City Council - Regular Meeting

Come straight.

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All right, good afternoon. I'd like to welcome everybody to the January 5th, 2026 workshop of the Greenville City Council. I'm Mayor PJ Connelly. We're presiding over today's workshop. First, I'd like to call on our city clerk for the roll call. Yes, sir. Mayor Connelly here. Mayor Warman here. [Music] A new member. Council member Jones here. Council member Hardy here. Council member Sully here. Council member Rob, he's on the way. Council member Willis here. All right. Mayor Connley, you have a Thank you very much. We'll move on to the approval of the agenda. Mr. Manager, any recommendations? All right. Do I have a motion? Second.

Wow. I got like a four seconds at the same time. Who's going to take it? Council. Council member. Okay. All right. Motion been made by Council Member Willis. Second by Council Member Jones. All those in favor say I. Those saying nay. Motion passes 5. We shall move on to new business. Item number one, Mr. Manager.

Thank you, Mayor. Item number one, presentation by the North Carolina League of Municipalities. Uh the the North Carolina League is the primary provider of information, support, and advocacy for North Carolina local government, specifically municipalities. And it dawned on me at the end of last year that we have really never done an a an overview of the league and all the services that are provided. So I reached out to executive director Rose Williams to see if she would be willing to come and she has grace graciously um come here today to give you an overview. So I want to turn it over to Dr. You can go. Thank you. I'm very honored to be have been invited, Michael. I appreciate it very very much. It's been a pleasure to sit down mayor proim forum and Valerie and and Michael this afternoon and learn more and see more about what you're doing in the city of Greenville which is really impressive. Um understand you drop an emerald um sometimes on New Year's Eve. You are an emerald. You are a beacon um in the state. You're also one of the largest cities in North Carolina. I think you know that. Um, everybody I had some surve um, surveyor hired one time to take a poll for some legislative issue we're working on and he was from the north and he called in back and he said, "It's funny. Everybody in your state thinks they live in a small town. They may live in wherever it is. They think they live in a small town. Y'all are one of the largest cities, 11th largest city. You know that in North Carolina and you are doing so much and you have in the past and you continue now to be prepared for that. It's been exciting to hear about what you're working on and such an enthusiastic manager. Um, one of the things I do when I um, it was so involved and I should get to my my official introduction, everything else I'm doing, but I always want to talk with managers, are you taking advantage of what the league offers? Um, and you your city really is and and sometimes even in some of our larger cities, there's a miss. It's like, you know, you could get um, you know, $1.2 million if you're taking advantage of

this program or or do these type of things and y'all aren't missing a beat. But also appreciate so much how you're allowing your staff to participate in training and taking advantage of that and for your elected officials and everything else. It's it's tremendous. Before I introduce myself though, you should know, if you don't already, that two of our most esteemed members of the North Carolina League of Micros are at the table with you. Your mayor, PJ Connley, is a regional director for the North Carolina League of Municipalities Board of Directors. And your attorney, Emanuel McWart, is the city attorney representative on our board representing all the city attorneys in the state of North Carolina on the League of Municipalities board. There's only one attorney every term, and this is Greenville for this term, which is four years, right? Or two or whatever you want it to be. Um, we will not harass you in there. Um, but I'm Rose Von Williams and I'm the executive director of the North Carolina League of Municipalities. I've been with the league just over 10 years. I've been executive director, I guess, just over four years now. Um, I am from North Carolina, born in Eden, raised in Raleigh. Um, I'm a lawyer by trade, went to UNC Chuck Wheel undergrad and and law school. Um and then practiced law in Gsburg, North Carolina for 16 years and then went on the district court bench. Well, no, strike that for 11 years. Went on the district court bench after that and for Wayne Lenor and Green County and elected position um for a term and then half of another term before I moved to Raleigh with my husband. Became legislative counsel for the commissioner of insurance. Stayed on with another commissioner of insurance and then came to work for the North Carolina League of Municipalities at that time as government affairs director. Then became associate director and now director If I were to leave you with anything in this short time after workshop today that I could tell you what is the League of Municipalities, I'll give you my short summary and then I have some pictures and things to share. The League is an association that's made up of all

