(upbeat music) - [Narrator] You've been watching highlights of the Chattanooga City Council meeting, a production of WTCI PBS.

(upbeat music) (gavel pounding) - Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

Welcome to our Tuesday, April the 5th council meeting.

I now call this meeting to order.

In the absence of Councilman Hester this afternoon, I would ask everybody to please stand and we'll pledge to the flag.

- [All] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

- All right, we have no special presentations this afternoon.

Could I have a motion on the minutes please?

All right, we have a motion to approve the minutes with a proper second.

Any questions or comments before we vote?

All in favor, aye.

- Aye.

- Any opposed, no.

Motion carries.

Moving now to ordinances on final reading.

Madam Clerk, would you please read 5A.

- [Clerk] An ordinance amending Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 11, Article 20, adding a new section, 11-519, entitled "Moratorium on the acceptance "of short-term vacation rental applications "for non-owner occupied rental properties "which are not the primary residence of the applicant" for a period beginning on the effective date of this ordinance up to and including January 9th, 2023.

- All right, what is the pleasure of the council?

(council talking) All right, we have a motion on the floor to approve with a proper second.

Are there any questions or comments before we vote?

Councilman Ledford.

- [Ledford] Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to make a comment about this item.

Today at 3:30, we had a pretty in depth conversation about the next steps after this vote this evening.

And I'm assuming a lot of you may be here because of that.

This afternoon, we decided as a body that this is obviously very important to our community, but we're forming a committee and we're also engaging with UTC, and that process will start immediately to start addressing this, find a solution that works for our community.

For some of you who don't know, we have been listening and presented for years now with public input, public cry, public pleading to please do something about the loss of residential homes and due to short-term vacation rentals as non-owner occupied, being bought by out of town investors and whatnot.

So I wanted you to know that we talked about this today at 3:30.

I wish you all could be here, but unfortunately a lot of you can only be here at 6:00 'cause you have to do things that you need to do, and we understand.

But I wanted you to know that we did discuss this in depth.

We have a plan going forward to address this and we want your participation.

This a collaborative effort.

This is an effort based on communication in what's best for our community and together we will find a solution.

Thank you.

- All right.

Any other questions or comments before we vote?

All right.

All in favor, aye.

- [Members] Aye.

- Any opposed, no.

The motion to approve carries.

Moving now to six.

Madam Clerk, ordinances on the first reading, would you please read 6A, B, C, and D together as a package if there are no objections from the council.

- [Clerk] Item A.

An ordinance closing and abandoning an alley in the 300 block of West Main Street as detailed on the attached map, subject to certain conditions.

Item B, an ordinance closing and abandoning an alley in the 1500 block of Polk Street as detailed on the attached map, subject to certain conditions.

Item C, an ordinance closing and abandoning a right-away located in the 1400 block, a top street at the corners of East Main Street and East 14th Street as detailed on the attached map, subject to certain conditions.

Item D, an ordinance closing and abandoning an alley in the 1500 block of South Watkin Street which runs parallel to East Main Street and connects South Flower Street and South Watkins Street as detailed on the attached map, subject to certain conditions.

- Councilor Ledford.

- [Ledford] Move to approve chairman.

- We have a motion on the floor to approve items 6A through D with a proper second.

Are there any questions or comments before we vote?

All in favor, aye.

- Aye.

- Any opposed, no.

So moved.

Moving now to resolutions.

Madam Clerk, if you would please read 7A and B together.

- [Clerk] Yes.

Item A, a resolution confirming Mayor Kelly's reappointment of Sarah McManus to the Library Board of Directors.

Item B, a resolution confirming Mayor Kelly's reappointment of Timothy Goldsmith and the appointments of Ian Elijah Bay, Jonathan Dean, Sega Tusima, and Anthony Wiley to the Chattanooga Public Art Commission.

- Councilwoman Berz.

(Berz responding) We have a motion on the floor to approve items 7A and B with a proper second.

Are there any questions or comments before we vote?

All in favor, aye.

- [Members] Aye.

Any opposes, no.

So ordered.

Now moving to parks and public works.

Madam Clerk, 7C please.

- [Clerk] A resolution authorized in the administrative for the Department of Public Works to approve change order number three final for J. Cumby Construction Inc. of Cookville, Tennessee for contract number W16017201 M-B-W-W-T-P, solids process of optimization implementation phase two thickener upgrades, a consent decree project for final reconciliation of the unit items for decreased amount of $25,314.03 to release the remaining contingency amount of $20,000 for a revised total contract amount of $5,771,899.95.

- What's the pleasure of the council?

(council responding) We have a motion on the floor to approve with a proper second.

Are there any questions or comments before we vote?

