Town Council - Regular Meeting

business meeting for the month of August. Um, obviously we're missing a few people. We've got a board member on vacation, one that's a little ill, and Shane Dale's supposed to be here, so he's he's on his way back to Nashville, but I think he'll be here.

Lucy Doll's here. Yes. Too late. What? What? I know. Well, I'm not going to talk. Everyone had an opportunity to look over the agenda. I'll make a motion to adopt the agenda. I'll second that. All in favor? I. All right. Public comment. Have Mr. Chuck Ivy talking about Shepherd Way Pavement.

And Ry's not here. He can support me on that. I made little pictures for y'all. It says top where top is and they're hard to read. So I think I got five copies. Really?

Thanks. Looks like my looks like first. Thank you for meeting with me after last week. That was really a cool thing. I appreciate it very much. Yes, sir.

Um, so Shephard Way uh before you get to Randy Alice's house and then one after. Um, so the damage was done by the storm, but then remember the big storm we had two or three months ago that just dropped a whole lot of rain. This was the aftermath of that because y'all had already come up and repaired the gully and everything like that and then it's just falling apart. So the number one picture is just above Ry's house. Um, and that little stick that's right there is a yard stick. So that's a 9 foot long uh fallen in part. And then the second picture shows you the yard sticks sticking up from the down. So it's three feet deep. That's a big hole. Okay. And it already was repaired once. You can see in picture one that the asphalt, the new asphalt is right there. So not for lack of trying. And then you're coming back down this way from Ry's house. And these are all um number three is on the west side of the road coming down. And that's the gully on the left side of it. And that yard stick is again there. So that's three feet into the road from the edge of the pavement there. Number four, kind of the same idea. The gullies there on the right. And someone has spray painted um markings to keep people safe on it. Uh might have been y'all, might have been neighbor or something like that, but that's almost into the middle of the road at that point falling in. Um, number five is just below that. You can see that there's a lot of the refues from the from the second storm coming out into the road and then the middle of the road is dropping in. Okay. And number six, the same thing. The middle of the road is dropping in. Um, I know y'all are working on water systems and it's going to include Shepherd Way. Um, so I just wanted you all to have kind of an idea of what might need to be done

after you get done with the water system. Whatever. It's gonna if the water system includes digging up the road somehow, it doesn't make sense to make these repairs, but just keep that in your mind. Sure. Thanks for all you do. We will pass this along to to Shane as well. So, thank you. All right, Mr. Danny Mintosh. Projects. We don't have any projects, Danny.

I've watched this come along for about the last 20 years. Uh good evening, mayor, council, staff. I just uh the further we go into working our way through the storm, it ever ceases to amaze me how much work's being done. And Chie pointed out, we got a lot more work to do. And there is a lot of work to do. It's just incredible what keeps turning up. It's incredible what keeps even out of events like last week's heavy rain here in town. Uh I know that water pine swamp bra was as big as it's ever been. That includes the flood of 77 and the hurricane 24. So there is so much to do and I know that it stresses and strains each and every one of you to keep up. It's just boggles my mind. So, I just want you to know I appreciate it. I do. I've seen seeing work go on in our neighborhood and so I see that, you know, just about every day and it's and it's every word and it's important. Thank y'all. Thank you, Danny. All right. Everyone had an opportunity to look over the minutes from our July 10th meeting. Any questions or comments on that? I make a motion to approve the minute.

Second. All in favor? All right. Moving along to Danny's project, Mr. Jason Chandler.

Talk about security cameras. other side. I'm sorry. On your side. That's your side. On your side. It's on your It's on. Good job, Chief. Where'd it go? I didn't know. always be part of the display. I was trying to run into that. Sorry.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I put these up. Some you might not have seen them yet. This is the cameras we have up currently. These are demos. We've been demoing them since May. Uh this system has many capabilities including license plate recognition, facial facial recognition and AI powered searches. You can go about whatever you want to in in the system. It'll search to see if it's in the film anywhere. Um all the cameras are displayed on this command center and can be viewed and you can add as many cameras as you want and look into it. So, but we've been very pleased with the cameras so far during the demo. U we've had multiple success stories already already using them, which we'll talk about that shortly. But first, tonight the proposal is to purchase a few de a few of the demo cameras that we already have up and running. Um the company I already put a granny in for for teen camera, but after that these demos the trial run up. So, has offered to discount us 31% off retail the cameras that we already have up as many as we want. Uh I've already been working on like I said the grant cycle we've got a grant in through the North Carolina DPS and that was the main reason we had these up to to try them out on the grant. But let me tell you a little bit about the program first. We're calling it Operation Safe Streets and it's to afford the the Burnville Police Department and public works the abilities to track, monitor, and observe pedestrian and traffic conditions in the town of Burn with the purpose of reducing speed, collisions, and reckless driving or road rage instance and monitoring the roadway conditions. The main goal being to reduce collisions and to make streets safer for

