City Council - Regular Meeting

Apparently we have some members who are chronologically challenged and so we're just gonna have to get started here On our agenda today First up we have Bridget Massingale from Thrive Regional Partnership, and she's here I know it says regarding the civic experiment grant on our agenda, but she tells me she's actually here to give a strategic update, which is fine as well. So we will hand the floor over to you, Bridget.

Awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, council members. I am thrilled to be here today, and I think it is kind of providential that we call it the Civic Experiments because some may know we've been at it for 13 years now, and it started as a experiment in essence. And so today I want to give you guys a lens, a strategic lens into the work of your regional organization, Thrive Regional Partnership. And I always like to start no matter where I am with just putting us in position as we think about what Thrive does and the region that we serve. So here we are, we're in the corner of of the cradle of Southern Appalachia and the Southern Appalachian foothills. We are surrounded by 15 other counties and 76 other incorporated cities and towns of this region. And the secret is out. The infrastructure of this region is doing what it was built to do first. It was first rail, as the Chattanooga Choo Choo brand tells us. and then by river, and now heavily by road. Nature in this region is functioning in a way that it was also created to do, which is to flourish. And now our brand of Scenic City, just like it said it was. And then today, what we know about this growing region is that we can't rest on our laurels. We actually don't have a choice. Because ready or not, here comes growth. And it's not just growth that we are all seeing, it's accelerated growth. So Thrive has been mobilizing around this reality for the past 10 years. Three years prior to that, when it was simply planning the experiment, for a better word, And we were watching the population trends of our entire region that I just showed you. And seeing that by 2055, it was projected to be 1.4 million. And as you can see, we are right on track with what that growth was projected to be as we monitor that each year that we get those statistics out. But here we are right in the bullseye. And when you are looking at a region of 1.1 million people, interestingly enough, the Chattanooga MSA has 52% of the region's people living right here in the core of our region. We see it in new housing growth. So these numbers are between 2020 to 2025. There were 29,000 new housing units that were added across that regional footprint. And what a glaring reality of where the majority of that is. So with 49% of the new housing units over the last five years being built right here in Hamilton County, it's interesting, you can look down at the next, what would be the next one down and that's Bradley County, but that's only 10% of the new housing units of the entire region. We also know that regional economic growth has been happening as well. And so this is actually a four year period where we've seen $4.8 billion invested in regional economic growth across the region with 11,800 jobs that have been created. Where are the chunk of these jobs? So we have a combined 40% of the region's jobs are in freight dependent sectors. 40%. So it's manufacturing and trade, transportation and utilities. And I would almost argue that some of those others as well, we know that anything on there is gonna be dependent on freight getting it to their front door, to their business, to whatever it is that they do in this region. And our infrastructure feels it. So you were looking at those freight generators.

Is it a live photo?

