City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Welcome to the city council meeting of the city of Lenor for Tuesday, March the 3, 2026. We welcome you here today. Today is election day, of course. I hope you have been out and exercise your right to vote today and and this community and for our leadership state and others across the nation. Uh for that, you have till 7:30, I think, to uh to vote this evening if you haven't done that. So, we encourage you please to to do that if you still want to and can. Uh, as we always do, we'll start in just a minute with a moment of silence. Um, and our pledge of allegiance. Uh, as we always do, our first thing would like for you to keep a family in your thoughts and prayers as we go to that time of of of moment of silence. The family of Mr. Jeff joins. Jeff is a community leader here uh in this community for many many years and uh a radio broadcast uh golden voice as we always would call him and uh he was a great leader in our community was part of Blue Ridge Electric as their uh president uh chairman of the board for the last number of years uh there and he has been a a great supporter of Lenor and Cowell County for many many years. call the Rotary, one of their founding ones there with that club and many other things. So, please keep Rita and his sons and their families in your thoughts and prayers as they uh try to adjust to this time without uh without their uh father and grandfather uh here with us. So, please thank you and keep that in mind. Now, please rise for a moment of silence.

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 will get started tonight on our agenda. And our first item on tonight is the uh 20 thou 2025 annual report of the Lenor Police Department. And we welcome our chief of police, Mr. Andy Wilson. Chief Andy Wilson. Thank you, Mayor. Yes, sir. Let me get this pulled up real quick. Need

this. So again, yes, uh 2025 annual report for Lenor Police Department. Thank you for giving me the privilege to present this to you. I'll give you some of the highlights uh throughout the report. Obviously, it's a 22page report that is in your packet that will be posted uh online to uh the police department's website uh through the city of Lenor. So for everyone to see as all of our other annual reports are on there. I think I looked at today it's I'll post it all the way back into the teens. Um so we'll get into this. In 2025 uh crimes against persons we had 451 of those. That was a 16.24% increase from 2024 uh to encompass one murder in 2025. uh crimes against society, we had 410 of those, which uh represents an 8.28% decrease from 2024. And then crimes against property, we had 897 those uh which was 5.68% decrease from 2024. Calls for service, u 261 animal uh complaints. That's a 20.43% decrease from 2024. um 767 civil disturbances which is about 11% decrease and 915 domestic u disputes which was a 5.78% increase from 2024. Um another one of our categories that we saw uh an increase in was involuntary commitments. We had an 18.06% increase in 2024. That's the highest it's been in the last four years. Um so that that number uh steadily increases.

Um and so it's something obviously that we have a a watchful eye on. Uh but a lot of that we we have no um contributor to that. Um you know, people go into the mag office and seek those involuntary commitment orders on people that may be within our jurisdiction. And um and so that number has steadily increased, the highest it's been over the last four years. Overdoses, uh we had 99 of those. It was a 10.8% decrease from 2024. And also the opioid induced um uh overdoses uh was a 23% decrease. We use Narcan 64 different times with 50 likely uh lives saved in 2025. So our officers officers carry Narcan on their person. Um and um they have been for several years now. So we have administered that 64 times. A lot of times what you find is law enforcement is the first time first person there. Uh they're there before fire, before EMS. And so we carry that on our person. All of our officers do to be able to administer that when needed. criminal charges uh 200 uh 2577 felony and misdemeanors, 290 drug charges, and 96 alcohol violations. We had 1,021 crashes with three fatalities in 2025, 3,839 vehicle stops, 2,438 citations with,214 warning citations. investigations divisions recovered $39,000 uh dollar or $39,591 worth of uh stolen property. Our narcotics officers um seized three,52,66 um dollars worth of illegal narcotics and that includes assisting other

agencies and uh 69,861 cash and property uh seized. Our patrol division um answered 24,174 uh police calls for service. That was a slight decrease from 2024. And those calls for service are the ones that someone calls into either 911 andor calls the police department requesting a police officer respond. 11,813 uh special checks or house checks is where we uh um either someone um fills out documentation to be able to uh check on their property, whether that be business and or residential and just special checks throughout the the whole entire city of Lenor. If there's things construction going on or different areas, uh we check those uh areas constantly. and 933 call follow-ups. And that typically is tied to investigations to where we're following up on cases and following up with uh with people. Our investigations division uh uh investigated 2365 criminal cases and 250 nuisance cases. Um of those criminal cases, 29 of those uh resulted in search warrants, 17 knocking talks. In the nuisance cases, u 150 of those were owner abated and where that's where the owner themselves, they've been noticed given a notice of violation and they um they um conduct whatever whether that be grass, whether that be junking debris, whatever. Uh they get that um fixed and and um within uh code and uh so they abate that themselves and 27 of those had to be abated by the city. Our communications uh division answered or processed 52,813

uh phone calls and 315 afterhour water and sewer uh service calls. So that's a busy department. Uh that's constant. Uh in all 39,566 citizen contacts, out of those 39,566, only 21 of those um resulted in a use of force. That's a 44.7% decrease from 2024, which is also equivalent to .0053% of the time that we have a contact with a citizen may end up in a use of force. Um that's that's low. it's um it's very low. Um our guys are trained in crisis, you know, intervention, deescalation. Uh we continue to do that with all of our newer officers. That is a that's a standard for us and something we continue to push and and that's a uh these are direct these numbers are direct results of that. Other statistics, we uh processed 16 ABC permits, 35 backgrounds, 160 crimes stopper tips, 10 we conducted 10,452 uh training hours, and we have 32 officers that have professional certificates. That's 58% of our staff, which again, and I know you've heard it in the past, that um that enables us to have a 7% discount on our law enforcement liability insurance. So those professional certificates matter. Um it's a well-trained professional officer that understands uh the ins and outs of what the job is and what it calls for and they have to get uh it takes years to acquire that professional certificate. Uh some of these certificates can take upwards of 12 years to acquire and so we have 58% of

