City Council - Regular Meeting

Bobby Bobby, send that information to her. Renee, are not here yet. You already touched. Yep, we're good. Yeah. Yeah. Um, for these folks, they're on the way, but it might be 6:15 before they're here. All right, it's six o'clock.

Everybody good? Good deal. All right. Um, I would like to Greetings. Thank you guys for being here. Um, I would like to call the January 13, 2026 city council meeting to order and welcome everybody here tonight. Um, and say hello to everybody that is following us on YouTube. Um, at this time, um, is Eric Chrisman here? I don't know if he's here yet. Um, Dwayne, do you mind giving the invitation?

Thank you so much. Let us pray. Oh God, our help in ages past and our hope for years to come. We thank you for all your gifts. so freely bestowed upon us and for all the ways you sustain us. We are grateful for this community, for its residents and its leaders. Give us courage to always seek the more excellent way that sees the best in others and honors them. Make us instruments of peace and make us ever mindful that each person we meet is created in your image. We give you thanks for those to whom you have entrusted the responsibility of governing this community. May they be guided by your light and wisdom that through their decisions they will seek the welfare of the people and may the fruit of their work lead to the thriving of all. I offer this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Thank you so much. All right. Please stand if you're able for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Um, at this time we're if you have an agenda in front of you, we're going to skip and um move on to the presentation while we wait for our honores to get here. Um, so if I could have Mr. Brad Fowler come to the front, he's going to give a presentation. And Mayor Dicki, if I may, um, Brad Fowler is the tax administrator for Alamance County. the uh county is in the process of going through a revaluation. So, he offered to come to our city council meetings as well as others throughout the county to give updates. So, he's here for that tonight. And then we do have him tentatively slated to come back in December to do another update. So, with that, I'll turn it over to Mr. Fowler.

Thank you, Manager Garner. Um, thank you all for having me. Mayor, council members, I appreciate the opportunity to be here tonight. But I will tell you that that your city manager jumped right on board as soon as I sent something out and we've scheduled all the way as she said through the end of the year uh some of these sessions where I'll come in and talk to you all. Um if I can get that presentation pulled up. There it is. So um here tonight to talk about the 2027 revaluation. Uh as everyone knows the last revaluation that we conducted here in Alamance County was in 2023. And so in preparation for the 2027, we wanted to kind of get out ahead of it, let you all know kind of what you can expect. Um, and then come back later in the year with some hopefully some some numbers and that sort of thing. So, we'll talk tonight just go a quick overview of the process, why we do it, that sort of thing. Also give you some key dates to keep in mind as we move towards 2027. And then I always when I come to these meetings or any meetings across the community or the county uh make sure that I mention the exemption programs that we offer uh throughout the state. So North Carolina General Statute 105286 says that all counties in North Carolina must conduct a reappraisal or revaluation at least once every eight years. The Alamance County Board of Commissioners elected um back in 2019 to advance that cycle to a four-year cycle. So now we do that every four years and our next one will obviously be in 2027. The reason that we do that, there's three up here on the board. Those are the main three values and assessments will stay closer to current market value. Uh the public stays more educated. It allows us opportunities to come out more frequently and talk to folks and give them uh kind of an education on the process. It also reduces the likelihood of the large market swings that we see over those eight-year cycles. um trying to minimize that as much as possible.

So the revaluation purpose quite simple is to redistribute the property tax base fair and equable assessments. It's also uh valuations and assessments are updated to current market levels. So what we mean by that redistribution of the property tax base is if you think about Alamance County, different areas in Alamance County grow at different rates. And so also different property segments, commercial versus residential, those grow at different rates. A revaluation is a is a chance for us to capture those changes and reassess at a time and make sure everyone is kind of on the same playing field. It says one down at the bottom of that slide. It says um a revaluation is not a means to increase property tax revenue. Okay. Once again, a revaluation is just simply to re-evaluate and reassess properties. You all will have the opportunity obviously to look at the property tax rate at the time once those numbers are solidified. So, some key dates in 2026 as we're moving towards 2027. As you all know or should know probably that Vincent Valuations has been um uh taken on by the county to do this 2027 revaluation. They are currently involved in the process of relisting and reme-measuring every home and every commercial property in Alamance County. They've been doing that for well over a year now. Um they're continuing that and that effort will continue all the way through until March. By the end of March, first part of April, they should conclude that work of the review of the physical attributes of properties throughout the county. Subsequent to that, they will move into a role of just valuing the properties for this revaluation. So, that's where kind of the valuation piece will take hold. That will start in April. Um, and then in September, uh, we will start with the process with our board of county

commissioners on the schedule of values for Alamance County. uh each county is required to adopt a schedule of values related to its revaluation. So we are working with Vincent valuations as they prepare that uh we're involved in that process with them. We'll present that to the board in September and kind of close that down by the end of October. By the end of this year, majority of the values will be set. Uh we still will have some that will be kind of out there left to do, but by and large a lot of them will be will be completed. You can see up here on the slide throughout this entire time frame we will be doing commu community engagement. Uh we have meetings scheduled at some of our municipalities already. Uh we have some spots at our local libraries. I think we have I have 10 meetings scheduled throughout the year uh at our local libraries. met with Burlington last week to talk to them about some ways working with their public information uh ways that we can use some of their resources to get get out there and talk to the public about the reevaluation process and also the appeals process. So 2027 comes along in January February they will final by February 1st they will have all values finalized. The idea here is that by the end of February, we send out valuation notices to everyone in the county. So that's anybody who owns property in Alamance County should receive a valuation notice. As soon as those valuation notices are mailed, then the appeals process can start. So the first is the informal appeal process. Folks can certainly appeal their property value if they feel like that it's in error and they have substantiating evidence. they will work with a team member on my staff as well as Vincent valuations team to try and come to some resolution hopefully if there's something there that we can fix. If there is no resolution then we will move on into the formal process. That formal or board of equalization and review process will begin in April and

usually concludes sometime in May. Um, you have until if you want to file an appeal, you have until that the day that the board of equalization and review concludes to file that appeal. If you don't do it by then, then it is an untimely appeal and will not be heard until the following year. If you file for that year in July, as custom, uh, we will send out property tax bills. So July of 2027 will be the first time that the tax bill will reflect the new valuation. So that's in July of 2027. This whole time we will be continuing through our appeals process ultimately landing at the property tax commission or the state level appeal if there's nothing here at the local level that can be resolved. Okay, so that's a little about the revaluation. Once again, property tax relief is a big deal uh across not only Alamance County but across the state. I serve as the chair for the legislative committee for both the assessors and collectors across the state and property tax is a really hot button issue right now. Property tax relief is a hot button issue as we talk about housing affordability and the like. Some of the programs really we're we're kind of limited on what we can offer. And when I say limited, we're limited by what the state will allow us to to offer. We can't do that at the local level. The first program and the most used is our homestead exemption. For someone to qualify for the homestead exemption, they must be 65 years of age or older. They must own the property as of January the 1st of the year in which they are applying. For this coming up year, they can only make $38,800. That is as an individual or if it is a married couple, that is a combined income of the married couple in that household. Um, if they qualify for this, they also could be totally and permanently disabled. That's another way to qualify. If they qualify for this, then we would exclude 50% of the value or 50% of the tax bill, either the way

you want to look at it, uh, off of them. So, it's a very good program in theory. Uh, we've been, uh, as far as at the legislative level, I have tried for, this will be the third year that I've been chair of that committee and have tried all three years to get some resolve and resolution to this because we feel like that income level just doesn't work like it should anymore. Um, so we certainly want to we've tried to get that increased at that level just to to no avail just yet. And then finally here is our disabled veterans exclusion. If you qualify for this, you would receive the first $45,000 of assessment off of your u assessed value. Once again, you must own the property as of January the 1st of the year in which you are applying. You must be a North Carolina resident. Obviously, honorably discharged with a 100% service related disability. There is no age or income requirement on this one. It's simply on your service and the disability. And then down there at the bottom, you can certainly say we have our applications online, but also you can call our office. Um, especially for members of our of our elderly community who are uh looking for that homestead program. if you call our office, even if you need us to come out and fill those applications out with you, we will certainly do that. Um, it's if if you qualify for that program, I want you in that program. The county wants you in that program. That's what it's there for. So, definitely let us know. And with that, I will take any questions that you all may have.

Can you speak to the community engagement pieces? You said that you've been working with Burlington to see what that would look like, but do you have any ideas of what that would look like? Yeah, they've pro provided me with a list of some of the groups that they typically have have spoke to. Um, my initial was to go to the libraries in in our local library system and start there. So, we're going to be here at the Graham Library. Um, I don't have the date specific in front of me, but the Graham Library three times, Burlington's library, the main branch three times, uh, in Meban three times. Those include nights, um, night meeting or days nights and on the weekends. I'm going to do Saturdays too. So to try to allow as much you know get as many folks involved and engaged. The presentations are going to look similar to what we have here but my hope is is that folks will ask questions uh specific to their needs so we can have that you know kind of that dialogue. Uh it also gives us a chance to talk about the appeals process. Uh a lot of folks don't understand the appeals process. They're either scared of it or some misuse it just to just to file property tax appeals. Um, so we want people to be educated so that they're filing appeals that that actually do need to be heard, but also they're not hesitant to file an appeal when it does need to be heard.

