City Council - Regular Meeting

I express our sincere gratitude to Mayor Pitts for stepping forward and taking over the operation in support of our center. For many of us, this center is much more than just a building. It is a place of friendship, fellowship, learning, recreation, and support. It is where seniors come together to stay active, connected, and engaged in our community. Mayor Pitts, your willingness To take responsibility for the future of this center demonstrates your commitment to the well-being of our senior citizens. Your leadership gives us confidence that this important resource will continue to serve both current and future generations of seniors. We recognize that decisions like this require vision, dedication, and hard work. We deeply appreciate your efforts. and your recognition of the valuable contributions that senior citizens make to our community. Thank you for listening to our concerns, supporting our needs, and helping ensure that this center remains a welcoming place for all who depend on it. Your actions remind us that our community values and respects its seniors. Please accept our heartfelt thanks and appreciation. We look forward to working together with you to continue to make the center a vibrant and meaningful part of our city. Mayor Pitts, thank you for your leadership, your support, and your commitment to the seniors of our community. Thank you, God bless you, and God bless our community.

Thank you. Next name on the list is Lenore Erickson. Ms. Erickson. If you would, give us your name and you have five minutes. Pull that mic so they might be able to hear you.

Lenore Erickson. I've been here before. And I'm talking about the same as I always do. First of all, I'd like to say, please stop taking the blame for Montgomery County taxes. We all know that their tax rate is unreasonable. 2.1 mills. of which 0.4 is for the schools and the rest is for Montgomery County. And you have 190,000 people and half the mill rate. And yet everybody's blaming you for the problems with taxes. And so as long as you bail Montgomery County out, nobody will figure it out. Anyway, to where I was going to talk. year ago the city borrowed 50 million a third for capital projects and two-thirds for paying the bills then one month later this City Council refused to approve the mayor's budget and increased property taxes by only 0.4 mils so last October the city board another 73 mil million some was for refinancing bonds some for capital projects some for paying the bills Let's be honest, when you borrow money for building a road, bondholders will ask a reasonable amount of interest. When you start to borrow money to cover excess expenditures over revenue, bondholders take notice and demand more interest. If the city council doesn't start providing enough revenue to meet their expenditures, the city's debt will spiral out of control. This city council needs to step up and provide a vision for Clark's future instead of living in the past. Mr. Pitts did that in 2020 with the street improvement plan. You funded it in 2022, but since then you have refused to increase revenue so that we could borrow enough to fund the construction. Whitfield Road was supposed to be done in 2023. It was finished in 2025. Tyler Town Road has been at a standstill since last summer. Each year you delay any of these capital projects, you are increasing the costs. And with the war in Iran doubling the cost of asphalt, you will be hard pressed to pay for phase two construction of the Spring Avenue Parkway, even though you've committed to having it ready for the VA hospital. Of the 58 capital projects you have announced, only four have been completed. Whitfield Road, Fire Station Six, the new parking garage and the L and N train station. You spent less than 10% of most of those 58 project budgets in this year. Seven projects are 60% complete because you announced them five years ago. In 2023, you promised a recreation center at the Speedway, but it hasn't even got a budget approved. The proposed fire and police station improvements received no funding last year. The flood remediation project spent 1 10th of 1% of their budgets. You've talked about rebuilding the Mason Rudolph Golf Course. If the fees you assess can't recoup the cost of Mason Rudolph in 10 years, it is a waste of taxpayers' money. If you were to sell that land to developers, you would have enough money to finish phase two of Spring Creek Parkway, complete some of the flooding and remediation, and some of the sidewalks you have promised. and increase the city revenue enough to issue government bonds to pay for more capital projects. Next week you will consider a budget that raises taxes by 31 cents. That is not enough to pay for what this city needs, and it is certainly not enough to finish any of the capital projects you have underway.

Thank you. We are now ready for Mr. Ross St. Louis. Mr. St. Louis? If you would, give us your name. You have five minutes and pull that mic up so we can hear you.

Well, let's try that. How about that? All right. My name is Ross St. Louis. I am a constituent for Ward 2 under Mr. Eric Clonch, who has been representing us quite well. First off, I want to say thank you, Mr. Mayor, for providing the seats because I don't know about you guys, but kind of hard to get up from that chair with the arms on him. So thank you for that, for that accommodation. Uh, so I'm here to talk about the fire department and the police department. Their budgets just aren't enough for what they're, what they need. I mean, just the other day we had a missing child and it took them eight hours to find it, to find him. And Let me tell you, those guys were out there working. I even saw Chief Burdine out there. He was out there searching. And let me tell you, that's great leadership right there. But great leadership needs funding to go behind it in order to keep the officers and hire new officers. So the police department certainly doesn't get paid enough for what they're for what they're doing. On the fire department side, CFR just released their monthly report from month of May. They had 1,816 calls and just in the month of May alone. 65% of those were first responder calls. And as Chief Montgomery says, he is in the process of cross-training a lot of their firefighters to become the first responders to get that little extra bump in pay because that's what it is. But even that little extra bump in pay just isn't enough for them. I mean, you look at these guys compared to other cities, these guys are not getting paid what they should be. We cannot cut money from either budget. In fact, we need to increase it. I know it's hard to do that with the budget that we are working on right now. This budget is going to be tough. A lot of people are not happy about it at all. I think that we need to sit down and look at it and find out where it needs to go the most. there are a lot of streets that need extra work, so the street department needs it. A lot of repairs have got to be done all throughout the city, and each of these departments, they need the extra money. And as much as I don't like seeing an increase in taxes, sometimes it's necessary. But I think we could do it more efficiently. I think we could do it the smart way instead of just one huge jump. If it increases slower over the time, that would make more sense. Because yes, cost of living goes up, cost of groceries, cost of gas, everything's always fluctuating. So a smart increase would be better than just this huge jump. And I think that we need to sit down and really look at this budget and make some smart decisions, not just what's, what people are against and what people are for. We need to look at the facts, what, what department needs, what, what department needs this, this, that, the other. We need to make smart decisions, but just looking at this fire department and this police department, They don't get paid enough. They don't. I pulled numbers all throughout the United States, the top five cities, and how much their firefighters and their police officers are getting paid. Let me tell you, Tennessee is raking pretty low on that list. There's states out there that make $10,000 to $15,000 more a year each department. for their start and pay for their firefighters and their police officers. And we've gotta keep this up. We gotta get them more pay because if we don't, we're gonna lose the good people. So thank you.

Thank you. Next on the list is Mr. Jimmy Phillips. Mr. Phillips? If you would, give us your name and you'll have five minutes, sir.

My name is Jimmy Phillips, and thank you for allowing me to talk to you tonight. I'm not here to throw any rocks or complain about any one particular thing. I'd like to just talk about some common sense things, and particularly the Swan Lake Golf Course and the driving range. I don't understand why the city is subsidizing Golf in Clarksville to the 10 of 600,000 plus a year. I wish somebody would explain that to me. I live in a neighborhood of approximately 150 people. There's four of us that play golf. Why should my neighbor support me playing golf and pay for it? Again, I play a lot of golf. But I expect to pay when I go play golf. Why are city employees, some of them making an excess of $80,000 a year, getting free golf or half-price golf? Would somebody explain that to me? Doesn't make any sense to me. It's just common sense. Again, you've got a driving range over there that's open from 10 o'clock to 6.30, and I don't understand that, but first of all, it doesn't get dark till 8. Most people would come out after 6 to hit balls, but over there you can't buy a bucket of balls after 6 o'clock. Would somebody explain that to me? Also, in being over there and watching what's going on just for a few minutes, you are not allowed to hit off the grass. Anybody here that plays golf surely knows that if you're a good golfer, you don't want to hit off of mats. You want to hit off of grass. I found out that now we allow people to hit off grass starting last week. Again, my question to the man that worked over there, why are you not hitting off grass? He said the grass is too tender and too dry. It looked better than my yard. So, again, somebody needs to explain that. A good golfer wants to hit off a grass, and a good golfer wants to be able to come out after dinner and hit a bucket of balls or two. To me, if you can't sell 1,000 buckets, not 1,000, 100 buckets of large balls every day for about 200 days of the year, that's $200,000. You've got a real problem. The revenue... over at Mason Rudolph has averaged $66,000 for the last three years. Why is that? Why is Swan Lake one of the highest places to play golf, and yet it can't make money? Would somebody explain that? To my knowledge, Swan Lake has not made a profit in over 20 years. Again, I don't understand that. I'll give you an example of a senior rate at Swan Lake is $40. A senior rate at East Sun Green is $33. Weekdays is $45 at Swan Lake. It's $38 at East Sun Green. Weekends is $55 at Swan Lake. It's $48 at East Sun Green. Why is it not making money? The projected revenue this year in 2026 shows you're going to lose about $300,000 again. Again, that's the only thing that I wanted to talk about. I know a little bit about golf. So I wanted to ask some of you council people to please look at this and see if maybe it's not run properly. Maybe you've got a problem. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Mr. Lanier called and rescheduled his speaking to us. Is Mary Pagano in? Did she come in? All right. We will stand down until 6 p.m. The June 4th, 2026 regular session of the Clarksville City Council is now called to order. The chaplain of the day will be Felicia Ransom, Minister Felicia Ransom from Guilfield Baptist Church. And Councilman Marquis will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. So CTS's own, the Minister Felicia Ransom, please lead us in prayer. And ladies and gentlemen, please stand.

Mayor Pitts and the council, let's go before the Father in prayer. Father God, in the name of Jesus, we gather here together as your sons and your daughters. So first of all, tell you thank you for another day. Thank you for the opportunity to come to you and petition you through prayer. At this council meeting, we ask that you will grant the wisdom, knowledge, and understanding to all who hold positions and to all who make decisions. You said in your word in James 1 and 5 that if anyone lacks wisdom or desire it, then he must ask for it. As things shift and change, we thank you that all things will work together for the good of those who love you and are called according to your purpose. We are all here from different beliefs, ethnic backgrounds, financial backgrounds, and walks of life. I pray for unity on this council, unity in this room, and unity in this city. Psalm 133 and 1 says, how good it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Unify what needs to be unified. Tear down division, strife, and confusion in Jesus' name. We thank you, Lord, for hearing all of our thoughts, seeing all of our needs, and perfecting those things that concern us. We are concerned about our children, our elderly, our jobs, and our finances. We are concerned about our future. But we stand on Psalm 138 and 8, that you will perfect those things that concern us. We believe in your word, and we stand on your promises, which are yes and amen. Last but not least, I pray for peace. I pray for peace over division. We pray over peace for these votes, over the moves that must be made for the city. We pray peace over the budget. We pray over this meeting. And we pray peace over the council. Heal what must be healed. Keep what must be kept. Protect what must be protected. And do what must be done. Keep us in perfect peace as we keep our minds on you. Teach us how to focus on you and your will and not on ourselves. We love you and we thank you. And it's in the name of Jesus we do pray. Amen and amen.

Members, please register your attendance. Madam Clerk, take the roll, please.

All members are present.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Next item on our agenda is Planning Commission Public Hearing and Adoption of Zoning. Councilman Streetman, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mayor. Madam Clerk, will you read the ordinances before us tonight?

Ordinance 71-2025-26, first reading, an ordinance amending the zoning code and map of the City of Clarksville, application of Casey and Beth Brown Community Property Trust for a zone change on property located along the northern frontage of Merchants Boulevard, 980 plus or minus feet west of its intersection with Merchants Court from C3 Regional Shopping Center District to C5 Highway and Arterial Commercial District. Ordinance 79-2025-26, first reading, an ordinance amending the zoning code and map of the city of Clarksville, application of Marvin Pitts for a zone change on a parcel located on the northern frontage of Craft Street, 780 plus or minus feet west of the craft street and college street intersection from n2 general industrial district to c5 highway and arterial commercial district ordinance 82 2025 26 first reading an ordinance amending the zoning code and map of the city of clarksville Application of Tanya Bosley for a zone change on a parcel located at the northwest corner of the Rossview Road and Bosley Lane intersection from R1 Single Family Residential District to C5 Highway and Arterial Commercial District. And Ordinance 83-2025-26, first reading, an ordinance amending the zoning code and map of the City of Clarksville. Application of Todd Morris for a zone change on a parcel located on the western frontage of Industrial Drive. 700 plus or minus feet to the north of the West Dunbar Cave Road. An Industrial Drive intersection from M1 Light Industrial District to C5 Highway and Arterial Commercial District.

