City Council - Regular Meeting

And uh I've been trying to cancel those, but I swan I can't get that done. They just won't pay any attention to me at all about cancel those retirements. But anyway, anyway, as we always do tonight, we will have uh we'll start out with our moment of silence and have our pledge of allegiance. And uh anyway, this past weekend, we celebrated Martin Luther King weekend. Uh hope everyone had a good weekend. Uh we had a great event uh Saturday at the Martin Luther King Center uh for they had a great breakfast and uh appreciate being involved in it. I know there was a a march and everything on Monday uh for Martin Luther King Day. So uh we appreciate everyone that was involved in the in the ceremony over the weekend and we certainly celebrate and remember the life of Dr. Martin Luther King and what he meant for this uh this country. So thank you for all of that. Okay. And we'll now uh if you will join us for our moment of silence and remain standing for our pledge. Thank you. Please salute the flag. 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. Thank you. We're going to get started tonight with a couple again very special recognitions.

Very honored tonight. And I will ask Major Kobe Stillwell if he will come up and Chief Wilson too. Thank you. Major, you sure I can't talk you out of it? No, sir. I think I'm good.

You have been. We appreciate that. Major Major has served us so well, and we thank you so much for what you've meant to the police department, to the city of Lenor Po County, and and in so many ways. You've been a great leader, and we thank you for that. You will be missed in that part. I hope I think you'll probably stay a part of us and I know you will and we'll look forward to that for sure. But thank you for what you have to all these officers back here and to this department and the citizens of Lenor. Uh we're very proud of uh you protected us. We certainly appreciate that very much. Going to read this resolution uh with you in recognition of dedicated service. Whereas on the 15th day of January 1998, Kobe Lynn Stillwell was appointed patrol officer two by Chief Jack Warley and has admirably and with great distinction served the citizens of Manor during the tenur of five police chiefs that Koving has formed close relationships with his genuine concern and dedication to duty and has contributed to the success of the department and community with the support of his wife Tracy. That due to his dedication and diligence in performing in an exemplary manner, Kobe advanced through the ranks, being promoted to sergeant over the patrol field from 2003 2006 until his promotion to patrol lieutenant. In 2009, he transferred to the investigations division as lieutenant where he served in that capacity to 2013 at which point he was promoted to captain. Kobe has Kobe has served as the commander over investigations until transferring into support services in 2020 where he served

until being selected as the department's major in 2025. that Kobe has been invaluable as a mentor for new officers, the school system, and the city's customer service team. He has served on the assessment boards and contributed to the success of the department as a member of the special response team where he received the top gun award a total of four times. Kobe has been instrumental in developing the department's nuisance and code enforcement procurement and asset program. investigative procedures and fingerprinting system. That prior to being hired, Kobe received a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice and while serving the city, earned the advanced law enforcement certificate from the North Carolina Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission and graduated from the 241st session of the North Carolina FBI National Academy. that Kobe has played an active vital role in the community and shown a willingness to go above and beyond what is expected for the department, the city and the community. He served as a coordinator for crimes stoppers, advisor to the shelter home, leaison for the ABC commission, and was a member of the Robins Nest multidisciplinary team, child protection/f facility prevention team, opioid awareness group, the North Carolina Police Executives Association, and the FBI National Academy Associates. He has received a number of accolades and awards throughout his career. That society and law enforcement as a whole has gone through many changes over the past last 28 years and Kobe has served, excuse me, has stayed ab breast through these changing trends, making

significant contributions throughout his career and humbly serving the citizens of the city of Lenor and Cwell County. He will be retiring under the North Carolina law. excuse me, local government retirement system on February the 1st, 2026. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the authority of the mayor and the city manager and on behalf of the city council that Major Kobe Stillwell has been an exemplary employee and is himself the e the epitome, I hate that word of the professional law enforcement officer. His contributions to the safety and well-being of the citizens of Lenor and officers of the Lenor Police Department will be held the highest in high esteem and remembrance by this governing body as well as persons impacted by his accomplishments. This the 20th day of January 2026. Thank you, sir. Thank you. [applause] Before [applause] [applause] I bring uh Chief Wilson up, I've got one other thing I would like to present to you. Our highest thing that we can give you from the city, the key to the city of Wenor that says that you have served these citizens to the best of your ability and you've done it with honor, esteem, as we said, and so many other things you have represented well and I'm proud to present this to you. Presented to Major Kobe St. Stillwell in recognition of 30 years of dedicated and outstanding service to the city of Lenor of the Lenor City Council. Joseph Given, Mayor January the 20th, 2026. Thank you. You're very welcome. You're very, very welcome. Chief, I'm gonna let

you come up and then uh you want to let you want to speak or

speak? Uh I'm many things, but a good public speaker. I'm not one of them. So, my speeches tend to be under two minutes or less. So, uh, first off, I want to say what a tremendous honor this is. Um, thank you very, very much from the bottom of my heart. Um, the guys and gals that I work with, they are just topnotch. Uh, you you couldn't ask for a better group of men and women. Uh, they truly care about the the citizens of Lenor and and this community, and I think they show that in, you know, pretty much day in and day out. Uh, I would like to take a moment to first off thank God. Uh, without him, uh, none of this would be possible. He, uh, he's truly blessed my family. Um, I I can't say enough about that. U, but I'd really like to thank my wife Tracy. U, she's my my girlfriend, my best friend, and my wife wrapped up into one person, and she's put up with a lot through the years. Uh, the [laughter] no heckling. Uh uh she is, you know, the call outs, the the texts, the phone calls, she's put up with it all. Uh my son Holden, he's here. Uh I I certainly appreciate him. My oldest boy, he's in college. He couldn't be here tonight. He's he's in school. But uh I just want to say what a tremendous honor it is. And um it's I've grew up here. I started when I was 24. And um I I've been blessed. So thank you guys. Thank you guys.

