Council - Regular Meeting

One second. At one moment. Thank you.

All right. Well, good evening, everyone. I see 530 on the clock. So we will call tonight's meeting to order. If you hear the seating city council, you are at the right place. Before we get into our formal council meeting, we're going to begin with some public hearings this evening, beginning with public hearing number one, public hearing on ordinance number 4585 as amended an ordinance to amend the fiscal year 2526 budget ordinance 4544 as amended. Providing for the revisions to the general state street aid, sanitation, capital projects, grants, and wastewater funds. Public hearing number one. Anyone in the audience this evening here be heard on public hearing number one. Seeing none. Anyone on council should be heard on public hearing number one. Hearing none. Entertain a motion to close public hearing number one. Motion's been made. Properly seconded. Any discussion on that item? Hearing none. Mr. Jablonski.

Mr. McClellan. Mr. Huffman. Ms. Sechrist. Mr. Marshall. Mr. McKelney. Vice Mayor McBroom. Mr. Marimal.

AYE. PUBLIC HEARING NUMBER ONE IS NOW CLOSED. NEXT ITEM TWO, PUBLIC HEARING ON ORDINANCE NUMBER 4586, AN ORDINANCE FIXING THE TAX RATE FOR THE CITY OF COLUMBIA FOR THE YEAR 2026 ON ALL TAXABLE PROPERTY AT THE RATE OF 8251 PER 100. ANYONE THIS EVENING WISH TO BE HEARD ON PUBLIC HEARING NUMBER TWO?

ANYONE ON COUNCIL WISH TO BE HELD ON PUBLIC HEARING NUMBER TWO? I just want to remind council that when you come to the second reading on this ordinance, that number has been adjusted downward due to information we got from .

And Mr. Massey, this is maybe the eighth time I'll ask this question, but just to make sure that I understand fully why we do this, because given the increase in assessments, that if we did not do this, then this would effectively serve as a fact increase. We are required to either fix it with the increases or to adjust it to keep the rate the same, and that's what this is. Yes, the new lower rate will generate the same back rate. All right, very good. Thank you. We'll remember the updated figure when we get to it on the agenda item. Anyone else on council wish to be heard on public hearing number two? Hearing none, we'll entertain a motion to close public hearing number two. The motion has been made. Properly seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none, Mr. Jablonski. Aye. That item is now closed. Public hearing number three. Next item, public hearing ordinance number 4587. As amended, it's the appropriation ordinance for fiscal year July 1, 26 through June 30, 2027. Anyone in the audience assuming wish to be heard on public hearing number three? Seeing none, anyone on council wish to be heard on public hearing number three? Hearing none, entertain a motion to close public hearing three. Been moved and properly seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none, Mr. Jablonski. Aye. Public hearing three is closed. Final matter four, public hearing on ordinance number 4591, an ordinance to amend the Columbia Municipal Code by adding section 12108 to Title 12, Chapter 1, pertaining to minimum design standards for fire prevention, fire protection, and building construction safety for government-owned buildings. Public hearing number four, anyone in the audience wish to be heard on this matter? Seeing none, anyone on council wish to be heard? Hearing none, entertain a motion to close public hearing number four. Motion's been made and properly seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none, Mr. Dabonski. Aye. Public hearing number four is now closed. That takes us to our regular meeting this evening. I'd like to welcome all of our visitors tonight that are here in person and that are joining on the internet for our June 11, 2026 City Council meeting. If this is your first time in Columbia City Hall, we're glad you're here. If it's not your first time, we're glad you're back. We'll now have a call to order. Roll call, Mr. Jabonski.

Mr. McClellan, for Huffman, Seacrest, Marshall, here. McElvey, here.

Jeremy Croom,

Here, let the record reflect all members of council are present and accounted for and ready for a productive meeting of the Columbia City Council this evening. Next, we have our invocation by Andrew Phillips of Graymier Church of Christ. And as Mr. Phillips comes up to the podium to provide the invocation, I would ask for all of you who are able to stand to please stand and please remain standing. And as a point of personal privilege, I can't help but note that there are several scouts in the room tonight. And given that we have some scouts, I wanted to see if it would be okay for the scouts to come up to the front and perhaps lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. So if you're in scouting, come on up. Um, and I'm going to give you some brief instruction. We're going to have the prayer by Andrew Phillips of grammar church of Christ. And after the invocation is over scouts, I'm going to see some leadership exercise here and y'all can just lead us in the pledge of allegiance to the flag, which the flag is in the back of the room. Uh, we were glad that you were here this evening. You didn't know that I was going to put you on the spot. There's no pre-planning that went to this, but I suspect y'all are up for the challenge. So please stand and remain standing for the invocation and the pledge.

