It's turning it on right now. Turns it off. >> Hasn't turned me on, has it going? You're good. >> Can you hear me now? Yes, you can. Hi, everybody. Thanks for all showing up. We don't have a quorum yet. So, we're going to wait a few more minutes before we can't really do any business. Can we
even We can't even go with Can Sandra anything. >> All right. >> All right. Let's Let's do that. Let's get started. I have two people who have submitted cards for public comment. If there's anyone else that needs needs a card to sign in, let us know.
All right. First up, uh, Katherine Kurszowl. I didn't get it right. Kurszswe. Katherine Kurszile. And there's a microphone over here. And if you would state your name and address for the record, please. Hi. Hey, good evening everyone. Um, I'm
Katherine Kerszswall and I live in Tallahassee, Florida. Um, on FSU student housing. Um, and I wanted to thank everyone who's here today who's in support of the historic harms amendment. Um, I think this is a very important
amendment because Tallahassee has a long history of injustice and we see the impact of these injustices today. Um, as a FSU student, I see it that it's very apparent, you know, how our bus systems
work really fast, how there's multiple bus stops, but when I try to go to or from Frenchtown, it's not really the same story. Um, and other places, low-income places in Tallahassee, Florida, you know, maybe the sidewalks aren't as good and not too much
attention is put on it as much as FSU. And um I just wanted to say that, you know, our county has the money and the resources to make substantial change in local Tallahassee communities. And I would like to see these funds go back to
the people of Tallahassee. Um I also wanted to talk about a historic harm that I was reading about a little bit today and it's called Smoky Hollow. So Smoky Hollow was an 85 acre land and it was a community in Tallahassee where
black people lived and found community after Jim Crow laws and segregation and it was said to be a vibrant community in urban Tallahassee. But in 1957, Appalache Parkway was built right through the center of it and it displaced a lot of people. Um, it also
happened to be highly contaminated and toxic for its residents because there was a 10-acre landfill and gasification plant that poisoned the air and water um making it uninhabitable and no money was given to the people who wanted to relocate to save their lives.
So, this begs the question, where are the families of the people who lived in Smoky Hollow? And how can the county ensure not only that this never happens again, but the descendants of these families are compensated for the harm that their family endured? And that's
why this amendment is so important. Um, imagine how much we could uncover about Tallahassee history if county staff looked into stories like these. And imagine how many families would get the justice they deserve. Tallahassee is a significantly black city and Leyon
County is a significantly black county in the black belt south and black and brown people built this city and are a vital part of our laws and our laws need to reflect that. That's why we need to add historic harms to our ballot. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Your timing was perfect. >> All right. Um, next up is Thomas Spears. Madam Chair, >> the last speaker. >> Um, I don't see why you can't comment on it. Go ahead, please.
>> First of all, thank you for coming and and giving your testimony. I call it testimony because you're talking about something that is uh um very very important and historic and it obviously touching you in a way that c that gave you the um the ju I guess just the
courage to get up and and and talk um to talk about it. I don't know if you spent any time over at John G. Riley Museum, but um um they've done significant research on Smoky Hollow and um in fact there's a monument um dedicated to it
and quite a lot of history that's that's already being told. Our firm dominate donated significant dollars um when we were um when the the city and the county were actually doing the research and trying to um do something significant to
acknowledge it. So, I would I would suggest to you that if you haven't done that that that um you should go over to John G. Riley and there's a lot to learn about Smokey Hollow. U one of the most fascinating things about it is how it's it got its name. Do you know that?
>> So, do you do you do you know that? So because it's it's low it was one of the lower uh hills um or lower than the hills when the citizens would cook their food which was being cooked outside
because they didn't have um the ability to cook inside all you would see on other parts of in in other parts of Tallahassee was the smoke coming up from them actually cooking outside >> and that's how it got the name Smoky Hollow.