Wonderful. Thank you. Do you all have any other questions? Thank you so much, Mr. Fowler. I appreciate your time. Have a good day. Thank you. All right. At this time, I would like to recognize our fire chief, Tommy Cole. um as he recognizes Mr. Heath and Mr. Omar uh Owens Utley. Madame Mayor, I'd like to call these students up with with me as I talk about their actions that day. Guys, if you want to, if you just want to stand over there right in front of that table be fine.

Thank you guys for being here. Good evening, Mayor Dicki, members of council, city staff, members of our public safety agencies, and our guest tonight. Uh what I want to do is kind of paint a little bit of a picture for you as we uh get to the reason why we're here tonight is to recognize these two uh these two young men. So, on Saturday morning, November 29th, 2025, at approximately 6:25 a.m. I had to put my glasses on. I'm sorry. The Graham Fire Department was dispatched to a reported residential structure fire on Williamsdale Road in the southwestern area of our city. The Bronttoon Graham Emergency Communication Center received a 911 call from the neighbors reporting a house on fire. Multiple fire units responded immediately from Graham Hall Riverepsville along with Graham Police Department EMS. Graham fire units arrived within four minutes of the dispatch and encountered a working fire with heavy fire showing from the front of the residence and extending into the attic. and Aaron has pictures for us. This is what we encountered upon our arrival. Due the due to the conditions on arrival, a second alarm was requested bringing additional fire units from Burlington Meb and EM Holt and the Almetz County Fire Marshall's Office. Because of the early hour of the morning and the presence of a vehicle in the driveway, Grand Fire crews immediately initiated a rapid but thorough search for occupants. The search did not locate any victims inside the structure. Shortly thereafter, Grand Police confirmed that two young men driving by the residence had noticed the fire, stopped, and began bidding on the door of the home to alert anyone inside. The lone female occupant was asleep at the time. She was awakened by the loud banging and was able to grab a blanket and escape the burning structure just moments before the conditions become unservivable. An officer with the Grand Police Department arrived shortly after Engine 30 and truck 10 and later shared the following account with me. When I walked

up to the house fire, saw three firefighters enter the burning home searching for victims. The flames were taller than the house, as you could see, and I could feel the heat from the neighbor's yard across the street. The firefighters stayed inside, and what I saw next was straight out of the movies. As three firefighters came running out running out of the front door, I saw the roof collapse behind them. They stayed until the very last second trying to save lives. I shared that account to paint a clear picture of the environment inside that structure. There was enough fire and smoke to create conditions that no one without fire gear and an air pack could have survived. The actions taken before our arrival made all the difference. The heroic and selfless actions of Andrew Heath and Omar Owens Utley saved the life of a young woman that morning. In my 37year career in the fire service, I have responded to countless housefires. And I am confident in saying that had Andrew and Omar not been in that exact place at that exact moment, the outcome would have been tragically different. Without hesitation, they recognized danger, took action, and placed the life of another person above their own safety. Tonight, we're here to formally recognize their bravery. Andrew Heath and Omar Owens Utley are presented with a citizen life-saving award accompanied by a plaque that reads, "This is to certify that the mayor, city council, and the fire chief of the city of Graham have awarded the citizen life safety award to Andrew Heath and Omar Owens Utley for exceptional heroic heroism demonstrated on November the 29th, 2025. On that morning, you took decisive and courageous action to save a life of a fellow citizen trapped inside her burning home on Williamsdale Road in Graham. Without hesitation, you placed the life of another above your own safety, making a split-second decision that forever changed the outcome for another human being. Your unselfish actions and willingness to risk your own life exemplify the highest ideals of courage, compassion, and service. Because of your bravery, a life was

saved. uh presented January the 13th, 2026 and signed by our mayor, Chelsea Dicki, and myself. In addition, Omar and Andrew will receive a fire chief's challen coin as a personal expression of my deepest respect and gratitude. Um, Mayor Dicki, will you join me down to make the presentation? Exactly. What I read is Andrew Thank you very much. There's always someone need

lend out lend out a hand when you can. That's really it. Sorry. Thank you. Thank you guys again uh for your actions and stuff that morning. It it it truly made a difference. I can promise you that. And u I've spoken to the young lady that was in the house. I don't know if you talked to her since that, but she is still very grateful for your actions because you saved her life. Thank you again. Y

All right. Thank you guys. feels like everything else we've got to move on to is a lot less it's not necessarily saving lives, but here we go. Um, all right. Next up is our consent agenda. Um, I'm going to read through everything. Um, the first is to approve the December 9th, 2025 city council minutes, December 15, 2025 special meeting minutes, and December 22nd, 2025 special close session meeting minutes. Item B is to approve a budget amendment for 1,500 for the purchase of a memorial bench to be placed at Graham Regional Park. Um this is on behalf of Danny uh Ayes. His friends got together and raised the money and this is just to allocate those funds. Um, next is to approve a contract extension for $7,771,440 for the water replacement project phase one and to include the portion of phase two to maximize cost savings while contractors are mobilized. Uh, the funding for this project has already been received and it's all from the North Carolina state. Um item D is to approve an amendment to the audit contract with Stout Stout Stewart McAllen and King to allow for a time extension to February 28th, 2026. The current contract um is for December 31st, 2025. So it's just a two-month extension. and then to approve tax funds in the amount of $278.92 and the tax release in the amount of $370.19.

And mayor make a motion that we approve the consent agenda. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Bonnie. Uh, all right. All in favor? I. All opposed. Passes unanimously. Wonderful. Thank you. At this time, I would like to recognize our parks and recck director, Brian Faucet. Thank you for being here, sir. Uh we're going to discuss some park hours.

Thank you, mayor. Thank you, council. Um as you can see before you, fairly simple um proposal from the department to formalize park hours, something that has not been done. Um currently our signage says sunrise to sunset. um experience tells us there are folks in the parks before and after. So, we're trying to extend those hours to to formalize when folks can be and kind of clear up some of the confusion that may occur. Uh right now, simple change u you can see the ordinance in your packet there that um the verbiage in the ordinance says that council can deem in whatever is posted at the parks or what the hours will be. So, that'll be a simple vinyl sticker change basically on a couple of the signs that we have posted. Uh, a couple of the other ones we may need to work with um the street department to get some signage made at Graham Regional especially, but again, very minimal cost for the initial change over in the hours. There potentially could be um cost involved with lighting of tennis courts and basketball courts as we move forward and we formally allow those facilities to be used. Um it is my intention to not try to light up the parks like it's daylight 247. We will simply allow access to those um kind of active facilities that we have in the parks. Uh walking trails we will not light at least again my intention is to not light the entire walking trail part of the park. Uh parking lots are already lit currently for safety for general safety. We have ball field lights that are of course lit whenever we have activities at the facilities. But um so far just a pretty simple change in uh giving some clarity to our citizens.

Brian, can you propose 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and then 6 a.m. to 700 p.m. in different um seasons? Yes. Can you speak to what it would look like to expand those hours because 9:00 am or 9 pm feels a little early for sometimes? I'm I'm open. I was um kind of looked at what was around us, what standards are and and a nine some may have been to 10 o'clock. I can't recall at this point. Um I'm I'm not against pushing it a bit. I would be opposed, I guess, going much later than a 10 o'clock. Sure.

Uh 11 seems to be getting a bit excessive. Um our PD may or may not agree. They're the ones charged with uh securing the parks. So I'm I'm not opposed to extending that a bit. Okay. So like a 6:00 a.m. to 10 p.m. March to October and 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. for November through February. Sounds fair to me. Okay. Um do you guys have questions? As long as you you got to realize um there is one section of the count of city that will be your phone will be ringing off the hook and that is over at South Grand Park. Anything after 9:00 they're going to be calling.

Is that something we've experienced before, Brian? Do you know? There are issues with the tennis court lights at South Graham Park currently. The timer on it is old technology and it goes in and goes out. We recently um to Mayor Pro Tim's point recently, I'll say a couple weeks ago, recently um had an email over the weekend that those lights stayed on all weekend. When the park superintendent went by the next day, they turned he turned them on while he was there, did his work, they went off as they were supposed to. So things like that happen periodically, I'll say. I can't say often. I couldn't tell you when the last time that happened was, but uh that

neighborhood is very good about letting us know when those lights stay on and and I appreciate that. You know, we don't want to burn lights all night long and, you know, waste utility resources. Sure. I think it would be respectful for those parks in and around residential areas. 10 o'clock. You got folks who go to bed early because they go to work early. And 10 o'clock, come on. I think 9:00 at night, that's more than adequate time. If you're a student, you shouldn't be out past nine o'clock anyway.

