City Council - Regular Meeting

It's horrible.

Always something. Any regrets from taking the couple? No regrets, but it'll be nice this time next year. I'm back over there. Yes, sir. Just fine with me. How's it going?

First off, how are you?

Yes, I'm good. Really? Hello. Hello. I haven't seen Chip today. No, I haven't either.

Oh, he's not coming today?

He's on vacation. I think so. Yeah. Did he tell you? No. He admitted to me and probably told you.

Oh, it's no big deal. All his big work is in the bag for a minute.

Who's looking at the... No, I don't know.

We're good. Good afternoon. I call to order the June 9th meeting of the Chattanooga City Council and recognize Councilwoman Burrs to lead us in our Pledge of Allegiance and Invocation.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible,

good afternoon everyone and welcome to Chattanooga City Council just as we normally do to start our meeting just want to remind everyone to please silence your cell phones we don't have any distractions during our meeting and also want to give just a brief rundown of how our meeting operates for those who might be new or just a reminder for anybody The first half of our meeting is what's called our agenda session where council will go through and look at the items on our agenda to be voted on this evening as well as those items on our agenda to be voted on for next week and then we'll also look at some items that will be coming up further out three weeks or later in the future to answer any questions or concerns that council might have that any council person might wish to discuss. We'll also look at our purchases for this evening and again allow council members a time to ask questions or present any concerns on those purchase items on our agenda for this evening. Once we've done that, we will have a meeting of the Parks, Public Works, and Wastewater Committee that will be led by Councilman Harvey. We'll then take a brief, well, we'll take a recess Mr. Attorney, do we need an attorney-client meeting?

Not that I'm aware of. If y'all want to have anything, let me know.

Okay. And so our recess in between our agenda session and our business session might be a little shorter than normal since we don't need to meet with our city attorney as a council this evening. But we will take a recess before coming back to vote on the items on the agenda for this evening. With that being said, council, could I get a motion on the minutes from our last meeting, please? So moved. All right, and the minutes will stand as published. Council, look with me, if you would, at our agenda for this evening. And hit your light if you have any questions. I see Councilwoman Dotley, you're recognized.

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. I did have a few questions, and thank you so much, Vice Chair Elliott, for getting the red line version to us to review. So I just had some clarifying questions. I am in support of it. I just want to make sure that I completely understand what it has for the taxi ordinance. So we're going from, from my understanding, Mr. Attorney, this hasn't been reviewed since 2015? Yes. Correct. Okay. So we're going from a minimum $2, well, a maximum $2 to a minimum $10 base. Is that right? Yes. Okay. From $0.50 to $2.50 per mile. Yes. Okay. Okay. and then from 20 cents to 50 cents per waiting minute. And what is determined by per waiting minute?

If the cab or the taxi is there waiting on you and no one is there, they can charge you for the amount of time that they're waiting in that location because their engine is still on, they're losing gas at that point in time, trying to make sure they're recouping the amount of money that they have.

Okay, and then it says there, and then... A-4 says there will be an additional charge for waiting time, which shall be up to a maximum of, it goes from $0.40 to $0.50. Is that a different waiting period? I think that's the same waiting period. Okay. It's the same waiting period. Okay. All right. That works. That's all I needed, and I appreciate you all so much. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. Thank you, Mr. Attorney.

And this is going to be at the same rate that Knoxville is paying right now, so that's important as well here. We're trying to be equivalent to what people would be paying in similar locations.

Okay, that works. Thank you so much.

Okay.

Vice Chairman Elliott, you're recognized. I'm good to go. Oh, okay. You can clear that. I will clear it. Council, any other questions on any ordinances this evening?

Councilman Harvey, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Under planning item E, after talking with the former councilman, for District 4. He'd fought for some conditions and we want to make sure that this is acceptable to the neighboring community or the neighborhood, rather. Is the applicant here by any chance? Ben Skidmore, are you here? Let's see. Yep. You're the man. I'll get with you at recess. No, no. Okay, cool. I'll get with him at recess, and then we'll go from there. But I may defer this a week, depending on our conversation.

Okay. All right. Anything else, Councilman? Okay. Councilwoman Dutley, you're recognized again.

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. For this item at 1601 and 1603 East 49th Street... This is the one that's right, I believe, right off Rossville Boulevard. And so with the redevelopment of Rossville Boulevard, I have an intent, I plan to vote no or to deny this one. But I wanted to just put it on the record. With the redevelopment that's going on, this is not conforming to what we're trying to do in that corridor. So just wanted to make a note of that. And I'll mention it again when it comes up for the vote as well. All right. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. Sure.

Councilwoman Burrs, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I also have an item, item F, under planning. I'm not sure if the applicant is here, Mr. Romero. This is the item on Anderson Terrace. Okay. I do plan to deny it. I haven't, he wasn't at the Planning Commission meeting, and I see that he's not here today, so I hate to move on this without having an opportunity to talk to him, but I have I do plan to deny it based on there's been no response from him on that matter. Okay.

Council, any other questions on ordinances before we move to resolutions? All right. Moving on then to resolutions on tonight's agenda. I WILL NOTE RESOLUTION 9A, THE DREAM LIQUOR SPECIAL EXCEPTIONS PERMIT. I BELIEVE OUR CITY ATTORNEY HAS ADVISED US THAT NEEDS TO BE DEFERRED ONE WEEK, AND SO THAT WOULD BE GREAT.

YEAH, JUST WHENEVER IT COMES UP THIS EVENING, IF YOU'D LIKE THAT MOTION.

OKAY.

ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT RESOLUTIONS, COUNSELOR? ALL RIGHT. We'll turn then to next week's agenda. We'll have all of the items that were on first read tonight on final reading next week. Vice Chairman Elliott, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is in regards to Resolution Item C regarding a memorandum Memorandum of Understanding. Kevin, can you or someone else in the administration give us a little bit of understanding exactly what this program is?

between the city, the county, Chattanooga 2.0, the Housing Authority, First Things First, and Hamilton County Schools. It is a continuation of a pilot that was originally launched in February of 2025 to fund an initiative that we're calling the End School Age Homelessness. So this is working with families and students in the school system who are experiencing homelessness. This is to further that collaboration that has proven successful so far. And it's coupled with the Provident Place in that First Things First is going to be the operator of Provident Place. The funding that we are proposing to provide would fund a couple of staff positions for First Things First to work this program and to continue this collaboration. which basically identifies eligible students throughout the school system who are experiencing homelessness and helping match them to shelter. And so Provident Place, the airport end project that's gonna be coming online will be an additional asset in that venture. And so the ask from CHAT 2.0 was for three years of operational support at $150,000 per year. What the administration is proposing is to pay for it all at once through a reallocation of available ARPA dollars. And so it's a single resolution that you guys, through which you guys would grant approval to use those dollars for this purpose over the course of the next three fiscal years.

Yeah, I'm good. Thanks, Kevin. I just, sorry. Council, this is really just an opportunity for us to, who are new, newer, to know about this program. Sure.

Okay.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks, Kevin.

Thanks. Thank you. All right. Councilwoman Hill, you're recognized.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Items A and B under finance, first reading, and then... the item F under resolution. So we're going to be voting first reading on the budget for next year, next week. And Weston, would you just come up to the podium, please? The council is making some tweaks to, I believe, the agency allocations. And there's still some conversation, to my knowledge. We talked about um the funding for community land trust operations and then the million dollars for the quantum incentive package so we see that within the budget ordinance the incentive package idb but weston i'd like to request that the council have all of the um all the changed itemized pages in print and online before we vote on this next week. So it reflects what we've been discussing in our budget education.