>> Right. So, thank you. >> Yeah, it's a great place to visit. Very. And your firm has done a ton to support the Riley House over the years. >> Thank you. And I like the report, but my microphone doesn't work. >> Well, you had a good voice. I heard
every word. I'm sorry. Carry on. Now, the famous resident, if you've ever eaten famous Amos cookies, uh famous Amos from Tallahassee, Florida, uh came up with that recipe and it's gone
worldwide since then. From Smoky Holla, Tallahassee, Florida, >> right? I mean, out of that very area, I mean, Alamisa Barnes and the Riley House, they've really become known statewide for really expanding uh historic knowledge in so many ways, not
just Smoky Hollow, but uh the history in countless ways of this community and been a leader with other communities having similar organizations and programs too. So, >> and I think our committee member, M, Mr. Pitman donated the
conference center to the Rounder House Museum. Want to thank you for that as well. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Nice. Can't vote on that, but we will. That's good. >> Thank you. All right. Um Yeah. Mr.
Spears, you're up. >> Sure. Thanks. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Uh Thomas Spears, I live at um 32303. Um I appreciate that those comments. Yeah, I didn't know those particular things. I'm also speaking of course in favor of the amendment. Um it seems as
though this body has a pretty uh united uh approach towards this amendment to push it to the county. So I think it'd be important to talk about some of the places that need the kind of attention. And I also would want to speak about Smoky Hollow. Um the little bit of
research that I did um probably things are already well known that there was the um gasification plant there and there was a landfill. Um I didn't know particularly till I did that research. It ended up becoming a super fun site and the first environmental investig
investigations did not happen until um 1985 and the final like the official declaration that it was clean was not until 2019 what I saw in the EPA. That is pretty insane. And so what I think
about what this amendment can mean is what was the county's role in making Smoky Hollow the location that people in that situation of course thinking, you know, to avoid the anti-DI laws, why people in that situation had
to go there. Now, of course, it was uh very close to downtown. the city did those uh investigations, but the county may have played some roles. Whatever kind of things that I can find or any one of us can find online doesn't even really matter because the true power of
this amendment is that the county staff can find that information. They have more resources. They have access to whatever kind of county files are available that aren't maybe not are available to the public. And of course, if this is part of what their job would
be, they would have the time to go through and do that. So, and there are potentially dozens of other locations around the county inside and outside of u the city limit city limits that need this kind of attention. Um, so that's the primary things that
this amendment really needs to be passed for. So, I hope you all vote in favor to go to the uh third uh meeting. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. We do have a quorum here now. So, I'm going to drop back to our consent uh calendar on the agenda.
Do I hear a motion to approve the minutes of this >> meeting, please? Pardon me. >> I'd move approval of the minutes. >> Do a second. >> Second. >> Motion's been made and second to approve the consent calendar and minutes. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> And oppose. No. Thank you very much.
Um I don't know that we have any more public speakers at the moment. No, we're good. All right, take it away. >> Thank you. >> Good evening, committee members. Is this on? Okay, perfect. All right. As a quick
recap, um, at your public hearing last month, the committee considered uh the draft language for your proposed charter amendment addressing adverse community conditions related to historic public policies and governmental practices. As shown on the screen, the proposed amendment includes three primary
concepts. Establishing a periodic community impact assessment to evaluate adverse community conditions related to historic county laws, policies, and practices, requiring those findings uh to be made publicly available, and requiring the board of county commissioners to publicly review and
respond to each assessment during a board meeting. The full amendment language is provided as attachment number one uh in your materials. As you'll see on attach in attachment one, the draft includes uh a couple minor revisions related um I'm sorry,
resulting from the county attorney's legal review. These revisions are intended to improve clarity and consistency while preserving the committee's original direction and intent. Uh I'll briefly walk through each of these changes uh which are also reflected up on your screen. First, the
initial draft used the terms periodic and recurring interchangeably for consistency. The proposed language now uses the term periodic throughout. Second, a minor uh wording change uh has been made to replace the word or with
and to clarify that the assessments would address county laws, policies, and practices rather than or. Again, these are just technical word smmithing revisions only and do not alter the substance or the intent of the proposed amendment.