To your point, I would say some people get up early to work, but some people don't get off work and their time to play is later. And so I I do know some people in the the tennis and pickle ball and basketball communities, we do have these amenities to serve them. Um some parks are open, like you said, till 11:00. We're not pushing it that late.

I think it's just out of respect for your neighbors. I mean, all right, those individuals who get up early, get off. There are other parks that aren't in residential areas where you go play. And I've heard pickle ball is not a quiet sport. And if you're a person who goes to bed early because you got to get up early, hearing that pickle ball, not a way to get a get a good night's sleep. Again, it's just being respectful. For those few people who want to play late, I'm sure there are parks around that are not part or surrounded by residential.

Bonnie, did you have anything? Jim,

I I don't have an issue with 10 o'clock. Um, I understand what what Bobby's talking about because I am one of those people now that go to bed early, but um, we're dealing with with a whole different we, you know, people, it's not just 9 to5. And, you know, I know myself when when I used to do it, I would like, you know, I've liked running the trails and it, you know, although they're not lit, but I knew when I couldn't couldn't be there. Um I don't have an issue with 6 to 10 and 6 to 8 remembermber of February. Um and I'm sure you know the the neighborhood would where it's located residential that you know they would they would know. Um, but no, I I'm I don't I don't

I mean, if we get a lot of complaints, we could always readress it later. So, well, could we um Mr. Flood, do you do you think you think it would be an issue? I mean, as far as the police, is it going to like drastically increase any calls or anything? I think most time get call I'm sorry I put you on the spot.

I think now uh right now when we get generally when we get calls later on about the parks is because they know people know it closes at dusk. So they're calling about there's somebody in the park and that's more what we respond to where the complaints come from. Um you know I don't see an issue with the 10 o'clock. I mean, because I've I'll be honest, you know, over the years I've been out there, especially uh South Brown Park where it's, you know, doing the patrols uh go down there and find them. It'd be after dark and had it not been for me riding through, wouldn't even know they were there, you know. So, I don't I don't foresee it being an issue. Thank you. Thanks.

If there's no other questions or comments, I can take a motion. Uh, Madame Mayor, I make a motion that we approve the hours of 6:00 a.m. to, we were going to say 10 p.m., correct? For March through October and 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. through November to February. Thank you. Second. All in favor? I. All opposed? I passes three to two. All right. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Brian. I appreciate you being here. Um, all right. We're back with Sesqua Centennial Park on the agenda. Um, and I would like to make a little bit of a presentation if you can hang with me. Um, and then we can open it up to discussion between um, council. But um this is back on the agenda because we need to give our city staff some kind of path forward. Right now we've got a project that's got park closed on a fence and it's right in the middle of our downtown. Um and so setting forth a path for our community, but also giving our city staff a path forward. Um and I just want to establish our our values. I think we can agree that we need pedestrian safety downtown. We want a vibrant and welcoming downtown. And then we also want to be responsible and respectful of stewards of the funds that we've got here. Um, and those goals are not in conflict. It's just we've got to figure out how to to puzzle piece those together. Um, so the city of Graham received 600,000 from the state funding designated for downtown improvements. Um, these funds have already been allocated for stamping the concrete crosswalks. Um, it's my understanding, um, Mayor Tally was noted that these textured surfaces would act as traffic calming measures that they would help with our safety. Um, I did some research. I asked our city staff to do some research and I couldn't find where those safety measures were impacted by the stamped concrete. Um, what we did find is our public works

director Burke had gotten quotes for they are called something very specific. Hold on one second. Um, rectangular rapid flashing beacons. They're the triangle in the middle of the crosswalks that flash when people come back and forth. And those have had, sorry, those have had significant um increased safety for pedestrians. I have some for press that I can hand out later. Um so with that Burke had a quote that we're thinking around um a 100,000 we could do all of the crosswalks in the circle. Um they're quoted between 4500 to um 20,000 per crosswalk. Um, if our goal is safety, and I think it should be, especially in light of the December 13th with our pedestrians being hit walking around the circle, um, I would consider us moving towards these rectangular rapid flashing beacons. Um, on top of that, that significantly brings down the cost of what we would be spending from our downtown park or downtown grant. Um, right now we've got 500,000 earmarked for pedestrian crosswalk improvements. If we could bring that down to a h 100,000, there is $400,000 left from this grant that we can allocate to shuring up the foundation and moving forward with opening Cesco Centennial Park. Um,

and that way there there's no doubt about it. The stamped um crosswalks are like you said, you were quoted in the uh newspaper saying they are an aesthetic ad for downtown. And I absolutely agree. Um, but I also think that taking our closed park fences off of Cesco Centennial Park would also be an aesthetic ad for our downtown and opening up that park. Um, so those are my thoughts. I would love to open it up to y'all's comments. I have a um I just how uh what's the cost of installation of these and how are they powered?

They B, do you mind coming up and and answer some of these questions? I can answer them to the best of my ability. Some of these are solar powered. Um they are most effective when they are in the middle of the street and so you see them from both ways. I'll let you answer the rest. They can either be, you know, powered by electrical or by solar. Uh you've got many options. Some automatically detect pedestrian, some takes a button. Uh depends depending upon what option you select is what the cost that's why the cost range ranges so much. If you got something that's just really simple that flashes all the time, u they're cheaper, but then you get fatigue. Everybody gets used to a flashing light, then we ignore it. you know what the like the lifespan of of them are any

most of the solar stuff that I've looked at I've also re done research into that for street light options and park lighting um batteries are 8 to 10 years uh solar panels are 20 u everything else is just standard electronics is electronics no matter what power source you know got same lifespan okay just curious and do these these go like right underneath the sign Well, there there is a sign you put a sign and a beacon and it would need to be located to where you know we could you know the motors could see it before they get to the crosswalk. It be really close to the crosswalk would more than likely I mean we have signs for the crosswalks now and they don't pay any attention to them. So I'm just they run over them.

They just I know they run over that one right over here on on Elm Street all the time. So I mean did you have any questions for Oh, sorry. One more. Um, so what do you as that that 100,000 was that just for the lights or is that installation and everything? That's installable cost. Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you.

I do have one question. Maybe Aaron, you can answer this one. I'm sorry, Bert. My apologies. Um, how much of that money has already been spent? I know that there was some engineering work or something that had already gone through or been approved, right? Wasn't there some Yeah. So, so we we had uh monies used towards that as well as u some upgrades to the the lights around downtown. I not not knowing exactly how much. I'll probably say altogether it's probably less than I've got the total

so the the amount spent on pedestrian qu cross crosswalks year to date is um 13,15 that may not include the December invoice for engineering services. So that amount could fluctuate a little bit but actual cash spent to date is a little over 13,000. Okay. Yeah. cuz I think the last thing I last time I saw of the 100,000 that I thought we would spend up to this point, we had over 80 some thousand left outside the 500,000. So around 20ish,000 at the most. Okay. Thank you. Ricky, do you have any thoughts?

Well, my thoughts is let's go with a different location for the park. And if Aaron, if you'll bring up my PowerPoint. I think I think he gave everybody one. There should be one in your desk there. I think in your Y'all weren't sitting here when he put them in there, so just letting you know. Um, this is a proposal that I've been working on since the um um what is that gentleman's name? Um

Russell Hton

Hton came up and um propose a different location. Um if you'll move to the next slide, Aaron. Oh, come on. Um historically this um um park has been just basically a venue for wedding photos, ops, small gatherings, and local engagement. If you knew move on, um the current park is considered a park, a pop-up park, gazebo style park. um his current configuration only is um 2700 square f feet. Out of the 127 square feet, I mean 2,700 ft. Uh 1,132.56 square ft is usable. Um this is considered a um really noisy park. Um if you go out and look at the comments on uh the park itself that is that is one of the big things. Um the brick floors are constantly moving, constantly shifting and he create um um tripping hazards for um residents. That's another complaint. Park has no real grass and no real um open space and minimal. If you go to the next slide, Aaron, um that basically defines what a um popup park is. If you'll move on, um the property deed uh for the original park was only 3110 ft. So, um you minus the 409.28 28 for the alleyway. That leaves you um the two

usables. Um the park itself in a usable space. Move on. Um to repair the park, you're talking quite a bit of money because you got to remove um 40 to 55,000 cubic feet of dirt, which is approximately 25 tons um 2500 tons. Um, and not only that, you're going to have to dig the park out. Um, you can't just dig a square hole. Uh, OSHA requires it to be tapered out. So, um, that's the that's the additional to move on. My proposal um is move the um um park behind the um Grand Museum using the entire park where go from 3100 ft to 77 7,710 ft. That isn't that doesn't include the open space behind the museum. uh as you move on air. Um like I said, the park will encompass um the entire parking lot plus two additional place um spaces to the right plus the courtyard behind the Graham Museum. Um, this location is only going to need minor grading and from minor what I mean say minor grading um just to remove the asphalt gring for uh site drainage training around um site drainage around the museum and the construction of a retaining wall. Move on. Um just going over it's still we're doubling we're doubling the square footage of of usable space.

