City Council Meeting   3/18/2024

Madam Clerk?

Sam, are you ready, sir?

Yes, we're ready.

Good evening or good afternoon.

I'll call the March 18, 2024 City Council meeting to order.

Ms.

Councillor Oschrin.

Is there a motion?

So the motion is now that with the

to approve the agenda with the addition of adding discussion for the ceasefire resolution.

We have a second for that.

Can we please cast a vote?

So, before we move into that, just kind of the location of that on the agenda, I think we're expecting a large crowd at 6.30 for that.

But what's going to be the last item on the agenda in either event?

Right, right.

So if we do do that,

I'm not sure.

I guess my view is not to overly complicate this, but I think

I feel like we've heard lots of commentary and we're going to get lots of feedback from people and folks will have had a chance to speak at community matters.

I think by that point we will have had enough information for us to decide one way or the other how each one of us feels.

So for me, I would prefer to just go ahead and have it as the last item on the agenda.

And then if people have further commentary afterwards, so be it.

Right, so are you saying that if they have any comments on the first part of community matters that they

So what I, you know, and Jay you can let us know if we can do this, if we have it as the last item then we

Yes, sir, Mr. Mayor.

So council has added it to their agenda.

It would normally be added as a as a last action item, but the clarification from the council suggests that that matter be moved as item 17 following the second community matters.

opportunity for people to speak.

So we will hear them, you know, the last and then we will

If I could, there's not a section on the agenda for an action after community matters.

There's just a German after community matters.

Yeah, that's why I suggested 16 and then 17 as the item.

And then people, we would have made a decision.

Then people would could still talk after that, but it would be after we had made a decision.

Yeah, yeah, regardless.

So 17 we will discuss it and then there will be other business and then the community matters at that point and they will know whether you know if we supported or what happens.

Does it make sense?

Thank you.

So

So we amended the agenda.

Sir, do we need an actual vote on the amended agenda?

I thought we just did.

Yeah.

And this meeting would be divided into three main sections.

The first one is this part, a work session to hear and discuss presentation that do not require a council vote followed by a closed meeting and I don't think today we have a closed

Ms.

I'm not texting, I'm just turning down my hearing aids.

Hello Mayor Wade, City Councilor, City Manager Sanders.

Thank you for the opportunity to present the Grants Inventory Report on behalf of the Office of Community Solutions.

My name is Taylor Harvey Ryan and I serve as the Grants Program Manager.

There's a clicker.

It may be on this side.

It doesn't.

So my role within OCS is to provide oversight for our grants management program and then also federal entitlement administration, which you guys know is our CDBG and our home program.

So this is a wonderful organization chart of our Office of Community Solutions.

So my team is right there in the middle, underneath Alex, who is our director, is me as the grants program manager.

And then I have two grants analysts underneath me, which are Anthony Warren, who does our CDBG and our home program.

And then we also have Alan Pure, who is our general grants analyst who supports all of our grants.

So that tiny but mighty team is responsible for all the things that you see here on your screen, which is to develop and maintain our standard operating procedures for grants management and administration, develop and implement monitoring and reporting procedures for all of our grants, provide technical assistance to city departments and our community partners regarding grants, evaluate and secure grant opportunities that align with city council priorities, and then also administer our HUD programs, also known as CDBG and HOME.

So why we're here today is this Grants Inventory Report.

So in order to do all those things that I mentioned in the last slide, we had to do a Grants Inventory Report, which is essentially take a baseline inventory of what all our city manages.

So prior to me starting here, there was not a central database or a single methodology for how we manage grants.

Each of the departments and offices

applied for grants and managed them to the best of their abilities in a number of different ways, which means that some folks would say, okay, this grant looks good.

I'm going to apply for it.

Other folks have like a more formalized process.

But that just means we were not consistent across all of our different departments, which then also means no one person or one department could tell you all the grants that were being managed by the city.

which is a big thing when you're talking about grant compliance and those kinds of things and then also being good stewards of the funds when our community partners are saying, hey, we'd like to apply with you on this grant.

We don't know what another department is doing or what they're not doing.

So it's very important that we have this grants inventory.

So essentially, in order to have a better understanding for the work that was being done, we had to conduct this Grants Inventory Report, which ultimately provides an overview of all of the grants that are being managed across all of our city departments, and then provides the pertinent information.

Right now, it includes who the funder is, so who we're getting the money from, the award allocation, so the amount of money that we're getting from them, and also how much we have to match for those funds.

if we do or if we don't.

It also tells you if that grant is renewable or recurring, so whether or not it's something that it automatically renews, we get it every year, or it's something we have to apply for every year, or is it a one-time grant, so that is included in our inventory.

It also tells you the period of performance, so how long we have to spend the money and do the actual project associated with that money, and do our final reports and things of that nature.

And then it also gives you a summary of what that project is.

So what are those funds supposed to be used for?

So all of that is included in the grants inventory report, which was attached with the agenda item.

This report is a living breathing document.

So it is updated regularly.

However, we will publish it in its entirety twice a year, which would be in January, which is the one that you have.

with you, and then we'll also do it again in July, but at any time, if any changes are being made to these grants, we are updating it on a live basis.

So, go back.

Okay, perfect.

So right now, we do not have software, which I will talk about momentarily.

So right now, your software is me and an Excel spreadsheet and our grants analysts as well.

However, we will get into the software just a smidge.

So if you were to ask for this report right now, you have it in a PDF format.

But when we're talking about tracking it, making live updates that is in an Excel spreadsheet.

Okay, so in this report that you have in front of you right now, currently the city manages 95 grants, and our total allocation for those grants is $193,689,277.

I will go ahead and make that note, and you can see in the very tiny print there, that that is the full balance of our grant award, so that does not take into account that these projects are ongoing, so money is currently being spent, so we don't currently have $193 million just sitting on the books.

as most of these projects are currently spending money.

So this is a graph, a breakdown of all of the grants that we're currently managing.

It does not include every single department as transit and social services are not included in this iteration, but likely to be included in future iterations.

But as you can see, we have 95 grants total.

It breaks it down across the different departments and offices with public works having the most right now at 25 grants.

Sorry, you said transit and social services are not part of this currently.

I can get it to you, but I don't have it in front of me.

Okay, so as we were doing this Grants Inventory Report, which was essentially surveys of our different departments, interviews with the different departments to figure out what grants that they're managing, and then also meeting with our funders as well to make sure what we thought we had and what they thought we had were in alignment.

We made several notable discoveries, which

I'll kind of go into an overview.

So one thing that was noticed is that there's a significant misunderstanding of grants which is not uncommon.

Grants is a specialty, so that's why you have folks who do grant writing, grants analysts, grants managers, and things of that nature.

So that folks can have a better understanding of the language that our funders are using because oftentimes it is

A lot of acronyms, a lot of jargon.

And if you don't understand what those regulations mean, you might not be using the funds to the best of your ability or getting the maximum impact out of those funds.

So there was some misunderstanding as to what grants can be used for.

A lot of people think of it as like free money, but it's really it's not free money.

You have to do a project, turn in your goals and objectives, all those kinds of things.

So certain folks don't realize like

There's a return that has to come back with those grant funds that you're getting.

But then also some other smaller things like how and when to request an extension or your grant and you can't just keep your grant funds forever and ever and ever until you finish the project.

There typically is a closed date on those.

How to close out your grants, folks think my project is complete, my grant is closed.

That is not how that works.

You oftentimes have to turn in a report at the very end of those things and there's often a whole list of things you have to do to actually close out your grant and that comes with a retention policy on the documents and all that kind of stuff.

So if you don't close out your grant, you're forever having to hold those documents for forever and ever.

Whenever that was to most grants on average, you only have to keep your documents five or seven years and then you can shred them.

But if you don't close it out, you hold those documents for forever.

And then also how to do a change in scope.

So if for some reason your project needs to deviate from what you originally asked for, you have to ask permission to change your scope and to change the use of your funds.

folks don't often know

and someone else is not aware of that project or that grant.

It just is just sitting there and no work is happening and things of that nature or what was more likely happening is someone applied for funds, then they left and then there was no one to say, oh, we got this award.

Now we need to start this project.

So now with this, we have a master list of the grants, master list of who's working on those grants.

I'm in contact with the funders.

So if someone does change, we are updating that on a regular basis.

Those, the lack of continuity with the grants also, there were significant delays in reporting reimbursements and project completion which just happens with staff leaving or things of that nature and one person not knowing what another staff person was doing.

There was also lack of formal collaboration between our departments.

There was informal communication and informal collaboration, but oftentimes you need a more formal process when you're working on a grant to say your department is going to do this, our department is going to do this, and so at the end we have this one project.

But sometimes we don't really have that formal collaboration, which does work in opposition of us when we're applying for grant funds.

Also, when folks don't know what one department is doing,

Then we have folks going for the same grant funds and competing against ourselves, which is double work and less reward.

So now we have a process where since we have this inventory, folks come through our office say, we're going to apply for these funds.

I can say, oh, hey, for example, social services is working on this grant.

These are both in alignment with your mission and vision.

You two can work together.

This is how that would look.

And now we have a stronger application versus two smaller applications competing against one another for the same funds.

We also noticed that there was a difficulty tracking grants.

You don't have all your grants in one place.

Obviously, that's hard to track across the different departments.

Also, match commitments were harder to track because folks were saying, oh, this department could match when in reality those funds may be committed elsewhere.

We also had letters of support and MOUs coming from every different direction.

Now we have one place that folks can come to for letters of support or MOU agreements, and then we can manage them all in one place.

And then lastly, just a lack of transparency on the grants between our departments and our community partners.

Folks didn't know what we were applying for versus what community partners were applying for, what our roles were.

Can I ask a quick question?

Yes.

So this is great to hear that this is all getting kind of like cleaned up and organized.

I'm a big fan of Excel spreadsheets.

So it's good to hear that this is all kind of info collected in one place.

So I've been here since last year, January 31st.

And so I was brought in and given this as my first thing to kind of figure out

build processes and things of that nature and immediately was like, hey, how do you guys keep a track of your grants?

Everyone's doing it differently, so it's been about a year.

Okay, great.

Thanks.

So obviously, while we had those notable discoveries, we have had some accomplishments towards those noticeable discoveries.

So first, we've completed this Grants Inventory Report, which is over here, and we are on track to release a second iteration of that report this July.

We've also created processes for our Grants Management Administration, so we've streamlined our application process.

So now folks aren't

Looking for grants all over the place.

We have a central place where you can come and say, hey, this is the project I'm looking for.

This is the funding source.

Do these match and align and can we go for them?

Well, we'd be competitive.

We had folks who would see a grant opportunity to get really excited and then not realize that we weren't eligible because it says only nonprofits when we are local government, those kinds of things.

We've also streamlined requests for letters of support so that way every department head is not being messaged by a non-profit for the same letter.

It all comes through our office.

And then we've also encouraged collaboration among our departments and community partners so that we can have stronger applications and less competition between all of us.

And while we've done all those wonderful things, there are still some areas of opportunity that we're looking into and looking to get resolved.

So we are going to expand that Grants Inventory Report.

This was the inaugural release.

So obviously since creating this, we found we can expand this.

We can include those missing departments.

We are also going to include the status of projects so that way folks know where we are at in the process.

Are we at that closeout point?

Are we waiting for permits, those kinds of things?

and then also we are going to make the Grants Inventory Report accessible to folks, so whether that be on the intranet or on the city website, those kinds of things, because folks do want this information and regularly reach out for it, so it will just be easier if folks can just have access to it.

and then to Mayor Wade's point, where are we keeping this information?

We are in the process of procuring grants management software because while an Excel spreadsheet is wonderful, we have 95 grants and it's continuing to grow.

So an Excel spreadsheet is not the best warehouse for this information.