[applause]

That may be the most I've ever heard him say in a public setting. So, that was a that was a fantastic job. Uh, one thing that was missed in that um that um thing that the mayor read res Thank you, Josh. I'm glad you're sitting there. resolution that the mayor read was a loyal friend uh to each and everyone that's here now and the ones that have been here in the past have always known that Major Steelwell, Kobe Steelwell has always been a loyal friend and and that says a lot about his personality and just who he is. Um something else to touch on is to show his loyalty to the city. He actually started here as a college intern. He did his internship with the city of Leno Police Department u and then decided he's going to stay here and he's not originally from Lenor andor Cwell County but he made this home and uh in doing so he took it he took it personal. It was passionate for him. Everything that he ever did was uh full force. Everything he had and it shows. Um he it's a tremendous amount of knowledge that's getting ready to walk out the door. Um that's you know 28 years 30 years credible service in a lot of different things and I you know that just kind of scratches the surface of everything he's been involved in but that's a lot of knowledge going out the door. So I'm hoping we can still tap into some of that. Um, but no, he uh he's just been instrumental in growing the next leaders of the Leno Police Department and that's what we got to have in leadership is growing that next generation of leaders. It's not only about the right here, right now, but it is about the future and Major Steel has been a huge part of that. So, for that, I appreciate it. Um, and we're going to miss him.

Yes, sir. Thank you very much. Let's do a get a picture. You want to do them now or do them both after?

Well, we can do that. Let's do the other one and then we'll do that. Good idea. Thank you. And next, we're going to honor a gentleman that uh we we see all the time. Come on up here, Marshall. I'm going to miss seeing this guy around town for sure. uh because I don't ever pull into city hall that I don't see Marshall somewhere close by in downtown and he has been a a great fixture there for 17 years I think I'm reading on here

and has been people in downtown uh love Marshall Rert I can tell you that all the business owners everybody love having him he's always been a great help he has served us so well just has a great personality just he knows how to deal with people and that's going to be uh that's going to be me but uh but I know you'll be close so we'll we'll do that. I'm going to present this to you in recognition of dedicated service. Whereas on the 5th of January the year 2009, Marshall Paul Roupert was appointed as a patrol officer for the city of Lenor Police Department by Chief Joy Reynolds and has admire admirably and with great distinction served the citizens of Lenor during the tenurs of four police chiefs. that Marshall has formed close relationships with his genuine concern and dedication to duty and has contributed to the s success of the department and the community with the support of his wife Gina that due to his diligent performance and exemplary leadership skills. Marshall has served on the department's honor guard, special response team as a negotiator, critical stress management team, the bike patrol and customer service team for both the department and the city. And Marshall has been invaluable as a recruiter and mentor to new officers and has served in a number of capacities to include general instructor, field training officer, child safety seat master technician, member of safe kids, and vice president of Fraternal Order of Police. He has been instrumental in developing the downtown parking ordinance, monitoring the green whale tra system, and cleaning up city properties. As downtown enforcement officer, he has developed a great rapport with local

business, the community, and employees from all of the city departments that while working for Lenor, Marshall received the advanced law enforcement certificate from the North Carolina Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission, completed firstline supervision, police law institute, and served on a number of committees that officer Roupert has played an active vital role in the community and shown his willingness to go above and beyond what is expected. As a vital member of the community resource platoon, he has participated in a number of fundraising events for DARE, Robin's Nest, Shelter Home, and Crimestoppers, as well as assisted in a variety of programs to various to numerous dimensions. that Marshall has received a number of accolades and awards throughout his career to include the certificate of merit medal, the 15-year safe driver medal, officer of the year, service beyond measure award for his work on the soup kit at the soup kitchen, as well as several golden ticket awards put forth by city staff members for witnessing him provide outstanding customer service. that society and law enforcement has undergone many changes and challenges over the last 17 years and Marshall has stayed ab breast through these changing trends to remain an effective leader, role model and mentor to all whom he meets. That Marshall has humbly served the citizens of the city of Lenor and Cowell County and will be retiring under the North Carolina local government retirement system on February the 1st, 2026. Therefore, be it resolved by the authority of the mayor and the city manager and on behalf of the city council that master patrol officer Marshall Paul Roupert be an exe has been

an exemplary employee and is himself the epitome of the professional law enforcement officer. His contributions to the safety and well-being of the citizens of Lenor and officers of the Lenor Police Department will be held in high esteem and remembrance by this governing body as well as all persons impacted by his accomplishment, generosity, and compassion for those in need. This the 20th day of January, 2026. Thank you, sir. Thank you. [applause] [applause]

this one and then I'll let you speak. And we'd like to present you this this with this is the flag of the city of Lenor that we want you to have that you remember that you have served the citizens of this community with distinction and well service and especially our downtown area which you will be remembered very very fondly being a part of this wonderful. You even gave my wife two tickets in one day.

Yes. Never let me never let you forget that. [laughter] This is presented to MO Marshall P. Roupert in recognition of 17 years of dedicated and outstanding service to the city of Lenor. Wenor city council Joseph L. Gibbons, Mayor TW January 20th, 2026. Thank you, sir.

