Good afternoon everyone. Good evening. Ms. Wilson. Ms. Moore. Mr. Rickerman. Mr. McDowell. Mr. Duvall. Mr. Badura. Mr. Vine. Mr. Davis. Mayor Benjamin. Can we start with the Pledge of Allegiance? Okay, we have the invocation, but I was saying, Councilman McDowell, do you mind if we ask Reverend Levy Johnson to give us the invocation? Absolutely. Reverend Levy Johnson, would you please grace us? You know you can pray on the spot. You know you can pray on the spot. Yes, sir. Can you give the invocation for us, please? You can pray, Reverend. Come on. For this day, thank you for life, health, and strength for the day that you've given us. We ask you right now to govern over these Council meetings and everything on this agenda as our elected official seek to better build and guide this city. To Theresa and her staff and to all that are part of this wonderful city that we call Columbia. We thank you now for the great work that this city is doing, the great work that our people are doing, and the change that we're making in this city to make this one of the greatest cities this side of the Jordan. We ask you now for your blessings and your covering and for all that believe would say amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you very good. Thank you, Reverend Levy Johnson. Madam Mayor Pro Tem? Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. At this time, we would ask Council to adopt the agenda. Madam Mayor Pro Tem and Council, we are going to ask that you defer item 22, the utility relocation project to June the 4th. And with that, Council is asked to approve the consent agenda items 11 through 21, 23, and 24. We'll move. Okay, so is there a motion for the adoption of the agenda? So moved. Is there a second? Second. We'll probably move the second in discussion. Seeing none, the clerk will read the roll. Mr. Rickerman? Aye. Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. DuVall? Aye. Mr. Badura? Aye. Mr. Rine? Aye. Council is asked to approve the April 2nd, 2019 City Council meeting minutes. Is there a motion? Move approval in a minute. It's been probably moved in second. Any discussion? Seeing none, if the clerk will read the roll. Mr. Rickerman? Aye. Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. DuVall? Aye. Mr. Badura? Mr. Vine? Aye. Madam Mayor Pro Tem, we will move into a period of presentations. Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Your consent agenda. My apologies. Consent agenda items 11 through 21, items 23 and 24. They're moved by Mr. Badura. Is there a second? Second. Probably moved a second. Any discussion or questions? Seeing none, if the clerk will read the roll. Mr. Rickerman? Aye. Mr. McDowell? Yes. Mr. DuVall? Aye. Mr. Badura? Mr. Vine? Aye. I was so excited, Madam Mayor, Pro Tem, to get to our presentations. I'm going to ask you for a moment of personal privilege to add one thing. Yes, ma'am. You know how I did this, because we all know who keeps us straight around here. Our city clerk, Ms. Erica Moore. And I think during our last council meeting, it was the week of municipal clerk's week. And so I can't even see you, Reverend McDowell. These beautiful flowers here, but these are for our clerk. And Erica, in particular this year, I wanted to recognize her during municipal clerk's week, Ms. Erica Moore Hammond, who she got married this past year. And Erica also has achieved her associate's degree in arts and business this year. I don't know if you all knew that about Erica while she maintains all of the things that she does for us. She's now completing, going on to complete at Columbia College another degree in community and organizational leadership, which I think is so appropriate for what she does. And Erica is just a jewel. And so I felt like we needed to recognize her. So please do that with me at this time. Thank you so much, Ms. Wilson. I think we all agree that Erica keeps us straight and we are so blessed to have such an amazing city clerk who does above and beyond and is never, never out of step. So we thank you so much for your service to the city, Erica, and taking care of us. Our first presentation is item 25, American Public Works Week. The Honorable Mayor Pro Tem Tamika Isaac Devine. So Robert Anderson, our Director of Public Works. So welcome, Robert. We look forward to Public Works Week every year. We've got our popcorn up here. No peanuts this year. Our peanuts at Public Works and I think Kelvin would be a little excited about how much of a mess we make. I was going to start out by saying we didn't bring flowers. We brought popcorn. And thanks for popping the popcorn. We bear gifts to eat as always. But Public Works Week is always a great significance. And this year it has a lot more significance, I guess, for me after I've been with the city several years of what we've tried to accomplish. And I will get to that. But I want to say that Public Works Week started in 1960. There's 38,000 members of the Public Works Association internationally right now. That says how big of an organization we are. And an organization that size has a chance to share a lot of things. There's also eight divisions in our Public Works Department. But we look beyond the Public Works Department is not just these eight divisions. But it's also water, arcs and rack, wastewater, fire, police. We look at everybody because we are a city and we try to accommodate anything that we can. But one thing that we do during the year is we look at our involvement that we have with others. When we get through their slides, we'll get to our involvement. So the involvement is on a national level, a state level and a local level. So we have a branch level. We have a Midlands branch level that we participate in education. Those education opportunities give us a chance to network just with people in our region, whether it be West Columbia, Casey, Aiken, Newberry, Forest Acres. I just heard rolled out the same roll carts we did on some of the same schedules. So we have a chance to network with those people. So we have staff that's set on the board. I believe Sarah sets on the board of the local branch. Then we have our state branch. Our state branch is all over the state. We do the same thing, just a little bigger level. But we have a fairly large board, but Columbia has had such a big presence on the state chapter that we have Mrs. Gentry, who was the top 10, past president. We have Samantha, who recently completed the Certified Public Works Professional Supervisor class online. It was about 200 questions I heard about it afterwards. She passed on her first time. She was one of the first four or five people to take the test in the United States, I believe. Is that correct? So we compliment her on that. But she's also on the National Solid Waste Committee for Public Works. So she sets on a national board also. It was just re-elected. I, for some reason, am the delegate for the South Carolina chapter. So I'm the delegate to the national, but I've also served as past president some other roles. So on a national level, we've brought something else. I mentioned Mrs. Gentry being top 10, but we've had former directors of public works, Miles Hadley, Mark McCain that were top 10 public works director in the state. We've actually, first time ever, is our national president. A lot of people are going to know who this is. Bill Spearman will be our incoming national president, formerly of Wolpert, and he will take over office in August. So what I'm the most happy about, or two things, I guess, is for the first time ever, we're going to hold our conference, our summer conference here in Columbia. I've pushed for this for about 15 years, maybe 20, and they kept saying, Columbia don't have a lot to offer. Well, Columbia does have a lot to offer. So we are coming here June 19th through the 21st. We will have our state backhoe rodeo here. If you've never seen a state backhoe rodeo, trust me, I believe it's on June 19th, get with me. It is amazing to see operators take a bucket and take a spoon on a bucket and possibly scoop an