 It's just not prudent. Certainly. Good evening, Mr. Rickerman, Mr. McDowell, Mr. Duvall, Mr. Vines, Mr. Davis, Mayor Benjamin. Thank you. Everyone please stand for the Pudge of Legions. Pudge of Legions, justice for all. Good job, fellas. They were nervous. Great job, young man. Great job. Reverend McDowell, you have a recognition? Yes. I'd like to introduce Dr. Thurman Bowen, the pastor of the Trinity Baptist Church on Richland Street. He's going to come now and render our invocation. Dr. Bowen. Pastor, how are you? Doing just fine, Mayor. Was thinking, Mayor, as I'm prepared to do the prayer that I've been the pastor of the Trinity Baptist Church for 21 years, and in my meetings, I have our monthly meetings, our quarterly meetings, and we don't have anyone there. And whenever there's a large amount of people in my quarterly meetings, that tells me that something is wrong. And so we're going to pray to all these many people in this meeting that we will come through in a fine, fine manner. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for this awesome opportunity to come together and reason together, and to tell all that you might address the concerns of your people. Lord, we pray now that you would give this council board wisdom and give them knowledge. And these concerned citizens, we pray that you would give them understanding that you would be in the mix. Not only are you a God that's over this country and this nation, but, Lord, we pray that you'll be a God that will rule rest and abide within this meeting, and that, dear Lord, that you are sure of the people of that, that you are still strong, that you are still God. And we thank you, dear Lord, for this leadership. I guide them in a way, dear Lord, that will surpass all understanding, in a way that will certainly be designed to look for the needs of the people. So we pray, dear Lord, that this will be the very thing that will be done on this night. So calm them down. Calm us down. Let us reason together. And we pray for your presence, your spirit, my name matches the name of Jesus, the risen Christ. We do pray. Let us say amen. Amen. Thank you, Reverend. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Pastor. Thank you. I'm city manager. Yes, sir. I'm going to move the agenda with the pastor. It's amazing you referenced the prophet Isaiah. Come, let us reason together. We were just talking about that in the back room. And due consideration, discussion with the neighbors in the VISTA, the VISTA Neighbor Association and the developers, we're going to defer item 41 for two weeks in the interest of everyone talking together again. We actually, I thought, had a good and productive meeting last time. Did you see more of that? And that's something that's incredibly important to Reverend McDowell. And to make it clear, we're going to act on this in two weeks. We're not going to talk about it anymore. So let's see if we can get some good discussion. So I'm not sure if it's prudent now or after approving the agenda. But we can approve the agenda with the deferral of this for two weeks. All right? So that is a motion by Mr. McDowell. Is there a second? Second by Mr. Davis. Any further discussion? Seeing none, we'll move the previous question to Kurt Calderon. Mr. McDowell. Mr. Duvall. No. Mr. Vine. Mr. Davis. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. All right. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, ma'am. At this time, we would ask for any public input related to the agenda items as outlined. No. It's important that we do want to make sure some of you were here earlier at the work session. We're not going to be voting on the health care plan tonight. What we're determined to do is we're going to move forward with the budget. And the budget's going to set out some fairly clear financial parameters that we're going to have to back into. What the health care plan looks like going forward is something we're going to continue to dialogue. I'm not sure if we've got a clear date as the question that Howard asked earlier about when we'd have to make some decisions. But some of our leaders at the CFFA and others offered to help and sit around the table as we fashion what that plan looks like within the parameters of what we know we need to do financially to manage our long-term act share or liability. We're going to do that. But the budget, Mr. Mayor, or as proposed, is reflective of maintaining the DDB and the 820 cost here. We will maintain the DDB. We must maintain the DDB. For those of you paying attention to the financial side of this, if we do not maintain a defined dollar benefit, then our long-term act share or liability will balloon. It will balloon. It will climb to $380 million. More than double what it is now. By 2047, it will exceed $1 billion. It's not sustainable. Not sustainable. And we have to continue to adjust accordingly to meet just demands of the market. We're also going to have to make sure that we step up and really start pushing some hard and fast requirements around our health and wellness initiatives, participation in those initiatives, looking at biometric screening, making sure that we can catch chronic conditions early on. There's a whole lot more that we're all going to have to do to make sure we keep our eyes on costs. But yes, we are going to maintain the DDB and we're going to make sure that our employee premiums are reflected 80-20 split that we discussed. But we won't be voting on the specifics of our plan tonight. And that's just important. And some of you obviously have other things that you need to be doing, but we won't be doing that tonight. The Mrs. Benjamin's presentation she gave today is available online already? Yes, it is already. If it isn't already, it will be. Yeah, and if there's some way, it might even be prudent. It's already. Yeah, and it might be prudent as well. You can go online to columbiasse.net, but maybe if there's some way in which we can maybe send it out to all existing employees and whatever network exists to send it out to retirees, let's make sure it gets out there so people can can pour forth through it in a more personal manner. Ms. Devine? If there are no, if there's no other input, Mr. Mayor, related to these agenda items, we would