our staff that that hold those certificates. Uh during 2025, uh we did uh some slight restructuring. Our C platoon, which is our community resources platoon, uh was in support services. We um realigned and put those uh officers back under the patrol division. And some of the thought process there is our our community service platoon are in uniform. They're our SRO's, our uh um our community resource, our downtown district officers. And um for efficiency and effectiveness, everyone that's in a uniform day in day out is under one division that uh for management purposes, for um allocation of resources purposes, that makes sense to have it that way. Um because when you when you have them in different divisions, sometimes the communication may fall. And so we made the decision to put them back under one division and and and so that's where that comes from. We were also able to add an IT specialist which aids in uh digital forensic analysis. As technology advances uh we have to be able to keep up with technology uh from phones to cameras to computers to oh you name it. It's all um way over my head. But um we have an IT specialist in the city that is a part of IT already. Uh they are a sworn officer with the Lenor Police Department. Um but they uh this individual uh aids us in those digital forensic analysis and so that's uh that's a big deal. Strategic investments over the past year uh obviously the uh automate automated license plate readers we were able to upgrade our incar communication equipment uh to be uh Viper phase 2 compliant. That was mandated by the state that we were not compliant as of

July 1 of 2025. Uh so uh we were able to um upgrade that incar communication equipment to become compliant. Uh we also upgraded our incar mobile data computers. Those mobile data computers in the patrol cars um houses everything the patrol patrol officer does. Uh they are they can remotely report um and so they don't have to come to the office and sit down in front of a computer and do their their incident reports or their accident reports or any of that. they can do everything from their car. They've been able to do that for years, but with those systems, you have to continually upgrade those computers just like any other computer for the systems to be able to function, you know, properly and correctly. And so, uh, that was a needed upgrade. Also, digital evidence storage upgrades. Um, as we have, uh, began to tackle the evidence um, um, storage, uh, I think you've probably heard for years, our evidence storage is is packed. And so we've been combating that problem. And one of those uh one of those items that we were able to um secure was digital uh evidence storage, which uh frees up a lot of space. And so that's uh that's how most do it and that's how we need to continue to do it as we move forward. Just a couple highlights of the year. We had our 20th Citizen K9 Academy. We had 21 Pu uh participants. It's a six-week program basic uh obedience. That's one of the between that and the cadet camp, probably the two biggest. Uh we we have a ton of programs going on all the time in our schools and our and our different um um groups throughout the city, but our K9 Academy is one of one of the biggest ones. And then uh obviously you met the three new Kines that we were able to acquire in 2025. Uh council or I'm sorry, Mayor Protein Perkins there. If you want, I can have them come in uh get a picture with them.

But um Mhm.

But you were able to you were able to meet uh these three kines. They're doing great. Um um the obviously this one in the middle is probably the the one of the most famous ones we have. Um everybody really likes Gingus and so he's a he's um um he's a fan favorite. Our cadet camp is another one of our big uh programs that we have. It's held in the summer. This one was summer 2025. We had 30 students for an entire week uh that they come to the police department and we have different outings uh and different sessions with them for an entire week and that that program continues to grow. Um, we have tons of students put in for that program and we originally had it for 20 to 25 and we were able to increase it just a little bit this past year, but we're about to our limit with uh it takes a lot to keep up with 30 kids for a week. And so, uh, my heart goes out to teachers and daycare workers and and those that have to do it day in day out. But, uh, great camp. We see these kids uh in the schools or at events here in the city and I mean they'll come up to you, they talk to you, they'll tell you stories about kids camp or cadet camp. Um it's just been a really really positive good program. Uh two employee recognitions. Our officer year was Corporal Logan Barrett and our employee of the year was our master telecommunicator Rhonda Howell. That's voted on by by everyone in the police department. It's anonymous. Um, and so these two individuals do an absolute fantastic job. No surprise here that these two are are were recognized as the 2025 officer and employee of the year. And with that, obviously the the document you have is 22 pages long. I'll be happy to answer any questions that you may have. Um,

Mr. Mayor, thank you, Chief. Any questions, Chief Wilson, concerning the report? Chief, are those um computers in each car assigned to an officer or are they assigned to a car? They are assigned to a car. Okay. And so so several officers may be using them.

Well, yes and no. Typically they are the officer is assigned to the car and the computer's assigned to the car and so it's one officer because we have so many different systems that they have to log in log out of. um uh state obviously uh systems and different things and so uh that computer stays with the car but it is that officer's computer report. Anything else? Anything else? Thank you, Chief. Yes, sir. Thank you. Good report. Thank you.

Appreciate the hard all the work that goes into that. Okay, we'll move on our agenda. We do not have any matters scheduled for public hearings this evening. So, we'll move on to our consent agenda items. Tonight is three items. They're minutes of the city council meeting of Tuesday, February 16th. Item B is the minutes of the committee the whole meeting of Tuesday, February 24th. And item C is a this is a bid award. This is for the Penel Street Gateway Pedestrian Bridge repair. This is a recommendation awarding the contract to shotrete contractors incorporated for the lump sum lump sum of $59,700. Shot shot contractors is the lowest responsive responsible bidder is appropriately licensed and is adequately equipped to perform work of this nature as submitted. So those are three items of on the consent agenda. I will open it up to council for any question, concern or um and a motion when you're ready.

