Town Board - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. I'm going to call our June 16th meeting to order. We always begin our meeting with a minimum of silence. But before that, I always ask you to silence your cell phones. I just did mine because I didn't want mine. I would be the one tonight if I hadn't turned mine off. So make sure that you do that for yours as well before we have our moment of silence. And now, if you would like, please join us for a moment of silence. Thank you, and now if you're able, please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Ms. Escobar announcements.

Good evening. Huntersville's Park and Recreations invites you to celebrate black freedom with a vibrant evening of music, fun and community connection at this year's Juneteenth Block Party, June 18th, 2026, from 5 to 9 p.m. at Veterans Park in Huntersville. There will be three lively bands, good food, and inflatable attractions for the kids. Bring your lawn chairs or blankets to enjoy the show. Please note, no outside alcohol is permitted at the event. More details can be found on huntersville.org. Also, we want to make the announcement about our electric director. The town of Huntersville is pleased to announce Tyler Beardsley as the town's electric director, a head of the town beginning to operate its own electric distribution system beginning July 1st. Beardsley comes to Huntersville from the town of Cornelius where he served the community for 15 years most recently as its assistant town manager and public works director. He started with Huntersville in April to ensure a seamless transition. And mandatory water restrictions as reminder this summer season Charlotte water has implemented mandatory water restrictions due to ongoing dry conditions, the mandatory restrictions affect at home vehicle washing filling residential pools power washing irrigation and more for more information and a full list of restrictions they're listed on huntersville.org and Charlotte water.org.

Right next up we have the Carolina diving Academy presentation. Aaron you can add the podium.

