we benefit from low taxes. But those folks who are renting, those people who are trying to buy a second home or rental property or making an investment, they're suffering because we can't offer the small guy any type of tax incentive. So we need to levelize the playing field. All the work that the Tax Modernization Committee has done is gonna be something that this summer we're gonna be meeting with all our partners so that we can implement this sooner than later. Just the fact that we're having this conversation today, folks, I've heard from more people willing to invest in our community because they see a change coming. Conversation is the first step. And then I think in the next part we have to do, I'd be remiss if I didn't take a moment to thank Chairman Overture Walker, Vice Chairwoman Jessica Mackey and the entire Richland County Council for not moving forward on any tax increases, for really stepping back and going, let's try to work as a community so that we can be competitive. Our goal is to be the number one county in South Carolina and Columbia to be the number one city in South Carolina. And we can do that with growth, with investment. But we can't talk about attainable housing. We can't talk about affordable housing or workforce housing, job initiatives, and investment growth if we're not tackling the issues that have been holding us back. And that's why we're here today. This is step one and we're gonna continue to work. But we're only gonna be able to do it together. And that's why you see this united. And once again, I have to thank Council. City Council has been working forward and it has not been about my district or your district, it's been about Columbia as a whole community. And Richland County has been just astronomically supportive of working together to bring the county along so that we're all working together. So I wanna thank the business community for their support. I wanna thank the small businesses. I wanna thank all the folks who are involved from our neighborhood leaders to our elected officials to continue to move Columbia forward. And with that, I wanna thank everybody for being here. I do wanna mention to all the media, all council, all speakers are available for any questions. But folks, this is step one. Thank you for being here with support. Columbia is open for business, so let's go recruit.