These these revisions are also summarized in your materials, but we can provide any additional clarity as needed. Lastly, as a recap, up on the screen are the ballot title and language previously approved by the committee. As outlined in your materials, the committee will
have the opportunity to review and if desired, further amend the ballot title and language during the third and final public hearing on July 30th. That meeting will provide the committee a final opportunity to ensure the ballot language reflects the charter amendment uh before your final approval. So with
that, we're provided uh the options for you today up on the screen and I'll hand it back to your chair to get you started. Thank you, Nikki B. Thank you, Mr. Mr. Terry.
>> Just a real quick question. And if you go back a slide, I just want to make sure that the use of recurring versus periodic in this particular case is the appropriate use of or or what was intended uh since it was changed to periodic in the other.
>> So this is as you approved it uh at your special meeting if the committee wants to amend that to say recurring or periodic or >> if you go back one more slide. I just want to be clear that I'm asking an example recurring
and we did it again in section X or you see it in section X2. We crossed out recurring and put periodic. I'm just asking if in the in the slide that just you just showed as the language does it matter that we that it's not
changed or that the appropriate use of recurring in the other amendment language? >> I I would go ahead. I would suggest consistency in the language. So if you're going to change it to periodic in the charter amendment language that you use the term
periodic in the the language in the ballot. Yes. I I I would recommend that change. >> Thank you. >> So when we make our final decision at the final meeting, we can I guess go ahead and discuss that if that's what we want. If we want to go forward with
periodic which yeah >> go to the next line >> may just be a typo. Is that supposed to be a question mark or period at the very end? >> Well the question on the ballot is shall it be so which is >> no at the end of the paragraph after
practices governmental practices that should that be appear >> it's a question >> because it is the question on the ballot is shall we approve this? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Right. Is there any other discussion on this or we have plenty of time and any thoughts on it?
>> I had a process question, >> Mr. Hurley. >> Um, so I I don't think this is going to have any problem leave it. It is it is on. Um, but I guess it's not on. Um, so
I don't think >> Oh, I heard it when you >> Okay. >> Okay. So, um, I just want to make sure that this passes the county commission and I asked, uh, at the last meeting. Um, when was the last date we could possibly
amend anything at all? Um, and so then it was said to be July 30th. So, the next public hearing. And so just to confirm, if one county commissioner said we want to change it from just one word somewhere, would they be able to do that
at the county commission? Okay. Okay. So, um, uh, Leon County Commissioner Bill Proctor appointed me to this body, so I I don't anticipate that he's going to have problems with this language. Um, and I can't do the mental math quick
enough to see if we have every county commissioner represented here, but I would just encourage the members um to bring this specific language, the long form language in front of the county commissioners individually to make sure because we could if any of them have any issues, we can make those changes at the
next meeting. >> U, do we have a do we have a date for the county commission meeting that they will um August 17th is the one? Okay. So before then, because this material is available to them now as we move along, but yeah.
>> Well, thank you, Madam Chair. I I meant um that if let's say they wanted to change anything, we'd have to do it before the July 30th. >> Uhhuh. >> Yeah. >> Right. >> So, I just want to make sure that all the county commissioners >> I hear you. >> Yeah, >> that's all.
>> Right. And as one of the staff members mentioned, even though I mean we have we have one more public hearing and some people might uh just be putting off coming to talk to us until the very last time for various reasons. So we still have a ways to go on this. So is there
any other comments or questions? Thank you all for being here. I know it's a lot for the staff. Gosh, everybody's been great setting us up in such a professional and great way. Thank you. Do I hear a motion to adjurnn? >> Oh, no. You need an option. Oh, I'm
sorry. You know what? We need to vote on this. Just stick to it. I'm always ready to get us out the door. >> Option. >> Keep thinking. We're still just talking. So, just move it forward basically. >> Option. >> Option one. >> We need a motion. >> Yeah. Do I need a motion for just moving more step?
>> Motion's been made and second for option one. All in favor? >> I guess no. Thank you very much. Motion passes unanimously. Uh so uh as a reminder, your third and final public hearing is scheduled for July 30th. Same
place, same time. And again, the board's public hearing will be taking place on August 17th. And we'll be gearing up for election day on November 3rd. >> Thank you everybody. >> I would not be out July 30th.
>> Done it without you.