City Council - Regular Meeting

right at 7 o'clock. So, I'd like to welcome everyone to tonight's April 7th, 2026 city council meeting and ask that you please silence all electronic devices. I'm making sure mine are.

Okay. Okay. Very good. Also this evening um like to acknowledge that council member Jeff Smi is not here and has been excused from the meeting um due to work responsibilities. And at this time I invite you to pause for a moment as we center ourselves and prepare for this meeting this evening. I always like to ask you to look around and it's wonderful to look around when the room is full. So look around and notice your community here in this space ready to do good work for our community. And I'll just let you take that in and take a deep breath in and let it out. and let us be about the work of our city council meeting this evening. Thank you all. So, we do have some proclamations this evening and I am I don't see everyone present but um for the proclamations but is Katie Snider here?

Okay. Um then let let me get to it first. Okay. So this evening we have a proclamation uh recognizing litter sweep. Um with my southern accent I have to work at saying that well. Litter sweep. How about that? Um which is April 11th through the 25th. Um, and I'll read a part of this proclamation to you. Whereas the North Carolina Department of Transportation sponsors a bianual statewide roadside litter removal initiative called litter sweep. And whereas volunteers and maintenance crews devote time during the sweep to safely removing litter with support provided by NC DOT via local program coordinators. And whereas all municipalities and citizens in Alamance County are invited to participate in litter sweep by New Leaf Society, a nonprofit organization that partners with local governments and NC DOT to improve the the county's curb appeal. Now therefore, I, Mayor Beth Kennet, and the Burlington City Council, do hereby proclaim April 11 through 25, 2026 as Litter Sweep Week in the city of Burlington. Furthermore, I urge all residents to support efforts to protect and enhance the appearance of our city by reducing litter. This the seventh day of April, 2026. And I think Gary is going to receive this proposal.

Thank you. Thank you.

I'm going to get my steps in this evening. Thank you. Thank you.

So, we have three proclamations tonight. And um there's not a microphone down there, so I'm going to run back and forth. Just bear with me. So, the next proclamation is for the National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, which is April 12 through 18. And I'd like to recognize Kenyan Harris from Burlington Graham Police Fire to receive the proclamation. And we'll do the same routine. I'll read it out and then I'll bring it to you. The city of Burlington, North Carolina proclamation recognizing National Public Safety Telecommunications Week, April 12 through 18, 2026. Whereas this week is a time to show our appreciation and to recognize that our health, safety, and well-being are often dependent on the commitment and steadfast devotion of public safety to telecommunicators because emergencies can occur at any time that requires police, fire, emergency, medical service or other critical services. And whereas public safety telecommunicators are dedicated men and women who are professional staff and are more than anonymous voices on the telephone line, they are the first first responder and are the most critical contact our citizens have with emergency services. And whereas public safety telecommunicators have assisted with the apprehension of criminals, suppression of fires, and treatment of patients, the work of these unseen heroes is invaluable in emergency situations. And each of these dedicated men and women deserves our heartfelt appreciation. Now therefore, in recognition of the men and women of Burlington Graham Communication Center, whose diligence and professionalism keep our citizens in the city of Burlington and Graham safe, I, Mayor Beth Kennet, on behalf of the Burlington City

Council, hereby proclaim April 12 through 18, 2026 as National Public Safety Telecommunications Week in the city of Burlington. This the seventh day of April 2026. Thank you all for All right. Thank you. We have a lot to proclaim and a lot to celebrate in Burlington. Our next proclamation, um, I'd like to recognize Meredith Pley and Julie Bud from Crossroads to receive this proclamation. And we'll do the same routine. The city of Burlington, North Carolina proclamation recognizing sexual assault awareness month, Denim Day, April the 29th, 2026. And if you don't know what Denim Day is, just do a web search and find it. Um, and this will say a little bit too, but whereas April is nationally recognized as sexual assault awareness month, a time to raise public awareness about sexual violence and to educate communities on how to prevent it. And whereas Denim Day began as an

international campaign to stand in solidarity with survivors and to challenge harmful myths and misconceptions about sexual violence. And whereas communities are encouraged to wear denim as a symbol of protest against victim blaming and to promote conversations about consent, respect, and the importance of ending sexual violence. Now therefore, I, Mayor Beth Kennet, and the Burlington City Council, hereby proclaim April 29th, 2026 as Denim Day in recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness Month in the city of Burlington, North Carolina, and encourage all community members to wear denim, support survivors, and participate in activities that promote awareness, prevention, and respect for all. This the seventh day of April, 2026. Thank you. Thank you all. So remember on April 29th, get to wear jeans to work, right?

