City Council - Regular Meeting

To the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Before we get into adopting the agenda, I want to recognize Laura Lindsay and Dr. Niels from Knapp City Schools. Ms. Lindsay is our chairman of the Camaras County Commission. You ladies will stand so everybody can know exactly where you are. If they want to nail you after this meeting, they know where to get you. There you are. Okay. Okay. All right, council, we need a motion to adopt agenda. Ms. Dixon?

Second.

Mr. Daymont was second. Please raise your hands if you're in favor. Thank you. We have a recognition now, I believe. Chief? Chief?

Mayor, members of council, it's my pleasure to come before you tonight. I'm going to step to the side and let Deputy Chief introduce his final. Gentlemen, do us members of our agency to be ceremonially sworn in.

Mayor, members of council, it's my pleasure to come before you tonight to introduce to you four of our newest officers. One of them could not be here this evening, but they just completed over 900 hours of basic law enforcement training. And they're our newest officers, very proud of their accomplishments. They're currently in the middle of our field training program. 21-week program. By all accounts, they're doing well. They're here for their ceremonial swearing-in, which is an important night for them. So my pleasure to introduce you to them. Gentlemen, as I call your name, if you'll please come forward with whomever you would like to participate in the swearing-in with you. Officer Elijah Andrus. Officer Kevin Alas could not be with us tonight. Officer Timothy Bell. Officer Orlando Edwards. And Officer Chance Morris.

No, here, I'll grab a microphone. Go out here so they're on camera.

Okay.

You could raise your right hand. Repeat after me. I, state your name. Do solemnly swear or affirm... that I will be alert and vigilant to enforce the criminal laws of this state, that I will not be influenced in any manner on account of personal bias or prejudice, that I will support and maintain the Constitution and laws of the United States and the Constitution and laws of North Carolina not inconsistent therewith, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and execute the duties of my office as a law enforcement officer according to the best of my skill, abilities, and judgment. So help me God.

Now we have the speakers on the floor, Ms. Gaggs.

Mm-hmm.

Let these books clear out.

Okay, as we start, speakers from the floor, I have three cards currently. I will call your name in the order that I received the cards. You'll have four minutes to speak. There will be lights on the podium, light and clock at the front there. When you hear a buzzer, your time is over. When you come to the podium, if you'll state your name and your address. And the first card I have is Zach Irwin.

Good evening, Council. I'm Zach Irwin, 903 Applewood Avenue in Kannapolis. A couple weeks ago, I spoke to you about Senate Bill 876 here in North Carolina and the impact that it would have on local elections, particularly here in Kannapolis. What I mostly spoke about was moving elections to even-numbered years and what I believe the damage it would do to an informed citizenry when it comes to people paying attention to local elections as opposed to the bigger state and national races that run on those even-numbered years. I feel like that level of focus and attention on local elections is being lost in that transition. But I spoke mostly to that a couple weeks ago. What I want to speak about today, in addition to that, is another consequence of Senate Bill 876 on local elections, particularly on election candidates. Now, some of you, many of you probably know that I ran for this office of City Council last year as an unaffiliated candidate. Under this new law, unaffiliated candidates will no longer simply be able to apply, register, to get their name on the ballot. They don't need a party endorsement because everyone was nonpartisan. Everyone ran unaffiliated, per se, in the last election. Well, under these new elections that will happen here in Kannapolis for local races, anyone who wishes to run as an unaffiliated candidate would have to receive, in writing, a petition signed by 1.5% of the population of Kannapolis. That is my understanding of this new law. 1.5% of roughly 65,000 residents here in Kannapolis comes out to somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000 signatures. And so I asked this question, and really it's a question aimed at council members who gave their endorsement, as Senator Ford claims, of this new bill, of this new law that is in place. Are we trying to discourage people from running for city council? Because anyone who would wish to run unaffiliated, again, would have to receive nearly a thousand, if not more than a thousand, signatures on a petition to get on the ballot versus someone who runs under a party banner. I'm not a math person, but I'm pretty sure it comes out to around 1,000. Regardless, any amount of additional requirements for a person to run for office simply because they are unaffiliated is inexcusable in my book. We live in a society that promotes free and fair elections, and there is nothing fair about that provision. I would even argue there's nothing free about that provision. because it costs time and it costs money to go out and get those signatures, and it's something that should not be in place simply because you're unaffiliated. What it does is it encourages people to run under a party banner, and instead of running on issues, they run on the letter on their chest, the letter beside their name on the ballot. it is antithetical to the idea of free and fair elections. And anyone who supported that move, I want you to know the full weight of the consequences of that move and the effect that it's gonna have on local elections, having been an unaffiliated candidate myself in the past. Thank you.

