City Council - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon, everyone. I'll call to order the Tuesday, August 18th meeting of the Chattanooga City Council and recognize Councilwoman Burrs to lead us in our Pledge of Allegiance and Invocation. Welcome again, everyone. Thanks for joining us today. We'd like to at the outset of our meetings give kind of a rundown of how our meetings operate for any who might be with us for the first time. We ask first and foremost that everybody silence or turn off your cell phones so we don't have DISTRACTIONS TO OUR MEETING. OUR MEETING TAKES PLACE IN TWO PARTS. THE FIRST PART IS OUR AGENDA SESSION WHERE

Thank you, Mr. Chair. If I might have Chief Knowles and Lieutenant Alan Green come join me. Fabulous. How are you? Absolutely. All right. As Chair said, I am Marvee Noel, City Council Representative for the great District 8. So Mayor, members of Council, and members of the audience, it is my honor today to recognize and congratulate Lieutenant Alan Green as being selected by the International Association of Fire Chiefs as the 2026 Company Officer of the Year. This is a tremendous honor and a reflection of Lieutenant Green's leadership, professionalism, dedication, and commitment to the fire se

all right well thank you councilwoman noel and congratulations again lieutenant green council can i get a motion on the minutes from our previous meeting please all right we have a motion properly seconded and the minutes will stand as published and council look with me if you will at our agenda for tonight's meeting and as you do hit your lights if you have any questions or comments on any items There are a handful of items, ordinances on final reading. And one ordinance on first reading. Councilwoman Dotley, you're recognized.

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair, and I guess you would get into resolutions. I was just waiting for you. Sure.

Okay. Thank you so much. So, council, I did send out, because I was very opposed to the amendment, the, what was it, the update to the council rules. I was able to get some clarity on that. So, I did send out some proposed amendments to you all, I think, yesterday morning. Nicole shared them and wanted to just discuss those briefly, get your feedback on it. you know, see what you all thought in regards to it. I wasn't completely opposed to the rules, but the ultimate goal, the amendments are intended to clarify committee structure, broaden participation by duly elected council members, preserv

submitting these amendments, I think it clarifies some things for me in addition. And the only thing that I have some additional questions about or would like to discuss is I still don't have a clear understanding of when the committees will meet, and I guess that will come, who's going to decide that? Will it be the chair of the committee? What determines that meeting schedule? And I also think we need to flesh out a little bit more what the additional responsibility of our council staff is going to be because i i see this is adding some additional responsibility to them and making sure that

Please, Chair Elliott, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And Councilwoman Dotley, I really do appreciate you taking the time to provide your feedback on this. You know, as a council, we don't always disagree, but I think this is a great example of how we can work through what those issues are and try to find as common ground as much as possible. We won't always land on the same footing, but at least we're making sure that we're heard and we can work through those conversations. And same thing goes for you, Councilman Burrs. Councilman Burrs, I want to ask if this is okay, Mr. Chair. You

Yeah, I think that was probably directed towards you, so that's fine.

I don't have a good sense of when you're talking about an annual utilization report, you have the additional meetings, which I imagine are going to be public. that's it's not just our time it's council staff time it's maybe um av assistance so i think when we finalize these rules i think we have to incorporate the other folks that are going to be involved because it's on top of what they're already doing on a day-to-day basis so I think we have to consider that as part of the plan. What's the capacity to meet what we're talking about, whatever the changes end up being? Because I agree that it'

Start at a high level, then break it down. I first had this idea coming into council. I had a watching council from afar. I think I tossed this around to a couple of my colleagues on this idea. Before I even got inaugurated, Councilwoman Hill and I had talked about this. And she says, well, give it a minute. Let's fill it out first. Let's see what works and what doesn't. And even from my initial concept to now, it has evolved based on that experience. The reason I pushed this proposal is for a couple of ways, a couple of reasons. A, allows counsel to hone in on all of the functions of governme

