City Council - Regular Meeting

This time I call to order the regular meeting of the Teroot City Council on Thursday, January 15th, 2026. First item on the agenda is a moment of silence and pledge of allegiance to the flag. Tonight, the pledge will be led by Council Person Amanda Thompson. I pledge algiance 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.

Michelle, will you please call the role? Council person Azar present. Council person Bolan present. Council person Shalos I am here. Council person Devon I'm also here. Council person Dingle present. Council person Hinton present. Council person Louderdermilk present. Council person Nation here. Council person Thompson here. Nine are present. Thank you.

At this time we reserve up to 30 minutes of time for public uh comment on items not on the agenda. We have a signup sheet that we'll go through. If you'd like to speak after that, you're welcome to. We ask that you please state your name for the record, limit your comments to three minutes, and direct your comments towards the council. First on the list tonight is Vicky Curts. Three, sorry, three minutes.

Yes, that's my Okay. Um, I've got a little problem and everybody, some of you know me, it's always animals. Um, for anyway, 1989, I was here when we when Brian Connley signed those first ordinances. We've come a long way. I mean, I think we've got a super good ordinance except I would like in two years if I'm still living um to pass a law that no one can give away this free giveaway of litters, cats, and dogs. Other cities, progressive communities have done that because this is where a lot of the problem starts, the giveaway and then it got out and blah blah, you know. Anyway, um the issue I have is with the cat colony permit and I've got copies of some that um from the past. I've been told by the attorney for city legal uh board of public works they will no longer be given out yet. City legal says they're still in the ordinance. Okay, fine. Um John and Richard are two people in they're in Chlo's area on Garfield Street. This is a problem area. Um, it's been this way and I've been helping these I call them my cat buddies for about 20 years and the cats just keep coming and there's three cats owned in that box. I've told Code about him. The little black and white one was pregnant. Blah blah. But they keep putting notices on the door. Go to court. Go to court. John's a Vietnam vet. His health is terrible. He's going to feed these cats till he falls over. It's how it is. And I support him in doing that. I mean, he's a really nice little guy. place has fallen in and next door is Richard Hatcher that owns the golf place on on the on the 25th his house. I mean everything's just beautiful. Well, anyway, these two these are my cat buddies and so the problem is they keep taking them to court and I'm trying to figure out what in the name of God this solves. Absolutely nothing. I stood here with Richard and Wright just told me, "Oh, we don't do the cat colony, blah, blah, blah." And I said,

"Well, who decided this?" Todd, I asked you to. Have you found an answer? No, I haven't.

No. Okay. Well, I guess God declared it, you know. Anyway, it makes me mad. Anyhow, um there's just no help for these people. I know the mayor, he's not here, but he's going to start doing TNR. And I've been doing TNR since the 90s, and it works. Mayor Bennett could have cared less about these animal issues. I gave up on him long, long time ago. I moved out to Riley. Sick of running a humane shelter in my home. Code puts these, I call them go to court notices on their doors because there are too many cats. The private nokill shelter in Teroot doesn't take very many cats. You know, they can't. They're full. And same way with um when I picked up another dog, well, they didn't have a big run. So, we don't have any alternative place for code to ever take an animal. And there's plenty of empty buildings in this city where I think something could be temporarily converted and work with the shelter, work with the rescues, etc. Um, to get them one one dog was hit by a train. It cost a fortune to fix that dog recently and Paula Ellis and several others run around town every single day picking up dogs, trying to foster them and and so forth. They shouldn't have to do that. Anyway, good people. But anyway, I told the judge that one cat in the alley is 30 in a year. If they have four to six in six months, they're breeding. It's how it works. Now, the mayor and I have been kind of going to war over this issue because he's dogs, dogs, dogs. And I kept waiting, when are you going to mention cats? When when is this and it doesn't. So now that finally a couple weeks ago, he mentioned ferals. That's the first time I've heard him say that word. So that's a start. And many of the cats in these colonies are ferals. And you all know Pliy Collet Park and you know he died. They've been feeding cats and having them fixed for decades. Collet Park's a mess. People are really upset and we all know what cats can do to your

patunias. Uh so you know um that's part of the problem. So please wrap your comments.