egg out of a bucket and put another one without breaking the egg. So they are very talented. Somebody say rodeo, understand it's a talent competition. It's what it is for the best in the state. The winners of the state actually go on to be the national winners. I go back to the state two years ago, the first conference we ever had, our national backhoe rodeo was represented by the state of South Carolina out of Charleston. He won the competition for the first time. So it's done very, very good. I believe Miss Devine is going to give the opening remarks at our presentation. So I've left one last thing out before we get to the presentation, and that's our incoming president this year. And I told her I didn't know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. But in June are no other than Dana Higgins will be taking over as our chapter president. So if you have time this week, come down to Public Works. We do have peanuts, we do have popcorn, and we have lemonade. You can make a mess down there and we'll see what we can do about getting it cleaned up. So thank you. Thank you, Robert. Thank you. And I think I definitely speak for everyone up here and all of our citizens to say how much we appreciate Public Works. I think as you had on your game board here, Public Works is so much deeper. It supports every service that we have in the city, and you really don't know how much Public Works does until you're getting ready for a flood or a hurricane or any kind of inclement weather. And the men and women of Public Works are here day and night, making sure that our city is not just clean but safe and that we're preventing some tragedies. So we really thank you for what you do and we appreciate all of you guys. And so it is indeed my honor to read this proclamation. Whereas Public Works services provided in our community are an integral part of our citizens' everyday lives. And whereas the support of an understanding and informed citizenry is vital to the efficient operation of Public Works systems and programs such as stormwater management, sidewalks, streets, highways, solid waste collection, animal control, traffic engineering and operations, forestry and beautification, support services and fleet services. And whereas the health, safety and comfort of this community greatly depend on the facilities and services. And whereas the quality and effectiveness of these facilities, as well as their planning, design, construction and implementation are vitally dependent upon the effort and skill of Public Works officials. And whereas the efficiency of the qualified and dedicated Public Works personnel is materially influenced by the people's attitude and understanding of the importance of the work they perform. Now therefore, on behalf of our mayor, Stephen K. Benjamin, and along with all the members of Columbia City Council, we do hereby proclaim the week of May 19th through 25th, 2019 as Public Works Week in the City of Columbia. And we encourage all of our citizens to applaud the efforts of our local Public Works employees. Thank you. Ms. Wilson, I also have to add, thinking about their selfless service, when Public Works workers get a frantic call from a mama at 6 o'clock in the morning because her child's pet has died and doesn't know what to do. So they are definitely there above and beyond. And counseling isn't in their service, but they are good at that as well. Thank you, Madam Mayor Pro Tem. As we transition into item 26, I did want to, or maybe you do, Madam Mayor Pro Tem acknowledge that Mayor Benjamin is out of the country as a result of his U.S. Conference of Mayors' Responsibilities as President, and Mr. Davis has attended to a Family Health Matter, but we certainly do miss both of them. Yes, and we pray for both of their traveling safety and mercy and hope they come back soon. Yes, ma'am. Item 26, the Tree City, USA Award Presentation, Ms. Sarah Holler, Deputy Public Works Director. Good evening. It is my pleasure to be here tonight to share some really exciting news. The City of Columbia has now been designated a Tree City, USA, for 40 years. We are the longest running city in the state of South Carolina to have that designation, and we no longer share it with any other cities. I'm sorry, Councilman Duvall. We do apply for this every year at the end of the year for the previous year's work. There's four standards that you have to meet every year. Those are to have a tree department that is responsible for the maintenance and care of your trees, a tree ordinance. We have to spend at least $2 per person on tree maintenance, and then the best part is our Arbor Day celebration. We celebrate Arbor Day the first Friday in December every year, and we have a program that we do at a local elementary school. If you haven't been beyond the lookout, we invite you all every year, and it's a really fun, engaging activity that we do, a program at the elementary school. With that said, we will continue to receive this designation for years to come. We hope to keep getting it forever from here on out. I was just saying that Mr. Duvall has worked really closely, even prior to his service on City Council, has worked closely with the city regarding our trees, and I think he has. I just wanted to say that Chirol was the first city in the state to get a tree city, and Chirol left out one vital requirement for getting the Tree City Award. The person in charge of this tree city needs to make the application to the U.S. Tree City, and as long as we have Chirol and Caleb coming up behind her, I'm sure that Columbia will continue to get this yearly. And I'm very pleased to be with the longest serving city with Tree City. Thank you. All right, well, we've got an award here. It is from the Arbor Day Foundation Tree City 40 years designation presented to Columbia, South Carolina, in recognition of 40 years of commitment to community trees. So, Sarah, I'll present this to you. Excited. Our next two presentations, Ms. Wilson. Yes, ma'am. Item 27, and I'll read 28 as well. The Cardinal Newman Women's Track and Field Team Day and the Cardinal Newman Men's Track and Field Team Day. Honorable Mayor Pro Tem, to me, guys, I divine. All right, so we are like super, super excited on this recognition. I think we're probably a little bit biased because we know we have a family member part of this award-winning track team, but is the coach here? Hello, would you like to... Ms. Devine, as Coach John Davis comes up, I would be remiss if I didn't say he is one of our very own city of Columbia employees through the Parks and Recreation Department, and so I think that is even more meaningful. And so we thank him for all that he has done, along with his assistant coaches for this team. So it's Davis. Okay. Ms. Devine in Athens, Southern Mary, and Ms. Wilson. I want to thank you guys for inviting us here. But before I get started, I want to acknowledge my staff. I want my staff to come up here with me. Because without these guys, I promise you it wouldn't have been done. We got Coach Rudy Crumpton. Ms. Coach Crumpton is in charge of my relays, and he did an excellent job this year. You got Coach Chestnut right here. He's in charge of my jumpers. And Coach OJ, he's in charge of my throws. And I got to say, I'm used to doing this totally by myself. And starting a program from the ground up, these guys, they truly had my back. I was able to get me a little bit of sleep this year, so it made it a whole lot easier. But this group of kids right here, they are phenomenal. I started this program from the ground up, and that's kind of what we call it from the ground up. Three years ago, with a group of kids that had never run track before. With this group of young ladies, I only had one that was with me when I started the program. And that's terrific. In her first year, she made it to the state championship. So going back this year, it was a big plus. And for those girls to do something this special, coming from a region, you know, we placed, what, second, third in the region. And we just knew we had what it took. And, you know, it took getting on them like they were young.  