City Council - Regular Meeting

and welcome everybody to our city council meeting tonight, February 23rd. And uh if we will can we go ahead and do our silent moment here and then Mr. Payne's going to lead us in the pledge. If you please stand. Join me.

I aliance 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.

All right. Uh before we adopt the agenda, we got a couple of people we want to recognize. We got privileged to have Dr. New with us here tonight from Canapapolis City Schools. And I think uh Miss Dixon has somebody she wants to recognize. Yes. Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. We have uh Sayia Wade with us. She is a student at the Cabaris College of Life Sciences and she's here. She's interested in municipal government moving forward and so we just welcome her here for her observation. Okay, council, we have an we need an adoption on this agenda. Mayor, I move for approval.

Sir, I'd like to move to pull a minute. We need a second here. Second. Second, Mr. Dixon. All in favor? I thought we were doing the consent agenda. I'm on adoption and main agenda. I think he's making Yeah. You want to pull it off? I wanted to pull some consent. Consent. That's for the consent and put in the business. We need to do the regular. Okay. Mr. Jackson, now we have a second on this one. Second. Second. All in favor? Okay. Now, uh, speakers from the floor,

uh, point of information, do we move the item C and put in the business agenda?

Time to make a motion for when we call for the adoption of the consent agenda. If you would like to um speak um and address council, you may do so at this time, but I need one of these cards filled out. If you'd like to address council, these cards are found on the table outside this room. I have a few cards now, mayor and council. And the first speaker I have is Martin Wheeler. Okay. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the town council. I am Martin Wiggler. I'm president of the Allabboard Carolina's group, also part of the Carolina's Association of Pastor Trains nonprofit. I'm speaking tonight in behalf of the Charlotte chapter of the group, which is doing an effort to try to get uh knowledge about the train stop situation in many of the towns along the Piedmont corridor. We thank you for the opportunity to speak to you about this. We think it's very important for the Canapapolis area. On July the 10th of 2023, the NC DOT rail division implemented a new train schedule adopting additional train between Charlotte and Raleigh. But in the effort to achieve the Charlotte Raleigh travel time of under three hours, two of the train stops were dropped on those routes and those stops include stops in Canapapolis, Salsbury, High Point, and Burlington. The regular scheduled trip between Charlotte and Raleigh is 3 hours and 10 minutes. By reducing the stops, you get a a speed of uh 2 hours and 58 minutes. So, you save 12 minutes of time in skipping those train stops. This schema directly affects the Canapapolis area. The limits the ability to work late at the research

campus here for people coming in from out of town. Students returning from college in Greensboro, Durham, and Raleigh must either leave at midday or wait till later in the evening uh arriving here after 9:30 at night. Uh the schedule limits day trips from Raleigh to Durham unless you're willing to get home very late. Imagine trying to take your children to the museum in Raleigh and you can't get back home until 9:30 at night uh coming back from that trip. So, there are many opportunities that that are lost uh because of this situation. We think the only way that the situation possibly could be rectified is to have all of the area representatives contact the North Carolina senators and state representatives for your area. Express your concern about this and ask them to pressure the North Carolina DOT rail division to consider uh adding these stops back. I will add that there's actually another train to be added in the next couple of years. So we I certainly would hope that you wouldn't want your stops eliminated on that one as well. So it's put we feel it's important that that that all of us are paying for these through tax dollars and we get the most opportunity we can through tax dollars from from those in this region. We thank you for your attention and your consideration. We have provided some documentation for you to look at and we look forward to working with you if possible to uh continue in our effort to make this happen. Thank you very much. Yes, sir. The next speaker I have is Mr. Phil Goodman. My name is Phil Goodman. A 105 Central Drive, Canapapolis. don't want to bore you folks on the council up here, but I just feel there's a couple things I really want to say. Number one, I want

to give a hands out to Michael Rattler. Uh I'm one of these citizens that drives around and looks for potholes and roads that need repair. And uh I grew up on Ruth Avenue and Ruth Avenue is a total disaster. Not your fault. Uh I know the state's the one that directed that, but it is a disaster. And I called last Friday uh and talked to one of the ladies that answered the phone. She said I would turn it over and I saw Michael at the meeting on Saturday and I was telling him about it. They were out today and fixed the intersection at Brantley Road and Ruth Avenue with stone crusher run stone. Those run the the shoulder of the road was sometimes six and 8 in drop off and with newer cars that can mess up the front end. So I know he's probably not here. I'm not going to look around to see, but he deserves a big pat on the back and his crew cuz they're the ones that get the job done. Secondly, I took advantage of the opportunity to go to the uh retreat meeting again this past Saturday and uh overwhelmed I think is a good word to use. Uh I hope there's a lot of people listening on uh to this tonight from home to see our council working together can disagree can have different opinions can say I I just can't support that but at the end of the day come out saying what are we doing for the betterment of our citizens and our city that is so overwhelmingly positive and I just want to congratulate all y'all like I said Saturday, you are doing what the taxpayers pay you to do. And on behalf of whoever I might represent tonight, we want to thank you very much. Uh and just keep up the good work. And I promise you, I won't do this every week, but you guys are on a roll. Uh the the

camaraderie is the word I want to use that I saw the other day. Camaraderie. Come together, work as a team. Everybody respected. there wasn't people talking over the top of each other. You even endured the mayor's funny jokes at times and I take my hat off to you for that. U but just appreciate everything you folks are doing. Thank you,