If you would please bow with me. Father in heaven, we come before you today, grateful for your blessings. We're reminded at moments like this of the blessing of living where we do. As we celebrate 250 years as a nation, as we celebrate what we get to enjoy here in Columbia, we're thankful for those blessings. I pray that you would be with us Columbia with all of the areas nearby as we welcome in people who are moving in as we work together to continue to make this a great place to live and as we lean on each other to provide needs and to help those who are in need. Father, I thank you so much for the good work that's done by so many in this room and so many in Columbia. in general. And we just pray that you would continue to bless us, help us to continue to look to you for guidance. Pray that you'd be with the leaders in this room with their discussions and decisions, that you would continue to give them wisdom and guidance. And we also ask that for those who are hurting, many of us here have individuals on our hearts that we're thinking about and we're concerned for. We pray that you would be with them, that you would help those who are sick and need help recovering, that we could be your hands and feet and we could minister to and serve those who are in need. Father, we're grateful as we see the scouts here, as we're reminded of the youth in Columbia. And we just pray you'd continue to be with our schools, with all these programs that are training our young people, and that we could set the right kind of example for them as we seek to serve others. We ask all of these things in the name of your son, Jesus. Amen.

to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, and thank you, Mr. Phillips, for that invocation as well. Thank you. Okay, that takes us to item four, approval of tonight's agenda. We will entertain a motion to approve the agenda. I've been moved to properly second my counsel, Lady Seacrest. Any discussion? Hearing none, Mr. Jablonski.

Mr. Cullen, Mr. Huffman, Mr. Seacrest, Mr. Marshall, Mr. McKelvey.

Aye.

The agenda is approved. That takes us to section five presentations, item 5.1, quarterly presentation by Will Evans, president of the Murray County Chamber and Economic Alliance. Come on up, Will Evans. Welcome back. Tells us that we're crossing through another quarter. We look forward to your update.

Absolutely. Thank you, Mayor, members of council. You all should have a copy of our presentation attached to your agenda. So I will walk you through that. I will first start with our June Economic Development Dashboard. Given the fact that we're going to go over our KPI report, I will be brief on here. I'll just point out a couple of items. First, our active project pipeline. It is important to note our projects, we are remaining very active. I think everybody will be glad to know that we are still working with many great projects that are considering Murray County to either expand or relocate. The second piece I'll hit on is the unemployment rate that you see there. I know there's been a lot of discussion over the last several weeks. It is true that Murray County with the April numbers did have the highest unemployment rate in the state. But I do want to give just a little bit of context, which I have discussed with this group before. um while we can't dive into the data to know exactly what is uh doing that we can make some assumptions and if you go back to late last year when general motors uh did do some temporary partial layoffs we did see an uptick in our unemployment rate during that time those are partial layoffs however a few periodic times throughout the last few months they have done additional shutdowns to do some additional retooling one of those happened to be in the month of april So it's just important to note that there are some temporary factors that are out there kind of bolstering this number up as those employees are being brought back over the last few months. As we understand, we anticipate these numbers to go down. But I do think it's important to note history there. Our organization over the last 15 plus years has worked very hard to try to diversify the economy, bring additional opportunities to the community. And so if you go back to around 2010, when we were facing some similar instances with General Motors and they were idled back very heavily, the unemployment rate at that time was 12% or higher. I think that is indicative of now we are seeing similar and we're at a 6% versus 12%. I think that does speak that the work we have been doing in the additional industry and types of industry coming to the community has helped soften the blow. Now, regardless of your largest employers, whoever they are, whenever they have things like this, you are going to see uptick. But while it is something that we are continuing to watch, I just wanted to put a little more context in that so everybody could have that with you.

Will, can I just stop you on that before you go further? Just because I had a couple of questions on this. It might be easier to go ahead and get that out of the way before you go in and try to remember what they were. But on the unemployment rate, I mean, it does feel a lot like 2010 when we saw that we had one of the largest ones when termiters had some of their layoffs. I appreciate that the alliance then realized, probably even sooner than them, but that we had to diversify what we were trying to recruit and bring here. And I think especially over the last five years, the alliance has really been proactive in reaching out to the stakeholders, whether it be the county commission or the city councils on what we would like to see. I think continuing to push for diversity in what we're recruiting and what industries are coming here, I think is important. I hope that will continue. Regarding General Motors, though, it does seem to be unfortunate that when they are going through some layoffs or some type of stop and work, that that has an impact on our county unemployment rate as a whole, because people pay attention to that. And I think that sends a signal that we obviously do not want. And it's ironic that when those jobs come back, which they will presumably sooner rather than later, will go from being one of the highest unemployment to being one of the lowest unemployment. Again, I think it's important for us to continue to diversify. That's not always the case. But regarding General Motors specifically, I know the chairman of the IDB is in the room tonight. Maybe this is a question for him, but I guess it's not his time to play him at this point. But are the incentives that the state and local governments negotiated with General Motors Did those get looked at in terms of what the metrics were that General Motors promised to meet regarding jobs and benefits in order to continue to receive the incentives that they are receiving? Is there accountability on that? And who's providing that accountability?

So I can't speak confidently about the state. I do know that they do have performance agreement as well as when the Industrial Development Board worked to renegotiate the General Motors pilot within around 2020, they did institute a very similar performance metric that were job driven. So if their jobs come below a certain number, then their fact abatement will be just accordingly. The Industrial Development Board is responsible that The agreement indicated that there would be a report provided on a certain day at a certain time in the year. And as long as that, those numbers match what the agreed upon numbers were, everything's fine if they fall below. So the fact that this is temporary, it would have to do with where they are at the agreed upon date of what they would.

In other words, they could be underperforming for much of the timeframe, but as long as they were meeting the metrics at the timeframe that was promised in the package, then there would be no disruption of what their obligation was.

That is my understanding, but what it would prevent is a long-term closure reduction.

And do you agree that it is important that our economic development pursuits as a community at large, city, counties, et cetera, is important to continue to push forward? diversification of our industry market.