Thank you very much.

And Mr. Attorney, I don't believe that those would require an amended or a version two of this because They're the itemized pages, but it's going to be important that we know exactly what's in those and where the funds are coming from.

Sure. As long as the itemized pages are made part of the record, yes. Yes, they will.

Great. Thank you very much, Weston. That's all, Mr. Chair.

Okay. Councilman Clark, you're recognized.

Thank you, Chairman Davis. I've got a follow-up question to some of the remaining dollars of the American Rescue Plan funds. We mentioned the remaining balance, or how we are utilizing the remaining amount of the ARPA dollars. And as we're having these conversations with some of the agencies, and maybe this is a question for Kevin, I'm not sure, As we're having conversations about how to fund agencies we did not fund, we do have agencies who never went into contract for monies that were allocated in the American Rescue Plan Act. What happens with those dollars? And I guess, are you familiar with what I'm talking about? Because I guess what I'm So the $450,000 for this total amount was what was remaining, but that was never contracted? Could you give me? Sure.

And this is related to the item Kevin just spoke on. Is that right? Perfect. So we had, as a part of kind of... the airport in, purchased with ARPA dollars. We had some money in a bucket set aside for utilities and security, just some ongoing costs to maintain that building while we were holding it. So there's about $200,000 in that line item of ARPA dollars. So we're reallocating that money that was being spent on that building as part of that $450,000. And the remaining $250,000 is coming out of the larger bucket that's being held for the low barrier shelter. And so there's roughly $2.8 million set aside for that, I believe is the number. And so a portion of those funds will be reallocated into to make up the difference for the 450 that's being sent.

So for the low barrier shelters, $2.84 million. Correct. And so that will decrease by $250,000, is what you're telling me? Right around there. To be reallocated to this program, which is the end-of-school-age homelessness program, which is in partnership with Profit in Place.

Yes.

Okay, so what are the plans for organizations who were awarded or were subrecipients of ARPA dollars and have not spent them or are not in contract? What is... What's that conversation looking like?

There are only a handful, I believe, that have not spent them, and we have ongoing talks with those groups, trying to kind of work through the administrative process to get those funds spent. I think EPB had some money that was sitting out there, then just kind of changing of hands when Jermaine left, and when some folks left on their side, they just realized they had invoices for it, so like Things like that where we're trying to just kind of work through some of that. And so our grants team is working to close out as much of that ARPA administrative process as they can. The low barrier shelter is kind of the one exception to that, I think, that is still kind of hanging out there. And maybe Kevin wants to speak to that a little bit more from just kind of an operations side. But I think we just don't know 100% what the answer on that is yet. And so that money is being held knowing that something needs to be done with that. We just don't know kind of what that is yet.

On the update that was provided to council, I think on June the 2nd, 2026, there was, there were only two groups that were not in contract. And I don't see, you mentioned EPB.

I think we probably had that one already marked off the list.

So the current list that we have as of June 2nd, would that be the most updated? And I would like to have another conversation in connection to the HCS EdConnect program. They're one of the organizations that was awarded a significant amount of money and has not started.

And I know we're in talks kind of working through that process with them. I'm not sure where we're at with it. Our grants team is kind of managing that, but I can for sure follow up with you on it and have them kind of reconnect.

These, just remind me of the year just from brain fog, but what year, this was 2021? When we were awarded?

Yes, it would have been 21, 22.

Okay, and we're in 2026, and so we still have organizations who are not in contract for doing the work that we asked them to do almost five years ago. Yes.

Okay. I don't know what the legal contract status of those. I know we have been in contact with EdConnect, and I don't know if Kevin's more... aware of kind of that program, but I know we're working with them on it. I don't know if we have an actual signed contract with them when it says not in contract, but I know we have been in communication with them working through that process, but again, I can follow up on more specific details.

I'm just looking at the list that you guys sent us that shows us what money that we allocated in 2021 and we're in 2026.

Yep. So our objective is to close out ARPA. And we do have a couple of lingering items. The potential low barrier shelter is one of those. We're having conversations that you guys have been a part of, pursuing multiple options to see what makes the most sense in the long run so that we can go ahead and make that appropriation. With respect to EdConnect, you are catching me a little bit foggy. It's okay. But I do think, if memory serves, I do think that we may have come in and subsequently already reallocated a portion of those dollars. But here's big picture how it works. We don't spend any of that money without explicit permission from the council. And so everything that's enumerated in that report that you have is based off of past resolutions. The administration, like you, wants clarity and wants to move beyond ARPA. And so we are being intentional about pushing those conversations forward to get to a place where we can say, hey, this is either going to happen or it isn't. If it isn't, what else might we use these dollars for towards advancing our shared objectives and Gotcha. And getting rid of it.

That's what I was getting at. I mean, we have agencies that we reduce their funding being arts field. Correct. And I'm looking at a spreadsheet for one point five million dollars for this program from five years ago. They have not spent their money. Sure. And so you're telling me that the council and this is, I guess, the newbie. I get to use the newbie card. That we have the authority to reallocate portions if not all but some of that money into other areas into other agencies If that's what I thought just yes, that is what I'm telling you Okay, that's it thank you Kevin and I just want to bring for the record of mr. Chairman I that as the vice chair in the absence of our budget chair who is not here today, I would like for us to have a more in-depth conversation about the impact of unutilized dollars from five years ago and how we could possibly support organizations such as ArtBuild who I think their deficit, or not their deficit, or the reduction was, how much was it? $35,000. Yet we have a program with $1.5 million sitting on our books unused from five years ago. Understood. Okay. Let's have that. I just want to make sure we're on the same page about that.

And if I'm going to read it, I need to go back and make sure that I have the latest and greatest in terms of where that project stands. I just, I don't recall at the moment, but absolutely. Let's have that combo.

Okay. Thank you. Uh, Mr. Chief, I appreciate you, sir. Thank you, chairman Davis. I yield back.

Okay. Nice chairman. You're late. You're recognized.

Oh, I think I'm good. You know, I'll be interested in that conversation, too. Thank you, Councilman Clark, for bringing that up, and I'll be looking forward to that conversation.

Okay.

Thank you, sir.

Okay. Councilwoman Burrs.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair. Just to tack on to that, might that be something that gets added to our strategic planning agenda for next week to keep the conversation going since we, I think, an education session, because I would I'd like to learn more about that as well, if that gives the administration time to put a little presentation together.

Sure. Thank you.

That'd be fine.

We can add that.

Okay, yeah. Thank you.

All right, Council. Any other questions or comments about any ordinances or resolutions on next week's agenda? Councilwoman Hill.

Thank you very much. Resolution, Parks and Public Works item N, resolution authorizing the administrator of Public Works to purchase two bike charging stations and 25 e-fit bikes to be added to the Bike Chattanooga Network. Exciting that people are appreciating the e-bikes, but a question, when been a few years back since I was Chair of Education and Innovation, but at that point we were discussing the addition of scooters to the fleet as a way to help balance the books so that Bike Chattanooga would become hopefully more self-sustaining. So I'd like to understand prior to next week where that stands and how, you know, how much subsidy are we really requiring for this program at this point?