Mr. Mayor, I make a motion to approve the consent agenda items A through C as presented.

Thank you. Council member Thomas makes a motion to approve the consent agenda items A through A through C as presented. No other question. All in favor, please say I. I. All opposed. Thank you. That is unanimous. All right. Next on our agenda is uh a time of request and petitions of any citizens. If there's anyone who would like to address the council, this is the time to do so. If you will, we want to come forward, give us your name and address, you're welcome to do so. At that, we would ask you if you would to keep your comments to about three minutes if you will because we do have a an agenda to do. So, we would appreciate uh uh working together on that if we can.

Hello. You guys most of know me, but I'm Jenny Wheelock, 209 Maple Drive in Lenor.

Yeah. Um, I've been following some of the zoning issues that have been in the news and they're things that are near and dear to my heart because they relate to our ordinances and to our housing issues. So, um, I was paying attention and I watched the the meeting that y'all had, two weeks ago. And having sat through so many of these meetings, I have to tell you that I cried. I mean, it touched me because these folks that came up to speak to you were brave. This is a scary thing to do. And I think what they said was that there is a need in our community for emergency shelter that's not covered in any of the other things that we have tried to provide. And I think the city got a little bit of a reprieve from it last winter because a lot of people had vouchers for hotels because of the hurricane and the hurricane relief. And this winter we're hurting. And when you talk about ordinances, and I'm a fan of ordinances, and I wrote a lot of the ordinances and spent the better part of the last decade enforcing the ordinances, but I don't think that you're being fair in your depiction of the ordinances. I think that saying our hands are tied, we're just following the rules, is not fair because we all know that the rules can change. And the rules that are being enforced against these sleeping pods are rules that this council has control over. I like a good thought experiment and I have been thinking how would I classify

these sleeping pods because they're tricky. They're not really houses. Right. Right.

They're not an emergency shelter in a specific sense. and our zoning code is silent on them. There's not a rule that you can point to to say they're not allowed, just like there's not a rule you can point to to say that they are allowed. That means the discretion is entirely up to your staff, your planning board, this board. There could be a different outcome here. I think it is unfair to say that the ordinances are in place to protect people's safety while saying that emergency shelters should be in the county because we simply can't accommodate them under our zoning. I think that means the zoning should change. And I think that it's fair for everybody to understand that the ordinance that forced the sleeping pods off of the property zoned general business. The same zoning that allows hospitals and allows places to sell sheds where you've got all these sheds for display. You know, these little sleeping pods were not allowed. not because of a regulation, but because of the lack of a regulation. They simply don't show up. I think there could be a different interpretation here. I think that they could be allowed as an accessory use to the ministry and thrift store use that this group has. The code allows for 10% of the gross floor area of the principal use to be a an accessory use. you could make the determination that these pods are like

the other uses in this zoning district and are appropriate here. In the meantime, you've got folks scrambling to move on the fastest zoning enforcement that I have ever seen happen, which is impressive and and was done correctly as far as I can see. And I did reach out to this group and I did meet with them and talk to them because I wanted to understand the full issue at hand. We give people a minimum of two weeks to mow their grass. And yet, these folks had seven days to relocate these pots when they relocated them to a property they thought was okay, which I figured would not be. When I heard the the the comments at the last meeting, they were immediately enforcing us again. and another seven days, we're spinning our wheels and wasting resources. And I think that we should at least be honest enough to say we don't want this in our community, not our hands are tied. These rules were designed to protect you and they don't allow this.

Thank you. Thank you.

Yes, sir. My name is Patrick Gristie. I'm the one renting the built the old pawn shop. I didn't break no ordinances, didn't break no laws. I reviewed all your codes and I want to verbally announce I want to appeal your decision and we need to relook at this. Y'all can have anything you want to do. Hate me in any way you want. like me. It doesn't matter. This wasn't about anything like that. We had to either take them pods or lose them. You know what? I got 20 more coming that'll be here Friday. I do disaster response. We're one of the best in the business. That's why the state relies on us. That's why the federal government relies on us. This whole state works with us. So why won't y'all work with us? We work with every county in North Carolina except for y'all. So maybe y'all need to look at yourselves because there's got to be an issue there. You ain't got to like me, but I'm good at what it would do. That's why we got a plaque and got an award for Helen. You know, FEMA has been to our warehouse. They know everything we do. The state knows everything we do. Everything that we did, we documented. We sent to the state level. We sent it to your emergency management. Even when it stopped, we still kept giving our numbers to the state. So, we followed the rules and that was our emergency during a ice storm. We had the pods. Why

not use them? I got fire extinguishers. You want me to put smoke to be detectors and carbon monoxide in them? I'll do that. No problem. They're FEMA regulated and uh permitted. So, why can't you permit them? If FEMA can use them, why can't y'all? I mean, think about it. I ain't that bad of a guy. I just don't like being chased down.

Thank you for your comments. Good evening.

