City Council - Regular Meeting

Information that may be helpful to them, information about landlord and tenants rights, as well about how to be a good neighbor. That's really what it's all about.

Thank you.

All right. Good evening. I'd like to call the June 8th meeting in the Greenville City Council to order. I'm Mayor PJ Connolly presiding over tonight's meeting. First, I'd like to call on Councilmember Les Robinson for the invocation, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Mayor, thank you. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this beautiful day and for the life we live. Thank you for your great love and care and infinite mercy and grace. Gracious and loving God, we come together with gratitude for the privilege and the opportunity to serve. We ask for your wisdom and guidance to be present in and amongst the members of the city council. I ask that you give each of us the wisdom and discernment to navigate complex issues, the integrity to act fairly, and the compassion to consider the needs of every citizen. When decisions are difficult, helping guide us to work together in unity and harmony, always seeking the common good and the flourishing of our city, and to properly consider all views and opinions on the issues that come before us. We also lift up our city staff, public safety officers, and all who work to keep our community running smoothly. Protect them in their daily duties. I ask that you pour out your abundant blessings on our homeless community and those who have fallen on hard times. And finally, Father, I thank you for another day. Use me as you will. It's in your precious name we pray. Amen.

Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Yes, sir. Mayor Connolly.

Here.

Mayor Pro Tem Foreman. Here. Council Member Jones.

Here.

Council Member Hardy. Here. Council Member Scully. Here. Council Member Robinson. Here. Council Member Willis. Here. Mayor Connolly, Mayor Foreman.

Thank you very much. We'll now move on to the approval of tonight's agenda. Any recommended changes, Mr. Mayor?

I have no changes, Mayor. All right.

Do I have a motion to approve the agenda? Motion to approve. Second. All right. Motion has been made by Council Member Scully, second by Council Member Jones. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed, say nay.

Motion passes 6-0.

Alright, we'll move on to special recognitions. Alright, our first recognition. Who's here for the Juneteenth poster contest? Come on up here. That's awesome. That looks good. That looks good.

Hey, hold those things up.

Alright. Tonight, we're thrilled to celebrate the creative and talent shown by all the students who participated in the 2026 Juneteenth poster contest. Congratulations to Kiedan Kelly, this year's first place winner, whose outstanding artwork has helped us promote our Juneteenth celebration. We also want to recognize Langley Swain, Jaheim Vahan, did I say that right? and Jaleel Robinson for their impressive entries. Special thanks to the Third Street Academy for encouraging students to participate in honoring the importance of Juneteenth through art. We look forward to seeing even more amazing work in the years to come, and we encourage everyone to come out and celebrate Juneteenth with the city next Saturday at Thomas Foreman Park. The festivities kick off at 10 a.m. Congratulations, guys. Your artwork is amazing. We're so proud of you. Thank you.

yeah yeah yeah

ask Brian Jones and Heather White to come on down. Come on up.

That's a great old school. I did a catering article once a year and there was a couple of boys playing in the auditorium where I was supposed to sit.

So each year, the city selects a couple of employees to participate in the Leadership Institute program through the Greater Greenville Chamber. This eight-month program covers key topics such as industry, education, government, health care, community needs, and leadership development, and also gives participants exposure to assets and opportunities in our community. Participants must meet attendance requirements, complete assignments as a group project in order to graduate. Tonight, I am proud to recognize the city graduates for the 2025-26 Chamber Leadership Institute. Brian Jones of the Community and Development Services and Heather White of the Recreation and Parks Department. Now, this is a commitment that you make of your time, but you also get to, as a result of that, get to learn a lot of different aspects about our community and things that go on within our community. I'm going to put you on the spot because I do know you all work on a project.

part of your service and I'd like for you guys to take just a second just to talk to us about what you did yes so we actually got the privilege to do a financial literacy toolkit for actually partnered with the city's housing division so it actually kind of went hand-in-hand with what the city's trying to accomplish with the 50 and 10 initiative and then just some down payment assistant some some financial literacy for those applicants. So really cool project to work on, happy to be a partner with within our division.

Our group was called the Clear Path Leaders, and our group chose to work with the City of Greenville Recreation Parks Department in partnership with FROGS, which is Friends of the Greenville Greenways, in order to provide 101 public safety markers along the greenway system. And these markers were indicative of ensuring that the community felt safe in utilizing our greenway system. And also provides an avenue for people to have a visibility marker, and that visibility marker consisted of a letter and a number. so that if you're out on the Greenway and in the event of an emergency, you would be able to find that distinctive location marker and give that to our dispatch system, who would then be able to alert our public safety to get to you as quickly as possible. So we appreciate the support of frogs in this effort.

All right, to both of you, thank you for taking the time not only to invest in yourself, but also to invest in our community. I hope that you took the opportunity to gain better respect for everything that goes on within our community, and I'm sure you'll use that in your jobs on a daily basis. Thank you.

All right, next we'll move on to the public comment period. The public comment period is a period reserved for comments by the public. Items that were or are scheduled to be the subject of a public hearing conducted at this meeting or another meeting during the same week shall not be discussed. A total of 30 minutes is allocated with each individual being allowed no more than three minutes. Individuals who registered with a city clerk will speak and the order will register until the allotted 30 minutes expires. If time remains after all persons who have registered have spoken, individuals who do not register will have an opportunity to speak until the allotted 30 minutes expires. Madam Clerk, our first speaker.

Marian Blackburn, you have three minutes to address the mayor and council.

Thank you very much. Good evening, Mayor and members of council. Good evening. I'm Marian Blackburn. Last weekend, Greenville was popping with events, art shows, book sales, food, crafts, music, and excellent company. It all took place because of and through the work of our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community. The Pride Festival is this Saturday. Something was missing, however. Greenville has not yet issued a proclamation declaring June as Pride Month. Many cities, including our neighbor Farmville, have already done so, and Governor Stein just last week issued a statewide proclamation. It's time for our city to formally proclaim June as Pride Month. The City Council has the authority to make and adopt this kind of proclamation. Tonight, I'm asking you to do so. So why do we need a proclamation? First, an official proclamation recognizes and honors our LGBTQIA neighbors and friends. These members of our community carry a heavy legacy of shame handed down throughout history and which continues today. Persecuted and killed by the Nazis, jailed by authorities around the world, subject to violence and discrimination, nevertheless, the gay and trans community has persisted and given us great human accomplishments. Hate and violence are not just in the past. In 1952, the brilliant mathematician and early computer developer Alan Turing, rather than be jailed for homosexuality, accepted chemical castration. He soon died, possibly of suicide. The Human Rights Campaign says that 2023 saw the highest number of anti-gay and anti-trans hate crimes. 81% of trans people experience harassment, assault, and other forms of violence. 81%. Gay and trans people simply want to live their lives with the people they love, just like you and I. Next, a proclamation formally says Greenville embraces its gay and trans community. When we are instructed to love others as ourselves, it means opening our doors and our hearts to them, even when we may not share their identities. A proclamation says Greenville appreciates you and that in our community, your identity as gay, trans, lesbian, asexual, or whatever it may be, is accepted. Last, a proclamation says Greenville values its LGBTQ community. It allows us to send a message of safety, acceptance, and respect. It says that your many contributions to Greenville matter, whether in the arts, academics, health care, service, law enforcement, and all the other fields where you work. And we thank you. The gay community has always looked out for me. And in a small act of thanks, tonight I'm asking the City Council to adopt a proclamation that June is Pride Month in Greenville. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Blackburn. Madam Clerk, our next speaker.

