City Council - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call this special call Bristol, Tennessee City Council meeting June 16th to order. Mary Lee, would you take the role?

Yes, sir. Slagle. Powers. Here. Aker. Here. Turner.

Here.

Farah. Here.

Welcome and thank everyone for attending. Tonight we'll have two opportunities to speak on city business. First, attendees are invited to speak regarding the public hearing item. I will announce when that opportunity comes up. And then we also have our appearance of citizens for anything that doesn't pertain to the public hearing. And there was a sign-up sheet out front as you entered chambers for sign-ups for that. Next, I would like to ask the police chief, Matt Austin, to lead us in our invocation and Vice Mayor Lee Powers to lead us in our pledge.

Thank you. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we come this evening with grateful hearts for the blessings that you have bestowed upon us in our city, our families and our community. We thank you for the opportunity to live and serve in Bristol, a place with rich history, faith, neighborly spirit. This council gathers to conduct the business of our city. Please grant them wisdom and discernment and integrity to each elected official, staff member, and citizen participating in this meeting. May their decisions be guided by the desire to serve a common good and strengthen our community. Help us all listen with respect, speak with kindness, and work together despite our differences. Give us the courage to address challenges and wisdom with the vision to create opportunities for future generations. We ask you, Father God, for the special blessings upon our first responders, public servants, educators, business leaders, and all of the city employees and volunteers who dedicate themselves daily for their well-being to keep them safe and strengthen them in our service. May this meeting be conducted in the spirit of cooperation, fairness, and humility. Let us all, let all that is done here tonight contribute to the stronger, safer, and more prosperous Bristol. In your holy name, we pray. Amen.

all right we have two public hearings on tonight's agenda the first public hearing is ordinance 26-3 adopting the annual budget and tax rate for the fiscal year beginning july 1 2026 till june 30th 2027. this public hearing is now open and director of finance holly bairn will present

good evening mayor and city council members an autumn for public hearing and second reading tonight is ordinance 26-3 to appropriate the fiscal year 2027 budget the fiscal year 27 budget totals 194 million four hundred four thousand six hundred sixty dollars reflecting a 25.8 percent increase or 39 million $809,205 over the fiscal year 26 budget. Part of this increase includes the 35 million for capital project facilities expenditures that will be funded by private contributions. This budget continues all city programs and services. The general fund is balanced with no planned drawdown of fund balance. The property tax rate remains at $1.845 per $100 of assessed value. Most of the capital purchases are budgeted to be funded by proceeds from a debt issuance. If that debt issuance does not occur, then those purchases would need to be revisited for a funding source. The total municipal funds equal $130 million $796,009, which is an increase of $35,635,830 or 37.4% above the fiscal year 26 budget. That does include the $35 million in private funding to support the designated capital projects. The total education funds equals $63,608,651, which is an increase of $4,173,375, or 7% above the fiscal year 26 budget. This next slide represents the amounts in each fund and illustrates the totals from the previous slides. And as you can see, the capital facilities fund reflects the expenditures increase for those privately funded projects. On the next slide, the funding for the Bristol Public Library is at $1,194,540. It's broken down on this slide to the various locations for the main library, the Evoken branch, adult learning lab, and insurance on the Evoken branch. The Evoka branch is funded entirely by Bristol, Tennessee, and the remaining programs are jointly funded with the City of Bristol, Virginia. The next slide shows the Bristol City Schools funding included at $5,110,061, and it's comprised of the amount shown on the slide, and this does not include that $250,000 transfer for capital expenditures.

All right. Thank you. Is there anyone in attendance tonight that would like to speak on this matter? If so, make your way to the podium. Alright, seeing none, this public hearing is now closed. Next we have. Ordinance 26 dash for public hearing amending the appropriation of funds for the budget for the fiscal year July 125 through June 30th of 26. This public hearing is now open and Holly will present on this.

