City Council Zoning Meeting - Regular Meeting

Now call the meeting to order. Good evening and thank you all for joining us in person here and those watching online for our August 24th business meeting. Now we'll begin with introductions around the dais, starting with our city clerk to my right.

3:09•VWVictoria Watlington

Good evening, Dimplege Mayor. At large. Good evening, I'm Victoria Watlington and I have the pleasure of serving you as a member at large.

3:16•JMJoi Mayo

Good evening, Joy Mayo, representing District 3.

3:20•JMJames Mitchell Jr.

Rob Harrington, Mayor. Good evening, everyone. James Mitchell, Mayor Pro Tem.

3:25•KOKimberly Owens

Good evening. Kimberly Owens, representing District 6.

3:28•MGMalcolm Graham

Malcolm Graham, District 2. Ed Driggs, District 7.

3:31•LMLaWana Mayfield

Good evening. Luana Mayfield, Council Member at Large.

3:34•JAJD Mazuera Arias

Good evening. JD Masueta-Arias, proudly representing the East Side, District 5.

3:38•RJReneé Perkins Johnson

Good evening. I'm Renee Johnson, and I'm honored to represent District 4.

Thank you. We begin our meeting with an invocation, expression, or inspiration, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. The invocation is intended to solemnize our proceedings. We celebrate the religious diversity of our community, including those without a religious faith. Tonight, Councilmember Dr. Watlington will give our invocation.

4:03 – 4:54•VWVictoria Watlington

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. For those of you that would like to, please join us and bow our heads. Heavenly Father, we come before you tonight grateful for this city and for the trust placed in us to serve it well. Lord, give us wisdom beyond our own understanding as we deliberate tonight and as we hear from the community. Give us humility to listen to each other and to the neighbors who aren't in this room but whose lives are shaped by what we decide here. Lord, where there is disagreement among us, let it be rooted in respect. Where there is doubt, grant us clarity. Where there is division in our

Amen. Please stand and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United Before we move to voting on consent items, I want to take a quick moment because we have a representative from Anson County, who I think has a special message and recognition from some of our city staff. I'll now recognize Chairman Cottle of Anson County.

Right here would be great. We've got another one right behind you.

10:34•EDEd Driggs

Give our credit to the city. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you Chairman Cottle and thanks to all the staff at Charlotte Water for your hard work helping our neighbor community.

Thank you, Chairman Cottle, and thank you to all the staff of Charlotte Water for your hard work helping our neighboring community in their time of need. That's a wonderful way to start the meeting, so thanks again to everyone that's involved from Charlotte Water. And to the chairman. I'd like to thank again all of you for joining us on behalf of the entire city council. I ask that audience members be civil and courteous while in the chamber. We want to ensure that everyone has a positive experience while attending this meeting. We will start our meeting items with consideration of consent age

Okay, may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda items 13 through 32 with the exception of item 20? Any further discussions or comments as to the bulk of the items? All in favor, please raise your hand. Any opposed? All right, that passes. Since we have comments just on one, let's go ahead and take that now. Council Member Esmir.

13:12 – 14:10•DADimple Ajmera

So first I'll make a motion to approve item number 20, and then I'll make a comment. Second. Second. Speaking of Charlotte Water, I just want to highlight Charlotte Water again. They are a champion of the circular economy. And Angela Charles and her team does an excellent job of meeting our CF goals. We have seen that when they unveiled Renew Brew. And this is item number 20. It's just another example of how we recover our valuable resources like phosphorus and nitrogen from wastewater to support a circular sustainable economy. And this is going to result in almost $2 million. So let me say th

Thank you, Council Member Ajmera. We have a motion and a second to approve item number 20, the motion. Now we're ready for a vote. All in favor, raise your right hand. Any opposed? All right, the passes and we're complete with the consent agenda. Now we move to open forum. Public forum I'd like to thank you all for joining us on behalf of the entire City Council I ask that all speakers and audience members be civil and courteous in their use of language Speakers are encouraged to address counsel and should refrain from responding to audience members Likewise audience members should be courteou

The next speaker is Manolo Betancourt. Unfortunately, there's a waiting list, but we look forward to hearing from you.

Our next speaker. Our next speaker. Our next speaker is Yatra. I'm going to mispronounce your name, but Pietrzec.

Thank you, Mr. Rio. Our next speaker is Masa Kene. Next speaker is Ashante Williams.

Thank you, Ms. Williams. Our next speaker is Ava Wilfong. Ava Wilfong. Next is Leslie Brown. Next is Alicia Brown. Ms. Brown, if you could, since I was going so fast through names, if you could state your names just so we have them clearly.

Oh, if you could just state your names, because I was calling a bunch of names. I want to make sure everybody knows who's talking.

Thank you, Ms. Brown. Next speaker is Zanae Brown.

I'm sorry, if we're not signed up, we can't allow it. I apologize. Okay. Thank you. All right, the next speaker is Reverend Dr. Janet Garner Mullins.

Ricky Singh. All right, next speaker is Nathan Hoffman

Thank you, Mr. Hoffman. We will move on to the waiting list since we've got several spots still open. And first on the waiting list, the next speaker is Michael McBride. Got even more space on the waiting list now. Nancy Cook. Bishop Amare May. Jamal Snow.

Thank you, Mr. Snow. Next speaker is Brandi Williams. Brandi Williams.

36:28 – 36:43•RJReneé Perkins Johnson

Our next speaker is Robert McCutcheon. Robert McCutcheon.

Quiet, please. Quiet, please. Next speaker is Sagar Raffi.

Thank you, Mr. Raffi. Next speaker is J.Q. Freeman. J.Q. Freeman.