So, Councilwoman Dottley, thank you for providing an itemized list of your suggested amendments to this item. As I've looked at this proposal, the thing that has been important to me is improving meaningful participation in council work. And actually today I just happened upon, I was looking at my drafts folder. I don't know if y'all get stuff stuck in there sometimes. But I had a draft email that I wrote to myself as like a little to-do list from the 15th of July last year saying, examine ways to make committee work more meaningful. And it's just interesting that we had spoken about it when C

right councilwoman noel you're recognized thank you mr chair thank you councilwoman dotley for your proposed amendments um i agree to the changes that you have made because it gives us the right to vote for our district when you take three individuals and put them on a committee and they are the ones that make the decision for my district your district or anyone else not knowing anything about what you need to know about my district in reference to. To say that you can attend a meeting but not have an opportunity to voice your opinion or to vote, that's useless. What is the purpose of being th

Mr. Chair, there may be others who have not spoken yet, and I'll yield my time to them first.

There wasn't, but now there is. I see Councilman Henderson who's not spoken, so I'll make my way around. Councilman Henderson, you're right. Maybe. All right. Let me keep hitting buttons. There we go.

Keep pushing buttons. That's right. Thank you, Councilman Elliott, for bringing this forward. one of the things that i've always felt like since i've been on the council that these our committee our current committee structure has always been clunky to me i mean it just committees of the whole didn't make a lot of sense and to be honest i never i never wanted to put that much energy in into trying to change it and i appreciate you putting the energy uh forward to to try to make this better i support the proposal as you've presented it right here i don't know if you're considering other amendme

council members back to you okay thank thank you mr chair um you know i appreciate everybody's comments because i think that we're i feel like we're so much closer than we were several weeks ago and it's interesting when we had our strategic planning meeting today how these these three initiatives came out of our conversations that i could totally see going to these various work groups if you will that almost mirror what we're talking about expanding our committee meetings and into these three initiatives that we've talked about so i feel like we're we're so much closer i still have i think th

Councilman Clark, you're recognized. Thank you, Chairman Davis. Councilman Elliott, because I'm on the same line with Councilman Henderson, I do support your proposal as is, and I'm open-minded to some of the suggestions. I do want to go to Councilwoman Dotley's proposed amendment as it relates to the language and the definition of oversight. I can think back towards my time in Schoolhouse Rock when we are taught the difference between the legislative and the executive branch. And I didn't think we had to define them because I thought it was just kind of one of those things that was just under

Okay. Thank you. Councilwoman Dotley, you're recognized.

Thanks so much, Mr. Chair. And thank you all so much for your comments, which is what I was hoping to get some feedback from you all about what you all thought about it and everything. So just circling back to Councilwoman Hill and combining those. Those committees, I think housing planning zone and affordable housing is fine, or education and community development is fine. However, whichever we land on, I don't mind getting something to feel for that as an amendment. for councilman clark you made a very valid point for the legislative oversight in regards to the accountability piece and that

Can I yield to Councilman Elliott? Are you on the board?

I was just going to come around to him at last because I know a lot of questions were directed to him.

I wanted to offer a compromise in an area before you speak, if that's okay. Going back to the amount of times that we meet. Right now, we mean quarterly. That is how many times a year? And, you know, I understand that six, depending on the workload of departments, might seem, you know, alive. And I'd be curious if you would be open by utilizing the language at least quarterly, which is four, but not limited to. Do you know what I'm saying? I am open to that. For me, I could do six, but what I can do doesn't mean that if somebody else cannot do it, it does not mean that there's something wrong

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Colleagues, I do appreciate you guys for leading on this conversation. It went so much better than last time. I appreciate y'all. Councilman Burns, I want to start with you and a couple of your points. YOU ASKED EARLIER ABOUT ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF COUNCIL STAFF. THE THOUGHT BEHIND THIS WAS IT WOULD BE THE SAME LEVEL RESPONSIBILITY AS IF ALL EIGHT OR NINE OF OUR CURRENT COMMITTEES REGULARLY MET. So at any moment, if these rules didn't change, then every committee chair just start calling meetings every single week. And for every Tuesday, it's the same workload. It

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Vice Chair. I appreciate the response. I think in regards to the staff and to Councilman Henderson's point, when When he talked about the fact that the committees have never really operated to the full extent that maybe there was an intention, then I think this is going to change the staff's workload. So while I'm not opposed to asking them or having them be part of this because they have to be, I think we need to bring them into the conversation and make sure that we're considering them as part of that workload because if three of us decide to meet on a Tuesda

Councilman Henderson, you're recognized.

