City Council - Regular Meeting

Second, 2026 City Council meeting. If you would, please silence all the electronic devices. Mayor Beth Kinnett is absent. Excuse the nice meeting. She's attending the funeral of a relative, and she, of course, we have a forum otherwise, and we will proceed with this meeting. At this time, I'll recognize Council Member DeWanna Bigelow for tonight's invocation.

Pray with me. Lord, as we gather here to discuss our city business, we ask that you would be with us. Help us, Lord, give us discernment over the matters ahead of us. Lord, thank you for your safety, your protection, and most of all, your grace. Amen.

Amen.

At this time, I'll call on City Clerk Beverly Smith for the Code of Ethics.

Members of Council, it was 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 item.

None. Okay, first item, approval of minutes from May 19, 2026. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second?

Second.

All in favor indicate aye. Aye. The minutes stand approved. We have some additions to the night's consent agenda. Item E, Burlington Downtown Corporation Contract Extension. Item F, Resolution Celebrating 10 Years of Link Transit Service. Item G, Priority Corridors Grant Program Expansion. Item H, Adopt Amendment to the Traffic Ordinance. And Item I, Burlington Animal Appeals Board Appointment. I'll need a motion. Motion approved. Second. Second. All in favor indicate by aye. Aye. The additions have been approved. At this time I'll entertain a motion to adopt the agenda with the additions. So moved. Second. All in favor aye. Aye. The agenda has been approved. I will now read the consent agenda, and most of these are typically non-controversial. Of course, if anybody has any questions, just let us know, and we can remove that and take it separately. But I will read the consent agenda at this time. Item A, to approve an annual agreement for fiscal year 2026-2027 between the City of Burlington and Wichita Fire Department Inc. for first responder fire protection and emergency medical technician services effective July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. B, to adopt a resolution authorizing the purchasing manager to process the disposal and sale of city-owned surplus property for one 2009 Freightliner M2 106 4x2 with ODB, whatever that is, 30-yard leak vacuum by electronic public auction through, it's spelled out there, to the highest bidder pursuant to NCGS 168-270. item c to approve to approve the budget amendment 2026 39 for the police department to appropriate 74 000 from fleet recovery funds for the replacement of two civilian crash and investigator vehicles and required equipment installation item d to approve budget amendment 2026-40 for the planning department to establish a fund for fiscal year 2526 Home-based program upon the fiscal allotment allocated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Item E, to approve a one-year contract extension between the City of Burlington and the Burlington Downtown Corporation with an effective date of July 1, 2026. Item F, to adopt a resolution celebrating 10 years of linked transit service and authorize Fair free service on July the 9th, 2026 item G to approve extended the priority quarters grant programs through fiscal year 2027 and expand the geographic eligibility area as recommended by economic economic development staff item H. to adopt an ordinance with the following traffic commission recommendations. Convert the current two-way stop control intersection of Elm Street and Spin Street to an all-way stop intersection. Two, reduce speed limit from 35 to 25 on Trail 4 from Maven Street to Alamance Road. Number three, convert the current two-way stop control intersection of Trail 5 to an all-way stop intersection. Item I, to appoint the following to serve on the Burlington Animal Appeals Board to hear dangerous or potentially dangerous dog hearings for a three-year term beginning June 2, 2026. Dr. James Fred Glassford, Dr. Stephen Swanner, Mary Eisenhower Long, and Michael Craig. Okay, I believe that is our consent agenda. Do I have a motion to approve?

Motion to approve.

Second.

Mr. Warren, one correction on item E, the date should be, no, on the link transit, item F should be June 9th.

June 9th, okay. All right. We will make that approved, and assuming that council consensus, we'll make that June 9th. Otherwise, as the consent agenda hasn't been amended by changing that date, I'll ask you again for a motion to approve the consent agenda.

Motion to approve. Second.

Second. All in favor indicate by the consent agenda stands approved on the whole business. The city council will consider adopting a revised flood damage prevention ordinance and associated maps with an effective date of June 10th, 2026. At this time, I'll recognize city engineer Amy Ratner. Amy.

good evening members of council appreciate you hearing me tonight you uh received information at our last meetings regarding the need to adopt the revised flood plain flood damage prevention ordinance and the associated maps these are to continue city of burlington's participation within the national insurance flood work network and so In order to continue getting insurance for the city of Burlington residents, we need to adopt this revised ordinance and the associated maps.

Okay, and this is not a public hearing. It's just a question of adopting the ordinance.

Yes, sir. This is the second reading.

Second reading, okay. All right, does any council member have any questions? No. No questions on this item. I'll entertain a motion to adopt the flood damage prevention ordinance.

So moved. Second.

All in favor indicate by aye. Aye. Item is approved. Okay, we're down to public hearing. The public hearing has been scheduled to receive public comments on the Community Development Block Grant and Home Investment Partnership Draft 2026-2027 Annual Action Plan. uh i understand we will have a public hearing tonight we'll close the public hearing there will be another public hearing on july the 7th but there will be no action tonight but we will we will have we will have a public hearing and close it because there will be another public hearing so at this point i will open the floor for public comment and i'd like also to i think the same applies here as it does a public comment if you'd limit the comments to five minutes we would certainly appreciate it so At this point, is anybody on this side of the room would like to speak on this issue? If you do, please come forward and give your name and address.

Good evening, Mayor Pro Tem Ward and City Council. My name is Teresa Wiley. I reside at 809 Ross Street, Burlington, NC 27217. There are a few comments that I would like to share in regards to the HOME program, specifically asking if we have a communication strategy for the city when we are promoting. these type of programs and if that strategy really includes consistency. So one of the recommendations that I want to put forth just to create some standardization and an equitable strategy is to ask that if we can update or create a communication strategy that in regards to the home program, if that strategy will include some of the initiatives and criteria that was used for the corridor, initiatives such as social media posts, direct mail postcards, that we have targeted community presentation, and that we have collaboration with our community-based organizations, more specifically like our non-profits to get the word out. I will also want to make note that it is not It is not appropriate, nor when we think about how we are approaching the digital divide, that email blast be our only source of communication when we're trying to get out to our community members, nor is it appropriate that we make comments that the mayor's radio is our stream of communication. I never heard of the mayor's radio, and for the prior two public hearings that took place via email, I'm three degrees in and I still missed the email. So I just think that when we really think about those forms that are intended for the community, that we be intentional in making moves that are equitable for the community. Also, I know that there is another public hearing that is scheduled to take place, but if we can also schedule an additional public hearing where we can actually be able to explain and break down what's happening. So there are two very in-depth programs that we're talking about here. We're talking about the HOME program, and then we're also talking about the Community Development Block Grant. Both of those programs really are targeted and focus on two different targeted populations. So you have those that may be interested in new construction bills versus those that are interested in their neighborhoods, the sidewalks and stuff. With that being said, is it possible that we can also get information in how was that $100,000 that was put in the line budget Was it actually used based on the community feedback that was given? And then I do recall a traffic study that was being performed, just so that the community can have some transparency around that.