Yes, our next speaker is Mr. Jeff Monaco. You have three minutes to address the Mayor and Council.

Good evening. My name is Jeff Monaco. I am the volunteer leader in the North Carolina Sierra Club and chair of the Sierra Club Cypress Group. The Cypress Group is the local grassroots arm of the North Carolina Sierra Club with over 700 members and supporters, including 500 in Greenville. In fact, a number of them have come out this evening sitting here in the corner around one of the eventual speakers, Marion Swinker. So I'm here to talk about the Environmental Advisory Commission. Marian Swinker is a chair. The EAC, because a little later, Marian will describe the objectives of the EAC for the coming fiscal year. I have sat in on many EAC meetings, though I am not a member, and was present recently when these goals were discussed. I will add that I have worked with Dr. Swinker on programs related to our natural world for the last several years and have been consistently impressed with her wide knowledge and her passion for the environment. So I would like to explain why it is so important to take special note of what Marian will be saying tonight. First is that the EAC is made up of highly credentialed experts. The current EAC includes the physicians, scientists, ECU professors, and successful business people. They are people who are or have been on the front lines of medicine, education, research, business, and the environment. Also, they are skilled in using scientific data to create goals and develop plans. And, and this is key, they have a strong desire to ensure that their great, great grandchildren have a healthy, natural environment to live in. They believe their great, great grandchildren in the year 2060 and beyond, think of that, that's when their great great grandchildren will be in the prime of their lives, should have an environment that is equal to the environment we, the older folks, have been blessed with during our long lives. Because of these things, the experts in the EAC can be your ally, the council's allies, when environmental decisions are on the table. What they will provide will be well thought out, will consider the many sides of issues, be based on facts, and be in sync with the majority of your constituents. I urge you to support the goals of the EAC that Dr. Swinker will present, use the EAC for advice often, and continue backing their work.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Madam Clerk, our next speaker.

Yes, sir. Mr. Christopher Godley, you have three minutes to address the mayor and council.

Good evening, Mayor Cowley. Good evening. City Council. I stand before you today to give an update on the issue that was brought forth in our last council meeting in our neighborhood. I am glad to say that there has been a decrease in the travel. And I am resting very well. I'm sure a lot of the neighbors in that neighborhood are very thankful. So I stand today before you to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Chris. Thank you. Thank you.

I'm glad to hear that. I was just talking to somebody the other day and they asked me how that had gone. I said I hadn't heard anything back. And so awesome. I'm glad to hear that. Thank you.

And the signs are coming, Chris.

All right, Madam Clerk, our next speaker.

Do you not have any additional registered speakers?

Anyone else that would like to speak during the public comment period, please come forward, state your name for the record. You have three minutes.

I'm going to say it right here. What you said is true, but we still would like to have more police patrol that area because I think that would make a big difference and get them out fast.

Okay.

Ma'am, what's your name? Jesse Little.

Thank you, Ms. Little. Anyone else who'd like to speak during the public comment period, please come forward, state your name for the record. You have three minutes. Yeah, you can come on up here.

Hey, how's it going?

Good, how are you?

Hey, how you doing?

Aaron Morales. I live next door to Chris, and we all have the same problem we've got going on over there. I've seen more patrolling going through the neighborhood. I've seen a decrease in the activity, the crime that's going on. It's a good thing, but we're tired of it. I don't know what Chris said. I'm a little late. I just want to reiterate, you know, we're tired of it. We've been there a while, and we're a good, wholesome neighborhood. We've got a lot of blue-collar people working there, and we work really hard to keep our community right and clean. And we're always watching after one another, always. And to see this riffraff coming in there and... The homeowners are the biggest issue. They're the ones who are renting these homes out to these people, and they're not venting them. If they are, they're probably lying on the application. I don't know. The homeowners are not local. Some are out of state. And when you try to contact them, they just talk down to you. They belittle you when you're talking. Like, who are you to call me? Mind your own business. Well, our neighborhood is our business. It's our community, and we're sick of it. That's about it. I mean, we do have an officer who lives in our neighborhood. He does help us out tremendously. He watches over. I don't know if it's his route to run through our district or area, but he does. I catch him, you know, probably like throughout the night, probably every two or three hours he's coming through randomly. I don't know if he touched base on this, but they did try to break into his patrol car in our neighborhood. It was about 1030 at night. I don't know what ever happened with that. I've seen the video of it, so it's just something that we're dealing with, and we're just fed up with it. That's all.

Mayor Kent, Mr. Morales, Mr. Godley, Ms. Little, we have Police Chief back there. After the public comment period, if you'd like to step outside, he can have further conversations with you. Okay.

Thanks, guys, for your time. Appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. Morales. Appreciate it. Anyone else that would like to speak during the public comment period, please come forward and state your name for the record. You have three minutes. Seeing none, we'll close the public comment period and we'll move on to our consent agenda.

All right. Thank you, Mayor. All right. Item number three, consent agenda, approval of minutes. Item number four, ordinance requested by the Fire Rescue Department to amend City Code Part 2, Title 5, Chapter 2, Section 34C3. Item number five, resolution accepting dedication of right-of-way and easements for Cobblestone Phase 2, Section 2. I have number six, ordinance and reimbursement resolution amending Greenville Utility Commission's fiscal year 2025-2026 budget and various capital project budgets. I have number seven, municipal agreement with North Carolina Department of Transportation for Evans Street widening project U-2817. I have number eight, municipal agreement with the North Carolina Department of Transportation for the North-South connector project. Item number nine, amendment one to service agreement with Sound Thinking Incorporated parent company for ShotSpotter. Item number 10, contract award for professional services for the 2026 on-call land surveying services. Item number 11, contract award for the 2026 stormwater repairs project and approval of task order number three for construction engineering and inspection, CEI and construction materials testing, CMT on-call contract. Item number 12, contract award for janitorial services for various city facilities. Item number 13, contract for services with the Ferguson Group for fiscal year 2026-2027. Item number 14, contract for services with the Pitt County Arts Council at Emerge for fiscal year 2026-2027. All right. Thank you very much.

Motion to approve.

Second. All right. Motion has been made by Council Member Wilson and by Council Member Robinson. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay.

Motion passes 6-0.

Move on to new business. New business public hearings. This is the policy of the public hearings adopted by the city council petitioner or representative of petitioner and the leader of those in opposition will each have 10 minutes. Persons following them will have up to three minutes each with a total for each side of no more than 30 minutes. Additionally, I want to remind those in attendance to extend the courtesy to person speaking during the public hearing and to the city council during discussions. Comments made by members of the public are to occur only during the public hearing as allowed by the mayor in accordance with adopted policy of the city council. there should be no interruptions of speakers or council members including expressions of support or disagreements verbally or by applause as this is distracting it makes discussion difficult we ask for your cooperation thank you Mr. Manager, our first and only public hearing for the night.