All right, thank you mayor. Thank you for this opportunity. I'm really excited to give you an update on everything that's happened with Carolina diving Academy in the last 18 months and hopefully impress upon you the value that H of a holds for the community. I'll start off without burying the lead and talk about how we have been an economic engine, or at least contributing economic engine to the area, tell you a little bit about our athletic accomplishments over the last 18 months, talk about some of our collegiate and academic graduates, and some of our partnerships and what we see happening in the future. In 2025, we hosted four sizable events. Our annual Big Dive Invitational, which is a large age group meet as well as the only professional diving meet in the country, Red, White, and Blue AAU National Championships, the USA Diving Zone A Championships, and the Carolina Winter Invitational. In that fiscal year, we totaled 890 visitors for 2,290 room nights. In 2026, So far, we've hosted the Big Dive Invitational again with 200 and the USA Diving Zone A Championships with about the same as last year for thus far 890 visitors for 1180 room nights. How that translates into impact in the area is the direct total spend estimated on per family basis comes to 687,000 in 2025 and 354,000 in 2026. The multiplier impact, which is essentially that when people come here and spend money that wouldn't otherwise be here, it then gets turned over in the economy. The servers that get tipped from the people visiting then go out and spend their money locally and so forth and so on. is estimated to be at 1.45 million to 1.87 million over the last 18 months. For an amateur youth sports program, I think that's a pretty impactful number. Just from a workforce and employment standpoint, we have three full-time employees, all of whom live in Huntersville. We have a coach that lives over in Rosedale, a coach that lives in Northstone, and I live in Birkdale. Our significant part-time coach also lives in Northstone, so we're all Huntersville residents. Our 14 seasonal employees of those are some of our lessons coaches who are athletes that are more experienced athletes that work with new divers that come in. Then during high school season, which I'll talk about a little bit further, We have college divers who've graduated from local institutions or moved to Charlotte that work with the high school students that all funnel through HFFA. Our competitive team in 2025, We had a large group of divers that represented Carolina Diving Academy and the city of Huntersville nationally at AAU Nationals and USA Diving Nationals. As a team, we placed seventh in Mission Viejo, California last year. We were the AAU Red, White, and Blue Team Champion at the meet we hosted. We were third place in the Zone A meet and second place in the Region 2, and we were the best total team at our own home invitational. So far in 2026, we were the region two champion at Liberty University. At the zone A championships that we hosted, we were fourth, and we'd won the best team category at our own invitational. In 2025, we had two national champions, one of whom is here tonight. Colby Novick is here. He's from Gaston County. He goes to Mountain Island Charter School. He was the best diver in the country in 14-15 boys on the one-meter springboard. He was also the runner-up on three-meter. We had another diver, Ava Jolly, who is in the Davidson area, and she won one-meter as well and was third place on three-meter springboard. So we are producing athletes that are the best in the country. We had two divers that represented Team USA in London, one of whom was Colby, and the other was actually Ava's younger sister, Elle, who's also from the Davidson area. She was second on three-meter springboard and was, or excuse me, third on three-meter springboard and second on one meter. So far in 2026, we've had five divers at the Junior World Trials. Now, what Junior World Trials is, is essentially the Olympic trials for junior athletes. There's a Junior Worlds Championships in Rijeka, Croatia, later this summer. And USA Diving had a meet in Coral Springs, which is just outside of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to determine who were the top divers, top two divers in each age group. We had five divers who were selected from our program to participate there. Reagan Lechner, who's sitting here in the back row. Alice Leach, who is from Huntersville and goes to Lake Norman Charter. And again, Colby Novick, who you've met already. Included among those not attending are Ava and Al Jolly. Of those divers competing, Ava Jolly won the one meter competition by 90 points, almost two full dives ahead of the second place finisher, and she'll be representing the United States in Croatia later this summer. We had three divers represent Team USA at the TYR Junior Americas Cup, which is an international meet, including Canada, Australia, England, some smaller contingents from Brazil and other countries in Mission Viejo in May. And we, as we go, let's transition to the high school season. We had 100 plus divers cycle through Huntersville. We do that annually. It usually ranges between 110 and 130 divers that come from six counties. We take up the pool, including the sideboards that we use, and there will be another group of 10 divers rotating through our stations every 30 minutes. And that happens for four and a half hours, from 2.30 in the afternoon to 8.30 at night. And it is an assembly line of diving production. We create half of the divers in the state of North Carolina and created more than half of the divers that attended the NCHSAA state meet in February. In 2025, we had three state champions. Addison Nardone of Community School of Davidson won the 1A, 2A division. Reagan Lechner, who you met earlier, was the 4A champion representing Charlotte Catholic, and Mason Kramer won the 4A championship representing Charlotte Catholic. We had five other state medalists, Brady McSorley from Christ the King, Cameron Clark from Thomas Jefferson, Avery Nardone from Community School of Davidson, and Caitlin Knutson from Lake Norman Charter all finished in the top three in 2025. In 2026, the state championship we just finished, there was an expansion to eight divisions rather than the traditional four. We had eight of the 12 state champions trained at HFFA. Avery Noonan from Christ the King, Colby Novick from Mountain Island, Caitlin Knutson from Lake Norman Charter, Sawyer Landman from Lake Norman Charter, Reagan Lechner from Charlotte Catholic, Gabby Panichella from Lake Norman High School in Iredell County, Tobin Tice, who's here this evening from Lake Norman High School. He won the 7A. And Nate Robinson from Myers Park won the 8A, boys. We had an additional 10 other medalists from around the area. Avery Nardone from Community School of Davidson, Addison Nardone from Community School of Davidson, Grayson Conley from Pine Lake Prep, Addison Brown from Lincoln Charter, Wyatt Smith from East Gaston, Cameron Russell from Crest High School, Mason Kramer from Charlotte Catholic, Miley Cook from Weddington, Brett Weaver from Hopewell, and Blythe Dooley from Myers Park. Let me go back and talk about this for a second. That at the state championship, were it not for the region meet that we hosted here in Charlotte, there wouldn't have been a full division at the state championship. The service that HFFA provides to high school athletics by having this facility and maintaining it at the level that they have allows this sport to continue within the state. And it is impactful. that divers divers come from 6 counties around literally 45 minutes an hour an hour and 15 minutes depending on traffic to get to Huntersville to take advantage of the opportunities that HFFA creates and there would be schools that could not send this an athlete to state if HFFA didn't exist of the divers that have come up through our pipeline in 2025 We had two college scholarships replacements, Bella Wilhelm at UNC Wilmington and Logan Yee went to MIT, which was a pretty big accomplishment for her. 2026, the divers that were graduating, we have Gabby Panichella going to West Virginia University, Mason Kramer going to the University of Delaware, Addison Nardone at Davidson College, Avery Nardone to Georgia Southern University, Miley Cook to UNC Asheville, Nate Robinson to Queens University, and Blythe Dooley to Denison University. There are very few youth athletic programs in this metropolitan area that creates the number of divers, the number of athletes, and sends them to Division I, Division II, and notable Division III programs than the diving program. The swimming could also tell you a similar tale. SWIM Act does an amazing job. But the aquatics program that operates out of HFFA is a pipeline of talent for universities around the country. Just this last year, I formalized an agreement with Queens University to have their divers train at HFFA with me as their coach. They'll be driving up here three times a week and renting pool time from the facility and having their divers train here. In 2025, we had the men's champion and the men's coach of the year. In 2026, we've added a women's team. And coming into this next season, we'll be hosting some Power 4 teams at HFFA. Rutgers will be visiting, Chapel Hill will be visiting, and some others yet to be determined. Now, Carolina Diving Academy, as I mentioned earlier, depends on Huntersville Family Fitness and Aquatics. that we have been, since I took this position in 2007, I've dedicated countless hours to that facility in both maintaining it and running this program and guiding aspiring athletes from their first dive as a lessons diver to the national championship and internationally. We are dependent on HFFA staying as the top facility in the area. supporting that position, CDA has driven significant tourism dollars into HFFA. Now, in 2002, as I said, I took the position in 2007, so it was around five years before I got here. It was a state-of-the-art facility. It was sparkling white all over the place. The equipment was all brand new. We hosted world trials, senior world trials, junior nationals. The list of events that happened from 2001 forward were top tier in the country. There were some funding issues initially in that first decade there with the town boards that existed. And then there was a little thing called the recession that caused everybody to reprioritize things a little bit. There was a change in management teams in the middle of the teens, right? And then there was that little thing called COVID that hit in 2020 that, again, created some budget issues across the board. Now, we have luckily just recently experienced the benefit of the massive HVAC system that the town was gracious enough to put on the roof of HFFA, and that's wonderful. And we've had some lighting upgrades and some other investment from... management team live unlimited that's there right now but it is crucial to the continued growth of the program and how we're able to contribute to diving and to continue to draw events to huntersville we'd love to bring the east national championship that a lot of my divers who are distracted by attending we just finished up training at 5 30. so i had to i had to skate home and quickly shower and get back here in time and that's where a lot of our athletes are but we're getting ready to leave to east championships next tuesday that are down in orlando at the Rosen Aquatic Center that was just redone a couple of years ago. And there are junior national championships within USA Diving and senior national championships within USA Diving. And as the Carolina Big Dive and our Pro-Am event continues to grow and we're getting more professional divers and potentially international divers in here, that we'd love to have a facility that represents Huntersville the way Huntersville would like it to be represented. And HFFA is an amazing facility. From a training perspective, we have everything we could possibly want, and I am here to urge and encourage the town council to continue to consider its investment in HFFA and understanding the value that it has, both for the community itself in producing athletes and what these athletes get to experience, and nationally and internationally for the sport of diving. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Does anybody have any questions for Aaron before he goes? Aaron?

Nope. Didn't I include her in that list? Avery Noonan won for Christ the King in the 10280.

All right. Any questions or anything? All right. Thank you so much. We appreciate that.

It's very thorough.

We have a couple fun proclamations today. Our first one is for Big Day at the Lake, which is a fantastic event that happens every summer. Whereas Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Greater Charlotte provides one-to-one mentoring relationships that focus on school success, works with families and volunteers to keep children out of delinquency, and supports the family competency and whereas in celebration of its annual accomplishments, and more importantly, in celebration of the youth, BBBS of Greater Charlotte serves the Big Day at the Lake community, that says committee, will hold its Big Day at the Lake event on July 18th, 2026. Whereas the committee organizes through volunteers a day full of fun activities on Lake Norman for participating, BBBS of Greater Charlotte matches. Whereas since 2003, the Big Day at the Lake events have hosted more than 1,500 BBBS youth and all of whom have treasured this opportunity to laugh, play, mingle, and make new friends. and whereas over the past 23 years, the committee has raised more than $2 million for BBS of Greater Charlotte, and whereas the committee encourages volunteers to become BBBS mentors, known as Biggs, following in the footsteps of the past Big Day at the Lake participants who've embraced the opportunity to mentor And whereas the committee and BBBS of Greater Charlotte, along with many volunteers and sponsors, deserve appreciation and recognition for enhancing the quality of life of the residents of Mecklenburg County and surrounding areas, especially the youth. Now, therefore, I, Christy Clark, Mayor of Huntersville, do hereby proclaim July 18th as Big Day at the Lake in Huntersville, North Carolina. I think we have some volunteers here. Come on up.

