Chairman Berlin Boyd's Recap for February 7th

Good evening,

The City Council is back in the full swing of things for 2017, working hard early in the year. I want to dive into a number of significant items (and, as always, the full picture is here).

Honoring a True Memphis Humanitarian: Each year, the Council commemorates the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by honoring a Memphian who has dedicated his or her life to the betterment of their fellow citizens and the promotion of racial harmony among all people, and today, we were honored to recognize Hazel Moore, the “Mayor of Whitehaven”. Ms. Hazel has focused her life and work on the important mission of raising our youth through the Academy for Youth Empowerment, the annual Whitehaven Christmas Parade, annual back-to-school drives and a Health Fair, as well as service to the State’s Cosmetology Board based on her expertise as a small business owner and entrepreneur as the long-time owner of Hazel’s Hair Fashions in Whitehaven. Please join us in honoring Miss Hazel.

Hazel Moore (left) joined by Councilwoman Robinson and friend Stevie Moore

Bringing Order to the Impasse Process: Each year, in wage disputes between the Administration and City employee associations, the Council serves as arbiter. This process, determined more than 20 years ago, has been poorly aligned with the Council’s budgetary oversight authority and is overdue for changes. In order to streamline improve the overall budget process for both City and Labor, Councilman Conrad today introduced an ordinance to simplify the Impasse Committee procedure and bring it in line with the budget timeline each fiscal year. Look forward to hearing more over the next three readings.

False Alarms Are Costing Memphis 31 Police Officers: Nearly 8% of MPD calls for service relate to burglar alarms, and in 2016, 99.2% of those alarm calls were false. That’s 62,494 false alarms, taking almost 64,000 officer hours and costing the city more than $1.7 million. As eliminating Memphis’ crime continues to be the Council’s top priority, these facts present an awesome opportunity to quickly improve the staffing and financial situation for MPD and the City as a whole.

As such, under the leadership of Councilman Philip Spinosa and in partnership with the Administration, the Council heard today for the first time an overhaul of the City’s Metro Alarms Ordinance. In addition to speeding up the process for fines and fees associated with multiple false alarms, the ordinance takes Memphis towards nationwide best practices on managing burglar alarms in this City. Burdens for compliance with permitting are shifted to alarm companies in order to ensure all customers throughout Memphis are in compliance, and commercial properties—which account for 13% of alarm users but more than half of false alarms—are required to prove the validity of an alarm before police response.

In other news:

• In light of recent upheavals at MATA, I immediately thought it a necessity to require an audit to ensure everything is still above board and in good shape, which is moving forward at an urgent pace, and I look forward to seeing and sharing the results in short time.
• An ordinance to update and modernize the City’s real estate sale process passed third reading today. The Commercial Appeal ran a very informative editorial about the changes here.
• In other recent news, the Council-led task force assessing the City’s size and density, in partnership with great leadership from the Strickland administration, heard recommendations for seven potential areas to deannex. Nothing has been decided: look forward to community meetings in all the affected areas as this process moves forward. Learn more here.

Have a great week and thanks for calling Memphis home.

Sincerely,

BB