(upbeat music) - [Announcer 1] You're watching highlights of the Chattanooga City Council Meeting.

A production of WTCI PBS.

(upbeat music) - Good evening, everyone and welcome to our Tuesday August 16 City Council Agenda Business Meeting.

All right, moving into the portion of our meeting where we welcome you to address council.

If there's anyone who would like to address council this evening, please make your way to the podium, you'll have three minutes.

And while you're doing that, Mr. Attorney will read our public speaking council rules please.

- Sure, at the end of every council meeting the chair will recognize members of the public who wish to address the council, here's your rules.

Each speaker wishing to address the council has to come up to the microphone that's provided in the front for that purpose.

No person can have more than three minutes to speak.

The speaker can address the council only upon matters within the quasi-judicial and legislative authority of the council.

And you can't address the council on matters which are not under the authority of the council or regulated by other governmental bodies.

Don't use any vulgar or obscene language nor use it to personally attack or personally denigrate others.

Address your comments to the council as a whole and not make comments directed towards individual council members.

Do so once a day and do not engage in any disorderly conduct or disrupting a public meeting which is prohibited by Tennessee law.

And a person commits an offense under that statute if a person substantially obstructs or interferes with the meeting by physical action or verbal utterance with the intent to prevent or disrupt a lawful meeting or gathering.

Having stated that, go ahead, sir, please start.

- Good afternoon.

- Good afternoon.

My name is Edward Greene, that's Greene with an E on the end, Jr. On July the 21st, there was a resolution that was read by Councilwoman Dotley, honoring Officer Clarence Hamler who was killed at the Red Food Store August the 14th, 1977.

On July the 29th, a sign was unveiled in his memory.

It had been 45 years this past Sunday that Clarence was killed.

I stand here as a tribute to an officer who was killed in the line of duty.

My question to the council is that there was no ceremony in the unveiling of this sign.

The only persons that was at the unveiling was myself, Councilwoman Dotley, Representative Yusuf Hakeem, Wanda Hamler, who was Clarence's wife, Chris Hamler who was Clarence's son and Brian Hamler who was Clarence's son.

At the time of Clarence's death, Brian was only four months old.

So Brian never got to know his daddy.

I just wonder if his line of dying in the line of duty was important enough for somebody else to show up, for it to make the newspaper, for it to even be on the television, that this young man who left two young boys with a wife to raise, could not have taken time out to come and celebrate the commemoration of Clarence's Street.

I was disappointed.

But once again, perseverance does pay off.

I was able to accomplish the planning of the sign in Clarence's memory, thank you.

- Thank you, sir.

- Good evening, members of the council.

My name is Reverend Brandon Gilvin and I serve as Senior Minister at First Christian Church here in Chattanooga.

I'm here because I'm sure all of you have seen in the news and in social media and around the edges of our community conversation about a number of asylum seekers who have made their way to Chattanooga as they are being processed and moved around the country.

As a faith leader, as a pastor in this community, one of the things I like to do is to ask the folks that I serve with questions.

And the questions that I think that we need to ask as a community are these two, who are we?

And who do we want to be?

We call ourselves a city of makers, a city of innovators.

We talk a lot about the Chattanooga way where everybody's favorite mid-size city with small town hospitality and a global perspective.

We have a diverse array of faith communities, all the way from Holiness to Hindu.

And we're also a city that has welcomed refugees over the decades from Vietnam, from Ukraine, from the Congo and from Afghanistan.

And that's often been led by our faith communities, and we have through that work become a community of welcome.

So in asking the question, what are we going to become?

I hope that we can say, first of all, that we have not just found ourselves with a logistical issue to respond to, but a moral issue to respond to.

We can be that thing that we have claimed for a long time, a city of welcome, a city that welcomes a stranger, a city that helps those who are on their way to somewhere else or are going to be here for a while while their cases are adjudicated to find dignity, to find the services that they need and above all to find hope.

So in terms of policy and in terms of personal interaction, I hope that we, as a city can do everything that we can to live into our legacy, to live into who we have said we have been, and to continue to become yet another version of that.

Thank you.

- Thank you, can you hang on one just a second, I do have one light please.

Dr. Berz.

- Yeah, so today we received a report from the Mayor's Chief of Staff, and I'm confused about a few things.

Seeking a asylum in Chattanooga is not illegal.

Did someone say it was?

- There is a good bit of community pushback, a good bit of confusion around all of the different categories.

I'm gonna pass to the better person to answer those questions.

- So let me tell you what we understood today, Joda.

We had a thorough report today on all the things, how many families were here, how many were served by the city.

There was no report of any arrests or anything illegal.

Unfortunately, the chatter that had nothing to do with actuality and I'd like for you to know that it happened.

However, I'm proud of what the city did.

And if you don't mind, Mr.

Chair.

- Come on, please.

- I would like for Joda, the Mayor's Chief of Staff and those people across the city who did good things, I think he can shorthand it, but we agree seeking asylum is not illegal.

