Town Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Would like to welcome everyone in council chambers to our April Town Council meeting as well as those joining us on our YouTube channel tonight. Um first up we have our agenda adoption. Is there a motion on the floor to approve the agenda as presented? Motion approved. Is there a second? All in favor? I. Thank you. At this time, we'll have Councilman Theevan lead us in our invocation this evening.

Thank you, mayor. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for another beautiful spring day today. God, just ask that uh God, as as we meet together this evening, as always, God, just ask that we come together and make civil discussion and God do the business for the people of Harrisburg. and God that you would grant us wisdom. And Lord, we we just ask you to be with our town manager as he's out this evening. And God, just thank you for your grace and mercy. And we just pray it all in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen.

We are thrilled to have our Girl Scout troop 1584 with us this evening. They are going to present a flag ceremony and lead us in the pledge of allegiance. Please rise for the presentation of the colors. Color guard, attention. Color guard, advance. Color, post your colors. We will now say pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Color guard dismissed.

Please stay standing until the color guard is finished. Thank you to Girl Scout Treat 1584. It was a pleasure to have you with us this evening. All right, with that we will move into our special presentations. Um, first up is Jim Spina. He has the plan proposal for this year's Fourth of July celebration. Welcome, Jim.

Good evening, council and mayor. And uh I'm also brought with me tonight assistant director Sean uh Marble and our events coordinator Mackenzie Fay and they will uh be available to uh help with this presentation. So I'm pleased to be here this evening uh to uh speak to you about our Harrisburg July 4th celebration and some of the things that we have planned for this year and uh give you a chance to uh get a sneak peek at some of the things going on. First thing I wanted to do is take a moment to show you this year's uh logo. Uh we really love it. We think it really shows the character of this year's event. Um and you know, incorporating our 250th celebration into that logo and also the this year's uh t-shirt, which we also are very proud of. Wanted you guys to get a little sneak peek of uh what we what we'll be uh having on our shirts. So, what's new to 2026? Well, first and foremost, an additional focus on safety. Um, new physical barriers to entry, no unaccompanied minors. Um, admission fee for non-t taxpaying residents. Uh, a new entrance from Harris Depot Park. Uh, wagons to transport from Veterans Park to Harris Depot Park. Uh, fireworks moved fireworks moved. Excuse my voice. I'm I'm losing it a little bit. Fireworks moved to new location at YMCA. Uh you guys were aware that we talked about that a couple of months ago at one of our meetings. Um and that includes a new vendor and two unique shows this year which we're really excited about. The use of fields one and two for food and entertainment. Uh as as most of you know food uh fields one or two are new turf which we're excited about to be able to incorporate into our celebration, spread some people out. Um give us a chance to maybe get that crowd to spread out and enjoy more of the park. We are going cashless for all of our town charges.

However, it's in uh you all should know that the food vendors still may accept cash. It's whatever their format that they feel comfortable accepting and and and some new ticketing procedures uh involved to help us uh with the crowd. One thing as we go through all this this evening, one thing you have to keep in mind, this is our vision. This is an idea. Some of the things we want to do, nothing is set in stone. We're still working out some of the fine-tuned points. Um, we get together as a as a as a team to talk about all those different things with management, finance, ourselves, uh, PD, you know, our sheriff's deputies and our, uh, fire, pretty much all of our, uh, directors at some point, uh, it, everybody has a say in what goes on around here with our with our, uh, program on July 4th. So, it's a huge team effort. So, we're still trying to drill down on all the finer points, but this is a basically a good broad view of some of the things that we're looking at for this year's event. And so, here's one of the uh things going on is our uh entrance. And then this is our Sims Parkway uh entrance. As you can see, we've got, you know, couple different ideas of how we want to get people in here. But you can see there's one way in and one way out. You know, one of the things that's important, especially at SIMS, is an ex exit and entrance for emergency vehicles in case a problem. So, that'll be uh uh a way for them to get in and out of there. And you'll see we'll have bike rack and uh security uh PD and deputies uh here to help us uh handle that uh entrance. And as you come in, you'll see and you'll see later in a couple of different maps uh three lanes kind of get in. They're all going to be kind of uh set up for different uh levels of tickets and what you have uh uh in your possession at the time as far as ticketing. So, we've got those three different lanes uh at Sims Parkway. And this is one of the things that you uh will see going forward. Uh Sean will give you a little bit more information on our admission and our ticketing and and some of the ideas there. But you can see that when you

first come in, we're going to try to get people set up in different lines early to try to make sure the lines kind of spread out and get them in the right spot so we don't have that craziness that we get all the time. And you can see if you look from the right, we've got resident and non-resident people who already have wristbands. And again, Sean will will drill down a little bit more on that uh in a moment. And then in the middle here, we we'll have resident admission and rides and then non-resident mission and rides. So, there's a way for everybody to kind of know where to go to ease their way through at into our park. And um again, this is something that's we we'll drill down a little bit more on have a really have it, you know, firmed up here as uh really within the next month or so, we'll try to get all that stuff done. And same thing with with this as you get closer, here's where you actually will get your tickets and your wristbands or where you'll show your tickets and wristbands when the time comes. And again, starting on the right, uh you know, our everybody who's already have wristbands. Again, a couple separate lines. One if you have minors with you and if you have no minors. So, you can kind of get that line and get right through there, especially if you've already gotten here ahead of time and gotten your wristbands and your tickets. Uh, and then here's ad resident admission free. Um, and again, Sean will talk more about that. I keep mentioning that, but she's got a whole portion of this presentation he's going to give you guys. And then non-resident for admission and and the ride wristband. So, um, we're trying to get it so it we have an ease of entrance, right, as best as possible because we know it gets really busy, especially at fireworks time. And then this is Zmax. Again, similar idea down in Zmax, three lanes. Um, one one interesting part you need to know about ZMAX is uh if you use the bus uh from uh the speedway, we will drop you off at the church parking lot to turn around there on uh Gamble Mccclure and we'll try to funnel all those folks down to God bless you. All the way down to ZMAX. So hopefully we'll ease up some of the entrance there at Sims. Some of the people that tried to get in that way. We'll get more people down at the

Zmax entrance to go along with the people coming from the parking lot. And then one more Harris Depot entrance. You know, in the past we have not been able to use Harris Depot entrance because of the fireworks being uh staged in parking lot F. Now, with the fireworks being moved up to the YMCA parking lot, we'll be able to use this as a third entrance, which we think is going to be a huge advantage, easing up crowds, easing up uh some of the uh some of the bottlenecking that happens, especially at SIMS. So, and then this will also be where the wagon drop off is. We'll talk about that a little bit later as well. And with that, I'm going to turn it over to Sean to speak to you a little bit more about some of the uh ticketing and different things we're going to go through. Good evening, mayor and council. Um, all right. So, regard regarding unaccompanied minors. So, our goal this year, as it is every year, is to provide a safe and secure event. Um, and in order to try to accomplish this, a new safeguard that we are trying to implement is um requiring all minors to be accompanied by an adult when entering the event. So, what this means is some guests may be required to show a valid photo ID um to verify their age. Um, we've also discussed if children are coming in, what we consider a guardian is anyone 21 and older. And this is in line with what a lot of events and things are doing now with with minors to keep it safe. All right. And then getting into some of the details of um what we're proposing for ticketing and wristbands. Um, so for our residents, so before the event, our goal would be for our residents to be able to come by town hall and pick up free two-day general admission and all you can ride amusement wristbands. Um, our goal right now would be to do that the entire month of May and June. Um, and then once the event gets here, if they have not had the opportunity to stop by town hall, um, they would still be able to get into the event free. they