So while we're building this in the air, this plane in the air, I don't know if we're going to present an alternate version at a later time or what. If we're going to state that any council person showing up to a meeting constitutes as a quorum, in other words we're starting out with three committee members like here we know a quorum is five for us because we have nine committee members if we're going to establish that every council person that shows up to a committee meeting constitutes a quorum at what point will we constitute a quorum it will it be at when we start the meeting will it be at

just something to think about if we're going to start changing this as we as we go through here okay and vice chair elliott you're recognized thank you councilman i have an answer for that let's have a scenario let's say you're chairing the budget committee and on that committee is you councilman harvey and councilman noel right let's say councilman harvey cannot make it right and the floor is a good you have to have at least a quorum of three so it's a start right councilman harvey can't make it but this week you're you're talking about the the expenditures and technology services or how we'r

but you can still meet, but you just can't vote, correct?

To even meet? Yes, sir. Okay, well, that's our answer on that, right? But in this case, when Councilman Harvey can make it and Councilman Burrs does attend, you now have a quorum that can meet, and she can participate in this committee. She can vote on if that item needs a vote, favorable or whatnot, she can vote on the minutes, right? We've almost had this happen before, even on this council, where we've almost didn't have a quorum, right? And if somebody leaves for emergency or whatnot, or somebody comes in, you all of a sudden have a quorum, there you go, right? It provides the flexibility,

NEW SPEAKER I'M CONCERNED ABOUT HAVING MORE THAN THREE MEMBERS PRESENT AND THAT CHANGES THE QUORUM.

So let's say you have a committee that has three members on it or four members. Let's say you have four members on the committee and the quorum is three. If you have more people than needed, you've exceeded your threshold for the quorum. Everything else is just extra.

But you have established a new majority.

Yes, but I believe the language says in the rules that things go forth with a majority. So you're correct. Yes. So if the quorum changes, that majority also does change, but it's still captured in the rules because it says it goes forward.

At what time will you determine the quorum? When you open the meeting? When do we determine quorum now? Normally when you open the meeting. All right. And I guess my point is, does the chair then state what the quorum is so that they will then know what the majority vote is? You follow what I'm saying?

I see that. And if you need to put that in writing, we can. But I also think it gives some flexibility.

I'm just saying, we're changing what you proposed. And I think if we do that and we go to this, every member that shows up is going to be part of the quorum. And what if somebody shows up 10 minutes late and they want to be part of that quorum?

If it's before a voting item, I think it's appropriate. Well, I don't. That's my opinion. And if you want to make an amendment for it, let's do it. Because this is your complaint, and I want to make sure I'm hearing your issue just like everybody else.

I'm just saying we're changing your original proposal and increasing the quorum.

So I'm going to say this, Counselor. If you have a suggested amendment, I would love to hear it.

I just think we need to fix... the issue that we could run into by having these quorums not set.

YEAH. THANK YOU, CHAIRMAN DAVIS. I THINK TO CHAIRMAN PENDERSON'S POINT IS THAT YOU HAVE DEVIATED AWAY FROM THERE IS NO AMENDMENT OTHER THAN we would like to support it as is. Because if we do not, to his point, how do we determine quorum based off who comes in, if they come in late? And so if we are going to pass this tonight, my preference is for us to make these adjustments during the recess or whenever and to, because it's only, we are voting on it tonight, is that correct, with or without the amendments?

I don't know if there's a deferral. I don't know.