Thank you, Mayor. Item number 15, public hearing and adoption of proposed fiscal year 2026-2027. City of Greenville budget including the fiscal year 2026-2027 manual of fees and also including Shepherd Memorial Library, the Pitt Greenville Convention and Visitor Authority, and Greenville Utilities Commission budgets. I now call forward our Chief Financial Officer, Jacob Joyner, for the presentation.

Good evening. Good evening. Just a little background on how we got here. We started in January with the process with the mid-year budget update, and then in April we really started getting down to the details, and that includes the budget previews presented to the council small groups, followed by the full budget preview presented at the May council meeting, and now tonight we have the public hearing and potentially adoption of the budget. Since the preview last month, there's been no changes on the city side to the budget. Overall, including the Greenwood Utilities and Shepard and Convention and Visitor Authority, the overall budget is at $530 million with $194.9 million for the city. The $194.9 million for the city, about 64% of that is in the general fund at $124 million. The other one is spread among various enterprise funds and internal service funds and our debt service fund as well. The general fund, which is our main operating fund, is usually most of the focus for the budget. Looking at revenues, about 80 of every $100 comes from four sources, and that's property tax, sales tax, and then GEC transfer and utility franchise tax. Property tax rate, we're proposing a rate that's consistent with the past two years, that 39.54 cents. And that puts us as one of the lowest compared to our regional and other peer cities. sales tax uh we are proposing a budget of 34.68 million uh this is an increase of about three and a half million from the prior year um and this chart is actual versus next year budget uh we did see quite a bit growth this year which is nice to see um All told, we have about $5 million in new revenues. The only real decrease we're looking at is in our investment revenue, and that is due to declining interest rates, which we've known we're coming for some time and we've been preparing for. On the expense side, our overall budget, $124 million, and 50% of that is spent on our public safety. That's our fire rescue and police. And of the $124 million, about 63% is spent on personnel, so that's money that's going back into the people that work every day in the city, working towards council goals and priorities. This is just the summary page of the adjustments. Personnel adjustments make up about $4.2 million of the increases, and that's spread between full-year and mid-year increases. We also have a couple new items that we're paying for, one of which is EMS medical supplies. And we're also seeing an increase in fleet costs, largely due to rising fuel costs. So we anticipate about $600,000 more spend next year on our fleet. We're increasing our Street improvements four hundred thousand dollars to bring that total three point five million dollars annually and that is goes to our annual street resurfacing and Increasing the ADA Sidewalk program and the affordable housing program by a hundred thousand dollars each and I'll bring that annual commitment to five hundred thousand and three hundred thousand respectively We also have a new item when this be of the two hundred fifty thousand dollar appropriation for the airport and On our transfer budget, this makes up about $15 million of our general fund budget, and this goes to various sources, largest of which will be our debt service, and that includes the upcoming debt service for the bulkhead. We also have our facility improvement fund at $1.2 million, the engineering capital project fund at $4.3 million, and that includes the street resurfacing and the ADA and sidewalk program as well. We have a $1.7 million proposed appropriation for the library. That's a 4% operating increase over the prior year. And the transit fund, we are increasing the appropriation by a million, and that is due to the city taking on paratransit responsibilities within the city of Greenville, so we are required to expand our operations on that side. About 80% of that is grant funded, so the $250,000 would just be for the city's cost on that. Other funds. This makes up about $70.9 million. Just a couple highlights. The sanitation fund. This will be year two of a three year rate plan that was adopted last year and that will bring the overall rate to $20.25 a month. Stormwater is not seeing any fee changes so we'll be about eleven point four million dollars in revenue, and they'll be continuing to focus on the stormwater capital plan and operations to maintain the city's a storm one off We have a new fund which is our sports complex fund and that is going to be main that will retract the operations and revenues associated with the sports complex And our health insurance fund is seeing an increase in budget this year. We saw a 35% increase in health insurance claims in the prior calendar year. That's about a $4 million increase. So we're monitoring that closely and working to see how we can reduce the cost on that side. We do feel like they will come down to our more historical averages. But we do want to make sure that we have enough funds over there to ride out this increase that we're seeing. So in summary, that's how we get to our $530 million overall budget of which the city's portions just shade of under 195 million with 64% of that spent in the general fund. And we just ask council conduct public hearing and followed by adoption of the fiscal year 27 budget.

All right. Thank you very much. Any questions? Thank you. Seeing none, the public hearing is now open. Those who speak on behalf of the applicant may come forward. Please state your name for the record. The first person has ten minutes. All others have three minutes.