would have to show an ID. Um, but they would pay for their amusement wristband at that point. Um, so again, our goal is as people are walking into the event is that there's lots of signage, hopefully they've seen before they've come in the parking lots, if they're on a bus, if they're on a wagon to pre- purchase their ticket. And what will be as easy as scanning a QR code, they'll get a ticket emailed to their phone. So once they get to the point of going through a tent and that ticket's being scanned, that's when they'll be handed their wristband if they don't already have one. So for our non-residents, um the general admission would be $5 per day. And then the general admission and all you can ride wristband would be $15 per day. Non-residents also have the option this year to pre-purchase. So if they pre- purchase those online, they can also come to town hall and pick them up ahead of time. Same thing. The goal here is that as many people as possible that know they're coming to the event can go ahead and have their wristbands. So once they get to the event, they can go through what kind of those fast pass lanes. I got my wristband. I'm ready to go. Um non-residents day of the event, general admission is still $5. The all you can ride amusements are $20 per day. Um they'll same thing scan a QR code if they're at the event, purchase their ticket at that time. They can also purchase their wristband for rides if they like one. They'll show that ticket at entry or show their QR code and be handed their correct wristband. If all they've purchased is a general admission wristband and they get into the event and at that point decide that they'd like a wristband to do the rides, we will still have opportunity to do so. So, you could go to the information booth or go to the shelter at field 2 and we'll have a window open for them to purchase an amusement wristband. This is would be a general idea of what the wristbands would look like. Um, so you can see the different colors for the different days for general admission or what your wristband would look like if you were general admission and amusements. The wristband at the bottom

um shows what the Harrisburg wristband would look like. So again, if a resident came to town hall the month of May or June, they would pick up one of these wristbands. This would be good for two days for general admission and free amusements. Um, just a reminder of the layout of the event. We moved the fireworks shoot site to the YMCA. And then this is an overview of the park. I'm going to zoom in a little bit here on the next slide. So, um, this is field five where we'll have our food vendors. And then in the middle we'll have our big tent with seating for shade. Um, over here is our event lawn where people can bring their blankets and chairs to watch what's going on on the stage. And then this is down on our lower fields. So we'll keep our amusements down here on fields three and four, which is the grass. And then over here on fields one and two where we've got our artificial turf, we're going to put a video wall hopefully right here on the track. So if people are down here, they can still see what's going on on the stage. We'll have additional seating and shade. Um we'll be adding in food vendors down here along the track. And then also some additional entertainment and yard games. And I will pass it back to Jim to talk about our shuttle wagons.

And so, as I said earlier, I mentioned uh we are uh adding some shuttle wagons this year uh to help us with uh those people coming from uh really Veterans Park. Well, I'll show you that map here in a minute. um to get uh cut down on some of those walks in some of those places and also get more people to use the Harris Depot entrance. Um so these are the things that the wagons we're talking about. These are uh basically what they look like. We're going to have a gray canopy on it so they're covered which is great. Um they have horizontal benches as such. It'll look like this. Again, it will look covered. It won't be bare like that one is. And we also have an AD ramp and some stairs involved so we can make sure that uh we're compliant with our ADA uh residents and non-residents. The wagons will seat about 35 to 40 folks uh on there and they will have brakes which will make them a little bit more safe. And as far as the map goes um you can see that we are going to take uh the wagons both both wagons this year will start here. We will alternate those so we go every 15 minutes or so. That's at least in theory you know depending on how it goes. It's first time we've tried it. So we'll we'll figure that out in the first day especially. Uh, but they'll pick up here and they'll come out, go up, we'll get across veterans and then we'll go up school down Martha Melvin up railroad avenue into the park. And again, we can only take them into the park so far because it won't be wide enough to get across the bridge. So, we'll drop them off somewhere around there and they'll walk across the bridge. Uh, we did put in a new um path this year that goes kind of around the woods, makes it nice and flat and easy even to get up into the park. So, we're really excited about that opportunity for people to get in a little easier from Harris Depot and hopefully more people will park in Harris Depot, too, to use that easier access. So, we're excited about that. Again, um we have two of them. We'll all we'll stagger those so we can take advantage of uh getting more people moved as quickly as

we can. And we're really excited about this option. And I'm going to talk to you a little bit about the schedule. Uh July 3rd, excuse me. July 3rd, the park will open at four o'clock. Uh 5:30 uh to 6:45 our opener and vision will play. We had them a couple of years ago at our concert and they really did a great job and uh we really great reviews about their uh performance. So we're excited that they were available to come back. At 7 o'clock, our mayor will come up and give her welcome and uh do the national anthem. Then from that point, we'll have our Sigman theatrical performance. Sigman are the the group that we use for our Halloween events, our Christmas events, our Easter event, and and they've been with us for July 4th. They do a great job this year to put together a performance for us, 15 to 20 minute stage performance basically about uh our history and the different events that have occurred over our history. And uh we're really looking forward to see what they come up with with that. Um and then at 8:00, our headliner, the chain, Fleetwood Mack tribute, will take the stage. We're excited. We've not had them before, correct? We've not had them. You have not for July 4th. So, we're excited to have them. Uh then 9:30, our fireworks show will commence. Uh day one of our two nights of fireworks with our first unique show. And at 10 p.m., the event will end. On July 4th, we'll follow pretty much the same thing except of course our our world famous parade at 9:00 a.m. up uh Highway 49. We're uh looking forward to a good crowd for that again like always. And then 4 4 pm again the park will open. And then at 5 4:15 the mayor's invitational event. The mayor has kind of given us the idea she wants to try something inside this year.

So we're going with bingo it sounds like. So that's going to be exciting. So we'll get that inside somewhere and get out of the heat. Um at 5:30 uh Vegas McGra will take the stage. We some of you may know we uh McGra was here two years ago I think last fall or two falls ago and did a great job. It's a Tim McGrath obviously is Tim McGrath tribute act. Great job. Really huge uh uh huge uh review on that from all the people attended. Then again same thing 7 o'clock the mayor will take the stage with our national anthem and all the things that we did on the third. Then 8:00 really excited about this headliner Pandora's box. It's an Aerosmith tribute. We've not had them before but we know how popular in the past the tribute rock and roll tribute acts have gone so we expect that to draw a huge crowd. And then 9:30 the fireworks show. uh we'll we'll we'll get up there and uh in the get night two of our another unique show different than the night before and then this year at 10 o'clock we're going to end the event. Uh in the past, you know, we've gone to 11, but seems to have, you know, have have some uh issues with that. We want to get people moving out of the park. you know, we'll we'll uh let people kind of mill around those who want to let the crowds go around, but we're going to close the amusements down at 10 o'clock and try to see if we can get that stuff moving and get things rolling on that. In addition with the schedule of events, we do have some yard games this year that Sean had mentioned earlier. Uh roaming characters uh include jumbo Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty, our Green Army men, our Lady Liberty, Uncle Sam Stiltwalkers, and the Spirit of 76 band. Um, so we're really excited. And with that, we'll turn it over to you folks if you have any questions.

Thanks, Jim. Council questions for Jim. I got I have a question comment. I just think that I just appreciative of the thought that went into this and I'm really looking forward to it from the original conversation to this presentation today. I think it's it looks like it's going to be a great event. So, well done. Yeah, there's been a lot of steps put into Oh, I can tell

Brian and his been heavily involved. Lee's been we've met with Lee I don't know how many times, right? So, we we put a lot of thought and energy into it. And again, like I said in the beginning, it's not we haven't drilled down. We're still finessing and massaging it out a little bit and we'll get with all the other directors and people involved here in the next couple weeks probably and kind of get their input and hopefully within I would think within a couple three weeks we'll we'll head it down to where we're ready to go. Yeah, like Dr. Banks I think great job. I do have a question about Harris Depot Park because there is that path through there. Is that going to be um like where the pump track is? Will that be blocked off? Yeah, that's blocked off. That's going to stay actually that's going to stay permanently blocked off. We're going to add some trails. I know we talked about that, but I wasn't sure. Okay.

And try to make that a little bit more of a pedestrian like opportunity because now we have this easy path. It goes right up on the outside, a lot flatter. You don't have to deal with that steep uh steep grade to get up into the park. So, we're very excited about that. So, but it will be blocked off uh for that night and we've done that in the past anyways because of the fire. Jim, I got a couple questions. Sure. I'm sure you anticipate

maybe a little bit. Um, so, and I don't know that you would answer this question. This is probably more a Lee, Brian, one of you guys questions. Um, to avoid the confusion, are we going to make it easy for these folks to figure out if they're a resident or if they're not? I mean, because there's always confusion when it comes down to, well, my license says Harrisburg, and then they get there and they're like, no, you're not a Harrisburg resident. Anger, aggravation. I mean, I I would like to avoid that at all cost. Um I don't know if there's a way for folks to plug their address or what.