Next speaker is Damian Smith, followed by Rob Nanfelt, just to be prepared.

Our next speaker is Joseph Williams. Joseph Williams. Who will be followed by Connie Proctor.

I believe our final speaker will be Connie Proctor.

Thank you, Ms. Proctor. That brings to an end our public forum. I thank everyone who participated, including those who had no idea that they would actually make it 12 spots off the waiting list. But thanks, everyone, for participating, and thanks for the audience's attention. We're now going to open the public hearing on a resolution to close a portion of Pete Brown Road. Madam Clerk, do we have any speakers? Do we have a motion to close the public hearing and to adopt a resolution and close a portion of Pete Brown Road? Second. Are there any questions or discussion? Council Member Mayfield.

53:10 – 54:10•LMLaWana Mayfield

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I have shared once before, but since our manager is joining us tonight, I am sharing again that I have a concern when we have both a public hearing and opening as well as an adoption of a resolution to close whatever the public hearing is on on the same evening as an A and B action. If we're opening a public hearing, this, like a number of other items, should be us identifying a public hearing date, not for us to open a public hearing and because no one showed up tonight to have Action B be to adopt the closing of a portion of Pete Brown vote. So I want to make sure that

Thank you, Council Member Mayfield. I want to defer to the manager and also to the city attorney to the extent there are any responses about the process of this particular item.

55:18•LMLaWana Mayfield

You said, what did you say, about four weeks? The door is still open, so we're not able to hear you as clear. Sure.

55:46 – 56:01•JMJoi Mayo

I was just going to acknowledge what the attorney said before she said it, that that is something that the BGIR committee chatted about today in our meeting and we'll be talking more about in September. So thank you for continuing to raise that concern so that we can address that.

56:05 – 57:30•LMLaWana Mayfield

Thank you, Mayor, for a follow-up. And I appreciate the fact that BGIR had an additional meeting to have this discussion. I want it to be very clear that what I am suggesting is that we have a hearing date separate from the decision. I don't even know how many people actually has a subscription to a newspaper today. So to say that we have the information posted in the paper is the equivalent of someone getting a divorce today and putting it into the paper. They ain't ever got to worry about that person challenging it. So we use social media for other things. I'm asking for a clear, just like w

57:33 – 57:55•MGMalcolm Graham

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Again, we had that conversation today. I chair the committee. We look at a wide variety of options, not wanting to debate the committee meeting right now. But your point has been taken and is under consideration in terms of how we move forward or if we move forward. So it's still up for debate.

57:58•RJReneé Perkins Johnson

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So This item went to the committee to discuss potential improvement or change to the policy, is that correct?

So just to be clear, I think the item that went to the committee is an overall item, not a particular motion that's on the table for tonight. There is a, sounds like there's a discussion to be had in committee about process, but that's not in the motion that's for tonight. Just to make that clarification.

58:27 – 58:38•RJReneé Perkins Johnson

So council member Mayfield, you've brought this up at least two or three meetings. I would think that we would hold off on moving forward with that current process.

58:38 – 59:04•MGMalcolm Graham

If we're debating potential improvement, the other discussion, I, I, again, w we are looking at the process question and committee one council member brought it forward. The committee is discussing it to see if it's appropriate. If any changes will be made at all, the committee is still discussing it, so it's still on the table.

Any council members who have not been heard, I just want to make sure that there are other council members that have been heard, because I think we're sort of debating process instead of this particular motion. But let me come to Council Member Ashmer, and I'll come back if there are other council members who have not been heard who don't want to speak.

59:21 – 1:00:04•DADimple Ajmera

Yes, thank you, Mayor Harrington. So, Council Member Johnson, just so that I understand your question, why are we sticking with the existing process if the conversation is in the BGIR committee? So from what I understood from the attorney is that till the new process is adopted, we have to continue with the existing process. Am I correct? That's correct. So I know that this is going to be coming in front of the BGIR committee for a follow-up next month, and this month the BGIR committee had two meetings, and this was... Number second item on our agenda tonight to today earlier today. Okay, the

Any other council members who would like to be heard who have not been heard? Okay, there is a motion and a second. We've had discussion all in favor of the point of order.

1:00:20•RJReneé Perkins Johnson

Are we not able to seek clarification or follow up on our questions?

You can seek clarification, follow up on the question, but we're still gonna at some point call the question on this particular motion. So one more round of questions on your question about process and then we should move on with, I believe, with the motion. But if there's a question.

1:00:41 – 1:01:15•RJReneé Perkins Johnson

Thank you. So the last couple, last month if I'm correct, we deferred, didn't we defer because there was more than just one council member who was concerned about it. So is this some process that we have to move forward on or was this a choice? to put this on the agenda because if it's in the committee and we're looking at improving a process or changing a process, I would ask or hope that we kind of hold off until we, because all we're doing is just digging a deeper hole or doing things opposite of what council is desiring to do.

Is there a motion to defer this motion or any other ancillary motion to this motion?

1:01:20•RJReneé Perkins Johnson

I mean, I can make a motion to defer this. All right. Let's close it.

Is there a motion? Yes, a motion. Is there a second?

Let's close the public hearing on this and then move to the discussion. Is there a motion to close the public hearing?

1:01:44 – 1:02:24•LMLaWana Mayfield

I have a question of clarification. The way this is presented, it is presented as A and B. A is to close, B is... A is to close the public hearing. B is to adopt the resolution. I do not understand how we are attempting to close the public hearing when you still have B on this item, which is what triggered the entire, my original question, because to close the public hearing is by default adopting A and B. A, to close the public hearing, and B, to adopt the resolution. to close the actual portion of the street. So please clarify that.