pedestrians. A secondary goal is to reduce crime overall drug crimes, burglies, and traffic violations. The citizens of the town of Burn and surrounding communities in the county will directly benefit from the use of these cameras. It is our belief that with the camera system in place that collisions related to the incident will be reduced and that our officers will receive aid in their investigations of the of such traffic incidents that do occur. We have many partners that could benefit from this system. In the town of B alone, public works could benefit from the traffic pedestrian surveillance surveillance along with added security to areas that we don't really that might need extra cameras in the future like going the water plants or wherever. Um but mainly super their streets and sidewalks to say if there's a water break is reported Shane could log on and look at the cameras and instead of running all over town looking for it if you can see it what it's on the cameras that we have would have up you can see it in the roadway to the water or traffic back up the fire department could also benefit there's a a wreck or something reported, you can check traffic conditions by just logging on. Also, we work close with the sheriff's office and and and county maintenance. The sheriff's office could benefit as well and they're actually in the process of getting these same cameras. They already have a few up. I talked with Matt the IT guy when me and John were putting these cameras up and Matt said that he's pushing to get more of them and that we could if the county got some and we got these we could share you can share camera. All you have to do is put it on and it'll show up on your command there. You just log into it. They share it with you.

These cameras can be shared, like I said, with agencies and will be extreme, extremely beneficial to all parties involved. These are our partners, which we work closely with every day to serve our community. Studies have shown that traffic and pedestrian cameras have proved to be great assets to all areas which they look forward to being able to use this program to help us along with our partners in town and county to reduce these problematic issues. Our vision for this product is to make our streets safer and our pedestrians and drivers in multiple ways. To deter criminal violations and reckless driving, deter criminal activity while on foot. With the facial recognition, you can search for wanted persons and persons of interest. Monitoring our crosswalks. And with these with the LPRs, you can they'll be tied into DCI where you can search. Like if the stolen vehicle comes through, it'll it'll recognize that tag and pop it and says alert us that there's a stolen vehicle coming through town. Also track down poss drug traffickers and investigate other crimes by the use of the license plate recognition software and better and deter burglaries by those presence of surveillance. For this project, we have two main goals with four objectives. Goal number one is to reduce traffic incidents and collisions and to aid our officers in the investigations of any collisions or incidents that might occur. Goal number two is to deter to reduce criminal activity and aid our officers in investigation of crimes, drug trafficking throughout our communities. The cameras will be linked, like I said, to the to the national network, which will also alert us to any stolen vehicles reported in all 50 states or missing one per persons that might come into town. The four objectives are to reduce overall traffic conditions and instance to give our officers aid and surveillance cameras to solve the collisions that do occur to reduce

overall crime by the aid of LPRs to alert officers on duty of any stolen vehicles known drug traffickers or persons of interest. Number three is they use facial recognition to monitor problem areas such such as warning persons and reduce the threat of burglaries by preventive measures that this that all surveillance system occurring. And then number four to use the video monitoring to observe monitor traffic conditions including inclement weather, water leaks and other incidents for the purpose of public safety advisories and assist public works in knowing when the need arises for road maintenance or closures due to inclement weather or other issues. As I said earlier, these cameras are already working. Like I said, we've been demoing these just for a few short months. John and I put them up, started in in May putting the cameras up. And since that time, we've had the breaking internet hotspot. We were able to locate the vehicle that was used in the commission of that crime and put it in the area the time of the incident. This aided in the interview of the suspect who confessed after being told that we had him on camera in the area at the same time. There was a stolen vehicle uh taken from Stalis with with that c with the camera system. We were able to determine the direction it was traveling and at the time it was passing out of town. They say the officers and locating and ultimately stopped in the vehicle a short while later. It ended up just being an elderly gentleman with dementia that got in the wrong vehicle, but we were able to get that situation resolved and help. Uh in July, a woman called report that she believed that her dad had been assaulted at the Live Oak Gastro Pub down the street here. But after using the camera system, we were able to determine that the individual had left the pub intoxicated, tripped over a table, and fell on the sidewalk.