Yeah. Uh Rob and I were talking about that this morning. U and the thought is that if you come up and present a driver's license that says Harrisburg, you're a resident and you'll get all the residential treatment. We understand there's some areas on the fringe like Hulcom Woods and Plaz Road Extension that'll have Charlotte addresses. We'll work through those, but those will be a very small amount, but it'll just be easiest if you your license is Harrisburg, you're done. Okay. Or easier to purchase ahead of time or do it ahead of time. Correct.

You you guys had mentioned that um an adult would be considered at 21. Are they limited? So, if I get my older sister to bring me, can I bring all my friends or is it limited to four kids? How does that look?

Good point. Yeah, we we did have a long conversation about that as a staff. Uh and we we're not going to get into the the you know only four or five or six if you know you got adult and they understand those eight kids or you better stay with them. They're yours. That's the you know the plan. We also know that out out on the field during the evening, you know, kids are going to kind of leave mom and dad and meet up and we're really we'll work we've already spoken with the deputies about making sure they maintain that to make sure that hey where's your adult? let's go find your adult and get them moving along. So, yeah, because it's for us to kind of figure out now if somebody walks up with 50 kids and I'm one, we're not going to allow that to happen. But, you know, if it if if a crowd is way too big, we'll get involved a little bit more to make sure there's more than one adult with that. But, by and large, we're going to kind of let them monitor that on their own and have those adults be responsible for that group.

Early in your presentation, you mentioned the church drop off and I wasn't following. Could you go back through that for a moment? Of course. Of course. Do we have a show? I don't know if it shows, but but if you um on the map up above, uh are you familiar with the new parking lot? Oh, okay. It's an additional parking lot. It's right between our maintenance shop and the church. Okay. We're going to block that off and that way the buses can easily come down to gamble, pull in, move around, drop off. It's a short walk down to Zax where they'll have to enter anyways and that'll be like a designated drop off.

And I think where when I think where my mind went when you said church, I thought of Providence because Oak Grove is so in entwined with that area that it's so tight that I didn't immediately go to that location. Yeah, that and that parking lot is perfect because there's a there's two there's an entrance in and exit out. So I think when we can actually one of the things we have to talk about is at the end of the evening, how do we get people lined up? Well, there's really a lot of space in there, so it should really work out very well. Okay. And then Jim, can you go back to the wagons? How are they operated? I know you said they have brakes, but Yeah. So, they're they'll hook up to our uh to the back of our pickups. We'll have pickup trucks. Okay. And they'll have great connections so that we can break those up.

I get a break. But but it's truly it's truly my hope that we don't need the brakes that our guys driving and we won't be going more than five or 10 miles an hour. You know what I mean? But but yeah, we're excited about that. We think this is a really cool opportunity.

And the last question that I have is how much extra effort are we putting into getting the word out sooner than later? I mean, I know we talked about that in the budget. I mean, you know, we hear it all the time. Oh, I didn't know there was rock and the bird this weekend. You know, they're always late to the show no matter what. Um the the earlier the better to start leading into this that hey, the world's different these days and and so is Harrisburg now.

Absolutely. We've already talked about once we drill down on the actual once we get down to this is what we're going to do, which we're close. We're I mean we most of what we've presented tonight it's some of it's really locked up but most of it's kind of you know we want to make sure everybody's on board. Once we have that we'll get with communications and we'll make a plan for to get that out as early and as often and as many different platforms as we can let people know. We really want to let I mean I think non-residents really need to know that when they show up they better have some parent and they you know there's going to be a charge. We really because that could clog it up pretty good. So, we want to hit that as much as we can and and uh let a lot of residents know that get here early and get your free wristbands and get all that that kind of stuff and give them the time they need.

So, just spurof the- moment thought, but could we also have a booth set up at like our June um rocking the bird for people that want to get bracelets ahead of time? I mean, I know you're saying come to town hall. That's not always convenient for for folks. And I'm wondering, is there an electronic way to do it? Is there um for the residents? Is there a way to do it maybe at a rock in the bird? I I don't know any other events that we have that would be largely attended that we could put a booth May and June.

I think that's a great idea. I mean, I don't see why we can't make it happen, but we'll talk through that and make sure we can. But if anything, I mean, we can at least advertise at those. I mean, we've obviously got the video wall, just oldfashioned flyers. Hey, make sure you know you go ahead and get your ticket for July 4th ahead of time. So, I think that's a great suggestion. MC, yeah, your MC pointing it out, you know, both. Hey, if you're not aware, things have changed, go to the back of the park, get the information, what have you.

Yeah, Rob and I talked about that this morning, too. And he said that would be good for the May and June. And that we can also verbally tell folks up on the stage just because of a reminder because there's two separate times that we can talk like at the start and then in between acts just to remind people and flash stuff up there. It's just an extra way. We also talked about a information booth at the event off to the side where people are confused or what do I do, you know, and one of the things some of these an important piece for you folks to know as well as staff that's listening, we're going to need more staff out, not just parks and wreck, right? We're going to really hit that because some of the things we're doing are going to take a little extra manpower. We're excited about that. We'll get some more staff out. We get some more volunteers out and we'll feel comfortable that that everything we've put in place would would work and we feel comfortable when we go out there.

And um I know we talked about a lot of the signage is going to be in the park. What about the where they park at the speedway? Is there going to be signs? We'll have signage there. We'll also have signage on the buses. Okay. So, as people are riding in, they can get their tickets. You know, we'll be using Ticket Leap, which is what we use for our uh splash pad. Mhm. You know, so we have a a platform we're familiar with. We know works. I envision a lot of like actual physical signage, a lot of A-frames. If you're getting on a bus, we've talked about, you know, things on the back of the seats. Do you have your ticket?

If you're getting on one of our shuttle wagons signage, do you have your ticket? Buy your ticket in advance. You know, when you're walking up, scan that QR code. So, by the time you get in line and you get up to the point of your tent, like I said, it's hopefully a scan. Okay, you need two yellow, two blue, and you're on your way. I just wanted to add one thing that we have three water bills before this event, including the one. So, everyone pay your water bill. No. Um, but um, including the one in about a week and so we can start this advertising as early as next week and really get the word out on this and have a lot of time for people to come by and pick up their wristbands. Even if it's not locked in, it's changes coming soon. Make sure you check out the website.

That's about where we'll be probably for the first one. Hey, change are coming. Pay attention to the future water bills and uh social media and website, all that kind of stuff. So, Brian, just a point of clarity because I know this is a conversation that Wall-E and I had about the physical water bill. If you do a digital one, is there is that information shared there as well? Yes. Uh if you get your bill email build uh in the email there's a hyperlink there and so that will take you to whatever flyer comes in the printed version as well. So we do need you to open those emails up.

Any other questions for Jim or Sean? We we hope you guys are uh feel a little little better about where we're going what we're trying to do. Um, like I said, we put a lot of work in. I know Sean and McKenzie have worked their re their ends off trying to get this ready to go. So, we're I'm proud of their effort, but I'm proud of all the staff. Lee and Brian and I got to meet with them quite a bit and get a good plan. So, I think we're in a good place, but we still got a lot of work to do, but we'll get it done. Great. Jim, when's the or has it come out? The Rock and the B schedule. Does it come out? Is it out? It's on our website.

Okay. It's on our website, but um the event calendar came out, but the actual bands are on our website now. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you guys so much. Appreciate your time. Thank you guys.