Councilman Streetman.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Madam Clerk. Mayor, I move we go into public hearing.

Motion been made and properly seconded to revert to public hearing. Without objection, we are now in public hearing. The first item on our public hearing agenda is Item A, Ordinance 71-2025-26, an ordinance amending the zoning code and map of the City of Clarksville, application of Casey and Beth Brown Community Property Trust. Is there anyone in the audience that wishes to speak in favor of Ordinance 71? Is there anyone in the audience that wishes to speak against Ordinance 71? Next item is Item B, Ordinance 79-2025-26, an ordinance amending the zoning code and map of the City of Clarksville, application of Marvin Pitts. Is there anyone in the audience that wishes to speak in favor of Ordinance 79? Is there anyone in the audience that wishes to speak against Ordinance 79? Next item is Item C, Ordinance 82, 2025-26, an ordinance amending the zoning code and map of the City of Clarksville, application of Tanya Bosley. Is there anyone in the audience that wishes to speak in favor of Ordinance 82? Yes, sir. Please come forward. Again, as a reminder, we allow two people to speak in favor and two to speak against. So if you would, give us your name, and you have five minutes.

Okay. Jeff Parnell, I'm the real estate agent representing the seller. I've been involved in this process now for a couple of years, trying to get this rezoned. The entire time we have been trying to get a daycare center and a retail center on this land. We've gone through a couple of developers now. The requests have followed what the city has asked us to do. Time after time, we have tried to follow the guidelines. We have tried to follow the requests. We have done everything we know to do on our side to make this what you guys want it to be. And we just haven't been approved. And from what I can tell, it's not because of what we're proposing. It's always a technicality. And so the prayer tonight included a request for unity. The reality is I'm hoping every single person on this board votes yes for our request tonight. I hope every single one of you does. There have been some concerns shown. Some of those are with the C5 zoning. The reality is I'm not really sure why. specifically. There has been concern about what could be there in the future. The reality is I don't think anything that is going to be of concern in the future is going to happen in the future. Once we build what we're going to build, and we are going to build it if you allow us to, nobody's going to buy a $5 million property with buildings on it to tear it down to build a I don't know, an oil change place or something like that. They're not going to do it. It's not possible. The money doesn't make sense. It's not economically feasible. There was a concern about safety of the kids. There are state regulations regarding the design. Now, I didn't know this. I've learned a lot through this process. But there are a lot of state regulations when it comes to daycare centers, a lot. That's why you don't hear about kids getting hit at daycare centers. It doesn't happen. The design of this has taken that into account, our design before the regulations and the regulations too. So really, I hope that's not a real concern. I hope you find it to vote for it. And we're talking about over four acres of land in a commercial corridor on a state highway less than half a mile from a major interstate interchange. This does not need to be a single house. This needs to be a development that serves the constituents of the ward that it's in. And that's what we're trying to do. I don't have kids, so I didn't think about a daycare center when I listed this property. But now that one's been proposed, it makes so much sense. The mothers in that area who have a kid that's not going to school yet but needs to go to daycare and a kid that goes to school and they need to go to work, This property being next to the school is just perfect for that. It's going to help those mothers deal with that every single morning. It's going to give people jobs. It's needed in the community. The retail center is not going to have any uses that are going to be a detriment to the daycare. It can't. The daycare has to be successful. It has to be. Which means we can't have a pawn shop or a vape shop or a tobacco shop or any other gross thing in the front. We can't for our economics to work. So there have been concerns. Honestly, I think we've addressed them all. I hope we've addressed them all. If we hadn't, I would like to be given an opportunity to do that. I really am hopeful that when it comes time to make a motion, we're in Ward 11. I'm hoping that the rest of the board allows Mr. to make the motion first. And if he is in favor of it, to allow him, as the elected official over that ward who knows his constituents best, allow him to make the first motion. If it gets a second, great. If it gets approved, great. If it doesn't, we'll back up and punt. But I really do hope that we have addressed all the concerns. I think we have. And I really do hope there is unity and every single person votes for it.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Parnell. Questions? Councilman Streetman, you're recognized. Yes. Hang on a minute, Mr. Parnell. We've got questions.

First of all, to clarify, the process is, and you'll hear me say this in a little while, due to the recommendation of our legal counsel, all motions will be in the form of approval. So when it's brought forward, I'll be making the motion for approval because that's what I'm required to do. However, I will be voting against it. I voted against it at the RPC. I am not in favor of this being a C5. I said that already. I spoke about it last week. If this was just a daycare, I wouldn't take issue with it. But, and you know, that was why I'd previously tried to see if there was a way to bring it back forward where we could look at it as a pod daycare only. and work out something, because like you said, it would be convenient there with the school. However, the school's not going to allow access to there, so it's not like it's going to be easy to get in and out of there for parents that need to go to both. So, I mean, they're going to have to go up, come back. It all depends on which direction they're going or whether or not it's going to be easy or not. And again, with it being anything beyond just a daycare, the school system has already said no connection would be allowed. with that talking about it being a daycare there I'm not you know in favor of it having the c5 right there in front I have talked to people because granted I know it is in Ward 11 but Ward 10 is right there as well and I have talked to residents in the area that do not want additional business being located heavily right along there when you've already got quite a bit right there so My vote's not going to change. Not a technicality. I am not in favor of this, and my vote will stay that way. So thank you.

You're welcome to address her concerns.

I didn't hear a question there.

It's not a matter of question. It's a comment or question.

Fair enough.

Councilman Shekinah, do you recognize?

Yes, thank you, Mayor. Thank you, sir, for that presentation. And I do support this, and I spoke last week in favor of commercial development. The constituents that I've spoken with, and I've spoken with a lot of them off of Rossview Road, and I live off of Rossview Road, and I, along with many of them, would love to see things that we can go to on Rossview Road versus going to Exit 4 and things like that. That area, the traffic is not going to change in that area because you're talking about coming off the interstate, to a four lane and emerges into a one lane as we go further down on Rossview. So both ways up and down Rossview until it's widened, we're going to have a problem there. But I would like to see this versus in the future seeing some apartments get put up there. So I strongly support it and I encourage some of my fellow council members to support it as well. Thank you.

Councilman Brown, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mayor. So I just want to mention I was one that brought up about the traffic with the parking lot and the traffic there of businesses. And, you know, we got the email today that shows kind of the design. You know, and that does ease my mind a little bit on, you know, the path that the parents will be taking and where the kids will be dropped off. I would think that on the back of the commercial retail side up front, it's probably going to be employee parking won't be much traffic there where the kids are getting dropped off. So I appreciate the email that shows some of the design. I know we can't hold you to that design, but at least we see some good faith effort on showing what you're wanting to do. So I appreciate that.

Thank you. That is the design. Of course, little things may change for engineering reasons, but that is the design. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Councilman Chandler, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mayor. How many children... are planning on being enrolled here?

I don't know the answer to that. About 150.

About 150 kids. And how many in the up front part, how many different stores will there be?

six or seven depending on the sizes.

I'll save my comment for where the comment section is. Thank you.

Okay.

Any more questions or comments from Mr Parnell? Thank you sir. Thank you. Is there anyone else in the audience that wishes to speak in favor of ordinance 82? Anyone in the audience wish to speak against ordinance 82? Next item is item D, ordinance 83, 2025-26, an ordinance amending the zoning code and map of the city of Clarksville, application of Todd Morris. Is there anyone in the audience that wishes to speak in favor of ordinance 83? Mr. Ross, if you would give us your name, and you have five minutes.

Thank you, Mayor. stanley ross i represent the applicant mr todd morris we are here to ask the council to approve a rezoning request from m1 to a less intensive c5 use over off of the business park off west dunbar cave road my client is asking for this because he's he's got a parcel there he's already got a couple of buildings there they're fairly new he runs his office out of there and we feel like this is a more use that's in line with kind of what's over there, what is needed there, and additionally with the comprehensive growth plan and future land use map, which calls for a commercial industrial hybrid in the area. like i said mr morris's office is over there if he were and he's got a couple of buildings on that track i think if he were to bring a tenant in we think like a c5 type tenant will be a lot more palatable to other businesses including his own as opposed to an m1 use so that's why we're asking for that i would mention that this kind of seems to be where this This area is moving. There was a rezoning in the last six or 12 months out there, about two parcels down that made the exact same request that the council approved. So given that we didn't have negative department comments, we're going to a less intensive use, and this is in line with that commercial industrial hybrid area. We would ask you to approve our rezoning request, and I'll be happy to answer any questions, keeping in mind that we don't actually have a proposed use out there that would be speculative at this time.

Thank you, Mr. Ross. Councilman Brown, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mayor. So, Mr. Ross, of course, this is in my ward, and I've driven by there quite a few times. So pretty much the way I understand it, they're just wanting to be able to market it a little bit differently. Yes, sir. Because those buildings are brand new, Brad. i can't imagine them wanting to tear those down right and do something different so and you know like you said we just rezoned some to c5 just down from it and i don't at this moment i don't see any reason to oppose it it's not a manufacturing area anymore since we have industrial park and all this is quite changed that area a little bit, so that's just my comment on it.

Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions for Mr. Ross or comments? Thank you, sir. Thank you. Is there anyone else in the audience that wishes to speak in favor of Ordinance 83? Anyone in the audience wish to speak against Ordinance 83? Councilman Streetman.

Thank you, Mayor. Mayor, I move we go back into regular session.

Motion been made to revert to regular session. Properly seconded. We are back in regular session. Councilman Streetman.

Thank you. Based on the recommendation by our legal counsel, all motions will be in the form of approval. Ordinance 71-20-25-26, first reading. An ordinance amending the zoning code and map of the City of Clarksville, application of Casey and Beth Brown Community Property Trust, for a zone change on property located along the northern frontage of Merchants Boulevard, 980 plus or minus feet west of its intersection with Merchants Court from C3 Regional Shopping Center District to C5 Highway and Arterial Commercial District. Both the Regional Planning Commission and the staff recommended approval and ISO move.

Motion been made and properly seconded in favor of Ordinance 71. Any comment or question regarding this ordinance? Seeing none, hearing none, are you ready to vote? All members, please cast your vote. Every member voted. Any member wish to change their vote? Madam Clerk, please take the vote.

13 yes, 0 no, 0 abstain.

Ordinance 71 passes. First reading. Councilman Streetman.

Ordinance 79, 20, 25, 26. First reading. An ordinance amending the zoning code and map of the City of Clarksville application of Marvin Pitts for a zone change on a parcel located on the northern frontage of Craft Street 780 plus or minus feet west of the Craft Street and College Street intersection from M4 General Industrial District to C5 Highway and Arterial Commercial District. The Regional Planning Commission and the staff recommended approval and ISO move.

Motion to be made and properly seconded in favor of Ordinance 79. Councilman Smith, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mayor. Can someone tell me how far is this from Frost and Mullen where we're thinking about putting the apartments down there for senior citizens? Can someone tell me how far that's from there?

Well, if you're a golfer, which we already heard from a golfer, it's probably a one wood and a three iron maybe from Frosty Morn. It's just up from the bowling alley across from, well, where they just tore down the old Red River block and near where Merritt Building Supply used to be, if that helps.

What do they plan to build?

Well, this has a building already on it.

So what they're wanting to do, Mayor?

They're just changing the zoning classification.

For what reason?

Well, that's a good question, but I would say to give them a little more flexibility in this use.

Is it going to bring in more environmental industrial pollution? That's what I want to know because I know we want to build some senior citizens building not far from it, and I know we don't need any more pollution down there if we want to put these senior citizens down there. So I'm not against building or something. I just want to know if this is going to cause more environmental problems because we're trying to build sustainable neighborhoods, and we don't want the environment to choke them out.

So I just want to know. Mayor, may I interject a comment?

You sure can.

My understanding is.

Hang on, just let me get you recognized. Your mic's on.

My understanding is it's Brothers Tire Service. They've been in business quite some time and are just being asked to come into compliance with the zoning. Okay.

Councilman Streetman, did you want to offer clarity?

Well, I was just waiting to say it's even stated right here in our packet that we received. The applicant statement is to make the current business compliant with zoning and conform with zoning in the general area. As was stated from the previous council person, it's a tire shop. This is just not allowing them to continue doing that. And I know that the person asking this question had been concerned about the industrial zoning being nearby. This is actually a downgrade going from M2 to C5.

Okay. So if you're saying it's a downgrade.