So that's that kept us from doing assault investigation. Then we were able to get several videos from the man from Texas that everybody knows about who stole the vehicle angles and later shooting at other vehicles and leading Avery County deputies on a chase. Our LPR showed that he had been in here here over a week prior to the incident and just playing low and we're able to see that he was the one driving the vehicle around town when it come down. I've got a video of that pull up here. You're also able to put these in for our investigative purposes. Each video you can make a case

and then add the videos to it. That's him coming up the hill here. And he had luckily he had here he had a tag on the front too. Texas front tag they popped the tag another video both of them simultaneously I'll let that play while keep talking. We also had the we you can enter persons of interest or place of interest into the system and like for non-drug traff or the nature. If you're looking for a vehicle, if you're looking for a bolo that somebody reported somebody missing or something, you can put that in there and if the tag comes through, vehicle comes through, it'll tell us. And it alerted our officers of that the vehicle had come through that had been entered, allowing officers to locate the vehicle and the traffic stop. During this stop, it was about a gram of meth was seized and one with some drug paraphernalia. Like I said, this is been since just since May. These are just a few examples of how the camera system has already helped our town. With the acceptance of this initial p purchase, once through the grant, once the grant is through DPS's process, we'll be able to add 10 more additional cameras. If you guys decide to go with these, those are five context cameras and five the license plate readers along with the second PTZ which is pan tail zoom the camera that's on town hall. I don't know if y'all seen that. Let's

do this. Celebrations. This a little bit what it does. So this thing has facial recognition capabilities. You can look say we had a a little girl that got lost separated from her mom luckily during craft fair. Luckily it was just just a few minutes and they found her. But had it lasted longer, we could have put the description of the of the girl in there and and if she came across if the camera saw, it would have told us where she was.

You can also move it around and use it as you manually as well. with the other 10 cameras that if we get when we get the if we get the DPS grant, we'll have the main thorough affair covered at some point on West Main and and the bypass. This project is important to us and I hope that I've done it justice and shown good it can do for our town. Thank you all for your time and I'll be happy to answer any further questions that you might have about the system. Any questions? I have none. I think y'all know how I feel about cameras.

I'm one of them. It's better than my original idea of speed. Well, Leslie has a budget. I want to buy the existing ones these that we're demoing. You want just wait till Yeah.

motion right now. It'll just approve it. I think

you're welcome to ask for a motion whether or not to purchase. What do you want? I'm going to make the motions to approve

like I said this is better than my speed cameras. You want you want to say that right now? What I mean differentiate it from Yeah, I can let Leslie go ahead.

Okay. If you'll look at your budget amendment, um there is a at the very bottom here, it's a line item transfer and what it does is it decreases the general fund contribution to reserve by 115 and it increases the I made a new line in Brian's department which is 105107403 capital outlay other than vehicles. and I increased it by 115 and it's just strictly moving around in there. It's not if you are okay with that.

So is that is just so I'm clear is that purchasing the ones that are currently up. That's that's what that is. Would wait for the grant which should reimburse us for those and additional ones. Yeah. And he's got an additional grant packet that he's going to ask for. What what is that cost yearly channel as far as the

grand that's it looks like Chandler for five on this one that the price per year is like $191 which is like $1,000 The ones we have will be we can already connect Wi-Fi to them so we won't have to have the s capabilities. We'll leave up the one on the visitor center the one down in on east bypass which is the folks at the mattress place gracious use their building and their Wi-Fi. So we can use Wi-Fi there and then if we keep that be four cameras in two different two different locations with four cameras and then the PTZ on town hall we can uh John can wire it into it's on a mobile network right now but it can be hardwired in so you don't have to worry about the other prices on the on the uh the data plan.

Okay. But we do have to pay this license agreement every year. Yes. Okay. So that's a thing, but it's but it's written into the grant for five years. Are these are these cameras going to be included in the grant? Yeah, they're the like I said for this one now. Yes. That's just the one the five cameras with one year license. So it's 100 it's supposed to stay around $190 per camera. Okay. We'll just have to take that. Yeah.

We don't have any other discussion. You want just to approve the budget amendment when we get to you. Is that would that be how it would go for that? Okay. Okay. Thank you, Jay. All right. Presentations. I don't have any presentations. We'll move on to Miss Hockaday with the manager report.