Absolutely. We have two main focuses when it comes to job recruitment of our organization, and that is to support our existing industries. They have been here. We want to support them and provide value and allow them to be successful. But as we are going out and proactively working to recruit new industry, we're focusing on three main criteria as higher wage opportunities, diversified industry, and good stewards of our community's resources.

Good. I think that is very good. I'm pleased to hear that. Last question for you. On these unemployment metrics, as I understand it, it's county unemployment numbers that are the ones that are published that are ranked top five, lowest five. You are able to look deeper and look at this municipalities unemployment?

Certain municipalities, as long as they're a certain or certain population thresholds are included in that report.

Want me to include it in the report? They are. And do you monitor that and compare that or look at that as a gauge as to what the county's doing as a whole?

We do look at it as well. We don't publish it on kind of our countywide report, but it tends to trend with the county.

Because it's true, it seems like the trend has been when the unemployment rate is very low, sometimes Columbia's unemployment rate is a little higher than the countywide. But here, the opposite is true. The unemployment rate is higher than what the city unemployment rate is. I guess that's another indicator that General Motors is what is leading that number at this point. Could be. Any questions on the unemployment matter? Go ahead, Mr. Evans. Sorry about that.

No problem. Appreciate the questions. Moving on to the next few slides. So we have released last month, our annual KPI report or key performance indicator. You have that as a separate file. So just to talk you through what you have, we decided several years ago to not only celebrate economic development when it comes to the number of jobs and capital investment that are announced or brought to the community, but looking at the long-term impact it has on the community's economy. So we have identified this set of benchmark that we track on a year-over-year change, five-year trend and 10-year trend. It is important to note that most of this data is from 2024, unless it is noted otherwise. With data and the release of that data, there is always a lag to make sure we have the most solid data. Last year, we took that a step further and started benchmarking ourselves. So if you look at pages two and three, you'll see where we've benchmarked Murray County against other counties in Tennessee, which we find ourselves competing with, as well as the Nashville MSA as a whole and the state as a whole. And then on the last page, you will see benchmarking against other counties across the United States. Several years ago, we did a target market study and identified peer communities across the United States based on their proximity to major metro areas, as well as the type of industrial makeup or job makeup that Murray County had. And you'll see where we benchmark on those. Now, every set of data is not available on the national level. Because education, statistics, tax structure, things like that are harder for us to obtain once you get out of Tennessee. So you'll see that it's a little more condensed in some of the data sets. But I do want to go through just a few high points. The real questions we ask when putting this together is, is Murray County growing? Is Murray County growing wealthier? Is Murray County developing the talent necessary to be successful? So the first I want to point out is population growth. The data is from... I believe this was actually, yeah, the 2025 data was 118,000, so that does indicate a 16% population growth over the five-year period of which we measured that. So Murray County is growing. I don't think anybody can... to combat that fact within the community. The second measure I wanna point out is GDP, the 2024 real GDP of almost $6 billion for Murray County. That represents a 37.3% increase over the five-year period. So why do we measure GDP? It is just a quick snapshot of the health of the economy of the community and that we have seen that grow. And what we like to... or how we like to vision the work that we do by focusing in on recruiting larger industry is if you look at the Murray County GDP as a pie, we're trying to grow that pie as a whole. And so that does provide opportunities for the smaller businesses who do trades and services to have a bigger piece of that larger pie as the economy grows and continue to be successful in their operation. The next two items we're focusing in on is the community growing wealthier. The Murray County total assessed value, indicative of some of the actions you guys are taking tonight, has grown almost 80% in the last five-year period, 4.6 billion of total assessed value, and that is countywide. And then the retail sales have grown just under 36% as well. So these items are important because they provide revenue for the governments to be able to open up the new parks and pave the roads and provide those services. But also on the next slide, if you look at the average annual income, it has grown over 30% in the five-year period, just under 60,000. So that is money in the pockets of our citizens that is allowing them to live better lives and to be able to do more. in the community. And then finally is the community producing the labor force it needs. So if you look at the civilian labor force growth in 2024, we saw an 18% increase over a five-year period of the labor force that is available in Murray County. Just to put that in perspective, that grew at three times the state rate. during that same year period. So with that population growth, we are seeing more opportunities to recruit those types of industry by growing our civilian labor force alongside with. And I'll just summarize. If you look at population growth, the average annual income increase, the median household income increase, the real GDP growth and the civilian labor force, we outperformed the national MSA as well as the state of Tennessee and all of those metrics during that five-year period. I think we can easily answer that Murray County is growing, it's growing wealthier and we are seeing the labor force that we need to remain at it. Any additional questions?

Any questions for Mr. Evans? Is there anything on that report, Will, that you think would be something that's concerning to you? I mean, these numbers all seem pretty positive in terms of increased wages, a couple of increased values. Is there anything that, in your professional opinion, is concerning, or do you have a pretty good sense of optimism about that?

nothing that's alarming um i think it's going to be interesting to watch the next few years of this report as we've kind of seen the national economy um make some adjustments as are we going to see these sharp trend upwards or is it going to kind of level up off a little bit as we move forward that's going to be interesting iteration of this all right any other questions mr evans hearing none thank you will being here this evening good to see you appreciate your support

All right, it takes us to Section 6, Organizational Business, Item 6.1, approve the amendments of the May 14, 2026 City Council meeting. Motion's been moved and properly seconded. Any discussion on that item? Hearing none, Mr. Jabonski. Mr. McClellan.

Huffman. In secret. Mr. Marshall. Mr. McKelvey. Mayor Mulder.