It is, yes. Okay.

All right. Thank you.

Thank you. Any more comment or question regarding this ordinance? Seeing none, hearing none, are you ready to vote? All members, please cast your vote. And for the record, I am not related to Marvin Pitts. Every member voted. Any member wish to change their vote? Madam Clerk, please take the vote.

13 yes, 0 no, 0 abstain.

Ordinance 79 passes for first reading. Councilman Streetman.

Ordinance 82-20-25-26, first reading. An ordinance amending the zoning code and map of the City of Clarksville Application of Tanya Bosley for a zone change on a parcel located at the northwest corner of the Rossview Road and Bosley Lane intersection from R1 Single Family Residential District to C5 Highway and Arterial Commercial District. The Regional Planning Commission staff recommended disapproval. The Regional Planning Commission recommended approval. An ISO move.

Motion been made and properly seconded in favor of Ordinance 82. Any comment or question regarding Ordinance 82? Councilman Streetman, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mayor. I have already, of course, spoken against this last week. You heard my comments earlier in the public hearing session. Yes, we did receive a set of plans, but as a reminder, they're not beholden to this. I know that He also stated when he was up here that they were looking to have five or six stores, yet in the email that we received earlier today, it was, well, one medical office and maybe a coffee shop is what they had in mind. So once the zoning is through, there's no say up here as to what happens there. He even stated, too, well, there may have to be some changes with the design. So I just want to make that perfectly clear. We cannot base our vote off of this because We don't get to vote on this at this level. This is strictly just the zoning.

Councilman Chandler, you're recognized. Thank you, Mayor. I'm not belittling anybody, but when you ask a person that comes in to speak about something that's supposed to be this important and how many children, I don't know, hold on, how many bitches up front, I don't know, hold on, I'm totally and completely against this. The reason why is every now and then, not very often, but every now and then I drive this to go get on the interstate to go to Nashville. And the time frame that parents are going to be dropping kids off, the time frame that they're going to be picking kids up will be real close to the time frames that schools are getting out. 150 kids... Let's say that somebody's unfortunate enough to have twins, that's 75 cars on the road. And, well, five or six businesses up front. Again, like the councilwoman from Ward 10 said, once we approve this, you know, well, we can't say, unless there's a law that covers it, we can't say, well, you can't put this in here. And so we're kind of punching in the dark of proving this. And I've been against any development right here all because of the amount of money that has been spent trying to negate a lot of the traffic problems in the area. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you.

Councilman Smith, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm for this because there was no citizens coming in to speak against this. And I think it's good. They do need a daycare center out there. It's near school. And most people pick their children up after the traffic is gone around 6 p.m. at these daycares. And so I don't see a reason to deny this. I think that it is a downgrade from hard industrial. It is a C5. And so I think...

Point of information, Councilman Streetman, you recognize?

Yes, sir. The previous one was a downgrade. This is a change from R1 to C5.

Okay, thank you.

Councilman Smith. Okay, thank you, Mayor. But you just said over here at the last one we voted down it was a downgrade on this C5 highway and arterial commercial that we just talked about on Craft Street. It was. That's what I'm saying. So I think it's a downgrade here. It doesn't matter. The man is not going to put – anything over here like a mechanic shop or anything like that. I think we do need that daycare center. And, you know, I didn't see any citizens coming up against this. I think we need to let this man build a daycare center because it is needed. You know, that way we don't have to go across town. This will help parents who have students at the school near where they want to build. So I don't see no reason to deny this. I THINK THIS MAN SAID HE HAS TRIED TO WORK WITH THIS COUNCIL AND MEET ALL OF THE STANDARDS THAT WE REQUIRED, AND HE'S BEEN BEFORE US, I BELIEVE, BEFORE, IF I'M NOT MISTAKEN, BUT I DON'T SEE WHY WE KEEP DENYING SOMETHING THAT WE KNOW IS NEEDED IN THIS CITY. WE NEED DAYCARES. WE HAVE STUDENTS GOING TO SCHOOL. THERE'S AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL RIGHT DOWN THE STREET FROM IT, AND THIS WOULD ALSO BE CONVENIENT FOR THE PARENTS WHO HAVE TO GET TO WORK. of such. So we need to think about this. If the citizens are not complaining against this, there was nobody against it. And so I think we need to think about this. Let the man build. He's trying to help parents who are single parents trying to get to work. And I don't think it's going to be that big of a difference when it comes to traffic. I mean, you know, we're going to always have traffic. You ain't going to be able to stop traffic. It's something we're going to have for the rest of our life. I don't care what you do, how you fix it. We're going to still have traffic. Thank you, Mayor.

Councilman Shekinah, you're recognized.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. I truly support this for various reasons, and to include the commuters that live in that area. You have a lot of residential areas right there. You have even some of the teachers that may have children prior to going to work. They can drop off their children right there. The guys getting on the interstate that live in that area before school even starts they can drop their children off at the daycare And the same thing when they come back from work, so it's convenient for a lot of the residents and for that part I'm really for it and I hope Some of you all are for as well.

Thank you Thank You councilman Streetman you recognized.

Thank you. I just want to clarify for the public that It's currently zoned R1, which is the lowest level of residential zoning that you can have. C5 is the highest level of commercial that you can have. M1 and M2, those are industrial uses, not residential and not commercial. Now, again, I'll say, had this just been a daycare, I would not have an issue with it. But it's the other components. There were other levels of commercial that could have been looked at beyond C5, but they chose to go with the absolute highest level, opening up any opportunity to go in there. That's my two bites at the apple. I won't speak on it again, sir.

Councilman Clonch, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I concur with Councilwoman from Ward 10. If it had just been a daycare center, I would be for it, but with the commercial building in front of it, it's no bueno.

That's all, sir. Thank you. Any more comment or question regarding this ordinance? Seeing none, hearing none, are you ready to vote? All members, please cast your vote. Every member voted. Any member wish to change their vote? Madam Clerk, please take the vote.

Nine yes, four no, zero abstain.

Ordinance 82 passes. First reading, Councilman Streetman.

Ordinance 83-20-25-26, an ordinance amending the zoning code and map of the City of Clarksville Application of Todd Morris for a zone change on a parcel located on the western frontage of Industrial Drive, 700 plus or minus feet to the north of the West Dunbar Cave Road and Industrial Drive intersection from M1 Light Industrial District to C5 Highway and Arterial Commercial District. The Regional Planning Commission staff recommended disapproval. The Regional Planning Commission recommended approval and ISO move.

Motion has been made and properly seconded in favor of ordinance 83. Councilman Brown, you're recognized.

Thank you, mayor. I understand, you know, C5 like to be on a major thoroughfare where this is a street that runs directly off of Wilma Rudolph Boulevard. So to me, I'd rather it be a C5 than an M1, you know, where we're putting industrial park equipment there. So, To me, this is the way this area is kind of moving toward, and so I'm going to be in favor of this.

Thank you. Councilman Streetman, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm in favor of this one as well. It's in an area with other C5 zonings. I mean, two parcels up the road, you've got it. This is all this mainly is in this entire business park. And one of the things that we've learned through the process of, The new process that we've put in place some time ago where you have to get the zoning, you have to show that you have the proper zoning in order to be able to operate the business there. That is where a lot of this has caused changes to need to be made because you have several businesses that are operating in an area that actually fall in the C5 zoning versus the M1. So like my fellow council person from Ward 9 just said, you have a lot of C5 businesses already operating in this business park.

Any more comment or question regarding ordinance 83? Seeing none, Councilman Smith, you're recognized.

I just hope that we all vote in favor of this. I think it's a good idea. Thank you.

Thank you. Any more comment or question? All right. Every member ready to vote? All members, please cast your vote. Every member voted. Any member wish to change their vote? Madam Clerk, please take the vote.

13 yes, 0 no, 0 abstain.

Ordinance 83 passes. First reading. Councilman Streetman.

That concludes my report, Mayor.

All right. Hear that back there? All right. We're ready for the consent agenda. Madam Clerk, please read the consent agenda.

All items in this portion of the agenda are considered to be routine and non-controversial by the council and may be approved by one motion. However, a member of the council may request that an item be removed for separate consideration under the appropriate committee report. Ordinance 51, 2025-26, second reading, an ordinance amending the zoning code and map of the City of Clarksville, application of CGH properties for a zone change on 1182 Rossview Road from R1 single-family residential district to C1 neighborhood commercial district. Ordinance 58, 2025-26, second reading, an ordinance amending the zoning code and map of the City of Clarksville, Application of Infinity Investment for a zone change on a parcel located on the western frontage of Seven Mile Ferry Road, 1,450 plus or minus feet south of its intersection with Pumping Station Road from R1 Single Family Residential District to R3 Three Family Residential District. Ordinance 67, 2025-26, second reading, an ordinance authorizing the exercise of the right of eminent domain to acquire easements and rights of way for utility improvements required to facilitate design and construction of various projects. Ordinance 68, 2025-26, second reading, an ordinance approving the conveyance of certain real property from the city of Clarksville to the Clarksville Montgomery County Museum. Ordinance 72-2025-26, second reading, an ordinance amending the zoning code and map of the City of Clarksville, application of Richard Garrett for a zone change on property located on the northwest corner of the intersection of Trenton Road and Hay Street from R1 Single Family Residential District to 01 Office District. Ordinance 73-2025-26, second reading, an ordinance amending the zoning code and map of the City of Clarksville, application of Raul Lozano for a zone change on property located along the eastern frontage of Center Road, 180 plus or minus feet south of its intersection with Britton Springs Road from RM1, single family mobile home residential district, to R4, multiple family residential district. Ordinance 75-2025-26, second reading, an ordinance amending the zoning code and map of the city of Clarksville, application of Paul Richard Pinkstaff for a zone change on property fronting on the east frontage of Fantasy Lane, 325 plus or minus feet north of the Fantasy Lane and Candlewood Court intersection from R1 single-family residential district to R1A single-family residential district. Resolution 62 2025 26 a resolution repealing certificates and compliance for liquor barrel at four Leland Drive and Iron Oak Wine and Spirits at 2631 US 41 a bypass Resolution 67 2025 26 a resolution approving a certificate of compliance for sale of wine in a food store at Wawa's number 7015 located at 1290 Parkway Place Resolution 68 2025 26 a resolution approving appointments to the after-hours Establishment Board the Arts and Heritage Council the Community Action Agency Economic Development Council the Human Relations Commission the museum board the power board and the tree board and the adoption of minutes from April 29th the special session on May 7th and the regular session on May 7 Thank You madam clerk.

I'll entertain a motion in a second On the consent agenda, properly motioned, properly seconded. Councilman Clonch, you're recognized on the consent agenda.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to pull ordinance 582526.

That's item B. We'll take that up without objection right after the adoption of the consent agenda. Councilman Holloman, you're recognized on the consent agenda.

Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to pull ordinance 75202526. Okay. Thank you.

I'll also take that up following Item B, Ordinance 58. Councilman Peters, you're recognized.

Well, I just wanted to register a no vote here. Ordinance 51, 2025-26, Ordinance 67, 2025-26, and Resolution 67, 2025-26. Okay, thank you.

Councilman Chandler, you're recognized.

Yes, Mayor, I would like to pull...

Never mind. I'm not there yet. Sorry. That's all right. Councilman Smith on the consent agenda.

Yes. I'd like to arrest a no vote on 62, Resolution 62 and Resolution 67. Thank you, Mayor.

Okay. Thank you. Any more questions or comments regarding the consent agenda? All right. Are you ready to vote on the consent agenda? All members, please cast your vote. Every member voted. Any member wish to change their vote? Madam Clark, please take the vote.

13 yes, 0 no, 0 abstain.

The consent agenda is adopted. We're now going to take up item B, ordinance 58, 2025-26. Councilman Clonch, you pulled that, so I'm going to come to you for the reading of the title of the ordinance and a motion. You're recognized. If you'll just read it and then make a motion, then we'll discuss it.

Thank you, Mayor. Ordinance... 58, 25, 26, an ordinance amending the zoning code and map of the City of Clarksville application of Infinity Investments LLC for a zone change on a parcel located on the western frontage of 7 Mile Ferry Road, 1,450 feet plus or minus south of the intersection with Pumping Station Road from R1, single-family resident district, to R3, three-family residential district.

Motion been made. Do I hear a second? Properly seconded. Councilman Clonch, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I appreciate you guiding me through that. I'm fallible and I'm learning as we go.

