City Council Business & Community Affairs Committee Meeting

CITY OF NORMAN, OK CITY COUNCIL BUSINESS & COMMUNITY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE MEETING Municipal Building, Executive Conference Room, 201 West Gray, Norman, OK 73069 Thursday, March 03, 2022 at 4:00 PM MINUTES The City Council Business & Community Affairs Committee of the City of Norman, Cleveland County, State of Oklahoma, met in Regular Session in the Executive Conference Room on the 3th day of March, 2022, at 4:00 p.m. and notice of the agenda of the meeting were posted at the Municipal Building at 201 West Gray and on the City website at least 24 hours prior to the beginning of the meeting. CALL TO ORDER Acting Chairman Hall calls meeting to order at 4:00 P.M. PRESENT Councilmember Ward 4, Lee Hall (Chair) Councilmember Ward 7, Stephen Holman OTHERS PRESENT Ms. Jane Hudson, Planning and Community Development Director Ms. Kathryn Walker, City Attorney Mr. Scott Sturtz, City Engineer Ms. Sara Kaplan, Business and Community Relations Mr. David Riesland, Transportation Engineer Ms. Jamie Meyer, Administrative Technician IV Mr. Taylor Johnson, Transit and Parking Program Manager Ms. Tiffany Vrska, Chief Communications Officer CITY COUNCIL BUSINESS & COMMUNITY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE MEETING - Thursday, March 03, 2022 Page |1 ITEM 1. CONTINUED DISCUSSION REGARDING STREETERIES IN DOWNTOWN NORMAN. Ms. Kathryn Walker, City Attorney, presented a proposal for a pilot program for streeteries, including the use of donated concrete barriers from ODOT to reduce costs. Ms. Walker stated that streeteries started back in the height of Covid when cities across the states were allowing restaurants to move dining into their parking lots to help those businesses. The Mayor issued a proclamation back in September of 2020, which was extended in November to March 1, 2021 and the city did not receive any applications at that time. As staff looks to develop a permanent program, businesses need to be involved in different areas to help spot the barriers to participation, look at esthetics and consider safety. Council also needs to consider the loss of public parking, particularly in areas with limited parking. Council thought it to be useful to do a pilot program with a couple of these businesses, and Oklahoma Department of Transportation has donated concrete barriers to the City of Norman for this program. Public Works and Development services put together a committee who approved the first application from The Meeting Place, which will operate between March and November due to weather conditions. The revocable permit for the Meeting Place will go to Council for approval. The City then will come out in March or upon approval and place the barriers, then pick them up in November. The City is calling this license the Right-of-Way license and the agreement has been worded for this particular type of use if something comes up with waterlines, for example, the City will give notice and be able to come out and do repairs. The City would like to move forward with completing this first application with Council’s direction to be able to get it on the agenda. Chairperson Hall said she was encouraged that the City has come this far in reviewing this application. She asked if the City was able to approve the materials. Mr. Scott Sturtz, City Engineer, said Staff is holding Public Works approval until a completed Right-of-Way license, is in place then inspectors will inspect for approval. Councilmember Holman said The Meeting Place would take up four parking spaces and asked if the businesses next to them have any kind of problem with that. Ms. Sara Kaplan, Business and Community Relations, said the owner is talking with their neighbors and does not anticipate a problem, but once it is a permanent program Staff will definitely want to have a process. Councilmember Hall said supporting a pilot program to see how it works first. Going forward with this test run and work out all the kinks. *** Item 2. DISCUSSION REGARDING THE POET LAUREATE PROGRAM Ms. Hillary Kuhn, Information Services Manager for Norman Public Library, introduced Joshua a Library Professional to present the Poet Laureate Program. He said it is a way to recognize someone who is contributed to a community’s arts and provide them with a platform to develop their own craft, to encourage other artists to develop and champion poetry and written word and literacy in their community. The US Poet Laureate Program is overseen by the Library of CITY COUNCIL BUSINESS & COMMUNITY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE MEETING - Thursday, March 03, 2022 Page |2 Item 2 continued Congress. Forty-six states including Oklahoma since 1994 have Poet Laureate Positions. The Norman Library is proposing to set up a position for a Poet Laureate that would be a two-year term, with the option of that being renewed for a second term. The Library is also wanting to establish a Poet Laureate selection committee. Members would come from the library, from the University of Oklahoma, and public schools, which would involve a two-year term with a $500 honorarium. The program would be funded equally by the City of Norman and the Friends of the Norman Library, with a selection committee including representatives from the library, University of Oklahoma, and public schools. Councilmember Holman said he is in agreement and would like to move forward Councilmember Hall asked if we could take it straight to an agenda at City Council meeting or do we need to bring it to full Council first Ms. Walker said we can get to a Conference meeting first with full Council then to the agenda. She felt a resolution to create the position and acknowledging the process was needed. The City would need at least one person on the nominating committee. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 4:26 p.m. CITY COUNCIL BUSINESS & COMMUNITY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE MEETING - Thursday, March 03, 2022 Page |3