Thank you. You're very, very welcome. [applause] Oh man, thank everybody very much. Um, like Major Stillwell said, it it's an honor. U me growing up in this community and being able to serve along everybody's been very special. Um, [snorts] thank you very much. I mean, it's I'm ready to to retire, but it's going to be bittersweet. But I'm looking for another adventure that I'm in the process of working on with Samaritan's Purse. So, but I want to appreciate all the support from council and my fellow officers and my wife Gina. But thank y'all very much. [applause] I honestly feel like I could come up here and say Marshall Roupert, everybody knows and I could just walk away. He speaks for himself. Um, what can you say? If you look at someone like Roupert as an example of a heart for service, he is the epitome that the mayor the word that the mayor used, but he is the epitome of a heart for service. Yeah. And I mean, he truly has a heart for service. You know, he's And I know the mayor joked about giving out uh parking tickets, but I can't think of one time in 17 or however many years he's been doing that specific task that anyone has ever they may complain about getting a parking ticket, but they're not going to complain about Marshall Roert. Um he is the most likable guy. He is he is truly truly his heart is in it for the right

reasons. Um, you just can't say enough about him. Uh, I mean, he's that guy that you could call at 3:00 in the morning and say, "My water line's broke." And he'd be right there in about 10 minutes. And he's just that guy. And we're going to miss him. He's uh he does so much around the police department that we are truly going to miss him uh for that community uh outreach that he is so good at. Everybody knows him. Um I can't tell you the times I've I've had people, where's Rupert? you know, if he's not here for a day or two, where's Robert at? And so he is um a big part and a big piece of Lar Police Department and we're gonna miss him. Um and um but I I'm I'm excited for him. Uh, I know he's got a lot of things in the works and I know we're we're going to still see him uh because I've he's our also our cook and so we can't go without a cook and he knows he and I have already talked about that and he knows that and so um but yeah, I mean he's just um I don't words can't can't explain uh the importance he is to not only the police department but this city especially in the downtown district. And I do want to take a quick moment to touch um on our families because both of them talked about their wives and their families. And you've heard me say it before. I know you've heard Chief Phelps say it before about the culture of Illinois Police Department and how family oriented and family culture there. But we couldn't do it uh with these with these guys if they didn't have the support that they have at home. And uh I mean really hands hand for our families. um we couldn't do it without them. And so here's two prime examples, two retirements, and their families have stuck with them, stuck by them, supported them, and that that means a lot. So, thank you, Mayor, for the opportunity. And thank you, council.

Thank you. Yes, sir. All right, we'll shoot some pictures. Uh we'll start with Major and your family. You want to Would you like all these to be in that?

Absolutely. All right, we'll probably need at least three lines. call offices back more towards the council. I think

I'm not in there yet. You want me to get in with [laughter]

I think. Oh, yeah. All right. Let me just look at a second and see. I think everybody put your hands down. One, two, three, cheese. Happy retirement. All right, we got one more right here.

[applause]

Do another one. I can't see the little boy back there. You want to hold him up? [laughter] All right, look. Cheese. Put your hands down. One, two, three, cheese. Everybody's happy. I have two pictures. [laughter]

[applause]

I did.

Good to see you. We understand. We understand. Got somewhere to be, right? [laughter] That's right. Congrats again.

Or so it should be. Yes, [laughter] that's all I read. Y

Thank you everyone for being with us. Thank you guys. Thank you for what you do every day. Thank y'all. Give a second to clear. [snorts] No, they got guns.

Okay, very nice. Thank you all for everything. And uh next on our agenda, we have uh we're a special guest tonight. uh Miss Cwell County Jamie Logan is here tonight to share uh a little bit about herself and the upcoming plans that she has and we welcome you here Jamie. Thank you for coming and uh being Miss Cwell County.

I appreciate it. I'm not sure how I follow after that but uh my name is Jamie. I have the incredible honor of being Miss Caldwell County 2026 and I'll represent Caldwell County when I compete for the title of Miss North Carolina this upcoming June. So throughout my year of service, I promote something called a community service initiative. Mine is called Beyond the Game, which focuses on the importance of involvement and participation in sports. I have a ton of goals throughout my year of service, and I'm excited to work with you guys. One of them, I want to CPR certify every high school athlete in our county. I work for the Carolina Panthers and understand the firsthand experience and the need for CPR certification. And so that's one of my many goals in our county and my commitment to you guys that hopefully every athlete by the time my reign is done will be CPR certified in our county. So tons of appearances, exciting things coming up, but appreciate the opportunity to serve with you guys and appreciate what you do for our community. So thank you.

Thank you very much. Glad you're with us. Thank you. Would you would you Jamie would you like shoot a picture with the council? Can we do that? Can I do that now? Yes, sure can. Josh will do it. He can take you with your Sure. [laughter]

This time, go ahead and take two steps up. All right, I'm going to do her camera first. Put your hands down. my customer service presentation about your hands. All right, one more time.

Awesome. Thank you for coming tonight.

Good luck to you. While we're here again, thank you Jamie for joining us tonight. We certainly appreciate that and good luck to you and all that you're going to be doing this next year or so. We appreciate that and for representing Cowell County. All right. Next on our agenda is a presentation. This is from uh the Western Pedmont Council of Governments. This concerns the Kataba River inner basin transfer update and our executive director of the Western Pedmont Council of Government, Mr. Anthony Star, is here to present. Welcome.