We all are.

We are all not perfect. I have received over the course of when this started at the RPC so many emails against this nearly daily from the residents in that area. I have Previously utilized the conservation club been up and down that road with a boat many times circa 2012 to about 2016 when this was brought up again. I understand we need housing. I also don't believe that. $400,000 is affordable housing. I know that it was previously said it would be 340 to 360. The mean income of Clarksville, TN is between 38 and 41,000 per individual. Two family homes, that isn't affordable housing. So to say this is creating affordable housing, it is not. To also say that we need 78, 80 homes in that area with the road the way that it is, is not it. Understanding that the developer has conceded to invest more monies to widen the road. I believe, sir, there's some debate on the ability to do that with easements and who owns the land next to. It was recently brought up to my attention within the last 36 hours about the grade and the winter and understanding that's a county road, it getting serviced and how individuals that live there already have to park at the bottom of the hill in a gentleman's construction office. So there's just so many issues with doubling the amount of homes to go up there. And I have received, besides a previous ordinance, I have received more emails and calls about this specifically saying no. Wrote up there a couple days ago, and sat and parked and i know i used the term vibe previously but it is the conservation club for a reason it is a small community we're not saying don't build houses we're saying we don't need 80 houses up there the 42 or what is i'm sure my councilman from Councilwoman from Ward 10 will clarify, but I believe it was 42 originally. That's 44. It's good enough as opposed to doubling that, the cars, the traffic. And I hadn't even talked about the bypass. That's all I have, sir.

Councilman Holloman on Ordinance 58.

Yes, Mayor. Thank you, Mayor. All right. So just a few points. Like the residents have been pretty vocal about it. They've... they would rather not have the road improvements and keep it the zone that it's currently at than for the zone to be changed and then have the road improvements. If you are turning out on the bypass, there is already kind of, it's not an unofficial area, but you can make a right and make a left already on the bypass where that entrance is, like a gravel area. And so it's, you know, we don't want the road improvements. Like that's just kind of what it boils down to. Like we're done with these, these houses and these developments, this higher density. We have a 33% tax increase coming up that we are arguing about and a lot of drama. So here's something that we all need to think about on the council, okay? So the reason we have a tax increase is because we've had this unbridled growth for so many years, just constant grow, grow, grow. So now we've got to propose a tax increase. How is it fair for us to say, okay, yeah, we need a tax increase. We're going to raise your taxes, and then turn around and say, oh, it's okay that it goes higher density, even though we're raising your taxes because we approved a bunch of high-density residential zoning and the roads are terrible and no one obeys traffic laws, you know. But, yeah, we've got to approve this higher density here, you know. That's really the nature of it. So really what we need to do is we either need to work on a reasonable tax increase in order to get the city stabilized, and vote down all new high-density zonings because this high-density zoning is what caused us to be in this tax crunch to begin with, but we do not need to be voting for this. Let's see, what else I got here? And yeah, I think that's about it. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilman Streetman, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mayor. First of all, I do want to make a clarification. Last week, when I was asking questions of the street department, I also asked a question of Mr. Tindall in the audience regarding the traffic assessment and whether it came back as an F. I was incorrect in my question, and the answer I got was a yes, so it was not. The intersection is not an F. It is an E, which is... little less failing than F. Mr. Tindall did clarify when I clarified with him later that yes, while it is an E that is still failing, but it is only fair to get it put out there that it is an E, not an F, so I apologize for that misstatement. In regard to what we heard from Mr. Smith, even if this, and to answer the earlier question, the question was how many homes the agent for this flat out said that What they would do if it was R1 would be 40 homes. They said they would stay to the 40 homes because that's what they had said. If it wasn't rezoned, they would build 40 homes in here. So there's your answer from that one. However, Mr. Smith did say that it would be likely, even with 40 homes, there would still need to be improvements to this road so it's not as though just just uh approving more homes is gonna you know lead the way for improvements to occur along here but that it would be likely that any that any development with 40 homes would also uh potentially lead to more development more improvements along those roads he also talked to us about what would have to occur that it wouldn't just be within there that there would have to be property purchased. So I appreciate that we've heard from every side here. I was previously looking at this from if it was going to be able to connect some other way, then I thought it was going to be a way that this would be able to work. But with it connecting to that 75-mile ferry road, I cannot see where this would be advantageous to be able to have it back there and I know it was stated that let the developers be the one to make the improvements to the roads instead of the taxpayers. We're doing that. There are different areas. There's one that's been pushed back at the RPC until we can get them to make some developments along there. Um, then again, that goes right along with what Mr. Smith said last week that even with 40 homes, we're going to require some developments to come along there. So my stance has not changed. I'm still a no vote on this. I was a no vote previously. I'm a no vote this month as well. I just don't think this is right. Looking at this one parcel right here with that connection going there as far back as it is and adding that level of traffic.

Councilman Chandler, you recognize. Thank you, mayor. Right now, I haven't pushed my button yet, so I have a problem with the offer that the developer put out. If we rezone it, he will do X, Y, and Z. My problem lies in that if we don't rezone it, he's going to come in there and do no more than he absolutely has to to save money. And then where is that going to put the city and the street department? This is a pretty big if. If we turn it down, he can still build 40 homes. If we approve it, he's going to build more. And I'll take him at his word that he's going to do the improvement. So that's all I got to say, Mayor.

Thank you. Councilman Brown, you're recognized. Thank you, Mayor. A lot of times we're asking developers to help with the road improvements. I remember in the early 2000s when the state was going to widen Rossview Road from interstate to 374. Everybody out there complained a lot about it. The state took that money and went somewhere else. Guess who's having to fund it now? We're having to fund a lot of the road improvements on Rossview Road. So this is an opportunity to where the developer is saying he's going to do this, and he's not from out of town. He'll be back for more zoning, and if they don't stick to their word, we remember that. But it's an opportunity to get some of that road widened. I've pulled a boat down there to the Conservation Club. This may widen the front part of it, but the back part's not going to change any. It's not going to get widened past there. That's still going to be the same, but this is an opportunity to help get some additional area at the front more compatible to traffic to drive on.

Thank you. Thank you. Any more comment or question regarding Ordinance 58? Hearing none, seeing none, are you ready to vote? All members, please cast your vote. Every member voted. Any member wish to change their vote? Madam Clerk, please take the vote.

Six yes, seven no, zero abstain.

Ordinance 58 fails. We're now on another item we pulled from the consent agenda, item G, Ordinance 75, 2025-26. Councilman Holloman, you pulled that, so I'm going to come to you for the reading of the ordinance and the motions.

Thank you, Mayor. Ordinance 75-2025-26, second reading an ordinance amending the zoning code and map of the City of Clarksville. Application of Paul Richard Pinkstaff for a zone change on property fronting on the east frontage of Fantasy Lane, 325 plus minus feet north of the Fantasy Lane and Candlewood Court intersection from R1 Single Family Residential District to R1A Single Family Residential District. I make a motion for approval.

Motion been made and properly seconded in favor of Ordinance 75. Councilman Holloman, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mayor. So I went ahead and I decided to pull this one. I do think we should vote it down. If you look at the map on the zones, we've discussed in the past about finger zoning. So like... This is an R1A and an R1 area. Across the road, it's all R1. In the subdivision that it's in, it's all R1. But if you look across the road, there's a little bit of R1 and a little bit of R1A. This is the same kind of concept as the finger development. They just take one little finger on the map, and they put it on the subdivision. And then next thing you know, it's like R1A. You've got two fingers, R1A. Oh, look, we've got all kinds of R1A. Let's just rezone the whole place R1A. So then it goes to a higher density. That's typically what happens. I did have a resident reach out and he emailed me an appraisal. I can pass this around if you want. From what I'm reading right here on the appraisal, and this is of the property, but it says the subject's current value as is, the current as is value considering the highest and best use under an extraordinary assumption that the lot can be subdivided into two R1 residential lots. And so I'll just pass that around if you want to take a look at it. But I do feel like we need to vote it down because we do know these high-density zonings, they spread like plagues. And so we've got to stop the plague. So thank you.

Councilman Holloman on Ordinance 75, excuse me. You're right, Councilman Streetman, excuse me. Sorry.

Got my hair a little lighter. All right, all right, I'm old.

Okay, I get it.

I do want to just remind everybody with this one, and yes, there is R1A right across the street. As it currently stands as R1, it can actually be divided into three lots. Three lots that it can be divided into. If it were to be rezoned as R1A, it can be divided into three lots. This does not change the number of lots that are available. It only changes how they can be done. If it is left as an R1 and divided into three lots, as was stated and explained to us by the Regional Planning Commission, it would have to actually essentially be like a flag lot. So you'd have two lots in the front and one lot in the back. By rezoning it from an R1 to an R1A, it would allow you to have three lots side by side. So that is the only, there's no increase in density by going to this. It's going to be exactly similar to what you have across the street. You have, and by across the street, same street you're taking, one of the streets you're taking to get into that neighborhood. So I still say that this makes sense to make this move from R1 to the very next, very small, moderate step of R1A with the exact same density that's already available today.

Councilman Holloman, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mayor. Ward 10, that was well spoken. That makes a lot of sense. But the thing is, we've all seen it up here, the finger on the map. One R1A, and another development goes, oh, I'm just going to do another R1A so I can squeeze out another extra few lots on XYZ lot that's next to it. We've seen this time and time again, and we know what's going to happen if this passes. But that's all. Thank you.

Councilman Clonch, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. One-tenth council person, thank you, because I do remember this at the RPC. It is, again, three homes can be built. Are they flagged or are they dress right dress from the street? The difference of if I'm in my backyard, if it's flagged, I'm potentially looking into the person's house behind me. My backyard is their side yard. That make sense? As opposed to having them dress right dress all lined up. Three houses, three houses. Are they dress right dress or are they flagged? That's all I have, sir.

Any more comment or question regarding Ordinance 75? Seeing none, hearing none, are you ready to vote? All members, please cast your vote. Every member voted. Any member wish to change their vote? Madam Clerk, please take the vote.

11 yes, 2 no, 0 abstain.

Ordinance 75 is adopted. We're now ready for the Finance Committee report. Chairman Streetman, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mayor. Ordinance 74-2025-25, an ordinance to amend the official code of the City of Clarksville amending Title 10 offenses miscellaneous to create a new chapter relative to parking and parking violations and 10 sections therein pertaining to parking and parking violations within city limits and amend the official code of the City of Clarksville by deleting Title I, Administration, Officers and Personnel, Chapter 19, Clarksville Parking Commission. The Finance Committee did vote in favor of approval of this. Mayor, I would like to cede the floor to the sponsor of this ordinance, Councilman Joe Shakinib.

Councilman Shakinib, you're recognized. Okay, thank you, Mayor.

If you'll give us a motion motion, um, I'll make a motion that we accept this.

We approve this motion been made and properly seconded in favor of ordinance 74 councilman Shakina.

All right. Um, I spoke at length on this last week. Um, so I'm not going to go over all the things that I talked about last week. I just want to put a few highlights out there. Um, Each meeting here on the council we have a host of issues that we hear. Every week there are numerous undertakings that we can engage in as individual council members. Based on my monthly engagement on the parking commission over the past three plus years, I truly feel that it is my duty to bring this important issue to the council. We need to move forward. because the current parking configuration, especially it being an enterprise, is not working. It hasn't worked since the years that I've been on it. And if it's not working and I don't say anything, then to me I failed in my duties. But again, it's up to the council. I have heard a lot of support about a needed change. Some who have served as commissions on the parking commission. I've also heard some skepticism of not now by some. Every month on the parking commission, since I've been there, we have business owners, some on the commission and some that attend, and they address issues, their concerns. And as a commission, we've worked real hard to try to accommodate a lot of those concerns. But seemingly, we continue to fall short on that endeavor. And again, I ask myself what can be done to kind of put a fix to some of the things that we really need to look at and do. We did interviews as commissioners. We did interviews with various individuals that park downtown, some that work downtown, and we heard their concerns and we gathered all the information. So I don't feel that at this point we need a study of any type of we've been studying this for years. We even had the Desmond study, um, paid a lot of money to come in. Matter of fact, we've had it twice now, um, when it was a parking authority and as a commission. So we don't need that. Um, parking is a continuous, uh, contentious issue of various interest groups, um, especially downtown. So there is no one solution that can fix this problem. Um, it must be continually engaged. But again, the parking commission has been doing that, but the commission has continued to fail short to fall short. Therefore, um, it is my, my duty again to bring this to a, to the next level, um, for the next level of engagement, which is the council. Um, if, um, and I do see one, one, um, amendment, which is good. Um, I thought we'd have more by now, but one is still good. Um, But I really want to kind of praise those individuals that have served on the commission for many years, that have worked to try to find solutions, everything from ParkMobile, understanding how it works, and putting that information out to the users, to trying to figure out how to best accommodate the businesses downtown. So I hope you support this ordinance or an amendment thereof, and we can go to the next step. But again, this is not a one fire and forget. This is not a fire and fixed because there are way too many issues concerning parking for one ordinance like this to just fix automatically. It's not going to happen. But again, it's something that needs the council's attention. And that's all I have, Mayor.

