City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening everybody. Uh, welcome to the Canapa City Council meeting here for March the 23rd, 2026. Uh, we're glad you're here tonight. Before we get get started, I'm going to ask Mr. Melton to recognize some new visitors to us who are important to us. So, Mr. Melton, go ahead, please. Thank you, mayor. I wanted to just take a moment as I look out, I hope I don't miss anybody, but I want to recognize our Cabaris County Commissioners, uh, Commissioner Patrick and Commissioner Lindsay, thank you for being here with us this evening, uh, on this council evening. Also, Dr. Newell from Canapapolis City Schools is back. Thank you for being here as well. Uh, Erin Shu, I think she's in the back. I saw her show up. She's with the Cabaras Health Alliance. And Barbie Jones with the chamber. Thank you all for being here with us this evening.

Thank you, Mr. M. All right, as been our tradition, we're going to have a moment of silence and then Mr. Daybart will lead us in the pledge. Please rise. Amen.

Please face the flag and repeat after me. 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. All right, council. We have an agenda in front of you. What is your pleasure? Move to adopt. Miss Dixon, may we have a second? Second,

Mr. Dwalt. All in favor, if you'll raise your hands, please. Okay. All right. That's good. Moving forward here. Speakers from the floor. Miss Gags. I don't think I'm working here.

Yes, sir. Okay. Can everyone hear me now? Okay. We have speakers on the floor. If you'd like to speak and address council, first thing I need you to do is fill out one of these cards. They're behind um on the other side of those courts. When we get to the last card, speakers from the floor is over. So, if you'd like to to speak and address council, please make sure you fill out one of these cards. The first card I have is Dylan Horn.

All right. So, I'm Dylan Horn of 401 Lewig Street and I'm here to support the resolution to restore Peemont rail service to Canapapolis. Our Amtrak station provides connections throughout North Carolina and beyond. Traveling by rail is one of the most efficient and environmentally friendly ways to travel. Rail service helps to reduce our car trips on our busy roads and provides an equitable travel option for folks that don't drive. In 2023, NC DOT rail division updated the Pedmont schedules to increase service for big cities and in turn they decided to cut stops in Canapapolis, Salsbury, High Point, and Burlington to save a few minutes for the big city commuters. The morning and afternoon stops are critical for people using trains to access education and work opportunities. Prior to the schedule changes, I commuted to Salsbury by train to work at a nonprofit bike shop. I would ride my bike to the station, then take my bike along with me to finish my trip. I was able to live car-free utilizing a multimodal transportation network. When the Canapapolis afternoon stop was removed, I no longer had a way to return home. So, like most most folks, I had to buy a car and now I get to sit in traffic on 29 or 85. As I like to call it, the Rowan County highspeed rail would take me between downtown Canapapolis and Salsbury in around 15 minutes. A similar trip in my car takes 25 to 30 minutes. And of course, as gas prices have skyrocketed, I pay at the pump while the train passes me by. Canopoulos is not alone in this administrative injustice. I've started a petition to NC DOT rail division to restore our service, but have not received any response or acknowledgement from rail division. Burlington and High Point city councilors are also considering a similar resolution to restore service. rail division is currently considering expanding rail service again. In 2025, they did a wrership survey that reaffirms their decisions. The big

cities have more writership, therefore smaller cities should be sacrificed for marginal time savings. Once upon a time in grad school at NC State, I was an intern at NC DOT rail division. The Pedmont Rail Service is a state program. Rail Division owns the locomotives and rolling stock. They staff the trains and they make the schedules. They administer the surveys and they interpret their results. Rail Division made this decision without public input and refuses to acknowledge the inequity and short-sightedness of their decisions. If we can get a response from the rail division, they will likely use the bureaucrat's oldest excuse and blame the scheduling on the freight railroads. However, the Pedmont train still passes through our station. They just don't stop. They may also try to pass the buck to Amtrak, saying these are now express trains and that the schedules are set by Amtrak. Once again, this is a halftruth as rail division is the primary operator of the Pimont service. I suggest this resolution be made to the Secretary of Transportation Joey Hopkins or directly to Governor Stein as rail division is likely to turn death fears to your request. In the world of transportation, this is the lowest possible hanging fruit. There is no infrastructure to build, no long-term investment needed, just updating a schedule to turn back on stops that rail division turned off. Our rail service is one of the jewels of Canapapolis, setting us apart from other suburban communities. As our downtown continues to redevelop and densify, rail service is paramount for sustainable growth. So, please take a look at the petition and pass this resolution to restore service. And lastly, I encourage you to take a trip on the Pedmont if you haven't before, so you can see firsthand the incredible service that passes us by.

Thanks. Thank you. Thank you. And before I move before I move on to the next one, I did want to apologize. Um, I wanted to state too that you have four minutes to speak. Um, you'll notice the lights changing up front to give you a warning that you're nearing the end of your time. The next person I have is Terry Clark.