the cities in North Carolina. It has been in existence since 1908. Since that time, some of our services have stayed the same, which is legisl legislative lobbying and advocacy, trying to bring these cities together to be a voice as one, and others have changed as time has moved on, whether it be COVID um after which we've opened up programs um with the benefit of of COVID money, even for the league that was appropriated by the general assembly without us even asking to help our cities and towns who need help, who might not have a manager and staff like you do, who need help with finances. And you know, over half our cities don't have a manager and they're very tiny. I've got this in my slides. But all that to say, you're very fortunate here. But we're here to serve you. We're here to help. And I'm here today to tell you a little bit more about what we do in in all aspects of this for elected officials and for staff. I've brought you a uh at le I brought 10 folders of information um that has in there information about the league, things we do, upcoming events, training um to let you know who we are and and what we do and have that to keep with you. I think one of the things that's on the top there are the legislative goals. These and you have a member of our legislative policy committee right here in Scott Dixon who sat on that policy committee in the very last session. Um, these are developed by the legislative policy committee after soliciting statewide from officials elected and appointed across the state. What do you think the legislative goal should be of cities and towns across the state and then they're voted on leaguewide. So that is in there for this bienium and and you can see those goals and we also have some core municipal principles that are always there and one of those is what we know is local control. um want you to be able to make the decisions for Greenville that's best for you. You're here in this part of the state with a university to care for. We have coastal areas that have their own issues. We have mountain areas that have their own

issues. So, and I didn't I will keep track of my time better. This is a a PowerPoint I picked up um that has the logo of the UNCC School of Government on it. That's another organization that is of help to cities and towns. That of course is through university system and we're about to put on a training for a lot of newly elected officials around the state. We're going to hit the road and travel. The next six weeks are going to be quite heavy. But anyway, we are partners with them in that training and partners with other things as well. Our training and education is a little bit different. Councilman Robson, good afternoon. Um than the school of government in similar in some ways, but we are not we are full partners together. our training might be a little more pra more on the ground if you will more how do I do this and it might be different the school of government and this the dean is not here but we have a a presentation that we kind of make contingent to each other that explains this better we talked about the number of cities in North Carolina just to give you those factors only 10 of our cities have over 100,000 people in North Carolina and you are number 11 right there but otherwise it's it's a state of a lot of smaller cities but where do people live in the state of North They live in the majority of course live in these city limits and it just keeps getting larger. The cities keep getting larger population. Some are losing population. Here's where it happens. We say cities grow jobs. Cities are the economic engine of the state and they're just percentages and facts that show it. The taxable property in the state is there 80% of all jobs in the state. 75% of all retail sales in the state and of course that generates sales tax for the whole state. But of that 75% only 36% stays with you. So you're an economic generator for the state. And the better you do as a city, the better the state does as a whole. Um just to let you know that municipalities besides the state are the only entity that take care of roads in North Carolina.

Counties don't have that job. It's cities and the state. You all could wrap the world a number of times with the number of roads across the state that cities have to maintain and keep. Cities are also responsible for almost every drop of municipal of of residential and commercial water in the state. It's very important. Ask Jackson, Mississippi, what happens if you don't keep up that infrastructure under the ground. You all, of course, are you have a great system. You're doing a tremendous job there. And the 10 largest municipal water systems serve over 30% of the state's population. It's a very important role that you have. It's not the most. Sometimes other elected officials may get to to talk about things that might seem more exciting and important. I really can't think of many things that are more important. This is the health. This is the basis of our economy in our state. If we don't have good water systems, there's certainly no economy. We certainly don't have public health. The statutory municipal functions are these. Many um cities have these on the left, some have on the right, some have a combination, some only have a few. But these are the basic things. Again, having safe buildings in North Carolina go to other countries where buildings collapse and things happen and you understand this is a very important duty you have. And of course, parks and recreation, could that be more important? That's the placemaking. That's what makes people want to live here and be here and do things. You know, all these things. You should just feel very proud about it. Public, we talk about the budget of the city and the revenue that you have. One of the biggest revenue or sources of revenue comes you need to see then we'll talk about spending money. Property taxes are the largest source of revenue for cities. This is just an overall pie chart statewide. It's not particularly Greenville. Property tax and sales tax and the other s um taxes or or and fees are shown there. So it's a very important part of the budget of a city. We talked about managers. Unfortunately, over half our cities in North Carolina don't have a manager. We work on that. We try to promote that. You're very