Thank you. Speaking of amendments, Councilman Marquis, you're recognized on your amendment.

Thank you. Yes. So I do have the amendment. It is the green one or the green lettered one. So I guess to start and then I'll explain. I'd like to make a motion for my amendment. Motion. Is that my amendment? Mm-hmm.

Motion been made. Do I hear a second? Properly seconded. Councilman Marquis, you're recognized on your amendment.

Thank you. So to start on the first page, you will see in the green lettering that I took out the 10 sections, and there is 12 because I'm adding two sections, called accounting and use. parking revenues and annual parking systems report on page three and the green lettering is what I am adding so in the previous ordinance that is Striped out in red there is an accounting section that we are currently taking out and I believe that we Should have some form of accounting in this new form of ordinance here and this what I put in here is pretty much how REVENUES SHOULD BE UTILIZED, PRETTY MUCH LIKE DEV SERVICE, MAINTENANCE OF PARKING GARAGES OR SURFACE LOTS, AND KEEPING UP WITH THAT. I HAVE REACHED OUT TO FINANCE ABOUT THIS. THEY TELL ME THAT THEIR SOFTWARE IS ALREADY SET UP. THEY CAN KEEP TRACK OF IT. IT'S NOT AN ISSUE ON THEIR PART TO BE ABLE TO KEEP ALL THAT IN ORDER. And then taking all that data, moving it on to the second section that I am adding is the annual parking system report that finance will essentially present to the council because I believe we should be transparent on all funds. SO THEY WOULD TAKE THAT PREVIOUS DATA AND PRESENT IT TO THE COUNCIL DURING THE MAY REGULAR SESSION, SO RIGHT BEFORE BUDGET, SO THAT WAY WE UNDERSTAND AND KNOW WHAT HAS BEEN TRANSPIRING THROUGHOUT THE YEAR WITH REGARDS TO THE PARKING METERS, CITATIONS, GARAGES, AND ALL OF THAT, SO THAT THE COUNCIL IS ALSO IN THE LOOP, AS WELL AS PRESENTED ANNUAL REPORT ON DEBT SERVICE RELATED TO PARKING. And so that's essentially what I'm trying to add is keeping track of that data and that the council is in the loop of knowing that information.

Thank you. Councilman Streetman on the marquee amendment.

Yes, sir. I appreciate the work that was brought before us. This is five and a half pages of amendments to this amendment that we just received today. And there was already a lot to look at and research and dive into with the original change that we had before us. Um, I think. I appreciate the work both individuals have done, but I know that we also heard from the former council person at Deanna McLaughlin in regard to the work that she had originally started on this as well. And there's a lot of questions that need to be clarified, even with what's been brought before us. I've already started having some conversations with people downtown, but I haven't had near the amount of conversations I'd like to have with everybody involved. So for the time being, until more can be looked at and we can try and find a middle ground, because I don't want us to make one fix now and then have to make another change in a few months and then make another change. People are already saying it's been confusing with different changes. throughout for the parking. So this problem did not occur overnight, and I don't think we ought to try to fix it overnight. I'm making a motion to postpone indefinitely.

You're making a motion to postpone the amendment indefinitely?

The whole thing.

Well, we're on the amendment right now.

I know, but I thought usually in the past we've had amendments up and we've been able to make the motion to postpone indefinitely.

I think we need to take the amendment up, and if it passes or fails, then we can take up the motion to postpone indefinitely. okay okay so I didn't hear a second on the motion to postpone indefinitely councilman yeah we we don't we're not gonna take it up because we we will are addressing the amendment councilman Shakina on the amendment yes thank you mayor I think the sponsor for this amendment but again

If we do nothing, then nothing changes. The debt that is over $800,000 continues to increase every month. So, again, I feel that it is our duty to do something, but to do nothing, just to lay in wait, is not the right answer, and that's not going to help the people downtown either because, again, every month they come in and they have concerns. So, again, I think we need to do something. And something is better than nothing and again. There is no one fix to it We've been working on this for the past three years since I've been on the Commission and we haven't fixed all of the issues So there will be no one fix to parking in the city and especially downtown That's all I have thank you councilman Clonch on the amendment Thank You mr. Mayor again.

I would like to thank the Councilperson from Ward 11 and 5. Is there a way to put a deadline on when this gets revisited as opposed to indefinitely? Because I do agree that this has to change. Doing nothing, I used to say this, is insanity. Expecting different results. It appears as though the community with certain issues gets upset when something is proposed as a change where the conversations with My fellow councilperson from Ward 11 has sat on that committee for three years, and I've heard him tell me I've sat in meetings that were four and a half hours long going ticket by ticket by ticket with certain community members, business owners downtown, and their personalities and desire to influence things. So I guess I stated a question and then made a statement. So let me go back to it. Is there a way to put a... We will revisit this at X date. If we say two weeks, that'll give us all time to study, but we will look at this again in two weeks or three weeks or a month as opposed to let's just throw it in the wind and then we'll be having the same issue in six months.

The simple answer is yes. You could motion to postpone to date certain. or as has already been stated earlier, if it's postponed indefinitely, then it would take a procedural maneuver to get it back when we're ready to look at it. So you could put a deadline on it, not right now because we're dealing with the amendment, or we can postpone it indefinitely or none of the above. Does that answer your question?

Yeah, I'm just still so confused.

Okay. I'm confused too. All right. Councilman Chandler, you're recognized on the amendment.

Is it possible to postpone the amendment at a set time?

Yes.

Okay. I'll make a motion that we postpone the amendment until the next regular council meeting. Second.

Motion been made to postpone the marquee amendment until the July regular session. Properly seconded. Now we're debating the motion to postpone the amendment. Councilman Smith on the motion to postpone the amendment.

Yes, I'm going to say something about this amendment. I really appreciate the work that she's trying to do, and I do think that there needs to be something done about the parking situation because over in my ward, we have had many problems with this, and nothing is done. I've even called the chief burner down about this maybe about a year ago. Parking in front of people's mailboxes, in front of the driveways, nothing is done. People are not ticketed, and these people don't even have access to go into their homes because the cars are parked in front of their driveways, in front of their mailboxes. This has been an ongoing problem, an ongoing problem in my ward. You can't even get in and out. You can't even back out the driveway. Cars are just stacked on every road near the college. But something needs to be done. I don't know. And I have a question about this. Is this amendment has anything to do about anybody? I see losing jobs. So this is going to be in collaboration with the police. So we're talking about keeping the person that's handling this situation now. Is this in collaboration with the police department or what? I'm trying to figure that out.

This amendment simply addresses the accounting and reporting function of the parking change. Okay. That's just the amendment.

Okay. Because I see this whole amendment here. So I'm just saying, are we in this amendment? I know it's a whole total amendment here, but it has the whole, um, um, I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WANT TO CALL IT, THE POLICY. I'LL SAY POLICY HERE. BUT IS THIS NOT CHANGING OF THE SHIFTING FROM POLICE TO THE, YOU KNOW, REMOVING ANYBODY? I KNOW IT'S JUST AN AMENDMENT, BUT IT HAS TO HOLD.

The amendment does not, but the ordinance as presented does.

It does? Yes. Okay. All right. Thank you, Mayor. All right. Thank you. Thank you.

You're welcome. Councilman Brown, on the motion to postpone the amendment? Yes. You're recognized.

I think we should go ahead with the amendment, get that out of the way, and added it to the resolution, and then I'm also in favor of postponing the resolution as amended. Okay. That way it's all back into one paper and not having to get amended again the next time when it comes back for that. So, you know, I'll be against postponing the amendment, but I'll be for postponing the resolution as it is.

Councilman Chandler, on the motion to postpone the amendment. Thank you, Mayor.

I really haven't had time to study this. And again, I agree 100% with Councilman from Ward 11. Something needs to be done. But this problem's been going on for years, back when they were parking the mules downtown. And we're going to take this in less than a month and try to straighten it out. So far what I've read, this amendment is well written. I have no problems with it whatsoever. But I want to make sure that we go from step to step to step and get one good plan in. And there's no reason why we can't postpone the amendment till July meeting and then postpone the ordinance till July meeting. and take them both up at the same time. That gives everybody on this council the opportunity to look at this, talk with the chief of police, talk with the city attorney, whoever you need to talk to. But don't do it so quick that in six months we're coming back in going, oh, Lord, what did we do? Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. Of course, it's first reading of the ordinance. We have a second reading next month, but I understand. Councilman Streetman, do you recognize?

Thank you. I agree with the council member from Ward 9. I mean, I say we either voted up or down on the amendment. The thing is, it is an amendment, so if I'm incorrect, legal can correct me on this, but the Roberts rule is not going to apply to that, which means even if we voted it down now, that amendment could come back before us again whenever this was taken back up. I think trying to put I mean you've already heard that I said I'm gonna make a motion whether it's me or if someone else to do it indefinitely until we know it's ready to bring back so that we're not doing something now and doing something again later so like I said I my thought is we vote this up or down now rather than postponing this to July and then if the next thing gets postponed longer than that I don't know how that theoretically would work out

Councilman Shekinah, on the motion to postpone the amendment to July 2026.

Yes, I'm in favor of postponing the amendment until July. I don't think doing nothing is the right answer, especially when we see the problem. So I'm in favor of postponing until July.

Okay. Any more comment or question? Councilman Smith, you're recognized on the motion to postpone until July.

Oh, okay. Well, okay. Yeah, I agree with him. It needs to be postponed to July because I'm sitting here thinking now, are we going to put this in the hands of the police? I know hers is about finance. Are we going to put this in the hands of the director? He's going to keep it. He's going to leave. What are we doing? So we really need to look at this ordinance and rethink research and come up with a solution that's going to work for this city.

Thank you. Any more comment or question regarding the motion to postpone the amendment until July regular session 2026? I see none. Second. Are you ready to vote? Madam Clerk, you got us teed up. All right. We're voting on the motion to postpone until July. I don't know what to do. All right. All right. Here we go. Here we go. All right. Madam Clerk, please take the vote.

Nine yes, four no, zero abstain.

Okay. The marquee amendment is postponed until the July regular session. So we're back on the ordinance as proposed. Councilman Brown, you are recognized on ordinance 76. Five, four. One of those.

Whichever one.

Just pick one.

So, you know, I... I'm not going to make the motion yet because I want to make a comment first before the postponement. The issue I have is the information I got from the attorney's office is if the goal is to have parking citations enforceable in city court, then it's going to have to be a sworn officer that issues those citations. When you have a citation going to city court, it's no longer a $40 ticket. know going to city court has court cost and that ticket can end up being 140 or i'm not sure what the fee is right now for the court cost and the fines but also not in favor of having certified sworn officers going around downtown writing parking tickets and the way the state law is right now that's the way it looks at it would have to be done you know without some changes so Uh-oh.

That's my comment at this moment. Councilman Klotz, you're recognized on the ordinance.

Mr. Mayor, I'm going to try to get this right. I move that we postpone this to the July regular session.

Motion made and properly seconded.

No, we haven't voted on the amendment yet. We voted on postponing it. Yes, we did.

We postponed, it passed to postpone the amendment until July. Yeah, it's confusing, I get it. Okay, so we've got a motion to postpone the ordinance 74 until the July 2026 regular session. Councilman Claunch, you have the floor.

Yes, sir.

Okay, is that it? Second. And properly seconded. Councilman Shekinah, on the motion to postpone the ordinance until July?

Yes, I'm good with that, but I'd also like to challenge the council members here to do due diligence in speaking and come back with some solutions versus saying it's not going to work because it's not working now. So to say it's not going to work is not the answer.

Thank you. Councilman Streetman, you're recognizing the motion to postpone.