That's right. Okay. At this time, I'd like to recognize our city clerk, Beverly Smith. Members of council, it is my responsibility to remind you of your duty to avoid conflicts of interest. I ask if there are any potential conflicts concerning tonight's agenda items. Okay. Next on our agenda is the approval of minutes from the March 3rd city council meeting and the March 17th city council meeting. I need a motion and a second to approve the minutes. Motion approved. Second. All in favor? I I thank you. And uh I need a motion and second to adopt the agenda for this evening.

Second. All in favor?

I thank you. Tonight we have a lengthy consent agenda. Um so you've already heard me read a lot, so you're going to get to hear some more. Um, so I'll just invite you to pay attention to your uh agenda that you have and and to hear these consent agenda items. These are items that typically are non-controversial and if anyone has questions about the following items, just let us know. So item A to approve the reclassification of one vacant light duty mechanic position paygrade 206 to service technician paygrade 202 in the public works equipment services division effective upon city council approval. Item B, to approve the reclassification of a transportation technician position, pay grade 205 to transportation signal system technician 2, pay grade 209 for Burlington Department of Transportation, effective upon city council approval. Item C to approve the reclassification of an animal welfare manager position paygrade 210 to animal services senior manager veterinary services pay grade 213 and animal services effective upon city council approval. Item D, to adopt a resolution authorizing advertisement by electronic means for bidding and surplus disposal for public auction items estimated to be $30,000 or more as an alternative to advertisement in a newspaper of general circulation. Item E, to approve the City of Burlington inspections payments policy for the finance department to set forth guidelines for acceptable payment methods for inspection fees effective upon city council approval. Item F, to approve the city of Burlington internal controls policy for the finance department to set forth

guidelines for internal controls in accordance with state and federal grant requirements effective upon city council approval. Item G to approve bud budget amendment 2026-23 for the police department to accept funds awarded by VIA Health for the Pathways to Stability Community Resource Fair event. Item H to approve budget amendment 2026-24 for recreation and parks to accept funds awarded to the Kernodal Senior Center by the North Carolina Department of Insurance Senior Medical Patrol project and Medicare improvements for patients and providers. Item I to approve budget amendment 2026-25 for economic development to accept a pass through award from the North Carolina Department of Commerce's grant. Item J, to adopt a resolution tentatively awarding the construction contract between the city of Burlington and Smith Row LLC contingent upon final approval from legal and finance department and approve associated budget amendment 2026-26 for the NC Highway 61 sewer line extension project. Item K to approve budget amendment 2026-27 to allocate funds for change orders associated with the Paramount Events Center project. At this time, I'll entertain a motion and a second to approve or deny the foregoing consent agenda.

Motion to approve. Second. All in favor? I. Okay. For new business this evening, I would like to recognize executive director of planning and development services Jamie Lawson.

Good evening, mayor, members of council. Can you hear me? Okay. Mhm. Okay, great. Uh the first item that I have in front of you um are a series of utility requests. Um, and so if it is your pleasure, I will um go through these independently, although they're listed, so that you can act on each one. Okay.

Okay. The um the first utility request is for 1031 NorthNC Highway 87. This is um outside of the city limits and uh it is a request for a commercial utility connection. Um it is for the existing Circle K gas station and convenience store. Um this is not contiguous obviously to any of the city's um corporate limits. It is located closer to Elon. You can see on the map that I've included here. The site is highlighted um where I'm circling. This is uh 87 here. And um Elon's corporate limits actually extend right to where um I'm circling now on the map, even though they have some existing satellite annexations. These do not count towards what we look at when we're determining whether or not um a property can be annexed. we look at how close it is to the the corporate limits. So, and this arrow to the right points to where our city corporate limits are. So you can see this property is located much closer to Elon's corporate limits, but because we have utilities that run up and down NC87, that is why you see the request that you get quite frequently. Um, so staff is recommending this utility request for the existing commercial use that's there. nothing else that's included within the agreement that was included

in your packet um which ultimately would be signed and recorded at the um register of deeds. Okay. And so do we need to vote to approve or deny this request? I would ask that you do each one separately. Okay. Okay. That's what I thought you had suggested as well. So, okay. Um, anything else that you want to share with us on this one? I don't have anything else to share

on on all of these. Let me just remind the council that y'all's instructions, we have tried to uh address each of the facts and these things by way of contract. Okay. And that's what you are really doing. You're deferring the annexation, but we have a contract with these people, right? 21 years from now, from between now and then, we can bring them in at any point in time. Okay. Okay. So, we have um a recommendation for approving the utility request and deferring the public hearing that for the annexation. For the annexation, correct?