Thank you.

And the next one is pretty special as well. It's a proclamation for Parks and Recreation Month. Whereas parks and recreation is an integral part of the communities throughout this country, including the state of North Carolina and the town of Huntersville, and whereas park recreation promotes health and wellness, improving the physical and mental health of people who live near parks, and whereas parks and recreation promotes time spent in nature, which positively impacts mental health, by increasing cognitive performance and well-being and alleviating illnesses such as depression, attention deficit disorders, and Alzheimer's. Whereas parks and recreation encourages physical activities by providing space for popular sports, hiking trails, natural areas, and many other activities designed to promote active lifestyles. Whereas parks and recreation programming events and educational activities such as out-of-school time programming, youth sports, and environmental education are critical to childhood development, And whereas Parks and Recreation increases a community's economic prosperity through increased property values, expansion of the local tax base, increased tourism, the traction and retention of businesses and crime reduction. And whereas the Huntersville Parks and Recreation Department was created in 1995 and now serves more than two million visitors per year to its local parks. and whereas our parks and natural recreation areas ensure the ecological beauty of our state and provide a place for children and adults to continue with nature and recreate outdoors. Whereas the U.S. House of Representatives has designated July as Parks and Recreation Month, and whereas Huntersville recognizes the benefits derived from parks and recreation resources. Now, therefore, I, Christy Clark, Mayor of Huntersville, do hereby proclaim July as Parks and Recreation Month in Huntersville, North Carolina, come on up michael j cox and uh before i go i just want to make sure we all give one more round of applause for our divers that are in the room that got medals that's pretty darn exciting thank you for being here We have some public comments this evening. Oh, I'm sorry. Steven Trott, you're ready to go. He was charging up there. I'm like moving on. All right. Steven Trott, you have a Verhoff alignment study update for us. Sure.

All right. So tonight I'm going to give you an update on the Verhoff Alignment Study. We've been working on this for a bit of time now and we want to come back to you since we've done our latest round of public involvement and also a discussion with Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation staff. We'll start off with just a brief history, kind of reminder of how we got to where we are, and then talk about next steps on where we would like to go. So the current alignment was adopted in 2002. A portion of the alignment's been constructed. And since 2002, there's been developments that have occurred in the area. Other things in the area are now a nature preserve, Duke Energy has some utility lines. There's a gas transmission line, sewer. There's many things in the area that now exist that they may not have back in 2002. This is a map that gives you the area and the alignment that was adopted back in 2002. You notice there's not a whole lot out here. Things have changed since then. And this is just highlighting that area. You can see on the left side of the page NC 115 and then going through the middle Asbury Chapel Road. The section alignment we're looking at is just that western section between 115 and Asbury Chapel on the screen. Highlight in green is that area that's been constructed. That was a project in the late 2000s to build the bridge over 115 and the railroad, but the rest of the alignment has not been constructed. So what we looked at was a couple of alternatives that really were similar in alignment to what was already out there. We looked at utilizing the existing portion that's already been constructed, and then we reached out to NCDOT, Duke Energy, Colonial Pipeline, they have facilities in the area to get some design criteria. And so those first couple of alignments that we came up with are shown here on the screen. So we did the public involvement, got input, and then we came back, and that was earlier this year. And so once we came back, we looked at combining those alternatives and combining part of the two into one kind of combined one to see where we'd like to go. So where we are now is we took that alignment and we did another two week public comment period, had another meeting with Mecklenburg County to see if they had any additional input. And then I'm back tonight to see what you would like to do from here. So from the public involvement, some of the top comments that we received were no road or don't build a road in this area. There was concern with cut through traffic in Olmstead. Some folks said it looks great. They were in favor of it. So you can see some, I guess, both sides of comments on this. Also avoiding the park property. Some folks were just concerned about development in general in Huntersville, not specific to this area but just all over the place. Some folks requested another route be developed and then others suggested widening Asbury Chapel Road. That needed to be done. Another question that we asked folks to weigh in on if they would like to is if they had a preference on any of the alternatives out there. There was a varying response from everybody. I'd say it's consistently inconsistent. The responses were quite varied, but I'd say the top vote getters, if you want to say that, were choose something else or the purple route and then yellow, red, and then orange as far as a priority. Met with Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation staff and what they provided was that they've not only designated the area as a nature preserve, but they got the state of North Carolina to designate a portion of the property that they owned as a nature preserve. And the document they provided indicated the state accepted that in October of 2024. The Mecklenburg County also provided an article of dedication for the Farrelltown Nature Preserve which was approved in April of this year. Part of those documents that were provided that were approved earlier this year and this is a map showing the county property and there's some different hatching or shading or there that shows different areas. I guess the primary area on this map shows the area where the species of Georgia Holly, which is of significance in the area. It's not an endangered species, I don't believe, but it is a challenged maybe species. And this is a population of significance, not only in this area, but I believe across the entire state. A couple other things to point out on this map is there's area where the population is known. There's other areas where there's, I believe, a planned future park that's not hatched at all. And then there's some buffer areas to kind of give some room for the species to be able to grow and thrive. So that's new since the original adopted alignment. Say the original adopted alignment was done back in 2002. I believe the county purchased the property in 2019 and then this has now been adopted and recorded. So that's all new information. Something that a representative from Mecklenburg County provided was a suggestion. He said, you know, something that could be done to maybe avoid some of this population of significance for the Georgia Holly was maybe shift the alignment further north into that either buffer area or into the transmission area. course preferably from the county to avoid the property entirely but maybe this is a is a potential compromise where it lessens the impact but still does go through the county property so This is where we are, getting back to a map. Would the board like to look at additional alignments, move forward with some of the current ones, not adopted alignment, leave it as it is? There's lots of options out there. So wanted to have a discussion to see if the board had any feedback or questions. Can you go back one slide? Sure can.

So obviously we need, well, roads everywhere in Huntersville, and an east-west connector is as critical as anything else. It seems to me if they don't want us to go on the south through the Georgia Hollies, that maybe we could go to the north along that black line. Now, again, where those Duke power lines, that's all cleared out under there. So we're really not, it's not like that whole area's a buffer. to the Georgia Hollies. They've got, you know, cleared out areas. So maybe we can work with the county to see if we could use that northern alignment to to complete the connection. That would be my idea.