But I do want to go on the record and say to his point that, you know, I support the quorum as is. I think there needs to be an established threshold. I'll say that to my colleagues. Because if we offer an amendment to that, I think it creates this Pandora's box that Councilman Henderson is speaking of. So my intent tonight is to only vote for the amendment as it relates to the definition of the purpose of the Rules of Operations. And I need another clarity because you were kind of reading it too fast, Councilman, Vice Chairman Elliott. WHAT WERE THE COMMITTEES THAT YOU WERE JUST SORRY, WE'RE

ALL OF THE COMMITTEES THAT CURRENTLY EXIST WITH THE CHANGE OF CREATING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AS A STANDING COMMITTEE, AND I AM OKAY WITH CREATING COMMUNITY AND EDUCATION

So as it relates to the Dotley Amendment, you are saying that the standing, her recommendations are for budget and finance, planning and zoning, economic development and community development. So you're only saying of what she's proposing, you would only accept separating economic and community development.

Correct. Is that correct? Everything else will remain the same. Okay. So to clarify, it would also be planning, zoning and housing will remain the same in the proposal. And economic and community development will be split from economic to economic development and community development education.

I'm trying to clarify because we're a little confused based on what she's amending and what you're recommending. We want to be respectful of that. So now you're saying that of and I'm so sorry, Chairman Davis to go out of work kind of open mic now I would assume You are amendable to separate economic and community development, which will leave us at seven committee total.

I am open to amending it. I'm also open to it staying the same, too. Okay. Well, we're just having a dialogue to see what we... But I am open to the amendments for compromise.

Gotcha. I guess. All right. I just want to be clear of what that is out of respect as the original author of the legislation. Okay? So, all right. That's all, Chairman Davis.

Yes. Vice Chairman Elliott. So, I'll say this. You know... I CAME INTO THIS PIECE VERY OPEN TO COMPROMISE AND SUGGESTIONS, AND I APPRECIATE COUNCILMEMBER DOTLEY AND COUNCILMEMBER BURR, COUNCILMEMBER HILL, EVERYBODY, COUNCILMEMBER HENDERSON, I APPRECIATE EVERYBODY PROVIDING YOUR INPUT. I THINK ULTIMATELY WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IS WHATEVER SUGGESTED AMENDMENTS PEOPLE PROPOSED TONIGHT, THEY GO UP FOR A VOTE. IF THEY PASS, GREAT. if they fail so be it but i think this uh topic has gone on for some time and i think this is a great time to land on it to move on and see how we continue on as a coun

I DO WANT TO SAY, COUNCIL, BEFORE WE MOVE ON, I THINK IT'S BEEN TIME VERY WELL SPENT, AND I WANT TO JUST THANK EVERYBODY UP AND DOWN THE DIAS, NOT ONLY FOR WHAT YOU'VE SAID, BUT FOR THE WAY THAT WE'VE TALKED TO EACH OTHER TONIGHT. THAT'S THE WAY WE SHOULD DO OUR WORK, AND IT'S VERY ENCOURAGING. AS VICE CHAIR ELLIOTT SAID, IT WENT BETTER THAN LAST TIME, TO SAY THE LEAST. MUCH APPRECIATED. ARE THERE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS ON ANY OTHER AGENDA ITEMS ON TONIGHT'S Agenda Council. All right. I don't see any lights, and so we will move on to next week's proposed agenda items. And please hit your lights i

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Under Resolutions Item B for next week, the applicant and the RPA team, our LDO team, have worked together to clarify the the issues. So a new version of this will be coming will be announced on the public agenda on Friday. It's a very small change. As we will see it, it will seem small, but it's important that it be in there. But we're going to have it as a new version. And that'll be there for voting next week. Thank you.

Council any other questions or comments about next week's agenda items? WE'LL LOOK THEN AT OUR PURCHASES UP FOR APPROVAL THIS EVENING. PLEASE HIT YOUR LIGHTS IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS. AND SEEING NO LIGHTS, WE WILL TURN THEN TO FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS. COUNCILWOMAN HILL, YOU'RE RECOGNIZED.