Okay. Um any questions, discussion on that? Uh do we have a motion to approve? Motion to approve and defer. Okay. Second. Um all in favor? I I

Okay. Thank you. Okay, great. On to the next one. The uh the following are um several annexation requests. These are all for residential purposes. And so the first one is off of St. Reges Drive. I'm highlighting the area where it is off of um Bonner Bridge. This is Bonner Bridge coming up. And St. Regis is um is just right off of that. So, the applicant has um requested a water and sewer utility connection for this property. Um there is an approved residential building permit. So, the purpose of the connection is to serve that future um residential unit. And um as as noted, uh this property is also not contiguous. So if you see the arrows where I'm pointing here to the south and to the east, this dashed black line represents the existing corporate limits of the city. And um and then the the one to the left represents where the Elon corporate limits are. So you do this comparison in terms of where it's located closer. uh for this property, it's located closer to um to to Burlington, but because it's not contiguous to the existing corporate limits, that is why we're recommending the utility request, but the deferral of the annexation in the time period um that um that has mentioned before within the 21 year period.

Okay. Thank you. Any questions? Actually, Jamie question as far as that 21 period, do we have a good mechanism to know how many of these agreements are coming up on that and to then review those before we run out time? Yeah, we have we so they're recorded um the the time period runs once it's um once it's recorded the 20 period and we keep um GIS and Excel spreadsheet associated with them um and and have them mapped take a look at them. We haven't reached that 21-year period for any of them yet. So whoever

uh is here when you retire knows what's coming. Right. Yes. Thank you. Only deferral. Right. Deferation. Right. Right. And so was that a motion? Yes. And a second. Second. All in favor? I. Okay.

Okay. The the following three are all on Mley Street. The first two are for for a single family. Um and the last one, you'll notice have has two different addresses because it's for a duplex which is also allowed under our utility request. So the first one is for 2225 um Mley Street. Again, this is a water and sewer connection. Um, and there is a single family residential building permit issued for the property. We are recommending the utility but deferral of the annexation. It's going to be a similar theme for all of these,

but we'll still vote on each one. Okay. Just making sure. Um, any questions on Mley Street? Okay. Do we have a motion to recommend approval of utility request and defer the public hearing on annexation? Motion approved. Second. All okay. All in favor? When there are just four of us, it's easy to just everybody agree. Okay. On to the next one.

Yep. So, this is just uh next door. Um, this one does not have, so this is for 2229 Mley Street, and this one does not have an approved residential building permit, but in their um, utility request, they indicate it's for single family um, detached or duplex. Um, and so the agreement refers specifically to that as well. anytime the agreement um references the specific thing uh it also states that if there's any modifications or change they have to come back through the process. Okay, any questions? Um approve.

Thank you. Second. All in favor? I Okay. Okay. And lastly, this is what I referred to earlier as the the property that um will potentially have a duplex on it. Um and so water and sewer again exists on Mley Street and um for the reasons I stated before, we're just recommending the utility request and deferral of the annexation. Okay. Do we have a motion? Motion approved. Second. All in favor? I. Thank you. Thank you very much.

And next we're going to look at Jamie. I think you stay here with us, don't you? Um voluntary contiguous annexation request.

Correct. Um so the first you um sorry the first annexation request, you'll hear about this a little bit later. Um this is tied to a reszoning request that the planning and zoning commission heard um at their March meeting. Um the property that's highlighted in the red, it is actually located in Guilford County. Um but the applicant is seeking a reszoning request to come into um the city limits and uh and as a result we have to apply a resoning as well as the annexation and this is tied to utility requests as well. So, um, we are, uh, if you're so inclined, we are presenting this to coincide with the resoning. You've done, city council has done this many times where you're hearing the same night the resoning request and the annexation. And this is just describing the annexation portion of it. So, we're asking um to place this on the April 21st city council agenda uh for public hearing.

Motion to approve. No, that's good. Keep going. Motion to approve. A second. Second. All in favor? I. I. No questions.

Okay. Um and then this last annexation request um the the parcels there's a series of parcels they are located um on either side of Whitoldel Drive which is off of Huffman um Huffman Mill Road and then uh you turn turn if you're coming from the interstate area you would turn down Huff Mill and then right on Whitell. Um these this parcel these parcels have already gone through a technical review committee approved site plan for a multif family um development. It was approved in in 2024. Um, and so you've also, city council has also experienced applications for your annexation requests that are tied to approved site plans for development. And that is the same as this. They're just seeking to be located within the city limits in order for them to tie into utilities. And they're actually um contiguous to existing city limits. So you can see, it's a little hard to see, but the the black um dash line is the corporate limits that kind of runs all around here and then down and then it it comes back up on on this side. So this fills in a a gap essentially that exists right now.

So we're just asking for this to be put on the April 21st um agenda also for public hearing. Okay. So, we have this request for a public hearing. Do we have a motion? So, move. A second. Second. And all in favor? I. Thank you. Okay. And next, um, we'll receive a report from Jamie Lawson continuing. Um, and so Jamie, I'll let you take that away.