My name is Joseph Twist. Um, being my address, 107 Forest Hill Drive. Um, as Patrick said, you know, I mean, we we're doing everything that we are supposed to do is try as far as uh guidelines. Uh what Patrick didn't tell you is just in the past two weeks we've got six people fully employed. I mean regardless after everything that you guys keep trying to push us and push us and push us. Well, that's not keeping us from stepping forward and doing what we got to do. I mean we're still out there helping people. Like I said, we got six people full full employment. I mean, and we're doing that on our own. We're gonna keep fighting this until we get it right. You know what? I mean, we got to come to terms with y'all. Y'all got to come to terms with us cuz I mean, we're going to we're going to stay and we're going to keep bump bumping heads and we're going to keep bumping heads until there's a line that we can both come to and agree on. We want to help these people. And you guys say you want to help. Show us. Meet us in the middle. I mean, I I'm I'm a I'm a firm believer in the Lord, and you guys say you are. Well, if we're going to walk this walk, let's walk it together. You know what I mean? Let's all believe in the same God. Let's all hold hands and let's do this together. You know what I mean? This is This is getting old. I mean, every single one of you can be a part of this. We want you to be a part of this. We don't want to bump heads anymore. We want to come to terms. Let's come to

terms. Let's agree on something. Let's work together. Let's both shine. It's not a one-sided team. You know what I mean? If we're going to be on If we're going to play the game, let's play together on the same team. That's all I got to say. Thank you. Hi, I'm Alice Houston. I live at 107 Forest Hill Drive. I think you guys ought to believe in people. anytime one of you guys could become homeless. Just I was homeless and I got on my feet thanks to Patrick and Denise believed in me, you know, and it took that's all it took. I was a drug addict all my life. I'm four years clean now cuz it took them to believe in me to know that, hey, there's something out there, you know? Look, so we have, like you said, six people got a job on their feet doing well now because what we believed in them. We and we, you know, matter of fact, we took drug test all these people that was there in those pods and everyone come out clean. When they first got there, they weren't, but now they are. So what? We got to throw them back out in the street because we can't have the pods so they can get on their feet and get somewhere. It's not right. It's not it it's not right. You got to give these people a chance. Some are out there just because they have to be. It's not because they choose. They have no pro, you know, nowhere to go. So what they turn to is drugs. You know, you ought to look at the big picture. We are helping them and help us, you know, help you, you know, just

give it a little thought. Come to terms that we are somebody, you know, they're somebody. They just need a little help. You know, we can't push them because they're homeless. I understand some of them are way out there and stuff. I understand. But give somebody a chance because that could be one of you just as well as it was one of them and myself. S can I say

thank you anyone uh would like to address it from the cog or planning or chief u fire marshall's Hey, I just want to clarify some things. Uh, I guess for the the public record, I believe you all already know this. Um, my name is Hannah. I'm the Lenor planning director and um neither site where these pods had shown up had gotten property owner permission to host um homeless folks on site at this this is my time

um when at this second site in Valme area uh when I spoke with Miss Varnner following the stop work order. Uh she made it clear that she wanted the pods removed from her property and uh she was distressed that they had been placed there without proper permission. Uh her son holds power of attorney over her affairs and um his humble hands had not obtained authorization from him to place those on site. Um, Miss Varner reported to me that eight individuals had moved into her home and uh without her consent, caused damage and uh removed some of her personal belongings. And um she had explained to me that she had only allowed for um one family to move into the home and uh not additional occupants. and she expressed concern about potential penalties from vi violating city ordinances. And uh given the lack of consent um for the use of her property, I informed her that the quickest way to have the pods removed would be to um put a trespass agreement in place with local law enforcement. Both she and her son willingly put the trespass agreement in place last week. I and the Lenor planning department uh support the need for transitional housing options, but the programs and processes must follow safeguards established by state and local law and oversight and standards protect vulnerable populations um as well as the community at large.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,

Chief. My name is Chris Jacobs. I'm the chief or fire marshal for the city of Illinois. U I'm going to try to cover a couple things. We we actually crossed a lot of different topics here. Uh again, like last time I talked, uh we talked about definitions. Um in the fire world or fire code, building code, all that, there's no such thing as transitional housing. There's also no no nothing that says pod. Uh if I look at these these pods and I have to classify them into something, uh the closest things that may appear that they fall into would be a tent. Uh it could also potentially be uh during Hurricane Helen, they came out with pallet houses. Now, don't confuse me. I'm not talking about we took pallets and made a house of it. It's a thing that comes on a pallet and we build it. It's a lot bigger than what these pods in reality. Uh, from the things I've looked up online, these are like campers. You might be able to help me. Um,

they use them for different things. We use them in the disaster world for volunteers, house people. They're used for Douglas. I mean, they're used,

right? Right. And I saw Doug blinds. Uh, so so here's our issue. We have to look at the disaster world. We have to look at things like shelters, emergency shelters, and even uh what those definitions mean. So, if I'm in an emergency declaration, uh I've even had conversations with county em. We want to use this building right here as a emergency shelter. All right? So, emergency shelter has absolutely nothing to do with the homeless. It has to do with people in need. That includes the homeless. Does everybody see what I'm saying?

Yes. All right. So, uh, we had a discussion, myself and county em about a particular building and I said we can't use that building because it doesn't meet the qualifications of an emergency shelter. Okay. So, then we have to come up, well, is there a place? So, what do I need to have an emergency shelter? And that's going to be your fire alarm. It's going to be your sprinkler system. It's going to be all those things. It's going to have to have two people there full time. Uh there's a lot of different regulations that go along with that emergency shelter. So let's let's talk homeless shelter because we're not in a state of emergency. We're not in a disaster. We are like regular times. So if I want to house these people that are homeless, we call that a homeless shelter. So what does it require? It requires the exact same thing as an emergency shelter. All right? Has to have that smoke detection system. has to have that sprinkler system. Um, it also uh there's another thing out there that's called a overflow shelter. That's during that state of emergency. When the uh emergency shelter overflows, it gets reduced. It doesn't have to have anything but the same amount of population. It's got to have those two people. They they got to meet their requirements, but all it has to have is a fire alarm. So, I guess what I'm saying is is when we start looking at this from the fire marshall's office, we're looking at what are these buildings for? What are we using them for? We're looking at the planning department who is listing it as a certain thing, right? And we're not listing it listing it as that. This is not a disaster.