fortunate. We are governed by the league is a board of 33 people all around the state, elected and appointed officials. As I mentioned, uh we have one city clerk, one city attorney, three city managers, and the rest are elected officials who are in regions around the state such as PJ Khan. Um a complimentary relationship with the school of government. I talked about there's our board of directors. some of them there at City Vision in Greenville which was held last year right here in town and it was fantastic which we thank you very much. That was a huge successful event. It is a huge thing to put on. I know that it is and it was awesome and that is what we we say up and down and everybody had to participate. There are a lot of people you bring people together to keep something is someone's going to have a health issue. There could be something that happens. It takes everybody across the state and that was fantastic. our advancing municipal leaders program is our education program for city staff and city elected officials. I've just listed some of the courses here that we offer. Um civility is something you'll hear about for example at our conference next year. It's not just getting along on the council. It's also how to handle constituents these days and the anger that's out there and how do you respond? Um this is a very hard thing to deal with and it's something to be prepared for. Um we have a civility program or education program. You can get certified as a council, sign a pledge, etc. and then and go forth from there. other classes that we have um a council academy, a mayor's academy, fiscal management, cyber security ethics, um governance in general, and for staff. We talk about police and fire who get um all kinds of training on how to do their job, but there's health and safety that needs to be addressed as well with all kinds of officials. These are the different certifications you can get. There's the town of Garner. Um Vicky Miller is here who's our director

of learning training for city staff. Um you can see there HR 101 and employment liability. We've had to now create HR 2011 because it's been so popular and this is about how to this is more staff oriented um but how to do it right. Um that is a tough tough job and the liability is on the city if you don't and the happiness and prosperity of the rest of your team is also in the line if you can't keep good people retain and keep good people. City vision look at this all in Greenville uh was fantastic and I just hear some pictures um taking place there and it'll be in Raleigh next year. Um that's in your folder May 5th through 7th and we're just talking about I hope their convention center is going to be fine. I'm sure it is.

Um, that was just such a a shock. We have affiliate member groups. Um, when I was an active practicing lawyer in in the bar association at that time, I was young and I enjoyed the young lawyers division. There's certain groups that can be and then my husband and I have practiced that we enjoy being part of a division that was part of what we did, what we the type of law that we did. Here are just some of the affiliated groups. There probably 15 that we have um at meetings. These are pictures from meetings that they had across the summer. Um, the municipal clerks, the black elected musical officials, the mayor's association. I do not have a women picture. Sorry about that. Mayor Pro Tim. Um, consulting services. We offer training. I've talked about this advocacy and lobbying. Um, we have a stable of lobbyists if you would inhouse. And then we have two contract lobbying teams. Um, one is led by former uh, Republican House Speaker Harold Brew Baker and the other is Chz McDow team that is um, also out there. We've just contracted with them. What we do in house is read every bill that's passed. We have a lawyer lawyers chalk full on our government affairs team to see how that affects cities and towns and if so in what way. We're also getting feedback from you what you hear and it helps us with our talking points and that helps us make the case. Um these are all federal pictures. Um I think since CO we've done more lobbying at the federal level than we ever had. Um but keeping in track with that legislation and informing you of how it affects municipalities leaguewide the points that we're any data that we can gather um to give you to help and to help us make our arguments as well. There's one more picture I want to show. So this is Addison McDow, a congressman we're visiting there who used to be on the government affairs team with the North Carolina League of Municipalities. So, go work for the lead. You never know

what can happen. Um, anyway, here we are at the state level. Um, I think that's Florine Brown is one of your representatives. This is Mike Lazara from Jacksonville. Used to be president of the league and he's now in the state senate. And that's Aaron Winnie, our government affairs director. Um, Mayor Vivian Jones you recognize. This is our president last year and this is a press conference. Um, well, we're prepping for another press conference there. more advocacy. We have events um you all know your legislators. That's all good. It's always good to maintain a good relationship um with your legislature. We sponsor a dinner every year or put on a dinner every year. It's in this upcoming year it is going to be regional dinners around the state. The information is in your packet. Um last year um during that session during that year it's always one big dinner in Raleigh. Chance. It's also kind of a show of force. Uh we're a large group and and we have a lot going on, but the idea is just to break bread, have a nice evening. It does mean something to actually go to Raleigh and and be there with them where they are. Um and in the regions as well.

