City Council - Regular Meeting

And I think It would be appropriate for the scouts that are here that are learning about civil service and civic service to look at Mark Cleveland because he is the perfect example of what a civic servant should be. And so if you ever have questions about what that is, call Mark Cleveland. He's got time on his hands now.

Thanks, Terry, for being here 100 years. That's quite the accomplishment. In reading the memo that came along with the agenda, I just had a question. It said that the company that won the RFP, Sun Energy Solution, It says these sodium ion batteries are the first ever installed in the United States by this manufacturer. Does that mean that they have installed this product somewhere else overseas, or this is the first time that they've ever done it?

Okay. So we're on the front end of innovation here for this.

Yes, thank you for coming. Um, so I, I know we've, we've heard about the airport, um, over the last several months, several times, and I know their, um, expansion and growth of our city growth of our community. Um, is this. Is this system, is this microgrid, where are we in terms of, is it, you know, for what's currently on the airport property and in operations, would it use 75% of this microgrid? Is it 100%? Is there a plan for the future and future growth of the airport need?

Okay. And so the airport would be able to grow in the future, 10, 20, 30 years, it would meet the needs?

Okay. And to build off the comment of Southern Tree Solution, are you working with the location in Kentucky, knowing new technology? We are definitely an innovative city and forward thinking, but what is the plan to kind of support this being the first US location and the usage of what it's being applied for?

Mr. Mayor, to put a finer point on that question a little bit, I think it's great that we're trailblazers, but I want to make sure that the technology works. Are we confident that it'll be reliable and something that will work for us to meet our needs?

And you mentioned the grant money. So we seed with $75,000 from our airport enterprise fund, and that's a special purpose fund inside that we hold. And then the rest of that, the rest of the $500,000 is either state or federal grants. Is that right?

That's great leverage. How does the airport enterprise fund populate, Chris?

What's the current balance of the fund? That's about $480,000. So this $75,000 represents a fraction of what the fund actually had.

At the end of this pilot, will you be able to tell us what our cost per ride has been? I know for the public, it's... Yes, ma'am. Are the first four rides still free? So the first four rides are free, and then it's $2 after that. So to the public, it's incredibly... ...cheap. Yes, ma'am. And obviously, the more riders and users, the less our costs... But is that something that you'll be prepared to share with us in six months? Yes, ma'am.

And since you brought up the fixed route, are we planning to use the data from the micro transit at all to think about altering any routes for the fixed transit?

Kevin, is there any change to the existing bus routes for this extended six-month period of time? So we're just extending the current circumstance of our buses and our microtransit.

Kevin, in this six-month pilot, is there any plan? I know when we talk about data and we talk about usage, it was pointed out to me earlier today that if I wanted to take microtransit to the city council meeting, I could not take it home. Yes, ma'am. Is there a test or period of time where you would be looking at that extended hours that I know we've talked about? Data is data. you know, but is there any, are you going to play with any other parts of the current setup?

I would wonder if there is a city event in the next six months that the communications team could support preparing citizens for the use of microtransit to get to and from, to test that extended period of time.

Mr. Mayor, Kevin, I wholeheartedly endorse Leslie's idea because I think that's a way to get user acceptance and get people focused on it. What's the cost associated with the extension of the pilot?

And so the mayor talked about wait times. I think we want to watch that closely. I think if we're way under our wait time target, it might suggest that the system can take a little bit more stress and we can expand quicker and sooner. I really I've been a long proponent for making sure that we see this implemented citywide as fast as we can. So I appreciate all the work that you're doing to get us to that point and hopefully it'll get there sooner rather than later.

It's not a question, but I've sat in many of those meetings and I mean, I've really appreciated the level of engagement that the city team and pal have undertaken into this project. And I think it shows in the excitement that the respondents to the surveys have shown. And I think many of those have come from the neighborhood. And so. I think it's exciting to see the neighborhood, the Duncan Park area, get more and more excited about the improvements that are being made along the lake and with the trail system.

I will also note when pal did give a presentation to us and the Duncan Park Trail was actually the out of all the trails that had the most opportunity for more usage. And I think this is great. This is a great focus to get more feet, more activity and obviously protection of the natural element and safety. It's great.

Do I hear a motion? Mr. Mayor, I make a motion that we approve.

I will also say, Mr. Mayor, that after their last engagement meeting at C.C. Woodson, I rode around the park to look at some of the specific areas of where the work was being proposed. It was really great to see the trail that was active. It was great to see the water ecology station, people there, people at the lake on the kayaks. And also, I was blown away by the tennis courts and the pickleball courts. They were max capacity with about 40 to 50 people down there playing. And that's not to mention the folks that were playing on the revitalized baseball fields and things like that. So it's re

Any questions and Mr story, would this be a redevelopment for a single user?

And so would that create an opportunity for new jobs into the city?