Okay. FEMA. Uh I think Leslie also has a FEMA report you guys have this sheet just showing the projects that we have ongoing, what funds have been obligated and then uh what funds we're still waiting for obligation. Um a a new twist has been thrown. Most of our small projects have been obligated. Our cap B, which is emergency work, has been obligated. Um we were waiting on two um A&E version which is engineering on the redundant raw water system um project and then payment for the construction of the Cane River water line that went under the river out there to restore water service back to the uh western side of the county. Um those we made inquiries this week with FEMA. Um and it is our understanding that uh sometime within the past two months the uh federal secretary of DHHS uh changed policy and said that typically your project gets obligated once it's gone through the regional what they call the CRC which is all everything's evaluated and they say yeah you're good to go. we're obligating these funds and then the money goes to the state and then the state sends us the money. Um, but the new rule is anything over $100,000 has to go to Washington DC for Secretary Gnome's signature. And that's not just for the 25 counties that are affected by Helen, but that's for the entire country. Every FEMA project,

$100,000 is a low bar. Yeah.

Uh particularly if you're working in the infrastructure space. So uh we have a few delays luckily as we will get to there will be um you know we have we have the the loan funded from the state um if we need to get these contractors paid. They have been extremely patient and you know helpful to us. Uh, nobody has been beating our door down yet, but it has been close to 10 months, and these people deserve to be paid. So, we're going to be looking at um at that um in the next week uh because it I had a call yesterday with Senator Ted Bud's office. They're trying to get us a meeting scheduled with the secretary um to try to get some kind of resolution to how this can proceed a little bit faster. um but they haven't been able to to get time with her yet. So, we're waiting on that um to see maybe if something shakes out from those meetings and our projects get pushed. I certainly gave them all the information about our particular projects and asked that if there was any way to push them through faster to please do so because they have already been approved by region 4 FEMA. Um, so that's kind of where we're at with that. On also on the FEMA side, um, we have been approached by North Carolina DOT. They have, um, going to be, uh, completely rebuilding 197 South and B and the Bowlins Creek Loop. Um, and they have asked if they could roll our utility line damages into their building process because obviously it makes more sense as you're building the road to lay the water lines and build the road around and over them as opposed to build the road and then come back and cut the

road up later on to put water lines in. Um we've had discussions with with FEMA here in North Carolina um at the state level um and they have said uh for DOT to submit the agreement that would be between the town and DOT to allow them to do this. We did that this week and I heard from Mr. James Fox, who's the um infrastructure division lead uh with FEMA in North Carolina, and he said he would put it through their legal channels and see. So, what I'm asking this evening for is um you guys have a motion and vote to allow the mayor uh to sign this agreement if if um FEMA approves it.

I'll make that motion. No. Second. Okay. And when you're talking about water lines, are you talking about the one the city water the or the Bolan's Creek? We're talking about the raw water lines. It's all rolled into what do has termed the 197 uh south design build project.

But it it could be I mean essentially it could be both. I mean, this is basically the 197 thing on the news the other week about Asheville trying to plan on some kind of an alternate thing and I think that Bowling's Creek is important. Well, and we we will have we expect to have middle of this month or by the end of this month some cost estimating um with our consultants and engineers on that project um to make some decisions about and of course we'll bring that back to you guys um about how to move forward with either replacement or some type of alternate thing. um wastewater treatment plant. We have a consideration for Withers Ravvenell is the engineering firm that was selected through the um competitive procurement process. Um and we have contracts um from them ready to go. We would ask you to authorize the mayor to sign the contract and authorize me to issue a notice to proceed so they can start their engineering design work on that project. And that's for the um the damages that were done to the belt press and and that room down there at the sewer plant.

Have a motion to approve that. Make that motion. Second.

Motion carries. Ch. Um, and one other thing I will say about the sewer plant while I'm here is that the contracts have been signed with the county for the funding that the ARPA funding they received to add the additional five plant and rehab the old five plant at the sewer plant. So those uh that construction should start pretty quick. I think we have a meeting maybe scheduled for next week or trying to get one scheduled with the contractor and get get the timetable on how quickly that can get started. So, that is super good news. Um, third round of cash flow loans. The North Carolina Department of Treasury has put out issued an invitation uh to ask municipalities and counties if they're interested in um receiving additional funds through the cash flow loan program. We've gotten two rounds. We haven't spent that money yet. Um Leslie and I have discussed it in light of these delays that are happening, we feel like it might be a good idea to go ahead and and submit a request for a third round. Um I'm concerned that when we get to the larger construction problem uh projects like the intake in particular um that if there is a lag in FEMA

reimbursement reimbursement that we may have to you know pay some contractors because once they start construction on those things they're going to invoice monthly. Um, we do not know that. I think it's going to be 15% of whatever is on your uh on our damage inventory list. Um, is what they're telling us. They haven't given us an amount yet, but we just submit the form and then they let us know.