Hey, one question about that, please. Um and I know I think I was reading through and and you're splitting it up into like regions, I think this year. Is that right? And then based off of where you are, you're going to have the event. And right, I guess my question was, is Greenville going to be included in the Raleigh event? Because I know there's one down I think in Wilmington also. That's a very good question that I cannot answer off the top of my head. Okay. But it is to you will be invited to a particular event and the only reason you're invited to that particular event is because that's the one where your legislators will be. I will tell you it's kind of chosen by legislative leadership location that kind of those locations are kind. So I'm sorry I don't know the answer. That's a very good question. Okay.

Sorry about that. You will get that invitation and it will say we did a survey a few years ago. What services of the league are most u valuable to you? What you appreciate the most? It was very surprising. The one of the number one things was the information that we put out. Um we put out different surveys. We gather information. um what tax sales tax is coming in. We do that quarterly so you can set your budget, you can know how things are going. Um salary surveys, are we paying our employees similar to other cities our size, similarly placed um French benefits we added as well and other research too. That's just what happens to be on the slide today. More pictures there on our magazine from from a city vision conference. My mother always said information is power and it is. And so the information we give you is not what's on or what's on CNN or or whatever. It's curated from the municipal viewpoint. It might be a bill that you've heard the news about something else, but we're going to write to you about this is how it affects cities and towns. So there different ways to get that information and it's not all just the legislative bulletin every Friday during the session of course is one way but there other ways just in general to as part of your governance to know what other cities and towns are doing and how they're reacting through our league letter, our magazine, we have a podcast and of course some social media. We also um back in the 80s when the private insurance market pulled back from ensuring public entities like police departments and fire departments and cities who drive into dangerous situations and all of this, we filled that need and we have workers compensation pool and we have a property management pool. Like who wants to ensure this employee who has to do whatever he's doing on top of this water tank? Anyway, we do and we do that. Um and there are a lot of services that go along with that. I thought this would just be interesting for you to see um the number of where claims come from. Where do cities get in trouble? Where do claims come from when there's um

trouble? Wrongful incarceration. Those lawsuits are the biggest um thing out there. And this is something it may be a case that happened many decades before you were born, certainly many decades before you were in office. But these lawsuits can happen and and do happen. um as as they always you know that evidence locker is one of the most important things and how it's maintained and how how it's kept um um anyway I'll just show you some of those things that be interesting um training that we do to try to prevent claims but it also means your staff and your employees are doing the right thing the right way which is what everybody wants to keep people safe in the city and now I have a short video that Brock is going to help if that's okay.

Yeah, it was fun. It was fun. It was good. Just quiet.

The league connected with me first and I took advantage of every opportunity that the league had being surrounded by folks that help me be better. Um, surrounded by others in the league that are so experienced and professional and help me um and inspire me to to be better and do to do better.

Working with the league has just been awesome, very knowledgeable, very um patient, very understanding. Whenever I get to a a point where I feel like we need good guidance, um I I rely on the league instead of having to feel like you're all alone. You're not. You've got lots of peers and the league is always there to help you out. And that's one thing that you know is something that not everybody has.

The league allows us to focus on what we need to focus on instead of the smaller details that take a lot of time. um legislative updates, revenue projections, all the things that the league offers from a financial perspective have been really increasingly helpful to my career and decision-m ability. It takes a little bit of the onus off my plate and help us use our taxpayer dollars more efficiently. That indirectly puts us in a situation where we have a stronger platform to meet the needs of our resident. That's the power of this because we are now being put in a position to better serve the public. I'm really grateful that the league organizes the town and state dinner every year that is um instrumental in helping us at the local level continue to establish those really good connections with our state local officials

and it puts them in an environment where they can organically have conversation right there in the heart of their actual districts and I think that's really key. But the education that the lead provides to elected officials is invaluable. Once I became aware of the advancing municipal leaders program certainly was I mean it captured my attention and being able to interact with other elected officials and meeting some of the league staff was was a positive learning experience

and it was so instrumental in um in my education and in my ability to be a better elected official. the board of the league and the staff of the league put on an absolutely wonderful conference. City Vision um league conference has has always been a conference that's been a priority for me um and for my elected officials. It gives our elected officials the opportunity to go and realize that the issues we're dealing with in our community in Hersdale and other communities are s are happening including in other communities and really networking and understand um and seeing some of the best practices that that are out there.