So we could entertain a substitute motion simply to approve A, to close the public hearing and move on from there and then have the discussion on the substantive motion. Is there a motion to close the public hearing?

1:02:39•DADimple Ajmera

I make a motion to close the public hearing. Just the second.

Is there a second? Kimberly second. Any further discussion on closing the public hearing so we can go on to the discussion of B? All in favor? Any opposed? Okay. Now, is there a separate motion to adopt to approve the motion itself?

Is there a separate? We do not have a motion yet. So there is a motion and a second to adopt the resolution.

1:03:09•LMLaWana Mayfield

Move to defer B. Adopt the resolution to close a portion. Move to defer the adoption, which is B.

Okay. All in favor? Any discussion of that? Council Member Owens.

1:03:23 – 1:03:40•KOKimberly Owens

If I may. Thank you, Mayor. If I could ask the city attorney, the way I had understood in our conversations earlier today, this was something that was brought by a resident. Is that correct, how this particular motion came forward? Correct. Can you describe that to council, how we got where we are and what this particular motion is?

1:04:03 – 1:04:22•KOKimberly Owens

Mayor, if I may, I will not be supporting a motion to defer because I find it inefficient to do so in circumstances such as have been described. As I understand this motion, it is ripe for determination on this evening, even though we have had the public hearing in the same context of the meeting. I think that this is a ripe situation.

1:04:24 – 1:04:44•DADimple Ajmera

Yes, so. Madam Attorney gave us legal guidance earlier today at the committee meeting. So what I'm concerned about is if we impose a different process and take it out when we have not adopted a new process, I'm concerned about the legal challenge. So, Madam Attorney, if you could speak to that.

Okay. Is there any further, Council Member Graham, on the motion to defer? No.

1:05:17 – 1:05:57•MGMalcolm Graham

And I'll be, I'll be voting against that as well. And I think council, if you would allow the committee to process the request that you made, and we don't know what the committee is going to recommend. We don't know what the council will eventually vote on what we have done to start a discussion. And we have to keep the rules as they are today, and they may or may not change tomorrow. So I think we need to plow forward and allow the council and the committee, the process, the work that you asked us to do. It is not ready. It's been prioritized. We'll be talking about it again in two weeks. I t

We have a motion on the floor to defer the motion to adopt a resolution and close a portion of Pete Brown Road that's item four in the agenda. All in favor of the motion to defer, please raise your hand. All opposed.

Second. Just for the record, the motion to defer failed the motion to adopt the resolution now. Is there a second?

All right, all in favor, raise your hand. All against? All right, the motion B to approve the resolution regarding a closing of a portion of Pete Brown Road has passed. That brings us to public hearing and decision on resolution to close a portion of Weona Avenue. We're now going to open the public hearing on a resolution to close a portion of Weona Avenue. Madam Clerk, do we have any speakers on this public hearing? Is there a motion to close the public hearing? I'm going to do that separately this time. Is there a motion to close the public hearing?

Is there a second? Any discussion? All in favor, raise your hand. Any opposed to closing the public hearing, please raise your hand. All right, that passes unanimously.

1:07:20•RJReneé Perkins Johnson

No, there was one against. Not unanimous. Mayfield was against. Was that just A or all of it? No, this was just to close the public hearing.

So, Council Member Johnson, your vote is in favor? So, unanimous to close the public hearing. Is there now a motion to adopt the resolution to close a portion of We Honor Road as described in paragraph 5? Is there any further discussion there? All in favor of adopting the resolution and close a portion of We Honor Road as described further in item five on the agenda, please raise your hand. Any opposed? All right, the ayes have it and that has passed. And that brings us to the city manager's report policy.

1:08:44 – 1:09:29•JMJames Mitchell Jr.

Okay. Thank you, City Manager. Thank you, Mayor and Council. We have one of our deputy city managers who, after so many years, has finally decided she's going to start another career. This young lady has made me a bella public servant over the years. And in particularly, council, we had to stand up an MPTA process with Councilman Mayfield, Councilman Madrigs. And this young lady worked tirelessly to make sure that we had a process in place so we could select our candidates. And so I would like to give a special recognition to Deputy City Manager Liz Batson for your outstanding leadership, dedi

Thank you, Chief Patterson and team. I know we have, let's see, we have at least three questions starting with Dr. Watlington.

1:28:31 – 1:28:52•VWVictoria Watlington

All right, I've got four quick. If we could go to, yes. Chief Patterson, if we could go to slide three. I want to make sure that I understand what the numbers are telling us here. Can you walk me through what is the story that the data is telling here? What is the... hypothesis? Yes, ma'am.

1:29:22•VWVictoria Watlington

So I'm sorry, I just want to make sure I'm clear. This dark blue is total victims. This light blue that says ages 16 to 17, is that victims or offenders?

1:29:59 – 1:30:18•VWVictoria Watlington

Yes, ma'am. And then at 11 p.m. That number is 77. So basically the difference between 122 and 77 is what you're saying you're hoping to reduce victimization.

1:30:24 – 1:30:48•VWVictoria Watlington

And can you, just a quick follow-up, can you then help me understand... The reason I'm asking this question is because I think about the alternatives to violence work that we're doing. And so my immediate question, especially as I see ADW and gun here, is how many of those are addressed through that retaliatory violence piece versus through the curfew? I'm still not quite clear on the mechanism that's changing.

1:31:21 – 1:31:44•VWVictoria Watlington

And then just too quickly... I asked this last time, but I'm hoping that maybe we can dig into it a little bit deeper here. Right now, the sun sets somewhere between 8 and 9. We know in the wintertime it's going to be somewhere between 4 and 5 o'clock. What is the thought process during the wintertime of how this applies? Tell me what your thoughts are.