I'm sorry. In any case, um John's had the neighbor poison some cats with with antifreeze. So many problems in that neighborhood and we've spayed and neutered. Richard and I are going to trap four I don't know probably in the next week and get a spayneuter helps with that but we have to take them out of town. Our vets will not help spay neuter. They're too busy making money I guess. I don't know. So I just like somebody to think about some alternative space for these strays that code can take them like immediately instead of turning them back out. while these dogs are put back out where they really shouldn't be. And we've got Obachi Feline Rescue. We've got Dog at Dig It. And there's a third one, Happy Tales. And it's sad that we have to have rescues to pick up what the city and the county do not handle. And that's and and raise money for it. So anyway, that's my my take on this issue. And I know there's not much you can do about it, but Todd. Okay. Well, we'll just I don't know. I'll go to court this week with John, I think, and we'll see what they say. So, he had a call on the license. I've got copies of it, and they'll say they don't honor them anymore. And so, what are these people supposed to do with these cats? Kill them? I don't know. Put them in a box and, you know, we find kittens in boxes by the road, pet taxis. Obachi get dump cats all the time. And so, I'm just Anybody got a clue what these people are supposed to do? Are they just going to keep going back to court forever? Mayor, Council President Nation.

Um Vicki, thanks. I, you know, you're one of the people who works the hardest on this stuff and you always have been. Um I'm curious about, you know, for our city, for our council attorney or if Michael writes here, I'm curious about the the basic question of so are we or are we not uh issuing and honoring the um licenses that have been issued in the past? What am I? Oh, I'm sorry.

Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. Um, to my knowledge, Councilman Nation, I I have never seen a a cat colony license. What's that? uh my involvement in the council's it goes this council goes back long enough that I remember when we uh cooked the that up uh and Vicki was part of that conversation too right from these are from 2011 just okay I just want to make sure

after Bennett got in we let go and it's my understanding that you know this is still in the code we have a former We've got three uh three city attorneys here. We've got a city council attorney. We've got former city attorney Eddie Feling who was around uh back then and Michael. U Michael, while you take a look at those to Eddie, did you have something that you'd like to share with us?

Just quickly, um we revamped everything in the animal control ordinance. I don't know, seven years ago, probably. We changed all of that. So, not a single one of these in my tenure was ever issued. I doubt it's even in the the existing code. uh we changed there's a there's a principal rule on the number of animals no matter what type they are that you can have it's like six right so it would be contradictory to the the spirit of of all the changes we made in the code to issue a license like this today so I don't I don't think they're allowed and um do you think that the ones that were issued prior or grandfathered in some way

I mean looking at these Todd they they are um I mean I don't know exactly who they are with I I have talked to uh Robin Drum about you know her historical knowledge of things that have come through the board of public works. Um I think you know these may have been early kind of applications to pursue that specific designation but in her reporting to me she she had indicated that she has never seen a cat colony application come through the board of public works. I had not the uh cases that Miss Curts was referring to. I mean, she is correct. We have issued ordinance violation tickets uh against Mr. Hatcher, against her other neighbor uh John. I mean, at at one point, and you know, I realize this is um not a court, but you know, there were upwards of 40 cats living in that alleyway. We had neighbors coming into court with children who had contracted cat scratch fever from just being out in, you know, I I don't know the exact circumstances, but there were people who were interested in understanding what was going to happen from a judicial perspective against those individuals. And in each of those instances,

we have tried to act with the utmost empathy and sympathy towards their situation. And we agree that spade and neuter is the primary, you know, the best solution towards the uh animal problem I believe we have in this community. And um you know the mayor is fully on board with trying to guide resources that he can towards those programs. And um you know

so when John's in court on the 21st next week, what's the point? The point is to understand what John's solution is towards the ordinance violation we believe exists. Um, from a code enforcement perspective, you know, Trevor deals with these cases every day. And um, you know, we will, yeah, continue to push for voluntary compliance. That's what we do in these ordinance violation cases. We realize a lot of the people that we're dealing with are on fixed incomes, don't have tons of resources to our only two means of requests from the court are fines and trying to get people to voluntarily comply, clean their property up, take care of the animals they have under their care, you know, do things affirmatively on their own to bring the ordinance into compliance. So that's what we will do next week.