You would want to be involved with the league from day one. They understand not just the challenges, but they're there with you in the trenches when these things happen. the support that we've gotten from the league has is has changed based on what we were facing. Always again been very nimble um and been able to help us um work our way through the challenges um of local government in North Carolina. Being a member of the league is a smart move. It shows that you're you know you're you're part of a group that wants to have good government and every day making things a little bit more efficient, more effective, more transparent. They've always been at the forefront of those issues,

but it always helps to have someone that you've known for a long time and has done what they've done very well for a long time to be able to give you perspective. And anytime I go to anyone and the need for help, I mean, they're they're right there with I appreciate it. And it makes you feel like you're not out there alone, that you got somebody that's kind of there covering your back. North Carolina is a good government state and the league is one of the legs of the stool for good government in North Carolina. You can end it now. That's

get involved with the North Carolina League of Municipalities. That relationship with the league is critical to you becoming the best elected official you want to be for your residents and for your town.

A partnership with the league and our other institutions that help support local government are critical to good government. North Carolina citizens benefit particularly from the league and these other partners to ensure that you know that we do provide good government. And I think it's important for for us to know that and realize that that it is truly a partnership. [Music] Any questions? Anything further mayor manager? Council Willis.

Yes. Thank you for your presentation. Um my question was about the civility training. I know that 75% of the council has to agree to um being a part of it. Um but is it one course or two courses? I was just wondering what the time commitment it is. I think I think it's one course of like two hours or something like that. Okay. Um sorry I should know better. But I think that's really it and then signing that um certificate together. Um and then just ad hoc at our conference this will be addressed as well. Awesome. Thank you for your interest in that and I will follow up with more detailed information. It's an hour and a half, two hours. Awesome. And do you know is it virtually or in person someone comes? I think it's in person. Okay.

But I think it travels. Mhm. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you very much. Any other questions, comments? Thank you.

Thank you so much. We appreciate all that you do with the league. Um, I will say that I've been an elected official now for 10 years and I've been able to see the work that the league does firsthand over that decade and you know you guys continue to get larger and offer more services to municipalities throughout the state. So, we appreciate all that you do and we're thankful that you chose Greenville uh for city vision last year. Um, it was a great way for us to be able to display our city to everyone throughout the state and I was, you know, fortunate enough to have the mayor of it was Statesville send me a handwritten notice uh note saying that uh, you know, he really appreciate had a great time and he thought we did an outstanding job. So,

you know, that meant that meant a lot to me um, to know that he had a great time here and a good experience and we appreciate you giving us the opportunity to put our our city on in showcase. Thank you all. It was Thank you. Thank you for your service on our board very much and city attorney McGuard as well. Thank you for hosting us last year. You did tremendous. That was a lot of work. Thank you. It was much appreciated.

Mayor, I'd like to add to that that had a chance to sit down with with Rose and we were talking about where would be characterized the city of Greenville app right now. And if you look at it objectively, we have a very strong educational base ECU P Community College healthcare um worldrenowned. We also have a very high level of quality of life with our recreation parks and the extension of of the Wildwood Park and the town con we're doing down there. We also have a sports complex that we're getting off the ground. We've been very influential in in being um very aggressive with the housing initiatives and at the same time we have a a very robust economic development program where we've been able to add over 2,000 jobs to our community through two landing two major manufacturers. But if you really look at where we are, that next step is advocacy. It's advocacy collectively as a council. uh whether it be through our state lobbying group through the North Carolina League specifically with concerns to infrastructure, state infrastructure, the NC DOT and it's all we're in a we're at a period of it's all hands- on deck and there's just not one tool in the toolbox. It's collectively working with the league with our lobbyists with together to be able to uh to make that a priority moving forward. If there's if there's anything the league, you know, can think of that we can do to help with the advocacy, please don't hesitate to reach out. I mean, we were at a couple of us were at uh lunch today with four members of the general assembly, and I tell you that uh I think they heard me loud and clear about my uh displeasure with our uh our wonderful Department of Transportation at the state. Um, but you know, if there's things that we can do to help out, one of the things I guess that when it comes to transportation that I'm so passionate about is it's just not Greenville, right? You know, this is not just centric to Greenville. This isn't just an isolated thing. There's there's road projects throughout the entire