1:32:22 – 1:32:38•VWVictoria Watlington

Well, for the summertime, sure. In the wintertime, that's four or five hours where youth would still be permitted to be out, but it is also dark and people are likely inside. So I'm just curious as to how we're thinking about how this applies during the winter months.

1:32:51•VWVictoria Watlington

And then just finally, are you suggesting as part of your proposal, a pilot to gather data? Are you suggesting full on implementation at the start?

Great. And next is council member Mayo. Thank you, Dr. Watlington. And that was sort of thinking time. That was three to four minutes. If we could try to keep our comments and try not to be too repetitive, redundant, but also keep our comments somewhere in that range, I think we can... have a good discussion of an important issue.

1:33:31 – 1:34:16•JMJoi Mayo

Thank you. I've asked that the map be shown for district three. And I'm sure some of my colleagues may want their district map shown as well, but I thought this is really good data. This is something I've been talking about. probably almost 10 years since I first moved to Nations Forward. And I know this is an all-city investment, but I just want us to be thoughtful holistically, particularly when we're talking about young people. We want to equip you with everything that you need in order to decrease victimization for our young people, but how can we also encourage our county counterparts to

Want to do that? Okay. Council Member Esmir, we'll come back.

1:34:20•DADimple Ajmera

Thank you, Mayor Harrington. You're doing an excellent job keeping track of all the hands that's been raised.

1:34:28 – 1:35:47•DADimple Ajmera

First, Chief, thank you for your leadership. I understand that you are asking for a tool in the case where there is a teen takeover that could turn violent. I certainly appreciate and respect your leadership. I would like to see if we can do a pilot to gather data and then based on the data, it will tell us whether this is something that will work in our region or not, right? Because your department and alongside Dr. Stewart's office gave us studies. And I appreciate that it was objective, right? It wasn't all pro-curfew, it wasn't all anti-curfew, it was somewhere in the middle, right? We had

1:36:13 – 1:37:15•DADimple Ajmera

I appreciate that. I would like us to explore that alternative so that we are looking at real data that is local. Also, Dr. Stewart, I appreciate the report that your team put together. I appreciate how Office of Youth Opportunities have touched over 5,000 lives. And I know that we are not going to stop here. We are going to continue to increase our investments. But I just want to give kudos to you and your team, because I know this is relatively a new team that was part of our last year's budget. So I appreciate the work that you do. I was, myself, alongside Council Member Watlington and Coun

Thank you, Council Member Esmeralda. Council Member Mayo, are you set yet? I don't know. Okay, we'll go to Council Member Owens and come back to you.

1:37:26 – 1:38:25•KOKimberly Owens

Thank you, Chief Patterson, and I appreciate the presentation. I had a conversation over the weekend with a constituent who may or may not be one of my three children about the curfew. And his question to me was one I could not answer. And he said to me, why don't you all do what they do when we go on spring break? And they've got rules that are focused on the size of a congregation. They're focused on a gathering. They are focused on enforcing curfew against a mass and depending on what number perhaps we settle on so that we're not potentially putting at risk kids who are out on a date and ki

1:38:29 – 1:39:12•KOKimberly Owens

The question would be that it would be a curfew that was tailored more against Congregation, I've heard you use the phrase congregation and gathering. It feels like to narrowly tailor this so that we're not just not enforcing it against kids. The face of this would enforce it against people on a date and a movie goes long, okay? You're saying to me that you would not expect your officers, nor do you have adequate officers to enforce that as a curfew police. Can we more narrowly tailor the curfew? such that it wouldn't apply to two couples who are out on a date versus a group of 10 individuals

1:39:24 – 1:39:58•KOKimberly Owens

I wasn't specifically speaking of that area, although that's another way of narrowly tailoring it if you wanted to have it on certain areas of the city where are more frequently occupied. I was speaking more to say you've got 10 youth together. Your officers are going to ask them what's up and- enforce the curfew versus a couple of kids on a date and go see a movie that lasts past nine. I mean, I just, I personally couldn't answer the question that was raised of me as to, are we exploring all ways that we could more narrowly tailor this and have it address what we're really trying to get at, w

1:41:01 – 1:42:00•KOKimberly Owens

So I'm saying that I've asked our staff to look into and I would ask you to also have folks look into what destinations that frequently are able to disperse large gatherings of unaccompanied minors are doing that is not putting at risk folks who are otherwise just doing the things that kids do in couples or in small groups of kids. There is a big difference in my mind between someone going to see a movie or coming back from, you know, whatever they're coming back from at night and they happen to be alone. I would like to not have them have an interaction with the police for no reason. And I ap

1:42:04•KOKimberly Owens

My apologies for not articulating it well.

Thank you, Council Member Owens. Council Member Mayer.

1:42:21 – 1:43:06•JMJoi Mayo

ready yeah I just really wanted to highlight the map and actually having the entire Charlotte region is really helpful I think to see gaps not only in district 3 but in district 6 in district 7 and 5 when I think of when you all mentioned partnering with the YMCA I know that still Creek lost its YMCA maybe like three years ago. So I mean, I don't know who you would necessarily partner with when there's no why there. And even when you look at more closer, can you tell us more about what you would do with the high schools? Because I saw your dots in the high schools. Are you doing programming in

1:43:28 – 1:44:26•JMJoi Mayo

I really appreciate that. As a former teacher, I love data. Always one of my favorite things to look at, teaching math. But I just want to encourage all of our various partners, particularly the county. And they know I get on them quite a bit. But I see some gaps. And I hope that our residents will have some conversations with their county commissioners about investment. I'm just going to be very frank with that because it's not something that you all can do by yourselves. That investment needs to occur everywhere so that our young people have things to do and not getting in mischief. So just

1:45:06 – 1:45:21•JMJoi Mayo

Very excited. I know Ricky Singh was supposed to talk today. Unfortunately, he was not here, but he had some great maps to show as well, and excited for him to share those. so that we can see the solutions that you are working with with your various partners. So I'll stop talking.

