City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay, good afternoon and welcome to the Canapapolis City Council meeting here for January the 12th, 26. Welcome everybody here. It's a new year and a new council really if you look we look a little different now than we did a couple months ago. We got a lot of uh exciting things we're going to talk about here tonight. So, as been our uh custom, we're going to have a moment of silence and then Miss Dixon is going to do the pledge for us. If we can all rise, please turn off your cell phones.

Amen. I pledge allegiance 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.

Council, we uh have an agenda in front of us. What's your pleasure? Mayor move for approval. Mr. Jackson, second. Second, Mr. Daval. All in favor, please raise your hands. Okay. Uh we're going to start here with a recognition. I think Mr. Mills.

Great. Thank you, Mayor Council. Uh it's a kind of a special night for us and so uh hope everybody uh recognizes that as well. So, as many are aware, uh we recently assumed operations of the historic Swany Theater, a community performance venue in the heart of our downtown, adding another live entertainment option in addition to our award-winning summer concert series. As part of this transition, the city has elevated the theat's mission to serve as an inclusive community- centered space that celebrates the arts, fosters cultural expression, and supports local economic growth. And outside of some standing room only seats remaining, we sold out our last six shows at the Swany. While the theater has established itself as a destination for musical performances for adult audiences, youth focused programming was noticeably absent. In response, the city launched the Children's Theater Series during the 2025 summer season, now the award-winning children's theater series. Uh the success of the Children's Theater Series has made one thing clear. There's a strong and growing desire for performing arts programming in Canapapolis. These performances have not only brought new audiences into the Swany Theater, but have also inspired broader community engagement with the space as we have experienced more inquiries for the usage of the space to include other performing arts venues much like the soldout Salsbury Symphony that we just recently hosted. There's been dance recital, choir concerts, and school performances, all looking at the Swany for usage. The North Carolina Recreation and Parks Association recognized this program as one of the state's best. At the recent joint conference with South Carolina, the city of Canapapolis was presented the 2025 Arts and Humanities Award for our children's theater programs. Here to accept the award is Reagan Ellis. She's one of our fantastic program coordinators uh and does a great job with our Swany operations. Here to talk a little bit more about the program and the award is vice president of NCRPA as well as the director for Iredell County Parks and Recreation, Daniel Leatherman.

Good evening, mayor and council members. Thank you for allowing me to speak with you this afternoon. My name is Daniel Leman. As Gary said, I'm the president-elect for North Carolina Recreation Parks Association, uh, as well as serving as the director of Ardell County Parks and Recreation. I'm sure you already know this, uh, but you have much to be proud of, uh, with this team led by Mr. Mills. uh and receiving this arts and humanities award is just the latest recognition for a fantastic department. The arts and humanities awards celebrate the most innovative and impactful programs from NCPA agency members. This award honors the imagination, dedication, and energy that brings arts and humanities programs to life. In addition to the incredible programming the department already does, I'd also like to commend each of you for your continuing your support of cultural arts programming. As you all know, these services are not mandated, but I assure you they are essential as they enrich lives and strengthen communities here in Canapapolis. In 2025, Canapapolis Parks and Recreation launched the Children's Theater Series at the historic Swan Theater, bringing immersive performing arts to children and families who had never experienced live theater. Unlike traditional programs, this series invited audience members on stage to become characters, sparking imagination, confidence, and creativity. Partnering with Sigman Theatrical, the performances focused on character building, problem solving, compassion, and creative exploration. With four original shows, including meet and greets, the series drew nearly 950 attendees, sold out two performances, and attracted many first-time visitors. reflecting strong community interest and engagement. Beyond entertainment, the program has expanded access to arts, inspired broader cultural participation, and position the theater as a welcoming,

inclusive hub for the entire community. On a personal note, I was particularly encouraged that the children's theater series was carefully curated to support key aspects of childhood development, including those problem solving, decision-m, empathy, compassion, and creative thinking skills. Programs like these help fulfill theat's mission to be a place where everyone in the community can feel seen, inspired, and welcome. The children's theater series has laid the groundwork for year-round family programming and continues to serve as a model for how arts and culture can be leveraged to support youth development, community connection, and inclusive access to the performing arts. This program and the department are celebrated as leaders amongst the state, and you should be very proud. Thank you. And we now have a very important proclamation. Martin Luther King. Mr. Dixon is going to do that for us. I would ask that the uh Dr. Martin

Luther King Jr. committee please come and stand with me. Thank you. Good evening. This is Dr. Kim Lutter who is the chair of the um Annapolis Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. um committee and I'd ask that she will introduce her team please.