Okay, the next card I have is Stefan Perrin.

Thank you. I live at 4149 Longmore Lane. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, city council members, Mr. City Manager, and members of the Kannapolis PD. We're still here. This would have been better if I said it before they left. Tonight, I'd like to recognize the outstanding work of the Kannapolis Police Department during the events of July 24th and 25th. Our city received credible information about a planned takeover in downtown Kannapolis, similar to what we've seen in places like Birkdale and Camp North End. Those events have left businesses disrupted, families uneasy, and communities wondering whether anyone was prepared. Thankfully, Kannapolis was prepared. The Kannapolis Police Department took the threat seriously. They planned ahead, maintained a visible presence, and communicated with business owners. And because of that proactive approach, downtown remained safe and orderly. As a business owner, I can tell you that meant a great deal to me. I own Old Armour Beer Company downtown. It gave us confidence the city was ready to protect the people and the businesses that have invested here. This is what makes Kannapolis special. We aren't trying to become another Mecklenburg County. This is Cabarrus County. We know our neighbors, we respect one another, and we expect law and order to be maintained. This weekend proved that those values are still alive and well. Thank you. I'd especially like to recognize Lieutenant Justin Smith as a senior officer leading personnel through the operation. His calm leadership, professionalism, and communication with business owners made an already strong operational plan come together seamlessly. A plan only succeeds through effective execution, and Lieutenant Smith's leadership inspired confidence in both the officers he led and the community he was protecting. I'd also like to recognize Lieutenant Kaiser for developing the operation plan that helped prepare the department for the weekend. Good planning and strong execution are what makes successful operations possible. Finally, thank you to every officer, especially the ones who worked those extra shifts. Your professionalism, preparedness, and commitment to this community did not go unnoticed. And I think that warrants being said in public for everyone to hear. Too often, we only talk about law enforcement when something goes wrong. Tonight, I'd like to recognize what happens when everything goes right. Again, thank you. Because behind every badge is a person, a friend, a neighbor, a son or daughter, a husband or wife, someone who made the choice to put themselves in harm's way so the rest of us can live, work, and raise our families safely. And what just happened is a testament to that. This weekend, because of your preparation, professionalism, and willingness to serve, our downtown remains safe and our community remains strong. Thank you for your service. Thank you for everything you do for Kannapolis. God bless you. Thank you.

Jasmine Ash.

Hello. Hi, everybody. My name is Jasmine Ash. I'm here because my family and I have been dealing with some severe flooding since we purchased our home about two and a half years ago. This is not a one-time event. And when I say my family as well as my neighbors as well, we all have been pretty close. This has been something that we've been with together. going through together. This is not a one-time event or an inconvenience that happens after days of rain. During heavy rains, the ditches fill really high, and it pours onto my property in multiple directions, causing my yards to be surrounded completely by water. This has also affected my neighbors on the same area as me, three doors down as well as my next-door neighbor, and they're here with me as well today. There's so much water that it flows really fast and heavy. This water continues flooding my neighboring properties, and I'm here because two weeks ago today, after a downpour for about two hours, I got about four inches of water into my home, causing it to be a total loss and causing the fire department to come and rescue me and my family out of the home. Over the past three years, we've done everything possible we could do as homeowners, making the drainage improvements. This includes waterproofing, French drains, On top of multiple reports to the city of Kannapolis, we've had visits and they've resulted in pointing the finger back at us as homeowners. We have documentation of everything. We have photos, videos, restoration reports, inspection reports, statements from neighbors showing that this has been an ongoing issue before our homes were even built in 2021, where trailers were swept away. This has affected every part of my life and my home has been damaged. I've had to miss work to deal with these emergencies. I've spent thousands of dollars trying to protect the property and I'm still paying a mortgage on a home that repeatedly floods. The emotional financial stress on my home, on my household has been overwhelming as well as I'm asking for you guys, the city, to fully investigate the drainage as well as neighboring properties and remediate the issue permanently. No homeowner should have to live wondering where every storm is going to flood their yard onto their home. I'm asking you guys to please take this situation serious and help us find a lasting solution. Thank you.