So, you're going to have the people to death. No, I'm not. And we talked about that last time. Correct. Right. But wait just a minute. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Go ahead. Go ahead. It's got to be over 1500 degrees before. You're fine. Good. Okay. So, so anyways, the I just want to let y'all know,

right? The the idea of this is all about the definitions. If if if we classify it as a spe particular topic, if I want to call it a pod, then that pod has to be listed throughout all this stuff, including North Carolina fire code, North Carolina building code. What What are we going to do with this? What keeps it safe for our people that are going to be living in this particular device, structure, whatever it is. Okay? Uh because again, if I let them freeze, that's me. If I don't let them freeze and I put them in this thing and they die in it, that's still me. So, I have to be really careful just like Hannah does about what we allow and what we don't allow. It's not it's not about can I change the ordinance and make it what I want. I can change the law on this highway that says we're going from 35 mph to 55 mph, but that doesn't mean we're not going to have accidents. if that makes any sense.

So, so again, when it comes to disaster, we're talking about this. What we're talking about right now, we're talking about this. And you know, I I'd be welcome to answer any questions you have. Clar clarification, those rules are not city len rules. Correct.

No, no. All the rules I'm talking about come from North Carolina Fire Code. Uh we are looking at a new code that could be coming out in the next couple years. And probably if you went anywhere in North Carolina, you're going to have this exact same problem. I don't care if you're in Kawa County. I don't care if you're in Kataba County, Craraven County. Every year, and we talked about this before, my chief and myself, this goes on because we're trying to make a baseball fit into the basketball game. And and that's not how it works. Yeah. But bottom line, temporary, we can do anything under 160 days, 180 days. CO allows it. I hate to say that.

Y'all trying to beat around the bush. I'd like to speak again when it gets done. Anything else? That that that's pretty much it. Like like I said, it's all about the defining topics of what we're talking about. Uh and that is on the shelters themselves. Okay. Thank you, sir. We appreciate that. Yes, sir. Go ahead.

This what Hannah said that I didn't have the homeowner's permission and all this. That's all a lie. The homeowner sitting right there. Her son does have power of attorney. I speak with them every single day. She's been in town since yesterday. I know what the rules are. I know what the codes are. I understand them. I can split them up 20 ft and run them for 180 days. Your code say I can. That's temporary. There ain't nothing that says that I can't do that with that type of shelter because you ain't for it to be implied that I can't do it. You have to have thought about that and took that in account for that type of structure for it to warrant being against it. You never even thought of it, never seen it. So therefore, it can't apply to that because it don't apply. It's it's nothing like anything you've ever seen. It's something new.

Can I ask you a question? Yes. On your end result with these pods, are you trying to classify and use them as a homeless shelter or emergency disaster? For I'mma end up doing both. I'mma use them disaster. Okay.

I'mma use a lot of them for disaster because I got more coming and I want to do transitional. I want to help people get off the streets. Whether y'all help me be part of it or not, I want to help get people off the streets. Right now, I have 45 staying regular. I'm right at a 33% rate on clean and productiveness. of them doing good. I seen roughly 120 130 people out throughout the time period when we were feeding every day, most of them didn't stay. Some of them would come stay at night and that was it. Get out of cold. I mean, but out of the 45 that stay regular, I got 15 right now doing good. That's 33%. Anybody else done that good out of the blue that quick? I mean, let's go with statistics. That right there says it's worth it. If my wife and my self and my team, the people that help me and we got that kind of results, I think we need to think about it because of y'all stuff at that percentage. Leo, when it was open, I don't think there was 10 people staying there on average. And how many of them were getting clean? I'm not forcing them to get clean. I tell them, you want to do the drugs, get off the property, go down the road, do them. I figure if they going to OD, they're going to OD before they get back. Let's be truthful. I mean, but they need somewhere to lay their heads. This is better than kicking them out of camp, from camp to camp to camp, all over town, cleaning up trash. I had it clean. keeping it clean. I mean, you know, if I

was keeping it junk pile, that would have been one thing. You know, this is this could be really a good thing and we could use it as a role model for the rest of the state and try it. I mean, this has been I I don't know if y'all realize it or not. It made national news. So, y'all might want to really consider this because I've seen some emergency managements out of Iowa saying they were going to reach Trump about this reaching the governor's office, the new AG that likes corrup going against corruptness. I mean, so and the g the governor's office, lieutenant governor's office, everything, you know, all we're trying to do is work. Let us work. We'll work with y'all. I've been willing to work. I ain't had nothing but push back since I've been in this town. I'mma continue to do the father's work whether you like it or not. And if I broke so many laws, why ain't you got me in jail? I am a concealed carry. So guy, so I must not be too bad of a guy. if I'm registered to carry. I mean, so that don't get handed out to everybody.

Thank y'all. Ben, Amber, anything from

Well, we got you. You go ahead and come on up. Yes, please. Come on.