But those girls came through in the end. And I got to tell you, we got two eighth graders on this team of this four by one team. But I want to call up Ms. Simone. She's in the 10th grade. Y'all ladies, come on up. I'm in ninth grade. I'm sorry, baby. I'm sorry. I got a group of babies. And Teresa, she is my grandmother's group, because she's the oldest. Her and Courtney. And the true baby of the group is Gabby. And she's got to be my true surprise of this group. Because she brought in to what I wanted to do with this group. Because I think her first year, I think she went home crying every day. Because she said, I worked too hard. As you can see, the hard work really paid off with these young ladies. And my last young lady let them bring up, she did all my jumps for me. And she became a state champion. And let me tell you, she learned the triple, the high, and the long jump. And placed in every last one of them. She won the triple jump. Only doing it for three weeks. Okay? And she's in the eighth grade. So we got a lot more love to get out of her. And that's fair. So young ladies, we are, oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead, coach. I was going to say we are just so proud of you. And we just, it's our honor to be able to recognize you for your accomplishments. Not just on the track field, but your accomplishments academically as well. And we look to see great things from all of you. So with that, I am going to read this. Whereas Cardinal Newman High School Women's Track and Field Program, coached by John Davis, has several students placed in the South Carolina Independent School Association State Championship. And whereas in the first year, the women's team finished 12th in the state. And whereas in the second year, the program grew from 21 to 35 athletes with two state championships in two events. And whereas this year, the program now has 71 student athletes competing in several track and field events. And whereas at the 2019 SCISA Track and Field State Championships, the women's track team finished fifth out of 12 competitive teams. And whereas the winners of the women's team include Aaron Allert and the triple jump with a distance of 35-1 meters. And Simone Joseph, Teresa Florence, Courtney Crowder, and Gabrielle David in the women's four by 100 meter relay with a time of 51.84 seconds. Now therefore, on behalf of our Mayor, Stephen K. Benjamin, along with all of the members of Columbia City Council, we do hereby proclaim May 21, 2019 to be Cardinal Newman Women's Track and Field Team Day in the great city of Columbia. And we urge all of our citizens to honor and recognize Cardinal Newman High School's Women's Track and Field Team and Coach John Davis as 2019 South Carolina Independent School State Champions in their respective events. All right, Coach. All right, Coach. Not to be outdone by these phenomenal young ladies, but I know you've got another team that you need to introduce to us. I got some boys, but I don't love them like I love my girls. Wait a minute now. Before I get to my boys, I got some people that are here that mean a whole lot to me. I want to acknowledge my family. That's in the audience right now, if you guys don't mind. I also want to acknowledge my coworkers because I'm going to tell you without them and being able to leave and do what I do, it wouldn't be easy. They make it real easy for me. I got my supervisor over here, Mr. Doug Elliott and assistant superintendent Ms. Kristin Wright. I got this superintendent somewhere, Mr. Cary Rich and our director, Mr. Randy Davis.  It is real beautiful. These guys, when I tell you as a group of coaches, you always want to get it perfect. But when you got a group of guys that want it just as much as you do, it makes it a whole lot easier. And these guys right here, I think everybody, once again, everybody comes back. I only got one, two juniors in this group and everybody else comes back. So we got another chance to be coming to stand before you again. But I'm going to bring these guys up here first, my four by one and they set the skis of records this year in the four by one. So it was a give and take and it was beautiful. My first leg was Mr. Jalen Crumpton. And when I say fast, I mean fast. My next guy, I don't even think I've tapped into what he can do yet. And I don't think he realized what he can do yet as far as track and field. This is just his second year running, Mr. Peyton Cooper. Now with Jalen, Jalen also won the 200 meters this year and Peyton won the 400 meters. So these guys have a lot of work to do and they're improving this guy high. Now the third leg of the four by one, you know, I'm a little biased. And this is the first time and it feels good because he's my son. So it feels real good. So my son, my oldest boy, John Davis Jr. And the last leg of the four by one, he also plays tailback on our football team. And when I say he's a phenomenal athlete, whatever he touches, I think it's going to be gold. That's why we put him on the tail end of this relay just to make it happen. Mr. Jalen McGunn. Well, both Jalen and Peyton, they are also members of our four by four by four and that one in the state too. But these guys here, they have a lot to offer. They have a lot to offer, Carter Newman. And I want to thank you guys for really, really bringing forth this team, both of the girls and the boys. Well, I think this give us a little bit of incentive to do a little bit better next year. So I really want to thank y'all. Numbers. Young men, like I told the young ladies, we are so proud of your accomplishments and we're so excited to see what you have in store ahead of you. So it is my honor to read this proclamation. Whereas Carter Newman High School Men's Track and Field Program, coached by John Javis, has several students placed in the South Carolina Independent School Association state championships. And whereas in the first year, Emmanuel Cunningham was the state champion in the 400 meters and the men's team finished 11th in the state. And whereas in the second year, the program grew from 21 to 35 athletes with two state championships and two events. And whereas this year, the program now has 71 student athletes competing in several track and field events. And whereas at the 2019 SCISA Track and Field State Championships, the men's track team finished 2nd out of 12 competitive teams. And whereas the boys 4x400 relay are repeat champions for the 2018 and 2019 state championships. And whereas the winners on the men's team include Jalen Crumpton and the men's 200 meters with a time of 22.55 seconds. And whereas Payton Cooper and the men's 400 meters with a time of 51.22 seconds. The relay winners include Deontay Smith, Pete Bleak, Jalen Crumpton and Payton Cooper in the men's 4x400 relay with a time of 3.32 minutes. And John Javis IV, Jalen Montgomery, Jalen Crumpton and Payton Cooper in the men's 4x100 relay with a time of 42.73 seconds. And now, therefore, on behalf of our Mayor Stephen K. Benjamin and the members of Columbia City Council, we do hereby proclaim May 21, 2019 to be the Cardinal Newman men's track and field team day in the great city of Columbia and we urge all of our citizens to honor and recognize Cardinal Newman High School's men's track and field program in Coach John Javis as the 2019 South Carolina Independent School State Champions in their respective events. And before we slide over and take this picture, I want to say I apologize first because I always try to be prepared, but I see it's only five of you today. And I only brought four gifts. Oh, don't worry about that. This is what we do and we say we built from ground up. So always tell my kids it's not what you receive, but it's what you give to make sure a better person. So we want to offer you guys a token to say thank you for inviting us to the board. Thank you, Coach. Can I say something? Yes, sir. Coach, I just want to take this moment just a second. Not only as you mentioned