Councilwoman, can you say that last part again?

Yeah, I'd like to understand how much the scooter income is helping self-subsidize the cost of Bike Chattanooga versus how much of the Bike Chattanooga program we are carrying as part of our public transit.

Okay, I'll have to collect that for you and send it to you.

Okay, thank you, Jay.

Yes, ma'am.

Anything else, Councilwoman?

No, sir. Okay.

Council, let's look at the purchasing items on our agenda this evening. We do have just a couple of purchase requests and one sole source purchase. Any questions about those? Seeing none, we will look at future considerations. Please look through our future considerations list and hit your light if you have any questions or comments. Any questions, council? I don't see any on the board. Okay. All right, that takes us through our agendas. And with that, I will yield the chair to Councilman Harvey to lead our Parks, Public Works, and Wastewater Committee meeting for this evening.

All right, good afternoon. Good afternoon. Our Parks and Public Works Committee meeting today. Can I get an approval on the minutes, please? Wonderful. First, before we get Councilman Elliott up to the podium so we can grill him with some questions, I just want to say how proud I am to be a Chattanoogan. Last week, we got to experience Team Spain coming to our city. And being a native of Chattanooga and live here all my life, I would have never... In a million years, imagined the second best soccer team in the world. Team USA is first. We're going to say Teams USA. We'll root for them. But if they can't win, they were rooting for Spain. But I never in a million years could imagine some superstars like Team Spain coming to Chattanooga. And it was just a moment of pride that I felt that I hope you all felt as well. Seeing the streets lined with people celebrating this accomplishment. And I mean, they could have chosen anywhere. in the world, in the country to be, and they chose Chattanooga, Tennessee, which I thought was pretty cool. So I just wanted to say that. Without further ado, I'm going to let Councilman Elliott come up to the podium and introduce the new city's litter program.

Thank you, Councilman. I first want to start off by thanking you, my colleagues, for supporting this resolution. And it's been a pleasure working with Jay and the rest of his team to really figure out what this is going to look like. For context, we are looking to keep Chattanooga beautiful. and making sure we're doing all we can to clean up the city. I'm sure many folks experience litter throughout the city on our way home or wherever we're going traveling. And I know we all hear it from our constituents. And, you know, this was a thought I had some time ago of, like, how can we put paid, dedicated staff toward helping keeping our city beautiful? If we're going to live up to what it means to be a national park city, if we're going to live up to what it means to serve our constituents and really improve our way of life, we have to start with the basics and just get that right. Working with the administration was able to find some very smart solutions where we can absorb a lot of this through our stormwater funds. That's something that is sustainable, but also making sure we're environmental stewards of our community. So I'm not going to speak. I just want to thank everybody for their support so far throughout this, and I am looking forward to seeing this program launch, and I am looking forward to seeing the impact it can truly have and communities across Chattanooga. So, Jay, I'll turn it over to you. Thank you, Councilman. I appreciate it.

How's everyone doing today? Good. Council members, staff, constituents, I would like to introduce you to the Keep Chattanooga Beautiful Comprehensive Litter Abatement and Community Ownership Strategy. This is a strategy where we're combining the efforts of the city and the communities so that we can make the most out of what we have and creating opportunities across the board. I would first like to bring your attention to the map that's on the screen. The map right there depicts almost every effort that we've made to collect some kind of litter, either as a city or as a community. collectively both hands, the litter booms out in the waterways and individual little projects that everybody has put together. In this year alone, we've done 5,433 of those different operations. I think that speaks a lot to what the community and the city are trying to do, especially whenever you look across the city and you see that there's still a lot more that can be done. So I thought that was a very insightful picture whenever you look at it. And if you were to, if I was just drill down into it and scroll in, little bubbles would stop populating all over the place. So a little interesting piece. All right. So right now, I'm looking at building a program that has litter control abatement, ensures the cleanliness across the city, the waterways and the diverse public habitats, This will be a three-phase program. It will be constantly assessed and it will be inclusive to everybody across the city, city personnel and community members. If you look up top, we have three different pillars. The first one is eradication. Eradication is the physical removal of all the trash that we have here in Chattanooga. That is a combined effort that will be collected by the city and disposed of properly. The second one is education. Education is where we're trying to put an emphasis so that we are bringing up people that understand the recycling efforts, the separation efforts, the contamination efforts or decontamination efforts and everything that goes into that. And I also think that it would be incredibly helpful if we were to improve our signage and just education materials that we're putting out. So currently I'm looking at getting some of this stuff put out on billboards. just as a little marketing piece. The last one is enforcement. Enforcement comes from all different angles. Enforcement comes from the accountability of the city on the constituents and the constituents on the city. It's a joint process. It is something that we owe each other. And it's something that requires a little bit of ownership at the end of the day. And it's truly a collective platform. With this, I have a code enforcement team that is going to be instructed on expansion, a little bit of more aggression and ways that we can get creative to fix the problems that we're having right now. Who does it include? Literally, it includes everybody. The one that I really want to point out the most on here is City Council. And I say that because City Council speaks for the people of Chattanooga. City Council has a huge impact on the culture and the mindset that is here in Chattanooga. And that's something that we need to attack and change because just literally I've watched people pour 55 gallon drums of grease in the storm drains. I've watched an individual get out of his car, drop his styrofoam platter of food with aluminum foil, kick it into a storm drain, get back in their car and drive away. That's all mindset. That's all because it's okay. Nobody's holding accountability at the end of the day. Now, I did take a picture of it. I did contact the company that he was driving for and all that. But at the end of the day, it is all mindset. And I'm asking for your help so that we can concentrate on the culture and making that shift change altogether because it is needed. In order for us to be effective, we have to cover 33.9 miles per day. That might not sound like very much until you think about 33 miles of trash pickup. That's a lot of work. That's a lot of investment. There's a lot of different obstacles that you encounter on that. The city has 152 square miles total and 2,327 lane miles just within the city constructs. If you think about that, if we hit 33.9 miles a day, then we will be able to hit every street within the city once a month. Is that enough? Absolutely not, but it is a very good impact. So if we get that and we start building our efficiencies, then we can exceed that. And that's collectively with the efforts across the board. All right. As I said earlier, this would be a phase concept. Phase one is getting the workforce and the equipment. So I'm looking at 19 personnel and approximately 10 vehicles and 16 localized tools. Those tools range from blowers, weed eaters, litter grabbers, trash bags, all that kind of stuff. The vehicles are the more large vehicles, knuckle booms, Pac-Mac, vacuum trucks, a couple of Ford F-250s, I think it is, F-250s that transport the personnel around and pull the trailers that they need as well. The workforce itself would be composed of one general supervisor, four crew foremen, four crew workers, four laborers, and six truck drivers. This will not be something that goes in today. This will be something that we build as we go. Now, we have requested that those 19 personnel be included in the FY27 budget, but we don't have to hire them right off the bat. My goal is to put those jobs out whenever it gets approved, if it gets approved in budget, and then start bringing those personnel in so that we can start the actual hard work. The equipment will be something that we have to phase out over time because it is so expensive, and I don't want to jeopardize the budget by pulling everything at one time. And if we do this right, the 33.9 miles a day will be an easy accomplishment. Here's a graphic depiction of personnel and equipment that's needed, just so you can put a little bit of figure to face. And there's also a dollar amount at the top, if you wanted to see that. Hey Rick, we talked about this. All right. Phase two. Phase two is where you start bringing in the public aspect of it. Phase two is where we as a city have to build incentives. Phase two is where we as a city have to provide the opportunity for ownership. Phase two is where everybody starts coming together and working cohesively so that we can actually do something about what we have. And the biggest thing about this is creating opportunity for everybody across the board. There are different programs that we can consider. This is an adopt a spot program, proud of our patch or anything else that you may want to call it. This is not in place right now. This is something that we can look at. And if you notice, it's broken down by urban corridors. I think in the urban corridors, there can be a lot of businesses and corporations that own the medians in front of their operations. and they can do different things on how they want to decorate. They can have competitions with other neighboring corporations. You know, it's about getting that spirit of everybody working collectively for a positive good instead of the stuff that we're doing now. The second one would be neighborhood corridors. That's where the neighborhood associations and neighbor for neighbor come into play. As a city, we'll go through and pick it all up, but there has to be that pride and ownership in the neighborhoods so that it all starts. That's where I was coming from with the mindset. This is where the mindset has to change because people have to own that. People have to be proud. They have to say, you know what? I'm going to clean this up at the end of the day, and then I'm going to call the city to come get it. Or if you just wait on the city to do it, it's going to be an extended timeline because we have routes and everything else that we have to do. So it just works better if everybody works together. Node three is green spaces and transitions. Those are the public areas, different trails, things like that. And it's real simple. If you see it, pick it up. It's literally that simple. As I'm walking from the DRC to City Hall, if I see a piece of trash, I pick it up and I throw it in the trash can. It's that simple. One little piece helps. And if somebody sees that, then they're a lot more engaged and more willing to do it themselves. So like I said, this is an opportunity for buy-in, community pride, and a little bit of competition for us to then build incentive on the backside. So how will we recognize it? This slide shows you the combination of the two and what it equals as. So you have the municipal baseline, which is all of our hard workers in public works going out collecting trash, knuckle booms picking up bulk items, leaves, all that kind of stuff, vacuum trucks downtown, street sweepers, all of that. The second one is the citizens, companies, organizations all coming together. And if you combine the two, then we could have a beautiful national park city, just like we talk about all the time. This kind of shows the four step process on how someone would gain the interest, get the application in, build the rapport and start the process of the adopting programs, the competition programs, the meet and greets and all things like that. And it's a way for us to track it so that we know who's putting in the most, how we're gonna recognize them, what they deserve and how we just bring this all together as one cohesive piece. Doing routine things routinely. That's probably one of the easiest statements that I've ever had in my life. That is one of the most difficult things that I can actually input every day. This is a one-year plan broken down into four different sections. As you can see, it has opportunity for personnel to get involved in committees. It has launches of different informational and instructional programs that the city can launch as far as like GIS maps and things of that sort. You can have a main street matchup where you challenge different blocks to different things and just who's cleaner, who's out there with a pressure washer cleaning off the sidewalk, who's pulling the roots, who's pulling the weeds, things of that sort. We can incorporate news so that we actually get good news stories instead of the bad news stories all the time to where we're bettering our city. You can get morning mixers where personnel go to different coffee shops and meet there and do collective cleanups around there. And maybe the coffee shops give them a free voucher for coffee or something like that. It's all about building that opportunity again. And then there's the framework of the social responsibility, reengaging that, changing that mindset, continuously going back to it so that you can remind everybody why we're doing this. This is a program that If one team doesn't want to do it, then it can cripple everything. So we have to have that constant reinforcement saying, hey, we're doing this, this is why we're doing it, this is how we're doing it, and I appreciate your effort. And then the fall drive would be aligning the messages so that we're pushing out the accountability pieces and saying, hey, this is exactly what we've removed. These are the types of trash that we're seeing. These are the instances that we have. This is the collection of this community coming into this area and helping out these people. And you just do that continuously. Phase three is the combination of all of that. And you end with your macro impact, which is your introduction to the three pillars, eradication, education, and enforcement. And your micro impact, which is changing what we have today to what we could have tomorrow. And I think that's a very beautiful picture of Chattanooga that we could all work toward. I now open it up to all your questions, and I want to acknowledge the GOATs. Department of Public Works, greatest of all time. What questions may you have? Thank you, Council.

