City Council - Regular Meeting

To the flag of the United States of America is introduction of new employees. When I call your name, please come to the front. With police department is Jose Aguilera and Joseph Roberts. Public works. Tyrone Chaplain and Cork Porcher. more people up here. Uh, but we want to uh congratulate you all. Uh, you're part of the team and I want you to turn around. turn and look at these fine gentlemen and men and women and young women. So what I want you to to realize is that these people are the policy makers in the city and without them I can't do my job. uh they are going to actually work on everything from from every 21 department as well as infrastructure and quality of life issues in our city. Uh they are also the people that's going to actually provide raises for you also. So you need to always make sure you speak to them and and and give them a kind kind word once in a while. All right. All right. How

you doing? Good to see you. Good to see you. Good to see Kurt. Okay. Turn around. Turn back around. All right. These are your number one priorities. The people in our city, you have to grind hard for them every day. Think about their needs. Sometimes put their wants and their needs in front of yours because that's who you're working for. You want to make sure every day that when you're in their communities, the communities that these people serve, that you putting the best effort. And if you do that, when the retirement time comes, you can say a job well done. So, we appreciate y'all. Thank you all for joining our great city. And uh if you want to leave, you can, but if you want to stay the rest of the meeting, you can. God bless you. Thank you. [applause]

Mr. Raphael James, will you please come to the front? Raphael Raphael

proclamation. Whereas Raphael has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to serving his community through both his professional work and his personal dedication to helping others. And whereas Raphael is frequently called upon to serve as master of ceremonies at gaylas, charitable events, and fundraisers throughout the low country, generously lending his time and voice to support organizations and causes that uplift the community. And whereas he has actively participated in the Charleston County schools and the McKinley Vento program serving the unhoused and undeserved event, showing compassion and support for students and families experiencing hardships. And whereas Raphael has inspired young minds by volunteering to read to children across the low country each year, dawning his cat in the hat hat and sharing the joy of reading with countless students. And whereas Raphael and his wife Serena have used their personal experiences as parents of a child on the autism spectrum to educate and inspire others, serving as keynote speakers for a special needs workshop in Dorchester County District 2 and later addressing district administrators to promote greater understanding and support for families. And whereas Raphael faithfully volunteers in his church and throughout the community, demonstrating a spirit of service that strengthens the lives of those around him. And whereas since 2016, Raphael has served as a mentor with Low Country Youth Services and the Distinguished Gentleman's Club, helping guide young men towards success and in recognition of his dedication was named mentor of the year in 2024. And whereas in 2025, Raphael was appointed to the Dorchester County Board of Disabilities, where he continues his advocacy for individuals with physical and mental challenges, ensuring their

voices are heard and their needs are addressed. Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, Regginal El Burgess, mayor of the city of North Charleston, do hereby proclaim this 12th day of March, 2026 as Raphael James Day. [applause]

[applause] [applause] [applause]

Now, now Ralph, you know you can't get off that crazy now cuz we know you got to rush back to channel 5 anyway. But Raphael, um, it's it's an honor for us as elected officials in the city of North Charleston to honor you in this way. Uh, man, you don't know how much you lifted us, but you lifted me, especially in the dark days that we had when I was in the police department. And I would see you at the scene, and I knew that my work wasn't in vain. And we want you to know like this is the probably this is the first year that we have had these these uh proclamations done up with the original city hall in the middle city the second city hall and then the new city hall cuz we want you to understand this is home for you. This is home. [applause] It's hard to catch me speechless, but this is almost one of those moments. I'd like to thank the mayor and council and each and every one of you whom I see in the field, in the community, working tirelessly. And I am grateful to be able to assist you in what you do, to shine a light, and to put a microphone before you so that the rest of the world can see the great works that North Charleston is doing. to my beautiful wife, my family, my kids, my family from Augusta, Georgia who came to be with me, my family here in Charleston in North Charleston, my evening of prayer family, all of you. Thank you so much. It means so much. Low Country Youth Services, it means so much to see you here. And all of my every all of my family, just stand up for a second, please. [applause]