Aye, that item is approved. Next item, 6.2, approve the retirement benefits for Matthew Kapowski, maintenance supervisor in the streets department, as well as presentation of retirement plan for Mayor Mulder. Has it been moved? I think it has, it has been seconded as well. Any discussion on item six? All right, hearing none, Mr. Jabonski. Aye, that item is approved. We'll now go down to the will for presentation or not. All right, we'll check the mail and the plaque.

We do appreciate Mr. Katowsky's service.

Next item, 6.3, approve the appointment of Cecilia Wagner to the City of Columbia Arts Council for a three-year term beginning on June 11, 2026 and expiring on June 11, 2020. Second. It's been moved and properly seconded. That item, 6.2, any discussion on that item?

Hearing none, Mr. Jablonski.

That item is approved. That takes us to the consent agenda, section seven. I'm gonna read on these agenda items all together and then we will vote on them together unless a member of council wishes to remove any of these items from the consent agenda. We read on them and vote on them together because they are deemed to not require any additional debate or conversation beyond the reading them into the minutes themselves and then ultimately approving. So we'll begin with item 7.1, approve disbursements for the month of April 2026 in the amount of $8,750,141.36. Item 7.2, approve and authorize the disposal of surplus equipment. Item 7.3, approve the City of Columbia's Stop Loss Group Medical Insurance Premium with Sun Life Financial with an individual specific deductible of $150,000 and an aggregating specific deductible of $125,000. Effective July 1, 2026, and authorize the mayor to sign any necessary documents. Item 7.4, receive and file cost of living adjustment for eligible retirees or beneficiaries of the City of Columbia and employee retirement plan. Item 7.5, approve and authorize the mayor to sign a project agreement between the City of Columbia and Chandler Thanks LLC in the amount of $59,500 for branding and visual identity professional services. Item 7.6, approve and authorize the mayor to sign a contract between the City of Columbia and Roof Systems, Inc., utilizing TIPS cooperative purchasing to remove and update the old roof and replace storm-damaged roofs at the Columbia Aquatics and Recreation Center in the amount of $98,460. Item 7.7, approve and authorize the mayor to sign a contract between the City of Columbia and Path Company to replace the entire HVAC system for the Columbia Aquatic and Recreation Center in the amount of $550,000. Item 7.8, approve bid award and authorize the mayor to sign a contract between the City of Columbia and Drake's Creek Builders in the amount of $715,861 for the Columbia Aquatic and Recreation Center renovations. Item 7.9, approve the change order one to the contract with Stillhead Building Group for the construction of the Ridley Pickleball Courts. in the amount of seven thousand seventy one dollars and nine cents item 710 approve and authorize the mayor to sign a contract between the city of columbia and cali alexandria and the amount of four thousand dollars for a columbia summer getaway social media influencer marketing program campaign item 711 approve and authorize the mayor to sign a contract between the city of columbia and haley for a unique summer travel destination, social media influencer marketing campaign. Item 712, approve and authorize the mayor to sign the software licensing agreement with Eskil in the amount of $5,300 to provide valid and reliable testing for pre-employment and skills gap testing. Item 713, approve and authorize the mayor to sign the amendment with Tyler Technologies regarding the removal of the ACFR statement builder And last item on the consent agenda is approve and authorize the mayor to sign the amendment to Tyler Technologies regarding the removal of business licenses and central property file. That is the consent agenda, items 7-1 through 7-14. We'll entertain a motion to approve. The motion's been made by Council Member McKelvey, seconded by Council Member McClellan. Any discussion on the consent agenda? Hearing none, Mr. DuBois.

Mr. McClellan, Mr. Coffin, Ms. Segrist, Marshall, Mr. McKelvey, Mayor McBroom, Mayor Mulder.

Aye. The consent agenda is approved. There being no matters under Section 8 of the administration, we'll go on to Section 9 resolutions, beginning with 9.1, Resolution No. 2637, Tax Corrections.

Motion's been made.

Seconded by Vice Mayor. Any discussion? Hearing none. Mr. Jablonski.

Mr. McClellan. Mr. Huffman. Ms. Seacrest. Mr. Marshall.

Aye.

Mr. Kelby.

Aye.

Mr. McBroom. Aye. Mr. Marimold.

Aye. That item is approved. Next item, 9.2, resolution number 2638, a resolution to accept the ownership and maintenance of sewer improvements serving the Hillcrest Townhomes. motion's been made by councilman marshall i was going to let councilman seekers have it if you'd like to good all right it's been properly seconded any discussion on item 9.2 hearing none mr jablonski mr mccollin mr huffman and secrets mr marshall kelvin that's mary mccroom uh that item is approved next item 9.3 resolution 2639 to accept the ownership and maintenance of sewer improvements serving hillcrest village phase two and phase three been moved and properly seconded. Any discussion on that matter? Hearing none, Mr. Chablon.

Mr. McKellen? Mr. Huffman? Ms. Segrist? Mr. Marshall? Mr. McKelvey? Mr. Marimold?

Aye, that item is approved. Last item under this section, 9.4, Resolution 2640, also back to corrections. Motion's been made, properly seconded. Any discussion on that item?

Hearing none, Mr. Jablonski. That item is approved.