Thank you. I apologize, but I got the cart in front of the horse here. I need to recognize, do we need to do a brief presentation, Jamie, with respect to this program like we did last night? Or do you want to proceed with a public hearing? I know we had the briefing last night with respect to the program. Would that be helpful to do that again? Okay, let's do that. And to answer your question, there will be some additional community hearings that we've talked about, and there's some recommended times that we'll be doing that. But, Jamie, let me recognize you at this point, and then we'll get back on track here with the hearing.

Okay, and I'm, again, going to turn it over to Jesse Day from PTRC.

Thanks, Jamie. Thanks, members of the council. Apologies, this is similar to last night's presentation, but we'll touch on that for the benefit of the public that is here tonight. Again, my name is Jesse Day. I'm the planning director for the Piedmont Triad Regional Council. We are the administrator for the HOME program and support the CDBG administration as well. So what I'm going to do tonight is kind of highlight the allowed activities, what we've got as provisional funding amounts for the upcoming fiscal year, and then also kind of announce some of those public meetings that were just mentioned in terms of some additional opportunities for public input around the program. so real briefly there's two totally separate pots of funding so that's just one thing to keep in mind and they have different activities that are allowed for each so i'll go into those in just a second but the funding amounts for the upcoming fiscal year again july 1 2026 to june 30th 2027 is estimated at 1.655 million dollars for the home consortium that's a decrease of about 23 000 over prior year funding now the cdbg program is estimated at $489,000, which is an increase of $8,700 over prior year funding. The home consortium covers five counties. The CDBG program is for the city of Burlington. Now, this is a kickoff to the annual action plan. So I wanna mention that as well. So this is a formal comment period that is going to start tomorrow that the board will activate tonight as part of this public hearing. Minimum of 70% of program funds must be used to benefit low to moderate income individuals. We are talking about the annual action plan, so that fits into a five-year consolidated plan. We advertised that on May 19th. There were a couple of meetings last week with some attendants in town to talk about some of the different pots of funding. And then in terms of eligible activities, that's something else to keep in mind. So there's two different parts of funding and then kind of limitations on the funding. The home program itself is really directed at rehab of existing homes as well as multifamily. Whereas the CDBG funds are a little bit more flexible in terms of what they can support. shelters that are providing support for homeless individuals or nonprofits that are providing support for homeless individuals that may be wraparound services, that sort of thing. And so these are listed here in this bullet in terms of kind of the eligible activities. Now with the home program, it's pretty new. I'll talk about that in just a second. Our focus is on rehabilitation and rental housing, so large projects that would support rental housing. Homebuyer assistance is an eligible activity. Tenant-based rental assistance is an eligible activity as well. And then you can see the CDBG activities as well. So you can, there's a question about kind of prior activities. So the website there that's listed has the previous annual action plans, previous consolidated plans. So that'll go into some detail in terms of what's been spent. Historically, we also have some information on some of the specific CDBG projects, so like what was done and with what year of funding. So I think we've got that back almost 10 years and can provide that, and that'll be shared at those public meetings coming up. So just a little bit about the home consortium board. Again, we've got the five counties of Rockingham, Caswell, Alamance, Randolph, and Davidson County. And so that board was formed approximately a year ago. So it's a pretty young board still figuring out how to work together. You can see the various meetings there that were held. Over the past year or so what's not includes there's a meeting last week of the home consortium board that where we've printed presented similar information about upcoming funding amounts and and whatnot so That that board is to meet regularly on a quarterly basis Of course, they have bylaws that they operate and again will approve the annual action plan and the activities and the specific projects and so your job is a principal jurisdiction over the home consortium and the CDBG is to approve those kind of categories of funding, whereas the home board would approve the actual projects that would feed up into those funding amounts. Here's the geography in light green of those five counties that I mentioned that are in the region. And so the PTRC region there is of course the 12 counties who also operate another home consortium as an administrator where Surry County is the principal jurisdiction for that home consortium in dark blue. So again, the breakdown, the proposed breakdown, again, we're entering a 30-day review period, and this is sort of the action that'll happen at that second public hearing. So we're just kind of opening up the public comment, and then the second public hearing, we would approve or consider these funding amounts and make this official for the annual action plan. So we've got 10% for administration, 10% for project delivery, so that's work write-ups, that sort of thing. could be lead-based paint, depending on the age of the home, those sorts of things that would feed up into the actual construction. Then we have homeowner rehabilitation program at 546, and then the affordable rental housing RFP. Those are kind of creative projects that could be multi-family type activities, new constructional rehabilitation, and so we've got about 50% of the funds in those projects. Just as a point of note, the first round of RFP funding that the home consortium conducted, again, had similar, about, you know, one and a half million or so available in the current fiscal year. It had four million dollars in requests for multifamily projects at the March third board meeting. Unfortunately, only one of those would qualify for home funding, but the money is good for three years. So even though that money wasn't spent yet, that's still available for future projects. So that will roll into the next request for proposals for multifamily projects. Now switching gears, so that's all about the home kind of funding. Talking a little bit about the CDBG funding that's specific to the City of Burlington. You can see the totals there. Program income is sort of the income that comes into the city from any of the projects there, and that can be used for future projects. So we got about 15,000 program income on top of the EN grant, which is just basically short for entitlement grant for the City of Burlington. And you've got a breakdown of the administrative services, public services, rehab, relocation assistance, infrastructure, and then other activities. I got slides on some of these, so I'll save my remarks for that. Administration is just that. I mean, it's doing some of the environmental review, some of the getting the projects ready to go. There's a lot of background work and regulations around this HUD funding that requires a fair amount of time. So we've got that amount for administration. We've got this amount for residential rehab, and so you've got some images here of some before and after projects. And so, again, you can spend this. There is a cap on what you can spend per house. You need to be able to bring that house up to code when you're doing those projects, so that can be limiting. However, foundation work, floors, walls, roofs, HVAC systems, those sorts of things that provide a safe, healthy home is definitely eligible. as well, so these are some of the activities and pictures that have happened over the past year or so. Also, during those construction projects, sometimes a family needs to be relocated, so there's a city property where folks can inhabit one of those units there, and so we've got a little bit of funding there to do some of the basic keeping the lights and water on at that location. The other things, so this is something, the HOME program does not allow support of these kind of public services per se, but the CDBG does, and so there's an application process for submitting project ideas to the city back in April, and these are the provisional allocations for the public services section of of the CDBG funding, and these folks submitted applications that were valid and met the criteria. One of those criteria is you need to, and that's in the annual action plan, so the document that'll get approved in July will spell out, well, these nonprofits need to serve more than half of their clients that are low to moderate income, and so that's some of the basic requirements for these, but the approval would be for the total amount there for these different nonprofits, so that's the suggestion or recommendation by staff. Then we also have infrastructure funding and so that's the project list that I mentioned earlier and that I think was referred to in the public comments is what's been spent in the past and so the city's got a list of all those activities that we can share and it's ranged in different types of support over the years and I was just gonna refer to kind of the criteria here in the annual action plan briefly during the remarks here, just for clarity's sake. And so in the annual action plan, it talks about improvements to community centers and homeless facilities. And so these folks are serving the low to moderate income individuals in the city. So we've got 100,000 set aside for that. then we have other activities. So this is technical assistance. Now this is a specific nonprofit that's spelled out in the annual action plan and so that's a community land trust and serves the Morrowtown neighborhood, a historically black neighborhood in the city and so that's just to provide capacity so that they can do the good work that they're doing to preserve land and support housing in that part of the city. The other thing I wanna mention too is that this is not the only, CDBG and HOME are not the only programs that can go for HOME improvements. You also got the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency, the PTRC where I work has a weatherization assistance program. So that's Department of Energy funding that can go for specific like HVAC improvements, those sorts of things. So you could stack some of those programs on top of each other to get a house up to code. So if it's very dilapidated, sometimes merging some of those programs together can really get you to a point where you're able to change the direction of a neighborhood that may be in decline or a series of houses that may be in decline. And then you've got the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency essential single family rehab loan pool, which is another opportunity to stack funds. I think that is it for my presentation. Happy to answer any questions and then also hear some of the comments based upon this kickoff to the comment period. I also want to recognize we've got Kimberly Kemp who is on staff at PTRC and she is taking, in terms of what's in the advertised notice, her email address and phone number are in there and can receive comments during this 30-day comment period. Well, it's a little more than 30 days to July 7th, 30 plus day comment period. So she's got her information she can hand out for anybody that's interested and wants to, you know, there's a lot of information to digest in a few minutes and then provide some comments on. So if you need that information, she's got some sheets with her contact information. So with that, I'll take any questions from the council or sit down and listen to the other public comments.