Mr. Kelvin Wilkersonson. Good evening. My name is Kelvin Wilkerson. For those of you that don't know me, I live at 518 Walter Street in Canapapolis. I want to congratulate all of you. It's a pleasure to see new faces in here. I was so worried we wasn't going to get them. But thank y'all and I hope this new city council can do the job we need done. Uh, the old city council had a tax and spend agenda. I hope y'all don't keep that. I hope y'all throw that out the window. Uh, most of you know that I'm against the city buses and the money spent there. And I hope that y'all look at that. And I know we can't get rid of public transportation, but let's see if we can't cut it down to where it's affordable for for people to ride and affordable for the citizens to pay for. Uh what's going on now, don't even pay the drivers, the money that's tucked in. Uh people can afford to pay a little a little more to ride them. I probably pay more I got my tag bill today. The city fee on my cars is more a year than some of these people are paying to ride the bus. That's not right. Uh I hope y'all can do that. Another thing I had was the free concerts at the park. I don't think anybody ought to get free concerts. Everything nothing's free. Every somebody has to

pay for it. and the citizens is the ones paying for all this. You know, it's not right for us to pay for concerts that we're not even coming to. Uh like I say again, congratulations and I hope this city council will change things in this city and make it better and easier for us to pay for. I thank y'all and I appreciate you. Most of you know me and I usually say what I think and I think Mr. Wilson can tell you that I'm not good at public speaking but I I do when I say something it's coming from my head it's in my heart I mean what I say and I I'm pretty upfront with what I say too. I think Mr. Wilson can tell you that. Thank y'all. Have a good night.

Thank you sir. Mr. Justin Lutter. I knew I was next cuz I'm here to ask for some free stuff. Uh my name is Justin Lutter, 1832 Marian Court, Wateride Landing Subdivision. I'm asking that the city consider a parcel of public land centrally located perhaps up to an acre for public community gardens. I think uh community gardens have their own value. One, they provide food for folks. Uh they allow people to come together and build community. Um I think a centrally located space would be optimal for people. I know we have private lands and churches have community gardens, but uh if you're not practicing that faith or if you're not comfortable in that church setting, this would be a great place for people, residents in the community who uh would love to grow food but don't have the the means to do so. allow them a small parcel that uh the city can offer up and allow people to grow their own food, participate uh in a community building activity, and uh just be a resource for those in need. That's it. The last card I have is for um Tracy McGinness. I come up here to talk about the Constitution. I found out a lot because I started studying on it. Uh I found out that nobody that's really working in the government knows much about the Constitution. I'm asking it to uphold my

rights when I try to stand on the constitution because u I found out that and a lot of people don't know this but I found out every license out there is against the constitution because the 14th amendment says that we all have life the pursuit of life liberty and happiness. Well my liberty is I I can feed myself. So I can't feed myself not unless I pay the government four or five different ways to do that. If I want to go fishing, go get me a daggum fish out of a pond, I have to buy a fishing license. Well, I think that's against the Constitution because now I can't feed myself. Not unless I pay the government. Uh I can't even go to the grocery store and get it a gallon of milk. Not unless I pay the government. So, what I'm what I done, I done some research and I found out that every license is against the Constitution. I got I got case laws on it, Supreme Court cases and all that, but nobody seems to know nothing about it. And what's so sad about it is is, you know, like our the fourth the fourth amendment says, we all got the right to stay secure and our effects, our papers, our names. We don't have to give our address up or nothing like that. That's we're breaking the law. Coming through the door today, I had to give up my name and my address and everything just to come up here to talk and I had to get searched and all my stuff seized from me. And I didn't break no law. I just wanted to come up here and talk. So, the Constitution seems like we don't have one no more because I can't think of not one right that we have that we don't have to pay for in one way or the other. And I was just kind of hoping that and I do got a court date coming up and I've been there several times and I win my cases and every time I win my case that brings up the city for litigation. I'm a nice guy. I don't want to do that. Uh, and I know a lot of people don't know this, so this could be new to something to everybody, but the Constitution has been around for a long time. I would I don't expect so much for the regular people to know it, but everybody that holds their hand up and

takes an oath to it, I would expect y'all to know the Constitution or whoever holds their hand up and do it. That includes the cops and everything else. So when I put a tag on the back of my car, there goes my fourth amendment again because any cop gets behind you. He can and and don't get me wrong, I know why we do it. It just it's still against the constitution. So it's not like I'm ignorant of why we do it, but you know, um the last time I was up here and I talked about the the the last mayor and city attorney, they did send somebody down there to talk to the judge about it. And because a lot of judges don't want to listen, you know, they They kind of got their own thing going on. But like I said, nobody know much about the Constitution. I'm just come up here asking y'all to uphold my rights, you know, and that's about it. And I found out that we can't own anything. Like, you're supposed to be able to own your home when you pay it off, but you don't. Cuz if I quit paying the government every year, they tell me to pay it, then they say it can take my home from me. And now, a lot of people don't know that. Now, I can't really much tell the difference between what the mob used to do. They used to use threats and violence against people so they could take money from people and I don't know the difference between what the government's doing. They say the same thing. They say if you don't pay us your money, we'll use some kind of violence against you. And I I just want to bring that to your attention. And uh if we want to talk sometime in private, like I said, I got all the stuff already lined up for you and everything. Thank you. here.