um and a um good flat area. Move on. Um then new location plans focuses on increasing the park size. Um provides more outdoor activities. Uh the new locations provide easier access for people with very mobility issues and the park aims uh for a suitable more vibrant u um feature for all the visitors who come to this area. So just point out some of these some of the um features this is this park will have but I have a stage for performance. will move the original arbor to this location. Um the original uh memorial bricks and benches and metal medallions will be moved to this park. The memorial um bricks will pay be laid in a diamond like they are now. Um the um there will be a concrete and andor um stem floor. So the bricks um the bricks are constantly moving. So putting back bricks is is not the option we want to. Our flower pots will be movable. So um throughout the year they can move them and reconfigure them to um um make them look better. The uh park is a lo is located away from the traffic noise and the downtown noise. You'd be surprised how much downtown noise is at 9:00 downtown. It's just ridiculous. Um, we'll have a a U American flag installed in the park. Thank um

the location of the park is going to be an economic draw for um hosting large events. The new location should help cut down on road road closures. We have a lot of road closures on the weekends. Um this will help um bring a lot of those activities up to um the new location. Um the location as as you can see drawn here um can host anywhere from 20 um to 30 vendor tents. Um and the park will have 30, 50 and 100 amp electrical services for food trucks, different vendors um throughout the edge of the park and we will have water connections included. Move on. Um the part for for security of this park the park and that's the one thing we don't have with the current park now. Um the park will have um four gates, two main gates and two side gates. It'll have a three to four foot uh retaining wall um top with rod iron fence um installed around the perimeter of it. Um the gates will be closed and locked nightly and security cameras uh installed throughout. Um that just give you an idea of where um the entrances are. Move on. Um, and I included a phase two of this uh for this particular project uh which would be um turning the floating the parking lot uh to the right of of

roasted uh roasted coffee, turn it into a floating parking lot um or u more events. or if someone wanted to have a bigger event, they could rent both the park and the parking lot. Um, we'll post closed uh closed um signs will be posted. The business will be notified in advance and traffic prevention devices will um devices will be moved in. Um the city of Graham um I talked with Aaron and he said we can negotiate with uh Alamance County for an interlocal agreement uh for usage of the 20 uh 20 southern use park um parking spaces just above our West Elm Street parking lot which will bring us to a Z a net zero loss in parking spaces. All right. And not on addition to uh parking spaces um the 20 locations uh 20 um parking spaces located there on um u for the county. There are 53 um um parking spaces um on West Harden Street. They're very subtle use. There are uh 41 free um parking spaces down Elm Street and Marshall. There are 66 spaces um um three blocks three and a half blocks away on North Main Street that are very seldom used except on Sundays. And another 56 parking spots across the

street um at the Presbyterian Church. Um total 225 u parking spaces um within walking distance and that's it. Great. Thank you for that, Ricky. Questions, comments from council? Um you mentioned um like renting the park out and stuff like that.

Yeah, this um this park is is for um it can be leased. Someone can come in and lease it for a day um or if they want to lease it for a weekend. Um it's it's we can do that. That's that's the reason the park is being set up this way. Do we have any idea on pricing or have we discussed that with any like uh with Burke at the city or anybody?

We've talked to Burke. Um he thinks we can do it for um between six We talked to Burke about um the pricing. We're talking um 600 to $800,000 and we can have it done in six months. Plus, um, another thing that we're going to actually, um, by doing so, the park that is right behind the museum will be encompassed into this park into the new park. Um, and they're having drainage issues. Um, and they're, um, the park is just like a gravel bed out there. So, uh, we're going to encompass those. um uh fix those issues as as we move along.

Jim, do you have anything? I like it. That's that's a that's um opportunity for, you know, um to to quote you um vibrant um bringing the community together and that that hits all of them, especially the the food truck stuff and those connections was being with somebody that has a trailer. Those connections are a lifesaver and it also keeps the street clean, right? Um I like it, Ricky. Good job. That's really nice.

Yeah, it's good presentation. I I like the fact that we we get more use out of that space because really honestly, you know, and I've I've said this before, um where it is right now, we don't we don't really get much use out of it even when it was open to be honest. Uh this would actually give us some revenue back to the city if people are going to be, you know, renting the spaces, you know, if they're going to bring food trucks in or things like that. And I like the idea of the security around it. I think that's great. Um because I mean where where it is now, let's be honest, you know, nobody's going to bring their their dog and play Frisbee golf with them in that on that little corner. Um, you know, I just and I do have concerns about, you know, we start digging. We don't know what we're going to find. So, maybe let somebody else worry with it.

You're talking about just Yeah. where it is now. Yeah. Well, we know it's contaminated.

Well, yeah, we we we know that. So, but I think this is a great idea. Really nice presentation. Thank you. I think the incorporation of a stage makes it appealing in that and the controlled access with the gates. You could actually charge for a musical event uh to be hosted there or anything. You could bring in standup comics or what during the summer uh because it's large enough that you can accommodate celebrations, birthdays, weddings, weddings, you know, uh,

and the fact that it accommodates up to 30 spots for vendors, that's great for farmers market where during the summer become a regular feature that says, hey, you know, on a Saturday, come to the farmers market. could be a great place for um a Christmas um you know Christmas village. Yeah. Yeah. I think you're only limited by your imagination.

I think it's great. I'm glad that all these drawings are awesome. My hesitation is that we recently had a public hearing and we only had one individual come forward to say that they wanted to move the park. Everybody else that spoke said that they wanted to keep it right there on the corner. Well, um, hold on. Um, and we're up here for the good of the community. Um, I think this is an awesome concept. Um, I have some comments on the details there, but I I can't in good conscious move forward with this because the community hasn't told us that they want to move it. They've told us that they want to keep it on the corner.

Well, the community, you say the community, what how many how many people was that? Like eight people, seven, eight people that spoke that night. I don't consider that. I mean, it was a public hearing and only about eight people showed up is my point.

But since the public hearing, since the election, I've spoken with folks who said they had no objections to moving it. And given here's an I the original objections to moving it was when Mr. Compton restricted it to that area immediately behind the museum where it basically occupying the same amount of square footage. Now we're talking about what the is really a park versus a small pocket park. Yeah. And again, we've been asked to be good stewards to do re renovate this present location. You know, you're talking about easily a half a million dollars. When that was originally that request for quotes came in, we did not do soil testing. We have since learned the area that comprised the old basement there at the corner is contaminated. And so you got, you know, you got contaminated soil. It's got heavy metals in it which require special, you know, uh, procedures to remove it safely and dispose of it safely.

Burke, can you step forward just one more minute? Thank you for your time. Um, when we had talked before, we had said that we could mitigate the sinking at the current location for 400,000. Is that correct? that yes that is based on that we don't find anything other than what we have discovered in our limited testing. Now you find start finding asbestous or you find an oil tank that goes out the window. But based on the data that we have, you're looking somewhere around that. And I've also priced the the grout injection. And just to raise the area, we know for a fact that's just $200,000 for just that, right?

Uh and then we still don't know how much more void there is. So we don't really know what that bill would be if we tried to go that route. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions while he's up here? Nope. Okay. No. All right.

Thank you, Burke. Um, okay. We're doing this so we can provide some clarity for our city staff and a path forward for our community. And so, what are the next steps that we can do? I'm of strong opinion that we need to do what the community wants. And that from my knowledge and information is to keep Zesqua Centennial Park at its current location. Um, and that's that's my stance. Um, but we've got to keep going. I've I know that you had indicated, Jim, on your surveys that you said that you wanted to keep the park. Um, I don't know how that I mean this is a great proposal and also we've got to do what the community wants. What

we will be keeping it if we do that it'll just be better. Sure. But from my information the community has said that they want to keep it at the current location. Why why would they want to do that when we can do something like that? I mean, and you keep saying the community again, it was only eight people that, you know, showed up to speak, you know, against anything, Mr. Compton's idea. So, and then Councilman Hall just took Mr. Compton's idea and expanded on it. And I think it's a great way to serve the city.

This is this is the first time that that I've seen this. And um I got to tell you, it it's it's it's a compelling argument to put it where this is saying. Um because we talk about a benefit to the community. Um everything that's that's at the Cesentennial Park right now will be moved over there. Um it'd be a lot safer than what they have now. And why not why not just

take that spot and auction it off to somebody and let them develop, let them deal with the headache and so the city doesn't, you know, it um and and you know, I I know what my my uh answers were in the in the Alamance news about the the park. Um, but that was well before this and I would be a fool to not have my mind open to being changed on anything. Um, I just think this is a is a good idea. I think is very well done. Took everything into consideration, even the the my first thing when he started talking about it was, okay, we're losing all those parking spots. But then later he handled that and so the parking losing the parking spots is not an issue. Um, but you know, that's that's my two cents.