Council members have any questions?

We talked about the additional hearing last night.

Thank you for the reminder. So we did schedule two public meetings. One is for June 23rd from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Fairchild Community Center. and then on june 25th at the north park uh uh library for the same time six to eight pm so those will be uh not a form of public hearing uh those will be more public meetings um and so we'll use every avenue possible to get advertisements out that i think that the key thing to think about here is this is it's a sometimes hard to get get the attention of folks i mean you guys deal with that all the time with different programs and so just the way information is consumed, it's challenging, but we do hope to get some more feedback in more of a less formal setting than public hearing at city council. I think that should help, so thank you.

Thanks for setting those up and making sure that they're after normal work hours.

You're right, yes.

Thank you.

Any further questions from the council?

I'd like to hear from the... Yeah.

Okay, let's pick up, you know, with... Jamie, did you have any further remarks at this point? Okay. Let's pick back up, you know, with public hearing. Again, if you would give your name and address, please.

Good evening. My name is Sharia Burnett. Address is 7650 Wood Spring Drive, apartment 101 in Whitsitt. But I'm here on behalf of United Way of Alamance County, located at 220 East Front Street, Burlington. And so I come with a comment, but also with an offer. So my comment is that this morning we had the third annual Housing Alamance Summit. I had more than 70 people at First Presbyterian Church on Davis Street who wanted to hear from people in the city of Greensboro about Doorway Project and White Flag, who wanted to hear from Charlotte and Orange County and Durham County and Guilford County about eviction mediation and prevention. And so that leads me to believe that marketing might be a strength that United Way can offer in this space. With the comments just shared by PTRC as well as the comments from Ms. Wiley, I feel like there's a space for us here to assist. So of course we have our community council announcements, but we also have great relationships with North Park and Fairchild. We just hosted an event at the Dream Center and gave out 150 emergency kits, as you all know, for the Fairchild community. And so I stand in this space to say that I care deeply about Alamance County, and I want to be sure that people have the right information before our council makes decisions. I want to be sure that you're informed. And so if there's any way that the United Way can assist with these efforts, we are happy to do so, be that through email, social media, or by cosponsoring any events that you're having. to raise awareness about home and CDBG and to help spread education in this community. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Okay, again, anybody on this side care to make a public comment? Not anything further from here. What about over here? Okay, please.

Good evening, Council. My name is Phil Bowers. I live at 3328 Ardmore Street in Burlington. I've been here about 29 years. I am also the state-appointed local reentry coordinator for Alamance County. And full disclosure, we are partnered with PTRC and the Department of Commerce with funding through the state. I just wanted to make a comment of what's been going on that I've seen as far as reentry and housing. It's certainly the number one problem we have with formerly incarcerated people. But in all fairness, my email blows up at least once a day with people soliciting us for rental by the room. I'm absolutely an advocate to support anything my guys and gals need coming home. I realize it's absolutely necessity, but my relationship with law enforcement in the past and certainly with the Chief now is I know these kind of situations come sometimes with a lot of drama. I have received a phone call from another neighboring community here already that a neighborhood has found one of these homes and I got the call and want to know was I responsible since I handle reentry. alamance county and i honestly don't need any more drama than i have either but i do support again full disclosure i have a board member that sits on this committee will be making decisions i'll support whatever but i only believe all this stuff works if it works for the entire community and we need to be sure that we fit the needs and whatever that that is good and sustainable model for our cities as well reentry means to me it means reentry into the community as we desire it and that it works and it makes sense so I need the housing ever had it comes out I'm not part of the decision-making process but I just wanted to be sure to speak that I understand what limitations we may be looking at and if it fits the model we need for our community then I'm going to support it will work with that with our folks thank you very much

Anyone else on this side? Good evening.