And that means it's only housed in on an Excel spreadsheet.

So should probably nothing happen to it.

That's the only place that it's stored.

We're also working on streamlining our finance process for tracking reimbursement, so making sure that all the money that we have been awarded that actually does come back to us.

Since most of these things are reimbursable, we want to ensure that we're balancing our budget for each of these grants.

We're also continuously doing needs assessment.

There are obviously new needs coming up around the community at all times, so we want to make sure that we're aware of those and securing grants for those needs.

And then another big opportunity is monitoring and compliance.

Many of our programs have not been monitored, and so we are going to start doing that and ensuring that we are in compliance with our funders, but also making sure we're just good stewards of the funds.

And I know that Excel can do amazing things.

I'm trying to figure out how it's, you know, is there ways you can put like, you know, project number 26 and the long line of, you know, can you put on there that to give yourself a tickler or something that

I'm glad you're doing this.

Yeah, I'll second that.

Thank you for the invite.

Yeah, I would just echo what others have said.

I think even though it may not be work that the public necessarily sees all the time, I think this is some of the most important work that is happening in the city.

I just have two questions.

One is something we've discussed a little bit in the past is

how to most strategically and proactively go after the money available in the inflation reduction act and bipartisan infrastructure law.

Yeah, so we are currently and continuously evaluating the grant opportunities that are available through the and matching it with the projects that we have.

So we do meet with the various different departments.

And if they see an opportunity and they want us to evaluate it to make sure number one, we're competitive is what we're attempting to do in alignment with what is allowable, which is typically where we have the more gray area and need additional technical assistance.

You're reading my mind as to where I would like to be able to go with this particular role, but we're trying to bite off what we can handle right now.

I was going to say, because currently right now with the current funders that we do have, I do serve as a liaison, so when additional funding opportunities open up in those different agencies, they do alert me.

Definitely.

That's all I have.

I just have a small kind of logistics question.

If someone in a department wants to go for a grant, do they first, what's the process?

Yes, I can.

So prior to me coming here folks would see a grant and they would just go for it.

is kind of how I understand it prior to me.

Now we have a standard operating procedure.

So if someone sees a grant that they're interested in, they do.

There's like a little form that they fill out.

It comes to me.

I walk through the grant, then we meet together and say, hey, this is the project.

Walk me through it because I'm not an expert in all the various different things.

Like I couldn't tell you all the things about sustainability.

But I meet with them, walk through their grant, match it, and then we go ahead and set up.

Great.

And so for everyone in the city, that's what they're going to do.

Okay, excellent.

Great.

And is there, are you keeping track of like success rates?

Okay.

I would say we don't have enough data.

I would say that they are improving from what I'm understanding.

But since we've only, I've only been here one year and they weren't tracking this beforehand.

I can only speak to the grants that we've applied for.

Okay, excellent.

So I think my last question, I'm not sure if it's for Sam, but or Ashley, you know, we go to these conferences and we get these great, you know, ideas or, you know, to apply for different

Grant to programs and things.

Okay.

Don't have anything, but you know, you know, I've seen it was really good about going to conferences and bringing some good ideas and, you know, and

trying to pick up the ball from her.

That's totally fine.

My email information was listed on that last slide in the presentation.

So if I could, I would just add that I was trying not to smile too much because this is a great plan coming together.

Yes.

I'll claim that it was mine, but just okay.

When I got here, Ashley and I specifically haven't been in the nonprofit world for a while and know what grants are like in the process and the work that comes with it.

As we ask questions, we didn't get good answers.

So Taylor being here is the result of saying we got to do better than that and this is a good way to demonstrate that we have done better by being able to have this central repository.

and one of the things that was also lacking was what you just described.

That moment where you go to a conference, I go to a conference, there's something that seems intriguing to us and who's going to apply for that.

But we never really had anybody and it would be a matter of trying to fit that in with whatever we have going on.

A lot of things in that sense didn't get applied for and now I basically told Taylor, be ready, you might get these.

She's gotten a couple that we've already applied for.

And she will.

She will say that.

Any other questions or comments?

Thank you.

So you all received a memo from me in your packets talking about looking ahead towards NDS's work plan for at least the next year, if not further than that.

As you know, as we've been working on this EVO plans together process, affordable housing plan, comprehensive plan, and then zoning ordinance, there's a number of projects that were kind of floating out there that we've had to put on hold.

And even over the course of that process, there are a number of things that we identified as things that we might want to do, issues we might want to address that we had to set aside for the time being while we focused on that effort.

So that's done.

So now we get to look ahead and start picking up all these different projects that we've had kind of hanging out there on the docket.

So the memo that I provided to you has eight different projects listed on it.

That's not to say that there aren't more out there and I'm more than happy to identify additional things for us to be considering work on.

But at least those were the ones that I was able to identify in advance.

I wanted to talk about these just overall for a minute before diving into any of the individual projects listed.

First, I wanted to acknowledge straight up that each of these projects represents a process of investigation, dialogue, and decision making, right?

We're not going into these with preconceived notions of what we're coming out with.

None of these are.

We're doing this project in order to do this.

We're doing this project in order to solve a problem.

And to that end, each of these processes kind of goes through a three-step process of first understanding that problem or issue.

What is the issue in getting to understand it in a greater depth?

And first part of that is gathering data.

What data do we have on that particular issue?

What are the trend lines on that issue?

And when I talk about data, I'm really talking about it from the broadest sense.

Some of the most important data we collect is what is the public sentiment around this issue?

What do the key stakeholders feel about this issue?

What do the community members, neighborhood residents, feel about this issue?

So collecting all of that data is an important part of understanding the issue or the problem to be solved.

Then from there, of course, we identify a set of solutions.

We work through identifying which of those represent the best solution for our community at that particular time.

and then we go into an adoption process, generally speaking.

Most of these are going to involve some level of decision making from the planning commission and the city council.

Each of these projects begins, as we talked about last time to a certain degree, each of these projects begins with a resolution from council appropriating funds to do these projects, generally from the CIP account.

These projects break down into kind of larger and smaller or medium sized projects, I call them.

The larger projects are the ones that extend for over a year, generally from a year to two years.

Those are going to be generally characterized by a working group or steering committee of some sort that extends the entire length of the project.

The medium-sized projects are going to rely more on focus groups or surveys or other forms of collecting input and data.

All of these projects will have some form of community engagement plan with them.

So that's kind of an overview for all of these projects.

I don't know if there's an interest in me going through each of these individually and talking about them all.

Yeah?

Sure.

The pleasure to go over each one.

We actually have a little time.

And I think a lot of these will be familiar to all of you.

So 10th and Page, Rose Hill and the Preston Corridor overall, this was not only was Rose Hill and Preston both identified as potential small area plan areas within the comprehensive plan, but as we've been talking about

the new zoning ordinance and concerns around displacement, gentrification, and I think it entered into a pretty robust conversation on those topics.

It was recognized that doing a small area plan for this area would give us an opportunity to dig into those issues around a specific neighborhood, dialogue with that neighborhood and develop solutions not only for the neighborhood but

solutions that might then be applicable to other neighborhoods.

So this small area plan rose to the top as an important one for us to address.

We also recognize that that corridor and that neighborhood are both experiencing a lot of change, a lot of development pressure because they sit in a really desirable location within our community, sitting between the university and the downtown.

I think we've learned a lot from previous small area plans that we can apply to this process.

Generally, I refer to it as a community engaged planning process.

I look to what we did with Cherry Hill, sorry, Cherry Hills, Cherry Avenue, Star Hill, and then of course on the comprehensive plan.

And also I've looked to and talked with folks about the process that they engage with in Friendship Court.

around engaging residents in the planning and design of that project.

A quick question.

I know with the Cherry Avenue small area plan, I believe the city worked with the Planning District Commission as part of that process.

I don't

We're going to need to be able to expand staff capacity and bring in outside expertise to help, as I said before, investigate the issues that we've identified and identify appropriate solutions.

So, yes, short answer is yes, but longer answer is maybe PDC, maybe

Okay, thank you.

Absolutely.

I think

and connect this planning process to an implementation program, implementation strategy.

So we go into this planning process, understanding how it's going to be implemented on the back end.

Yes.

Let me just say, so that was noted in the in in a... The bane of Mike's tenure.

I don't want to go into this with the assumption that critical slopes are something that we're seeking to get rid of.

I'm not saying that either.

We got a lot of comments across the across the board

early in the zoning ordinance rewrite process right so January 22 we were being in that process and we were hearing folks saying get rid of critical slopes or at least significantly modify it we were hearing concerns about our stormwater management program and how that would relate to our goals for housing development in particular under this program

We were also hearing on the other side, can we beef up some of our environmental regulations?

Can we incorporate some rules around green building design, for example?

Lots of great ideas in there.

And what we realized pretty quickly is that the level of work that we were going to need to do in order to fully investigate and understand those issues was outside of the scope of what we could accomplish during the rewrite of the zoning ordinance.

So we suggested and we actually came to council at that time.

I think this was February, maybe early March of 22.

I came and basically asked to y'all's permission to set those issues aside and come back with a review and update to our environmental regulations.

Same concept as the zoning ordinance.

We want to review those regulations and look for how do we bring these into alignment with our adopted comprehensive plan.

Is it known yet whether that's a process that would involve any of the climate team or the Resilient Together Initiative, which is looking at climate resiliency region-wide?

Absolutely.

And yeah, so as I noted, so this would be, this would fall in the category of a large project.

It would have a standing working group that would work through the entirety of, would be engaged in this through the entirety of the project.

And I'm envisioning a group that's composed of stakeholders within the community and key staff from our Office of Sustainability, DPW.

as well as our partners out in the community.

So this would be one where we would have a very robust dialogue.

I would imagine amongst those factors.

Short-term rentals.

This project really came out of conversations we were having earlier this year where we

perhaps erroneously suggested what if we got rid of the idea of allowing short-term rentals in zoning ordinance.

I think we heard very clear sentiments around that issue.

Really where I'm coming back to is what

Looking into this issue to see what more could we do to mitigate the negative impacts of short-term rentals, particularly on neighborhoods, and address the administrative burden.

As I think I noted in a presentation earlier this year, roughly half of our zoning enforcement activity is just short-term rentals.

And that's just with the actual zoning violation notices we provide.

It's about half of those.

It doesn't even really take into account the amount of time that's spent investigating these.

Right, and the program we have is meant to be for

something that residents are able to take advantage of, right?

It's not meant to be a short-term rental as a primary use.

And I think regulating that has its challenges, but that's the issue.

I'm going to defer to Todd Divers on that.

I don't know.

Yeah, there's been some expression of their unwillingness to share some information.

The Star Hill Plan, which was adopted at even 2021 before my time, but one of the concerns at the time it was adopted was around issues of implementation and how that project would move forward.

Can I interrupt you a second there?

It seems to me that the Star Hill plan, or vision I guess as it was basically decided, has a somewhat unique situation in that we incorporated it into the comprehensive plan

Even though we acknowledged that it wasn't really a plan, and part of my concern is that I don't know to what extent folks are going to end up revisiting some of the core ideas there, and I would not want to stifle their thinking in that respect, given that we didn't really adopt it as a plan.

It may be and I very purposefully am trying to place that one after we've worked on 10th and Page Rose Hill Preston because

By the time we're into that process, we'll have defined what a small area plan is.

It's one of the action items in the comprehensive plan.

Define what these plans are, what their processes are.

And so we can more clearly understand what are the gaps that we need to fill in to complete the Star Hill plan.

As I said in my initial sense, it's kind of a focused effort on an implementation plan.

Maybe that changes as we go forward, particularly recognizing the central piece of that plan may not be possible.