Sure. So the I always provide a summary of the planning and zoning commission activities from the previous month. Um so there were three items that were listed on the planning and zoning commission's agenda. This first one um was a resoning request. Uh the parcel is located west of University Drive. Um you go down um Bonner Bridge and the property is kind of at the corner intersection of Danbrook and Bonner Bridge right here. Um you see on the map there's an existing zoning designation that says CB853. That means that there's a uh conditional business reszoning that occurred um and is is um associated with that site. That conditional business resoning included specifically uh for a hotel and office and um restaurant an inclusive uh development. And so, um, staff received a request to reszone that parcel, um, for general business limited use request. Uh, this is the list of the uses that they were seeking as part of the limited use resoning. And I've highlighted here under red what the existing zoning what that conditional business that exists right now allows for. So it allows for hotel or motel. It allows for office and medical and uh office sales and service. That's comparable to what the old zoning current zoning but under the old zoning

ordinance um allows for. and then they were expanding these other um uses that are highlighted in yellow. Um planning and zoning commission heard this case and there were several different motions um motion to approve a motion to approve uh but but not including hotel and motel and then a motion to deny. Ultimately, the planning and zoning commission made a recommendation to deny the application. So, that's included and I'm making reference to it. Um, the item still move forward to city council for consideration. So at this time um and this just summarizes some of the explanations that I went through with the planning and zoning commission in terms of what the buffer requirements may be and the de and the development um dimensional standards. Um but at this time we are recommending to move it forward to um city council for a public hearing date of April 21st.

Okay. Okay. the and there's no motion or anything that's needed for that.

Um I referred to this one earlier. Um this is that Kanuka Drive reszoning request where the property is located in Guilford County. Um and you've you've had several other parcels in this vicinity um go through a resoning process and be annexed into the city limits. And this map just highlights a couple of them across the street um and and further south uh and also on the other side of um Macintosh Lake. So the current zoning is within the Guilford County zoning as light industrial and they are requesting an office in institutional limited use with um with these uses specifically included. Now we don't have a site plan. We don't know specifically what they're um looking to do, but it could be as part of their request any um any number of these things. Staff did recommend it and so did planning and zoning commission

and so this will this be a public hearing as well? Okay. Thank you.

Okay. Any questions on this one? Okay. And then finally, there was a reasonzoning request. Um, it includes two parcels at the intersection of Raha and Apple Street. And you can see the the parcels are highlighted in this teal. Um, the properties are actually splitzed. The lighter shade uh or the pink shade is uh neighborhood business and then the orange shade is highdensity residential. Um, they are owned by the same person. Uh this is the site of um Huffman Oil I believe uh a gas station. Um and there was at one time a um a house I believe that was on the other property and and maybe that's why they were splitzoned. Um I I don't know the history exactly of of the zoning there. Um but in any case, the applicant is requesting to um to reszone the properties and it was for general business limited use with the only um request that they were seeking. I didn't I guess I didn't put it in because there was only one. It was for um auto sales andor rental. It's one use only but combined like that. Um, and so the planning and zoning commission did also recommend this resoning. Um, staff uh staff had some concerns that were expressed regarding um just allowing for additional flexibility

for the reasonzoning request, but um but the item did move forward with a recommendation from from uh planning and zoning commission. So, um, we're also seeking to add that to the, um, April 21st agenda as well with a public hearing. Yes. Okay. Okay. Thank you.

Can you explain so the general business limited versus what they're asking for for the automobile, does that add that to the list or does it reduce the list to just that one use? It it it combines the two prop it would combine the two properties into one zoning designation that would if approved only allow for automobile sales and or rental.

Thank you. Okay. All right. That's it for me. Thank you for that report. Yep. Next on our agenda is public comments. That thing you've been waiting for, right? Um and at this time I will I'm going to um refer to Let me just say I've been mayor for four months now. This is the most people we have ever had sign up.

Um maybe ever even before I became mayor. Um but we're going to get to that in in just a moment. I want to give you some guidelines about um public comments. Um so this this is for topics that we've not discussed on the agenda and each speaker is asked to um state your name and address. We do have that information here, but if you state your name and address and you you're we're asked we ask that you keep your comments to five minutes and we do have a timer. Um and we will sometimes the um bell is not very loud, but we we'll let you know. It's very loud.

We'll let you know when it's time when five minutes is approaching. Um so I I do have I'm I'm going to glance through here. Uh it looks to me like everyone is about additional name to park which is now known as Robinson Park I believe on Rawut raw hut street and um and I also note a packet of information. Um, so I I would just like to kind of gauge is is everyone here speaking um in favor of a name change or addition?

Yes. Okay. Anyone speaking against that? No. Okay. So now let me ask is there a designated spokesperson even though there lots of names on my list. Okay. So will you tell us about this packet? Okay. Okay. Right. So, so when we get close to five minutes, if if you take five minutes, we'll we'll check and see how much more you have to go. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, tell us your name though.