Good evening everybody. My name is Terry Clark and I am a resident of Canap the city of Canapapolis as well as Karis County. So my concerns are the Baker Creek Park project which will be tearing down a building to rebuild that building and about the east side park. So during the construction with Baker's Creek, will that park still be open and will people still have access to the park to participate in things they would like to do with their family? But would it not be wise to delay the uh Baker Creek's park project and build the east side park so at least they will have a park to participate activities and do things in. My other concern with Canapapolis City is the transit situation. Me coming from a big city as well observing people around my community in Canapapolis. The transit system to me needs to be revamped. The buses need to go into different communities and be able so older people or people in general don't have to walk a mile or don't have to cross major highways to get to the bus system. to do something to help the people who don't have transportation and utilize our transit system. In order for that to happen to me from

what I can observe is they need to redo the whole system where it goes deep down into different communities so everybody will have a chance to get on a bus and get to where they need to go. Is that something possible that can happen? That's all I got to say. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Okay, the next speaker I have is Barbie Jones. Good evening, Mayor Wilson, council members, and uh Mr. Milton. My name is Barbie Jones, and I am president and CEO of the Chamber Leading Business in Cabar in Cabaris. This past Friday, the chamber and healthy cabaras hosted a transit simulation for our boards and the council members from Concord and Canapapolis. Our goal was to experience our local public transportation firsthand from a writer's perspective. I want to sincerely thank Council Member Jean Dixon for participating. Her insights were invaluable. While we missed having more of you there, the experience provided us with profound data. We are eager to share while navigating work, school, and medical scenarios. Our 30 participants spoke directly with daily writers. For many, these buses are not just a convenience. They are literal lifelines. We are holding a debrief this Friday, and I would appreciate the opportunity to be placed on your April agenda to share our findings and the firsthand comments we collected. I am concerned by reports regarding the potential elimination of the brown route and weekend access for the blue and green routes. I found it difficult to confirm these details through public records or recent meeting minutes, which underscores the need for more open dialogue before decisions are finalized. These routes represent a vital link to our workforce and essential services. Currently, I understand that transit represents less than 1% of the city's annual budget. While I recognize that transit costs are

a significant line item, these specific cuts could create a negative economic ripple effect for our residents and local businesses. Additionally, while microtransit is the popular trend, I encourage the council to scrutinize the long-term cost as many municipalities have found out found it to be significantly more expensive than traditional routes. I respectfully ask that you postpone any votes on transit changes until further due diligence is completed, including consultations with Rowan Cabaris Community College, Cabaris Health Alliance, Atrium Health, Amazon, and other businesses whose employees and clients depend on it. Thank you for your dedication to our community. I look forward to discussing how we can work together to keep Canapapolis moving forward. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker is Gloria Talbert. Good afternoon. Uh my name is Gloria Talbert and I live at 14:30 El Paso Street um in uh Canapapolis and that's just off of Little Texas Road. I uh sit on the bridge committee um and I also sit on the CIC committee. I've started a program called Pearls of Wisdom and the whole purpose of this program is to keep the community informed and engaged in what's happening in and around the city of Canapapolis. I am here today because I want to raise the issue of the sidewalk for the little Texas community. Um this historically it is a known fact that when there is a need in a highincome uh community, it is met with expediency and intentional resolve. This has been ignored far too long. We in the little Texas community deserves the same level of expediency. Um and we understand that it is a process. However, we need to hear deadlines and a date of completion. And I understand that it's a process, but please, I urge you to act with expediency and get this done. Uh, I thank you for your attention and I hope to look um forward to getting this done uh with expediency and with the level of resolve. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. That's beautiful. Next speaker is My name is Ron Flanders. I live at um 1675 Barban Circles in Canopoulos, North Carolina. I just wanted to um speak on the writers which is the Concord Canapapolis area transit system. Um first of all I don't I don't ride the bus system so it doesn't it doesn't affect me but it does uh significantly affect um my little Texas community um bus riders. The number one problem is that Concord Canapapolis riders are at risk of having u funds cut, roots cut, service cut and uh or hours reduced or changed. Um there will be an impact but that for the human impact will be um people will be that will be affected will be uh essential workers, seniors going to doctor's appointments um students um uh going to school and then also a mom who I met uh for an hour and a half ride um on the bus because her car broke down uh to take her kids uh three of them to a doctor's appointment. Um so I say the cuts will hurt the low-income riders. Um these people have no other options. Some alternatives will be the lift or or either um Uber. But the problem with that say to go from downtown um Canapapolis all the way out

to let's say if you work at Amazon um will be one way $30 $15 to $30. Round trip is 60. So if you add that up for five days, uh you're talking about $300. So that's that's a significant cost um you know to run up. So the other part of it is my fourth um is that the bus the bus system is needed. Um it it actually life it actually in um adds life for some people. Um you know the bus connect them with health services. Uh it connects them with shopping, for food. It connects them for entertainment, for business, for family and for local businesses and education to come downtown. Um the fifth thing and I would like to ask the council all of you um when you go behind closed doors and to make your decisions uh it's important to remember not just about the fair box of what it costs but because which is very important that we we we must um always be empathetic and sympathetic for those um for those who does not for those that it doesn't affect you but it affect other people. So, one last thing um I would like to also talk about is with the shelters um for uh keeping people dried when they're waiting for the bus. I don't ride the bus. I have ridden the bus. And the other side of that is we all might be riding the bus. The gas prices the way they're coming up now. So with that, I thank you for your time and I hope that that you would definitely think of the people who do ride the bus.

Thank you, sir.

I apologize. We have lost our mic. So I'm going to try and talk as loud as I can. I've never been accused of being a quiet person. The next part I have is Sheila. Hello, my name is Sheila Pinkston. I live at 521 Park Street. I am the chairperson of the Centerview Community Cares and I have some members here with me today. And I want to thank the Canapapolis City Council for giving me this opportunity to speak. On Saturday, March the 7th, 2026, Centerview Community Cares, Canapapolis City Fire Department, and the American Red Cross installed free smoke detectors in the Center View community for the sound the alarm event. Among the batteries should be changed when needed and at least twice a year. The smoke detectors provided have a lifespan of 10 years. The American Red Cross stats report we were able to reach 30 homes, install 39 alarms, and affecting 61 people. These stats were given by Will Canning, the community disaster program manager of the American Red Cross. Education about the fire safety and the local hazards such as winds and hurricanes was provided during this event. I want to personally and the community want to thank several people. I would like to thank Lee Goodman of Canapapolis City Fire Department for bringing an inspiration and giving his time to educate all of us about fire safety and joining us. He truly deserves

