So we'd like for you guys to listen to it somewhat. So we are going to start our first item with our consent agenda and I'd like to have anyone that would like to have a consent agenda to speak to or to have a discussion around. Please let me know are there any miss Mayfield if you will give me the ones that you have. Thank you Madam Mayor. I want, I will be speaking to 272933 and 44, but it's all under the same. If you give me a minute. Statement. 20, starting. Gavin. 27. 29. 33 and 44. All right, Ms. Anderson. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'd like to speak to 51 and 52, and I can speak to them at the same time as well. Okay, thank you. The staff has pulled the item 65, so that is no longer on our agenda for discussion or part of our meeting. It is withdrawn. It's settled, yes, ma'am. All right. Anything else, Miss Marie? Miss Harris, is there anything else? Thank you. No, ma'am. Other than I was, I'm not sure if it was for comment or separate vote on those items. Miss Mayfield, those for comment altogether and are separate vote? They would be for comment, Mayor. So I'm going to say I'll put those out for a separate vote but together. Okay, thank you. Okay, thank you. 29-33-40. Thank you very much. And Madam Mayor. Yours would be the same, yes. As in regards to item number 59, 60 and 61, Mr. Tommy Odom, the agent for the property owner is here and there's a question, an opportunity to speak in the Dresden Council. So he would speak at the public forum in the chamber? No, he speaks here. He speaks here. I'm sorry, wait a minute. I want to make sure that I'm hearing this correctly. So usually we would have people come down and speak after we went through this. But- This is not a part, he's asking to speak on items relating to matters on your consent agenda. Okay, got it. And the consent agenda is being carried forth here. Okay, sorry. This room. Okay, so we'll go to Miss Mayfield for items 29, 33, 44, 52. Do you want to pass all the other ones first? Oh yeah, let's go ahead and do the remaining. Can we have the council approve the items without the exception of, let's see, 29, 33, 44, and then the 65 has been withdrawn and 51 and 52. That's well as 27. 27. And so moved. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Okay. But I do not know if you want to defer the item 59, 16, 61, after the speaker has addressed items. Okay, we will. will hold the numbers 59 and 60. 61. I can't write that fast. 59, 61 and 60, right? Okay. All right, Ms. Mayfield. We need to vote. Did we not vote? No. Okay. All in favor of the motion for the motion in a second. And a second. All in favor of the motion. Please raise your hands. Anyone disapproved or not agree? All right. So we passed all of those and now we'll go to Ms. Mayfield for the ones. We'll do this. Okay's a lot of conversation going back and forth. So I did not hear the motion or the second. The motion. So. So. With all the comfortable conversations and pulling out, 3, 9, and 61, I did not hear a motion for everything. So yes, I requested item 27, 29, 33, and 44. And you're saying there was a motion and a second for all the other items. There's an item in there that I did not pull out that I'm going to be a no two and that's 28. 28. I did not have 28. I had 29, 33, and 27. And you want to add 28. so why don't we go ahead and? Let me just clarify it for a minute. Now, May, if you like. The items that have been pooled are items 27, 29, 33, 34. Items 51, 52. Items 59, 60, and 61. So for me, what I initially asked for was 27, 29, 33, 44. That's what I mentioned. I heard you say 34. So I wanted to make sure that it was number 44. It's my mistake. Okay, we'll make sure it's in room for you. And 28. Okay. All right, so we're gonna, we have everything else to, we have the motion that we've completed for all the others except for those that have been withdrawn. And number 65 was pulled from the consent agenda, so it's not before you. Right. Okay, so Ms. Mayfield. Thank you Madam Mayor. This one to clarify that there was a vote to approve the remainder of the consent items except those that mentioned. Right. You know that it was unanimous, right? Okay, Ms. Mayfield. So for item 27, 29, 33, and 44, the question that I submitted and Mr. Manager, this one actually will fall into you. It was the same question. And that was Will Council receive updates as the workers identified to ensure that the selected subs are contacted. Initially, we don't receive further council contact. Yet I mentioned in previous meetings that I have learned that there have been our partners that have been identified by the city. But three, four, five years later, they never actually received outreach to actually perform the work, even though we don't know that. Until we actually go to a community or a CBI or an event and run into someone. So that is why I've asked and I don't know if that's something that needs to be sent to a committee for discussion, but I am wanting to ensure that we have checks and balances in place. Because all of these are anywhere from three plus year contracts, but we're not at least being notified. Which one of these partners when we have anywhere from three to seven partners that have been identified to ensure that they're actually getting the opportunity to do this work, we're doing the service. So therefore my request is that council is made aware whether it's in your memo, but If we identified companies, we should be able to track back to this petition, this agenda item number for this company. Here's the company that's actually being outraged in order to be able to have the opportunity to perform the work. So Councillor Mayfield, can I make sure that I will talk to staff to ensure that we can give you what you're asking? I'm sure we can. It's just what's the time frame and what format. And I appreciate it because I would accept it in the manager's memo because we're looking at three to five years. I would hope is that we all see the value in ensuring that these companies that we identify are actually able to take advantage of the opportunities within the city. Thank you. All right, do you want to vote, Oppo? I'm sorry, what did you say Miss MacPierne?e. Which one's the one that I'm getting ready to. Moe to approval item 27, 29, 33 and 44. All right. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion hearing none? All in favor? Raise your hand. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right, so the next item that we have for discussion is with Miss Anderson and it is 51 and 52. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just wanted to pull this particular item because we've been having lots of conversation throughout the community, throughout districts around our partnership and working relationship with Inlivion. And there is sort of a misnomer that City Council manages and controls Inlivion, and that is not true when we've worked hard to clear that up. But one of the things that City Council has an authority with Inlivion on is the approval and or the of Inlivion's issuance of bonds for incurrence of debt. And in number 51, this is for an affordable housing effort. It's called Central at Old Concord Apartments. And it is within District 1, and I just want it to highlight that we are through this action approving an issuance of a bond for $28.4 million for this particular project to help finance land acquisition and construction costs. And the council has already allocated $4.2 million of housing trust fund dollars for this particular effort. Which does target 80% in below AMI. But that's not only a financial investment from the council, but also the approval of this issuance of bond. As the same with 52, which is the view at Honeywood apartments, it is for a bond not to exceed $17 million. And it's actually within district two. And the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency has approved a 4% tax credit for that particular project. So I just want to be clear to the community because I get tons of questions, I know other council members do as well. It's important for the City of Charlotte to have a good working relationship with Inlivion. However, I want to just point out that over the course of the years, Inlivion has a portfolio of 48 community properties. And the city has historically invested in 32 out of those 48 properties in some way form of fashion, covering over $42 million. So it's a significant investment that we do make an in-livian in the name of affordable housing. And I just wanted to point that out as we continue to educate our residents around the intersection between Inlivion and the city of Charlotte. Thank you Madam Mayor and with that I like to motion that We approve number 51 and I continue. We have a motion for 50 and 51. I see the attorney Mr. Fox. Yeah, just come to my information come to my information that a council member, Mr. Johnson, does have a, uses property in the, in the, in the, and then living and building. I do not believe that. It's turned them out to a conflict of interest where there's a, here, a narrow financial interest with regards to this merely approving them to issue debt or seek grant funding, but she wanted to put that on the record to disclose that. Thank you. We now have that on the record. So we have a motion. Yes. And a second, all in favor of the motion for the items, $29.60. No, sorry, there's a 51 wrong group here, 51 and 52. All right, all in favor, please raise your hands. In favor? All right. And is there any on an opposed, any opposition? Please raise your hand. Say all of your opposed. 51 and 52. That's it. Yeah. Okay. 51 and 52. Anyone opposed? All right. That passes. All right. The next one is items 59, 60 and 61, Mr. Odom has asked to speak on those items. And then we do 20. You may want to know if I'm of a three--minute time period That's right. We have a three-minute time Good evening everyone mayor mayor pro tem city council members again my name is Tommy Odom I'll represent the may family the Hitting House and family and the. You may recall, I spoke in front of you about two months ago, voicing the objections of these families to allowing the city of Charlotte to authorize the taking of their land for a project at the request of a private developer. At that meeting, there was a number of questions asked. The matter was deferred to last month, and I believe you all may have discussed it in closed session, and then it was put back on tonight for a vote. But again, I also sent all the City Council members and all you folks, another letter, voicing their objection to the taking for private developer. There was a number of last month before the closed session. I set forth a number of questions that we had not gotten answers to. I haven't received anything with regard to those answers. And I did also point out that on another property on this condemnation, there has been a lawsuit filed not by me or my law firm, but by another law firm asking that the foreign injunction and that those not go forward because there is the paramount reason for these is for a private, not a public purpose, although there is some public purpose with regard to putting sewer in. But when we believe that under the constitutional mandates of the United States Constitution and North Carolina Constitution, this would not be allowed in this particular case. And we would ask that this lawsuit that's already been filed run its course and to find out what's going to happen in the courts as the City Attorney's Office said to you all last time instead of moving forward with regard to, instead of moving forward with regard to this case, because you'll be tying up these up these families properties. I'm welcome to any questions and again we would ask that you not authorize condemnation. Mr. Fox, do you have any comment? I don't know if the council has any questions. The council have questions. All right. Let's say thank you very much Tom. Thank you very much. Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity. Yeah. Thank you. And I will just reiterate what's in your package is information that suggests that this improvement is for not just a single property owner but for multiple property owners and this is in line with your previous commitment and agreement with a couple of outlying communities that are in need and requests that you support this condemnation. Thank you. All right we have one item that was left with item 28 on the. We haven't voted on this one so let's go ahead and vote yes Mr. Drake do you want to comment? I want to reiterate what I said last time. I think we would set a bad precedent if we depart from our normal procedure for things like this. The developer is a contractor for the city. The owners have the protection of due process in the courts. We are not a tribunal. It is not our job to make this determination. And therefore, I hope we can just go ahead and get this done tonight and not find ourselves in the future facing similar challenges. Thank you. Any other comments by council? All right. Do we have a motion on the floor? There's a motion for 59, 60 and 61. And 28. No, not 28. No, not 28. No, not 28. No, not 28. No, not 28. No, not 28. No, not 28. No, not 28. No, not 28. No, not 28. No, not 28. No, not 28. No, not 28. No, not 28. No, not 28. No, not 28. anyone else? Okay. Miss Mayfield and Miss Brown opposed. Thank you very much. That passes. So the next item is item 28 for approval or dis approval. Do I have a motion on item 28? I pulled in the speaker. Okay. Second move to approving. We have a second. second. This may feel recognizing you. I just wanted to force separate vote. Okay. So we have a separate vote. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing no discussion. All in favor. Please raise your hand. All right. Does anyone oppose? This may feel a mis opposed. Okay, so that takes us through that. The next item that we have, as we find it, is the agenda review. As many of you know, the CRVA team has been working to bring the CIAA tournament back to Charlotte in 2028. Steve and his team are continuing to finalize a bid proposal to submit to the C.I. double A by April the 15th. They've worked collaboratively with our business community, the state, and the arena to develop a competitive bid for this wonderful program that we have, that the opportunity to host. So not at like for Steve to come and share the work that he's done so that Council's aware of what's going on in this engagement. So Mr. Bagwell. Thank you Mayor. Thank you Mayor Pro Tem. Thank you City Council for having us today. It's a pleasure to be here myself and Mike Buts who leads our visit Charlotte team. Mike's going to come up and talk about our lodging package in just a minute. So again, thank you for being here. I'm CEO of the CRBA. I've been in this position for about a year and a half, but I've been with the company long enough to remember all 15 years of hosting CWA in our community. And we've got a seat to the $650 million in economic impact that came to our community during those 15 years. And how the CWA really reaffirmed that Charlotte was capable of hosting big, big sporting events. And I think that legacy carries on to the events that we're still hosting today. So I want to share, as the mayor said, details about what we've done so far to work on attracting CAAA back to our community. First of all, I want to point out that we feel we're best positioned to go after years 28 through 30. That is different than the RFP that asked for a bid regarding 27 through 29. I have had informal sidebar communications with the league about adjusting that timeframe a bit. I believe they are open to that. And that's important because Spectrum Center is hosting ACC Women's Championship and NCAA Regional in 2027. The Convention Center also has a big convention during that time period. So 28 through 30 is the time period that we'll be going after and just wanted to point that out first thing. Okay, so some background on the event. This is a reminder. We attracted the CAAW to Charlotte after a run in Raleigh for five years and we hosted it from 2006 through 2020. And you can see the impact of the event, as I mentioned. In 2019, which was the last year before COVID, $43.7 million in economic impact. The high water mark for the event, $57.4 million in economic impact in 2016. Generally, the event attracts 60,000 fans plus over the course of the week and drives 10,000 roommates to the hotel community. You can see the numbers in Baltimore, a little bit different. $32.5 million in the economic impact in 2024, 43,000 fans. You can see the lodging spin. Perhaps one factor here is how well positioned Charlotte is geographically to host this event. We have seven, I believe seven schools inside the state of North Carolina, the members of CWA, and we have one in South Carolina. So eight of the 13 schools very, very close in location to Charlotte, which makes us have healthy attendance as part of the story there. Here's the timeline that we're under to respond to the bid and work with CWA after our bid response on what Charlotte has to offer. We notified the league that we were interested in bidding in January. The bid submission deadline is April 15th, so we're working hard to put everything possible together ahead of that deadline. And then there'll be a period where CWA analyzes the feedback that they've gotten from participating cities and execute site visits and there'll be a chance to present in person to the CWA in June. The league has let me know they really want to get down the road with hotel contracts, venue contracts in the selected destination ahead of a a final announcement that I presume will come out later this summer. So that's the timeline we're looking at. Here are the cities that were invited to bid. You can see 10 were in that group. We're only aware of Baltimore and of course Charlotte that is interested in, has responded that they will submit a bid. We're aware that a couple other cities visited Baltimore to learn about the tournament, but we're not aware if they have, that they have actually submitted interest in bidding on the events. So right now, just Baltimore and Charlotte in the mix that we know of. So here's the key deal points of the RFP. We've got lodging, three important areas, lodging, fundraising for scholarships and the venue package. And I wanted Mike to come up and talk about lodging first and his efforts on that front. Thank you, Steve. So with the hotels, obviously, that's one of the big wins when CIA AA or an event like that comes to town. When you have an event this big, they make some pretty strong requests. And so this is representative of that. One per 40 rooms, complimentary $10 room rebate, and then $25 reservation fee, and then there's also another commission that goes to the housing firm that manages it. So we are working with the hotels right now. The team is in reaching out into who's interested into what kind of rooms, whether it's teams or whether it's staff or fans in general. So they have categories of rates, and you can see down below there, the teams are looking for a $125 rates and staff $200 rates and fans at $225. And the hotels are responding at different levels, some within and some not. I will say that these rates are in the range that they paid when they were here before. So Charlotte is a little different community and we're doing quite well. So the hotels are at different locations in that rate category. So, and then the other is the venues and reaching out to the venues so that they would be able to participate with the CIAAA in where events get placed. Now Steve is going to talk a bit more about putting more events within the arena, but there will still be some outside events. And we want to make sure that we partner with those venues and with CIA AA to make sure that they run smoothly. Thank you, Mike. I want to draw Council's attention to the right side of the page to talk about the venue package for a second. It's very important, very key part of our bid response will be Spectrum Center. The commissioners may clear to me that Spectrums, they want the tournament to be at Spectrum Center for the full week. Some of you may remember that we split the early rounds between Bojangles, Coliseum, and Spectrum Center previous years. The most important thing that's driving that is the footprint of the uptown area. How everything is centered there, everything's walkable. That is a really wonderful feature of our city that helps us draw conventions to our destination regularly, the CWA values that greatly. And that's the reason that we really need to work on Spectrum Center being the home for the full week. So we are