Thank you. Thank you, Michael. I'm sorry. And Vicki, thank you, too. Um I understand that this isn't really a very satisfying set of answers, but it's an answer as to

Well, I mean, how do we get him down to six caps? Summer Barrel, I don't know how many times I've trapped there. I've been trapped in there 20 years. and Richard and they keep dragging them back to court. What are they supposed to do with these animals that there's three owned cats in that block? Three the one was pregnant. I told Code about it black and white. Now we got little black and white kitties running around. They did not go to those three homes where those own cats are. But of course those cats go to John's to eat, you know. And my guess is there are 20 cats there. I mean that's an estimate and you know it's bad. I agree. It's really bad. But the point is these people didn't ask for these hats and they just keep coming. I've been working at TNR since the '90s and you have

and we're going to we're not going to keep going in a back and forth on this, but I appreciate your comments. Any other members of the council like to speak on this? Um, just briefly, um, I would say, um, I do feel that, um, this mayor probably is I I didn't work with Duke Bennett, um, but I do feel that, uh, Mayor Sackbun does, um, see spayneuter as a serious issue. He reached out to all of us here on the city council back in August when they found some extra non-reverting funds and asked if it was okay with us as a council to um, use that to subsidize a spay and neuter. And it's my understanding that he continues he will continue um to push that expand that fund even more as each year goes on uh to move towards that. So, you know, I I don't want you to think this has fallen on on death years. I mean, we we definitely all see it as an issue and agree that spay and neuter is is the way to go and we fully support that. Anybody else?

That's the end of our signup list. Is there anybody else in the audience that would like to speak to under public comment? Okay, hearing that, we will close public comment. Corrections to the journal of the proceeding meeting, there are none. Communication from the mayor, I receive none. Reports from city officials, there are none. Reports from public board of public works and safety, I receive none. Reports from standing committees, there are none. Reports from non-standing committees, there are none. Items previously tabled, there are none. Tax abatements for confirmation, there are none. Items on second reading, there are none. Items on first reading. There are none. Appointments to boards and commissions.

Okay. Your first set is the appointments of citizens to boards and commissions. Before you, you have three sets of documents. One is for information technology advisory board. Would you like to begin with that one first? Yes, please. Okay. There are two open positions on that. You have three nomination I mean three applicants. a council member. Uh once the uh council president opens the floor for nominations, you will need to nominate anyone and uh then the president will close nominations and if necessary, we'll take a ballot vote. Come on.

Okay. At this time, I'll open the floor for nominations to the information technology advisory board. Council person Boland, I would like to nominate Dallas Wilson. Thank you. Council person Nation. I nominate Steve Chennowith. Council person Dawn. I'll nominate Harold Ciphers.

Okay. At this time, I'm going to close nominations and ask for a ballot vote.

One or two. I didn't mind you. Thank you. See how much skill Good job. Oh, those really nice.

Yeah, pretty sure. That's the last year. some music,

Mr. President.

Yes. Um, just a reminder, it is an odd month. So, uh, voting is reverse alphabetical order with the president voting last. So, if you think I've lost my skills on alphabetizing as I read these. Okay. Council person Thompson, um, one vote for Chinowith, one vote for Ciphers. Council person Nation, one vote for Chinowith, one vote for Wilson. Council Person Loudermilk, one vote for Chinowith, one vote for Ciphers. Council Person Hinton, one vote for Chinowith, one vote for Wilson. Council person Dean, one vote for Chinowith, one vote for Ciphers. Council person Chaos, one vote for Chinowith, one vote for Wilson. Council person Boland, one vote for Chinowith and one vote for Wilson. Council Person Azar, one vote for Chinowith, one vote for Wilson. Council President Dinkle, one vote for Ciphers, one vote for Wilson. That's eight votes for Ch uh uh Steven Chin Chinowitz, four votes for Harold Ciphers, and six.