a standing ovation for all the things he brings to the Canapapolis City Fire Department. I would like to thank Will Cannon for the opportunity to collaborate the first community in Canapapolis to be a part of such rewarding event. I would like to thank Marble Memorial Amy's church for providing the space for us to gather for this event, some volunteers and monthly meeting space for the Centerview Community Cares. We appreciate their ongoing support. I would especially like to thank city council woman Jean Dixon for volunteering her time by joining one of the teams and uh connecting to the center view residents and installing smoke detectors. This collaboration with Canapapolis City Fire Department and the American Red Cross and the Centerview Community Cares was great. There were opportunities to reconnect with the neighbors, meet new neighbors, and save lives. I hope that the other communities in the city will join this mission in saving lives through the future sound alum events. Thank you for your time.

Next speaker I have is Kelvin Wilson. Hello, my name is Kelvin Wilkerson. I live at 518 Walter Street. Uh my issue today is the last meeting I was in, y'all had the people in here from that bought care more or whatever, which the city of Canapapolis donated $3 million to asking for more money to do a food bank. I guess uh we elected y'all to be stewards of our money. Y'all take it out of our pockets. We don't freely give it to you. I would recommend that y'all, you know, realize this and spend our money wisely. Uh these people that bought Caremore has not met their obligation for the 3 million yet. I don't think it's right to be giving them more until at least they meet their obligations for that money because we can never get that money back. Uh that's my biggest issue. The other thing a lot of people's talking about the buses. I have no problem running these buses, but I don't think we should be running them for free. We've got to go up on the price or something because the price is going up on what it cost us to run them. The fuel, which everybody's mentioned for your car, diesel fuel a lot higher. You're putting in them buses. You know, if they don't want to spend the money to ride those buses, look at what they're going to spend not to ride them if we have to shut them down. They're talking, you know, $300 a week versus what? 60 cent to ride them buses. We've got to go up. You're not even

paying the drivers out of what you're getting off of them buses. So, that's another thing. Spend our money wisely. Uh the last mayor and stuff didn't and you can see he's no longer here. I think that helped get him voted out. So, you know, just spend our money wisely. Thank you. Before I announce the next speaker, I did want to just send a reminder. I have three cards. So, if you decide you wanted to speak, make sure to get that card filled out. The next speaker is Zach.

Good evening, council. Before I begin, Mr. Mayor, if uh the council, uh the city attorney, the clerk, uh city manager, if you all would consult the information that I had passed out to you guys. Um I would have put it in a PowerPoint, uh but I'm not allowed to do that anymore. Uh as a teacher, that's what I would normally do. But anyway, uh you guys have some information that I had handed out to you. Uh good evening, council. Please understand that I speak today with concern toward the city's proposed invocation policy that you'll discuss here tonight. I'm not an opponent of freedom of religion or of any particular faith. Rather, I share my thoughts out of love for my city with the hopes of helping it avoid a lawsuit. The first amendment to the constitution includes the establishment clause that the government shall not engage in an official religion. However, uh later on the majority opinion rendered by Justice Sandra de O' Conor in Lynch v. Donnelly in 1984 set up what she termed the endorsement test. There are two parts to it. Number one, does the government intend to convey a message of endorsement or disapproval of religion? And number two, does the government practice actually convey a message of governmental endorsement or disapproval of religion? I believe wholeheartedly in your intentions that you do not intend to promote religion or disparage those who don't practice. However, I do have legal concerns that as the policy is currently written, its implementation would send an unintended message in favor of Christianity. I've shared with each of you those materials. Please take some time to look over them. The proposed policy adequately states that the purpose of the invocation that you propose is to solemnize the proceedings of the council and not to procilitize. I appreciate that. I think that's legally sound. However, there are a few areas of concern that are remaining for me based

on my study. I went and looked up case law because I teach and I uh study constitutional law. First, there is no mention in the proposed policy as to whether either of the two consulting groups or the chaplain that would be created in this policy would be paid for their services. In Marsh versus Chambers of 1983, while the court allowed for an invocation to be shared at the onset of municipal meetings, the use of public funds to compensate those presenters of the invocation was ruled a violation of the establishment clause. Second, the council makes clear its intentions to consult with the local bridge project group, a group of local ministers, and capital ministries, a national corporation. A simple Google search will show you that both the Bridge Project and Capitol Ministries are both unequivocally Christian. If you read about the town of Greece versus Galloway, it's in that material I gave to you, you will find that a contributing factor in the court's decision to allow invocations in municipal meetings was that the town of Greece demonstrated a willingness to extend its invitation to leaders of several faiths to participate in those invocations. In 2017, Rowan County faced scrutiny for its own invocation policy. And I know it's a little different because in that case, it was the commissioners themselves who are offering the prayer. That was deemed a violation of the establishment clause. While it's not analogous, there was concern raised over the fact that 97% of those invocations over the 5-year period were deemed Christian in nature, which should tell you that people are watching. So, I have a few fixes I'd

like to propose. Number one, make abundantly clear how the policy will allow a chaplain to be selected. Number two, identify whether or not any parties are going to be paid for their services, and if so, will they be paid with public funds. Number three, consider making the role of chaplain non-exclusive to clergy of the Christian faith. And finally, if it's truly just to bless the work of the council, consider doing it in private. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. Irwin. Next speaker I have Erica.