Ramona Allen, 2711 White Oak Drive. I'm coming to make a comment. As we know, we do have a homeless situation in Alamance County. ILC laid it. to see that there is something being done to try to eliminate, we can't do it all, but if we can do a part, it makes a difference. I'm here also with Angie King, which is with Mercy and Grace, uh... outreach i'm with god encounters and so i'm on her board uh... helping because we uh... she's ran into some snakes with housing folks that have mental health drug problems site feels he is coming out of prison not knowing or having where to go uh... some of them get to the place where they say that she can't she can't be a white flag that she actually uh... think council that allowed it uh... doing the inclement weather but they started sleeping in the parking lot. And so that becomes an issue because the police department has to answer to it. My comment is that we as a community, we have to pull together. Collaboration is so much better than an island. and as we work together and i found out over the years and i've been working with the police department and united way and other organizations of probably over 30 years and we've done a lot even with the health department done a lot as we collaborated and um because everybody offers a different service so it's not about who's going to be names going to be on the plaque on the door It's about the people that we service and the people that is going to profit from what we do. So I'm looking forward. The other question is how do we sign up to get this grant to be a part of that? So I'm looking forward to connecting with whoever we need to connect with because it's all of our problem.

Thanks.

Thank you very much. Anyone else over here? Okay, no further comment. I'll just mention again that one more, one comment, okay. I'm sorry, Pastor Covington, come forward please.

I'm Pastor Covington and I want to just share, I thought we were, the comments were restricted to the subject that was germane that gentlemen shared. But I want to share Larry Covington, though I live in Graham, I pastor the Ebenezer Church, 734 Apple Street in this great city of Burlington. Our church participated diligently, and I mean diligently, in collecting surveys regarding the Graham Hopedale Road corridor project. I noticed some items may appear on the agenda tonight, and I want to inquire about those surveys, that they disappear or what have you. We're committed to remaining engaged in community initiatives and supporting efforts that affect our community. However, despite speaking with several individuals, I have been unable to obtain any information regarding the findings of the surveys. So, Mr. Mayor Pro Tem and others, I respectfully request an update on the survey results related to the project. Thank you so much for your consideration, and I await your response.

Okay, thank you. Who would have the survey responses? Jamie? whoever has those survey responses, I don't know where they've been tabulated or what the status of it is. If someone would, you know, get up with Pastor Covington and share that information, we'd certainly appreciate it. And hopefully, well, anyway, I'll leave that up to you. Certainly, I don't think any of the council members, you know, I don't think we have this information. But, all right, is anything, okay.

My name is Cheryl Irvin and I live in 424 Brooklyn Street, Burlington. I got a lot going on. First of all, I have some stuff going on with my own property. with the city of Burlington about vehicles that's on my property. Second of all, I have problems going on with my neighbor's property damaging my property. So I didn't put a folder together. I did some photos that I brought to show. I brought two letters. I haven't sent the other one off. about me contacting the people that took over the house. I'm disabled, so with the city, I'll say harassing me in the last three years about getting my property cleaned up. I've depleted the majority of my income, my fixed income, paying people to clean up for me, move stuff. The city still comes. So a couple of weeks ago, the city came. They didn't send a letter to me. They came by, they took pictures of all the vehicles in my yard. I have that also. It's no vehicles in my yard that are abandoned.

If we could, I think we're actually having a hearing, you know, the CD block grant. This may be appropriate for another time. I think, you know, if you would just continue and then we'll get you connected with the appropriate staff member, you know, because this really is a public hearing on the, you know, on the community development and the home investment partnership. So if you would just continue, then I'll ask, or we'll ask the appropriate staff member to get with you to address your concerns. Okay, that's fine. If you would, if you'd go ahead and finish up, and Bob, if you would, if you'd get the appropriate staff person. So if you have any further comments, please proceed. That's fine, that's fine.

I just need to get some assistance, because like I said, I feel like I'm always a victim, and I'm tired of being a victim. You know what I mean?

Okay, well, thank you very much. And our city manager over here will get you connected to the right person, you know, to help address your concerns, okay?

She's been working with Chris Marlin as well.

Okay.

Yeah, but a whole lot of stuff.

So I need some real answers.

Okay, well thank you very much and we'll get the purpose staff member to get with you. Are there any further comments about the CD block grant and the home investment program? Is anybody, any further comments? Okay.

The faith-based community, is faith-based programs that are 501c3s, are they a part in partnership with the community block grant?

Jamie? Well. I don't know that they're in a partnership. Go ahead, I'll let you answer that.

In terms of partnership, I'm not sure if that's the right word, but in terms of whether or not certain types of improvements or projects can be sought through the CDB funding, there would be an opportunity for that.

okay that's what i'm looking forward to with the cd dollars i think that's what i was trying to express last night by being that those funds have to be used in the low and moderate areas income areas you know that's a perfect example of right there on apple street where you have the community which which is the same community that is asking about you know what the qualifications are and how can we get involved and don't really necessarily know how the program works Dr. Covington himself just asked, you know, can these funds be used with faith-based and nonprofits, which hopefully is yes, because that is the neighborhood revitalization that I was speaking of last night. And that is how those dollars can be seen in the neighborhood. So thank you for asking that question and being here and wanting to be involved.

Thank you very much. I think we've somewhat addressed what needs to be answered in any event. Let me just state again, there's going to be the community meetings on June 23rd, 6 to 8 at Fairchild, and June 25th six eight north park and so we will make every effort to you know to advertise and get the word out okay all right having said that i'll entertain a motion that we close the public hearing for the secret lesson approved second second all in favor aye aye public hearing is closed okay uh we're down to the public hearing for the budget uh for the city and i will and also the community development budget ordinance.