Next up, we'll move into the public comment section. Anyone wishing to address town council, there was a signup sheet out front. We have four that signed up this evening. Just be uh reminded to state your name and address for the record. Each folk folks will have three minutes to speak. If you're unable to complete um everything that you want to say in three minutes, just make sure you email us at council at harrisburgnc.gov. That goes to everyone up here. Um first on the list, we have Mike Brandon. We'll try three minutes. Mike Brandham, 5662 Berry Ridge Drive. I'm here tonight to sound the alarm regarding data centers and strongly urge town council to conduct a thorough review of potential impacts of data centers uh and could have on our community and take action now to establish clear guidelines before propo proposals hit the town council. First, I'd like to thank Ron for responding to some email communications on this topic. Harrisburg is currently in the expansion path for data centers. We're not yet at the core, but likely to become one. There are both benefits and drawbacks to consider. For the pros, data centers are extremely expensive facilities, often ranging from 500 million to over billion dollars. This significant opportunity for increased tax revenues, which could help fund schools, roads, and emergency services. These projects can also bring infrastructure improvements. Cons companies also invest in power grid upgrades, fiber internet expansions,

roads, substations, and construction typically lasts one to three years and can create hundreds of temporary jobs for construction workers, electricians, and engineers, many of whom will support local restaurants and businesses. Additionally, data centers can provide stable communication and corporate presence and potentially attract related technology infrastructure businesses and limited number of high-skilled IT jobs. Finally, Harrisburg's relative affordability, land, and availability of large parcels and fewer zoning conflicts make it very attractive for these companies to come here and try to build data centers. Key concerns. Harrisburg is a suburban community where homes and neighborhoods are often located within 300 to a,000 ft of commercial land. Residents expect quiet and peaceful environments which creates friction when considering industrial scale facilities like data centers. Number one problem, noise. You get hums. Residents within approximately 2,000 feet could experience these low consistent hums in their backyard, outdoors, and even indoors. Uh recently in my neighborhood, we had a persistent hum that went on for weeks, and it was all the time, 24 hours a day. Finally, the town was able to get that resolved, and I lived it. it it was right through your head all the time. So, if you can imagine living next to a data center and hearing that all the time, it it just drives you crazy. The uh next issue is power infrastructure.

Large data centers require substantial electrical capacity. This often means new substations, transmission upgrades, and potentially new power lines, sometimes running right through subdivisions. Third is water usage. These depend on cooling designs. Data s centers can consume significant amounts of water which may strain local resources. Property values. If you have a house that's near a data center, you can pretty well expect your property value to go down. Plus these they build these huge warehouses to house these things. And if you've been to Pit School in 29, you've seen these big buildings that they put these things in. They're huge. They dominate the scenery. And we don't need that here in Harrisburg. My request tonight is simple. Establish now best in pract practice guidelines before it's too late. Positive outcomes can occur when data centers are located far from residential areas. operate strict enforcable noise limits, provide meaningful infrastructure improvements, and receive minimal tax incentives related to community benefits. Negative outcomes occur when they're built within half a mile of homes, operate under weak zoning and noise regulations, consume excessive water, and receive large incentives with little return for the community. In closing, if you are evaluating future proposals, the number one priority must be protecting the residents and their property values. The most effective way to do this is by ensuring that a data

center is located at least a half a mile from all residential zoned properties. Thanks.

Thank you, Mr. Brandom. Rosa Sims. Good evening and welcome to Groundhog Day three. Uh last month when I was here, uh Councilman Smith, in your remarks last month, you directed, uh which were directed at me, you invoked party affiliation and race, neither of which I spoke about in my remarks. So I wonder if one or both of these may be the reason that Dr. Banks does not have a name plate that says Mayor Protown. Dr. Banks was unanim unanimously voted to be mayor pro Tim by this body. It's written in the records and it's also on the visual. Um there has been a refusal to put it on the name plate as well as the website and the residents wonder why just why has there been a refusal? I've had numerous calls and people that have come to me and says, "We don't understand why there seems to be why this we've got this stalemate." Um, you and the others have also said that the whether or not she has a name plate that says Mayor Pro Tim or it's on the website is is not any of the resident's business. And I beg to differ. Anything that this body takes up is the resident's business. We voted for you. We put you here. You worked for us

and we're asking you to take action and correct what has not been corrected as of yet. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Sims. Justin Lutter.

Good evening, mayor, council members. I come to you not as a resident of Harrisburg but as chair of the black political caucus for Can you state your name name and address for the record?

Yep. My name is Justin Lutter. I am a resident of Canapapolis but I am the chair of the Black Political Caucus of Cabaris County. And I want to open with a statement that Mayor Teague made when she completed her survey on ballot pedia. It says honest transparent. It says, "What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official? Honest, transparent communication representing and representing all of our constituents." Further down, she says, "Our staff, peers, and our community should feel welcome, heard, and seen." When I was here last month, much like Miss Rosa was, we made a very clear, concise concern about the presentation of uh the elected, newly elected Councilman, Dr. Banks, as mayor prom. As of today, the website still does not reflect that she is the mayor promp. So in honest transparent communication we have not been given a reason as to why the customary practice of having the mayor prom recognized on the website and on the deis has not been enacted. And if it has not been enacted for a specific reason as constituents we deserve to know that reason and we will continue to come back and we will continue to ask and plead and we will ask the other council members why it is not an issue for you. Why is the mayor allowed to break with custom and practice and nobody raises a fuss? The only person here to raise a fuss is Dr. Banks on her own behalf. I question why there is no issue concern. Why is there a break with custom? Mayor, why is there a break with custom? We'd love to hear an answer and we will put our we will put our question in formal writing so that you all have time to respond. If you cannot respond tonight, if you are allowed to just break custom, uh right now we look at it

as a microaggression. It's a purposeful decision not to recognize a fellow member of the city council as duly presented. So, we just simply want to have a legitimate answer. And if there is no legitimate answer, if it's just an oversight or if it's just the whim of the mayor, uh when is it just the whim of the mayor to be acceptable? You have a custom in place. You have a practice in place. And we ask that you honor that practice. You also mentioned in that same statement about the professional tone, decorum, and civility that you would find today during council meetings and town events is polar opposite to the drama-filled contentious environment that plagued our elected body under previous leadership. What I see is a lack of decorum. I question the decorum and I don't see a tone of professionalism when on a whim you can change custom uh ironically when you have a newly elected council member.

Thank you, Mr. Lutter. Wally Wallace.

I'll actually state my name and address. I'm Wally Wallace. I live at 3093 Spring Forest Road, Harrisburg, North Carolina. You know, I had a grandpa that'd be 96 years old. He used to have a saying, "My name's really William." He'd say, "Will," when I'd keep after him about wanting to go sell the eggs to buy ice cream, he'd say, "Will quit beating a dead horse to death." Okay. Then my many years in the military ran across a saying and an incidents that happened where I'd hear things come up doing things a certain way and it seems like doing the same thing over and over and over and expecting a different result. How smart is that? Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Wallace. That concludes our public comment this evening. So, we will move into consent agenda. Is there a motion on the floor to approve consent agenda as presented? So moved. Second. Second. All in favor? Motion is passed. Thank you. Um Lee, did you have something for town manager updates? Thanks for filling in tonight.

Oh, thank you, mayor. Uh yeah, the only thing that I really wanted to mention tonight uh was specifically about your council budget exercise. Um I know all of you were excited. Hopefully you've seen that come in your inbox. Brian worked really hard as always to to get a pretty fun interactive tool there for you to work with. Uh the plan is to have as he said in the email to have that back by the end of the week and then we'll have those results uh for the April 30th u budget workshop. And that's all that I have. Thank you, Brian Lee. Up with our finance monthly report.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. So, here is our finance report uh as of the end of March. So, we're threearters of the way through the fiscal year. You can see tax collections have reached 99% in the most recent month. Um, so we are on pace for about 101% by the time we collect the next couple months of motor vehicle taxes. The general fund's overall revenue is up to 92%. So we have very little to collect for the remainder of the year. Some sales tax deposits and utility tax deposits, but for the most part, our general fund revenue uh has finished up for the year. The water and sewer fund is at about 79%, so it continues to track a little bit ahead of our estimation. and the storm water fund is right on target at 75%. So no concerns in our revenues at all. Um our operational expenses are shown below. So you can see our general government departments in the general fund all pretty much ranging in the upper 60s or 70% so about 5 to 7% off of their target budgets but all in good shape there. And then same as we look down through all remaining general fund departments, we have a couple that have had some vacancies or some plans that um they're still getting off the ground or still being paid for this year. So you see they're a little bit lower. And we know we pay the deputies quarterly. So that lags behind, but all of our um other operational departments there are about five to seven points under budget. So exactly where we'd like to see them at this point in the year. The water and sewer fund is at 65% and the storm water fund at 61%. So they're both uh in great shape as well. And salaries townwide at 69% and so that's uh almost exactly in line with where we were at this point last year. Moving on to our project dashboard, you can see our single year projects listed here. So the first to draw your attention to is the branded gateway sign on Rocky River Road. Uh so this shows about 80% progress as of the end of last month.