We are live streaming as we speak. And as we know, and we look around and we see the differentiator here in Chattanooga is most certainly the volume of trucks that we do see on the road. And with our freight generators as they are, we also know that it's not just by truck volumes. but it's also by our daily commuters. So we were able to pull out just the city of Chattanooga. And when you look at the city of Chattanooga each day, there are 134,000 people that are commuting into the city limits each day. 52,000 of them, just almost 53, we can round up, live in the city of Chattanooga and work in the city of Chattanooga. And then 26,000 of the residents live in Chattanooga, but are also leaving for their work into other areas of the region. And they're sharing the roads with a significant, significant amount of freight in this region. So what you're looking at here is according to the freight analysis framework of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. So on the left side, you're seeing the current truck volume along those corridors that we all know. That's 75 coming up from Georgia. Right there at our pinch point, moccasin bend area of 24. 75 going up towards Knoxville to the right, or I guess the east, and then to the west, up 24. And what you're looking at is, I want to talk to you about the Moxon Bend portion of that. So in the 2022 figures, there were 5,060 daily truck trips carrying more than 39 million tons of freight annually around Moxon Bend. I also want to point out that the projections of that, this was in 2022, the projections that those forecasts had said was that it was going to be 33 million tons by 2035, by 2035. So just to back up and say by 2022, we surged past those projections. And then if you look on the right side, the projected truck volume along the moccasin bend area of I-24 by 2050. Those are the estimates there. They're estimating 8,500 daily truck trips with more than 69 million tons of freight annually. So just imagine nearly doubling the amount of trucks and freight on the road by 2050. And here's a sobering truth. Those projections were made in 2017. So the FAF data doesn't come out until every five years. And in 2022, they ran the next projections and we're waiting any minute for those to be released. And we assume that just as we saw before, those projections were also underestimated. So our very own I-24 finds itself on that American Trucking Research Institute top freight congested list year after year. But why does this matter? So on a national cost, it costs us $1.8 billion is the national cost of congestion. But then let's look right here in Chattanooga. So it costs $49 million in annual congestion costs to trucks here in Chattanooga. It is 653,000 hours of truck delay, which is actually increasing up 7%, and then 850,000 gallons of wasted truck fuel usage in Chattanooga. And what I wanted to say is that we know where those costs get passed on to. So it affects every single one of us, whether we're on that interstate or not. But you're not alone in this challenge. Thrive is here studying these challenges and convening partners across this region because change is disturbing when it's done to us, but it is exhilarating when it is done by us. Thrive is your partner in growth. We're leveraging our public-private partnerships Including our growing national partnerships both public and private both sides We are bringing resources here and building tools and frameworks to support solutions that we can only build together alongside of our neighbors our mission We are inspiring responsible growth through conversation connection and absolutely through collaboration across this footprint that you see here that surrounds us and So why regional approach matters. On the left side, you're looking at our rivers and streams. We know that our water quality issues are not confined to metropolitan boundaries. We know that decisions, you see on the left, the commuting patterns that are traveling in and out of Chattanooga every day throughout the region. And decisions that are both economic development-wise and environmental-wise that are made upstream are directly impacting the quality of life for us downstream. In the city's National Park City journey book, it was stated that Thrive represents the very nature of the Chattanooga way, public and private partnerships working to solve with intention one of our greatest challenges that is our footprint. So as we are looking to make the most of our economic opportunities, we are doing so in some of the following ways. We're actually harnessing the power of data to support, you'll see a few things here, a logistics and supply chain management AAS degree to prepare the region's students for careers in transportation and manufacturing. We're also expanding the incredibly successful Tech Goes Home program with federal dollars to go into Georgia and Alabama. We know we are drawing a significant number of workers into Chattanooga. And so by investing in upskilling the region's workforce, we're providing training, free devices, and technology access through a train the train model. We're also advancing nature-based solutions to severe weather that support stronger economies and environmental stewardship in local communities. And lastly, we're equipping our leaders across the region with a public data platform to make interdisciplinary planning information easier to find, easier to understand, and act on. So I want to talk about that one for a minute. So the Thrive Regional Resource Hub that we are building right now, it's being built by these three partners. We have been able to leverage significant federal dollars in through the Appalachian Regional Commission to take the data and the work that we've been doing and make it even better and more approachable for our communities. And so these are building out both our high capacity government partners, like the city of Chattanooga. We have been interacting with many of your staff around how to build this platform out. And then of course, we're also working with really under resourced communities around that region whose decisions absolutely affect Chattanooga, but do not have the capacity to know how to look at these things. and deal with the growth pressures as they come. We're weaving the region together in such a significant way to ensure that we truly are stronger together, locked into the knowledge that a challenge for one of those communities in our footprint is eventually, if not immediately, gonna be a challenge for all of us. And if we're able to secure, as we are actively, we're into the second year of this project that's a five year, we're able to secure the entire match over the five years required to continue building this, we will expand our digital capabilities to address emerging freight and congestion concerns. With our workforce development program that we're building, with our partnerships, With our implementation of conservation planning, we know that is absolutely affecting infrastructure in so many ways and engaging our residents. And so what we're doing is also weaving these things together to ultimately protect Chattanooga's natural resources while supporting economic development with sustainable infrastructure planning tools. We're preserving what we love about our home communities. This was one of the core things about Thrive 13 years ago. And this means we're preserving what we love about Chattanooga. We've been reinvesting our resources back into Chattanooga. And I wanted to show you some, it's just a couple of examples. So one thing we were able, so actually it was on the agenda today, the Civic Experiment Grants. Because of our framework, we are attracting outside national foundation dollars, this one is through the Trust for Civic Life, into our organization to then help deploy these types of projects across the region because they need boots on the ground organizations that can help them identify promising projects that they don't have the capacity or the time to do. So we recently awarded the Friends of Outdoor Chattanooga that grant to fund the National Park City Seed Drive. And then also related to a degree to that is we also partnered with the Chattanooga Public Library to produce this interactive thriving garden signage. And we're helping to educate visitors and residents alike about native plants and the ecological importance of preserving our local biodiversity. So this is what is currently with the city. So as you all go over to your budget hearings, I want you to be aware of what Thrive is doing on your behalf. And we are significantly leveraging dollars for an investment in the region and in the overall challenges without overburdening our local government budgets throughout the region. So without that, or with that, I want to thank you for the opportunity to give you a snapshot into the work of Thrive and the importance, because I truly believe that now more than ever, we must be focused and we must be ready to tackle these challenges as they continue confronting us as a region.