We now move to section 10 ordinances, beginning with 10.1, second consideration of ordinance number 4585, an ordinance to amend the fiscal year 2526 budget ordinance number 4544 as amended. providing for the revisions to the general state street aid solid waste capital projects grants and wastewater funds motion's been made and properly seconded any discussion on item 10.1 hearing none mr jablonski mr mcclellan you're helping the secrets marshall kelby uh That item is approved. Next item, 10.2, second consideration of ordinance number 4586, an ordinance fixing the tax rate for the city of Columbia for the 2026 year on all taxable property at the rate of .6068 per 100. That is item 10.2 on second consideration. Entertain a motion for that item.

motions are made properly seconded mr maskey is this one that you wanted to mention i know this is the one that has changed from the public hearing yes excuse me yes sir this is uh one that you had the public hearing on earlier i just helped break the drop and it's the bottom of the narrative you'll notice that as far as assessed evaluation goes the city of columbia since last property but we've increased our assessed valuation by nine

Any questions on that? Ready for the vote? Mr. DeBosk.

Mr. McCullen. Mr. Huff. Ms. Seek. Mr. Marshall. Mr. Dalby. Aye. Mr. McBroom. Aye. Mr. Mulder.

Aye, that item is approved. Next item, 10.3, second consideration of ordinance number 4587 as amended, appropriation ordinance for fiscal year July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. Mr. Massey, would this be considered the actual budget? This is the actual budget, yes. And I just wanted to first make a motion to approve this item on second consideration. been properly seconded by the vice mayor. I mentioned coming in to the city manager, this is the eighth budget that I will have been a part of over the last eight years. And of all the things we do, unless we pass a robust, balanced budget, Not a whole lot really matters because this budget is an opportunity for us to invest in our community, invest in our citizenry, and do everything we can to make this place we call home better to live, work, and raise a family. And so I just wanted to say I'm proud that this is our eighth budget that we are passing without a property tax cut. over the last eight years at all. I wanted to say that I'm proud that this is another budget that exercises fiscal responsibility with an eye towards the future. I wanted to say thank you to our city staff, beginning with our city manager and our assistant city manager and everybody in the building and across city government that are responsible for putting forward a budget that is one that we can all be proud of and we can go talk about in our ward our community as a whole of what this budget does for our city for the long term so i want to say thanks to everyone involved in this it's been such an honor to be able to vote on a budget every year i guess considering the two considerations that are required for this this makes my 16th vote on the budget um and it's a very proud vote that i'm ready to take unless anyone has any other discussion we will call for the vote mr jablon

Mr. McClellan, Mr. Huff, Ms. Seek, Mr. Marshall, Ms. Helmy, Ms. Perriman, Mr. Broom, Mr. Marimol.

Aye, and the budget is approved, item 10.3. Mr. Mack. Yes, my honor.

Just like that, Blotsky, if you'd like to make note of the budget, we just now approved the budget, budget three, right off the press. I expect the second to pass.

there is now thank you mr massey now this budget's been adopted uh mayor and members of council we've handed out a budget in brief for fiscal year 2027 which just provides the summary information for you as you talk to folks in the community um talks about our property tax receipts what we've done last year for the coming year um and how we spend our how we how we raise revenue how we uh spend our funds and it's just it's a really good summary and otherwise complex documents. We've got more to hand out upstairs. We'll be doing that in the week to come. I wanted to give you a first look at that.

It's almost like you knew that it was a good budget that was going to be approved unanimously because these were already ready to go. But it is true that it was a good budget that was approved unanimously. And I think Mr. Jablonski pointed it out. This is not an easy situation. This is a complex budgetary process that I think sometimes we take for granted. And what I love about this budget and brief document is that it really helps paint a picture of what all the good things are that budget does. And I think the more we get that out, we need to see what's happening. on a proactive basis the better so thanks for a very good document once more mr klonsky also okay that takes us to item 10.4 for second consideration of ordinance number 4588 in order to approve the classification and compensation plan for the employees of the city of columbia 26 27 fiscal year and i'm just feeling good tonight so i'm going to make a motion for that one as well That's been properly seconded. On the discussion, I just wanted to also be able to speak to the fact that we have made a concerted effort to make sure that we're taking care of our employees. They are our people, and if we don't take care of them, then they won't take care of others. And so I'm proud that this includes yet another increase in pay. I think we've done a very good job over the last several years of making sure that we're increasing our employees' pay so that not only we continue to recruit employees, the best and the brightest, but that we are also retaining those who have committed their life to public service for this community. So I'm proud of this item as well. 10.4 on second iteration. Any other discussion? Hearing none, Mr. Jablonski.

Mr. McClellan, Mr. Huffman, Ms. Sechrist, Mr. Marshall, Mr. McKelvey, Vice-Commander McBroom, Mayor Mulde.

Aye, that item is approved. Next item, 10.5, second consideration on ordinance number 4589 to adopt and ratify the historic district design guidelines concerning properties within the Athenaeum, Arrowport, Downtown Commercial, West 6th Street, and Mays Place in the West 7th Street West End Historic Overlay Districts. Motion's been made and properly seconded. Any discussion on item 10.5? Hearing none, Mr. Jablonski.

Mr. McClellan, Mr. Huffman, Ms. Seacrest, Marshall, Kelly.

Aye, that item is approved. Next item, 10.6, second consideration of ordinance 4590 and ordinance commend ordinance 4400, zoning ordinance of the city of Columbia by approving the preliminary planned unit development master plan for lot 1B of Honey Farms PUD off Nashville Highway and Leaf Better B Road at tax map 51, parcel 58.07. Entertain a motion to approve item 10.6. Motion's been made. Properly seconded. Any discussion? Mr. Vice Mayor.