ask council to approve the consent agenda items nine through 29. There's a motion. Okay. There's a second. Second. Any discussion? Seeing none, we'll move to the previous question. The clerk call the roll. Mr. Mcdowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Aye. Mr. Devine? Aye. Mr. Davis? Aye. Mayor Benjamin? Aye. Thank you. Three. Three. We would ask that as you depart, if you would please keep it down just a tad bit. Madam City Manager? Our first presentation, Mr. Mayor, is the recognition of Mr. Robert Harris as the Richland School District One, teacher of the year, the honorable Tamika Isaac Devine to make the presentation. All right. Thank you, guys. I just wanted to, couldn't let the school year in without recognizing Mr. Robert Harris. Mr. Harris is the Richland One teacher of the year. He also was a finalist for the state, Mr. Mayor, he also was a finalist for the state teacher of the year. And although he did not bring that recognition back to Columbia, we know that we are so lucky to have Mr. Harris in Richland One teaching our students. He is a teacher at Hand Middle School and Mr. Mayor, he is so innovative. I just, I follow him on Twitter and I see the things that he does with his students and he certainly is a rising star, not just in education but just I think in this state and he is framing the minds of our young leaders and we just couldn't be prouder. So if he would come forward and council has a small presentation for you. Good evening. I would just like to thank you all for the recognition this evening. Thank you all for honoring me on tonight. And on behalf of Richland County School District One, I would like to thank you all for your hard work and your commitment and dedication to education in Columbia and in Richland County. So again, thank you all so much and I appreciate all the hard work you all do every day. Thank you. You did a great work. Appreciate it. Our next presentation is a Business Spotlight Honorary Recognition and Proclamation. Ms. Melissa Lindler, Director of the Office of Business Opportunities. I'm a little short. Is that good? Thank you so much. Tonight what we wanna do is recognize Need-a-Lift Transportation Services as our 2018 quarterly business spotlight honoree. We actually recognized her at during our small business conference that was held on May 3rd this year, our largest one yet for the city. But we also went and make sure we brought her before council so you would have a chance to meet her and hear about all the great things that she's doing. Need-a-Lift Transportation Services has been in existence since March 2nd, 2007. So for the past 11 years, she's been providing safe, reliable transportation services to the school districts, both Richland One and Richland Two, after school programs, pick up, drop off, doctor's appointments. And she also does great community outreach. She's very supportive and active in her community. She has provided in-kind support to schools, community organizations, charitable organizations, as well as sponsoring 40 families to participate in the Warrior Warehouse Project. So we're excited that she's here today. And we have a very brief video to show a little bit more about what she does as she's here with us and her staff. Need-a-Lift Transportation Services, LLC is located in Columbia, South Carolina. We are a premier transportation services for families on the go. I started Need-a-Lift in 2015 because I as a parent needed a lift, needed someone to pick my children up from school and allow me to be at work. So Need-a-Lift provides transportation to and from school and after school programs and summer programs and activities for children ages K through college age students. We also provide transportation for adults and senior citizens. Need-a-Lift serves families, schools, nonprofits and government agencies throughout the village. We provide transportation for school, after school activities, field trips, food leisure trips, special events, jobs and internships for our high school students. We also provide transportation to doctor's appointments and also for community sponsored and corporate events. Why choose Need-a-Lift? We are a safe, trusted and reliable transportation for families on the go in the village. You can find us, Need-a-Lift at www.needaliftsc.com. You may also email us at info.needaliftsc.com. And please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. At Need-a-Lift, we would like to thank the City of Columbia Office of Business Opportunities, our parents, our clients, non-profit organizations that we serve. Thank you for patronizing Need-a-Lift. Lucenta D. Lewis Ellis and her employees here with us today, she brought a bunch of people with her to celebrate. Thank y'all so much. Thank you, Melissa. With the Need-a-Lift team, please stand. I am a firm believer that teamwork makes the dream work. So without the Need-a-Lift family, we would not be able to serve our community. I wanna say thank you for the opportunity to be here to present Need-a-Lift. Also, we are so grateful for the opportunity to serve our families in the community. We're even honored to work with non-profits and different agencies throughout Columbia and South Carolina. So thank you. I absolutely appreciate the opportunity. Thank you. Lucenta, thank you and obviously, you're a wonderful entrepreneur, family of entrepreneurs do a lot of great business in and around the city. But I think it pales in comparison to the community work you do and the community leadership you provide. And we think that's obviously the real son of a great corporate citizen. So thank you for all you do. And we're proud to recognize you as the business spotlight honoree of the corner. Thank you. Lucenta, one of the things you did mention, the mayor mentioned your community service, but you also have, you've started something called Gift-a-Lift so that if somebody has a senior or child that might need transportation that people can gift a lift as well. So that's a plus as well. Ms. Devon, our next item is the recognition of Kauffman Road Elementary School as the 2018 Spring Clean Stream Columbia Award, Clean Stream Columbia Award recipient, Ms. Dana Higgins, Engineering Director for Columbia Water. Ms. Higgins, how are you? How