I WANT TO THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR COMING. I AM ALIGNED AND WOULD LOVE TO SEE US START THINKING MORE REGIONALLY WHEN IT COMES TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT YOU KNOW, I THINK OFTEN TIMES, AND I'M GUILTY OF THIS, AND I THINK MANY OTHER PEOPLE, WE MAY ONLY THINK ABOUT OUR DISTRICT, SO WE MAY ONLY THINK ABOUT THE CITY, BUT CHATTANOOGA IS THE HUB AND THE MAIN ENGINE FOR THE ENTIRE SOUTHEAST OF TENNESSEE AND NORTH GEORGIA AND PARTS OF ALABAMA AS WELL. NOW, HERE'S SOMETHING I'LL SAY. YOU ASK 10 PEOPLE ABOUT WHAT THE LONG-TERM PLAN IS FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, YOU'RE PROBABLY GOING TO GET FIVE, SIX OTHER DIFFERENT PRIORITIES. One thing that I've been concerned about, and I see that you guys are really focusing on manufacturing and logistics training, especially, and really beefing up that corridor or that sector. But I'm concerned that we may not be able to continue to live on manufacturing. And I am willing for other folks to push back. But you look at Volkswagen, one of our biggest employers here. They had to roll back a shift. Councilman Henderson, you and I were talking about something similar several weeks ago or a couple months ago. They churn through applicants every year. And they're just not pulling in Chattanooga. They're pulling regionally. And I'm concerned even about them and us being able to support them with the workforce. We're also... One good major business away, and I've said this consistently and I'll stand on it, one good major manufacturing business away from really hurting our economy. You see some of their suppliers rolling back their operations. But we have an opportunity here. Just like years ago in 2013 when we had the opportunity to be the gig city, right, fastest internet in the world. They gave us a little bit of a boost, but largely kind of slipped through our fingers a little bit. Now we have quantum, who can truly revolutionize what our economy looks like. And I think I said this last week, all roads should lead to quantum. And how do we start getting everybody on the same wavelength? So I sat in on... the competitive study that our local chamber here is doing and, you know, they kind of gave us a snippet of their findings and I think colleagues are supposed to be sitting down with us here in the near future at some point to reveal those, that quantum's our biggest priority, right? We're not getting another big Volkswagen. We may be able to support small to mid-sized manufacturing. So I think the question I have is how do we start aligning people on this larger vision and shifting, not ignoring our manufacturing of blue collar roots, but diversifying that and start talking about that across the board, because blue collar communities struggle sometimes switching from talking about manufacturing to white collar jobs, and we're gonna need it. We're not gonna be able to lean on manufacturing, and frankly, not only is it needed, our people need the incomes that come with it. Chattanooga's becoming more and more expensive, but our salaries are just right here. But what does it look like when we're able to send a high school student from Brainerd to chat state to get a certification and then get them a job in a new tech startup or something that Quantum brought here. So how do we balance that? And where is that focus at with you all at Thrive? And I'm throwing a lot of questions at you, but these are things that I've spent a lot of time thinking about for a while and really since we spent, since I've been on council. So I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I think that's great. And I will, and I just want to first clarify with that, What we are looking at is if it's a freight dependent, no matter if it is delivering products or that is we're watching what's happening on the roads currently. I think when we are looking at the quantum and the ability for our community to leverage the tech that has been our brand for 2013, 2012, I think. somewhere around there when the gig city was announced we know the industry is changing very fast and we know that technology is changing very fast and we know that that's going to have a rapid growth in acceleration ai is changing everything ai is changing all of our jobs and So for us to be ready, I think from a Thrive standpoint, we need to be looking at how the infrastructure is ready. How is the energy infrastructure ready to handle those demands in a way that gets us on the cutting edge moving forward? I can envision us being a region where we actually have, when you are coming through this region, we know there are technologies in cars, there are technologies in the way that we are physically gonna move our cars that is different than what we can do today. And if we aren't ready for that technology on our roads, we're going to be behind. But how can we leverage that as well? And it's going to take significant energy. And I know the quantum is one solution to that. And I know it's an efficient solution to that. And so from a job standpoint, absolutely. We need to be thinking about smart growth here in Chattanooga. We need to be thinking about how to leverage automation. are opportunities for those other careers that we do see that are not quite highlighted in that 40, but also acknowledging that within that 40, a lot of those jobs are going to become high-tech jobs and not hands-on manufacturing jobs either in those industries as the technology starts taking over what was a hands-on job. So I think the technology, that is gonna be a highly needed approach to our economic development strategy moving forward.