Mayor, briefly, we had a conversation during our work session last night about ways to improve the CDBG feedback process going forward. And so if anyone has feedback about things we can do in the next cycle, because this happens every year, please share that at the meetings or through the input process. It may not be specifically about the grants for this cycle, but if there's things we can do to better include more community partners and realign those priorities so that partners understand how they can contribute in proposed projects.

So.

Jessie just left. This cycle ends, has to be submitted. Yeah, applications are closed. and have to be submitted by July, June? April?

June? It's April.

It's April, okay. We have to submit our numbers to you by...

proposal has to be submitted by july 15th we have to make that decision but on the funds that are currently available for this year yes they would have had to apply back in april so there's no space and i think miss ramona that was your question really was can we still apply for these funds so i'm glad you mentioned that um in because not at the moment i'm not certain when that door opens again so it's definitely going to be prior to april but unfortunately jesse did leave but That's the whole point is to make sure that at these community sessions that we can tell that, you know, give that information, you know, when to apply so that it doesn't feel like only a certain number of organizations, developers knows what's going on. So that is the importance of June 23rd and June 25th where you can actually ask those questions and ask how those funds are, you know, divided and what they can be used for.

Right, and also was mentioned, if you can't attend those meetings, then you can also submit comments to the Planning Department and also to PTRC, so that information is also available too.

going to push that out to prior to the meeting so those who can't make that those two additional meetings that they'll have that information and know who to email and from there okay i'd like to underscore one point you made is that it'd be good you know for people to know application deadlines and that

very important so we look we'll make an effort to make sure that that's disseminated because that's in you know that's important the question about you know this cycle closed you know unfortunately this cycle is closed but that means that doesn't mean we won't get geared up the next year but we've got to get you know the deadlines out so with the funds

With the funds, so there was $500,000 left from the home funds that was unable to be used because the three projects that were chosen had some other issues. So only one project was actually is active. So that the funds that are left over, will they also have to still wait for the next cycle for those funds to be used or with only the applicants? So does that mean only the applicants that applied originally?

No, there'll be a new application period. And so yes, those funds are rolled over into the next fiscal year. I believe there's three years to be able, three years deadline in terms of spreading those funds.

So they have to wait. It's still a waiting period. So even though those funds are there, you have to still wait for the next.

For the announcement of the RFP.

And we do have a board member here that's on the home consortium. So I hope we can continue working together to make sure that when you guys know when those deadlines are and when you actually start accepting applications. that now that you know that council does want to know and want to be aware so we can spread the um news as well and let our residents know that it's open period so i hope we can you know foster that relationship and put it out there in the community together i would just add just for the record that as elements county being the lead for this five county consortium and as myself and patrick mills

leading this, it is imperative that the technical assistance for additional education is shared. That is leading something and not aware that the application period opened in April and it's closed is very disheartening. So now we are expecting, so it's almost like those funds are already allocated to whom? And I really support and trust and believe that our council is very transparent to our communities. So, again, if I have some additional technical assistance, not just for the lease, but for the entire report, I would appreciate it. I agree.

Thank you very much. Jamie, anything further?

No.