Any questions? Council Member Burrs.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Jay, I just wanted to say thank you. You hit on so many things that I had to make notes about, and I've had a couple of companies in my district call about the trash along the road into their business. And one of the first things I said was, would you like to help be a part of the solution? And they were like, yeah. But to have a program to then be able to take to them, because I agree that it's all of our responsibility. So thank you for for making that point. I think that's so important. We've got to teach, remind ourselves, and then teach the people that are coming behind us, the humans that are coming behind us, how important it is to be aware. So thank you.

Absolutely.

And thank you, Councilman Elliott, for bringing this to the front.

Is that all?

Yes, that's all. Thank you.

Councilman Clark. Thank you, Councilman Harvey. We're looking up the litter to overgrow. The accumulation of litter prohibited deemed nuisance My question has to do with the last E, which is enforcement. Because we currently do have litter regulations on our books. And people, regardless of how many rules and how many programs you're going to do, people will break the rules. And what we have are punitive rules. You know, consequences, and then we have, I guess, what we consider remediation, like if we put a lien on somebody's private property. And this is a question for you, city attorney. We are, just to be clear, we are restricted by the state constitution not to fine people more than $50 for littering. Per day.

Per day. Okay. And that's our city courts? Yes. Yes, sir. Usually city courts make that determination, and then there may be a municipal lien that's placed on the property there to go with the land.

Gotcha. And I guess my question for this council, Councilman Harvey, is that I personally believe we need to figure out how to increase the punitive consequences. I think $50... especially in this day and time for some people who, I mean, I literally have heard people say, I can afford to break the rules. And we saw something go viral of someone doing something to an animal and he was wealthy. And he said, you know, I can afford to do that. It's like parking tickets. What can we do? And maybe this is a question, this is an enforcement. What are some remediation things that we can do to increase the consequences of litter? And I think it's two questions. vague. I think it's not strong enough. I know we would have to go to the state legislative body to get them to change that rule, but it's in our Constitution. I don't even think we could even do that. But what can we do? What's a workaround, I guess, on how we can increase fines?

Councilman, I think at the end of the day, it's about understanding what we can do and sticking to what we can do routinely. So if we have an opportunity where we're putting those fines on someone they're not producing, we go back and we do put that lien on their home. If someone loses their house, I think that's a pretty serious and rather large deficit money-wise that is going to be a memorable impact. And having the team to truly understand what it takes to get there means that we might have to escalate timelines. We might have to move forward on, instead of giving that $50 fine, just move forward on, hey, we're going to court and we're going to talk about this because we've talked about it enough on the street. And it's, I think at the end of the day, it's my responsibility to hold code enforcement to what they're supposed to be doing. And I have to jump on that for you. So I have to give them the tools that they need so that they can be accomplished, so they can accomplish the tasks ahead of them.

Yeah, I just got a question about how we can increase some of the administrative abatement.