Hello everybody. My name is Angela Barner. I own the property. And what got me involved with this was watching the first city council meeting when the mama came up here and talked and she had those two little babies. And that really touched my heart because she was sleeping in the streets and that anybody in this board or in this room was okay with that. And you'd come up with a code to say that was okay. No. Seriously? No.

That's not right. And I don't know nothing about government. Only thing I know is I voted for Trump and I believe in him wholeheartedly and I believe he's here to make some changes and I think he's doing it. And I pray to God y'all get on board with it because it's not right to throw anybody in the street. We just had a girl got ran over. A homeless lady just got run over and killed in right down the road from here. The driver that killed her got out and looked at her and got back in her car and drove off. Why is that lady driving out here on these streets and she's not been arrested or charged with nothing? We got a dead lady up here in the street. But we got everybody on the board. The police. I've had all kind of police after me. I ain't never had a cop after me in my life except for one stupid thing my dumb husband done. Didn't have nothing to do with crime. I promise you. But I want y'all to put into your heart and your soul and seriously think about this. Go over at my house. I would invite any of you to come in my house and watch these people. You see this guy right here in the white shirt? You see him? I've tried to help this man for five years. get him off the street to keep him from dying. Today he is sober at my house. We got all these services here, right? He ain't been helped. He ain't been helped first time. Tell y'all Patrick. Does that not touch y'all? He's been RHA. He's been everywhere. I've brought him food. I've loved him. I've met him where he was. And every Christian in this room needs to take this in your heart. and I'm sorry for any problem I caused in this town. I looked up, I told Patrick when I seen that meeting, I called him after and I said, "I got a little piece of land over here in the county. I've been trying to get it remodeled for this very thing." Pastor Paul Peru to tell y'all I came up here in 2018. My daughter was murdered in North Carolina. Her murderers had never been

charged for what she done, for what they done. But I called Pastor Puit and I said, "I can't look at God right now. I'm so mad at him. I can't stand myself and it's making me feel ugly inside because I can't pray because he took my daughter from me." I gave her I gave her I said, "God, I'm giving Lisa back to you. She's lost right now and she needs you. I can't help her." She was yours before she was mine and she was dead a month and a half later. And you talking about cussing God, honey, I lost all my religion. I was mad. I wanted my daughter back, but I didn't want her on the streets on drugs. So, she's with the Lord. Y'all please help these people. They're begging for help. I know you got all the resources. You got all the bureaucracy. You got everything else. But where's your heart? Where's that at? We got codes. We got cops chasing me up down the road. I don't even have to say so over my own life right now. My son does. But I got a voice and I hope y'all hear it. And please be compassionate to these people. But let me go back to how the pods got on my property. I told Patrick about I had the acre of land. Well, I got this house over here. I want y'all to go look at look up my taxes. Okay? Go look up my taxes from last year and watch what I've been paying and what I got to pay now on my disability check. Okay? My house got three walls on it right now. and my taxes went way past anything I can afford, but I keep my taxes paid because I do without. Well, I said, "Patrick, do you have any uh construction experience?" He said, "I sure do." I said, "Well, I need these pods pou I need this pad poured over here, my concrete pad, so I can get my bathrooms built. I've hired a bunch of people around here. Every person that's came to my property has ripped me off and took my money and didn't do right. Y'all want to come see it?" I got all their names cuz they sure have stole from me and I'm upset about it cuz I

couldn't afford to be stolen from. But anyways, he said, "Yes, I can pour your bread for you." I said, "Well, let's don't exchange nothing." I said, "My heart's in this. If yours is, I looked up." I looked up to see in the county, Godwell County, what is the provision for this? And I sent it to him because I did a little research and it says if you're doing construction on your property, you can have temporary housing on that property, right? Well, if these guys have to sleep in them pods while they work on my house, how's that breaking code? They're doing what the code says. Does that make any sense to any of y'all? Because I'm not educated, but it don't make no sense to me

at all. And I really didn't think I was breaking the law. And if I have broken the law, please forgive me because I don't want to be a lawb breaker at all. I abide by the rules and the laws the best of my ability. I don't try to do no kind of crime. And I'm not against y'all at all. But please, please take consideration. Look, look at this one right here. Where's the other one? I don't want to put anybody's business on the street, but these people go right up here every morning and they get legal. medicine from this government to keep them off the streets and keep them off drugs. They're in my house. They're doing good. You know, everything didn't work out in the beginning. I was upset. I was My son was upset. We was all upset. But I came up here because I said, "I need to know what's going on. I got to sit in here with y'all and figure it out. Who's lying to me?" And I've been manic. I've been extremely manic ever since this started. Every bit of it. And I know I got my own problems, but I got a heart. And I want these people right here, if they have to move in my house and I stay with them and I take care of them for the rest of their lives so that they can be safe and off drugs and they can get their driver's license and they can go to mental health and they can get healthy. I'm for that. And I don't know why y'all wouldn't be. I don't I can't sleep. I can't think. I'm going crazy. Help us. Help them. If Patrick's willing to, he's done every bit of this for free. Donations, period, no money. He ain't on no board. He ain't got no committee. And all them's mad at him. They don't want him in his club. That's their club and he ain't invited. Okay,

that's just the way it goes. I love all y'all. I'm sorry. I'm sorry to y'all. I apologize. But please, let's help these people, okay?