are you? Hi, Dana. No, this is Dana. I'm Jasper. Hey, Mike. I'm a storm water manager. City of Columbia, Columbia Water, we'd like to present the Clean Stream Columbia Award for 2018 to Kauffman Road. They should put the mic up, Mike. Put the mic up, Mike. Kauffman Road Elementary School. They've installed, and they've already started installing and will continue to install Interactive Children's Garden. It includes vegetable garden and composting area. It uses rain barrels to harvest rainwater in order to water the plants. So we encourage this because it uses stormwater as a resource and it reduces stormwater runoff and erosion from the property. So we'd like to present this award to them. We have Ms. Karen Oaken, the Assistant Administrator, Amber Melbourne, the parent volunteer and Sean Hall, the school principal. Oh, my God. That's awesome. Let me grab a photo together. Let's, let's, yeah, please. All right, Madam City Manager. Yes, sir, Mr. Mayor. At this time, we will move into a budget public hearing. Ms. Missy Kauffman, our Budget and Program Management Director will come forward as we do an initial presentation, incorporating into these items, Mr. Mayor, in your first reading. Again, the effort to maintain the DDB and keep the 80-20 cost share reflective of health insurance at the right time, I will read items 34 into the record. Please do. I'm sorry, I'll open up for public hearing. Yes, sir. Missy, you'll present for us. Good evening, copy of the presentation. There's copies available in the back if anyone would like to copy. So today we are here to talk to you about the FY 2018, 2019 proposed budget for the City of Columbia. We will be discussing the general fund, our enterprise funds, special revenues and the capital improvement program for our enterprise funds this year. The total budget for the operating budget for the City of Columbia is 346 million. This comprises the general fund, parking funds, stormwater, water and sewer and hospitality and accommodations tax. These are just our water, this is just our operating funds, not the capital improvement program. This represents a 5% increase over the current year budget for our total operations. The budget development goals for this year included a resilient budget, being able to provide services today and preparing for the long term. That means ensuring that services will continue and that the City will operate within its means. This also means reevaluating priorities and programs in order to free up and reallocate resources as well as identifying new resources to help launch new programs to tackle emerging challenges and enhance current programs that need additional resources. A balanced budget, sustainability is our next goal and that's moving beyond just a budget that is balanced. A balanced budget is required by law. A sustainable budget is a choice and seeks to establish spending and reserve practices that are sustainable. Providing quality services, providing high quality municipal services efficiently and effectively and responsibly as a basis for why we are here. Providing high quality services is to do what requires also mean that we invest in our employees and infrastructure and maximize overall organizational efficiencies. The $346 million operating budget for the City builds on the City's efforts to responsibly meet the resident's basic needs for municipal services while at the same time introducing creative and innovative ways to deliver services to meet the goals of Envision Columbia's strategic plan. I know it's hard to see from here, but this budget includes services for over 133,000 residents, over 5,000 businesses, 2,400 employees. It also includes our water and wastewater operations. There are two water plants and our wastewater plan is along with many other infrastructure and facilities that are provided by the City. Envision Columbia, just as a reminder as well for our budget development, is influenced by the Envision Columbia seven focus areas and five goals. We'll move right into the general fund. The general fund budget is in balance. It's 148 million. It's an increase of 5.4 million or 4% over the current year. It's being proposed without a property tax increase. This budget reflects funding to maintain the current minimum service levels. Growth is limited to increases for costs of operations, general inflation, state retirement rates, employee merit program, capital replacements, and annualized costs for previously established programs. Looking at general fund revenues, revenues total 129.3 million, an increase of 2.6 or 2% over the current year. The largest increase is that from property tax revenues based on growth in our assessments. Transfers in include capital lease proceeds of 8 million, which is increased to reflect annual target amount of 8 million. And there's also a use of fund balance of 1.7 million right at 1.8. It's a reduction of 1.2 from the current year. And that is in part to help us to support our goal of financial sustainability. General fund departments total 124 million, which represents an increase of 1.2 million. The general fund includes the community department, community development department, the general fund portion of it, fire, general services, general government, office of business opportunities, parts recreation, police and public works. General government encompasses public finance, administration, IT, general services, and other operations that support our basic services. As you can see, the largest portion of the general fund budget is our public safety. In addition to our departments, what also makes up the general fund is our non-departmental totals, which is 6.3 million. That includes our lease payment for the capital lease replacement program. It also has that we are maintaining our current levels of funding for the external agencies of 1.9 million. That includes the Alvin Escalade Detention Center of 600,000, Public Defender of 100,000, Solicitor at 215, and the homeless services contracts is maintained at 1 million. Transfers out total 17.8, which is a 3.2 million increase, or 22%. That increase is really attributed to, and I've repeated it, I know, several times with regards to the 8 million in our capital lease program. That program includes