Good evening. Thank you to the leaders of our our wonderful city here. Erica Steinbacher. I actually live in Concord, but I've been a practicing uh family physician in the city of Canapapolis for 30 years. And I'm here today to talk about concerns about public transportation in our community. Um, I'm very well and attuned to the needs to be fiscally responsible and be good stewards of our money and find the best use of our resources. But even in its current state, our current public transportation has been identified as a barrier to good health. So, I have great concerns about it being reduced even more. So, I actually remember an elderly patient of mine having to walk a distance to get to our office in the heat of summer a number of years ago when she by the time she got there, I thought I was going to have to call an ambulance to take her to the ER. I ended up driving her back home after that visit cuz I didn't want her to have to walk. That's just one example of the barriers to care. Um, just getting to the medical office, the hospital, urgent care, but also for people to get to work. So, I would really ask that the the um everyone look towards solutions that can better meet our needs. I realize there are um financial challenges in that and every community is struggling with that. I know you guys have talked to other communities with similar challenges, but I would just really love to see us explore what are the needs, how can we best meet them in the most fiscally responsible way, but to do that before you cut services. Let's have a plan in place before we reduce services because if we don't, people's lives are are truly at stake. Thank you.

Thank you. The last the last one you have. Thank you. Okay, council, we now have a consent agenda for you. What is the your pleasure? Oh, I'm sorry. Have one. Well, we got one coming up. Okay. We didn't see him. Sorry, Mr. Spitzer.

Thank you. Appreciate the opportunity to speak with you. Um, first of all, I just want to acknowledge the fact that I don't think I've ever seen as many speakers um as was the case tonight. um even for those very controversial subjects that we occasionally get into. So I want to commend the council for putting it up front. I think that makes the difference the opportunity for all of us to address issues that are there. That takes me to the second issue which is the agenda online. Um, for the first time I dug in deeper than the note that Pam sends out and looked at the agenda and thought to myself, Pam, we should put a little snippet under each agenda item. And then I looked over to the left. Sorry about that. And I saw that there's detailed reports and information there. I would encourage everyone to take the time to look at that information. it prepared me better uh to come and speak with you today. Um third item I wanted to mention is um I attended as some of you did the CCM annual breakfast. Was it last week? I think um I encourage the council to consider having CCM do a presentation. Their work is phenomenal. It is creating such an important element in our community that I think the city council needs to be made aware of it in full as well as the community itself. I know not everybody agrees with that, but I think if you listen to what they are doing, the comprehensive approach that they're taking, you'll be impressed.

Uh next, uh I got a call from the general manager of the ball team the other day and he said, "You know, we got a problem with people parking on your property and shining their headlights in such a way that the batters uh cannot see balls coming in at them that are being pitched at them." So Matt and myself met uh that afternoon and we've agreed upon a concept and an approach to taking care of that problem. Uh Wilmer was gracious enough to and I want to commend you for this to offer again to support the effort that we're going to put forth to make sure that that is not an interruption to the ball games. Um so I wanted to mention that. Finally, I do want to speak to the invocation policy and I want to congratulate uh those who were uh who wrote it and who put it together. Um I think it is comprehensive. I think it provides a substantial way for those who will be considered as chaplain uh to consider their uh responsibilities if they are assigned it. I want to add something to it though. Um uh the ecumenical spirit uh that is embedded in the policy I think is great. One thought that I've had is because of the diversity of faith that we have in our community that perhaps in addition to the chaplain who is appointed and who does this on a regular basis, I'd like to see the city council whether in the policy or otherwise uh adopt an approach that on occasion allowed for a guest chaplain to come in

uh and to Zach's point represent presenting different tracks than Christianity that are also substantial within our community. So, thank you again. Appreciate the opportunity. I now know that I should walk my card up in the future. Thank you. Is there anyone else before we move forward? Okay. Now, council, we're back to the uh consent agenda. We need a motion to adopt or make revisions. So move, mayor. Mr. Jackson, second.

Miss Dixon with the second. All in favor, if you'll please raise your hand. Thank you. Okay, we're moving on now to the business agenda. And this is Mr. Mills coming up to us here. Thank you, Mayor Council. Uh we have a vacancy that was created on the Parks and Recreation Commission uh when Olivia Linkl had to step down from the commission uh before her term expired. Uh the parks and recreation commission reviewed available applications uh at their previous meeting and made the recommendation to appoint um Cindy Griggs to fill the unexpired term of Olivia.

Okay. Any questions from anyone? No one has any questions? We good? Oh, well I'm just questioning um my understanding that this term would expire in June. Is that correct? That's correct. Like this year. That's correct. Okay. Yeah. Um that that was it. Okay. Um Mr. Mayor, I would make a motion considering the fact that this is going to expire in June and we're so close to that and we're going to be able to have to look at some more applications for the other things that are coming open that we just table it for now because I I mean we've only got a couple more months until then. All right. That's my motion that we motion. Is there a second? Second. Mr. Payne,

we got a motion on the floor. All in favor, if you want to show me a raise of hands, we'll go from there. I believe that's what the action we're going to take. Then we'll table that one. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Gary. Miss Gordon.

Good evening. So each year the city is required to submit an annual action plan which details how funds will be allocated for our community development block grant program. We have duly advertised and the 30-day comment period is now open and will close on April 30th. The plan must be submitted to HUD by May 15th. This public hearing allows the city to receive citizens comments and to answer questions on the use of the funds. A report will be provided to the community improvement commission at the April 21st meeting for additional input. We have not received our actual award allocations for 2627, but we have been advised to use the same numbers from our 2526 allocations. For our community development block grant program, we anticipate receiving $380,000894. We are proposing that we allocate 148,716 for housing repairs. Um, as you know, we partner with Habitat Cabaris to provide our housing repairs for homeowners and we allocate up to $10,000 per household. We address things like leaky roofs, heating systems that no longer work, plumbing, electrical um, items that are needed in the home. We also propose to use a portion of that those funds for repairing some of the houses that we buy for our transitional housing program. 100,000 for infrastructure. Habitat has um or they're in the process of purchasing a property that will need some infrastructure improvements and they've asked for $100,000 to assist with that project. If for some reason