On street parking policy, this was something that we had initially begun

Well, we were aiming to have begun working on in the fall in preparation for the adoption of the new ordinance, but we weren't able to get there and so now we're moving forward to note that I've got this listed as April because we're close to being able to get that project started.

That's basically looking at our existing on-street parking regulations and

swapping those out with a new policy that's more reflective of where we are right now as a community, something that looks at how do we manage on-street parking as a community resource or as a neighborhood resource and use our on-street parking rules and residential permits and those types of things as a tool for that management.

Yes, it absolutely does.

Excellent.

It has to.

That's part of the toolkit of how we manage that resource by the fees that we charge.

For anyone who's following along, it's $25 a year, which is seven cents a day.

Yeah, and I know that what I'm about to say applies to the rest of these as well.

But it's so important that we're doing this work because we made all kinds of like, I won't say quite hand waving gestures during the complain, but we couldn't stop and figure all this out of the time.

And we said, we will, we promise.

And so this is us making goodness promises.

Yeah, yeah.

The next one is this pre-approved building program.

I'm going to say this one is different from all the others in the sense that I see it as more a series of small projects as opposed to one big project.

The notion there is that we would create a library of pre-approved building types

that someone could come in, select out of that library and submit to us, basically just demonstrating that the building that they've selected fits within the lot, fits within the zoning rules, what have you, and then they would be able to get their permit.

So the big thing that does is it reduces their review time and it reduces design costs.

It also allows us on the other hand to promote design solutions that we want to see out in the community.

The initial aspect of this is probably going to be focused more on accessory cottages and those types of uses.

That's where there seems to be an interest in this type of thing.

And that's particularly responding to the fact that the folks who might want to do an accessory cottage are the ones least in the position to do the design work, to understand kind of what, it's a small scale development project.

And if I'm a homeowner who's interested in doing one of these,

I have probably the least resources available to me to accomplish that goal.

I also want to note, I think this is somewhat of an innovative thing, but in our early conversations with folks looking to do small-scale infill development projects that are allowed under our new zoning ordinance, one of the things they've pointed to is the challenge of the stormwater management requirements.

And it's not so much implementing those requirements as the challenge, it is the

it's the design cost, the engineering cost of coming up with a solution that fits on a given property and then again that review process because that review process can sometimes be quite extensive and for a small scale project that might be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

So this has come up with a couple projects, one project in particular brought this forward as an issue that says, you know, this is a project that fits right in with what we're trying to accomplish but they have that obstacle.

So we're looking to see

We're looking at this idea of a pre-approved stormwater management solution for small-scale, I mean small infill lot

Michael Payne

include on your property.

I know at least a few years ago at this point our regional housing partnership had sent a group of people to Portland and produced a report about their ADU policy that included kind of pre-approved schematics.

Is that something that would be useful to kind of link up with them on?

Yeah, there's actually a growing number of model programs like that out there.

Portland is, without question, the leader in the world of accessory dwelling units, backyard cottages, but there's a number of communities that have started to adopt these programs from everything from backyard cottages all the way up to like three and four unit buildings.

All right.

Entrance corridor design guidelines.

This is just recognizing that our guidelines as of now are out of date.

They're out of date with the comprehensive plan.

They're out of date with our new zoning ordinance.

They need to be significantly updated.

And this is important because we need it.

These guidelines are what project to a developer who's operating on one of these corridors, what it is we're looking for.

What will be an acceptable design that's meant to streamline and make it easier to move through the process?

I understand that the BAR is currently updating their guidelines.

I don't guess this is connected to this overall sort of linkage that the entrance court or design guidelines is, but is that something you're tracking, I guess?

They come from different bodies of law.

The BAR guidelines are historic preservation guidelines.

ERB are related to historic preservation.

OK.

Without the history.

Yeah, thank you.

Any other questions on entrance corridors?

And then the noise ordinance, in my two and a half years, I think it's been a steady drum beat of complaints around the noise ordinance.

Not frequently, but probably once every two to three months, one comes in.

And the existing noise ordinance is not easily enforced.

It's got some

Language in it that's kind of confusing as to how it applies.

It applies in particular in residential districts, but not in commercial districts, but where they're close together or particularly where you have a mixed-use district, it gets confused.

Yeah, that ties into a complaint that I got from

I think it was a hotel and the trash person comes and pick which is understandable early in the morning but it's loud beeps and they don't want to get up at 4.30 in the morning and it wasn't a lot that we could do about it but I can tell you I've been speaking to a lot of neighborhood groups and

Two things that complain about is litter and noise from the university.

Do I take it there was a change in the law about noise from cars?

But I don't know where that is.

I don't know where that stands.

Yeah, I know we had some folks back in January who sort of felt like it was out of the blue.

There was a statute that was passed a little over a year ago.

I think it was.

One of the effects of it is that it allows, I believe, an officer to pull somebody over as a primary offense for having a muffler that is too loud.

It however did not really provide any basis for measuring what is too loud.

I think that's the fix, part of the fix.

There were other things, but that was one of the things.

To Mr. Freese's point, the overarching issue I think on the noise ordinance is that the city's noise ordinance

presents difficulties in enforcement.

And if you have an ordinance that's very difficult to enforce, then that's frustrating for everyone.

There are some other ordinances that, as part of this project, we would take a look at where there is an arguably easier enforcement mechanism.

And I think that would likely be the thrust of the effort.

That is quite a list.

And obviously it's not all that our department does.

I think it's worth noting that the staff that we rely on to manage these projects are also the staff that are doing development review, which has over the last number of years uptick considerably.

And now we're working with the new ordinance that we're all kind of learning as we go.

I know there was some email traffic about the commercial uses in residential areas and I know again there was something during the development of the zoning ordinance that

We weren't all in agreement on and I think one reason for me is just not I feel like it needed more definition about what that would

you know potential unintended consequences I am sort of at a theoretical level supportive of the idea but I would I'd like to see something more fleshed out before I could really you know get behind it so I know that's one thing too you all hope to do at some point at least I think so absolutely I'm happy to formally add it to this list of potential projects acknowledging that all of these are

Yes, so that's exactly the issue.

So I've laid this out in I think what is a manageable kind of timeframe.

I'm trying to be cognizant of a couple things.

On the one hand, we will be over the course of this year adding some staff into the department that will be directly working on planning, on these tasks, right?

So we have capacity coming on board, theoretically, assuming we can fill the positions.

On the other hand, we really don't know yet what the other workload is going to look like coming in on the development review side.

Yeah, because I believe it was the retreat we brought this up again or was it the meeting in February when we had to read

vote on the language either way recently and we agreed enough of us agreed that we wanted to see some progress made on figuring out the small scale commercial adjustment

I personally would like to see the entrance corridor design guidelines issue moved up in time because we know we're going to have some proposals coming through.

We've already approved them with apparently the caveat that we're going to fix the problems at the entrance corridor level.

And as to the overall timeline, I'm generally good with it.

I think the prioritization generally makes sense.

I guess I can kind of live with it and understand it, because in terms of the immediate impact on people, it's not the highest.

But the only one that gives me a little bit of heartburn is also the entrance corridor design guidelines, just because it's one of those things you can't really do it retroactively.

And I think looking at other cities, not just in the US, but even in other countries, there are some relatively simple design guidelines that aren't prohibitive in any way towards development that really can improve

The only

Like, let's say there's the workgroups established for on-street parking policy and in the first month they identify kind of really low-hanging fruit that doesn't have a cost for implementation or it's a very minor cost, relatively simple.

Yeah, absolutely.

From my perspective, if we identify, you know, what do we call that, low-hanging fruit, the easy wins, I think we move forward on those.

I mean, I think about that more in the scale of like a small area plan.

For example, we identify that we need additional signage in the neighborhood.

Like, we got a sign shop.

Why don't we just do that?

Why write it in the plan and wait till the plan's adopted to do it?

We've heard that clearly.

We can consult with our colleagues in DPW.

I support Michael's position.

I think that what we've found is that with big projects that we'll, once we establish a deadline, you know, we'll get a rush projects to either they like them or they don't.

So if we could, that one could be kind of elevated, but I know that they all

will take time and effort.

I'd like to have just kind of a small little discussion about entrance corridors and what's going to sound.

I can just provide my perspective.

I think our entrance corridors, how they're defined for whatever reason is extremely expansive and pretty much just covers most all of our mixed-use commercial corridors.

So it really extends far beyond even just, you know, those kind of

Michael Payne,

In the U.S.

and again, even outside of the U.S., when you have that kind of larger development, I think there are some very basic design elements that may not even be that expensive or not cost prohibitive, that can make a substantial difference in walking down West Main feels like different than walking in Stonefield and Albemarle.

There are places that have a distinct sense of place.

So I view it as a way where there's relatively low hanging fruit that can just provide an improved sense of place, placemaking, which I think is part of good urbanism.

So that's where I'm coming from.

And I think it happens to be just incidental that our entrance corridors happen to overlay with where we're going to see those

Over time corridors develop of blocks of larger buildings and I think small things can make a big difference in terms of the pedestrian experience for the city.

Our ordinance specifically talks about basically to make it a more pleasant tourist experience for one thing

It specifically talks about protection of historic neighborhoods.

Those are a couple of things that are, you know, big deals for why the size of the buildings and the shape of the buildings and the look of the buildings become important.

If we decide we don't care about those, then it's a different consideration.

So that's, I hope, not assuming that the current entrances to the city are

And on that note, I do that the sense of place and the sense of place making is something that is done at a pedestrian person level, not at a car level, which is all about the road, not about the building.

You can feel like a person in a place next to a tall building.

But next to a big road is when you don't feel like a person in a place.

Understood.

And that's about what goes into the guidelines.

I was going to say that the state enabling legislation that creates the ability to do entrance corridors basically speaks to them as being the pathways, the routes people take from outside of your community to historic districts primarily.

Because they are enabled as part of the larger section that allows us to do historic districts.

and so our entrance corridors are the major routes that take us downtown or to UVA, both of which are significant historic features.

And what they allow us to do that we can't otherwise do is address aesthetic concerns that would speak to issues of place making or think of them as kind of the gateways to the community or the first impressions of the community.

Within our community, I think it's unfortunate, and I understand exactly how it happened.

I feel like the discussion has kind of reached a point where placemaking in architecture is viewed as being in competition with a loud increase in density and height.

And I just truly believe that's a false binary, and there's a way we can do both that isn't prohibitive to development.

Yeah, I guess for me, if you're going back to the prioritization, the piece about commercial, all these other things seem like they rank higher than that except for the noise or, except for the noise ordinance.

So for commercial would the hope basically be we would revisit a decision about whether to allow those commercial uses by sexual use permit, but we're looking for some kind of additional

Yeah, but we have the information decision points.

It's just... Well, maybe that it's just a matter of someone representing those or helping me at least.

And I would be interested in like, and I hear all that in definitely sort of with this in my heart, but with my head, I'm just still sort of not sure how this would look.

I would be interested in other cities and what they've seen and what are pros and cons of what are unforeseen

possibilities, I guess.

What would a robust permit process look like?

How would that be manageable?

One of the things I feel like I heard was that there were not sufficient guardrails kind of identified clearly within the ordinance.

We kind of went to a special use permit, but didn't didn't necessarily do more to define what

what would be necessary in order to get that commercial use permit.

So I kind of took away how we could identify and further explain what the guardrails would be on that use being allowed in residential districts.

Yeah.

And to kind of similar a thought line, but opposite side of the logic is what could we, what guardrails could we remove to make?

more things more accessible with you know the reasonableness of expecting that some would need permits but you know

Yeah, yeah.

Right.

I'm having a flashback.

So I think that, you know, it's definitely, you know, we can have some discussion.

I think we had a lot of discussion in the fall.

I think ultimately we said, you know, maybe a special use permit will allow us to have that

overview, but I do recall we said we're going to look at it again, but we may end up with the same solution.