[applause]

Thank you, North Charleston. Thank you, Mayor Burgess. Thank you, council. God bless. [applause] Will the representatives from the Cathedral Academy golf team come forward? Congratulations, Rafael. Very proud of you. Ladies and gentlemen, the reason that Cathedral Academy golf team asked to be here today was to recognize some support, some significant support we got from the mayor. And it was the type of support you don't often see in a city because I've been around a few years and I've seen how um how much time it can take to do your role. And first I want to tell you a couple of things about what's happened in the last two months since the mayor helped us find a place to play. We were a team that had no course to play on. We had players that were had 15 players that were ready to play. We had Jaden Windham who was the regional player of the year last year. We were being told that we weren't going to have a team. We weren't going to have a course to play on. We approached multiple courses in the area. No one was interested in supporting us. We are North Charleston school. And the last thing we heard was short of the mayor himself telling us to do it. It's probably not going to happen. So, I took that seriously. and my good friend Johnny Grant here, who is a parent at our school and very active, uh, he said, you know, I know the mayor and I know he's a good man, and why don't we see what he has to say about it. So, he set up a meeting. So, I was waiting for the representative to

tell me who we'd be meeting with because typically when you ask for meeting with the mayor, you talk to someone on the staff and then they relay things. I got a call one morning that Westcot from Perry, the head coach, and this is Jaden Windam, our team captain, said the mayor's asked for a meeting at Westcot. So, I thought he wanted to talk to WCOT plantation about what we could do. When I got there, guess who was there? Not the Westcot golf people. It was us, the parents, the coach, and the mayor. And he said, "I care about what happens in my city. I'm not here to talk about golf courses or golf. I'm here to talk about the kids. And he said, "What is the issue at hand?" And we told him, we said, "We've got a team that has potential, but we have no one supporting us to make sure they have a season this year." and he spent over an hour and a half talking to us not about golf, but the majority of it was what was important about our kids and what did we do and what did we care about and how can he help. From that we had a second meeting. The second meeting, others were invited, including the golf course, and the mayor made it clear that the number one priority to him was the kids that he represented. And from that, in that short amount of time, mayor, our team is now 4-0 in golf, [applause] we just set a team record of 176 for a team, a a combined score. To give you an idea, a school that's in North Charleston has 400 people. Fort Dorchester, Perry talked to them right after our match, 2900 students. They only beat us by four strokes. So, we're competing with schools that are multiple times larger.

Um Jaden here is our team captain. He shot a 39 and a 37. Those of you golf, and he's not even a senior yet. and we've had other players that have shot uh low 40s. Uh we have 15 players on the team, including seventh graders, that would not have had a sport to play this year if you would not have stepped up and helped us. And then yes, thank you. [applause] And then finally, we've been fortunate that I know you know Perry and Rich very well. He's been supportive. Perry Green, who's the director of golf at Westcot, worked with us closely with the mayor, who just received a community award himself for working with veterans. He's got the biggest PGA Hope group for veterans to play golf in the country. And [applause] not only that, we've got Rich O'Brien who's now joined us. And Rich isn't here tonight. And Perry will tell you why. Because you had another idea that you gave Rich and he took off and ran with it. And he's in another town hall meeting. uh talking about an IDU hat that they're going to adopt. So, with that, I just want to say thank you and I'm going to turn it over to Perry to say a few words. And forgive me for having my back to you, sir. It's kind of hard to get the whole room. Uh but, uh uh and he'll say a few words, and then we'll let Jaden, we've got a token of appreciation we'd like to give you. All right, Perry. [applause]