Well, thank you, Mayor and Council. Thanks for the opportunity to come join you this evening uh and talk about the issue. As always, the council of governments is grateful with uh for the partnership that we have with the city of Lenor. You've got a great manager, great mayor and council, and we appreciate all the collaboration with you on a number of fronts, including this one. So, let me just jump right in and spend a few moments giving you an update on interbasin transfers. uh a little bit about we'll cover a little bit about the background of them the about the Kataba River Basin Charlotte waters request the alternatives uh about our coalition and the legislative study. So for the benefit of the public let me talk a little bit about what an IBT or interbasin transfer is. It is when a water is removed from a a river system, in this case the Kataba River, transported across a a ridge line and then is discharged where it drains into a different river, in this case the Rocky Yadkin River basin. So it's only counts the water that doesn't return when you calculate an IBT. So in this case, a scenario where a city withdraws water, some of it's returned, some of it isn't. on the at the end of the day the IBD is calculated by the net loss that's transferred to another river basin. So what have our what does our research show? Uh we've got a team of folks working on this and basically all the academic research says that IBTS are detrimental in a number of ways both economically and environmentally. Uh we have currently a few uh Kataba River uh IBTS. One is Charlotte Water. They have a certificate of 33 million gallons per day that they transfer out of that was issued in 2002. Uh they are approaching the limit of that certificate. Um Concord Canapapolis has a 20 million IBT certificate. 10 million

of that comes from the Kataba. And then the town of Moresville also has a pre-existing IBT of about 9 and a half million gallons per day. Now, um this is the map in the uh under North Carolina law. It shows two things. One are all the different river basins in North Carolina, but also how the state regulates these transfers across the river basins. You'll note there the Kataba River Basin in green on the the western half of the state. That's one of the smaller river basins in North Carolina. A little bit about the river basin. Uh the Kataba River Basin is the first river in the United States completely planned and developed for electricity production. And it has 11 different lakes and reservoirs on it. Uh started in early 20th century, completed when Lake Norman was constructed in the last uh dam in 1963. Uh about 1,800 miles of shoreline. It is the most densely populated river basin in North Carolina. Home to over two million customers from the river basin. Um, and it serves a number of different utility systems up and down the river uh chain is a primary a key source of electrical production for Duke Energy as well. At the end of the day, one of the things that remains about this issue is that the Kataba River is classified as a threatened river. Twice it has been named as the most endangered river in America over the last couple of decades. That is mostly due to the uh exponential demand for clean water as a result of the population growth of the Charlotte metro area. that really comes into play when you look at drought conditions. And so this map here or this chart shows you all the

drought uh classifications going back uh to the 1990s. Now this is from the US drought monitor. And the way to read this chart is the higher the bar on the chart, the greater percentage of North Carolina was included in that particular drought. The darker the color, the more severe the drought. So we've had two really significantly uh severe droughts in the last 30 years from the 90 98 2002 drought and the 0709 drought. How does that come into play for our utility systems like Leno? This is a diagram we created. You see uh the water treatment plant there. You have the reservoir on the left uh where you pull the water out of the the lake. Uh you have the blue line there represents the normal elevation of our lake. And then during drought conditions, it lowers. Obviously, that red line is our critical uh elevation for the the lake. And at that point, that's where it the water gets too close to the intake for our public water system. And then it can no longer function properly in a a really extreme drought. about the two 98 2002 drought. Uh that was one of the largest documented uh deficits of rain uh in some time. Uh it occurred primarily in the western part of the state. The way to read that map there is a it's a measurement of flows and streams and rivers, but the western Pedmont area was particularly hit uh hard during that time. And the 079 drought represented the most severe drought in recorded history for North Carolina. Uh at the time, uh a number of our utility systems were seeking to lower their water consumption by more than 20%. Uh lake levels dropped by 8 to 10 feet in that case. And in the case of Lake Norman, the water level

dropped to just 3.1 feet above the cooling intake for the nuclear power plant. That's kind of important. Uh meanwhile, Charlotte was pulling water and continues to pull water from the Qatar River and loses more than 19% of every gallon of water that it takes through water loss. That is equivalent of 23 million gallons of water that it loses each day through water leaks in the ground and the such and so forth.

So, uh Charlotte IBT and conservation targets, they might say, well, well, Charlotte might say this isn't really a big deal. IBTS are necessary and it's part of doing business and it's really not going to be that big of a deal. Well, consider this. Uh Charlotte Water published its water conservation goals like other utilities for extreme droughts as being a 10 to 20% water reduction. It uses about 125 million gallons per day. And a 10 to 20% reduction would be 12 a.5 to 25 million gallons per day. They want to increase their IBT to 63 million gallons per day. So it is proposing to transfer two and a half to five times more water than it conserves during an extreme drought. So either this is a significant transfer of water or their conservation goals for droughts are inadequate. So what does it look like? Well, right, as I mentioned before, they currently have a certificate for 33 million gallons per day. That was the last for a number of years. They're approaching that limit. So, the they're they're planning on asking for an additional 30 million gallons per day to be transferred out of the Kataba River. You see the map on the right side of the the screen there. Uh the purple line on the right side represents the ridge line. They are transferring water from those red dots uh reduh red circles which are their water intakes on Mountain Island Lake and Lake Norman. They get treated at the red uh blue squares for their water treatment plants and then it's transferred across the the ridge line in purple there uh to the eastern third of Mechenburgg County. Basically, how do you should you think about the what is a third 30 million gallons uh per day? What does that equate to? Well, if you're talking about in terms of growth that they're trying to feed, uh, that serves about 300,000 more people. So, basically what they're