state and I understand the massive undertaking it is for the Department of Transportation to take on those things and you know but we as a state have to get a grip on it otherwise the influx of people that we're seeing on an annual basis we're not going to be able to to maintain where we are as a state and I've done a lot of reading and and research on where we were as a state back in the 50s and before that and how rural North Carolina is. And we don't want to go back that way. We want to continue to move forward, make sure that we can sustain the growth that we're seeing. I looked the other day I was doing some analysis and it looks like Greenville's growing like 1.5% a year and that's keeping up with the state. But, you know, as an elected official that's sat here for a decade, there's major road projects that are hindering the growth that we're seeing. And you know, we're seeing roads that are getting over capacity, uh, that are being underfunded or just projects that aren't being done, and we're just one of many municipalities throughout the state that are dealing with this. So, if there's anything that we can do to help assist uh, with that, please let me know. They I had every single one of them come up to me and said they saw my Facebook post and I think John Bell uh, had mentioned he was getting ready to get a shovel to go out to Dickinson Avenue, start working himself. So, um, you know, but if there's anything that we can do to help out with that or many other things, there's plenty of things that we discussed today as far as some of the priorities at the legislature that we can assist with. Please don't hesitate to reach out.

Very helpful. You got the growth is not stopping. No. Basically, the state of can Kansas has moved to North Carolina. That's right. That's right. And and that's a blessing, right? It is. Yes. But you got to prepare. That's right. Thank you, mayor. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. If I have the floor briefly, I just want to say as a board member and a city attorney, the the board the league's staff rocks led by Rose. Thank you for that. City attorneys would tell you that throughout the state. Thank you for that. Thank you very much. And on the board, we got an outstanding attorney, too. I know. Top of the top in the state. Absolutely. Top of the state. Thank you, mayor. Thank you. We appreciate it. We for election again.

Thank you guys. Let me know. Don't know. Thank you. Good care for going back. Thank you very much. Good to meet you, Julie. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Good year. Congrats to everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Mayor. Item number two is an update on the town common bulkhead construction. I'll now call forward our executive director for the recreation parks and project, Don Hopkin. Presentation. All right. Good afternoon everybody. Afternoon.

All right, top that. Ah, yeah. I should have gone first. Um, we're here to give a quick update on the bulkhead and kind of where we are with the project and kind of what to look forward to the next several months. Uh, before we get to the construction updates, kind of want to remind everyone kind of where we we were and how we started and how we got to where we are now. Um, bulkhead project. Uh so in 2022 we did a structural analysis of the project of the bulkhead. Um it found that the bulkhead which was built in 1967 was overstressed uh which then uh kind of set forth our our um job to uh to design the um changes to the bulkhead which was funded by the ARPA money. Um the uh project itself uh initial the structural assessment was completed after council had discussed several potential improvements to town common. before moving forward with any design of any potential enhancements uh to the part. The structural analysis was required for the bulkhead to ensure the structure could handle certain improvements. Uh the project scope included revitalizing the waterfront by replacing the 1,570 ft uh feet of steel bulkhead and also uh replace the bulkhead and the boardwalk. The upgrades uh will safeguard our park against flooding while creating a more vibrant accessible space for the community. Uh this next slide shows the project timeline. Uh design kickoff was October 2022. Uh completed in June 2025 with the final permits acquired. Very lengthy design period, but a lot of went into that including community engagement. Uh during the community engagement period, uh three of the top um ideas that came out of the the from the community were what they want to see from the bulkhead improvements was improved accessibility of the park. Uh dedicated multi-use path for the greenway. So it'll it'll connect the south park greenway from the east side of of town common to the west side. Now it connects all the way to Nash