Phil Goodman.

Phil Goodman, 1005 Central Drive, Kannapolis. Most of you know me, and I speak from the cuff and the heart. I don't speak from paper. It's been on my heart for the last couple days, and so what I say tonight is from me. I'm not representing anyone. It's my opinion. Our city has survived about 12 years, in my opinion, of very poor leadership. Bad decisions, favoritism, just borderline corruption. End of story. I hope that the people that are listening to me here and online will take a moment and say, okay, when you've been through this many years of bad leadership, things don't change overnight. But good leadership... will make the change, and I think we've got excellent leadership now. It also is difficult because it's painful. When you try to correct the wrong, there's always pain. If you get cut, there's gonna be a pain. If you break a leg, it's gonna be a pain. We've had a lot of broken bones in our city. So I just want to congratulate you guys for working hard, diligently, doing your homework, and as the, I believe the prayer was today, and when Stefan spoke just a few moments ago, Looking for the long-term results is what I got out of it. Not trying to fix something quickly, not trying to lie to the public or deceive business people, but tell the truth, look for the benefit of our city, and move forward. And I commend everyone in front of me for doing just that. Thank you for your leadership. Thank you for your time. And thank you for your hard work and time away from your families. Thank you.

Thank you.

Totisha Phelps.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Totisha Phelps, 510 Falls Lane. I'm also the owner of Lock and Key Peer Wellness Alliance, a transitional house. I'm just coming before you today to just say thank you to Mayor Wilson, to the City Council for coming out and supporting us for our ribbon cutting and just supporting us along the way. I just want to give you my heartfelt thank you and gratitude. Thank you.

Ashley Dickerson.

Hello and thank you for your time this evening. My name is Ashley Dickerson. I live at 1117 Brookdale Street. I'm here tonight along with my neighbors to advocate for support from the council to assist in solving our community as we are literally drowning in flood water from storm drain off. I am fortunate in the fact that no flooding gets into my house, but it is causing devastation on my property, particularly in my backyard. My house is on the corner of Brookdale where it intercepts with Maple. My house is the exact spot where three drainage pipes intersect and are supposed throughout the water to flow over into the creek that is on the opposite side of the street to the left of my property. I have contacted city officials many times over the last couple years with multiple flash flooding incidences. While these people have been responsive to my concerns, the collective response is that it is a private issue that I must manage on my property to reduce the flooding. But I have to ask the question, how am I supposed to manage a flow of water that is equivalent to a roaring river? Water that is standing almost two feet flooding into my storage building that is 18 inches off the ground. During this last storm, Mr. Dodge did respond to my call and he came out to my property. He was very compassionate as he explained to me once again what I have heard previously. It has been like this for years. There is an infrastructure in place to flow the water from Cannon Boulevard into the creek on Brookdale, into the pipe under my property, and into the creek across Maple. The main issue as to why this current system is failing is because the pipe that leads into the creek at the intersection of Louise and Brookdale is a very large pipe to accommodate the runoff from Cannon Boulevard. The pipe that is laid to collect the water at the other end of this creek that runs underneath my property and across the street is much smaller and is therefore not able to keep up. This causes flooding over the pipe that leads to flooding to the surrounding properties, including my neighbor's house. As I did have somebody come out and check to see what I could do on my property, the suggestion was to run a pipe underneath my yard. Well, this has already been done. So other than that, we are literally living from rainstorm to rainstorm, wondering what kind of property damage we are going to have again. So I please ask the council if this could be looked at a little more closely because there is a structure in place. It is just not adequate enough. Thank you so much for your time this evening. Y'all have a good night.

Came here. The last card I have is from Keith Stevenson.

