 Good afternoon Mr. Rickerman, Mr. McDowell, Mr. Duvall, Mr. Vine, Mr. Davis, Mayor Benjamin. Here, Reverend McDowell, would you please bless us with an indication? Yes, ma'am. Sorry, if I might, as Reverend McDowell does so well, if you could include our city's staff and family and your prayers, we lost Miss Amanda Beaton-Baw Nelson, who's been with us for 12 years at the city as a member of the county mayor. Yes, well this weekend and we found out yesterday. If you see our city flags that have staff, it's the memory of Amanda. She was a huge part of our finance team and will be sorely missed. Gracious and merciful God for all that you've done for us today. The ability to move about, strength in our limbs. The ability to celebrate life, health and strength. We pause today to remember the blessings that you afforded us this past week. Hallelujah, the storm has passed over. And for the many persons who assisted our staff, and other critical persons who helped direct us in ways that would certainly mean and to edify safety, we thank you for each person who made that available. But Lord, even in the midst of our celebrating, we pause for just a moment to remember a part of the team, the city's team, who has transitioned from this life to another. But we would simply ask that you would be with Amanda and her family. Touch those who so in a very diligent way nurtured her and she nurturing each of us. Be with Amanda's family. Allow her to sense even in death, resurrection powers. Lord, we ask you to inclaim it in your name. Amen. At this time, Mr. Mayor, we are going to go into our city council discussion, the first being a wonderful recognition of a Columbia hero. The Columbia Fireflies military hero recognition. The Honorable Mayor Stephen K. Benjamin, and I believe Ms. Abby Nozz with the Columbia Fireflies is here to join you, Mayor Benjamin. So this year we had the opportunity to, we worked with All South Federal Credit Union and back in May, we had the opportunity to partner and recognize military heroes from our community, whether active veteran, just about anyone that we could. And with this being the most military friendly community in the country, we wanted to do what we can to recognize those folks. So this year we recognized about 23 different military members and put them in a team card set so that they each had their own baseball card. On the front of that team card set and getting his very own baseball card is Columbia's own Jack Van Lone. And so today we would like to present him with his very own baseball card, but a military hero recognition card and also a little gift bag that houses some of those cards as well. Awesome. Abby, thank you for, thank you and the Fireflies for recognizing all the things and people that make this community special. Fireflies have really become a very important, special part of the Columbia spirit and it's because you recognize things like this and you recognize people like Jack Van Lone and he's been sacrosanct to I think what Columbia is and will be for many, many years to come. So thank you. Thank you very much. And the Five Points crew, we always love seeing you guys. We love seeing you guys and we got some good years behind us, even bigger and better years ahead of us. So thank y'all for all you do. Let's keep working hard together. We would not take it personally if you guys didn't want to hang out for the rest of the meeting. If you want to hang out, then I assure you you're more than welcome to. Don't you like to get a pass like that? So, so. And Colonel, thank you, brother. Miss Van Lone, thank you. What are you doing? Please. Our second item for discussion is the Columbia Compass Envision 2036. This is Krista Hampton, director of planning and development services, accompanied by Mr. John Fellow. Thank you for having us this afternoon. Lee and I are going to tag team this presentation. It's about we're embarking on our comprehensive plan for the next 10 years. And I'm going to let Lee start off and then I'll finish up. It's been one of those weeks with technical difficulties. So we are really excited to be taking off this planning process and. I just wanted to start by talking a little bit about why we were calling it Columbia Compass Envision 2036. Certainly the Envision would be familiar to y'all and 2036 being the 250th anniversary is something that we've been talking about for a while and we'll continue to talk about in the coming years. The reason we picked Columbia Compass to kind of brand this process is because we know that it's going to be a very difficult process. It's something that we've been talking about for a while and we'll continue to talk about in the coming years. The reason we picked Columbia Compass to kind of brand this process is because we know that compasses have been important to both our history and will be important to our future. We're talking about how we're going to navigate the coming years, but also Columbia being that first planned city in the U.S. A surveyors compass would have been integral to the process of laying out those gridded streets. So it's something that helps remind us of our history, but helps us think about our future as well. And we also are excited that it will dovetail well with the Envision Columbia process. So Envision Columbia, I know y'all know, but since we're being recorded being council strategic plan is a two-year plan and we know that the comprehensive plan, which is a little bit broader in scope, it's a 10-year plan as dictated by the state code of laws. That 10-year process we think will help inform some of the planning that y'all do through your strategic planning process, and you'll be getting ready to update here in the fall. But that strategic planning process is a good way to help think about the implementation of some of these plans' priorities as we move forward. So we recognize that we're looking at a broader vision and broader goals, and that you'll really be able to drill down using that compass as you move forward. And it also gives us an opportunity to really think about how we celebrate the city's accomplishments on a more regular basis. So we're looking at celebrating those accomplishments, not just through the strategic plan, but also with a comprehensive