All in favor, aye.

- [Members] Aye.

- Any opposed, no.

So moved.

Moving now to purchases.

Mr. Goldberg, is that falling in your wheelhouse tonight?

- [Goldberg] Yes sir.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

We have 11 purchases tonight.

I will go as fast as I can.

Citywide Services Division of Public Works increased the amount on PO558488 for concrete pipe.

The 3.5% increase for certain light items will increase the annual amount by $150,000 for new annual amount not to exceed $450,000.

Citywide Services Division of Public Works, first renewal of contract for washed and crushed stone.

Vulcan Materials Company submitted a price increase of 6.2% at the time of renewal, and the annual amount is not to exceed $700,000.

Citywide Services, Public Works, new blanket contract for grounds maintenance at Enterprise South Industrial Park.

Six bids were received and the award goes to Excellent Lawn Care LLC, as the best bid meeting specifications.

Two other vendors withdrew their bids due to bidding incorrectly for serving this location.

This will be a four-year contract with an annual amount not to exceed $40,000.

Fleet Management Division, Public works, two new blanket contracts for car wash and detailing services.

Two bids were received and the awards go to Plaza Car Wash and East Ridge Car Wash LLC.

These will be four-year contracts with a combined annual amount not to exceed $25,000.

Fleet Management Division, Public Works, second and final renewal of contract for maintenance and repair for light-duty Ford vehicles.

Mountain View Ford submitted a price increase of 41% at the time of renewal.

The price increase reflects an increase in hourly labor rates for both gas and diesel vehicles.

The annual amount is not to exceed $165,000.

Parks Maintenance Division, Parks and Outdoors, three-month extension of contract with Sentis Corporation for protective footwear.

The responsible department is changing from Parks and Outdoors to Public Works, and this extension will allow time for Public Works to update information and rebid the contract.

The annual amount is not to exceed $25,000.

Treasurer's Office, new blanket contract for armored car services.

Two bids were received and the award goes to Loomis Armored US LLC as the best bid meeting specifications.

This will be a four-year contract with an annual amount not to exceed $50,000.

Number eight, Human Resources.

Approval is needed to pay outstanding invoices and allow time to rebid the contract for temporary staffing services.

This contract is used citywide by all departments and the Human Resources Department is in the process of developing new specifications for bidding.

The vendor is Outsource Staffing LLC and the amount is $200,000 to pay outstanding invoices and future invoices through June 30th, 2022.

Ninth, Waste Resources Division, Public Works, increased amount on purchase agreement 551536 with Adman Electric Company Inc. for programmable logic controller service.

This increase of $150,000 is due to unforeseen issues with the PLC equipment that also affected our SCADA system.

The new annual amount is not to exceed $1,050,000.

Parks and Maintenance Division, Public Works, purchase of one Kubota RTV from Kubota of Chattanooga in the amount of $14,994.22.

When aggregated, the purchase of this equipment from the same vendor total is $49,257.38.

Council approved the last purchase of this equipment and additional approval is required for another unit.

And lastly Chattanooga Police Department, second final renewal for contract for leather gear for police officers and cadets.

Accurate Law Enforcement submitted a price increase of 21% at the time of renewal, new annual amount not to exceed $34,332.

- [Chairman] All right, you've heard tonight's request.

What's the pleasure of the council?

(council responding) We have a motion on the floor to approve with a proper second.

Questions or comments before we vote?

All in favor, aye.

- [Members] Aye.

- Any oppose, no.

Motion carries.

- [Goldberg] Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

We also have one RFP format this evening.

We are not requesting approval to issue.

Sorry, we are requesting approval to issue an RFP, not approval to awarding contracts at this time.

The RFP is for Homeless Services Strategic Partnership.

There's a variety of potential solutions and approaches to the scope of work that are more important than price.

It would be in the best interest of the city to seek proposals from potential partners.

- [Chairman] Councilor Ledford.

- [Ledford] Motion to approve RFP request.

- [Chairman] All right, we have a motion on the floor to approve the RFP request with a proper second.

Are there any questions or comments before we vote?

All in favor, aye.

- [Members] Aye.

- Any opposed, no.

Motion carries.

- Thank you.

- Thank you, sir.

Moving now to committee reports.

Councilwoman Hill.

- [Hill] No report.

- [Chairman] Councilman Ledford.

- [Ledford] Chairman, thank you.

Planning and Zoning did meet today.

We covered all items on our agenda and had a little education session on the difference between an IPUD and a regular PUD.

Great entertainment for those of you who were able to join us.

- [Chairman] Thank you.

Councilwoman Berz.

- [Berz] No report.

- [Chairman] Mr. Vice chair.