Okay. Now, we're going to move on to consent agenda. And I think Mr. Payne now, yeah, we're back to you, sir. I move uh to remove item C from the consent agenda and put in the business agenda. Second on that. Second. All in favor of removing it. Okay. We're going to move that then to item F on the business agenda. Okay. So now we need to approve an amended consent agenda. I move to you to do that. Thank all in favor. Thank you. And we're on to the business agenda now. So um let's see here. Mr. Smith, you're there already. You're getting quicker every time I look up. You're already there. Go ahead.

Well, the good news is I only have one item for you tonight. So I do have a voluntary annexation request. This property is there's two lots actually, 110 and 120 Homestead Avenue located in our Rowan County portion uh of our ETJ. Uh the request is by the property owners there. Uh Nathaniel Quan is actually one of the property owners. He actually plans to purchase the property south of this property as well. Uh they're contiguous to one another, but they're not contiguous to our current city limits. So, uh the request is voluntary and it is located in our ETJ. The property is located uh off of the area of Homestead and Sea Street. It's actually south uh west of Canapapolis Lake in that particular area of the city. And we do have an annex annexation survey in your uh packet. I'm I'm trying to go with no PowerPoint before you tonight. So, I'm going for mine. So, so what we need to do tonight is hold a public hearing on this item and then if you see fit to approve the ordinance we have before you tonight. So, I'll be glad to answer any questions you have before or after the public hearing. Mayor

questions for Mr. Smith. All right, I guess I'm going to open the public hearing. Anybody wants to speak on this topic, please come forward now. Don't see anyone. So, we're going to close it. Okay. We're going to have a motion for this ordinance. So moved, Mr. Pay. Second, Mr. D. Okay. All in favor? Okay. Mr. Smith. Thank you, Miss Wong.

Good evening. Um, so in December of 2023, the city council uh approved a grant for cooperative Christian ministry for uh to go towards the purchase of the Caremore uh facility for the purpose of transit um converting that to a transitional housing uh program. And part of that agreement included uh CCM providing an annual report to city council um about the progress and status of of that program and facility. So um you should have already received that uh the written report uh but we have Ed Hosak here tonight to uh provide you uh more of an update and in-depth detail. I will say he provided um some handouts tonight um which hopefully you have for to reference and if anyone from the public needs those handouts they are out by that um table when you enter. So with that I will turn it over to Ed.

Thank you um mayor and and council members. It's a privilege always uh to be before you. Uh I want to I want to acknowledge that tonight is an opportunity for us to celebrate a relationship between Cooperative Christian Ministry and the city of Canapapolis. Since 1987 when Canapapolis Christian Ministry became a part of Cabera's Cooperative Christian Ministry that led us to the organization that uh for for many years we've called Cooperative Christian Ministry or or CCM. In 2003, uh, CCM sort of came of age at the closing of the mill when many referred to and recognized CCM as the hub of the collaborative effort that happened right here in Canapapolis, where myself and hundreds, if not thousands of others stood in line to try to reestablish insurance and whatever other benefits families needed. Since that time, I've spent 20 years as the executive at Cooperative Christian Ministry. And what a privilege that's been. During that time, uh, or since that time, I guess you would say, that CCM has grown to over 30 different properties and locations in Cabaris and southern Rowan County. Uh, the vast majority of which are located right here in Canapapolis, many of them known only to the families that they serve. Um, and most recently, I suppose, our administrative office, our headquarters, if you will, where my office is located on Canon Boulevard. It's a privilege to be here, um, and to be sharing with you today a little bit more about this relationship. So, as Irene uh just noted, um, both of the, uh, documents I have in front of me are at the door on the podium. Um, and in 2003, um, the city of Canapapolis and Cooperative Christian Ministry collaborated

through the use of ARP funds, American Rescue Plan, uh, funds uh, to initiate a project that I believe uh, we can celebrate now and I believe our community is going to be celebrating for years to come. I want to just give you an update on on uh the very busy and very challenging process we've been going through to uh convert a uh progressive retirement community. A community that has four buildings on the 5.3 acre campus um that has provided assisted living uh and independent living for seniors for over 30 years. But for the past two years, cooperative Christian ministry has p been pursuing transitional h housing as per our agreement with the city um to reach a a goal level of 75% uh attention to families families with children within a 5-year period. We're two years into our five-year agreement uh in in making those conversions on the property. Um the part of the reason it'll take five years is is number one we're in a regulatory environment and so as we convert one building at a time um regul regulation would require that we can't mix families and and seniors in licensed care in the same building. So we have to convert an entire building at a time. As we convert these buildings from senior living to to facilities that can house uh families with children. Uh there's much that needs to take place as it relates to serving children, even even um the the bathroom. There's only one bathtub on the entire campus. Uh so you can imagine the work that's ahead of us there. Making changes um in the kitchen, which will go from serving a very common meal to 48 folks to potentially someday serving over 70 different individuals, young and old, intergenerational campus with a variety menu. So, we've made