working with the hornets on that. We have not gotten to an answer yet. One of the challenges is being able to accommodate the NBA schedule and different activities that are flowing through the building at the same time, one of which will be ACC men's championship in 2028. So we continue to have conversations with the Hornets about that, they are open-minded about this and I've appreciated their cooperation as we analyze this opportunity. We also are looking at the opportunity when it comes to venues to put more activity into Spectrum Center as Mike said. We exposed the CWA to the renovations of the building and they are looking at that as a potential positive. With the sweet inventory the way it is, with the investment in different spaces in the building, there's the possibility to bring more activity into Spectrum Center. And that would be a good thing because it would also help drive more revenue to the building and give the hornets an opportunity to cover the cost of operating the event. Some of the things that we're looking at is the step show potentially at the convention center. None of this is firmed at all, but things that are possible. Potentially the step show or other activities from the Convention Center. Lunchions that take place around the community. Day parties, receptions that will be perfect fits in the renovated sweet space. Those are opportunities that we're looking at to drive more activity to make that spectrum center even more of a hub for activities for CWA. You can see we'll also be using the convention center and I've put some dollar valuations there. There's a very tentative but I didn't want council to realize that the C-R-V-A is planning to take on those costs and we're planning for about a million dollars of investment there. The venues will see what they run depending on the activity that goes in there. But also the CRBA also generally makes investments in transportation and also marketing. We'll have a robust customized marketing plan to work with C-A-W-A-On. So one other thing on venues before I move on to scholarships, we have had initial, I would say encouraging conversations with the North Carolina Commerce Finance Center and Mark Poole, who's director of that organization. They're the ones that govern the use of the major events, events, games and attractions fund about potentially some funding going to reimburse expenses at Spectrum Center. If you remember from that legislation Spectrum Center, Bank of America Stadium, the race track, golf events in town would qualify for funding there, so that's something that we're working on to see if that can be part of the equation. If we receive funding in that capacity, it could allow some of the money that the CRVA is planning on to go to another purpose, which would enhance our bid. So that is one other thing I wanted to look at and mention. The last column here, scholarships, fundraising for that, the RFP calls out a $1.5 million minimum fund raise for that. And we're hoping that the corporate community in Charlotte can come together and help us satisfy that fund raising piece. So last slide, if we have strong success in fund raising and potentially have money coming in from the state, we may be able to vest in some of the other areas that it calls out in the bid that could enhance the strength of our bid. Reducing team expenses, that could be in hotels, that could be transportation expenses, that is a place to invest. You can see the different categories here. The last one is Ancillary Event Support for awards programs they have. The Hall of Fame induction ceremony that they do each year, education day, career expo, investment in events like that. And that'll wrap up our update. I'll be glad to answer any questions that you have. Do you have a question, Mr. Horm? We are getting questions. The question is the R&A. King. All right. I'll start with Ms. Mayfield and we'll come around. Ms. Mayfield? Thank you, you Madam Mayor Why we're on this slide when we're looking at revenue opportunities leveraging parking Concessions other streams. What does leveraging parking look like to you all probably they're looking for a Revenue share there For parking at the venues that are used not sure what opportunities will be there for that But that was something that was outlined in the RFP. Because I know we made some changes last year with parking uptown that also includes, I think after 10 o'clock, I don't know if it's just Saturday and Sunday, but it's a flat rate for on street parking, so you can't park for an hour or two for $3, it's like $10.80 flat rate overnight. Can we go back a couple of slides? Sure. And I think right there is good. I think you just mentioned, and I'm a backup. Thank you for a great presentation. Of course. You're giving us a lot of good advice. Thank you. So when we're looking at you mentioned possibilities with the newly redesigned spaces that we have at Spectrum. So one of the challenges that I heard pretty easily was that we would open space for concert promoters, event promoters to come in and be able to access some of our venue spaces, whether they had day parties, a lot of that potentially conflicted with the actual games. While we're having these conversations and we're talking about potentially partnering with space. Has there been any conversation or is there a possibility to have conversation where there's a reminiscuring death where if you're going to have a day party in our city during this time, that as part of you getting access to being used in this area, whether we identify uptown specifically or a little further out, that a percentage on the front end, a percentage of that is going directly towards the tournament. Because at the end of the day, this is a tournament for scholarships for our young people. And even when I commitment a 1.5 million, which is a great start, There's a lot of money that I made over that week with outside promoters. If we have the ability, I don't know if we do if we don't, but if we can have the ability on the front end to have those conversations where if you're getting access to any of our venues faces, and I'm looking over here to HTA as well, I'm peeking over there to put the language in place. That here is what your commitment is going to be. If you're going to come into our city and make money and they leave out, this is how you're going to need to benefit. If there's a possibility of a consideration in that conversation. So I've got that noted. We have on rare occasion, I believe, my reserved make sure that a entity like the MBA has a voice in approving the reservation of entertainment venues. I don't believe we've ever had a commission go back to an entity like that, but I've got that noted as something to look into. Like you said, we're brand new city. Brand new city. In 2025 and beyond, so let's be creative. I want to front in when we know that that was one of the challenges. So that will help, I believe if I get my colleagues also to support that idea, that will help us to do more to help our young people to be able to achieve their academic goals. Thank you. Thank you. All right, Mr. Driggs. Thank you for the presentation. An exciting opportunity for us to cement Charlotte's reputation as a major center of sports of all kinds. I don't think we should discuss this without recognizing the question of safety. I remember in the old days the event was fun and it was a kind of holiday atmosphere, but we have to acknowledge that in recent years there has been another element. This has become a destination during the tournament, people not attending, and there have been incidents, which I think concern the public. So I'm generally supportive, but I will want to hear from CMPD what measures they will take in order to ensure for the benefit of all concerned, that we somehow control the influx and the activities that go on. A lot of these parties that are happening away from the tournament and so on so that we can realize the benefits of this and not have it downside. The other thing I wanted to ask about was it's not clear for me what public funds are we talking about of any description that are likely to be committed by us? Do you have a say? I mean, I'm not sure the way that description is. I assume the hotels have got to meet the requirements on room rates. We're not subsidizing that, right? Mike, did you want to? Is that correct? Yeah, we're not. Yeah, but. The hotels pay a rebate to the housing company and to CIAA to help offset some of those costs. And the only ones that are potentially something that we would look for maybe a sponsor to help with and that might be some of the team rooms that are special rates. And so hopefully we can find some sponsors that would help reimburse the schools for those costs. I have sponsors. Yes, right. But the rates themselves look pretty low compared to what people pay for hotel rooms in this town. So correct there. We are not through it from any source. We don't have public subsidies for the hotel room rates. Is that right? Correct. Okay. But then we have the budget for safety. So there'll be some CMPD costs. And I don't know from what you said, whether you expect that we will participate in the fundraising. So long story short, I'd just like to know in financial terms what the ask would be from the city or from hospitality funds in order to make this happen. And you can get back to me about that. That's just something I'll need to clear on. Okay, we'll get more details on that, but I do look at three funding sources, major funding sources at this point. The CRVA, I had talked about planning for probably a million dollar investment to help attract and handle venues, marketing, transportation, things like that. The corporate, private, fundraising effort would be part of the mix and then potentially if we can receive funds from the major events front at the state level. Those are the three areas that we're exploring right now Mr Graham Thank you Madam Mayor First let me thank Steve and Mike for the hard work that you've been doing with the last several months Steve and Mike Let me tag along with them the Baltimore and and sit into one of their staff dinner and attend the meeting with the commissioner, regarding the tournament. So I really appreciate that the work you've done as far. I think I should start here that one of the most important things that the CIO W8 really wants to sit out with is their branding infringement and marketing. a lot of the most important things that the CIWA really wants to city out with is their branding and Frenchman and marketing. A lot of the incident that it referred to had nothing to do with the conference at all. Someone had a party in the city and the CIWA happened to be here and something happened. So there was, well, there's, there's an sanction in any of those events. They didn't authorize any of those events. They were not a part of any of those events. I think we need to be very, very clear about that. And that's one of the topics that we talked about in Baltimore. We're just making sure that we do work with them to establish a protocol that protects their brand day and their marketing and their netting, right? Because they were just as upset about what happened as we were in terms of those incidents. And far we had a conversation with the city attorney, attorney Fox about that and any protection that he can provide the conference in the city to ensure that anything that happened is safe. And touch on some of the comments that Councilmember May feels in terms of trying to do as much as we can to lock down some of the facilities to ensure that the CI demo has first right of reviews. So attorney Foxes always talked about working on that with me and the CR But more importantly, again, while it's basketball, it's really about, as I said, all the time, about the frontline workers, waiters and waitresses and bartenders and Uber drivers, the drivers, small business owners, all who work in the hospitality and tourism industry that really benefit from this are the PGA coming in May next year or other major sporting events for our community. This just happens to be basketball. And that's uniquely significant to a large segment of the population who relates to Smith and loving stone and the Vigianne, Yoye and Buie State and Bluefield State that others may not. So I think it's really a tremendous opportunity for the community. We do have, it's not a slam dunk, right? But I like the momentum that we have moving forward. And there are some things that we have to clear, some free throws that we have to make to ensure that we have a very, very successful bid. And one of them, I think Steve outlining is to ensure that the availability of Spectrum on Center. I think that's a must have and we have great partners over at Spectrum and I know a lot of folks have been talking with them about what it takes for us to really have a competitive bid and certainly I think anyone who's coming to Charlotte I'll continue a large giveaway event with one to go to Spectrum Center based on the investment we're making over the last two years. I think the spectrum is closing in a couple of weeks for the second round of renovations. We're breaking ground this week on their practice facility. So they want to be in that A1 space. And so I think that's something that we really, really need to lean in. And I think our community partners over there understand the requests and we look forward to having more conversations with them regarding that. Corporate support in schools is extremely important and I think there's, from my perspective, a commitment to help raise the money 1.5 or even more to be very competitive. I don't want to say too much because we are in competition with others, I'm pretty sure they are listening as we speak. But I think we have the type of corporate support necessary that we all have to lean in, corporations, minority business owners, city and local government to kind of create a proposal that's compelling. We just can't submit a bit. We don't have to take something away from somebody, right? And so we have to put our best foot forward to do that. I talked specifically about the brand-in and licensing. That's a real issue for the CID double way that we have to figure out. We got to figure out getting more people in their arena versus outside partying, right? That's a real thing. And I think we should use the last 10 year as a learning experience about how we can do better. Do better on pricing, do better on public relations, do better on marketing, and lean in as we lean in for the PGA that's coming in May and other major events that we went out to host. Lastly, the host institution, if we were to be successful, will be Johnson C Smith University, there is CIWA School in District 2. And I think the University of Sentiment Bachelor's tonight, the Gamma Delta Chapter from A.K.A.s, I think are here. Ladies just stand a wave. So they are here watching and monitoring and learning from their perspective. The chapter, that's a great job in terms of community outreach and support. So they hear to be supportive of what we're doing here tonight as well as ARO, public safety discussion as well. And so I think President Kenlock is really involved in what we're trying to do and ready to lean in on a wide variety of issues relating to spectrum center or corporate support as well as the brand-in-day marketing issue. She is a voting member of the CIWA and has a lot of influence in terms of whether or not we get it or not. So again, I think we could hit those free throws. I think we'll be really successful and winning the competition. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Councilor McGregor, you left out one of these things along that from J.C. issue. Who's that? Oh, me? Oh yeah. We just got it. We just got it and we got to get to where I know Councilmember Mitchell is going to talk and Councilmember Mitchell has really been very, very, very, very, very, very supportive both in his words and his and his and his dress. Thank you for the analogies Mr. Graham as well. What's the the way of violations? Okay. Okay. Something good. Sanderson. Thank you, Madam Mayor. You know, I think many sort of mourned the loss of C.I. double A. I know friends far and wide would come down to Charlotte annually for that experience. and certainly having a potential opportunity to see it back in the city of Charlotte just continues to add to the notion that we are a sports town. Already with the ACC being the home of the ACC, we just had a BCC, IC basketball tournament and Bojangles Coliseum this past weekend. And tournament after tournament, sports event after sports event, Charlotte is a destination. And so I think we always want to be able to look at the numbers and do some estimates around what it would take to bring a great sports event back to Charlotte. But I do want to double click on what Mr. Diggs stated as it relates to public dollars. And so I understand these three buckets and they make sense. But it would be interesting at least for us to have some notion of what funds if any will the city of Charlotte need to put forward. Right now I'm not hearing very much, but I just want to have that validated by you, sir, who's doing all the heavy lifting and doing all the negotiations. And perhaps this is not the time to do so, maybe it's a little bit further down the road, but with that deadline coming up pretty quickly, I think everything needs to be crystallized, right? And a pretty short manner. So I'd like to see more information on that. The whole concept of sanctioned events, I think is also an important one. There are other festivals and programs that go on within the United States. That sometimes have trouble with that. I'm thinking of essence fest and New Orleans. And they had trouble with many of their non-sanction events. And so they really leaned into the city of New Orleans, leaned into protocols in working with essence to ensure that it was clear what was a essence, sanctioned event and a non-sanctioned event. And that's a level of importance as we've had these conversations because people will help people in their decision criteria of which events they would actually attend and support. They might just think all events are a CIAA sanction when clearly that's not true. So I think we need to lean into investigating what New Orleans and Essence did in partnership and come back with some potential learnings for the City of Charlotte. The last piece I'm thinking about here is we do have the PEC coming on board, the performance enhancement facility for our MBA team. And it will be in district one, the spectrum centers in district one. I'm wondering, I hear the concern about traveling out to Bojangles. I hear that in wanting to have really a nucleus of activity in the uptown area. But I'm just wondering what role potentially the PEC could play, certainly as it relates to relief from the spectrum center, just having advanced conversations around that to see what would make sense and be helpful not only for us but for the Hornets organization as well. And then the last piece I just want to get some clarity on is the safety piece from CMPD. You know, when I speak love having a dynamic, busy, busy city, but sometimes when I speak to the CMPD officers, they're like, wow, we have four or five programs going on, big programs going on simultaneously on a weekend, it puts stress on our police department. And so just thinking about what it is really going to take for the police department to be prepared and staffed up and ready to support this in addition to any other major activities going on during that window of time. Thank you Madam Mayor. All right. Ms. Ashmera, do you have a comment? Follow up, Mr. Mitchell. Thank you, Madam Mayor. So some of my questions have already been asked. Just wanna thank Steve and Mike for all your work. And I know with you, CRVA team, as well as HDA, I'm sure we are going to put our best foot forward and bring C.I.W.A. back to our city. When it comes to lodging package, I don't see why we wouldn't be able to put our best foot forward because you got Muhammad, he's got access to hundreds of hotels and motels. So Muhammad, this is your homework. And that's all I have. Thank you. Mr. Mitchell. I can talk a lot about that. OK. OK. You know, I got a country for the day. So thank you, Mary and Council, and I got to say kudos to follow up with Councilman Graham to Steve, Mike, and I secret when we're in Beth Butler over there for allowing us to come into Baltimore and help recruit. And I like the new idea that you include Lori Spratlin, Keith Haywood, members from the CRBA board to join us