Sounds like a no-brainer. I mean, it don't cost us anything to get it. and we're trying to hold on to it as long as we can and hopefully, you know, just get to hand it back to them if they will process these payments. Um, ARPA East Main Sewer Interceptor um project is finally, I told you the last time, we were able to get the additional 540,000 in grant funding to complete that project as designed. Um I have uh consideration of a tenative award to Kinjun um construction. They did the west interceptor and they've done a lot of of sewer rehab line work for us over the years. Um I just need a motion to authorize the mayor to sign the resolution which you should guys should have on your computer there. Uh and then allow me to sign the cost summary um for the bidding in the good faith efforts form. So we can send that into DQ and get um the notice to proceed back from them.

You just need one motion. You can make Yeah, that all in one motion. I make it. Second. Motion carries.

Uh 118 North Main renovation projects has been on hold while the engineering structural engineering been trying to figure out what to do about the south wall and the little bit of structural issue they had there. uh had a meeting this morning with the architect and the contractor. Um the contractor, we think that we should have within the next week probably all the pricing on that change with the structural um and so we'll be bringing forth a change order to to uh add some of that in. the contractor is pushing hard on the subcontractor that's doing the masonry work to give us as much credit as possible on what was already bid. Um, and they are the the lag time on that is going to be getting the steel here for the for the beams they're going to have to put in um or the rods they're going to have to put in. So, they're hoping four to eight weeks they can start back. um they don't think that's going to impact, you know, the overall timeline in terms of getting things done to meet the GR grant deadlines. Um I did reach out again to Senator Heis's office um to his legislative liaison about uh as they as the Senate and the House start negotiating budget rec reconciliation in Raleigh about including some additional funds for this project because we've had some change orders. Um so we will we'll wait maybe to hear back from them. But that's that's where that project is right now. Um, real quickly, Division of Water Infrastructure with DEQ uh and the US Economic Development Agency. I've been meeting with them regularly for the past month and a half. Went to the um DEEQ application training in Hickory

last week, I think, um to learn about the new Hela SRF funding. um and what we might be eligible for. We've been having discussions going through our capital improvement plan uh picking out different projects there and seeing if they would be a good fit for the the SRF program. Um this would be this is the loan. It's a loan, but up to $5 million they'll give us 100% principal forgiveness. So, it basically is a grant up to $5 million. Above that mark, it's 75% principal forgiveness. So, right now, we're just in the process of trying to formulate um what projects would would meet the criteria to help knock some more things off our capital improvement plan and water and sewer. Um and of course, we've been the COG has been very involved with that in terms of they would be our grant writer and our grant administrator. So, um I'll I'll give y'all more updates on that. We for the SRF, our deadline for applications would be November the 3. Um, the Economic Development Association, US EDA, Hillary Sherman, uh, has been meeting with me and and representatives from the COG um, about some Helen funds they have. Um this we're trying to work on again with our partners at the county. Um possibility of an expansion at at the sewer plant at East Jansancy. Um these funds have to be for something not necessarily Helen impacted community, but they have to in some way spur economic growth, economic development. um and sort of spearheaded this some conversations that um Hillary had had

with local industry about their thoughts on future needs for water and sewer treatment. So, we're working through that process um and possibly have an application in September, October, but that would be a joint the town would be probably the lead applicant. Um and then Peace Jansancy Water and Sewer District would be the um a co-licant with us. So, we're gonna work on that. And that's all I have really for projects that are going on. What did you mean? A motion on the third round. Oh, she made it. I thought Did you make the motion on the third round of Halloween funds?

Uh loan, cash flow loan. Go ahead. Yeah, I made that motion. I thought you did. And Bill's gonna anyway. Thank you, Chad. Sorry. Um there were several right there in the row.

I know. I'm sorry. Okay. Uh down to the tax report. Um you guys have it. It's We're just waiting for new tax bills to go out. Um nothing much has changed. We've had some more collection and we have uh turned one property over to uh Kenya Law Firm for a little extra collection. Um but I do have a consideration of two properties for tax refunds. Um and you guys should have that in your on your computer. Yeah.

Yeah. So, and these were Mr. Macintosh helped me out greatly. Uh, these were situations where the during assessment the the county tax office had made a clerical error in square footage um of these properties and they issued a refund and uh so we've been requested by the taxpayer to issue a refund. Um the first one would be for $74412. And the second one I think was $210. Make sure don't get in trouble with Miss Hensley. $21060.