improvements to the kitchen, some upgrades. We've upgraded the kitchen staff, uh, and reinforced that. We've had to change a hot water system because a whole lot more baths and showers are coming down the road. the security system, uh, the septic system, Caremore was on a was on five septic systems, um, that we thought would last a little longer than they did, but when they started showing some age rather than investing in those systems, we converted to the city system, uh, which was a significant project, a significant undertaking, but nevertheless, that's been accomplished. I want to show you a few things as we go through so that you can follow with me. Um you do have uh a picture in your package that represents Grace Place at Caremore and anyone would have that who has the package. And you can see on the campus um the 5.3 acres uh going all the way back to the tree line. Um the building on the right, you might say it's at 3:00 in the picture, uh is the building that has been converted to um the Grace Place Apartments. Um there are six apartments there. Um, that space has been converted. I wish we had the ability to show you beautiful pictures of that space. We actually were able to move uh our first families in, two families in June of 2025, six months ahead of schedule. The reason we were able to do that is because these two families had middle school age children. And so some of the conversions that are necessary for young children weren't necessary for these families to move in. Since that time, we've had three families in the program. Our fourth family is getting ready to move in at the end of this month, the beginning of March. One of those families has already graduated. She found full employment and was able to uh secure housing near her new job. Part of our challenge is developing the programming and learning how to combine uh a multigenerational campus and the facilities and the

services um that we're providing. But we're moving ahead. Um, in this picture there's there's a house behind the main facility uh sitting next to the storage buildings. That's the carriage house. The carriage house residents have been um progressed into the assisted living uh environment in the main building. That house is now empty and by the end of March will be renovated and converted and ready to receive women and children. So, we're very excited about that for six more beds to becoming available. Part of the challenge that we're working through as we do this each each one of these when we free up six apartments in one of these buildings, we we take $30,000 a month out of the revenue stream for this operation. So to date, we've taken 12 rooms out or $60,000 a month out of the revenue stream. Now, that's where we're heading. Eventually, as these families move in, um there will be some revenue as these families will pay a rent according to their ability and where they are in the program. But as you can see, it's something that we need to do gradually while we continue to invest to to date. Um uh well, when we purchased the property, we purchased it for a price of $5 million. Um the ARP funds allocated by the city uh was a grant for 3,000 and CCM signed a promisary note for two excuse me for three million. Um and uh CCM signed a promisary note for $2 million to be paid at a million dollars a year. It was paid off in December of 2025. We're very excited about that. We've invested 572,000 additional dollars in some of the conversions and improvements getting ready for um children to enter this space with their families. In addition to that, um well included in that is a playground um that will be completed by the end of March. Um the playground

itself, let me just go back to the picture if you will. In the very middle of the property, there's a little white building and a metal building behind it. um along the fence line. Both of those buildings have been removed. Um old storage buildings. They weren't serving any programmatic purpose. Um and the fence has been removed to be moved backwards backwards on the property. So that we're creating on the right hand side along along the side of the property the new playground about a $75,000 playground will be installed by the end of March. We're creating play space back there for the children and the children will be able to access all of that. moving down the right hand border of the property um which is a safe space for them. So that is part of the 572,000. Um additionally uh it's our goal to establish uh inline generators in this property. We had hoped to do it before now but the system septic system took precedence on that. But nevertheless, when we uh complete the inline generators on this property, um CCM's total capital investment in this property will exceed in fact the city's investment. And we are most grateful for the partnership that you have created with us. Just a note about many of these families, three of these three families who have been in the program, one of who has already graduated in this period that was actually ahead of schedule. Um all three of these um mothers um experienced a surgery during this first six months period. We don't normally expect that except that often when when single moms are facing crisis and keeping just keeping their head above water and their children housed um they tend to neglect their own health situation. And so to find stability, to find peace of mind, to find safety um uh allows them to begin to address the challenges they face. Taking the time to

have these surgeries would not have been possible um under the environment that they were previously in just trying to keep their head above water and we're thrilled to be a part of that. They have paid off debt. Uh they have improved their credit. They have uh paid old tax bills. Um maintained cars and even purchased a new car. and and that's what this program allows them to do once they find stability. So, we're very pleased with where we are right now. Uh mom with two children will be moving up from our mothers and children's facility like I said uh at the first of March or during that first week. Um and we will continue to uh build the program, bring the families in um as we uh uh develop this program and become more accustomed to children and their moms being in in this environment. Um so once again, the carriage house will come online in March. We're excited about that. That will allow us the opportunity for 12 families on the campus. We'll continue to work toward that. We're well on schedule for our five-year goal to be at 75%. And just a note that um perhaps is of interest to some in the room because CCM serves seniors as well. In fact, many of you know that senior adults are the fastest growing population in Cabaris County of folks who are in housing crisis. We intend uh the Lord willing to continue doing licensed care in the main building of Caremore as these other buildings transition. Um we believe that it's important to our community and that for many of the graduates of our program or folks who have been in our program um assisted living is the next step and we have lost uh over 150 assisted living beds in Cabaris County in the past year. we do not need to to zero that number. And so we hope to continue to do that as a little bit of a sustainability model to help support the campus. Um and uh you'll see that as part of what we're

doing. We had the privilege um of recognizing Miss Coren Canon as you did so appropriately not long ago, but uh over a year ago, she and I celebrate the same birthday. And on her birthday, on her 105th birthday, she's 40 years ahead of me. Um, we started the Cororeine Cannon Scholarship at Caremore. Uh, we now have three residents at, uh, Caremore who are receiving licensed assisted living care who would not otherwise be able to afford it without the Cory and Canon scholarship. We are very excited about telling those stories and building that u scholarship fund um, so that we can provide another kind of care to folks who would not have access to it in our community. With that, I I I I truly would like to entertain any questions about the progress there. I do have another something that I can't wait to share with you, but I don't want to change the subject before you're ready.