Yeah. Rich O'Brien, the the head coach, I'm I'm assisting him. uh is at the Somerville um town hall meeting talking about the uh resolution to use our golf therapy to aid active duty first responders uh from Somerville to include what we're trying to do then with North Charleston. So, it's a program that we have been doing with uh uh retired and disabled first responders. the hero program helping early responders overcome. Um, and the mayor's suggestion was people that really need that are people that are doing it right now. They have the stress. Uh, so it's a wonderful idea and we're getting wonderful response. So, head coach of the Cathedral Academy, Rich O'Brien, is is now at Somerville Town Hall u furthering that program. And I just I want to say on behalf of of Rich and myself, we are honored and to work with these young men and very very proud of them. How uh how they have found a home at WCOT and they have improved every single match. And I've I've coached a lot of teams from basketball to to uh golf, but this is the first time that we have ever had the participants on the team come up to us and shake our hand and say thank you after every practice to say thank you for helping. So, we're just we're so proud of the of the Cathedral Academy young men that uh that are doing such a wonderful job in and I think representing and putting a solid foundation uh for a great team together for the city of North Charleston. And I'd like to ask the team and uh Captain

Jaden Windham to uh present read and present this uh plaque to Mayor Burgess. Sir, on the plaque it says behalf of the Cathedral Academy. Um, with heartfelt appreciation for your gener generous support of the Cathedral Academy golf team. Your dedication to the youth of North Charleston strengthens our community, helps our players pursue excellence with integrity and purpose. [applause]

[applause] I can be up here all day long, but we have counsel right now.

But no, I want to say thank you all to Cathedral. I I did not do this for this. I did it because of him. Cuz I was amongst them. All I needed was a chance. Like I told you, all the things I did sports-wise, yeah, I win a lot of wars and I went to college on a full scholarship. Did everything I had to do up there. But the most important thing that has brought me to this point, not running touchdowns, not long jumping, not shooting baskets, not playing baseball, there learning. Because I had my degree, I was able to be a chief of police here. Because I had my degree, I was able to put my name in the run for the mayor. And those things matter. The things that I would tell you as a former athlete, run as hard as you can do it. Jump as high as you can, but most of all, learn. Learn. They can't take that from you. [applause] [applause] Our first item on the agenda is a request to approve the city council meeting minutes from February 26, 2026.

Move for approval. Second. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any changes or corrections? Hearing none. Madam clerk, please call the role. Mr. Perry, I. Mr. Jerome, I. Dr. Ganway Paisley. I. Dr. Palmer Roberts. Hi. Mr. MD. Hi. Miss Brown. I, Mr. Brown. I, Mr. Hudson. Hi, Mr. Brown. I, Mayor Burgess. I, we have the final reading of an ordinance authorizing the mayor or his designate to sell a vacant lot and portions of two vacant lots to the South Carolina Department of Transportation for $5,631 in council district 8. Move to approve. Second. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussions? Hearing none. Madam clerk, please call the role. Mr. Perry. Hi,

Miss Jerome. Hi, Dr. Ganway Paisley. Hi, Dr. Palmer Roberts. Hi, Mr. MD. Hi, Miss Brown. Hi, Mr. Brown. Hi, Mr. Hudson. Hi, Mr. Brown. Hi, Mayor Burgess. I We have the final reading of an ordinance authorizing the mayor or his designate to sell two portions of two lots to Charleston County for $133,800 in council district 6. Move for approval. Second. We have a motion in the second. Any discussions? Hearing none. Madam clerk, please call the role. Mr. Perry, I. Mr. Rome, hi. Dr. Ganway Paisley. Hi. Dr. Palmer Roberts. Hi. Mr. MD. Hi. Miss Brown. I. Mr. Brown. Hi. Mr. Hudson. Hi. Mr. Brown. Hi.

Mayor Burgess.