Just so the crowd would know if you weren't here last Thursday, this is a new taco bell on the north side of town, and it will be the best taco bell. Our city ordinance has really stepped up the game. I'd like to thank Mr. Keltner for that. As you're seeing that area at Neapolis, we call it Neapolis, those buildings that are going up are really taking the city to another level. So I appreciate that, Mr. Keltner.

Please vote. I thought there for a second that you were about to refuse yourself because of the amount of times you're going to be eating at the Taco Bell. But I do think that it's okay for him to still vote on it, notwithstanding, right, Mr. Attorney? But I think, and I heard that discussion, I do think that what we're seeing happening in that area is an example of what good zoning ordinances can do, what good staff leadership with their vision can do. And so I'm proud of what we're seeing there. And I think that's an example of what we can expect going forward that a lot of people will pick out of as well. Okay, we're ready for the vote on that matter. Mr. Jablonski.

Mr. McKellen. Mr. Huffman. Ms. Seacrest. Mr. Marshall. Mr. McKelvey. Vice Mayor McBroom. Mayor Mulcahy.

That item is approved. Next item, 10.7, first consideration of ordinance 4591, an ordinance to amend the Columbia Municipal Code by adding section 12108, title 12, chapter 1, paying to minimum design standards for fire prevention, fire protection, and building construction safety for government-owned buildings. Mr. Prevetti has signed up to speak on this item 10.7. Come on up, Mr. Prevetti. You have the floor for three minutes. Identify yourself and provide your address.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you, City Council, for allowing this public comment or this comment period. My name is Eric Previtti. I live at 101 Casey Valley Drive here in Columbia. That's the fourth ward in the second district of the county. I currently on my third term as county commissioner for Murray County, and I currently serve as chairman of the admin committee and the building committee. I'm here tonight to say thank you for this. I think this is a great step of cooperation between the county and the city, and by you doing this and setting that level for everybody, whether it be federal, state, county, or city, that we all go by the same codes. I think this is a benefit for everybody, and I'm here tonight to thank you for that, and I hope that it passes. Thank you, sir.

Thank you all. All right. I think that's the only one that signed up to speak on this item. unless I'm mistaken. Okay, so we're back on the item, item 10.7 for entertaining motion. Motion's been made, properly seconded. And I wasn't here for the discussion on this one last week, but just to make sure I understand, Mr. Massey, what this does, our current standards would require some additional requirements fire protection building materials for the construction of properties in the private sector. And in the public sector, what this is going to allow is to adhere to the Tennessee State Fire Marshal's Office, which would have some leniency relative to building materials for fire protection and loss compared to what our own requires. Is that correct? That is correct. And I just wanted to make sure that that was a request that did come in through the county when they identified that this issue was going to be an increased cost. Yes. And so I think Mayor Butt initially came with the request to look into this and the county as a whole. And so this has led us to that. Thank you. which will allow the animal shelter to save some costs in their construction to further their services that they're able to provide and as pointed out also provide an opportunity to show some cooperation uh with the municipal and all right so we're ready for the vote on that one the motion's been made and properly seconded and mr jablonski take the vote mr mccollin That item is approved. Item 10.8 is the next item. First consideration of ordinance number 4592 in ordinance to amend the Columbia Municipal Code by adding section 10108 to title 10 chapter 1 to regulate and prohibit the sale, transfer, display, and giveaway of dogs, cats, and domestic rabbits in public outdoor spaces. Item 10.8. and we have two signed up to speak on that. First, beginning with the Director of Services Shelter, Kim, come on up. You have the floor, good to see you. I'm excited to hear about how this has come .

So thanks for having me. We talked about this a little bit last meeting, sent my slides. Since then, last Friday, we did have five puppies that actually broke the Carvo, which is a premium example of how this ordinance would help alleviate some of the stress on the shelter. I am happy to report those puppies may make it. The Carvo is touch and go, but we are seeing challenges for improvements better. You know, the giving away animals in the parking lot is just not the answer. We want to have them come face to face. We want to have conversation with them, how we can help them, how we can fix or to, you know, stop this from happening over and over. The shelter, With the expansion, we'll be able to handle this. We have increased our number of animals that have . I really think that this and I see every municipality following suit Like they pointed out, meal day is not, that is the exception. That's not where we're looking to eliminate from animals. It's just simply people who need assistance, how to not have this over. At that point, we can offer them assistance with rabies, which is a law. We don't want that to happen in Hays and Giles County. We have rabies clinics every single month that there is options out there. And sometimes people need some, but what is available is ours. So I would really like you guys to pass this, that it's gonna help shelter a great deal. We won't fill it

Thank you, Kim, and thank you for your continued leadership in this very important area. And everywhere you go in the community, you're more and more known for the good work you're doing and for all the employees, the shelter and volunteers as well. So thanks for being here tonight and for your continued support. All right. We also have another individual sign up to speak. Megan. Megan, come on up. I didn't say your last name only because I was going to probably... I was going to say not Theed. So Ms. Theed, welcome. If you'll give us your name and address and you have the floor for three minutes.

Yes, of course. And I promise I will not take three minutes. But my name is Megan Theed.

I'm at 5010 Brookside Drive in Columbia.