Yeah, I'm not wanting to prejudge it.

And I hear Councilor Oschrin's point.

I think it's a good one.

I just, well, we can talk about all this later.

I would say the other thing that I would like to see expedited is the issue of the short term rental because that

Thanks.

No, that's it.

And for those who will be joining us virtually, there's a different link for that.

So we stand adjourned until 6.30.

I've known one person who had shots because I'm like, they're like super loud.

So that seems like they're also dogs.

They're kind of dogs.

Have you heard about the thing about cats?

Yeah, it's like one of the reasons it's crazy.

I forget what it's called, but it's like, what should I do with everything?

Yeah.

Well, there's people on the waiting list that I'd like to, because I thought that would automatically happen.

Is that okay?

Good evening, everyone.

We're going to start the 6.30 general meeting.

Thank you all so much for coming out.

I really appreciate it.

We know that it's a lot of interest in different topics tonight, but we're going to go ahead and get started.

And I want to thank everyone.

We didn't have a closed session, so we don't have to read ourselves out of that.

Whatever you want to reflect on, but I do want to note that one of our community mothers, Lorraine Williams, passed away last weekend.

Eugene and Lorraine just did incredible things for this community.

So that's what I will be thinking about doing my moment of silence.

So we're just going to take a few seconds for that, please.

Thank you all so much.

Are there any announcements from counselors?

So as we begin, I know a lot of people here for the ceasefire.

We received a lot of emails and calls.

We're not a lot of calls, but interest on that.

And it has been added to the agenda at the four o'clock meeting.

It was moved to the agenda and it's going to be item number 17 on the agenda.

But if you are ready to sign up to speak,

Of course you can still speak on it.

It's going to be not a public hearing but a discussion.

There's going to be two parts for the public to speak.

that I will be reading.

Hello.

Whereas women of every race, class, and ethnic background have made historic contributions to the growth and strength of Charlottesville in countless recorded and unrecorded ways, and whereas women play a critical economic, cultural, and social role in every sphere of life in Charlottesville,

And whereas particularly important in the establishment of early charitable philanthropic and cultural institutions in our city, women have served as early leaders in the forefront of every major progressive social change movement.

And whereas women have been leaders, not only in securing their own rights of suffrage and equal opportunity, but also in the abolitionist emancipation, industrial labor, civil rights, environmental, and peace movements, which have created a more fair and just society for all.

And whereas despite these contributions, the role of women has consistently been overlooked and undervalued in the literature, leadership, teaching, and study of American history.

And it is therefore fitting that we recognize their numerous accomplishments.

And whereas the 2024 theme of the National Women's History Month is women who advocate for equity, diversity, and inclusion, a recognition of women who are committed to embracing everyone and excluding no one,

in our Common Quest for Freedom and Opportunity.

Thank you.

This is one of those things.

Counsel, it is my honor to serve you all as your deputy city manager for social equity.

And in addition, I'm the immediate past chair for the Virginia Council on Women.

It is critically important that when we think of social equity, we continue to remember that there is an equity between genders.

Individuals who identify as female, individuals who identify as gender non-binary or transgender often earn less and have less opportunities.

So I just deeply wanted to say that this is very much a part of you all showing your commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.

And we will continue to keep in mind issues like what we see occurring with women and other individuals.

Thank you so much, Ms.

Marshall.

Thank you.

Consent Agenda Number 3, Minutes, January 2nd Meeting, January 9th Joint Council Planning Commission Meeting, March 7th Budget Work Session.

Number 4, Ordinance for Creating Shenandoah Mobile Franchise Agreement, Second Reading.

Five, Resolution to Appropriate USDA Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry Inflation Reduction Grant for Charlottesville Urban Forest Management Planning, $150,000.

one of two readings, six, resolution appropriating funding in the amount of $21,458 to be received from the Library of Virginia Circuit Court Records Preservation Grant Review Board, one of two readings, seven, ordinance amending the Charlottesville Code of Ordinances, Section 2-98B, to increase the appropriation amount requiring two readings from $1,001 to $5,000, one of two readings,

Number eight has been postponed.

Thank you.

So we'll now take comments for items only listed on the consent agenda.

Are there any public comments on any of those eight items that Madam Clerk just read?

Second.

Been moved improperly second.

No further comments.

Can we please cast your vote?

If I could ask everyone please slide over as far as you can just so that you can make the remaining seats available so that folks that are standing up can take a seat.

All right, so I'm going to run through a few a few items.

I'm going to actually start with Deputy City Manager Marshall.

Thank you so much City Council, City Manager, as well as members of our community who have joined us.

It's my honor to announce that the City of Charlottesville's Office of Social Equity applied to participate in the 2023 National League of Cities Capstone Challenge.

that paired us in a competitive process with an organization called City Health Dashboard.

City Health Dashboard works to measure and map health outcomes in communities, including ours, as we were one of the first small cities to be added to their map in 2022.

City Health Dashboards team actually won the challenge using work that they did not only for the City of Charlottesville, but for Houston, Texas and Rochester, New York.

And their work focused on looking at potential connections that historic housing segregation may have on modern health and economic disparities.

If any member of the public is interested in these city managers report, there is a link to the final report specifically discussing their work and you can also find any key health outcomes for our community on their website.

But we're very thankful for their work and plan to use it to assist not only the city manager but council in their needs to think through

Thank you.

And we just got the report on different grants and stuff at the four o'clock meeting.

So this is a perfect example of keeping track of those things.

Thank you so much.

So thank you.

Hopefully we'll be able to apply for some grants as a result of that honor as well.

Just a few quick things that some of you as council members have asked for updates just to provide additional input to or details to the public.

Some project updates.

We have, I celebrate everything, small and large, so small things.

There's been a missing sidewalk section along Elliott Street near Ridge Street.

Some of you may be very familiar with it.

It was like, why was that?

Well, it's no more.

There's a sidewalk there, so I'm celebrating that that has finally been done.

Small things add up.

Along with getting the east high section of sidewalk done not too long ago, we're basically just celebrating at this moment that we've been working on process, and as we worked on process, that actually leads to progress.

We're getting things done, so we have some positive things that are happening there.

There is a public involvement meeting Wednesday, March 27th at 6 o'clock at Fry Spring Beach Club.

This is to provide public engagement around the Stribbling Avenue corridor.

That has been a project that we've talked about for quite some time about bringing a sidewalk section there.

A much needed sidewalk there.

It's a very complicated project.

It's going to be a very expensive project.

But we, myself and our now public works director,

and our mayor at the time went and stood before the group and said, we'll be back in March.

We're four days before we run out of time in the month of March, but we got a schedule.

Wednesday, March 27th at 6pm at Fry Springs Beach Club

In addition to that, just some recent news, just adding a little bit more detail.

There's been coverage about the Ragged Mountain Reservoir and the resolution of our disagreement with the county.

Just adding additional details for the public to understand that there was conflict between the city ordinance and the county ordinance.

The county ended up filing a lawsuit against the city.

We defend all lawsuits, no matter who is a friend or not.

And in that matter, we lost.

We tried to appeal as well.

Our chances were not looking very good in that sense.

And under advisement of counsel and legal, we were able to move forward to resolve that matter and allow the counties opposing the ordinance that we had filed stand.

We had since acquired the Hayward Community Forest property to provide additional recreation.

that is now not available at the reservoir so we hope that that provides the additional detail that some members of the community were looking for as to why we're where we are and how we resolve the matter.

Also an update on the Belmont Bridge.

There was a front-page story giving a whole lot of details on that.

After many years of delay and more lately, a few months of delay, we're on track.

It's going to be done June.

I'm saying June, July because weather could always change anything.

But June, July, the project should be finished.

You'll see that it looks to be close to finish well before the June or July date.

There's more work underneath the bridge that still needs to get done, which is why that is the deadline that's been set.

Also, just give some advance notice to some upcoming critical topics that will be covered in Council's work session.

April 1st, Chief Cotches will come before Council and give an update on the Flock system.

It is not active in Charlottesville.

Please hear me.

It is not active in the city, but it's being discussed.

So the Chief is going to bring back the work that he's done to engage the community around that subject on April 1st during their work session.

And then I've asked our Public Works Director to come before Council May 6th to give an update on the VDOT portfolio.

That is an important management program that we have with the state where we do our transportation work.

We've had some various challenges with that program.

We've done some serious work to improve how we're performing and I've just asked Stephen to come before council and provide you an update and allow you to ask any questions that you may have in regards to that.

And then the last reminder, and I'll say it twice.

Community Budget Forum is this Thursday, 6 p.m.

at City Space.

I presented the budget to Council on the 5th.

We have some matters regarding the budget tonight.

But the Community Budget Forum is your moment to talk to Council directly about what you've seen as proposed for the budget and to give them any feedback and guidance as it relates to pulling together the formation of the budget, which will be considered for adoption April 9th, unless this body changes the date.

which you only have about six days.

You could change it too, but still.

But a reminder, community budget form is this Thursday, 6 p.m.

at City Space and we welcome any members of the public to come and share your perspectives on that matter.

That is all that I have.

We're narrow at the moment for a first time for public matters and there are eight pre-registered speakers leaving slots for eight additional speakers for community matters and if someone is here for the first eight and they choose not to speak or not here we'll just

to some people that are from the either waiting list or that are here today.

We ask that you come up and give your name and your address and please limit your comments to three minutes.

Hello, my name is Perry Meldon and I am a Jewish resident of the Woollen Mills neighborhood, 210 Midav.

I came to Charlottesville over 10 years ago to live with and care for people with intellectual and physical disabilities.

I myself live with disabling conditions.

This morning I read about Yazan, a child with cerebral palsy who lived in Gaza

Yazan lived with his mother, father, and siblings in a makeshift shelter.

Yazan starved to death.

That was two weeks ago today.

He was nine years old.

Yazan could not speak as we do, though he expressed himself with smiles and claps.

His parents ensured he had access to breathing machines, IV drips, and nutritious food.

That is until the Israeli government deprived him and millions of Palestinians of their basic rights.

I speak out today as a Jewish American, a disability rights activist and a concerned citizen of Charlottesville.

Reading about Yazan, I am reminded of the people I have lived with and cared for and that we do not choose where into the world we are born.

Reading about Yazan, I was again outraged that my tax dollars support Israel's genocide upon Gaza.

Reading about Yazan, I grieved because my Jewishness is publicly perceived as somehow inextricable from the nation of Israel and the disabling violence it has inflicted upon Palestinians.

I'm here tonight to tell city council and my fellow residents, it's not anti-Semitic to speak out against Israel's atrocities against the Palestinian peoples.

Our people, Jews, have endured genocide, and we must call it out when we see it.

Israel has long ran an apartheid system in Gaza and the West Bank, and while some in city council may say this is not an issue of Charlottesville's, the city's silence on the matter implicates us all in perpetuating violence.

Instead of the more than $106 million that Virginia spends on Israeli military, we could reallocate Charlottesville's contributions toward free or low-cost healthcare, expanding affordable housing, and community-based public health.

In passing a ceasefire resolution, the City of Charlottesville signals to the U.S.

Hello, my name is Jonathan Katz.

I'm a member of Congregation Beth Israel and part of the Charlottesville Jewish Organizing Collective.

I have also lived in and reported from Israel and Palestine as an Associated Press Correspondent, but I'm speaking today as a father, a human being, and a Jew who is proud to be part of this community.

In October of 2023, just a few weeks after the Hamas-led attack on Israel, a reporter asked White House Press Secretary Karin Jean-Pierre if President Biden considered critics of Israel's war on Gaza extremists.

Jean-Pierre invoked this city, Charlottesville.