And I'd like to amend the motion to postpone to July to amend it to postpone indefinitely, keeping in mind that the July meeting we'll be bringing it back to will be the beginning of July. And this month of June, we've got several sessions to work on the biggest thing that we have to work on all year, which is the budget. And I would love us to really dig in. and spend as much time as possible working on that first. And so that's why I make the motion to postpone indefinitely until something's ready to come back to us.

Motion was made and properly seconded to postpone Ordinance 74 indefinitely. Councilman Clonch, you're recognized on the motion to postpone indefinitely.

If we keep kicking this rock down the road, we're never going to address it. We get paid... to make decisions on this council. Period. That gives us a month to do our due diligence in the budget, to talk to our constituents, to reach out to the community. We cannot continue to kick this down the road. That's all I have, sir.

Councilman Streetman, on your motions.

I don't consider us continuing to kick it down the road. This is the first time it's come before us. It's not as though we just had this before us a few months ago, and I'm well aware of all the work that we have to do. I do my due diligence. I do lots of research on anything before I come up here. I'm just saying that I've even had people from the community say, why are y'all looking at this right now? When really the biggest thing you need to be focusing on is the budget. And again, I'm hoping lots of people are spending a good amount of time digging into that budget because there's a lot that we've got to look at when we get ready to vote on this here starting in just next week. So that's the only reason. If you want to look at it in two months from now, look at two months from now. But right now I stay with the postponing indefinitely and allowing us to make sure we gather the information that's needed, including talking to MTAS. We all received the email today from Councilperson McLaughlin I think there's a lot of things that we can look at, and I feel like we ought to get this right. This is not a new issue, but I think we should put the right amount of time into making sure we get this right on the first go-around rather than continuing to make changes to it. That's where I feel on it, and again, I'm going to put my first and foremost attention to that budget.

Councilman Claught, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. If it's not a month, let's just set a date. Postpone indefinitely means it's out there forever. I also do my due diligence and research, and that was not a personal attack. It was just that if we don't have a date, then we won't address it until it becomes a bigger problem again. So if it's not a month, let's make it two months. But let's put a mark on the wall. I make a motion for August. I don't know when the meeting is in August. Executive session in August.

reevaluate yeah let's yeah councilman Chandler point of order right now we have three motions on the floor which I think if you check with

Our legal department, you can't have three on the floor. Yeah, I don't have to check with him. I can read his vibe coming over there. You can't. So that motion would be out of order, so we'll have to deal with the motion to postpone indefinitely.

Apologies.

None needed. All right. Councilman Marquis, you're recognized, I think.

Yes. I just have a quick question. Since my amendment was postponed until July, let's say this gets postponed indefinitely. At the July regular session, what's going to happen with my amendment if there is no main ordinance to?

Well, it's an orphan. It will have to be dispatched summarily. We'll have to deal with that procedurally, Mr. Bittner, I believe. In July.

Okay.

Councilman Shekinah, you're recognized on the motion to postpone indefinitely.

Again, I'm totally against that. I'm on this commission. I feel the businesses paying every month. I feel the commissioners paying every month. The parkers, they're paying every month. Something needs to be done, and we need to look at this thing.

Councilman Smith on the motion to postpone indefinitely.

I don't think we need to postpone this indefinitely. I think we have work to do. We have already had a review of our budget in May, and we have plenty of time to look at it. We have two meetings set for June. Also to look at the budget and give our due diligence of what we want to happen, what we don't want. And then we have another date set up in June. I think we've had plenty of time to look at this budget. It's been before us since May. So I think we don't need to postpone this ordinance indefinitely. I think we need to do something now. Make it happen. We need to quit putting stuff on hold. We need to move forward. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. Any more comment or question about this? Without a doubt, there are some considered opinions that are floating around, and we need to consider that. But I agree with the majority that I've heard so far. We need to set a marker and take it up. but we do need to work on this ordinance a little bit too. So anyway, any more comment or question regarding the motion to postpone indefinitely? Seeing none, we're voting on the motion to postpone Ordinance 74 indefinitely. All members, please cast your vote. Every member voted. Any member wish to change their vote? Madam Clerk, please take the vote.

Two yes, 11 no, zero abstain.

That amendment failed. We're back on Ordinance 74 as presented. Councilman Clonch, I was waiting on you. All right, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I propose we postpone it till the July meeting. Second.

Motion been made and properly seconded to postpone Ordinance 74 till the July 2026 regular session. Councilman Streetman, you're recognized on the motion.

That was the motion we were already on. I thought the statement was that we were going to look at postponing it to the August session, that if one month wasn't enough, that we would look at the two months, but we couldn't go any deeper than what we were already at. So the motion that was already on the floor was the motion to postpone it to July. If that's not amended, then I make the amendment that we move it to August.

Okay, motion been made to amend the amendment to August 2026 regular session. Did I get it right? Okay, I got close. All right. Councilman Shekinah, have you recognized on the amendment?

Yes, Mayor. Again, I don't think we should delay this two months because two months is going to turn into three months and then four months. And, again, I'm on that commission. We're still going to be meeting, and we're still going to be hearing the same problems, the same pain. Nothing is going to change. We need to act on this.

Okay. Any more comment or question regarding on the motion? to amend to the August 2026 regular session. I hope I got close. Madam Clerk, did I get close? Okay. All right, we're voting on the motion to postpone until the August 2026 regular session. Every member voted. Every member wished to change their vote. Any member wish to change their vote? Madam Clerk, take the vote.

Seven yes, six no, zero abstain.

All right, looks like we have a winner here. Postponed until August regular session. You are, Councilman Haywood, you're recognized.

So since I was on the prevailing side of the amendment, can I motion to bring it back up so we can postpone it to August as well?

Yes, you can if you're recognized.

I'd like to motion to bring the amendment back so we can postpone that to August. Second.

Motion been made to reconsider our action on the marquee amendment to bring that back before us and properly seconded. We are voting and we'll do it on the board. This is the motion to reconsider our action, not to reconsider the amendment, but just to reconsider our action and to bring back the marquee amendment. Madam Clerk, are you ready? Okay. Every member voted. Any member wish to change their vote? Madam Clerk, please take the vote.

13 yes, 0 no, 0 abstain.

Okay. We are reconsidering our action, and we're now back to you, Councilman Haywood, if you'd like to make that motion. I'd like the motion to postpone it to the August regular session. Okay. Motion been made and properly seconded to postpone the marquee amendment to the August regular session. Councilman Chandler, you're recognized.

Call the question.

Any objection to calling for the question on this issue? Thank you. All right. Seeing none, we will vote now on the motion to postpone the marquee amendment to the August so it travels with the ordinance. Every member voted. Any member wish to change their vote? Madam Clerk, take the vote.

13 yes, 0 no, 0 abstain.

Okay, we're across the finish line. It passes. All right, thank you for that. Back to you, Chairman Streetman, I think.

Ordinance 76-20-25-26, first reading. An ordinance amending Part 2 Code of Ordinances, Title 1.5, Human Resources, Chapter 6, Leave, Section 1.5-602, Annual Leave. 1.5 602 sick leave section 1.5 dash 603 bereavement leave section 1.5 dash 604 maternity leave chapter 7 benefits section 1.5 dash 702 eligibility for health and dental insurance benefits section 1.5 707 breaks in credited service Chapter 12, Disability, Section 1.5-1202, Non-Work-Related Disability, and Chapter 15, Miscellaneous, section one point five dash one five zero one holidays for the purpose of providing additional annually benefits for municipal employees to enhance recruitment and retention the finance committee recommended approval in iso move motion made and properly seconded in favor of ordinance seventy six councilman Lovato you're recognized on ordinance seventy six thank you mayor i just want to

Ask my fellow council members to vote no on this one. At the surface, it looks like it's OK. This is doing a lot more than just adding one holiday. This is increasing vacation time. And we do not have the financial numbers on how that's going to affect overtime for our minimum staffing departments. Going into budget season, with the tax increase, we need to have those numbers in place. The other thing that I don't like about this is it also changes how bereavement leave is going to be addressed. So if we have an employee who is needing time for a funeral or sickness in their family, instead of going to their department head, their boss, now they have to take the extra step to go to HR. So for those three reasons, I'm against this, and I'm hoping you all will vote no. That's all I have.

Councilman Streetman, you're recognized on this ordinance.

Thank you. I spoke on this last week and at the finance. One of the issues I have is in regard to adding yet another holiday to it. So if this should pass first reading, that is likely something I will bring back as an amendment for the second reading. However, in regard to the way their vacation is going to be accrued, that was probably the number one item. that the city employees had with their kind of wish list of what they prefer. We're already talking about in this budget that they're not going to get their wage increase until the beginning of the year. We've heard from different department heads the issues they have with retention. We got the numbers as well that kind of show us that two to five year mark is our hardest area to be able to retain employees. And in regard to losing those employees after we've spent the money, training them, getting them what they need for that role, to then turn around and lose them and have to spend that money again on the front end, it makes that even more expensive to continue to have to fill those positions. So the vacation time and being able to work that in a better way, I think the department heads are probably the most supportive of overall. I've heard from several of them that have heard me speak in regard to it, and they said that is one of the biggest components of this and something that they need to try and retain their employees. So that part, like I said, I'm supportive of and realizing what we need, and it doesn't shut down business from occurring because with the holidays I talked about, that stops any business citizens are able to do, but the other way it does not. So again, should this pass first reading, I will bring back an amendment to keep us at the number of holidays we're currently at.

Councilman Marquis, you're recognized on this ordinance.

Yes, thank you. So something that I did notice about the data is that I believe it's incomplete. We got information on the amount of separations that the city has had over different years, but the issue is that separations, there's three different types of separations. We have the ones who quit, the ones who get fired, and the ones who retired. All three of those categories are added all together to get these numbers. So if we're trying to retain employees, we need to figure out how many of them actually quit, how many were fired, and how many retired. Because it's not going to help us to add these extra benefits if you have a section of them that we're firing them. It's not going to change whether they want to stay with us or not. And for that, we're adding, again, as it was mentioned, to the budget and increasing that without really having accurate data to determine What that number really looks like and what other avenues we have to retain our employees because there are people who? Love their job, but it might be a conflict between personnel's that they leave it might be you know other reasons And it's not just the benefits package, and I think that we need to have better data in order to Make a better assessment on what's happening here within the city.

Thank you Councilman Lovato you recognized

Thank you, Mayor. I just want to elaborate on the incomplete data that the Councilman from Ward 5 was referencing. Not only do we not understand everything that she gave, the request was made that we get the results of that survey so that we could see which department was requesting vacation time versus increase in their pay. And we did not receive that. So we also don't know that information. But the biggest factor is this will be a financial impact. We will see an increase in overtime and salary budgets, and we do not have those numbers. So we cannot go into budget season and smartly talk about this with this in front of us. So I'm asking you to vote no on this, and maybe we can see it again at a later date. Thank you.

Councilman Brown, you're recognized. Thank you, Mayor. So I believe our... Amendments have to be in writing, correct? Yes. So if this does pass on this first reading, I'll probably have an amendment for its second reading. Just going from 10 years to three years is a big drop in the approval times. And I think if we kind of, not necessarily in the middle, but went to five years instead of the three, because if a lot of them are leaving at three, they're gonna get that time and then leave right then anyway. At least somebody invests five years into a business, I could have left where I'm at at five years and went to a state agency, but I'm like, I'm already five years in. Am I gonna have to start over towards some time? I'm just thinking in the middle there somewhere. If this does pass at this point, then I'll more than likely have an amendment change that three years to five years, because that is going to be a cost. So we want to be able to see what that cost would be. DAVID BURRAGE.

Councilman Chandler, you're recognized.

COUNCILMAN CHANDLER. Thank you, Mayor. I was working for the city when the 10-year thing was put in. And it was put in to reward the people for staying. I agree with Councilman Brown. We need to stop and step back and look at that. Right now, I'm not going to mention which department. I talked to an employee of a department today, and they are so short-handed. I'm talking about emergency services. They're so short-handed that they're having to double up on calls. You know, there's also some language in here that gives human resources, I think, and even went to the point of saying that the Finance Committee could make a determination. And I think one of them was in the, they don't call it maternity leave anymore, but that's set out in state and federal law. So why do we need to put in there that one of our agencies can... make a determination. You know, and again, I think I said this last week, you're going to bring it to me for a vote and this council for a vote, then anything major changes in it should be made by this council. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. Any more comment or question? We're now voting on Ordinance 76, first reading. All members, please cast your vote. Every member voted. Any member wish to change their vote? Madam Clerk, take the vote.