So tonight, 26-4 is presented for public hearing and later on second reading to amend the 26th budget. The Chapter 420 fund is presented to increase to $12,322,679, and that reflects higher sales tax that we received in from the Board of Regents that we needed to pay out for the development agreement. The drug fund is presented to increase $178,050, and that increase was $67,374, and it's the replacement of a direct K-9 vehicle and some equipment and some software used by Criminal Investigations Division, and that funding is available in fund balance. The grant fund is presented to increase to $271,118. That increase is $67,763, and it's replacing K-9, some additional grants that were received during the year for fire equipment, senior center, and the America 250 celebration. The solid waste fund is presented to increase to $2,612,544. And that increase of $22,503 is due to truck repairs and rental of a truck for continued operations. And that funding is available in fund balance as well in that fund. The general purpose school fund is presented to increase to $52,631,754, and that's basically to align individual functions with the expenditures and adjustments made related to additional state grants that were awarded during the fiscal year. The school capital projects fund is presented to increase to $4 million, and that's a result of an increase of projects and equipment that carried over from the prior fiscal year. The transfer from general fund to the drug fund is increasing by $15,200, and that is due to additional fines and forfeitures, receipts that are statutorily required to be transferred to the drug fund. The transfer from general fund to the capital equipment fund is increasing by $1,014,000, or increasing to that, I'm sorry. And that's needed to fund the fire engine that was originally planned as a bond issue and some higher equipment costs that happened during the year. And the transfer from general fund to the capital facilities fund is presented at $461,000. $500, and that increase is needed to fund some HVAC replacements, a new fire alarm system at the main library, a parking lot to explore Bristol, and some improvements at the garage facility at Weaver Pike.

Okay, great. Is there anyone in attendance that would like to speak on this matter? Alright, seeing none, this public hearing is closed. Next is our appearance of citizens. We had a sign up sheet out front and we had one person, Mr Ron Kirk. Step to the podium.

I just wanted to share with all of you a positive thing that I've experienced. We hear all the negative and the criticism. A couple weeks ago, I had a nice meeting with Velma. I think she's held responsible for the budgeting department. And a week later, I had a nice meeting with Holly. I didn't know she was going to be here tonight. Uh, she, I think oversees our finance department. I had a lot of questions written down, very specific questions. They answered every single one of them in simplistic ways. They had the documentation. And the one thing that, uh, Holly didn't have when she sat down with me, she went and got, came back, satisfied all my questions and I appreciate them. We've got two good people there looking over things. That's all I got to say. Thank you.

Thank you very much. We appreciate that. Is there anyone else in attendance that would like to speak that did not sign up? Okay. Next, we have two ordinance on second reading. Ordinance 26-3, adopting the annual budget and tax rate for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026, ending June 30, 2027. This item was presented earlier during our public hearing section. And I guess, is there any questions for Ms. Varan on this matter? Do I have a motion to approve Ordinance 26-3?

Motion to approve ordinance 26-3, an ordinance to adopt the annual budget and tax rate for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026 and ending June 30th of 2027.

Is there a second?

Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion?

I'll just say a couple of things that this certainly is a different situation than we were in last year, and so we really appreciate Getting to this point, a lot of people worked really hard to get here, to get where we are. We know we still have a lot of work to do to keep it this way and to maintain and to be sure that we can keep reasonable tax rates for all of our citizens, particularly in this economy that's difficult for a lot of people at this time. So appreciate the work that everybody's done, the staff, uh, Kelly and her group and, uh, city council as well.

Okay. I would just add to that, that last year when we were here, there was a lot said from the community. And I just want you to know that we were listening. And as we went through the budgetary process this year, uh, last year, there were some unusual circumstances. We had the perfect storm for a very difficult budget session this year. We, uh, worked very diligently. Staff worked incredibly hard to get out in front of this and to land where we've landed this year. My hope is that in this coming year, we'll even dig a little bit deeper and hopefully to land in an even better place next year. So I'm appreciative of all that staff has done. I'm appreciative of council working together on this. I'm thankful for the leadership of our administrative team, which Kelly Bourgeois was an integral part. So I'm very pleased with our outcome for this year. Thank you.

Anything else? Mary Lee?