My name is James A. Jack. Well, James A. Long. I go back. I was born and raised on Ro Street at uh when it was Glenro Road and then it went to Route 7, Box 309. Then it went to 1363 Robert Street and then I moved and I came back 1106 Robert. So half my life I was on rocket scream. Okay the mayor may I got but that's okay.

Why we're here today is because we want to add uh Joseph Joseph Mel senior to Robinson Park. We know some of us know who Mr. Robinson was and how long the bar had been as Robinson bar. So, we wouldn't want to take his name off because he worked for the um recreation park family with Tom and so we gonna keep it that way. But we do think that Mr. FA's name should be out there on the playground. I was there Sunday and it was beautiful and only thing I could see was Joe FA. But if you follow me in this book, okay,

uh Robin Street at corn street and West Portland Drive stood Joe FC. And if you want to see what he have to say himself, you can go to YouTube and see Joe F stories. He is blessed and highly favored. It's done by Elon College. Yeah.

Okay. Then you go to the next page. Follow me please. And you'll see Mr. F. He sung every Sunday everywhere in every church uh in the black circuit that had a celebration that was called Joe FA. He had a radio station for 50 years and everybody wanted him to analysis uh about the score. So getting to the playground, he when he had the service station there, he went out and bought a basketball put up in the back. We was in red dirt. Uh our shoes came from pick and pay Family Dollar some life on his own. But he was the reason that we started that. He in the garage part they quit working on cars. He put ping pong table there and he we put on air crates out in front of the station and we played all different type of cards sometimes money in the garage till he showed up. Okay. And so his son I'm going to speak in a minute. He wrote this whole next page. Okay. But if you go to the service station page that's sort of what the service station look like. I found that in somewhere in Greensboro where I live and I'm like, "Oh, that's Joy Spark right there." And so I took a picture of it, but it looked like that, the little bitty uh 20 by 30. And we had a one little bathroom and the basketball court, but then if you there's a group called the New Direction. I don't know if you ever heard it. They got whip that the I say black kids. the black kids that Robert Street need a little help. So they came along along with Joe F and they started the Robert Street daycare as you see right there. And if you go to the next page, you'll see what the new direction was. But they purpose of coming to Robert Street. They wanted to take the

underprivileged kids and everything and raise them up and feel like they was important. And Joe F was right there with them. Then he was here early. The next person he thought the medium of council he was the one counsel so he left he was one counsel that that came. Okay, this page. Yeah, Jamie Reed. Okay, so if you go to the next page, we had uh New Direction. If you see in the back there, Sonia McInty and uh Joel Lee with Ple got married and a bunch of the kids. I think one of them is here the camp. That guy was in the camp and all his brothers and sisters,

he was in the camp and so many camp people I called, they had things do, right? But if you see now the next picture, they playing on the tires from the service station. All right. So all of them service and New Direction came down. They put on concerts in the back and everything. And if you go to the next page, the family members, the parents was out there with the kids. And if you go on the next page where you see at the top where the guy, the only little corner we got up service station right there. So you see how it sort of looked like the other and that's some of the kids and the council people that ran the camp. And then the most important way one of the most important thing there was a neighborhood the Scott Circle when you turn west one drive down you see a few new little houses but on Ro Street it was uh houses all up and down on both sides. I had live down by the city cemetery where um you know s got that man down. But we did like the joke house. Well, the people in the Scott circle, they didn't have the water. The city didn't come all the way there. So, therefore, they had our houses and they had You'll see that on a couple pages in a minute. They have our houses and they had

Okay, just wait just a minute. So, um I'm I'm going to make a mayoral decision. How about that? You can just keep talking. Okay. Why don't we reset it to five minutes so we have an idea?

That's all I've been filming to two minutes. But the next page you see uh Miss Wade walking down with her uh little water jugs because they didn't have no water stock. So right here it said Joe F that been getting water in my place for 4 years. Reporting Joe F operated a bar service station across the street. You all come down here on Sunday morning. You want to see something. He said they line up to get water like people buying license plates. you know how to serve back then he was saying that and that was that came out of the newspaper September 15 1970. Wow.

Okay. And so if you turn to the next page, you'll see the houses and development I'm talking about where these people live no better. But we live, you know, and then when you talking about Port John's, if you never seen John where you got our house, they had a number on our house to go to the apartment. So they had to go out there and use.

So that's outside. Then spouse take care of us and everything. He got bowling team. So right there parkour bowling team got he didn't know where bowling island when it used to be on Bond road. So we used to bowl up there. Okay. Then he also did music shows and you see right there he was uh big in the uh music industry gospel always. And uh so and then the last page this guy right here standing up on the wood when we had the plug down. And I don't most people try to remember brought up for the riots, but forget that. This is the real true brought up right here. Okay? And then if you go in the last pages, you'll find out where people was stated what I posted on uh Facebook all the different comments people saying how nice he was. He should be honored and everything like this. So that's why here he was like father to all of us. And before I go, he is uh will be 93 years old on September 24th. And his uh wife is 69 years passed like three years ago. He has eight kids and he now has all times. So I hate that, you know, but that's why we're here.