as well. Thank you to Muhammad, Councillor, if you look at your inbox, Muhammad sent a nice letter telling how well he would like to support this, and we always know one of our nine citizens and our community work in the hospital to initiate. I left, I presented to everyone a facility counter timeline, because this is very important. One thing I will hope we present is a winning bid. And to me, a winning bid, meaning making sure we can get spectrum arena. This is nothing new. This is something, if you look at the timeline we had Spectrum from 2007 all the way up to 2017. Reason why we left Spectrum, there was a little event called the NBA All-Star game. And so the CIVAA was nice enough to say, we want to be a good partner. And so we'll go to Bojangles why the NBA All-Star game was taking place. They have been a tremendous partner for this community and for this city and I will tell you even the excitement this weekend around the BCIC was created over cost of the C.I. AA basketball tournament. Stephen thank you for reaching out to Mike Poole. I think we'll take advantage of that mega fund that the state has provided a way to be reimbursed of all the expenses and spectrum. I think that's definitely, it's different for us that can give us some advantages in the proposal. April 15th is a big day for us and I'm sure you all continue to rope your sleeve and make sure we have a great win and propose and hats off to you. This is hard work. Baltimore is going to be tough but I like our chances and I'm excited that to Councilman Graham the President John C. Smith is excited she's ready to host and so I think maybe the stars are lining up for us this time to maybe this summer We'll get good news in July about 2028 through 23rd and the city Charlotte. Thank you, Steve and Mike and Beth keep it to good work Miss Malena Thank you, Madam Mayor me and me and councilmember Mitchell are sharing the mic tonight And I don have much to say. Much of what could be said has been said. I just, Mayor Brandon Scott is probably watching, like, probably watching, like, are they trying to take my C.I. AA away? And it's funny when they were bidding Councilmember Mitchell and I were really like hounding him and their team. And so to see the opportunity for them to actually come back to Charlotte where it's been a staple for a very, very long time, the potential for it to come home is exciting. So thank you guys for your work, Muhammad. As always, all that you do in the community, you're an amazing partner with us. But thank you guys for all your work and I look forward to seeing, you know, the specifics around the bid and bringing it back home. Thank you. Okay. So Steve and Mike and Beth and the whole team of our CRDA, I want to say how much we appreciate what you're doing to make it possible for us to host this event. that we look forward to as things evolve that we come back and kind of catch up to make sure I think that one of the things that I have great concern is that when we were in D.C. doing delegation stuff with our delegation, I was thinking we were talking about the CIAA, but the council didn't really have a chance to talk about CIAA And that is not something that's You know what we do is try to share the information Everybody's on the same page and you've made that possible tonight So thank you very much for what you've done and we look forward to the next time we have the opportunity to speak with you about it Thank you,, Mayor. Thank you, Council. We'll look forward to it. Thank you. Okay. You could stay for the public safety portion of our meeting. I think you've had enough public safety right now. Wow. So thank you guys. Our next item on our agenda is the public safety update. The I guess we now on 45 day event. Sean is going to come forward and do you have anything Mr. Jones? All right, Sean. Yes. Yes! I think it's nice. I'm going to use this or you'll switch up your guy. Thanks. Thank you mayor Liles. Sean Heath City Manager's office. Okay if I just jump right in. right in please okay great Two quick things I wanted to mention before I get into the content here at first just want to acknowledge I do not have all the answers tonight But I do hope this is a real demonstration of forward momentum So we did commit on February 10th to do a 45-day review of relief today is day 42 So we're coming in just under the wire fire. And the idea with the 42-day review, I believe today is day 42. So we're coming in just under the wire. And the idea with the 42-day review was to take the six-part series, which concluded on February 10th with the discussion around violence as a public health crisis, and a closer look at some of the data and translate those things into some specific actions, planned actions. So that's where we're headed tonight. Second thing I wanted to mention real quickly, just acknowledging that any discussion around public safety, words matter, I think we've done our best to try to be sensitive, certain words have baggage. I would expect I might stumble once or twice tonight. So just as I asked for your grace last time, Council Member Brown, you know, I've had some good conversations about words. So if I stumble, please know my heart go to the next meeting. I'm going to have to go to the next meeting. I'm going to have to go to the next meeting. I'm going to have to go to the next meeting. I'm going to have to go to the next meeting. I'm going to have to go to the next meeting. I'm going to have to go to the next meeting. I'm going to have to go to the next meeting. being said about everybody. Good news is there are only six slides tonight. the last slide is very dense. So we'll get to that one as quickly as humanly possible. Real quickly, this topic, of course, is directly aligned with your council priority related to safe communities. In terms of the purpose tonight, as I mentioned, this is a follow-up discussion, but we're trying to quickly translate those previous discussions into a set of actions that we believe can further enhance public safety. In terms of a few key takeaways that will be underscored on the subsequent slides first, we're building from a foundation of strength. So we'll give some illustrative examples and I know I'm preaching to the choir on this, but there's been a tremendous body of work advanced over the last five to seven years focused, advanced by this council focused on public safety and economic mobility. Second, having said that, there are opportunities to do more and that's what we really want to focus our attention on this evening. Third, just to state the obvious, we cannot do this alone. Public safety is a bigger equation than just the city of Charlotte. We have other public agency partners, nonprofit community-based organizations in the private sector that all play a role as well. Since we're nearing the end of the first quarter, we wanted to just quickly comment on the year-to-date crime data. So this would be new information incremental to what was shared last time. You can see that, and what this is comparing January 1st through March 17th of 2024 to January 1st through March 17th of 2025. So you can see going from the top level overall crime down 11% compared to this time period last year. If you look at the two primary categories inside of overall crime, that's of course violent crime and property crime. Violent crime is down 19% property crime. Down 9%, so 19 and 9 respectively. And then if you look at the standard subcategories that we report on in smaller font there that build up to the violent crime and property crime statistics, you can see with very limited exceptions. We've seen some positive momentum. So as I'm leaving this slide, I think I would of course underscore that we always need to be careful when we're looking at quarterly results that we shouldn't really make any assumptions necessarily in terms of how those trends will play out during the year. But all else equal, I think it's fair to say that this is a promising start. So as I mentioned before with the strong foundation that's in place, we could have come up with three to five slides to list all of the things that have been done over the last few years. But one to highlight just a few things focused on economic mobility, public safety, healthy neighborhoods, et cetera. Major investments in underserved communities. We've talked a lot recently about quarters of opportunity surpassing that $200 million investment level when you combine public and private sector investments affordable housing. If you go back to 2018 through the 2024 bond, that's $250 million of capacity for the housing trust fund that's been endorsed by, approved by Council first and then endorsed by voters. If you look at just a few examples of collaborative investments in human services, the umbrella center, which will be focused on domestic violence and sexual assault survivors, we committed $5 million, the county committed $10 million. I believe construction will start in the May time period. Katie Blessing Center, which we talked about last year, transformational, first of a kind, sort of a facility in the state of North Carolina on in East Charlotte juvenile behavior health facility city and county both program two and a half million dollars in support of that facility and I believe there's a groundbreaking scheduled over the next month or so street outreach we've talked about before once again it's a city and county collaboration focused on the unhoused population the the funding that we're providing is really focused primarily on center city and south end. So I'll stop there, you can see the list, but once again, just attempting to illustrate, it's not a comprehensive list, but illustrate. The full range of things that the city has invested in, recognizing that public safety is more than just policing, and it's a lot of investments in policy choices that you've made over the last few years that are supporting positive outcomes. Moving along, so when we took a look at the 2024 crime statistics in terms of what was happening, where it's happening, and by whom. There were really three key themes that emerged, so I'll go through these one at a time. First, and this won't come as a surprise to anybody in this room, there's a real geographic concentration of crime in our community, not dissimilar from other large cities in the US. We've all seen the heat maps before that show where the hot spots are. Once again, this is not news breaking, this is not new information. And in fact, all of this information related to violent crime at the neighborhood profile area and calls for service at the neighborhood profile area is available to the general public through our community violence data dashboard. News and locations, these would be the persistent trouble spots that every council member in the room probably has a few in your mind and you might even have the specific address in your mind. They drive quality life concerns. These are the types of things that many residents will contact council members about with great concerns. it could be a liquor store a gas station. It could be a single family residence a hotel or an apartment complex But once again, there's a real geographic concentration to those nuisance locations So that's first thing on on the geographic concentration Second once again, this is not a new item something we we've talked about before. The repeat offenders have an outsized impact on our violent crime statistics. And there were a few noteworthy stats that are included here. So 66% of violent crime arrests in 2024 were individuals with a prior arrest. Prior arrest could have been violent crime or nonviolent crime. So two out of three, 33% of violent crime arrests are a person with a prior violent crime arrest. And then when you start to look at some of the averages, if you take a distribution of all the individuals that had a violent crime arrest in calendar year 2024, you can see here that the average number of prior arrests was 5.6. And in that distribution, if you were to look at the quote unquote top 10 percent, ie the 10 percent of individuals with the highest number of prior arrests, those had at least 17. And if you look at the most extreme of the most extreme examples, you can see scenarios in the community where individuals have had an access of 80 arrests over the last 20 years. So once again, those are kind of the outlier scenarios, but they do exist. And then the third theme, kind of similar to repeat offenders, youth and young adults, and for purposes of this analysis, we're including the age 10 to 25 range. That age range accounts for approximately 20% of our Scharmeck population, but they account for almost 50% of our violent crime arrests. So, very disproportionate impact. A couple of the substats here, 62% of juvenile violent crime arrests were someone with a prior arrest. And then you can see that 32% of violent crime arrests were someone with at least one prior arrest when under the age of 18. So once again, when you peel back the date even more and look at some of the most extreme examples, you can see scenarios where individuals as juveniles have been arrested in excess of 30 or 40 times. So those were the three areas that emerged, but that obviously leads to obvious questions around, well, what does this mean? What do we do with this? So that's where you can think of a set of reasonable assumptions or hypotheses for each one of these. So real quickly, I'll go back through the three, and then I'll translate that to what's on the next slide, which is our last slide. So as it relates to the geographic concentrations, I think it's a reasonable hypothesis to suggest that the types of investments like corridors of opportunities pay dividends, not just for those particular corridors, but for the community at large, given all of the effort that's placed into building stronger communities in those corridors that have the highest need. I think it also demonstrates that more emerging programs like CMPD's Core 13, which was introduced last year and focuses on an enhanced CMPD presence in the most victimized communities, and not just in the corridors, that's something that they're doing in each of the 13 divisions. But once again, it's a demonstration of devoting resources to those areas in the community that are most in need. Related to geographical concentrations, I think one other reasonable hypothesis would be, as a community we need a new tool or new tools In particular related to the nuisance hotspots. So I'll come back to that on the next slide in terms of one of the planned actions With repeat offenders I'll just cut to the chase two things come to mind Not earth shattering here, but greater accountability is necessary if you think about scenarios where someone has been arrested 5.6 times on average or 17 times or 80 plus times what can be done not just by the city of Charlotte but across the ecosystem in terms of greater accountability and just as in last year's conversation around ordinance enforcement I think there was a recognition that in those instances where we're leaning further into enforcement, are there also opportunities for us to lean further and heavier into non-enforcement kind of thinking about these things holistically? So here I would say one example could be, as a hypothesis, that as a community would we not be better off if we did more and more support related to, for example, the reentry population, formerly incarcerated. Last on youth and young adults here, it seems like the obvious assumption here would be continued investments in youth and young adults, not just by the city of Charlotte but by our partners as well, can pay dividends in the short term or in the long term, because these 15, 18 and 20 year olds today are going to be 25, 30, 35 year olds tomorrow, not literally, but in the future. So what are the things that we can do now through additional prevention, through additional diversion, and in some instances through additional enforcement? So with that in mind, sorry about that. I think Amanda has a handout in case anybody's having a hard time seeing this on screen. So this is the last slide. And what we've identified here are nine specific plan strategies. Summer short term, summer long term, summer things that we've already started, summer on the drawing board, summer just ideas, summer things that are within our own control in the city of Charlotte, summer items that would require support or actions by others. And really tonight what we're asking for is your feedback. So big picture are we pointed in the right direction and then little picture as you think of each of these nine, what would be very helpful is are there certain ones on the list that you feel very strongly about? Either strongly in favor or strongly opposed? Because that will help us prioritize as we're thinking about each of these. And we place them into three distinct categories. First is more inward focus, city of Charlotte investments in policy, second, evidence-based community programming, and third state policy items. So if I may go through these as quick as I can, and then I'll pause, and then we can just open it up. So first, where certainly the comment I made before that public safety has much more to do than just policing, you can also make the two things can be true. You can make the case that inadequate-sized police force is an important part of any community's commitment to public safety. So you see the first one you're planning for anticipated growth in CMPD sworn positions starting in fiscal year 2027. So if you think back, CMPD has been on a recruitment and retention mission really since 2019. COVID was a challenge not just for our police force but everywhere across the country. Our vacancies and CNPD peak in about 2023 since that time we've been chipping away, chipping away. So we don't have a crystal ball but if you look at the forecast of where we're headed it's reasonable to assume that by the end of fiscal year 26 is when we'd be in a position to start thinking about adding sworn positions to CMPD over a multi-year period. So why would we do that to sustain and enhance 911 response times and to have the opportunity to expand CMPD violent crime-focused units. In terms of next steps on this one, CMPD continued to move the ball forward in terms of closing vacancies down, leading into FY27 budget workshop conversations about this topic presumably, so that would be less than a year away. I'm gonna keep moving through these at about that pace so we can get, turn things back over to you. Number two, we had a number of internal conversations over the last 45 days about this notion of a local enforcement option related to nuisance properties. So there are opportunities for us and we do from time to time rely on the U.S. Attorney's Office to support us related to nuisance properties. There is an North Carolina statute, chapter 19, Article 1, focused on nuisance abatement. That's proven to be more cumbersome and challenging for us to use. Outcomes can be somewhat unpredictable. And as a bit of an analogy in the conversations we've had about this the last few weeks, we point back to the work that was done in 2019 to amend the noise ordinance where there was an identified community issue and there was a multi-month process to think through what are some very specific things that we could do to enhance governance around noise issues. So we got real specific in terms of what do we mean when we say unreasonably loud noise. What happens if someone is a repeat offender and then they're then labeled as a chronic noise producer. If that happens, then we have the opportunity to work with them and they have the obligation to work with us to develop a noise mitigation plan. What happens if they don't buy it by the noise mitigation plan? Well, there's an opportunity to pursue civil penalties or court action. So these nuisance properties that we all have in mind that have nothing to do with noise, drug activity, violent crime, et cetera, is what we're trying to address. But we felt like the noise ordinance was kind of a parallel path that we could go down. So we don't have anything specific to share tonight in terms of what a new ordinance could look like. But those conversations have started. We've assembled a small working group. We're going to meet on Wednesday of this week to continue to breed life into this concept. What are the boundaries of our local authority to develop something specific for this community that could better help us attack some of these issues with nuisance properties? Like I said, whether it be a liquor store, a gas station, a single family residence, a vape shop, whatever the case may be, how can we develop a stronger tool in that regard? Drones is first responder, which really would be an example of how CNPD could further leverage technology. There are other communities like New York and Las Vegas and Miami that have already rolled this out. You know, picture a scenario where you've got drones in tandem with CMPD personnel arriving on scene and just the aerial intelligence that could be provided to CMPD personnel for greater situational awareness and how beneficial that could be both to their safety as well as the safety of the general public. So with this one, there's a RFP that's under development, there's work going on to finalize funding, there's some external partners that have stepped forward to make some commitments, and that will hopefully get off the ground soon. Okay, moving quickly down evidence-based community programming. On February 10th, Atrium came in and provided a good presentation on project boost. And the results were very favorable. I think one thing that we liked about it is how targeted this work is. So this is, of course, the hospital-based intervention program. 