You can see it's obviously been fabricated and installed here in the picture. And so the remaining steps to place this asset in service are to uh get the lights hooked up, the electrical hooked up and some landscaping around this and that sign will be done. And then next is our artificial turf project at Harrisburg Park. You can see a beautiful picture here of those fields. Uh we have a ribbon cutting tomorrow, April 14th at 10 a.m. So we hope everyone can come out and help us celebrate the opening of these fields. A pretty monumental project for the town here. Um, so really really cool for us to have this added to our program. Uh, the contractor does have a couple punch list items to finish up and a correction to make, but they're substantially ready and so we can move forward with opening those up and beginning to use them. Here's a look at our multi-year projects in design. The first here is Main Street Roundabout, which is a federally funded uh, grant project. A contract and some survey work has been submitted and approved by NC DOT on this project. and a traffic analysis uh was also completed in the month of March. And so that leads us into the next phases of design and engineering on this project. So we'll start to see that one pick up a little steam. The next is Calwell Road phase two. We have uh an item being presented to you tonight in new business uh by Devon to um move this project forward. So it has a change order that will allow them to keep progressing on the design of that project. Here's a look at our multi-year projects under construction. We have the Hulkcom Woods uh restroom. We approved this construction contract last month and if you remember, we added a little bit to it and had the contractor take a look at those bathrooms and some of the exterior cladding. So, that's all being worked out now. We should be signing that contract pretty soon to get that work underway. And it'll be a pretty quick uh construction project once it gets started up. And then lastly, we had one project

moved to complete this month, and that is the spot improvements on Piccadilly Lane that we've talked about for a couple months. This uh new method for correcting this um this issue out there saved several hundred,000 in fixing this uh storm issue. And so, we'll be applying this method to many projects going forward and getting good value out of the storm water program. Here's a look at our equipment projects for the year. Uh Jim mentioned the peoplehauler wagons. That is what the company calls them. So, I didn't come up with that name, but he tried to change the name on us tonight. I don't remember what he used, but um we're we're going to stick with people hauler wagons. So, these uh this contract is ready to get signed as well. And so, they'll start manufacturing those pretty quickly for us and have them ready for the event. And then the deputies received their two golf carts, got those fully outfitted with the lights and um and the emblems on the side. And so, those are placed into service. We also advanced up during one of our bud budget workshops uh advanced the construction of the garage to house these along with their side by side and some other equipment. And so we'll present that contract to you hopefully next month to get that one off the ground as well. Here's a look at our vehicle projects. Not too much um to report on here. And then our professional services projects. So the comp plan is the big one that we have going on now. That's a little over halfway complete. that during March uh staff had a technical meeting with the consultant and we have a couple more of those scheduled over the next month or so uh to keep progressing on the staff side. The next steering committee meeting will be held in council chambers on April 22nd at 6 pm and we'll take a look at revised future land use maps, our place types, and some implementation project ideas. Uh so that's that's what staff went over recently was a lot of those implementation ideas. Um so we'll share those with the larger group. So the information gathering and processing phases of this project have essentially been finished up and so we're converting

over into the report drafting uh phase of this project. And then one more look at our budget calendar. We have one remaining budget workshop the evening of April 30th which is a Thursday night. And that will leave us with the manager's recommended budget presentation on May 11th and adoption at the June 8th council meeting. And with that I welcome any questions. Any questions for Brian? All right. Thank you. Thank you, sir. We've got Lieutenant Helms with our law enforcement update this evening.

Good evening, Mayor Council. Uh, moving along. So, for the month of March, we had 3,964 law enforcement related activities. um staying right on par with our average of about 3,819 uh for the past uh fiscal year. Uh security checks 2,189 uh for the month of March. Again, slightly over our average of 1,930. Um a little bit higher in our traffic stops uh last month at 1,274. Um averaging again over the fiscal year about 1,53. We had a couple traffic initiatives uh last month that last month that kind of bolstered that number just a little bit. Uh non-emergency response time is uh 7 minutes and 18 seconds, average of 6 minutes and 59 seconds. Um try to stay around 7 minutes. So we're right there in the ballpark of where we want to be. Uh trends in special activities, uh crimes against persons are um staying pretty steady. um when crimes against property is up just a little bit which we typically see during um as it gets warmer uh more people out and it's usually due to a lot of vehicle breakins. Um so locked doors, high volumes, all those good things and that'll help prevent some of those things. White collar crime, frauds, things like that are coming down. Vice crime as well and uh crimes against society down just a touch as well. and also our non-reportable things. Uh just to look at where we are um fiscal year to date. So our crimes against persons represent about 12% of our uh crime data, 21% for crimes against property, uh 12% for our frauds and white collar crimes, uh 14% for vice crimes, and 16 for crimes against society. And the bulk of it, which is not a bad thing, is our non-reportable, which is 25%. Um, if you look over the

non-reportable, those are things such as death investigations, um, domestic call for service where no actual crime occurred, um, and information reports. Take a bulk of those. Uh, the numbers at the top there, if you're just curious, those are for total for this year. So, 27 crimes against person, um, and then 46 27 31 for vice crimes, 36 for crimes against society, and 55 for not reportable. So, all that didn't just happen last month. So, we're not seeing some statistically huge jump. That's for the total for the year. With that, I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have. Can you go back to your very first slide?

Yes, ma'am. Way. Oh, okay. Okay. Thank you. No, I'm curious about the jump from February to March. Let's see on these total. So if we go to the next one. So we're at 31,7 or is it a result of the saturation or the traffic efforts?

A lot of those were the from the traffic initiative. Uh so from the traffic stops, we had some moveover initiative things like that. So that increase with the traffic stops. There was also a pretty good increase uh with our uh security checks uh at let's see that's roughly what almost 500 more than the previous month. So between that and the traffic stops that's almost the bulk of the uh different and with the total law enforcement activities the traffic stops and security checks are included within that. So that would be the bulk of it is just more security checks more traffic stops. Thank you. Anything else? Any other questions? Thank you, Lieutenant Helms. Yes, ma'am. Next up, we have our fire department update with Chief Dunn.

Thanks, sir.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. The fire department report for the month of March. So, we always start off with our fire marshal activities, had some special event plannings, fourth of July, things of that nature. Uh you can see we did complete quite a few pre-planned or scheduled and we did complete 15 of those. Those are when our apparatus or our crews actually go into some of our businesses and identify hazards in case we had to respond to them such as utility cut offs and things of that nature. As far as fire prevention events, Hickory Ridge High School had a first responder night which one of our trucks attended. And then two of our trucks or one truck and the BC assisted with a fire extinguisher training at our Dixon Academy for their staff. To the right you can see the graph of some of the violations that they do see out in our area and most of those are that is the uh types of inspections that they're doing. Most of those are just our general site. As far as inspections, he completed 29 in the month of March. 23 of those were first and then six reinspections. And here's where you can see some of the violations to the right in that graph. And as usual, fire extinguishers tend to leave a deep pack. As far as operations, we did respond to 253 incidents in the month of March uh with a 90 90th percentile of a little over our recommended of 7 minutes and 30 seconds. So, we're hoping to approve that in the month of April. As far as fires for the month, uh we did have nine of those. You can see the uh total property and contents value that were saved. The next number down to the far right on the bottom is our property loss and then our percentage. And then the top left graph is some of the fires that we did have. Vehicle fires, vegetation or grass fires, structural involvements which involves a house or

or a commercial building, room and contents and then a cooking fire. And that was the month of March. Busy. It was a busy month. Is uh Hickory Ridge contained at this point? The fire that was out on the south end?

Yes. So that was a out building that stored uh a business's lawn equipment and things of that nature. So they're still working on probably everybody saw the smoke today. So yeah, he was actually one of our full-time firemen who went city of Charlotte and then he left there because he's got a pretty successful landscape and and business local resident. Thank you. Thank you, Chief D. Next up, we have our economic development update with Ryan McDaniels.