how proud you are of all these kids, we are too. This is the future of Columbia and we all recognize that. But Olini want to take this moment and thank the parents and the grandparents who had to put up with all the crying that you sent home for all these... Not in a bad way, but in a good way. But that's what makes a village and you're pushing them and you making them work hard and the parents and the grandparents who comfort them and give them ease that can go back tomorrow to the best they can and we appreciate you. We appreciate all the parents and the grandparents who made this possible. But we are so proud of you, so are so proud of our young kids and we are delighted to see these are the future of Columbia. So thank you so much for all you do. We just again want to thank you all and I know we saw... We had them in the pictures, but before you guys leave can we just have all the parents and grandparents stand up so that we can recognize you? Thank you guys. And young men and women, we... Y'all are welcome to stay and watch a zone of public hearing but we know you have school tomorrow so if you guys need to leave we certainly understand. Thank you. I'm not sure if I saw Mr. Starrett. Is he here? Where are you? How could I miss that? I was looking for him too then I saw his beautiful suit. I was like how could I miss him? At this time we will have an update from the Columbia City Ballet Mr. William Starrett, artistic director of the Columbia City Ballet. 58 year history, so we just want to share that with you. We had 65,000 patrons come and we attest that a great deal to our hospitality tax funding. We just really want to thank you for that. $28 is spent above and beyond the ticket sales per person that attended the performance. So we're thrilled about those numbers and we want to share with you that the funding that we received last year we're so grateful for was only 7.5% of our annual budget that is our Columbia budget. So we're very, very thankful that we were able to have such a stellar year. It was our best year we have ever, ever had. So we just feel that when economically it goes well we just really want to share that. And we want to continue that momentum. So before I talk about next season I'd like to introduce my staff that I adore so much and first of all they'll stand when I introduce them. This is Jason Cobb, he's our company manager and our development director that's Jamie White and our director of finance that's Robert DeBerry and a member of our executive board and the head of our young people's society it's called the Bar Society is Megan Pinkney. We have of course a wonderful group of volunteers and our board of directors is just stellar and that's a great deal due to our success is because of the fantastic volunteers. As we enter our 59th season I want to share with you our educational outreach we reached 16,000 children last year with their educational outreach series partnering with some fantastic corporations like Michelin, Colonial, Blue Cross for Shield that helped make this happen. Next year we're doing a brand new children's performance of Grinch. We never performed that before and it has a fantastic important story as well in the spring we're going to be doing Beauty and the Beast and those old fairy tales had great great lessons for our children to learn. And then of course we're starting the fall with beloved Dracula. I keep waiting for that to but it keeps selling out so we're going to be doing Beauty and the Beast on ballet with a bite and then our Nutcracker we do an extensive tours but it's the largest single South Carolina produced performing arts event in our state so I'm very very proud of our Nutcracker. Thank you. Thank you. And then we do our modern dance series it's Body and Movement Explored and we get to work with John Whitehead over at the Stem FA Art Space and we have guest choreographers and it's all modern brand new choreography we're doing a brand new performance this year of a Valentine's Day celebration with the greatest love stories of all time and then we're doing a world premiere and we're very very excited about this we'll be working with live music and we're doing a world premiere of the Great Gadsby I figured with the coming into the 20s, 2020 we should celebrate the roaring 20s and so we're doing the Great Gadsby with live music and we're ending our season with Cinderella, the full length Cinderella partnering with the other large performing arts organization the full South Carolina Philharmonic Orchestra and that will end our season we're also terrific ambassadors for Columbia and that we've been invited again to perform off the wall we're going to be performing that this year in Augusta, opening of their new museum Savannah, Georgia and the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center in Charlotte so we're going to continue our ambassadorship of letting people know how great the arts are here in Columbia we just want to thank you for your support with the hospitality tax that has really helped us stay on par we want to continue that momentum and we just feel that our hands are always reaching so it's important when we reach goals to thank you and the support you've given to the company is just so appreciated and we've had just a stellar year and we want to thank you so much thank you William, thank you so much and congratulations Mr. Vine, we will transition to this last week from Ms. Albright and as she comes forward the Executive Director of Fast Forward I wanted to thank Ms. Utesy and her team I know that it is a time-consuming task we recognize young people but it does mean a lot to them and Ms. Divana mentioned Ms. Moore that we want to make sure we get all the Richland School District 1 state championship teams recognized as well it's very important thanks for the there are some other schools in the city at any of the other school state championships like Hammond and he I mean all of the students I think it does a lot for them to see how government works and also be recognized so thank you all for your patience with that well thank you guys for actually allowing us that opportunity I think everything that we do is very important but as Mr. Bador said I don't think there's anything more important than us recognizing the great benefits of our young people and encouraging them to do more absolutely absolutely hi Tee who helps with that too with our young people and veterans and everyone else kind of hard to follow children and William Starrett but I'll give a shot thank you for your continued support for the last 19 years it'll be 20 in October just a quick reminder just remember because we have a healthy vending policy now so you know you can bring us something but just keep in mind carrots from the person who had a brownie earlier there'll be a really big cake in October for our 20th anniversary you know for every dollar that you all have contributed for the last 19 years we've been able to match a little closer by 4 to 5 dollars and wanted to let you know we just got another grant it's a 6 month grant from the Midlands Workforce Development Board and we'll be working with over 100 people most of them from Columbia, about 85% doing digital literacy I think this is one of the things that we kind of forget sometimes is how we all work together and by working with Gloria and I see she's over there somewhere working with Gloria we've been able to really concentrate and strengthen our partnerships with other agencies in the city so with this big grant that we got for the 6 months we're working with homeless no more Mercy, Austin Moaks Babcock Center all this Providence home there are a lot of the clients that we've been working with for years but because of some of the new things we're trying we've been able to put labs at each of those locations so they'll be able to use things from there which is kind of nice so trying to keep this focus on all of us in Columbia bringing our strengths to the table and sharing them and doing what we're good at and not tripping