Yes, sir. Powers? Yes. Aker? Yes. Turner?

Yes.

Fire Robin? Yes.

All right. Next, we have Ordinance 26-4, amending the appropriation of funds and budget for the fiscal year July 1, 2025 through July, June 30th of 26. Uh, this item was also presented earlier during the public hearing. Uh, is there any questions for Ms. Ferran on this? Do I have a motion to approve ordinance 26 dash four?

Motion to approve ordinance 26 dash four and ordinance to amend the appropriation of funds and budget for the fiscal year, July 1st, 2025 through June 30th of 2026. Do you have a second? Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Mary Lee powers.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. All right.

We have three resolutions tonight. Uh, first resolution is 26 dash 75, uh, declaring the intent of the city of Bristol, Tennessee to reimburse itself for certain expenditures, uh, in the aggregate principal amount of not to exceed $10 million relating to municipal product projects. of the city with proceeds of bonds and other debt obligations to be issued by the city of Bristol, Tennessee. Director of Finance Holly Varen will present.

Tonight, resolution 2675 is presented as a resolution declaring the intent of the city to reimburse itself for certain expenditures related to municipal projects of the city with proceeds of bonds or other debt obligations to be issued by the city. So this resolution authorizes reimbursement for capital expenditures, including facilities, improvements, and operating vehicles and equipment. There has been no debt issued to date. However, if the city moves forward to issue debt within the next six months, this resolution allows for reimbursement of those expenditures. The fiscal year 27 budget was prepared with most of the capital equipment and some projects to be funded with proceeds from a debt issue. If these capital purchases take place without the issuance of the debt, then the 27 budget would need to be amended to reflect a different funding source. Debt financing was suggested by the city's financial advisors to fund capital items over the life of the assets, rather than depleting cash on hand and negatively affecting the funds. this next slide shows how the distributions of those proceeds would be in fiscal year 27 should you do proceed with the debt issue and the next slide was just an illustration of the projects that were included in the 27 budget that would be funded by the debt proceeds should that occur okay great all right are there any questions on this

Yes. Don't sit down, Holly. Just a question. So these are the things we talked about. But if we had additional items, there's nothing that would cause us not to be able to add something that's not already in the budget or?

If it's not in the budget, you really need to amend the budget before we went through with that purchase that you could include it in the capital if it meets the capital needs.

Okay. But there's a process to do that. So, okay.

Okay.

you have a motion to approve resolution 26-75 motion to approve resolution 26-75 and i'll second that we have a motion in a second any further discussion yeah i just wanted to say um again i spoke last time about the presentation from davenport and that we had at our work session and i know i grew up with a pay-as-you-go with parents that owned money only for their house and I think we've done a lot of that with our city, not all of it, but it's different times and really trying to evaluate what fiscal responsibility is. And borrowing funds and using debt is part of fiscal responsibility. It's not always responsible not to spend money. It can be how you spend it, how you save it, what you do to manage it. So I think the presentation was interesting. I think looking at doing this appears that it could be very helpful to help us catch up and perhaps be a tool to keep up some in the future as well.

Mary Lee?

Yes, sir. Powers? Yes. Aker? Yes. Turner? Yes. Firewater? Yes.

All right. Next, we have Resolution 26-76, authorizing entry into an agreement with the Commonwealth of Virginia for fiscal year 2027, FHA Metropolitan Planning Funds for the Bristol MPO. And we will have Mr. Micah Bray present on this.

Good evening, mayor and city council members. Resolution 26-76 authorizes entry into agreement with Virginia for FY27 Federal Highway Administration funds for the Bristol MPO. This is an annual agreement that the city administers on behalf of the Bristol MPO. who coordinates transportation planning activities for the Bristol Metropolitan Planning Area. As part of the annual transportation planning activities, this grant helps to fund most of our general planning purposes. And these are FHWA funds that are administered through VDOT. The MPO has been allocated FHWA funding of $54,785.89 with a combined total of the Commonwealth transportation funds of $6,848.23 and a non-reimbursable required local match of $6,848.23. There's a total of $68,482.35 for transportation planning activities under this letter of agreement. And I'll mention, too, because this comes in annually, sometimes we do spend all that money and other times we don't. This is less than last year because we had less carryover. This is one of our best grants in terms of the smallest general fund contribution. So we try to use it as much as possible. Great. Thank you so much.