Hello, and good evening. So I won't even come up here to speak. I forgot that it was even a council meeting, so I just seen it on social media. I was like, you know, it's really my first council meeting, but... So, yeah, two people came up today talking about flooding on Brookdale. Y'all, like, that's a serious issue. Like, it's really bad. I've been living on there for a few years now, and the flooding is, like, terrible, really, really bad. So both of them folks that was talking, they my neighbors. I ain't never met y'all, but hey, neighbors. You know, I didn't know they was going to be talking. But I just felt like I needed to talk, too. I just hurried up and filled out a card just to let y'all know, like, yo, this is a serious issue. I guess I heard that, you know, one house had, like, filled the creek. So... Their house is not getting flooded, but that creek is just running around that home and flooding all the other homes, and it's backing up other homes. I thought my house was safe, but I started to see flooding coming up on my home too, and I'm further a little bit up the hill. My neighbors, they've been living there for years. You know, they basically almost used to it. They're literally using a boat to get from a boat, like a real boat, to get from their front door to their mailbox. A boat. You know, B-O-A-T. A boat. because the flooding is so crazy. You know, she a single mom, she got teenagers and it's just like, they just used to it. So this is a really, really big issue. I'm sure houses have had molds and stuff like that dealing with, you know, what's going on. So there definitely needs to be something that the city needs to investigate because all it takes is really a worst storm and it could be, you know, catastrophic damage. So y'all please look into Brookdale because Brookdale is struggling.

Mark Spitzer.

Good evening. Mark Spitzer, 2115 Gulf Crest Drive, Kannapolis. Thank you for the opportunity to speak in front of you. I want to pick up on the first two speakers and just add something. I agree 100% with both of them, that being Zach, in terms of this bill that is going to create some disparities in my mind between those who choose to affiliate with a political party and those who don't. And I'm not fully aware of all the laws associated with that, but if an independent... requires signatures at some level, so should every other candidate who is running. I don't know if that is required today, but if it's not, I would ask the city to write as a city council to the Senate and to the House and indicate that you would like to see that be part of the bill. It is only fair that if an independent has to go out and get signatures that the candidates who choose to put Democrat or Republican next to their name have the same requirement. With regard to what Stefan said, I was here in town about 5.30. I've never seen quite so many blue lights except for the Christmas parade. I grew up in a ghetto myself, and I will tell you that many blue lights where I grew up would have caused a riot. I want to say thank you as well to the police, but not just for how safe they kept us on Saturday night, and I understand they were here Friday night as well, but the respect that they have acquired throughout this community is what makes us as strong as we are. And so my hat is off to them, to Terry and to all the police officers for running an organization that can respond in this way without any kind of incident occurring, whether it's our citizens or folks from the outside. So I just wanted to say those few words, thanks.

And that was the last card I had, Mayor.