And I promise you, there's no drugs on my property. There's no alcohol on my property. Everybody there's fed. They're faith and they're loved and they're nurtured. They're going to social security to apply for things that they need. They're they're they would apply for housing, but I think a lot of them's on waiting list or just can't get no house. They don't have a driver's license. But I do got a success story. One guy that was here with his cutest little thing y'all ever seen. He's just a baby. I mean, HE MIGHT HAVE BEEN 20 YEARS OLD. He had a dream of becoming a chef. Charlie wanted to be clean cut looked like he just walked out a lawyer's office. When I met him the other day, he said, "I get to go to Texas." He said, "Patrick helped me get my ID and get some paperwork and I get to go be a chef. Patrick put him on a bus and send him to Tennessee and pay his way." He called back and he said, "I've never been more happy in my life. I love y'all and thank y'all." That's what he said. He's been here on these streets lost on drugs and everything else you can think of, but he pick himself up. He needs somebody to love him, meet him where he's at.

That's all I got to say. Thank you. Thank y'all so much.

Good afternoon or good evening. Amber Bradford. I'm with the homeless response team. Um The last time I spoke, it was extremely important to have a discussion about how we need to stop this us versus them mentality. But I want to just stop and pause for a second because there's been several things that that have been said that I just I just want to make sure that we're clear. So, Miss Barner did reach out to us last Wednesday with the homeless response team. I spoke with her um at length um last Wednesday actually and I I'm I'm without giving you the details of the call I will tell you there were some concerns that were presented to me um that were also that Hannah had mentioned that were presented to her and so I think just for transparency purposes just to make sure that we're aware um she was very appreciative returned the call she was very frustrated and I'm not sure if that has remedied now with the relationship that you have, but there was concerns about the individuals that were on your property. Um, I won't get into all of the details, but I do have that information if needed. Um, she stated multiple times she didn't even know, as she said, that this existed until she watched the city council meeting. And I was like, as I told her, I said, you know, I meant what I said when I said we need everybody at the table and we've got to figure out a way to come up with a solution together. Um, I gave out our information. I've reached out to his humble hand several times via email and phone um several of the groups that are working with homeless individuals with services in our area to ensure that they had our contact information just because as I've said just because we're connected to a system that is a little bit bigger that actually makes the difference right you have to be plugged into those system there's been a lot

online just with that us versus them mentality I will tell you the folks sitting in in this room. We've had calls with everyone here to figure out a game plan for this to make sure that it's done in the correct way. But I think it's very important that if we want to move forward and move the needle forward, we have got to absolutely figure out how to do those things correctly and how to stop showing up to meetings to yell at people and figure out to come up with a solution, which we are doing, right? You need to be plugged into regional systems. Somebody online was um discussing what was available. There's 227 beds. That's an illusion. It's not an illusion. Those things exist. If you are perpetuating that message out loud, that takes something away from somebody to say that they shouldn't use that. We don't have enough resources for our homeless population. But we can we can be the change agents for those things. So, I just want to just to say um we did again speak to Miss Barner. you did kind of express issues with the pods. I know that you had mentioned having um the two the the the lady with the kids move into your space and then you were concerned about other people had who had moved in. Um so I I did have that discussion with her and just we kind of um moved past that and just said, "Listen, I'm not interested in any of that. How do you want us to help?" Gave out information for our team. I think we've actually had some folks call our team trying to figure out how to navigate complex systems and they give us a birth date or they'll give us something and say, "Hey, I'm trying to get an emergency shelter." If you can get people in housing a lot faster, I would love to have you as a part of our team because it doesn't exist. Emergency housing doesn't exist anywhere outside of our shelter spaces. If you got 233 people,

so actually if you would like for me to answer that, I can get you into supportive housing if you are looking to get connected based on substance abuse a lot quicker than I can if you're a single individual looking for things. There are things that exist across our region, not just in Cwell County, across a 4count region that we serve. So, if you're interested in having that information, I'm happy to provide it to you. Do you guys have any questions for me? Do you guys have any questions for me? I didn't ask that last time, so I just want to make sure that you guys, if you had questions, I could answer those. Thank you. Any questions?

Um, just to clarify, when you say we, you're talking about the Western Pedmont Council of Government and your homeless response team in particular. Thank you.

Yes, I am. So, we actually serve um four counties and McDow is our fifth one that we serve. Um we are the unsheltered access coordinator for North Carolina Balance Estate. I think that information was put out in a bulletin. Um that's just a big bunch of language to say that we're connected to regional systems. We're connected to DSS. We're connected to RHA. We're connected to VIA, to partners, to nonprofits. We staff individuals bi-weekly based on needs. So, if you have folks with complex needs, we work to get those connected to housing needs. Housing is not the only thing that we do. So, are you looking to get transportation, medical, documentation, workforce? Those are the reasons that you need to be a part of conversations that are bigger than just one group doing it.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. One more. Go ahead. Okay. Western government is a nonprofit, correct? No, it is not. answer. It is. No, it's not. 22 million since it's been open. A few years. Not true. Not true. Statistic says it is. Well, that's I don't know where those came from.