Okay. Yeah. We, we could develop additional alignments that either avoid the County property completely or, or more, I guess, follow a similar path of, of the, uh, the feedback provided, uh, from the County.

Yeah. I think from what I see here, we would impact less properties. If you try to totally avoid it, you're going to go way North and hook back down. You're going to hit all kinds of different properties. And, um, but as I said, since that's already cleared out under the power lines, might be an option.

Yeah, I agree. I think being able to kind of avoid that area and just kind of stay down there without having to go into more properties, this seems like the path of least resistance to me with the black line.

Okay. We know the black line is just imaginary. What we considered was the bottom of the black line, because it looked like someone's property, bringing that black line a little bit west, I'm sorry, north, I'm sorry, south. Bring a little more south on the map. So which way are we going?

A little more south?

Yeah.

Yeah, we can certainly look into that. I can bring back an additional option, two options, three options.

The other possibility here is where those lines intersect. I think that's a house under there. I can't quite tell, but... Other possibilities to go north of that property, maybe as close to the property line, and then kind of straight east across. Again, without knowing exactly what's under there. That may be less impactful to that neighbor who's there.

Yet it could be say the further north you go you can you can see some of the houses They're there with what's not shown on this map or streams There are other impact. There's there's a lot.

There's not really a route that avoids everybody in and everything out here Any other questions When we're looking at this and thinking about this extension the What's the timeline for this? I'm going to start with that.

Sure. So what this process is an alignment study. And so the benefit of having an adopted alignment is that when future development comes, the location would be reserved or the developers would hopefully have to respect that or be a discussion point as part of a rezoning or other by-right development. As far as construction that the project is not currently in the town CIP, but could be added You could look at constructing it in pieces or parts or building the whole thing It just depends on on the cost that the cost is probably I Would guess 50 million or more if you looked at this this entire section in today's dollars but would know more until we got through design property acquisition and

If we decided to say we didn't want to extend this road and we did not want to go through the nature preserve, what's the impact of that?

Sure, so the board can ask for removal of the adopted alignment. That's an option too. And then the town board can take action and then go through the regional planning process. A new alignment can be adopted and then a road never built. So there's lots of different options.

SO WE ADOPT, LET'S SAY WE ADOPT THE BLACK LINE ADOPT IN THE FUTURE, IT'S NOT NECESSARILY EVER GOING TO HAPPEN. IT'S JUST MAYBE SOMETHING WE'RE DESIGNATING FOR THE FUTURE OF DEVELOPMENT AND THEREFORE IT'S KIND OF A MISTAKE.

IT'S ONE STEP IN THE PROCESS. IT DOESN'T MEAN IT'S GOING TO GET BUILT TOMORROW OR NEXT WEEK.

Yeah. Any other questions?

If we did go with a version of the black line, how would that impact future plans for building? Or let's say someone wants to sell a parcel of land.

It would not impact someone's ability to sell a piece of property. I don't know if it would impact the market. I'm not an appraiser or a real estate expert, so it could impact somebody's property sale or what they could develop as. There could be some impacts for sure.

I prefer that it not go through the nature preserve, but that's just my opinion.

Would the board like to see, I'm just asking a question, would the board like to see an option maybe similar to the line that's shown here and then another option that completely avoids the county property? Come back with a couple of options?

Yeah, I think that would be good to come back with an option that, I know it would be kind of a crazy pathway, but to go around or avoid the nature preserve. And I know we kind of get in the way there too with the power lines that causes a,

situation as well but if we could make it work we're not a lot across them perpendicular right is that right or we're supposed to cross them perpendicular yeah there Duke Energy looks for more appropriate perpendicular excuse me crossings but we would have to work with them okay to find something amenable and then there's transmission towers you say there's there's a lot of challenges in the areas yeah to constructing a road

I THINK THAT'S THE GENERAL CONSENSUS IS SOME VERSION OF THE BLACK LINE PLUS A VERSION GOING AROUND, RIGHT? OKAY.

GREAT.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH. THANK YOU. ALL RIGHT. All right, now we do have some public comments. First, we have Gatewood Campbell. You have six minutes. I see your guests are here as well.

Gatewood Campbell. Look, no notes. So I'm going to shoot from the hip, all right? You know I don't like that, but this is what I'm doing. So this situation began because I spoke in October. And I was mentioned in a FOIA. and i was mentioned in some text messages and um mayor clark you did reach out to my husband to clarify what was said um my husband and i have spoken up here numerous times and at this point we're going to agree to disagree about what i think happened But at this point, what is humane and appropriate is for this board to come to me the same way Commissioner Smallwood and Commissioner Cornett, who weren't even seated up here then, and say, this sucks. I'm really sorry. We're not gonna agree about what happened, but the way your name has been dragged around and what you have been through is wrong. It's not transparency. It's not an open door. And that's what you all ran on. I am simply asking for kindness from this elected board. You work for me. You work for me. The people in this room pay your salary. and it's okay it's also okay to say dude a mistake was made maybe the mistake is that we didn't come to you so here's my offer to you you can actually call me you don't have to write me back you don't have to respond to the emails we've sent but you can call me and you can say I'm sorry. And can we start over? Let me say I'm a teacher and if I'm teaching, I'm not going to answer the phone, but it's okay to back up. We're dealing with so much animosity and I am here to beg you to say, I'm sorry. This whole thing has been going on for eight months. Enough is enough. This town is a good town. We have an amazing Parks and Rec. We have world-class athletes in here. You all set the standard, and I don't feel like a resident who is being heard. I have begged. My husband sent an email yesterday. Thank you, Commissioner Smallwood. Thank you, Commissioner Cornett, for reaching out and saying, hey, we can get together. And you've repeatedly said, and you weren't sitting here, but you've repeatedly said, I'm sorry, and this is really bad, and it's time to put it to rest. There are too many important things happening in this community that people care about. They care about the roads. They care about their neighborhoods being ruined by roads. We all sit in traffic. Dude, it took me 30 minutes to get from like here to Berkdale last week. This little kid right here was late for a movie because of lack of infrastructure. That's not y'all's fault. but there's so much more to work on, and I am begging you to do the right thing. Pick up the phone and call me and say, I'm sorry. I don't even care if you say anything about what I believe happened at this dais, but it is okay to be kind to your neighbor. It is okay to love on your neighbor. And I am asking you to be the upstanding citizens that we believe you to be. And give me a call. Call my husband. Give us the opportunity to meet at the same table and just say you're sorry. That's all I'm asking. Let's just be residents that live in the same place. Yes, you sit up here. I sit down here. But at the end of the day, we're all part of the same community, and we all want to make Huntersville better. Thank you.