- [Vice Chair] No report, Mr.

Chair.

- [Chairman] Councilwoman Dotley.

- [Dotley] No report.

- [Chairman] Councilwoman Nole.

- No report.

- Thank you.

That concludes all items on our agenda this afternoon.

And it takes us to the time that we recognize persons wishing to address the council this afternoon.

By a show of hands, do we have anyone that would like to address the council?

All right.

If you would go ahead and start lining up at the podium.

I'm gonna ask Madam Attorney if she would read the rules to address the council.

- [Attorney] All right (clearing throat), excuse me.

Each speaker shall be recognized at this microphone.

If you would stand in a line and wait to be called on.

Please address the council upon matters only within the legislative and quasi-judicial authority.

And we will ask that you limit your remarks to three minutes.

- [Chairman] And Mr.

IT, if you'd give us three minutes when we have a speaker.

And if you would start by giving us your name, please.

- [Jeff] Good evening council.

My name is Jeff Meldahl.

I live in District Seven in St. Elmo.

I wanted to come here tonight to thank you for passing this moratorium on non-owner occupied short-term vacation rentals.

It's a long time coming and I'm really happy to see that we're finally taking, you know, steps to at least take a step back, look at the situation and consider carefully what we wanna look like as a city going forward.

I heard some folks speak last week in opposition to this.

And I know you guys have heard from neighborhoods, individuals on both sides of the issue.

Some folks mentioned last week that enforcement of both, or primarily the non-registered STVRs, is a big problem.

And she was, as an STVR landlord, concerned that with this moratorium, it will simply expand the number of non-registered STVRs.

And I agree that this is a danger.

So I hope going into this moratorium period we look specifically at more robust mechanisms for enforcing both the regulations we have in the overlay right now and also, I guess during the moratorium period it should be a lot easier to decide who is in violation of the policy.

Any new STVRs obviously will be.

But figuring out how to make meaningful, significant penalties for violation of the city ordinances and how to enforce them in such a way that it's not playing whack-a-mole with folks who go underground for a little while 'til the heat cools off, and then pop back up with another STVR on the market.

Um.

Also heard concerns about folks who may have invested significantly in these things.

As we know, the Chattanooga housing market is hot, too hot for a lot of folks.

I hope this moratorium will help have a cooling effect, but also to folks who may have bought a property looking to become STVR landlords, there's a good opportunity to rent your house to folks who wanna live in Chattanooga, send their kids to school here, and be a full part of the fabric of the community.

So thanks again, council, for taking this up.

And I hope going into the moratorium period you make sure to include folks from neighborhood associations, neighbors of STVRs, and folks who are in the communities most densely affected by the current STVRs.

Thank you.

- [Steve] Hello, my name is Steve McDonald.

I'm a resident of District Two in the Dallas Heights section of District Two.

I'm speaking in support of the moratorium.

I hope, as someone who lives in a nice Chattanooga residential neighborhood that someday my kids will have the opportunity to also be homeowners and residents in a neighborhood like mine.

And I think these short-term rentals put that hope at risk.

I have relatives who live in New Orleans and they have seen firsthand what these short-term rentals have done to their city, where it has eaten up the housing stock there, where affordable housing for people who work regular jobs and have regular incomes is just not available.

I personally have lived in the Atlanta region where, while it's not as advanced as it is in new Orleans, that problem is beginning again there.

My hope in this process that was just mentioned with collaboration with UTC, which I don't really know that much about, I hope that the priorities of Chattanoogans who work for a living, so to speak, have average incomes, average means, who want to stay in Chattanooga, who want to live here and maintain the communities they have, largely as they are, will be made a priority in that process instead of the needs of for-profit businesses who want to enter into our communities and make money by changing the nature of our communities and changing it for the worse.

I hope the moratorium continues after the one-year period.

Thank you for your time this evening.

- [Reed] Hello, I'm Reed Caldwell.

These guys kind of stole all my thunder (laughing).

I just wanted to thank all of you for the moratorium.

We live in St. Elmo.

We've seen our neighborhood, the fabric of our neighborhood kind of torn apart by short-term vacation rentals.

We've had some on our street causing people that we know not to be able to afford housing or to even be able to bid on a house.

And we just kind of see the whole fabric of the neighborhood kind of disintegrating.

And I think Chattanooga has always been a place that, you know, people wanna live in, wanna make it affordable.

And I think these guys had excellent points, and I'm not gonna sit here and regurgitate all that.

I just wanted to say that we appreciate what you're doing.

We hope that this will continue down the road.

And I hope that you will include people to give you feedback and kind of see what other cities have done.

There are some cities who have had major issues with this and have found very good solutions to that problem.