Will there be any potential additional action by council required for this possible relocation?

Mr. Mayor, I make a motion that we certify the site to be eligible for the abandoned building tax credits.

Mr. Mayor, I make a motion we approve the resolution. Second.

Chris I echo Erica's excitement this has been a long time coming and she said accurately we talked about affordable housing all the time so bear with me and my train of thought and my questions compound question here as I was reviewing the development agreement Maybe this has been in all of the other ones, but it struck me, and I didn't remember seeing it in some of the other ones, but the Section E, the performance data, where it says that the city shall keep and protect the data related to limited, including but not limited to rent rolls and financial performance data related to such units,

Well, so that piece right there, then kind of led me down a path that wouldn't be as relevant to this project because it is 100% below AMI. But when we think about other projects that we've done, Boxcar, Fitzgerald, Mary H. Wright, the Town Homes Off Country Club, where we've set the standard that if you're going to receive a philo from us, you're going to have to include at least 10% of your units as affordable so then seeing this we are going to protect your data it's going to be confidential i was then thinking well you know what if our post and courier friends wanted to do an article every

So just to make sure I understand what you're saying, you don't have a concern because you have received information back from the projects that verify this? Correct. Okay. Well, then back to my original question, if we are going to report back out, and maybe I'm not understanding the totality of... keeping this information confidential or what information would be kept confidential. But it gives me a little bit of a pause to say that we can't share any thing out based on the rent roll. Obviously not financial information related to the tenant in 30A, but if someone wanted to know, are they ac

But your point is they're having to report to the federal government and state government, people that have a lot more teeth than we might.

Yeah, I'd be very interested because we've never seen any of that information coming back. And so I would really like to.

So this is the same. Absolutely. I mean, no, I'm saying just can we publicly verify that Boxcar is renting to 10% of their You know, 10% of their units are actually going to the people that they said it would.

Okay. Thank you. That's my only question.

Um, I'm excited about this project as well. I mean, I think, um, you know, for reasons mentioned, but also the proximity to the community college campus downtown. which I think will be a great opportunity to link students at the college to some additional housing opportunities. Chris, I just want to make sure I'm clear. The city's contribution to this project is the land, the sliver of land on the corner of Converse and Kennedy. Yes, sir. That land owned by the city currently is not generating any revenue. No. The revenue that will be generated from day one under this agreement, I guess upon c

And there's been no contribution by the taxpayers or anything to make other than the piece of property.

And it's safe to say this project would not have happened without the LIHTC funding or any of the other incentive programs, including our gift of the land and then the incentives over the 20-year period. And then after the 20 year period, it will be a full contributor to our tax roll as any other project in downtown or anywhere else in the city.

So, in addition to increasing our tax base, we've also taken a positive step toward addressing our affordable housing. Desires yes, sir.

Any questions? Mr. Mayor, Chris, so 23 lots over what period of time? 30 months?

Right, and so as I read it, I think we give them a lot and then they start the, and then we kind of, it's sort of a stair-step approach.

sure Chris there's a rich history I know to this project it was way before my time and maybe before some other people's times here you when you were reading off the memo and you've alluded to this before that the City Council at that time the goal was the original intent intent was for a mixed-income neighborhood correct and so those original 17 homes that were built over 18 years i'm sure it wasn't one a year but we can just let's just say those were all affordable homes or income restricted or that's correct yes okay and were there already homes that existed in this neighborhood well or thos

So when it says fulfilling the original intent of a mixed income neighborhood for 18 years, it was not mixed income. It was... Lower income houses.

So then, I know I've asked this question before, but how long would those houses, say the first house, the one that was built 18 years ago, how long does that house stay... income restricted some the deed on the land is it 20 years is it till it sells i don't know the answer to that what i'm getting at is is it actually a mixed income neighborhood anymore these 17 years later or have all of those homes the deeds have transferred over they've all been sold how many of those original homes are actually still owned by people who

But I'm not sure if the original intent was for a mixed income neighborhood. Maybe the current intent is not because none of the new homes that we're discussing now will be, they'll all be market rate.

And we own all of the lots that we're turning over to one by one, like Jamie just said.

so it depends on the lens you want to apply to it but from our perspective this is this is in keeping with the original vision as best we understand it so were there discussions about any of these 23 lots being us requiring any sort of income for any of these homes being affordable or we believe we've already

What was the city's financial commitment as part of the original 2013 development agreement?

But outside the contribution of the lots, there's no additional financial commitment being made by the city? Okay, so that was all part of the original infrastructure that was done. Yeah, that's done. So that's already been spent and developed.

I mean, I understand all of that, but also that's all in the past. This is 17. I mean, how long that's... But we have new people moving in, new families, people looking for new housing now. And so I guess I'm a little uncomfortable doing such a large housing project with there being no affordable part when we said, oh, we did that 18 years ago.