We don't disagree with any of that.

And I think you should hear about all the true right things that happened.

We may have more work to do and I know people like to come and talk, but some of us worked really hard for wrong things not to happen.

So if you would allow our Chief of Staff, Joda would you please, since I don't know whether the press was at our meeting earlier, but whoever was there I'd like it correctly and directly to come from your mouth.

- Yes, Councilwoman.

First off, I just wanna thank the Pastor here and also folks who are here to express support for our city's posture as a welcoming city.

I think that is a good thing and I think we love hearing that from our faith community, from the nonprofit organizations that made that response possible, but I'll start from the top very briefly.

While we had heard rumors for the past couple of weeks that there were charter buses stopping in Chattanooga with migrants, we were not able to get to the bottom of that exact question until late last week.

And we were able to get in contact with the charter bus company that was actually dropping folks off here.

And they were coming from the State of Texas and they were headed to the East Coast and we were really a stopping off point.

And that all of the folks that were traveling from Texas to the East Coast and then either stopping off in Chattanooga or getting off in Chattanooga and heading elsewhere are folks that were following the process of asylum, fleeing truly in many cases, awful circumstances, very difficult journeys that involved six, seven, eight months of walking, plus a 17 hour bus ride.

And so the City of Chattanooga in partnership with organizations like La Paz, like the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, like the faith community and others, as well as our Office of New Americans including our brand new Director of New Americans, Isahi Navarro, as well as our Administrator of Equity and Community Engagement, Tamara Steward.

There were a lot of people that were involved in a very short period of time working to set up a multi-agency response to respond compassionately and our heart is very full.

And the Mayor expressed this today that we were able to respond competently, but also compassionately to people who desperately needed some help.

And we're really quite grateful for your partnership throughout the weekend as we kept you all informed in the process.

We were in touch with everybody from FEMA, to the White House, to the Department of Homeland Security, to make sure we fully understood the situation.

The situation has since, as far as we know, for that particular charter bus company, resolved itself, as Chattanooga is no longer on the route which is not necessarily something we requested, but the State of Texas will choose the route they will choose, but if they come to the City of Chattanooga and if any refugee comes to the City of Chattanooga, they will be met with welcome.

And we will have the partnerships and we're fortunate and grateful to have the nonprofit organizations as well as a broad community to support a welcoming response, and that will be continued to be true in the future.

- Thank you.

The faith-based community has been fantastic in helping.

Joda, do you know of any situations where anyone was treated without compassion?

I don't, so if y'all know things that the city worked really hard and I don't know that we treated people, whether they were papered or not any differently.

So if you do know of some bad stuff that happened, I guess we should know about it.

- Sure, and please hear this twofold, is not an accusation but as a push for the entire city, our leadership, all of our citizenry to do the right thing that you have in fact named that Joda has described.

And that our hope is that we can continue to get as much correct information out there and continue to call upon all of Chattanooga to respond in the way that we have been called to respond.

So I appreciate those bits of facts.

And please know that when you hear the faith community and the activist community push, that's part of our partnership with you all as the city is to name those moral issues and to continue to push, whether that's the direction the city is going or not.

So thank you.

- Well, it is the direction the city is going.

We have a new Office of New Americans, and we appreciate all your support, thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

- Yes, ma'am.

Good evening.

- All right, thank you.

And again, thank you for the time to speak this afternoon.

So my name is Judith Clerjeune.

I am the Campaigns and Advocacy Director for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition.

And again, really wanting to add my voice to what's already been said, to commend the city on the response that we have seen and also you all for your support.

There are so many others actually on the ground right now who wanted to be here tonight, such as La Paz and others who are not able to because they're still assisting families.

But really wanted to take a few minutes this afternoon to add some context to the asylum process, who these families are, and again, to continue to uplift the fact that this is a moment where we as a city can come together to create a community of welcome.

And so from what we know is that asylum is a legal form of protection that can be granted to foreign nationals already in the United States or arriving at the border who meet the international law definition of a refugee, meaning that they have past experience of persecution or well founded fear or persecution.

Asylum seekers have temporary work permits and protection from deportation.

They are following the legal process for seeking safety and protection in our country.

And as a country and also as a state, we have a long history of providing refuge and welcome to people from all over the world.

Regardless of how people arrive in Chattanooga, I think it's important for us to remember in this moment that this is an opportunity for us to live in our values.

And it seems like that's something that we're already doing.

So that we can ensure these families arrive safely to their final destination and also that we are meeting people with dignity in the care that we all deserve.

Again, really wanna commend the work that's already been happening.

I was actually at the airport earlier today, we've seen the Mayor's office, La Paz, and other organization working to make sure that we can again, come together and welcome these families with dignity.

So thank you for the existing support and we'll continue to, again, nicely push that we can continue to support these families.

Thank you all.

- Thank you so much.

- Good evening.

- Good evening, Sir.

My name is Reverend Dr. Richard Waldrop.

Thank you so much for allowing us to say a few words about this issue of asylum seekers coming our way.