And my co-chair Mr. Gerald Lundy Daniel Squirewell and Mr. private mail

and so from Canapapolis uh this should say office of the mayor and office of the city council Canapapolis North Carolina proclamation Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day whereas Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dedicated his life to advancing equality, justice, and civil rights for all people through nonviolent action and unwavering courage. And whereas his leadership and vision inspired a movement that transformed our nation, challenging us to confront injustice and work towards a society where every individual is treated with dignity and respect. And whereas Dr. King's legacy continues to remind us of the importance of service, compassion, and unity in building stronger communities. And whereas the observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day provides an opportunity for all citizens to reflect on his teachings and to recommmit ourselves to the principles of equality and justice. Now therefore, the mayor of Canapapolis along with the city council of Canapapolis, North Carolina does hereby proclaim Monday, January 19th, 2026 as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the city of Canapapolis. And we encourage all residents to honor Dr. King's memory through acts of service, dialogue, and community engagement. Furthermore, we invite everyone to join in the weekend festivities and events celebrating Dr. King's life and legacy, including a parade on Monday, January 19, 2026. In witness thereof, the mayor and city council has caused the seal of the city of Canapapolis to be affixed this 12th day of January, 2026. Please join me in saluting this committee.

We need to get this done. Get this. Are you done? Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you for all you've done. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Hey, good to see you. You look so good. How are you? Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dixon. Now, we have um speakers from the floor and we're going to have some business we have to do first. If you remember on our last meeting, we had a request that we we look at making some changes to this and we're we're going to try to do that tonight. So, I'm going to turn this over now to our attorney if he can explain which way we're going to go here, I believe.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Uh first order of business in order to have your public comment period uh at the beginning of your meeting and at both of your regular meetings uh the second and fourth Mondays per month is to amend your uh public speakers policy. Uh in your packet there uh is a red line. Uh you'll see in section C um that the amendment to the policy indicates that the public comment period will now happen at both the second uh at each of your meetings again the second and fourth Mondays of the month and that it will be reserved at um on your um agendas for that uh each of those meetings. you would not need to um go back and revise this policy in the event that you decided to, for example, switch the timing um of the public comment period at a particular meeting to the end. There's any questions, happy to take questions.

Any questions now from anyone? All right, we need a motion then to move forward with this. Do we have a motion? Mr. Dav second. Miss Hatchel. All in favor, if you will raise your hands, please. Everybody's good with that. Thank you. So now, um I think that we opening the floor at this moment. Is that right? So I turn it over to Miss Kags.

Good evening. So tonight, um I call that cards. So far, I only have one card to speak. That is Mr. Zack. You will have to speak. There's a series of lights on the podium in front of you and then you see the clock.

Good evening, council. My name is Zach Irwin at 903 Applewood Avenue in Canapapolis. Uh thank you for having us here and congratulations to all of our new members. uh wish you all the best in uh governing our city moving forward. Um I'm actually here to talk about the uh policy that you just approved to offer a suggestion. It hasn't been nine months quite since we last made a significant change to the speakers from a floor session. Um, and one of those changes that was made was to remove the ability of speakers from the floor to submit PowerPoint presentations. That was removed again somewhere between eight or nine months ago at a previous meeting. And at that time, I spoke out against the measure, but thankfully we've adjusted the layout of these meetings to where I no longer have to speak after the fact as much. Although I am, I guess, Speaking after you guys have already approved of new measures, my suggestion is to reinstitute the ability for speakers from the floor to present PowerPoint presentations. This is the 21st century. I can tell you from my experience teaching in the classroom that PowerPoint presentations are both visually appealing, easy access to digital files that can be shared not just amongst the council but can also be presented in a format to where the people who are in attendance or who are watching online might be able to see what's being discussed because the current policy makes it such that the person who would come during the speakers from the floor section if there's ever any information that they want to present to the council in addition to what they're speaking about, they have to do it in print, make copies for each of the individual

council members, the city attorney and the city clerk and the city manager. And the general public who are in attendance at the meetings have no clue what's being discussed if they are not able to understand the references to the material that is being provided to the council in those instances. So, my recommendation is for the council to consider an amendment to the policy you just passed that would allow for speakers from the floor to present powerpoints or multimedia presentations for the benefit of public transparency. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. Owen. Do we have any more? I have no further.

Does anyone else want to speak? I I guess we're at a point we can dash that since we kind of sprung this on you. Okay, we're going to close that. All right, council. We got a consent agenda. We need a motion to adopt the consent agenda. Motion to adopt. Miss Dixon. Second, Miss Barry. All in favor? I. Good. Okay. Moving on to the U business agenda now. And I think Mr. Brian Roberts has some information for us.

Good evening everyone. Tonight we are here proudly to get to present the FY25 audit results. As you know, the North Carolina General Statutes require an annual audit. It must be completed within six months of the end of the fiscal year, which is June 30th of 2025. Before I introduce Brandy Fesperman, I would like to express my appreciation to everyone from across the city that assisted with compiling information for the audit. Also want to acknowledge the finance staff for their dedication to the city. And a special acknowledgement to our deputy finance director, Suzanne Burgess. With that said, like to introduce Brandy Fesperman. She is with Martin Stars and Associates. She'll be presenting the audit and be available for questions. Thank you.