I actually just wanted to take a moment and express my gratitude for even considering an ordinance like this. I know that it can be a very controversial subject and stir up a lot of emotion in people. very recognize that I recognize that a lot and so I appreciate all the thoughtful questions I've received about it and not even just that but your receptiveness to hearing what the answers to those questions were and of course you know we've talked about how this will support and hopefully alleviate the strain on the shelter but and even as importantly it's going to help protect the members of our community. We obviously love our animals and we want to protect those people but as we're learning in animal welfare these issues don't exist in a vacuum and what animals are experiencing and pet owners are experiencing those impacts are felt throughout entire communities. So I just wanted to say thank you for your consideration of it.

Thank you, and thank you for stepping up to the plate on bringing this issue, and Council Member McKelvey for also helping facilitate, and we're glad you're here, and we're glad you're leaving tonight with a sense of pride and what you saw. All right, so now we're on the item. I think it's time to entertain a motion on item 10.8. Has it been made and properly seconded any discussion? Mr. Vice Mayor?

Mr. Mayor, do you have Chief Haywood come up? Chief, could you come up?

Yes.

And also, too, if there's any questions regarding the ordinance itself, to the attorney on it.

Chief, the question I had was, because you're the one that's going to be handling it, we do have the ability to take care of it.

Yes, sir. Any ordinance, obviously, that's passed, we are already handling, regardless of whether the ordinance is passing the ordinance.

You've had a chance to work with the director on how y'all are going to handle it. Find somebody you have to give out or you're going to start working on that. Tell them they need to go to the shelter. Y'all had a chance to work dynamically. Speed limit change.

All right.

Any other discussion?

I have a couple of questions. Y'all haven't talked to the people who are selling them or giving them away yet, right?

Come on. There was some people who were going to go there and give away the puppets, and then they did come down sick. I did pay the mother Wednesday, and we were able to absolutely have... Everybody's usually really receptive to it. They just don't know.

Okay. And another... One of the problems that I have, if we do pass this and they're not allowed to, you know, give them away in the parking lots or whatever, they're going to find somewhere else to do it. Or they're going to end up putting the puppies, which I don't want to see on the side of the road. That's what I know. And I mean, I've seen that happen. So that is my concern. If we shut this down, then they're going to end up you know, on the side of the road or somewhere like that. I don't want to see that happen.

They do that now, and this way, if it's just easier for them to give them away, they're going to. This way, they're going to have to put some thought process in, knowing that they don't have that option. And if we're an open, you know, door communication for that, it's a win-win. The other thing is that everybody who goes there to get them, 9 out of 10, they can't afford these animals, and I usually end up with them later. We had a puppy three days ago who was found in the Walmart park who very much resembled the rest of the litter who came in the week. So, I mean, the people who go there and get them should not be getting them anyway because they don't get them fixed. They don't get them vaccinated. In my slide, you saw the one litter that came in. They were full of worms. I mean, we just, from a public safety aspect, we have to do something about it.

Okay, and one more. Have you had complaints about the people in the parking lot?

Every weekend my phone is ringing up the hook for animal control that they're giving away animals in the mall parking lot. kittens i went there my husbands went there and we go and retrieve them okay is that here in columbia or right here in columbia the other thing is that many people are not even from this area and they just know that we're an animal community so like orange county they come over there was one gentleman from alabama right up 65 45 minutes he knew he could unload the animals he left Now there's a husky breeder who sits in that parking lot every single weekend. And if anybody knows anything about huskies, they're the number one dog because they're sled dogs. And you have to put a lot of thought process into having that. And when they're done with them, they come to me. All right, thanks.

Well, you didn't use all your three minutes. So if you want one more minute, we'll give you one more minute.

I've also had conversations with people in the parking lots and there certainly are giveaways. And in my experience in those conversations, the giveaways are people who truly have accidental litters and there's just no space anywhere to take them. More of my conversations personally have been with people who are intentionally breeding and using these properties as to display their animals and then sell them. So it's very intentional. You know, they're using this premises to, again, you know, kind of operate, you know, some commercial activity that has little oversight, little regulation. And very much like Kim said, you don't know who the animals are going to. They're often sick. They're unfixed for sure. There's just a lot of the lack of oversight can be very dangerous for a community. And I do want to address something really quickly, too, because you made a really good point. Aren't people just going to dump them anyway? We don't want that. Certainly, you know, we're not afraid to say this could get a little worse before it gets better, but we have to disrupt what's happening now in order to reverse the cycle. For example, if you interrupt that perpetual cycle of animal breeding and animal giveaways and just unintentional litters you are going to eventually create space in the channels that are meant for people who truly need them right now that whole industry has been so exploited and oftentimes we see people who are selling animals and they say oh it was just an accidental litter but you know fool me once shame on me fool me twice shame on you um You just understand it's a shame because there are people who truly need those channels because accidents certainly happen. And just the people who are being reckless about it, unfortunately, are really taking up all the space there. Those are the only two questions I remember because I have a horrible memory.

So how do you guys propose to solve this problem?

Well, at least in my experience, I'm not affiliated with the animal shelter, but we do a lot of education. It's huge. I heard our chief talk about that. It's educating, you know, yes, we have spay and neuter in the community, but if... people are making money off of their bred animals why are they going to do that you know so so we educate the community as a whole uh we educate um just the impact of even letting your dogs go loose unfixed like we have we have laws in place in the state that say if you have an animal um in heat they're supposed to be confined there's just a lot of things people truly don't know so And this is another thing I'll be clear about in our experience and just with conversations with other municipalities who have done this and just kind of common sense logic, this will not fix our animal crisis. This in conjunction with preventative initiatives, educational initiatives, and just community support can really move the needle. But we do need all of those different components working together.