Hi there, I'm Jill Twork of the Friends of Greenville Greenways. I think everybody here knows me. I think Seth, I have not met you yet. I'm really just here to talk about deployment of this budget because I'm really happy that we've had some increases in the amounts of like ADA compliance spending and some maintenance spending and stuff. But I just wanted to touch on a few points so that as you deploy this budget, you keep these things in mind. And you'll hear this again from me over and over, but I'm going to just give it to you because it doesn't hurt to repeat. So first of all, before I even begin, I'd like to thank Heather White immensely for getting the safety signs. Together with frogs, we paid for all of the safety signs, about $4,300, so that they got done. Like, we had been wanting to do this for about six or seven years, and we finally got it done with the help of this Chamber of Commerce Leadership Institute. So, you know, check that off the list of things so that people can feel safer on the Greenway. All right, so first of all, I would really like you to focus on planting more trees in our city, because I've been watching neighborhoods ripping down trees just absolutely like crazy all over town. I mean, the corner of Charles Boulevard and Fire Tower Road, the Lindell East neighborhood, I mean, fantastic, beautiful neighborhood. But they just took down several acres worth of trees. I don't know if there's a park slated for any of that land. But I mean, the whole Lindell neighborhood has no park. I mean, perhaps there would be still a way to squeeze a micro park into that neighborhood before all the houses are built there. But I mean, we cannot keep up with the number of trees that are being taken down in our city. like all the time. And so I would really like to see a planting trees fund as part of the maintenance or any of this. Perhaps you can budget, I don't know, $20,000 or $30,000 a year and find a way to put trees in cheaply and get going with tree plantings. Because for example, Dickinson Avenue, from you know the new part which goes which starts you know like around 14th Street all the way down Dickinson Avenue to Arlington has almost no trees lots of people walk there it is torture because it is so hot and we need these trees to cool our city especially along thoroughfares where people are walking there's are some sidewalks but then no trees and so Really, if we want to get our city to be pedestrian friendly, to get people using alternative transportation, all these things, we need to plant more trees. Really, especially along paths where people are going to walk. This is why the Greenway in our city is one of the absolute best parts of our city because most of it has trees. And Frogs is working. We're going to be planting trees along the Plank Road Greenway, the new one that goes off Dickinson Avenue. We're going to put 15 trees in there in October if all goes well. And we're also going to put some on the GUC land past the railroad trestle on the West side greenway that runs from first Street place all the way out to Fairfax Avenue So we're gonna put hopefully about 12 to 15 trees there on Greenville utilities land. We've just received approval for that So we're doing our part relief is doing their part We're working with relief But we need the city also to step up because we as small nonprofits cannot plant enough trees to replace the trees that are being torn down and almost daily in our city. So please focus on some tree plantings as you move forward. The other thing was parks. As I said, there are several large neighborhoods in our city that have no parks at all. Where do the children go? My neighbors have children. They have no place to go with their children because they have to drive across Greenville Boulevard to get to Elm Street Park to get to a park. Neighborhoods that have literally thousands of people living in them should have at least a park. park within a one mile walk. So I think that you should look at our map of the city and look at the neighborhoods, maybe draw a point in the middle of a neighborhood, draw a one mile around it circle radius and see where can we get to a park. And if there's no park there, then perhaps one should be conceived, and the open land that's left should not be sold to a business to put another car wash or auto zone, but maybe we should just purchase it for the city so that it can be at least a micropark so that we can have a playground so the children can have a place to play. you know, please consider this as you move forward. The other thing we really need is complete crosswalks because I ride my bike and walk all over the city and there are some really bad spots where I feel like my life is in danger overall. I will say that I feel pretty safe on my bike in the city. People tell me, you know, that you know i would never ride a bike in greenville because i feel like it's really too dangerous but i'll tell you what i got hit by somebody who rear-ended me two months ago so i've had one car totaled in greenville since i've lived here in the past 22 years i have never had a bike accident i've never had anybody hit me i've never gotten injured on my bicycle And I ride Arlington Boulevard, and I ride Greenville Boulevard on the sidewalk, but I know where it's safe and where it's not. And so what we really need, based on my boots on the ground, bicycle wheels on the ground experience, Like the crosswalk at Charles Boulevard and Greenville Boulevard, it only goes two ways. Guess what? There's another two corners there, like the south side and the east side that don't have a crosswalk. There's no way to get across there. I take my life in my hands getting across there to go to the businesses and things that are on that catty corner, the southeast corner of Greenville Boulevard and Charles. Another really big one, Red Banks Road and Arlington. There's only partial crosswalk there. It's really dangerous. I go across there all the time. We need some sidewalks all up Red Banks Road from 14th Street all the way really up to the Harris Teeter Plaza on both sides. I see people walking there all the time. I ride my bike there all the time. There are no sidewalks on either side. There's just a tiny bit from 14th Street up to Tarrs Boulevard on the one side, but it's not even the side where E.B. Aycock Middle School is. That side of the street only has a sidewalk in front of the school, and then there's nothing. So we need to start thinking logically about where can we connect people living in neighborhoods to businesses through sidewalks on both sides of the street. So I just want to get that in your heads as locations that really need this infrastructure. Let's see. So, yeah, there's also tons of schools. There's E.B. Aycock, Elmhurst Elementary, ECU Campus. How can I possibly walk to an ECU football game if there are no sidewalks on the south side of Greenville Boulevard? Like, we need a sidewalk on the south side of Greenville Boulevard from 14th Street all the way over to up to, you know, Greenville Boulevard and beyond. Like, we really need the sidewalk because there's a... Thank you, God, a light at the corner of 14th Street, or sorry, it is Elm Street, and Greenville Boulevard has that one light, that Elm Street light, right? But there's no way to get to it. I ride the little city streets in that neighborhood to get there, which is fine, But it would be way cooler if I could also walk up my street, just turn left, go on a sidewalk up to that light, and then cross. Because once you cross from Elm Street, the north side, to Elm Street, the south side of Greenville Boulevard, there are no more sidewalks anywhere in that whole neighborhood. So we really need a sidewalk at least along Greenville Boulevard going to where it would connect with, I believe, 14th Street. There's a sidewalk that was recently built. It does go up to Greenville Boulevard. or to 10th street um there's like a new sidewalk that was built so anyway i guess i've talked enough i just wanted to give you these ideas so that you get them in your head as you deploy this budget so thank you thank you thank you thank you jill anyone else like to speak on behalf the applicant may come forward please state your name for the record you have three minutes

Seeing none, those in opposition to the applicant may come forward. Please state your name for the record. The first person has ten minutes. All others have three minutes. Seeing none, the public hearing is now closed. Open for board discussion or a motion.

Motion to approve. Second.

All right. Motion's been made by Councilman Willis. Second by Councilmember Hardy. Any other discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay.

Motion passes 6-0.

I got to say that I think this has got to be, I think it'd be 11th budget I've passed. I think this is probably the easiest one I think I've ever had to pass. So good job. Good job to our city staff.

Absolutely.

All right. We'll move on to our next item, which is other items of business. Number 16.

I think a number 16 presentation by boards and commissions. Tonight we'll hear an update from the Environmental Advisory Commission. I now call forward our chair of the EAC, Dr. Marion Swinker, for the presentation.

Well, good evening, mayor and city council members. I'm the chair of the Environmental Advisory Commission. And as you know, our charge is to make recommendations on matters of environmental concern and service technical advisors consistent with your city goal of enhancing safety and wellness. And I've forgotten the last part because it's not on my slide.

That's OK.