replacement of over 60 vehicles and heavy equipment, includes items such as a replacement ladder truck, a reserve engine, three-side loader trash trucks, and 22 patrol cars. Of course, there's many more items than that, but those are some of the higher-ticketed items in that program. That $8 million is a 4 million increase over the current year, but 8 million is what we have projected as a need for multiple years going forward. There's more of that 8 million, more than 5 million is for funding for police and fire equipment. The budget for this year does not include any funding for general capital projects. That would be the CIP for the general fund in our city facilities. Representatively, just to demonstrate the property, the general fund revenues, 41% of a dollar in this instance would be attributed from property tax. The next largest percentage would come from licenses and permits. Expendenture-wise, the largest portion, again, goes to public safety. Next would be public works and parks and recreation. Moving on to our enterprise funds. Enterprise funds include our water and sewer operations, our stormwater operations, and our parking fund. We'll start first with the water and sewer operating fund. This budget is 161.9 million, and is an increase of 9 million or 6% over the current year. It does include a proposing of a 9.76% increase. Revenue increases applied both to the water and the sewer side, and the revenues generated from this increase are applied to funding the operations and the capital obligations. It's a balanced approach to meeting the utility operations for both operating and capital. And of course, it seeks to maintain the target debt service cover of the ratio of 2%. 60% of the revenues that come in to the water and sewer system come from water sales, and 38% come from sewer sales. Percentage-wise, looking at the overall department's budget, the budget for the water and sewer system, operating departments make up 58% of the total budget, next followed by debt service. The chart on the right, the pattern on the right with department's budgets demonstrates that 71% of all the department's budget uses for our utility budget funding, utility funding, that would incorporate the water treatment plant, the wastewater treatment plant, the operations, and the other staffing that is associated with maintaining of the system. Water and sewer budget, again, is proposed at 161.9 million, just to point out that the capital improvement program is 120 million, and includes the operating budget includes a transfer of 21.5 million from operations to the CIP, and the remainder of the funding for the total CIP, which is in addition to the operating budget, is coming from bond proceeds. The stormwater budget, revenues come primarily from almost entirely come from the stormwater fees. Expenditure-wise, there are several different departments that make up the stormwater fund, including Public Works, which includes storm drains, and those folks who maintain and help construct storm drain infrastructure, the engineering services, and then, of course, now with the debt program for the stormwater program, we do have a reserve that's required, and then we have debt service, of course, that covers. Let's give some slides. Jumped a little bit. Okay, so this is the impact of the utility bill increases on a residential customer, average use. The 9.7% increase reflects about $5.36 per month increase based on an average use of 800 cubic feet, or right at about 6,000 gallons a month. Most of that being sewer, not water. That's water and sewer combined. Most of that, the vast majority of that being sewer, yeah. And then looking at the city's water and sewer rates in comparison to our counterparts, we still remain some of the lowest in the region. And the existing rates are just compared to proposed rates, keeps us still in that same line. Sorry, these slides got a little out of play. So the stormwater budget is proposed at 13.4 million. It's an increase of 836,000, or 6.6% over the current year. It reflects the continued proposed rate increases for the stormwater, the aggressive stormwater program that was adopted last year. The rate increase is 74 cents per equivalent residential unit, basically per month on a residential property. So the fee will go from 11.80 to 12.54 per month. The total capital improvement program for the stormwater system is 11.3 million. That increase helps to fund the CIP program for the stormwater system, as well as the total 93 million that's proposed over the next three to five years. Some of the activities that have occurred to move that program forward is the hiring of a program manager in March and the bond ordinance for the first $50 million issue was approved in April. Moving on to the parking fund. Revenues for the parking fund come primarily from street meters, our garages and lots, and then non-moving violations. Those would be those parking tickets that we're all occasionally subject to receiving. Expenditure-wise, parking services makes up the largest portion, which those would be the folks that help operate the parking system. Debt service carries also a large portion of the budget in the next would be parking facilities. Those are the maintenance of the parking garages and facilities. The proposed budget is 8.6 million and is increased to 684 or 9% over the current year. As mentioned, the revenues come from parking garages, lots, and non-moving violations. The increase is coming primarily from the passport parking system in addition to new and enforced parking service contracts. The department's budget's total 4.9 million, a right at 5 million, which is an increase of 678,000 or 16%. It does include two additional positions in the addition of an annual, the contract for the passport program. Some of the activities will include painting of at least one garage and then routine cleaning of all the garages, schedule and maintenance. Part of the operations will include partnering with economic development to assist with attracting businesses to downtown. Next, we have our special revenues. This includes the hospitality tax budget, which is proposed at 12.1 million. It's about an increase of 557,000 or a right at 5% over the current year and is in line with prior year