 All right, you all ready for the roll call? Please, yes, please. Good afternoon. Mr. Brennan. Present. Mr. Rickner. Here. Mr. Mcdowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Present. Mr. DeVine. Mr. Davis. Here. Mayor Benjamin. I am present. And Madam Clerk, Ms. DeVine is going to be logging in very soon. She had a court obligation. So we'll be, she'll be checking in very soon, you know, mark her present when she shows up on the call. Thank you. Thank you. Redmond, do you mind bringing us a word, brother? Yes. Eternal and creator God for all that you've done for us. For this day, for all of the hopeful possibilities you've allowed us to share in. We gather today as brothers and sisters shrouded in grace and mercy. We simply ask that you might be with us individually and collectively as we discuss and decide on issues for this city. Lord, we pray that the memory of John Lewis resonate within each of us and that the sensitivity that he gave to this nation of ours rise up among all of the obstacles. Deliver us from all that is evil and protect us. We ask it in your name, amen. Amen. Thank you, Rep, for recognizing the life of John Lewis. Obviously, this past week, we lost John Lewis and CT Vivian and early this year, Joseph Lowry. And today, we actually have a chance to celebrate as well the birthday of our congressman, the eighth birthday of Jim Clover. So we're thankful for his years of service. And he and Congressman Lewis served together for years, even long before, even one of them went to the Congress. So happy birthday, Jim Clover. Happy birthday, Miles. Happy birthday. Amen. Is there a motion to adopt the agenda? Mr. Mayor, if I might make one point. I'm sorry, please. I'm sorry, please. Please. We'll amend item number five, the Microsoft Agreement to simply reflect their reduction in costs to $697,372.97. OK, super. All right, with that amendment, is there a motion to adopt the agenda? Come in. Please. I want to do this and put for the record, maybe it'll spark some ongoing discussions. I've gone through, went through the agenda. And one of my concern is African-American and minority participation. I looked at all of these numbers and the totals, tried to figure out where the protégés were and a number of these contracts. And it's difficult to determine, number one. And two, when I looked at the total, I guess of the total, a number of them, I just sort of not included. We're looking at somewhere around $62 million. And the concern is I can only identify two protégés and a minority. That would be Desa, Lisa, and Chow. You've got utilities, government here, Mr. Davis. But I don't disagree with your observation. As a matter of fact, I had a conversation earlier. Right. And so also, when I look at a couple of the change orders, the change orders sort of bump the cost of these contracts up also. So if you look at a $60 million range, I don't think we would be on the mark with what we say we do. If you recall, I think earlier last year, there was a packet that came before us that told them about $50 million, Madam City Manager. And then you sort of pull that back to take a look at it for some strategies to meet those goals. And I look at one as an example only. There's one totaling $1 million plus, another total plus reaching as high as $17 million, so forth and so on. If we don't have minority participation in these contracts, I think we don't look good. And my thought was to maybe pull these back so that we can get some clarity on participation. Also, a number of these contracts, again, based on the selection, as I always say, when it's all over, a lot of dollars are going to be going down in the state leaving this city. And I want us to make a concerted effort to beef up our minority participation, African-Americans and others of color with a capital city and with that kind of money being spent, especially now where you have some of these programs. Mostly the protégés are small businesses and they're struggling now. And we all know that there's a good chance that a number of those that are struggling now won't exist at the end of this pandemic. And I'm hoping that just as the others, the big boys are getting the opportunity to stay in the game, we need to figure out a way to get more protégés involved. And I think also you look at the question of whether or not we do in fact have small and minority businesses capable of doing some of this work. And if they're not, then that's one of the purposes of the protégé program. So I may reluctantly support this packet, but I do it with reservations because of my concerns. But I would like us to come back and see how we plan to address these concerns. Yes, sir. Mr. Davis, I'm happy to go through each one of these projects with the council. I do want to reassure you because I think the staff on the call will probably be finding this conversation interesting because when we have a gender review, I spend an inordinate amount of time. I mean, I cannot tell you the depth that we go into on every single project. And of course, because of the length of time from our last council meeting, this is a pretty full agenda that I was hoping to take you all through at a steady pace. But it is a lot to it today. Many water and sewer projects that unfortunately serve most of which do not need to be held up. But I certainly understand wanting to discuss any questions you have. I actually was proud of many of these projects because there are several that are protégé only. And so I can assure you that the percentages for every single water and sewer project, except for one, have been met with the goal set of 20% participation. And I guess I would need to have some clarity as to when you're saying they haven't been met if you're meaning minorities of color. Because I want to be clear for the public that we have goals. We meet them. There's a men are protégé program. And the requirements of 20% for those men are protégé projects. I don't see one on here we haven't met that except for one. And we can talk about that one with East Rocky Branch and some capacity assurance issues that have me a bit concerned. And so I had to make a decision with the staff about not meeting CDBE goals and some pricing concerns, et cetera, and timing issues. It's very urgent. But outside of that, I think we probably need to get into a discussion and be clear the public on when you say we haven't met the goals. I don't think that's totally accurate. We met the goals. But if we are discussing availability of contractors of color, specifically, is that your concern? That is my concern. We have the classifications in terms of minority, which is broad, but if you break that down, the question is, my question, and the question is out there, is minorities of color, African-Americans, as an example, don't want to prolong this. But I think this warrants some further discussion. And we can do that. And if I may be leaning off the shelf and out on solid grounds, and you can bring that to my attention also, but moving forward, we need to figure out a way to be able to have some clarity so that a person like myself won't have to dig to answer that question. OK. And I think, too, that it's a bigger discussion with some of our opportunities for program participation through the Office of Business Opportunities and other economic development avenues to make sure that many of our contractors of color have an opportunity to prepare themselves for the type of work and their availability to do the work on these particular projects. Again, we're trying to figure out ways to break down some of these high dollar projects so that that opportunity may be there in different ways. But again, we did do protégé-led projects, too. There's several on this agenda, as a matter of fact, which is a new novel approach as well. It comes down to the availability and the capacity. And I agree with you that we've got to keep pushing the envelope on ways to improve upon that for our businesses of color in certain fields, particularly in the water and sewer industry. Just to find a quick point about that, when we look at these numbers, especially the bottom line, and this is just one group coming through, about $60 or something million, that's the city's cash cow, if you want to put it like that. But also, the question that would be, are the people that we're contracting, we are aware of that? And are they looking to those out of town, higher local? And also, are they putting forth an honest effort to locate and give those groups that I'm concerned about an opportunity to participate in a contractor? Well, I think you raise a great point. And it's something the staff and I need to push, as you say, the big boys in Columbia who are competing and losing some projects to out-of-state contractors, we've noticed, who may not have the relationships with some of our smaller SMWBEs here. But it's the market. There's a lot of SCDOT work going on right now that is maybe not making some of our local folks as interested or as competitive. So I'm happy you raised the point, because it's an opportunity for me publicly to say, step up. Right. Step up. And we just have some all fragile businesses in this city. And again, fast forward to what their position is going to be when we all agree that the pandemic has passed. We know that we don't know what the numbers are, but in that situation, the smaller ones are going to perish. If we don't have certain not safety nets, but if we're not aggressive in making sure that they get what they need, the training opportunities to compete, participate, and financial assistance. Mr. Mayor, I'll defer to you as to how you want to approach these items individually. No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't. I'm happy to explain each and every one of them. I don't I don't think we need to do that today, but it's I'm putting it out there because it is a an example. So we need to just we can discuss it right off. Sure, sure. No, absolutely. Well, given some of the realities, obviously, we've been doing a lot in this space. The staff has been doing a deep dive. Obviously, economic reality is always playing all of this. That might be that might be maybe time for your committee to meet Sam, spend some time in the space seeing what exactly more we could be doing. And we can make that happen. Mr. McDowell. Yeah, I think I think Daniel had it. Come on in, I'm sorry. I didn't have any on my screen. I apologize. Go ahead, Daniel. Now, I was just going to say, I mean, we've had this conversation before. And I think we ought to put some time because it's a challenge with some of the contractors to have graduated and take on. But at the same time, we think we're going to be coming down. You're breaking. You're breaking up, Daniel. I don't see it on my side, but I hear somebody in the background. But with all that's going on, we have challenges. But there's some lot of opportunities, repair jobs and other things that takes away the limits of insurance and bonding and the things that have been challenges from some folks that we could, that would be ongoing and will always be ongoing, that we need to make sure we get. So I think we need to pull the subcommittee together and dig through it because there's a lot of opportunities. They all don't have to be big projects. There's a lot of money spent every day in Colombia that will add up to big numbers at the end of the year. But there's opportunities for our local businesses, minority women, everything to be involved in our city. Yes, I do think. Because there are challenges with the program and we've discussed it before, but there are other, I'm not sure how to pursue them. And I do think that's a case we should pull that committee together. All right, let's explain the half of the committee meeting sooner rather than later. Mr. McDowell. Yes, just, Ms. Wilson, let me ask you this. Yes, sir. What's the role in terms of bringing this list, compiling this list of vendors? What is that list? How does OBO play into that? And particularly with the urgent conversation, I think Mr. Davis is raising. How does, is there any connectedness related to those issues? If so. Yes, sir. Can there be some collaboration and some conversation? And again, I want to agree with Sam and I want to say, and I think, I think Daniel raises a real pivotal issue of that. But I think it's necessary for us as we talk about African-American businesses and contractors, it would certainly be good for us to have that clarifying conversation. So does OBO play a part of where we are in terms of clarification? Yes, sir. So we are, I do think the conversation to give you all a full picture and in a committee setting, it sounds needed. The curament staff, the office of business opportunities staff, clenched whole team with Columbia Water, they're all involved together in most of these projects on the front end as far as deciding when a project is to be bid, what goals we set, what programs are applicable, like if it's met or protégé or subcontract or outreach, et cetera. And then of course we have the CDBE goals that Melissa and Melissa, actually the office of business opportunities actually initiates through a formula, the availability of small minority women owned businesses and it's like a science. They actually track who's available to participate and certain percentages are determined. And that is typically in recent weeks, I can think of maybe one or two that I've had questions about when they've done those percentages. Melissa and her team do that and it's sent to Assistant Manager Shealy and Gentry and they review it and then it's sent to me for me to sign off on as far as remaining percentages and availability of contract or small minority women owned. I think the bigger discussion though that I'm hearing from Mr. Davis and you all is about the capacity of some of these contractors of color and that's why again, I'm being very specific when I say that. I don't want anyone to leave this conversation before we pass these agenda items thinking that there were no programs applied, no goals met, the 20% was met on almost every one of them, except for maybe one and we can talk about that one. And that was my call. So again, I think we have to be clear about the bigger picture of building capacity of minorities, particularly minorities of color in certain disciplines and the industries that we impact through water and sewer and the market. And so it's a bigger discussion. I think we need to have Ms. Drever Middow but yes, to answer your question all of those departments work together on every single one of these procurements starting with Ms. Wright, who's the director of procurement working with Clint and Melissa specifically and Ms. C and I mean, we all work on them. I mean, we send in a gender review more time than I would like us to but it's because of these questions that I know you're gonna ask. We probably spend on this agenda. We spent probably three hours going through it. There's a lot of eyes on these things. Even with that said, I hear you and we need to keep trying to do even better. Well, the interest, thank you and the interest of moving on, we're gonna move on. Let's pull together the economic development community development committee. Let's get a full briefing because I mean, I see it in action the interdepartmental work that's happening or even our honorary business advisory council is very involved that Melissa through OVO manages Clint is in the house at each of those meetings. So there's a lot of integrated conversations happening and obviously this is a commitment that we've all made and we're gonna have to continue the work to build capacity in that space particularly in Water Shower where we spend the vast majority of our contractual resources as the city manager just mentioned. I do think it's probably perfect time obviously for Teresa for everyone to get fully involved understanding the entire process. And then as we know people trying to pull more people maybe into the process and getting people available and up to speed and maybe helping us meet some of those places where we have needs to build some capacity. So let's, I mean, since we're having this discussion right now, I think it's important that even the committee meeting will be virtual maybe making that public as well for others just to get a full briefing as all the things that we do in addition to the, not just the small women or our own business, DB, MBE space. I also obviously want to focus on the LB, the local businesses and I mean, you remember 10 years ago when we talked about having a local preference in terms of businesses, people that would be the end of the world and it's been very good for our local businesses. So let's go ahead and get that scheduled. Let's plan to move forward. Thanks, Mr. Davis, Mr. McDowell and Mr. Rickon and everyone else shares the same concerns as well. So let's get that committee meeting set and entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. I move we approve the consent agenda item three through 28. Is there a second? Second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, we will move to previous question for a call of roll. Mr. Brennan. Yes. Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McDowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Vines. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. And let's get that meeting set pretty soon. Obviously, manager, I mean, all of our discussions, universal discussions about equity and inclusion are important to all of this. Thank you. And I would add the disparity study, Mr. Mayor, only other thing that I was going to say is something the staff and I've been looking at. So it'd be a perfect opportunity to raise that with you all as well. Add that to the agenda. Thank you. Point of order, Mayor. Did we have a couple of minutes? Yes, sir. I was going to, thank you, Mr. Davis, for keeping us on track with that. Very important. Those observations and we need to go back to approve the minutes. I forgot, I'm sorry. Yeah, I thought we were adopting the motion to adopt the agenda. Yeah, that was a motion to adopt the agenda. I apologize. I thought we, I think the motion said agenda items 3 to 28. So we, I'm not sure exactly where we are. My Paul Montaner with his beard over there is not keeping us attached. Legal, beagle. Yeah. Erica, I thought they approved, they adopted the agenda with my amendment, correct? It was just, it was just 30, it was just 30 minutes ago we started to cover it, so. Yes, ma'am. Let's get a vote on the adoption of the agenda. That's the motion to approve the minutes. Don't move. Is it second? Is April 21st in May 7th? Moving second, any discussion with a red question? Kurt Carrol. Mr. Brennan. Yes. Mr. Rickerman. Hi. Mr. Mcdowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Hi. Mr. Vine. Mr. Davis. Hi. Mayor. And Eric, I think I'm hearing you say you need the adoption of the agenda. Yeah, we're still going to do that. We're going to get back to that. Yeah, we're going to, we're going to come back to that. No, we, did we, what did we just do? No, I took it as the motion was to adopt the agenda and then we approved the minutes. And so now we can go into the item. Well, in the interest, in the interest of procedure, is there a motion to adopt the agenda? So moved. Is there a second? Yes. All right, with a previous question, Kurt Carrol. Mr. Brennan. Yes. Mr. Rickerman. Hi. Mr. Mcdowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Hi. Mr. Davis. Hi. Mayor Benjamin. Hi, thank y'all. And I teach y'all by the time on that, that is incredibly important issue, very important issue raised Mr. Davis. And thanks Ms. Wilson for the answers and look forward to doing a deeper dive in the community when the time comes. I think we have Chief Tinsley on to make a report on COVID-19. Everyone sees where we are. Just since our last meeting, we've obviously eclipsed 1,100 deaths here in South Carolina over 71,000 confirmed cases. Again, I want to thank our council and Theresa and our incredible team here at the city for our forward-thinking response. I think it's informed by good public health data and science, work to keep our people safe. Everyone from the masking ordinance, just the things that we're doing internally, we'll probably talk about to you those things maybe as well. But we've got to keep leading from the front. We've got to get arms around the public health crisis. If we do that, well, our economy will rebound, our children can go back to school and we can start seeing some normalcy with the advent of a vaccine sometime, hopefully not too distant future. But just again, thank you for all of your great work. I think, Theresa, is Harry going to give a report now? Yes, sir. Hi, can y'all hear me? Yeah, sure. Director Harry Tinsley, emergency management. Thank you. Good afternoon, Mayor, members of council, Madam City Manager. Thank you for your time. We want to give you a brief update on the COVID spark. Theresa, start with testing. And these numbers will change as of this afternoon with the new posting that will be done by the act. But in South Carolina, there are over 638,000 total tests as of yesterday and reporting, over 546,000 of those were negative, 91,000, over 91,000 were positive. So currently right now, as of this hour, there are 71,213 confirmed positive tests statewide. And unfortunately, there are over 1,000, as Mayor said, over 1,147 confirmed deaths in our state due to COVID. As of the 15th of July, this reporting data is of the 15th hospital-backed utilization capacity in the state was 72.69%. That data is changing, as it's important to note, the current hospitalization data is not available right now as VX transition. As I know, most of you are aware to new tele-tracking system and new reporting process. We do expect that data to post soon and we'll make sure you get that as you may get it on your smart device at the same time. As far as Richland County, currently there are 6,117 confirmed total positive cases. 119 deaths, unfortunately, in our county, 109, excuse me, 109. And as far as city Columbia's preliminary data, and this is just preliminary at this point, approximately 1,805 cases within the city limits over the last 30 days. And it is estimated, and this is just a rough, rough, very preliminary estimate, that potentially 87% of those ever covered. There are still several hundred that remain active. An important note on that data is that with the increase in testing and also the recent spikes that we're seeing in new cases, could mean that active number is higher with the potential of more individuals being sick. We'll continue to run that down and provide that data to you as we get it. As far as employee testing and PPE, personal protective equipment, currently to date 417 employees have been affected either by quarantine, self-isolating, and or testing. 45 of those employees have tested positive for COVID-19. The departments that are affected by staffing levels are 20 departments to date, currently our contracts and procurement department has provided protective masks and PPE, sanitizing solutions and various products to all departments. Our fulfillment center continues to process requests that are made and have sufficient PPE stops on hand inventory. As far as our mask up, we have four frontline departments that are currently serving as ambassadors, our code enforcement, our customer care, parks and recreation and parking services. All departments are reporting having good educational opportunities at this time with the general public and our customers. A high degree of compliance has also been observed which is a very positive thing. Over 760 contacts have been made to date. As far as our citizen distribution of protective masks that we did during the two week period from June 29 to July 10, our parks and recreation staff through four different locations over those two week periods distributed 15,000, over 15,000 protective masks to our citizens. And those distribution locations where our Busbee Street Community Center, Hampton Park Neighborhood Center, Earlwood Community Center and our South Bettisto neighborhood center and we had good turnout on those locations. As far as our mask ordinance reporting, our fire marshals continue to educate businesses and our citizens on the importance of using masks and the requirements of the ordinance. They are seeing generally overall good compliance. They've had 93 visits to date. There's over 87 contacts where educational materials were provided and were received very well. Just in those, in the deputy fire marshes interaction, they've also given out 180 individual masks to our general public, those folks that they see on a regular day-to-day basis as they engage in their duties. They have issued 10 warnings. Five citations have been issued to date. There've been no individual citations at this point. As far as internally, some of the safety and risk assessments that are being done by safety and risk management department, 46 risk assessments of city facilities and departments have been completed. Two external risk assessments have also been completed with our external partners. These risk assessments, as I say, are ongoing. Also, the Department of Safety and Risk Management and our Human Resources Department have composed and implemented a COVID-19 disinfectant cleaning. You're living in work areas, video for all employees that has been posted on our inner city under our safety tab. And that's, I encourage you all to go look at that for some good information contained in that. As far as our support services department, our city facilities, mitigations and modifications, they're continuing to ensure that our facilities are cleaned on a daily basis. 178 preventive cleanings have also been conduct in addition to that. They've constructed over 100 protected barriers. These are the sneeze guards that are needed as we transition back in to make sure that we're protecting as best we can. And they installed over 230 signs at this point. Social distancing mitigations have also been implemented at our wash square, so 1136 wash in the street to include all elevators to make sure that we're maintaining social distancing as we go forward. In closing, departments continue to clean facilities, offices, their work spaces, those highly touched areas. And our safety and risk management folks are out there. They continue to provide guidance as much needed and monitor those operations to ensure effective sanitizing and disinfecting. They do them on a frequent basis. And our public and media relations folks continue to push out information across all media platforms, highlighting our resilient Columbia campaign, our pledge, mask up, COVID-19, and see us in response to including testing locations and other important information. So we wanted to provide you just a quick brief snapshot of where we are. Additional information will be in the city manager and briefing note. If you have any questions, that concludes my report. Thank you. That was a great report. And obviously some of that data, obviously I saw in your most recent communique, maybe earlier today or yesterday, I forget when it was, Harry, could you? I know it's, I've got some of that from a few different places, some from the city manager, some from Kay Hampton and Melissa and also economic development. Could you put all that in one place? Because I'd like it for us, the seven of us to be able to push that out to the communities in our various lists as well. I think it will be personally edifying and encouraging the folks to see the comprehensive nature and the thoughtful nature that the city has approached. So as much as you can put in one place, easy to consume would be great. And let's figure out how we can push it out best, Teresa. Some people, you'd be made, some people needed a hundred plus characters like us on Twitter, but other folks actually still do like to read and want a chance to do that. I see Mr. Duvall is taking his meeting in the Hall State House, so he's wearing his mask as we speak doing his job. But let's definitely do that and Director Tinsley touched on it. I really also want to kind of touch on the great work that just various departments just falling in some of his great philanthropic efforts we have going on, working to build intersectoral partnerships. Our folks are really stepping up in so many different ways, serving on national committees and partnerships. I got to give everyone a shout out, but I really want to give Kay Hampton a real, I can't say add a boy, add a girl as well, add a woman. But some of the work around testing and just really leveraging the great work that DHEC has been doing. DHEC, the leveraging partnerships in USC and Prisma and everyone else. Just a few weeks ago, we had the largest testing event in the state based over at Benedict College. A whole lot of folks came together via Prisma. We tested over 2,000 folks over two days. Just this past week, again, another partnership that we pulled together in USC and Fort Jackson working with General Beagle. Kay ran the point on, I think they tested over 800 folks there. But this is a time when everyone comes together, if it's program held for Walmart or where it had you, everyone's just kind of making it happen. And some of these things you can measure very easily. Some of you cannot measure very easily, but you know that they've gone towards the common good. And I'd be remiss if I didn't say thank you to the people in Columbia for the incredible support of our efforts around masking and mask up Columbia USC, the community, our citizens have stepped up. And if in fact, we continue to show the persistence and resilience necessary, we can beat this thing. But it's gonna require all this to work together. But let's see, Teresa, Harry, I'll work together. As much of that as you think, believe me, I think people want to see what's happening and that's as comprehensive as a report, a report is gonna get in any city in the country. So I wanna make sure it's out there and available to people and make sure we can push it out to various constituencies, all right? Yes, sir. Most of it's in that reason though, but we can make sure it's all for public consumption and push it publicizing it, sir, yes, sir. Exactly. I'm even thinking about the way we used to, we had the flood, we had an internal document let's make it a public document and just pull all this information out there. We'll do. All right, thank you very much. So thank you, Harry, for all your work. Yes, sir. I think Mr. Rickman, I'm not sure if Mr. Rickman's screen is showing, Mr. Mayor, for you. I can see Daniel. Okay. Okay, I can see him. All right. We're gonna do gender. The consent agenda? Did you have a comment, Mr. Rickman? Did I? Oh, I thought your hand was raised. No, ma'am. I'm sorry, okay. All right. I think we're gonna approve the consent agenda for the third time real quick. Just in case, okay, I wanna call from Theresa Knox in a few months and we didn't do it right. So is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? Is there a second? I think Mr. Duvall seconds, but he's on mute. So I'll second that. Well, we'll move to previous question, Kurt Carveron. Mr. Brennan? Yes. Mr. Rickman? Aye. Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Aye. Mr. Davis? Aye. Mayor Benjamin? Aye. Thank you, everyone. This item was three through 28. All right, I'm out of city manager. Yes, sir. Ordinance is second reading, item 29. Ordinance number 2020-05-7, authorizing the city manager to execute an agreement regarding the use of the Columbia and Buffalo LLC, the multi-use entertainment facility in the Bull Street development. There are motion. I move approval of item 29. I second. Discussion. Mr. Rickman? We were supposed to get some information on that. We'll see about that. What additional information, Mr. Rickman? I know that Ms. Gentry shared most of what I thought you needed. If we missed something, then please let me know. I mean, I thought we were getting a list of what it was going to be used for. I mean, there are no operatives. They were a recipient of PPP money's being used for. And I wanted to make sure that we had in place, we are covered that these expenses come in the future that we're not responsible. This is our money that we put into that fund. It's not the fund. And I can give an overview again of the conversation from the first reading. These expenses will be used to cover the ongoing operation at Segra Park, such as the utility bills, which are fairly high and a building of this magnitude, you can't just turn it off and shut it down and walk away for a few months. You have to keep the HVAC going. There's electricity costs that are pretty high in comparison with your normal size building. The graph maintenance, you have to continue maintaining the field and operating that while they have certainly scaled back operations, they're doing everything they can to save as much as possible, but they have to also think about the long-term maintenance of the facility. So these funds will be used for those type of activities. They will not use them if not needed. They will give us invoices for any expenses that they're requesting access to the capital fund, is what we call it. And these funds are restricted to the Segra Park. These funds are not available for the city to use elsewhere. They were made up of a variety of sources to include the naming rights portion of the city, naming rights agreement, and these funds automatically go into this account made up of some attendance numbers when you would see the certain number of attendance. Hardball puts money into this fund. So again, I want to reiterate, these funds are not available for the city to use otherwise. Yes, sir, go ahead. Again, while this is not anticipated, like so much is not anticipated during the pandemic, this is in the spirit of maintaining that facility. So I understand Mr. Rickman's legitimate questions and concerns, but... I got a question, ma'am. I'll go ahead. Okay, please, Daniel, then we'll... No, I just think we need to make sure that we understand what we've committed to and that we're saying that it's going to be a recovery all over the city, including the city finances. And this is not a reserve. And so any of the funds we've got to take up for this takes away from a basic service. And I just want that on the record. Thank you very much, Mr. Rickman. Mr. Brennan? Yeah, so I guess to expand on Councilman Rickman's comment, obligation-wise, are we as a city meeting our obligations that we agreed to when this draft was formed and the money they're asking for, that falls in what they committed for their obligations for operations? Does that make sense? I think Missy can answer that. So in terms of the agreement, and this goes back to the capital, City Capital Fund was set up as part of the venue license agreement. It was always intended that funds would be set aside into an account to be used for the maintenance of the facility, with the understanding that the ongoing utility bills would not fall into that category during normal operations. Obviously with the pandemic, everything's changed in the world. And their ability with the loss of the 2020 baseball season, their ability to generate revenue that covers those monthly expenses has just been handicapped. They are doing everything they can to return some activity to the facility. These funds that they're asking to access will not be used to support any of those activities. For instance, they're doing restaurant nights. On, I believe, Saturday night you can sign up and go enjoy a meal and watch a program. I think they've shown baseball games and other such things, so you can do that. They're not using these funds to support those activities, but they are needing funds to just keep the basic operations going. They will replenish those funds, whether it be in lump sum amounts, or at the time maintenance is needed on the facility, if this fund is not replenished and there's not funds available in the amount they've taken out of it, they are responsible for replenishing that, and they're committed to doing so. What's the timeframe for that repayment? It's over the term of the agreement. Obviously it's unknown when their normal seasons will resume. 90% of their revenue is generated from baseball. So while we love the fact that they have 300 plus events there every single year, 90% of their revenue is generated from baseball games. If baseball does not return as normal during the 21 season, obviously their position is still more difficult than during normal operations. Even if it does return, there's likely going to be changes to how many people they can have in attendance, and there's likely going to be changes from normal operations. So they're looking at how to make adjustments. Obviously Major League Baseball's going to lead a large part of that conversation because they're at the mercy of Major League Baseball. So they're certainly doing everything they can. I want to again state, these funds are not available to the city to use anywhere other than on a separate part. The city does have to concur with how they use these maintenance funds. So they can't use them outside of the city or agreeing to it, but they're only intended to be used for the maintenance of the facility. They, we are using them earlier than originally intended. Had the pandemic not happened, the funding would certainly sit there and continue to increase. So they're going to return the funds. It is over the term of the agreement. There's no way to predict that in two years, they can return everything they're taking out, because we don't know what six months looks like. And we're all in that situation, not just the baseball team. And Missy, during the first season, wasn't there, wasn't the amount that accrued higher than what was anticipated, paid by hardball into the city? They had a few good seasons. Obviously when Tim T. Bow was here, attendance was at record level. So certainly there were some funds. There were revenue generated for this fund that was higher than what had been projected originally. So yes, ma'am, there were certainly some higher than projected years as far as building the fund up. But that's a good thing. We all intend, city and hardball included, intend for this fund to continue to build up. So when the roof needs to be replaced, this is where funding sits for that. So there's been a few occasions when maintenance has been performed using this fund. And I know Gregory just walked in here. So he can tell me what the, I believe we did some concourse work when we traded the concourse to year two or prior to season two. Super epoxy coatings on that. Really what we're doing is more, I'll call them capital improvements to the stadium. But again, the fund was established to keep the venue relevant, always relevant, always clean and bright and new. This is an unanticipated use that will be replenished by hardball, but certainly consists of the end with the spirit of the agreement. And this is some additional questions. Mr. Brennan, just one last question, Mr. Mayor. See, who has final say to city when they do submit the receipts up to 50,000 as to what is acceptable for reimbursement? So Gregory Keckers are primary liaison with anything both street related. So they will originate with Gregory. They will go through finance to get the checks cut. So there will be checks and balances. But again, they have to have receipts that demonstrate actual expenses before we're going to cut a check. Great, thank you all so much. Move the previous question, Kurt Calderon. Mr. Brennan? Yes. Mr. Rickerman? No. Mr. Mcdowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Hi. Mr. Davis? Hi. Mayor Benjamin? Hi, thank you. All right, we got a pretty rigorous list of ordinances and resolutions and then we got some, not only the public hearing, but also some citizens who want to do public inputs. Let's endeavor the worker way through this. And we also have obviously an executive session agenda we'll take on after some of we hear from some of our citizens, but let's see if we can work our way through this in a very thoughtful, orderly, and concise manner, y'all. All right? All right, ma'am. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Item 30 of your first ordinance, first reading, ordinance number 2020-049, granting an encroachment to 401 Hayward Street, LLC, for the use of the right-of-way area of the 400 and 500 blocks of Hayward Street. Emotion? I'm moving forward. Is there a second? Second. Who got the motion? I kind of howled as the movement. Second. As we did, Mr. Davis. All right, second, Mr. Davis. Okay. I want to move expeditiously. We get moving second the same day. Thank you, Howard. You're awesome. All right, moving through this question of current overall. Mr. Vernon. Yes. Mr. Rickman. Aye. Mr. Mcdowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. Item 31, ordinance number 2020-051, granting an encroachment to South Carolina Automobile Dealers Association for the use of the right-of-way area of the 1400 block of Pulaski Street, for the installation and maintenance of a brick wall. Emotion. Ms. Wilson. Yes, sir. Could you talk a little bit more about that particular item number 31, the deal. Yes, sir. I probably have to defer to either legal or, I'm not sure if Clint may be familiar with the encroachment or Robert. Anyone on? They might all talk at once. Help me out. Yeah, it looks like, it looks like, Ed, like they've been trying to build and maintain a brick wall by the extents into the city's right-of-way. And obviously that requires action by us to approve that. We only, only we can indeed approve that. Try to get my sense as exactly where Fortuna 1 Pulaski is. I'm trying to figure out what Pulaski is. Is that, is that, is that in the vicinity where the, where the building is being constructed over there? It is, it is behind, I guess, of course, you know, the building is back on, back off Hampton Street, just off the Hugee and kind of a, let's see, this is Pulaski in Hampton, Pulaski in Hampton. So if you're coming up the hill, heading towards the library in the back of the police department, the building is right there at the corner of Hampton Pulaski. So I assume it's, it's somewhere around there. Not around here, Gleason. I didn't get any questions of staff during our review, Reverend McDowell, so I, but usually that means it's pretty routine, but we can hold it until I get a better answer for you. Well, the, the district, Mayor, there's a description of it in our backup material. It's a, it's a concrete sidewalk five feet in width and 145 feet long with landscaping and irrigation. And it's got a personal injury pilot, general liability insurance owner of $600,000. Well, that was, that was a concern that I had, whether or not there was some, there were some insurability issues. It's got a, they're requiring a $600,000 personal injury property damage, naming the city as the insurer. Okay, I'm fine. That'll do. Move adoption. That'll do for me. All right, thank you. Is there a second? Second. With a previous question. Kirk Pomerull. Mr. Brennan. Yes. Mr. Rickner. Hi. Mr. McDowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Hi. Mr. David. Hi. Mayor Benjamin. Hi. Item 32, ordinance number 2020-069, granting MCI Metro access transmission services court. It's successors and assigns the right power and authority to construct, install, maintain, and operate in over upon and under the streets and public places of the city of Columbia. So moved. Is there a second? Second. It's a discussion. And then move the previous question, Kirk Pomerull. Mr. Brennan. Yes. Mr. Rickner. Hi. Mr. McDowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Hi. Mr. David. Hi. Mayor Benjamin. Hi. Moving into a period of resolutions, item 33, resolution number R-2020-067, authorizing the city manager to execute an intergovernmental agreement between the city of Columbia and the Columbia Housing Authority for environmental studies. I did want to add mayor and council that I've asked a lot of questions about this item. It is a HUD requirement that the city serve in this capacity and essentially be on the record with the environmental studies occurring that the housing authority has to conduct for Allen Benedict Court forward. And so we, this allows us to still dig into a couple of things, but just wanted to bring that your attention. Super. Is there a motion? So moved, Mr. Chair. Is there a second? Second. All right, any discussion? Mr. Rickerman. Is this just a pass-through? It's their responsibility, the housing authority, but because of HUD's involvement, they- It's a HUD requirement that requires that we make room for us. They almost consider us a responsible party, but I just wanted you to take that language as a responsible party, they're responsible for it. And I think that is asking who's responsible for the bill. They have to pay, it's their bill. No, no, no. Yeah. All right. Moving previous question, Kurt Colorado. Mr. Brennan. Yes. Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McAul. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. Item 34 resolution number R-2000-20-069, authorizing the purchase of a .21 acre alleyway located on the southern side of Blossom Street in Richland County. As in a month? No approval. Just a second. Second. I move the previous question, Kurt Colorado. Mr. Brennan. Yes. Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McAul. Yes. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. Thank you. Item 35. Resilient items, let's say Mayor and Council, items 35, 36, and 37, and 38 are your annual agreements that you approve regarding homeless services. Item 35 resolution number R-2000-20-079, authorizing this. Mr. Brennan, I'm gonna take all four together. Yeah. Is that okay? Yes. Yes, sir. Okay. All right. I love you guys. I'm talking to Theresa Willis and Theresa Knox in the clerk. But yeah, okay. Let's take all four together. That's a motion by Mr. Duvall. Is there a second? Second. With a previous question, Kurt Colorado. Mr. Brennan. Yes. Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McAul. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. Thank you. Item 39, resolution number R-2000-20-075, authorizing the city manager to execute a sixth lease amendment between the city of Columbia and First Citizens Bank and Trust Company for lease of approximately 13,647 square feet. So moved. Is there a second? Second. All right. Mr. Rickerman. I just for clarification, I thought we were moving completely out of that building. Yes, sir. I was about to say that y'all are going so expeditiously for me that I was happy to say this would be our last lease amendment for the facility. We needed to just unwind that final piece to get Harry and those out of the basement and to also allow the congressman to go direct from now on with First Citizens. So the 30,000 square feet is all Tinsley's? Yes, sir. So all the basement, yeah. Yes, sir. All right. Move the previous question, court call roll. Mr. Vernon. Yes. Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McAul. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. At this time, we will, Mr. Mayor, ask that you all open a public hearing and first reading for zoning and planning matters as outlined starting with item 40, Mr. Mayor. And I want to say Mayor Benjamin items 40, 41. Erica, help me out all the way through, which item involved would please. So 34 items. First 40. We're through, yes ma'am, 40 through 43. All right, I'm gonna go get me some coffee. You gotta tell me how efficiently Mr. McDowell runs a meat and mom's dog. Yes. We're hurry up and get your coffee. Yeah. All right. Are you online with us? Who's that? Hello, I am. Can you hear me? Yes, ma'am. My problem is is I'm unable to share my screen right now. So I'm hopeful I've got backups who can share their screens, either John or Rachel. I got you. Okay. This is Rachel. We both had you, but Rachel, go ahead. Thank you, John and Rachel and Krista. All right, can you all see that? Yeah. Okay. All right, well, I will start off and they can pick up if this doesn't come through. But your first item is an annexation and a comprehensive plan not amendment at 156 Island View Circle. Our request to annex is signed a land use classification of UER2 and PUDR. All right. Are there questions? We're gonna take these one by one, Ms. Wilson. Yes, sir, Ms. Reverend McDowell. Oh, sorry, hold on. Yes, sir, can you hear me, Reverend McDowell? Yes, ma'am. Okay. And Reverend McDowell, this is a zoning public hearing. We would accept if the caller is calling, is on the line in public input and you have about 30 callers on the line and it's only one person that we're not sure if they're calling in for this item. So I'd like the opportunity to check in with that caller to see if they have remarks about this item. All right. Would you check in? Yes, sir. Did she say we had 30 people waiting to talk? No, sir, just some of them are listening, but we do have a caller that we've added to the line phone number ending in 7234. And we'd like to know if you're calling to comment about the annexation comp plan map amendment for 156 Island View Circle. Erica, when you identify that caller, do you ask them if they are interested in saying something about that annexation? Yes, and right now we have the caller muted because they're receiving a lot of background noise. So we'd ask that caller if they can hear me to mute any found they have in the background and as soon as they do that, we will add them to the meeting. All right, thank you. Oh, hello. I'm not calling to send an attestation. I'm calling pertaining to the Richmond County Black Collective with such an email over to the city council and to the mayor on the guardian of potential police reform proposal. Yes. Is this pertaining to the annexation question relative to the annexation? As I said earlier, it's not. I was calling pertaining to a message that was sent by the Richmond County Black Collective after setting a police reform bill on a potential meeting with the city council and Mayor Benjamin. Okay, Mr. McDowell, if you may, sir, if you could, and we're gonna end your speaking session when it's time for public input, you can press bar three and rejoin the speaker queue at that time. Sounds good to me. Thank you. Thank you. There are no other callers for this item. Is there anyone in the queue that wants to speak to this particular annexation? No, sir. All right. Are there any other questions? I move adoption of item 40. All right. Is there a second? Second. It's been moved and seconded that they propose the annexation of 156 Island View be adopted. Are we ready to vote? Ms. Erica? Yes, sir. Mr. Brennan? Yes. Mr. Rickerman? Aye. Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Aye. Mr. Davis? Aye. Mayor Benjamin? Thank you. Okay, Krista? All right, ready for the next item is an annexation comprehensive plan map amendment and zoning map amendment for 1.7 acres on County Line Trail. It is a request to annex on the land use classification of UER2 and the zoning of D1. All right. Erica, are there persons there in the queue that would like to speak to that? No, sir, not at this time. Also? Go ahead, Daniel. Go ahead, Daniel. April? Is there a second? Second. Are we ready to vote? Ms. Erica? Mr. Brennan? Yes. Mr. Rickerman? Aye. Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Aye. Mr. Davis? Aye. Mr. Vine? Aye. Thank you. 42 is an annexation comprehensive plan map amendment and zoning map amendment for 18.02 acres on County Line Trail. This is a request to annex on land use classification of UER1 and the zoning classification of PUDR. Ms. Erica, are there persons in line to speak to this particular annexation? No, sir, no additional callers have joined the queue. All right. Is there a approval? Is there a second? Second. Been moved and seconded. Ms. Erica, would you call the roll please? Yes, sir. Mr. Brennan? Yes. Mr. Rickerman? Aye. Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Aye. Mr. Vine? Aye. Mr. Davis? Aye. 43 is an annexation comprehensive plan map amendment and zoning map amendment for 20.74 acres on County Line Trail. A request to annex assigned to land use classification of UER1 and the zoning classification of PUDR. All right. Ms. Erica, are there persons in the queue to have questions relative to this annexation? No, sir. All right. I've been moved. Is there a second? Second. All right. Thank you very much. Madam Clerk, if you would call the roll. Mr. Brennan? Yes. Mr. Rickerman? Aye. Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Aye. Mr. Vine? Aye. Mr. Davis? Aye. Thank you all for your patience. Number 44 is an annexation comprehensive plan map amendment and zoning map amendment at 2125 Apple Valley Road request to annex and assigned to land use classification of UER2 and the zoning of RG1. I'm back. Mr. McDowell? Thank you, sir. It's good to see the city is still standing. I never had these concerns when Mr. Vine was there. You know, but it's a, it's a, is there anyone, is there any way to speak in favor of or oppose this sign them? Mr. Mayor, I know this is probably a little different. But I would, I don't know if chief and those are in the position to speak to it right now. I do think there are some challenges in this area. As recent as right now, there are hundreds of pursuers. Why don't we hold that item, the further item to another meeting? Okay. That'd be great. Thank you. All right. We're going to hold item 44. All right. I don't know 45. Sounds good. All right. Number 45 is an annexation comprehensive plan map amendment and zoning map amendment at 4521 Broad River Road, a request annex, assign a land use classification of AC2 and a zoning of M1. All right. Is there anyone speaking favor of or against this or any other issues raised? Madam Senator? Madam Clark, anyone online? We'd like to remind callers that if they would like to speak on any of the zoning items to press star three when your item is called. But at this time, there are no additional callers on the line. Is there a motion? Is there a second? Second. The move to raise a question. Clerk, call the roll. Mr. Vernon? Yes. Mr. Rickerman? Aye. Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Aye. Mr. Vines? Aye. Mr. Davis? Aye. Mayor Benjamin? Aye. Thank you. 46. Annexation, Comprehensive Plan Map Amendment and Zoning Map Amendment at 120 Metal Park Drive. Request to Annex, assign the land use classification of industrial and IND and a zoning of liked industrial that's M1. All right. Is there anyone here? Anyone signed up to speak in favor of or against this or any other issues need to be raised? Madam City Manager? If not, Madam Clerk, then we'll enter the motion. All right, just a second. Second discussion with a previous question. Clerk, call the roll. Mr. Vernon? Yes. Mr. Rickerman? Aye. Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Aye. Mr. Vines? Aye. Mr. Davis? Aye. Mayor Benjamin? Aye. And I do want to encourage folks who are holding on the line who want to talk public safety and law enforcement issues. We have just a handful of other items and they've been including some commission appointments and we'll be up pretty quickly. So be patient. We'll be with you very shortly. All right. Madam Clerk? Number on 46. Madam Planner Director, I have a problem. That's quite all right. Item number 47 is an annexation Comprehensive Plan Map Amendment and Zoning Map Amendment for 810 Sparkle Bear Lane, a request to annex and assign a land use classification of AC3 and a zoning classification of C3. Does anyone here speak in favor of or against this item? Anyone online, Madam Clerk? All right. We'll make a deal. Is there a motion? No. Move it, Mr. Rickerman. Is there a second? Second. All right. Second, Mr. Duvall in discussion. Seeing none, we'll move the previous question. The clerk call the roll. Mr. Vernon? Yes. Mr. Rickerman? Aye. Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Aye. Mr. Vine? Aye. Mr. Davis? Aye. Mayor Benjamin? Aye. Thank you. This item is a zoning map amendment. It's for to change a Wheeler Hill PUD. It's obviously a number of addresses on Henderson Street, Rice, Coway Alley, the north side of Phelps Street, Pickens and Catawba. This is a request to rezone the parcels from PUDR to General Residential to facilitate redevelopment into residential. This project will also require the review and approval of the planning commission of the site plan if the rezoning is approved. All right. Is there anyone to speak in favor of or against this item? And again, there may be people on the line who wish to speak about this one. And we do ask that they go ahead and raise their hand with that star three. All right. Do you have anyone, Madam Clerk? No, sir. Everyone who is in the speaker key was waiting the speaker and public input at this time. Super. All right. All right. See none. There's a motion for approval. I move approval. Second. All right. Moved and seconded. Discussion. See none. I moved the previous question. Clerk, call roll. Mr. Brennan. Yes. Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McDowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Vine. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. Number 49 is a Zoning Mapping Amendment at 3209 North Beltline Boulevard. It's a request to rezone the parcel from single family residential RS2 to C1. All right. Is there anyone here to speak in favor of or against this? Madam Clerk, anyone? There's no motion. I've got a question. I'm sorry, please. Mr. Duvall. I noticed that the staff was recommended denial of this, and it passed four to two. Is this the same situation we had on the next corner down on the Beltline and two nights where the encroachment into the neighborhood is the problem? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And so as has been the case for many years, that's been a policy of counsel, but oftentimes there's instances where counsel has found it to be that advantageous to go ahead and rezone the parcels. All right. We did not hear any concerns from the neighborhood. I move approval. Mr. Marin. Question. Oh, no, please. Teresa. I just had a question. I just quickly, Krista, I mean, it's so the, I understand that we didn't hear anything from the neighborhood. Do we know what's being proposed on that parcel? Yes, it would be an office for a security company. So, and obviously when you rezone it to that zoning classification, they won't be anything within that zoning classification, but this is just proposed for an office at this time. Okay. Krista, that office borders on what neighborhood again? There's no built line. Krista, did you hear Mr. McDonald's question? Yeah, I can look it up quickly. It's taxing my ability to know it right off the top of my head, but we certainly can look that up. Let's give it one quick second. Yeah, this is on the other side of two-notch it. This is across two-notch from the McDonald's. So this would be going towards, if I'm correct, towards Josh Lorke's church. Yes. Between, thank you. Thank you. It is Rochelle Heights and Victory Garden. Yeah, I know where you are now. Okay. All right. Are you comfortable? Not really. I know where you are now. I know where you are now. We have a motion that still needs a second, if there will be one. Second. Second. All right. All right. The move and prop is second. If there's more discussion needs to be had, there's the time to have it as now. And if not, we can move forward. Mr. Do you know where the vendor current office is located? Well, this is a statewide security, right? So this is, I assume they're still on Taylor Street. I don't know where it carries businesses. Yeah, that was the last known location that I'm aware of, Taylor Street. Previously it was on Taylor Street, right next to the township. My first time seeing this, I know that on that side of the boat line, some of the neighborhoods are not as engaged as some of the others on Welleson West Got Line. So do we know there has been actual neighborhood engagement on this issue? There is not. Please, Ed. Yeah, Christian, let me ask you that. The denial, of course, by the commission was based on what? Just are the reasons available? Well, the commission actually took a second vote to approve. Yeah, they were stuck on a tie vote, and then they had a second vote to approve what you want, 3-3-4-2. Staff has recommended denial. And Mr. Shealy may be on the call. I'm not sure if you wanted to ask questions that, or we could conclude the zoning public hearing and hold first reading. However, would make you almost comfortable. Well, this is the public hearing. So we can actually take up approval denial at any point. It didn't have to be today, right? It was long before the hearing. Is that correct? Correct. That's correct. All right. Is Mr. Shealy on the line? Eric, if you are, what's the process, Madam Clerk? There's a start of three. And if Mr. McDowell, if there's some unreadiness and you want to hear some neighborhood input, then certainly you can do that at some point as well. Let's decide how you want to report it. Is he, I have not heard him chime in yet. Well, if he chimes in later on, I would certainly move that we defer that conversation until we can get more information. I need some more information. Right, we're going to hold on, we're going to hold on item 49, 329, North Carolina Boulevard. But the public hearing has been held. Terrific. All right, thank you. Thank you. The next item, 50, is a zoning map amendment at 1527 Lyon, a number of addresses on Lyon Street. This is a request to rezone the parcels from General Commercial, that C3, to RG2. This is to facilitate the redevelopment at Gonzales Gardens. All right, is there a motion? I'm sorry, is there someone here speaking in favor of or against? No, sir, no one is in it. All right, fantastic. Mr. McDowell? The move. Is there a second? Second. All right, discussion. We'll approve this question, Kurt Colorado. Mr. Brennan? Yes. Mr. Rickerman? Aye. Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Aye. Mr. Vines? Aye. Mr. Davis? Aye. Mayor Benjamin? Aye, thank you. Numbers 51 and 52 are related. Just so it pleases this council, you can take them together. The first is the future land use map confirmation for 215 Bush River Road to confirm the classification of UCAC3. And 52 is the zoning map confirmation at 215 Bush River Road to confirm the classification of C3. All right, we'll take those two together. Is anyone to speak in favor of or against this item? These two items? All right, hearing none, anyone, Madam Clerk? Nothing. All right. Sure move, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. McDowell. Is there a second? Second. All right, another further discussion with the council with the previous question, Kurt Colorado. Mr. Brennan? Yes. Mr. Rickerman? Yes. Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Aye. Mr. Vine? Aye. Mr. Davis? Aye. Mayor Benjamin? Aye, thank you. Thank you. Mayor, before I turn this over to Lee and John, I wanted just to state how absolutely proud and I am of these folks for what you're about to see. I know you all have been involved in the compass during the time that it's been going ahead and it has exceeded my expectation so many ways and staff worked tirelessly to get it to where it is. And I just, I wanted this to be in person. I'm a little heartbroken that we can't near due in person, but I hope these few words convey, again, how proud I am of these folks. So I'll turn it over. All right. Great, thank you. This is John and Lee is on the call with me as well. This afternoon we're excited to present the final draft of the Columbia Compass Review. This is our 10-year update to the city's comprehensive plan. We'd like to acknowledge many of the city staff across all of the departments who have helped us put this document together, as well as the incredible support we have had from City Council Planning Commission and the community as a whole. I'd also like to specifically thank the Planning Division and specifically Lee de Forth for her coordination, perseverance, and delivery of the plan on schedule. For the brief presentation that follows this evening, Lee and I are recognized that you have seen a lot of this information before, but since it is a public hearing, we wanted to make sure we presented all the information for those who are listening this afternoon. I will be presenting the first half of the presentation and then Lee, our comprehensive planner, will complete the second half and we will follow up with any questions you might have. And Lee is gonna forward the slides. All right, public engagement was a critical, what has been critical throughout the Columbia Compass planning process and we will continue as we move through implementation with community involvement. We estimate over 6,200 points of engagement. This does not include those who were reached via the water bill. Mailing social media or email subscribers. Most recently we held two virtual public meetings in late June to provide an update refresher on the comprehensive plan, which was attended by a few people. As you are well aware, the comprehensive plan is made up of nine elements and I'm going to review those briefly on the following slides. Population, the population element provides an analytical backbone to the plan examining demographic trends and anticipated shifts in needs and desires, natural resources, chapter provides existing conditions and makes recommendations for programs, policies and partnerships that will help us move forward to be ready for 100 prepare for natural hazards and more. The economic development section provides information about the Midlands workforce and employers and makes recommendations regarding the city and the region's economic development efforts. The housing chapter includes a market and policy analysis and a number of recommendations regarding how we should work to meet the housing needs of our community. And the transportation chapter reviews trends, incorporates a walk by Columbia and sets forth policy and infrastructure recommendations. And I'm going to turn the slides over to Lee and the presentation. Thank you, Jen and thank you all. So the land use chapter is mostly carry forward from Plain Columbia, which was adopted in 2014, a land use element update, but we've added some additional items there and there are a number of recommendations about things like greenway development and future planning efforts. The cultural resources section, I'm sorry, the community facilities section, jumping ahead is in many ways a catch all. So when we think about community facilities, we're not just thinking about this. I'm losing some audio there, is it just me? No, we lost your audio there. Lee, can you just repeat the community facilities slide here? Sorry, I turned up my volume, so hopefully that fixes it. Is this better? Oh yeah, perfect. Okay, good stuff. So the community facilities chapter really is a bit of a catch all, so it covers not just facilities, but thinking about the infrastructure that we provide as a city, as well as the services that we provide and how we provide the services. So a lot of those recommendations are tied to that. And the cultural resources chapter is partially a partnership with Amplify Columbia, but it reviews not only our arts and our communities, but also our historic resources and our identity as a community and a lot of the recommendations are tied to how we can really make our community more vibrant through our community person. And the priority investment chapter is really the meat of the plan as a whole. It's where all the elements are summarized, where all the recommendations are summarized, but I guess what I'd really like to draw attention to is that there is a recommendation in the priority investment chapter that isn't anywhere else, and that is a recommendation that we provide some regular reporting on implementation progress for the plan. So we think that's going to be critical moving forward to help keep folks engaged. Mentioned that the priority investment chapter also includes a number of priority transportation projects that were fleshed out during the transition element planning. And so I don't think this is the sky that you all have seen before, but we do have a lot of recommendations for Columbia Compass and we can break those down in number of different ways by element, by priority, by how long we think it will take up one seat. But really, there's so much overlap. He didn't want to go to the land use and community facilities and economic development all in one. So we had to put things somewhere, but know that it's comprehensive and interrelated. And this is a slide that y'all have seen before, but just keeping in mind that the plan organized by element, the recommendations cover a lot of these items here on the screen. But what I really wanted to draw counsel's attention to tonight is to remind y'all that we've made sure that we've connected each of these recommendations back to the focus areas of Envision Columbia. So we're making sure that you're able to make that connection as you're moving forward with your strategic planning as well. And we've talked about nut steps, it seems like for a very long time now and we're happy to say that our next step is essentially tonight, but really the big next step is moving forward with implementation. So we recognize that this is really just a stepping stone to kind of culminate in the planning process that move forward. So we're gonna be looking to build partnerships and collaborate with others, even if we have to do it remotely and work towards moving forward on implementation. And the Amplified Columbia process is also wrapping up and they anticipate coming to you all, I believe next month to talk a little bit more about that further. And just in closing, I wanted to remind y'all, in everyone listening, there are a number of ways that folks can use Columbia Compass as a tool and that we hope you'll stay engaged. And so it's not just for counsel, it's not just for staff and it's not just for citizens, but we hope that there are ways that y'all can use our annual reporting following us on social media. You might find out some interesting things about the city that you haven't before that would help you kind of engage on implementation of this plan. So with that information, I just wanted to say thank you. As John and Krista have said, y'all have been fantastic supporters of this planning process and we could do it without counsel, without the incredible staff support we've received, both in our department and citywide and then of course the support of the community. So we really appreciate this opportunity and look forward to getting it going. All right, thank you very much. You guys have put so much time and effort into this. I look forward to doing a deep dive into all the recommendations and excited by it. Thank you for the very inclusive way in which you've approached it to get some significant community participation. So thank you. All right, let's go ahead and screen it back up. Is any, what first is there a motion? I'm sorry, is there, I think we're still in public and are we still in public comment? Yes, there are. The citizen input and any citizen input in favor of or against this or any call to this? Is there a motion to approve? Thank you, is there a motion to approve? Is that moved? All right. Is there a second? Is there any council discussion? Just John Lee, thank you all, Chris, the whole team. This has been a lot of hard work on putting this and let's figure out how we're gonna talk the path future development of this city. So I appreciate y'all with the previous question. We're very proud of the mayor. I just wanted to add. Absolutely. Mr. Mayor, if I could add, Lee made the housing presentation, the housing portion she made a presentation to the affordable housing task force last week. All the members were very impressed. They thanked staff for all the hard work, but the comments that I got back were just, it's gonna make the beginning of our work a lot easier because of the data and the way that staff is presenting it in Compass. It'll give us an opportunity to really move our work forward quickly. So thank you and everybody was just utterly impressly. I have to say I got so many emails about your presentation. Thank you. Awesome. All right, with the previous question, Clark, call the roll and that's why we have screen sharing if it's difficult to see the entire group. So if someone else has something to say, y'all jump in, but if not, please call the roll. Madam Clark. Mr. Vernon. Yes. Mr. Rickerman. Hi. Mr. Mcdowell. You wanna be there? Yes. Mr. Duvall. Hi. Mr. Vines. Hi. Mr. Davis. Hi. Mayor Benjamin. Hi, and thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, at this time, you all will move into a period of appointments. You have the Design Development Review Commission and the Planning Commission. Thank you. Yes, sir. We have a citizen, Roger Lurie, who says he was, he wanted to make comment on the Columbia Compass. It was not called. All right. Sure. If he's still online, what's the procedure? Madam Kirk, is it star three? Yes, sir. He would need to press star three. If he's on the line, Howard, did you instruct him to press star three? And that should open up his line. And if you can hand me Mr. Lurie, star three. The clerk will make you available to counsel. We're not saying not that Lurie on the line. Is that Roger Lurie? I'm sorry. I saw, I just saw, I just saw Roger's email pop up. I text him back. Okay. The essence of Mr. Lurie's email, and I'll forward it to you, Madam Clerk, is that the section cultural resources, especially cultural events, has no mention of the Columbia International Festival. That's, that seems to be the, it goes on for a couple of paragraphs, but that's the essence of the concern. And I'll forward that on to our presenters. I'll put that down for your consideration. But if we can't get them on, we're gonna move forward. He says you could read my email, but then you send it to Mr. Lurie. I will, we're gonna go ahead and incorporate that into the record. It is coming to you right now, Madam Clerk. I think he only sent it to me and me and Mr. Rick, and then I believe. All right. But that is the essence of the concern. All right, thank you. Let's move into a period of appointments. And there are a couple of items on there. Again, just a quick recap. The Beltlan Boulevard item, I think we're gonna have to maybe take up on our next meeting if there's some resolution there. And I think we obviously have Mr. Davis's issue. I'm not sure if we need to make sure in a period of motions that we direct something to the Community Economic Development Committee. And was there one more item or those that only two? I think those are the only two. Apple Valley. Apple Valley, and that's deferred. Okay, all right. Thank you. Yes, sir. My DDRC, I think Ms. Jenkins has sent updated memo early this morning. And what is she on? She's online, too, if you all need her, Mayor Benjamin. All right. So if you looked at the breakdown, District 3 has four members. District 1 has three. District 2 has zero. Which one are you on, Daniel? You know, did you see that, Daniel? Yeah. Okay. So that is... Can you continue, Daniel? I'm sorry. Yeah, I just wanted everybody to realize, I don't know if you've looked at the breakdown, but when I see it was District 3 had four members. District 1 had three members. District 2 had no members. And District 4 had one. So geographically, we need to look, and I don't know from the applicant standpoint, if we need to go back out to try to create some balance. But that seems awfully lopsided. Yes. Mr. Mr. Was that you teeing up, Mr. McDowell? Mr. McDowell. Yeah. Yes, sir. Can we defer this appointment until our next meeting? Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. And obviously it's clear we should endeavor to find some additional representation from districts 2 and now, mind you, there are only in 4, we will be able to see a significant shift. I don't know, but it's not clear to me exactly who's rotating off. Mr. Bachknight's off, he was a District 1, and Shell Moore is off, she's District 3. So actually, I guess, as currently stated, they're 2 from District 1. And 3 from District 3, but there would be a wonderful opportunity to get some more balance there. Well, let's endeavor to put a bow in this time around. Mr. Mayor, I just moved in that we defer this action until our next meeting. Next meeting? OK, yes, sir. All right. Just a second. Mr. Duvall. My comment is we're dealing with the planning commission. VDRC and in September we'll be dealing with Moser. I think these commissions are the top three of the commissions with the City of Council points, and that we should reserve these appointments to people to live inside the city limits. We have a lot of people on the applicant list that do not live in the city limits. And I think when we start making these appointments, we need to take into consideration the people that do live in the city limits. Mr. Mayor. Yes, sir. Could I then, then, of course, defer the nominations of each one of these commissions, VDRC and the planning commission for the next meeting? The, sure. I know that Mr. Rickenman was ready to move on planning commission, since that's what we have, the significant deficit of any representation from District 4. I was prepared to support his nominee there. Can we hold on VDRC right now, Ed, and take up planning commission and plan to take up VDRC next time around? Well, I'm sort of sensitive to what Mr. Duvall mentioned as opposed to looking at the planning commission. If that person, I'm sorry. I agree. I agree. I think there's some sensitivity that historically I've been much more regional in my approach to this, but I couldn't agree more if we're talking about growing the city. We need to give some preference to those who live in the city and certainly make sure that the appointments are balanced out amongst the district, so I couldn't agree more. So if Mr. Rickenman is ready to move on the planning commission, of course, I'll hold steady with deferring VDRC. OK, all right. Super, all right. Mr. Mayor. I'm listening to you, sir. How far out are some of the roll-offs from the committee? Because I think we, I agree, if we kind of off balance on one, we could maybe move to not do any reappointments to help create some vacancies. But yeah, I mind you, while I'm talking about sets on some of these commissions, a small number of people. So one or two vacancies is a very big deal. But the imbalance on DERC is just striking. So we need to get someone from District 2 there. It's much more balanced on planning commission right now. We got one person from District 1, one from District 2, two from District 3, no one from District 4, and one person from outside city limits. I believe the person rotating off is Del Stegenmeyer from District 3. You got to correct me if I'm wrong, Ashley, but that will bring us down to one person from District 3. So give us a balance. Help me out here, Ashley. Make sure I'm doing this right. So yes, we need reps from District 3 and District 4 from planning commission, and we receive applications from people in District 3 and District 4. But we had several resignations during the COVID, the early part of the COVID-19 period. So that's why we're dealing with the vacancies for planning and the same for DERC. But the person that you mentioned is rolling off, Del is, and then several people resigned. So we're going to go ahead and hold DERC per Mr. McDonald's recommendation. And we don't have to move. Sam looks like we won't have to wait for a bunch of vacancies or got a bunch of vacancies. But if y'all want some more time to digest some of the other planning commission nominations, we have time for that. Mr. Meyer. Mr. Duvall. Mr. Meyer, we have Charlie Terrini listed in District 2. That's his office. He actually lives in District 4. OK. He lives in King's Grant. Please, apparently, put these. Well, that must be how he's listed. He's put his work addresses both. All right, well, we're going to hold on DERC for now. We'll take up the next meeting. I think maybe consistent with Mr. McDonald's request. We'll get