plan. We're trying to come back through and look at the benchmarks we've hit through that planning process as we move forward. So we'll be giving updates not only during the planning process, but after the plan has been adopted, as far as how we're doing with implementation of programs, policies, and projects moving forward. And that being said, what is a comprehensive plan? And I think this really says it best, but it's a summary of the goals, objectives, opportunities, policies, strategies, programs, and projects that make us look at how we're going to move forward in the future. So we know that if we're just constantly responding to things, we're not really thinking about how we're going to look for the future and we'll leave some of those aspirations behind. We know why this comprehensive planning process is very important to the city. To talk a little bit about the roles that different staff and council will have during the comprehensive planning process, the Planning Commission is really integral to this process. So when we think about the Planning Commission, we think about how they look at things from a regulatory standpoint. They're always reviewing site plans and zoning, and they're making recommendations to council. At the meat of it, they're going to be doing the same with the comprehensive plan. So they'll be reviewing the final plan document and making that recommendation, but that's not the only thing they're going to be doing during this process. We've looped them in, we're talking to them monthly at work sessions about the different comprehensive plan topics, so the different elements. They have already been actively working with the amplified process, which is part of the cultural planning process, and they'll continue to be actively involved in the comprehensive planning process as we move forward with Columbia Compass. So they've really been excited about taking on this role and responsibility, and so they're looking forward to being well-versed in this planning. For city council, again the same thing. Y'all know kind of your own paper role. You will review the recommendations of Planning Commission and hopefully adopt the comprehensive plan as recommended. But that's not your only role in this process. We're excited that y'all are engaged. We'll be updating you through the process as well. So we'll be coming to work sessions much like this one, talking about some of the findings that we've made, some of the recommendations that we think are coming to light, and then we really want to make sure that this is an ongoing coordination. So it doesn't end, again, with the planning process. But the comprehensive plan helps serve y'all as a tool as you move forward with your strategic planning process. Is it possible to get the comprehensive plan in a red-lined version, section by section, that we can get through? It will be. We're just kicking off the process so we don't have a draft at this point. So our first set of public meetings will be in October, and we expect coming to you with a planned document after two more rounds of public meetings, so spring or summer 2019. So we just wanted to get the word out with y'all early on. So we do have the existing comprehensive plan that was adopted back in 2008, and we can certainly provide y'all with links for that. But we're hoping that the planning document moving forward is a lot more interactive and usable for the public and for you as well. So just a reminder, because a lot of times people conflate the comprehensive plan and zoning. So the zoning is really a regulatory tool which helps us implement the comprehensive plan. So the comprehensive planning document will make recommendations. Some of those recommendations may be program or policy recommendations. Some might be more infrastructure-based, so it might be anything from when we think about infrastructure, we think about complete streets, but we also think about maybe water and sewer and parks and that sort of thing. So zoning is just one of those tools that we use to move forward the vision that's defined and developed in the comprehensive planning process. So certainly y'all will be hearing about the Code Rewrite coming up too, and we did most recently update the future land use element of the comprehensive plan, Plan Columbia, so that we've had a lot of good feedback on already. And then just to kind of go over the elements of the comprehensive plan, the state code of laws actually dictates that we covered nine different elements of the plan. And you'll see the symbology, the icons will be used throughout the planning process, but population is essentially demographics. We're looking at who we are as a city, how we expect our growth patterns to move, where we expect shifts in demographics, are we aging, are we gathering younger population members. Natural resources we're talking about, you know, certainly our rivers, our tree canopy is something that we've talked a lot about with natural resources. Land use, again, driving how we grow and how we change as a city, what vision we have. Transportation will include all modes of transportation. So certainly we've recently updated the bicycle and pedestrian element of transportation as well. So Walk by Columbia was a recent addition, and it's very comprehensive. So what we're looking at when we're looking at transportation is not just bike, pad and roads, but, you know, things like transit, things like rails, that sort of thing. And so we're working with Kim Lee Horn on that element of the plan. You're probably familiar with them. They're a local firm, but they're also working on the Carolina Quarters project right now. So they have a lot of great expertise on that. On the housing element, we're not just talking about affordable housing. We know that our community development folks do a fantastic job with affordable housing and really becoming the advocates and working with those communities. And so we're working hand in hand with community development and also with the housing authority. But what we're talking about when we're talking about housing is not just affordable, although that's a piece of the puzzle. It might be where do you want to have denser development of housing versus where do you want a mix