This is a very important issue in my life and in the life of my wife.

We have two daughters, adopted from Central America, which is where many, many of these folks, these asylum seekers come from, not all of them, there are many others from Haiti and Colombia and other places.

But one of our daughters was actually born in a refugee village in Honduras along the river dividing Honduras from Nicaragua.

And we came back to the US from a tour of duty in Central America back in 1994.

And all I want to say is that I have no doubts about your good wishes for asylum seekers here.

But I think it does need to be said that there are people in our community and in Tennessee that do have some pretty bad attitudes toward asylum seekers.

Our own daughter who served as a waitress at Olive Garden was approached by one of the customers and was told that she should go back to the country where she came from.

You can imagine how that made her feel.

On the other hand, I spent a lot of my time as the director of a very small local nonprofit.

I spent a lot of my time on the border between Mexico and the United States.

Just two weeks ago, I was in two huge refugee camps in Reynosa, Mexico.

And I am constantly in contact with the human drama and trauma that's taking place south of our borders in countries like Guatemala, where we lived for many years, and Honduras.

Our nonprofit has served as sponsors for families seeking asylum.

And we have helped to relocate them to this area and helped them to get established.

And I can tell you that they're making some very, very fine residents of this part of the country.

We get them here, we just help them get set up just for a couple of months, they get out and they find jobs, they go to work.

You talk about family values, you talk about a good work ethic.

And so I hope that you will do everything that you can do to make sure that asylum seekers are well received.

And I was just thinking a minute ago that there are some cities in the United States of America that call themselves welcoming cities.

- Dr. Walker, your time's been up for a little while.

- I don't know if Chattanooga- - I really appreciate what you have to say.

- I don't know Chattanooga is one of those, I know San Francisco, San Antonio, some others.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if Chattanooga would proclaim itself to be officially a sanctuary city or at least a welcoming city for asylum seekers and refugees?

Thank you very much.

- Thank you, Sir, thank you very much.

Good evening, Sir.

- Hi, good afternoon.

My name is John Yoon, I'm a resident of Chattanooga and a registered voter here.

I also wanted to speak about the news of the asylum seekers that y'all have been hearing about just as personally, as a immigrant myself.

My family's from Korea.

I just felt like it was important to speak out as an immigrant on behalf of immigrant issues.

And I just hope the council and y'all help support creating a welcome community in Chattanooga.

And it's one of the reasons why I chose to move here from Georgia.

Of all the cities I could pick, I picked Chattanooga.

And I don't know if there's concerns, I don't know the particular concerns of why these asylum secrets were dropped off here but I just wanted to remind people that I have plenty of friends who were asylum seekers or refugees, and they've all become productive members of society, they've become doctors, engineers, lawyers.

I'm a lawyer myself and a business owner.

And I just hope y'all continue to remember these are all generally good people and they're here to just seek out the American dream just like the rest of us, thank you.

- Thank you.

- Good evening, Council.

My name is Luis Mata and I'm the Policy Coordinator with the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition.

So I will be reading the following statement from one of our community members who's currently on the ground, who would've loved to be here tonight to address you all but she's actually at the airport right now providing care to the migrant families.

The statement is as follows.

"I wanna thank the council for the opportunity to speak on this matter.

I am addressing you today as a 23 year resident of Chattanooga, a business owner, and a taxpayer.

Most of all, I am here today as a Latina woman and a mother.

One of the things that I love about the city is that people are usually friendly and welcoming, not only to newcomers, but the thousands of tourists and people just passing through on their way to another state.

For the last few weeks, we have had migrants, asylum seekers also passing through.

We as Chattanoogans have the opportunity to continue our tradition of leading with welcome and we must rise to this opportunity now.

While volunteering at the airport as interpreter, I saw people from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and other places in tears, but grateful that for some hours they were offered food, water, assistance with their travel paperwork.

But most of all, they appreciated the kindness, the warmth and support of a caring, human being.

We received them with respect, we received them with dignity.

It was our role as Chattanoogans to assist and welcome them.

And I cannot say how powerful it was to see their gratitude as they went through our airport security and to the airplane that would take them from Chattanooga and to their final destination.

I felt proud that I played a role in this moment of their journey.

I felt grateful that as a resident of the City of Chattanooga, I played my part in offering these individual safety and leading with dignity and respect.

I could only think of the Parable of the Good Samaritan that shows that kindness and doing the right thing can transcend fears, prejudice, and hate.

I hope that whatever decision or proactive action is made, it will be made on the side of kindness, leading with our values and welcome.

Thank you.

- Thank you.

(audience applauding) And I think I would add to that, that the decision will be to respond with compassion to vulnerable people fleeing extremely difficult circumstances that comes from our Chief of Staff in his open statement, and from what I heard this afternoon when we had a presentation on it in our strategic planning session, that's exactly how this council feels.

So thank you for your words.

Does anyone else wish to address council this evening?

If not, I will adjourn us.

Thank you all for coming.

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