All right. Any other questions on that? All right. Thank you.

Mr. Hubble, this does not stop. All this is is parking lot. This does not stop people that's got selling puppies that are registered dogs at their own home. Is that true?

Correct. This does not prohibit any private sales from your residents.

And I will say too, that's what part of the ordinance there is, I had worked with a couple of you, Mr. McKelvey and Mr. Hubbell about making sure that that safe exchange location, because there are people who, if they had an accident and they're uncomfortable with someone coming to their home, um yes we encourage someone to go to their home to see the pet before buying them but um you know we we can't control it all and so that is a really great option for people who are afraid of that but it's still regulated because it's monitored by police surveillance so i think that is a really good option and a good compromise for people who still need that who need to find homes for animals all right any other questions or none thank you thank you that was longer than

All right, we'll move now to the vote on item 10.8. Mr. Zabonski.

Mr. McClellan. Mr. Huffman. Mr. Seacrest. Mr. Marshall. Mr. McKelvey. Mr. McCrew. Mr. Mulder.

Aye, 10.8 is approved. Next and final matter under this section, 10.9, first consideration of order number 4593, conveying a 20-foot-wide sewer easement to John C. Davenport property located on tax map 100G, group A, parcel 32.07. The motion's been made and properly seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none, Mr. Blunk.

Mr. McClellan, Mr. Huffman, Ms. Sechrist, Mr. Marshall, Mr. McKelvey.

That item is approved. They're being, let's see, that takes care of public comments. So any other business for the good of council this evening, I'll point out a couple of things. First, we have the Juneteenth celebration on Friday, June 19th, 2026. It's official city holiday. In case you're keeping score at home and don't remember that city was. This is the first city in the state of Tennessee to declare June 15th as an official holiday. Many cities have followed, including the state of Tennessee. 15.2, we have the unveiling of the historic marker of the Columbia Jail Fire on Friday, June 26, 2026, 3 p.m. at the Murray County Archives building. It should be a very nice event that happens to be on the anniversary of the Murray Jail Fire. How many years ago, Mr. Maskey? 1977 77 you do the math but it is the anniversary date and there's a good opportunity to bring some attention to that to just really promote the history of that bill of fire and there's some really important pieces and mayors i mentioned last week we had first invited sheriff roland good good good good I wanted to say that the first Fridays for June was a resounding success. I want to give a special shout out to Columbia Main Street and Kelly Johnson and the Main Street Board for all the good work they put in to making that a success. The July 4th or the July 1st Fridays should also be a very good one. There's going to be a lot of fun patriotic activities, including come on down and paint a cycling van and you might see it out on the art system at some point. We also have various 250-year celebrations in connection with our country's 250-year on July 4th of this year. So please be sure to keep on the lookout of calendar items for those various events that will take place. Mr. Vice Mayor, I'll give you the last word. Council Member Huffman, maybe you'll get the last word.

I'm surprised. Go ahead.

No, go ahead.

I'm surprised with you and Jake being lawyers. Y'all didn't say this. Next Thursday, I believe it's 104 or 101. They're going to have a Judge Sands is retiring. They're going to have his party there at 4 o'clock at his courtroom. Y'all being attorneys, I'm surprised y'all didn't say something about that. But he's been a long time. He's been a true Murray County.

Me there, but I didn't plan on going. Well, you know what? I will be there, and I'm going to save my remarks for what I have to say when I am there. But Judge Sands is a fine public servant, and I think he is someone who has served our community in so many different ways so well. And I'm excited to celebrate his years of service and also excited to welcome a new judge that's been appointed who will do a great job as well with Judge Spears. So thank you, Pastor Ruff. Anybody else wish to be heard? Pastor Marshall? Hopefully the new judge will keep that in place. All right. Anyone else? Vice Mayor?

You didn't mention that it went very well. But I have to brag on the city employees when I get a chance. And y'all always think I'm favorite of Mac. And he might be. But I went out there to the softball tournament this weekend. And I went up here and told the lady who I was, and we got to talking, and she came from Michigan. She was taking the admission to there, and she said they love coming to Columbia. Columbia is where they want to be. They always want to come to Columbia for their big nationwide tournament. So, Mac, you tell your people that I was getting compliments for what y'all are doing. But not to show that Mac is the favorite of Jeff Dwyer today. got compliments. Two of them from somebody that he personally went out there and looked at their dick. They were so appreciative that he took the time to look at it. And he did some work downtown to help push the copper. And they were so appreciative of that. So those two things. I thank y'all. You know I love you. And anybody else out there. I appreciate what y'all are doing. I know y'all wake up every morning trying to figure out how to make money.

Thank you.

See, Vice Mayor, I told you I was going to give you the last word, but I can't let that be because he started digging a hole by calling out some names, and he failed to call out other names that are in the audience that are also department heads who I want to let directly reflect. Know that I also love them, including Paul Keltner and Jeremy Haywood and Chris Cummings and others. Jonathan, where is Jonathan? I don't even see Jonathan. There he is in the back. All right. Well, we love all of our department heads, all of our employees, and everybody in the room. There's a lot of love behind, I guess. It's been a good meeting. Thank you. We will entertain a motion to adjourn.