Thank you, Council Member Mayo. Council Member Mayfield.

1:45:26 – 1:50:29•LMLaWana Mayfield

Thank you, Mayor. Chief and team, thank you for the information. I have a number of questions. One, I'm going to encourage a pilot where we actually talk to our youth before versus adults coming up with what you think is the option. Last week, I had the opportunity to attend an event at Spark House where they basically had a team takeover. And one of our CMPD law enforcement officers were there where you've came up with an Basically a mini shark tank where they came up with different opportunities. I have concerns what the possibility is because what I'm not going, what I cannot discount is th

Thank you, Council Member Mayfield. Council Member Masuera-Arias.

1:51:17 – 1:52:22•JAJD Mazuera Arias

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Chief. Thank you, staff. Really appreciate the effort and always the broader goal at hand, which is to keep our residents safe and to keep our youth safe. And Chief, I appreciate our candid conversations. Although different perspectives, right? But that is what this is all about, to make sure we come to a comprehensive solution that works for everyone. I had a few questions. So I noted and I looked at the memo before the council meeting tonight. I noted data indicating that across the different times, 9 p.m., 10 p.m., 11 p.m., There is little to no net change in ov

1:52:46 – 1:54:11•JAJD Mazuera Arias

Thank you. So. When I was looking at the memos, looking at the studies, and I did just a quick ChatGPT AI, and those were the same studies reiterated to me through ChatGPT. I would love to see if there's any more comprehensive studies out there, and particularly not just positive and mixed, but also the negative studies. I want to get a whole picture, right? I think... I want to I'm a data driven person. I want to see what works and I understand your concern. This is specific. I agree with my colleagues that perhaps we look at local data and see what works and what doesn't work. But I really w

1:54:38 – 1:56:00•JAJD Mazuera Arias

Two more. Sorry, Mayor. I know you said two, three minutes. You're close. Got it. Thank you. With the current proposal creating uniform rules, I saw in the statutes our current ordinances when it comes to the exception groups, there is still H-tier interpretations there. So I think we might have to revise that if this council so decides to do this curfew because right now one of them was like the errands, running errands. Yes. There's a certain curfew for 13 year olds for running errands. And then there's a certain curfew for 17 under. So if, if I just want to make sure that we're consistent,

1:56:18 – 1:56:44•JAJD Mazuera Arias

Thank you, Chief. And the last thing is, I mean, I have my 18-year-old sister here who wanted me to ask the question, but if she gets stopped by an officer, how are they going to believe that she was at work, right? She works at volleyball courts at 9 p.m. until 9, 9.30, 10 p.m. Kids are getting misjudged for being part of these teen takeovers. How is CMPD going to promise that they're not misjudged for being on the road after work?

1:57:47•JAJD Mazuera Arias

Thank you, Chief. And last thing, Manager, I saw that map of youth opportunities. We have a big gap in District 5, so we should talk about that. Thank you.

Obviously, if there are additional questions, Chief, I assume you would take questions that are made offline to go in writing or not. Council Member Johnson.

1:58:05 – 1:58:27•RJReneé Perkins Johnson

Thank you. Mr. Jones or Council Member May, I'd like to get a hard copy of that map. That would be great. Thank you. Chief, thank you for your presentation and thank you for the intent to reduce violence and stop the teen takeovers. Since we've been talking about this, has there been any reduction in the teen takeovers?

1:58:51•RJReneé Perkins Johnson

Okay, so there has been a reduction and the point of this curfew is to reduce those teen takeovers, right?

1:59:02•RJReneé Perkins Johnson

Thank you. Is curfew violation probable cause for a traffic stop?

2:00:03 – 2:00:14•RJReneé Perkins Johnson

Kind of off topic. And is the smell of marijuana still probable cause for even if it's legal CBD, it's still probable cause to search the car?

2:00:36 – 2:01:00•RJReneé Perkins Johnson

Okay. All right. That's a whole, you all know. Okay. All right. Next. I would agree with the pilot. I'd like to see us taking more action. I spoke to someone today. Thank you, Dr. Stewart, for the work you're doing. I spoke to a community partner who's going to

2:01:04 – 2:01:39•RJReneé Perkins Johnson

And so I think we need more programs like that. I'd like to see this going to the intergovernmental committee so we can bring County partners, CMS partners to the table, perhaps putting a date of birth on this children's ID. And then we can look at more graduated curfew if we needed to. Another thing, Now youth summit council member Brown. We know that she had a great youth summit. I think this would be a great time for us to bring youth together and maybe Dr. Stewart's department manage something like that. Okay.

2:01:41 – 2:03:18•RJReneé Perkins Johnson

Already in the works. Good. Yeah. We need some, we need that right now. Thank you. It was a youth that spoke today. She she'd be great as well. Yeah. I I'd like to see a, a pilot program before we implement the, Let's look at more partnership grants, intergovernmental committee, more opportunities for third spaces, a youth summit, and bringing youth on board perhaps to volunteer to look at social media because we know we don't want this to impact the students who are trying to work and date and do normal teenage stuff. I think that they will be on board in helping us. So they could get involve

Thank you, Council Member Johnson, Council Member Graham, and then Council Member Drake's.