That's something that I think we have to work on. Let me say this. I'll say a little bit more poignant than Jay. If I'm not mistaken, the previous councils have moved for litter issues to go to administrative hearing officers. And that administrative hearing officer has the ability to fine people $500 per day per incident. And I have asked Jay this, and I say this all knowing that my community is just as much impacted. But if we find private property owners who are continuing to allow litter to build up on their property and they neglect that, I don't care if you live here. I don't care if you live in California. If you own it, it's your responsibility to clean it up because it's an eyesore on your neighbors. It's an environmental hazard, and we should not suffer for your irresponsibility. We will fine you. They will send it to an administrative hearing officer, and they will face whatever that AHO decides to place. And if you do not clean it up, Just like we do with overgrowth. If we have to go on your property and clean it up, we will, but we will put that lien and that civil penalty on your property to recoup those dollars. And so that's something I want to make sure that the community knows, right? I think code enforcement tries to be very generous and patient with people, but frankly, we just have some property owners here who are just absent. And we have to suffer. I have one on McDowell Street. It's one of the worst dumping sites in this city. I am eagerly looking for us to go deal with that dumping site over there in Eastdale. Excuse me, Menlo Park area.

So I hope that answers your question, Councilman. One follow-up question, Councilman Harvey. Is there anybody else on the other? There's other people on the board. I'll go back. Thank you, Councilman.

Councilwoman Dutley.

Thank you so much. And thank you so much, Councilman Clark, for asking that question because enforcement has always been an issue, whether it's litter or, and we have yet to solve for exactly what you just said. So that perked up my attention a lot. And then Councilman, Vice Chair Elliott came in with actually what we need to do, which is You know, with those cases that are persistent, moving those to the administrative hearing officer. Because we had cold bullets, I think like maybe last year or so, and we saw the list of people that actually corrected their issues once they got notification. But then there are some, like Vice Chair Elliott said, that I have two in my district, and we both share a little bit of East Lake, that refuse. They're just not going to do it. And so those are the instances, you know, that I think we really do need to move people to that administrative hearing officer because $50 a day per incident is one thing. $500 a day per incident per day, that really moves you a little different.

Mm-hmm.

So I just wanted to respond to that because I thought, you know, from last council to this council, enforcement is still an issue. Even before I got here, there had always been an issue with enforcement. And so all I really wanted was a copy of the presentation. I love what you're doing. I love everything about it. Can't wait to see, I think it's phase two with the civic engagement for us to really get involved with the neighborhood associations, neighborhood services, with Kim Strong and her team. to really get this information out to communities and start scheduling those days and getting those retailers involved and things like that. So this is a major thing, so I appreciate you.

Absolutely.

Yes, and I thank you so much, Vice Chair Elliott, and also thank you, Councilman Clark, for bringing that enforcement back because that is something that we're going to have to do with. I mean, I've got to keep my yard clean. That's right. So that is it. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. I appreciate it.

Councilwoman Hill.

Thank you very much. Jay, I appreciate your work on this issue. I wanted to just get clarity again on the record about the 19 positions. Yes, ma'am. Tell us again how you have found the funding for these and if we are, are we net 19 more or are we even? I believe that you... recaptured some unfilled positions.

Yes, ma'am. We have moved some positions around. We have added additional positions and I am constantly looking at the books so that if we have anything that's lingering out there for a long time, then we transfer that into something different so that we can actually get some use out of it. These positions will be funded through stormwater fees. The stormwater funds will provide the coverage and we do have that available. And we have the incumbent as well for future years. So looking at the progression for it, this is not something we would start today and then stop in a year and try to restart later on. We'd be able to keep going through it.

So in your department, how many net new positions do you have in this budget?

This budget, I've requested 43 positions. as we've tried to get, we're trying to streamline. And I will say that with those 43 positions, I have zero intention of coming back next year and saying, hey, I need these positions.

Okay.

So I think that that's the sweet spot for us in the direction that we're going and the strategy that I've laid out for my team.

And how many positions have, so that's our net new, so you've captured a certain number, but you still need 43 new positions. Yes, ma'am. Okay. The other thing I just wanted to add to the Conversation Council, when it comes to repeat code violations in commercial or residential, I want to commend the work of the Operation Better Neighbor team that brought code enforcement, legal, public works, police, everybody to the table to work on really, really hard cases. You know, commercial sometimes you've just got people who are belligerent and they just don't want to follow the law. But residential can often be much more complex with regard to elder abuse, addiction, lots of things. And I have seen in my district what... Donna Castile and Bruce Hunt in my district related to code enforcement have been able to achieve with just continual effort. And so I would encourage you to reach out to them because if you've got a spot that you want to turn, that you know it's time to turn the heat up, we have neighborhoods that, I mean, genuinely had a celebration last week to say thank you to their code enforcement officer because of the a 15-year problem that got cleaned up by the city. So it took a lot of effort on the part of a lot of folks to do that. So just want to let you know that's a resource for you if you need it.

Councilwoman, I would like to reiterate on that aspect itself. You know, Bruce went in there and he was dedicated to that one thing so that he could learn that process and see exactly what was going wrong and what was going right and what he needed to do to action it appropriately. So that was a huge lesson learned for us. I think with those lessons being learned, we now have a much more dedicated strategy and avenue approach to accomplish these things. And we should all be applauding Bruce at the end of the day for what he was doing.

And to have the coordination with our legal team, to have an attorney that goes to the judge with a request, right? Not just a, you tell me what you want to do, judge. It all worked together. So I think it goes back to your doing, you didn't say typical things, typical. Routine. Routine things routinely. Like establishing a more clear flow chart of, if then, procedures that are going to be fair, but that we don't end up just in this cycle of mess, but we have a clear... path for staff of if it gets to this point, then it's really important that legal have a plan, right? And that they back you up, that kind of thing. So thank you. All right.

Councilman Clark. Thank you, Chairman Harvey. Two questions and I'm done, I promise. Who, as the administrator, and this might be a legal question, I'm so sorry to keep deferring it to you, but When we make the decision, when we have a chronic violator that's consistently doing litter on their private property, who has the authority to make that referral to the administrative hearing officer? Can your code enforcement person do that unilaterally, or do you have to do that in coordination with the attorney's office?

That one I truly don't know. I'd have to look into that.

What is the referral process?

Councilman Elliott said council has a vote on that.

No, the previous council voted Last term to send litter issues to the ministry hearing officer.

So they're automatically should be sent over from who code of course, okay, so that picture so basically if I say Jade there's a chronic issue you're courting and you can confirm this but he's saying that because we've already voted on it and your people, I guess in however your org chart is, you have the authority to do a referral to the administrative hearing officer without having to come back to the city attorney's office or the council. Is that correct? Correct.

It kind of acts almost like another judge in many regards. They just have more broader powers. Now, Phil, you clean up all that as you need be, but if it's a letter issue, it will be sent to the administrative hearing officer, not the city judge.

The issue becomes one of whether it is a fine or a civil penalty. The civil penalty is not prohibited by the Constitution to be only limited to a $50 amount as the fine is under the Tennessee Constitution. So if there is an issue where we have, I guess, a continued violator here, that violator is causing a problem, then they can send that directly on to administrative hearing officer to make a determination in that case of whether that's a problem and that that goes the issues for I guess the litter violations here are allowed under the code to not just collect the fines or the civil penalties that are out there they are also allowed to collect the cleanup costs so if there are cleanup costs that are involved to avoid that occurring on there, and sometimes these are pretty substantial when you have areas that are just really full of stuff, then that can be assessed against the landowner who owns that property at that time, and the landowner will have a municipal lien placed against that property for the amount of the cost, and then if they want to be able to sell that property, they have to clear that municipal lien. So that's your protection. You also have situations where folks just can't do anything about it, and they end up keeping that on their property until they die. That's an issue, unless we sue to be able to enforce that municipal lien. If you have a large lien, then our office has been instructed to go out and file a suit and try to collect that.