Thank you. Council, we now need a motion for the consent agenda. Motion to. Ms. Berry? Ms. Hatchell? All in favor? Thank you. We move on now to our business agenda. Mr. Anderson, is he up next? 22 minutes. I'm kidding.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of council. Today we're proud to present the final CIP that we've been working on for months now. So just as a kind of a background and a refresher, what is a CIP or a capital improvement plan? It's essentially the city's multi-year wastewater and water plan that looks at everything from existing infrastructure, new projects, existing capacities, and expansions of new capacity over time. Our CIP is primarily based on the 2030 comprehensive plan that lays out the city's land use. We then add on top of that a layer of anticipated population growth and also look at the age of the infrastructure that we have here in the city. And it's expected that over time pipes do deteriorate and that can lead to water loss or inflow and infiltration into the sewer system. So why do we need a CIP? Our CIP and our master planning efforts are used to help us determine our long-term water and wastewater capacity needs. Many of these projects take years of planning, development, partnership, construction to get up and running. And as part of the fiscal 27 budget process, we did set water and sewer rates to begin funding these projects that you'll see on the last few slides. So today there's no action on rates or anything like that. This is purely just adopting our 10-year plan. What's included in the CIP are larger repair and maintenance projects that are related around water or sewer mains, pump stations and treatment plant. Also in this CIP, you'll see there are water and wastewater capacity increase or growth projects that'll help us meet future demands as well as drought resiliency over time. And our CIP does focus on a 10 year planning horizon. What you will not see in this CIP are personnel additions or vehicle or equipment replacement that are routine in nature, the pickup trucks, the backhoes. That's handled during the annual budget process that you see every year. As a reminder, just looking at projected water demands. So by 2030, we're estimating our water needs will be 8.5 million gallons of water per day. And by 2040, we're going to be in excess over 10 million gallons per day. Wastewater shows a similar increase. So we see that by 2030, we'll have an estimated demand of around 7 million gallons of sewer per day, and by 2040, around 9 million. So each year, we're progressively, or each planning block, we keep growing a little over that 10-year period. Also in the sewer CIP, you'll see some larger maintenance projects. So those are above and beyond the routine projects that we currently fund. Those will be some of the larger sewer lift station maintenance items like generator replacements, electrical or switch gear replacements, pump rehabilitation, et cetera. You also see an increase in annual sewer inspection and rehabilitation. So in certain parts of the city, the sewer mains that are out there are appropriately sized. They're just 50, 60 years old. So we do have in the plan to do annual inspections and trenchless rehabilitation to just continue to get another 50 to 75 years of life out of those pipes. And then to finalize the system maintenance category, we do have earmarked every five years GIS surveying, that kind of stuff in the system. And so I just wanted to show the water and the wastewater projects in a list. And we'll go through them very quickly. I know that we have seen these many times. But in this water project, we have the Charlotte Water Summers Walk interconnection. That is a connection to Charlotte Water for future needs. We have a few connections that help us move water throughout our service area. So the Jim Johnson Road water line, the 16 inch connection under the railroad tracks, the Glen Avenue water main, the Biscayne Drive water main, all those projects are internal connectivity projects that will help us move water throughout our service boundary. We also have a few larger connection points with other jurisdictions. And so we've got a Charlotte water connection and a Salisbury water connection for future water needs. The next four projects you see, they're specifically targeted to the water treatment plant itself. And then we have the NCDOT bridge 0181 project that is the replacement of Lane Street bridge over Lake Fisher. We have a water line that is attached to that bridge. So as part of their replacement project in the next five to 10 years, we'll be replacing that structure. And then we have a varying two inch water main replacement projects throughout the city over the next 10 calendar years. Moving into the sewer projects, the first four projects you see there are Forestbrook, Coldwater, Edinburgh, and Kentucky. Those are all existing assets that we want to come in and rehab or upsize just part of our routine conveyance capacity increases. The next two projects are a potential wastewater treatment plant as well as an interconnection to Salisbury Rowan Utilities to pump sewer to them for treatment. Then the next four items are those annual maintenance tasks that we have, and they vary depending on what year you look at in the CIP, but that's the ongoing lift station maintenance, the annual sewer inspection and rehabilitation, as well as the GIS survey. We also have in the sewer CIP the Public Works Operations Center. That project was originally funded, and then that project was delayed. So this is just reestablishing that budget amount. And then unique to the sewer, we do have a few projects that are what are classified as watch list items. Those are projects specifically targeted to two sewer pump stations, Brantley and Midlake. Those pump stations are in a growth basin. And so they're not immediate. Those projects are not immediately needed today, but they may be needed in the next five to 10 years, but it's on the watch list. And on this slide, you'll see the water, sewer, and the total at the bottom of $188 million is projected to be needed in the next 10 years. And so with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions and, of course, the recommended action requested by City Council. Do we have any questions?

I've got a comment here.

XRU and the Landis sewer expansion, are we presently working on that? Yes, sir. So what's the potential time limit on that?

Sure. So I think the important thing on, we'll talk the Landis wastewater plant first, the joint Landis-Cannapolis wastewater treatment plant. We currently are engaging the state to work through the environmental permitting. As you can imagine, trying to get a discharge permit is not an easy task, but it is definitely something that we are exploring. And also, it is important for me to clarify, we are, while these projects are tentatively funded through this CIP, we are actively pursuing both federal and state grants to hopefully pay for all of it, but we are pursuing grant funding actively as we speak.

Okay.

Anyone else? Okay. We're at a point where we need a motion to accept this CIP.

May I make a motion to accept the fiscal year 2027 through 2036 water and sewer capital improvement plan?

I'm going to second. Ms. Dixon? Okay. All in favor, if you will, please. Raise your hands and think we're good on that. Thank you, Mr. Anderson. Thank you. Another presentation now. Ms. Jones.

Good evening. We may be working on that presentation, or I can just talk off the cuff.

Okay, we got it.