And I changed my own slides here. Oh, there we are. Enhanced safety, wellness, and environmental responsibility. Our commission members include Craig Becker, Christy Dixon, Deborah Goldberg, Yoshi Newman, and Tom Trevathan. And in 2025, we provided input into the new Unified Development Ordinance around vegetation, tree protection, and green spaces, common spaces. We continued interactions with Greenville Utilities Commission. We researched funding and placement of electric vehicle public charging stations, investigated locally important air pollutants, reviewed water fluoridation issues, and worked with the new sustainability coordinator, Sean E. Sun. Now in 2026, our number one concern is data centers and their environmental impacts. These operations have major land use and zoning issues, and they consume huge amounts of energy. It can be comparable to adding 550,000 to 200,000 new homes. They also use a lot of water. There can be up to a 20% increase in community water use, and this can deplete surface water or deplete wells and possibly introduce pollutants into their discharge. They also can be a source of air pollution. Most use diesel backup generators, which are tested on a regular basis. and they are a source of environmental noise. They have fans for air cooling that operate 24-7, and there's additional noise when those generators are running. Now, all data centers are not the same. The Department of Energy classifies them by energy use as small, medium, large, and hyperscale or mega. And it's those larger centers that we're most concerned about, those that occupy acres of land and use tens or hundreds of megawatts of electricity. These operations are unique in that their impacts are community-wide. They don't just affect the people who live next door. For example, Edgecombe County has a proposed center that's massive. It would have 900 megawatts of electricity consumed and occupy 300 acres. And they plan to pull cooling water from the Tar River, which could lead to loss of water volume during droughts and also introduce pollutants. So, our first goal is to prepare for possible data center development proposals by providing technical information and encouraging the adoption of proactive plans and expectations, and then to ensure that city ordinances support those expectations. This might mean updating planning and zoning rules and enforcement processes. and importantly, would allow for community engagement before any actual development requests are received because those introduce deadlines and confidentiality issues. Now in 2024, council did update the zoning code and did address the noise issue appropriately, limiting it to 30 decibels for constant low level of noise. and also addressed setbacks but didn't really address the electricity and water demands impact on the community or the air and water pollution possibility. Some national groups advocate eliminating all by right zoning allowances for these large data centers and allow them only by special use permit in industrial districts. The important point is to collect detailed information and have some required level of review. There's nothing punitive about a special use permit. Many types of businesses in town are already required to obtain these. And many North Carolina municipalities are actually taking a timeout on data centers. Apex has a one-year moratorium. Durham just did a 60-day as a first step. And then there's several cities in the West that have moratoria. And Waynesville banned them altogether. And the reason is to properly investigate and plan ahead to protect residents' natural resources and quality of life while developing clear, thoughtful standards per Chatham County. And this is consistent with the EAC's goal. If we have development, it should be without damage to the environment or public health. And those red are just counties that have moratoria. Well, don't these centers bring in a lot of revenue? It depends on what is the net revenue, because we know they bring very few jobs that are permanent. What taxes actually apply? Notably, in North Carolina, they are exempt from sales and use tax, and that's from construction and when they're operating on their utility bills. Then have any incentives or rebates been given? And who will pay for any grid upgrades or site infrastructure improvements? And will there be new public service costs supporting these projects? This is not a tax, but people are very concerned about rising electricity bills. Will the general public have to pay more to accommodate these high demand users? This can happen when costs are based on peak requirements rather than total energy consumed. Some policy makers are recommending requiring at least a percentage of renewables. There is right now a bill in the North Carolina legislature, it's been passed by the House pending in the Senate, to address the largest of the large facilities, those over 100 megawatts, because of concerns about electricity use and water, and there may be some changes to the rules on taxes and incentives as well. Okay, switching gears, goal number two is to foster healthy neighborhoods. We'd like to take the concepts in the Unified Development Ordinance and expand them to existing neighborhoods on a voluntary basis, especially regarding vegetation, shared spaces, and green space. Our third goal is to promote local activities by the city and community to help mitigate climate instability's ongoing harms by supporting GUC's environmental initiatives, supporting the planting of trees and vegetation, and continuing to monitor public electric vehicle charging stations. A new one this year is to investigate grassroots consumer and merchant actions to reduce single-use plastics. Plastics are a byproduct of the petroleum industry. This would address litter in the environment. Plastics never oxidize back to their component chemicals. They just disintegrate into smaller and smaller particles. And these particles can become airborne and increase atmospheric warming. But it's also a health issue. We have microplastics now contaminating our soil and water and taken up by food crops. And then even smaller particles called nanoplastics are being found in human brain, heart, and lung tissue. And the more plastic people have in the plaques in their arteries, the worse outcomes they have as far as strokes and heart attacks. There are also endocrine effects of plasticizers, increasing rates of obesity and infertility. Okay, we know that climate instability is causing harm now. You may not believe in climate change, but your insurance company does. In the past six years, the cost of insuring a home in the U.S. has gone up 69%, and the insurance industry projects another 25% increase in the near future. But in the Carolinas, the situation's worse. They expect a 40% increase. If you map out the areas most affected by climate on insurance, it's in the east because we're subject to hurricanes. But even in a year like 2025, when no major hurricane made landfall, there were still a substantial number of extreme weather events that cost money far beyond what had been seen in previous decades. So in conclusion, the Environmental Advisory Commission believes that a prosperous, healthy future in Greenville is a greener one. We've made critical steps forward. We'd like to continue our momentum. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Any questions?

Any questions?

I don't have a question. I appreciate the presentation, but I just would like to make a request of the Environmental Advisory Council as it relates to solar farms, just looking at the long-term impact. It's just something that I'm curious about my team and I've been looking at. We are getting quite a few phone calls for people in the ETJ and beyond about that and just would be interested to know what you all's feedback is. Now, we know that there is good for us, but just the impact on community and landowners and that type of thing. I would like to talk to you guys offline about that.

Yes, definitely. We'd like to follow up with you. Okay, thank you. Thank you very much.

All right, we'll move on to item number 17. All right, thank you, Mayor. Item number 17, 2026-2027, Memorandum of Understanding with Pitt Community College for Affordable Housing Units under the 50 in 10 initiative. I'll call for our Director of Community Development Services, Tiana Berryman, for the presentation.

Good evening. All right, so we are wrapping up the first year of our 50 and 10. And there are many successes to acknowledge, many surrounding our growing, deepening relationship with Pitt Community College. We can report affordable housing production and workforce development through this partnership, hands-on construction experience for the students, and leveraging educational resources to reduce construction costs, which allows us to do more with less. So our relationship with PCC has resulted in five homes. Two have recently been completed. Three are nearing the conclusion of construction. And this MOU will allow us to increase our partnership to add additional units in our portfolio. So here is a nearly completed picture of one of the homes that will be relocated and we'll speak to in just a moment. And here's the second really nice finishes. The students have done fantastic work. So the proposed partnership for the 2627 school year will allow PCC to construct three additional single family homes to continue this work. Students will receive workforce training experience while the city is able to purchase and relocate those homes to city owned land in West Greenville. So staff recommends council authorizing the manager to execute the MOU with PIT, PCC, to provide for the purchase and relocation of three additional affordable single-family homes as part of the 50 and 10 affordable housing initiative.

Motion to approve.

All right, motion to be made by Mayor Pro Tem Foreman, second by Council Member Jones. Any other discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay.

Motion passes 6-0. All right.

Thank you, Mayor. I have number 18, award for a contract for community college house setup and site development services for 703 West 5th Street and 705 West 5th Street as part of the 50 and 10 affordable housing initiative. I'll turn it back over to Ms. Berryman.

All right. So as I alluded in the last presentation there, we've got an award for the two completed homes for the first two completed homes from PCC that will be relocated to 703 and 705 West Fifth Street. The students completed the first two homes and they are ready for their final home over in West Greenville. So our next step is site preparation and setup. The project sites are 703 and 705 West 5th Street, which will allow for fantastic visibility, highlighting the success of this project. These are city-owned lots ready for development with utilities and infrastructure available. You can see the blue stars indicate where the two homes will be located. So the scope of work includes site prep, the foundation, utility hookups, and finishing to include landscaping. All right, so staff published an RFP that was advertised on April 30th. Proposals came back at the end of May. There were three proposals received, and after evaluation based on cost, responsiveness, and qualifications, Strictly Business Builders LLC was selected as the firm for which we will work. All right. So upon approval tonight, we will work toward contract execution notice to proceed all by the end of this month. And during the summer, we look to complete site development and have those homes ready for first time home buyers in the fall of this year. All right, so staff recommends approving the contract with Strictly Business Builders in the amount of $116,000 for house setup and site development services for 703 and 705 West 5th Street.

Motion to approve. Second.

All right. Motion to approve by Mayor Pro Tem Foreman. Second by Council Member Robinson. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay.

Motion passes 6-0.

Let's move on to 19. All right.