90% of the individuals participating in that program have been injured by a firearm. 75% of the participants are between the age of 15 and 23. They conduct follow-ups with the participants at the 45 and 90 day mark. And in their most recent results, 85% of the individuals had no criminal justice involvement during that 90-day period. So this is one where Julie Martin and I are in touch with A. Tremend and evaluating what the opportunities could be to help them extend their hours. Right now they're really operating during normal business hours. And we'd like to see if there's a way for us to help them extend those hours to midnight. So that is that is in play. Youth led social norms campaign a year ago. I didn't know what that was. I didn't know what that was. Robert Dawkins was in here earlier. He brought this concept to my attention. So I am going to quickly read to you the definition of social norms from the CDC. Values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors shared by a group of young people. Unspoken rules for how they are expected to behave. So this was discussed a little bit during the juvenile crime policy referral. Last year, you know, the basic concept is youth are of course very heavily influenced by messaging and imagery in their community and on social media. So this initiative would attempt to change perceptions and acceptance of youth violence, promoting positive social norms. And the one feature about this that I'm most excited about is it would really be designed by young people for young people. And we have plenty of youth forums that we can leverage and tap into to make sure we're getting the right kind of input from our youth. We would, we will put out an RFP funding for this has already been provided through Council's FY25 budget. So we'll have a credible third party by our side, but one of the expectations of that third party would be the thing, gauges the youth community on the design of this work. Reentry services and programming. Here, I was thinking back to this notion of a three-legged stool that we've talked about before in terms of a good-paying job and an affordable place to live and a way to get between those two things. For folks that are formerly incarcerated, it's almost as if two legs of those stool are missing sometimes, right? Finding a job, finding a place to live can be incredibly challenging. So the idea here would be, what are the things we could do through additional supports and programming to really get them on a pathway to stability? Because if you think about an individual having trouble finding a job and finding housing, that can quickly lead economic desperation, that can quickly lead to a return to crime. We have great partners that we're already working with in this area. You think of Freedom Fighting Missionaries and what Kenny Robinson is doing. What I love about his model is it's not just housing, it's not just jobs, it's not just health care, it's all of those things and more. We're working with City Startup Labs and some things that Daniel Frazier is doing. They have a great partnership with Atrium around access to health care jobs were formerly incarcerated. So here the idea would be we've got a growing number of partners in this area. We have more policy focus on this area. For example, the housing funding policy, the council endorsed in September identifies reentry as a specific priority population. So we're not asking for anything on this one, we're just saying to you that we intend to be more intentional as intentional as possible in terms of marrying up existing funding streams and programming focused on the reentry population. The last real quick on state policy items North Carolina House Bill 50, which is Senate Bill 320, is something that already has momentum in Raleigh. Its emphasis is on retention of law enforcement officers that are with at least 30 years of service. It's a modification to the separation allowance formula. There are ours and D's within the Mecklenburg delegation that are supporting this bill within both the House and the Senate. Representative Cotham is a primary sponsor for the House. Senator Sorrier is a primary sponsor in the Senate. And Senator Berger is also a sponsor for this. Moving down to number eight, it just so happens that the district attorney and a leader from the court system was out of Mecklenburg County Board of County Commissioners meeting not that long ago discussing resource needs. Right now, District Attorney Maryweather has 84 prosecutors and if you look at national benchmarks for a city our size, he could make a strong case that he needs dozens more. If you look at our court system here locally, once again, you look at national benchmarks, the case can be made that they need many more clerks. If you look at the public defenders here locally, a case can be made that we need more public defenders. Why does this matter? It kind of gets back to the greater accountability reference on the previous slide. You know, timely justice or swift justice, I believe is in the best interest of the entire community. The victim, the accused, the community at large. So how can we, and this is already in the state legislative strategy, but how can we breed life into it? So it's not just words on paper, but be part of a coalition that's trying to advance that over a long period, over what would likely be a longer period of time. And then finally, on the working with partners to advance options for a local juvenile detention center, as I've said before, we would always want detention of juveniles to be the option of last resort, unquestionably. But having said that, in those instances where a court deems that it's in the public best interest to have a juvenile detained in those scenarios, and the chief has been very outspoken about this and for what it's worth. I've been outspoken as well for what it's worth. We believe it's truly in the community's best interest to have a local juvenile detention center. Have them closer to family, their support network, legal resources, the court for hearings. And what community would be willing to invest more in supports for juveniles in our juveniles than this community. So there have been starts and stops in this conversation over the last year. So I did reach out to William Lasseter who is the Deputy Secretary of Juvenile Justice in the North Carolina Department of Public Safety just indicate our desire to have a seat back at the table on that one. Okay, I did that as fast as I possibly could. I think I got through, I got through the 9th, so I'll pause. All right, so we have, thank you for that, Sean. I don't know if you had one more day if you could put any more on that slide. But I want to say that we, I thought we would go around this way because I've started this way all the earlier. I'm going to start with Ms. Brown and then come around this way. Ms. Brown? I don't have much to say. I want to say to you, Mr. Heath, thank you so much for all the hard work that you put in and the comment I made about. I believe you and your good person that's intentional because you spoke with me one on one about how to move forward and how to change your language and don't many people come for me to do that so for a point of clarification. That means a lot to me and people that come from where I come from I know your heart your intention now because you showed it to me from day one. So let me clarify that. I don't have a whole lot to say. I've already spoke to how this feels. If you're gonna change the trajectory of what we need to do for safety, the people that are involved need to be at the table. You're trying to do that. Police, and simply, does not work in a community that has cultural issues. And the drone idea, I think, is just completely outrageous. But that's just me. Thank you. All right. Ms. Mayfield. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you for the presentation, Sean. I do have a concern that it was mentioned about us putting the RFP out for regarding drones when we're just hearing about it. There needs to be a lot more conversation. We have gone back, we can go back to 2021 to 2023. There are challenges with facial recognition. There are challenges in multiple communities. We, regarding technology, how technology can be used, how technology can be hacked, where it's been deployed. There's a number of articles online regarding the fact that we just need to slow down, even though other communities are using drones. We're seeing a lot more challenges that have been considered, so I don't, and this is really go back to the manager. I'm not comfortable with hearing that staff moving forward with something with that council has not had a long conversation about as a group. And that is utilizing drones and if that's best for our community. When we're looking at number nine, working with the partners to advance options for local juvenile center. The only way I would even consider being comfortable with that is if I language clearly states that this can never be a privatized facility. Because a private facility is a money generator and it is more. Issue of having heads on those beds, then actually creating opportunity. So if there's ever a time that we are talking about the potential of having a private facility come into our community, especially when it comes to our youth, that is not something that I would ever support. So I would like for us to have much more conversation of what it could look like. If we were to partner with the juvenile detention center, but again, and that would probably be 30 attorneys office to let us know if we can legally have language in place from the front end to ensure that that is a facility that cannot be privatized because that would be detrimental to our community. I also want to find out why we're doing all of this work. Can we have, and have we had or recently had a community survey regarding law enforcement? Because we have a lot that was presented and as mentioned we've done a lot, but have we actually gone to the communities where we're seeing the impacts because I've had Individuals reach out even small business owners. So we have private let's say Towing companies our law enforcement aren't on capture on video doing their job. So we have some challenges in community that creates some of these challenges that we're seeing because a lot of this is based off relationship. So manager, do you know of the last time that we actually had a survey directed not only to residents, excuse me, but also small business owners regarding Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department and interaction. I think that during one of these presentations, CMPD was in the middle of it and RFP process to bring in a group to do one of those community assessments, one of those surveys. So what I would like for us to consider, we need to get that information before we put a whole lot of money, investment in time, and to what we have identified as to be some steps to move forward, the community needs to be locked step with us because a lot of these challenges that we have seen, unfortunately, especially without you, there's a responsibility, and we don't necessarily like talk about it because it's not the popular conversation, but you need to know where your 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th year old is. So we need to have those real conversations, but also we need to know where does the community either direct impact or perception? How do they look at San PD? Because if I don't look at you as a partner, then all of this is just great on paper. So I would like for if it would start it, go ahead and fast track that to get that survey, not only to our residents to our communities, especially with a targeted outreach in communities where we have seen quite a bit of interaction, but also with our small businesses. Because if our small businesses are having a negative impact with law enforcement, if We yet receive a video showing our officers not doing the job that they're supposed to do or protect them, that is a concern because that's breaking down trust. And we have to figure out that piece in my opinion like we all got one. Before we can get this right, we need to start there. Thank you. Mr. McCarrie. Thank you. While, of course, I would have liked to see more teeth in the initial takeaway here, I do want to step back and not let that overshadow the fact that I think this is a major milestone for the city and for our conversation in this topic. It's historically been a hard conversation for us to have for all the dynamics that John kind of teed up in the beginning, but also because there's not a lot of appetite for us to dissect and open up the things that are indicative of problems and the reflection those problems bring. So while it was kind of, you know, soft played in my history and experience here, this is the first time we've actually taken a cut and said, here are some of the problems and the data points behind that that we can draw these hypotheses on and then bring forth ideas. So I think that the punchline and take away of all of this is let's make sure we don't make this a one-time exercise and then move on. This is a living thing that we get better at the data, we get better at figuring out what ideas to bring forth. We debate them from a policy and a budget perspective, but then this group continues to look for them and starts to track and report back to us the things we implement and we put in place. And I think that will be incredibly powerful. I think some of the things, I mean, this is a great list and I think everything on here for the most part should have some element of being in this. But I think there are some ways where we can operate within our partner group locally and be a little more aggressive. I mean, if we know that there are data points that 66% of people have prior arrest history that are committing the crimes, Again, backing up our hypothesis that a smaller number of people are responsible for an outsized portion of the crime we face, yet they keep getting let out in a revolving door. We need programs that 100% worked on reaclimation and workforce development, but we also need to say, okay, when this person hits a radar, whether it's the DA or the jail or the court system, whatever it is, like, let's pay attention. If it's a lack of focus on that stuff, and too many other noise angles that are making it be overlooked, and a revolving door or a court, that's what we can get deep into. I think the other thing I would love to see on there is the same kind of way, a deep dive focus on property crimes. Because right now when we talk about the most violent of crimes homicides, terrible, we don't want to see that go up, obviously we want to focus there. But that impacts hundreds of people in Charlotte. Property crimes every year impact tens and tens of thousands of people. And I bet you we will be surprised and will be informed by the data points that come out of themes that we can go after there. So I really think property crimes need to be focused. I think tactical making sure people aren't falling between the cracks and we have enforcement there paired with these programs to move forward. But all in all, I've been waiting for something like this and I won't critique it because it didn't go as far as I would have wanted. It's a great start for us to build upon, but we need to be focused and dedicate to it and make sure that it's one of our top initiatives Because I know Mr. Graham and several others, we are like, okay, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? I can see a framework for how we get to what we do and how we track it and how it's evergreen. But we have to stay focused on it as our number one priority around here. Otherwise, it will just be a great conversation that falls away over time. Mr. Drake's. Thank you. So in past meetings, I've expressed some skepticism about our efforts based on the fact that the numbers look persistent. And I think there was a public perception issue. So I want to acknowledge these numbers are good. And I want to congratulate CMPD and everybody else that's involved in our safety efforts for what looks like a meaningful impact in this first quarter. I hope we can see that through for the whole year. I would just put two questions out there, not for discussion right now, but for one, do we know what's working? So Sean, can we somehow attribute some of the progress that we see to the things that we're doing in these areas? And the second thing is in the past, we had an explanation about how the response times to calls kind of implied staffing level for SAMPD. I haven't seen an updated analysis, so I would be curious to see an overview of our actual response times and what kind of staffing levels it takes to achieve the results that we want. Are we achieving them now? And if so, because I do believe that there is a need for us to staff up, I think a greater presence of police, a visible presence of police, has a calming effect. So it's not about arresting a lot of people, it's just about the visible presence. We give some people confidence and discourages bad behavior. Thank you. Mr. Graham. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Sean, thank you for the presentation and thank you for allowing me to barge into your office and give you my two cents. From time to time on this matter, I think it's really important. I would want our city to be the safest city in America. That should be our overarching goal, right? And so while the first quarter numbers are extremely encouraging as councilmember Drake's indicated, I hope we can continue that pattern over the next three quarters. And I think the CMPD and others who are involved on the day-to-day basis should be commended for a relatively good first quarter, but they're still crying, right? And in a real world, like I thought, I would love Charlotte to be the safest city in America. But here we are. A couple of things, and I really like the way you kind of outline the presentation. Because it demonstrates our commitment for investing in alternative programs, diversion programs, preventative programs, youth programs, domestic violence program, mental health and substance abuse programs, and conjunction with Mecklenburg County and the Y for RR, the other programs committed to helping people help themselves. And I looked at that list and I've looked for every single one of them, right? And I would raise my hand again and again and again if someone around the table has a smart idea about preventive grass reprograms that has community impact and drive the numbers down. I believe that's the part of the equation that we have to invest in. And I'm willing to make that investment for sure. So I think that's a good way to kind of define that one leg of that three leg is to the other leg is the public policy piece coming from the state of North Carolina. And we just have to have a the stamina of a marathon run in terms of some of these issues that we're dealing with expressed related to public funding funding to the district attorney's office and the Magistice office and despite the chief best efforts and the DA's best efforts they've made meaningful progress in terms of trying to pitch that ball up the hill. This is going to take all of us corporations, leaders, city, county, non-profit organizations, this organization, really making the case the rally of additional funding that it's needed to make sure that our judicial system here locally is effective and efficient. And that the type of public policy that you're supporting, like allowing people to have a gun without going through a permitting process, makes no sense for a big urban community like Charlotte. Because we've ended up having these guns stolen, and then we wake up one more and there's a shooting on anywhere street Charlotte, North Carolina with the stolen gun. And so gun, the proliferation of guns across Charlotte and our state continues to be a problem. And those are the type of support and have that we need from our legislators and over many of sessions to kind of get to where we need to go, which is two for an assessment of two years. So we talk about six, eight years, really this really grinding and out talking about the singular issue of funding for our judicial system from all parties involved in. And while we have an all legislative agenda from time to time, it seems from my perspective it's just words on paper, right? There's not a proactive movement in terms of really trying to articulate the rationale why these requests are needed. And so I'm hopefully that as a part of this working group and do a DIMPLES committee that we can really rethink that issue and how we present it to the general assembly and how we kind of coordinate out efforts with others so that it's just not Charlotte going up there, Charlotte is making a lot of account in these corporate communities, everyone's saying the same thing that we really, really need more support for our judicial system and smart legislation that doesn't impact urban communities like Charlotte because we see the impact of, and that's a tough sell from a blue city going to a red state, right, but it's, I think, it's an argument that our residents want us to make. And then lastly, and probably more importantly, is the first bucket, which is bucket number one, I do believe that that's extremely important. Like, Harry said, I won't, I want a lot more specifics, but I can live with the start that we're having and hopefully through the internal work group, a lot more specifics will come out of that. I do think that's a community that we really need to think about long term about filling the police vacancies that we have currently today. And then think about how do we make sure that we increase the percentage of our police force commission with to our growth. We're growing exponentially, but I'm not sure that I'll staffing from a policing perspective is keeping up with that growth and so at some time as the manager we really need to sit down and not talk about 26, 7, 28, barely 30, 31, 32 and 33 in terms of how do we make sure that our the number of officers we have on the street is commensurate to our population growth. And I think that's long term planning. Obviously, it has budget implications because the police department is a lion's share of our budget. But I'm not sure that they're keeping up with the growth right in terms of having enough officers on the street. And then lastly, this internal work group, I hope that they will really, really get into the weeds of some of the issues that I think still are pressing us, right? And one in particular, Mr. Manager, is, I know we've made a significant investment on quarters of opportunities, and there's a lot of metrics that we evaluate what measures get done. But one that we don't measure is public safety. Only these quarters as a part of the quarters of opportunity metrics. And I'll just give you an example. We had a meeting last month this time when a number of people saying, get citizens involved and these are my most involved citizens. But we had that meeting on Monday and then that same weekend, CBS on Bayesport Road closed because of shoplifting at that store. So there's closed the store down. And so there's no pharmacy from I-77 all the way to sunset. So they're closed. The same weekend both Chase Bank and TD banks had their front windows busted out again for about the third or fourth time, right? Causing the individual property owner who was an African-American gentleman, insurance to increase yet again. And on that same weekend, there was a gentleman that was found dead behind NICC's off of Catherine Simmons from a drug overdose. That was four days after some of you guys tell me to get people more involved. And so these are real incidents happening with our quarters that this internal work group really needs to not be afraid to ask tough questions and reference to drug houses and trap houses, nuisance property, repeat offenders, really getting the city attorney's office involved on the front end in terms of simply sending a letter to some of these nuisance properties, right? beginning of if it's going to take three or four years to kind of get to the end of the road, then that two or three or four years needs to stop with the first step, right? Which is identifying and letting people know that we are watching you, and it's going to be targeted enforcement. We're not trying to lock everybody up, but what we are trying to do is really send a message in the community that we clearly understand despite the progress that we're making, despite the numbers that are coming down significantly, despite the programs that we're investing in, that there's still work to be done in a very targeted way that is focusing on not individual but business owners and a number of these other institutions that are causing some of the issues there impacting our community. And so I like the steps that we're taking. I think it makes sense in terms of the ways it strategized. But I'm like Mr. Bacari, we simply cannot allow this to sit on a shelf, or die in an internal work group, and that we don't continue to measure what we're doing along the way, and not be complacent until something else sparks in the community, and then we all come to the back to where we are today We spent five months getting to where we are today. That's almost half a year of processing So I hope that now we can really begin to Identify more programs that we can invest in to keep people Outlet crime that we have a better relationship with the state and an ongoing relationship in terms of really saying that funding is an issue that has to be out top priority. And then thirdly, really, really focusing in a narrowly tailored way to addressing the hot spots where they occur and some interest and we probably need to heat them up some more. Right? Because we kind of know you said it yourself. Every district representative gets the same calls about a particular address or a particular street or a particular individual. So that we use that in town really begin to try to be proactive in working in conjunction with CMPD and others to address the perception and the reality of prime and Charlie. Thank you. Thank you. Mr Johnson. Why? We are with my round of Ms. Fowell. Okay. Thank you Madam Mayor. I won't be long. I think this is something that if we can we should send this to committee because it's a very in-depth conversation. You see how each council member wants to talk about this and we have public members of the public that are waiting. So this is one of those presentations that we would like to have a lot more time. I will say that councilmember Ajmira and Winston and I served on a triple E committee, the equity committee. And what we talked about is that we wanted to develop a framework where all of our policies were viewed through that lens. I would say the same thing about this. I think this is a great first start. I think it's a great comprehensive plan. But this is something that all of our policies should be looked at through this lens. And each committee, how can we improve policies to improve public safety? I will, one example, I think of reentry services. From the housing committee perspective, tax credit dollars or incentives that we give to developers, or even economic development for employers. We should be requiring reentry services or requiring to ban the box when we are supporting employers or landlords. So that kind of lands, we need to get serious, all hands on deck. When we looked at the juvenile detention center the first time, we learned that I think it was at 99 or 90% of the juvenile offenders had history of mental health issues. So I'd like to see what kind of percentages we're looking at that will go towards social services versus incarceration. The Katie Blessing Center, we're excited about that. So I'd like to lean more towards addressing the root cause. I'm gonna do a proclamation tonight talking about brain injury. I know that up to 87% of individuals who incarcerated have history of head injury or possibly. So looking at the root cause, but in order to do that is to really look at, take this and how can we improve all of our policies to take a look. Councilmember Graham talked about this intersection with all of this crime. Do we have a camera there? I mean, so there are some very common sense approaches, but I think it's a matter of really making this priority and taking a look at all of our strategies from a public safety perspective. Thank you. Ms. Malena. Thank you, Madam Mayor. For the sake of time, I'll be brief. There's been a lot said already so thank you Sean for your work again when you walked away last time I Think you you took what we said and you've made What I feel like in the time frame of valiant attempt to implement some of what we said again. I see this as as a moving deliverable, so to speak. I think the policy itself and how we said it, not to be laborer point, that's already been stated. But the policy itself would be a standardized what we can do from a city perspective. But I think how we monitor and control this will be ongoing. I think the young adults that we see today, we're planning this right now based on those young adults. And in five to 10 years, those will be adults in a completely different age bracket. And then we'll have new adults coming in with new technology access. And from an understanding of crime and things like that, I mean, I remember when I was a young girl, what I knew as drugs is totally antiquated now. I mean, there are things I hear of on a regular basis that I didn't even realize were possible. And so, as time goes along, crime goes, it evolves. The potential for what can happen evolves. And as it moves, we move like everything that we do. So, I like my colleagues would like to stay attentive to this. You know, we're already working on a few items in East Charlotte. CNPD has the chat's program that is coming online. I can't wait to get involved with that. That's where we the district reps can actually go to community meetings with CNPD and we'll have a direct opportunity to engage with our residents from you know a public safety perspective. So a lot of that's going to be rolling out really soon. So these are ways that we the you know representative can engage with our community members, touch them, find out what they're looking for you know in partnership for us in, you know, the East area. There's an area that Dante and I share that's an area of emphasis where, you know, the CHAT program is going to come online and the North Tri-On Division and some of those other divisions. And I'm sure it's going to be across our city with our particular divisions where we can reach out, touch our, like I said residents and et cetera. So I think it'll be ongoing. I think we're going to learn through this process as we engage with our residents, as we gather more information, as we partner with our state, right? Because they have different ways that they can help our DA and things like that with capacity issues. So this is completely and totally a public and private and state and maybe even federal partnership in order for us to achieve these objectives. So thank you for the work, I'm looking forward for the continuation of the work and I'll give this microphone to him because we're sharing tonight. Tag team, so Sean, thank you for the presentation. I'm very excited about number one, number six, and number eight. So thank you, sir. Thank you, Mayor. I agree with what my colleague Councilmember Molina said, a great job, Mr. Heath. You took all of our feedback, 12 different feedback, and you incorporated that into one slide. Great job. In such a short time frame. Yes, in such a short time frame. Thank you, great work. I appreciate how you incorporated state policy items because we hear loud and clear from our law enforcement partners that they are arresting same individuals 30, 40 times. And we need support from our DA's office, for our judicial system, for our juvenile detention center. So it's great that we are working on the next steps. All I ask is that we get continuous update and we continue to monitor progress. So if we can have some sort of progress tracker on some of these next steps, that would be very helpful. That's all I have. Thank you. And thanks to CMPD for all the work that you all do to keep our city safe. It's not easy. Thank you. Ms. Anderson. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Hey, Sean, can you go back to your intro slide where you had the metrics up? I think it was the intro, the second, that slide there, right? And so what I want to do is just make sure that we have, we're casting the right light on this discussion because I typically have the CMPD report in my backpack, but I took it out because I had to do something else. But when you guys released that report at the beginning of the year, the numbers were good. We have areas of opportunity, of course. But the numbers were pretty good. And now, Sean, you're standing in front of us with these numbers that you can just look optically at everything that's in green, double digit decreases. So clearly with only really two lines of red that have some issues that need to be addressed. So I just want to make sure that we have the right tone on this conversation. Charlotte is not a particularly violent city. We're a growing city and our crime is not growing at the same rate or the same clip of our population. That's good information and we want to work of course to all of the strategies and programs that you've laid out to ensure that we're doing so. But Charlotte is not an unsafe city. Now I do want to, I do want to prefer a step by saying if crime is happening to me, then I feel that crime is happening to me, right? Crime is personal, of course. But on a macro level, and that's always the case, right? But on a macro level, Charlotte is not an unsafe city. And so I just want to make sure that even for citizens who might be listening to this or watching it, that we have the right messaging there. Can you also go to slide four for me for a second? So in my opinion based on what I've heard you present I believe that the collaborative investment in human services, of course Katie Blessing Center, all three of them, they all have a different level of emphasis, but that particular box, as well as the crime prevention and intervention programming. I think if we focus on those two areas and really lean into those two areas, we can see some noticeable decreases and if you go to slide five, just advance one more slide. In the area that at the bottom one, the youth and youth adults, we're talking about citizens who are aged 10 through 25 accounting for almost 50% of violent crime arrest. That's a burden on the system, but that's also the lack of accountability because many of those individuals are juvenile, right? And there should be increased accountability with the parents. I'm sure there's a direct correlation with CMS attendance, whether it's chronic absenteeism or advancing in performance academically. So I really feel like this area is an area that we can lean into that could have in addition to doing the other things, but putting stronger emphasis on this particular population will help increase our numbers and visibly and we'll be able to fill it that crime is changing in the city. And the last time the chief was here, he had a map of the convenience stores and gas stations and crime that happened in close proximate to those areas. And it was, you know, there were in specific areas, but the second point I think we could focus on are these, as you said, nuisance properties where crime is taking place, there's congregations of individuals that eventually lead to crime and it's chronic. So tag teaming the youth and young adults and those nuisance areas with some targeted emphasis, I believe when we come back a year from now, those percentages for the crime rates would look very different. So thank you for your work, Sean. I know it's not easy, but thank you for this work is very insightful. So thank you for CMTD officers that have stayed with us all the way through this conversation. We know how difficult your job is and we appreciate you very much. We know that we have a lot of work to do. Someone once told me that there's no such thing as the justice system because that would imply that there was organization and abilities to do things fast. Well, and it isn't. It is about taking the time to do the things that we believe will have the most impact and you've heard from the council members. Now, I want to say that we are about to go downstairs for the City Council meeting and there are a couple of new changes or one or two new changes, one new change. We have been doing proclamations and reading them and they, I thought that they would be just read and that was it but instead Mr. Fox has helped me. No, I may have to amend my conversation as I've looked at your rules. There was a rule that was adopted by the council some years ago as it relates to proclamations and awards and it specifically provides that as to those types of events by the council there's not an opportunity for someone to speak on that. That's a part of your rules and I need to get with councilmember Johnson on that just to clarify that and also if you look at rule five it specifically provides that that rule does not apply to proclamations and awards as well. Okay all right so thank you I don't I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. All right, so thank you. I don't know if you say anything about that and we can Miss may miss may feel yes This conversation was the jawhead gone back to what year because we have over time when Proclamation is having read people have been invited down to say a few words So what's the the background on this conversation? You have a agenda item number 15, file number 15-5247, and it's a policy item. And it specifically was designed to address awards and proclamations and awards. And it specifically provides that these are ceremonial in nature, that the honoree doesn't even have the opportunity to speak. I assume the council can waive this, but that's what the rule provides. But it also does specifically provide that established certain parameters around awards and council and council business meetings and it provides that the mayor, reset, honorees will be recognized, no remarks or presentations will be made during the meeting. And this is coupled with, I'm sorry to get in this, I wish Ms. Johnson was here because I need to go talk to her. When you have your room five that allows individuals to identify an item on the agenda, put a request to be heard and to speak, that rule though has a section E and it says the provision of this rule should not apply to speakers addressing council on awards and recognitions. So that rule that allows people to come and speak to an agenda item does not, it specifically excludes awards and recognitions and your rules procedure. Can we vote to suspend the rule? You can't do that. The issue is we have a proclamation related to people with brain damage. And there are people here who want to speak about that. So I would move that we suspend our rule in order to allow those people to speak after the proclamation. They are on the waiting list otherwise to speak and may not even get a chance to say anything. Second. Yeah. Third. OK. OK, so that's about 14 additional people. That's speaking to specifically to Brian Devin. I know. But there are 14 people. So I'm just saying if you look at the number of people that have signed up. Yeah, but Mayor, you have the ability to, in your discretion to impose a different time for large groups of people. So we can do that and we can do it for everyone, but I want to just, I just want you to be aware that there are a number of people. Ms. Johnson does not hear that. Maybe even the most of the three of them. Okay, we have a motion and a second and it'll be point are we voting to completely suspend our rules? I thought it was only a few from talking to Miss Johnson, but Maybe I'll amend it to say we suspend our rules in order to allow three people to speak after the resolution is read. Would that be okay? We'll have to do them all in. We can't do three. I've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. No mayor, there's a prerequisite for them to be able to speak is that they've got to have filed with the clerk a form to speak. So if you waive it, you waive it as to those people who have timely filed the form to speak. That's why I was asking. That's what I thought. Yeah, so we get the people who have actually filed to speak. And that's right. Yeah, we're good. It's those. So that's the motion that we allow the people who have timely filed to speak to talk after the resolution is read. All right. All in favor. All right. All right. Anyone opposed? OK. that we allow the people who have time we file to speak to talk after the resolution is read. All right. All in favor. Aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Aye. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Aye, there's a comparison. I'm going to do a little bit of the same thing. I'm going to do a little bit of the same thing. I'm going to do a little bit of the same thing. I'm going to do a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a I'm going go back to the car. I'm gonna go back to the car. I'm gonna go back to the car. I'm gonna go back to the car. I'm gonna go back to the car. I'm gonna go back to the car. I'm gonna go back to the car. I'm gonna go back to the car. I'm gonna go back to the car. I'm gonna go back to the car. I'm gonna go back to the place where I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go back to the place where I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go back to the place where I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go back to the place where I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go back to the place where I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go back to the place where I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go back to the place where I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go back to the next video. I'm gonna go back to the next video. I'm gonna go back to the next video. I'm gonna go back to the next video. I'm gonna go back to the next video. I'm gonna go back to the next video. I'm gonna go back to the next video. I'm gonna go back to the next video. I'm gonna go back to the next video. I'm gonna go back to the place where I was going to be. I'm gonna go back to the place where I was going to be. I'm gonna go back to the place where I was going to be. I'm gonna go back to the place where I was going to be. I'm gonna go back to the place where I was going to be. I'm gonna go back to the place where I was going to be. I'm gonna go back to the place where I was going to be. I'm gonna go back to the studio. I'm gonna go back to the studio. I'm gonna go back to the studio. I'm gonna go back to the studio. I'm gonna go back to the studio. I'm gonna go back to the studio. I'm gonna go back to the studio. I'm gonna go back to the studio. I'm gonna go back to the studio. I'm gonna go back to the studio. I'm gonna go back to the studio. music I'm gonna go back to the next video. I'm gonna go back to the next video. I'm gonna go back to the next video. I'm gonna go back to the next video. I'm gonna go back to the next video. I'm gonna go back to the next video. I'm gonna go back to the next video. I'm gonna go back to the next video. I'm gonna go back to the next video. I'm gonna go back to the place where I was going to be. I'm gonna go back to the place where I was going to be. I'm gonna go back to the place where I was going to be. I'm gonna go back to the place where I was going to be. I'm gonna go back to the place where I was going to be. I'm gonna go back to the place where I was going to be. I'm gonna go back to the place where I was going go home. I'm gonna go home. I'm gonna go home. I'm gonna go home. I'm gonna go home. I'm gonna go home. I'm gonna go home. I'm gonna go home. I'm gonna go home. I'm gonna go home. I'm gonna go home. I'm gonna go home. I'm gonna go home. I'm gonna go back to the place where I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go back to the place where I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go back to the place where I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go back to the place where I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go back to the place where I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go back to the place where I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go back to the place where I'm gonna go. I'm going to be a little bit more patient. I'm going to be a little bit more patient. I'm going to be a little bit more patient. I'm going to be a little bit more patient. I'm going to be a little bit more patient. I'm going to be a little bit more patient. I'm going to be a little bit more patient. I'm going to be a little bit more patient. I'm going to be a little place where I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go back to the place where I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go back to the place where I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go back to the place where I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go back to the place where I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go back to the place where I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go back to the place where I was going to be. I'm gonna go back to the place where I was going to be. I'm gonna go back to the place where I was going to be. I'm gonna go back to the place where I was going to be. I'm gonna go back to the place where I was going to be. I'm gonna go back to the place where I was going to be. I'm gonna go back to the place where I March 24th, 2025 Council meeting. Thank you. We have a full house tonight. And so I'm going to dive right in. We begin with introductions and we'll start with Mrs. Neuer. Thank you Madam Mayor. Good evening. Dimple Ajmana at launch. Good evening. LaWan Matthew comes from the right large. Good evening. Tark Bakari district six where the boy scouts are from who are with us today. Thank you. Great district seven. Malcolm Graham district two. Good evening. Dante Anderson Mayor Pro Tem district one. Hello everyone and thank you for being here. I'm Vi-Liles and I serve as Mayor. Officer Jones City Manager. Good evening. I'm Renee Johnson and I'm honored to represent District 4. Good evening. I am Marjorie Molina. I represent District 5. I don't know what it is. Here I represent District 3. Let's go! Let's go! Yeah! OK. about to say that with anyone who does an outburst, we will remove you from this room. I'm a little bit scared right now, so that's not going to happen. So thank you all. I do say seriously, we often have people come down and we want everyone to feel safe and respected in what they want to do and achieve by speaking with this council. So we begin our meeting and I'm not quite sure who is in our prayer for this or oh Miss Malena. I want to recognize Miss Malena who will lead us in prayer and if you choose to do, be a part of it that is fine. We understand that not everyone participates in the same way with their faith or if it's not happy and then after the prayer we go and we have a pledge of allegiance of our flag and that again too is optional but I bet the boy Scouts wouldn't mind coming down here and doing it all right so which one of you is going to come down and help us with the pledge today. All right pick somebody. The mayor has chosen this course of business on the fly, you young man, you come down but wait until after the prayer. All right, good bye. Come on down. So Miss Molina, what are you doing? I think he's praying. Oh. Oh. Mr. Mitchell is starting us off with prayer tonight. That's also great start everyone. Okay, all right. Thank you Madam Mayor. Actually, it's not really a prayer tonight. I actually would like to say good evening and thank you all for coming out to be with us here tonight. And as we gather tonight for the work of the council, I invite us to reflect and to center ourselves in purpose and in presence. This season of spring reminds us that even after long stretches of quiet, rebirth is nature's rebuttal. Dormant leaves are budding again, and for those of us who believe like I do, we know that soon he will rise. This is indeed a sacred time, a season of renewal and preparation for what's to come. March is also women's history month, a time to honor the women who led with courage before us and to hold the reverence and hold with reverence the fact that we are a majority women led council shaping the legacy for those who will follow us May our decisions tonight be thoughtful may our service be grounded in integrity and May we remember the weight and the opportunity of the seats that we hold thank you Please join us in the pledge of allegiance come on down down, buddy. Yeah. You can lead us. You said you volunteered. Come on, baby. All your lead. There's the flag right there. Look at the flag. Look over here. Right there. Okay. You tell us when? Tell me when? I pledge to the flag of the United States of America. to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God in a visible liberty and justice for all. All right, well done. Well done. Well done. Well done. Well done. Well done. Well done. Well done. Well done. Thank you very much. The bad your parents weren't here with the cell phone. You know. All right. So the next item on our agenda is a proclamation which will be read by Councilmember Renee Johnson. Ms. Johnson. Okay. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Are you going to call the speaker's downer? No, I was going to let you read and then we'll call this. Okay thank you thank you. First of all I want to thank Madam Mayor by Lyle's for your support and your leadership over the past five years as we recognize March as Brain and Dre Awareness Month so thank you for that. Thank you. I'd also like to thank County Commissioner George Dunlap and also County Commissioner Chair Mark Jarell for their co-sponsoring of the proclamation. I want to thank Charlotte City Partners. When you leave tonight, if it's dark, buildings that are lit in blue and green are in honor of brain injury survivors. So I'd like to thank Charlotte City Partners for the coordination of that. If you are in here tonight, I want you to think you don't have to stand up, but if you know anyone that a Sephora concussion, Sephora to stroke, lack of, and has the brain injury, meningitis, a brain tumor. There's so many individuals that we live among that have suffered a brain injury. It affects one in three of Americans. So I really want you to think about that and the needs and the chronic illness that it can become, it affects so many areas, memory, cognition, mood, depression. So as you think of it, as I read this tonight, just think about your loved ones that might have suffered a brain injury and may have challenges that we should all be aware of. And I just believe the more of us that are aware, will make it easier for individuals to find services and recover back to the quality of life that they would like to. Whereas recent studies show that an estimated 80 million Americans report having history of a brain injury, approximately 31% 31% of US adults live with an acquired brain injury. And whereas acquired brain injuries consider the chronic condition and includes injuries sustained from medical conditions such as stroke, meningitis, tumor, lack of oxygen, and also includes TBI, which is a traumatic brain injury, suffered from a blunt horse trauma or concussion. And whereas approximately 50% of individuals who survive a moderate to severe brain injury are unemployed five years after their injury. Whereas research shows 90% of domestic violence survivors suffer physical injuries to their head. Whereas research shows that up to 50% of homeless individuals and up to 87% of incarcerated adults report a history of a brain injury. Whereas public awareness and understanding of these injuries, prevalence, prevention, and treatment will improve the recovery process and the quality of life for these brave warriors. Now therefore, we, by Alexander Lyle, I'm sorry, Mayor Charlotte and Mark Durell, Chair of Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners, do hereby proclaim March 2025 as Brain Andrea Awareness Month in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County and commend its observance to all citizens witness our hands and the official seals of the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. Thank you. And Cindy Daniel. And I will give- Yes, she's here. Cindy Daniels, please, if she come down and I'm receiving the proclamation. And I also have a couple of others that I'd like to give. We actually had someone reach out to the office independently from, his name is Tracy Sugs. Tracy Sugs and he wanted to get a copy of a proclamation for his organization. He has the organization protect our skulls incorporated. So I'd like to give him and also Jordan Slade a proclamation. Thank you. All right, so we have a number of speakers that want to address the brain injury awareness proclamation and I want you to know that because of our rules we have, we're going to give everybody two minutes to speak and we will begin. I'm sorry, has every one more person. One more person. Thank you. Okay. And I'm going to ask everyone to abide by our rules. We do two minutes for speaking because we have over I think 20 people to speak but we will will have the brain injury. Folks come down first. So Jordan, slat, slat, please come down to the podium right here. You can walk around that way. And then you will be followed by Kimberly Morris. Kimberly's not here. Kimberly's not here. So Cindy, did I know you went all the way down and you're next up then. And then Tanisha DeCosta and Kimberly Wilson are also invited to be here. All right. So are we ready? Oh yes, ma'am. Thank you. So please begin. They should. So I appreciate the opportunity to be here and speak on behalf of the Brain Injury community. It means a lot to me. I'm a huge activist, state, and nationwide. the more awareness that we can raise for brain injury, the better that the community can be. I don't know if anyone knows about brain injury, but a good portion of someone's life when they sustain a brain injury is taken from them. So they no longer have that community interaction. So things such as support groups, one-on-one conversations with people, all those really make a huge difference in a brain injury survivor's life. But I just wanted to thank everyone for acknowledging this and making it official. Thank you very much for doing that. Thank you very much. Thank you. Daniel. I have to get a little bit lower. It's not a talking podium. There is some behind here. So again, I thank the committee and Madam Chairman. I thank you all for your support and for the proclamation. It means a lot to people with brain injuries and disabilities. There's about 200 million Americans that sustain a brain injury and 208,000 sustain them in North Carolina. And there's a lot more because a lot of times we call brain injury a silent epidemic. Because you really is not one that you you can really see and a lot of times people don't even know they've been concussed to have an injury or even share because this stigma of having that disability so it's really important to have these days and acknowledge that we are people that we are so and I have I'm a person that has I'm a walking pair of bellagic and I'm also have a brain injury. So I'm kind of, I don't want to say a two-ford. That's what they call on that. But I served under the presence of command and employment with people with disabilities. And we worked very hard to change the laws, to change the policies to show that people are people. Doesn't matter what you look like, doesn't matter how you move or if you have a disability, everyone belongs and everyone has a voice, a story, and needs to be heard, and it doesn't matter what you have or what you look like, or again, what the disability is that we are a citizens, we're a citizens of the United States, we are a citizens of North Carolina, and a lot that live here in Charlotte. And so we appreciate the time and your support to see that people with brain injuries and cussions are truly that for citizens, your neighbors, your family members, your children, because disability doesn't stop. I mean, anyone could get a cushion, could get a brain injury, can get anything. We can leave this building and boom, fall down, get hit by a car, hopefully not. But still, there's so many things that can happen, that can cause. And by the awareness and by education, it makes these things happen. So together with unity, together with together. And again, I thank you again for your support for the proclamation and And what you do as committee Not here Kimberly Wilson Kimberly Good evening. My name is Kimberly Wilson. Thank you. Thank you up here you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you in 2019 while working at Maryland as a caregiver to people with disabilities and going to the Gallaudet School in Washington DC to learn ASL American Sun Language. After being released from the hospital, I was staying in the nursing home. My sister Judith Brown brought me here to live with her and her family in December 2019. I'm grateful for this because there were many people in my situation who did not have access to stable housing while navigating all that having a life changing disability entails. I was safe here with health care from the Novot Health, Novot, Novot Michael, when the pandemic hit. I am grateful for my attorney, Chad Brown, for walking me through the process of obtaining my disability benefits. I am also grateful for my brother-in-law, Brandon Brown, aka Mr. Excitement, for introducing me to prominent individuals trying to make a difference in our community. Community leaders, our lawmakers, and local agencies. I also want to thank the young stroke and aneurysm survivor support group and my mental health team during this part of my life. These programs are needed to help people like me coming into my new, normal world after leaving the nine to five working world. It can be very mentally taxing experience. Today I have my full disability benefits in health care with Medicaid. I volunteer in the community, travel independently, and just started a remote part time job. I attend church weekly and enjoy all the diverse cultural events and show it. I can say I am confident where I am now and enjoy life. I would like to thank City Councilwoman Renee Johnson for her consistent support for people with brain injuries. Thank you Mayor Levi-Liles for this proclamation and thanks to all the City Council for recognizing National Brain Injury Awareness Month. Thank you. Thank you very much. So thank you everyone that you came to help us be better understanding of something that's very important for all of our communities. So thank you very much. Now we have our public forum where we have our speakers come down to address the council members. The first person, again the two minute rule replies. And our first speaker is Jackie Robinson. Mr. Robinson? Yes. Is he here? here. Maybe you don't know if we have anybody outside. No, I don't think I have somebody else. There's someone else. Oh, you mean the staff is outside the door? Yes. Well, we had anybody waiting since it was pretty cool. All right, so Mr. Robinson. Yes. C. J. No, it's Mr. Robinson. He was Mr. Robinson last month, right? He was. He came last month, but he wasn't. He didn't get to the streets. All right, our next speaker then is Elena Sepilevelli. It's Defeat. It's a Poli. It's a Polvada. Sepilevella. All right, and then following Elena, it'll be Anna Ratliffe. She's not here. I'll just take you for a minute. Take a minute. Take her. I'm sorry. Please. Please. Can you take this? Okay. This is the original dish. Right. I know I'm the one who knows that way. You have two minutes, please. My name is Elena Sapoveda. I've lived in Charlotte for six years. I'm retired and involved in the community in a number of ways. Working at second-harvest food bank, acting as a guardian at Lightom, and volunteering at CMPT, Animal Care and Control. I'm often asked how I can work at the shelter and not have my heart broken every time I'm there. I say if I don't do it, who will? I let them know like most volunteers I have my own ways of coping, which sometimes involve telling myself the dogs I see one week and don't see the next have