She reminded the reporters that President Biden decided to run for president in response to the neo-Nazi attack that happened here in August 2017 Jean-Pierre meant her statement as a show of ongoing solidarity with the Jewish people and perhaps with the city but her method was mistaken American Jews have become increasingly critical of Israeli policy growing numbers recognizing that apartheid and attacks on our Palestinian brothers and sisters make no one safer

The horrific toll of Israel's war since October 7th has exceeded our worst fears.

Over 31,000 Palestinians are dead, 73,000 wounded, and 1.1 million are facing what the UN has described as catastrophic food insecurity.

At least 13,000 of the dead are Palestinian children.

The International Court of Justice has ruled that these conditions may be plausibly deemed genocide.

And Israel is carrying out these actions with the support of the US government, which provides the Israeli military with over $3 billion a year, paid for by our tax dollars.

Polls accordingly show that over half of American Jews now favor a ceasefire in Gaza, with even stronger numbers among Jewish Democrats.

Hundreds of American rabbis, including the leader of my congregation, CBI, recently signed a petition to President Biden calling for a ceasefire.

I'm here to encourage this council to add Charlottesville's name to the list of over 50 U.S.

cities calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Well over 1200 residents of Charlottesville and Albemarle County, including former elected leaders, your colleagues, have signed a petition asking you to do the same.

This should be a call for an immediate and sustained ceasefire with the goal of ending U.S.

support for Israeli impunity and demanding that the billions be spent on greater needs here at home.

Now, I know that some of you feel that this is not what you were put on counsel to do.

You're not foreign policy experts.

You have other business to attend to, and that's important.

But does not take an expert in foreign policy to say that the killing and starvation of tens of thousands of people, including 13,000 children, is wrong.

It requires a local expert to see that this war is worsening hatred of Muslims and Jews alike and straining ties between our communities.

Passing a resolution will show that this council stands with the people of this community

and will only enhance its image as a welcoming beacon for refugees from around the world.

We need to make clear to all from the White House to Jerusalem that this war is not being waged in our name and if you want to limit the time the council spends on it, I would encourage you to pass it tonight.

Good evening, Mayor Wade and City Councilors.

I'm Kate Lambert.

I live at 1227 River Vista Avenue in Charlottesville.

I'm here tonight in my capacity as CEO of Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Virginia.

I'm very pleased to be here this evening to thank you.

Thank you for recommending increased funding for the Boys and Girls Clubs this coming year through the city's vibrant community fund process.

The city has very generously supported the Boys and Girls Club over the years.

Thanks to you and so many others in the community, hundreds of young people in the city have a safe, positive, and productive place to go every day after school and all day during the summer.

We're also able to offer evening and weekend programs for teens.

The best news is that thanks to you and our generous community, cost is never a barrier for young people and their families to participate in our youth development program.

Our membership fee is only $35 per child per year, only $15 per teen.

and your increased support in the coming year is very timely.

As you know, we continue to struggle with transportation challenges in our community.

Before the pandemic, the Cherry Avenue Club was on a natural public school bus route from local elementary schools to the club after school.

For the past two years, that transportation hasn't been an option.

Fortunately, with the generous support of our public schools in the city, we have been able to provide alternative transportation to the club using ESSER funds.

Those funds are not going to be available to us in the coming year.

And so your increased funding is going to help us bridge that gap so that young people have access from our local elementary schools to the club after school next year.

The increase from the city will also help us expand our offerings for teens.

Mayor Wade and counselors, thank you so very much for believing in the club and for all the ways you invest in young people and families in Charlottesville.

The next speaker is Tony Fields, but I think he's yielded his, oh yes, that's right.

Good evening, Mayor Wade and council members.

I'm Dr. Martha Diasi and I'm here to urge you to pass the resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

After the Hamas war crimes of October 7th,

in which approximately 1200 Israelis were killed, the world has witnessed more than five months of Israeli army war crimes.

To date, more than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 13,000 children.

And many more lie dead, uncounted, under the rubble.

According to the UN, during the last five months, Israel has killed more Palestinian children than the total number of children who have died in all conflicts worldwide over the last four years combined.

Newborn babies, children and elderly people are now dying of starvation, dehydration and malnutrition.

The UN says that famine is imminent in northern Gaza where 70% of the population is experiencing catastrophic hunger.

Meanwhile, Israel continues to annihilate the civilian infrastructure in Gaza, including residential buildings, roads, water filtration plants, schools, universities, churches, mosques, hospitals, cemeteries.

UN experts have decried the unrelenting war on the health care system in Gaza.

Ross Siegel, an Israeli historian and genocide expert, describes Israel's actions in Gaza as, quote, a textbook case of genocide.

We in Charlottesville and Albemar County are indirect contributors to the devastation in Gaza.

Of the approximately $3.8 billion that the U.S.

sends to Israel every year, more than $2.5 million come from Albemar County.

We could certainly use our tax dollars here to help our people thrive instead of having our money used to destroy Palestinian lives.

Let's do the right thing, please, and join the many other sister cities across the U.S.

that have passed resolutions supporting an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The majority of Americans want such a ceasefire.

David Swanson, Gillespie Avenue, I have asked this city to pass resolutions on no war on Iran, no drones, moving money out of war, divestment from weapons and fossil fuels, demilitarization of police and clean elections, and this city has done so, sometimes improving what we asked for, often leading the nation and inspiring other cities.

Local and state governments are supposed to represent constituents to higher levels of government, as allowed under Clause 3, Rule 12 of the Rules of the House of Representatives, also known as the Jefferson Manual because of who created it.

In 1967, a court in California ruled in favor of citizens' right to place a referendum on the ballot opposing a war.

Ruling that, quote, one of the purposes of local government is to represent its citizens before the Congress, the legislature, and the administrative agencies in matters over which the local government has no power, end quote.

This approach has contributed to ending US slavery, South African apartheid, and a nuclear arms race.

Do not tell those of us who elected you that we did not elect you to do this, we most certainly did.

We elected you to lead on issues where the federal government is opposing the passionate will of most of this country, not to shamefully go silent, as dozens of other localities act first.

We have all been raised to believe that genocide is the worst thing there is and that silence is betrayal.

Tonight we plead with you to stop betraying us, stop betraying the rule of law, stop betraying the people of Palestine.

I would like to ask those who want a resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza to please stand up.

We're not asking for commentary on past events.

There is an urgent need for every voice to be raised to prevent an invasion of southern Gaza.

The International Court of Justice has ordered Israel to cease killing and causing injury to Palestinians.

The court is proceeding to try Israel for the crime of genocide.

We could ask you to support an arms embargo as required by U.S.

law.

We're merely asking you to support a ceasefire, something everyone from President Biden on down already claim they support as well.

This is not a difficult question.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Charlie Martinez.

This is my wife, Jessica, and we live in the north downtown area of Charlottesville.

I'm grateful for the opportunity to address the Council regarding how passing a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza would be in the best interest of the city.

For the last six months, the State of Israel has been conducting a bombing campaign against a captive population of 2.2 million.

In that time, 31,645 people have been murdered and over 13,200 of these are children.

This comes out to 81 children a day, every single day for the past six months.

In addition, the humanitarian aid that the UN is trying to get to the starving people of Gaza as being blocked by Israel in direct violation of US law.

While the situation is already horrible, it is made all the worse by the fact that we are paying for it with our federal taxes.

Literally, you, you, everyone, me, we are all paying for this, for the murder, for all paying for the murder of children.

Since 2019, the U.S.

has given $3.8 billion per year in military aid to Israel.

The majority of this money comes back to U.S.

bombs and weapons manufacturers.

The only way to achieve a ceasefire with the goal of halting the murder of children and returning Israeli hostages to their homes is to discontinue this military aid to Israel.

So, what does this have to do with Charlottesville?

Well, in Charlottesville, Virginia, and of all that money a year, $706,555 to Israel's weapons could instead fund a variety of other programs.

83 households with public housing for a year.

245 children receiving free or low-cost healthcare, 7 elementary school teachers, 2,011 households with solar electricity produced for a year, or 18 students with their student loan debt cancelled.

Public polling indicates that federal policy is far skew from popular opinion.

Many polls have shown that the majority of voters favor a U.S.

call for ceasefire, and yet our federal representatives are either too scared or too greedy to do their one job.

However, you are much more likely to make decisions at the entrance of your constituents, or I believe so anyways, than our federal representatives are.

Maybe individual Americans each have a non-significant impact on public policy.

But together as a city, our impact is much stronger.

Imagine if a majority of cities across the country pass ceasefire resolutions.

How could our federal representatives begin to justify their actions?

Staying silent is not a way out of controversy.

Rather, it emboldens those who would harm vulnerable communities.

By not speaking up, this city is tacitly saying that it will tolerate violence against those who have less influence and resources to protect themselves.

So that was the last of the pre-registered speakers.

We now have slots for it.

Ten more speakers.

Hello, I'm United States Army veteran Jared Chong.

I live in Troy, Virginia.

And after my findings of going through what I was going through with my child, bars, law, I found that the legislative retirement program is attested child support, TANF, and food stamps.

Not only that, but I found my oath being infringed upon the one I took when I first served.

The word accept, which I found that a lot of White House people don't when they come out.

They don't know what that word means.

EXCEPT, that means other than and not including.

I found that the 13th Amendment has that same word in it.

When it describes the abolishment of slavery, except for, yes, it might be crime and punishment, that also means that you can tell me what crime that is, you can tell me what punishment that is, whatever you seem fit.

I also found that you don't always have to be duly convicted to go to jail.

Now, even if you were found innocent of a crime, therefore you are somebody's guilty of false imprisonment.

Somebody's also guilty of your 8th and 13th Amendment violations.

How I know this is it actually happened to me, where I was presented in court without my lawyer being present.

That prosecutor was trying to get me to take a deal.

I also found that others have taken said deals that are now felons.

when they were innocent just because this is the best that we can do for you.

Here, say you're guilty and then we'll get you out of jail right now without fighting.

That is restriction of freedom.

That is also the definition of slavery.

So if we abound slavery, have a ban on slavery, then why does it still exist by our 13th Amendment?

Not only that, but our 16th Amendment states it's our burden to bear, to pay for that.

So if we have a ban on slavery, yet we still allow it by the 13th Amendment, then that means there's 559 years of oppression for one of our divisions of skin color.

159 for all.

So that is also an infringement upon my oath.

Thank you.

Are you finished, sir?

Thank you.

Is there someone else who would like to speak?

So we have room now for nine more.

So, if you pre-register and you were on the wait list, that doesn't automatically mean that you get, you know, time to speak.

Only to pre-register eight, definitely get a chance.

Okay.

Yes.

Okay.

Hi.

My name is Michael Coveney.

I am a restaurant owner here in Charlottesville.

Small, family-owned restaurant, and I'm here to

Just kind of ask you guys to really consider the big picture when it comes to raising the meals tax.

Restaurants, man, we've had a hard time, as I think you know.

It's really difficult for one to getting through COVID, but the after effect of COVID, you know, many restaurants are suffering to staff.

That's why restaurants are closed two, three days a week as opposed to one where it used to be the norm.

We, you know, the product that we're bringing in to try and sell has doubled.

Well, we can't double our prices on a menu or we'd be out of business.

So the margins were already really slimming restaurants.

Now they're even slimmer and

you know raising the meals tax would really hurt us further and I think that we're the restaurant industry is really good for Charlottesville you know it's coveted it's talked about in magazine articles in DC in this now it brings in people it brings in money we you know we do good for the city I think the meals tax raised over 24 million dollars last year alone

So I think the problem that I have is I get yelled at sometimes by customers that think that that's my tax.

You know, they think that it's a line on their final bill.

Now they have had a wonderful night out, they're happy, and then they get their bill and they see this meal tax.

and I get yelled at one time and that guy left and told me he'd never come back to my restaurant because I put a meal stack on my bill and I was trying to explain to him that's not my choice but he wasn't listening because he was too angry.