Thank you, Mayor. Item number 19, award of professional service contract for development of the Greenville MPO active transportation plan for 2026. I'll call for our city planner, Jeff Rasko, for a short presentation.

Hey, congratulations, by the way.

Thank you. I appreciate that.

I was excited all those months that we had those meetings and we talked about how you need to be the next guy in this position. Here you are.

Yeah, and of course, during that time, I was going to make sure that no matter what, I was going to give you guys the best. Well, we appreciate that. As such, let me start this presentation by talking about the awarding of professional services for the contract for the Greenville MPO's active transportation plan. So what is active transportation? What is the Active Transportation Plan? The Active Transportation Plan is a long-range transportation plan that is developed for multimodal networks in the MPO. So not just the city of Greenville, but the neighboring towns and unincorporated parts of Pitt County. We typically develop this in conjunction with the Metropolitan Transportation Plan, which is our federally constrained required for the MPO planning document. While the MTP covers the roadways, the ATP covers the multimodal side, which is sidewalks, shared use paths, side paths, greenways, and large-scale pedestrian crossings. Why this plan is important? It is the foundational piece for the development of projects that get implemented by the cities and towns alike. Beyond that, it also provides technical details for multimodal improvements, creates a catalog of planning-level project cut sheets, and recommends a series of implementation strategies that can be adopted by the towns and city. This plan is funded entirely using my MPO's public law funds. The MPO had set aside $125,000 for the development of this plan. For the request for letters of interest, we advertised it in March and the proposals were due April 2nd. We received four proposals for consideration. We developed a selection committee, which convened on April 24th, which included MPO staff, City of Greenville staff, and then regional partners. We had selected Kimley Horn and Associates for the development of this plan, who had worked on the Metropolitan Transportation Plan as well as currently working on the Greenville Pedestrian Plan. After we receive approval for the contract award, we expect to hear the final approval from the Office of the Inspector General to execute the contract and begin our kickoff in early July. We are recommending that pending the approval of the Office of Inspector General, the City Manager execute the contract for professional services for the plan.

All right. Any questions? Anybody want to make a motion?

Question to approve? Second. Second.

All right, motion to be made by Council Member Scully, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Foreman. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay.

Motion passes 6-0. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, Mayor.

Yes, item number 20, award a professional service contract for development of the Greenville MPO Comprehensive Safety Action Plan, and I'll turn it back over to Ms. Mansfield.

All right, thank you, thank you. So for the Comprehensive Safety Action Plan, I want to start by talking about the Safe Streets for All grant. This was a grant that was established by the bipartisan infrastructure law in 2022, which was a competitive grant with a $5 billion appropriated fund. over five years from 2022 to 2026. The SS for Aid program supports the U.S. DOT's national roadway safety strategy for zero roadway deaths using the Safe Systems Approach. Safe Systems Approach being an overlapping set of principles which guides roadway construction. The Safe Systems approach isn't new to North Carolina. It's utilized in the NCDOT's Strategic Highway Safety Plan, and they have a Vision Zero goal of 2050, utilizing the five E's of roadway safety, engineering, education, enforcement, encouragement, and evaluation. In May of 2023, the City of Greenville, on behalf of the MPO, had applied for the development of a comprehensive safety action plan. Our total asked amount was $500,000, which was an 80-20 federal and local split. The City of Greenville pledged $50,000 for the plan, and NCDOT's Traffic Safety Unit pledged to match that to make up the other $50,000. half of the 20% local match. In October of 23, the Greenville Area MPL was one of six organizations in the state of North Carolina to receive the award for the development of a plan. After some changes in federal regulation, staff turnover, discussions with FHWA, City Council executed the grant agreement with USDOT on behalf of the MPO in January of this year. We, similar to the ATP, advertised a request for letters of interest, which began in March and ended at the beginning of April. We had received three proposals for consideration. The selection committee contained MPO staff, City of Greenville staff, various regional stakeholders, and CDOT's Traffic Safety Unit and Transportation Planning Departments. Selection Committee decided on selecting VHB Engineering for the project, who had worked on the 10th Street Pedestrian Bridge Feasibility Study in 2019, have conducted road safety audits with NCDOT, and have provided health equity technical assistance, which was used in our Metropolitan Transportation Plan. The objectives of the plan are to look at the existing conditions of the roadways and develop a high injury network, develop a short list of demonstration activities, which will be implemented and analyzed to show network improvements, and use that data to validate the recommendations for the final part of the plan. The goal of this plan is to look at the safety improvements throughout the MPO's roadway systems and prioritize intersections and corridors based on current crash rates and potential risk. After we receive approval for the contract reward, we will receive the final approval from the Office of Inspector General, execute the final project, or execute the final contract, and execute the kickoff meeting. So I'm recommending that the council approve the selected consultant and delegate the authority to the city manager to execute the professional service contract for the safety plan.

Our motion to approve, but do want to highlight that the assessment of the Memorial Drive over here at Pedestrian Bridge wasn't mentioned.

So that was back in 2019. And it was actually part of a potential project to connect Dickinson Avenue back over to the Intersect East project that ECU is currently working on. that did not materialize and the dot and staff are working together on the feasibility of both the memorial and the tension i just need to see it out loud so this is completely all right we got completely different we got you what was done in 2019. okay

Second.

All right. Motion has been made by Mayor Pro Tem Foreman. Second by Council Member Jones. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Those opposed say nay.

Motion passes 6-0.

Item number 21.

All right. Thank you, Mayor. Item number 21. Budget Ordinance 11. Amending the 2025-2026 General Fund. Ordinance number 25-020. Capital Project Management Fund. Ordinance number 24-040. Facilities Improvement Fund, Ordinance Number 25-020. Engineering Capital Projects Fund, Ordinance Number 20-019. Special Revenue Grants Fund, Ordinance Number 11-003. Recreation and Parks Capital Project Fund, Ordinance Number 17-024. And Fleet Maintenance Fund, Ordinance Number 25-020. Turning back over to our Chief Financial Officer, Jacob Joyner, for a very short presentation.

All dressed in blue.

Love it. It's not as long as it sounded. All right, so we're going to have budget ordinance amendment number 11 impacting the general fund, capital project fund, facility improvement fund, engineering capital project fund, special revenue grants fund, recreation parks capital project fund, and the fleet maintenance fund. Item A will be appropriating fund balance for improvements to the city council workshop conference room. That will increase the general fund $25,000. Item B, recognizing donation revenues for the Wildwood Fishing Pier project. That will increase our capital project fund $380,000. Item C, recognizing grant revenue for the Wildwood River Park North Boardwalk, and that will increase our capital project fund by $1.2 million. Item D, recognizing additional grant revenue for the 2025 Justice Assistance Grant, that will increase the grant fund $27,000. Item E, recognizing grant revenue from the USTA River Berks Tennis Center improvements, that will increase our facility improvement fund by $42,000. Item F will be appropriating funds for the north-south connector project with savings from other completed projects, and that will be in our engineering capital project fund that have no overall budgetary impact. And item G, appropriating additional funds to reflect increased operating costs, and that's in our fleet fund, and that is increasing the fleet fund by $400,000. All told, that brings our overall operating budget to just over $206 million, and we ask the council approve budget ordinance amendment number 11. Second.