Okay. I guess we're down to item three here. Public hearing has been scheduled for the City Council to consider adopting the proposed fiscal year 2026-27 annual budget ordinance. and fiscal year 2026-27 community development budget ordinance. I'll recognize Bob Patterson, our city manager.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem Ward, Council. Tonight we have a presentation on our proposed budget request followed by the public hearing. First off, I'd like to thank our budget committee for all the work they did to put this budget together. That was Rachel Kelly, assistant city manager, chief financial officer, Peggy Reese, assistant finance director, Julianne Cordon, and the entire finance department all contributed. and also our department heads each did a phenomenal job shepherding their respective submittals as well. First, a little economic snapshot to give some background. Over the last several years, we've really had pretty significantly low steady unemployment in our area, which makes for a challenging environment for us competing with the workforce. and maintaining our quality of services and keeping our staff positions filled looking at the consumer price index over the last several years after we got through the covid period we flattened out with about a three percent annual um increase in consumer price index. The column to the far right in the teal color is a 3.8. That is fiscal year 25, 26 through April. So we're seeing the effects of the recent spikes in fuel and other food and whatnot. So getting back to our budget itself, our financial theme this year is mainly paying for the bond debt service and working to combat those inflationary increases. On the revenue side, we will be recommending a property tax increase. I'll get more on that in a second. We do expect our property tax base to naturally grow about 3% due to new projects that have been built and come online and renovations and rehabilitation of existing city properties or properties in the city. We will be recommending a dollar a month increase in solid waste fees and the establishment of a separate solid waste enterprise fund so that we'll be self-supporting through those revenues. Looking at sales tax, we expect that to grow around 3% and we're proposing a water and sewer rate increase of 5%. On the expense side, again, we have the bond debt service and inflationary increases. The voters approved the general obligation bonds in the fall of 2024 for street resurfacing and sidewalk repairs. and also major recreation projects including the Paramount renovation and expansion, the Maynard Aquatic Center structure, and we have issued those bonds to pay for those projects and we have to pay the interest on those bonds. This upcoming year that will be about $3.4 million of service on that debt. We would like to propose a 3% cost of living increase for the majority of our employees to help retain them and and stay up with that cost of living that we saw early aside earlier and personnel is 70 percent of our general fund budget we're seeing increases in in contracts and services chemical increases and we're also have money budgeted to update our city wide comprehensive plan which was last updated or undertaken in 2015. On the capital side, we're looking at increases for the computer aided dispatch and records management system project, increases for our paving, street resurfacing, and fire engine, and we'll get to more, some other major expenses later on. Looking at the general fund itself, these two pie charts show revenues and expenses. On the left-hand side, in yellow, our top three revenue sources generate about 85% of our proposed $95.9 million general fund budget. That includes property tax, sales tax, and permits and fees. On the expense side, about our top five expense categories account for about 74% of that spending. That's shown in the blue. That includes police, fire, recreation, public works, and service on the debt, not only that general fund debt, but other debt that we've had through the years. Another way to look at that spending, the blue columns on this chart correspond to the circles on the pie chart. This is broken down by department. So again, our big expenditure departments or the debt services shown in blue and the other various departments ranging from animal services and IT to legal and economic development all have their various expenses associated with our operations. This is also another way to look at that general fund budget. On the left, green is the revenue side, broken down by the proposed revenues for property tax, vehicle tax, sales tax. Again, that $95.9 million. And the expenditure is broken down by our various departments, ranging from admin to recreation and debt service. And it's balanced at $95.9 million. So we are proposing an $0.08 tax increase. $0.04 of that will go towards meeting that general obligation bond debt. and four cents will cover increases in public safety salaries. One penny generates about 917,000. So we looked at what is the impact of that to our residents, to our citizens, and in Burlington, the average residential property is valued at about $247,000. The median, which is right in the middle, so, the equal number of properties above and below by value, the median is at 212,000. But if we look at that average of 247, and to simplify the math, call that a $250,000 property. Currently, they're paying about, or at the new rate, that would be $1209 a year, which one penny is about 25 cents a year. So that would be an increase of $200 over the 12-month period. The 1209 is their current, so they would pay an additional $200. And there's values there for lesser and higher-priced properties. So while this is an increase and an impact on everyone, we're trying to show that on a monthly basis, it is not a big increase. Looking at our water resources fund, the proposed revenues and spending are a total of $39.7 million. The pie chart on the left shows our major revenue sources, which are the water rents or sewer rents, or the money that our customers pay for their water and sewer service, and also the City of Greensboro Water Sales, they are our largest water customer. Just that in itself brings in about two and a half million dollars a year. Spending, shared resources is all of our department operations on the water and sewer side that touch both the water and sewer operations. Just the water plants themselves, spending proposed expenses about $12.1 million and the sewer about 11.8, and we have some debt service associated with those operations. And we also fund the operations at the lakes and marinas through this, the Water Resources Fund. And this is broken down by department. The building and admin services at 6.4 million includes a reimbursement of 3.2 million. from the Water Resources Fund to the General Fund to pay for shared services such as human resources, legal, finance, that if we were a standalone operation, we would have to pay someone. That would be an expense. And each of the operating divisions are broken down as follows. And again, another way to look at it, the revenues on the left in green are rents, water rents, sewer rents and sales to Greensboro are the significant sources of revenue and our expenditures by department both for water and sewer production and treatment and the water and sewer lines in the field. We're proposing a 5% rate increase and with that dollar a month sanitation increase that I looked at or I mentioned previously, the typical utility customer for a small, bill for a small household that uses about 2,500 gallons a month, currently they pay about $60.90 per month or $2.03 per day. With that dollar increase in sanitation and the 5% increase in water and sewer, That bill would go to about $63.30 or $2.11 a day or about 8 cents a day increase. The School of Government has a utility rate dashboard that we can compare our rates to most all utility, water and sewer utilities across the state of North Carolina. And when in comparison to other utilities, For the typical bill, which is more closely closer to 5,000 gallons a month, with our proposed increase, that average bill would be 58.47 per month. And what these dials indicate is we're on the very low end of rates across the city and maintain a very affordable rate. And as I mentioned, we will be establishing a solid waste enterprise fund that will be self-supporting through the sanitation fees that we collect. We did increase the fee January 1, and we propose another dollar increase this next July 1, and that will provide the revenue necessary to make that operation self-supporting. Some major capital projects that we're looking, or capital expenditures for the sanitation division are the purchase of two garbage trucks, one the automated side loader, one a rear loader, and plus a pickup truck for their operations. And the sanitation fund is expected to be balanced at 6.5 million. Our stormwater fund is budgeted for 2.9 million. This budget is based on the current flat $7 a month fee for all accounts to meet our different requirements for our stormwater permits, plus some proposed capital projects, including some culvert replacements, our cost share program, and culvert replacements. June 16th, we will be bringing the proposed change in fee structure, which would decrease, the proposal would decrease the flat fee to $6 a month and implement the impervious-based fee structure so that non-residential properties would pay a fee based on that. We're asking you to approve the budget as is, and then we will do a budget amendment if that fee structure is approved next. next month, we do that budget amendment in July. Also, if there are questions with that fee structure, that would give us time to answer those and implement the fee later on. Looking at our public transportation fund for Link Transit, that's budgeted at $4.5 million. About $3 million comes from state and federal funding, which is about 68% of those that operations. And we also receive funding through the vehicle taxes and general fund support. And other funds that we have throughout the city budget process, including transportation planning, operation of the Guilford-McIntosh Arena, our municipal service district, and also the CDBG programs. and the Home Investment Partnership, total about $3.9 million. So all told, when we look at the general fund, Water Resources Enterprise, Stormwater Enterprise, Public Transportation Enterprise, and other funds, there's a total budget of $146,902.23. And at that, we would like to entertain any questions that council may have or turn it over to you to have the public hearing.

Questions?

One question. So the impervious surface, if we come back and approve that new fee in June, that doesn't take effect July.

It was January. Yeah, the fee would be implemented with the proposal was to implement that effectively. January 1, 2027, but it would affect this budget, so we would have to make some minor adjustments in the budgets to account for that.

Okay. Makes sense. This will make sure we're all on the same page with that. Adopt, and then it'll be January.

One other thing I would like to add at the presentation we made at the work session in May, I proposed a 7-cent tax increase. And then since that, we've had the question of looking at public safety salaries, in particular the police department salaries. When we did that analysis, that necessitated the request to add an additional penny for $0.08. We've looked at the fire department salaries. We've looked at the police department salaries. And we have programs in place that will adjust those starting salaries to make them competitive, keep them competitive. and we're working with the developmental increase programs for each department to make sure that it's sustainable and addresses the needs for each department.

Okay, this is a public.

Do you want to ask about affordable housing? We had a conversation about there's an affordable housing line item that was in last year's budget.

And I appreciate your clarification that it is moved forward since we were talking about housing tonight anyway.

Yeah, separate from all those other discussions we had today, in the current fiscal year budget, we have allocated $250,000 for affordable housing. There was not a program defined for that. And that was set aside, though, with the intent to fund some sort of affording affordable housing initiative with staff changes council changes some of the interested parties working through to get their ducks in order we did not at this point get to a point where we could formulate that program issue an rfp and and get you know proposals back so that 250 000 that is currently budgeted will be moved to a a restricted fund, so it will be available going forward. And there is currently a $100,000 budget in this budget request that we have right now. We reduced that to help balance the budget, plus with that $250,000 that we hadn't spent yet, thought that was a good starting point. If we need to make adjustments, then we can come back with a budget amendment after the new fiscal year.