collections. Revenue collections to date are in line with the projections that we've made, so we're comfortable that we will see this growth in the 18, 19 year, compared to where we are with collections for 17, 18. Just to reiterate on the proposed hospitality tax budget, this includes just the budget, does not make allocations within the allocation, within the line items or with the agencies that are being funded. This is just the total amount of the budget that is being requested for adoption. Accommodations tax is total of 2.5 million, right at 2.6. It's an increase of approximately 370,000 or 16.6% over the current year, with a 4% increase over the prior 16, 17 actuals. We are a little more aggressive in our collection projections for this next year, just based on what we have been seeing in terms of collections coming in from the accommodations tax. Those revenues are generated and received by the state of South Carolina and redistributed to the city. There is obviously some limitations on how those funds could be spent as there are with also with hospitality tax funds. 25,000 can get at the general fund, 30% for advertising promotion of tourism, 65 for tours and relating expenditures, and then 5% for general fund purposes. Or general purposes. Again, those allocations are not made in this budget. It just assumes it's just requests for approval of the total budget as submitted. Finally, we have our capital improvement program for our enterprise funds, which would include water and wastewater, as well as stormwater. The CIP for 18, 19 full wastewater the total CIP is 120 million for both water and wastewater, of which 80 million is for wastewater and 40 million is for sewer. Of that program, 31% is for capacity related projects, 40% is for recap related projects, the other is for treatment plant utility relocation and then other. On the water system side, the meter systems improvements the 70% that would include the AMI and AMR applications, as well as relocation for SCDOT utility relocations, system expansion and then water quality. As mentioned previously, the water and sewer CIP is funded with 21.5 million in the operating fund transfer from the water and sewer system. The rest will come from bomb proceeds. This is, wasn't really expecting folks to be able to see this map from here, but there are of course copies available of the map and the CIP projects is attached to the budget ordinance. This is the water project maps. Here are wastewater. Next we have the stormwater capital improvement program. Again, it's budgeted 11.3 million. And in looking at the projects, the way we categorize these projects for demonstration graphically includes that where the projects will benefit which branch, 50% will benefit the Rocky branch system, 14% will benefit the Gills Creek, 33% Smith branch and 3% 8 mile. And here is a demonstration of the stormwater project that includes projects from this year and the current year. Concludes the budget public hearing. Do you wanna take time to thank city council, thank the city management and city staff as well as the citizens and input for this process. Thank you. Is there any questions? No, the, this public hearing's open, all right. May I have one? Just one question for Missy, because I know last year we were doing phase one of the AMI this year, it's two and three. Just realistically, when can citizens start seeing that? That's probably a question we'll defer to the project managers on that process. I'm sure they can come up and provide some input. So we anticipate bringing a proposal, a contract to council in September. That is our schedule, propping up the communication network this fall and meters being changed out early next year that's starting to change out meters. It's about a three year process. So there'll be a three year contract at the end of that three years we'll have a communication network. Every residential meter will be replaced. We'll be rolling out our application where customers can track their water usage and that soft rollout will begin early next year as well as the meters are deployed. So that's kind of our tentative schedule. Thank you. All right, other questions for Missy? We've got the budget, no tax increase, continuing investment in clean drinking water, storm water and wastewater improvements and continuing investment in other programs that matter. All right, good progress. Anyone from the public have any input on the budget presented? Is there a motion? Move. Second. Mr. Mayor would you like me to read out? Please, would you please? Yes, sir. And Mr. Mayor, I was advised to just incorporate for the record again the healthcare related. Yes, ma'am. With the DDB. The ordinance is ordinance number 2018-026 to raise revenue and adopt the budget for the city of Columbia, South Carolina for the fiscal year ending June 32, 2019, which will also incorporate Council's motion to maintain the DDB for healthcare coverage as well as 80-20 cost share. Move. It's already been moved and seconded. It's been moved and property seconded. Discussion? Seeing none, with a previous question, clerk Calderon. Mr. McDowell. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Devine. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Item 35, ordinance number 2018-025, amending the 1998 code of ordinances of the city of Columbia, South Carolina, Chapter 15, Parks and Recreation, Section 15-5, User Fees, A, Definitions, Three, D, Parks, Three, Insert, Keenan House, Four, Earlwood Community Building and Five, Eau Claire Print Building, I, Athletics, Fee, Four, Swimming, J, Classes, Camps, Programs, and to add ill event vendor fees. It's their motion. It's their second. Second. Any discussion? With a previous question, clerk Calderon. Mr. McDowell. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Devine. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. Item 36, ordinance number 2018-027, amending the 1998 code of ordinances of the city of Columbia, South Carolina, Chapter 23, Utilities and Engineering, Article 5, Water and Sewer Rates, Section 23143, Water Service Rates, and Section 23149, Sewer Service Rates, A and B. Great. They'll move. Second. Any discussion? Move the previous question to clerk Calderon. Mr. McDowell. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Devine. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin, Item 37, I would ask that you open another public hearing regarding resolution number R-2018-037 in support of the issuance of the South Carolina Jobs Economic Development Authority of its Revenue Bonds or Notes, Columbia International University, in one or more series, in one or more years, pursuant to the provisions of Title 41, Chapter 43 of the Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976, as amended in the aggregate principal amount of not exceeding $10 million. Right. Move to approved. All right. Well, is that a second? Second. Yeah, move and second. Second. This must be in district one. Those that rules North of Elmwood Avenue. Is anyone from the public who wants to speak in favor of or against this? Move to a previous question. Clerk Calderon. Aye. Mr. Devine. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Item 38, an ordinance second reading, ordinance number 2018-022, consenting to the inclusion of property in a multi-county industrial business park. Project RAIN, 1087 and 1115 Shot Road. I move approval. Is there a second? Second. Discussion. Mr. Duvall. Mr. Mayor, I am opposed to this particular. I'm opposed to this because this is another start of tax breaks for student housing in the city of Columbia. This one give a 33% rate, tax rate cut for student housing. I think that we struggle to balance our budget each year. And if we continue to give tax breaks to people that will come here anyhow without the tax break, we'll never get out of this hole. This developer bought the property, had the property annexed into the city. And until about two weeks ago, we didn't hear anything about asking for a tax break. And now we are looking at giving a tax break. So I don't think we should continue down this road of giving tax breaks for student housing. Thank you, Mr. Duvall. And I respectfully disagree. Prior to the incentive we put on the table a few years ago, there was only one deal. When we put on the table, the sun set it, we've had a quarter of a million dollars worth of investment in that space that over the next 20 years are going to send $100 million rich in school district one. We're going to be able to disagree on policy and I think respect for disagree. But I think this adds 6% commercial property to tax rolls and it's moving in the right direction. But I respect your ability to disagree, Mr. Duvall. Thank you. Thank you. I just wanted to say I've actually publicly stated a similar position to Mr. Duvall's that I felt like it was a good deal. When we sun set it, that was going to be it. And I wasn't planning to support any future student housing incentives. However, with this project, I know that the county is very interested in that and in light of us working together with them to continue to develop our city, I will support it. But I also want to say, and I've asked Ms. Wilson and Ms. Knox and Ms. Said to meet with me in the coming weeks, I plan to bring forward some proposals for similar incentives for affordable housing or mixed use housing or workforce housing within our city. We've talked about it for a while. We've not put anything on the table. And so I'm going to support this in anticipation that we will do the same very shortly for some other areas of our city for some citizens who really need some quality of workforce housing. Let's put it on the next agenda, if we can. We'll move the previous question clerk on the roll. Mr. McDowell? Mr. Duvall? No. Mr. Vine? Hi. Mr. Davis? Hi. Mayor Benjamin? Hi. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, ordinance's first reading, ordinance number 2018-023, granting an encouragement to the Eastlake Homeowners Association for Installation and Maintenance of a Wooden Privacy Fence within the right-of-way of the 100 block of Fountain Lake Way adjacent to properties located at 124 Pine Mass Courts, 128, 132, 136, 140, 144, 148, 152, and 156 Pine Mass Court, Richland County. Second. Discussion? The previous question clerk on the roll. Mr. McDowell? Mr. Duvall? Hi. Mr. Vine? Hi. Mr. Davis? Hi. Mayor Benjamin? Hi. Item 40, ordinance number 2018-028, granting an encroachment to the city center partnership for installation and maintenance of a steel bicycle repair stand within the right-of-way area of the 1,300 block of Main Street. Is that second? Second. Any discussion? Those were the most detailed plans I've ever seen for a bicycle repair rack. Took up about 16 pages. We move the previous question. Clerk on the roll. Mr. McDowell? Mr. Duvall? Hi. Mr. Vine? Hi. Mr. Davis? Mayor Benjamin? Hi. Item 42, resolution number R-2018-044, certifying the Robinson Building as an abandoned building pursuant to the South Carolina Abandoned Buildings Revitalization Act. So move. Second. Second. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, we'll move the previous question on the clerk on the roll. Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Hi. Mr. Vine? Hi. Mr. Davis? Hi. Mayor Benjamin? Hi. I'm sorry, Mr. Mayor. Item 43, resolution number R-2018-045, certifying the Martz Building as an abandoned building pursuant to the South Carolina Abandoned Buildings. I move approval. Second. Discussion? Seeing none, we'll move the previous question on the clerk on the roll. Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? How would I say I? Mr. Vine? Hi. Mr. Davis? Hi. Mayor Benjamin? Council will be moving into a period of appointments. Ms. Belton may come forward to assist on items 44 and 46. Item 44 being the appointment of two individuals to the Columbia Museum of Art Commission. And item 46 is the appointment of four individuals to the Planning Commission. All right. All right. Art Museum? Mr. I'm recommending Mr. Wendell Brown. Wendell Brown. Let's move forward with that one nomination right now. And did I get with you? Yeah, let's move forward with him to fill the resign term of Mr. Rogers and hold off on the other one. All right. All right. I would move. Let's keep that one open. Let's do Brenda Wheeler as a second appointee. And Ms. Belton, we've got Catherine Davis. We already moved that one. So Wendell Brown and Brenda Wheeler. I just want to add Catherine Davis is on here, but she's