communicating is they want to plan for about 300,000 more people in eastern Mechburgg County. So, this has economic, financial, and legal consequences for all the other communities up and down the river basin. And, uh, you know, we need that water capacity, and it's a limited amount of capacity for western North Carolina's growth. And we can't. it's going to be harmful if we transfer it out. This is, you know, you see the map, here's some statistics about the growth that's on the east side of Charlotte and the surrounding counties. So, it feeds into that and this is going to further uh supply that growth. Uh, and that's fine. It just shouldn't happen where it's take has requires taking water out of the Katab River at our expense. And why this becomes important is um Lenor and other uh utilities up and down the river chain belong to a group called the Kataba watery water management group. Uh they jointly uh plan for the use of the river and uh do studies on it uh to cooperate and coordinate efforts for this limited resource. And it has a water supply plan that's in the process of updating now. And but the last one in 2014 identified that uh studies uh would indicated that by midentury 2050 that the safe yield for many of the river basins in the Qatara River would be exhausted and continued population economic growth would be unsustainable. I will tell you I think that number will uh be or that date will come sooner because growth has occurred at a faster rate than the studies were done uh assumed uh 10 years ago. Meanwhile, uh we looked at the flows of the Kataba River going back to the 1960s. And what we found here is that the availability of water in the river basin

is looks like it is declining. It's not even staying the same. It's not increasing. So, it's declining. So, we're we're Charlotte wants to take more water out of the river basin while we have a decreasing supply of river of water coming through the river system. And so this will have some effects in that it will uh more transferring more water leaves less water behind that concentrates pollutants which can drive up treatment cost for utilities and limit the permits and growth of other communities up and down the river basin not just those below. So water rates in Charlotte are also at the same time more affordable as a percentage of household income than 90% of other utilities in North Carolina. They pay less for the same amount of water. At the same time, Charlotte loses about 19% of its water through leaks and that sort of thing, water loss in its system. This chart on the right shows the affordability. Uh the black square or the black uh dot in the middle there is North Carolina median affordability for water rates in North Carolina. Uh the western Pedmont does better. That's our utilities in the blue. And you see all the way on the left, the orange dot is Charlotte in terms of its affordability. Bottom line, the interbasin transfer means cheaper water for Charlotte but more expensive water for other river systems because of the impacts that it has. And we're worried about the legal impacts because uh approval of uh another IBT will entrench the president that Charlotte will seek and uh more more water from the river basin for the next for the rest of the century if we allow this to continue to happen. So what are the alternatives? Well, right now Charlotte proposes to take water from the Kataba, use it, and then discharge it into the Rocky Yadken River Basin. And that's maximum harm to the river basin and maximum benefit to Charlotte. It has two primary options. There may be others, but these are two

primary options. One is to take water from the Yadkin River Basin. They can create their own treatment plant. They can purchase water from another utility. Those there's different ways to approach that or a combination. They also could return the water when they pull it out of the Kataba and then return it through a wastewater discharge into a stream that eventually flows into the Kataba River. that would not count as an IBT as I mentioned before because we only count water that doesn't return when talking about IBTS. So what does that cost? Well, in 2001 when Charlotte initially got its IBT certificate, they said the cost of doing one of those two options was either 16 or $82 million. Now they're saying both of those options to do one or the other would be over $800 million according to their estimate. Now, that's a 10 to 50 times increase in inflation over that time. And we're not saying that we necessarily accept those cost estimates at this point. But for argument sake, let's assume that they're accurate. Uh consider that Charlotte has an annual budget. That seems like a really large number, right? But Charlotte has an annual budget, Charlotte Water I should say, not the city, the Charlotte water department has an annual budget of $651 million. uh and they have 2.3 billion in water projects planned over the next five years. So if you apply that, they can avoid an IBT by only increasing their Charlotte water Charlotte Waters capital budget by 12% over the next 15 years. The point is this can be done. It can be done the right way. They can avoid this and it's not and it's not cost prohibitive. It is affordable. So, at the end of the day, uh, Charlotte has not invested in alternative water sources. Uh, leaders backed a, uh, a 1 cent sales tax for transit

infrastructure. They also received $141 million in federal pandemic funding that they chose not to use for water and sewer investments, and they could have. Uh and then at the same time, so at the bottom line is Charlotte pays less for water, receive federal funds for water infrastructure uh that it didn't use for that purpose and then supports a tax increase for other nonwater infrastructure. They have the means, not just the will or the desire to pursue an alternative for its water. So the Kataba River Coalition uh is being coordinated by the Western Pedmont Council of Governments at the request of its local uh of its uh cities and counties. Um the EMC is the entity that will approve this potential IBT certificate. The EMC is the Environmental Management Commission appointed by the state. Uh they expect them the to have a hearing sometime later this year or in 2027. uh probably 2027. I don't think because of some legislation that'll be possible this year. Uh but it includes all the local governments in Alexander Burke, Cwell, Kataba, and McDow counties as part of that coalition. And so some of the key points we would leave you with would be is one, our f region's future growth could be limited because of these large IBTs. At some point, some federal state regulatory agency might say, Lenor, we're not going to allow you to increase your water treatment plant because too much water is already being taken out of the Kataba River. And the fact the more Charlotte transfers water out of the Kataba River, the faster we will reach that point uh that potential point. The other point we say is we're not opposed to Charlotte growing. We just don't want that growth to occur at our expense. The limited resources of the Kataba River should not be used to subsidize huge growth outside the river basin and Charlotte can can and should implement policies and infrastructure to