Hi. We have the first reading of an ordinance reszoning the property addressed as 3109 Matty Pan Avenue, Charleston County, TMS number 46913, parcel 29 from R1 single family residential to R2 multif family residential in council district 10. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Good evening, council. Um, as stated, the item before you today is a reszoning of 3109 Matapan from R1 single family to R2 multif family residential. Here you can see the the parcel outlined in blue. It's a vacant parcel near the intersection of Matipan and Meridian just off of Aelia Drive here. Current zoning of the parcel is R1 single family shown in yellow here. And uh this orange color is uh R2 multif family which is the requested zoning district. As you can see most of the neighborhood is zoned R2 multif family. Uh comprehensive plan for uh this property uh designates this property as traditional neighborhood which would support uh mix of housing types um including smallcale multif family. And these are images of the property as they were posted um for the public hearing. You can see it's a vacant lot and the adjacent um properties are mostly single family with some uh mixed residential housing types as well. Uh given the residential character of the neighborhood and the surround uh surrounding district and the support from the comprehensive plan, staff is recommending approval of the resoning from R1 single family to R2 multif family. And after a public hearing at planning commission on February 9th, planning commission also recommended approval.

Without objection, this item will be deferred to the public safety committee for further review and consideration. Thank you.

We have a request to approve the appointment of Mr. Chris Singleton to the public safety and housing committee. Move for approval. Second. We have a motion in a second. Any discussions hearing? None. Madam clerk, please call the role. Mr. Perry, I. Mr. Rome, hi. Dr. Ganway Paisley. Hi. Dr. Palmer Roberts. Hi. Mr. MD. Hi. Miss Brown. I. Mr. Brown. I. Mr. Hudson. Hi. Mr. Brown. Hi. Mayor Burgess. I. We have a request to approve the reappoint of part-time judge Samantha Vaughn. Mr. Chair. Yes, ma'am. I move that this item be referred to the committee for discussion and further vetting before council considers re the reappoint

committee to to the council council the whole yes council as a whole second all right I make a okay Okay, we have a uh request and also a second and we have a motion to second. Any discussions? Hearing none. Madam clerk, please call the role. Mr. Perry, I. Mr. Rome, hi.

Dr. again. We Paisley. Hi, Dr. Palmer Roberts. Hi, Mr. MD. Hi, Miss Brown. I Mr. Brown, I Mr. Hudson, I Mr. Brown, no. Mayor Burgess, I.

So, so this item will go to the committee of the whole for next week. We have two speakers. When I call your name, please come to the front. State your name and address for the record. And you have three minutes. Antonia Austin.

Hi, my name is Antonia Austin. Today I came to hereby address the city of North. Excuse me, ma'am. Can you state your address for the record? Yes. Um 1083 Yorktown Drive. Okay.

I hereby came to address the city of North Charleston and the mayor urges of legal notice and warning. Um deprivation of rights under the color of law 18 chapter 18 US code 242 and uh conspiracy to deprive a person of their rights. uh 18 US code 241. Uh I clarify that the foregoing information stated is true and correct. On January 3rd, 2025, I was told that I had to leave my daughter with the family member to go to an appointment with mental health by Dr. Kathy Love, the family coordinator with North Charleston City Hall, who is also a former police officer, and Caitlyn McCarthy, a case worker that works for the Department of Mental Health. Brandon Lethal, the homeless coordinator, was also in attendance of the unjust event. Two officers were dispatched, Officer Ali and Officer McClean, who were only doing what they were told by Dr. Mc Dr. Love McGarthy and Lethal. The information of the family member I gave them uh that I wanted my daughter to be placed with while I was supposed to go for a mental evaluation. um that was allegedly courtordered. Um officer Ali wrote down and spoke with my oldest daughter to confirm the person and address of who my daughter was supposed to be placed with. I was told that that's where my daughter would be taken. And the quicker that I comply, the sooner we would be back reunified.