Six yes, seven no, zero abstain.

Ordinance 76 fails. Chairman Streetman.

Oh, it's still me.

Sorry about that. Thank you. Ordinance 77-20-25-26, first reading. An ordinance authorizing the receipt of donated real property located at 0 Jack Miller Boulevard for the purpose of a housing development. both the finance and neighborhood and community service committees recommended approval and ISO move.

Motion been made and properly seconded in favor of ordinance 77. Any comment or question regarding this ordinance? Councilman Holloman, you recognized?

So when it says housing development, like are we looking at like projects or?

No. single family, maybe two or three homes, really depending on what the size parcel will allow. But no, it will not be anything significant.

Okay.

All right. Thank you. Thank you. Any more comment or question? Seeing none, hearing none, are you ready to vote? All members, please cast your vote. Every member voted. Any member wish to change their vote? Madam Clark, take the vote.

13 yes, 0 no, 0 abstain.

Ordinance 77 passes. First reading. Chairman Streetman.

Ordinance. Resolution 65-20-25-26, a resolution of the City Council of the City of Clarksville, Tennessee, approving an economic impact plan for the St. Thomas Hospital Development Area and adopting designated area policies and procedures. The Finance Committee recommended approval and ISO move.

Motion been made and properly seconded in favor of this resolution. Councilman Marquis, you have an amendment you recognize.

Yes, I do. And just to start, this has been a lot of conversations back and forth between different attorneys, our EDC and IDB. And ultimately what I want to do is I want to make sure that a portion of the TIF money that the city receives goes into a fund for maintenance of the future. So right now the hospital is going to be putting in infrastructure 20 years down the line that infrastructure will need to be upgraded need to be repaid we need to the city we'll have to pay for that. So I want to utilize part of the TIF, set some money aside so that way when the time comes, we have the funds available to work on that infrastructure ultimately. So on the back of the first page is what it is in the blue ink that we'll be taking the 20% of our allocated amount of the TIF and setting that aside for the purpose of maintenance and repair. And then the rest of it is the main economic plan, and that language is written in on page four in that blue section. It's, again, the same thing. It puts in that revenue into a fund so we have money. And again, taking into account the situation with our budget, I'm just trying to think ahead into the future. We know this is maintenance of infrastructure that needs to be done. We need to have funds. Let's do this now. And so I'd like to make a motion for my amendment. I'm sorry. Thank you.

I was waiting on that. All right.

Sorry.

Motion's been made. Do I hear a second? Properly seconded. Councilman Brown on the marquee amendment.

Thank you, Mayor. So the way it looks is, you know, for future maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, or replacement of public infrastructure associated with the development area, the way I saw it was all that inside there is going to be their private property. that will not be our infrastructure inside of that area itself. So where was this fund going to be set aside to work on?

Councilman Marquis, you can take it or I will.

So they are building a road and part of the, I don't think I have it in front of me, one of the slides that they sent us gave the cost breakdown of all the type of infrastructure that they're putting, they're widening a road That's out there. There's a traffic light that's going to be put out there. And then there's also, I believe, a new road that's going to be put out there that because we annex them into the city, it becomes our responsibility to take care and maintain. So that's what this is essentially.

If they turn that road over to us that they build.

Yes. And their plan is to build it to the city specifications and it will become a public street. And public infrastructure.

Okay. So my next question is, you know, so we set that aside, you know, but there's no end date for when that money's going to be set aside that would actually come back to where we could use it for general fund. It's just 20% for as long as they have a TIF.

This is associated with the TIF. The TIF is 20 years long.

So for 20 years... we'll take 20% of our cut of it to set aside that will not be able to be used for any of the community around it to help the infrastructure around there. It'd only be for the infrastructure that they put in. So that's where I have a problem is it's restricted just to that where those roads aren't gonna need any help for 20 years, but the roads around it, where the people are coming to and from there, we can't use that money toward it. So for that, I'd rather see the money be set aside for infrastructure in general than just for the roads that they're going to build inside that area that we won't have to touch for a number of years.

So would you prefer then it to be amended to... or just take out associated with St. Thomas Hospital development and just leave it at public infrastructure?

I'd rather see that than just strictly for in that property. And seeing as we didn't have this ahead of time, why couldn't Yeah, I know.

Like I said, it's been a lot of back and forth, and for a moment we thought that this could have been presented during budgeting, but until last minute, then we're like, no, it needs to be tonight.

Yeah, time is of the essence on the entire thing, so it's not like we can postpone it a month and come back to it, but we do need to get this right, and I share the same concern that the councilman from Ward 9 has about restricting it just for that particular area. But to the sponsor.

I'm trying to look at the second wording I have here. My main thing is that I want a section going directly to infrastructure, ultimately. So just page four.

I think if you look on the, be it further resolved to the sponsor where it says at the end, amounts deposited into the fund shall not lapse to the general fund and shall be used exclusively for future maintenance, repair, rehab, replacement, or capital improvements associated with the, should be Ascension St. Thomas Hospital development area. That's the hang up, I think, for a couple of us.

And I think if we just took that,

public infrastructure and put a period right there and marked out the associated with okay and i think that would be you know more feasible for me anyway okay one second because yeah let's give let's give the sponsor of the amendment time to observe that page is fine uh i have page four also that i just need to double check on the wording here so madam clerk we're going to need and madam and mr attorney want to make sure we get this right yeah

It's...

Do we need to make a copy of this?

Members, the city attorney has consulted with the sponsor of the amendment and will make the necessary changes and then will come back to the sponsor of the amendment to amend her amendment. One time. Yeah, let's take a five minute recess if you don't mind. I can tell everybody's And what we think is an amendment to her amendment. You're recognized, Councilman Marquis.

Yes, okay. We got it sorted out. You should have it in front of you guys. So I would like to make a motion to amend my amendment by striking the following.

Motion been made and properly seconded. You're recognized for an explanation of the amendment.

Yeah, so we just made it more generic of the infrastructure in town and pretty much any wording that was very specific to that development, you see it crossed out.

All right, you've heard the explanation of the amendment to her amendment. Any comment or question regarding this amendment to her amendment? Councilman Zacharias, you're recognized on the amendment to the amendment.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm in favor of this amendment to the amendment as well as the main motion itself. But there's one thing that I do kind of want to highlight. It's a trend that I've noticed, especially today, or it's kind of come to a head today. If we continue to look at developers and builders to make infrastructure improvements here in Clarksville, we are seeding our independence to make decisions that are in the best interest of the people of Clarksville. When we say that we're gonna let builders start making infrastructure improvements, what we're doing is we're giving up our ability to prioritize and we're sort of dependent on builders to bring forward projects that make improvements to places that we know that they need to be made. So I'm in favor of this, I'm in favor of the whole motion, but I would like to raise that concern to the council that if we continue to look to developers and builders as the primary mover of our infrastructure improvements, that we may find ourself in a situation considering projects that we wouldn't otherwise consider because we don't have the revenue in the city budget to make the improvements that we know we need to make. Thank you.

Thank you. Any more comment or question regarding the amendment to the amendment? Are you ready to vote on the amendment to the amendment? Looks like we are. All members, please cast your vote. Every member voted. Any member wish to change their vote? Madam Clerk, please take the vote.

13 yes, 0 no, 0 abstain.

The amendment to the amendment is adopted. We're now on the amendment as amended. Did I get that right, Mr. Bittner? All right. So we're on the amendment, the marquee amendment as was amended. Any question about the amendment as amended? All right. We're voting on the amendment as amended. And remember, please cast your vote. All right, we got a little background music. All right. Madam Clerk, please take the vote.

13 yes, 0 no, 0 abstain.

The marquee amendment as amended is adopted. We're now on the resolution as amended. Any comment or question regarding resolution 65? Is it still 2026? Yes, it is. Okay, as amended. Seeing none, hearing none, are you ready to vote? All members, please cast your vote. Every member voted. Any member wish to change their vote? Madam Clerk, please take the vote.

13 yes, 0 no, 0 abstain.

Resolution is adopted. Chairman Streetman, you're recognized.

Resolution 66202526, a resolution amending the fund balance policy to reduce the minimum unassigned fund balance from 20% of general fund expenditures to 17% of general fund expenditures. The Finance Committee recommended approval and I so move.

Motion been made and properly seconded in favor of resolution 66. Councilman Chandler, you're recognized on resolution 66. Thank you, mayor.

I've been looking this over and because we don't have a budget yet for next year, uh, I think it's premature for us to start cutting any fund balances or anything. Uh, I just, I don't see it right now. Might be a good idea later on, but we really don't know what our budget for next year is going to look like. We'll know by next week. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. Councilman Streetman on the resolution.

Thank you, Mayor. This is so we can go ahead and have this in place for our budget that we'll be voting on. And as stated before, this is looking at saving, reducing us from six cents off of that 31 cents. So that's dropping it from 31 cents to 25 cents. This is nothing that hasn't been looked at before and nothing that hasn't been done before. Previously, previous council had dropped it from 22% to 20%. This is a time for us to go ahead and get it dropped to 17%. Councilman Chandler?

Thank you, Mayor. Again, I'll stress the fact that we don't need to be worrying about cutting anything out of the budget right now until we get in here for budget hearings next week. A fund balance is, I'll give you a prime example. A fund balance is me putting money back in my house in case something goes wrong. You know, my main air conditioning heating unit goes out or something like that. I had a refrigerator go out this week and it cost me quite a bit of money, but I was smart enough to be putting money back in a fund balance, so it didn't hurt me any. Again, I think we're putting the cart before the horse. We're talking about doing this to reduce the tax, the property taxes, and we really don't even know what the property taxes are going to be. So we can say, well, we can go from 31 down to 25, and we get in budget hearings next week. Well, you know, we really need to kick that back up. I'm saying let's get our budget finalized and then come back in with the proposal.

Councilman Streetman, you're recognized.

I would just ask my fellow council members to please support this resolution. Thank you.

Thank you. Any more comment or question regarding this resolution? Seeing none, hearing none, are you ready to vote? All members, please cast your vote. Every member voted. Any member wants to change their vote? Madam Clerk, take the vote.

Ten yes, three no, zero abstain.

Resolution is adopted. Chairman Streetman.

That finally concludes my report, Mayor.

All right. Thank you. We are now ready for Neighborhood and Community Services Committee. Chairman Shekinah, you're recognized.

All right. All right. The Clarksville Neighborhood and Community Services report for May. We had a great turnout for the 27 May Opportunity Zone 2.0 Clarksville briefing at Austin Peay, and it was hosted by the College of Business. In conjunction with that, the Tennessee Economic and Community Development Council, or Tennessee Economic and Community Development, as well as Tennessee HUD field office were co-sponsors. Attendees included community members, economic developers, elected officers, developers Realtors financial institutions and nonprofits Now the next step would be to prioritize the eligible tracks that we have here in Clarksville, Montgomery County And then provide those recommendations to the city and county mayors who will in turn make the recommendations to governor Lee So those that are interested in participating in that work section On the work session rather it's going to be held on the 12th of June next week at 8.30 a.m. And so if you're interested in attending that session, just email community at cityofclarksville.com. So don't email Michelle Austin. Community at cityofclarksville.com if you're interested. Now in June next month, and we're pushing this very, very hard And we're gonna have a faith-based housing educational cohort information meeting. At 8.30, we'll have the developers, the funders, and construction interest meeting. And then at 11.30, we'll have the churches and other faith-based organizations interest meeting. Now, this faith-based housing educational cohort will equip local congregations with the knowledge and tools needed to engage and housing solutions within the community. Through education, collaboration, and technical assistance, participating faith-based organizations will explore ways to support affordable housing development, provide housing-related services, and partner with community organizations to address homelessness and housing instability. So right now we're looking for congregations, big and small, builders, subcontractors, funding, institutions, who all have an interest in learning more about the initiative and contributing to housing development in our communities. This concludes my report, Mayor.