So, I could go on for another two minutes, but thank you very much.

And we appreciate your thought on that.

So, thank you.

- [Beth] Good evening.

My name is Beth Palmer and I am a short-term rental host with three properties in North Chattanooga.

I'm here to represent tonight the 515 people who signed a petition asking you to reject this moratorium proposal.

This has all been, it's all come together in about the last 36 hours.

And I guess one of my complaints to the council tonight is the haste at which this decision has been made, or made public.

I don't know how long it's been discussed in the background but we were only aware of this, you know, for the last week.

And it hasn't given the opportunity for you to hear from the community the various reasons why we are in opposition to this kind of action, this kind of restrictive action.

I do agree that this is a conversation that needs to continue.

We wanna be a part of that.

We want you to hear our voices and we want to build our community.

We want to be a part of making and continuing to help Chattanooga be a great place to live, but also a great place to visit.

Tourism is a $1.1 billion dollar industry in Chattanooga.

For the tourism to continue there has to be appropriate accommodations for people traveling with kids or pets or multi-generational families.

And that's the kind of thing that we provide which in turn helps support the local businesses, the venues, the restaurants, all of those other small business centers in our city.

So I do think it's a conversation we need to continue but I just wanted to bring your attention and publicly kind of bring attention to this petition that has been emailed to all of you with very detailed reasons on why we oppose it.

And it was signed, again, in the last 36 hours or so by 515 people, and that number continues to tick up as more people are made aware of what's happening.

So I'm disappointed that you guys moved forward with this just because I think that there was some haste and I don't know why.

I don't know why it was such a quickly, something that had to happen so quickly.

I think it could have taken some more community input, especially even tonight, just hearing from people before placing a vote would've been appreciated.

So thank you for your time.

And I look forward to continuing the conversation as someone who is in support of free enterprise and of allowing Chattanooga residents, such as myself, to continue to provide quality hospitality for those visiting our city.

- [Ashley] Hello.

My name is Ashley Fleming.

I emailed all of you this week and I wanted to put a face to the name.

I have chickens.

I have 10 chickens.

I live on one acre in District Six, and this is Iris.

She's four.

She has 10 chickens in District Six.

- [Iris] Yeah.

- [Ashley] We bought our chickens in February last year when schools had been not open for almost a year, for the whole school year, and everybody was home, and didn't know when everybody wasn't gonna be home and gas prices are going up and you go to the stores and there aren't things at the stores.

And you're like, well, I mean, cream cheese isn't that important?

You know, like, but also it's kind of scary because in my lifetime that's never happened.

And so my husband was like, well, let's get chickens.

And that's crazy because we're not farmers but now there's a phrase, urban farmers.

And that's the new movement, is going green.

And the chickens clip our grass for us.

And so we don't have to use the mower to go out there and do that.

And they provide eggs for the children and for my neighbors, some of them who are here tonight.

And we get out there and we talk to people, and every chicken lays a different color egg.

And we know who's who from that.

And it's just been a really great experience having backyard chickens.

I mean, Iris gets to feed them and she gets to water them and she gets to pick them up and she learns not to chase and to be really gentle and patient and all of the character traits that you want people to have.

Like, I'm teaching that to my children with my chickens.

And so I know that urban chickens, I've just learned.

I didn't know it was a controversial topic.

But I've just learned that apparently urban chickens are a controversial topic.

And yesterday, I don't know if Scott's in here.

But, hi.

A news reporter was out at my house for over an hour yesterday, just spontaneously, you know, can we come over?

It sounds like a good story.

And the neighborhood is so quiet and my chickens are just pecking around the yard.

And he's like, you know, I've spent time in New York City and this is not urban.

It's like I have a peach tree and four apple trees and plum trees and a beautiful garden and my neighbors who are here.

Anyways, so I just wanted to know, I will be emailing you again.

I just wanted to put a face with it to know like what do I need to do to make it okay to have 10 chickens in my backyard?

There's four people in my family.

And so that's two for each of us and then to share, but we usually just save them and share them because it's a special treat.

And most of my neighbors are older.

These ones are my younger neighbors, but most of my neighbors are older and they're like in their 70s and 80s and we get to hear stories.

And my family, my closest family lives 600 miles away, and all of my grandparents are dead.

And so it's just really nice to get to go and talk to them and be like (sniffling), and to hear stories that I don't have.

And so that's really nice.

And I'm sorry for crying and my time is up.

Thank you.

- [Chairman] All right, is there anyone else that would like to address the council this afternoon?

Council, I am not seeing any other hands at this time.

What is your pleasure?

- [Councilwoman] We're going to adjourn.

- So moved.

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