of apartments or mixed use or single family residential and what we might be missing or what gaps we might have in both the rental and the homeowner market. So we're working with Clarion on that. And Clarion is actually who worked with us on Plan Columbia on the land use element. So they've got a team of good housing experts on that one. Community facilities. That element we're talking about all sorts of things from water and sewer to solid waste pickup to parks. Everything the city touches and some things the city doesn't. So the state actually dictates that libraries and school districts are included as well. So we're working with them and meeting with those folks to talk about their long range plans as well. And looking at how those different patterns of development affect kind of the greater service. Economic development, certainly y'all are very familiar with. We're working with our economic development folks as well as the state, the chamber, the Midlands Business Leadership Group and others to really identify those policies or those shifts that they'd like to see to really bring more vibrancy to Columbia. We know we're developing a burgeoning city, but what can we do to help facilitate that? And then the priority and investment element, this is the element that we won't be talking about in our first set of public meetings. And the reason we won't be talking about it is it's really where the rubber meets the road. It's the recommendations for implementation. And so in our first set of public meetings, we're going to be asking people what they think about the state of the other elements. So what they think about population, natural resource, land use, transportation, et cetera. And as we move forward, that's when they'll be talking about what kind of recommendations. You know, if you're concerned, for example, when you come to a public meeting, you might say, well, I really want to be able to have access to X and I don't see that in my community or I don't see that throughout Columbia. We'll then look at those statements and those comments and talk about how we can identify strategies that might be placed in the priority investment section. Sure. Sure. So I think at this point, that's our goal. We do know that the Amplify process is moving a little bit ahead of schedule for us at this point. So it may be that they come to you with an earlier presentation and then we'll be integrating some of their recommendations into the plan as a whole. But the goal would be to adopt them as a whole because this is our 10-year update, recognizing that we might see larger changes to elements we maybe haven't touched in the last five years than, for example, the land use element that we most recently updated. We don't expect to see a lot of changes there. How does the plan, from our perspective, articulate those community facilities that we don't have control over? I mean, we just discussed them. We referenced them. We identified needs or what? I think all of those things, you know, it's a little bit of a moving target because we're just in our information gathering stage at this point. So we will be looking at, you know, those items that rise to the top. And if there are some things that deal with school districts or deal with libraries that we can either point out, you know, their long-range plans and how we might work with them, or maybe point out some patterns that are rising out of their long-range plans. So that's, you know, it is a delicate balance because we don't control everything. And that's fine. We probably don't want to control everything. But that's a conversation that we're having. But you'll have opportunities to collaborate some because when you look at, you know, the drafts of the land use plan and the designs, that will have some dictation on facilities where they go and that sort of thing. Yeah, and that's something I should mention. So although the state prescribes these nine elements, they are very interwoven with one another. So although we will have separate sections for each of them, we recognize, for example, that a recommendation of the plan that comes into the priority investment element might both satisfy concerns about natural resources, land use, and cultural resources. So it's not that these things are separate from one another, but they are because of how the state sets forth that planning process. We'll have chapters in a book, but we'll tell a total story. And I'm actually going to turn it over to John because he's going to talk to you a little bit about the planning process and some questions we have for you. So our planning process, essentially, we're going to be looking at all the different elements, like Lee said, and we're going to be doing an inventory of our existing conditions, working with city staff and finding all that information out. Setting forward some goals. These may be goals that come out of your strategic plan. They may be goals that come over from the old plan, and they may be goals that come out of other documents that the city has already adopted. And we're going to be looking into, with the citizens, kind of what some of their goals will be. So that will be taken to the Planning Commission for some facilitation there. And then we're going to be looking at how we can implement some of these strategies over time. This map, it's a little blurry on the screen, but you can actually see it probably in more detail on the website. This project does have a website. Basically, this map shows you the process, and so Lee kind of hinted at it that it's sort of a three-part process. We're in stage one at the moment where we're doing research and discussions. We're going to be having public meetings at the beginning of October. We'll continue research and discussions through November and into December, and then we'll be coming back in January, February, with some more public meetings to actually let the community know what we found out, what we heard from them. And then we'll be moving into a final draft and then presenting that plan to the public in the late spring, and then bringing that to City Council early summer of 19. So our goals for this particular project is to reach into the community, and we really want to focus on reaching those in