All right, so I'm going to talk briefly with you guys on system development fees, what they are, why are they important, why do we have them. And the purpose of this presentation is just to kind of set the scene ahead of a report that our consultant worked on, Will Dan. It's going to be posted on the city's website. Hopefully end of day today, if not tomorrow. And they're going to come at a later point to actually go over the entire study and the ramifications or implications of it. So this is just very high level tonight. So what are SDFs? You may have heard us talking about it. Or what is a system development fee? So the general statute defines very clearly what a system development fee is in Chapter 162A, Article 8. And they are one-time charges assessed to new and or new water and or wastewater customers or developers or builders to recover a proportional share of the capital cost incurred to provide service availability and capacity for new customers. So really, it's a means of protecting existing customers. It's mitigating our existing customer base paying for expansions needed to support the system. So essentially, it helps growth pay for itself. So like I mentioned, we do have a system development analysis that was prepared. We are statutorily required to have an analysis prepared at least every five years. So we had Will Dan, the city's consultant that we actually used for our rate analysis for this past budget that was just adopted. They performed this analysis. So just some general highlights of the analysis. They must employ generally accepted accounting, engineering, and planning methodologies, and it incorporated the CIP that you just heard Alex present on with that planning horizon of five to ten years. And like I said, it has to be updated every five years. We often want to look at it when we are looking comprehensively at the CIP and reviewing the needs of the city as a whole. So I'm not going to get too far into the methodology of how the actual fee is developed, but there's kind of three different methods that are looked at. So the buy-in method, which includes looking at the city's existing infrastructure that has been built and maintained. Incremental or marginal costs, which is including new facilities to the CIP to be built to provide service to new growth areas. And then a combined approach that's taking a blend of new and existing facilities is how that fee is developed. So just next steps, um, in a timeframe. So the SDF study will be posted to the city website for review, um, by July 28th. So that's by tomorrow. And it needs to be posted for at least 45 days to allow for public comment. Um, after that period of time, we are going to have our consultant with will Dan come and present on the study. It's finding further methodology analysis, at the September 14th meeting and hold a public hearing at that meeting and hopefully make a motion to adopt the SDF fees. And therefore, we have to revise the fee schedule that was approved with this past budget. So ideally, we can all do that at the September 14th meeting pending public comment or any changes made to the overall analysis. So I believe that's all I had. Are there any questions?

Does anyone have any questions? We're not told we can ask any according to what I'm looking at. I think she would be willing to entertain any. No questions? Thank you, ma'am.

All right. Thank you.

Okay. Mr. Melton?