Yeah, I have a question about item 1a under economic development. This is a grant that we are applying for for a build out of the health clinic on the west side. It's going to, it says in the explanatory note that it's a, the match will come from a James A. Henry earmark. So my question is, who is going to run this clinic? Will we have an MOU for management of the clinic? And then who will be eligible to receive care in this clinic?

Okay, that could be a terrific, a terrific model. Thank you. And that is, well, Mr. Chair, I would, another item, these Office of the City Attorney, the several that we need to re-approve, I would ask that we consider when the time comes doing that as some type of consent agenda or taking them as a package.

We will take them as a package indeed. And I've also spoken with the city attorney just briefly about in the future when these come up and we're appointing special police officers, if there's a way that we could rather than tying it to a specific job title in a specific department, just making it a general appointment. and in the course of their city duties um and he's he'll advise us if that's legal to do going forward but that might be um so that we don't encounter this situation again okay terrific thank you sure all right um vice chair elliott you're recognized thank you mr chair i have th

Councilwoman Hill, when it comes to these code enforcement pieces, I think to spare Nicole, if we can figure out how we can procedurally do a consent agenda and just read all of this into the record and for context for people who don't know what we're looking at. Because code enforcement has been moved under public works all inspectors who previously had a special police commissions prior to that move has to be reapproved by City Council to get those special police commission so it's pretty much a procedural thing that we have to do to mirror organizational shift And so all these folks current

Councilman Clark, you recognize Chairman Davis. I've got a question for Public Works as it relates to the archives upgrade. Is that to the. that is to the downtown library on the third floor that upgrade in the amount of 369 000 authorized content so it comes so there's a contingency of 37 000 but 369 000 with a total what so this is to create a special type of room like is there it's the roberts I GUESS THE ROBERTS LLC COMPANY, WHAT IS THE BUILD OUT ON THAT, KEVIN, AS FAR AS THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF, I GUESS MY QUESTION REALLY IS WHY IS THAT SO EXPENSIVE FOR, IS THIS FOR THE WHOLE ENTIRE FLOOR

Okay, gotcha. I mean, I know it's a library, but Will, can you give me a little bit more details about why that could be so pricey for? Is it for the whole entire floor or a build out of a room on the third floor?

Gotcha. So the whole third floor. Awesome.

It's Robert Roberts LLC. Are they a contractor, or do they specialize in, like, is there some type of specialty group that does archival like i believe our contractor but i'm not i'm not aware okay i don't know them very well well there's language about that this was the apparent low bidder and then someone didn't respond so was this

All right. Seeing none, I will just note we do have a Parks and Outdoors Public Works and Wastewater Committee meeting next week to discuss a stormwater ordinance. And that takes us through our agenda. We do need an attorney-client meeting and some time, I think, for other matters. So we will recess until 6 o'clock. utility and public public use easement in the 2400 block of gun barrel roads detailed on the attached maps subject certain additions we have a motion properly seconded on this ordinance on final reading are there any questions or comments before we vote all in favor aye any opposed

We have a motion properly seconded on this ordinance. On final reading, are there any questions or comments before we vote? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And the ordinance is passed on final reading. And item 7C, please.

This ordinance on final reading. Are there any questions or comments before we vote? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? An ordinance is passed on final reading. And if you would please read item 8A, please.

Move to approve. We have a motion properly seconded on this ordinance. On first reading, are there any questions or comments before we vote? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And ordinance is passed on first reading. Item 9A, please.

Let's see. Councilman Clark, you're recognized.

Who else is second in queue? IT'S VICE CHAIR ELLIOTT. NEW SPEAKER I'D LIKE TO CALL FOR A ROLL CALL VOTE ON THE AMENDMENTS. I'LL USE MY TIME TO VICE CHAIR ELLIOTT. NEW SPEAKER I WAS THINKING THE SAME THING.

A ROLL CALL WOULD BE GOOD. THERE'S SO MANY MOVING PARTS.

