City Council - Regular Meeting

Everybody ready? All right.

Good evening and welcome to the city council meeting of the city of Lenor for Tuesday, March the 17th, 2026. We welcome you here this evening. And by the way, happy St. Patrick's Day. You hope you enjoy my uh St. Patrick's hat today, but I'm not wearing it the whole time. So anyway, I hope everybody's having a good St. Patrick's Day. I know it's usually better for it to be toward the weekend so you can have a little more fun, but anyway, it's a fun day. So happy with that. As we go to our time of u a few minutes, our moment of silence and our pledge of allegiance that we normally do, would like for you to keep a few of our families in this community in your thoughts and prayers. Uh two of which uh two fine uh gentlemen we lost over the last couple weeks. One of them uh fine attorney here in Lenor for many years. Uh good friend of all of us in this in this community and uh was very active. Bruce Vanderblan passed away. Please keep u uh Bruce's family and your thoughts and prayers as they go through this uh time of mourning for for Bruce. He was a fine leader and also one of our volunteers who uh did a lot in his community and was served on many of our nonprofit boards and many so many things. uh Bennett uh Benny Britain was a fine leader in our community and please keep his family if you will in our thoughts and prayers as well. Also uh would like to have on a good note tonight. We will talk about a new grandbaby that's here. Uh council member Rebecca Dinger is the grandmother and and Destin is here. Her husband, the grandfather, uh new baby uh grand baby girl Olivia Jane was born yesterday. Yesterday. She just almost was a St. Patrick's baby.

Almost.

Well, congratulations to you, Rebecca, and I know you're excited. We saw some pictures earlier and uh that's great, great news. So, we'll keep you and our thoughts and prayers as well as we help uh raise baby Olivia over these next years. So, that'll be exciting times on that. So, thank you for that. So, please now join us as we stand for a 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. Tonight on our agenda, we have a very special recognition on behalf of the council and that we will be recognizing our city main street champions tonight. I'm going to ask them in a few minutes if they'll come up and and and join me here. This uh recognition by the city of Lenor was uh honored at the 2025 U North Carolina Main Street as as the 25 Main Street Champion. Uh each year at the Main Street conference, the state of North Carolina Main Street and Rural Planning Center recognizes the efforts of a dedicated individuals who have contributed to the success of the local downtown programs across the state. Each Main Street program may designate one individual, a couple, organization, group, business partnership, or civic entity as their community's North Carolina Main Street Champion. It's a non-competitive award designation honors these persons who have made extraordinary contributions to their downtown. And this year, we are honored u to present our parks and public properties division of the city of Lenor. I'm going to ask the public works director John Hogan and all the uh gentlemen who are a part of that to come up and join me here. U in addition the main street recognize these individuals and organizations as they do. They are based upon making a significant positive impact on the downtown district or the downtown program within the past year. Showing dedication and service by con consistently going above and beyond normal uh job or volunteer responsibilities which these gentlemen do for sure. No ladies. Okay. Make sure demonstrating strong support of the main street have one. Okay. Okay. She's not

here. with for gentlemen and ladies demonstrating strong support of the Main Street vision with outstanding contributions to downtown revitalization and community building. Main Street guidelines allow for one nomination per year and each champion may receive the award only once. So making this recognition especially meaningful and we are proud as I said to honor this year the parks and public properties division of the public works uh division of the city under the direction of John Hogan our director and also Jeff Holland who is the division lead uh and they guide this team of of seven uh men and women who do such a great job. Their commitment to the beautifification and upkeep of downtown Lenor is evident every single day from maintaining our sidewalks, trimming greenery, landscaping public spaces, and planting seasonal flowers throughout downtown. Their work often happens beyond the scenes, but makes a visible difference in the appearance and pride of our community. Because their consistent hard work, attention to detail, and willingness to go above and beyond, downtown Lenor continues to be a place for our residents and visitors can enjoy and be proud of. They will be recognized again at the downtown awards next month also as we uh uh honor our Main Street and Given awards winners later on in the month. But uh if y'all will come up and uh there's John, I'll let you come up. This was what they received. uh at the uh at the main street. North Carolina Main Street was pleased to recognize Lenor Parks and Public Properties Division as Main Street Champions for dedicated support of the downtown revitalization efforts of the city of Lenor on March the 12th, 2022. John, congratulations, gentlemen.