Good afternoon. All right. So, as Brian said, I'll be presenting on your 2025 audited financial statements. In the current year, we issued an unmodified opinion. That's a clean opinion. It's the best that we can give. And before I get too far into this, I would like to thank Brian and Suzanne for all of their help during the audit process. They really are great to work with. So starting off with your general fund here, you can see your revenues and expenditures over the last five years. For 2025, your total revenues were 84.5 million and your total expenditures were 85.8 million. Your general fund fund balance summary in 2025, your total fund balance was 42.65 million, leaving you with unassigned of 24.8 million. As part of your audit, we look at your fund balance available as a percent of net expenditures. Um, your fund balance available is your total fund balance less your non-spendable less your stabilization by state statute. For this specific calculation, we also exclude PAL bill and that left us with 33.6 million. Your net expenditures were 29.8 million. So that left us with 36.3%. The LGC's minimum for this calculation is 25%, so you're well above that. On into your revenues, the majority of the city's revenues are coming from property taxes, followed by other taxes and licenses, and then unrestricted intergovernmental. For property taxes, you had 50.5 million. Uh this is an increase of about 10.9 million or 27.6% over prior year.

Your other taxes and licenses were about 19 million. This was an increase of about 1.9 million or 11.3% over prior year. And your unrestricted intergovernmental was about 4.1 million. This was an increase of about 391,000 or 10.6%. on into your expenditures. The majority of your expenses are coming from your public safety department, followed by general government and then debt services. Your public safety expenses were about 32.3 million. This was an increase of about 6.4 million or about 25%. Your debt service expenses were about 14.4 million. This was an increase of 257,000 or about 1.8%. And your general government expenses were about 16.4 million. This was a decrease of about 478,000 or 2.8%. Okay. on into your enterprise funds. For your water sewer fund, your total revenues were about 26.5 million and your expenses were about 24.7. Your storm water revenues were about 3.5 million. Your expenses were about 2.9 and your environmental services revenue were about 4.5 million and you had expenses of about 7 million. For each of your enterprise funds, we do a ratio looking at your unrestricted cash as a percent of total expenses. This indicator calculates how many months worth of expenses a unit can pay based on the amount of unrestricted cash at year end. A typical billing cycle is 1 month or 8.33%.

And one extra month usually gives a local government enough cash to handle unusual monthly expenses. So 16.66%. The 16% would be the bare minimum necessary to keep the fund from experiencing cash flow issues. So for your water sewer, that was 50%. For storm water, that was 74%. And for environmental services, that was 29%. So you're well above that threshold for each of these funds. So, some positive performance indicators. Your general fund available fund balance percent is above LGC minimums. Your enterprise fund quick ratios were each above LGC minimums. And you appear to have a stable property tax valuation and collection percentage. The city did have one finding in the current year. This was considered a material weakness. management is aware of the issue and it has been corrected and we do not foresee any issues going forward. You will need to provide a letter to the LGC addressing the performance indicator within 60 days of this presentation. And that is all I have. Are there any questions for me?

Do we have any questions? Yes, Miss Mer. Yes. Could you explain material weakness, please? Um it it's an error that occurred during the audit whenever we were looking through um if you want some more information on specific finding I can give that to you but it will also be in your financial reporting um it was an error with the acrruel um but that has been communicated and everything was corrected with a prior period adjustment in the current year. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? Thank you. That was a very good report. Thank you. Thank you, Brian.

All right, we're going to move forward now. Mr. Le has got instead of me recognizing him every time we stop with a new appointment, I'm going to say Mr. Le is we're turning it over to you now for items B through it looks like E. That be correct. That works, Mayor. Thank you. All right.

Um the first appointment, um we have several in a row. One is the water and sewer authority. Uh our former mayor Daryl Hennet was one of the members of the Wasac board appointed by city council and uh you need to replace um Mr. Hennet with um a council member of your choosing or anybody. It can doesn't have to be a council member. The assumption as it is um as we've understood Miss Dixon has been proposed as that appointee and if that is your the wishes of council you can certainly make that motion to appoint her to fill this seat on the Wasac board of directors or you can appoint anybody else to the council's choosing. All right. Do we have a motion for Miss Dixon?

So move second. Miss Barry. Okay. All in favor please if you will raise your hand. Good luck Miss Dixon. Okay.