avoid this IBT and these IBTs will make the impacts of severe droughts worse for other communities along the Kataba River Basin. So this past year we were successful in getting legislation passed to place a moratorum on these large IBTs of 15 million gallons or more and that moratorum lasts until March of 2027. At same time that legislation directed that the UNCC collaboratory do a study on the issue and it's in the early stages of that study. It has to look at several things. Couple of them were looking at the statutory process for surface water transfers and also provide recommendations to the legislature and how the law should be amended. Two key things we're asking for out of that study. One is that a shot clock being uh enacted to use a a basketball term for these large IBTs. So that maybe you get an IBT for a large IBT uh temporarily say 15 or 20 years but you're required to build the infrastructure to eliminate that IBT before that period ends. Another thing is is to that the Charlotte would and entities like it have to establish a drought mitigation fund for impacted communities to use. If an IBT is approved within that relevant basin, a percentage of their revenue would go into that fund. Um and in our mind that would be used to make our communities more resilient. Maybe it's used to lower Lenor's, if possible, water intake on the river or lake and or provide interconnections between utilities uh in drought emergencies and other circumstances. So, what can coalition's members do? Uh we respectfully ask that you uh engage your state legislators using these key points. We'll have additional information to you and data to support your advocacy. Uh we'll be sending you some information about engaging with the UNCC collaboratory to share your local perspective. So look for that

information soon. Uh and then I would also say the next 50 years of growth in our region will be determined by this issue. So we want to keep it at the forefront of everyone's minds. So I'll be glad to answer any questions. Anthony, I [clears throat] read through this and this was an excellent excellent presentation. Thank you. And I we just need to talk to whoever it is and get this word out to the right people because this, you know, we work so hard with with what we do with our water system and keep it in good shape and here Charlotte's losing 19% of every gallon we give them. That's unacceptable. I agree.

I' I'd like to say that through your presentation, it's obvious that Charlotte has some options of where they could get water. We don't. And that's what the legislature really needs to hear, right?

We don't have another river to dip into. And a lot of people on our on the chain of the Kataba River, we're essentially locked into that one source to go to a to a secondary source would be as much or more as Charlotte needs to spend to take out of the Atkin. Um, and when Charlotte returns water into the system, that water is still downstream of us. Is that correct? It is. I mean, they pull water out downstream of us and we return it downstream of us. But at the end of the day, that would be a better alternative than than it not coming back because it wouldn't reduce the flows overall for the river because we are very much interconnected with this. I mean, Lake James is kind of our Alamo in terms of water supply during these droughts. And uh the way the permitting agencies look at this, they they're going to look at all the impacts up and down uh a river chain. And so even though we're upstream of them and take our water out first, we are directly and potentially impacted in the future by this because of the the regulatory requirements we face.

Yeah. Thank you. We've had a lot of meetings, other meetings about this and we've had a lot of discussion about this. COG is doing a great job of of leading this this fight. We have all entered in it together to uh to to enter everything we can. We're talking to all our legislators and have about it. We've even talked to Charlotte about the return of water, but obviously they don't want to do that. So that's the other the other part of it. So there's a good there's a good battle going on with it. We're we're putting up everything we can to to to stop this. So we just need to continue and continue moving the way we're way we're doing. So

and also that South Carolina and Rock Hill specifically, but yes, they're interested as well. They're part of the water, aren't they? Yeah. And that may come at some point. There may be litigation over this if it comes to that because if and then as you know if South Carolina has sued North Carolina in the past over these interbasin transfers and if that happens again of course under the US Constitution that goes straight to the Supreme Court because Supreme Court has original jurisdiction when one state sues another and so we anticipate that very much being a possible outcome if North Carolina doesn't u do something about this situation with Charlotte.

Can I ask one more thing? Yes, I'm sorry. Has this same study with with all this great information been done with the Yadkin River to talk about how it would impact that river if Charlotte were to take it out of there? So, I don't know the answer to that. I know there is a similar group for the Yadken uh as the Kataba Watery Water Management Group. I don't know if it's as wellestablished as the Kataba watery management group is. Uh so I can't speak to what research they have in hand about that. It would be great if if there was a way to directly compare the impact on that river uh when talking to legislators. Okay.

And the Yadkin River is actually a much larger river basin in North Carolina. It doesn't have lakes and reservoirs on it, but it has greater flow in it uh than than the Kataba River does. So it's just a matter of putting the infrastructure in place to to tap into that. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions or Thank you. Thank you, Anthony. We appreciate the update and [snorts] the work that that you're doing and the COG's doing with this moratorum has certainly helped us some to to have time to be putting things together, but uh it's going to come back and we we know that. So, well, thank you for your partnership on this issue and so many other issues. Appreciate the city of Lenor. So, thanks.

Thank you, sir.

Appreciate it. All right, we'll move on then. Tonight we do have a matter scheduled for public hearing. That is a uh code amendments. This is for chapter 4, article 4 is buildings and building regulations uh non-residential buildings or structures standards and chapter 10 minimum housing standards. This will be the second reading. Second reading of the ordinances amending chapters four and chapter 10 of the Lenora code of ordinances related to nonresidential buildings or structures standards and minimum housing standards. Uh we'll open the public hearing but first I will bring our planning director Hannah Williams up for her comments.