BJ Caldwell you're next you have 3 minutes.

Good afternoon and thank you for the opportunity We in America are familiar with certain customs and don't know their origin. I like history, so I'm here for my moment of history tonight. I want to share with you about where segregation came from, and it came from the black codes of King Louis in France, Spain, and England. Pottstown residents are descendants of Africans, indigenous Native Americans, and Europeans who live in a system of segregations whites created for them hundreds of years ago. My ancestors who lived and toiled at the life while living in the colored sections of town are looking down on me from glory. cheering me on in my quest to continue their fight for acceptance, inclusion, justice, peace, and the right to live in harmony with our neighbors. The newcomers may know the history of the towns they left, but are not aware of the history of Huntersville. Living here, it is well known that segregation was real and started hundreds of years ago in Europe. King Louis of France signed a decree of the Black Codes for those enslaved in the New World. There were laws that turned human beings into chattel, another name for property. This allowed them to be subjected to scandalous methods of abuse. They were worked, beaten, sold, raped, and murdered. No law can repair centuries of pain and shattered lives. In 1789, Spain issued the Instruction of 1789, a special name for its black codes for colonies in the New World. It was a standard form of treatment for slaves to prevent rebellion. The Spanish believed that they had a right to purchase and own property as a challenge to cruel masters. Britain, England's codes came about in 1661. They were called the Barbados slave codes for the better ordering and governing of Negroes. This was the blueprint for the American chattel slave system. The three European countries that created these codes did so to restrict people of African descent activities and of their daily living in their lives. As a footnote, Germany used these same methods to brutalize the Jews. Thank you. And one last thing. We're going to have a Juneteenth event at Weymouth Center tomorrow, and I believe you were invited. And one thing I'd like to say, Juneteenth is not just a festival. It's a cultural event meant to help you and me remember ancestors and learn their history. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Ms. Caldwell. Next, we have Skip Hudspeth. You have three minutes. Good to see you.

Hello everyone. I'm here to speak in support of a proposal to provide funding for Rebuilding Together Charlotte. I believe Beth Morrison is going to give a slideshow later with more information about that. But I want to talk to you, I've lived in Huntersville for about 22 years now and I drive by And I've been also working with Rebuilding Together for about five years, doing volunteer work. So I've seen firsthand the work they're doing in neighborhoods to make a difference in people's lives. People who are experiencing problems with their structure of their houses. Problems with safety and the health of their other house skip.

Can you move the mic up a little bit? Thank you.

How's that perfect? Okay So I love how rebuilding rebuilding together Charlotte is collaborating with other nonprofits they're partnering with Lowe's and other businesses in the area and they're also other and bringing in many people like myself as volunteers and I I'm especially Delighted now that are rebuilding together. Charlotte is is moving into Huntersville I've been driving by this Well, not only because I don't have to drive so far because I've been mostly working in Charlotte, but also because they're going to be in this Huntington greens neighborhood that I drive by every day when I come into Huntersville and so I Last week I joined about a dozen or more other volunteers and rebuilding together staff and some contractors and we started work in that neighborhood. I think on about five or six homes. So we met the homeowners, we saw what they were struggling with, we were able to help start rebuilding some floors that had collapsed, restore some water to some houses. So I want to strongly encourage you to support this work, because I think with your funding, we can help even more people. Thank you.

Thank you. Lastly, Janelle Harris, you have three minutes.

Good evening commissioners, mayor and residents. I stand before you today as my little name tag. I'm happy to be an appointed person that is a citizen that is able to be influential and parks and recs. I'm the chair of Park and Recreation Advisory Board. I'm glad Michael J. Cox left because he might not like everything I'm going to say today. However, I want to speak tonight about a questionable use of power. I've reached out to Edwin Quarles regarding his use of Shante Cruz law firm representing him to shun community advocacy. The Cruz Law Firm has me in a fight for my life and my legacy and for Pottstown as one of our greatest resources. I started what is now the Pottstown Heritage Group with Latoya and the current chair and co-chair members. And I remain silent for those aforementioned people because if it's good for Pottstown, it's good for me. But what happened was I was, unbeknownst to me, I was swept out of my chair and they have moved on in a capacity to where I now have to have another nonprofit organization called Ma Ba Boo. So recently Lee Hallman has lost his promotion of his advocacy and I have to wonder if it is because of my June 11th event where his wife assisted me in bringing favor and amenities to South Church Street and with Girl Scout troops that Amy Holman was able and was spoken about during our presentation. I don't, it's Juneteenth, y'all. I don't ever wanna be, it's your own people. You know what I'm saying? That make you feel left out or hurt in any type of way. I have familial, residential, and even spiritual connections with the people that I have brought up. And I'm just tired. I just don't understand why I have to constantly feel a bit attacked and a bit like the things that my advocacy needs to be shunned for you to feel better or more powerful in your positions when I constantly reach out and say, I don't want to bring this to the forefront. I don't want to do this on a public table. I got your phone number. I call you. I see you every week. Can we have those conversations? And let's just be, like it's been said by Gatewood, let's just be family. Let's just be residents. Let's just be friends and love on each other and be the residents that we're supposed to be for Pondstown and Huntersville. Thank you.

Next, may we have a motion to adopt any changes to the agenda, if there are any? All right, and now may we have a motion to adopt the agenda?

I make a motion to adopt the agenda.

Is there a second?

Second.

Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your hand. Any opposed? And the motion carries unanimously. And now we have a motion to adopt the consent agenda. Make a motion to adopt the consent agenda. And is there a second? I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your hand. Any opposed? And the motion carries unanimously. We do not have any public hearings this evening. We're on to item 11A, consider a decision on petition R26-01, a request by 2311 Real Estate Holdings LLC. Mr. Richards.