I'll say this when I'm done, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for coming. Please keep coming back because we don't hear from you guys often. I would love to connect with you guys on an individual basis. Just a couple things I want to leave you with. How can we start thinking and connecting with other leaders and policymakers regionally? And I would love to hear more in the near future about what does that strategy look like to start preparing that pipeline of jobs, right? And this is something that I'm going to be screaming quite a bit. Council is like, how do we prepare for this next wave? And I selfishly encourage all to join too. Thank you so much, Bridget. Thank you.

Any other questions or comments, Council, for Bridget?

Just a couple. Bridget, just real quick for the money that that we contribute, we're always looking for impact. Give me a couple of impacts that you've made that's tangible to the city of Chattanooga. And I've heard a lot of research, but how is that research translating into impact? And then follow that up with, I'd really like to see some kind of plan or path and going back to the, you mentioned AI for the first time in that conversation. I think every job in the future is going to have to have employers, employees that understand AI. I mean, all the way down. Whether they're skilled, you know, tech or whatever, but I feel like we're going to have to, start incorporating into our workforce development this AI tool. And I didn't hear much about workforce development related to that. We know that some of our jobs are going to be replaced by AI, but it's also going to create other jobs. And I think that's kind of where we have to start looking. And so I guess what I'm looking for is impact of how that will affect Chattanooga and what the future plans would be?

I can absolutely, you know, from one example, our resilient communities program that is in there As we are effectuating change around solutions to some of the problems that we're seeing happening with stormwater issues, we've had lots of conversations, even with Public Works, about the effects that stormwater mitigation from communities upstream is going to help absolutely lessen some of the stormwater damage that is coming here into Chattanooga. So that is a very tangible way of us working around the region on stormwater issues that are being affected right here in Chattanooga.

Can you give some examples of what you're talking about working with?

Sure. Spring City is one. We've worked with Spring City. We've worked with Soddy Daisy right now. We're in the middle of that strategy with them. Okay. Spring City had that significant flooding issue that was in 2017. Whatever year that was 2015, 2017, and how that goes downstream and ends up coming right here into the mocks and then wastewater treatment plant. All of those things that come straight down into this area when we don't have mitigation strategies upstream over in South Pittsburgh is another community, which is on the other side of us. dealing with some of their same issues as well. I could go with around, we worked here at Emma Wheeler Homes, worked specifically with that neighborhood and helped them come up with actually an emergency responsiveness plan to, because of a couple of years ago when they had major flooding as they are landlocked by water and they're surrounded by water and there was not a strategy to how do you get those residents out when the storms come. And then also connecting them with some of the mitigation strategies that will help to alleviate some of that flood water that comes into their community. So it sounds very granular, but when you're planting a When you're planting a garden, a bed, you're planting trees, you're slowing down the impact on those residents by those simple strategies that ultimately come back to a much larger strategy that we connect all of these dots together across the region. And so that is another one that we worked with a couple of years ago as well. Okay.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Okay. Any other questions or comments, Council? Richard, thank you very much again. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thanks for having me. We do now. We do now. So thanks for reminding me. Can I get a motion on the minutes from our last meeting? So moved. All right. Minutes will stand as published. And we're now happy to invite to the table our guests from WTCI.

Should I come around there? Wherever you want. Come on.

I'll keep it going for you. Thank you.

Yeah, I think we have everybody who's going to be joining us.

All right, well, except we have Bob now.

Next, Bob.

Make sure, can you hear? I won't give me one moment here. He should be able to hear us. And if he unmutes himself, we may be able to hear him. Just to test everything here. I'm unmuted and I hear you. All right, great. Thank you.