Have any questions for Mr. Hack? It's too late. Miss Dixon, we'll we'll just take in order down the line here. You want me to go first, sir? Senator, go. Go ahead, Miss Dixon.

Thank you for your presentation and for the service that you provide to our community. Uh my qu I have two questions. Are all the adult residents are they employed prior to being residents at Caremore in your transition program? So, so the answer to that question is yes. Um, presently um the Grace Place at Caremore program is located as a third step that a family goes through in our path to stability model. So what we call my father's house, the annex, which is located at uh Memorial Baptist Church in Canabis on their campus, is our entry point um where four or five mothers and their children can enter our program. Um and that first that first six months is a very challenging time of adjustment with some intensive and very specific uh types of of care management. From there, moms will often graduate with their children to our mother's what we call our mothers and children's facility which is located in Concord across from the Boys and Girls Club where they have another year to sort of ch choose direction and gain momentum and develop some disciplines and pay off debt and those types of things. Um they graduate from the mothers and children's facility into Grace Place at Caremore right now. We will open up that model a bit in the future, but presently that's a very successful model. And so all three of the families in four and now in fact for the one who's coming in uh mom is employed, stable, the kids are stable in school and performing. They're part of our tutoring program. Um and they're they've developed many of the disciplines that we're looking for to be in an environment such as this.

Thank you. Yeah. And my second question is do do all of the your residents who that are employed do they have their own transportation or do you provide transportation for them?

Presently all of them do. Um now um we recognize that we have we have mothers coming through the mothers and children's program right now who do not um who utilize both public transportation and Uber or Lyft in order to accomplish all that they need to accomplish. We do cooperative Christian ministry. Each one of our our congregate facilities has a van, a transportation van, and we do provide some specialized or urgent transportation for the residents in our program. So, we can work with them. Obviously, uh as they come into the program, some are employed and some are not. And and becoming employed is is a priority in our program. By the time they've been with us six months, typically they are employed. Um, some in that second phase realize that the job they have isn't going to help them reach their goals and it's time to start over and what that's what they get an opportunity to do in the second phase of our program. I tell you all of this to tell you that becoming employed, paying off debt and improving credit are all priorities after stabilizing health and stabilizing school. Um, but very early on if they do not have a car, then we begin be begin working with them and educating them on what it takes to own a car, what the cost of owning a car is, getting their driver's license if they don't have one. We had one recently got her driver's license, um, and and then helping them get to the place where they can in fact provide their own transportation. There are a number of challenges and disciplines as it relates to owning a car that you and I perhaps don't think about. But if you're the only one in the family or only one in the community who owns a car, you are very vulnerable um to be taken advantage of relationally in terms of providing your time and your gas um and it can interrupt life tremendously. So it's an important step and it's one that really needs to be educated before they step into that world if they if they haven't been there before. So now we had some wonderful conversations prior to purchasing

Caremore with um u the transit uh authority here and uh and and like the idea of developing some microtransit opportunities. Um we think there's room for that especially out on the Parkway and uh so we will continue to be creative as we develop our own solutions but I think there's more out there that we can do as a community. Thank you. I'm going to go ahead.

Yes. Thank you Mr. Mayor. Um Mr. Hosak. Thank you again for being here. Um appreciate the work that CCM has been doing for years in this community. It's really made a difference. It's what makes this area special when you have groups like you that take care of people. Um one of the questions I did want to ask you is have you found that the sense of community has helped among like those single moms especially like you said they had medical needs. Um is that been kind of also some of the support that has helped them while they are there?

Yeah. So this is so uh Grace Place at Carebor is is our third congregate type environment. Um the other two have been in place for quite some time. Although this is the first one where they have their own apartment as opposed to living in a room and sharing bathrooms and that type of thing. Um it is critical. It is absolutely critical. Um and we have some we have some videos out that that folks can see moms um just sharing their story on a couch. Uh they they do what they call check-in at each of the facilities. Uh every week they do a check-in, they check in with each other. It's a support mechanism. Um it's tremendous to know that you're not the only one struggling. Um they watch each other's children. They encourage each other. They cry on each other's shoulders. They build each other up. Um it's tremendously helpful. Um and then um to watch some of the other presently the independent living senior ladies um share a dining room with the families and um it's it's just wonderful to see the encouragement, the relationship um children who may have be estranged from grandparents um just learning how to be around old people like me. Um so uh it's it's great to see. It's tremendous. And then I think I'm getting ahead of you, but one of the things I appreciate about this community, I've had several people ask me, "Where are places I can serve or what can I do to help?" Um, what you're talking about here is just a tip of the iceberg of what you guys have because you really do to go from crisis to restoration. Um, is there some information out there that we could get to like the public here tonight just to say, "Hey, if you want to donate, volunteer, that type of thing, where would be the best place for them to look for that?" I would say our website um cooperativeministry.com. If you type in cooperativechristian ministry in this area, you're going to get our website and just go there and look at volunteering opportunities. Um otherwise visit visit a facility that