All right. The motion has been made by Council Member Hardy, seconded by Council Member Scully. Any other discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Those opposed say nay.

Mission passes 6-0.

All right. All right. And I will ask on item number 10 for Mr. Letchworth to put on the screen for the community to see the agenda for the June 11th, 2026 City Council meeting. Looks very short. I have one item on the agenda. Let's give it a couple seconds.

Front loaded this month.

Yeah, that's right.

All right, city major report.

So the only thing I've got to say, is Jacob just left? Yeah, he did.

He says that enough. He got the money and ran.

I'm not going to say it if he's not going to be here. I just want to give him a shout out. He did a great job and his team on the budget this year as he has consistently had a really great audit. So they are absolutely on a roll doing a great job for the city of Greenville. So I've been very impressed. That's all I've got to say.

City Attorney's Report.

good meetings on tonight that's it thank you city clerk support nothing except to say we got a lot of appointments on thursday y'all don't forget me okay that's right you gotta fill these seats we need them we need them all right councilmember jones good evening thank you i want to say congratulations to the gym team art council winners beautiful artwork and i look forward to the gym team celebration coming up not this saturday but the following saturday To Brian Jones and Heather White, graduates of the 2526 Chamber Leadership Institute, congratulations. And speaking of graduations, this is my way in. Yesterday I had the honor of attending the Jackie Robertson Baseball League opening ceremonies and walking onto the field alongside the class of 2026 graduates as they prepared to celebrate a major milestone in their lives. It was truly inspiring to see so many young men and women standing on the threshold of their future. I want to offer my heartfelt congratulations to all of our graduating seniors as they prepare to receive their diplomas in the coming days. I have a special congratulations to Mr. Kyrie Jayon Williams, who will be graduating Friday morning from North Pitt High School. Y'all, that is my baby. He will be graduating from North Pitt High School. Shout out, Panthers. We are incredibly, your father and I are incredibly proud of this accomplishment and excited to see what your future holds as he transitions or goes off to North Carolina Central University. So, Eagle pride amplified from the pirate. To all of the graduates, whether your next step is college, trade school, military services, or entering the workforce, Pursue your goal with determination, integrity, and hard work. Be the very best you can be. Represent your families and communities well, and continue striving for excellence in all that you do. So congratulations, Class of 2026. I didn't cry. We are so proud of you, and we look forward to watching you achieve great things. Thank you, Mayor.

Congratulations. Thank you. Councilmember Hardy. I just want to say, echo my congratulations to the Juneteenth Art Contest winners. Congratulations to them. And I want to say thank you to our Environmental Advisory Commission Chair for coming and speaking about data centers. I think that's a... Big topic around a lot of municipalities these days. And it's very important. And I'm glad that you came and spoke about it. And I also want to shout out our new director at PGV Airport. I got a tour, finally, of the airport the other day. Since I'm on the board, it was about time for me to get that tour. And there's a lot of great things going on over there. And I think I got on at the right time. And I'm really excited to see the work that you're going to do in improving our airport. uh and then i also want to shout out the 50 and 10 affordable housing i think it's a great initiative to provide affordable housing as well as workforce development coming from a construction management background uh over there pick community there get great hands-on experience that i did not have the opportunity to get here at ecu so i think they've got a great thing going on over there and then Made it through my first budget season. Everybody made it sound like it was going to be absolutely horrible, but we have a great staff over here at the city of Greenville, and I think we're in definitely a much better position than a lot of other municipalities around our area. Those are my comments.

Very nice, very nice. Council Member Willis?

Thank you, Mayor. I echo Councilmember Hardy's sentiments in terms of our excellent staff that we had. We were given multiple opportunities to sit down with our city manager and staff to ask any questions that we had, to comb through the budget, to offer suggestions, to think how can we do this and how can we squeeze this in. And so we appreciate the diligence and the hard work of our staff and prioritizing our employees is at the top of our priority and we were able to do that with this budget. So Thank you, Mr. Cowan and your staff. Also, congratulations to our Juneteenth art winners. The young gentlemen at Third Street are doing incredible things, and this is one of those things, and so congratulations to them. Also, to the graduates of the Leadership Institute, congratulations to them and their continuing their leadership efforts. and then also congratulations again to the jackie robinson baseball league and their opening ceremony yesterday they are off to their season and i look forward to being able to attend some more games but they had a great opening ceremony thank you mayor thank you very much councilman scully

Thank you, Mayor. A couple of things. June 2nd was my 19th wedding anniversary, so happy anniversary, Erin. Love you very much. Thank you for putting up with me, even now, while I'm here, and you're in with our kids. Love you very much. Thank you to the Environmental Committee for being here, for all the work that you do to make our city a safer, healthier, more beautiful place to live. We really appreciate the expert work that you do, the advice that you give us, so we can make good decisions and make this as great a community as possible. Thank you very much. Newly appointed to the board, we really look forward to working with you all moving forward and helping to make our city a great place to live. So thank you very much. Great budget, great audit. Thank you, Mr. Joyner, wherever you are. Also the chair of the Audit Investment Committee, which is an honor to do it. I wouldn't feel comfortable about being in that position without a fantastic staff, especially Mr. Joyner and our city management team. They do a really incredible job It's obviously a complex organization to run, but the things that we're able to accomplish in this budget, I'm really excited about. So thank you very much for your hard work and dedication to the city. And then happy Pride Month to everyone who celebrates to our entire community. For me, Pride is about celebrating diversity and welcoming people that are different from you, especially for our LGBTQ community and for our trans community. Just know that I love you and appreciate you. You've been a huge part of my life. My priest, when I was in school at ECU, was a gay man who was in a committed relationship, and he was a blessing to me, continues to be. My voice teacher while I was at ECU continues to be a mentor and friend. He's in a long-term, committed, beautiful relationship, full of love. I have several employees at the Scholarly. We've been in business for 15 years and I've had the pleasure and privilege of employing gay and trans people throughout the life of our business and they've been such an integral part of the success of my business. So throughout my life, Gay and trans people have been a blessing to me, and I thank God for them. I believe that they are just as much a blessing to this world as I am, and that God loves them just as much as God loves me. And so happy Pride Month. Be proud of who you are. I pray that you'll find love and happiness and fulfillment and safety and comfort In our community and throughout your lives. Thank you very much.