Thank you. Chairman Davis, council members, thank you so much for having us here. My name is Allison Levovitz, and I've been hosting a show on our local PBS station, our PBS station, WTCI, for this is the 17th season, and it's hard to believe. And so I'm thrilled to be here as part of a very dedicated group of people you saw on our president and CEO, Bob Kulkeen, who is coming back from Washington, D.C., from the national PBS board meeting, if it tells you anything about the state of public media right now. I'm thrilled Sean Townley can join us, who is our chief content and engagement officer at WTCI, and Dr. Kathleen Hunt, who is really the brainchild behind what we're going to talk to you about today, which is our legacy fund. I will tell you upright, we never thought we'd ever come to ask the city council for funding. And after this meeting, we never intend to come back. So we're one of the few, I think, nonprofits in town that can say that. And we're going to tell you a little bit about not only a crisis that happened recently, but how a community galvanized and came together to help solve that. But first, as it turns out, the last... interview that we're filming for the 17th season of The A-List happens to be next week. It's with a guy you may know of named Lamar Alexander, who's coming to speak at Rotary, and we're going to get him after that. So I've been reading his memoir, which his newest book just came out a week ago. I don't have much time to catch up, so I'm in the middle of it. But I thought it was so telling and serendipitous that at the very end of the very intro to his book, He writes, and I'm summarizing a little bit, but he says, I wrote this book to persuade and hopefully inspire the reader to believe that despite the indignities that might come with it, the most reliable way to help the most people is to be elected to office. or to go to work for someone who has been so i think we're pretty much engaging everyone in this room and i say that to you because we come to you um with a great deal of humility and an abundance of gratitude for your service but also the understanding that all of you are getting pulled in a million directions and so we come to you with a lot of joy a lot of hope a lot of thanks for just entertaining what we're about to show you. But before we begin, at PBS, as you might imagine, we're much better at showing than telling. So we want to share something very briefly that hopefully will spark a little bit of nostalgia and joy in all of you.

This is what I give.

I give an expression of care every day to each child to help him realize that he is unique.

On May 1, 1969, President Nixon's proposal to cut federal funding for public broadcasting in half led Fred Rogers to appear before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications. His heartfelt expression of the power of television to impact the lives of children changed hearts and minds in Washington and across the country. I think it's wonderful. I think it's wonderful. It was a new idea. A small portion of the publicly owned airwaves should be set aside in the public interest.

This is PBS, the public broadcasting service.

Since March 4th, 1970, WTCI PBS has taken that responsibility to heart, opening a window to the world. and connecting our community through educational programs and services and world-class storytelling that reminds us time and again of our common values, our common struggles, our common humanity. What brings us together has never been more important than it is right now. PBS represents the best of America, and stations like WTCI are the lifeblood of PBS.

WTCI PBS in Chattanooga tells the story of this resilient couple.

PBS won't survive without member stations, and member stations won't survive without PBS. This is the moment when communities like Chattanooga and communities across the country have a unique opportunity to say, this is important to us, to our nation, to our democracy.

PBS is the declaration of independence applied to the communications world. I couldn't do any of the things I've done without them being on PBS. When Congress is having one of their periodic debates about public media and whether we should exist, It's kind of important to hear from someone who says, I'm in Chattanooga, I like Big Bird, but I also like the fact that my local station covers my community.

We are building a new future for public media together.

So just a little glimpse into hopefully a lot of things you may recognize, some things that you might not have seen. But what I want is hopefully to engage Bob, if he's still with us. There he is. I am. All right, so Bob, take it away.

I would like to be here with you. As Allison said, I am on the National Board of Directors for PBS, and I'm in D.C. I'm on my way back to be able to chat with you. When I think about today, it's more important to be in front of you making this ask and giving you more information about who we are. For more than 50 years, Congress had appropriated funding to the Corporation of Public Broadcasting to be distributed to stations. And WTCI was one of those stations that got that funding. And in July last year, that funding was glide back. Already approved, glide back. We had $907,000 that we had to make up. Here's the interesting thing to know. This funding had a two-year runway. So we really had, if they wanted to stop funding us, we had two years to make a really good transition. But we had to turn around and go immediately into this mode, and our community has just been incredible. And you're going to see that in a few minutes. The other thing, too, is this is happening nationally, where communities, cities, and counties are stepping up and helping PBS stations such as Governor TC9. So I want to let the team in that room because it's important to have them tell the story because they're in front of you. I am like, see who I am? I am at an airport. And I'm heading home to see you guys. And, you know, I was with Judy Woodworth last night, and you saw that she was in the video. And she says Patanuga is one of her favorite cities. And she took one of our WTCI pins and put it right under her lapel. So good news coming from D.C. I'm looking forward to seeing you. I'm going to keep my phone on silent and my video off and listen to you for a little bit. And thank you very much. You good, Allison?

Perfect. Thanks, Bob.

Thank you, Bob. All right, let's go back to this. So as Bob said, we lost $907,000 from our budget in fiscal year 26. And what started as a really scary time turned into a pretty incredible story about our community. Since the rescission, we have had 5,803 donors who stepped up to support the station. About 1,700 of those are new. That means that nearly a third of the donors had never given before, but they saw what was happening and they decided that what we do at WTCI mattered enough for them to step up and act. And the dollars, the total donation dollars, tells the same story. You can see on the left here, before rescission, total donation dollars were at $640,000, which is incredible, but after the rescission, It more than doubled to $1.37 million. That's not just a recovery. That's a community standing up and saying, we're not letting this go anywhere. From $5 gift, which we have a lot of $5 gifts, to one anonymous donor who gave $360,000. Every one of those is a show of support from the people who live in this community. All of the neighbors that we have here didn't wait for someone else to fix it.