Congratulations to all of you. Also received uh this beautiful medal that u that you get to wear. Somebody gets to wear it. let you wear it. There you go. Get a ticket and go like this. John, I'll let you. Anything you want to say to it or add, please?

Well, just real quick. Thanks, Mayor. Um, thanks Main Street for for nominating these folks. I'm going to be quick because I'll let Jeff speak actually because this this is his group of folks. Well, it's our group of folks. Uh, but we are super blessed at public works. Um, all of our staff, we have an amazing public works staff and this group is is just as amazing as the rest. Um, it takes all of us to keep the ball rolling. Um, and and these guys, I mean, this this division has been together for about a year. Um, and we've already made some great accomplishments. We got a long ways to go, but there's only one way to eat an elephant, and it's one bite at a time. So, we're going to keep chewing and and keep moving forward. So, I'll uh again, thanks guys. I appreciate all y'all um and what you do. And Jeff, if you want to say anything,

I'd like to say something. Yeah. What I'd like to say is this isn't Jeff Holland's award. This is the team's award. I try to give them everything they can to get the job done. I'm behind the scenes just coordinating everything. And um the best is yet to come.

Thank you so much. We're very proud of you and WHAT YOU'RE DOING. I WANT TO say also thanks to uh Glenda Floyd and Ashley Smith, our Main Street uh um uh downtown committee who put this together. We appreciate y'all. They were there with you in Newurn when you they received this award. So, if you will, let's get a picture uh whenever you're ready. Joshua, come on. Come on over, guys. Brenda, why don't you and Ashley come join us as well? And council, come on down. Hey, I'm stay here. Thank you.

All right, they're going to stay up here. So, we'll move back towards this. We leave you room to photoshop the other ones. I'll just use I'll just use the new pictures. Yeah. Can't be here. You just don't get Councilman Stevens, can you go to your left a little bit? Come on. There you go. I have to be next to this tall guy. Right there. Jeff, you stay out there if you will, please.

All right, everybody. Put your hands by your sides. There you go. One, two, three, cheese. One, two, three, cheese. Now, let's do a fun one. Thank you guys. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you. We certainly appreciate the hard work that those guys do. As I've always said, the public works department is our glue that holds everything in our city together and make sure it's all working right. So, we do appreciate their hard work and that kind of thing that they uh that they always do. We are missing several council members tonight. They're they're in Washington at a conference there with the city manager as well. and one of our council members uh had a had a situation they had to be called to work in another city uh to fill in tonight. So they couldn't she couldn't be there either. So we are missing several of those. So but we'll we keep moving forward best we can. So always the best are here. Anyway, uh couple other quick things I'll mention before we move into our next uh uh public hearing is that uh if you haven't noticed, I hope you will see the downtown banners that are hanging honoring our 250th uh year of our country and our freedom uh this year. Also, the 175th anniversary of the city of Lenor. So, the banners are in downtown on along uh Main Street, West Avenue over town. They've been up now for a while. Again, our public works guys did a great job of putting them up and getting them for us. Thank you again, Ashley and Brenda, for handling getting those put together and for Joshua for his design. So, he did a great job of of that. So, thank you for all the work that went into that. And one other thing I'll quickly mention, our wayfinding signs are are have been up and are continuing to go up. Uh we now have the art piece uh in installed with our wayfinding signs. I hope that when you go out and look at those, you will see the art and the creative art

that was done. Uh Hannah told me that there was 12 designs that were selected from uh local artists who submitted uh different things to it. So all of the signs now of all 54 signs, 5 whatever it is, 51 signs have art pieces that add to it, which makes our community very special. uh as we're very proud of the artwork and all the uh sculpture pieces and things that we have in our community. So, uh that is great. The remainder of those will be going up this week. So, everything should be up for our way finding uh this week. So, another another great project. Appreciate all the work uh that went into that uh uh things that were done there. So, again, thank you for all that hard work. All right, we'll move in into uh matters for public hearing tonight. This is project Pecania. Thank you, Ashley.