been adopted or sent to a rescue, freeing them from the frightening confinement of the shelter. Staff and volunteers are stretched to the limit, both physically and mentally, due to lack of funding. While the majority of the public who visit are civil and respectful, the handful of citizens who aren't, make life difficult, especially for front desk staff, who are constantly under pressure from all sides. And yet, with all they do, they remain professional and courteous in situations where most of us might not be so polite, they truly deserve our respect and support. I'm here today because we need more funding for a newer, larger shelter to keep up with the ever increasing population of Charlotte. For more staff positions to allow for more efficient and effective shelter operation, for life-saving programs that benefit the public and their pets. We must make CMPD animal care and control its own department, reducing the bureaucracy and red tape and allowing the staff easier and faster access to decision makers. Every month we make the same plea. Take action now to make sure our animals receive the respect and care they deserve. In the words of writers for more articulate than I, please remember, we can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals. Let us make the changes needed and find the funding required so we, as a city, can be seen as caring and compassionate. Compassion for animals is intimately associated with goodness of character, and we know how important it is to be judged by the content of our character. Thank you. Thank you. Applause. Thank you. Thank you. Applause. Anna Radcliffe. And we have two places for you to come down and speak. So let's go with also Matthew Swindler. skip Christian. got Christian. number four. Christian. Christian is coming down as well. notice and I know who I know that is. Thank you. All right. You have two minutes. Thank you. Madam Mayor and members of council. My name is Anna Radcliffe. I'm a dog mom to four rescue pups when current foster and a passionate don't shop adopt advocate. I'm here to discuss the current situation at animal care and control and in shelters and rescues all across the care line is in 2024 North Carolina place 34th for animal protection laws by the animal legal defense fund a 501c3 nonprofit fighting for animal rights since 1979. Between July 2022 and July 2023, Charlotte's population increased by 15,600 people. According to the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance, but staff funding resources in space have not kept pace at animal care and control. In January of 2025, 61 dogs were euthanized, many for no reason other than space. As of March 10, 2025, Animal Care and Control had 456 dogs in their care. On Saturday, March 15, shelter staff and volunteers arrived at the shelter to find nine cages on the sidewalk, each containing one dog to be surrendered. This was in addition to the 43 dogs that were taken in the day prior. Mother Teresa said the good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. So the staff, volunteers, rescuers, and animal advocates across the city and state continue to show up day in and day out. We cannot foster or adopt our way out of this crisis, but here's what we can do to promote change and better outcomes for the animals in our community. Past local legislation banning retail sales and puppy, retail pet sales and puppy mills, demand mandatory registration and oversight of breeders, require breeders to limit the number of litters that can be had per female per year to vaccinate all animals in their care and to vet potential adopters. Petition for legislation, mandating spay neuter to end the cycle of unwanted littersanted litters and puppies beginning and ending their lives on the shelter floor. Enforced harsher penalties for persons accused or convicted of animal cruelty, of organizing, participating in or observing dog fighting and pass a van on tethering, prohibiting animals from being forced to live life outside or on a chain. Allocate additional funding for animal control officers, veterinarians, vet techs, office staff staff adequate facilities. Thank you very much. You are Kristen right? Yes. All right and so Matthew Swenler you could come down on the side of the room if you if you're here in the room. All right, Christy, thank you. Good evening, council member. Members, my name is Christy Zirakis and I've been a proud district three resident for five years. For the last three, I've been deeply involved in animal rescue, fostering, volunteering, and coordinating events with Charlotte-based rescue billies buddies. Being on the inside of both our municipal shelter and a local rescue has shown me the harsh reality that Charlotte shelter is critically overcrowded and underfunded. Everyday rescues like ours are faced with urgent pleas to save animals from euthanasia. No matter how many fosters we recruit, we simply don't have the capacity to save them all. Losing animals not because they're sick or dangerous, but due to a lack of space, is heartbreaking and simply put cruel. It's unfair to them and it takes a profound toll on our volunteers and rescue workers, show up daily, knowing that the problem is bigger than we are. We show up every day for the animals with a simple smile on our face and there is an underlying sadness in all of us that the problem is bigger than the volunteers and people working in rescue can solve on our own. As someone who has fostered over 30 dogs, I know firsthand the sacrifices. When a box of puppies is dumped on our rescue, we take them in without hesitation. That means sleepless nights, time away from work, and less time and energy to contribute back into our local economy. We do this because we care, but we cannot fix this problem alone. And simply put, this is not a volunteers problem to solve. We need bigger changes in the city. We need funding for a shelter that can handle intake demands and for animal care and control to become its own department. Only then can we create real change for the animals and the people of Charlotte. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very Thank you. Our next speaker is LaShanda Carter. And is Matthew Swindler not in the building? Okay. I'm so LaShanda Carter and Marquet Brody. If you're here, one of you can have each side of the podium. You would just... Ms. Carter? Thank you. For joining us. Good evening, City Council. My name is Lishanda Carter. I am the founder and CEO of X Defender. We are a technology and safety company that's committed to improving public safety through innovative technology and safety training. So I stand before you today because we have safety policies in place for food handling. We enforce the fire codes and we also regulate alcohol services. But what happens if someone has an overdose or their drink is spiked in a nightclub? Who is trained at that moment? So I stand before you today because overdoses are happening everywhere. Not just in the city of Charlotte, but worldwide. They are in our public spaces, our businesses, and our nightlife venues. Yet most establishments have zero training on what to do at that moment in the situation. That's why I've created extifenders overdose prevention and public safety course. It is designed to equip each businesses with the skills and tools that they're needing in order to stand up and save as many victims as possible. So it's not about if or when, it's not about if it happens, it's about when it happens. So I stand before you today to see if I can partner or the city of Charlotte would like to partner with Ex Defender on coming together as a community. And man, they and I were overdose prevention training course for each business that serves alcohol. Thank you for that. We just finished having a conversation about public safety. And if you would speak with Ms. Sean over here to talk to him more about what you are recommending and suggesting for us. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And Mary Bell, McBeath, is Mary Bell, McBeath also here. All right. Thank you very much. If you have two minutes. All right. Hi. My name is Laura Kelly. I'm an unaccompanied minor and passenger service agent for prospect at the airport. I take pride in being a protector of kids and providing services for American airline passengers who are disabled and elderly. I treat every passenger as a member of my family. Making sure they get something to eat, go to the bathroom. And are comfortable while in my care. I love my job, but we are having a lot of issues at the airport. We are so understaffed, sometimes I see multiple wheelchair passengers waiting for help. Rushing through the airport, pushing a passenger plus their luggage is dangerous. And sometimes I'm being asked to push two passengers at the same time. Councilwoman Azmir, we had a warm conversation where you told me your mom actually uses our services and I hope we can still provide that service. This isn't safe for passengers or the actual workers at the airport. I injured my ribs a month ago while pushing two empty wheelchairs of the jet bridge after rebording two passengers. The pain was unbearable. Experience people like myself aren't sticking around because it's impossible to survive off the low wage and the benefits we have. That's why the turnover rate is so high. And those of us who do stay are suffering. As the honors and operators of Charlotte Airport, you can stop this. We ask that you have a committee hearing on the ordinance that we submitted to raise standards at the airport and truly make CLT Bitboard Queen. Okay, Miss Kelly? Thank you. Mary Bell. Mary Bell. Mary Bell. Thank you. I have two minutes. My name is Mary Bell McBath. For 12 years, I've been a cabin cleaner for ABM. A contracted employer for American Airlines at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. I clean the planes to keep people safe from germs and diseases while they travel. We also do security checks and sweeps to keep passengers safe from items or weapons that can cause harm. I'm honored knowing that I am the reason people can travel safely. But if we want to continue to support safe travel, we need more workers to help make the airport secure. We are understaffed and sometimes only have four people on a team to clean these planes. We are constantly rushing to clean the planes and get to the next one. That puts us in danger every day. We're exposed to blood, human waste, and used needles in the pocket, in the seed pockets. When you combine that, we're not having enough time or staff, that's a recipe for disaster or injury. And with the low number of people, we barely have time to use the restroom, drink water, or even take a break, or either to take necessary medication like I need to. People don't stay because they pay the paying benefits just aren't worth it. That means double the workload for the rest of us. We deserve a living wage and good benefits. So we can reduce turnover and keep experienced people like me on the job. Thank you Mayor Pro Tem Anderson for hearing my concerns last week. At your town hall, we need you to act now. Race standards for the thousands of people that keep the airport and passengers safe and secure. Thank you. Alright, our next speaker is Margaret Marshall. This is Marshall. You're Margaret. Good evening, Mayor, City Manager and Council Members. I am Alison Rhodes. I am the Executive Director of Tree Charlotte. And with me is Margaret Marshall, my board member. And we are here to thank you, the city of Charlotte, for your support of Trees Charlotte. Trees Charlotte is a nonprofit, and we are dedicated to growing, diversifying, and stewarding Charlotte's iconic urban forest, all while educating the residents of the community on the value of trees and how to care for them. Charlotte is losing thousands of trees annually, primarily on private property, which makes our work more critical than ever. But with the dedication of partners like the city of Charlotte, we are making a difference. So, I'm going to give you some numbers here. During the October through March planting season, tree Charlotte Hill 31 tree plantings planted 1,698 trees. Tree Charlotte has provided 3,450 trees to residents through our adoption program and cared for 2,152 previously planted trees. We've also expanded our resilience program to three neighborhoods, reaching 549 households in the under canopy to underserved neighborhoods of Ramblerwood, McCrory, Heights, and Greenville. And hundreds of volunteers participate in these activities every year. And at a recent planning at Beautiful West Charlotte High School, we had 58 trees planted on that campus by volunteers and alumni. So Charlotte's tree canopy is more than just a beautiful feature. It is an economic driver for our community. It's an environmental protector. Trees promote biodiversity. They help mitigate stormwater runoff. and they help preserve our well-being and health. And so preserving and growing our tree canopy is a shared responsibility. And a collaboration is the only way forward. So we are looking forward to expanding our reach and ensuring a greener, healthier, and more tree-filled Charlotte for generations to come. Thank you. Thank you very much. Our next speaker is I guess, Terika Moser. Terika Moser. She's up there. Erica. She's upstairs. She's sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry to City Council to let y'all know that I'm one at 88 families who was unlawfully evicted, who would be illegally thrown in jail, who child would be taken away. And I lost everything, but I'm not even here to complain because that was 13 years ago when I walked up to, when I came to City Council to tell what had happened to me. Since there was no response, I've opened up an emergency moving services where I help evicted families, save their items. I've been helping homeless individuals recycle with me and they've been able to get housing. They've been able to get our fit now. They've been able to put their guns down and they're listening to me. And so I'm here to present the Rescue Tiny Homes program, which I've already bought tiny homes. I don't have any land. I don't have any way to really help the homeless like I want to. So I'm here to see if I can get support. A little bit of love. I've been locked out from everyone for 10 years. So I'm just now bouncing back at my money right. And I do have a 501c3. So I am looking for some support and some help here. Because the homeless population is growing. It was 30,000 evictions when we were evicted 13 years ago. So I know now that the evictions have tripled. I'm not here to complain. I'm not throwing any bad words or anything. But I was hurt 13 years ago when I stood up here in front of everyone. I had nowhere to go. I actually supposed to be dead but I am here to tell all of you that I love you. I hope everyone has a home. I hope the animals get home. I hope everyone is treated there. If you need moving services I'm strong. I'm 48 years old but I can move any and every. Thank you. I appreciate. OK, it's two minutes is up, but once again, I love y'all and everyone is on. Shot. APPLAUSE Smoser, we're going to have Sean speak, come over and speak with you so that you will have a response this time. Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Teresa Hutchinson. She's absent. She's absent. And Braxton Winston is our next speaker. Hmm? Who? He put this coat, come on colleague, bunny coat. Look at this new face. Come back. I'm going to the office to spend the rules for the public forum. Good job. The council members, mayor, council members, mayor proem staff? You have heard from workers at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. These workers are essential to a major contributor to our stage GDP, yet many do not earn enough to live in Charlotte. From wheelchair agents to cabin cleaners to pilots, airport workers are not easily replaceable. Their specialized training and experience are crucial to airport operations. CLT's efficiency depends on retaining workers which is directly tied to the airport producing good jobs with competitive wages and benefits. Many essential workers do not earn a living wage fueling high turnover rates and putting airport operations at risk, especially as CLT continues to expand. It is unacceptable that those who keep our airport running cannot afford to simply work there. We urge you to act. City policy provides a framework for action. In 2022, you adopted an equity and governance framework that acknowledges systemic inequities and commits to addressing them through an equity lens. Airport worker policies fit squarely within this mission. Beyond tackling workplace inequities, we must recognize that airports are potential targets for attack and other threats. Airport workers play a critical role on the front lines, ensuring passenger safety and securing our air transportation system. Studies indicate that low wages and high turnover lead to a workforce less familiar with essential security protocols. It's time to put an end to this revolving door of workers. Other airports throughout the country have shown that higher wages and benefits improve worker stability, performance and security. It's time for us to do the same. The airport is a prime place to implement your cradle to career priorities. Airport Director Haley Gentries career path from intern to CEO was possible to do to city employment protections. All airport workers including contractor employees serving like companies like American Airlines deserve similar opportunities. You have successfully intervened before. In 2019 City Council delayed an American Airlines lease to help food service workers win better wages. In 2020, a Council subcommittee helped allocate CARES Act funding, adding Charlotte's strong pandemic recovery. These actions show that both incentives and regulations can improve worker conditions. Thank you, please take action now. Thank you. Our next speaker is Carson Cones. Carson Cone. Angela Edwards. Angela Edward. Oh yes, Angela Edwards. She takes me later on. Take some of them. This is Angela. Oh, yeah, but so is Angela. Angela, wait a minute. Angela Edwards. Angela Edwards. Angela Edwards. Angela Edwards. Angela Edwards. Angela Edwards. Angela Edwards. Angela Edwards. Angela Edwards. Angela Edwards. Angela Edwards. Angela Edwards. Angela Edwards. Yeah, it was champion. I know. Yeah, it's Nisha's art. So we have. I said, we'll wait. I'm looking for it. I'll see her. You can't see her? I'm trying to make today clear out. See, I don't know. Of course, I'm going down these millions. I don't see her. Mayor. People can see a gentleman. I know. Okay. He's called. Angel. That's not her, Michelle. I don't think she's present. Okay. Carte. Give me your name, please. Carte, sing calm. Okay. Thank you. Carte, sing calm. All right. You have two minutes. Good evening. A resolution in support of the ICANN City's appeal for the UN Treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons. Whereas the existence and threat and use of nuclear weapons, Minus all humankind in the Earth's environment, and whereas China, Russia, the United States, Britain, and France, affirmed in 2022 that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. And whereas 700 million people were living in poverty in 2024, the money squandered and the fortunes made through the manufacturer upgrading maintenance and sale of nuclear weapons being immoral. and whereas Charlotte taxpayers paid an estimated $93,280,000 tax dollars just for nuclear weapons and associated costs in 2023. And that money is needed here for the residents of Charlotte. And whereas the new generation of nuclear weapons that has been proposed will raise these costs significantly and burden us with weapons that are more destabilizing and riskier. Whereas the threat of accidental or deliberate explosion of nuclear weapons is real in increasing a nuclear accidents, include two bombs dropped near Ureka, North Carolina. And finally, whereas cutting nuclear weapons is possible and bipartisan since the late In 1960, the U.S. has reduced nuclear warheads from 31,255 to the 3748 we are threatened by today. Now therefore be it resolved that the Charlotte City Council, I hope would support the following statement and notify the international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons city appeal of that support. This statement. Our city is deeply concerned about the grave threat that nuclear weapons pose to communities throughout the world. We firmly believe the residents of Charlotte have the right to live in a world free from this threat and any use of nuclear weapons, whether deliberate or accidental. We'd have catastrophic far reaching and long lasting consequences for people in the environment. Therefore, we support the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons and call on the federal government to sign and ratify it. Thank you. Thank you very much. Our last speaker, Alicia Gata. Is it G or is it soft or jida? Thank you. Good evening Mayor Lyle, council members and staff. My name is Alicia Jida and I am the founder of Gateway Learning, a talent development consulting firm that I founded in 2022. When I started this journey, I spent a significant amount of time researching the resources in the Charlotte metropolitan area, including those offered by the city and county. What I found was a city that is deeply committed to investing in its small business community by providing training, events, support, and certifications to the business owners of Charlotte. It does not go unnoticed. However, I would like to bring to the attention of the council certain areas of improvement. The city spends a lot of money on supporting construction industry vendors and it should as we are a growing city. However, what I am requesting is our resources to support businesses that may be newer or service and goods providers that are not in construction. The current programs offered are marketed and or structured in ways that prevent businesses like mine and my peers from being able to participate in city sponsored programs and initiatives. Even with upcoming launches, the language repels many businesses because we don't know if we should even be in attendance. Additionally, while it is clear that as a city, there is an effort to provide resources to smaller businesses, the resources are to be frank not always helpful. The information is not up to date. The training is not always city-specific, and websites are convoluted and hard to navigate. And these are just a few examples. Due to time limitations, I do have a document where I list some examples. And I'm also requesting a meeting with a member of the City Manager's Office or the CBI team to further discuss my request. A lot of these improvements are easy fixes. Fixes that can support the entirety of the small business community and further enhance Charlotte's commitment to small businesses. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. We'd like to ask you to work with Monica Allen who is doing a lot of our workforce development work and that might be something appropriate for you. So Monica is going to put her shoes on. That's what she's going to do. Why do you talk about us? I'm staying in so I'm telling you. Oh my God. I'm sorry. I should have given you a hand so I'm not going to cut so. Thank you very much. So, I believe that is our last speaker. So, we'll go to agenda item number eight, which is a public hearing for DeTropel Inc. A investment grant and to conduct a public hearing. Do we have any speakers in the public hearing matter? We'll public hear and be closed. Second. All right, we have a motion to close the public hearing and approve the city's business investment grant to Deutre-Pel for Mount Not to exceed 22,843 over three years. I need a motion. So move. So move. So we have any comments? Would anybody have any comments? No. All right. All in favor of the motion A and B, please raise your hand. Anyone opposed? All right. We'll go to item number nine. Public hearing for Grantedger, USA. Conducted public hearing and approved if that happens. We approved the city's business investment grant to Grownager for chronic or for tonight exceed 171,936 over five years. Do I have a motion on A and B? Move the public here and be close and approve action A and B. Second. We have a motion and a second, any discussion? Mr. President. I just want to say briefly, a groaning your USA is a Greek company, and among other things, has an apprenticeship program on the German model that I think is something that I hope many other people will emulate. Just want to acknowledge them for that. All right, thank you. So we have a motion on the floor. All in favor of the motion, please raise your hand. Anyone opposed? All right, the passes. Our next item is a public hearing for our exo corporate solutions. LLC business investment. Conduct a public hearing regarding the approval of this for the business investment and approve the city's business investment grant for a total not to exceed 166,874 dollars over seven years. Do I have a motion for A and B? So moved. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, all of Ms. Mayfield. Thank you Madam Mayor. I would just like to say an important shift. All right, so already has a relationship here. I had the chance over the weekend to attend the robotics championship. And they are, to me, one of the great examples of corporations that come in and immediately connect with sponsoring our youth with teaching and robotics and other trainings. And it was actually pretty exciting to watch the whole competition, but this is an example of to me of how businesses can come in and actually support the local community. All right. All right, any other comment? Well, we have a motion on the floor all in favor. Please raise your hand. Anyone opposed? No, I want to pose. The next item is item 11 for a resolution to close a portion of right-of-way off-poly drive. So we have anybody on the public hearing. If not, we would have a doctor resolution close a portion of right-of-way off-poly drive. Do I have a motion for A and B? Some move. Second. All right any comments? Hearing none all in favor of the motion please raise your hand. Thank you very much. Anyone with pose? All right so the next item is item 12. That's the City Manager's report. So thank you Mayor Mimza, Councillor. Just a few things. Maybe I'll state the obvious. So a lot has occurred today. A lot of it's come from the hard work of the committees. For instance, financial partners having the budget governance and in a government relations committee have a framework that's very important. As we start to think about public safety and the conversation that happened earlier, we had the housing and community safety committee playing a role and then later today, you will vote on a workforce development strategic plan which came out of jobs and economic development. So a lot of great work from the committee so that we can get things in play. You do have in front of you my 30-day memo which I think the big highlight will be the next 30 days April 14th there will be a discussion about the housing trust fund. Recently approved a $100 million bond and clearly there's a lot of excitement around different organizations have applied for that funding. While I don't see her, I want to just acknowledge that earlier this month, I named Sarah Hazel as the Chief of Staff and she will head of government affairs. I think it's very important because it's a team, a team's approach. Where we're going to really change the way we have handled government relations and government relations and really think about not just Raleigh and DC, but what we do in this building with the county, with the school system, with some of our partners in the private sector and the philanthropic community as well as what we do internationally. And then lastly, I think they're going to be a couple of slides to pop up behind me. We were in New York and in Boston last week, really to talk to the rating agencies as well as some of the folks who invest in our bonds. I think it's very important that we tell the Charlotte story because we want to continue to have those investments. And one of the things we talked about was infrastructure and it's very important it's been something we've talked about this council for a while. And I just want to talk a little bit about some of the things that are happening around infrastructure. So FEMA ranks Charlotte among the top communities nationwide for flood management. So what does that mean by that? So Charlotte ranks among the top 1% of more than 1,500 communities that participate in FEMA's emergency management community rating system. So as of April 1, 2025, EMOTE will recognize Charlotte as a class two recipient. That creates about a 40% discount flood insurance rate for the National Flood Insurance Program. It also provides policies for buildings and regulated flood plains and 10% discount for all other policies within the city. What does that mean? That's about a million dollar savings annually for Charlotte residents. Now I think I see Mike Davis over there. So Mike, we really appreciate what you've been doing. And I have a chance to tell you what there was this thing called a backlog, ABCs. That's been wiped out. We really appreciate everything that's happening around stormwater so kudos to Mike and his team. this team. then lastly, as we continue to talk about infrastructure, there's a ribbon cutting ceremony that recently occurred. And it's very interesting. We celebrate things like 300 feet of sidewalk that was earlier at the retreat. But that's how important it is to actually implement. So I just want to say the First Mobility Project in the Errwood Strategic Investment Area recently occurred. We had the ribbon cutting there. Leadership, remember those the team of teams, 15 different departments are involved. I think what's interesting from the moment it was planned, the moment that it was executed six months. So this is what we talked about if that $55 million that's in the strategic investment areas is just a drop in the bucket. But if we can prove to our residents that we can do infrastructure projects quicker, when there's an opportunity for another revenue source that may come in around transportation we will already have created a system where we can implement quickly so I think there's somebody around the diet that may be on that picture to you. I think I saw someone. I love my energy. So just wanted to celebrate some of the hard work the staff is doing so I appreciate you a lot of me to have the opportunity to do that. Thank you. Thank you. That's a great manager's report. We want one like that out. So our next item is item agenda 13 which is the workforce development strategic plan and this is to approve the jobs and economic development council committees recommendations to adopt the proposed Workforce Development Strategic Plan. And so we have the committee chair, Mr. Graham. Do you want to have any comments? Thank you Madam Mayor. Very excited tonight to finally bring before the Council for a vote the workforce development. Chishis Plan, the plan was first referred to the Committee for Consideration back in February of 2024. And the workforce development strategic plan established just key focus areas, goals and strategies to guide the cities to effort in addressing our current and future workforce needs. The plan is a vision to cultivate diverse and skill workforce system that enables residents to attain sustainable employment and business access to skill talent. That's the formal presentation. The informal presentation is that this is a lot of good work on behalf of the council as a whole. I will be remiss if I don't recognize Vice Chairman James Mitchell for this leadership right from the very start. I think council member may feel as well play a significant role in terms of kind of jump stopping. How we introduce and refocus our workforce development efforts as a team. We brought in Ms. Frazier who has done an outstanding job and her team really kind of listening to the council members and taking our feedback into consideration and molding the report in such a way that I think if you read it you can hear each and every one of our voices in terms of things that were were important to us. I want to thank her for being a good listener. Her team is certainly on the ground actually doing the work as we speak and the plan basically just focused our attention and our efforts along the way. And so a lot of work has gone into it. I think it's good work. The manager's office is very responsive to the challenge ahead. Obviously jobs and economics, undeveloped medicine, important part of outward mobility and having the ability to have a comprehensive plan also outreaching outside of the government center working with other non-profit organizations. Another similar agencies really moves us in the right direction. So certainly I make a motion to approve the strategic plan. Second. I have a motion and second, Mr. Mitchell. Thank you, Madam Mayor, and to the chair. Thank you for your leadership when it came to a committee chair when you really pushed it through to make sure we can be here today. This is just a be a proud moment for all of us. This journey began in January 2023. We had our strategy retreat session at UNC Charlotte and we as a council say the workforce development need to be a priority. Then we challenged to City Manager to go out and get the best talent in the country. That talent happened to be in Charlotte, North Carolina. And at the three attempts, she finally learned how to say yes instead of no. But I want to say this publicly to Danielle to the City Manager. Thank you for your leadership. Thank you as councilmanman Graham said, for listening to us and putting together a document that, therefore, thank you, will separate us from other cities. The panel you had at the strategy session, Asheville was just awesome. From Austin, Texas to the other representative. And then the mayor beat me to the punch. I was trying to take you nationally, but she beat me to the punch. And so now you are the director of workforce development for the U.S. Conference of Mayors throughout the country. So once again, we applaud you for your leadership. So thank you, Danielle. Thank you, Steve. I want to, we have a motion, so all in favor of this, but raise hand and nobody can not be. Yes. Nobody can say no. Okay. So we have no opposition. Okay. So now we need to go to our business. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. We're just kidding. Oh, God. Yes. All right. We have our next portion of our businesses. item 14, the lease of city owned property at Archdale Avenue, Adopted Resolution, approving a five-year lease with Mecklenburg County. Talk about collaboration and what we're doing and authorize the manager to execute the necessary documents to make this happen. Move for approval A and B. Second. We have a motion A and B. Is there any discussion? Hearing no discussion, all in favor of the motion. Please reach here. I'm sorry. Happy to see it. Happy to see it. And so that's a part of the motion that we're happy to see it. An archdale drive. So anyone opposed? No, I'm just unanimous. unanimous? All right, here we go. The next one is an interlocal agreement for a of street addresses, which, you know, most of the time you think that should be the post office, but this is about us, I guess. So, anyway, this is a doctor resolution authorizing the manager to execute interlocal agreements with the various towns and other parts of our governmental organizations and to have this interlocal agreement around the assignment of street addresses. So we have a motion and a second is there any discussion? Hearing none all in favor please raise your hand. Anyone opposed? All right thank you. The next items are nominations for the Arts and Science Council Governance Board. Madam Clerk. Yes, ma'am. Mayor and council members, there are numerous opportunities to appoint people tonight. Several boards received six or more nominations. So at the end, if you feel so inclined, you can make a motion second and a vote to appoint these individuals. For the Arts and Science Council Governance Board, Allison Allen received seven nominations, Nalen Mulder received six nominations, and Sam Spencer received seven nominations. For the Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Access Corporation, NaShorta Lightle received nine nominations. For the civil service board, the incumbent crystal screen received nine nominations. For the community relations committee, there were four positions available. The following individuals received six or more. Really, Holly, the incumbent received nine nominations. Chris McFarlane received seven. As did CUMLIN, ONAWDA, and Nixon at Wright, I'll receive seven nominations. for the neighborhood matching grants fund, Kimmy Lee, Deninker, Dinkler, the incumbent received 10 nominations, and Maria NAB received 10 nominations. And finally for the Waste Management Advisory Board, Michael, Jacob, received nine nominations. All right. Councillor, you heard that the clerk has gotten enough or sufficient funds to be able to. Can we do this in one? Yes, ma'am. You can appoint all of them. We'll talk about it by acclimation. So second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion around that. All right. So we have all in favor of the clerk's, I guess, hesitation around the boards and commissions. All in favor say aye. All right. Anyone opposed? Very none. We are there. So. May I have a question for the manager before we close? Yes. Yes. May feel it's recognized. Thank you Madam Mayor. Manager Jones, I didn't get a chance to ask after you gave your report. I would like to know if it will fall under you or if I city clerk can let us know if there's any legal language why we cannot look into the presentation of the case. Much like we adopted the NEST recommendation for housing and neighborhood services and public safety, I do think we have an opportunity for our employees that came down and spoke regarding SCIU and our workforce and protections. At the airport, there is a case recommendation that was emailed to all of us. They have presented it to individual council members. I would like for us to actually look into what legal ability we may have. Because as I just mentioned, if we were able to adopt the nest recommendations, there should be some language where we can ensure that our employees have some basic protection. So I would like to find out from either the attorney's office and or your office what if any legal language says that we cannot and if so how can we move forward with case being presented to council. Yeah, I will just tell you this. We've been proactive. We met with Mr. Braxton and his representatives. We pointed out some issues that we had. We invited them to respond with their positions on our positions. We're waiting that response. We also offered to sit down with them and talk and see if there's a path forward. But remember what they're asking for. It's for this council to regulate employees that this council does not, they do not work for you. They are employees of other concerns. And there is some questions around preemption, around wage and hour, and fair labor standards act, all which allow us to regulate our employees, but does not allow us to regulate others. So we're, I'm pointing this out to them. They're going to push back and I'm waiting it, and then waiting to hear their response. And just for clarification, as was mentioned, we've had this conversation a couple of different times over the years. We have some opportunities because ultimately, the city of Charlotte, we have employees within the airport. We are the ones who identify our contractual obligations. Counselors who approve say either yes, no, or defer on any contract that comes through. So there is a challenge and if the ultimate goal is to ensure that the residents of Charlotte can actually live in our beautiful city of which you did contribute to the taxes, There should be a way for us to have a conversation just like we move salary compensation for our Charlotte employees. We can have greater expectations of our partners who are funded through those same tax dollars. So that consideration I would appreciate us researching and getting information back to full accounts. I hear you to be continued. Thank you. All right, Mr. Trot. I'm sorry. One thing that I would add is if you could take a look at our procurement rules and if there's anything that we can do because what I've been told when we leverage the contracts is that we have to accept the lowest bid. And so sometimes these contractors can submit a lower bid because their wages are so much lower. So if we can take a look at our procurement rules and see if there's any flexibility, we can discuss that offline. I think that will be helpful. Thank you. Okay. All right. Do I have a motion to adjourn? So move. I got a piece of going to everybody's house. So y'all get there before nine. Oh, I'm going to be looking for a bag. Look how you are. I should have told me that. I'll be driving around looking at the lights. Oh, look at you. Oh, look at you. Oh, look at you. There you go. Thank you. you Thank you.