They stepped up to do it themselves And you may say why are they giving right like why why do people care so much about PBS? It's because we care about what this this room cares about we don't see the people who subscribe who listen who watch as our consumers or our customers we see them as citizens and And just like you, we care about every citizen in this community. We do this through universal access because we still have free, yes, free over-the-air broadcast signal that goes into every home. We do that through early childhood education. You may know. About 20% of kids in the state of Tennessee subscribe to the Tennessee preschool program. Less than 50% are in some sort of formalized preschool program in the state. 95% of kids who enter kindergarten have watched or have had access to a PBS educational program before they hit kindergarten. We are hitting households who need it most. Public safety, we know this is something that the city council cares about and we think this is a critical service that we also provide. So in a region that's known of course for our tornadoes, our flooding, et cetera, the PBS warn system continues to use a signal that's a vital backup for emergency alerts when all the other systems go down, health and wellness for trusted information and programming, arts and culture, which we're not only proud to tell stories like Ken Burns who says if he was doing this for HBO, right, his documentaries, he'd have three months. He does it for PBS, he gets 10 years. His documentaries also take about 10 years. So I asked him when I interviewed him 17 years ago, How do you feel that your documentary on the Civil War might have lasted longer than the Civil War? Luckily he had a good sense of humor about that. But arts and culture and also local programming that we know is critical to this area. And then of course nature and the outdoors. So unlike streaming, hi Dennis, unlike streaming or cable, all of this continues to be a free access free to the public and something that is something our citizens not only need but frankly what we feel like they deserve. The question though is that $907,000 gap that we have now, which is one third of our operating budget, Even though we were lucky that we had a wonderful on-ramp this year to help fill that, we knew that was something that would likely not be able to be sustained every single year. And we needed a plan to move forward. And luckily, Dr. Kathleen Hunt, she volunteered immediately enthusiastically and said, how can I help? Oh, and by the way, I have a great idea.

Well, thank you all so much for having us. And as Allison said, when I heard about the funding cut as a pediatrician in this community I guess, yikes, three decades, I really was concerned because I really realized how important so many other things are, but particularly from my perspective, the early childhood education piece. So we got together and we saw this really as an opportunity to look forward and to do things in a different way. We realized when the rescission hit that there was no way to sustain that kind of funding, the $900,000 year after year after year, and we could rally our community one time. But we really wanted to build something sustainable so that we could ensure that WTCI is never in this kind of vulnerable position ever again. So we got the idea for a legacy fund. And the WTCI PBS Legacy Fund is a permanent sustainability initiative. As Allison mentioned, we're here today, and we will not be back. This is our one-time request. It's designed to honor the 50 years that public media has served this community, and we want it to be here forever. And here's what's really most exciting about it. We have been out into the community and there is so much support from foundations, government partners, individual donors over the shared belief that public media is worth protecting for our community. So it's not our organization coming to ask for a handout. Our whole community is choosing to invest in itself. Our goal is to raise $10 million, and that number is not arbitrary. The number is chosen because what it earns each year will spin off enough money to almost make up for the deficit. So that fund will do the heavy lifting, and we don't have to start from zero year after year after year. So I want to also at this point credit Bob and Sean and the WTCI team. They have been tremendous in making the budget lean and focused so that really the operations, too, are as efficient as they can be. And so the legacy fund and this discipline operation will carry the organization into the future in a sustainable way.