I just think we need to give them give the city that a path forward like you said, and we need to do it now. We've been we we we've been hashing this out for almost two years now, you know, and and we can't just leave the uh the yellow police tape up around the park. It looks like crap right now. And I think it's doing a disservice to the whole community. the way it looks right now. So, we need to give get some kind of path forward going tonight. And in my opinion,

truth be told, this problem with the unsettling of the uh at Sesquitennial Park, it was raised back in 2016. So, this has been an issue for 10 years and the councils have been kicking it down the road. Let's stop kicking the can. Yep. I mean it offers a great opportunity for our community. It still recognizes now again the Sesquentennial Park was built in recognition of the 150th anniversary of the county. This is a park in rec for the city for Graham for Graham. It incorporates the memorial bricks and this will allow us if they're new residents who want to buy bricks, they can buy, you know, and contribute to this new park.

What does it look like or it would you guys be comfortable in opening up for the community to come one more time to do a public hearing? I I don't feel comfortable moving it without people telling me that they want it moved. Um that's my proposition because if if people want it moved, this is great. I will jump on board, but it's my understanding that people do not want it moved. Well, the folks I've spoken to and I would love to hear from them. So that's why I'm asking for one more public hearing.

We've had public hearings. We've had forums where folks can speak to this and all we do we just keep kicking the can down the road. Let's do we've been elected to make a decision and I think this is for the betterment of our community. Would you like to make a motion on that?

I will make a motion. Madame Mayor, I make a motion that we move the Sescennial Park from its current location and relocate it to the grounds behind the Graham Historical Museum as proposed by Mr. Hall's presentation. Bobby, if if you wouldn't mind, Bert, can I ask you a question? Yes, sir. In your experience,

could I'm sorry. Could you put um I I know you've already ballparked getting the the park where it's at now back up to standard where it's safe. How long do you know how long that would take or is

it be handled by a contractor and you know we have to rebid it because all bids we have are currently no you know they're no good anymore. Uh so you have to go through that whole process and then what their schedule is. Construction world is very busy right now you know as far as probably 45 to 60 days once somebody actually shows up. Now, how long it takes to show up because doing that kind of work is a little more specialized than say doing flat work or on a site that there's minimal grading or not a lot of dirt moving to happen. Okay. Thank you,

B. We had talked about like a I know I'm sorry. Just just hang up here for a little bit if that's okay. Um we talked about it would be under a year or eight months or something. There is a ballpark you gave me. Is that correct? like a six to eight month. Um, on top of that, this isn't a question for you, but I'm just looking at you. On top of that, we've got 400,000 that we can fix the park as it is in this current location. We don't have this kind of money. The 600,000 if you were going to do it the park,

the price tag that he gave was 600 to 800,000. And that's not the money that we have from the grant. that's pulling out of a different fund that's from our taxpayers. Again, that grant was for something different, but and we can reallocate it, but it's not going to cover a 600 to 800,000. So, the sixmonth time frame becomes a lot longer finding funding. Yes. But look look at look look at what we're going to receive back monetarily from renting it out for venues and all this stuff that this this would make up for. Do you foresee this money falling under Brian Faucet to rent out?

No. Who rents it out? Probably the city I would guess. So is that under Megan? Well, we could I mean it could be placed under We can figure that out. That's something we thought about, but it would be done within the city. I think there's a lot of details that we need to iron out before we jump on this plan. I would very much move forward for a public hearing one more time before we consider a big move like this. Well, we're not locking in every single little detail, but we are saying we want to move it to that location. That will allow the city staff again. Yep. so that they can start their decisions on

moving it without having a funding apparatus. Burke instructed if if we have a said we had funding.

Well, the thing is until we get bids on what it will take to do this, we can't allocate money to it because if we say, "Okay, let's allocate 800,000." Guess what's going to be proposed by the prospective biders? 800,000. We want to let them here it is. Give us a proposal on prepping it, build the painting wall, all of that. Then we will have an idea. But if you put a number out there, they will hit that number.

I'm saying that if we want to park in six months, we've got to know where that money is coming from. We can work that out when we know what we're going to have to pay for. All right. You know, I think we had a motion. Did you repeat your motion, Bobby? I make the motion that Sesquentennial Park be relocated and reestablished in the parking area behind the Graham Historical Museum. that the city staff be directed to begin seeking proposals for performing the work necessary uh to build it.

Second. All in favor? I. All opposed. Renee, that's four to one. Thank you. Um, on a similar note, right now we have 500,000 allocated to stamping the crosswalks. If we want that to continue, we don't have to make a motion. But if we want any of that funding to go towards these flashers or to Cesco Centennial Park in any capacity, we need to amend that vote. Does that make sense?

Makes sense. But let's get a quote when installing. Megan, do we need to pause that because y'all are moving forward with that project unless we The project is continuing because it was approved by city council. If there are any amendments, then the project ordinance would need to be amended by a majority of city council so we would know where to go from here. Amendment needed. Pardon me. If we decide to go with the flashing lights. Yeah. Then we have to make the motion. Yes. Because we make the motion. Yes. Yeah. We have to declare that the extra money go to this. That's what she's saying. We have to. Yes. Or else it'll start getting

because otherwise we'll go too far and we won't be able to back up. That's what she's trying to say.

Yeah. So, I will point out when city council adopted the project ordinance, there was a contingency unencumbered amount of 84,000 that has that was approved by city council in the project ordinance that is not allocated to any of the three projects that were approved. And that just for a recap, those three projects were the street light improvements, the pedestrian crosswalk improvements, and tree replacement all downtown. and then unencumbered built in as contingency was $84,044. So right now that hasn't been allocated to any specific project that could be used for consideration by city council to approve however you deem lawful within our lawful boundaries.

Good to know. Do we want to move forward with the flashers? Yeah, I'd like to make a motion. Yep. What would be your motion, Joe? I the amount that Megan just mentioned at $84,44 that we put that towards the flashers and then we could allocate the difference at once they're going and they get to the last few or whatever if that's you know and we're identifying the four crosswalks around the circle. Yeah. To use that funds. Okay. Do I hear a second? Thank you. Second.

Can I just before you go, I'm sorry. Can I just recap? Um it would be to amend the um to amend the project where that money is supposed to go downtown um improvements to allocate the $84,044 rapid flashing beacons at the four crosswalks identified downtown um around the square. Is that accurate for your what you're trying to accomplish? Yeah. Thank you. Do I hear a second? Second motion. All in favor? I I um do we want to leave the pedestrian crosswalk stamping as is or do you want to reallocate that to Sesqua Centennial Park

if we're going to replace the stamping with flashing lights? That's not what we did. this uh this 84 the contingency was moved to the flashing light. So you still have 500,000 for the pedestrian crosswalk improvement that only 13,000 has been right Megan. 13,000 has been done for design and engineering. Yeah. 13 through November. Just knowing that December hasn't been I thought I heard Bert say it was 100,000 for the price flashing lights are already we're we're already done flashing lights here. Yeah.

So we're wondering if you want to keep cross stamp stamped crosswalks or if you that's the choice now. So So the 84,000 it's currently unencumbered with the flashing crosswalk lights. Right. That's what we just did. Okay. But we still have for the stamp crosswalks, right? Do we want to take that money and allocate it to this? That's what the mayor is asking. That's what you're asking. I'd like to make a motion that we take the money that was originally intended for the stamped crosswalks to go over to where you guys to moving the the park. Yes. I second. All in favor?

I. And if I if I may just add um for a point of clarification, depending on what the bids come in as, we may need to come back to city council to amend that project ordinance again depending on what the bids come back as. So right now the balance is 4868.95 perhaps less December. that amount, assuming I can't remember if you voted, the vote passes, would be reallocated towards the proposal tonight with the understanding that there may or may not be additional funds that would have to go along with that.

So, basically, we're saying the balance of the $500,000 originally intended for the uh stamp crosswalk now will be reallocated. Yes. So our engineers will be directed to cease work on the stamp crosswalk project and we will relay that to do because it is their street and obviously the uh rapid flashing beacons would also require DOT approval before we go down that process given it's a safety feature you know I think there's a good chance that it would be approved but ultimately the authority lies with them.

Okay. Is there are there streets that DOT the Endgram Graham that DOT doesn't have anything to do with? Yes. And we can share with city council the POW bill map because we could we could do those without DOT and then just Yeah. El city. Thank you. Did you did we finish that motion since you Okay. Would one more time? I made the motion that we um the money that was going towards the stamp crosswalk amending the project ordinance. I thought we just voted on that. She inter point of clarification. Okay. Um sorry that we u reallocate

amend the product ordinance for the uh stamped crosswalks two to go to the location the new location for the ses Centennial Park. Okay. Second. Second. Okay. Sorry. Do I have a second? Bonnie. All in favor? Five, four, no.