Um, just an FYI, I will remain on that board for the next few months uh until my retirement um at which time Mr. Milton and I have talked about uh him being that that uh my replacement, but that can come at a later date. Um so I can help with that transition um with Miss Dixon. Um the next one, item C on the agenda is the Cabaris Royan Metropolitan Planning Organization. This is the group that does all of our transportation planning. Um and it has been put on the table to um we'll take them one at a time. There's a city council uh committee and then there's a uh a staffled committee and we'll take them one at a time. The first one would be the TAC the text the tech the transportation advisory commission. Um, and the proposal is to reappoint Mayor Pro Tim Devalt as the primary representative and to appoint council member Naomi Hatchel as the al alternate.

Do we have a motion? Mr. Payne, we have a second. Second, Mr. Jackson. All in favor? Please raise your hand. Okay, we've got that. Okay. And then the staff level uh technical coordinating committee um would be the motion would be to reappoint our planning director Richard Smith as the primary representative and our city engineer engineering director Beth Hassenfritz as the alternate. Well, we need a motion on this. Do we have one, Mr. Daval? M Dixon with the second. Please raise your hand. Okay.

All right. Um moving on to item D on the agenda. That is the Concord Canapapolis Transit Commission appointment. Um I believe Mr. Jackson has asked that uh he get a break from that commission. He's been serving for several years. Um that's what I understood at least 15 since the beginning. Yeah. Um so uh it has been proposed that Council Member Isaiah Payne and um council member Diane Barry who is also already serving on the commission be appointed uh to the Concord Canapapolis Transit Commission. So, Council Member Payne and Council Member Barry, do we have a motion for this? So, move, Mr. Jackson.

Miss Hatchel, all in favor. Okay, that passes.

Okay. Um, and just, uh, so everybody knows, uh, Mayor Wilson will be the chair of that commission. Um, it runs, uh, back and forth between Concord every other year. So, this is Canapapolis's year. So, we have three members of the five member uh, commission. uh transit commission. Um all right, next on the agenda would be item E and this is a an appointment to Central Regional Council is a group that does regional planning, regional uh collaboration across the Charlotte region. Um, mayor, former mayor Hennett was the representative on this particular um, council and it has been proposed that uh, council member Naomi Hatchel be the delegate and Gan Dixon would serve as the alternate to the Central Regional Council going forward.

Okay. Do we have a motion? This so moved. Mr. Dixon, second. Mr. Dav, all in favor raise your hand. Okay. Okay. Mayor, that's all for the appointments. turn it back to you. Okay. Now, in item F, we have a discussion now the um in reference to the honorary designation of the Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue Bridge. And Mr. Melton is going to do this for us. Thank you, sir.

Good evening, Mayor, members of city council. It's my pleasure to present this item to you tonight. I also have some help. I think uh Pastor Donald Gray is in the um in the audience, but I'll start it off start us off here. Um, as you know, we've received a number of uh requests from the um community regarding ways to honor uh Miss Karine Canon's uh works and uh things that she's done in the community. Uh at the request of the community as well as some conversations that have been had with council. We've investigated a number of those options uh that we would like to share with city council tonight. Before I go forward with sharing some of those options and what we've come up with, I'll I'll ask uh Pastor Donald Gray to come up and at least share on the community's behalf and then I'll move forward with talking to council about what what we've come up with.

If I could just limp up here. I am so proud to be a citizen of Canapapolis where I've been all of my life. But this lady that I'm going to talk about tonight is an exceptional individual and her name is Miss Corine Lidle Cannon. Miss Cannon was the first black woman to work in Canon Mills. all of her children, even though her husband could not read, all of her children graduated with her daughter being the first uh black uh president of the prestigious UN University Union Theological Seminary. Her son, who was my classmate, Dr. Jerry Cannon, we had every class with the exception of one at El Brown 10th, 11th, and 12th grade. Her son Jerry was the first black SGAA president of El Brown High School. So when I look around and I thought about what could we do for Miss Corine Cannon, Miss Corine Cannon, this is personal to for me because Miss Corine Cannon sister married my grandfather. And so I called uh Doug who I've known for 40 plus years, Mr. Mayor. 40 plus years and I made a suggestion to him about what I thought we should do and we went to work to try to come up with a formulate a plan to honor this lady to honor this woman of God. So we thank you for even considering the bridge and anything that you could do to honor this 106 year old woman. The only thing that I'm asking when I go visit Miss Corine, which I have for the last 60some years, she always tell me, I said, "I'm gonna see

you later." And she said, "Don't let it be too long." So what I'm telling you today, she's 106. And I'm going to tell you what the Bible told Jesus told one a fellow one time. What we do, we need to do quickly. Thank you for your consideration of this bridge and also the roundabout. May God bless you and may continue to smile upon you. Thank you.