the community that we haven't typically reached in planning processes before. We do have a core group of people in Columbia that really engage in the planning process, whether they're developers or citizens or neighborhood leaders, but we know there's a lot of other people who not are engaged. So we are trying a lot of different ways to reach out into the community. We're also engaging with City staff. We've had a conversation with Ms. Wilson to really try to get a team. So we have a team in planning, but we also want to have a team that crosses all the City departments so that we can really make this document something that Public Works can use, that Economic Development can use, all these different groups. So it becomes something that is very usable down the road, not just a planning division tool, so to speak. And we want to make the plan usable. We want to make it, like Lee mentioned, a document that when you're working on your strategic plan in two years or four years, there is information in there that can be pulled out. It doesn't have to be recreated. And then we want to have achievable strategies going forward. Often our plans have a really nice list of potential things that could happen, but often the reality is only maybe one or two of those 15 things can happen, and so we want to make sure that we're able to have achievable strategies. And then some of our public engagement, we're going to be obviously having public meetings, but we have a website that is up and running. Also social media, both Facebook and Twitter for this project. We have a lot of focus groups. We have already or have scheduled, both have scheduled and have focus groups on economic development. It's about 90 people we're meeting with, so we're going to be meeting with more people in all of those different groups. We're going to have a very interactive survey that should facilitate a lot of comment from the community. There's recently a lot of public input actually comes more through other modes other than public meetings and surveys as one of those. We're also going to do a newsletter to all of the neighborhood presidents. The September newsletter we just handed out to you that's on the podium up there. So we'll be mailing that out to all of them later this week. So we'll have a monthly newsletter that will have a little bit of information and facts, tell them about upcoming meetings. We'll have sort of just some information on there, kind of like, did you know this type thing? We're also going to reach out to all the neighborhood presidents and ask them to invite us to their neighborhood meetings to talk about the plan. We're also looking at going to any other kind of social groups. So if you know of anyone, I think we sent you an email and some of you did respond, but if they're specific people you'd like us to reach out to, so we're looking forward to developing that list also. And then our priority investment, a little bit what Lee said, is that we're going to really look at the programs and policies and projects. So it's not just about infrastructure, it's not just about zoning, it's about maybe it's looking at how we do things. Maybe there's efficiencies, those types of things that we could be looking at down the long term. And then really we want to be able to provide a plan that you guys can reference for your strategic planning efforts. And then one of our questions to you and you don't have to answer now, but you can let Ms. Wilson know is we'd really like to know how much engagement you would actually like to have through this process and what form that might take, whether you want updates just through an email or if the newsletters are enough for you or that kind of thing. So think about that and just let administration know how much involvement you'd like to have in the process from that perspective. And then also just as a reminder, we did send that email asking you to tell us who we should contact, other than kind of the standard neighborhood presidents, all of those. So if there's specific people, just let us know about that. And with that, if you have any questions for Lee and I, we'll be glad to answer them. Some names, I wrote some names out yesterday. Maybe you'll get those directly. They're probably more to come. So I appreciate it. Beginning the end timeline, when do we have to have this done by? And we've actually been working on contracts for the two. I think you approved them right before the end of the fiscal year this past year. So as we move forward, we're looking at meetings again, October 3rd and 4th. When do we expect to be done with the process? Probably August of 2019. Because we'll need time to be able to go through that public input process, make sure that it's meaningful. So we're hoping we'll bring it to you early summer, have the public hearing mid-summer, and you have your second reading end of summer. Davis? Yeah. I've sort of looked at some of the planning you sent out. I'd like to be involved also, I think, doing this process. Y'all will be bringing in some key experts in some of the areas that's going to sort of dictate what the final product's going to look like. But I'm going to suggest, you know, for example, in addition to the names I sent you, we can add, I'd like to add to that. But I think what might help so that you won't have to do that many every month or so, maybe do some clusters of maybe three to four. That way I think you can cover an area where a number of people may have some of the same thoughts about their area because they're sort of contiguous to one another. Would that work for you? Yeah, we can definitely do that. I mean, if the timing allows, we can definitely try to, you know, partner some different neighborhoods together. Or if it doesn't allow, we'll just go to, you know, two different meetings. But we'll work with, we can work with all the neighborhood presidents and groups to see, you know, how the schedule's all aligned. Right. And I'm probably one of the easiest ways for you to help us kind of spread the gospel, if you would. People can sign up for that newsletter and any notifications about meetings by going to ColumbiaCampus.org. And it's something that we're doing through MailChimp so they can, you know, they can change