Mayor, members of city council, I would like to, as you've heard quite a bit tonight, thank our police and fire staff members for their response and planning over this past weekend to ensure the public's safety. Their planning and communication with our stakeholders resulted in a busy, for sure, but uneventful weekend. and a safe weekend for all. I am honored to have team members that deliver the level of dedication and professionalism to this community as our teams have. So again, as you heard so many times tonight, thank all of those that were involved. I saw many posts. I was down and saw our staff members out. They communicated with the businesses. In addition to communicating with the businesses, they kept me regularly informed of what was going on. The Chief and I communicated, as well as Deputy Chief Hill, over the weekend numerous times, and Tracy and his team. So, again, thank you all for the diligent and hard work this weekend, making sure that our community was safe in this team takeover event. Just a couple other project updates for City Council. Rogers Lake Road bridge, excuse me, the Rogers Lake Road intersection improvements. As you know, we are awaiting the agreements and distribution of the federal funds that were secured by Congressman Addison's office, Addison McDowell's office, so we certainly appreciate that effort, and as soon as we get those agreements, we'll begin the process of getting those initiated. The MLK Road Dot project in front of A.L. Brown High School is underway as we speak today. Work should be complete before the start of school in early August, so we're appreciative to the NCDOT for getting that work done and making it safer for the kids to be able to cross from the parking lots over to the school buildings. I know the school system is very appreciative of that as well, and Dr. Newell and I have spoken about that. So, again, many thanks to that. Street resurfacing. As a part of your budget process, City Council appropriated additional dollars for street resurfacing in our FY27 budget. We'll be able to pave 36 streets, approximately 11 miles of streets in Kannapolis as a part of City Council's continued dedication to street resurfacing and street paving. As a result of that additional funding, that is one of the largest resurfacing projects that this city has seen in history. Couple of the project updates that I'll provide. Little Texas Road, I know this is always one that we get asked a lot about, that you are asked about. Staff is continuing to work on the right-of-way acquisition. We have 36 remaining properties of the 96 that we have to acquire. Unfortunately, some of those will result in eminent domain usage in order to be able to get those properties. We are working diligently, but as you can imagine, a project of that magnitude and size, it is difficult sometimes to get everybody on the same page and agree. Bethpage Road right-of-way acquisition will begin on that soon. Staff has completed the review of the right-of-way plans from the engineer and should have final plats available in the next week or two for that process to begin. Midlake Road preliminary engineering authorization from NCDOT, that was approved. Staff will be advertised for RFP to solicit engineering firms to begin this work. really soon on that project as well. Again, that was one that we were able to get a little over $5 million, $5.8 million in grant funding towards. MLK Junior Bridge project was scheduled to be complete a little bit later this year, but the contractor obviously is a little bit behind schedule. I do not have a specific date as to when that project will be complete, but I do know they're a little behind on that. So hopefully, if it was a little bit later this year, I'm hoping by first, second quarter of next year that we'll see that project open and complete. There is work that's going on. It's, again, just a little behind schedule. The Corrine Cannon Legacy Garden, the City Council approved that project a while back. That is underway and will be complete this week. If you have not ridden by along Highway 3 as you're going out with the roundabout, the work is, it looks really good out. And we're going to schedule an event where we'll have an unveiling ceremony. that we'll have council and the family out and available. But that work is underway and again, should be complete this week. We won't unveil the sign, but we'll have it complete. Rogers Lake Road Bridge, if you haven't had a chance to ride across the bridge there, it is open to traffic as work continues on the side streets. As you can imagine, when you're making tie-ins with that magnitude, you're not able to do all of the work at once. So we wanted to get traffic, or NCDOT wanted to get traffic on the main road. Once there's traffic on the main road, then they can make those side street tie-ins and complete that. Couple development projects that I'll mention. Millstone, I know in our downtown we see that. That is the Harris Teeter Anchor, is the primary anchor with that. That is on schedule to open in fourth quarter of 2027. The multifamily and townhome units will be complete in mid-2028. And 200 Main, the 84 unit apartment complex that's in downtown is substantially complete. Cannonball Away is open, and we hope to have the traffic signal and pit heads installed a little bit later this fall, this winter. With that, Mayor, that's all I have.

Thank you, Mr. Mellon. Council, it's your turn. Mr. Davo.

Thank you, Mayor. Just a couple things. The comments that were made about the flooding on Brookdale, that area, is there a way to get some more information about whatever the one gentleman referenced, the creek that had been filled in and a collector pipe that was smaller, that a bigger pipe was dumping into. Could we get more information about that just so that we know what we're talking about and what we're looking at? I'm sure Mr. Dodge or Rattler has it.

Absolutely. We'll get that information back to council. I don't see Director Rattler in the audience back, but we'll certainly get that back to city council and look at it. I know that there's been some work. I'm somewhat familiar with it, but I don't want to speak out of turn. I haven't been out there lately, but we certainly will get that back to city council for your consideration.

Okay. Thank you. And the other thing I've been meaning to ask about for a while is, Years ago, the city took over right-of-way mowing and maintenance on Cannon Boulevard because the state had fallen to only mowing Cannon Boulevard once or twice, perhaps a year. That's why Cannon Boulevard looks better than the cross-sections do in Concord. As a part of that, we also installed crape myrtle trees in the middle of Cannon Boulevard from North Kannapolis to the cemetery. And through the years, there have been trees ran over and the root ball has now produced low-growing crape myrtles, which... I think in a lot of cases, impede visibility of traffic. We need to figure out a process or get something in place to start replacing the ones that have been ran over because the ones that are still fully grown look good, but these that are low growing, you can't see past them and you can't see under them. So I think we should look into that as a bigger, tree replacement plan process for some of our areas that we control trees on. That is all I have to say.