But that'll put $350,000.

That'll be $350,000 effectively available beginning July 1.

And that's in addition to the CDBG and the home funds that we were talking about earlier. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for asking.

Okay, this is a public hearing. We'll start with this side like we did last time. Does anybody like to make a comment about the proposed upcoming year's budget? If you would like to make a comment, again, as with other hearings, please give your name and address. And the floor is now open if anybody would like to make a comment.

The discussion that just concluded, is there going to be an application process for an RFP? Will we know that or will it get spent and then we'll find out afterwards?

We will make sure that is well publicized, sir.

I think we need to say that those funds were allotted in the previous council. We had a discussion about having those funds set aside to address the affordable housing that necessarily wasn't being touched through the community block grants and things like that so we wanted to be innovative and to have those funds so that as a council we could determine where those funds would go um i'm glad they're still here but now we have a brand new council so only bob and i was a part of that and thankfully bob championed that along with myself to have those funds set aside The current council is unaware and just found out last night. So there's also a point of us having a conversation to figure out how to allot those funds. And definitely after tonight and with the community block grant funds and the application process and the community not knowing, I can promise you, you'll know once we're ready to move forward. Thank you.

With that, I would just want to make a comment. If we could really take a pause to really look at what the communication strategy is just in general to ensure that there's consistency in all things to ensure that people know. Absolutely. Agreed.

Thank you. Anything further from the side? What about? Okay.

I just want to say that we're saying the same thing about being –

notified. Sometimes it feels like, I'm not going to say it feels like, it is. Funds are allotted or things are displayed to certain entities and still some of us have still left the crumbs or not getting anything at all. So I agree that we need to be notified, still having that same, we may not be doing something on a large scale as building a skyscraper, but if we're allotted funds to, on our Richter scale, do what we need to do, I think it's only fair that we, everybody's name, like I said, everybody's name be put in that pot and everybody get a chance to get those funds to help, like I said, we're all in this together, it's not just one side of the tracks. It should be where everybody's getting the benefit to help.

Thank you. Anything further? Okay. There being no further comments, I guess at this point I'll entertain a motion to close the public hearing.

Motion approved.

All in favor indicate with an aye.

Aye.

Okay, public hearing has been closed. Now I'll entertain a motion with respect to the 26-27 budget ordinance and also the community development block grant project ordinance. I have a motion to that effect.

I will motion to approve, but I want to make a statement before. Okay, so we heard the manager's narrative on tonight's budget ordinance. Um, but we've, we've also heard from, or at least I've heard from a lot of community members that. Families are struggling budgets are tight household budgets are stretched thinner than they ever had before. And so I think it's really important to understand how we got to the point of having an 8 cent tax increase in 1 year. This increase is primarily driven by general obligation bonds, as mentioned. Those were approved by voters in 2024. However, we've since learned that that bond package was sloppy and rushed. The bonds that were proposed were based on estimates that were set to low. Many of those funds have been spent already for the Paramount project for Maynard Aquatic Center. We actually had previous council actually to take funds from the proposed Western Recreation Center pool and put it towards the Aquatic Center and the Paramount project just to move those projects along. So the voters have been promised a number of projects from these bonds. We will not have the amount of funds left from the bonds for the Western Recreation Center. as previously proposed without finding funds from somewhere else. Those bonds barely passed, but they did pass and they've been spent. Instead of approving a bond tax increase last year, the Council and Mayor decided to pass that forward. Last year, the Manager Honeycutt warned that a tax increase of at least five cents was needed to ensure payment of those bonds as well as cover a number of public safety increases. Some of those are outlined tonight, including a fire engine, breathing apparatus equipment for firefighters, CADRMS funding for police dispatch and records management, But as Mayor Butler stated in his retirement ceremony, he wanted to go out without having another tax increase on his record. The ball was passed to this council to approve. That's why we're sitting here looking at an $0.08 tax increase. His instructions to staff were to move money last year between the budget for trash collection in the general fund, to skip on those public safety purchases, and to drain the general fund balance to its lowest point that it's ever been in decades in Burlington. We've seen this exact same type of political budget game playing at our state legislature as they put two amendments on our ballot for this November that passed the buck to municipalities to continue to try to balance our budgets. We're the ones who are constantly left holding the bag, and we're the ones legally responsible every year to balance our budget no matter what. and we appreciate staff and the hard work that y'all did to bring us a balanced budget amid all these extra costs, inflation, trying to keep good staff employed, and trying to help folks be able to take care of their family. So here we are with an unsustainable deficit from last year, and we're trying to do the hard work through this budget to fix it. This is a no-frills budget. A lot of us talked about priorities, things we wanted to do, and they were not able to be put into this budget because we are trying to cover the general obligation bonds, and take care of our first responders, our employees, and make sure that our public is safe, and there's someone there to respond when they call 911. And those folks, those first responders are fully equipped. so we try to do our hard work to create this no frills budget and to restore our rainy day fund our general fund to some degree and that's what we've been able to do through this bond we've also had some very tough discussions about how do we plan going forward so that our public our economy is not shocked by a similar increase like this going forward And so I appreciate council discussions on that. We don't want to have to have this happen again. We want to take that responsibility and make the good planning decisions. that ensure that our community can count on where we're going and how that incrementally changes. We've looked for finding ways to provide relief where possible. We talked a little about the stormwater fund. We've got a proposal and a public hearing coming up soon where we've restructured the stormwater fee to actually decrease the burden on individual homeowners and ask commercial landowners to finally pay their fair share of those stormwater fees. and a proposal to actually allocate those fees equitably where they have not been before across our community. So we're trying our best to balance many different aspects in this. So despite these difficult choices, I look at this budget and see a path forward. Burlington's always been a leader in Alamance County. We recognize that we are the engine that drives our economy. And it's the work that we do through budgeting, through planning, through all of our efforts that drive job creation, economic investment, and really community growth. So specifically the work that we do in essential services, we've talked a lot about public safety, water, animal control, transportation, recreation tonight. These are just a few of the things that Burlington does that actually benefit our entire region through these investments that we make. So I appreciate that our council is willing to lead confidently, boldly, and most importantly, responsibly in toiling all this together, making the hard decisions. We're gonna have to bear this, so is our entire community. Eight cents is a lot to have to do in one year. but I appreciate everyone who provided feedback both tonight and before and via email. We don't take this lightly, but I look forward to what this budget allows us to do in the year ahead. So with that, I will motion to approve the budget as proposed.