2:03:23 – 2:06:42•MGMalcolm Graham

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I didn't have a 9 p.m. curfew. I had to street light, right? I would be on the tennis court and I'll be riding that bike as fast as I can to get home because I knew if I didn't make it, there was accountability at the end of that ride. And so I want to thank you for your leadership in bringing this forward. This is a part of a crime reduction strategy, big picture strategy. Going back, Council Member Wallington, me and you met two years ago in my basement when there was a shooting on New Year's Eve, right? And we've been looking at a wide variety of ordinance to update, t

Thank you, Council Member Graham. Council Member Driggs, you're the final discussant.

2:06:49 – 2:10:36•EDEd Driggs

Chief, takeovers are a problem. We asked you to do something about it. You're proposing this. I think our strong inclination should be to back you up. You're the expert in these matters. We are making you responsible for success. So I will certainly want to see us proceed with a curfew. I will say that some of this comes down to how you imagine it's going to work. And I believe that some people are painting a criminalized, and they're painting a really difficult picture. In practice, what I imagine happens here is that young people kind of go about their business. They probably fall under thes

Thank you, Council Member Driggs. Chief Pedersen, do you have any other comments? And then I don't want to invite any other discussion because I think everyone who has asked to be heard has been heard. We want to make sure there's no other business from Council. But Chief, do you have any?

2:11:10 – 2:11:34•LMLaWana Mayfield

Okay. Thank you. I have a final question. When you want to move forward with the pilot, is that moving forward with this 9 o'clock time or we're staying separate? We're moving forward with the pilot first to start that conversation. Are you interpreting the yes from this council as changing the current 11 p.m. curfew time down to 9 p.m.?

2:11:41 – 2:12:02•LMLaWana Mayfield

And I am a no. I am fine with us moving with a pilot. I am not supporting under any circumstance us moving that time down to 9 p.m. as we're going back into the school time because a lot of what we have seen has happened over the summer, not during the school period. So to even move forward with it, it is concerning.

So we do not have an action item tonight. As I understand it, Chief, you will make the suggestions that you've made just now. You'll make those proposed changes. It will come back to us for an action item. At that point, there'll presumably be a vote on a motion. So I think we are finished. And Chief, is there anything new? Thank you. Would you like to?

2:12:25•RJReneé Perkins Johnson

I don't think she's alone in her interpretation.

But I think we've got a time for a motion on that and a time for an action item there.

2:12:33 – 2:13:25•LMLaWana Mayfield

Mayor, we're not talking about a motion. What the chief just asked for is a nod from this council for her to continue down this path that she started on. What I am sharing is the concern that I have is the path that she has chosen is a dual path of first adding the 9 p.m. and looking at a pallet. We've heard multiple variations of that conversation. So in order to be clear, since it is the manager's responsibility... to implement council's objective through staff. I am not saying that I am signing off of this staff member to institute a 9 p.m. time. That is what I just asked for the clarificat

There is no action from this council tonight based on what's before us now. There presumably will be something further that's presented to us. Perhaps at that point there'll be a motion and then there'll be a discussion of that if there's a second. So I think for tonight what we've had is an information session. And I presume the chief will come back to us and propose some type of motion that we'll take up at that point. And we'll have a full discussion of the merits of that item.

Okay. With that, thank you, Chief. I appreciate, we appreciate your presentation. And that takes us to anything else from the manager? All right, our next policy item is amendments to the Charlotte Streets Map and Charlotte Streets Manual. For item seven, is there a motion? Move for approval of A and B.

Is there any discussion? All right, all in favor of approving the motion for A and B in item seven, which is amendments to the Charlotte Streets map and Charlotte Streets manual as described in that item seven, please raise your hand. Any opposed? All right, there's one opposed. All right. That takes us to the other policy item, which is our next item is parking on sidewalk ordinance amendment. For item eight, do I have a motion to adopt an ordinance approving an amendment to Chapter 14, Article 4, Section 14-130 of the City Code as recommended by the Budget, Governance, and Intergovernmental

2:15:03 – 2:15:41•LMLaWana Mayfield

Thank you. Mr. Mayor, I have a question for staff. I want to get clarification on this sidewalk as far as where does the policy language land when it comes to these scooters and these other forms of transportation that are currently blocking sidewalks. And if there is a bike lane, you're starting to see them show up in the bike lanes as well. So exactly How does this no parking on sidewalks help in area and in community where sidewalks are now seeing other forms of mobile transportation?

2:16:56 – 2:18:06•LMLaWana Mayfield

So we're really looking at mainly residential area. And I had mentioned previously that we are building smaller units and also shorter driveways. But we're also allowing development happening on much more narrow streets. So there's no on-street parking. The driveway itself is a short driveway. So part of the vehicle may be blocking the sidewalk. So I want, I'm thinking of the individual that's in the motorized wheelchair. And when they're trying to get exercise, go out through their own community, how that's actually going to be enforced with the number of neighborhoods that we have and the nu

2:19:18•RJReneé Perkins Johnson

Thank you. Thank you for that information. If it's an ADA violation, does the exception in the ordinance excuse the violation?

2:20:41 – 2:22:19•RJReneé Perkins Johnson

Scooters and e-bikes. Oh, e-bikes. No, okay. So, no, my concern, you talked about residential driveways needing to be 20 feet. The same information from Sarah Hazel, the full-size car is 16 to 18 feet. So only one, if the driveway's closed, or if they don't, excuse me, garage, or they don't have a garage, only one full-size car can fit in that driveway. That's correct. So we just can't have it both ways. We just don't get to have it both ways where we're building so much density, shorter driveways, no parking on the street, density, and then not allow residents to be able to park in their driv

Are there any other comments or questions? And I would ask you to clarify one thing. You referenced the ADA in there. Just how does the Americans with Disabilities Act fit into this discussion? Because I don't know if that was clear.