over each other and all trying to do the same thing so it's really sort of made it all more powerful and again I really give credit to Gloria who talked to us a lot about how we could find ways to support each other better and I think it's been one of the most successful things that's happened around here in a long time so about 80% of the veterans that we work with even who are in the shelter in Lexington relocate to Columbia so it turns out that about 90 to 95% of all the people that we work with either start out here or come here so it's been kind of shocking as we look through those numbers next year, next year, next week we see presenting at the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans Conference for the 7th time I'm taking some things to Senator Scott's office and Senator Graham's office and Senator Brown's office on concerns that we have I'm going to be sending you guys a copy of that too Sherrod Brown actually Senator Brown actually did one of his stops in South Carolina at Fast Forward for his Dignity of Work tour added a paragraph in his book that's coming out in November about his visit with us and it actually focuses on some of the veterans and one of the kids from Mercy who were there with us so we're very grateful to have had the opportunity to provide a stop like that and to be able to continue to bring some value I hope to folks in Columbia we've placed since July 1st over 140 homeless men, women and families into employment so I'm looking forward to doing it again next year thank you do you have a citizen call me regarding placement or maybe helping find a job for her special needs grandson I sent her to you, I'm not sure if she contacted you yet not to my knowledge but that is one thing that we have really been expanding that program with these friends with Mercy I'm working with Babcock Center's employment program so if there are employers in Columbia who are listening tonight and have some jobs for some pretty amazing people we have some pretty amazing clients who need an opportunity to try things on again adult special needs and some of our transitioning homeless if y'all would just keep in mind that we still struggle with affordable housing and some of that I just brought to the Mayor's attention a couple of weeks ago the overwhelming percentage of seniors who are struggling in this area but also in the country and one of the things they're struggling with that people don't realize is student loan debt either they have signed for their children or during the recession they went back to school and we have several veterans who are paying 700 of their $250 in social security it's being garnished for student loans so please think about that as we look at possibilities also for some extra employment for some folks who might look a little more like me then alright, thank you so much thank you, thank you for doing it alright thank you, so we are at 702 so I think we are good so Ms. Hampton would you like to call this public hearing to order good evening City Council we will begin with a series of annexations the first is 6313 through 6331 North Main Street a request to annex a sign of land use classification of UCAC2 and a zoning district of C3 alright this is a public hearing, is there anyone here to speak for or against this annexation seeing none any discussion? second it's been moved and probably a second any discussion seeing none, the clerk will read the roll Mr. Rickerman Mr. McDowell Mr. Badura Mr. Vine an annexation of 160.87 acre portion of 300 Clemson Road a request to annex a sign of land use classification of urban edge small lot and urban edge residential and a sign of zoning classification of RG1 is there anyone here to speak for or against this annexation seeing none, is there a motion so moved it's been properly moved and second any discussion seeing none, the clerk will read the roll Mr. Rickerman Mr. McDowell Mr. Duval Mr. Vine from a very large parcel to a smaller parcel at 107 south William Street request to annex and assign a land use classification of UCAC1 and a zoning district of RG2 is there anyone here to speak for or against this annexation it's been moved is there a second probably moved a second any discussion seeing none, the clerk will read the roll Mr. Rickerman Mr. McDowell Mr. Badura Mr. Vine annexation at 88 Hillmark Drive a request to annex a sign of land use classification of UER2 and a zoning district of RS1 single family residential is there anyone here to speak for or against this annexation so moved it's been properly moved and second any discussion seeing none, the clerk will read the roll Mr. Rickerman Mr. McDowell Mr. Duval Mr. Badura Mr. Vine the next two both deal with 120 Sparkleberry Crossing Road if you care to take them together they are confirming both the land use classification of recently annexed land as AC3 and confirming the zoning of C3 is there anyone here to speak for or against 35 and 36 Christie that's 35 and 36 yes sir is there a motion to move probably moved to second any discussion seeing none, the clerk will read the roll Mr. Rickerman Mr. McDowell Mr. Duval Mr. Badura Mr. Vine moving to rezonings otherwise known as map amendments the first is at 1616 and 1620 Jervais Street request to rezone the parcel from C3 to C3DD this is a project that's looking to be rezone the parcel zoning lines is not permitted so they're asking to extend is there anyone here to speak for or against number 37 seeing none is there a motion yes sir right now the current proposed developer is for housing student housing is this the corner across the street from the hotel that's been being constructed for the last 15 years it's very near there yes it's the Quinn property there was no discussion at the planning commission from the neighborhoods they had previously been there was a previous proposal to rezone to allow for unlimited height they dialed that back and now we're staying with the existing zoning which has a height limit but now they're extending the DD what's the height limit it's 50 foot but you can go up to 75 feet essentially 8 feet I'm on the first floor any other questions Kristen let me ask you a question what's um I heard you excuse me I heard Mr. DeVall say it as whether or not there had been any community participation as there been they have been involved the sentiment has not been overwhelmingly positive about the development but the development is allowed under the zoning classification and that's next to the forever hotel it's um across the street across the street it's a hotel not a motel Holiday Inn Holiday Inn don't get me started they're actually requesting the extension of it not necessarily because of the height but because it's already over half of the parcel to develop you can't build over a zoning line so it would extend it it is they've been in communication with these folks so um if they're not here I'm assuming that they as I say it's a public hearing I didn't there's no one here to speak for against we would have heard from the neighborhood yeah well that's Howard's neighborhood now so round the corner not yet it's already been moved in second at rate okay so it's been moved is there a second second it's been probably moved in second further discussion yes sir Mr. McDowell Chris to tell me a little bit about that's the area I know exactly where it says and it's for student houses housing what's the um but maybe I get that on second reading um I'm trying to ascertain the size and the capacity of that piece of property and how that's going to play yeah and I probably need to less than an acre I need to I need to back up I think it's multifamily that will potentially be geared towards students so not the four bedrooms so it's it's it's legal it's legal it's allowed right it's out it's allowed exactly and so the reason for the rezoning is because it crosses property lines and that's why we're doing this but it's right Andrew you look like you were you going to add anything or no okay the reason they're extended so the base zoning classification