I was told that my daughter would be taken to my sister and that I had to do what they wanted in order to get her back. When I left with the officer Ali transporting me to the mental to have a mental health evaluation done, Dr. Kathy Love, Caitlyn McCarthy, Brandon Lethil, and Officer McClenn took my daughter into protective custody and claimed that I had abandoned her to DSS. And now because of their misconduct, I have been legally separated from my daughter and placed in a system database. As a parent that abused and neglected their child, I don't I didn't abandon my daughter or do anything to have been treated in such a way. The Department of Social Services is trying to take away my rights of being a parent and I am currently expecting my third child. It was a lie. I never had a court order to have a mental health evaluation, nor did I give reason to have need one be done. My daughter was kidnapped under false pretenses, and I have it all on tape. May I have two more minutes?

No, ma'am. We usually give three, but if you can close in 30 seconds. I can.

Okay, 30 seconds. I have submitted affidavit, videos, audios, recording, text, emails to the court. I have presented the evidence to my attorneys, guardian and case workers which claim that I am being entitled and erratic instead of due process investigating correcting the problem. They are prosecuting me trying to take away my rights of being a parent and the help of my own mother. with the help of my own mother who is trying to become the daughter my daughter's permanent legal guardian. Everyone involved is being paid humiliating me and my and depriving my daughter of having her mother humili humiliating us to keep their job. Although I have done nothing wrong, I have complied with the city of North Charleston officials and the department of social services. It has been over a year and my daughter and I have not yet been reunified. Okay,

thank you. Uh, this is the Okay. Um, uh, Associate Chief Cordre, can you step up and and get any information that you can from her? Thank you. Hey, let me let me ask you the last thing. Um, you so you've gone through DSS after they've reported that I abandoned my child. Okay. So, uh, have you spoken to the solicitor's office? Anybody like Slate? Anybody? Yes, they we went to um court and they um had given me a treatment plan which I complied with even though they didn't do due process. If they did due process with the evidence and affidavit I submitted, it would have been dismissed. It should have been dismissed. But I understand now how it works and

okay uh they yeah it's not in the best interest of me or my child at the moment I believe and uh okay I've done all I can do. Okay, we we'll get associate getting this far, right? We'll we'll get associate chief and then we'll get our legal staff to take a look at from the city side. Appreciate it. Yeah, you're welcome. Thank you for coming. Sonia Bryce, please come to the front. State your name and address for the record. You have three minutes.

Hi, my name is Sonia Bryce. I live in Northwoods Estate at 2524 Bingo Road. I've lived in Northwoods Estate for 29 years as of November 2026. I first want to thank you guys for the opportunity to speak. I want to thank all the police officers who protect and service our community. We appreciate them and respect what they do. Um um I want to say that I I've raised three boys uh in North Charleston. North Charleston is my home. Um on Tuesday, March 10th, we had a civic uh meeting, which is a monthly uh meeting on the second Tuesday. Uh several police officers that patrol North Charleston Northwoods estate attended the meeting. Um I'm a walker. I walk twice a day. uh a minimum of three hours a day. The main route that I take from Northwood's uh uh estate subdivision is Otranto Road. Um as you are aware with the information that I submitted, um I'm here because I'm very concerned about the police officers and their um driving excessively. And I personally have seen and witnessed um them going to calls and chasing cars going a minimum of 60 to 70 miles an hour on Otranto Road. I'm not sure if you're aware that Otranto Road is a two-lane uh road. It's in the middle of my subdivision. We have wheelchair people that walk road. We have three schools in that district that has two elementary school and a middle school. Morning, afternoon or evening, if any calls are made or chase are made, it's like total disregard to the safety of my community that I live in and I am