So wouldn't you want to afford new people?

That's actually a question I had, so let me ask my question. Yes. on page 24 it says naming a facility or spaces within the facility yeah i didn't know how this math mathed so the naming of the facility or spaces shall follow the procedures as set forth in section 10-4 then a name however a name for the facility or any jointly occupied space must be approved by two thirds majority of both the county council and the city council. So if we wanna name our conference room on the city's floor, we can decide that. If the county wants to name theirs, but if we wanna name it the Chris Story Lobby, the

By the way, I vote no on Megan's proposed lobby name.

Two-thirds majority. I'm serious, though. Is that five out of seven votes? Is that two-thirds a majority?

So is that understood? I am not a math person. Is that commonly understood and I just don't get it? Or should it say that? Because the number of councils, districts could change in the future.

If Eric is on vacation again and misses the vote.

If you're on the fence, that's half a vote. Yeah. So, Chris, I noticed in there that each party will have an associated allocated costs that they will bear. What is the breakdown of the percentage breakdown of those allocated costs?

And that will be in the final agreement? That'll be included in the

I mean, it's a very thoughtful agreement. It was hard to think of things that we hadn't thought of.

There was only 1 section where I noticed technology. I could have mentioned it. I mean, missed it. It says both the city and county will be responsible individually for routine replacement and upgrade of technology. common technology will be scheduled. I took that more to mean like our computers, but we know our friends at the county have had challenges when it's come to hacks. We have not. So can you talk briefly about that firewall and how if our technology systems are going to be separate?

And is our comms team involved in talking with the architects around like specifically around this room, like we know that we have not been able to do some of the things that we were able to do at our old space because of the limitations, but are they involved in saying what we need in order to achieve our

My last question from the document was. Neither the county nor the city may hold news conferences, media interviews. That was the main thing. Photo shoots or the like where the likeness of the building or its identifiable spaces, plaza grounds will be visible. So if I were to leave this meeting and Fox News wanted to interview any of us, we could not have the building behind us.

Who is the city and county then when it says that? Employees?

But if we wanted to hold our swearing-in ceremony in the plaza, probably not likely given January, but if we wanted to have it in the plaza, we couldn't do it according to this agreement?

We wouldn't see Christopher do an interview with YFF4 in front of the building as official city spokesperson.

I would maybe recommend making that a little tighter. Yeah, because like I was thinking about, we were at the topping off, you know, across the street at the library. Obviously, it's not complete, but. This tells me I can't do that. I'd have to tell the news camera, oh, no, turn around and let's get the planetarium behind us. Right, I understand. That's silly.

The intent is just so that there's not, like, we don't put a banner on the thing out front that is city-specific. Right. Or the county doing the same thing. Right. That's what you're trying to get to, right?

So we're seeing the version that they will likely pass on their third reading.

Is David still with us to lead that work? Yes.

Thank you Mr. Mayor. I am going to keep it brief because we have had a long meeting, but thank you to everyone who is still here. Um, it is important for us to ask questions. It's important for us to, you know, actually be difficult sometimes in in just making sure that we are following through. We're thinking long term. We are, we are. considering every group that could be affected or involved and really be a part of constructing how our community continues to move forward and I know that is a long process so thank you for sticking with us and being here thank you mr. mayor thank you those wo

I spent all day, actually, three different times today circling downtown to look for an electric plug-in. We have five working plugins in all of downtown. And we talk about climate resiliency. We talk about how we care about it. That means we also need to accommodate the individuals who choose to make that stretch for their family. The two in this parking lot do not work. One in the library one, it's like someone pulled the cord out of the gas tank. And three times I circled around to our four different parking garages. Thank goodness we don't have to pay to enter the garage and leave immediat

May I just add, I just saw an advertisement, I believe it was Duke Power to not quote me, but it was advertising having charging stations at your business and getting some sort of financial incentive to provide a charging station at your business.

I work right next to One Spartanburg. I call on Alan Smith to install some in the One Spartanburg parking lot. That'd be great. my car my son drives a nissan leap yes i thought you were talking about them and he didn't have enough miles to get to dormant and back so i had to drive it and try to plug it in wow yes uh mr mayor i don't thank you all for being here it's quite thank you for sticking around it's been like a late night um

Councilman Farmer. Yes, sir, Mr. Mayor. Lots to report on, but in the interest of time, I'll just mention two things. One, this weekend, as you pointed out, miles with the mayor in Duncan Park. I encourage everybody to come out and walk around the park. For those of you who haven't seen some of the improvements going on in that neighborhood, it's a great opportunity. And then to Chris's point about the Hampton Heights Porch Fest, it's a great event, and anybody that attends will definitely have a good time. So I encourage everybody to come out and participate.

May I make a motion to move into executive session?