Thank you, Pastor Gray. I will go through and explain. Uh so, uh as as Pastor Gray has alluded, uh one of the areas that uh was to be considered was the honorary designation of the MLK Bridge. Um I've got some im images that I'll share with you, but I wanted to kind of go through this process. So what will have to happen with honorary designation of of this structure in her name? It so first of all it does not change the name of the bridge. Does it does it modify the name of the bridge? Does it modify the name of the road? It's an honorary designation of this state facility in honor of uh the individual that council so chooses. Uh and in this case uh what's being recommended is obviously uh Miss Karen Cannon. It's this is a NC DOT process. So, it must be approved by the Department of Transportation. First, we make a request. Uh, that's that's what city council's action would be. And then we staff would work on putting together a packet and there's a number of things in there. There's about eight or nine items that we have to have. Uh, the next item on there, which is critically important, is that you must have the support of the family. And I I think uh, Pastor Gray has uh, talked with the family. This is something that they want. Uh the next item is a resolution from city council and it must be unanimous in order for this to be considered. It has to be unanimous recommendation from city council that will be forwarded to the board of transportation. The next item that we would have to look at is the time frame in which this needs to be submitted to the departments. It can't be submitted no more than 3 months before the structure opens. is currently planned in October of 2020 2026 and subsequently the same similar time frame upon completion of the project. We'd be looking at a time frame to get it submitted after the roadway is open. So, we want to make sure that we meet it in that that time frame to get it uh get that before the Department of

Transportation for them to be able to consider it. I'm hopeful we can get that information out and we can get a nod that they're acceptable of this recommendation even if we have to wait before the signs go out to before the structure 3 months before the structure opens or certainly thereafter. But at least we can get some confirmation. Uh the city must provide background on the uh individual's character without question. I think uh Pastor Gray and others they've this just the testimony that was given tonight I think is is significant in in this this this individual's works in the community and abroad. So, we certainly will be able to get that, but we'll help put all that together for the family. And then three letters of recommendation that would come from civic uh groups, service groups, or business organizations, and her um recommended her for this. And then there will be a minor administrative fee that covers the cost of the installation of the signs on either side of the bridge. And that's about $2,000. I wanted to share with you, if you haven't seen this uh before, this is what honorary designation means. This is one. This is the Richard Petty Bridge that uh it's it's actually on I40 uh near Black Mountain. And um it's I know that some of you are thinking, well, wait a minute. Why is why is that the case with uh Richard Petty in Black Mountain? He wasn't from Black Mountain. Well, the community felt that the curvature of the bridge and the way it banks that that was reminiscent of how NASCAR I mean that's a true story how how they actually uh traveling along there that that felt like it was a NASCAR type thing. So that's why they designated that bridge in his honor just the way the bridge was constructed and it was banked. Another thing that we we've talked about is a potential option. Again, these are all city council's decisions should you choose to move forward, but uh we could we've we've proposed potentially uh having some form of memorial that could be placed in the Highway 3, Franklin, and Miller Street roundabout. Uh that's

not been determined in terms of what that might look like today. That's a decision that uh council council would make. Obviously, there's some funding that we'd have to look at with regard to that. This is not something that would have to go to the Department of Transportation board. This could be handled locally. So, this is done by encroachment with the local office. We'd work with them to determine what what we want to see in her honor because she lives just off Charlie Walker Road right there in Fischer Town. So, we felt like this would be a another good option and we talked with the community about that. Uh again, we would be making the improvements in the center part of the island. I've got some photos that I'd like to share with you that kind of what we're thinking that might would what it would look like. But again, the conceptual design would have to be approved by the Department of Transportation, but again, it's an encroachment. It's not something the board has to approve. This is an image of what kind of getting the idea. This is what Concord did on Cabaris Avenue for Dr. King. So, you could do something similar to this. Um, this is where there's some and I think I've saw in some of the uh information that went to city council about consideration, but you could do a garden of sorts in there. So, you could have some flowers and plantings, maybe some form of memorial, but this that that's an option that you could look at in terms of having something there for Miss Canon along this corridor. And I'm happy to answer any questions that council might have, but those are the two options that we came up with. There could be others, but these are certainly the top two is what the community has asked for in terms of addressing those concerns. And I'm happy to answer any questions the council might have.

Do we have any questions? Anyone? Miss Hatchel? Yeah, I just want to clarify that the first option it would definitely have to be approved by the NC DOT. Like we could do all parts and they could come back and say no, we're not going to let you do that unless there's some significant reason. From what I understand, it's not likely. I've talked to the department. I don't think it'll get turned down, but there is a process. Okay.

Now, one of the things that would preclude us from being able to do it, and I'm not aware of any of these, but if there is another facility, because we talked about this one time for if there's another facility somewhere in the state of North Carolina that is in her honor, we wouldn't be able to do that facility. But from my conversations with the department, there is not one right now. So that's the only key thing that would really preclude us from being able to do it. Okay. And then my second question would be about option or the roundabout. Has any other persons of Canapapolis asked to do the same thing in that roundabout? Have you heard any kind of rumors or talk about it with anyone else? Not that I'm aware. I've I've not had any conversations.