their subscriber preferences if they decide that an email a month is too much. But if you could help us spread that, that will really help us reach those folks. Dustoff from Dr. Seattle's point. When you go out to one of these community meetings, are you going to be focusing on one of the elements? Or are you going to try to get input on all of the elements? So what we're developing in conjunction with the housing and the transportation consultants is basically a meeting in a box. So we will take different pieces of information that we may present at a public meeting or that might be online. So it might be frequently asked questions. We have various boards. And hopefully when we go out to these neighborhood meetings, we're going to have a little interaction, staff will with the neighborhood leaders, to find out kind of what their interests are. So if they're really more focused on housing and economic development, we'll try to tailor that meeting in a box to those topics that are more interesting to them. But if they're really more interested in cultural resources and natural resources, we can tailor it to that. So we can try to keep it, you know, to a 20-minute presentation so we're not there all night long with everyone. But we'll essentially have kind of a meeting in a box and then we'll also just have kind of a standard meeting that we can take that will just be an overview also. How are we engaging folks that are college age and younger in this process? Because we're talking about a long term and it would be good to have folks that are looking to be part of the process which may help engage them to stay here or come back here after they've had some outreach. Yeah. So we can probably a number of different ways. We don't have a specific target because I think we have so many folks that work with college age and younger throughout the community. So we are working when we're working with community facilities folks. We're asking, during those focus groups, we're asking them how we can maybe get their parents and get their students involved. So we're also working closely with USC and the other colleges. Certainly USC with the biggest student population but we've had conversations both as through the community facilities element and also through the housing element and economic development. We've been kind of tied in with the different folks from each of those institutions on how they can not only bring their students along and engage them in the process but how we can better serve their students. And we've had a very good response from the smaller colleges and universities of their interest in participation. And tonight we'll have the student body president from USC addressing us. Let's make sure we pulled him into that discussion and of course his peers from the other colleges as well. So I think that's a great, great point. I want to make a plug to Mr. Mayor for the re-entertizing of youth commissions. So I think that would be a great opportunity as well for the high school age community. Our children have lots and lots of opinions. We want to hear them. We want to hear them. All right. Thank you. Thank you guys. Good. Thank you. I think we have executive session. Who wants to make the motion? I think we see the list of amendments. I'll make the motion. Yes, yes. Okay. So you got our cruise booked. Is that right? My mic is not on. We wanted to talk about the retreat just briefly for scheduling purposes. The facilitator would like for council to consider January 16th and 17th in 2019. That would be a Wednesday and a Thursday. That Wednesday would be a half day and Thursday would be a full day. 16th and 17th? 16th and 17th. Full day on the 16th half day on the 17th? Yeah. Full day on the 16th. You're some reason why we can't do the Tuesday? I think based on her availability, she'd have to come in and do the interviews. Based on my availability, Tuesday is much better than Thursday. No. If you could accommodate us at all, we would greatly appreciate it. But the interviews occur on that day. Tuesday would be the best day. So it would start on Tuesday as part of the interview process. Yes, sir. It's far enough in advance that I can commit, but I would go ahead and get everybody committed today. We certainly do appreciate Mr. Recommended. If you can, but we certainly understand that these dates just don't work too. We just want to get back to Tyler. The same facilitator? Yes, sir. We'll go ahead and send you all a calendar invite. What is it? Evaluate one. 16th and 17th, half day on the 16th, 17th. I think she usually needs about an hour of your time. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. 16 and 17. I'm good. I had to check the calendar, but I assume it's all good. Oh, fine. That's fair. I've already emailed someone. I hope you can talk to someone a whole lot smarter than me. I think Erica took care of that. As soon as that was the case. Okay, we appreciate you all. Is that a resounding? Yes. Yes. So moved. Thank you. Thank you all so much. We originally had the 14th, 15th, and 16th block, right? So we're shifting it one day forward. 16 and 17. Excellent. And Mr. Mayor, back to your executive session motion with the additions as outlined. Mr. Duvall. I move we're going to executive session for discussion of matters related to proposed location or expansion of services to encourage location or expansion of industries or other business pursuant to 30-4-78-2 parking incentive resolution, discussion of negotiations incident to propose contractual arrangements pursuant to 78-2 automated media infrastructure project update, receipt of legal advice relating to pending threatened or potential claims in 4-78, Thomas versus City of Columbia, Thompson versus City of Columbia, and City of Columbia versus Polaris, receipt of legal advice for matters covered by attorney client privilege neighborhood ditches. Mr. Duvall, I just want to make sure you caught that addition at the top, which was actually a part of item 3, adding the discussion of incentive criteria to that same item. Incentive criteria is okay. Add incentive criteria to number 3, which was parking incentive resolution. Yes, sir. Mr. Rickerman. Hi. Mr. McDowell. Mr. Duvall. Hi. Mr. Vine. Mr. Davis. Hi. Mayor Benjamin.