Absolutely. Thank you mayor and thank you city council. Uh tonight we're discussing minimum housing code and the non-residential buildings and structures code which is an article in chapter 4. The city contracted with infocus planning and design uh to rewrite and modernize these ordinances in accordance with state law um and which has had some changes over years since these local ordinances were last edited. So, uh, to start with housing, uh, largely the planning department's housing procedures are functioning well. We've had many cases this year. We've had ownerabated um, properties and we've had city abated properties. Uh, however, while we were looking to fix the non-residential standards, uh, Infocus suggested allow allowing them to look into the housing ordinance as well. Um, no conditions or standards for the housing, uh, chapter is changing. So structural, plumbing, electrical, uh ventilation, sanitary conditions, those are all the same between the two ordinances. Um what is changing is that well under the current ordinance, the main question is is this dwelling unfit for human habitation? Um so even though minimum standards exist uh the enforcement procedure is activated uh once it reach reaches that unfit uh threshold uh and that results in us being reactive um and inspectors wait until multiple issues accumulate. Uh so the new ordinance it alters the structure of enforcement to where the inspector can determine a house to be out of compliance um but not unfit. so we can enact the the NOV process uh uh sooner um and not wait until it's ready for the um vacate and close or vacate

and uh demolish uh process. So um the proposed housing ordinance makes standards uh independently enforceable um and uh before the unfitness designation. So it just enables earlier intervention. So, that's what's changing in housing. Okay. Do you'all have any questions about the housing chapter changes? Before we move to the other one, we'll open it up for any questions concerning the housing part of this ordinances. Okay. So, potentially we're catching it earlier than we've been accustomed to.

Exactly. Uh you don't have to wait until multiple violations exist to name it unfit, which has kind of been the way the the current ordinance. And that's better for the whoever owns the house, too. I mean, yeah, they can fix it before it gets to that dilapidated state.

All right. So, as for the non-residential uh buildings ordinance, uh chapter 4 is our building and uh building regulations chapter and um currently the entire chapter says delegated to the Caldwell County Building Inspector. Um and that includes this this article chapter 4. And uh so there's one change at the beginning of the ordinance that says that um the Cwell County Building Inspector uh implements the state building code um and then that leaves other parts of the code uh to Lenor's authority. So that authority is is restored by this ordinance. Um and then um it's a full rewrite of article 4 uh with scope and definitions, roles and detailed procedures. Um and the the current ordinance, it has some general hazards listed as unsafe criteria. Uh the proposed ordinance has a long list of uh specific dangerous conditions and violations uh that can exist on a property and numerical thresholds of uh when to use certain remedies. So, um, yeah, any violation that exists on the property can be enforced with the standard NOV process. And then when it when a property is deemed especially dangerous because it hits several, you know, uh, five plus, I believe, of those um, criteria, um, it can result in vacate enclosures or or demolition ordinances. Um, so that concludes my comments on the ordinances. Uh as for workflow, um the the planning department will start to enforce the non-residential structures ordinance, but it's largely a newer workflow for us. Uh so we've discussed uh workflow help from the Western Pemont Council of Governments, uh where their code enforcement can help us uh draft the correspondence letters that are

needed, attend site visits, and kind of establish that full workflow with Lenor code enforcement. Um, and the contract for this help and projected cost will likely be discussed next week at committee of the whole. But, uh, that concludes my prepared comments, but I'm available for any questions that you might have. Any questions of Hannah concerning these? Obviously, we're putting more teeth into it is about what it what it amounts to in a nutshell of what you're able to to do that we haven't been able to do before, right? Okay. Any anyone? Okay. Thank you

for that. We're in the public hearing. So, open it up if anyone would like to address the council concerning these ordinances uh that we're talking about right now in this in this public hearing. This is the time to do so. All right. Seeing no one, then I will close the public hearing. and I will turn it over to council for any action that we would like to see toward these these ordinances. Mr. Mayor. Yes, sir. I move that we approve these uh code amendments to chapter 4 and chapter 10 as submitted.

Okay. Have a motion from council member Preswood that we approve the code amendments the for chapter 4 article 4 and chapter 10 as presented by the planning board planning staff and city staff on this any other questions if not all in favor please say I

all opposed thank you that is unanimous tonight that's 6 missing one council member. Thank you. Thank you for your work on that, Hannah. We appreciate that. And hopefully we'll able to do some things with buildings around town that we haven't been able to do before and gives us a little more things that we can we can work on towards that. So, we appreciate that work.

All right, we'll move on then to consent agenda items. this tonight consisting of minutes of the city council meeting of Tuesday, January 6th, 2026. Item B is the close session minutes. Uh this is of Tuesday, January 6 as reviewed by the council, the city attorney, and the city manager. Item C is a resolution. This is approval of a resolution in honor and recognition of Kobe Stillwell's dedicated and outstanding service to the city of Wenor and his citizens have submitted. Item D is a resolution approval resolution in honor and recognition of Marshall Rupert's dedicated outstanding service to the city of Wenor and his citizens. Item E is a surplus resolution pursuant to North Carolina general statutes 20-187.2. Uh staff recommends city council adopt a resolution to declare the following police weapon. This is a Sig Sour P 320 pistol serial number 558J47 8614 and police badge of Major Kobe Stillwell upon retirement as surplus and no longer have any additional use to the city of Lammore as submitted. Item F is a surplus resolution pursuant to the same general statute 20-187.2. Recommendation is a city council adopt a resolution to declare the following police weapon a sig sour P-320 pistol serial number 58 J472258 and police badge of master police officer Marshall Roupert upon retirement as surplus and no longer have an additional use to the city of Lenor is submitted. Item F is a memorandum of transportation agreement. This would be for approval of a memorandum of transportation agreement between Cowwell County municipalities, UNCC Health,

Cwell and Foothills Medical Transport to provide transportation services to and from UNCC facilities of involuntary commitment respondents. All right, that's your items A through F. I will turn it over to council for any action question whenever you're ready. A through G. A through sorry A through G. Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion that we accept the U consent agenda items A through G as presented.