SO THERE WE GO. WE'VE GOT THE MAIN ITEM ON THE FLOOR PROPERLY SECONDED. AND VICE CHAIRMAN ELLIOTT, YOU'RE RECOGNIZED. NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU, MR. CHAIR.

Appreciate you counsel for the Fruitful conversation through all this I appreciate everybody's feedback what you'll see here You should have a copy of Suggested amendments that we discussed at our agenda session There are six of them which we need to take each separately now what you have here i'm gonna read them down the corn piece this is trying to close the gap for participation for everything now um there was some conversations about how does this impact um quorum on council and i understand there is some gray area with that uh that really probably needs to be flushed out even further but

Okay, so we do have a motion properly seconded on the floor to approve this resolution as it is presented, and I know there's been discussion of these amendments. Councilwoman Dotley, you're recognized.

It's just a point of clarity. So, Vice Chair Elliott mentioned the amendment. I would like to move as amended, as he's mentioned it, is that proper at this juncture? You're making a motion? To move as amended. Okay. Right.

but i i also heard that we've not heard but just uh vice chair stated that we would be taking those separately and i know we're doing a roll call vote so i'm just trying to get a point of clarity so i think in in talking with uh the city attorney just now before we reconvened because there's so many moving parts and with uh all of the language i think it'd be cleaner if we take and and we've uh there's six separate sections that we're amending okay so we'll take um What we would need is a motion on each section, if that's clear.

Okay. So reading the amendments, the... So reading the amendment separately, individually and separately. Right. Okay. Because we didn't do an alternate version. Instead, we're just going to amend it at this juncture is why we're doing this. Is that more or less correct? Okay. Yeah. I understand.

Yeah, since essentially we're... We have a red line of a red line. Right. We're doing that.

OK, so I take out my motion to amend the whole thing and we'll move forward, as you all have stated. I don't know who's going to read the amendments, Phil.

Well, I think we have a little bit more discussion. I see Councilman Henderson.

You said there was six sections to this, and I only see four, but so what am I... Well, so there's the headings, but then as you look under those headings, there's actually separate... On a few of them, there's separate sections. If you see, like... under quorum there's section 1c that's being amended and then section 3a4 okay so we're not so we won't take the amendments as the heading we'll as the sections right there's that is that clear clear as mud thank you okay okay open you want me to read them would that be easier RIGHT. SIX SEPARATE MOTIONS TO AMEND IS WHAT WE WOULD NEED.

NEW SPEAKERS? NEW SPEAKERS? NEW SPEAKERS?

Legislative oversight may include receiving reports and departmental updates, requesting information relevant to legislative matters, reviewing performance measures and outcomes, conducting hearings, evaluating policy effectiveness, providing accountability, and making legislative recommendations. Legislative oversight shall not be construed to authorize the council or any standing committee to direct, supervise, manage, or otherwise perform the day-to-day administrative or operational functions of the mayor, city departments, officers, employees, or other executive functions except as express

Second. All right. We do have a motion properly seconded on the amendment to Section 1C. Councilwoman Dottley, you're recognized.

Oh, sorry. That was just a really long time. I apologize.

All right. Are there any other questions or comments on this amendment before we vote? And Madam Clerk, we'll do a roll call on these separate amendments.

All right. And so we are back on the resolution as first amended. Councilwoman Dockley.

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. I would like to add a second amendment to this one. Section 1C is amended by adding the following. After the existing provisions governing committee membership assignments, any duly elected council member may participate and vote in committee proceedings regardless of committee assignments. A council member participating in a committee meeting shall be counted to a quorum. and shall have the right to participate in discussion and vote on matters before the committee, regardless of committee assignment. Second.

All right. We do have a motion properly seconded on this amendment. Councilwoman Hill, you're recognized.

Thank you. I will not be voting in support of this quorum amendment or the second quorum amendment. I hear my colleagues' concern from District 8 about the thought that in some way the current language limits people from participating in voting. I do not see that to be structurally true within this language as currently written. So I will be voting against this one and the following. I will not speak if another is brought up at that quorum. Thank you. That's all.