To answer your question, Councilman? Yeah, I just wanted to make sure there was some SOP in place. That from the city attorney's office, like a one pager, that if we get to that point, that it doesn't become like a detailed inquiry of like, what do we do? Who do we ask? You know, because I do foresee just kind of piggybacking on what Councilwoman Dutley said. We have some chronic. We need the general public to understand that we're serious about this. Because I think the E, the last E in that is enforcement. And if people knew that there was a punitive consequence larger than $50 per day, I think that people would take these, this new litter policy more serious. Yes, sir. I want us to be clear on what that process is because, you know, I'm the first person to be like. please clean up, tow, clean, take them to court, because our people are asking for this. Absolutely. For cleanup. So I just want to be clear on what the policies are. Yes, sir. I'll get that for everyone. Thank you so much.

Yes, sir. Councilwoman Hill.

Thank you. Just to add a little more clarity to this, everything Phil said is true, but not necessarily actively in place. And yes, we did pass a resolution that included noise, litter, some other items that are able to go to an administrative hearing officer. And Chris may be able to speak to this, but to my knowledge, the administrative hearing officers have not ever reached a capacity at which they're seeing all of these cases. Most of these cases, like the one I just told you about the 15 years, like it never went to an AHO. So don't assume as a council person that that is in place. That's something that if we want to put more emphasis on, we're going to need to give it more attention. Um, I think like the legal team, I went to a whole like half day seminar on here's all the things you can do. And the state municipal people were like, and you can do this and you can do this and you can do this. And then another attorney from the state stood up and said, yeah, but you really can't do this or this or this or this or this, like, because, because of the burden of proof. And so it's just not a straight line. Chris, maybe you can shed some additional light on just the AHO.

Yes, Councilwoman. First of all, you're correct. The Chris Anderson Mayor's Office, the administrative hearing officer is well below capacity and can handle many more cases. Wonderful. And the state constitution, as well as the city ordinance passed by the last council, gives the AHO the right to assess a civil penalty, Phil, of up to $500 per day per incident on anything that we deem related to building or property maintenance. Anything that's land, buildings, development, that kind of stuff. That's what the AHO is for specifically. So litter would very clearly fall under that.

So what I heard you just say is we do have capacity now. That's great news.

We have quite a bit. We have extra time that we can use in the courtroom if we need to book more time, but we're not even anywhere near our max time now.

Okay. So when it comes to that standard operating procedure that you mentioned, Councilman, I think we have room to be more clear. Great. Thank you.

I will say that's something that I'll take on as well for educating my enforcement team so that we will hammer all these things out and have the SOPs and all that for everybody. Absolutely.

Council, any more questions? If not, I do have a few. So maybe this is something we need to discuss in strategic planning next week, but is this something we need to give more teeth to to strengthen the resolution? I don't know. I'm just opening that up for discussion, and maybe that's a Phil question as well, but just something to consider. Councilman, you have a... No, I'm listening. Go ahead. Okay. The other suggestion that I might have is I wonder if we could put signs in some high litter areas that say, you know, litter fines up to $500. You know, when I see signs like that, especially on the highway, I slow down. I'm not about to owe anybody $500. Absolutely not. So maybe that's something we could consider is placing some visible signs that say you get a fine up to $500.

That's what, in the slide where I was talking about the education process and adding signage, that's exactly what I was talking about. Perfect. Awesome. Okay. Great.

And your lawyer would tell you to make sure it's not a fine, that it is a civil penalty.

Civil penalty up to $500. I'll write that down right now. Good to know. Yeah, I mean, so Jay, great presentation. One of the things that came to mind when I was listening was, raise your hand if you've been to Disney World. You've been to Disney World, right? It's immaculate, right? Well, it's a culture thing. Walt Disney had a program that he called Stoop to Excellence. And that was what he himself would go throughout the amusement park and stoop down, pick up trash as he saw it. I've done that a number of times throughout the city because I take pride in the city. And I think we, you know, we should do that as citizens. I mean, frankly, I think, you know, if you litter, you've got some moral problems. I mean, you really do. It's one of the easiest, smallest things that you can take your trash, put it in a trash bin, and move about your life. But, you know, if you just throw something in the street, come on. You know, what are we doing? So anyway, I just wanted to say that, and it's something I think that we can all contribute to. But certainly I think you've put a great plan together, and we're glad to be your partner on that. Thank you. Thanks for keeping Chattanooga beautiful. Yes, sir. Absolutely. I appreciate y'all. Have a great night. Any more questions? Mr. Chairman, recess until? 5.15. All right. We'll be in recess until 5.15.

We are back in session. Madam Clerk, if you would please read Item 8A.

In Ordinance of Manny Chattanooga City Code, Part 2, Chapter 35, Section 3526, Rates of Fair Schedule.

Move to approve. Second. Council, we do have a motion properly seconded. Are there any questions or comments on this ordinance? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? An ordinance passes on first reading. Item 8B, please, Madam Clerk.

An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code Part 2, Chapter 10, Section 10-3 to delete Section 423 of the 2018 edition of the International Building Code in its entirety as the official building code of the City of Chattanooga.

Motion approved. Second. So we have a motion properly seconded on this ordinance. Are there any questions or comments? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And this item passes. Item 8C, please, Madam Clerk.

An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code Part 2, Chapter 38 Zoning Ordinance and adopted by Ordinance Number 14137 on July 23, 2024, Article 9, Uses Section 3841, Use Matrix Residential Care Facility.

Moved and approved. Second. Council, we have a motion properly seconded on this ordinance. Are there any questions or comments? All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? This ordinance passes on first reading. Item 8D, please.

An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code Part 2, Chapter 38 Zone and Ordinance. So it's rezone property located at 140 Browns Ferry Road from RN 17.5 Residential Neighborhood Zone to CN Neighborhood Commercial Zone.

Move to approve. Second. Council, we do have a motion properly seconded on this planning item on first reading. And this is, for the record, planning item 2026-0054. Is the applicant present? And is there any opposition present? Any opposition? OK. Councilor, are there any questions or comments on this item. Councilwoman Hill.

Thank you, Chairman. I was not here last week, so I may have missed. This is in District 1. Is this something that Councilman Henderson has requested Council move forward on tonight?

It is.

Okay, great. Thank you very much. That's all I needed to know.

Any other questions or comments before we vote, Council? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And the ordinance passes on first reading. Item 8E, please, Madam Clerk.

An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code Part 2, Chapter 38, zoning ordinance. So as to amend conditions 2 and 3 from Ordinance Numbers 13875 and 14144 of previous case numbers 2022, 0097, and 2024-0107 on properties located at 7514 and 7518 Sanford Gap Road, subject to certain conditions.

And this is planning item 2026-0069. Is the applicant present? And is there any opposition present? OK. And Councilman Harvey, this is in your district. You're recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I did speak with the applicant at recess, and this is to extend a fence which the neighbors there in the neighboring neighborhood are in favor of. In fact, they signed a petition agreeing to this lift of conditions as they would also like the fence to be there in an increased barrier. So I move to approve.