So he is still alive. He is still alive. Amazing. And uh we're going to take him there. Watch y'all prove this and take a picture. Um, so just a couple of questions. One, thank you for putting this together. I mean, this is wonderful for us to be able to see. So, thank you. Um, so a question for you and and for those who know Mr. FA, right? Is there anybody who doesn't like Mr. FA? It could be one, too, cuz they don't like me. We're not worried about them. No, you're Exactly. Exactly. I'm not worried about here.

But no, I just mean in general because what you've shared here is is a beautiful story of someone's engagement in the community. Well, they do call it the mouth of the South because that's not necessarily a bad thing. Yeah. I'm quite sure he didn't have to hate us like we all Yeah, exactly. The most important thing is the good that he does. Well, and and you have represented that well. So, thank you so much. Thank you for sharing this. It's uh I think want to read okay that what he wrote. I I got it right here. Yes. Yes, sir. Thank you.

You're welcome.

Hello everybody. My name is Johnny FA. I live at 2160 Jamestown Road in Winston Salem, North Carolina. I grew up here, went off to college, and I've been away since I come home to see my people, family. Um, my father opened up this uh gas station on Robert Street. Uh, at that time we were full service uh gas station where we check your oil, we check the water, fluids, things of that sort, and we pump the gas off and u he tried to keep us fully entertained and things of that sort and all by providing for us in the very back. We built a basketball goal and all we put up two goals uh off the dirt so we slept and kept it clean and all so we could actually keep the ball in play and uh he tried to engage the entire community and um he provided a lot of things for a lot of the kids in that area. Um a lot of kids didn't have food, didn't have snacks and things of that sort. So as he would always say a lot of times he said when we eat they'll eat. And so we helped everybody that we could possibly again and like I said for four years people carried water until the city actually came through to actually put in plumbing and water facilities. Um he along with this uh gentleman who had a shop on web avenue uh his last name was someone I can't remember his first name but he owned a hardware store. He helped my dad out. He saw the need to help the community. So he brought in uh stuff uh built a shelter uh brought playground equipment and things that sort of miracle but slings and things of that sort and uh we were all one gigantic community. We were all one big family and he tried to help and provide for everyone who actually came in there and lived in that area. And again as Jack said, New Direction and Mr. Sumler brought in a kind of uh gospel ministry sort of and they uh sort of helped the needs of the community. They uh try to

give the kids in the neighborhood some direction, things of that sort. And uh they help these kids to actually most of the time during the summer uh some place to go uh provided a meal for them. A lot of times that little snack that they got at the playground was their meal for that particular day. So we did all these things there and he just tried to be a good guy and uh we commend him for it. Uh, I'm glad that he is my father and I hope that we can actually get his name placed on something to give him some type of recognition. But I'm not going to read this thing here. I just wanted to summarize and say what he did for people. Thank you so much.

Excuse me. I'd love for my brothers and sisters and our neighbor and our community people to stand just to be recognized. Thank you all for being here. Thank you. Is there any one? Thank you. Yes, please. Good evening to all of you. Just remember to tell us who you are.

Yes, I will. My name is James Leon Hughes. I live at 114 Drive in Jamestown, North Carolina. But my home is Raleigh Street. The address is 106 West Morton Drive, right in front of the red clay dirt basketball court.

But what I want to say about Mr. F is that for a lot of people, we meet a lot of people in life and we call him father figures, mother figures. He doesn't have to be called it because that's what he was. to a lot of kids that was underprivileged growing up in the 60s through the 70s and even in the 80s and 1979 I was 13 years old and I had to go to summer school and my dad told me that he wasn't going to pay for it and Joe's house gave me my first job. I would get up every morning, go sweep the parking lot, empty trash cans with full service, pumping gas, checking oil, doing everything summer school. And when I didn't make enough money to do so, he failed in he was the first one to ever bring an ice cream truck to so we would have ice cream on Saturdays and weekends and all the things that he did for us that we couldn't do for ourselves. So even though we had mothers and fathers inside of our homes, he was the one that made everything work for everybody. We knew about church because of him. And I can honestly say my mother and father passed when I was 20 years old, one month apart, and he was right there for me and my siblings. And so being a 20- year old kid losing your mother and father, you look around and you find family everywhere that stood with us to help us through. And so it's not just for me it's not just the park cuz he was more than the park. And for me it's not just a name, it's him. Everywhere you look on West Morland Drive, Raw Hut Street, even if you go to Shaw Street, which is right behind, his name, his footprint is all over that place. And

36 39 years later because I'll be 60 years old this year. I can say to him, "Thank you for taking me and spending me in church." Cuz today I stand as a bishop in a church. Not because of who I am, but because of what he brought us through.