Beenia, this is a economic development agreement uh between the city of Lenor and the Swift Beef Company, aka Wild Fork Foods, also known as JBS uh foods for expansion of their operations in Lenor. Swift Beef Company acknowledges that but for the local government's provision of the economic development grant set forth herein, it would it would not have agreed to locate far project at the site and enter into this agreement. So, thank you. I'm going to open the public hearing and I'm going to uh introduce Ashley Boick uh our economic development director from the county and she will introduce some guests that are with us from the the company. And thank you, Ashley, for being here.

Thank you. Thank you, mayor and council. It's an honor to be here tonight. I don't get to come here every month, so it's a privilege to be here. I have with me two friends, Lahi and Gilberto, from JBS Foods, and they'll each address you in just a moment. I'd like to first read a statement for you if that's okay. Uh, Project Peania represents an existing company JBS here in Cowell County that is looking to expand its operations, investing locally in creating more employment opportunities. The company anticipates that the total investment in improvements and equipment located at their site to exceed $20 million and create 50 new full-time jobs to be located at the site. The grant amount that we're asking you to consider tonight is calculated using the increase in tax value, excuse me, tax value of all real property and personal property improvements above the base year's value as assessed by the Cowell County Tax Administration Office. The city again is asked to consider providing an annual grant payment equal to 20% in year 1, 30% in year two, 40% in year three and 50% in years four and five of the aggregate advalorum tax paid by the company or the affiliate of the company to the city during the terms attributed to the improvement period at the site. The first payment would be follow would follow the investment and after reporting and documentation from the company in the tax year in which it elects to begin the 5-year grant period term. The company must begin the tax grant period by 2027. This project has been reviewed and recommended for approval by the Cowell County Economic Development Advisory Committee, which your uh manager, Mr. Scott Hildebrand sits on and has already been approved by the Cowell County Board

of Commissioners. So, as I said, with me tonight is Lahi and Gilberto, both from JBS Foods, who would like to address the council. Thank you. Welcome,

council and a public. Um JBS is really committed to work uh with the city of Lenor and um willing to invest more and more money as we goes. Um, as Ashley already mentioned that that this year we do improving um our facility. We uh invested over $20 million. It's going to be about 25 um by the end of that. Um we should finish building in about July 27th. We will hire up to 50 new positions um from managers down to the um hourly employees and uh within the span of next two years I'm working very hard with minister on Gilbert to um improve our operations and open second shift and possibly having another 100 uh position open for uh employment here. Um I would like to I would like to ask for approval of that one project so you can help us develop and stay within within within on a area and um help out city onor. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Just um we appreciate everything you guys do for us as a city. We're trying to expand again as a company. We're trying to hire more people uh you know and make it one of the most reliable companies here in Lenor. try to expand and keep you know producing more and more employment opportunities. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. JBS has been a great partner with the city since you came some years ago and I don't know remember the exact time when that started but it's been a great partnership and we certainly have appreciated. We went to the attended the opening of the Wild fort part of it several a year or two back whenever it was and had a great there and that's been a nice piece as well. So, thank you for what what you're doing and what you mean to this community and in not only jobs but in uh just community support and being a lot of good things that are happening there.

So, thank you very much for that. Uh Ashley will you make sure she has the names so we can report them in the minutes if you will on that. Thank you. All right, we're in the public hearing part. Is there anyone else that would like to address the council concerning this uh this project? Okay, seeing no one, I will then uh close the public hearing and I'll turn it over to the council for uh any recommendations when you're when you're ready or questions or whatever if you have any.

Mr. Mayor, I'd like first to thank uh JBS for your continued support and what you do for Lenor. Thank you for being here and making our city what it is. And with that said, I'd like to make a motion that we approve uh that project name. Thank you. We have a motion to approve the uh uh in incentive request agreement as presented uh tonight for project PCA.

Got it. I'm learning quickly. Uh on that uh if no other discussion, anybody else have anything? Motion from council uh from Mayor Pro Tim Perkins to approve this. If nothing else, all in favor, please say I. I.