No. Okay, so that's 32. Ricky and I voted no towards that and it passed. Okay, that was Cesco Centennial Park. Now we're moving on to boards and commissions appointments. Um Renee, this says two vacancies on HRC. I thought it was three. No, just two. Okay. Um, first we have our planning board, um, board of adjustments. Um, we've got one vacancy because Jim Young got promoted to council. Um, so our applications that came in were Daniel Alvis, Corbin Craig, Ricky Hortado, Elizabeth Kirkpatre, Jensen Rol, and Richard Chevlin. Um, do we have any thoughts? Um, madame mayor, I would like to nominate Elizabeth Kirkpatrick.

She present. Madam Mayor, I second motion. All in favor? I I Well, welcome to the planning board. It's a 50. Um, Elizabeth Kirkpatre. Um, all right. We've got two vacancies for the Historic Resource Commission. Um, we've got Corbin Craig, Ricky Hortado, and Richard Chevlin um for those applications.

Madame Mayor, I know that we um Megan had commented, not Megan, Rene had commented that somebody we had some people who wanted to apply and they missed it. And then I've had several people come up to me because that's also um replacing my position. Um, and I would like to table this for a month and ask that our uh city manager do some social media advertising and and get some more applicants.

We have a whole new batch of of votes coming this spring and so I would like to move to go ahead and replace these two seats knowing that we will have a lot more opportunities for people to hop on this spring. And I do agree. I think it needs to be um spread far and wide just to make sure that everybody knows that these opportunities are out there. Um the motion is to table. Oh, I don't think I said he he didn't make a

I would like to make a motion that we table that and uh we advertise on social media for more applicants and give it a month and uh then then look at it again. I second your motion, J. All in favor? I I

Rene, that's 41 with me against. Um, all right. That was almost all of the agenda, but now it's public comments time. We get to hear from you guys. Um, so, thank you, ma'am. Um, Keith Westbrook, are you here? Can you state your name and your address? Keith Westbrook, 604 Troder Court in Graham. Thank you for being here.

Thank y'all for hearing me. Uh, I'm a little concerned. There's a project going on down across from North Graham High School. They've cleared the land. They made two great big piles. And guess what they did with them? They burned them. The lady that lives right on the end now, she wasn't real happy cuz her house smelled like smoke for about a week, she said. But she's an elder lady. She ain't going to come up here and say nothing. But it's still wrong. It's a burn. First off, it's in the city limits. No burn in city limits. Correct. Second thing was there's been a burning bed on North Carolina since March. And when I talked to the developer, I asked says, "Nobody said nothing to you about burning." His comment was, "You do things as a developer to save money and then if you get caught and they find you, then you deal with that." I didn't like that answer because I'm for the citizens. I live there. Okay. The lady that lives right beside of them, she has no idea what's going on. Somebody that's dealing with this project should be talking to the neighbors. First off, burning stuff. If they come and bu and cleared that land behind your house and burned that, would you be happy about it? I wouldn't and it's against a law. I think something should be done not let the developers just run rampant. Okay? That's not what we're here about. We're here to protect the citizens. The citizens have rights. I'm not saying I don't want them to develop. I do. I really do. But at the same time, be respectful of the people around where you are developing. Thank you.

Thank you, Keith. I appreciate you being here. Todd Mundy,

thank you for being here. If you could say your name and your address. My name is Todd Mundy. I live on uh 1624 Granada Lane, just down Rogers Road.

So, I came tonight um I was asked by the um the planning um one of their staff. Yeah, camera. Um we are we have about five and a half acres uh down Rogers Road and we are looking at building a cottage for our son. Uh he's getting married in June so he and his wife are looking for a kind of a small home and so it's about 800 square feet but currently um everything's been kind of put on hold for like any of the building permits because we're not allowed to have an additional dwelling on our property. And so the options have been to parcel it out which we didn't want to do. um you know it's pretty expensive getting all that surveyed and so uh that's that's what I'm here for just uh I guess get the ball rolling of trying to maybe change I know North Carolina's looking at passing some um some of these statutes a little bit and just the city of Graham doing the same thing a you know I mean I know people do it they have them above their apartment or about their garages and things like that and so um I just was trying to do it the right way so

thank you for being here. Todd, I appreciate it. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Griffin Mccor,

state your name and address, please, sir.

Uh, Griffin Mccclure, 622 Johnson Avenue in Graham. Um, kind of a lot to unpack from tonight. Um, kind of a mess, to be honest. What we've done is agreed to move a park without a budget to a place that hasn't been approved to take up parking for businesses that are right around the corner. I have a big problem with that. I also have a problem with we have eight corners in downtown in Court Square and seven of them contain buildings and you guys want to put rock, glass, and stone on the eighth one to complete the circle where we have a nice green space that could be repurposed. Maybe not cheaply, but as in par with the budget that you're suggesting for moving and creating a brand new park that mirrors the park in Mayor Tyl's parking lot across Court Square with a stage even and a park a paved parking lot to go with it. So, I have trouble with all this logic. I have trouble with certain council people that have been elected on a platform to keep the park in place. Seems like a bait and switch to be recently elected. I think we have council people on the record from May 13th last year of saying they want to keep the park in place that it's a nice place for people to either eat their ice cream and lunch. I think that changed with a presentation tonight. There's a lot of things I have take issue with that we're leaving something and and again we haven't reached any to to my issue which is selling a beautiful piece corner parcel of land that could be a nice green space for downtown. We haven't done that yet. So, we still got public hearings to have or you should or you should feel go through for not having them. You have a public parcel that's still owned by the city and will continue to be owned by the city even though tonight you voted to move a park to a place that doesn't exist without a quote with no budget. Just suggesting that you're going to spend the same amount it would take to keep the park where it is, where people have voiced opinions that they prefer it. People got elected on that platform. people have spoken publicly in this venue to keep it there. I I don't understand what changed unless somebody

put a presentation in front of you to present tonight. Maybe an employer, I don't know. But something has changed in the last 30, 60 days. That's it's discomforting as a citizen that that has kept up. We started this two years ago. I'm I'm looking at the folks that that have been in the room with me talking about this. We councils, formal councils that I've been on have heard about these issues. They weren't as pressing as part closed. That's that's pretty damning. Excuse my French. That was was the sense of urgency that came along to this council, not to previous councils. That came up to you all to fix and find a solution. You're asked to hear from the community. They've said, "Don't move it. Keep it there." I think that's the best place forward. We've got a lot of things to work out over the next 90 days. One of which is not selling that parcel. That's a generational loss. If you let go of that parcel as a park in our downtown, it's a cornerstone that should be kept and respected and and nourished back to life instead of thrown away to to pennies on the bid for uh surplus property just doesn't make sense. One of the tenants of urban design is to keep green space where you can gather and sit and have passerbys, walkability, things like that that are important to any city. Golden Gate Park, Hyde Park, Central Park. You have the luxury of designing a city. You put these things in. You have the luxury of having one and you want to sell it. It's it's it just doesn't make sense. There's no logic here except for preference and bias. And I hate to say that. I I can't find another way to look at it. Thank you.

Thank you, Griffin. Would anybody else like to speak during public comment? Hey, Daniel. If they're not on that any on the list, if they're not on there, you can't do it. We've done that before. I would like to go ahead and let people No. No. Bob. Yeah. No. Can I have more people during an open public comment session? They've been instructed that when they sat down.

I'm asking Bob. Wait one second, please. Okay. So, in the past when we've allowed that, was it just an oversight?

Can I legally allow somebody to speak? Well, that been followed in the past, you know, quite frankly now, if indeed, you know, if it's the pleasure of the if it's a direction of the council not to do it, you know, to amend that, I would I would ask the council, you know, you know, to permit that, put it to a vote, uh, and and if they authorize it, you move forward. Okay, Madame Mayor, I'd like to make a motion. Yes, sir. Um, that we allow Mr. Alvis to come up and speak. He's been here since we started and uh I I wouldn't feel right letting him.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Young. Do I have a second? I'll second it. All in favor? I I. All opposed? I Okay. I'm sorry, Daniel. We'll have coffee. All right. I'm sorry that was if you're not Hold on. Hold on, Eric. We've got to all play by the same rules

because we're not on here. Um I'm being instructed by our city attorney is this is the only way that you can stand up. So, we've got to move on. Um the next item on the agenda is the city staff comments. Megan, you got it? Yeah, I'd love to start. Thank you.

Um, there are a few items I would request council consensus tonight. As I reported last week in the weekly report, Emily Lynn Atkins from ABSS has requested um the municipal managers and one elected official serve on their resoning advisory committee. if one of you would be willing to serve on that with me. Uh the session I signed up to go to is tomorrow at 1:00. They have other sessions. We did not receive this request in time to be considered in December. So I apologize to bringing for bringing it forward so late. But if one of you would be interested and willing to serve on that committee, it would be fantastic. And I have other items. That's just my first. Madame Mayor, if it's the pleasure of the council, I would like to um take home that position.