you know to be CCM um and ask and um many of our churches are very aware. Um many churches in Canapapolis uh support cooperative Christian ministry and are engaged in different ways. Um, so rest assured we have many ways to be involved out at Caremore. And of course, Caremore served as a as a for-profit entity for a lot of years and did some wonderful work. But, uh, one of the challenges of assisted living that is out there today in in in society. Um, is it it tends to feel lonely to some folks. There's just not enough staff to visit. And unfortunately, many of our residents don't see family as often as they like. But we live in a world of volunteers. Um, and one of the things that we can bring to that environment is people who want to serve and people who want to serve um in a in a capacity that that really allows them to express their their love for people and their faith and um we bring that to the environment in such a way that that can overcome some of the challenges of assisted I a living I believe that um and I shared this with Madison who is our administrator. I believe very soon when the world realizes what's happening at Caremore and the multigenerational campus and the engagement that we're building into this campus and even some of the changes we're making in the f physical structure um these are going to be the most soughtafter beds in Cabaris County for assisted living and um praise God for that

have any questions want to share it with us

I do sir thank you Um, most people who recognize cooperative Christian ministry recognize that we serve we serve tens of thousands of people through our food pantries every year. And much of that happens at the Crisis Center uh in Concord on Country Club Drive located behind the Carolina Mall uh a location uh that was built in 1989 uh on a 40-year lease. And 40-year leases do come to an end. Um we're in year 37 and so we are recognizing that um uh we will lose that property in three years. Um now logistically uh with the with the the the volumes that we're serving, the magnitude that our pantries are seeing, logistically that location's a nightmare anyway. Okay. Um but here's what something I want you to hear. Um, and you might see in your packages that uh there's also an image of the rebuilder campus that CCM is building on Cabaris Avenue in Concord. We're creating quite a presence there. Um, less than a mile from the dream center in a multiplied church in the cornerfield market, which is another large food pantry operation that does a great job. What I want you to hear, and some of you have heard this before, is that 435 Canapapolis home addresses visit that crisis center every month. Um, when this this document that some of you have was was put together, uh, the average was 436 and that was for a 15-month period that ended last March. When you look at the year 2025, the average is still 435. It's over 1,500 Canapapolis home addresses that visit the crisis center in Concord each year, averaging 435 households a month. There's one thing I want to call to your attention,

and that is that that means the average visit the average house the households visit an average of three and a half times a year. Many believe that that food pantries are are abused that people will go every sing they're allowed to go once a month. They could go 12 times a year, but they average going three and a half times a year. It's because folks are going to the pantry when they need it. When they need it to help them get through a month, it is not being taken advantage of. But 435 times every single month, a Canapapolis address um shows up at the crisis center in Concord, a crisis center that's going away in three years. It's not logical for us to move it to the hub that we're creating on Cabaris Avenue because the Cornerfield Market is right up the street. And I believe that we can best serve our community by creating a Canapapolis service center so that these 1500 households and perhaps more who can't get to the crisis center in Concord um would have the opportunity not only to have access to our full-time the only five day a week day and evening pantry in Cabaris County. uh and they would have access to it. In our studies over the past year or two, what we've recognized is that there's an intersection on CA on Canon Boulevard at Jackson Park and Lane Street where the the wall the Walgreens and the CVS are located. Um that um intersection has four quadrants. Uh the US Department of Agriculture, USDA, has identified three of those four quadrants as food deserts. When you look at that location, um, sitting right there next to the intersection is College Station is I believe we call it where the community

college has the cosmetology school and there's a Dollar General and there's a shopping center there. um that shopping center. When you look at all of the requirements necessary to have a high volume food pantry, whether it's traffic flow, parking, bus access, um and many of the other things that are necessary, that location checks every box. College Station is um a property that the city owns. Um there is vacant space in there now. Um, our plan is to have a crisis a Canapapolis service center um before August of 2029 when we lose the one we have. But I believe we could make that happen this year. And so what I'm going to be asking the city of Canapapolis to consider, there are a number of uh of open spaces at College Station. There are a couple is at least one that is available and large enough for a high volume food pantry that we would run like a little grocery store. And I'm asking the the city of Canapapolis to consider if you'll provide the space, we will feed your people. It's about 4,200 square feet. The rent uh rate the rental rate on that would put the cost of that at about $70,000 a year. This year CCM budgeted $70,000 to purchase groceries to supplement the donations that come in. I need to spend that $70,000 on groceries and I'd love to partner with the city once again. The space is quite adequate. CCM would handle any modifications to the space,

pay the utility bills, and manage the facility full-time. We would have our food pantry operation there. We would also have access to our financial assistance operations, which provide rental and utility assistance to residents throughout Cabaris County and southern Rowan County as all of Canapapolis. And we can do this in the short term. and I would welcome the opportunity um to come back and and talk with you and give you more detail in your package. I would like to show you one thing in your package on the back page. Um there is a map with three stars. The the little blue icons, if you will, represent the Canapapolis area addresses. Just the Canapapolis addresses that visit our crisis center at the Carolina Mall, which is represented by a green star. The green star represents our current crisis center, which is going away by August of 2029. to relocate that to the hub that we're creating in Concord, which is the brown star, adds another four and a half miles and really takes it out of the reach of some of our some of our Canapapolis neighbors. College Station is represented by the orange star in the center of all those Canapapolis addresses with access from Lane Street, Cana Boulevard, Jackson Park. Um, I think this is a great opportunity to have another win for the people of Canapapolis and I look forward to answering any questions and sitting down with you and talking about how we can partner

together to make this happen. We can do this and we can do it well and we would welcome the opportunity to do it with you. Questions now? I welcome questions now. Yes. Do we have any? I got one. Yes, sir. Ed, how big is your um facility at behind Carolina Mall?