Thank you, mayor, members of council. Excited to be here this afternoon or tonight to give a first quarter update on activities from economic development department. Um, always want to update, start off with our strategic economic development plan. um went ahead and uh closed out uh strategy 1.1 from the last time we met at the budget work session. Um feel comfortable all the um elements are in place for a successful BR plan. Um actually spoke to one of the consultants um this afternoon who worked on the strategic economic development plan and she was very complimentary. I showed her the worksheet we put together here. She's impressed. We've already accomplished so much in a year and says hello. Um had high high praise for Lee and Rob and the team here as well. So, she says hello and she enjoyed working with the Harrisburg Harrisburg folks before I even arrived. Um, project activity update. Um, you'll notice we are um trending the correct way, uh, the best way, which is more projects. Um, that's the green bar on the far right. Um, we are tracking more um, projects on the retail side. So, you'll see that's grown to 22%. Um, also added a new category, light industrial. So that's sort of a catch-all that includes motorsports, um energy type projects, anything that's not purely um what's designated as manufacturing at this point. Also tracking new and existing projects. You'll see at the bottom uh graph. So you can see the traditionally um you will that's pretty good consistent mix, but we'll have more companies looking to um to enter Harrisburg, but we're always uh always reaching out to our existing companies here looking for potential growth. Um, one of the things we talked about at the work session a couple weeks ago was business climate. So, pulled some stats um, from our Placer um, system. So, what this tracks is um, foot traffic or activity at our local businesses. So, I didn't want to identify any particular businesses but pulled uh, more aggregate information about our businesses in

town. So, um, there's three um, sort of segments of business can be um, included in um, growing, stable or declining. So, out of our businesses, we tracked um 103 locations um were either growing or stable, which was encouraging. Um we did have 50 locations with declining foot traffic, so um traffic in the facility. So, that could be tied to weather, um could be tied to the higher gas prices, uh could be tied to a lot of things. So, you ask for a quick measure or some way to identify business climate. That's easy for us to track on a month-to-month, year-to-year basis. So, if you need more information, feel free to reach out. I'll be glad to uh provide those um provide that information for the council. And then on the other side, you can see our demographic overview. Wanted to put this on to show um one of the unique things about Harrisburg. Um oftentimes when you think about our market, we just think about the residents, but we do have a good number of folks who work here um but also live in other communities. So you can see our um worker um median income is higher than the state benchmark by a significant amount as um and as you would expect our workers who are in here in town also are well educated with almost half um having a bachelor's degree or even higher. So and we tren a little bit higher on persons per household. So these are really strong numbers for us as we try to reach out to different businesses who are looking into the area. We have a strong workforce that also complements the folks who live here in town. our facade improvement. Um the when we spoke at the uh budget work session, I showed you a couple of the uh I think we didn't have the finished product. Um but this is across the street from fire station one. You can see the before picture um the rendering and the after picture looks pretty darn close um to what was um expected. So this turned out really what uh great. We're excited about this. A nice improvement to the town and we're already seeing more business activity um because of the improvements at this business center.

So, we met I met with the owner two weeks ago um and she is um excited about the improvements and um really pleased to be working with the town on this project. Um last week we attended the C4 day um at the Cabaris Arena um and event center. We had over a thousand students. So, this year I believe we had sixth graders or seventh graders. Um they came at the end of the day um great partnership across the town's departments. We had engineering, parks and wreck, public works, HR, IT, communications, and fire. So, you can see the whole team on the upper right. Um, this year we were sponsors. You'll see the um the green bags. Every student who attended received a green bag and some of the events we brought out are um our combo truck. I don't know what the combo stands for, but it's a big cool truck. Um and the kids seem to love it. So, um we also the whole team did a great job. You can see the Connect Four um game at the bottom. Every department was well represented, did a great job interacting with the students. It really was truly a team effort that fell underneath our department this year. Um, with Casey being out, but we're fine moving forward. I think it worked really well for our team and it was good opportunity to partner with other departments. So, great event and uh, Harrisburg was well represented at C4 day. Um, we're also continuing to meet with our local businesses. Um, we had five visits with large employers. So those are employers with over 20 employees. Um 17 visits with smaller employer employers. Um we also met with resource partners. Um so those are folks who may or may not be in the area but could be an excellent resource for our businesses or could potentially have some business where they can interact with the town itself. We also had a ribbon cutting back in February. Uh feels like a year ago but amazingly we had great weather um that day. So see a lot of friendly faces there smiling at the ribbon cutting. really a great event, really special place. So, we're proud of what InReach is doing. Excited to have them in our community. Um,

business development, you'll see a lot here. I won't cover it all. Um, but some highlights, we had um the CLA CDC had their first investor quarterly here in Harrisburg. We were the first community to host that. Um, they're really as um we're being very persistent about having them in Harrisburg and they've responded. So they brought um they had some of their board members there thanks to the folks on council who were able to attend. Um we also attended um numerous state and regional events as well as chamber events as well and spoke at various um Rotary presentations all around the county. So continuing to get the word out, tell folks how great Harrisburg is, how many opportunities there are um for businesses to relocate here um in this great town. So, um, with that, I'll be glad to answer any questions that the council may have.

Ryan, on your data, um, with the business that you pulled up earlier, is that a moment in time or can you go backwards into that? I mean, do you have to set it up and say, I want to capture now, or can you see a history of So, if you wanted, for example, compare March 26 to March 25, we could do that, I believe. So, I think it goes back three years. Um, but we can compare year to year, monthto month. So, it's pretty flexible. I'm getting better with it every day. Okay. I mean, I I I would be interested to see how overall like 49 or something from, you know, 25 how it changed uh overall to 26. Right.

Abs. Yeah. And that's the great thing about the system. as I get better with it, we'll be able to anytime you have a inquiry, we'll if we don't have the capability, the um facilitators and I guess the pray programmers are excellent. So, they will we can send it to them and they'll run a customized report for us. Thank you. No problem. Any other questions for Ryan? Thank you, sir. All right. Thank you.

Just a few mayor comments this evening. looking forward. Um, Brian stole my thunder a little bit, but we're looking forward to seeing everybody at the ribbon cutting tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. at the turf fields. Also, reminder, we have had two council budget workshop shops since our last monthly meeting. And as a reminder, those are open to the public and you can go back and view those on YouTube as well. Our next one is scheduled for Thursday, April 30th at 6 right here. um followed by our town manager's recommended budget that will be presented at the May 11th council meeting. That also includes an opportunity for public comment as well. And then there will be a vote to approve budget year fiscal year 2027 at the June 9th council meeting. So all important um pieces there. If the public has any questions about that process or the details there within, please reach out to us council harrisburgnc.gov. Again goes to all of us. We're happy to address any of that with you. Um several of us attended the Cabaris County quarterly summit. We heard directly from Explore Cabaris, which is our visitors bureau. Um really on the impacts of tourism in the county. There were a lot of big numbers, kind of staggering numbers to see just how much influx that helps our county. We also heard from the county on a proposed $300 million bond refer referendum possibility on the November ballot. That's for Cabaris County Schools. Um there is actually a Cabaris County School Board meeting happening right now. So, I think there's quite a few folks tuning in to that. Um, lot of discussion around property tax reform. That's kind of been the big thing in our ear. They have an upcoming vote on Wednesday in Raleigh on the constitutional amendment. We have successfully here as a town of Harrisburg met with our Raleigh delegation in person and sent our position in writing. Really highlighting our desire to partner on solutions in the area of tax reform. are really highlighting that that one-sizefits-all approach sometimes has unintended consequences that could directly affect not only Harrisburg but almost all of our municipalities in North Carolina. I

can also share as a member of the central regional executive board um along with our entire delegation and that represents 66 local governments. We have also sent a le a letter to the state um outlining the regional perspective on that proposal to pursue constitutional amendment which is the property tax levy that would really limit um local governments ahead of Wednesday's vote. I also know that similar letters have been sent from North Carolina League of Municipalities and the North Carolina Board of Commissioners. So, I don't think anyone is denying that something needs to be reformed in the area of tax. Um, we're just not sure how that's going to affect our municipalities, particularly when 50% of that funding goes to directly to our safety, which is our fire and police. Um, a rigid levy would really erode um some of that flexibility there. So, lots of discussion ahead. will continue to advocate for our residents. And that is it. With that, we'll go to council comments.