hold of those applications open for another week or so. Maybe close them out a week before the next meeting. Is that fine yet? All right. And so I'm going to move the previous question then. All right. And that's the whole DERC. And then we'll take up planning commission. I should there's a motion. Move the cruise. Did you do a Duvall? And did you make the motion in a second or two? I did. OK. I'll second your motion. It's much easier that way. It's very efficient. Move the previous question. I'm just holding DERC. I don't know what to do. Let's do it. All right. Move the previous question for Carl Royal. Mr. Brennan. Yes. Mr. Rickerman. Hi. Mr. McGowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Hi. Mr. Wein. Hi. Mr. Davis. Hi. Mr. Benjamin. I continue to accept applications for the DERC, Ashley, and any of you on phone or certainly counsel. If you have some good recommendations, please encourage folks to apply, and especially those who might be active city residents. Planning commission. Mr. Rickerman. I would like to move forth Mason Hart as district four representative on the planning commission. All right. I'll second that motion. All right. And we can hold on the others until next meeting as well. That's right. Yes. Yes. I would like to let Charlie Ferrini, I think district four has got several spots available. And Charlie actually lives in District 4. But I like Charlie too. So I'll second that motion as well. So district four reps will move Mason Hart and Charlie Ferrini. Motion on the first one by Mr. Rickerman. A second motion by Mr. Duvall. A second with a previous question for McGowell. Mr. Vernon. Yes. Mr. Rickerman. Aye. Mr. McGowell. Yes. Mr. Duvall. Aye. Mr. Vines. Aye. Mr. Davis. Aye. Mayor Benjamin. Aye. Ashley, so would you send out a new memo reflecting the two new appointees? Yes. I hope it's going to head around who else is resigned and how that changes the balance on there. OK, absolutely. Let's go ahead and also leave it open for additional applications as well until just before our next meeting, OK? OK, I'll send out those press releases and handle the other items as well. Yes, sir. Thank you. All right, thanks, Samillion. Thanks for your work. You're welcome. Thank you. Hey, Ashley, will you send us your notice advertising so that we can share our email list to make sure that folks are paying attention? Absolutely. I can do that. I know we did one for the last one. I'll make sure to update it and send it to you on. I can do that this evening so you can distribute it. Yes, sir. No problem. You're welcome. All right. All right. So Madam City Manager. Thank you, Ashley. Other matters, items. Thank you, Ms. Theresa. Council is asked to approve a 25 mile per hour speed limit on select streets in the Rosewood and South Kilburn neighborhoods as requested by the Public Works Department. Mr. Brennan? I'm motion to approve. Second. Any discussion? We'll be the previous question. Court of Roe? Mr. Brennan? Yes. Mr. O'Connor? Aye. Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Aye. Mr. Vines? Aye. Mr. Davis? Aye. Your benches. Aye. Thank you. Thank you. Madam City Manager? Item 57, Council is asked to approve a four-way stop at the intersection of Wacom on Kiewa as requested by the Public Works Department. Move for approval. All right. Second. Any discussion? We'll be the previous question. Court of Roe? Mr. Brennan? Yes. Mr. Rickman? Aye. Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Aye. Mr. Vines? Aye. Mr. Davis? Aye. Mayor Benjamin? Aye. All right. Let's entertain a motion real quick to have a full report committing a staff and all interested parties before the Economic and Community Development Committee regarding Mr. Davis's previously raised concerns around NBE participation. So we'll get a full report and update from staff at the committee meeting. Is that consistent, Mr. Davis, with your previous concerns? Yeah. OK. All right. We've worked with the City Manager's setup. All right. All right. That's a motion. Is there a second? Second. All right. With a previous question, Court of Roe? Mr. Brennan? Yes. Mr. Rickman? Aye. Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Aye. Mr. Vines? Go ahead, your mic on. Aye. Mr. Davis? Aye. Mayor Benjamin? Aye. Thank you. Thank you so much. Now we're going to go into a period of public input, and we really want to thank the public for sticking through. I mean, the summer meetings can sometimes get pretty long as we have a number of items, including a bunch of important zoning and planning items before us. But now we have an opportunity for public input. I know we have at least a good number of calls on the phone right now. Madam Clark, would you remind everyone of the rules? And let's go ahead and start there. OK. Each caller will be a lot at three minutes to speak. You'll hear a beep at 30 seconds. And at that time, you should start wrapping up your comments. At this time, we have about six callers on the line and two voicemails that have been left. And so I will start with it looks like Roger Lurie has joined the speakers queue if you'd like to hear from him at this time. Yeah, we'll let Roger come maybe after everyone else and everyone else who's been waiting so long. OK. I will, I'm sorry, Mr. McDowell. Yeah, I just wanted to know whether or not there was item 40 now, whether or not Mr. Shealy was on the line now or whether they didn't come on. Nothing. OK, thank you. OK, you still want to hold that, right Ed? Yes. OK. We'll have some, obviously, some opportunities maybe between now and next meeting to engage on that item. I know we're going to have extensive conversations about law enforcement. And I look forward, I've seen some back and forth emails between citizen leaders and city council members and appreciate the thoughtful and civil discussion there. I would be remiss, obviously, as we talk about the incredible important role that our law enforcement officers play in this community to not recognize the service of Robert Hall. We lost him, I guess, just a week ago now. And it's amazing. Obviously, all of us don't know every single member of the police department by name, but we do know Robert Hall and his incredible dedication. You know, whether it's something as seemingly routine as a job through Columbia or 5K or some of the most incredibly significant and challenging marches or protests that we've had over the last at least decade that I've been around. He always engaged people with a great deal of civility, did his job, did it well, served the people of Columbia well for better than three decades. And we just want to send our sympathies and our love to the Hall family and to his friends and family at the Columbia Police Department as well. Didn't want to miss that moment. So thank you. Madam Clark, you have a sense as to who's been on the longest, if we can take them in some type of order. I know several citizens have been waiting a while. Let's go. Yes, sir. So we have, I believe, William Starrett with the Columbia City Ballet, and I'm going to cue him up now. Thank you. William. Mrs. Darrett. We'll move on to the next caller at this time. We'll have, I believe, Mrs. Elaine Cooper. Hey, Elaine. Is it star three, Erica? Yes. All right, please. All right, Mrs. Cooper. They've been holding so long that they went on to do something else. Oh, Elaine wouldn't go anywhere. Well, we'll double back to both of them. Let's make sure we don't have any technical issues. Let's see who we have next. Well, let's try Ms. Catherine Davis. Ms. Davis, are you on? OK, we figured out what the technical problem is. So hold one moment. OK. All right, I'm going to go back to you, Ms. Cooper. Can you hear me now? Yes, ma'am. Sure can, Elaine. Thank you. Thanks for your patience. This is Elaine Cooper. It's been over two hours and eight minutes. I guess that's an improvement from the last time that citizens had to wait over three hours, I guess. But anyway, I am a city resident, a taxpayer, a voter, and a member of the Richland County Black Selected. I have met many of you all. And so, you know, howdy. And so we're here to draw your attention to the fact that we sent all of you an email. And we would like for you to look at that email and to set up meetings with the Richland County Black Exclusive separately, State Benjamin and each city council person. Because we do have a mayor and all the other city council members have equal say. With that said, I just want to introduce us. The Richland County Black Selected is a coalition of community activists that serve as dedicated volunteers that advocate for change within the community while holding all elected officials accountable. Today, we wanted to draw your attention to our purpose, which is police reform policy. In a nutshell, we're asking folks to redirect funds, not defund the police, just to cast total clarification as we begin. So basically, I will now refer to the last city council meeting and all that had been decided with the budget. We really wanted to address the use of force. We insist that you ban all forms of vascular neck restraint with no exception. That was included. I know they talked about no chokeholds, but allowed a vascular neck restraint. Also, there was a movement to allow rubber bullets and tear gas against citizens, the right to protest. What America is all about, the right to stand in the streets and protest, innocent protesters. Rubber bullets and tear gas are still loud in our city. We're citizens. We're not a military enemy. Tear gas and rubber bullets are used in a military section. By the way, tear gas and rubber bullets are not allowed against immigrants coming across the border, just to let everyone know. But anyways, also, we would like to talk about our other situations and concerns. So to summarize, I would like you all to read our emails. Mine is a request from a member of the Richland County Black Collective in the subject line to read our whole document. Get back to us for a meeting. My email is ecohillbilly at email.com. My phone number is 803-348-0911. And other than that, just speaking of waiting, while we were waiting, I was shocked to hear that anyone would be appointed to any of the city that does not live within the city limits. And that we go back to our original thoughts, that the city of Columbia and Richland County should mandate that the police live within the city, live within Richland County. How else can we improve the situation that has totally moved the entire nation and the world? The problem with everyone is that we're so separated. Why not? It's a win-win situation to have the city of Columbia hire and keep police officers in the city, have them live in the city. And we talk about that in our document, along with talking to Sheriff Lott and encouraging, insisting that he hire and keep officers once they're hired, that they live within Richland County. So the community can get to know them and they can get to know the community, not at a few cookouts or a few events, but on-going basis. OK, thank you, Mrs. Cooper. Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Ms. Cooper. And I do want to make sure everyone does know. I've received maybe at least between 8 and 10 emails, the same substance. Good substance, worth a dialogue or a report to have in the dialogue. I know several of the council members also replied in the affirmative. Be happy to pull together even a meeting, obviously a virtual meeting, to discuss some of them. Some of the issues, obviously, are already addressed in policy or in action by the Columbia Police Department. Some areas I know the city, the chief of police, is already looking at. Some issues are obviously legal issues. I'm not sure you can require a police officer to live in the city, but I will tell you, we have a very robust plan that incentivizes that type of activity, because we do think it endures to the benefit of the city for all of our employees, not only our public safety officials to live in the city. But some good content there, some good substance, some things that are already happening, and look forward to that dialogue. All right, Madam Clerk? Yes, sir. We are adding Catherine Davis to the meeting. All right, thank you. Good evening, Mayor Benjamin, and esteemed members of the city council. Can you hear me? Yes, ma'am, sure can. This is Catherine Davis. I'm a proud Columbia resident for more decades than I'm going to say publicly, living in a family home that was built in the 1930s. So I'm very committed to the well-being of Columbia. I'm also calling, I would like to speak briefly on two things, the first being the proposal for a very concentrated law enforcement reform policy in Columbia. We see that this is happening very quickly all across the United States, as cities and states both recognize the urgency and the importance of making very dramatic changes in the way that we have gotten used to policing our entire country. We have put a very concentrated effort into looking at this, and thank you, Mayor Benjamin, for your kind remarks about what you have seen so far. We do urge you to read it very carefully and consider it in all of its details. We have provided documentation and evidence supporting several of the points that we're asking for. We look forward to meeting you, Mayor Benjamin, and the City Council members to discuss this, to bring other concerned citizens into the dialogue. And we would like to be placed on the agenda for the City Council meeting for the next meeting on August 4th. Sure. The second thing is I, as Mayor Benjamin and Council members do have received an email from me supporting the very strongest, most concerted efforts that we can make to stem the rapid rise of COVID in our city. We realize the frustrations that we have as a local group when we don't have state support for this. It is extremely frustrating, and so many of us do not understand it. But I will say that we have an indisputable example of success in this country in front of us. And as I said, Mayor Keisha Bottoms in Atlanta has accepted the generous offer of help from that state. I suggest that we do the same. That's me in the state of New York. That's what I'm concerned about. That's the state of New York. Yes, I am. You know, I don't say it. I don't say it because so many of us Southerners are so anti-New York, anti-North. It doesn't matter. They've been so successful. I work there. I have many friends who live there. I've been talking to them on a daily basis since the beginning of March. And those people, even in New York City, are able to walk around with fairly normal lives. That is the most difficult place in the country to enact this, and they did it. Let me just say, I'm a relocated Yankee, just like Elaine Cooper. I was born and raised in South Jamaica, Queens. So there's no aversion to following a good public health policy. OK, well, even if it comes from New York. You and I are in a minority here, Mayor. Yes, ma'am. I will say this at times right now. Thank you for both of your very thoughtful emails. And we certainly can look at time on the agenda. But I'd prefer if we actually had some type of a meeting like this, where we can actually dialogue. Usually, council meetings are places they hear from the public, oftentimes concerns and protestations, but not really a chance to actually dialogue and maybe even receive a presentation either from you and also get some information back from the police department. Obviously, we're talking about social distancing on one end and the other time we're talking about social cohesion. So let's have a meeting in which we can actually talk back and forth. And we'll afford I have your emails and we'll afford setting something like that up. OK, thank you. Madam clerk knows that I must have the gentleman's on the phone who came on earlier as well. Or Mrs. Darrett's available to since he was the first one up earlier. OK, I'll go back to the gentleman and I didn't take his name, but I'll go ahead and add him back to his future. Thank you. You're welcome. Well, hello, everybody. Can everybody hear me? Yes, sure can. Yes, yes. My