So I and that's just one example I do hear it a lot.

So I'm not just asking

on behalf of restaurants, but on the people that go to restaurants.

A lot of them save their money for these special occasions.

It's not just rich people that go to restaurants.

It's working class.

It's the people that live and work in this community.

And they save their money and come to enjoy their special occasions in my restaurant and in other restaurants.

And to raise

What they're shelling out already for a nice night out is hard on them.

It's hard on us.

And I think the big picture is we're going to lose some of that business.

You're all going to lose some of that revenue and taxes.

And so I just kind of urge you to look at the big picture and, you know, try to

not only help us restaurants, which I think we kind of could use it at this point, you know, we still pay for our own for a trash to be picked up, which after raising that much in revenue, you know, I kind of have a problem with, but that's not what I'm talking about tonight.

But just to help us out, help help the our patrons out, please reconsider, you know, keeping the meals tax what it is and not raising it.

Thank you.

Hello.

My name is Jessica.

I was just standing here with my husband.

I live in 411 Lexington Avenue near downtown Charlottesville.

and I just wanted to thank the Charlottesville Jewish Organizing Collective for putting the ceasefire resolution together.

And already many wonderful speakers have come up here to give compelling reasons to support the ceasefire, but I just wanted to have everybody here today just take a few seconds to hold the lives of those lost and the lives of those who will be lost every day and the lives of those who will be lost tomorrow in their hearts.

What would you do if you knew that your money was funding a mass shooting of children?

Where 80 to 100 children were dying a day?

That your money was buying the guns?

That your money was buying the bullets?

And how could you handle that, right?

I'm sorry I'm getting emotional.

There are people in Palestine who have lost their entire families.

30, 40, 50 people in their entire family have been killed.

And I know what happened on October 7th was horrible.

Yes, yes, this is a horrible attack against Israeli people that should be condemned.

Innocent people should never be murdered.

There's a quote in the Quran that says, to take the life of one is to take the life of the entire world.

To save the life of one is to save the life of the entire world.

So Islam is not a religion that permits the killing of innocents.

However, it's not like the only choice is between not doing anything and genocide, right?

And it's a terrible irony that the word genocide was coined by Raphael Lemkin, a man who was a survivor of genocide himself.

And in the genocide convention, it says that engaging in collective punishment, attacking an entire population that did not have anything to do with a crime, right?

Children don't have anything to do with a terrorist act.

Attacking an entire population like ducks in a barrel with illegal weapons such as phosphorus and cluster bombs is an international war crime and it is genocide.

and when people think of Charlottesville, they still have the stain of the tiki torches and the people who marched around saying racist slogans and anti-Semitic slogans.

I say today we have a chance to rise above that reputation, to show the country and to show the world our moral courage by standing for the ceasefire resolution that the Charlottesville Jewish Organizing Collective so graciously put together.

Good evening.

My name is Holly McKasek, and I have been a resident of Charlottesville for 14 years.

I'm here tonight to ask the Charlottesville City Council to pass the proposed ceasefire resolution that has been brought forward.

According to Oxfam, since October 7th, over 31,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, 80% of which have been women and children.

Another 74,000 have been grievously injured with almost no access to any sort of medical care.

The rest of the population of over 2 million people

the majority of whom have been displaced are at extreme risk of disease and starvation.

Tens of thousands of children have been maimed and orphaned with no surviving family.

It's also worth noting that prior to October 7th, 2023 was already on record as the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank.

The violence, oppression, injustice, socially, politically, economically that the Palestinian people have faced for decades has been long ignored at best and sanctioned, encouraged and condoned at worst.

It's also worth noting that the only time during the last five months that a significant hostage release has occurred was during a negotiated ceasefire.

The US provides an excess of $3.8 billion to Israel every year, much of which has gone directly towards their military and economy.

An additional $14.3 billion in American taxpayer funds has been requested to support Israel's assault on Gaza.

At a time when affordable housing, inflation, underfunded public education,

Excessive health care costs and so much more face the American and Charlottesville taxpayers.

It's obscene to siphon more money to be used to perpetuate a military assault, the likes of which has no comparison in scale of destruction in modern times.

This is even more so true when polls show that a majority of voters favor a U.S.

call for a ceasefire.

The notion that a resolution of this type is beyond the scope of what a city council is responsible for

has not been shared by currently 70 other U.S.

cities that have passed similar resolutions.

If corporations like Northrop Grumman, which produced sophisticated electronic systems for the defense industry, can operate on Charlottesville soil, then outsource their weapons of war to the front door of the Palestinian people, then surely our call for peace, justice, and humanitarian assistance can do the same.

I'm speaking tonight not as a courageous member of the multiple Jewish organizations that put forth

this resolution or as a member of the Palestinian diaspora.

I don't speak as a politician with complicated connections to special interest groups.

I speak as a member of our shared humanity, a position we should all take, not just as individuals, but as governments.

Not just our federal government, but our local government as well.

The city of Charlottesville knows better than most the devastating consequences that result when hatred and supremacist ideologies are allowed to perpetuate.

I believe it is therefore incumbent upon the leadership of our city to urgently make clear that Charlottesville does not merely lament the tragedies taking place in Gaza.

that we as taxpayers are directly financing, but rather boldly and clearly call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, a release of all hostages, and increased and unencumbered delivery of humanitarian aid.

As a city that has welcomed thousands of refugees and is home to vulnerable communities, we must be an example that the status quo will not be tolerated.

As Dr. King so rightly stated in 1963, and justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Good evening, Mayor Wade and counselors.

Thank you for your time.

My name is M. Gunter.

I live at 114 Chelsea Drive, Apartment A, here in Charlottesville, and I'm also a student at the University of Virginia.

I'm here today to voice my support for the ceasefire resolution so graciously authored by our Jewish community here in Charlottesville.

In the United States, the average taxpayer provides $25.25 in military aid to Israel each year.

Here in the city of Charlottesville, this approximates to $706,555 of our tax dollars being used to fund the genocide and murder of men, women, and children.

The issue of taxes here makes this a matter of significant local interest, as our tax dollars are, as I stated, directly funding genocide right now, as we speak.

If nothing else today can convince you of the need for the necessity of this resolution, I hope that an appeal to your campaign promises can.

I have personally campaigned for three of you here.

And while knocking on hundreds of doors and walking dozens of miles in Charlottesville, I told your constituents that you supported the students in the city of Charlottesville, the children in Charlottesville City Schools, to have better opportunities, to have

Access to Affordable Education and Appropriate Education.

But you cannot have good education.

You cannot, no matter how good the education is, you cannot actually attain that education if you are not well fed.

That $706,555 could be used to fund $185,425.

I'm sorry, 447 school lunches in our K-12 schools.

As a child of rural Virginia, my childhood was plagued by food insecurity and I cannot begin to explain to you just how impossible it is to learn when you are hungry.

Rather than funding the bombing of children, let's fund the feeding of our children in school so that no child has to attend school hungry and deliver on your campaign promises that I walked over a hundred miles to your constituents and to get you elected right here today.

Good evening.

My name is Aya.

I live in the Johnson Village neighborhood.

Since the beginning of the conflict on October 7th, I've been asked by counter protesters and officials, why does it matter if we advocate for Palestine in Charlottesville or in the US as a whole?

You don't live there.

I'm personally not from there.

But if you break up any facets of your identity, you'll soon realize that the Palestinian struggle is a collective struggle.

As someone who is visibly Muslim, observing Ramadan, I'm able to perform my nightly prayers safely in the local mosque.

For my brothers and sisters in Palestine, Israeli soldiers limit their numbers or prevent them from elenturing Alexa Mosque altogether.

Mosques have been blown to pieces with Palestinians praying in their rubble.

Quran's have been destroyed on camera for the world to see.

I have the luxury of breaking my fast in a couple minutes with delicious food while the people of Palestine have resorted to grinding animal feed for bread and eating grass.

As a woman, I'm able to use any period products available to me.

My sisters in Palestine have to use scraps of tents in the place of pads and tampons.

Miscarriages are up 300% since the conflict began, with sea sections happening without any painkillers.

A woman who's had IDVF treatments for 10 years, until she finally had twins, lost them due to an Israeli strike.

This is a feminist crisis.

As an academic who relies on the knowledge of others to expand research and findings, 100 Palestinian academics have been killed since October 7th.

Universities and libraries have been obliterated.

A wealth of knowledge from the humanities to the sciences have been wiped out.

This is an academic crisis.

What parts of your identity do you hold dearly?

Because rest assured, you'll find a piece of yourself with what's going on in Palestine.

And finally, like everyone's already mentioned tonight, why should Charlottesville care to pass a ceasefire resolution?

This doesn't concern us.

But when our congressman, Bob Goode, doesn't believe that Palestine exists, it does concern us.

It concerns us when he's running for reelection this year, when he's voting to send more money to Israel.

Passing this ceasefire resolution with more than 12,000 signatories shows him and others that we all care about Palestine.

We are all Palestinian.

Hi, I'm Rose Becloo and I live here in Charlottesville.

I'm a sociologist and I'm a mother of a Charlesville City school student and I urge you to support the ceasefire resolution.

The atrocities in Gaza are well documented, they're systematic and they're severe by every metric.

Over the last 163 days, 25,000 children have been orphaned.

To put this in perspective, Charlottesville City Schools has about 4,300 students So imagine if every child in our schools had a parent killed and then multiply that by five But it doesn't take much for you to imagine children in our schools that come from quote-unquote war-torn places

Charlottesville is home to many refugees, Palestine included.

So why is this important to remember?

Because Charlottesville is a global community.

We are not an island.

I hope you can see that this resolution is a local issue.

So what's local about this?

Our tax dollars are funding a genocide.

Others have said this, but by funding this genocide, we're diverting money that could strengthen our communities here.

With this resolution, we have the opportunity to signal to the nation and our elected officials where we stand.

As a sociologist, I have to bring into the conversation research that shows when violence in the Middle East increases, so does the rate and incidence of hate violence against Arabs and Muslims in the US, the longer the siege on Gaza, the more incidence of hate violence we will see.

To that, there has already been a rise in anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, and anti-Muslim racism and dehumanization across the nation.

and this resolution is a tangible effort to signal that we as a community care about the safety of others and this resolution is important locally because members of the Charlottesville community have been personally impacted with family, loved ones and friends among those killed, missing or injured.

This resolution addresses them.

My dear friend Nadia gave me permission to share this with you and Nadia is a proud Palestinian and she lives and works here

and I met her when our sons were in preschool together.

She has lost 14 family members in Gaza.

14 of her family members have been murdered in Gaza and that includes her beloved 84-year-old aunt, many cousins, and the children of those cousins, including a five and a three-year-old.

Again, I urge you to support the resolution.

I'm just here to say that I attended a synagogue in New Jersey that was founded by Albert Einstein after he refused to work on the Manhattan Project because he opposed all weapons of mass destruction and he was a refugee from Germany living at the grace of the United States government to do their bidding and he knew that Endangering others would not bring safety to anyone and so he refused and that is the tradition we're living right now We support our community.

No.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Sullivan McDowell.

I am a resident of the city of Charlottesville at Crestmont Avenue, an alumnus of the University of Virginia and a server at a local restaurant near the downtown mall.

I also represent the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging and Travel Association.

I'm here today to urge your opposition to the proposed meals tax increase.

Despite what proponents often say, data shows that it is local residents who end up paying the majority of most meals taxes.

This increase will therefore hurt both the restaurateur and the diner.

Last week, I had the privilege

of speaking to restaurant owners, servers, and managers about this proposed increase.

I received reactions that ranged from devastation to disappointment to sadness due to the inevitable loss and burden this proposed tax would bring.