expiring. And she's already served two terms. So according to our policy, she's not eligible for reappointment. But I don't want the same thing to happen with another appointee that they said they felt like they were just kicked off. So I think somebody needs to communicate with Ms. Davis. And we need to recognize her and thank her for her service for the two terms, but make sure she understands she wasn't eligible for reappointment. All right. So that was Wendell Brown. That was, yeah. Brenda Wheeler. Move a previous question and court call roll. Mr. Vowell, Mr. Gouvol, Mr. Vine. Hi. Mr. Davis, Mr. Mayor Benjamin. Hi. Sorry, one more on that. Ms. Brown, if maybe we could talk to the leadership over at Columbia Museum of Art. I do know Ms. Davis has been heading up their African-American outreach and that whole component. I'm not sure if there's an ability for her to serve in that as ex-officio or if there's an ability for us to kind of keep her in that, because I think she's done an amazing job with that outreach and some of the programming they've had recently. And I'd hate to lose that. Mr. Vowell, have you got a motion on judges? Associate municipal judges with the term of four years and Brian Jeffries as a substitute associate municipal judge with a term of two years. I move also to appoint Christie Grafton Goldberg as an associate municipal judge with a term of four years and Richard Morgan as a substitute associate municipal judge with a term of two years. All appointments are effective July 1, 2018. Second. Second. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, we'll move to the previous question. Clerk Calderon. Mr. McDowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Mr. Vine. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. And I would move to appoint Judge Steeley Bogan as chief administrative judge for the municipal court of the city of Columbia for a term beginning July 1, 2018. Move to the previous question, Clerk Calderon. Mr. McDowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Mr. Vine. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. All right. Planning Commission, I move the reappointment of April Glen James, the reappointment of Richard Cohn for a final term, the appointment of Issa Mandel and the appointment of Brian Dofan to the Planning Commission. Second. Issa wasn't already on there? Oh, OK. Second, though. The previous question, Clerk Calderon. I'm sorry. Issa Mandel is on the, Dr. Mandel, she's on the Historic Columbia board. But she understands that she cannot serve on both. Yes, she cannot serve on both. Exactly. She cannot, which will now have a vacancy on Historic Columbia, I guess. Cohn, James, Mandel, and Dolphin. I think it's actually Dolphin. Second. Discussion? The previous question, Clerk Calderon. Issa, do you need some clarity? It sounded like we need some clarity. Did you need something? You sure? OK. All right. Mr. McDowell. All right, we clarified. Yes, sir. All right. Thank you. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Mr. Vine. Hi. Mr. Davies, Mayor Benjamin. Hi. I would just say to reiterate the concerns that we've raised over the last few weeks regarding our, mainly our land use boards. Then the new members will have to go through training. We need to probably send all members back through training. But I think Ms. Hampton, if we could make sure that it's communicated to all of our land use boards that they are sitting and representing the city of Columbia. They need to hear people out. They need to be respectful. And they need to follow the law. And when do we have, when does DERC come before us? All right, all right. And BOSA, don't we have BOSA come? All right, both on the 19th. OK, thank you. Planning, what about? All right, are there any items, Madam City Manager, from the, well, that's the best. What about us? Planning, I'm sure, when they're done. We're done. Any items, no work session items? OK, they've all been considered early in the agenda. Any reports or referrals to committee? Move your adjourn. Any reports or referrals to committee? We do have a couple of citizens who sound to speak on items that haven't been previously considered. And if they're still here, I'm going to ask them to speak. Mr. Ted Holtzman, if that's right, Mr. Holtzman, want to speak about the H grant issue. And everyone else here is insurance, health care, UG Street, and maybe Mr. Mostafa as well. Only two have signed this week. Please, close your eyes for three minutes, Mr. Holtzman. Yes, Mr. Mayor and Council. My name is Ted Holtzman. I'm here on behalf of Dr. Rajaluri, the founder and directory of the Columbia International Festival, the unique event that defines and promotes who we are as a city, a diverse and vibrant community, bringing together people from more than 100 cultural groups showcasing the multicultural nature of our city. So Raj asked me first to voice his appreciation and thanks for your ongoing support over the years to make the Columbia International Festival possible. And April next year will be the 24th event in this ongoing saga. South Carolina's largest international event and likely the largest in the entire southeast of the United States. But Raj further asked me to voice his grave concern regarding the tacit statement of low value with which this body has assigned to the festival. Last year it was granted just $22,500, placing it below the 40th most important recipient of H tax grant funding. Members of the council, this seems far out of proportion for an event which uniquely portrays and promotes cultural awareness and mutual appreciation that lead to better community relations between South Carolina's native and foreign born visitors and citizens. So when the time comes to make council allocations, Raj asks that we please put our H tax grant wallet where our mouth is a sign of dollar value that is commensurate to the value you place on us as a community with all its rich cultural, ethnic and linguistic diversity. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr. Mustafa. Mayor Benjamin. Yes. Councilman. Thank you for allowing me to speak in front of you. I am the vice president of the Columbia local organizing committee. I'm here on behalf of not only myself, but the community as a whole in regards to racial profiling. Okay. I myself on May 27th is a victim of racial profiling. I went through the protocols. Through all the protocols. I had a meeting today with the chief and I wasn't pleased. And I told your chief that I will be organized and once my people come from Seattle, Washington, we will be organized to protest in regards to the city of Columbia. Police department. Okay. Move on, move on with that. There's an issue with young men driving dodges, dodge charges, they've been targeted. So we need to take a look at that. Young men driving dodge charges. And I'm coming from the community perspective. This is all the complaints. Also, we have an issue with the co-enforcement division in regards to poor people not being able to renovate their house and et cetera. And as a result of that, their house has been taken away from them. So we have another issue also with that. In regards to profiling, if we take a look when I left from the chief office this morning, I stopped to the traffic court. When you look into the traffic court, the reflection looked like us. Okay. Extremely us. That's profiling. It's been a history. The police department in our community has been terrorizing our community over 100 years. And we don't really have a good relationship with a good ran for. We're trying to build one. So we ask that you allow the local organizer committee to sit down because we're grassroots. We're grassroots. So it's time for us to be at the table and the community has not been at the table. Solutions. When I look at the police officer, where are they from 21 to 30? Where are the Asian Latinos in young blacks? We don't have them. Senator Scott, we had to meet with Senator Scott in regards to the Booker T Washington area open colony in regards to building a community center. Senator Scott stated that he gave the city $307,000 to start this particular community center. We want that community center in that particular area. Our people need it. The young folks need it. In regards to the area of colony, there's plenty of complaints about the police officer come to colony with a group of young men when they're walking together, breaking them up. Breaking them up. Don't want them walking together. That's our culture. Why can't they walk together? So these are complaints coming from the community. Again, we're grassroots. And we want to be at the table in regards to this particular issue. And I'd like to get with you in regards to my personal issue with racial profile. So we won't have to bring this public attention all the way from Seattle to Washington. You're welcome to come from Seattle, my friend. We have porous borders. And I'm always willing to listen to anyone's complaints. If you are in the borders of the United States of America, you're welcome to have your positions heard. Happy to talk with you. I will tell you that I have incredible confidence in the police chief and the city of Columbia Police Department. I will tell you that it's staffed with hundreds of men and women who are human beings and who will make mistakes sometimes. But indeed have not only been trained well, but also understand the accountability measures that we have in place that we hold every single one of them too. Some of the issues you raise are historical issues regarding law enforcement and people of color in this country. And some of them are quite true. Some of the factual data regarding diversity at the department and the ways we've been addressing it, we probably need to spend some time talking about it because we've worked closely with the community, with members on our volunteer boards, with the Columbia Urban League, to work to aggressively diversify our staff. I think you'd be impressed with some of the work we've done in terms of transparency and accountability and training. And I'd be happy to share those with you in the interest of transparency. Yes, Senator Scott did help secure some funding from the state of South Carolina to help address some of our comprehensive plans for the Beltline Corridor. And I'd love to help share those with you. I think you'll be favorably impressed with the plans for this entire 18 acre track that borders the colony and formerly the Bethel Bishop neighborhood is now North Point. So, huh? Where should we be up there? Oh, yeah, absolutely. So some fantastic things happening here. So be happy to dialogue with you as much as possible. We can start in the interest of transparency and sharing ideas and maybe common experiences and always have the ability to even agree to disagree. But requiring the very best from the men and women who choose to be peace officers in the city of Columbia is something that we'll never, ever hedge on. We will do that. Trying to create an environment where these young men have the opportunity to live up to the guy giving potential and they have incredible promise. We've been working to address that. There was a presentation earlier today about some of our efforts in our parks and rec program and some of the investments we're making in STEM. Summer jobs for young people. I've walked through the colony myself and the bishop passing out flyers, encouraging people to either participate in our free summer camp programs or also some of the paid summer jobs program. So let's dialogue a little bit more with that. I think we might find we have a whole lot more in common than we have separating us. But I will tell you the issues facing young African-American men in America are real and they're challenging. And we take them very seriously. So let's spend some time talking about it, okay? Yeah, yeah, and I'm taking it real seriously. First of all, most of them should never even stop me anyway. Absolutely, yeah, absolutely. We can talk about that. I have no idea. I will tell you, been there, done that, been there, done that. But let's talk a little bit more about it, right? God bless you. Thank you. All right, all right. Is there a motion to adjourn? Take care, young men, all right? All right. All right, is there a second? Second. With the previous question, Claude, call her all. Mr. McDowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Mr. Vine. Mr. Davis. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. Have a good evening.