is fine the parcel is currently split by the design development overlay which so you cannot build over a zoning line so they're asking to extend the design district over the adjacent parcel so it will actually increase the review of the project through their request it will have to go through the ddrc any further questions seeing none if the court will read the roll Mr. Rickman Mr. McDowell no Mr. Duval Mr. Vine hi 2508 Chestnut Street this is a request to rezone the parcel from general residential RG1 to C3 is there anyone here to speak for or against this seeing none is there motion to move it's been moved in properly second I'm curious as to this this is going from residential to commercial it's on the border it is and yeah we had quite a bit of discussion about this also in the east central plan it calls for this area to be mixed use so we were following the existing policy guidance of the east central plan along with the adjacent zoning because as you know we don't generally recommend commercial zoning to go into a residential area is there anyone that is there a motion so moved we had a motion and second second probably moved in second if the court will read the roll aye yes aye aye 1517 greg street request to rezone the property from office and institutional to and C3 so this is C1 and C3 just to C1 this is another split zone property in order to develop requires consolidation of the zoning is there anyone here to speak for or against seeing no is there a motion to move probably moved in second in a discussion seeing none if the clerk would read the roll aye yes aye aye two text amendments the first is to amend the approval of permitted uses to permit tattoo establishments and by special exception only in the C5 the central business district to recommend you that yeah no actually this is a very interesting the lady who owns this tattoo shop performs tattoos for people who have had reconstruction surgery and that's the bulk of her business that she wanted to be located downtown so she'd be close to the hospital and after speaking with staff and the landlord and everybody else we felt that this was the best way to do it through a text amendment that would allow to be by special exception so we just don't have people moving in so I agree to put the application up we appreciate you doing that it's been moved to their second probably moved to second in a discussion seeing none if the clerk would read the roll Mr. Rickerman Mr. McDowell Mr. Duval Mr. Badura your final text amendment is to amend the sign ordinance to exclude signage from the definition of signs I think you heard Mr. Ando today indicate that they are being fairly aggressive in putting advertising signs at their stop so this will permit them on the benches and on the panels within their shelters is there anyone here to speak for against seeing none if the Mr. Badour has moved is there a second second probably moved to second in a discussion seeing none if the clerk would read the roll Mr. Rickerman Mr. McDowell Mr. Duval Mr. Badura Mr. Vine that concludes your zoning public hearing thank you Ms. Hampton Madam Mayor Pro Tem this is the first period of ordinance second reading item 42 ordinance number 2019 025 providing for the issuance and sale of City of Columbia South Carolina special obligation bonds or notes hospitality fee pledge series 2019 and an aggregate principal amount of not exceeding $4.2 million in order to finance the acquisition renovation and equipment of certain capital projects is there a motion move approval it's been probably moved in second any discussion seeing none if the clerk would read the roll Mr. Rickerman Mr. McDowell Mr. Duval Mr. Badour Mr. Vine hi ordinance is first reading item 43 ordinance number 2019 027 amending section 1935 receptacle requirements the placement of receptacles so Duval you're going to make the motion um let me make it you want to make it move okay okay I move approval of the ordinance and I would like to offer an amendment number one that in section 19 dash 35 E3 we delete the words at least five feet from and add the word beyond it's been moved is there a second right it's been probably moved in second any discussion seeing none is there if the clerk would read the roll Mr. Rickerman Mr. McDowell Mr. Duval Mr. Badour Mr. Vine hi item 44 ordinance number 2019 032 and it's in 111 sparkle berry crossing road the TMS number as listed in council district 4 is there a motion so moved it's been probably moved in second any discussion seeing none of the clerk read the roll Mr. Rickerman hi Mr. McDowell Mr. Duval hi Mr. Badour Mr. Vine hi item 45 ordinance sorry I just had a question on that I don't know if I've seen this before it just said the um planning commission recommendation was pending um is there I don't know okay all right thank you come on now I'm trying to expand my district y'all stay out of the way it's expanding 45 yes ma'am ordinance number 2019 034 authorizing the city manager to execute a contract of sale for the transfer of 2924 Hope Avenue in Richland County Mr. Badour yes sir if I send complete just kind of give me a heads up what's going on yes miss I will come for our director of community development welcome miss I thank you um to give you an update on this particular piece of property um the city actually uh funded a chotto community housing development corporation several years ago and we owned several pieces of property that we ended having to take back in in lieu of foreclosure so this particular house was already leased to the person that's interested in purchasing it we did rehab it for her kept it as an affordable piece of property and she's interested in buying it we've been working with her for over two years she's improved her credit um she and her son are very happy in the area and so we purchased the house and and she's borrowing the money from CDBG fund correct yes okay um okay good with that so moved thank you it's been moved in second any further questions seeing none if the clerk read the roll Mr. Rickerman hi mr. McDowell yes mr. Duval hi mr. Badura hi mr. Vaughn hi to a period of appointments Ms. Jenkins will assist council the appointments for this evening are the citizens advisory committee for community development and the food policy committee okay and so Ms. Jenkins on the last meeting we held the citizen advisory committee and there were two appointments one uh to be made by Mr. Rickerman and one to be made by Mayor Benjamin is that correct yes that's correct um and Mayor Benjamin's absence he did provide me the name of his uh not his appointee okay and that would be Mr. Mark Brown okay Mr. Rickerman do you have your appointee do you want to continue to hold that one okay okay so we'll hold Mr. Rickerman's appointment so I will make the motion to appoint Mark Brown as the mayor's appointee is there a second second it's been probably moved in a second if the clerk will read the roll Mr. Rickerman hi mr. McDowell mr. Duvall hi mr. Badura hi mr. Vine hi right the food policy committee mm-hmm there's been one application that's come in since and it's a total of five applications so include support the JED previously and then a new applicant um Richard Chelsea did we re-advertise we did okay um and we got one additional we got one I don't mind um re-advertising or sitting it out four aren't you you're asking for four aren't you I think we had a concern we wanted to make sure that we had um we had a good district representation that particular committee is very large maybe we could do without getting some people on there and getting it down to a more workable group so far they've still been meeting and I have their meeting schedule and locations they've been providing minutes so things are going smoothly I think they're just at some point looking to get there therefore so right now out of the applicants we have one applicant from district one and four applicants from district two yes mm-hmm and the latest one is um mr. Richard Chelsea at the top if you look at um out of that um Ashley