Many folks in the restaurant industry watched as business declined recently due to the previous increase.

I want to be clear

This proposed increase would affect everyone in Charlottesville.

With a higher meals tax, less Charlottesvillians will dine out, causing restaurants to cut costs, lay off employees, and potentially shut down altogether.

With this increase, Charlottesville residents could lose some of their most cherished establishments.

I hope you will consider the impact that this proposed tax increase will have on our restaurant workers

owners, and everyday families in Charlottesville.

I ask that you vote no on this proposed tax.

Thank you, Mayor.

Members of Council, I'm Russ Linden.

I live on 336 Parkway Street.

I think the resolution we're discussing tonight seems balanced and it seems reasonable.

It cites the enormous loss of life in both Israel and Gaza.

It doesn't place blame.

It calls for a ceasefire by both parties.

And yet I oppose this resolution.

Let me tell you why.

I don't understand why this city council or any city council should issue resolutions about foreign affairs.

For one thing, by what criteria do we use to decide which of the many problems in our troubled world we should address?

Example, for several years countless thousands of girls and women in Sierra Leone have been raped

tortured, forced to become sexual slaves.

Why aren't we talking about those atrocities?

Example, Russia's vicious war against Ukraine continues.

Excuse me.

Over 30,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed.

Almost 20,000 Ukrainian children kidnapped, sent to Russian families thousands of miles away.

Why aren't we proposing a resolution that calls for our government to take far stronger actions against Russia?

For that matter, why aren't we demanding that our congressman, Robert Good,

Stop opposing desperately needed aid to Ukraine.

There's a host of other atrocities around our difficult world that cry out for help.

If this council or any council starts debating which of these awful problems to address, I think you'll please some of us.

I think you'll upset others.

And unfortunately, I think you'll have no impact on these awful situations.

One final point.

I know that you spend a huge amount of time, thank goodness, on studying the complex problems we have here.

Resoning, density, creating more affordable housing, the budget.

I admire your priorities and your values.

I myself went to Israel 10 times between 2004 and 2014.

I met with countless Israeli Jews and Arabs each year, and I found it utterly impossible to identify a path to peace on which these key stakeholders would agree.

That was before October 7th.

Moreover, diplomats from the U.S.

and several Middle East countries have been working for months, as you know, to identify a ceasefire now that Israel and Hamas can accept.

They have found no such way.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Good evening.

didn't mean to, but I also come down in support of the resolution as for the mere fact that war is wrong, regardless of who wages it or who participates in it, war is wrong.

I also wanted to speak tonight to ask the council to stand in support of

Those folks over at the university, specifically the DEI employees, Division of Equity and Inclusion, that have been targeted here just recently about that demonic presence of the ideology of white supremacy yet again.

It's visiting us yet again.

And if you remember from 2017,

that fateful murderous weekend started at the university.

So I just want us to be mindful.

I want us to be aware.

And I want us to do whatever we can to support and be ready for whatever might be coming.

We've got some roughly 230 days until the election.

And one of those individuals, if you will, has already stated that if he does not win, if his ideology does not win,

It'll be a bloodbath.

So we just need to be prepared.

We need to be vigilant.

We need to be on guard, if you will.

But whatever we can do to support that entire department at the university and the individuals that work therein, I think we need to be prepared to do it individually and collectively.

Again, saddened to hear about the loss for the community of Ms.

Williams.

And I pray she rests in peaceful power.

I'm hoping that the city is going to do something to recognize the family's donations to this community over the course of their lives and also I'm still of the mindset and doing some research on what if it's viable

and responsible to rename the downtown mall, the Vinegar Hill Mall.

If anyone wants to give me any information on that and meet with me on that, I'll be more than happy to.

Council members, my name is Jake Wiener, live at 112 Longwood Drive.

I'm a resident of the city, I'm a lawyer, and I'm very proud to be Jewish.

Now in my practice, I advocate for civil rights and privacy protections for immigrants, and in my free time, I tutor English for refugees.

So I want to speak to you tonight, first as a lawyer, and then as a Jew, about why this council must take up a ceasefire resolution.

and I want to remind you all that you're well within your authority and your duties to pass resolutions on matters of urgent national and international concern, especially where those matters deeply impact the city and its residents.

You've heard a lot about that tonight.

This city council has passed resolutions in opposition to U.S.

foreign intervention, the expansion of the national security state, and apartheid in South Africa.

And I want to dig in a little bit on South Africa.

No single act brought about the end of apartheid.

Thousands of protests, resolutions, and boycotts across the U.S.

created the political pressure to force Congress to sanction South Africa in 1986, a key part of the internal and international campaigns that brought down the apartheid state.

City governments, including Charlottesville, y'all, saw an important role in broadcasting the views of their citizens to influence national politicians.

City Council can and should play the same role today.

Now, as a lawyer, I want to tell you about a small but particularly horrifying part of this war.

Israel's intentional and targeted destruction of land records, civil registries, historical documents in Palestinian courts,

I see the intentional destruction of evidence during this war as clear proof of the intent to commit genocide.

Standing against genocide is not a partisan issue.

It's a moral imperative.

And we have an affirmative obligation in the US to stand against it under international law.

The war on Gaza has serious impacts on Charlottesville, particularly in our role as a welcoming home for refugees.

I'm so proud of the way this community steps up to take in refugees from around the world

who make our community life richer and more beautiful.

It's a blessing that we can offer them a welcoming home in return.

I see my work with refugees as an essential part of my Jewish identity.

My family had been refugees for most of our history until we found a safe home in the United States.

When this war ends, Charlottesville will almost certainly take in Palestinians from Gaza.

And we already have some living with us now.

So how can we play our part?

We have to recognize and oppose violence happening right now in Gaza.

I don't know how we can consider ourselves a welcoming community, a second home for refugees, unless we condemn the violence that is displaced and killed so many Palestinians.

So I urge this council to act in accordance with this city's history and to express our shared community values by calling on Congress and the Biden administration for an immediate ceasefire.

Thank you.

That was the founder speaker for Communion Matters.

There will be another opportunity at the end of the meeting.

Council and members of the public per city charter.

I, as the city manager, am responsible for bringing forward a balanced budget in order to pull forward that balanced budget.

This year, I met with council in advance because, of course, the priorities that we have identified, the funds were not available to make sure that all of them could be achieved.

In making the final budget presentation, Council has given me the authority to move forward with planning with the tax increase.

It's a series of tax increases and tonight the public will have its opportunity to speak to Council in regards to the tax items.

So I'm going to briefly just touch on each one of the proposed tax increases and then we are required to have individual public hearings since there are three different tax rates that are being adjusted.

So Sam, I'm sorry sir, you're going to like give a brief introduction to each?

I'll do all three and then I'll say something before you open and close each public hearing.

That way we'll meet our legal obligation.

Yes.

I'll give everyone a little bit of time just to

So again, there are three different tax increases that are proposed as a part of the FY25 budget.

That FY25 budget goes into effect July 1st of this year.

There were three top priorities that council identified, which is what poses the challenge in regards to making the numbers work and why tax increases necessary.

The first being the integration of collective bargaining that is allowing all of our various employees to be able to pursue collective bargaining with FY25.

We'll recognize three unions in police, fire, and transit.

Implementation of comp and class, which is modernizing our pay system.

It's something we've been talking about for quite some time.

The city has lagged behind the market in paying its employees

and the goal is to try to make a big difference in regards to how that is happening and to make the city an employer of choice.

And then deeper support for the Charlottesville City Schools.

There was a $12 million request made by the schools.

When I prepared the budget, I included a $6 million allocation for schools.

in the conversation with council and reaching the conclusion that we would advertise an increased tax rate, that number was increased to $7 million.

So that is the number for schools at this time.

So again, as per the charter, we are required to do a public hearing.

So that is the background information.

I'll add more details if you all have questions, but we'll go through each.

And I guess I should clarify on real estate because we, with council's direction, we're advertising a three cent increase, so

that will be going from 96 to 99 cents per $100.

That is what is being advertised.

The budget is based on two cents.

So we want to make sure that that much is clear because that gives council a little flexibility.

So I will now open the public hearing for the real estate tax increase.

Good evening, Councilors, City Manager.

Nice to see you all.

I did send you an email earlier today, so I'm not going to go into a lot of detail.

Oh, I'm John Santosky, by the way, live at 2421 Sunset Road here in the city.

And I did send you an email earlier today so you can read that at your leisure.

Part of the reason I came down was as we were talking about, and nice to hear the city manager talk about you folks setting the priorities for the city.

And while we know that there's many, many priorities, what I find just kind of ironic is that as the executive director for the Arc of the Piedmont,

We have many priorities as well, and our board sets those.

However, I don't have the luxury to go to the state of Virginia and say, geez, my board of directors said these are the priorities that we should have, and I'm going to go ahead and raise the amount of money that we charge you for all of our services.

First of all, we can't do that.

We can't raise the price of a loaf of bread as they do in supermarkets.

We can't raise taxes to pay for more of our services, and yet you folks can do that.

So I think that as representatives of the whole community, we can't always do everything that we want to do.

You know, I've often stood here and asked for more money for schools and for other sorts of services in the city, but at some point it's just baffling to me that we have real estate taxes that are going to go up and we show a surplus at the end of every fiscal year.

You know, we're paying for a Buford renovation, we're paying for affordable housing, we're now going to be paying for

What could be quite expensive unionization?

I grew up in the Northeast.

Trust me, public service unions have put many of a city in the state of Pennsylvania into bankruptcy over the years.

Not saying that's not a good thing, but you city counselors won't be here when that starts to happen 10 or 15 years down the road, so be very, very careful.

So what I ask is, try to work within your budget.

Try to take the monies that we do have, the surpluses that we do have, and make it work.

You know, it's not just an endless supply of dollars and cents that are coming into the city's coffers.

You might think it could be that way, but really it should be, what are our priorities?

What can we afford?

and what can the citizens afford?

These increases in real estate taxes are going to be passed on to the homeowners, and to the renters, and to the businesses, and everyone else in our community.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Hello, my name is Dr. Emily Yen.

I'm a Charlottesville resident residing at 506 Ridge Street.

I'm speaking in favor of this tax increase.

It's imperative that we have the revenue in order to provide the services that we, that are listed as priorities, particularly public education, the cost, I mean teachers, which will be entering

I'm

make this a reality is by raising real estate taxes, which compared to many places in the country are relatively low, especially when you're looking at our neighbors in Maryland.

And so I think it would be great to raise this modest increase in revenue in order to make sure that all children have the opportunity

to get a high quality education.

Good evening.

My name is Jeffrey Fogel.

I live on Cherry Avenue here in the city.

I have long advocated for substantial increases in the property tax.

And of course, they have to be correlated with the protection for people who cannot afford those increases.

We've got two fundamental problems, which I think people should be struggling against, but they're not.

Number one,

Why do we pay for public education at a property taxes?

That means that people who live in rich communities will have a better education.

It's ridiculous.

It's contrary to logic and it's contrary to the needs of young people all over the country.

Secondly, why is it that we cannot

provide the kind of protection for people who cannot afford these increases.

Some of that I know has been limited by the legislature, but that's a very important struggle to expand the base amount of income that's allowed for this program and to expand the base amount of the housing as well in order to allow more people to qualify as well as to protect those who are renters.

for whom some of these taxes will be passed on.

But we live in a very, very rich community.

And the shame is that property taxes cannot be made progressive the way income taxes are so that people in relative strata of our society pay their fair share, as the President of the United States said during his speech in the State of the Union.

So we need to struggle against property taxes as a base for educational monies.

And we need to struggle to make sure that people are protected against those kinds of increases that will affect their ability to live in our city.

Other than that, we need the money.

As people have already suggested, we need the money for education.