Do do we need a motion or do we just need a a motion or consensus? I'm I'm good with it. However you'd like to handle it, it's the will of the council. Okay. Um or is there anybody else that would like that? Are we good with Ricky going? I'd like to make a motion that we um appoint Jim, you're on a roll tonight. Yeah. Who uh next week? I'm not or next month. No, nothing. I'm just shut up. Um that I'd like to make a motion that we u ask Ricky to uh attend the ABSS reszoning advisory committee. Yes. Do I have a second? She said second. In favor? I. Okay. You got Ricky tomorrow. Thank you. Awesome. Next.

Um we have a special meeting scheduled for next week on Tuesday, January 20th. We probably will start at 8 or early in the morning. I know this date had been sent to y'all as a placeholder. Right now, we have the board of elections conference room reserved for that. I wanted to confirm that that is where council still wants it to be held or if it's somewhere else, let me know. We just need to get the advertisement out as soon as possible.

Megan, we had spoke about hosting it here so that it could be live streamed so that the community could at least review. I know it's during the day, so if you don't want to come, you'll be able to look at a YouTube feed afterwards just to see what we're doing for transparency. So, I would like to move that the meeting does not take place at Board of Elections where we can't live stream it, but it stays here where we can live stream it.

Well, I do want to just say one thing. Um, I know that this is your first time for this particular meeting and and I use the term meeting kind of loosely because it's we have a facilitator that hired to come in and we're going to be breaking apart into groups and discussing what our our priorities are for the city to see if we can all come to a consensus. And that that's what we're going to be doing. I don't really think the chambers is set up for that type of situation. I agree. I think it would be better if we could live stream it somewhere else, but I do think it's very important work that I would like our community members to be able to view and see us work through as a council.

Well, they're welcome to attend. Yeah, they can come. They can physically come. Sure. But it's during a week when most people have work, so they're not able to. But can we move it here? There's room that we can do a U-shape right here in the middle and still have in the past we've done it civic center. Oh, I know. And with the moderator, this does not facilitate that kind of discussion.

I mean, it doesn't lend itself to the way the moderator leads us in deciding our vision, our direction, our priorities. and she's going to have several different like setups with maps and post maps and things to write on and whatnot. And I just don't think it would in here have talked about this as far as we ran on transparency and increased accountability for the government. And I think that that's that's my whole aim. I'm not trying to make life hard. I'm just trying to make us transparent and held accountable from our community. If we were voting on something, I could see it. But it's not really like that. It's not a session.

Yeah. Budget. It's the work session. Who Who wants to watch a budget meeting? Some people do. I I think I think some people would like the option to go back and and look. Well, I have the equipment and know I mean we could have but I I think that just based on what I was told how it was going to be. I think over at the board of elections spot would would be more accommodating for that and whoever's coming to speak to us. Um I mean it would wouldn't be that hard to set up a live stream. It wouldn't be like you know studio quality but it would be just as good as what we got here. Are you I mean you could you volunteering? Sure.

To help us live stream it. Yeah, I'll do it. That's fine. Thank you so much. So we as long as there's like I mean I could do that, right? Just set it up and anyone could attend the meeting and record it. It's a public meeting. So whether it's a city council member or a member of the public, as long as it's an open meeting, it could be recorded by anybody. All it needs power and a Wi-Fi. Can we put it on the the city of Graham YouTube? the city of Graham root YouTube runs through a Zoom meeting. So I don't I don't I can't tell you 100% sure yes or no because I don't we would need to talk to the IT guy because it's just an address that we'd have to put in there and then and it it automatically comes up.

Okay. Even if even if we I mean what if it was just recorded and then the the city put it up afterwards. Yeah. then that would probably be a lot easier because we're relying on board of elections internet and who knows, you know, what kind of issues, but I could definitely set it up to where we can record it and it will be recorded nice and then we can post that up.

Okay. So, I'm hearing that we're keeping it at the board of elections with live streaming possibilities. Awesome. At least recording possibilities to be uploaded later. Worst case scenario, but recorded. Yeah, that's fine. Okay. So, on the topic of special meetings, I texted city council today and um just asked you if you were available to please check your calendars. Davenport Associates is our financial advisor. So, once city council sets your priorities for the upcoming fiscal year, we communicate that to departments, ask them to draft their budgets in accordance with that. They did provide a list of dates. Some are anytime, some are evening dates. So, of those um that were sent out to you, I know there are are um three conflicts that we won't be able to do, and that was 211, 217, and 219, but that leaves still five or six options. So, if it's possible for city council to come to a consensus on when to host that meeting so we can get everyone in place and have the advertisement ready and ample notice, that would be fantastic.

Did you put the dates up again, Megan? Yeah. So, I don't I don't have them. I have them on my cell phone. It's um February 3rd was an evening. February 4th was anytime. February 9th, anytime. February 11th, I have a conflict. February 16th is anytime. February 17th is a conflict. Um, February 18th, anytime. And then February 19th, there's another conflict. I I would propose that we would go with February the 4th in the evening. I can't do the fourth, but I can do the second or the third.

That's the evening. So, um, February 3rd was evening. They didn't have the the second. Okay. But, um, February 3rd was evening. February 4th was anytime. And then it jumped to the following week, February 9th. And you had a conflict when? The fourth. The fourth. I can do the the 3rd or the 9th. Let's do the 9th. I can do either of those. Sure. The ninth. I'm open. NH is fine with me. What time would you like that held? Because right now they're available anytime. I'm available that day, so I don't care. How much time we need all day? No, I wouldn't say all day. I would allocate a couple of hours. Okay. So 1:00 1:00.

So February 9th from 1 to 3 p.m. in this room. Y sir.

Okay. Thank you. And then my my fourth and final before I'll turn it over to anyone else for the for the night is um as was sent to city council last week, the city of Graham has uh for a number of years talked about branding initiatives and and rebranding efforts with the um PR specialist we have on staff in addition to a graphic designer who was onboarded. This was um sort of Aaron's baby uh project in addition to the real baby real uh project that he was going through with them to come up with a different brand, a different logo, not the city seal. No one's no one's replacing that. So, as you can see from this first slide, we kind of have City of Graham, the traditional. You move down to the live, work, play that was in in play for a while and then the box at the bottom of that is kind of what we use today where it just says city of Graham, North Carolina. In the presentation you will see the primary color that was proposed is the blue. Blue rep represents stability, authority, trustworthiness, professional, timeless. And the complimentary or the secondary color is sort of that light green to reflect growth and commitment. This is one of the designs that was presented. This is the horizontal format that would be used for items such as letterhead, envelopes, email headers, and things like that. Moving on to the next is what they call an integrative format. This is something that would be considered for social media, webpage, banners, and business cards. The logo mark is something that you

would see on vehicles, apparel, and email signatures. And to get into the detail of the symbolism of of what everything on here means, the clock is located currently at Cesqua Centennial Park where it sits today. It is public city property. Clocks reflect reliability. The passage of time as well as forward progress and it's something that's rooted in heritage. The time that is set on the clock as it's proposed is 651 and military time that is 1851 and that is the year that the city of Graham was founded. The green in the image represents rolling hills of the Piedmont region and green spaces. The blue rep represents creeks, streams, rivers and the Hall River. The G is is a clean design. And it's something that's distinctive, recognizable, and the rebrand does not favor any one department over the other. It doesn't feature any privatelyowned businesses, and it does not reinvent the city of Graham's identity. The rebrand is designed to project professionalism, to clarify Graham's identity, to anchor authenticity, and to refresh Graham's visual appearance. Honoring our heritage and facing our future is sort of the tagline that was developed to go along with this.

I like it. And then you can see um just variations of color. I know there was some discussion on the green and how the green is sort of similar to Burlington which has I will say more of a vibrant green and their um bee logo. These were just sort of changing. I'm not a red person so it's kind of hard to win me over on red but lots of people like it. So, these were just some other options that were um kind of put on there for consideration. And then you get to where one suggestion was the the red. And when I opened it, my comment was, "Wow, that really kind of hurts your eyes to to look at that much red." And the the thought behind that initially was, you know, Graham High School has that um traditional red in their G for that, but um it it may not be an ideal fit for Go ahead and flip

flip for for us here. So, well, your explanation behind the colors Yeah. and such and design, I withdraw my statement about changing the color to red. The red hits differently when when you see that. Yeah. Very striking. I did recommend purple and gold. I would second purple and gold for different reasons, but you know. No, no, no. May not may not be the best. No LSU colors idea here. I like the green and the blue. That's very nice. It's really Are you looking for comments or just a presentation?

So, this is this is really um just a presentation to city council. We would like to start moving forward with a new logo and a new design. It's been a project that has probably had um different iterations for the better part of five 10 that yeah

10 years. So it it would be nice to come to some sort of resolution um to move forward and and start sort of this rebrand process. We didn't, you know, go through a a an expensive outside firm and it was very clear from the prior city council that that sort of money was not um a priority be priority to be allocated to something like that. We were trying to be wise stewards of taxpayer dollars and and do a lot of this but still come up with what we believe to be a quality professional product. Well, I must say the lock in gray makes the 16 1861 stand

51 pop 651.