that does not pan out, we will identify other projects for infrastructure improvements. 56,000 for nonprofit grant. We have um advertised and are receiving grants for nonprofits that are providing public services. We allocate up to $5,000 for those nonprofits and we can only allocate 15% of our total allocation for nonprofit grants. and then 76,178 for general admin and that's to administer the program to make sure that um HUD regulations are being followed. So for our home program, this is a completely different program from CDBG. All of the funds for the home program have to be used for housing. So, we're proposing to allocate 170,74782 for housing rehab and we will identify one to two projects where we will have to bring the complete house up to code per HUD regulations. That means that all of the the electrical, plumbing, HBAC as well as lead abatement will have to be addressed for the homeowners. And we do have a list of approved contractors that we use for this program and leans are also placed on these properties. That's for the urgent repair as well as the housing um rehab program. 20,000 for new construction. We will partner with Habitat or some other developer and allocate 20,000 toward the construction cost. and then $11,44487 for general admin to make sure that all of the home HUD rules are being followed. And with that, um either approve the plan, open up the floor for public

comments, and um approve the plan for submitting it to HUD by May 15. Happy to answer any questions. Dean, go ahead, Mr. Dixon.

Thank you. So, uh, thank you so much for this information and report. Recently, I I did have a question, uh, regarding, uh, allocating additional funds for urgent home repairs. And I was assured that every request that is made from city residents is um, satisfied. And so I'm very very glad to hear that and and just to know that for our citizens and residents this money is available and that all requests are are handled by our city. So thank you so much for that. And I'll say all eligible. Yeah. As long as they meet the qualifications, they have been served. All of those residents have been served. Any other questions?

Mr. Dav, just more of a comment, Sherry. Um, as Miss Pinkston did earlier, shouting out Lee Goodman from our fire department, you deserve a shout out, too, because there's numerous folks that I've run into throughout the year on a regular basis that re that um commend how great you are to work with and how you've helped them. And I just wanted to pass that along and tell you how much that that's appreciated. So,

thank you. Any other questions? I believe it's time to move into a public hearing. Yes, sir. Oh, I got one. You got one? I'm sorry. Raise your hand. That's okay. Sherry, what Jean was saying that you you've been able to anybody that's eligible meets the criteria that that you can help them with their home improvements or whatever, but the money's got to run out at some point. What happens then? Do they go on the waiting list? Do they have to reapply? Or what happens if you don't have enough money?

Well, so far we've been able to use money that um from previous years we haven't reached a point where we have not had enough funds to be able to address those urgent repairs. We do um from time to time apply for additional funding. Um there is funding through the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency that we've applied for in previous years. Um but Habitat Cabaris has started to apply for those funds and they are able to use those funds within the city limits of Canapapolis as well as Cabaris County. So if we do have a request or we don't have enough money, we referred them to other agencies that to meet those requests. Thank you.

Okay. Anyone else? All right. So now we'll open the public hearing. Are we going to have anybody that wants to come speak on this matter and this matter only? Please come now. All right, I'm going to close the public hearing. All right, council. Uh, we need a motion to regarding the use of the C CDBG funds and home funds. Uh, Mr. Mayor, I make that motion.

Okay, Miss Hatchet with a second. All in favor? All right. Thank you very much, Miss Gordon. Mr. Smith,

thank you, Mayor, members of council. Believe it or not, I have no PowerPoint for you this evening. So, this is a continuation of discussion you had at your March 9th meeting regarding the ETJ and the relinquishment of that area. So, what I have before you tonight is an ordinance to put that in motion. Uh, the effective date would be June 30th of this year. That would allow time for staff to notify the property owners in April, have the public hearing with the planning commission in May, and then allow uh Rowan County to apply the zoning in June before we say the ETJ is relinquished. So, be glad to answer any questions you have there. Any questions on this? Nothing. Okay. Um I guess we're moving forward with a motion for the ordinance in Mr. Payne.

Second, Mr. Dop. All in favor? Thank you, Mr. Smith. William is gone. Mr. Kelly, I believe.

Good evening, Mayor May, and members of council. Uh, before you is your resolution regarding an invocation policy. We've uh discussed this uh I think at length in close session to protect your attorney client privilege. Uh, if you've got questions about it, you let me know. If you'd like me to address any questions of the audience, let me know and I'll I'll do my best to provide general um information to the public. I go ahead. Go ahead.

I just want to make a general comment. Mr. Mr. Kelly, I want to thank you for your hard work on this um and the work that you did in. And I know we have to have a policy, but I just want to remind the public that the reason we want this policy is to because of a posture. And that posture is we want to come in here and we recognize that we're not the highest authority in this room and that we do this because we want to steward well and that we're not in control. And that's why we asked we tked Mr. Kelly with this with his job to write this policy so we could indicate that posture. So, I just want to thank him for that. I know that he did his best work to make sure that this was legally sound. Um, I thank him for that. Now, I understand some people may not agree with the policy, and that's okay. That's part of leading a community, and we're willing to do that. But at the same time, even if you don't agree with it, please know that it comes from a place, at least for me, that I I recognize that um I want to come to this place in this seat as humility and asking for wisdom. And that's exactly what those people will do when they come. And that we recognize that these decisions that we make here. You know, it's not just random decisions. It does affect people. It affects the families and the future of Canapapolis. And that's why we want to set this up, especially with the words that will be spoken. Thank you,

Commissioner D. Thank you, Mayor. Um, Andrew, I would like for you to address the uh whole payment issue or lack thereof that was brought up and um also add that this is very similar to what both county governments are doing that we reside in. Is that correct? Is that an accurate statement?