Okay. Thank you. Anyone else have a question? Just make a comment.

Make a comment. Um, thank you, Mayor Wilmer. Great job in presenting this. I mean, I I think this would be awesome thing to to go after both projects for Miss Cannon. Um, you know, I I have a memorial for her in my office um that she used to come by and show people all the time because of the story that Mr. Gray just told us. and you know, she's a phenomenal person and I um I think sooner the better we can do something for her. It would be the best thing we could do. So, thank you for bringing this forward and I I don't know if we need a motion or anything like that, but um I'm all supportive of it.

Anyone else? Mr. Next. Yeah, mayor. I had a comment. I'm sorry. Um so, what's our next step to to move this thing along? What do we need to do? Can we can we do something tonight? Great question. So So uh we didn't want to be presumptuous and assume that council would be 100% supportive and the community, but we felt like that were the case. What will need to happen is at the next council meeting, we'll bring a resolution back for your approval. That's the item. That'll be step one, and we'll begin gathering. If if there's a consensus on council tonight for us to proceed forward, we will bring that back to you at the next meeting for you to consider. Okay. Good. Yep. Dixon.

So, so um just along the same lines as uh Councilman uh Daryl Jackson, um I commend you for the um recommendation that you've made and the um making the memorial at the roundabout, which is certainly close to her house. I would also suggest that during uh our meeting in February, which is Black History Month, that would be an appropriate time to celebrate this Korean cannon.

Okay. Well, is there a consensus that we move forward with this? I mean, I don't think I have to actually ask for a motion, but everybody's Give me a thumbs up if we will. All right. You have your you have your marching orders there, Mr. Melton. And um okay, so now we have city manager report.

Thank you, mayor. Um I just have one thing. I'd like to make a couple of quick remarks. Um as most of you know, in October of this past year, I decided that uh the time had come for me to retire from my role as your city manager. Um accordingly, this will be our my last city council meeting serving in this role. Uh my last day serving in any capacity will be at the end of April. um which will mark my 32nd year of service to our community with 22 as your city manager. Um during the next few months leading up to my retirement date, I look forward to helping our new city manager, Wilmer Melton, transition to into his new role. Serving as your city manager has been an honor of a lifetime. Uh our city has faced many challenges, but together we've celebrated even more successes. I feel both humbled and grateful as I look back on this journey. Uh since our city's incorporation in 1984, we've had 28 dedicated citizens that have served as either mayor or as a member of our city council with three serving in both roles. While it makes me feel really old, I'm blessed to have served in some capacity under 25 of those 28 dedicated public servants, including the seven of you seated here tonight. Some only for a brief time, which I regret. Uh so many of them have been mentors of mine and I'm forever grateful for the opportunities and support they've collectively given to me over the years. Uh to our community leaders, development partners, nonprofit organizations, our partners in state government. Thank you, Senator, for being with us. Um I've been honored to serve alongside many of you, including our other local government agencies across the region. The commitment of our regional leaders in making our two counties great has really been at the heart of all of our successes. We can't do any of what we've done alone. What I'll cherish most, however, are the relationships I've built along the way, most significantly with my work family. The dedication, talent, and heart of my fellow city employees has been a

constant source of inspiration. I'm profoundly profoundly thankful for your support, your collaboration, your friendship through all these years. As I step into the next next chapter, I look forward to spending more time with my family, pursuing personal and professional interest, and continuing to cheer on the city I love from a brand new vantage point. While I may be retiring from my position, I will never retire from caring deeply about this community and the people who make it so special. Finally, I'm so grateful to my wife, Kelly, my adult children, Tyler and Rachel, for their love and support along the way. There's no way I could have lasted this long without you. I'll be leaving the city with a full heart and great confidence in the future of this place. Thank you for the time, Mayor. We're getting ready to go into city council comments. I'm going to go ahead and jump the gun on them and say thanks a lot, Mike, for everything you've done.

I don't think we would I don't know that the veterans would be here if it hadn't been for you. So, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Do we have any comments from city council when we're going to go right down the line? Mr. Pay, will you go ahead?

Yeah. So, after hearing many concerns from residents and trying to figure out a way of preserving a piece of Canapapolis history, I believe it is time to consider establishing a historic preservation commission and potentially creating a historic district, especially after what happened on Vance Street and the removal of all those millhouses. I would like for staff to look into this topic and potentially bringing back more information pertaining to it. The second thing was I recently attended a presentation given by our state representative Dr. Grant Campbell. In that presentation, he talked about hemp and the lack of state regulations around it. Hemp is a variety of the cannabis sativa plant grown specifically for industrial and commercial use. After listening to the presentation and witnessing how many smoke shops we have in our city, especially within close proximity of public schools and Canapapolis City Schools, I would like to ask staff to invite Representative Campbell to come and give the presentation at a future council meeting.