Thank you. I'll make sure that we pass that along. I, in fact, had mentioned some of what you're talking about to Director Rattler about a week ago, and making sure that some of those areas, because I had noticed some of the areas needed attention in terms of mowing, and I know that his crews were planning to get on it the next week, but making sure those areas are limbed up and trees that are have been damaged can be replaced to make sure we get those done. Some of those areas where trees were perhaps removed or areas where there were a lot of side issues and those we might not be able to put back, but ones that we can will certainly address. That'd be great.

Anyone here have anything? Mr Jackson?

Yeah. Um, I also would like to thank the police department and all the folks who were involved in the Friday and Saturday night. I actually was on the street Friday night and Saturday night and realized what could really turn to a bad situation, but through the planning and understanding that our policemen and our police department have, I think it kept it under control. I'd also like to see as we move forward, that we can come up with some plans to have a system set up where we can have some type of control in the evenings of some of the folks that we have downtown. I know we've been apart. We have a little problem putting a curfew in place, but I think anytime after six o'clock, if we have children downtown who are not supervised, that we need some type of legal means of being able to control it. Downtown now, probably as a total, we probably have probably over around 600 jobs, and that includes the ball field. and all the retailers. So we're a large, downtown's a large employer. And you're looking probably close to seven, $800 million investment down there. So I think we need a 24 seven, some type of monitoring, if it's a policeman or some type of camera situation. But that really, what happened this weekend really with that many policemen downtown kept the situation from getting real serious. And I'd like to see, as we move forward, to have some type of police presence, because we never know when this could happen again. We don't want to turn into a Northlake or a Birkdale. Just one incident down there, could turn it into a bad situation. And we have a lot of families that come downtown on the weekends that bring their young children and they enjoy the amenities that we have, the taxpayers have paid here. And I'd like to see us continue to protect it. And I think to do that, we're going to have to spend a little bit of money on monitoring exactly who and what is spending their time downtown. That's all I have to say.

Thank you, Mr. Jackson. Anyone else? Yes, I have one.

Yeah, I just want to say ditto to what Mr. Dayvault and Mr. Jackson said. I'm really thankful for the police that were out there this weekend and also our fire department. I believe they were out there too. And thankful for the business owners that made us aware. I know Friday morning I was down there having coffee. A business owner made me aware of what was going on. I appreciate that. I also wanted to just kind of report back some of the things that were happening this month. At the beginning of this month, I want to thank Mr. Melton and Ms. Lindsey out there for having the Kibera Summit here. I appreciate the fact that you guys brought in WASAC, and we were able to learn from that. It helps us make better decisions, so I just want to say thank you to both of you for that. Also this month, the Cabarrus Chamber of Commerce had an education summit. It was a privilege to hear Dr. Newell talk about the great things happening at Kannapolis City Schools, something that we should all be very proud of because they really are going to be leading our future. And I'd love to share some of the things I learned there if anybody has any questions and encourage you guys as the opportunity comes to visit the schools if you can. And even today there was another event here with Central Lina and Excel, learned a little bit more about some of the childcare issues that are happening in Cabarrus and Rowan. So if any of you guys want some more information, I'm glad to talk to you about that because that is something that's kind of hindering the workforce, I'll put it that way, just because of the childcare issues. So just again, thank you guys. Thank you all for what you're doing. Appreciate it.

Anyone else? Well, let me throw something in here. It may seem real small in respect to everything else we've heard, but it's been pretty hot this summer. And I think the older council members remember about 10 years ago, I kind of went on a pilgrimage to make sure our dogs didn't get tied up to houses and porches and left outside in this brutal heat. And for a long time, people would call in. I don't blame the police because if we don't call in and tell them what's going on, they don't know. So if you will, keep your eyes open, because I'll begin to notice more and more of it this summer. Pitiful dogs tied to a house, tied to a tree. They can't do anything about it. We can. We can call and say, hey, you know, 28 whatever street, and they'll go out and do something about it. Because I used to do it all the time. I'd see, you know, these things happening, and I'd call, and they'd go make them stop. The dogs can't call, right? So if you see it, call in, let the police know. They'll take care of it. We do have a good ordinance on... File now, Mr. Safer went back and reworked it. I think he modeled it after Greensboro's. So I know Ms. Lindsay likes this because she's an animal person. So anything else? Ms. Dixon, you were looking for something a while ago. You want to make a move here? Motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn.

Okay.

Got a second. All in favor? Thank you. Thank you for coming tonight.