I don't know if Cabaris County has a policy. I did not review their policy prior to um the this policy, but I did review Rowan County's policy which was created after their lawsuit and as a result of it. And this policy um is reflected of the uh say good parts of that policy and then improved upon. Uh noting that there's was adopted several years ago and there's been a body of case law that has that has changed. Um the with respect to payment, neither chaplain group will be paid as a result of this. Whether your policy says it or not doesn't change the fact that they will not be paid.

Both groups have agreed to that. They will not be paid. There is no compensation, monetary compensation uh or inind compensation to either group for the invocations. Uh I' I'd also just reiterate they were chosen um not based on any religion but based on their impact uh on the community and in relationship with council and the city. All right. Any other questions? Mr. Dixon, did you have something?

You did not. Okay. Anyone else? Okay. Council, we need a motion to move forward with this. That's Miss Hatchel. Mr. Daval. Okay, we've got the motion in a second. All in favor, if you'll raise your hands, please. All right. Thank you. And then need a motion to authorize We need now a motion to authorize the the resolution. I guess I'll make a motion to authorize the city manager to execute the service contracts in conform conformity with the policy.

Second. All in favor? Thank you. Okay. All right. So, now is it U Mr. Smith?

Thank you, Mayor Council. Flattered and humbled we have so many folks who decided to stick around for this presentation. It's not a sexy or attractive subject, but certainly a necessary one. Uh I've just got a few slides. Essentially, our city council had a two-day retreat where they talked about a lot of expenses and priorities associated with the city and its operation. Public transit was certainly one of those. Out of that retreat came some guidelines and directives from city council. So, the meeting tonight is really just to formalize that so we can continue on the conversation. So, let me walk everybody through just the background of where we're at. the the public transit system began in 2004. It's part of an interlocal agreement with the city of Concord with the city of Canapapolis. There are eight routes systemwide. Three of those routes are in Canapapolis proper, brown, blue, and green. And if you're cur curious about average monthly ridership numbers, average number, average monthly riders for the brown route sits around 3,000. Average monthly riders for blue sits around 4500 and green is around 3,800. So in essence, blue is the most popular of our those three followed by green followed by brown. You may ask yourself, well, how do those rank among all eight routes? The brown route is number seven in ridership out of the eight routes. The green route is number four out of the eight routes, and the blue route is number two, the second most popular of the eight routes. Last week, the transit commission met for the sole purpose of just approving a new service provider. That happens about every three to five years depending on the previous contract with some extensions. It might be

one-year extensions or five-year extensions, but the current service provider agreement was expiring. They went through a very lengthy about fourmonth process of securing RFPs from different service providers. That service provider has was is being recommended by the transit commission last week. City of Concord will should approve that service provider contract tomorrow evening. If approved, the service provider will be we drive you. And that will be for a three-year service contract period with two one-year extensions, which we're not obligated to those two one-year extensions until we get closer to that standpoint. The expected cost to Canapapolis was expected to go up from 1.4 million to 1.5 million. And that was shared with the council during the retreat when we were looking at all of our expenses. So the retreat outcomes, number one, keep public transit. Review the routes. look at reducing cost to provide public transit and running parallel to that explore future microtransit options. So if folks aren't familiar with what microtransit is or can be just think of your Uber and lift type model and how does that model differ from what we provide now the current system is what we call a hub and spoke or spoken wheel. It can go by many names, but essentially all the buses start at the public transit system in Concord, right near the city limit line, strategically located for that very purpose. And then they pulsate out and they run a route. The attempt is to try to run the route within 60 and 75 minutes and then they all come back,

wait to let passengers get off, transfer to another line, pulsate out again. That used to be the only way to provide public transit in the US. Now it's a familiar system. It may not be the most efficient and most effective system. Hence why we want to run parallel and explore a few other options. If anyone was curious where the routes run the this is not the entire map because obviously we're talking about the Canapapolis routes. So I enlarged it just to show brown, blue, and green. If you don't have your glasses, you will not be able to see that. Here they are broken out. Blue, green, and brown. These maps can be found online, too, at the website ck rider.com. So, just go there and you can pull that up and look at it. So, the action tonight is to have city council make a motion to authorize the city manager to revise the public transit interlocal agreement to accomplish the following. adjust all operational funding ratios proportionally from 6535 to 7921. That's Concord and Canapapolis respectively. You might say, well, how'd you come up with those ratios? Well, the current agreement is 6535. But if we get to bullet point number two, this is driving that 7921 ratio. Based on the new funding ratio, present to city council a transit budget estimated around 733,000 plus or minus because remember the numbers are still being tweaked. Changes have not been decided yet for the upcoming fiscal year budget. And three, continue evaluating current transit routes for opportunities that best reflect efficiency and convenience. And fourth, make other such changes to the agreement consistent with the revised funding to be effective July 1. That fourth bullet point is kind of a catchall because inevitably there's

always some administrative changes that come with it. And to prevent us having to come back in this type setting and ask you for that, you're granting the city manager to make those changes. FTA requires that if there's going to be any route changes, there has to be a public input process, a two-week public input process. And the trans commission discussed this very briefly because in moving forward with uh selecting a new service provider, inevitably it was our responsibility to let city of Conqueror know that we were intending to consider revising our funding for public transit, which we know in turn would drive reviewing the routes. And everyone understood that the best way to do that, the public input period to satisfy that two-eek process is the transit staff for the city of Concord will announce a two-week period here soon and it will be at the transit center because the folks who are riding the buses should all remember pulsate back to the transit center there or they'll be able to call and email if they want to if they can't attend anytime during that two-eek period. and provide their feedback on what they feel is important or not important along the public transit routes. There will be shared with them at that moment in time whatever the routes may be considered to be modified. Again, there has been no final decision on that yet. But certainly what we always intend to do is look at the stops we think are the highest attended, highest used, most important to the community. That may mean eliminating a couple of stops that have very low numbers or no numbers at all to keep to that 60 to 75 minute time frame. So,

there will be another two-eek period for public comment and I'll entertain any questions council may have and afterwards I'll entertain that motion. That motion that's up on the screen is exactly the way it is in your agenda packet. All right. Any you have a question, Miss Dixon? Uh I have comment. Go ahead.