Good evening, Brian Richards for the staff. As mentioned by the mayor, we're here to Request some action tonight. A decision for the rezoning 2601. This is the 2311 race shop located down on Statesville Road. Just a quick recap. They've recombined the allocated square footage for the building there and they would like to install a parking lot up near Highway 21 with appropriate screening. There will be no effect on the tree save nor the TIA impacts or the water quality issues. Again, here is the detail on the buffer that they were proposing along Statesville Road. It's in compliance with all of our 2040 and other area plans. May 26, planning board made a recommendation to approve this. Staff is also in support of this. And I'm here if you guys have any questions.

Any questions for Mr. Richards?

All right.

All right. Is there a motion?

Yes, I make a motion to approve petition R26-01-2311 race shop with the following conditions. The 60 foot buffer to be reduced to 50 feet adjacent to the proposed parking lot. The buffer plantings meet the planting schedule as shown in the staff report and all minor staff comments and red lines be addressed. With conditions, the application is consistent with policies LU 1.1, LU 5.1, and EV 1.2 of the Huntersville 2040 plan. It is reasonable and in the public interest to approve the petition because the proposed rezoning is consistent with the envisioned uses and development pattern set forth in the 2040 community plan.

And is there a second? Second. Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your hand. Any opposed? And the motion carries unanimously.

Great, thank you.

Item number 11B, consider a decision on petition R26-06, a request by Charter Properties, Inc.

Good evening, Brian Richards again. I'd like to enter the staff report into the record. As the Mayor's mentioned, this is for Charter Caldwell Station Apartments along Old Statesville Road. A little history, this wall was installed as part of the original rezoning plan in 1998. to protect the single-family homes along Old Statesville Road. Since that time, Charter has acquired all of those properties on both sides of the wall, so they see no need to have a wall in the middle of their project, so they've requested that removal. Staff is in support of this. The Planning Board is in support of this, and I'm here if you guys have any questions.

Any questions? All right, is there a motion?

I make a motion to approve petition R26-06. The petition is consistent with the Huntersville 2040 community plan policy LU1.1. It is reasonable and in the public interest to revise the rezoning condition to permit the middle portion of the six feet tall brick wall to be removed as it is no longer serving as a buffer from adjacent parcels. The proposed revision is consistent with the envisioned use and development patterns set forth in the 2040 community plan.

And is there a second?

I'll second it.

Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your hand. Any opposed? And the motion carries unanimously.

Great, thank you.

Thank you. Item number 11C, consider approving nonprofit funding agreement for rebuilding together of Greater Charlotte Inc. Mr. Williams.

Good evening, Mayor and Commissioners. I'm just going to introduce this item, and Beth Morrison North and Sarah Fortner, Beth from Rebuilding Together at Greater Charlotte and Sarah from Caterpillar Ministries, have a few slides that they will share and be available for questions. But ultimately, this request would be for funding from the Board's Affordable Housing Fund, It's a request of $75,000. They've already identified six to seven homes that they are doing repair, six currently. I think they've got one more that they've done some homework on as well and have an application for that's eligible. But six homes they're currently working on. These funds would supplement some additional grants that they have that are limited in what they can do with them. um to make the homes more habitable certainly critical home repair was something that came up in our previous mayor's task force and contracting with non-profits and community-based organizations to do things like this to protect our housing stock was something that was envisioned then and certainly something i would think you'll see more of in the future so beth there she is i'll turn it over to you and then certainly be available for questions

Thanks so much, so glad to be here. So just to introduce you to Rebuilding Together Greater Charlotte, our mission is repairing homes, revitalizing communities, rebuilding lives. So we work in communities, we work with volunteers and contractors, we are ourselves a licensed GC and our mission is to help create healthier, more vibrant neighborhoods so everybody has a safe home and community. which is increasingly out of reach currently. So rebuilding together, we are a part of an affiliate network. So locally, we are our own 501c3, but we have this strong network of other organizations across the country that are doing similar work. So it's, you know, I never have to recreate the wheel and find a, you know, how does somebody else do this? It's a great network to be pulling from. OUR AFFILIATE, REBUILDING TOGETHER GREATER CHARLOTTE WAS ESTABLISHED IN 2010. IN 2018 I BECAME OUR FIRST FULL-TIME EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR. I ACTUALLY STARTED AS A VOLUNTEER IN 2011 AND LET IT TAKE OVER MY LIFE. I JOINED THE BOARD IN 2014 AND THEN BECAME FULL-TIME STAFF IN 2018. SO OUR STAFF CURRENTLY INCLUDES SEVEN FULL-TIME AND TWO PART-TIME TEAM MEMBERS, AND CHARLOTTE IS IN OUR NAME, BUT WE ARE REALLY A REGIONAL ORGANIZATION. WE SERVE CURRENTLY MECHELINBURG, UNION, CABERAS, AND GASTING COUNTIES IN THEIR ENTIRETY. So our whole thing is safe and healthy housing. So we are not doing like move that bus moments. This is not extreme home makeover. We are really addressing these key principles of a healthy home. So some things that a lot of us take for granted. So each project we do a full home assessment. We score them before and after to see where we're moving the needle when it comes to these safe and healthy housing priorities. And they're based on the principles of a healthy home from the National Center for Healthy Housing. So there's a lot of scientific research that's gone into this and has helped us to kind of develop what's most important to pinpoint when we're repairing homes. Also a big part of what we do is community revitalization. So we realize that a neighborhood is not healthy just by the homes that are in it, but also by the green spaces and the schools. So oftentimes we have opportunity to, we partnered with Mecklenburg Park and Rec on the Tom Hunter Park revitalization project where we brought in private grant funding to do $125,000 park renovation there. We've also partnered in Concord with Clearwater Arts Center and then most recently at Ada Jenkins in Davidson to build picnic tables and landscaping. So I want to bring up Sarah to talk a little bit about Caterpillar and why we're going into Huntington Green.

Good to be here. Uh, Huntington green. Love it. 350 mobile homes, 2200 neighbors. established in nineteen sixty nine and we are not a transient neighborhood we did a survey of a hundred fifteen families in two thousand twenty three eighty percent of them have been there ten years or longer so they are there and they want to stay and they love it uh... we are willing to turn cradle to grave is what i like to say uh... holistic wraparound support to our neighbors. Whatever our neighbors need to help them build a strong, thriving family, that's what we're there to do. And so one of the things that has been a big, big issue has been housing, safe housing for our neighbors. And we've been looking for a partner for years now that would step into this because Caterpillar doesn't do housing. We can help with the applications. We can help with the other things that need to be done. We don't do the housing. And that's where Rebuilding Together comes in. And last week was a beautiful, beautiful reminder of what partnerships are about and what can be done when people like Rebuilding Together come in and do their thing and Caterpillar is there to do their thing. And what was started, our neighbors, the five neighbors, they were so excited. And one of our grandmothers, she grew up there. She grew up and now she's a grandmother raising eight kids in the neighborhood. She got to choose her cabinets, choose her flooring, choose those things that we take for granted. But she, tearfully, just was overwhelmed by that choice, that she was given the dignity and respect. And that's what Rebuilding Together does. That's what we try to do. And we're going to keep doing what we're doing with partners like Rebuilding Together and partners like you two.