out of the current members mm-hmm when you have district representation there was actually you got someone from every district um are any of those people rolling off what would be the number if we appoint these because this is the applicants are heavy on district two they are um let me see it looks like other than the positions that were filling the majority of them are staying on are you guys comfortable with going ahead and well it says actually excuse me says June 2019 um yeah district one okay okay Erica said that district two is losing three district three is losing two sorry district three is losing two that will leave two from district three mm-hmm and we have no applicants from district three no we do not hold it can you hold it and you know I can look at an alternative way as well I know we send it out to our distribution list that we have um but I can check on other ways to advertise it and send it out and well and and I guess and I would just say this and then mr. McDowell and then mr. Radour um part of part of this of course the interest um for this type of committee you're going to get people who either kind of work in food policy healthy eating or people who live in food deserts so I think that having so many people from district two um probably notes and interests of the fact that district two and district one are typically food deserts so um I think we can continue to try and recruit folks but the reality is we might not necessarily have you know as long as we have someone represented from each district I think that we need to keep that in mind but most to me most important are the folks who have some kind of expertise and a passion about this interest issue and so if that means we've got more people from a side of the city that has more of the need I think that makes sense and his in a food desert yeah that makes sense um let me ask you this is it appropriate for us um we could very well defer this again until next meeting okay could we defer it to make sure that the numbers and the names are and the districts and the representation it's all there I think mm-hmm um and I think what Miss Divine is asking of course is do we want to continue to enlarge areas when I think we've got an appropriate number of persons already on that committee so I would simply ask for deferral Mr. Bedore you got a comment? yeah the only comment I got or feedback I got is the committee is too large it's 15 people I think yeah that's what Mr. DeVall said mm-hmm so I you know I I mean I thought I had one applicant who was going to apply but he decided not to so I really don't have anybody in the back for me to recommend or nominate at this time so but if you I think there's only one person from District 3 the rest the other two resigned so if y'all need somebody from District 3 I'll have to send an e-blast to my district and get some people interested I can send that back out to you all so you can have a clean copy again with the send-out and the Michigan is one more thing can we make sure I'm just looking down at the applicants again like you've got two at District 2 but that's based on their work address at DHEC but it looks like they're both out of the city yeah can we can we just make sure that we double check the districts that they live so I've checked their home the other home was out of the district I think for this it was live or work but I'll double check that yeah and that's fine just when you make the note for us just note if you have like for instance you have District 2 note say it lives outside of the city works in District 2 just so we're clear because I think as we just said about the District 2 actually the two folks who are applicants saying they're in District 2 and one actually is District 2 they actually both live outside the city so we note that and then I would another suggestion just would be is as we are looking we may want to first of all ask existing committee members because they might have if they're passionate about this issue they may know others who are passionate about the issue who may want to serve and then secondly maybe an organization like Eat Smart Move More would be you know would have some folks that are interested so I can attend their next meeting because I have their schedule and then pitch it to them and find out who they recommend and you said Eat what was the name of the other organization? Eat Smart Move More I know that food policy is one of the things that they work on and we might have some current members that might be affiliated with them but actually contacting the the organization itself and see if they have some folks or they might send it out to their lists because they have a vast list of people who are interested in this issue. Perfect. I'll do both of those. So we're not looking for we're not looking for another application process but perhaps deferring this until June? Yeah I wouldn't yeah I wouldn't pay to advertise again I just think that we can use our current resources to see if we have some other folks and then it may be worth considering what Mr. Duvall said about maybe not filling the committee to capacity if it's too many folks. So I guess it would be the capacity if we appointed all four. That's correct. Okay. Understood. Thank you. Thank you. Alright. Okay we are I don't know if it's a record yet because we start we have a public hearing at 7 we probably would have gotten out here sooner. But are there any matters to be considered that were discussed during the work session? Seeing none any council committee reports you guys did not meet today. I couldn't get Mr. McDowell out of bed this morning. I don't know if there is I'd like to bring something up and that's something that we've talked about especially when we're talking about budget season and all that. I wonder if I need to make a motion to maybe direct the city's manager and the city staff to look at issue a GO bond to build station 2 and maybe allocate some funds for the quiet zone that we've been discussing trying to allocate some funds for it. My thought is maybe issue a GO bond of $5 million and allocate $1 million for the quiet zone. I don't know if we need to make a motion for that or just to I just want to make that city manager. She could just present that at a work session and then council can discuss whether that's the direction. I just want to make sure that we at least look at it and come back with some solid numbers. All right. Is there anyone who signed up? Okay. Is there anyone in here who would like to address? Yep. Okay. Seeing that, Mr. Stroman, good to see you. Thank you for being here. So we have a non-dematable motion to adjourn. So moved. Thank you all. Thank you. All right. All right. Mr. Rickerman, Mr. McDowell, Mr. Duvall, Mr. Thank you. Have a great evening, everyone. Thank you. I didn't answer. We're going home.