He helped us to make it through tough times and hard times and everything else. So I feel as though Robut Street is the least we can do for him. is the very least we can do for him for what all he did for all of us. And it wasn't just what it was about 80 of us growing up in that neighborhood, but he made sure all of us was taken care of. So if we can give him flowers while he lived, so many people don't get an opportunity experience to share the joy of someone saying thank you while they're here. And I think this is one opportunity where we can really let him know we thank him for what he did because he had eight children of his own. He didn't have to take care of us, but he did. So we really had a village to raise us. And if you use a term, he was the chief.

All right. He was Thank you. Beautiful. Thank you.

Would anyone else like to speak? Then I am going to um I I heard you say if you will make a decision tonight and I'm sad to say that we can't do that tonight. Um but it's not that we're not going to make a decision at some point. I Well, actually, I don't know. I'm going to turn to our attorney and let him tell us what we can do. I'd be glad to look up what it takes to turn around and naming property and uh inform the city council and we get it on uh get that information back to you unless y'all set public.

Okay. So, what um attorney Hefman has said is that he's going to do the research. He's going to find out so that we don't just make a decision and then somebody come back and change that decision sometime. But, so what we'll do is go through whatever the process is um which may include a public hearing. Regardless, we have your contact information. If there's anyone who didn't sign up and just wants to be on chain, please get us your information before you leave.

I will I will put these up here so you can do that. Um and we can notify you. Um I realize I'm I'm promising something. You can That's good. Okay, good. Um but uh and then we can notify you and let you know when what the process is going to be and when it's going to happen. Um and um so but I am just I'm really touched by your sharing of Mr. Fast. Um so thank you. I really appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah.

Your time mayor. Um I do want to ask Mr. Laws. I know that he is a walking encyclopedia for the city of Burlington. These photos that actually see real footage has definitely been enlightening. But I definitely want to give you an opportunity to to tell us council if you remember or were you here because you've been here for how long? Two years.

Thank you. I'm glad to speak about this and uh I know a lot of these people and not remember me but you know we a few roads but um and I knew uh I didn't really know Mr. FA that well but I knew of him and but I did know JC Sar Avenue and Mr. Ser was very Christian man. Uh he helped us in a lot of uh places. Uh I'm talking about our recreation department. This was a long time ago when like like they mentioned that we didn't have all we have now. But um he helped us start a playground in Martown which Martown what we call was the property where at Ford was located. It was all just open land and and we put a playground there. Well, uh, that's what we called gay camps back in the day was playgrounds and and we had them all every little piece of ground we could find all over town. We had a playground in for the in the summertime and they were all free and and we had a lot of good people that ran those playgrounds and and Mr. did wonderful work in that area where he uh had his third station and um we uh with JC Summer we had other places too and I know he helped there. He was a good person too. So um we uh uh went through that um era and I'm glad to hear all the good words about Mr. F. certainly proud of him and his effort to help people and that's what we're here for. So, Robinson Park, we acquired that. I can't remember exactly when, but it was a vacant lot and and

improved it somewhat. Uh, and it used to be called Jackson Park. Well, never was

never the official name, but lots of people call it Jackson Park because it was right next to Jackson Street. And so, so that was a well-known name. Um, just a common name, not not the official name of the park. Then it became James Robinson Park in the early 90s after Joe Davidson. Uh, the park at Davidson Park was named for Joe Davidson. Uh James was a member of our department too and and spent a long time here. He's a native of Charlotte. Uh he was a native Charlotte. He's passed away now unfortunately. But but anyway he uh spent a lot of time in the North Park area. He lived out the North Park and also we had a nursery back in those days. You call it daycarees. Now we call nurseries back back in then. And we had a nursery called Richmond Hill that was right next to

church. So I think a wonderful lady named Lucia Lucia Lively was uh she ran that nursery for us for years and she was a wonderful person. uh she helped a lot of kids in that time and when when we finally closed the nurseries we gave that property to First Baptist Church to use and they still use that. I don't know what they still use that building. So So we have a a big history in uh in that area and hey I endorse you recognizing Mr. Ber it ought to do more of that. So I don't know if if you have any other questions I can answer. That was perfect. I appreciate you. I knew if anyone knew it was going to be you.

That's right. Thank you. And and again, thank thank you all for coming and sharing with us and um and we will keep you updated. Okay. Um at this time, I just want to offer city council, do you have any comments that you'd like to share this evening? anything that's on your heart and mind? On my heart and mind is for us to publicly say congratulations to Drew Williamson and the Michigan

Drew um is a 2003 um Cummings High School graduate and he's also a assistant coach with the Wolverines, Michigan Wolverines who actually just won the national championship. So he is from here, Burlington, East Burlington. So we are we are proud of him. Beautiful. Thank you. That's it.