Thank you. We have a motion from council member Stevens that we uh approve the uh consent agenda items A through G as presented. Any other question or discussion? All in favor, please say I. I. All opposed. Thank you very much. Okay, we'll move on then. It's time now on our agenda for requests and petitions of citizens. If anyone would like to address the council, this is the time to do so.

Not seeing anybody. Come on up and if you will, we know you well, but give us your name and address, please, for the records. My name is uh Stephanie DC and my address is 218 Norwood Street here in Lenor. And uh before I share with you briefly what I wanted to share with you, I wanted to come last week or last meeting, but I wasn't able to, but it was timely because as a realtor that specializes in retirees and vacation um owners, um our river system for scenic and for recreation is very important to us. He just got himself a champion. [laughter] That's going to be a very strong uh uh concern near to my heart for sure. Um but the reason I wanted to visit you uh today is luckily I know each of you very well. Some more than others, but I know each of you. And one of the things that I noticed at our last election was how many people wanted information about you guys online. There was always people seeking out content. And some of you have social media pages, some of you have websites, but there's no more forums. There's no more avenues for them to have information regarding each of you. And so in considering um the uh if they want a copy of what I have, that's fine. Um in considering comparing you as elected officials to people on the state or federal levels, one of the things that's recorded is um attendance and voting records. And I certainly don't want this to be some large job that some poor soul gets stuck with. I'm really thinking of a minimalistic way that you guys can um consider sharing that information. Obviously, people can come to the meetings like I did today and get

information. They can watch the meetings online or they can read the agendas in the minutes, but come on, that's not going to happen. Um, and I just thought it would be so simple if we could on an ongoing basis with a minute have some kind of attendance record. No one expects perfect attendance. You guys all have your lives and businesses and families to live. No one's looking for a perfect attendance. But also some kind of a voting um, not everything. Obviously, you guys are going to know what the public would want to know. If you have to vote on painting this room pink, no one's going to want to have that listed, you know, but just some way to let the public know what you guys are doing. that's reachable, I think would be very helpful for them for future um future elections going forward. So, I just wanted to share that that I noticed that so many people were looking for information that just was not out there. And I thought those were just two very very easy ways to share with the public uh voting records and attendance records that might be helpful them in making future decisions. And that's it.

Thank you. Thank you very much. We appreciate that. Certainly, we'll take all that into consideration for sure. Thank you. Anyone else that'd like to address the council? I think most everybody else are our staff. Glad to have you guys here, of course. [laughter] Thank you for that. So, all right, we'll move on then. We do not have reports of our boards and commissions this evening. So, I'll move on to the report and recommendations of the city manager, Mr. Hilderbrand.

Mayor, council, all I have tonight is information items. Um the committee the whole will meet on Tuesday January 27th 8:30 a.m. Third floor city hall. Uh the foothills regional airport authority will meet on Wednesday January 28th at noon. And the city planner retreat is going to be held on Friday, February 6, 8:30 a.m. and that's going to be at the Blue Ridge Energy Community Room. And that's all I have tonight unless you have questions. Any questions of Mr. Elderbrand concerning any upcoming meetings or anything? Thank you for that. All right. Any report from our city attorney tonight? And we have uh Mr. Law is with us tonight. Yes. It's always great name for an attorney.

Yeah, I appreciate that. We would have nothing to report at this time.

Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you for filling in for Mr. Roar tonight. We appreciate that. And I don't have anything from the mayor's office. We already talked about Martin Luther King event on that. don't know much coming up uh in the next little bit. We have several events. Uh again, thank you all of our staff, John, and all your people for the Christmas decorations and the great job that was done uh on that. Uh everybody has thoroughly enjoyed them. I've had we've had more comments about our our Christmas and everything there. So crossroads I know still lit up. So I know you got to be careful here if we do get some snow and I know you'll be ready if we do to uh to roll out the plows and or whatever we got to do. Let's hope we don't have it all that bad. But anyway, we'll see how that goes. But

yeah, everybody go buy your milk and the bread. That's for sure. It's finding probably gone. I bet it is. All right. anything from any of our council members tonight that anybody would like to Yes. Yes, sir. I I would like to note that the uh February 6, the city planning retreat is my birthday. Oh my god. [laughter] And because I'm a having to attend that meeting on my birthday, I would like to have it uh rec recognized. [laughter] Make a note of that, please. Madam [laughter] We'll see if we can have some kind of fun thing there for you.

Yes, whatever that might be. But anyway, it won't be near as much fun as what you planned otherwise. I'm sure. I'm sure not. For sure. But thank you for making us aware of that. For sure. Anything else to come the council to come before? Mention one thing. Yes, sir. As far as birthdays go, I just want to let y'all know that today is Hannah's birthday. We should probably sing happy birthday to her. That would be fantastic. Well, you started Joshua. You sure made.

Oh, yeah. Do you want a picture? Birthday picture. [laughter] A birthday picture. All right. Happy birthday. Ready? One, two, three. Happy birthday to [singing] you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Hannah. Happy birthday to you. We won't ask how old you are. I'll remember that. [laughter] We'll ask you. Well, happy birthday. I hope you have a a fun evening. Maybe probably another later on the week you'll probably do something else since it's a weekday. But anyway,

I know your your uh daughter is probably excited about your birthday for sure. Oh yeah, I'm sure she is. Well, happy birthday. Anything else to the good of the council tonight? If not, we stand a journ. Sounds good. Should we kind of birthday cake? I think he wants a cake.