And we have not given up on the struggle for affordable housing in the city.

Some years ago, it was projected that we needed 4,000 units.

Credible things are being done, Habitat, the Piedmont Housing Alliance, and Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

But whatever they have done still does not remain sufficient to house all of the people who live in this city and who should be able to continue living in this city.

and the real estate tax is one way to do that.

But again, I think you ought to struggle to eliminate the property tax as a basis for educational monies and I think you ought to struggle if that doesn't work to ensure that property taxes can be progressive and not regressive as they are now.

Thank you.

Other speakers for the real estate tax in Greece?

Okay, close it.

I now open the public hearing for the lodging tax rate increase.

Anyone like to speak on that?

Open the public hearing for the meal rate tax, tax rate increase.

Hi, I'm Lloyd Van Doorn.

I've served as a director of the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging and Travel Association and as the past president of this organization.

I've also worked directly with restaurants for the last 25 years in marketing to visitors.

According to the National Restaurant Association, the average independent

Table Service restaurant has a net profit to the entrepreneur of between three and five percent.

I think Kevin mentioned, you know, he said that it's tight, it's getting tighter.

Yet the city now proposes the tax, to tax the revenue of every restaurant customer at a rate of seven point five percent.

That means the city, in most cases, will derive more revenue from the operations of restaurants

then most of the independent table service restaurants that the entrepreneurs they themselves receive.

If the net profit is three to five percent and you're charging seven and a half percent, you are receiving more funds from the tire operation than they are.

Yet the restaurateur has to manage the challenge of escalating food costs, staffing, insurance, rent, and you name it, it's all gone up.

Many times the restaurant tour has to pledge their home to keep their restaurant going.

and yet the city now proposes to endanger the viability of their restaurant by perpetually escalating taxes on their customers.

That's three increases over four years.

As proposed, the 7.5% tax rate represents that 25% tax rate increase, but remarkably it would increase the tax receipts by over 100% over the last four years.

Four years ago, it was $11 million, and with this proposal, it's $23 million.

It seems to me that the city has forgotten that restaurants suffered more damage than any other business group from COVID and its related mandated shutdowns.

Now, post-COVID, still unstaffed and burdened with inflation, the city continues to ask restaurant tours and their customers to pay more.

For many of us, one joy of living in the area is our culture of independent restaurants, particularly table service restaurants, the variety

and Vitality of a Community is a source of pride.

Yet I ask the question, one more time, is it fair that the city receives more revenue from the operation of restaurants than the restaurateur himself?

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor Wade and Counselors.

My name is Russ Cromberg and I manage several hospitality assets for the University of Virginia Foundation in the city as well as in the county.

And I can't say any more than what Roy and some of the other folks about the meals tax have already, so I'm not going to repeat.

I just want y'all to think.

I know and I applaud you for the many things that you're trying to accomplish.

They're all really good and I understand from managing operations how Sam has to balance the budget, right?

He doesn't have endless money.

Money doesn't grow on trees for him either.

So, you know, in our industry, both in the hotels and in the restaurants,

We understand that you need our tax base, you need the lodging, you need the meals.

Our suggestion would be to work on how we can get more visitors to the area to help pay those taxes, whether it's through the hotels or through more dining out, more winery visits, all of those things.

Let's work on getting volume to Charlottesville, not just raising it.

I think that's a little short-sighted.

I think we need to do it through volume, get more people here.

to help pay for those taxes so that you have more tax dollars to do more things with.

It's not about just this one percent now.

It's about getting more people here that can help us raise those total tax-based funds, whether it's through lodging or through meals.

So, thank you.

Are there other speakers for the meal rate increase, meal tax rate increase?

Okay, B&N, I will now close the public hearing for the meal tax rate increase.

Good evening, Council.

Chris Engel, Director of Economic Development.

Yes, this item is a public hearing.

It's a renewal of some communications equipment that has been on the garage for about 10 years, first placed on there in 2014, and it was renewed in 19.

The request is for a five-year renewal.

No other changes to the lease other than a increase in the rent paid by the cell co-company, which is Verizon.

It does require a public hearing as it does involve leasing city property.

Happy to answer any specific questions.

If you have them, there is a resolution included.

It's 9,000.

If there's no other questions, I may open the public hearing for the lease renewal for communication equipment at the Market Street parking garage.

Anyone like to speak on that?

They're being done.

I closed the public hearing.

Is there a second?

I'll second it.

Is this a one reading item?

Can I ask $9,450, it's going to what is it now?

It's currently $9,000, it's going to $9,450 as a 5%.

The motion passes 5-0.

The next item on the agenda is a public hearing and resolution to approve the New Hail Development Corporation, Corporations Beacon, Commercial Kitchen Infrastructure Enhancement Project as a MONA amendment to the CDBG Action Grant Program for the year 23-24.

Good evening, Councillors, Mayor Wade, Ms.

Thomas.

Good evening.

It is my pleasure to be before you tonight to discuss a proposal to award previously approved community development block grant funds in support of the Beacon shared use commercial kitchen project.

I'm going to try to be as brief as I can.

There's a lot on the agenda and I know you already are familiar with this project.

The proposal before you is to

Fund this development of the first large-scale commercial kitchen between Richmond and Roanoke, as best I can tell from the public research I've done.

By way of background, the Community Development Program is based on funds that are awarded to the city by the U.S.

Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Each year we are notified of the funds that we're to receive.

We make them publicly available through a competitive application process.

Applications are received, then they're reviewed by the volunteer members of the Community Development Task Force who then make funding recommendations based on those evaluations trying to maximize the impact of the money.

We take those recommendations before the Planning Commission for input and review and with their approval we bring them before council for two public readings and then a choice is made.

application process for the current program year that is currently in effect.

There was a council set aside approved in 2022 for a certain amount of funds to be dedicated to public facilities and infrastructure improvement.

That's a kind of an ongoing set aside priority by council.

We may want to talk about that going forward.

But that money was set aside.

No applications during that round were received for public facilities or infrastructure improvement programs.

So as part of the current annual action plan, there was a set aside for that money for a project to be determined later.

That action plan then is approved by council.

It is then submitted to HUD who evaluates it.

It was approved by HUD shortly after approval by council here.

We began to scan the community, try to find projects that were related to

Community benefit activities that were related to public facilities and infrastructure as defined by HUD.

Took a while to kind of find something, one of these projects came forward.

Again, this money has already been approved as the current annual action plan and been appropriated.

There's no new appropriation action that needs to take place tonight.

The proposal before you now is to approve the Beacon Shared Use Commercial Kitchen Infrastructure Enhancements Program and to award New Hill Development Corporation as the recipient of the previously approved funds

As the project has been developed, as often happens with construction projects, unanticipated developments were encountered.

Specifically, a construction budget was developed according to a mostly final site plan.

The final review of the site plan called for some increases in sewer, water, and electrical lines to connect to municipal

Lines, and so those increases drove up the price.

This is a project that is currently underway.

I visited the site very recently.

It's in a very historically important site in the Belmont community.

We have had problems in the past with facilities and infrastructure programs getting them off the ground.

This is actually underway.

This money will help to bridge the gap between the money that is currently available to facilitate this project and the money that is needed.

It will directly go to installing the increased water, sewer and electrical lines that connect municipal utilities.

There's several ancillary benefits, not least of which is that they will become a new annual contributing

to the public utilities fund through public services.

Thank you, Anthony.

I'm really excited about this project.

It's good to see that it's moving along.

I think that this is going to be incredible opportunities for many, kind of the incubator for many businesses.

So I'm really excited about this and I'm glad we could see

These funds proposed for this project.

I know Yolanda is here if we have any other questions, but Is this a public hearing?

Yeah, I had, hello.

Thank you for that.

I was trying to remember, well, first of all, I support this.

Secondly, I can appreciate getting into construction and finding that you have things that come up in your original budget, couldn't handle it.

And it seems like this is a creative way to respond to that need.

Can you or Mr. Engel or someone or Mr. Sanders help me remember?

So we funded this kitchen using ARPA.

ARPA money.

Okay.

Right.

So we were able to allow Mr. Rel to come up and offer any additional information.

But the city invested $500,000 from ARPA funds.

The request initially was almost a million dollars, I believe, for what the desired amount was.

But we

brought that information

Obviously, when we first started putting our budget together for this project, that was a couple of years ago.

And as you all are very much aware that construction costs have gone considerably.

I think at the time, it was also thought that normally what happens with affordable housing projects, things like tax fees are typically waived with affordable housing that does not occur with affordable economic development.

And so those tap fees, we do incur that cost.

And of course, with having to at the time that we did look at, there was obviously water and sewer and gas already running.

But what was not known at that time was the volume of what our load was going to put.

And so the infrastructure

And can I just clarify that the amount is coming from the CDBG fund.

So it's already been set aside for something.

Back in June 2023, Council approved the annual action plan for CDBG.

And in there, there was a funded program.

And it specifically says,

Council Priority Public and Facilities and Infrastructure Improvements, TBD.

This is a TBD and a piece that I left out was that in the development of this proposal in discussing all the

issues that arose.

I consulted with our program coordinator with HUD in Richmond just to confirm that there's an eligible activity that's permissible use for the funds.

I have just two quick questions, really more out of curiosity.

One, were there any other projects that were identified that you felt like

could have actually been implemented on time that fit in this category.

And then the second is, I know I walk by there often, I see that work is underway.

Yeah.

And when I was there, the work is, they were cutting concrete.

General Contractor explained to me that they have to go farther than they had anticipated because they have to move the line a little bit, which increases the length, which further adds up cost to take your first part.

Yes, there were interesting proposals out there to be considered.

None of them had approved site plans or were even close to submitting a site plan or the permitting and given

Historical developments.

It was decided not to encourage those morally and I've provided some technical assistance to some of them, but this was the only one that was even more than a shovel ready like it's actually

Understood and appreciate it.

I know the timeliness of spending these funds is a huge concern for the city.

I guess we had whatever conversations we could have internally in terms of minimizing costs on the utility side.

Okay.

Yes.

I mean, we don't weigh fees.

Any other questions?

If not, I will open the public hearing for this new year development, the use of the CDBG funds for this use.

So I now open the public hearing.

Would anyone like to speak on this?

Okay, I'll close the public hearing.

No worries.

I moved the resolution to approve the New Hill Development Corporation's Beacon Commercial Kitchen Infrastructure Enhancements Project as a minor amendment to the CDBG Action Plan.

Wow.

For program year 2023 to 2024, the amount of $89,896.51.

Thank you.

Second.

Second.

So Taylor, you have another project.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of council, Jay Strome and city attorney, presenting you a proposed ordinance to adopt the WANROC telecommunications franchise agreement.

This is an important project designed to increase both internet accessibility and internet speed for the Charlottesville Public Schools.

The ordinance that you have before you tonight, I'm pleased to report, contains all the provisions that the city seeks

in a franchise when Brock has agreed to those.

In addition, they have agreed to the safeguards that are necessary when operating within the city public rights of way.

I would mention one other thing for Council's consideration.

This matter is on a very tight deadline.

And so Council may wish to consider in approving the franchise, invoking

City Code Section 2-97 if four-fifths of you are willing to approve the franchise agreement.

This would dispense with the second reading.

I am informed that if that is the case that WANROCK will be able to get to work immediately and that that will be helpful in completing this project within the time requested by the Charlottesville Public Schools.

Mr. Strome, let me ask you one thing.

I apologize.

I apologize, Councillor Snook.

It is an ordinance, and under your city code, general ordinances require two readings.

It was in conflict with your memo, the part of the pot packet, which says adoption of franchise agreement first reading.

So I just want to make sure we're on the same page.

Thank you, sir.

If not, is there, this is not a public hearing.

Yeah, I would be happy to make that motion.

Let's see here.