name is Emmanuel Frifo. I am a teacher with Van Richeland, too. I'm also similar to Matt Benjamin, a native New Yorker. I originally was born and raised in the Bronx, New York. I'm sorry to hear that. Sorry to hear that, but go ahead. I'm sorry to hear that, you're from Queens, but happy to the best of us. But the most important thing is that I'm also stand with the Richeland County Black Collective in terms of looking at how we could adjust police policy in terms of how it impacts our neighborhoods. I've taught in New York, I've taught in Pittsburgh, and now I've been here at Columbia for about three years. And I am very concerned about the state at which my students in terms of their relationship with the police force. And so as was echoed earlier, we are very excited to hear from you guys and have a meeting one on one with each of you pertaining to your perspectives on our proposal. We did hear that there are some items within the proposal that you've already made a examine prior. But at the same time, we still think it's important to revisit, reinforce, and promote society within Columbia where residents do not live in fear of those who are supposed to protect them. And so I'm just here to echo what my fellow concerned citizens have mentioned, and Lane Cooper and Catherine Davis. And we look forward to hearing from you shortly. I also know that you've received several emails from us. In terms of response or email to schedule a meeting, there is a centralized email account for our group, known as the Richland County DC at gmail.com. I believe you guys should be receiving that email if you haven't received it before. You should be receiving it shortly, and that will be the best space to schedule a time for us to meet, especially on Zoom. So thank you for your time. And again, I'm sorry to hear that you're from Queens, not a Benjamin, but what can we do? Well, we'll give you all credit for starting the hip hop. We perfected it. So we'll go ahead. No, thank you. I mean, if you guys try to make them a notch now, I'll get it. Got it. OK. All right. Yeah. Hey, it's so important too. Council decided two meetings ago, and staff has been very deliberate about pulling together a process that will engage the community in a very thoughtful and aggressively inclusive way over the next several months in this discussion about where we go on all things, not just on public safety and law enforcement, but how we thread this spirit of equity and inclusion throughout all the things that we do consistent with our Envision Plan that Council has adopted and is living every single day. So we look forward to those of you who are active leaders in the Ritchie County Black Collective playing a role in that discussion as well. So we got some time for that. That will be a very soon, very soon. But thank you. Thank you. Madam Clerk. OK, we have William on the line. Hey, we'll start for that earlier. Thank you for waiting. It's complicated technically. First of all, I just want to sincerely thank you, Mayor and each council member, our city manager, for the highly commendable manner in which you've managed our COVID-19 pandemic. Your leadership and insight has made me very proud to be a citizen of Columbia. Secondly, even though I understand the tough financial decisions that Council has to make in light of the pandemic, I respectfully request that the performing arts not be overlooked in your planning. Celebrating our 60th consecutive season, the Columbia City Valley has been and continues to be an asset celebrating 60 years, important source of contributions to that H tax revenue stream. We also continue our commitment to diversity through our programming, such as off the wall and onto the stage, dancing the Art of Johnson Green, our Valley Emanuel, our Valley what the world needs now. And in 2022, we have a new ballet titled Motown. We have also formed a new diversity and inclusion committee at the level of our board of directors. It's chaired by our board member, Megan Pickney, and this committee will provide guidance for our diversity and inclusion incentives and initiatives throughout the organization. I implore you, the funds for the Columbia City Valley at a level equal to minimum of 50% of last year's allocation, it's roughly about $86,000. These funds will allow us to mount our 60th anniversary season and to maintain the employment of our 25 professional dancers and our eight staff members. I wanna bring your attention that when this crisis does ultimately end, our city will need to have a viable performing arts organization attract residents, businesses, and tourists. Why the city can retain its vitality if we lose a few restaurants and bars, but the city only has one Columbia City Ballet and one South Carolina Philharmonic and et cetera, you know, other arts groups. It is just important that you continue to invest in these organizations to protect the future of our city. So we can, I have several plans to be able to do the Nutcracker several theaters lined up thinking outside the box in terms of even Sacred Park. We have reserved the fairgrounds, the Kogar Center, the, as well as the Township Auditorium. So we are just desperate to be able to perform our 60th anniversary season and to be able to employ our 25 dancers. So we just implore you, please, we just really need at least 50% of our funding that we traditionally receive from the city, from our public funding. So we are... Thank you, William. The performing arts is really important and I just wanna stay on your radar. So, and again, I just wanna thank all of you. You're doing a great job and this is a really tough time, but any help you can do with our funding, we just really, really desperately need. Thank you, William. I completely understood and registered. Appreciate you. All right. All right, thank you all so much. All right. Adam Clarke. Next up, we have Mr. Abdullah Mustafa. Okay, thank you, Mr. Mustafa. Mr. Mustafa, you're checking in, Ms. Emmett. Yes, sir, we're trying to get him connected. Hello, hello. Hey, there you go, there you go. Yes, sir, we hear you, Mr. Mustafa. We hear you. Okay. Okay, how's everyone? Mayor, councilman's body? I hope everyone is safe. Yes, sir. I want to stick on several issues. I'm not gonna reiterate what my memories of Richie County like to reiterate it, but when we meet with the mayor, we like to meet with the city council as a whole. And of course, as you stated, mayor, we would like to meet like we do right now, not as you say with the city council, which is correct about that. The Colombian police department requires a count. Needs some improvement, just like most of the entities. Okay. My dear brother, Bray-Eye, son, as of today, city council body, as Bray-Eye stated, no one has been investigated or anything. Okay, we're talking about Nala Stem, seven-year-old child who was killed and is supposed to be gang-ed. But no one has to today has been investigated. And that's kind of mind-boggling to me. Okay, that's mind-boggling to us here, okay? So we want some action behind that, okay? At least by now, someone should have by now been investigated, I would say, but not so. There's an issue with young man council who we are advocating for. His name is Amir Bangli, E-A-G-L-E-Y. He was terminated from the fire department because of the fact that supposedly, he was allegedly said that he threatened the police department because he made a comment about Josh Russell, okay? As we looked into this thing, he was wrongfully terminated. And we want the council body to look into this, okay? Because again, if the council is about justice and we are about justice, this young man was wrongfully terminated. So we would like for the council body as a whole to look into Mr. Bangli, Amir Bangli was terminated on April the 10th, allegedly threatened. And again, we have some serious issue with that because as we look into it, some other things that was criminal activity about two individuals had DUI's, but you thought they'd back at work. But we want some justice for that. But most of all, we want to be able to get community policing where the police and the community has a relationship. And right now they don't have a relationship, okay? This is why the Ritching County black elected form, it's a grassroots organization. Everyone is volunteer. And the goal is to hold local official accountable. Servant leadership is what we're looking for. And as a kept, I'd be the first to say the poor and underserved has not been served, has not been serving off. And they're not pleased. And of course, we're not pleased needed. So again, having said that, we're looking forward to the meeting soon. And we'll be waiting. And in conclusion, solid, it's not an option. Thank you very much, Alyssa. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mustafa. I'm not sure who else we have, Madame Clark, but just in the interest of full disclosure and some things you just can't leave on the table, the police department has worked very hard and closely with the family in the investigation of the murder of knowledge Sims. We hope that we will actually lead to community engagement in actually helping solve the crime. That particular crime on the murder of this child hurt the hearts of a lot of folks in this community, but our folks are working hard to solve the crime. And so that would be compelling if it were in fact true. So I would sort of make sure I address that misstatement. The other personnel Adams will handle those through the processes are established and always handle them right. But we look forward nonetheless to continuing community dialogue on all the issues that she raised, sir, as well as those raised by previous callers. Who else we have, Ms. Hammett? I have an unidentified caller, our last four digits ending in two, eight, nine, five, but I'm going to add to the queue now. All right, please ask to co-identify his self or herself. Mr. Mayor, I think Mr. Duvall and it's Henry. I'm sorry, I can't see. I'm sorry, Mr. Duvall. Mr. Mayor, I just wanted to suck at what you said about knowledge, Tim. I know that this is a personal challenge for both the chief and the deputy chief and the police department is focused on finding the shooters in this case. Those shooters are known to the community. And if you're talking about community policing, the community needs to step up and turn in the people that shot knowledge systems. Thank you, Mr. Duvall. Thank you. All right, all right. Madam clerk, last caller, please. All right, I'm going to unmute the caller now. OK, is your number in? Hello, yes, ma'am. Thank you. Please state your name. My name is Bailey Butler. Thank you. My name is Bailey Butler. I'm a resident of the 29203 area code, Barrow Road specifically. And I'm calling yesterday to talk to city council and Mayor Benjamin and the city manager about a petition that I started two weeks ago is to eliminate food deserts in Columbia, South Carolina. I know that the city has a council, a food policy committee council in place to address this issue and has published a report in 2019 regarding the issue at hand. But since the pandemic has begun and hit us hard, there are a lot of things that we need to think about. With 29203, which is specifically Park Lane and Decker Boulevard, that's one of the highest spread we've had in Richland County with COVID-19. And I just really want to think, I want the council to consider that going out to retrieve food every day or going to your convenience store and having to interact with people every day to even get just a snack or something small because you don't have proper groceries or produce nearby that you can harbor in your refrigerator is something that contributes to spread. So that is tooting these people in these communities, which are the 29203, the 29203, and the 29204 at risk for higher opportunities to contract COVID-19. Also, COVID-19 is impacting our higher education institutions. So USC, Allen and Benedict Colleges, they will have some problems with feeding students this year because students cannot interact in the cafeteria. They will have to be social distancing. And then also, you have to think about students who live off of campus. So I want the city to consider trying to put more accessible points for students and young families and senior citizens in Columbia to make sure that we have established access and adequate access so that we can reduce spread in Richland County so that we can also reduce spread in the city of Columbia. I appreciate the efforts that have been made by city council so far to reduce that spread. But when people are going hungry and they have to go out frequently, that contributes to the spread. I also would like city council and the people on this call to know that there is also an event hosted by Empower Sv. Next week, July 31, where you can drive up or walk up and receive a box of produce for your household. So I just want everybody to be aware. And the petition that was started two weeks ago has garnered over 1,000 signatures. So there are a lot of people in the city and across the nation who are really supportive of eliminating the food desert in Columbia, Tau, Carolina. And I appreciate the time. Ms. Mola, before you go, I want to thank you. I enjoyed reading about you. Thank you. College Charleston, the student, is that right? Is that right? Yes, yes, sir. You've seen me a couple of times. Yes, ma'am, I enjoyed reading about you. Keep doing what you're doing. I'd love to get you involved with the Food Policy Committee. Obviously, we're hosting, I believe, Empower Sv. event at the city's Drew Wellness Center. I personally contributed to it. And I think we're going to be pulling together some additional resources to support the event. No, certainly challenges that exist in our food systems in the city have only been exacerbated. And that's why the city stepped up its efforts, certainly as it relates to food and security among seniors. And I think there's some other innovative ways we can get involved. But we'd love to get more young, bright minds like yours involved in helping shape the present and the future of the community. So thank you for what you're doing. Let's stay in contact with dialogue, OK? Yes, sir, most definitely. Thank you. Thank you, Zaley. Madam Clerk, if we have no one else, I think we've got a couple of audios. And I will let Mr. McDowell speak first. And then I think we have two additional calls. Mr. Lori Dormais. Two more calls have come in. Yes, sir. Well, this young lady was holding, but she didn't understand how to join the speaker queue. OK, let's hear from Mr. McDowell first. And then we'll get the other calls online. OK, Mr. McDowell? All right, thank you. Yes, Mr. Mayor. One of the issues that one of the callers called and referenced was the issue of the city employee being terminated. I would think that there were the proper HR procedures and protocol instituted relative to that young man or the employee. That conversation, of course, is an HR conversation. And how do we want to breach that kind of conversation? It's my understanding that the proper protocol was taken care of. The proper protocol was put in place for perhaps the termination of this employee. Are we correct in saying that? Yes, sir, Reverend McDowell. It was proper and it was consistent. Thank you, ma'am. All right, thank you. All right, next caller, Ms. Hammett. OK, we have Ms. Donis at its meeting. Down with the name again, please. Hello, yes ma'am. Please state your name for the record. Yes, ma'am. My name is Tia Vastanik. And I really want to thank you for your patience. I'm here in conjunction with Lori Donis, who's going to be speaking. I'm also here representing the Hiroshima-Negasaki Red Members Committee. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak today. I would like to affirm what I'm sorry. I think Lori is supposed to go first. Is it possible to let her go? Certainly. Thank you. I apologize. Is that possible, Erica? Yes, they're on the. I thought they were on the call together. Sorry, yeah, I called. All right, do you need first to come back to you? No, ma'am, she's ready and available. I believe she's the only other caller on here. OK. Yes, I hope. Hello, OK, I am unmuted. Good afternoon. Hey there. Hello, I'm Lori Donis. And I represent the Hiroshima-Negasaki Remembrance Committee of Columbia Friends Meeting as well. And I'm very heartening to hear all the work that the city is doing and in collaboration with with so many other parties, especially the Richland County Black Collective. I am here today because July 16th marked the first anniversary of Mayor Benjamin's and Columbia City Council's Mayors for Peace Proclamation. And for those who are unfamiliar, Mayors for Peace and Nonpartisan International Network of Municipalities registered at the UN created a peace action plan, which is instrumental to that proclamation. It has two objectives to lead to the goal of world peace, if you remember. The first objective is the realization of a world without nuclear weapons. And the second is the realization of safe and resilient cities. As the president of Mayors for Peace Kazumimachi stated, we're working first and foremost to abolish nuclear weapons, to protect people from mass destruction, and also working hard to equip cities with higher resilience to make them capable to address various issues of their own, such as sustainable development, the refugee crisis, or countering terrorism. By signing the peace proclamation in 2019, the city of Columbia recognized that building nuclear weapons is in opposition to creating a more peaceful world, and that foremost, the well-being of people is the concern of government. We thank you, Mayor Benjamin and council members, for leading the way toward nuclear non-proliferation safety and resilience for residents by joining Mayors for Peace and proclaiming Columbia as City for Peace last year. The proclamation is all the more significant in light of the challenges we face in 2020. Never before have we seen so clearly, I think, the need for resilience within government and community. Never before have we seen so clearly the need for safety along multiple dimensions at the same time. Alongside the COVID-19 epidemic, the economic downturn, fragile health care infrastructure, the erosion of civil liberties, and persistent and systematic racial inequality, the breadth of which many in America have begun to understand for the first time the use of public funds to create new nuclear weapons also underway. The federal government continues to race to establish the creation of additional triggers in the form of plutonium pit for nuclear weapons at nearby Savannah River site and at Los Alamos. Apart from the unprecedented global risk posed by the active pursuit of new nuclear weapons, town Clemens director of Savannah River site watch, a nonprofit watchdog group, describes plutonium pit production at the Savannah River site as unjustified and provocative, citing prospective costs as well as environmental hazards. The plan to have a production site in our state for the triggers for nuclear weapons shifted off alarms that we must work for peace. For over 30 years, Columbia area citizens have recognized that nuclear war would bring about the destruction of our world. And many have worked to educate one another and to remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as to say never again. We hope you'll join us socially since Saturday, August 8th at Maine and Blanding to remember the 75th anniversary of the bombing to honor the survivors and to stand against proposed production of new triggers for nuclear weapons at FRS. And also if you can join us online, August 6th and 9th in observations streaming, you can go to Facebook, Hiroshima Remembrance and Visioning Peace now. And I thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much, Laurie. And they get a second speaker. Yes, ma'am. Mr. Lee, Mr. Lee? Yes, ma'am. Thank you so much for your patience again. I'll be very quick. My name is Sanabat Sadek and I'd like to thank you, Mayor Benjamin and respective Council members. I'm here today representing the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Remembrance Committee as well. Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak. And I'd like to affirm what Laurie just said to ask for your opposition to the production of plutonium pits at SRS as part of our effort as mayors for peace. We'd also like to close with a statement which Dr. King made when he accepted the Nobel Prize in 1964. And I quote, sooner or later, all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace. And thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. If this is to be achieved, a man must evolve for all human conflict, a method which rejects revenge and aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is low. I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality. I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a military stairway into the hell of thermal and nuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. End quote. We affirm Dr. King's words and wish for the city of Columbia to work for a world without nuclear weapons. And as a state of state government, Columbia, South Carolina can lead the way out of nuclear war. Thank you again for considering our request and leading the way for peace. You make me very proud to work for peace together as part of our Columbia, South Carolina family. And now is the time to be vigilant and oppose the production of new nuclear weapons components at FRI. Thank you. Well, before both of you leave, just want to make a quick statement to say that it's amazing to see the interconnectedness of all the different issues we discuss even today. The issues of equity and inclusion, racial justice, and if in fact the world, the world, including this great country in which we live, listen to the society of friends in the 17th century and throughout the most challenging 100 years of the birth of this country, we've been in a very different place. So I appreciate your continued and consistent leadership always on the right side of history. So God bless you. Madam, Madam clerk, do we have any other callers? And if not, I think we have some audio or recorded messages that we need to take up before we go to the executive session. Yes, sir. All right. So I'll put the first message into the record. Good evening. Hi, my name is Ysakowski. I play tennis at the Columbia Tennis Center on Whaley Street. It has been closed since the pandemic and it's been shown that tennis is one of the safe sports to engage in during this time. There's a group of seniors that plays there at, well, two different groups which combine total of about 60 individuals. We're all over the age of 60. We are now playing in other places that are not as safe because they do not have play courts. Also, there's no shade available. We need to have the center open. The glory center is open. Bars are open. There's no reason for the tennis center not to be open. Of all the people I play tennis with, I'm not a single one of them are ill. And that's because we do try to engage in regular exercise even though the city is making it extremely difficult. All of our seniors are very upset by this. I hope that you guys open this tennis center as quickly as possible. Thank you. Okay. One more. Erica, two more. Here, two more. Here's the second one. Greetings, mayors, gentlemen and all city councilmen and women. My name is Pastor Ida Shiva-Nate from Columbia, South Carolina. I am a member and activist of the Risen County Black Collective and my message is to request that Risen County Black Collective will be added to your agenda on August the 4th and that is for Risen County Black Collective to be added to the meeting or the agenda on August the 4th. Also, we have all, we have e-mail that you guys have to see the e-mail with our agenda request and we ask that you guys just let me read over it and it will be discussed on today. Thank you very much for your time. All right. Okay. That's our final message. Hey, my name is Andrew Hudson. My address is 3205 Lincoln Street here in Columbia. I've called into other city council meetings before. I apologize, I couldn't stay online until you got to public comment. I have to run back to my day job. Wanted to echo, I know there's other callers who are able to stay on the line and are presenting again a series of requested policy changes related to policing. The short message I would suggest to the council is the amendments that were made previously to the use of force policy. I believe it's called are not sufficient for what we're talking about. What we're actually looking for really is covered by this idea of defunding the police. We actually want to reduce the amount of money, material and equipment that goes in. There are a number of specific suggestions in this policy documents about how to do that and a number of groups throughout the Midlands and Columbia have made these suggestions to you. There are things like banning the use of tear gas and other weapons of war, not allowing our local police departments to purchase armored vehicles and other surplus military hardware requiring them to give up the military hardware they already have. And generally to reorient our approach to public safety around one that does not favor sending armed officers to resolve every possible situation, but instead focuses on a community care approach and there are lots of other excellent programs in here in Columbia and in the Midlands, which are more deserving of our support than the Columbia police department is. One other just brief notes on the format of meetings. This is the second or third city council meeting I've attended this summer since the protests over the death of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and others have been so much at the forefront of mind. City council has made a couple of attempts to address these concerns from the community. I appreciate that. I also want to say I very much respect the city councils taking job done. The deal with zoning issues and appointments that all of the business of the city is really great. We have a chance at protests where we say this is what democracy looks like. And I was going to say this isn't actually what democracy, this is democracy is broken when we're in the streets shouting democracy should look like a reasonably ordered city council meeting and I appreciate all of y'all's work on those things. It might be helpful though when there is so much public interest in matters related to policing and funding of the budget and police department to make some special time. I don't know if that's a special city council meeting just on these so that there's more space for public comment or if it's scheduling the public comment period of the existing city council meetings to be at a specific time. So that folks aren't getting on. This is the second or third time I've gotten on and waited for several hours through, what's great and important business that you absolutely should deal with but it's not productive for me to sit for two hours on hold to leave a short comment about police funding or for you to spend two hours talking about those things while I'm sitting silently in the background. So we could make a better use of each other's time both public servants and the public themselves by making a dedicated space for public comment on these specific issues and whether that's the dedicated part with a time scheduled in advance as part of a city council meeting or a special city council meeting either way I think would be helpful and more productive and very much needed since there are a lot of us out here asking to talk about these issues. Okay, thank you so much and look at it. We're gonna let that one sit right there. Yeah, is there any other calls? It looks like Mr. Lurie is still on the line, sir. Okay, please put Dr. Lurie on and thank you. And that would round out this session. All right, thank you. All right, you're welcome. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and the council members. It's great to be with you all. I'm glad to see everyone is looking healthy and great. I've been in Columbia resident at 18.7 Green Street for the last almost 30 years but been a resident of Columbia for 44 years. And I'm glad that you all got my email. At least I'm not wanting to bounce back but I'm gonna send it to you again. I guess I'm going to just talk about the Columbia Compress. I just had a document somebody sent to me, a print document and said, hey, where is the Columbia International Festival in this one? And I thought I would take this opportunity to talk to you all. I know I've been in Columbia for 44 years. The city has grown much international and multicultural, multilingual, multiracial. It's unbelievable growth we have seen. And I think for the future of our city we need to showcase how diverse we are. Especially we're looking to the next decades to come and then see how the world and then the country can know how cosmopolitan, how international we are. I think the festival basically showcases that diversity we have, the rich diversity we have in our city. And primarily we just think about the population alone in the city of Columbia. I think we might have as many as 10% and I'm not kidding about that. Just look at USC, Bennett College, Allen, Columbia International University, Midland State. These schools plus K through 12, I don't know, but easily 3000 international. And then you have many working class business people, healthcare professional software guys and a lot of people. So I think we see that everywhere we go, even the restaurants and hotels. I think, you know, it's probably good for the, the Columbia Compass to some part include the international aspect of our city. I know the great festival has been the oldest one, Columbia International Festival has been there for 25 years. And we should have brought about 20,000 people representing Canada and 60 cultures. So I think, you know, if there's a possibility to include that aspect, that would be great. I want to thank Mayor, I know a year ago when you were in New York City, my daughter came to the conference, you were there and she was at NYU at that time. And then you recognize her name and then you, I'm so glad that, you know, we both connected and appreciate the comments she made last time, but I was not able to respond to your last time. I want to thank you for recognizing her just by the name. So thank you so much. I appreciate all of you. Y'all be a great job. I listened to the last three hours of the meeting and I was not bored. I enjoyed listening to every part of it. Because it's part of being a citizen of Columbia. I just listened to what's happening in town also. Thank you for all that you do. And I just want to congratulate you for the wonderful job you're doing. And thank you again. Thank you, Raj. You take care. All right. All right. Can we have a motion to go on the executive session? Mr. Medeval, you're on mute. Howard. Howard, you're on mute. Howard, you're on mute. No, you really are on mute. Got it. Mr. Mayor, I might as well go on to executive session for a seat of legal advice related to matters covered by Attorney Climates privilege pursuant to 30-4-78-2 COVID-19, Business Improvement District Renewal, City Holidays, street renaming, discussion of negotiations and to propose contractual arrangement pursuant to 30-4-78-2, automated metering infrastructure proposed contract amendment, landmark consulting, Lamar, companies 207, Gervais sign, location lease, 2221 Divine Street, discussion of employment of employee pursuant to 30-4-78-1, municipal court and development corporations. Receive legal advice related to a pending or threatened potential claim pursuant to 30-4-78-2, Marcus Davis versus City, Daris Hassell versus City. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. I'm with a previous question from Clark, Colorado. Mr. Vernon? Yes. Mr. Rickleman? You're done. Okay, Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. Duvall? Aye. Mr. Vines? Aye. Mr. Davis? Aye. Mayor Benjamin? Aye.