Are there any questions for Mr. Bray?

I don't have a question. Can I make a comment or shall I wait?

Sure.

My comment is congratulations on the grant. I know y'all have worked diligently for that. It's a big bang for our efforts to receive this much in-grant funding and just really appreciate your efforts. And as things have changed, you know, transportation study is very important right now to be sure that we're meeting the needs of the community and in the best possible way. So thank you.

Do I have a motion to approve Resolution 26-76?

Motion to approve resolution 26-76.

Do I have a second?

I'll second.

So we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Mary Lee?

Powers? Yes. Aker? Yes. Turner?

Yes.

Fyrover? Yes.

Next, we have Resolution 26-77, authorizing the city to obtain workers' compensation insurance from Key Risk Insurance Company. Director of Administration, Mary Lee Williams, will present.

Thank you, Mayor. Each year, the workers' compensation policy for the city renews, and the block that you see on the screen represents the current coverage, or actually current carrier and their quote from public entity partners. as well as the most competitive quote that we received. As you can see, this is a savings of a little over $72,000. We did budget this savings. We were close enough in the process. We were able to budget some savings, but this is about $8,000 more than we anticipated in savings. So we would like permission with the resolution 2677 to move forward with this change. In addition to the hard cost savings that you see there, we were able both of those quotes are based on a lower deductible which may potentially save us some additional dollars as well so we would like permission to move forward under 2677. do we put this out every year for we have not necessarily put this out every year there is tca code that if you're under public entity partners does not have to go to bid so we have been with them for quite a few years okay so we didn't see quotes this year

Okay. Okay. Great.

And Mayor, I will recuse myself.

Okay. All right. Are there any questions for Ms. Williams on this item? Do I have a motion to approve Resolution 26-77?

Motion to approve Resolution 26-77. And I'll do a second.

A motion and a second. Any further discussion? Mary Lee?

Sure. Powers? Aker? Yes. Turner? Yes. Farrell? Yes.

Okay. Next we have the council discussion related to the appointment of the new city manager. I will start this out by taken a few minutes to provide the public with an update on what we have done during this search process and explain the steps that have been taken by city council. We had the application process that was open from May 1st to close on May 15th. I believe Mary Lee looked at those numbers. And during that time, the city received more than 50 applications and candidates representing numerous states across the country. For purposes of Council's initial review, each applicant was assigned a number rather than being identified by name. During a public work session, Council reviewed and discussed the applications and identified candidates to participate in the next stage of the process. Those candidates participated in virtual interviews followed up by in-person one-on-one interviews conducted on June 7th. Those interviews were part of the information and gathering process. Any deliberation, narrowing of the field, or final action by counsel will occur in this open, publicly noticed meeting consistent with Tennessee law. Yesterday, I received a call with one of our candidates withdrew his name from consideration. And as a result, we have one sole candidate which is Mr. Matt Slagle that will be under consideration by council for the position of city manager. This has been a deliberate and thoughtful process focused on identifying the individual best suited to lead our city organization and serve the citizens of Bristol. We appreciate the interest shown by applicants from across the country and thank you for our community for the patience throughout this process. With that, we can open up the discussion.

So before we talk too much, just also clarify that things were different this time because the state, well, they were different in different ways, but the state has passed legislation that allows us to do interviews together, which we did online. Then we did the interviews separately prior to this legislative session. We would not have been able to do that. But that's one of the things. And so our Tennessee Sunshine Laws are pretty hard to deal with for us up here with and elected officials with personnel issues. So they made changes this year that allows us to have a little more flexibility in looking at candidates. Did I capture that?

Well, and I think some of that was to also protect applicants so that they could freely apply and not feel threatened in their current job or position. Correct. Correct.