I'll just say to Ryan and his team, we got phenomenal feedback from the community, from people within the schools of how well um Harrisburg represented at our C4 day. So, it's really exciting to hear. Um and the Concord chapter of the um alumni chapter of Delta Sigma Theta sorority invited all the municipalities to come and join them at their spring into action um lunchon back in I think it was yeah it was in March um it was just really cold that day but um Dr. Banks and I got to represent the town of Harrisburg there and it was a fantastic opportunity to again partner with various people across Cabaris County. Uh, I'll jump in. I have some comments. Um, first, um, I want to thank, uh, the Hatch Committee for, uh, and Jim and his team for a successful art walk, uh, this past weekend. Um, I was unable to attend due to a family commitment, but, I was told it was very nice and the weather was perfect. So, well done um, uh, to Jim and the Hatch Committee. And also, um, I look forward I'm a um, I work with that with the Hatch Committee. So, I look forward to soon having some more um updates from that committee as well. Um I also want to publicly thank John and his team at public works for being so attentive in responding uh to a request so quickly to one of our communities. Um your hard work and commitment to our community does not go unnoticed. So, I wanted to make sure I said that uh tonight. Um, similar to what Mayor Teague mentioned over the last several days, I spent time talking to our state representatives about property taxes and issue and issues to ensure that our Harrisburg residents are front and center when decisions are being made. I wanted to be sure that our community voices are heard through me as your representative. I want to make sure we were at the table, we were in the room,

and we were a part of these conversations. and it was an honor to do that and to be the voice of this community. But this brings me back to the mayor prom conversation once again. I am sure at this point and it's been alluded to that it sounds like a broken record. Well, it is. But just like I was in the rooms to speak up for our residents and to ensure their voices and interests were at the table through those conversations about property taxes, this to me is no different. I am really confused and disappointed that this issue was not resolved back in January after the vote was taken. And now here we are almost four months in talking about the same thing. And just for the record, I'm going to go ahead again and reference the North Carolina General Statutes, the Harrisburg Charter, and the Harrisburg Ordinance that speaks about the role of this position in case anyone forgot it during our last during our last meeting. So the North Carolina Journal statutes read NGS 168-70 says the mayor prom steps in in the absence of the mayor and is otherwise known as a member of the council with voting rights. NCGS160-69 states that the mayor's position is ceremonial and is one that officiates meetings and has no voting rights and only votes in the event of a tie vote. NCGS1 168-67 says any decision that is made by this council needs to be made collectively as a voting body. Similar language is found in the charter article 3 section 3.2 and suggested rules of procedure for Harrisburg Town Council part 4 letter C. No singular person and/or individual on the voting council gets to make any decisions alone. I mention this again because it appears to be a singular

decision by Mayor Teague to not have my title as mayor prom on the website or the dis. So again, I'm going to ask the question and it was asked earlier. Why hasn't the website been updated? And why hasn't the dis reflected the vote that was taken in January? By the way, the title on the website in the DIS is customary in all municipalities both in Cabaris County and around this country. So what we're asking is nothing new. And as I stated when I began my comments, as an elected official for the town of Harrisburg, I will always advocate for this town, for the for the residents of this town and for myself, whether big or small, whether we are talking about taxes or ensuring we have services that we need. For me, it does not matter. I am an advocate for order and for doing what is right. And I have been doing that in this role and I plan to continue. But again, for some this may seem minuscule or small, but it is not. It is how we show up in the small things that show who we really are. So, finally, I'm hoping that as a council, as a voting body, that we can get this sit we can get this squared away tonight. But if not, I'm going to ask Rich Cook, our attorney, to chime in with the legal perspective on how we can get this resolved. Thank you.

I'll I'll address some of that. Um, Councilwoman Banks, I spoke to you personally and sent you a follow-up email outlining my decision and and you agreed to disagree with me then, and that's fine. And that doesn't change my stance. I I I still lean in on the example that I gave you and the reasoning I gave you. In fact, I think I said this at the last council meeting. It's not being displayed on the DAS to avoid public confusion about rank and hierarchy. um we will continue to be identified equally on this DAS and that really kind of goes to show our collaborative structure that we have on this governing body. Um we work as a team. That's what this is about. As far as the website, I know Casey is in the middle of doing something with that and all of our appointments are going to be listed on there. I think if you click on your name, it says Councilwoman Banks, Mayor Pro Tim, but it's not they're working on that piece of it. But that's that's the last time I'm going to address that. It's it's not a policy decision. Um once you were appointed um as mayor proim in that situational function,

then it becomes up to me on how we handle that and I've stated that whether you agree with it or not. Yeah. And I don't agree with it for the record. And then the other thing I will say is that um there has been no issue about hierarchy in the past. So it's just interesting that now we're talking about hierarchy now that things have changed and it's uh you know you're right. Well, no no I didn't interrupt you. Please don't interrupt. You're right. So don't don't interrupt. Let me finish. I'm not interrupting.

Okay. Thank you. And we h we did have a conversation um about this and I agree to disagree because your your stance was purely uh subjective and I just read the I just read the the North Carolina general statutes that's supposed to guide what we do up here so that we don't have things that just happen on a whim or when we want to change. We have that's why there is order and there are statutes that we follow, right? It's it's simple. It's in black and white. And so yeah, we had a conversation. We did and I agreed to disagree but I also disagreed with you because of what is stated in the statutes and I still feel that way and so and back to the and if we want to go back to the statutes and if we want to make that decision as a as a collective body we can do that but you as a person whose position is purely ceremonial who does not have a vote okay you don't get to make that decision that is my that is my issue you don't get to make that decision that I do.

But where is it stated? Where does it say I can't? You were appointed in this position. It says nothing about a name plate on a dis at all. Nowhere in there does it say anything about a name plate.

So tell me why. So you tell me why all of a sudden in the whole United States if you go to check matter of fact people have their phone check it now. Any municipality it states what who the mayor promp is and who the mayor is. So you tell me now does Harrisburg really want to be uniquely different for that? Um, I do. Since the last two election cycles, we've continued to have the same conversation explaining this. This wasn't an issue before until the public got very confused. You, um, it's a matter of, it's a matter of public record. What I sent you, you can share that with anybody. Anybody can request it. That's fine. It's all in writing.

The hierarchy. And then another point, there was not a question about the hierarchy. So please provide clarity where was I I what I don't know what you're talking about. I I specifically I gave the concern about I was the public was concerned about that because now all of a sudden there's a lot of discussion about a name plate on a situational function that has nothing to do with the public. It's internal. It's an internal function only. I I would disagree with that. Everything that we do not not the public business.

Not this. No. And then but if I don't know that you've answered my question about the concern around the hierarchy. What is that? I explain it was to avoid the public confusion that we have continued to have the last two election cycles with mayor prom. You had people coming in here speaking concerned that you were not going to be named after the election which we're not even sure where that came from. And then it again happened this cycle. So I think there's a lot of confusion in the public about it. It's taken away from the business and work that we have to do for this community. And the whole point is that everyone up here is equal. That's that's the problem. You're out of order, sir.

So with that So with that though, if it has been this way for the general for the history of what this town has been that the we go back to what the appointment was related to the highest vote getter. No, that's not there's nothing in there that says that. But even in the in the record in the minutes after an election, it has been there. What has been there? It is in it is in the record in the minutes from when the appointment has has been given. There's nothing associated with the highest vote getter. Oh yes, it is

in the minutes. In the minutes from the for the last the history of this town is it it's public record. That's why I love these these meetings because the public record is a point of reference for everybody. So, but it is stated in the record. Well, and the public has been very confused. Um, you were not elected mayor prom. You were elected councilwoman. That was the position appointment just like any other.

Oh, I know what I was elected for and thank you for the town of Harrisburg for doing that. But what the problem is is that we are departing from what the statutes say. That's the issue. That's the issue. And why now? This is a distraction from what we stand for as a we've been talking about property taxes, services. It's just it's it's just crazy to me that we are now departing from something that seems to be so standard and so basic. I So is that the So I guess I can ask the question. So around the country is there a hierarchy a hierarchy because everyone else has it. So are we different? Like I I just it doesn't make sense. I mean, I respectfully agree to disagree with you, but it just makes any no sense. And it does not follow the collective body that we as a council, we as a council, a voting body makes those decisions. You do not. That is the basis of what I am saying. If we want to decide as a council that we're going to vote on that, so be it. But then that will go on the record for something that we did. But we can't just haphazardly change things when we want to because that goes against what we stand for. What you said in your ballotedia which was mentioned in public comments. It goes against transparency. It goes against everything that you said you stand for.