I'll share my comments just because I think it is um valid. Y'all aren't going to be able to see this, but for the sake of transparency, here it is. Um, it looks very similar to the Burlington brand to me. It looks like we're a little bit faded. Um, but do a very similar in font, in colors. Um, and I think that Graham's identity is is more vibrant and brighter. Um, than that. And I think that it it in juxtaposition, in proximity because they're right next door, and also how close our logos look. we are so much more than the wannabe Burlingtons. Um, and and those were my comments is that I would love to see a brand that really encapsulates all of our vibrancy. Um, I know that you're not calling for a vote, just just comments, but those are my comments.

Thank you for that, Mayor Dick. Just just please tell me you don't don't want red. I don't think red fits in that brand at all. I think if red is integrated, it needs to to be reconfigured. Um, but I do think that specifically that b that blue and that green are just more muted colors that Burlington has already identified with. That's why I think having that gray clock versus the green clock shown there. Did we even have a gray one? One in the lower left corner. not gray. Is it looks lavender to me or purple? Yeah,

I think it's I think it's trying to It's getting close to your purple. Yeah. Anyway, no wonder you like it does stand out. Megan, do you have more comments? Okay, Aaron, comments. Uh, just one. Um, so the gentleman that spoke earlier, I believe he was Todd Mundy. Yeah, I was getting to it in my comments. Okay. Yeah. Are we good? Is that it? Um, were you gonna I was going to address that. we need to move that onto a ordinance uh amendment if if we want to move forward. I was going to see if there was going to be any direction to staff on how to handle what he was trying to get to. So if you

It's on my my comments, guys, we'll talk in just a couple minutes. Y'all have any comments out here? No. Okay. Um All right. Did he counselor comments? Bonnie, can we start with you? Yes, ma'am.

All right. Let's go. Um, I was going to see if I could talk to the rest of the council about maybe uh entertaining putting something on the agenda for next month for us to discuss. Um, I I've never really liked the idea of having R seven in our development ordinance to be honest with you. Um, because it's just it's so condensed. It's just, you know, I just I just think we don't need it. So, I would like to kind of at least have a discussion about that. Uh the other thing would be um to make it so that we don't have single wide trailers on on RG land anymore. Of course, I realized we'd have to grandfather in those who already have them, you know, and if they had to be replaced, they would have to a certain amount of time to replace it. or they would have to go to a double wide. I just think it would enhance, you know, the city, the look of the city. It's something I'd like to to discuss.

Um so, um I'm down to do it. We need to make a motion to put it on. No, no, it's just I don't know if just on my experience after being on the planning and zoning. Um, yeah, it needs to be discussed, especially, you know, Riley's Meadow, things like that. And

yeah, some of they're they're kind of a disaster and I just think we need to prevent that from happening again if if we possibly can. So, and I know that, you know, we've been working, we're going to be working on a new UDO and all that stuff, but, you know, that stuff takes a lot of time and a lot of money to get it the whole thing rewritten. So, I don't really I'm not I'm not a big fan of peace mealing, but in some instances, I think we need to step forward and maybe do that. So, anything else? Okay. All right, Bobby. Nope. Nope. All right. My comments during the All right. appreciate that, Ricky.

Yeah, I I I do want to state one thing for the record. No matter what Griffin says, um this project that I presented tonight was 100% mine. Nobody has seen it up till um today. And like I said, I worked on it um during the um my downtime with my foot. Um, I started it but sort of tabled it because of um, health issues with my in-laws and finished it off during the uh, my confinement uh, or not being able to get around. Um, that's it. Thank you, Ricky. Jim,

I've spoke enough tonight. You want any more motions to go through? All right. Um, first of all, talking about Ted Mundy, um, this is something I talked to Aaron about. Um, we'll need to amend the development ordinance to allow ADUs if we want, like if his project is going to move forward, that's the path forward for it. Uh, what is that? Like we had a I thought we talked about we talked about ADUs, accessory dwelling units, did we not? A year ago. a year ago. Uh it was it was a little bit longer. It was bad. Um we had a former plan director I probably say three years ago at least. Okay.

Yeah. I just remember we we had discussed that. Yeah. It was a proposal had come before council one time before. Um I mean you guys back you know it changed the number. I guess we never approved it. It was it wasn't approved. Okay. But we did discuss it. We did discuss it. So I'd be interested in bringing it up on on agenda next time in February. So is that for council to to take up or is this for we should let the planning board

planning? Okay. I was going to say I think what would probably be the best route would be if if council consensus staff could bring something forward that planning board can chop up and then um we can get it to council for y'all to review. Did he say he did not want to like subdivide? Is he trying to avoid doing that or Yeah, that that's an option, but he said that wasn't one that he wanted to do because of how much it cost subdivide for surveying. But surveying to subdivide. Okay. Can I get a consensus from council to send it to planning board? Yeah. Yeah. All right. All right. Next. Um, issue

Chief Todd um or Chief Cole, I'm sorry. Um, can we can you come up and talk a little bit about the burning for Keith? Um, is that something that you knew about? We're monitoring. I didn't know about it, but I'm not supposed to know about it yet.

So, we were notified that someone was burning and so we I I personally responded out there. I spoke to the gentleman that was doing the the land clearing. I think uh initially the the property had been cleared the the person clearing doing the grading had left the job and so this gentleman was had came back in to try to help finish the project. Uh so he was burning and I I explained to him that uh we typically do not allow that. However, we there is a permit process that my fire inspector uh can issue a permit in the city. we take into consideration surrounding dwellings. Generally, it's for areas like out towards the park, Graham Regional, where it's not very populated. Um because once the phone calls start, they generally just keep coming. But, uh in in this situation, uh he had already started burning

and so the worst thing that we could do was try to put the fire out. They they think their their problems with smoke in the houses, uh were occurring at that point. let us put water on it and create a whole different situation. So, the gentleman that was there was told not to put anything else on the fire. He had to stay with the fire until it was um it was out.

Uh we actually went back because in the process of him moving equipment uh he got trapped in the fire and got injured and we had to go put the fire out and I think he may have been transported. I'm not exactly sure, but uh so there was a different situation that came along with it um at that point, but um it's right on the edge of the city and sometimes they just don't know if they're in the city or not. The biggest problem that we have is that people can go online to the state forestry service and do a 30-day uh burning permit and it doesn't say anything about whether you're in the city or not. It says because he told me he said, "I have a permit from state forestry." I'm like, "Well, it doesn't do you any good in limits of grant."

Yeah. Uh so people just don't know that because they get told, "Hey, just go in and get a permit and you're good to go." Okay. So it it happens uh occasionally and we'll just go out and explain it. In that situation, he had two big piles of stuff that he he had already lit and so the best thing we do was just let it go ahead and burn. Don't add anything else to it. And that's typically what we do. Putting water on is just a problem. It just creates a very bad smell and typically the smoke starts to lay low because we added moisture to the environment. So Okay. Yeah. Awesome. Can we add a little bit of education around those permits on your social and on the city social? Be glad to.

Okay. Thank you, sir. I appreciate your time. Um, while we're on that, we've got some controlled burns happening on Jim Miner Road just for the community to know. You don't have to call in. we already know they're happening. Um, you can call in, we'll chat with you. Um, there are, uh, just another invitation for the January 20th meeting. Come to our planning session. Um, that's going to start at 8 a.m. at the board of elections. Um, I wanted to say congratulations to Detective Dael for earning the advanced law enforcement certificate um, through our police department. We're super grateful that our police department continues to educate and and further themselves to to support and keep us safe. Um I just wanted to update the council that I've been in talks with Brian Baker, the um Alamance County manager um to identify economic development opportunities, the assistant manager. Thank you. um for underutilized properties or vacant properties to continue to make our community vibrant. Um and lastly, I just wanted to say a huge thank you to our city staff. You guys make us look good up here. Thanks, Megan. Thanks, Aaron.

I guess Good job, guys. I have a question, though. Sure. Why did you approach Ron Baker versus talking to our own Aaron? Aaron was with me at the meeting. Oh, you were? Yes, I was invited to it. Okay. Yeah, we all sat down together. Um,

um, those were the conversations that were started in the Alamance County Chamber uh, talk. So, it was furthering those. Um, at this point, I would like to consider going into close session. Um, so I need a motion and a second to go into close session to consult with the attorney in accordance with North Carolina General Statute section 143-318.11A3, city of Meban versus City of Graham, case 25 CV00007126-0000. Madame Mayor, I make a motion that we go into close session.

I second a motion, ma'am. All in favor? I post. Thank you guys so much for being here.

Wait, wait for Jim to sit down. Um, I need a motion and a second to return to open session. Make a motion we return to open session. Second. All in favor? I. Um, and now I need a motion and a second to adjurnn tonight. Madam Mayor, I make a motion we adjourn. Second. All in favor? I I appreciate you guys. We'll see you in February meeting. Congratulations on running a dingo. Oh, yeah. Our meetings. This is Let's make this a normal Oh, absolutely. This is longer than what I had anticipated.

Okay. Thank you guys. Y night.