Thank you, Mr. Pine. Miss Hatchel. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Um, I was at the presentation with Mr. Payne for with Dr. Campbell and was really hope that we can get that information out to our citizens. Um, especially since technically there's no legal age limit like anybody can buy this stuff.

So, it's very concerning for the children of Canapapolis um and the state. Um, also too, I just wanted to report back to the citizens kind of some of the stuff. It's been a busy month um and an exciting month. I just want to highlight a couple events. Last Wednesday, uh, Mr. Payne, Miss Dixon, and Mr. Le, we had the honor of attending the Cabaris Summit, which is where the municipal leaders of Cabaris County, which are cities and the commissioners, and there were actually some state delegation there, and it was good because we were able to connect and talk about different issues. I want to thank Mr. Le because he um updated everyone with what was going on in Canapapolis. So, thank you for that. Um, just highlight a couple things that we learned there. for the uh Cabaris County Animal Shelter. Um it's it it's a great place. I would it's they're having some barriers. They the place is over 25 years old, all that kind of stuff. So I just encourage anyone if you're looking for a pet, please go to the animal shelter and or if you don't need a pet, you want to volunteer somewhere, it's a good place. So just want to throw that out there. The other thing that I wanted to bring back to the citizens of Canapapolis, especially since I see there are some state employees out here, aka teachers, um the delegation from Cabaris that was there, meaning our house representatives and the state senator have assured us there that they're working very hard to get our state budget balanced, which is very important to our teachers. And they also said that they're putting pressure on the leadership of both the house and the state that you're welcome to join them in that or you can talk to them too. They'll keep putting that pressure out there. I just say that because we have a lot of citizens that I know are teachers and do work for the state. Um the the other event that I just wanted to highlight was the Christmas parade. I I just want to say first of all, thank you for the staff. An amazing event. Thank you so much for the hard work that you put into it. Whether you were parks and wreck, whether you were this uh police keeping us safe, the fire trucks that were there, congrats to Al Brown for sweeping all the awards. So great job all. I told Mr. pain. When we left, I

said, I feel like I was in a Hallmark movie. But it really I mean downtown was absolutely beautiful. So all those things were fantastic, but really the most the best part of it was the citizens. I have to say after riding through there and seeing so many beautiful faces from the little children to the grandparents to the parents that were there, it was just a great reminder of why we serve and that our best asset of Canapapolis is the citizens. the citizens that came out there to celebrate the spirit of the season, the hope, the joy, and the love. So, thank you guys for being that great community, and I look forward to serving you more. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Dixon.

Thank you. Since this is uh our illustrous city manager's last meeting sitting here on the dis um I just want to say that for the past four years and two months I have enjoyed sitting here beside of you and even before that when I served on the planning board when you were um a planner of some kind with Benchmark. Um, also I received a call from you uh sometime after that service to serve on the newcomers commission and that was u indeed an a great experience. And so just knowing you over these years and then um recently having you join the crew on Inville Road as a as my neighbor. Uh, I really really appreciate you and um traveling with you and having you coordinate the the trips that we've made together to seek information uh n nationalationally that we could bring back and share with the citizens and residents of Canapapolis. You have uh been a professional manager in every sense of the word and I have appreciated serving with you and I thank you. And as you ride off into the sunset, I hope that smile gets bigger. Thank you, Jean. Much appreciated,

Mr. Dav.

Thank you, Mayor. Um, I'll um echo the sentiments of Miss Dixon and Miss Hatchel and Mr. Payne. Um, you know, Mike, you've uh you and I have been together a long time, and I appreciate you and Eddie and the staff for allowing me to become an intern in 2008 when I was in college and getting to learn about the city from a very intricate standpoint. and I guess justifying or or ensuring what I thought I wanted to do in being a part of Canapapolis government in some shape or form. I always said I wanted to be the city manager, but uh you weren't going anywhere, so I gave up on that. And uh so then I decided to to get on the board of adjustment and the council at the time appointed me to that and served there and then eventually this board of course. And I just appreciate you giving me a chance back then, allowing me into the office uh to be a part of things, helping write the history book and looking at city hall sites and police department sites and I mean all kinds of crazy stuff that that that era of time uh that was 5 years out from the mill closing. So we were a very different place than we are today for sure and had a lot of different challenges and you faced all of them with the same can do spirit that you faced the past 14 years of me being on this board that I've seen you do and being open and willing to listen to some of us and our crazy ideas that we've had and um bounce those ideas off of you and and see a lot of those crazy ideas to fruition. So appreciate wholeheartedly what you've done and look forward to seeing you around town um through it all. Just uh what Miss Hatchel and Mr.