Second. Council, we do have a motion properly seconded on this planning ordinance. Are there any other questions or comments? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And this ordinance passes on first reading. Item 8F, please, Madam Clerk.

An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code Part 2, Chapter 38 zoning ordinance. So it's a reasonable property located at 2836 Anderson Terrace from RN16 residential neighborhood zone. to TRN3, traditional residential neighborhood zone.

Motion to deny. Second. All right. Council, we do have a motion properly seconded to deny this item. And for the record, this is planning item 2026-0056. Is the applicant present? And is there any opposition present? OK. Council, are there any questions or comments on this item before we vote? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And the motion to deny is upheld. Item 8G, please, Madam Clerk.

An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code Part 2 Chapter 38 zoning ordinance. So as a rezone part, we're properly located at 7777 East Brainerd Road from CMU 1, commercial misuse zone, with conditions to CC, commercial corridor zone, subject to conditions.

And this is planning item 2026-0060. Councilman Harvey, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I've met with this applicant and discussed the project in depth. And this is another great investment in the city of Chattanooga by the Walford family. You all may be familiar with as they've done some great charity work with UTC. And so this is another good development for District 4 in one of our commercial corridors. I move to approve.

Second. Council, we do have a motion properly seconded to approve this item. Are there any other questions or comments? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And this ordinance passes on first reading. Item 8H, please, Madam Clerk.

An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code Part 2, Chapter 38, zoning ordinance. So as a rezoned property is located at 1211 Boynton Drive and 1301 Grove Street. From RN3, residential neighborhood zone, to form base code WN7, west side neighborhood zone.

Councilwoman Dotley, you're recognized.

Is the applicant present?

Is the applicant, we do have an applicant. Is there any opposition present?

Okay.

All right, as it shouldn't be. This is a great project on the west side. The west side, the one west side plan is doing what it's supposed to do, which is starting to redevelop the area around it. So excited about that. So I move to approve. Second.

All right. Council, we do have a motion properly seconded on this planning ordinance. Are there any questions or comments? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And the ordinance passes on first reading. Item 8I, please, Madam Clerk.

An ordinance submitted in Chattanooga City Code Part 2 Chapter 38 Zoning Ordinance so as to rezone properties located at 1601 and 1603 East 49th Street from CC Commercial Corridor Zone and RN15 Residential Neighborhood Zone to IH Industrial Heavy Zone.

And this is planning item 2026-0073. Is the applicant present? And is there any opposition present? Councilwoman Dotley, you're recognized.

Yes, thank you so much, Mr. Chair. This is the one I mentioned earlier that they're not in, it's not in line with the Rossville plan, it's not in line with the current redevelopment efforts, and it is non-conforming as well. So with that, I move to deny.

Second. We do have a motion to deny properly seconded, Council. Is there any question or comment? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And the motion to deny is upheld. Item 9A, please, Madam Clerk.

A resolution approving a new special exceptions permit for a new liquor store located at 7703 Lee Highway.

And Councilwoman Burrs, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's my understanding from our city attorney that we're still waiting on some information from this applicant. And I'd like to defer for one week, please.

We do have a motion properly seconded to defer one week until June 16th. Are there any questions or comments, council? All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? And this item will be deferred until June 16th. Item 9B, please, Madam Clerk.

A resolution authorizing the appointment of Emily Wood as a special police officer on the arm for the City of Chattanooga Department of Public Works Land Development Office Code Enforcement to perform duties expressly limited to the performance of the duties in the position of Development Review Planner.

Motion approved. Second. Do I have a motion properly seconded on this resolution, Council? Are there any questions or comments? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And the resolution passes. And we are now to the point where we will consider our purchases on the agenda for this evening.

Good evening, council.

Good evening.

for your approval this evening. The first one is for wastewater. This is a one-time purchase of laboratory equipment to be used by wastewater. The purchase from Fisher Scientific will be in the amount of $127,898.79 utilizing the Omnia contract. The second one is for Public Works. This is a one-time purchase of a nickel boom truck to be used by street maintenance. The purchase from Stringfellow will be in the amount of $236,814 utilizing the source well contract. Second.

Council, we do have a motion properly seconded to approve these purchases. Are there any questions or comments? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And the purchases are approved.

I have one sole source to report. This is for technology services. This is for HubSpot software subscription used by Public Works information officers to manage official social media, track public engagement, and automate digital communications. This is a continuation of a single source contract that consolidates services and replaces two older platforms.

Thank you. Thank you, Debbie. We'll go around the dais now for committee reports. We'll start with Councilwoman Hill. Go for it. Councilman Harvey.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We had a Parks and Public Works committee meeting today where Councilman Elliott and Jeremy Wood introduced our new litter program to keep Chattanooga beautiful, and we're looking forward to that. That's all. Thank you. Councilman Clark.

Thank you, Chairman Davis. I don't have a report for education innovation, but I do have a readout from our historic city council historic preservation town hall meeting that took place last Wednesday, co-hosted by myself, Councilman Harvey, and Vice Chairman Elliott. And we have a pretty packed room. And we were able to hear from the public about different areas, different sites, cemeteries. what we as a council that has been trusted with the authority to add historic sites as a part of our historic zoning commission guidelines. And we will be discussing that in the strategic planning meeting in a couple weeks, not next week, but a couple weeks after that, to discuss that process and to have some initial conversations about what key historic sites and buildings, which may include Lincoln Park, CSIS, some cemeteries, including RH Hunt architectural buildings. And so we want to kind of flesh that out and have a conversation about what the next steps are with that. But it was well attended. I'm very happy to know that we are having the conversation, a robust conversation, about what historic preservation looks like in our communities. As council people, I would encourage you to do your own independent homework. You know, to do your Google searches about our historic zoning process in Chattanooga and what we have not done since the 90s, since 1991, I believe is when we added, I think, can't remember if it was Ferner Place or Fortwood, but this is a conversation that was well received by the community and we hope to continue that conversation and to move that process forward.

Yes, Councilman Harvey.

I just want to commend Councilman Clark for a extremely well-run, put-together meeting of Preserve Chattanooga. It was smooth as silk. I had everybody, the right folks in the room, and it was just a really, really good meeting, so excellent work. Thank you, sir. Excellent.

Councilwoman Noll. Councilwoman Noll. Okay. Councilwoman Dottley.

No report.

Councilwoman Burrs.

No report.

Vice Chairman Elliott. No report. Okay. And we're now to other business. I know there's an item on here, Mr. Attorney.

This is normally the certificate of compliance for green liquor that we use. Your resolution has deferred until next week. We're waiting at this point in time on proof of publication on that. And once that has occurred, then it should be ready next week. Okay. So that's the reason it's been deferred to the 16th. Okay.

Okay. We're now to that portion of our meeting where we're happy to recognize members of the public who would like to address council. And if you're here for that purpose, just invite you to come to the podium. down front, and please listen carefully to the rules that our city attorney will read. Again, please listen carefully. There are several. They will all be enforced, and I want to apologize to the council for my oversight in that regard last week, but please do listen carefully and obey our rules. They're reasonable and here for us to have a civil meeting, so.