Street and soon it will connect all the way to the VA uh and the medical district. Um also uh desire was to have seating areas close to the river which we'll cover uh in our project today. Uh total construction of the project estimated about 18.5 million dollars. uh total project with design permitting and all inclusive be about 20 $20 million um completed uh project funding breakdown seen there design costs was all through offer funds uh the city's allocation of them and then construction costs total 19 million 5 million uh we accepted from the state which we appreciate those allocation that appropriation and 14 million from city's capital debt service fund uh the project could not be possible without a great team Martin Ningham is here with us today he'll he'll continue this presentation but he's our city's project development manager. Uh he's managed the project since day one uh and has done a great job. His leadership has helped the design team of Mafet Nickel uh which also includes locally the East Group uh develop a design that will enhance the town common but also protect it uh protect the park. Uh so he and his team he and Mark also work uh with Trader Construction. They talk weekly about project concerns or challenges that may come up. um and he and I meet every every bi-weekly, every two or three weeks to talk about any concerns that Trader brings to us. Um but they're able to work through them, make sure the product continues um in a positive direction, but also continues to be on time, which uh you'll hear from him for the most part is. Uh so with that, I will turn it over to Mark so he can share more updates.

Thank you. Happy New Year everybody.

Happy New Year. Um, so you might notice from Don's timeline that permitting design took longer than construction is going to take. Um, we are working in the Tar River. So, first step was uh meeting some of our environmental permit requirements uh looking at the endangered species that uh there's a habitat in the Tar River for a Tar River spiny muscle. Um, so this uh this team of engineers spent two days, you know, doing an inwater survey seeing if they could find the uh Tar River spiny muscle. They found 6,500 muscles, but not one of them was the tar river spiny muscle, which is kind of, you know, anyway, they they relocated these these muscles safely across the river, as you can see in the pictures.

Yeah.

Move on.

Yeah, moving on. Uh so we'll take a closer look at you know some of the scope of the project. Um on the the west end you know towards uh state employees credit union green street bridge there's an area of the park that wasn't really activated. So this this project will add a a walking path through the existing trees there. Add an elevated overlook that stretches over the tar river. In the middle of the project there's going to be uh two plazas with uh some seating there uh as well as seating in the middle. be terraced so you can look back towards the park or at the river itself. And then also uh loading dock improvements to the amphitheater. Um some feedback we got was you know we need to accommodate or better accommodate the different types of vehicles that bands bring uh to load and uh unload their equipment to the amphitheater. This is an image of um kind of the the pergolas that will be located in the the western plaza. There'll be additional um tables underneath the shelters as well. Then looking at the east end, um the elevation of the boardwalk or the uh the bulkhead has been lowered on the eastern end. Um so once you head from the amphitheater east, it steps down in elevation to get you closer to the river. Uh and then there will be a boardwalk in that section in lie of the uh concrete walkway. And then go ahead.

Well, I was going to add step here for a sec. This area right here was actually what started the um the need for the the the rebuild of the of the of the bulkhead. We had back in 2019, council had reszoned this area of the property about 1.4 acres that the Woo radio tower had stood on. the Toro River master plan or in the the town common master plan actually called for a small restaurant event space on the the town common. That property was reszoned to a fourth for that uh that type of space type of uh center on this on this property. Then we were going to move forward with an RFQ for for development. That's when we found out that the bulkhead, the current bulkhead as it stood would not support the load that in addition to prospective changes of the the town common amphitheater. So this area right here has all kinds of future uses that that would be included as part of the the town master. And you know, so that same location, there'll be uh concrete seating down to the river that leads to a 160 foot floating dock. So we can kind of increase increase our transient um boat parking there. And here's an image of what the uh boardwalk will look like in that location. And you know, even though we say boardwalk, it will be made with, you know, composite decking. So should last a very long time. Be some nice uh shaded swinging benches there as well. So just some uh construction pictures here. This was first step was demolition of the the concrete walkway, the railing. Um and then they cut down a couple feet off the top of the old bulkhead. And then as I mentioned on the east end, they're we're reducing the elevation of the bulkhead. So they had to do some