So you may have heard in fundraising the number one reason people don't give to an organization. Do you know why? They're not asked, right? It's really that simple. It sounds too simple to be true, but it is. So that's why we're here, and we're asking. And what we're asking for, we know, is a lofty goal. But we want the city council at this point to not only demonstrate civic leadership to preserve this universal access for every citizen in every district, but we feel like an investment by the city council, while it is a small percentage of the total 10 million, We know it is a catalytic investment in what we hope will be a citywide, a communitywide investment in a fund that is not only going to preserve WTCI for these next few years, but for 50 more years and beyond. This 250,000, this number, I'm a big believer in numerology and the sacredness of numbers. You might have heard this number 250 going on around town with the celebration of something we like to call a little experiment called our country. And the $250,000 at this point, which we didn't even realize when we had scheduled this meeting, but at this stage, if you were to approve the $250,000, we have already raised a little over $750,000, and that would bring us past the million-dollar mark. And we have been talking to foundations. We have been doing, you know, soft ass with some individuals. We're ready to go back now. We sort of reverse engineered how a traditional fundraising effort goes. Instead of going to the big foundations and saying, give us a few million dollars and then we'll go raise from individuals. We wanted to say we want individuals in this community to step forward first. We heard from these foundations, frankly. They said, we get it. The state's still supporting you, right? But what is the local government doing? What's the local city doing? What's the local county doing? We said, that's a great question. So we came to you, to the city, to say, will you invest? We have had a preliminary discussion with Mayor Womp as well, who was incredibly enthusiastic and supportive. And we're hoping that this also inspires the county to match this gift. If we can now go back to those foundations, and we all know the names of those, if we can go back to our major donors and individuals who we are starting to meet with on a regular basis, and we tell them the city believes in this, right? The city understands that we are a cultural anchor and we are part of the critical civic infrastructure, just like this council. We know that is going to generate so much more investment and into exactly that. You may know it as an endowment fund, but we're calling it a legacy fund because we know this is going to sustain us generations, for children, for people, for citizens to come. Finally, I just want to say that, again, we're so grateful for this opportunity. Some of these faces, I believe, we all believe nostalgia is one of the most powerful drugs. If you don't recognize at least one of these characters, that's me and Melissa Jordan of Russian Memory, who is just the icon that he is. A lot of the people I have interviewed, unfortunately, have passed, and I just feel especially lucky to have captured their stories and to preserve their legacies as we move forward. All of these people inspire me every day, but I'm looking especially at Fred Rogers. Speaking of 250, that number 25, this year in August marks the 25th anniversary of the last broadcast that Fred Rogers ever did on PBS. He died two years later. His foundation is now putting all of his programs, I think, on YouTube so they can be consumed by even a larger audience.

As well as PBS.

As well as PBS. He won't leave PBS. Just to say how universal his approach is, I think this quote by him is actually something that applies to all of you in this room. It's easy to say it's not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem. And then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes. Well, we all know Chattanooga is full of heroes. It's already proven to be full of so many heroes, more than 5,000 that we've seen just coming up with their gifts of $10 to more than $300,000 just for WTCI alone. And as we look around this room, we're also seeing fellow heroes too. So our ask is very simple. Invest in this legacy fund. Help us inspire others to do the same and preserve what we all believe, I hope, is a cultural institution and anchor for the city. So that's around for generations to come. And we will entertain any questions you might have.

Okay. I think we do have a few. We'll start with Vice Chair Elliott.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Alison, Kathleen, Sean, thank you all so much for doing this. I know I grew up on PBS. And... I won't say my age because it wasn't that long ago, but thank you all for really fighting for this institution. And it's unfortunate that we're having to be a stopgap where our federal government has failed, but it's also an obligation to show up for our people. Let me ask you this. When do you all need the funds?

Yesterday. So we are hoping to build up this reserve, ideally within the next three years. There are some who are pledging over five years. Like any fund, the sooner we get it, the sooner it can spin off. that what we know is usually a three to five percent rolling average so that we can use that in our operations. What we hope is that at the very least we have a firm pledge and commitment from the city because right now the $750,000 that we have a little more than that in hand is in pledges and some of that money has already come in with the intent for that to come in over the next few years. We know that the pledge itself and the commitment to be forthcoming is really what's going to help us inspire other gifts.

Well, I'll say this. I'm one vote, but I can pledge to fight to help get y'all where y'all need to be in some form or fashion. I'm not saying we're going to be able to figure this thing out overnight, but over time, I think we can get towards something. And the reason I can say this with confidence is you're coming to us with a solution that requires one-time investment. that can be sustainable long-term. And so that can be a good investment of taxpayer dollars that I feel confident I can stand by. And I look forward to working with my colleagues in the administration to figure out how we show up. Thank you. Thank you.

Councilman Henderson and then Councilman Harkin.

So that was really my question was timeline. Obviously this year's budget is baked, pretty much done. Having the public hearing tonight and then the first vote is in January. Two weeks. But I think what I hear you saying, if you could kind of get a commitment and then maybe within a year some time frame is acceptable? Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you.

Councilman Harvey? I have a bit of a soft spot for WTCX. My mom was one of the producers for y'all's show and worked with Sean and Bob, and so it's good to see you guys. What's that? I can't get bigger than you.

I know.

I don't know about that. So like I said, I have a little bit of a soft spot. His mom was the producer for Chattanooga Stronger Together, who I mentioned last week when mom was here. Not only it saved many of the nonprofits locally here just by getting the word out, but now those are thriving post-COVID. So appreciate what you all did with that show and with Barbara, Martyr, and my mom. And so even if I didn't know any of you all or if my mom wasn't associated with one of your shows, I would still support you all. What you do is tremendous for our community and your programming is great. And yes, I do have some Bob Ross socks. That's a happy truth. So anyway.