It's 8,300 square feet. It includes a 3,300 foot warehouse. We would not move the warehouse. We're creating a bulk food warehouse on Cabaris Avenue. Um, it also includes uh a large lobby that served a different model of financial assistance that we used to do. So, the square footage we're looking at u at College Station is 4200 square feet and accomplishes all that we needed to in order to run it like a small grocery store, which means um we would deliver two or three times a week from the warehouse to the back of the store. This particular space already has a back of the store. um in order to be able to supply the shelves and and meet the needs that we need to meet.

Ed, um I think I think remember in the conversation we had recently that there was discussion that there was an outcry in the last weather issue we had that we need a warming center. Could this place double as a warming center when things got really bad out there? the the 4200 square feet of food pantry could not uh it'll it'll be full like a grocery store. Um the you have other available spaces in that shopping center, right?

Um that I believe could serve as a warming center. Uh I believe the shopping center has a tremendous potential to be a nonprofit service center. There are other nonprofits who serve our neighbors um who need space. Um I think CCM, I can't speak for my board of directors, but I believe CCM would be willing to collaborate with others to create something very positive there that not only a warming center, but in the summertime a cooling center. And then there are other seasons of the year where it could be used for other public use, whether it's public meetings or meeting space or other things. I think it lends itself very well.

Okay. All right, council. Where do we want to go with this, Dean? Thank you. U I'm hearing two opportunities here that um would certainly serve our city. first as the um distribution center that I'm assuming would operate five days a week at least.

It currently does and we don't have any plans to change the model. What we would do is make sure that we're serving the needs of Canapapolis. If we need to alter those days or alter those hours, that's what we would do. And also uh the mayor and I and uh Miss Barry have been working with a group for probably the past year um with emphasis on a warming center and a cooling center. And so this sounds like it would serve dual purposes. And so um I'm familiar with College Station through my u connection with the community college. And so I would just like to ask that we do is whatever our due diligence is to work with CCM to uh determine the feasibility of of moving in that direction.

All right. Anyone else? Go ahead, Mr. Dwell.

I appreciate the well appreciate the um conversation tonight and your presentation. It was good to see as much progress that's been done there. And of course the one in Concord. I drive by it and it's it's amazing how that meal is transforming. That's a key piece of Concord that that desperately needed help and and you're helping deliver that. Um I know years ago when you talked about other nonprofits could be located there. years ago, there was an effort, I think it was called Under One Roof, and that was going to utilize the old Target building at exit 58 as a hub for a lot of nonprofits. Red Cross, United Way, I don't I'm not sure. I don't remember about CCM. I think you were a part of that. Um, and many other nonprofits that are in Cabaris County. So, and that didn't come to fruition. There was a lot of work spent on that. So, uh, this, you know, if if we looked at it kind of holistically, if there's opportunities there, um, if we're going to keep number one, if we're going to keep that shopping center, then, uh, we need to look at opportunities to help the other nonprofits as well, kind of be, you know, a fair fair footing there. If we can offer multiple services at one place, because I I agree, it's a great location, parking is great, access is great to it. So, look forward to hearing more about it.

Thank you. Yeah. And just for clarity and in fairness, uh what I'm committing to you is to create a food pantry and financial crisis center. Um I can't deliver a warming center today. Um, but I can tell you that CCM will collaborate with others as we do in every aspect of our work um, to help leverage our platform, our experience, and our resources to help make it happen.

Okay. Well, back to what Miss Dixon suggested, then I would think that we need to ask the staff to do help us do some due diligence here. And uh Miss Long, if you could help us with this and then we will begin doing our due diligence. How about that? Yes, sir. I thank you for that. Okay. Is everybody good with that? Thumbs up. All right. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. All right. Um now I believe um we're now on Mr. Payne. Yeah. And and so we can finally get to you. I'm sorry.

We're good. Um so uh after reading the staff report on this budget amendment uh from my understanding there's excess funds from uh the fire station remodels with that capital fund project and especially after our retreat with our onetime expenditures and how we have some big public safety onetime expenditures coming up. Uh, I think it would be a good idea to transfer those funds to, uh, the public safety line, uh, more specifically, uh, fire. So that way it could help pay for some of those onetime expenditures. Miss Jones, I saw you making your way up here. You want to make the the journey complete and come on up and share some stuff with us?

Sure. Can you hear me? Yeah. Okay. Um I believe at your workspace there's a revised budget amendment or no just with the mayor. Okay. Um so there is a revised budget amendment that'll make that move. So if y'all choose to vote um as necessary, we'll sign it and we can make that happen. So move got a motion here. We got a second.

Okay, we got seconds. Thirds got all over the place. Okay, we got a fourth. Um, all in favor? All oppose? I think we're good. Okay. All right. Now, um, Mr. Manager, do you have anything?