And I'd like to make a comment, too. I'd like to thank the staff. You know, each year, you know, budgets really are not easy. It's always very, very difficult. And we've had, you know, I agree, you know, we had the bonds, and of course we've got that debt, you know. As far as I know, we've never defaulted on a debt. So, you know, I was part of that, you know, and I knew going in at some point we would have to pay. And at least historically, and I've been around a long time, I've... I don't know if any council said, yeah, boy, this really would be a good deal to have a big increase. I never have anybody to advocate. But this is a huge increase. I'll give it to staff. I will just simply say this, and I'll shut it down. This is where we are. This is what we've got to do. We need to move forward. And I thank the staff for all they've done. And maybe, you know, like I said, maybe next year it won't be as big a hit as it is here. But, you know, you just take things where they are and you move forward. That's exactly what we're going to do. So, again, thanks to staff. Any other council members have any comments?

I will say that last year, once we chose to not raise the taxes, you and I were proponents because we also heard from residents and coming after the housing appraisals with the housing evaluations that had just happened the year before, families were struggling to get back on track and were still needing food, were still needing gas, trying to pay daycare, trying to take care of things. So we consciously made a decision to not raise the taxes, but we were also transparent. During that time, I made sure that if you believed in me or supported me or was connected to me, the main thing I told and what I said publicly is use this time to get ready for next year because you're going to have a tax increase. That was one thing that I said publicly because we knew it was going to come this year. Maybe not the magnitude, right? with 4% being just bonds alone and then 4% being public safety. There's nothing extravagant or there's no big projects in that. To me, it's just taking care of home. When you take care of the bond, which voters approve that 4%, you mean that 4 cent, excuse me, voters approve the 4 cent and then we're putting additional 4 cent taking care of our staff and our employees. Making sure their wages and they're being paid properly. So it was not easy, but I still believe. It was the right, you know, we made the decision that we thought was best at the time. And I just prayed that people did take that and were able to. Get their ducks in a row and we're prepared. And I believe they are in knowing that it's going to be an increase. Yes, maybe 8 is a shocker. But we were trying to be transparent about 2026 and to be expecting that tax increase.

Well, it's a classic case. You do what you feel like is right at the time, and that's what we did. And so and we're doing this now because it's the right thing to do so. Are there any other comments?

I think it is also important to note that of the bond package, there's still $18 million that has been unlet for the Western Recreation Center and $5 million.

$27 million for the Rec Center.

$27 million for the Western Recreation Center and $5 million for those have not been allocated or spent yet, which means that we don't have bond payments yet. But if and when council chooses to spend those, there will need to be an additional tax increase to fund the voter approved bonds to do those projects. Thank you. So we are only proceeding with a portion of the general obligation bonds. And I think the conversation that will go on over the next couple of years is when can our community bear those and when does our community need those assets?

Great point. Thank you for putting that on the record. It was a $60 million bond. The 60Million or 68 and a half 68 and a half. Million dollar bond, so what counseling about to this is saying that we've only issued a portion. And that if we issue the rest, which is to go for the Western sportsplex. And the streets, then it's going to be an additional increase on what we're talking about tonight. So all of the debt has not been issued. I think that needs to be made. Thomas, please put it on the record.

Okay. At this point, we have a motion and we believe we have a second. All in favor indicate by aye. Aye. i'm not going to clearly you know it carried again i've said it for about 15 times i'll keep saying it thanks to everybody that's been involved in it again this is not a difficult situation to deal with but anyway we've got a budget for the next year and we're down to public comments and let's see we have i believe yeah Okay. Dr. Covington? I'm good. Good, okay. Sherry Burnett? She left. She left, okay. Cheryl Herman?

I'm still waiting.

We'll get somebody waiting, okay? Sawyer Jones? Okay. Okay.

All right. Good evening, council members. For the ones who don't know me, my name is Sarah Jones, and I'm the student body president of Walter Williams High School, and I'm a resident of Burlington. So usually in these settings, I start off by saying that I'm the proud student body president of Williams, but over the course of these past few days, I haven't been proud of either my school or ABSS. In the summer of 2024, a loving member of our graduating class, Sophie Elizabeth Fox, went to heaven way too soon. I never thought it would come to this, however, both my principal and ABS's administration has declared that her mother will not receive an honorary diploma. According to my principal, it's because she didn't actually graduate. According to central office, it's because she didn't pass in her senior year. This isn't an issue that's going to harm anyone if a diploma is given. If anything, it's going to help set precedent in our schools to respect the ones we've lost along the way. It's simply about doing what is just right. I know there's nothing that you guys can do, and I'm not here to ask you to do anything, but this is the only public setting I could use to speak about this grave topic before graduation, which is this Friday. We have a petition going around that has now over 1,000 signatures, and for anyone who would like to sign the petition, please come up to me after this or visit my Facebook profile, Sarah Jones, and the link will be there. Thank you so much for your time, and thank you for everything you do for the city.

Thank you.

Thank you. Okay. Phil Bowers. Okay. All right. Ramona Allen. Okay. We got a lot of good. I'll just say that's a good note to end on. That sounds good. Okay.

okay the city council comments uh any anything further ian jeff dwana i'll just mention that i'm repping for the cane so hopefully we bring home the stanley cup in the next uh 10 or 12 or 14 days whatever the right math is so uh go canes

And therein, he would like to leave and go watch some of the...

I'm going to catch a little bit of the game, yeah. They dropped the puck a few minutes ago.

Okay, any other council comments? I've got a couple of announcements here, and I think we can call it a night, okay? Okay, the concerts in the park at the city park will take place Friday, June the 12th from 7 to 9. The next Burlington City Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, June the 16th at 7 p.m. There being no further business, I'll entertain a motion.

You should announce sock puppet season starts in the next week, too. Okay. What day? I think it's Monday. It's soon.

Okay. All right.

With that, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second? All in favor, aye. Aye. Thank you all for coming.

Thank you.