Thanks, Sarah. Yeah, this work is really, really critical for the homes, but we can't just go into new communities. It really sounds too good to be true. When you go into somebody's house and you tell them, okay, we can do 20, 30, $40,000 worth of repair work and you're not gonna pay anything. It sounds like a scam. So having trusted community partners like Sarah and Caterpillar, that's what makes this whole thing work. So we're not trying to convince people to apply and this is not a gimmick, this is not a scam, we're not gonna take your house. So that's really critical. And it's helped us to kind of already have identified seven homeowners that have fully qualified. Five of them have repairs underway currently that started last week. And these are just some photos of... Some of the homes, this is what we're looking at. Many of these are mobile or manufactured homes. Nowadays, they're built a little bit better, but a lot of these are old units that are from the 60s or early 70s. A lot of what you'll see is subfloor. They used a thinner plywood in the floors, so they A lot of these homes have sinking floors. So when you talk about safety, the first thing is not falling through the floor. So this next picture is black mold, so a leak under the sink that has not been able to be fixed for a very long time. We actually already had the mold remediators out because that's the first thing we had to do was get a crew in there to do that properly and clean it all up and clean the air before we can go back in. And then that homeowner who gets to pick her new cabinets, we're not doing new. What we tell homeowners is, you know, if your cabinets are working, but they're a little older scuffed, we're not going to do new cabinets. But if they are falling apart and they're like old particle board that's, you know, not standing up anymore than absolutely new cabinets and we'll let you pick the color because why not? And that includes new ventilation. So when they're cooking in there, you'll see there's no vent hood right now. So also not not great for air quality. um what's really critical here and we we are not new to huntersville we're new to huntington green so we have partnered and worked in the pottstown neighborhood for a couple years now partnering with pottstown heritage and the east huntersville community outreach so we've already repaired probably close to 10 homes in pottstown and we have eight more coming this fall We are not asking for funding for Pottstown because those are typical single-family homes that we have federal funding that we can use there. We need your investment in Huntington Green because we cannot use those typical sources of funding that usually fuel our work. That's because of the type of housing stock it is. So for these families like that grandmother that has a household of eight, you know, it's such an impact. A lot of times when we're working on a house, it's like one or two older adults. This is a family of eight. So that impact for that same amount of money we're spending in this one house is impacting eight people. And that's what we're finding in a lot of these homes in Huntington Green as well. So we already have brought in some other funding. So Lowe's has committed $25,000 for our project that started last week in Huntington Green. Lake Norman CDC recently approved us for 25,000 to leverage about 5,000 per house on five houses. And then we are able to use some federal funding through Mecklenburg on homes that are deeded as real property. which is not all of the homes. It's not most of the homes, but when we can use that funding, we do. And then we use volunteers. So skip is one of our best volunteers who comes out and helps to train other volunteers as well. So that helps us stretch these dollars further. So we're really trying to steward this funding really well. So we are requesting 75,000 from the town of Huntersville to continue to support these critical repair efforts. Just a couple of quick things on the general eligibility requirements and how we How we verify that somebody actually is in need for this we verify homeownership and that the the family intends to remain in the home for at least five years and That affordability affordability period is documented through a deed restriction so basically we don't want people to take advantage of this program and get you know $30,000 and then they flip their house and If they do that, they have to pay back the funds. Those funds go back into critical repair and if that happens on any of these homes, those funds would stay for Huntington Green critical repair. The total gross combined income has to be less than 80% of the area median income. We have some funding sources that actually cut off at 50%. So we verify that. We look at bank statements, pay stubs, social security letters to verify that we're not missing anything. They need to be a current on their property taxes and mortgage. We don't want somebody to be at risk of foreclosure when we're making this investment in their home. This next one is tricky. So they need to be on, have active homeowners insurance or agree to obtain one. And we have that caveat because sometimes a home is in such disrepair that the insurance company drops them. So we get calls all the time that like, I have to replace my roof or I'm not gonna be insured. So if it's that case where we can do the repairs and then the home becomes insurable again, they agree to get it after that. Sometimes other requirements apply based on the funding source we use, not for this community necessarily, but sometimes our funding, we prioritize older adults, veterans, people with disabilities. And that goes to our higher prioritization and how we score people when we have a lot of people applying in very limited funds. LIKE I MENTIONED EARLIER, WE ARE A LICENSED GENERAL CONTRACTOR. BOTH OUR DIRECTOR OF CONSTRUCTION AND PROJECT MANAGER ARE QUALIFIERS ON OUR LICENSE. we deliver repairs through a combination of our own staff under the supervision of Of those GC's and then supervise volunteers and licensed and insured subcontractors So we know we know what not to mess with we're never going to get on roofs and try to do a roof ourself we're you know subbing out for the things that we need to like electrical plumbing anything that's REQUIRES THAT SPECIALTY LICENSE. ALL OF OUR WORK IS PERMITTED AND INSPECTED AND COMPLETELY UP TO CODE, AND WE DON'T PAY OUR CONTRACTORS THE FINAL PAYMENTS UNTIL EVERYTHING PASSES INSPECTION. SO WE ARE DOING QUALITY WORK, BECAUSE OFTEN TIMES WE ARE NOT PAID. A LOT OF OUR FUNDING IS REIMBURSEMENT BASED, SO WE HAVE TO SHOW THAT IT'S BEEN DONE AND PROPERLY PERMITTED. AND THEN WE ALSO ARE CERTIFIED FOR LEAD SAFE WORK PRACTICES. SO A LOT OF THESE HOMES ARE PRE-78. 1978 IS WHEN LEAD PAINT WAS OUTLAWED. BUT A LOT OF OUR HOMES HAVE LEAD PAINT AND IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT TO, YOU KNOW, NOT HAVE TOXIC EXPOSURES FOR BOTH THE WORKERS BUT THEN THE FAMILY LIVING IN THAT HOME. And then several of our staff have additional certifications like aging and place specialist and executive certificate and home modifications. You don't just go in and slap a grab bar up anywhere. You have to really know what you're doing, talk with a homeowner, and sometimes it's demonstrating. SHOW ME HOW YOU GET OFF THE TOILET. ARE YOU GRABBING A TOWEL BAR? THAT'S NOT STURDY. WE'LL PUT A GRAB BAR THERE. THAT'S OUR EXPERTISE. THIS IS HOW WE MEASURE OUR LONG-TERM IMPACT. WE HAVE A POST-PROJECT SURVEY. There's questions on all sorts of these things from community connection, safety, physical health, mental health. Mental health is one of the surprising ones, but it's not really surprising when you think about it. When somebody is struggling with like, I don't know if I'll have a home, which is like the most basic part of being a healthy human being. It's not surprising actually that mental health is impacted so much by these repairs. But also as our community struggle with the lack of affordable housing and generational wealth, we also find that nearly 70% of neighbors after repairs plan to pass their home to the next generation. So keeping that within the family, keeping those homes affordable. And also independence is helping people age in place. A recent study by the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency found that for every dollar invested in home repair, we save $19 in Medicaid. So this is helping people stay safer at home and avoiding costly long-term care. One other quick thing to mention we have recently Launched well last last fall we launched home maintenance workshops. We actually have one coming up this Saturday and we will be also bringing these to Huntington green next month So what we're finding is a lot of people have deferred maintenance because they can't afford it But then a lot of people also just don't know how to go about it. They don't really understand you know your home didn't come with a handbook and There's a lot of financial counseling when you become a homeowner, but not a lot of what do I do with this thing? so even something as simple as Replace your furnace air filter It's gonna shave lives shave years off the life of your HVAC unit if you're not replacing that because it has to work harder So things like that down to like how to hire a contractor without getting taken advantage of how to budget for repairs All right, and that is all I have Any questions