No, sir. I don't have any reports for you this evening. Uh, I just will, uh, I'll give an announcement, general announcement if you will, though. Uh, NC DOT has some planned closures of 29. uh and as they're doing the repairs uh to uh MLK Bridge, uh one of those closures is tonight. They have several days that they'll be uh closing in the night. Uh so in the evenings they'll close. I think it's 8 or 9:00 this evening and uh that that'll be closed and then they'll open early the next morning. So just so everybody knows there will be a little bit of an inconvenience. So but uh they are making progress on the bridge improvements. Is it just both lanes or just one southbound?

They uh I know that there is it the southbound lane only, Richard. Northbound first, southbound the next. Okay. So, they're alternating. It won't be at the same time. Not at the same time. Okay. From 8 to 6 8 to 6 or I think it was 6:00 they were going to open back up is what it was. So, it was uh again a little minor inconvenience as we're making progress on that project. I know that many of you have asked about it and uh this is that progress that you wanted to see. Okay, that's all you have. That's it. Yes, sir. All right. Now, city council comments.

Mr. Just a couple of things that I'd like for this board to consider. we didn't get to during the two days of retreat time, but um we've had increasingly amount amounts of people in our community talk about how it's hard to access the city's website for agendas and meetings. I've had many struggles with it myself. So, um if we can look at revising that whole system and process, that would be great. and making the entire website more user friendly.

Um, you know, there's just a lot of things that it's that it needs from knowing what's going on around town to ease of access to being able to find um people's phone numbers and and emails and and things for departments. So, I'd love for us to look at doing that. Um, the other thing is that as things progress downtown, whether or not we do MSDs and other things, I would like for us to re-engage with the North Carolina Main Street program and get those folks back in. know years ago there was a big uh you know big effort by them to be a part and they were they were happy to be a part of what we were doing but I think it would behoove us to bring those guys back in and um talk to us and see if we're still eligible for that program to help us with downtown.

Anyone else? Mr. Mayor. Yes.

Uh first I want to say I second everything what Ryan said there. And uh so I recently had the honor of doing a ride along with our fire and police departments and I can honestly say I walked away absolutely amazed. Uh seeing firsthand the dedication, professionalism, and heart our first responders bring to their work every single day gave me an even deeper appreciation deeper appreciation for what they do for our city. The long hours, the unpredictable calls, and the calm under pressure is something you truly have to witness up close to fully understand. I am incredibly grateful for the men and women who serve and protect our community. We are blessed to have such outstanding public safety professionals and I would strongly encourage the rest of council to take the opportunity to do a ride along as well. There is no substitute for the firsthand perspective and it makes us even better leaders. So,

okay, Miss Barry. Okay. I just wanted to ask in at a future meeting pretty soon, I would like an update on Canapapolis crime. Again, I watch that police blotter every night. I see there are problem spots. It seems like Lane Street all the way down to I 85 has become really crazy here lately. Downtown, I'd like to know. I don't see as much about downtown, but I'd like to know what's going on, if things have improved, and did we ever decide to implement curfews for younger youngsters that come down there or or what we're doing and and where we're at right now. Go right ahead, ma'am.

I wrote it down because I have a couple of things I just wanted to share with what's been happening. Um, over the past two weeks, I I've had a wonderful opportunity to rep represent Canapapolis and the citizens here in regional local settings. Uh, as your delegate, Canapapolis was represented at the Central Lina delegates meeting. Um, we set some regional priorities and did the placeholder budget for fiscal year 27. I know as Canapapolis grows uh we need to remain present and engage in the comp conversations that shape the transportation funding and long-term planning and my focus is really to go there to get those uh coordinations together and bene bring back what would benefit our residents and really protect our local interests. I was also able to participate with Miss Dixon here. I won't take much time about that, but we were able to go to Greensboro and we've got some great training from the North Carolina League of Municipalities um working on ethics and governance practices. But I I know she liked it a lot, so I don't want to take her thunder on that. Um, Saturday we did have our budget retreat and it was just an honor to serve with all of you guys. Um, that was the funnest all day meeting I think I've ever had. So, thank you so much for that. Thank you for the staff that came. Um, the thoughtful preparation and discipline discussion was really essential to responsible stewardship as we plan for the future. I also want to thank this council for signing the thank you card that I was able to give the congressman um Addison McDall. uh to thank him for the project that Mr. Melton brought up last week with the funding that we received from the federal funding to help with the Rogers Lake and Oakwood uh intersection there. So, thank you guys for doing that. He was very uh appreciative that we were together and signed that card for him. So, thank you so much. Uh and then last night, I had the honor of attending the crossover service at a local church here that include many of the pastors and churches from our bridge project. It was a wonderful evening. It really was. I It was an honor to be there. I'm always amazed and just I'm just amazed at the

wonderful people we have in Canapapolis and I'm so thankful that we have that partnership with our faith leaders. That's very important in reaching our community just like having the partnerships with federal government or state government and getting those things done. So, you know, every discussion, every partnership, every decision really ultimately comes back to serving the people of Canapapolis. So, I just I'm so thankful that we're going to continue in this direction. Thank you. Anyone else? Well, thank all of you for those comments. Mr. Devalt, I believe it's time for you to do your thing and get us into close session. I will do my best.

Mayor, I'll make a motion to close the session pursuant to North Carolina General Statute 143-318.11a3 to consult with an attorney in order to preserve the attorney client privilege. Is there a second? Second. Mr. Dictions got everybody in favor raise of hands. Thank you. We are ajourned and into close session. Appreciate you coming.