The Health System Strengthening Project, HSSP, demonstrated its support to the implementation of universal health coverage, UHC activities, for an investment of the purchase of flibotomy chairs to be used at the sites where the services are provided. The flibotomy chairs handed over to the Ministry of Health will be used to enhance the quality of lab services provided to synclutions, accessing the health services of performance-based finance in PBF, and universal health coverage, UHC. Financial management specialists of the Health System Strengthening Project and the OICS Regional Health Project, Rosalia Joseph, spoke on the commitment of the project to strengthen health system capacity, which will play a significant part in ensuring the successful implementation of universal health coverage. Today marks a major step for the Health System Strengthening Project, HSSP. In its effort to support universal health coverage and ensure the necessary activities are undertaken to achieve this goal, the procurement of the flibotomy chairs on the component one of the Health System Strengthening Project will be handed over to the Ministry of Health Wellness and Elderly Affairs. It demonstrates that the project recognizes the importance of making investment in the health sector. Permanent Secretary and the Ministry of Health, Jenny Daniel, thank the Project Implementation Unit for the support provided to universal health coverage and reiterated the vision to provide quality healthcare for all and strengthen the health sector. During this year, the Ministry pledges to continue to provide support and to push the UHC agenda to ensure that we have the desired expansion and the desired increased accessibility of our population to quality healthcare services. Director of universal health coverage, Dr Alicia Eugene Ford expressed gratitude for the procurement of the flibotomy chairs and said it will meet the standards of providing quality service delivery of universal health coverage to both clients and staff. The laboratory services offered form an integral part of what is going to be offered within the essential package of health services under UHC. All of the service packages do have a diagnostic component which is laboratory based and therefore it's expected that these flibotomy chairs will be in constant use as we roll out more services under UHC. Minister for Health, the Honourable Moses Jabatis, commended the collaborative efforts to provide essential and quality health services to the people and reiterated the commitment of the government to implement UHC interface approach. In last year's budget, there is $1.8 million which we are spending now on universal health coverage. I wish to thank the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance for getting an additional revenue source of the 2.5% levy on health and security as an investment into all of this. Twenty-four flibotomy chairs were handed over and will be placed at the community welder centres where UHC and PBF services are provided, the lab at St. Jude Hospital and the Ezra Long Lab at the Millennium Heights Medical Complex. Flibotomy chairs were purchased under Component 1 of the Health System Strengthening Project HSSP in the tune of US $34,199. Reporting from the Project Implementation Unit within the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Elderly Affairs, I am Fynnell Neptune.


Revolution, awakening, and leaving abusive relationships all happen in unexpected ways. People don't generally leave abusive relationships in a goically satisfying Hollywood-friendly ways. I point this out because those of us who are watching the people's abusive relationship with predatory power structures and hoping for revolutionary change often tend to envision the status quo ending in an epic way that will make for a good story and let us feel good about ourselves and how right we were. And that just isn't how these things tend to go. One of the most shameful things about being in an abusive relationship is how much longer you'll let it go on for than an outside observer would expect. How much brutality you'll put up with and the ways you'll justify it to yourself. The shame of this can be soul-crushing. A friend once said, The worst part wasn't when he raped me. It was having to make him breakfast afterward. The shamefulness of the abuse and degradation you'll put up with because of where you're at in your mind is why people don't discuss this aspect more, which is why the loved ones of people in those relationships often have such a hard time understanding it. People don't talk about it, so many don't understand how common it is. Generally, when someone leaves an abusive relationship, it's not really because they were hit one too many times. It's not because it got worse than it used to be. Sometimes it'll be because the abuser started to assault the victim's child, but even that will often happen in ways that are a lot more complicated and shameful than the victim acknowledges when telling the story later on. Generally, when someone leaves an abusive relationship, it happens for the same reason flowers bloom. Because it was time. Something just shifts and suddenly you're seeing things you weren't seeing before. You start noticing patterns, noticing manipulations, noticing the malice in the abuser's face that you'd previously compartmentalized away from seeing. And then when you leave, the reality of it doesn't often make for a great Hollywood movie or Hallmark TV special. It doesn't fit well into egoically gratifying stories. A process just kind of plays itself out. Some things happen in ways you probably didn't anticipate, and then one day you're not waking up next to the same person anymore. You might try to tell heroic stories about it, or others might do that on your behalf, but really it just kind of happened when the happening was ripe. Spiritual enlightenment often happens in the same way. Zen Buddhism is full of stories of sudden awakenings where a monk meditates for 30 years while remaining locked in delusion, and then suddenly experiences satori after slipping and falling or hearing a teacher say something unexpected or whatever. It happens when it's time. A good teacher might offer some spiritual practices to help lay the groundwork for awakening, but one person can take those practices and never awaken while another can awaken very quickly. It's not like building a house or learning a new language where you set to work and do certain things in a certain way and then eventually you have what you set out to obtain. Awakening doesn't work that way. It's not the product of personal will. It happens when it happens. A pot of water can sit there on the stove for minutes without looking like much is happening. When people look at our current environment of murderous, exploitative status quo systems and deeply propagandized populations, they'll often despair because it's very much the same. It doesn't look like much is happening. But then the water begins to boil. But then the battered wife escapes to safety. But then the spiritual aspirant sees beyond the veil of illusion. But then the people rise up. Humans are storytelling creatures. That's why it's possible to gain such a tremendous amount of power over us by controlling our stories. We are storytelling creatures whose primate brains weren't evolved for the purpose of giving us any absolute understanding of ultimate reality. Whose senses only take in a tiny fraction of our surroundings. Whose minds don't process what's happening in the ways science tells us things are actually happening. What do you get when you have a storytelling animal with a very limited capacity to perceive life as it really is? You get a lot of things happening in ways that the creature did not expect. Because none of their mental stories told them to anticipate it happening in that way. And then probably telling a bunch of stories about what happened which don't truly reflect reality. If and when humanity does wake up from its propaganda-induced coma and push for the changes needed for us to evade extinction and create a healthy world together. It will happen in ways we're not expecting. It will happen in ways that aren't pleasing to the ego. It will happen in ways that don't allow us to stand up and say, Aha! You see? I was right all along. It will happen in ways that don't form a compelling narrative. And how could it? If humanity is to survive into the distant future, we're going to have to transcend the egoic mental habits which led us into this mess. We're going to have to transcend our unhealthy relationship with mental narrative which made us so easy to manipulate and propagandize. We're going to have to transcend our self-destructive patterning which will necessarily have to come from an un-patterned and therefore unexpected direction. And it will happen when it happens in a way we couldn't possibly have predicted it would happen. So don't despair if it looks like things aren't headed toward change. The boiling water, the escaped abuse victim, and the deeply enlightened mind all look to the same at one point. Don't despair and don't fear the unknown. The unknown is the only direction humanity's salvation can possibly come from.