Thank you council Robinson. Thank you mayor First I can only echo what everybody's already said, you know about the Jackie Robinson baseball league is 35 years They've been doing it now and normal Warren does a great job running that program and can't see enough about all that and so if you get a chance to see a baseball game and those of you who have the ability and Go sponsor a team. I mean, they need more of that. We need more billboards out in the field and support for Jackie Robinson Baseball League because it's not only teaching a kid how to play baseball, it's teaching them how to be a young man and be responsible and be forward and that kind of stuff. And along those lines, also Aspire Baseball, y'all familiar with that? They're having tryouts on June 13th, 1145, and their mission is to make baseball players but also young men and make role models for them. And so again, it's another great baseball league that's going to be out there and available. So if you have a chance, go check them out. You know, I always like to make Greenville a destination city. So here's what I'm hoping we can put in a workshop, Mr. Cowan. I'd like for us to seriously, uh, and look at having Greenwood as an M. S. Fire regional training facility and that we partner with Pitt Community College and private to do that so we can be the place to train our firing M. S. And we've already seen what we can do right now, and they've got all that land out there in a great location. That would be a wonderful thing along the same lines. I'd love to see us have a law enforcement regional training facility and again partner with Pitt I've had some discussions out there with the leaders out there and I think we're getting ready to ride to Wake County and look at what they've got because I would love for that to be something that draws people here to Greenville and brings us onto the map. And we all know when you have a fire or you have a medical emergency, if you have a law enforcement need, we want the best to show up at our door, at our location, at our business and whatnot. And so that only furthers that purpose. And I think our budget reflects all of our commitment to doing that by giving them additional employees and resources. And I think this is a small example, but shows our employees commitment to us, but also fire rescue just last week. the steakhouse caught fire. And one of our local employees, Brandon Spain, happened to be there and was the hero of the day. He stopped the fire, got the access to the wall, and put it out and let the fire rain. So instead of having an entire building engulfed in flames and a complete loss, think they're just closed a few days so brandon if you're watching thank you and congratulations to you and you just what you want you make us so proud to be an employee of the city of greenville and also tower fire and rescue that showed up very promptly and saved that building because again i think it's only a few days they're out of business instead of you know be completely devastated um i love local businesses i love people who start them off and and the city has already experienced that sugar-coated bakery If y'all haven't tried this place out, please go try them out. They're some kind of good. I think last Tuesday, y'all probably can tell I love a donut. Nine dozen donuts, and I brought some down here to the city of Greenville and shared them, and I think they're pretty good donuts. If you have a chance to check that young lady's business out, please go. It's at the corner of Red Banks and Evans. Congratulations to Rachel Whitten. Some of you know her. Lots of experience. She's now the president and CEO of Visit Greenville, North Carolina. Brings a wealth of experience, all local. And under her leadership, I'm sure it's going to continue to make Greenville a destination city. This is an idea. I woke up this morning at 430. Mike, I told you that. I started thinking about the city. We have this land that we own that I still call the Shady Mobile Home Park, right? It's just been sitting there. It's got lots of trees on it, and that's down some of the line we want to be on. I looked at some map, and it's a short distance from other land that we own that we can maybe negotiate or right away so we can use that land for additional hiking or trails. But one thing, it's already got roads in it. So I know a friend of mine that's into the disc golf and brings those big tournaments here. It'd be something great. I'd like us to look at that, how we can put that land to use. Because looking at the map, it looks like maybe just a couple of hundred yards and it can connect to our property already on the Greenway. And it would be great to be able to use that land. Right now, you just drive by it. It's fenced up. And it's got beautiful, mature pines on it. As a little kid, I used to go out there with my father and pick up employees that lived out there. And it's a beautiful place. And it's just sitting there. And we can certainly put it to use. We've already got an investment and the money of it. Let's figure out a way to connect it to the rest of it and maybe frisbee golf or just additional hiking trails. I'd love to see that. And I'd like to put that on our wire list. We're all slowing down, we get some time off, and again, I was up this morning thinking, I'd like for all of us on council to, let's start thinking about vision for our districts and vision for our city as to what we can look and do down the road and come together as a city council trying to achieve in our districts. I mean, I know when I came on, I wanted a sports complex and we've gone down that path. I'd love to see that the amphitheater is going on its way. I'd love to see a connecting bridge from one side of the river to the other so we can get on the town commons and go all the way down to the sports complex one day by walking or riding and feel safe doing that. Let's all look at vision and see what we can do planting down the road and see what we can do to put our stamp on Greenville because we've got lots of talent up here, lots of diversity up here, lots of ideas, and let's see if we can figure out how to grow all the city of Greenville and come up with some visions and maybe put it in a workshop and just talk about our ideas and our passions and listen to our community and see what we can do. So that's my challenge to everybody on the city council over the summer. Let's think about this and what we can do to grow Greenville and make it a destination city. You know, I'm excited about my hometown. I'm excited about this council. I keep saying that because we're working well together. I think excellent together. And there's a lot of intelligence up here, a lot of diversity. We're all getting on. I just want to do that. So please use your time off this summer. Let's get back together in the fall and bring some ideas to the table about how we can grow. And I think I sat here and thought about this for like an hour and a half this morning, just laying in bed. My wife says, what's wrong with you? Are you sick or something? I said, no, I just woke up. I'm fired up about the city of Greenville today. So I think, Mayor, that's all. Thank you for letting me have the opportunity. Oh, Dr. Swinker, I get to make some appointments. I'm excited about what you said. The data centers, I think, you know, we went back and really put the screws down on our ordinance. I mean, I think... I'm not going to tell you it's impossible for one to be here, but I think it's pretty close to it. But I know it's a hot ticket item, and I thank you for bringing that to our attention again this evening. So I appreciate your comments and what you're doing for that commission. Mayor, thank you very much. That's all I have to say.

Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem Foreman.

So I'd like to... Elevate that the Office of Public Housing provided the city with an unsolicited copy of a failure to comply letter along with some life threatening and severe deficiencies that appear to be outstanding with our Greenville Housing Authority in 2024 and the 2026 inspire inspection reports. The areas that were outlined are consistent with the substandard housing, code violations, and other challenges that have been prevalent over the last few years in our community and have required a significant amount of time and effort from council and staff. Michael, I would like to see staff provide a session for council outlining our relationship with the Housing Authority as well as what our options are to address these ongoing challenges. Secondly, close to my heart, I'd like to reiterate my love for Mildred Council, her family, and our community with the loss of her husband, Walter.

Thank you.

Mr Walter and the council family have been a pillar and reflection of leadership, advocacy, service and activism. And my voice is shaken because it's been a tough couple of days and activism in our community and abroad. And so my heart goes out to her and her family. Also want to mention the residents of field stream. Thank you all for being here again tonight. I want to say to you all, we hear you, and other citizens in our community as it relates to the dynamics of neighbors who are not so neighborly, as well as Airbnbs, and we're listening and we're trying. We were speaking on that earlier this evening with a bit of passion. So you all coming tonight was right on time. Thank you. I would also like to say congratulations to the Juneteenth Arts Council winners and the JRBL graduates, as well as to Dr. Swinker and the Environmental Advisory Committee and Jill. Thank you so much for what you do. And lastly, you all know my heart for affordable housing, so I'm excited about 50 in 10 and what we're doing with that initiative and excited about the fact that it will give citizens who would have a difficult time otherwise to have home ownership. And that'll be all.

Thank you very much. Congratulations to our staff and our council for passing a budget. That was pretty awesome. Good job, good work. I'm excited about it. Now I need a motion to adjourn.

Motion to adjourn.

Second. All right. Motion to be made by Council Member Robinson, second by Council Member Hardy. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay.

Motion passes.