2:23:28 – 2:24:27•DADimple Ajmera

Yes. Thank you, Mayor Harrington. Thank you for that clarification in terms of why this amendment, I mean, this ordinance needs to be amended because I have received some complaints from residents where... Mm-hmm. either they are pushing a wheelchair or are on a wheelchair or trying to push a stroller, but they don't have an access to safe sidewalks, even though sidewalks are built, but they are obstructed by a vehicle. So this helps us address those concerns, especially those with special needs and families like mine who are trying to not, trying to make sure that we are using the infrastruct

Hey, are there any other questions or comments from council members who have not been heard? All right, there has been a motion and a second and discussion on the motion to adopt an ordinance approving an amendment to Chapter 14, Article 4, Section 14-130. The city code is recommended by the Budget Governance and Intergovernmental Relations Committee. All in favor, please raise your hand. All opposed? Okay, the ayes have it, it passes. Okay, we move to our business agenda. And our first business item is for the youth diversion program interlocal agreement. For item nine, is there a motion refl

2:25:29 – 2:26:00•DADimple Ajmera

Yeah, this is a no-brainer, the youth diversion program. I mean, we talked about the opportunities for our youth. What I wanted to highlight with the youth diversion program that This program has served more than 5,000 young people, and more than 90% have stayed out of trouble in the following year. I mean, this is great. And this tells me that prevention can work, so I will be supporting this, and I appreciate the work that's gone into this.

All right, we have a motion and a second. We've had discussion. All in favor of the item, the motion, please raise your hand. Any opposed? All righty.

That takes us through our business agenda. Our next item is appointments. And tonight, City Council will make appointments to the Community Relations Committee. Council members voted by ballot and have submitted their ballots to the clerk. Any nominee receiving six or more votes is automatically appointed. If no nominee received at least six votes, a runoff will be necessary and council will be asked to vote tonight to determine who will be appointed to the board. All appointments will be recorded in the official minutes of this meeting. Madame Clerk, could you please announce the results of t

2:26:53 – 2:27:06•VWVictoria Watlington

Yes, so the appointments for the Community Relations Committee, Zachary Claywell received six votes and Alexis Healing received eight votes. Alexis, good.

So is there any further action required by this council?

2:27:13•DADimple Ajmera

Yay, Alexis. We had a board, right? We had a board.

Happy to have us vote. Is there a motion by acclamation or otherwise?

Second. Any further discussion? All in favor, raise your hand.

2:27:27 – 2:28:11•VWVictoria Watlington

Excuse me. I have something. Oh, yeah. Yep. I just wanted to bring up congratulations to Dr. Hilling for her pending appointment. I do want us to look at what it takes for city staff to be on boards and commissions. Certainly their residents who wanted to participate. I would not want to discourage any staff member from simply attending these meetings at any time. So Mr. Banjo, I would love to kind of just talk about what we can do to make sure that we're encouraging and enabling that, certainly understanding that we want to create equal access with everyone in the community. I love to see sta

Sorry for inadvertently cutting you off. Oh, you're fine. You're totally fine. Any other? Council Member Johnson.

2:28:16 – 2:29:01•RJReneé Perkins Johnson

I agree, and I sent an email in writing. Is that appropriate? I think we should have a policy on city staff on boards and commissions also. I think that there's opportunity for influence and impact so that's just my thought and and it's nothing against Alexis I think she does a phenomenal job but the fact that she is such an executive level employee I think there could be some concern from the public so I'd like to see a policy on that as well thank you any further comments all right all in favor of the the motion please raise your hand any opposed opposed or Councilmember Johnson opposed or a

All right, that takes us through the appointments, and that takes us to mayor and council topics. In order to ensure that all council has the opportunity to speak, we will go around the dais once. We'll go around the dais once, one by one, ask that each council member try to keep their comments and or questions to three minutes. And also note that we have a closed session scheduled for tonight, so it may be all the more important that we try to keep our comments to three minutes. Staff will respond to questions or topics with a written report to council prior to the next business meeting. If t

2:30:39 – 2:31:43•JMJames Mitchell Jr.

Thank you, Mayor, Council. I just have two quick, and one is a thank you to CDOT and to the city manager. We just had a very successful ribbon cutting with our kiosk, digital kiosk pilot program. We started off in District 2 with Councilman Graham, and I'd like to thank staff for working so hard, make sure we put them in the right of way. We're going to roll out a total of 30. And there have been six corridors opportunity as well as MSD. So kudos to you, city manager, and to CDOT. Secondly, my next town hall meeting will be Saturday, September 26th. The title of it will be Forward Together, as

2:31:44 – 2:35:03•KOKimberly Owens

Thank you, Mayor. Appreciate the opportunity. I have two comments. One, a comment of gratitude, and second, a somber recognition. First, the gratitude. I want to lift up the city staff and community partners and first responders, all of whom have worked tirelessly and quickly to support cleanup efforts after the storms from this past weekend. We had multiple trees down in District 6, and I'm sure that was the story across our districts. We had no fewer than 23,000 outages of power recorded in Mecklenburg County. We had 88 requests for trees impacting roads over the weekend. James Boo, Ricky Ga

Thank you, Council Member Owens. Council Member Graham.

2:35:15 – 2:37:42•MGMalcolm Graham

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to take this opportunity to give a shout-out and make an announcement. The shout-out is to Steve Bagwell and the men and women of the Charlotte Regional Business Authority for doing an outstanding job last week in hosting the 41st Annual Stella Award. The community really came out and showed out. Over 14,000 tickets were sold. It was a sellout for the event. I want to thank the host committee who did a tremendous job. Each had very difficult tasks to do as it relates to performance and talent and working with churches, getting folks there. Certainly want to thank

Thank you, Council Member Graham. Council Member Driggs.