Okay. And Councilman Henderson. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do have, as I brought up earlier, concerns about these two amendments being included. I don't believe they're fully baked yet, so I will be voting in opposition to both of these.

And Vice Chair Elliott. um thank you uh i agree there's some gray area with this um it's not perfect this piece i think there's needs to be room to be cleaned up um and so but i do understand the tent behind it so however it goes it goes that's how i look at it all right any other questions or comments council before we vote and again madam clerk will do a roll call vote councilman henderson

No. Five nos? Yes. Right. Okay. So that amendment fails. And so we are back on the motion, main motion with, at this point, the first as amended. Right. And Councilwoman Dockley, you're recognized.

Yes, I will be reading on the quorum section three. Understand everybody's position, but I still want to read that into the record and make sure those votes are on the record. Section 3A4 is amended and replaced with the following language. All standing committee meetings are open to full participation by any duly elected member of the council. Any council member attending a committee meeting shall be counted to a quorum. and shall have the right to participate in discussion and vote on matters before the committee, regardless of committee assignment. Is that the second? That was the second on

Thank you, thank you for your- Yes, ma'am.

So we have a motion. Is there a second? Second. All right. And we have motion properly seconded. Are there any further questions or comments before we vote on this amendment? All right. Seeing none, Madam Clerk, please take a roll call vote.

No. That's five noes. All right. And that amendment also fails. And so we are back on the main motion as amended.

Councilman Harvey, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I propose an amendment to the meeting cadence. I did like what Councilman Clark recommended is instead of the six meetings, moving it to quarterly. So I make a motion to amend with the following language. uh independent of any active referral each standing committee shall meet no less than once per quarter to conduct committee business receive departmental updates provide oversight and remain engaged with matters within its jurisdiction all right we do have a motion properly seconded on this amendment are there any questions or com

All right. Well, seeing no questions or comments, Madam Clerk, if you would please take a roll call vote.

Yes. It's nine yes. And that motion is, the amendment is adopted. And we are back on the motion as amended again. Councilwoman Dotley, you're recognized.

Yes, thank you so much, Mr. Chair. We almost finished, which is great. I'm going to move up to the develop the shoot up to the committee structures. and state that this is Section 1C. Is that right, Mr. Attorney? Yes, ma'am. Okay. For Section 1C, replacing the former language with 3, Economic Development Committee. Well, the number's not going to be 3. Well, the numbers don't matter.

It is subsection 3. Okay. Yes, ma'am. Subsection 3. Economic Development Committee shall consider economic development within the city and its relationship to real property, brownfields, workforce development, pilots, tax incentives, arts and cultural special events, and private public financing tools. Four, Community Development and Education Committee shall consider matters within the Community Development Department, including community centers, community engagement, community health, and the Family Justice Center. The committee shall also oversee the Department of Early Learning. including

All right. We do have a motion properly seconded on this proposed amendment. Are there any questions or comments, Council, before we vote? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, if you would please take a roll call vote.

All right. And that amendment is adopted. We are back on the main motion with all of its amendments.

and vice chair elliott you are recognized this this last one's a little tricky because the print is a little bit different the bottom section section va as amended to the following this is a follow-up from the cadence meeting it's technically supposed to be section 4a is that correct phil yes sir it's in under accounting and accountability and reporting yes um i would like a motion to move uh moves to approve that as amended with this.

Did you want to read the language as we have been?

Sure. This is the original language. If any committee held fewer than six meetings in the calendar year, fewer than once every two months or experienced a quorum failure rate exceeding 20%, the report shall flag this and city council chairs shall address this in the next strategic planning session. It replaces it with the following. If any committee held fewer than four meetings in a calendar year, fewer than once per quarter, or experienced a quorum failure exceeding 20 percent, the report shall flag this, and the council chair shall address this cause at the next strategic planning session.