Well, mayor, if I could um the mayor and I had the opportunity two weeks ago now to um walk with Mr. Keller from Williams High School as well as a number of students on their route home and to school, but we joined them one afternoon for their walk and it was wonderful to learn from them what they were seeing and experiencing on their walk to and from school. It was also upsetting to see some of the safety things that they're running into every day as they try to get safely in school. Uh we are entering into spring. It's getting nice and warm out there and sunnier. Um, and that means more and more people are out and about in our community. Unfortunately, it also means we've had tragically a pedestrian killed the other week. We're seeing more and more people across the nation getting hit and killed uh walking, biking. I know I spoke with Jeff SM this morning. He shares the sentiment that uh he would like to see our council be more proactive in exploring opportunities to address bicycle pedestrian safety throughout the community. Um, one of the things that's on a number of our minds is the fact that right now the citywide speed limit is 35 miles an hour. And so that means if a road is unsigned, and that's a lot of our residential streets, culde-sacs, quiet roads near parks, if they don't have a street limit, speed limit sign on, they're 35 miles an hour, which is way too fast to protect the health and safety of our kids. And so we'd like to ask staff to bring us some information about proactive things we can do to improve safety in the community. What would be the process of reducing that citywide speed limit? And then are there other things that we can do to improve safe routes to and from schools and around school properties that are the opportunity work session

opportunities there? And and so I mean I think also Philip Keller who um is the teacher that we walk with is also on our traffic commission and um has been giving some attention to bikeways and sidewalks as well. Anything else? That's that's what I've got. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. Um just a couple of announcements to make. Um, tomorrow evening at 6 pm at Kernodal Senior Center will be the restoration advisory board meeting. Um, this is a public open meeting for Burlington residents to come and hear. This is hosted by the Army Environmental Command featuring NCDEQ and the Western Electric property. So, if you are curious about what's happening with Western Electric and the environmental cleanup there, this would be a good meeting to attend. Um, so tomorrow evening, 8:00 p.m. at Kernodal Senior Center and that is the RAB

open meeting. What did I say? 8 p.m. It's April 8th at 6 PM. Sorry about that. April 8th, 6 PM. So, tomorrow 6 PM um at Kernodal Senior Center. Uh, also our next uh, city council work session will be Monday, April the 20th at 5:00 p.m. and the city council meeting will be Tuesday, April 21st. Lots of public hearings that night, so know that that is coming up. Um, also want to lift up uh I was scrolling through social media one day recently and saw this um article about and I have to read my notes because um I will not remember all these things about Burlington Water Services as a leader in the country. Are you hearing me? In the country and probably world, right? Uh so a leader um with PAS and dioxane source monitoring and control. So okay that was a mouthful for me and I understand this much about what I said. What I do understand is that Burlington is leading the way in environmental work in environment. Yes.

And we probably should thank our city manager who is the former I don't even know your title, director of water resources. Um so so yeah, if you want to speak to that, Bob, I would love that.

Yeah, thank you mayor. that um article kind of was a recap of over five years of investigation that we did. Um started with, you know, the threat of a lawsuit from the High River Assembly, but turned into a collaborative working uh partnership with us and them and Duke University and Hayen and Sawyer who who put together the their consultant who put together the article. Um but we we made great gains in reducing uh the PAS in our wastewater discharge. Um, and it was kind of a firstofind process and study and and it's being modeled. In fact, I just spoke in uh Chapel Hill to a group of researchers about it today. Um, and then we used the same process to identify a source of 14 dioxane. So, um, and our staff did did yman's work um, in addition to all their normal day-to-day stuff. So, but thank you.

Thank you. One thing I want to lift up about that is a threat of a lawsuit, you could become very defensive, right? Um, but instead the city of Burlington said, "Let's do this differently. Let's make a difference." And because of that, we have now there is a footprint, fingerprints, whatever you want to call it, um, impacting environmental work around the country that that's not just here in Burlington. So people like to think of Burlington as small town, but we're leaders.

We're leaders. So thank you. Um I think that is everything that I have for this evening. Uh and so if no one has anything else, mayor. Okay. I see somebody does. I do want to recognize Chloe. Put you on the spot. Chloe, you just stand up right there. It's fine. Chloe. Chloe is with North Carolina ENT and she is here shadowing me um tonight and hopefully doing the work section on the 21st as well. She can come. Tell me your major again. It's not pre-law. It's political science, mass media, and journalism.

Math, media, and journalism. There we go. So, welcome tonight. I hope you enjoyed yourself. And this is what I want to see young people getting involved. They want to know what our councilman like what a day like and councilwoman Bigalow's like and Bud is like, you know, just want to know what's happening with the city of Burlington. So, I'm honored to have you here and again, thank you for being here and having the willingness to want to be here. I want to be here. Thank you. Thank you. Well, if there is nothing else, um, happy to receive a motion to adjourn to approve.

All in favor? Thank you all.