Thank you. Any comment or question regarding this committee report? We're ready for Parks and Recreation Committee. Chairman Zacharias, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mayor. Parks and Rec would like to let everybody know that Fit Fest is back. Get ready to move, explore, and feel your best at Fit Fest 2026 on June 13th at the Wilmer Rudolph Event Center in Liberty Park. This annual event brings together fitness, wellness, and fun for the whole community. Whether you're looking to get active, learn from local health experts, or try something new, there's always something for every age and every fitness level. Come for the activities, stay for the inspiration, and leave with fresh ideas to help you live healthier every day. And then Mayor's Summer Night Lights brings families together for free, fun-filled summer evenings across Clarksville. Each week features a new theme with hands-on activities, crafts, and games led by community partners. Free meals are provided by a city department while supplies last. Join us at locations throughout Clarksville every Tuesday from June 2nd through July 28th from 5.30 to 7 p.m. No pre-registration is required. Just come out, have fun, and be part of the experience. I think next week is at Barbara Johnson Park, and it's dinosaur-themed, so we're looking forward to seeing you out there. And then Parks and Rec is currently hiring for about a little over 20 positions. Some of them are seasonal. Some of them are working in some of the different recreation facilities. We'd love to have you join the team. So for more information and a complete list of programs, classes, and ongoing activities, please visit clarksvilleparksrec.com.

And that concludes my report. Thank you. Any comment or question regarding this committee report? We're ready for Public Safety Committee. Chairman Lovato, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mayor. First, I want to start with building and codes. Their construction division did 2,809 total inspections. The code enforcement division did 707 new cases. Their abatement division did 94 work orders, and their total revenue generated was a little over $338,000. The Clarksville Police Department has a few events coming up. On June 11th, they have Cone with a Cop at McDonald's on Rossview Road, where you can go get ice cream with a cop at 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. On June 20th, the Lake Vet Clinic is hosting a Touch a Truck event on Lowe's Drive at 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. And on June 24th, another Cone with a Cop at McDonald's on Madison Street from 11 to 1 p.m. we have several retirements um officer jeff derrico on june 11th retired after 30 years of service officer derrico is a well-known officer in the community especially in the new providence area where he has established many relationships Jeff has spent the entire 30 years with the patrol division and his department will see a major loss with his retirement. Additionally, Vivian Lavelle is retiring. She is a support specialist and handles all the timekeeping for the entire department. She is Ms. Accuracy with all the accountability and compliance. Ms. Cindy Smith retired this month as well, over 29 years working for the city. She was the CPD HR coordinator. We have several promotions for CPD, Detective Joshua Billet, Detective Joseph Aragon, Agent Daniel Murphy, Agent Andrew Odlin, Field Training Officer Raymond Reed, and Field Training Officer Robert Swanson. We have three Lifesaver Awards, Field Training Officer Allison Rakes, Field Training Officer Justin Boyta, and Officer Jennifer Hart. For Clarksville Fire and Rescue, CFR received its newest 100-foot ladder and it will be placed in service at Station 1 this month. Captain Michael Majors and Captain Knickerbocker will retire on June 14th with over 65 years of service. I think that's combined. CFR is proud to announce the latest promotions that took place this morning. Captain Taylor Hennerfin, Captain Seth Bonecutter, Lieutenant Blake Kelly, Lieutenant Bobby Shepard, Lieutenant Ariel Morales, and Lieutenant Mike Blackwell. And that concludes my report.

Did you say Orville Redenbacher is retiring? I'm sorry. Never mind.

I was like, who's that? Let me check. I have no idea.

All right. Transportation Streets and Garage Committee. Chairman Smith, you're recognized. Get me out of this.

Thank you, Matt. The TGS reports are as follows. For the month of May, the Transportation Department, CTS transported a total of 38,828 riders on fixed routes in the month of May, including 8,396 seniors who rode for free. CTS also transported 4,638 riders on paratransit vehicles for a monthly total of 43,466 riders also for May. On June the 1st, CTS has been providing transportation services for a total of 39 years. Now the Streets Department, they completed a total of 400 work orders in May. A large portion of that will involve spring cleanup. For the capital project update, Tyler Town Road awaiting a proposed change of order by the Barrett Constructions. If feasible and approved, they will remobilize. Also, Spring Creek Parkway. Bridge work continues, as does the redevelopment of Edge Drive and major utility work at Wilmer. I guess that's Wilmer Rudolph. It just has Wilmer. I guess that's Wilmer Rudolph. Also, sidewalks over Seville Pike is underway. Okay, now for the city garage. There was a total of 268 work orders. A few purchases made from the city garage for on-site fuel pumps. The garage for unleaded total was $92,248 for a total of gallons of 23,828 gallons. Also, the diesel cost was $36,178. for total gallons of diesel was $7,972. The outlaw fuel unleaded total was $23,537 for unleaded for total gallons of $5,974. Their diesel cost zero, gallons zero. I guess they didn't buy any. Fuel cost for unleaded decreased by 5%. from $3.76 to $3.74. That was April 29, 26. Fuel cost for diesel was $4.90. There was an increase of $0.23 from $3.96 to $4.90 per gallon. That concludes my report. Are there any questions?

Thank you. Any questions about this committee report? Seeing none, we're now ready for mayor and council member comments. I'm going to go to Councilman Brown for a very important announcement and comment.

You're recognized. Thank you, Mayor. So as some of the council members know, each year or so, there's grants from the federal government for violent crime intervention funds. And last year or the year before, the city agreed to forfeit our portion of it to the county to enable the county to add on to the tack and radio system, which the city is on. So that enabled, you know, the sheriff's office to outfit all the patrol cars and the deputies with radios that actually talked to the city police city fire. Um, and that went live earlier this year and it was a great asset Tuesday. when we had the missing kid. So all the agencies that were on scene there were able to talk to each other directly on the radios, on the same talk channel. Even the federal agencies and the state agencies that came in. So because the city assisted with that, funds for that year going to the county that was able to move that project forward and put all local public safety on the same channels that can talk to each other directly just by turning the knob and not having to call a dispatcher, have that dispatcher holler across the room to another dispatcher who gets on the radio to call the city officer. Because of that, interoperability has been improved in this community and it was a very big asset just the other day. It was really the first big incident where It was used. Of course, I was there. I got to see it firsthand, being down on the ground. And you could hear TBI and their airplane flying over just as clear as day on the state system. So those are just some big wins for what we do for the community and how the city and county working together can solve problems.

Thank you.

you'd never let it be said the city and county don't work together that's right councilman streetman you recognize thank you mayor i just want to take a moment to thank our city clerk for everything that she does for us i don't think it was ever more evident than tonight how important her role is and everything that you do for us especially when we're going three amendments deep and you're keeping track of where we all at all times so I'm just grateful that you're always there for us and for the public and appreciate all that you do for each and every one of us.

Thank you for that. This is just what we see. You should see her scurrying around the office every other day.

Councilman Holloman, you're recognized. Thank you, Mayor. So I'm going to say some controversial stuff, so if you all want to go ahead and head out, that's okay. Clarksville's undergoing quite a bit of a demographic change, if you noticed. We've got a lot of immigrants coming in, a lot of immigrants that don't speak English. But you look at Clarksville, and Clarksville's not alone. It's across the country. Expand further, look at Europe. Look at pretty much every single white country has been invaded by immigrants. And so this is what's happening in Europe, minus Poland, Hungary, and Russia, because they protect their borders. But this is what's going on. The average reproduction rate for a white couple in Europe is 1.2 children. You need 2.1 children to maintain a neutral level for population replenishment. They've got a Muslim population over there that's having between four and seven children. So just do the math. So almost every single white country is being invaded. Numerically speaking, generationally speaking, over a long period of time, our numbers are going down. We are being exterminated. And I don't say that lightly. Henry Novak in England is a white 18-year-old boy. An immigrant came up and stabbed him. Stabbed him, I think, four times. The police came. They arrested Henry. They let the gentleman, the immigrant man, go because the immigrant man said that Henry was racist towards him. And so they had poor Henry handcuffed on the side of the road, and he bled out and he died. And that happened in England. Another case in Ireland. immigrant takes a broken piece of can, a broken can, and tries to stab a 16-month-year-old baby. That happened in Ireland. You know, look here. You know, we had, we had Irana Zarf, I can't say her name, the beautiful Ukrainian white woman that got killed on the subway. Like, that happened here, you know. It was Carly Kirk, Austin Metcalf, Daniel Penny, they threw him in jail for trying to be a hero. Derek Chauvin, we've got problems all across the board. This is happening. We need to bring awareness to it. It doesn't mean that you hate anybody else, but the fact of the matter is, I don't want my race to be exterminated. That's what it boils down to. You go to the library, you've got anti-white books in our public library, sponsored by our government, trying to feed your kids all this garbage. You know, Dalton Etherly. They arrested Dalton Etherly. He said some very distasteful words. But according to our society, which supposedly has free speech, those are forbidden words. Because he said those words, he got attacked. I don't know the full details, so I can't really comment on that. But what I do know was he got charged for attempted murder, and they put his bond at $1.25 million. They've recently lowered it to $1 million for attempted murder. But if you look at the averages, just for murder in Montgomery County, you can expect to have a $250,000 bond. So, like, this is an anti-white attack against this man is what I see. This is what I'm seeing. I'm not saying this is the case, but I'm saying this is what I'm observing right now. Putting his bond that high. And then they've just been throwing the absolute, they've been throwing the book at him. And it's not right. I'm not, I'm not promoting or condemning what he's did or what he said. Uh, he, he has expressed his first amendment. Right. And, um, you know, like people, people get upset with that. Um, but, uh, but that's, that's, what's going on in our world and that's what's going on in our city. And so like within the next 10 years, the white population, like we're, we're going to go down, like, so like goodbye, white people, like we're, we're, we're toast. uh, numerically speaking because we are in a pickle, but that's happy June. Thank you. Councilman clutch.

Thank you, Mr Mayor. Uh, Clarksville, Tennessee has problems just like anybody else does. But one of the beautiful things about our community is I can drive 10 minutes and be in the middle of nowhere and somebody's farmland. I can drive 20 minutes the other way, and I can be at a military installation, one of the most lethal killing machines in the United States of America with special operations. And then I can come downtown and eat a steak at a steakhouse that has been here forever, named after the mother of somebody that owned that steakhouse. This community, Clarksville, Tennessee, is a melting pot. So to say one race is better than another race, one race is extremely...

Hang on, hang on, hang on. He has the floor. He has council member comments. Go ahead.

I appreciate the fact that I've been able to serve my country for 20 years and 24 days and there was no color. There was blood red if somebody was injured. Other than that, we were arm and arm in a foxhole fighting for a common goal. I appreciate the ability to speak one's mind, but I also don't want to paint Our wonderful community is this horrible, horrible thing. I love all people, and I think that if we all took a step back, took a breath, and had a little bit of grace, we could get wonderful things done. And I appreciate everyone here. I appreciate the disagreeances. I appreciate the banter. That's what makes America great.

Councilman Shakin, have you recognized?

Yes, thank you, Mayor. I just have a few comments regarding the council member from Ward 7. you probably need to have some kids. If you're concerned about the white race decreasing, you're getting older, so you need to have some kids. You need to step up and do your part. Part two I want to talk about is when you mentioned the young man and his rights to speak and his bond at a million dollars. Well, I don't think anyone has the right to go around and harass people and instigate people, whether they're just calling them a turd. If someone just called me a turd continuously and harassing me, that's not right. You don't have a right to do that. So you have to respect everyone. And respect goes both ways. If you don't respect me, then it's my right and my choice if I choose to respect you. And if a confrontation happens because of that, then like you said, two wrongs don't make it right, but a confrontation happened because of that. So there are also going to be some Unintended consequences no matter which way you look at things. So the bond being set at a million dollars I think it should be too, but they're just my thought Councilman Holloman you recognized for comments.

Thank you mayor first First point from councilman from Ward 11. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. I do need to step up. Yeah, yeah right Secondly, did you watch any of his videos? I mean like he wasn't just going around just yelling that word like from from the videos I've seen He was saying distasteful words, but he was not just running up and just harassing people. I have seen videos on the internet of immigrants in France filming their harassment of an old white man. I've seen that. And just because I recognize that we white people are being exterminated doesn't mean that I hate the other races. As a matter of fact, I would recommend that they probably need to become food independent and have their own food systems and their own communities. It's not Why is it wrong for me to recognize the numbers dropping with with the white population and in replenishment rates? Why is that? Why is that a wrong thing? It's it's not So, thank you councilman.

Hey wood for comments.

Yeah, I just got three words. I love Clark.

So that's it Anyone else My Bible says in Galatians 3.28, there's neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor male nor female. We're all one. I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. Without objection, we're done.