So who would like to start on this discussion? Would you like to?

I have, uh, I have a little indirect, but to do with the process and with candidates, et cetera, it's about five minutes long. Y'all ready? So, okay. Um, so the city of Bristol, Tennessee, uh, we're under the council manager form of governments governance. Um, this form has been identified and proven to be the a most, if not the most effective form of local governments. governance, the ICMA, which is the international city managers association states under the council manager form governing authority is vested in the elected governing body, often a council. And we know, uh, King sport is the same one, but they're alderman, um, Johnson city or commissioners, but there's still the same form of government, which hires a professional administrator to implement its policies. These highly trained, experienced individuals serve at the pleasure of the elected governing body and have responsibility for preparing the budget, directing the day-to-day operations, hiring and firing personnel, and serving as the council's chief policy advisor. That's what we're responsible for today. Most of you all know I've served for a long time, 28 years. Um, just about, I was appointed almost 32 years ago when there was a vacancy. I worked with several excellent city managers, Frank Clifton, Jeff Broughton, Bill Sora, Kelly Bourgeois. They all had in common integrity to the highest degree. Integrity is what I value above all with both city managers and with council members. I wanted to take time to read the ICMA has a code of ethics. The mission of ICMA is to create excellence in local governance by developing and fostering a professional local government management worldwide. To further this mission, certain principles, as enforced by the rules of procedure, shall govern the conduct of every member of ICMA. We believe professional management is essential to effective, efficient, equitable, and democratic local government. The people shall affirm the dignity and worth of local government services and maintain a deep sense of social responsibility as a trusted public servant shall be dedicated to the highest ideals of honor and integrity in all public and personal relationships in order that the member may merit the respect and confidence of the elected officials. of other officials and employees and of the public shall serve the best interests of all community members. And I'll just note on that those managers for what I saw all treated everybody the same. Whatever your issue was, you were treated with the same respect. Submit policy proposals to elected officials, provide them with facts and technical and professional advice about policy options. Collaborate with them in setting goals for the community and the organization. Shall recognize that elected representatives are accountable to their community for the decisions they make. Members are responsible for implementing those decisions, managers are. Shall refrain from all political activities which undermine public confidence and professional administrators. Refrain from participation in the election of the members of the employing legislative body shall continually improve professional capabilities and those of others while fostering growth and development through ethical leadership and effective management practices shall keep the community informed on local government affairs, encourage and facilitate active engagement and constructive communication between community members and all local government officials. Shall oppose efforts to interfere with professional responsibilities by consistently executing official duties, policies, and processes with an unwavering commitment to unbiased public service. Shall manage all personnel matters with fairness and impartiality. The public office is a public trust. A manager or member shall not leverage his or her position for personal gain or benefit. And this was originally adopted in 1924, and they reviewed it last year in 25. Tonight, we're deliberating for selection of our next city manager. I hold the standard high for integrity for the city manager candidate, for ourselves as city council members, for citizens, and for our city employees. We have a great city. We have had professional leadership through managers, councils, and employees. We should expect nothing less for the future. With this process, we depend on each other to hold each other accountable to the standards of integrity and ethics. We may need reminding from time to time, and we means all of us, We may need support. We may need to mentor others, but we will work together to hold high our city and community. And that's how I'll open things up. Thank you for listening.

Sure.

Mark has the floor. Say what? Are you? No, I'm passing it on. Okay. I'm through with that part, yeah. Okay.

Would you like to go? Any comment from you? Well, I'll just say that of going through this process, I was here three years ago when we went through the same process. And I think that going through this the second time, It's very similar to the first time. I'll say for myself that really the past three years, but especially in the last year and a half, two years, from the community, I have heard so many times of the fact that we need a city manager that is from Bristol and knows this area, knows the people. And so I heard you. And I'm glad that Matt put his application in. And like I said, there were two. One yesterday morning called and withdrew their name. So I think that with Matt's background of managing people of knowing the community knowing the staff that we have and we have a great staff to surround our next next city manager and i think from a budgeting standpoint is going to be a tremendous benefit to our community and so With that said, I'm in support and we'll be voting for Mr.