Payne was talking about as far as the U hemp thing. I would be I'd love to hear Mr. Campbell's presentation. So maybe we can get that set up uh coming up and of course the historic thing. I you know I'm a history guy so love to be a part of whatever discussion on that. And that leads me to my next question. I think Wilmer may be the person that could answer this, but the state highway historical markers that have been up on 29 and various places that the state erected many years ago, there's one down at the cloverleaf cloverleaf at the QT. It's the it's the marker for James W. cannon and it is being it's faded out really badly and and there used to be one over on 29 at the Rowan Cabaris line. The Granville grant is what it was representative of and I think it's I don't know where it's at right now, but I'd like to check in and maybe the senator can actually help us with that. Try to revise or or restore some of those that are around because that one is really badly faded at um at QT. I saw it yesterday and I need to need to bring that up. So,

we'll reach out to the department and get that reported. Okay. Thank you very much. Miss Barry, do you have anything? Yeah, I just want to say to Mike, thank you for your vast knowledge, your endurance, and your extreme patience. We will be forever grateful. Thank you. Thank you, Diane. Mr. Jackson.

Yes. I uh kind of think back to 2013 when um I decided to run for Canapapolis City Council and we we only had one business downtown. I was the last the last guy standing down there. And when this whole discussion with the with the council about approaching Murdoch and purchasing downtown seemed uh impossible. It seemed like a dream, but it worked. and you you guided us through the whole the whole process and really made a lot of folks here look good on the city council cuz I mean you did a lot of hard work and and kept us out of trouble and and we got it done and of course it's today it kind of speaks for itself. Um, when the first day you you sent out the letter about your resignation, I I called Mike up and I said, "Um, Mike, I had a horrible dream last night." I said, 'I dreamed I got a letter and you said you were resigning, but um you know, it kind of felt like to me if anybody's ever got their private pilot lessons and you're flying along there with your instructor and all of a sudden he land you land and he opens the door and gets out of the plane and he says, "You're on your own now." That's kind of way I felt when I when I first heard that. But uh we really do appreciate it. you've I've learned a a tremendous amount about municipal business, you know, in budgets. Um, you know, we we're running a hundred million dollar company here with 400 employees. Um, and we've been assigned and voted to

represent the people here to to monitor and make good decisions and you've always uh have always led us in the right direction. So, thank you, Mike. Thank you, Darl. Appreciate that. Kelly, I'm not going to leave you out. So, if you have anything to say, please join in. No, I will. For my short time, I appreciate working with you, Mike. Thank you.

Let me say one thing. I got everybody else got a shot in here. So, and this goes back to what Mr. Jackson said. In May of 2014, at a council meeting, Mr. Devont was supposed to be with me. He cpped out on me and said his back was hurt. phone. I had this crazy idea and I went up to Mike and I said, "Mike, I think it's maybe we need to talk to Mr. Murdoch about buying downtown." And several people around me looked a little shocked, but he had a good sense to say, "You might be on to something." And you see where we are today. So, this is a man of vision among everything else. So, I just asked a question. So, thank you again. Appreciate it, mayor.

Let's give the man one more round of applause. And now, as we have already addressed, we're honored to have the man himself, Senator Carl Ford, here to do something very special for us. He's going to administer the oath to M Mr. Melton. Put your left hand on the Bible and raise your right hand. I, Wilmer Melton III, do solemnly and sincerely swear that I will support the Constitution and laws of the United States, that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the state of North Carolina, and to the constitutional powers and authorities which are or may be established for the government thereof, and that while I will endeavor to support, maintain, and defend the Constitution of said state, not inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States, to the best of my knowledge and ability, ability. So help me God.

I do. I, Wilmer Melton III, do swear that I will well and truly execute the duties of the office of city manager for the city of Canapapolis according to the best of my skill and ability, according to the law. So help me God. I do.

Congratulations. I I'll address the uh clerk. Madam clerk, if this is the paper I'm supposed to sign and turn in, I've written all over it. But we'll do whatever you want me to do. Thank you, Senator Ford.

Yes, sir. All right. All right. Unless we have any something I don't see on here, we it's time for us to go to a close session. So, I'm going ask Mayor Pro Tim Dav to get us there. Thank you, Mayor. I'll make a motion to close this. Uh oh. Sorry, Mr. M. Congratulations. Start over. I'll try that again.

Yeah. Um, Mr. Mayor, I'll move to close the session pursuant to GS143-318.11a3 to consult with an attorney in order to preserve the attorney client privilege. Is there a second? Second, Mr. Payne. All in favor, raise your hand, please. We're now in close session. We're going to take a 15-minute recess before we go. And I'd like for anybody wants to wish Mr. Le well and welcome Mr. Melton to take this opportunity. Thank you for coming tonight. We'll see you in two weeks.