So, um this is this is just a comment. Uh thank you for your your presentation. Uh the the thing that I want to u emphasize is that during our retreat our emphasis was to keep public transit and to reduce cost. We we all um know that we must be fiscally responsible to the to the people the 63,000 people that we serve. But I just I want to just bring to the attention of council and to the um members of our community who are here today. Uh I did take part this past Friday in a simulation that was um coordinated by our Cabaris Chamber of Commerce. And during that simulation, I was a 62year-old uh female. And I I thank the council for designating me as 62 years old. I really appreciated that part. Uh, but I had been injured. Um, I was um I'm single. I had no insurance. I have no car and uh very little money. And so I was injured. And so my my need was to get to the hospital. And uh so I I had a walker that someone let me borrow. and I drugg myself to the bus stop. The getting on the bus is very very easy because there's a there's a lift that that comes out and you're able to just roll onto the um onto the bus and then there's designated seating on the bus for for handicapped or disabled people. During the um during the ride, I was able to ride the uh blue route, which goes directly to the hub, but in order to get to the hospital, I needed to change

buses. And that bus then took me on another ride to get to the hospital. So when I So when I arrived at the hospital emergency room, I had to take my walker and actually shuffle down to the emergency room because there is no sidewalk from the bus stop into the into the emergency room. I had to shuffle with my with my walker to get into the emergency room. But during during the route, um I was able to talk with with our Canapapolis residents who ride the bus on a regular basis, both to uh to Walmart for food and and and other supplies, to the hospital for their medical attention, uh to the health alliance for their medical needs. And so um my my point in all this is that when we think about the making the decision that we will here there are people there are faces who ride those buses who need to ride the bus because they do not have transportation. Uh I was in a simulation. I have a car and a truck in my garage. And so when I need to ride anywhere, I I I get on get in one of my vehicles and and and drive to the hospital, to the emergency room, to wherever I need to travel. But there are there were people who rode the bus and after I received my treatment at the hospital for my injury, then I shuffled back up the street and got on the bus and then rode uh what seemed to be an hour or more to get back to the hub to get off that bus to get on another bus uh to get back to my original stop. And so, um, I'm I'm saying all that to say we have to consider the residents of Canapapolis who ride the buses because they do not have any other means of transportation other than the bus service to get to the to the grocery

store, to get to Walmart, to get to the hospital for medical appointments, to get to the health alliance, um, to get to their the schools for um conferences for their children And to also say that probably 75% of the bus stops do not have a shelter. Which means that um when you're when you're riding the bus and you're waiting for the bus, you walk several several blocks uh to from your home to the to the stop in the heat, in the cold, in the rain, and there's no there's no cover. And so just when we're thinking about the um being responsible, being fiscally responsible, we really really really need to think about this the citizens that we serve that do not have cars in their driveway or in their garage. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Anyone else? M Miss Mr. Barry, go ahead, please. As I mentioned at the retreat, at least we not forget the Cabaris County Transportation System who are there just to serve people like Mrs. Dixon just prescribed if they're medically have have medical issues. All they do you they pick you up at your house, they take you to the hospital, pharmacy visits, and even to your doctor. It's a lot easier. And I ask that we please even if the county is not going to do it that that could city of Canapapolis start publicizing this more to make people know in that kind of situation there is another viable option. So just add that to it. That's uh Ryder is not the only option. Thank you

Mr. Don.

Thank you Diane and Miss Dixon. And I was going to mention the same thing because I think it's important for us as a council to to get the word out about what options are out there in addition to Ryder. And um I look forward to rightsizing these routes, making them more effective for the people who ride them and um not just stopping at empty bus stops, but getting those routes um effectively fixed. and also the possibility of microtransit and expanding that out because I think we are underserving a lot of people because we don't have that option and I think if if we're going to spend money on transit which we are um that we we explore the the new u opportunities that exist in in that realm and I know this is a antiquated system in many ways it it works for a lot of folks but I think if it was tweaked and moved toward the future, it can serve a lot more people. So, thank you for allowing my comment,

Mr. Payne. Yeah, I just had a clarifying question for Mr. Smith. That 1.5 million, that's not for the entire three years, right? That's 1.5 million every year, correct? That was 1.5 million for one year. Mr. Mr. Jackson, yeah,

I know we certainly have an obligation to provide public transportation. Um, but I think before we can other than authorizing this motion tonight, uh, we really need to look at the effect that that uh, budget cut is going to have on these routes. Um, and then maybe we can give some more input and kind of monitor the quality of our service and spend a little more time uh being able to monitor, you know, our progress and then maybe look at this thing down the road, a little bit uh uh further down the road to see if we maybe need to add add back to the budget.

Okay. Anyone else? Miss Barry, do you have anything else? That's right. Okay. But I believe it's called for a motion to authorize the city manager to revise the transit agreement. So, is there a motion that Mr. Mr. Jackson? Anyone want to second? Second, Mr. Payne. All right. All in favor, if you will raise your hands, please.