very concerned. Um, at the meeting, um, I spoke with, uh, Lieutenant Dawson, Dawson, I think is her name. very professional, very compassionate to my question and my question to her simply was, "Is there any limits to how fast police officers can chase or go to a call?" Lieutenant Go uh Dawson uh stated that and I'm I'm paraphrasing here basically there is no policy in North Charleston that her police officers can go as fast as they want when they want and when they need to want to go. She started out by telling me that it's a double-edged sword. It's a double-edged sword because we got people like me that want to complain and she didn't say it like that. people that in the community that want to complain that we're driving too fast to chase people or to get where we got to go to the call and then we got other people saying you're not getting there fast enough. Well, my response to her was at what risk are we going to chase a car and take someone's life? Prayers and thoughts are not what the community want. We want the people that protect our area to consider the people that live there. Okay. North Charleston is known for making standards. The standards is we had our first black mayor in North Charleston. We got our first black chief in North Charleston, Mayor Burgess. We got our first African-American parks and recreation. We set the standard in North Charleston. I love North Charleston. And that's why I've lived here 29. It's time for North Charleston and this council who Mayor Bird just started out by saying y'all make policies. I researched there is no policy in place here to protect my community to protect the citizen in North Charleston from cops being will

and they're just doing their jobs is what I'm being told being allowed to go. You know who you're chasing. You've got the car. You got the tags. You probably know the people name. But you're going to put my life in the community and the citizen of North Charleston at risk is unacceptable. We've got to put a policy in place to protect the community. Everyone got voted up here saying we trust you. Don't fail us. Set the standard. Be the first. Let's put a policy in place, please.

All right, Miss Bryce. Um, thank you, ma'am. Now, before you leave, uh, I'm going to You have a right to this. This is our policy procedure manual. We are nationally accredited. I don't know who told you we don't have a standard for this in in the policy manual. And I want you because I want you to come back and take a look at it when you have some time.

It's in uh 03 and 03 says this and we're nationally accredited just like LA, just like New York, all of them. Same person accredited us, accreditated them. It says 03 says uh pursuit policies, right? And it says we have a policy 0- 0-03. It's a no North Charleston Police policy procedure manual, vehicle pursuits and operations. So, I want you to have spend some time. We'll make some copies of it for you and you look at it because this policy is what I I worked 34 years to work off and anybody telling you we don't have a policy and anybody's not following this policy, even me will be held to the standards that we should be held to. So you I'll make sure you get a copy of this and you can take a look at it and when you go back to your community meeting you address that with that officer who told you that that information. I wasn't there but I know we have a policy and I stick with this policy. It has led and guided me for 34 years and and it will continue to do and if we have to rearrange it to make it work better that's what we do because it's words and we can change the words to fit the situation that we are living in this time.

So you're saying mayor that there is a limitation to how fast they can go to a call and chase a car because that's that standard that limitation is not happening in my [clears throat] community. Let me show you. This is what it says. The policy. It is the policy of the North Charleston Police Department that personnel operating the department vehicles are responsible for operations, maintenance, and appearance of those vehicles. Personnel operating department vehicles will exercise due regard for the safety of all persons and demonstrate exemporary driving behavior. That's the first part of the policy. It's all broken down like a like a uh you know like a when you write a you know a paper. So also definitions normal or routine driving that's a B was emergency equipment vehicles C emergency driving and D pursuit driving. It explains not only to the citizens but to us as officers how to handle ourselves. So what I'm saying to you I'll get this to you. You can take a look at it and then after you look at it you go see the chief. You understand? because this is what they live off and I lived off this for 34 years and it helped lead and guide me the right way. So, nobody should tell you that we don't have a policy for for driving.

Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. Excuse me before you leave, Mr. Chair. Uh I just want to ask a question because that is my district and and I'm well aware of who Miss Bryce is. Is your question that I'm understanding is is there a policy in place to determine how fast a police officer can go in a chase? Yes, ma'am. Is that your question? Yes. Okay. And is there a no chase policy as well? Because when you get in a position where the community is at risk when they're chasing someone, do is there a requirement for them to back off and not chase the person? And I heard the policy that you read, mayor, but

No, no, that's No, that's that's not the policy. The policy comes afterwards. I'm explain it to you that we do have a policy. When you get into it, it would tell you the type of chases. It would tell you the speed limit that would cause us to go further. And me being a cop, I can tell you about chases. So, I'm saying once you read this, your answers will be be given. We'll make sure you get a copy of that and I'll councilwoman. Thank you, mayor. Thank you. All right. Uh oh, I want to say a couple other things before we close. But before we do this, any other business come before the body? No, we got two speakers. I just got one thing. We got two speakers. They already spoke. Oh, okay. A second. Okay, good.