Anyone else want to address the council? I would like to make some points here that we have talked about and this is not an attack rebuttal in any way, shape or form. We understand. But let me talk about this a minute. His humble hands just to say never received authorization for placement of these pods at 532 Harper Avenue or 1716 Boowing Rock Boulevard. The pro both property owners asked his humble hands to remove the sleep let me speak removed the sleeping pods from both locations. The property owners at 1716 Rowan Rock Boulevard executed a trespass agreement with the Cwell County Sheriff's Office and the Lenor Police Department to remove the occupants from the property. That is true. His humble hands never reached out to the city or county to ask where they could place the pods, what laws they need to follow, and what permits they would need. All of these things could have been done

with Let me finish, please. I'll let you speak. With respect to sleeping pods, city manor zoning is similar to most every other city in western Pedmont area which includes Cwell, Alexander, Burke, Kataba counties and our city staff talked to many jurisdictions and no one allows sleeping pods including Morganington, Hickory and Boone just to name a few. There are many nonprofits in Cowell County and western Pedmont, and she said this a minute ago, that already provide beds and many services for the homeless people. I'm sure not enough. All of these groups have followed city, state, and federal law, including the zoning code, the state fire code, the state building code, and the state transitional housing regulations. All those have been followed. That's not what's happened here. And we need to if you're going to do something, you need to sit down before you do it and and at least work with our people and what's going on.

Can I reply back to that because I like to review some of that because for me, I did go speak to Hannah over this. And I did have her permission. Her son knew I was putting a pause there. She told you just a few minutes ago that she wanted me to go work on that house to remodel it and put them pods there. Okay. So, I have permission from her. I'm just going I'm just telling you what what was happened on it. We're not I'm not going to we're not going to debate that. She just sat there and told you that wasn't true. You're saying I never had permission. She said I did. She told you that she has a a power of attorney that

I spoke with her son. Her son said it, too. Well, I'm just telling you what happened with the police and the sheriff's department. That's all. So, no more we need to discuss about this. No, ma'am. We're going to close the conversation tonight. We have talked all we need to talk about. How about the positives? The people that are were It was freezing weather. Nobody stood stood up and said, "Come to my house. Come to my house." We understand. Thank you. Thank you very much. You just want to cut me off. I avail everybody to speak that as to speak. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. We're going to move on. We do not have any reports of our boards and commissions this evening. So, we move on to report and recommendations of our city manager, Mr. Hilton Brand. Mayor, council, we have a planned board meeting scheduled for Monday, March 9th at 5:30 uh in these chambers. Uh the city county service committee will meet on Monday, March 9th at noon at Jay Hubal Civic Center. Uh there will be no economic development meeting this month. That's been cancelled. Uh the ABC board meet on Thursday, March 12th at noon or at 2 o'clock rather. Uh Lenor Business Advisory Board will meet on Thursday, March 12th at 6 PM third floor city hall. Uh the Nora Leadership Civic Learning Academy will meet on Monday, March 9th, 5:30. That'll be third floor, city hall. And Mr. Harris may want to mention uh the participants of that program. You've I guess made some contacts today. You want to I'll give you the floor if you want.

Yes, sir. Thank you, Mayor, Council Manager. I don't have everybody's name memorized yet. Just numbers that's in the class. But we did get 31 applications and we're going to have 20 people in the class. So I sent out an email today congratulate congratulating the folks that uh were selected and I think we've had asking them to reply make sure they can commit. I think we've had eight or nine people reply so far. So I'm pretty sure we'll have a full class by Monday. I think it's going to be a great program. So thank you for your support. knows that on the wait if there's a waiting list for those if the class

yeah I have a waiting list so if somebody can't commit I'll reach out to the next person and we'll invite them so we do have interest from the people that didn't make the class and we're somewhat disappointed so but I told them we'd have another one that's good we have good interest good job and lastly the parks recreation board will meet on Monday March 16th 6 p.m. And that'll be held at the aquatic fitness center. I guess we expect to be done with the building by then to have it over there. Mr. Nice. Okay, that's the plan right now. March 16th, 6 o'clock aquatic fitness center. And that's all I have. Mr. Mayor, thank you, sir. Any questions of city manager concerning anything going on? Thank you for that.

Any report from our city attorney tonight? Thank you, Mr. Mayor, council, city manager. Uh, nothing we'd have to report at this time. We appreciate it. Thank you for being here tonight to fill in for Mr. Roar. We wish him the best. We know he's having some family issues that he's got to deal with. Happy to do it. We'll be thinking about him.

I do have one report from mayor's office. I have a board appointment. This is a recommendation for the council to appoint Mr. John Arnod to be appointed to serve on the planning board for an unexpired term ending in June of 2027. This appointment was announced at our February 17th meeting uh 2026 at city council meeting. So I would present that to you for recommendation uh to serve on the planning board. Entertain a motion for that. Mr. Mayor, I make a motion to approve your recommendation for the appointment.

Thank you. Have a motion from uh council member Presswood that we approve the recommendation for appointment of Mr. Arnod to the planning board for the unexpired term as presented. No other question. All in favor, please say I. I. All opposed. Thank you. any reports from any of our council members tonight? Anything to come up?

Mr. Mayor, I'd like to to really commend uh Josh Harris and the folks that are going to be doing this class. I spoke with uh a class of 10th graders at High Brighton High School this past week. And even though their teacher is fantastic and doing what she is supposed to do, there's just so much information. It's hard for people to understand all of these things because there's just so much information at the city level. So, I really appreciate as a as a member of the community and this council that you're having this type of class and I I hope it's successful. I wish the best with it and it hopefully something we can continue going forward.

Yes, sir. And I I I'll just add that I I am organizing it and I am giving one of the presentations, but the manager and all the directors are doing all the rest of the 12 classes. So, thank them as well because you're correct. It's a lot of information and we live in an information overload age. You know, there's just so much to try to keep up with. It's it's difficult for everybody. So, and it's easy to get confused. For sure. Y Okay. Thank you for that. Thank you, Council Member Bill. Any other comments? If not, we stand adjourned.