Okay. I believe that passes five to one. All right. That takes care of that one, Mr. Melton. Thank you, mayor. Just a few items tonight for our report to city council. Uh at some of your at a prior meeting, you had asked that uh we give you updates on the various boards and commissions that we all serve on. I won't uh belabor additional conversation about CK Ryder. I think Deputy City Manager Smith did a a great job with that uh and is consistent with what I was going to report to you tonight regarding the previous or the meeting we had last week. uh the water and sewer authority uh met on March 19th uh where they were presented with the uh fiscal year 2627 proposed budget that uh we'll be incorporating into our budget uh as we go forward and they also heard a uh update on several projects that are taking place with the water and sewer authority. Our appointed members to that board is Councilwoman Dixon and uh Mike Le. Our planning board met on March the 17th where they uh reszone two parcels uh and that both were annexed into the city of Canapapolis on February the 9th. Board of adjustment uh that meeting was canceled. No business at that time. Uh other business that I'd like to report to the city council is that I'm pleased this evening to report to you that uh we have taken delivery of our adaptive response vehicle uh which will uh which you approved at your at the council retreat. This vehicle will help in response to medical calls and reduce wear and tear on our larger fire apparatus making them more available for significant types of emergencies. Uh that vehicle is being prepped and equipped uh as we speak and we should have it in service within the next 30 days. It'll be stationed at uh fire station number two that is

geographically centralized to the city. Couple other reminders is the uh Canapapolis Education Foundation breakfast on Thursday, March 26. I think a lot most of these have been emailed to you. Pam sent them out. But just a general reminder tonight at 7:30 here at the Laurette Center and Fire Department uh retirement reception uh of Chief Chief Josh Clay uh Tuesday, March the 31st at 400 p.m. here in Laurette 1. And the Cannonballers game on Thursday, April 2nd at 7 p.m. And again, you should have tickets and seats are available. Pam has also sent that out. And last reminder is city offices closed on April the 3, Good Friday. That's everything that I have for council this evening.

Thank you. Okay. Any comments from city council? Miss Dixon? Yes. I I would like to just request that we invite the chamber to come and present their findings um after uh there's a debrief I believe this coming Friday uh regarding the assimilation and to bring the findings to the council at a a next meeting maybe in April.

Okay. Anyone else? Mr. Dark. Um, Wilmer, I don't know if you can add to this, but I think it was Miss Talbert was asking about Little Texas Road sidewalk, and I know uh DOT, we have a meeting on Wednesday about all the projects in both counties, but um is there any additional information? I know it it's supposed to let this year right away is still underway. So, um, if you could add any more to that be helpful

beyond I certainly can get dates back to council, but uh, I do know they're active in right-of-way acquisition as you know on any substantial project of size like that. That is probably the most challenging thing is to is once you get to that rightway phase uh, and getting those those rightways uh, from property owners. Uh, so I know that's taking place. Once we have all the rightways, we can immediately begin construction design is done. But that is the most challenging part of any project is acquiring all those rightways. And I'll be back with the date in terms of when that's at. I know they've been working extremely hard uh to get those done. And I don't know if you have uh her contact information, but we could share that with her if

I'm happy to do that. I think Pam uh if she spoke I'll I'll definitely get her the exact dates and times from our director of engineering uh in terms of when we anticipate it. Again, I know that we're we are still looking to let the project this year, but you know, working as hard as we can to get all the rightaway so we can get location design approval and that's the that is the mechanism whereby we can then begin to bid the project.

Okay. Thank you. And the other thing I had Mr. Jackson and I have talked about this a long time and I want to bring it forward to this council to um suggest that we ask staff to look into a golf cart ordinance for our city. And um there's people out there driving golf carts that are not uh totally legal. There's plenty that are legal if they're tagged by NCDMV. Uh, but there's golf carts out there that are not legal under our current ordinance, which we don't have one. Um, but if we would craft one based upon the state law and state regulations on golf carts, then we can at least register people having golf carts if they so choose and we have a official program in place for that if it's the desire of this council. But we can't do anything till we know what the ordinance is proposed. Um, if I didn't say something correct, you correct me.

Yeah, I'd like to add to that. Um, we do have quite a few of elderly people who are living downtown and I'm probably one of them. Um, I think with the addition of Wind Dixie and um I'm I'm sorry, Harris Teter and all the new uh division of of downtown, I think it would help uh in transportation across town and maybe cut down on a lot of the uh gasoline and uh traffic. So, I agree. Yeah, that's it. Anything else from anyone? M

Yeah, I just wanted to just make a few couple comments. Um, I want to give a thank you to a couple of departments here in Canapapolis. First of all, I want to thank the police department. I took up Councilman's Payne's challenge of doing a ride along with them. I did that last Saturday and I just want to thank them for taking me around and I was able to really get a greater appreciation of the work that they do and really want to thank the officers that took me. It was very kind of them. And I also want to really recognize our customer service department and our team. um they're the voices that the residents hear when you call in on our number and they actually receive about 4,000 calls a month uh when I talk to our director and that's really encouraging because that's thousands of residents in Canapapolis that are being served and I wanted to make sure that the public is very aware of how they can get a hold of them so that you can call them about any issue even if you want to know why this fees on your water bill or any of those kind of things. So, just so you guys know out there, the number is 704-920444. So, please use that number. Um, one of the things I learned about as working with the customer service department and the police department that we have employees that truly want to serve Canapapolis. But if they don't know about the problem, they can't serve you. So, just make sure you give them a call and they'll be glad to do it for you.

Okay. Anyone else? Well, I think that brings this meeting to a close. I want to thank everybody for coming. It's been a really great night here. A lot of dignitaries here. I see Miss Clay back there. She came in a little bit late, but I'm going wave at you and thank everybody for coming and uh we hope to see you again soon. Motion to Got a motion to adjurnn. Second. Got a second. I was going to get there. All in favor? Damn, I've got enough of that.