That one. Yeah. I have a motion to approve. Motion refund request. Yeah. And I'll second it. That's all I've got. I'll be quiet. Go home. Thank you, Heather. All right, we'll move along to Mr. Shane Dale, the public works update.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, for the most part, everything's been going pretty well. We've got uh, of course, you know, the craft fires done and over, and I think on our end, things went pretty well. I think uh, I don't think everyone's too much bad things. I think everything worked pretty well for the most part. Uh we're still having some issues and stuff with the dry water intake. Of course, had to change a couple of gaskets and different things out on it. These rain events that we've been having has been creating a lot of grief because still got a lot of sediment coming down through there creating a lot of turbidity when it gets down there. So, It's just causing us to use a whole lot more chemical than what we're what we was used to. The contractor that's working on the main street water line, the one that's doing just the side streets, they've made it up partially up Hickory Lane right now. Uh they've nicked a few services along the way and caused a few issues, but that's just part of it because there's a lot of old lot old water lines that's in this ground that we don't know anything about. They found them for us. So,

for the most part, everything's been going pretty well. We've had to fix those leaks and plus we've got some of our own on the aging infrastructure that's been popping up and we're still trying to but it's just a work in progress but that's all I have. Thank you Shane. Is finance update.

Thank you sir. I feel like we probably are going to need to tighten this budget amendment, but um I sent the budget versus actual out. I was just a little bit later on it but it's really not much yet. There's not not been enough time for it to be much out of whack, but knock on wood. Okay. All right. So, let's move on to the budget amendment. Honestly, all this down here is I'll explain it, but it's basically about these three things in this top column in the revenue column. Um, this top one is contribution from capital reserve from the fire department. So, Nile is looking at a fire truck and you want to tell them what you're looking at and explain your little sheet of paper. I'll be I advised council last time that we were looking for a fire truck and fortunately we came up with one very quickly. Uh CW has had one and uh it fit our specs almost to a tea what we were looking for. It is a

and that don't happen often.

Don't happen. One of the big things we've run into is finding something with a bigger engine. And this truck does have a much bigger engine than what's in our regular trucks we have right now, which will improve our response across the mountain. So that that was a big plus for us. So they did have it and it was a stock truck. We had them bring it up. We looked at it. Everybody went over it. Several members of the fire department went over it and were impressed with it. And uh I sat down with them. We got a to give me a a price on the truck. And we after a little negotiation got down to $520,000. As uh we began to look at we talked a little bit about how to go about where to finance part of it or just pay for all of it and we even went so far to look at some financing figures on it. But after looking at what we had already in our savings account, which we had a balance of 557,21 in it, and we had a line item in the current budget for some contribution to capital outlay for 135 I think it was.

Yeah. 13575,000. kind of determined we could take 400 out of our reserve and 120 out of that contribution to Capital Outway and just pay for it outright and not have indebtedness hanging over us for a number of years and not knowing what the outcome is going to be. Of course, flood issues with property taxes and all that thing. So, so once once we looked at that, kind of determined that that's the route we wanted to go. And I guess what I'm looking for right now is the council's approval to go ahead and purchase that. Then we'll get back to Leslie's budget amendment

because that's what the budget amendment is all about. So, I would request respectfully that you approve the purchase of this truck. Uh, and how long's it been since your last purchase of a new engine? The last two we bought were 99 and 2000, I think. New truck was bought in 2003. Yeah. So, so we're 22 23 years out since we purchased a new truck. So, I think it's just overdue. Yeah, it's been 20 years. We've been trying to save some money by buying some used trucks, but I think we're trying to

build our fleet a little bit better with some new equipment. So, while we have some funds available, yeah, we already have the money. Council, have any questions on that? The rates were high. I mean, the rates are high. The lowest lowest was 4.36 and then the others were like 6%. And those were people I usually would go to for any kind of finance. And so and the low rate had a penalty for had an early payment penalty of like $4,000 to pay it off early. So

yeah, and in October we'll probably get the um fire tax from the county and last year it was 27,000 that first payment. So, so we should be good. But if you are for it, then that's what that line that line in this 120 right here. So, I guess I'll make a motion to approve that. I will second that. All in favor? Yeah. Okay. Well, back to me then. All right. Congratulations. Yes.

Okay. So, the contribution from capital reserve the fire. I've just got to recognize it in the budget. This is 400. And then down here, this 120 that's 105317403 is where we had the contribution to capital reserve in the budget. So, this is just a line item transfer. I want it all to come out of this one line. So it's clean, you know, and looks better. And then the second one is police grant revenue. So what Chandler didn't tell you is he's got a drone grant. And I actually have the check already, but I need to recognize this in the budget so I can pay for it. That's 175. And this miscellaneous revenues, we got a refund for from Republic from a long time ago, but I I know from trash pickup. We had to create a balance, but I just wanted to increase this line and be able to increase the garbage line to out because that's what it is from.