Exactly. Disagree. Okay. But any other council comments? No. Think Ron stepped out. Okay. With that, we will move over to We do not have public hearings tonight, but we do have one matter under old business, and Shelley Deart's going to present that to us this evening.

Good evening, Mayor Council.

Garrett up here. Okay. So, this is a request for procedural action to reset the public hearing for annexation petition H202601 for the purpose of coordinating the annexation public hearing with the associated conditional zoning public hearing. It is staff's recommendation that the council approve the request to reset the public hearing to May 11th at 6 pm. I'll start with some background on this request. So, this annexation petition is for a 175 acre site consisting of two properties located on Peach Orchard Road. This annexation is associated with a conditional zoning petition proposing a future residential community on the same site. Now, annexation petitions and their associated reszone petitions are processed concurrently. The annexation petition was presented to council at its March 9th meeting at which time the council certified the sufficiency of the petition and set the required public hearing for its April 13th meeting. The conditional zoning petition was scheduled to be t excuse me scheduled to be heard at the planning and zoning board uh March meeting which was March 17th then at the town council meeting on April 13th. Unfortunately, the planning zoning board did not have a quorum that evening and therefore the zoning petition was rescheduled to be heard uh at its April 21st meeting which is this month and we do have a quorum confirmed for that meeting. Uh so the delay at the planning zoning board meeting is the impetus for this procedural request to reset the public hearing date for the annexation petition to May 11th at 6 p.m. again for the

purpose of presenting the annexation and conditional zoning petition within the same public hearing at council. So, it's staff's recommendation that you approve the request uh resetting the public hearing to the May Town Council meeting at 6 PM. I stand by to answer any questions you may have and we have provided a recommended motion. Um, Shelley, I don't have a specific question about that because there was no changes there. But as far as what happened that night when the planning and zoning and not enough people showed up to make a quorum,

I wonder if we can make some changes to it now that we're going into a new cycle and taking applications like if there is a um if we can like I don't know if we can deputize someone else at that moment or if we could have an additional person who can be um let's say if we have a non- voting who can be turned into voting alternate or alternate alternate. Yeah. Or just have an alternate because it seems that you know especially since we have some issues to discuss it would be good to um to make sure that we have a quorum even when I understand people flying their flights are delayed and things like that like things happen.

That was an unusual situation that evening but that's some great suggestions. we will get with leadership and talk about options and uh that would be something we could write into uh the rules of procedure for that board because we already have an alternate we do only for board of adjustments required to yeah so the board of adjustment has two alternates the planning and zoning board does have an exeicio that would be an opportunity to maybe consider your suggestion. Yeah.

And Shelley, again, not necessarily related to this, but in that same upcoming planning and zoning, is the property. I saw the sign on Black Welder. Is that going to be at this upcoming planning and zoning or is that delayed or is that 30 days out? Uh the planning it is scheduled for the planning and zoning board this month on April 21st and we have confirmed quorum for that meeting. So So you'll have two you'll have two projects that night. Uh yes. Yes sir. Thank you.

Any other questions for Shelley? With that is there a motion to approve changing the public hearing date to May 11th, 2026 6 p.m. as stated. Motion to approve. Second. Second. Thank you. All in favor? Motion is carried. Thank you. We do have one item for new business. We've got Devin. He's going to give us an update on the professional design service contract for the Caldwell Road extension. Welcome, Devin.

Good evening, mayor, member of council. Uh, as you stated, this is a motion or a consideration for a change order for the Calwell extension design. Just some background to refresh everybody's memory. The Cold Caldwell Road Extension, the phase one, this begins at the intersection of Highway 49 and extends approximately 3,000 ft north towards 29. And eventually phase 2 and three will join with what's would be called phase 4 by a private developer that's currently under construction to make that connection all the way through to 29. The original contract was approved back in March of 2025 and the first change order was approved in November. With these grant projects, with with some other projects, one of the things that we have to do is go through the NEPA process. And to start that off at the beginning of a project, we send out a start a study letter to a laundry list of different organizations and offices so that we can get that let them know that this project starting and we're we're what are going to be our requirements. Um, with that, the state historic preservation office did respond and they looked at what we sent them and they let us know of their requirement for us to do an ex uh comprehensive archaeological survey for the entire site. So, this is not a common requirement. Doesn't happen very often. Our consultant mentioned that in in the last 10 years he's been working in North Carolina, this is the first one that he's had a project of this type that got that sort of recommendation. Usually it's something where there'll be something very obvious that they're like, "Yeah, we know something's there in Concord. There's there's the the great road that runs through it. If we were doing a project on that, we'd probably expect it, right?" But with this one, there's nothing that stands out. But they did mention in their

response letter there's two portions in here that just stands out to have a high probability of archaeological resources. So it it wasn't included in the original scope. So that's the bulk of this change order. There are a couple of other portions that uh you know as we get these we do the surveys, we do the site investigations and things pop up. So we did identify a couple of additional streams and there was some additional geotechnical service that have been identified. So these will be added to the scope. It's included in this change order to get this additional services up and get these plans moved through to 100% status and complete. So the fiscal impact that means that the cost of this will be $135,555 and NC DOT has reviewed the scope. they have uh verified that it's eligible as part of the grant for the reimbursement. So the town's 20% cost in participation in this will be approximately $27,111. So, our recommendation is to approve the change order in relation to the existing professional design services contract for HL0063 Calwell Road Extension for approximately $135,556.

Any questions? Welcome. Any questions? Yeah, Devin. Um, does this trigger back through the CRMPO or is it below the a number of that it does not get attention? It it this won't go back through the requirements of the MO. No, sir. Thank you. Any other questions for Devon? Did they um give you a reason why they're requesting it? Like is it potential for like um ancient burial site or anything like that? They didn't specify other than that I that quote was directly out of the letter that they sent us and they just specified two sections. They didn't even specify which sections. They just said it

it shows potential for it. So interesting to see what it says. June there's there's there's the streams that who knows I don't know what they pretty subjective in that regard. So yeah, and if they do find something, that would just mean delay as far as they will need to relocate whatever they do find, right? Corre. Yeah. Honestly, it depends on what they would find. I'm not sure what they could find, but um you know, if they were to find a dinosaur skeleton, that would be that would that would move, right? That would be kind of cool, but that would move. But if they found something that couldn't be potentially moved, then it would potent it would mean we'd have to shift shift alignment or something, which is which is one of the reasons why we have to look up the entire scope as opposed to just the phase.

Okay. So, I know with tillery, you have if you have property on tillery, my father went through this, you have to have the Indians to come in and survey and validate there was no burials. And if there were burials on your property, you must pay to have those relocated. They they will allow the property to be developed, but you have to go through it. And I'm curious, one, did we have a way to challenge this? And two, is there a point where they start this process and go, you know what, there's not enough here that says we need to continue.

Uh, as far as challenging it, this wasn't something that we were that I was aware that there there's any way that we really can challenge it. Um, and then it's we'll go through the process. And I don't know that there's really a way to say halfway through. Once we're once we're in the process, we're in the process. Um, but they approved it as part of the grant. It's it's within it's within the the grant funding part of this. Yeah. So, DOT's approved the scope and it's part of it's eligible and in those expenses.

They give us a timeline on lengths. It doesn't extend the project's timeline. Um I would have to look back in the contract to give it to give it, but it doesn't extend that. It follows along with the rest of the NEPA process. So there's other things. They're they're already doing a noise study that you mentioned the um the the letter from the tribal society. We we've already gotten letters like that. So those those are again there's a whole laundry list that we go through and that process is ongoing. So this falls into that. They'll slot it in alongside everything. So it doesn't extend doesn't become a critical path. So it doesn't extend the project. So it's running concurrently with some of the other jobs you're already doing. Yes.

Okay. Okay. All right. If there's no other questions, is there a motion to approve change order two in relation to the existing professional design service contract for the Colorado extension in the amount not to exceed $135,556? So, is there a second? All in favor? I. Motion is carried. Thank you, Devin. Um, we do not have a need for close session this evening. Um, so with that and no further business, is there a motion to adjurnn? Second. All in favor? Thank you. Meeting is done.