no i don't have any questions but i want to say thank you thank you for your hard work your dedication for just taking the time to really come into the huntington green community and really see the need and put forth the work caterpillar ministries you all have done amazing work So to be able to partner with Rebuilding Together is phenomenal. And I hope that this project is approved so that the work can be done because it is necessary. And thank you for the work that you've done in the Pottstown community because those neighbors truly appreciate your hard work. So thank you.

Thank you.

Any other questions or comments? Mr. Quarles just said we can't top it and I agree. Do we have a motion?

And with that being said, I personally would like to make the motion to approve non-profit funding agreement for rebuilding together of Greater Charlotte Incorporated.

Is there a second? Second. Any discussion?

I just want to say that I am enthusiastically in support of this. The folks in Huntington Green are our neighbors. They are hard working individuals who serve work and go to school in our community. And to echo what Sarah said they deserve to live in dignity and this is a meaningful way to help them.

All right. All those in favor please raise your hand. Any opposed. And the motion carries unanimously. Next we have 11D, consider appointing three members to the planning board due to three expiring terms. And I will, I'm gonna start, I have a little nomination tracking form here and I'm gonna start with Commissioner Coronet for your three nominations.

I'd like to first start out by saying this was a very difficult decision. We have a number of really good contestants. We have a number of them sitting in the room today, so thank you all for throwing your hat in the ring, and I wish I could pick everybody. So I'm going to go with Lee Hallman, Caleb Newman, and Jody Wright.

All right. Mayor Partam Hunt?

Caleb Newman, Jody Wright, and Garrett Moise.

COMMISSIONER QUIRLS.

CHRISTINE SUMMERS, JODY WRIGHT, AND CALEB NEWMAN.

COMMISSIONER RIVERS.

JODY WRIGHT, CALEB NEWMAN, AND CHRISTINE SUMMERS.

COMMISSIONER SMOLLETT.

Jody Wright, Amber Kovacs, and I just want to say I support reappointing Lee Hallman to the planning board. Lee does bring a unique perspective and asks insightful questions and challenges us to really think through issues from different angles and his passion for Huntersville and his lifelong roots in the community make him a valuable voice in helping shape the town's future.

And Commissioner Walsh?

Jody Wright, Caleb Newman, and Christine Summers.

Okay. Our top three vote getters are Caleb Newman with five, Christine Summers with three, and Jody Wright with six. So do we have a motion to appoint Caleb Newman, Christine Summers, and Jody Wright to the planning board?

Look, before we make a motion, I would like to clarify something with the planning director. Yes, we're looking for this. These three seats to be fulfilled through March 2029. Is that correct? OK, so the motion does need to incorporate that these three appointments will be through March 2029. Thank you.

I'd like to make a motion to appoint Jody Wright, Caleb Newman, and Christine Summers to the planning board through March of 2029.

And is there a second?

I second.

All those in favor, please raise your hand. Any opposed? And the motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have closing comments. Commissioner Smallwood, we'll start with you.

I don't believe I have any comments, but happy summer, everyone. Commissioner Quarles.

Happy Juneteenth.

Mayor Pro Tem Hunt.

Yeah, I want to echo happy Juneteenth, and then we won't be here, so happy 4th of July as well.

Commissioner Rivers.

Well, first, I want to say this weekend was phenomenal. I did not get to make all of the events on Sunday for the pride event, but I did get to make one at Main Street Tavern. Commissioner Coronet, great job to you. I had an amazing time, so thank you for inviting me. And also, happy Juneteenth and happy Fourth of July, and everybody stay safe this summer, and let's live and love in harmony.

Commissioner Welch.

I was able to attend the events this weekend. It was a great, great job. So happy 4th and happy Juneteenth.

Last, the Commissioner Cornett. Thank you.

I want to say happy Juneteenth to everybody. And I want to thank everybody who was able to come out. I know, Edwin, you had a big party at your house. But everybody came out and showed support for Pride and really appreciate it. And we had Heather and Christy and Nick came out when I gave a speech. So it just meant a lot to me. So thank you.

All right, and Leslie, I want to make sure, I want to echo the happy duty and to make sure everyone attends both of the events coming up this week. I know they're going to be both really special. Happy July 4th and happy America 250 to everybody. And with that, I'll ask for a motion to adjourn.

I'll make a motion to adjourn.

And is there a second?

I'll second since everybody's being quiet this time.

Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your hand. Any opposed? And we are adjourned.