Okay. So, I have a motion to approve the I'll make motion. We'll second it. Motion carries. Ch. That all you have, Miss Le? That is it. Mrs. file the

turn it turn it back back back back over to Mr. Al Chief Al thank you Mr. Mayor, uh, you do have our report for the month there. We did kick back up. We had a easy month for the month of June, but back to July, we got back to pretty much normal of around 30 calls. We had 37 for the month of July. Most of those again back to the motor vehicle accidents. And so, we're still seeing a lot of those out here on the fourlane mostly. And we have had a series of fire alarms and continuing to have, which is a little unusual, structure fires in the summer months. We usually have a little break from that, but seems like we're just steadily keeping that going, which I, you know, so I don't really think they're storm related. Some of them are, some aren't. So, one of the ones we had just recently that's not in the July report was one where there was no bridge to the house. We had to stretch holes across the river and it was a good way to get away from our trucks and it made a little complicated. So, I think we're going to continue to see those kind of things happen. I did order a skid unit for one of our side besides that will help fight brush fires. So, that that will be available for our our fall fire season. And of course, we ordered the side by side with the skid unit from our grant funding. And it probably will not be here. They gave me 180 day turnaround on it. So, it's probably going to be probably after Christmas if they stick to that before it gets here. But, we did get grant funding to pay for it. So, it it should be here. So, we'll be a little better shape for wildland fire by then. And that's about all I have to report. Thank you, Chief.

Chief McCann.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, we also survived the crash fair. I'm sure Lane will speak to that a little bit more here in just a bit, but uh, we managed to only ride a couple of tickets, only one of which I've been yelled at so far. So, correctly. So, uh, we we did have a it went relatively smoothly with setup and everything. Again, she'll probably talk about that more, but that's usually I don't know of any major problems that happened throughout the weekend. Uh you have our activity logs as well. Uh from zoning in we there's not been many updates. I am going to a training for the week to renew my zoning certification. So I'll be certified for two more years I guess. But that's really all I have questions.

Thank you bro. Do we still call it or not? Mr. Mr. Cooper, thank you. Um, we only had two casualties during the craft fair. Turns out the ladies don't like when you cut in front of them to go into the bathroom to clean, but um, um, we did survive just fine. And as of for this month, we're it's a little light on the rentals, but we pick back up next month with 28 rentals for September. And as always, we're just trying your best to stay busy. That's all I really have. Thank you, Corbin.

Thank you. All right, council member reports. You got anything you want to report on? I have nothing. Nothing? Nothing. Bill don't have anything in no of the high country thing. Uh they had talked about the grants and things that's available, but they did talk about one thing. Somebody was there on video. North Carolina Railroad. Did you ever hear of that? It's the only stateowned railroad in in the United States and it goes from Charlotte to Morehead City.

Oh yeah. And they give they give grants, small grants like to people that to help clear up brown fields and maybe help people in rural areas get water and stuff like that. But I I'd never heard of that.

And they I don't know how they pay or charge, but I mean they charge like CSX or whatever the the rail people that use it, they they get money from that. Um, I will say uh yesterday we were here and it been on my mind for uh uh for a month or so talking about this employee appreciation day for the town employees. Um, I was talking with Heather and and Leslie and Chad and um, something I've been thinking about a lot was doing something a little different for this year because obviously this past year has been a little different and uh, called Niles and he was he was at the fire department asking him to come and join us. Um, I just I feel like that we need to uh to do it at the fire department and have all the firemen there because uh what they've done throughout the storm and have everyone's families there and we we do have we do have money budgeted for this. So Niles was in agreement with it and we're going to actually do it on a Monday night which is his regular meeting night and do it at like 5 or 5:30 instead of in the middle of the day. that way everybody's able to come. And Wanda's here. She's already agreed to do the baked potatoes for everybody. Um,

but uh, you know, I it's been on my mind a lot and there was you don't want to sing single people out, but there was there was a few individuals that were there that were non-town employees and and I've already reached out to to one of them and he's sitting with us, but um, Danny and Sharon were there the entire time and uh, along with Jerry Le, Mity, Sherry, you know, those those individuals I feel like need to be there and they were there to support the firemen and uh the visiting firemen that that were there for for a long period of time. Did you try again? Are you recording? No, that's stupid thing on the phone. You must have said her name.