more excavation in that location. Here you can see they're removing the old tiebacks from the the old bulkhead um and cutting down more of the old existing bulkhead wall. And this was the the noisy portion of the work um driving the the new um piles in. So um the new wall is actually a lot deeper than the existing wall. Um it's going down to like 25 to 29 ft below the normal watering level. Um the old wall was at like 18 ft. Um, so they reached a hard layer of material when they started driving them. So on the left you see a vibratory hammer. Um, that just kind of shook them into the into the ground. U, but they got that to that hard layer and had to switch hammers, you know, midway through driving each one. So that added just a little bit to the schedule. So they had to bring in a different type of hammer that was even louder. Um, so appreciate everybody's patience. We didn't get really many complaints on that.

What's the economic age of that? I mean it's just the economic life expectancy of it not age. I mean so the previous wall I think was at 50 years. I mean engineers won't really tell you. They won't tell us. No. So we won't see. We won't see. So the expectation is it should be at least another 50 years. Yes sir. Okay.

And I mean this is you know a newer wall and deeper. So, uh this is an image um here you can see the lower elevation uh on the east end of the project and then this is an image of they just installed um the piling for the floating dock and you know we're restricted of when we could do the inwater work. Um so the piles are set but we can't do any more inwater work until um July of next year. So that's when they'll come back and actually set the dock in place. Then here's a kind of a bird's eye view of what that section will look like once it's complete and still looking at a late fall of next of this year completion.

That looks awesome. We're excited. So any questions? Now the major work in the water is done

complete. All they have to do is set the the dock. So, so hope I don't step over bounds, but um so far we've been very successful in not having to dive too much into the contingency on this project, which I think stands at about $3.1 million. And so, uh ultimately the majority, if not all the work except for that floating dock, all the work in the water has been completed. And that's where the vast majority of the risk is. like I said, having to switch out the hammers and what you're going to find in the water. So, we are highly optimistic that we have we will be smooth sailing from here. You never know,

but if that's the case, then that might afford us the opportunity to use the dollars already appropriated in this project to make other improvements in the park that we hope to be able to bring back to you as soon as we know we're over the But we're on schedule. Yes. and I budget. Oh,

and I I will say I did I did catch what Don had said. I appreciate the fact that we're having regular conversations with the contractor, you know, and discussing the project. I think that's a I think that's a big big step and I think it's great that you guys are doing that so that way everybody's on the same page and understanding where we're at. So, I appreciate you guys doing that. And any uh capital project of this size is only as good as the design, which is where you need to spend your time making sure you've worked out all the kinks so that you don't get down the road and find something that you missed

which is going to set you back. and then a great construction partner and we have been very fortunate to have both a exceptional design team as well as contractor Trader has done an outstanding job with the city from the town of Creek Culbert to the uh the Bill Grant project to to this and they've just been a godsend to our community.

Yeah, I I told some of that I think today I was said that I'm very impressed with Trader and the way that they've been able to deliver. I even remember the modifications that we made to the uh Town Creek Culver project down there and making those modifications, how easy it was to deal with them and how quick they were to respond and make changes. Um been very impressed with with that company and I think it's very well done. Will boats be able to go on the inside the floating dock? No, sir.

It looks like there was a pathway. That's why I was asking. Um, so we on the I guess west end of it, there's going to be a debris diverter. Um, because right now the pack launch sits out in the river and collects logs all day long. Um, so the diverter is supposed to it'll block off that end. Um, I don't think it'll be wide enough gap to fit. I mean, you could probably get a kayak or a canoe in between. So on the on the back side, but there's going to be another stiff arm um closer to that kayak launch, too. So, I think it's gonna be the Robinson Law Firm Splash Zone.

Um, yeah, it's got a good ring to it, doesn't it? Financially supported by County Properties Partnership for That's right. Hey, teamwork. Teamwork. That's right. Thank you guys. Appreciate it. Is that it? That's all in. And Mr. Attorney, we don't have any need for a close session. That's right, Mr. Mayor. All right. I need a motion to adjourn. Second. All right. Motion's been made by Mayor Pro Tim Foreman. Second by Council Member Skully. All those in favor say I. I. Say n. We are journ.