So can you clarify it? We're not, we're voting.

If we have a, um, if there is a motion and a second to move forward with into what we would be doing is, is, and we actually have our attorney that has helped us with this, um, through this process of, um, It would be of entering into a contract negotiation with Mr. Slagle for the city manager position. So that's.

And then we come back with a contract, right? That would be approved.

That would have the contract and the employment agreement and all of that would have to be approved. by this body. And, uh, that would hopefully be on July the 7th of for that.

So we like to invite sunny to the podium to discuss it from her perspective.

I don't know that if there's anything, I mean, is there anything to Didn't mean to put you on the, uh, the spot missing.

No, there's no problem. Um, everything you've said is accurate. Uh, what you'd be voting for. If the decision of the council is to move forward with Mr. Slagle as the candidate, you would be voting to move forward into a contract negotiations with him.

Okay.

And once there's the contract was negotiated, then that would come back before the board for approval.

Okay. Great. Any other. Discussion.

So I can just say so organizations have cultures, right? And I think we've had a pretty healthy culture. And when I spoke of integrity and ethics, I think that's been part of our culture. Also, particularly with the work that has been done with Kelly and with Mary Lee and that team and each of you employees in your departments. I think kindness and consideration and working together has differently been part of our organizational culture. In interviews with candidates, but with Matt, I asked how his employees would describe him. He said that he thought they would describe him as collaborative. He also said that he seeks first to understand and that that's what he does with his employees. So that would fit with the culture that we have created. We know that it always takes time to learn new management from everybody's side for any time anything changes. It happens up here. Ray came on. Things change. We had to get used to having different person different but we work together when Matt was appointed also the same thing so it does take time so I hope that we will if this goes forward and if Matt's legal is chosen that we will all work together to may continue with our organization to be the best that it can be and to support leadership in participating in that. And that includes mentoring. It means having courage to, let's see, I think Brene Brown says rumble, to not exactly call people out, but to be honest. And hopefully that atmosphere will be created as well. because that's when we improve and that's when we can make better decisions together, et cetera. So.

I would like to reiterate what the mayor said in listening to the community. They were interested in someone regionally. I've also had the opportunity to speak with business leaders who have worked directly with Mr. Schlegel. The comment that I heard in talking with his former employer was that he, first of all, felt that the culture was very important. Margaret, you mentioned culture. That the culture in any organization is important and it's important to understand that he is very collegial and collaborative and wants to work with, not work above. That in many, not in many instances, but in several instances, he and a coworker instituted the Green Mile. in their organization where they had provided training opportunity after training opportunity for their associate to reach benchmarks that they had in front of them. And when it was deemed that it simply was not going to work, that time was appropriated to allow that employee to seek other employment before they were terminated. That he was very sensitive to our community and very passionate about it. I've also spoken with county leaders who I understand, and I listened very diligently, Margaret, when you were talking about for it to be a nonpolitical position, and I understand that. But we also have to talk about relationships, and we have to work with those who are in public office across many different factions, our federal, our state, our county, as well as our local. I know that Mr. Slagle is absolutely passionate not only about Bristol but about Sullivan County. I know that he's not only passionate about working within our city but about working within our school system and to work collaboratively with the school system administration. I believe that Mr. Slagle brings a unique skill set While he has not come up through the ranks specifically of public service, he is a public servant that has come up through the ranks of the private sector. He has, uh, uh, a tremendous skill set as is evidenced by the work that he's completed as well as by the, um, opportunities that he has created just a little bit about. Mr. Slagle is that he is currently working with Assurant as a general manager, DCC Logistics and Operations. Prior to that, he worked at FlexTech as the president and chief operating officer. He worked in both organizations, actually, was found to be a multicultural organization. where many different languages, many different traditions, and many different cultures were represented and are represented. He is passionate about operations leadership, supply chain planning, workforce management, analytics, reverse logistics, P&L and budget management. He has his ISO designation. He has participated as a lead auditor on three different audits in his professional life. He is well versed in quality and compliance and cross-functional leadership. I was told that one of the best meetings that we've had most recently was actually a meeting about the development out in the King College area, the planned housing community. And so much of the reason for its success was because the planning department pulled in every department that would be working on that project. It was truly a phenomenal exercise in collaboration. I believe that Mr. Schlegel will implement that, not just in special projects, but across the board. I believe that Mr. Schlegel is passionate about our community. Margaret, you thought you were going five minutes. Is passionate about our community and this is his home. His parents live here along with his sister. His grandparents were very prevalent, very important in our community. One of his great uncles is very dear to our family, has no bearing but I know that he comes from great stock that has a long legacy in our community. It is not his intention to come in and to make critical changes off the cuff, but to come in and to work collaboratively, recognizing the professionalism at not only our highest levels, but throughout our organization. For that reason, I support Matt Slagle to be put into nomination and elected or to move forward with the contract negotiation. I think it would be a privilege and an honor for us to have him in the role of city manager.