Every everybody was obviously, you know, that was a had to have Niles's approval on that with with it being at the fire department on a meeting night, but he was he was good with it. And I just think it's uh, you know, I want to be able to thank the the family members for for not seeing their spouses for two months because I promise you they didn't. So, just wanted to run that by y'all and make sure that nobody had a problem with it. I have no problem whatsoever. When is it? Uh, sorry, on the 25th. No, we're we're going to say 5 5:30ish. That way that gives people, you know, cuz obviously a lot of firemen

August 25th. Well, all the firemen work elsewhere, so they'll give them time to to get home. That's wrong date, Katie. Wrong date. It's convocation at Mar. Well, there you go. Well, Ron will be here. He will do that. You're welcome. And your boys. And my boys will be here. What time was it? 5:30. It's fine. I don't need to eat. Potatoes. We'll save you one day. We'll save you. We'll save you a plate, Katie. All right, Miss Elaine, did you get dried out from the crap?

I tell you, I don't think I've ever been so wet or so cold as I was this week. Gosh, bad combination. All right. Well, thank you, mayor, council members, and staff for the opportunity to provide you an update on our recent chamber activity. I'm happy to the 25 craft fair is over. It was very successful and um attendance was slightly lower on Saturday due to the weather and some other things, but overall feedback from our vendors remains very positive. This year, as Brian mentioned, we implemented a few uh logistical adjustments, including a hub and spoke staging model for the load in with only one entrance point this year instead of everybody meeting from eaten west and duking it out. Actually, last year is exactly what happened. So, we decided we were going to try something new and it uh actually resulted, I think, in a much smoother setup experience. The vendors really liked it. So, that's that is what we were aiming for. Just event feedback. Approximately twothirds of the vendors reported that their sales were either as expected or better than expected. I had been concerned with everything that's happening this year. That might not be the case, but they noted that while their sales have been down at other festivals, some up to 30% this year, um Burnsville continued to be a bright spot for them. So that was exciting. We had a new survey question about possibly extending the craft fair to Sunday. We all know why. don't want to do that, but we've been getting a lot of requests on surveys in past years from the vendors. So, we asked if that was something the vendors would like to see. And as it turns out, over half of them preferred keeping it just the way it is, which is what I was really looking for. Because now when a vendor asks why we aren't, we can say we can blame it on.

That's right. It was exactly what I was looking for and I didn't want to go to the church and even begin to have a conversation. Our vendors weren't interested in it. So, we were happy to see that come out that way. Um, we're already hard at work planning next year's fair, which will take place on August 7th and 8th in 2026. A huge thank you goes out to everyone that made this event possible this year. Brian and the Brunville Police Department were outstanding. They were so awesome at maintaining just a helpful and visible presence that really enhanced, I think, the safety and comfort of our guests without it feeling he heavy-handed. I mean, several people commented on how friendly the police were and how it was nice having them there, that sort of thing. Shane and his team were incredibly accommodating both to our vendors and our um visitors. Corbin, of course, and the town center staff kept the facilities running smoothly and bathrooms spotless during the event, which is always a challenge when there's that many people, but they did such a great job. and to all the town staff and can council members. Thank you for your continued partnership in this both leading up to and participating in the craft fair. Saw you out there at the craft fair and I'm sure others of you were there looking ahead and gearing up for the eight remaining chamber events that we have in 2025. We have three chamber after hours gatherings. Trick-or- treat on Main Street. Um we're doing the Empower Her Women's Leadership Summit in August or August and October. Western North Carolina Chamber Executives Fall Retreat, which is being hosted right here in Burnsville this year. And both of those will be at Town Center. Annual Christmas parade and Merry Main Street. And when we told that to our new person um who's coordinating events, Sam that I brought in here, she her eyes got like this big. And we were like, "None of them are as big as the crafts were. Okay, it's all right. Just breathe. We'll get you through this." So, um,

obviously we're all we continue to be grateful to the support support of all of you for our businesses and our community and business community and the broader community that we all serve. Your partnership is so critical in everything that we do. We just so appreciate the way everybody just steps up and shows up when we have that need. So, thank you for that. And with that, I'll take any questions if anybody has any. You got any questions? Thanks, Elaine. Thank you, sir.

All right. No close session. Our next regular monthly meeting is September 4th at 6. No further business. Do I have a motion to adjourn? Can I make that motion? Leslie is off. I know. Say I'm sorry. After Chandler talking, I knew I was wrong. I call it.