All right. And you've made a motion, and we have a second. All right. We have a motion properly seconded on this final amendment. Are there any questions or comments before we vote? ALL RIGHT. SEEING NONE, MADAM CLERK, IF YOU WOULD PLEASE TAKE A ROLL CALL VOTE.

NEW SPEAKER NINE YESES. NEW SPEAKER ALL RIGHT. AND THAT AMENDMENT IS ADOPTED. Vice Chair Elliott, you are recognized. I move to approve as amended. All right. We have a motion finally to approve as amended. And I'll just say again, council, before we vote, I think this has been time well spent. I think this is the way we ought to do our work carefully and deliberately and respectfully. So we will... Well, might as well do another roll call vote. We better have a vote.

No, and because I tell you why, anytime you will deny a person an opportunity to vote anytime, anywhere, I cannot support it, totally.

Yes. All right. Eight yeses and one no, and the resolution is adopted. Item 9B, please, Madam Clerk.

We have a motion properly seconded on this resolution. Are there any questions or comments before we vote? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And the resolution is adopted. Item 9C, please.

Motion approved. We have a motion properly seconded on this item. Council, are there any questions or comments before we vote? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And the resolution is adopted. And finally, 9D, please.

Move to approve. We have a motion properly seconded on this resolution. Council, are there any questions or comments before we vote? All in favor? AYE. ANY OPPOSED? AND THE RESOLUTION IS ADOPTED. And we're happy now to welcome Weston to the podium to present our purchases for this evening.

We have a motion properly seconded to approve these purchases. Counsel, are there any questions or comments before we vote? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed?

We will go around the dais now for committee reports. We'll start with Chairwoman Nolan, Councilwoman Nolan.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have no report, but I did, with your permission, wanted to make an announcement. I'm so excited about it. So this is my second term. And in our first term, ARP dollars were allocated to build out a cafe. Alton Park is finally done. It's called Coco Cafe. So we will have our grand opening Monday, August 24th at 11 a.m. at 618 West 38th Street. And it's a big deal for our community, but I want to specifically give a shout out to Councilman Henderson, Councilwoman Hill, Councilwoman Noll, former Councilman Ledford, now Commissioner Smith, and Councilman Hester. They were t

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No committee report, but I do want to announce again I'm having a District 6 summit on Thursday from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. It'll be at the Family Justice Center, and breakfast will be served. So I invite all of you all to attend, the community as well. There's flyers outside if you want to grab one. And we'll be talking about connectivity, economic development, and entrepreneurship. in district six and how that how that connects to our economic and workforce development to carta to the chattanooga airport of course the chattanooga library and some of our entrepreneurship prog

Hey, Mr. Chairman, we will have a public works committee meeting next week to discuss a stormwater ordinance. I'm serious.

That's all. Councilman Clark. Thank you, Chairman Davis. No report, but I do want to give a special shout out to everyone who attended the Brainerd Park community meeting. yesterday in the middle of a very serious weather event. Despite that, we had 40, I don't know where Kim Strong is, but she was definitely one of our key coordinators of that event. We have 47 attendees meet at the Brainerd Golf Course to hear about Updates from various city departments including from Mandy green who was president who's our chief operating officer chief Knowles we had the assistant chief Daniel Jones people

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Counsel, I would first like to start by thanking all of you, as my colleagues. This piece of legislation was hard, much harder than I ever expected. But, you know, i think today we showed we can do hard things that can be transformative for us and continue to do hard things for our city so i thank you all for leaning into the conversation and the dialogue i hope this is a step and a stronger direction for the nine of us to move forward on better working relationships so we can as minimum, keep the main thing the main thing, and that's showing up for Chattanooga. And so th

And that takes us to the portion of our meeting where we're happy to recognize members of the public who are here to address council. And so if you're here for that purpose, please come to the podium down front here and listen while our attorney reads the rules.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Bass, can I get your contact information after the meeting? Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to address council this evening? Move to adjourn. All in favor? Aye. We are adjourned.