I just got one thing, Mr. Mayor. Um, while Dave Cheetel is not here and I don't see Rick, one of the things that I've been kind of pressing us upon is getting our community centers back open for our youth during the summer. And I'm happy to report that five of our community centers will be open this summer. So, I wanted to commend Dave Cheeto and Rick Comps and Robert Flood for taking me on a tour um and a ride along to make sure we can have those community centers open for our youth this summer. So, I want to applaud them in their absence. Um, and grateful that the recreation department is moving forward with getting those centers open. [applause] Uh, any other business?

Yes, sir. Mr. Mayor, um, I think last Saturday, um, the military magnet, uh, young ladies, they won the championship for, uh, I think it's 2A. Uh, just want to say congratulations to them, and I know that we'll probably do something to honor them. Uh but also in that measure, I think we've already filled out their signs on the roads and uh we're going to have to put up new signs and new decades for them on their winning for this year. So,

yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. We uh we're working with them right now. Uh Councilwoman Nefertiti Brown is also going to be helping out as well. Um working with the coach uh principal of Parano and also uh the the the coach there. And it's it's amazing that the former Shakur High School girls won state championships in the 70s two times in a row, but these girls have won five. Five. And nobody's talking about it. Nobody's talking about it. So we as a city, they're in our city and we're going to do whatever we have to do to make sure nobody forgets that. Yes, sir. And as a matter of fact, we're going to have the She's ranked, I think, number two or three in the state. Uh she's a senior. She's going to do mayor for the day. So, as soon as we get with her parents and get her uh prepared in the school, we'll bring her here on a Thursday for city council. So, she'll be mayor for the day.

Yes. Um, thank you. You No, thank you, sir. Any other business?

I want to say this. Uh, uh, Councilman Charmaine Palmer Roberts, uh, Councilwoman, um, I read an email the other day and I want to thank you tremendously. Um because uh you you know exactly the timing of things. We've been getting a lot of complaints uh from our citizens about astrophosphate corridor, the repairs and even the changing of the areas. I read uh James Allen was complaining about what they're going to get and they don't want any changes. Um but sometimes we have to look past beyond what the structure look like to look at the safety values. You did a super email addressing not only uh your information that you got from the state but also what we were trying to do and you also gave information that they can reach out to district 6 council woman um if they had some information that she could provide for them. That was awesome. I I I really love that because you didn't you didn't point any fingers. You didn't blame anybody. You just said this is for the best right now. It may not seem that way, but we're trying to save lives. And um but people seem like that guy. So, great job. Last thing I will say is this. I just showed Miss Bryce the post department policy procedure manual. We're nally accredited nationally. This is the fire department accreditation manual. nationally accredited. We just went through when I became the mayor, I wanted to get all of our big departments nationally accredited. Why? If we're going to consider ourselves a city, they're as good as the rest and better than the best, we've got to be nationally recognized and have the best practices and follow the right, you know, ways of getting things done in our cities. So, we've got two down now,

we've got three. We just got nationally accredited for the public works department and I think we need a hand clap on that. So the next one up is recreation. That's it. As leaders, we need to fight and push hard for the best. Like Miss Bryce said, they told her that it wasn't. It is Miss Bryce, and we need to follow those policies. So, thank you very much. Um, public works got it all done for us, Michelle and Melissa. And recreation is up next. Well, all hearts and minds cleared. No other business coming for the body. Hearing none, meetings adjourned.