2:37:45 – 2:38:24•EDEd Driggs

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just want to point out that South Charlotte Partners will be hosting the South Charlotte Transportation Summit again this year. This is quite a significant event. It's attended by 150 to 200 elected officials, government and business leaders. and members of the public. It goes far beyond just South Charlotte. It's an interesting event to take stock of what's going on and what the views are of the business community on transportation. That will take place starting at 7.30 on the 29th of September at the Piper Glen Country Club in my district. Thank you. A.M. Thank you. A

Thank you, Council Member Driggs. Council Member Mayfield. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you.

2:38:34 – 2:40:52•LMLaWana Mayfield

Manager, I have a question. I believe a number of us have received emails regarding Center City Partners' new food vendor, street vendor language. What I want to know is basically who gave them that authority without conversation coming through council. I want to understand if that was part of the MSD, and if so, does that mean that all of our communities that have a MSD, whether that's University or South Park, if they also have the same authority to identify cutoff time because community members are reaching out to us. I didn't necessarily have a response to it because I read about it in the

2:40:56 – 2:41:09•LMLaWana Mayfield

Our very own Charlotte Crown won out of the league of four teams. It was your Charlotte Crown that had its first member to actually be tapped for the WNBA going to Indiana.

2:41:10 – 2:41:53•LMLaWana Mayfield

Michelle, but your Charlotte Crown will be playing in the championship. on Saturday in Jacksonville. So what does that mean for those of us at home? Bojangles, thank you, Steve. Thank you, Sean. They are going to be hosting a Watch Not Party here at The Connector. So we want, they're going to be sending out promotions starting tomorrow. but want to make sure that everyone knows, come out, support your women's basketball team. They have a wonderful record. Already, again, we made it to the championship. The game is Saturday night at 7, and there will be a watch night party that will be open to

And glad you were able to get that. We were able to get that connection worked with Bojangles. Thank you, Council Member Mayfield. Council Member Masuera-Arias.

2:42:03 – 2:45:04•JAJD Mazuera Arias

Thank you, Mayor. I just want to take two, three minutes for quick District 5 updates and a broader thought. So we recently celebrated five completed and soon to be completed fully funded strategic investment area projects in the Far East. Okay. Delivering long overdue infrastructure, pedestrian connectivity, and safety improvements. So thanks to this council and the previous council and my predecessor for really funding these needed investments in the far east of Charlotte. We also celebrated Project 658's new community dental clinic in East Charlotte, expanding access to care for immigrant,

Thank you, Council Member Masuari-Arias, and also just thank you both for the recognition and remembrance of Dr. Navarrete. Council Member Johnson.

2:45:13 – 2:47:31•RJReneé Perkins Johnson

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I want to thank Council Member Graham for your leadership with the stellar awards that you're being modest, but I know there was a heavy lift in the city. So thank you. It was a fabulous event. So thank you. Thank you. I'd like to know Mr. Manager or mayor with the market changes and the interest rates going up in development, slowing down, does the city have a plan for projects that are halfway completed? There, there are some in my area that are blighted properties, code enforcement. There's a, there's safety. hazards where where people can gather, there's some pools th

Thank you, Councilmember Johnson. Councilmember Mayo.

2:47:44 – 2:49:57•JMJoi Mayo

Thank you for the opportunity to chat. I just want to invite everyone to attend my town hall September 17th, the Ripple Effect Light Rail Housing and Investment. As we've seen with the blue line, it has had a tremendous positive and negative impact on legacy residents. If you've been there five, ten years, you can see the change that South End has had and how that continues to impact going further down with the Blue Line. So we'll be hearing from different community groups talking about how are they working with development, even along the Blue Line. We know right by Yancey Avenue or Yancey Ro

Thank you, Council Member Mayo. Dr. Watling?

2:50:00 – 2:52:50•VWVictoria Watlington

Thank you. A couple of things for me. So firstly, I just want to say thank you to staff and to all of the AEC professionals that participated in my town hall a couple of weeks ago. regarding health care and data centers and the impact that that infrastructure has on our labor, has on our materials and the broader community needs. So we appreciate you bringing your time, your talent to the room because that's what it's going to take as we deliver these policy solutions. These public forums are always my favorite meetings because I love to hear from the residents because I truly believe that it

Thank you, Dr. Wadlington. And finally, Council Member Ajmera.

2:52:54 – 2:57:51•DADimple Ajmera

Thank you, Mayor Harrington. I have four things. First, I also want to honor Dr. Gina Navarro. Thank you, Council Member Owens, for honoring her. My heart goes out to Alex and her extended family and friends. I've had an opportunity to work with her and I certainly appreciated her passion that she brought to the table and I loved how she would go through trash cans and pick out all the cans out at almost every event that I have been to where she was there. My heart goes out to her friends and family. Second, I just want to thank staff, like Council Member Watlington said, about Town Hall. I ha

Thank you, Council Member Eshmira. And on the referral request, let's, if necessary, talk a little bit more on that just to make sure that we know exactly what's being requested and can try to frame something.

2:58:02 – 2:58:15•DADimple Ajmera

Yeah, I think the attorney knows because it was in her memo. She sent that out last week, and then she also sent out an updated memo to my answers. with the list of all the cities and alternatives, and she provided us with that options.

Great. Let's see if we can try to frame something. I think that takes us through the Mayor and Council's comments, and I believe we have expectation of a closed session, and I'd ask the City Attorney if you could read the motion to go into closed session so someone can follow and make it.

Any questions? Otherwise, all in favor, raise your hand. All against? All right. We will adjourn to the conference room. And thank you to everyone for being here and staying with us throughout the evening. Appreciate it.