OK, at the end of each council business meeting, the chair will recognize members of the public who wish to address the council. And here's your rules. Each speaker wishing to address the council can only be recognized with the microphone up front for that purpose, and you can't have more than three minutes to speak. And you can address the council only upon matters within their legislative and quasi-judicial authority and not on matters which are not under their authority or regulated by other governmental bodies or agencies. And please, this evening, do not engage in any vulgar or obscene language nor use the floor to personally attack or personally denigrate others. If you're addressing the council, address it as a whole and not make comments directed towards individual council members. Lastly, do not engage in disorderly conduct or disrupting a public meeting which is prohibited by Tennessee law and someone commits an offense if a person substantially obstructs or interferes with the meeting by physical action or verbal utterance with the intent to prevent or disrupt a lawful meeting or gathering. That's a lot of rules so just try to comply the best you can and when you come forward please state your name and your district. Thank you.

All right, good evening, council. My name is Mackenzie Kelly and I live in District 1. I serve as the executive director of the Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition, the lead agency for our region's homeless response system. I'm here today to express my support for the proposed donation of the airport and property and to thank both the Kelly administration and city council for their leadership in moving this project forward. Every day, the Homeless Coalition works alongside service providers, schools, healthcare systems, faith communities, government agencies, and other partners to better understand the needs of families experiencing housing instability and homelessness in our community. One thing we know from both the data and our direct experience is that Chattanooga faces a significant shortage of shelter and housing resources designated specifically for families with children. Our most recent state of homelessness report shows that more than 1,600 students in Hamilton County experienced homelessness during a single school year. We also know that family shelter capacity remains extremely limited and that many families seeking help are turned away simply because there's nowhere for them to go. That's why this project matters. This project represents a meaningful investment in a population that often has very few options when a crisis occurs. It creates additional capacity for families, provides a pathway for greater stability, and helps move our community closer to the goals we have collectively identified through years of collaboration. This project also reflects what we know works best, partnership. Government, philanthropy, service providers, faith organizations, and community stakeholders all bring their strengths together to address a challenge that no single organization can solve alone. There's still plenty of work ahead. This project alone doesn't end homelessness in Chattanooga, but it is a significant step forward and one that will strengthen our community's ability to respond when families and children need help the most. On behalf of the Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition and our many community partners, thank you for your consideration and for your continued commitment to addressing homelessness in Chattanooga. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Council. Brooke Satterfield, District 2. Some of you may be having flashbacks from the last time I was at this podium, but I'm not going to read any purchases tonight. I did serve in the Kelly administration as Deputy Chief of Staff and Chief Policy Officer, but I wanted to speak tonight as one of the original people involved in the airport and project when the city first acquired the property several years ago. This project was always an ambitious one meant to transform a blighted property into something that would support some of our most vulnerable residents. As many of you know, the original vision ultimately did not come to fruition and to say that there were challenges and setbacks would be an understatement. When I left Mayor Kelly's office two years ago, this is one of the projects that was hard to walk away from because I always felt strongly about this property becoming something helpful to people in crisis, which is why I'm so encouraged to be here this afternoon. While the proposal before you certainly looks different than the original concept, it remains true to the core purpose that motivated the city's investment in the first place, using the property to serve people who needed help and support during the most difficult moments of their lives. I want to thank Mayor Kelly and the administration for continuing to push this project forward, especially Richard Beland, who I know has worked hard to keep this project alive. I also want to thank the current council person for her leadership, but also recognize the original council members who spent a tremendous amount of time with us on this during the project's early stages. I know how much she cared about finding the right solution for the airport in, and I know she'd be proud to see it become a place serving women, families, and children. I also want to congratulate the many partners who stepped up to make this possible, including the McClellan Foundation, First Things First, and the many organizations that have and will invest their time, resources, and expertise to bring this vision to life. This project won't end homelessness in Chattanooga, and we know that. There's still more work to be done, more shelter capacity, more housing options, and continued investment in long-term solutions. But I think one of the most important lessons I learned working in government is that we should never allow the fact that a solution is incomplete to become an excuse for inaction. Progress matters. So when this facility opens, there will be more than 120 shelter beds available for families There will be cribs for babies. There will be mothers, fathers, and children who walk through the doors during what is likely one of the hardest times of their lives. And instead of sleeping in a car or even on the streets, not knowing where they'll go next, they'll walk into Provident Place to be met with safety, stability, and people ready to help them take the next step forward. That is meaningful and it's significant. And for those families, it will make a difference. As someone who's cared about this project from the very beginning, I'm proud to be here tonight to support it, and I look forward to seeing this council approve the donation of airport and property next week. Thank you. Thank you.

Good afternoon. I'm Mary Morris, the president of the Bushtown Neighborhood Association, which is part of the Great District 8. I'm here today to talk about Community Haven and the great work that they have done, not only for Bushtown, but Churchfield, Orchard Knob, and Lincoln Park. They have a constant and consistent presence in our community. They patrol daily. Any time of day you can look out and they're patrolling. With their patrolling, it has helped in reducing the crime in our area. Gangs and people are no longer standing around on corners, making it uncomfortable for you to pass by. We've seen where they even there with school buses let out. They're there at the bus stops to ensure that fights don't break out. They've intervened and stopped many fights. We appreciate their presence. They engage with the community. They're just not there by name, but they engage with the young and the old. And without their presence and without them helping the Chattanooga Police Department, which they do, I appreciate the funding that you all have given them. And I ask that you continue to give them funding. They are an asset to us. We don't take this lightly. Their presence is needed because they engage with people that the police may not ever engage with. Some people don't wanna talk to the police. but they are there. They go into these communities. They interact with the people. They can tell the police a few things. We tell them houses to watch, where we may never tell the police. That information is passed on to the police, but they are appreciated and we want you all to know that we appreciate them and we depend on your continued support of the community haven.

Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to address the council?

I guess I want to talk to anybody who is in government, anywhere and everywhere. I have several things.

Give us your name and district, please.

Oh, I'm sorry. Shelly Litchfield. I don't know the number of my district. I'm sorry. I've lived surrounding Chattanooga for the past 36 years, but I'm in a new place and I don't know the number. Anyway, I just will be brief. I want to speak to two issues. Already two people have talked about homelessness. Only recently in my life have I become involved with a woman who has experienced being unhoused for quite a while. And let me tell you, it was quite an experience. just opened my eyes and I realized there are so many reasons why people are homeless. She happened to be the one person I got really involved with and I'm so pleased that there were two people already who spoke to this issue and our city cares and is doing things and I want to say please keep that up. These are people as was mentioned that often don't have a voice and something else that has greatly affected my sleep is another vulnerable portion of our society especially at the moment and that is those who are immigrants and I am so pleased that the Chattanooga Police Department does not have a 287 G agreement because I think that ICE and a Border Patrol they have plenty of billions I think our police should be allowed to do their work and where necessary of course they will abide by laws and But I am so pleased that the Chattanooga police do not have that agreement. And I just want to say that in all of our actions, I hope that Chattanooga will realize that we care about people no matter where they're from, no matter why they're here. Of course we believe in legality, but I'm so concerned. This is what affects my sleep, is that Things are happening in this country to affect vulnerable populations that just defy explanation. I just don't understand it, why human beings, Americans, have such things going on that I feel are cruel and unjust and unneeded. And I just want to say, please keep Chattanooga a place of concern and care for human beings. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to address the council this evening? Council, I don't see anyone, and we've reached the end of our business. Second. Motion to adjourn. Probably second it. All in favor?

Aye.

We are adjourned.