I love that.

That's fun.

Councilman Clark, yeah? So just to, first of all, thank you for coming. We're in a really, tight budget season. I've been on calls all day, and we are part-time city council people, and I'm exhausted. But I wanted to come here because I knew Councilman Elliott said you would be, and I was like, I love Allison. And you're just one of those public champions. I haven't met a lot of your staff yet, but I know that when you put your heart and mind into a project, that it is one that produces impact and results. And that's who you are as a philanthropist and as a civic leader in our community. So thank you. And I just want to reiterate something that they mentioned. So if we made a commitment this year, you would expect a deposit in next year's budget from one time gift of $250,000. Correct. And I guess logistically, and I'll yield to our budget chair, Because I think it's a collaboration that we would have to do with the mayor's office, of course. Have you had those conversations?

So we spoke to Mayor Kelly in advance, who, of course, was incredibly enthusiastic and said, and now you need to go speak to the city council because we are at the tail end of the budgeting process. and also intimated that there might be some creative solutions to finding that money.

Is this in FY27?

I wasn't sure. I don't want to commit him to any language there, but felt confident that there was some way to do it so that the commitment could be made within the coming year.

Okay. So what's the process? How do we commit to something like that? Is that... Do we just be like, we can do it, or? Let's get a plan. Let's get a plan.

But I've got some ideas.

Okay. I'm just curious, because I hate when people come to this table and then not walk away with the next action steps. Because we can all say our little, we love WTGI, we grew up on it. have watched for me. What is the actual item you need to know that the mayor and this council is in support of what you're doing in preparation for a deposit in FY28 budget? Is that the expectation from you?

So, I mean, our expectation was that we would be received with some level of enthusiasm and understanding. So the response today has already exceeded those expectations, just honestly, because we knew where you were in the budget process, and we did not think you were going to be like, oh, let's just cut off all of this and throw WTCI right in. That would win us favor with no one. But to that point, I honestly think, and we know this, to leverage a definitive commitment from the city saying they're intending to invest $250,000 into this, will leverage us with the county we know, and will absolutely leverage us with the foundation.

The county mayor did commit to a match to this.

So Mayor Womp, I don't want to speak out of turn. I'm sorry to put you on the spot. No, no, no. We had a wonderful meeting with him, and as we left, he said, I want to get with Mayor Kelly, and I want to see if we can just do this together, meaning each give $250,000. now that's as far as our his you know their budget's also pretty big also so he even said that in the meeting um his chief of staff had said we're sort of done and he sort of went but there's always a way so i think similar to what this discussion has turned into um i think he felt very confident that there could be some creative ways to do this and was very eager to be able to work with the city so that both county and city could come together

Well, that's it for me. I mean, from him, we would we would have discussion, which sounds like there's a desire.

I think there's a desire.

But I just want to make sure that the expectation and the pathway is very clear so we're not putting out any false hope and saying, oh, we're going to find 250 and FY27.

We understand that. I know this is a public meeting, so I do not want to put Mayor Womp or the county commissioners in any pickle. We were thrilled, too, that there was a promise of intent to see what they could do. And so we... Would love that, too.

I'm just going to say this reminds me of oftentimes we'll go on the air and we'll ask people to give. Right. We go on there. We'll break into a program. We do it three or four times a year. And it's our pledge drive membership campaign. And we ask people to call. They're not given right over the phone right away all the time. Sometimes it's a pledge. We'll write down that pledge and we'll say the pledge is important not only because of what it represents to that family, but also what it represents to other people. if we got the phones ringing and people were calling it makes everybody feel like i'm going to be a part of this this is important to me it's important to my community and so you know i look at it as like a pledge right it's looking at what what's possible in the future and inspiring others to do the same so we appreciate that we're online right if you're watching that all right councilwoman noah

So thank you so much. My children watch all the time. So the only thing I would say is talk is cheap. So until you see it in writing and in hand, then you claim it. Anything other than that is too green to burn. Okay?

All right. Thank you.

I need you to become a member. I am not a member. Why don't you say he's going to fund the whole thing?

And we know it's hard to remember all the facts, so we do have some one-pagers, just sort of like an overview of what we discussed, and we're happy to pass those out, too, just so you have those as a takeaway. Of course. Thank you all so much. Thank you. Good to see you guys. It was great to see you.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

All right, council. We did finally get our minutes approved. Is there any other business we need to do a few minutes for 3.30? Anything else going once, going twice? That will be adjourned until 3.30.