Is that a motion?

I make a motion. Ray, did you want to jump in there?

I'm going to second it.

Okay. I make a motion to put into nomination Mr. Matt Slagle for the office of city manager.

And that for our...

attorney in regard to this matter, Sonny Santos. Did I get that right? Santos. I'm sorry. To be empowered to negotiate the contract on behalf of the Bristol, Tennessee City Council.

Did I get it right?

I assume that's also with our HR department that knows all the ins and outs, right?

All contracts.

Negotiations will be done in accordance and conjunction with your HR department to meet all city requirements.

So however that needs to read in the motion, really. Yes, ma'am. Did I get it right enough?

Are we good?

Are we good? Yes, sir.

Okay. Have a second?

I think we did. Okay.

So we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Mary Lee?

Powers? Yes. Akard? Yes. Turner? Yes. Farrell? Yes.

OK. We will start that process whenever. OK. Next, I guess is there any, I guess number one, I'd like to welcome Mr. Ramsey is our interim first meeting, I guess, as the interim city manager. And if you have any comments or anything that you have to add.

No, I just look forward to working with Matt, ready to get things started and move forward.

Okay. Any further comments from council?

But I will say these are the applicants. We've all read through every single one of them. There were 52. They have been researched ad nauseum, and there have been appropriate background checks on those that advanced. This has been a great experience, I believe, because it truly tells us what we have amongst us. And in our own community, we have tremendous leadership. Our executive team, our team's out in the public, and I'm looking forward to moving forward.

I'll go off the topic, and I wrote something down. I can't read my own writing. But anyway, I just wanted to note and thank Bristol, Virginia for moving ahead with the landfill. They're purchasing more equipment that was recommended way back when, when we first had a team of people come in. So glad to see that that continues the work there and appreciate our Bristol, Virginia Council for embracing that and spending money to make it right. Also, Mr. Kirk, I want to thank you for your comments tonight, but also to thank you for attending a lot of meetings. You know more than the average, far more than the average citizen from attending not just these meetings, but work sessions too. So appreciate your interest in learning, et cetera. So appreciate that. And appreciate our Sullivan County officials that are not quite elected yet for Kim. But Cheryl, thank you all for being here and appreciate that. And BTS folks for being here, Clayton and April. And I'll recognize Annette Tudor. Thank you for being here. And Kelly Graham from Planning Commission, as well as a previous mayor who hired a couple of city managers. during his time as well. So appreciate everybody who came out to participate tonight and appreciate staff that particularly the ones that didn't have a part on the agenda. So and Brian, thank you very much for the work. And don't worry, you're going to be doing it for a little while. It's not over tonight or on the 7th or you're going to have a little bit of time. Um, anyway, hopefully you can get all your jobs done. Our culture is understanding, but there's still work to do. So anyway, thank you very, very, very much.

Thank you, Clayton and April for attending and the Harvey's and everyone else. And, uh, also the sleigh goals on the back row. I just happened to see, um, anything else? With that, we're adjourned.