Yes, that's what I have. Uh six votes for Wilson. So given that, Steve Chennowith and Dallas Wilson will be our appointees to the information technology advisory board. Next will be the redevelopment commission. This time I open the floor for nominations. Mr. President, council person Hinton. I nominate Mark Taylor. Council person Chaos. Nominate Kira Nasher. Council person Azar.

Nominate Jennifer Hanley. Council person Bolan, I will nominate Eron Madison.

Okay, this time I close nominations and ask for a ballot vote. number two.

Thanks. Thank you. IT people director checking the Wi-Fi stuff.

That's typical IT people. Chris is back there. We can make him do it. Okay, there we go. Get everybody. Try the wipe out again. Oh, okay.

Um, I can't remember where

Yeah. Were you busy today, George? Were you guys busy today? Yes.

When you doing vegetable soup again? When you doing vegetable soup again? We have it. You got it every day now?

Mhm. During during the weather. Okay. Unless they ran out. I don't think I was ever taking a picture ever invited everybody to Thank you so much. I wish I had a All right, Mr. President. Council person Thompson, um, Aaron Adderson and Karen Nesser. Council person Nation, Aaron Adderson, and Mark Taylor. Council Person Loudil, Jennifer Hanley, Karen Nasser, Council Person Hinton, Aaron Adderson, and Mark Taylor. Council Person Debon,

Aaron Adderson, Karum Nasser, Council Person Chaos, Jennifer Hanley, and Karum Nasser, Council Person Boland, Aaron Adderson, Mark Taylor, Council Person Azar, Jennifer Hanley, Karum Nasser, Council President Dingle, Aaron Adderson, and Mark Taylor. That is six votes for Aaron Adderson, three votes for Jennifer Hanley, five votes for Karum Nasser, and four votes for Mark Taylor.

Given that, our appointees to the redevelopment commission will be Aaron Adderson and Karen Nasser. Next, we will appoint members of the Thrive Steering Committee. At this time, I open the floor for nominations. Mr. President, Council Person, I'd like to uh um nominate Natalie Green. Any additional nominations? This time, I close the floor for nominations. Natalie Natalie Green has been nominated for Thrive Steering Committee. All those in favor, please say I.

I. Opposed? Nay. Okay. Natalie Green is our appointee to the Thrive Steering Committee. Next items of business, please. I lost track. Um, appointments of council members to boards and commissions. You should have a document in front of I'm sorry. Um, per president um, Dingle, you must make a motion uh, and second to approve. But E91 Advisory Board, Anthony Dingle, Animal Control Board, Cheryl Loudermilk, Area Plane Commission, Amanda Thompson, Downtown Terra Ho, Curtis Sabon, Riverscape, Candace Hinton, Transportation Policy Committee, Todd Nation. Council person Boland.

I'll make a motion to approve the list of uh board and commission appointments. I just read by myself. Second. It's been moved by Council President Bolan and seconded by Council President Thompson that we approve the appointments to boards and commissions. All those in favor, please say I. I. Opposed? Nay. U Mr. President, you if you just want to announce um I distributed copies of the council committees themselves. No vote is needed. You want me to read them? You can. You don't have to. I'll post them on the website. Okay. Everybody has a copyright. Yes.

Okay. Those will be our 2026 uh committees for the city council. Uh Mr. President, you just might remind everyone that the application process for human relations commission is still open and there is one uh vacancy due to a resignation. Yeah. So, we will appoint the the member for that vacancy at our first meeting in February. Applications closes January 30th, I believe. Correct. At 4. Move to adjourn.

Second. It's been moved by council person Azar, seconded by council person chas that we adjourn. All in favor say I. Oppose say nay. We stand adjourn and thank you all.