All opposed. Thank you. That carries four zero on the vote tonight. Thank you. Thank you for that. Ashley, thank you for uh being here and uh honored to stay as long as you'd like. All right, we'll move on in the agenda to the consent agenda items tonight consisting of minutes of the city council meeting of Tuesday, March 3rd, 2026. Item B is this is a renewal. This is for the side streetet pourthouse cafe permit. This is a recommendation of renewal of the sidewalk cafe permit with the following conditions for side street pore house cafe carried forward from the original approval. Uh, number one, the applicant must coordinate with the city's public works director director prior to modifying or installing any support structures for lights or awnings or modifying any enclosure fencing. Item two are string lights installed over the sidewalk cafe are limited to white non-blinking lights. Number three, all provisions of section 13-3 subsection C shall continue to apply to the use and operation of the sidewalk cafe area. And number four is the current copy of a certificate of liability insurance naming the city as an additional insured partner must be provided to the planning department. So those are your items to be considered for consent agenda A, A and B and then the AM amendments to B on that. Open it up for any discussion with the council or motion when you're ready.

Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion to approve consent agenda items A through B, all subsections. Thank you. Motion from council member Stevens to approve the consent agenda items A and B as presented. No other discussion. All in favor, please say I. All opposed. Thank you very much.

All right. Next on our agenda is request and petitions of any citizens. If there's anyone that would like to address the council, this is the time to do so. If you will, please come forward and give us your name and address. Uh uh if you if you will. there. Uh Josh Lambie, 112 Glendale Street. Um as a a writer and journalist for well over a decade now, um I've thought very much on a macro level and not nearly enough on a micro level. Um, I've attended too few of these meetings despite having been a resident here for n 40 years. Uh, and I want to go ahead and say, you know, I would not call them boring, though I hear people say that and I understand why, but the truth is in watching YouTube replays of these meetings as of late, which I have been, um, it's not a boring event. Um, it's something it's something worse. I'm afraid it feels inert when people are making comments. uh particularly this section. Um basically motions are passed often unanimously. Um and that section of the meeting uh you know definitely credit where it is due. Um but this section of the meeting is where the inertia, the gridlock, uh the lack of any forward motion, it kind of gets grueling I feel for spectators. um downright surreal if you parse the context and I think I have the problem is a language barrier um I'm seeing your fellow residents my fellow residents um speaking the language of morality reality texture and you know humans

asking moral questions and the city is responding in a language rarely understood by the average Lenor resident that being the parliament of bure bureaucracy. Um, I'm thought about, you know, kind of a parable here. I'm a big blues fan. Uh, Delta Blues, specifically, Skip James, Blind Willie Johnson, Robert Johnson. Uh, when a resident comes to the podium to speak, they're essentially playing Devil Got My Woman on vinyl. And it feels like the response from council is tanamount to saying, "Well, the reality m of music is this and playing Travis Scott." Um, and if you're wondering, you know what? who Skip James, where did Travis Scott come from? You know, yes, that's exactly how the average resident appeals, I think, a lot of times. Um, and this is after expressing what I see as a human concern. I watch these people come up here and plead in earnest for an answer to at least mitigate, if not eradicate, uh, harmful, often dehumanizing circumstances. Uh, and they're being met with technicalities and zoning ordinances. It's like asking for a glass of water and being read the plumbing code. Um, but I'm not naive. I mean, I know you know this. Uh, moreover, I know it is the point. Um, I wish I could say it was a miscommunication or something legally unfixable, but I don't know anyone who could cognitively believe that, which is kind of what makes it surreal because the timing of certain recent ordinances, um, the issue of homelessness as of late, um, you know, it's it's pulled the curtain back a bit. I think um and it's shown me, you know, city council's logic seems to be rules ensure fairness. Fairness requires consistency and consistency means no exceptions. But practicality has shown time and again that we do not live in a binary world.

Few problems have A or B answers. They're complex. And just about done here. Um if I can. Don't you love when this happens? That is what policy makers struggle with the most. Uh they choose to communicate with it in disorienting technicalities. It seems uh I always was under the impression that small town values included interdependence. Not to be confused with codependence, pitching in, helping out. Um, and watching these these uh meetings, I'm asking myself, is Lenor really a small town or is it a big city kind of dressed as one? Because it's feeling more like the latter the more that I watch. Um, you hold the insurmountable high ground where policy is concerned, but where morality lies, there is an abstraction that makes your jobs harder. And again, as a writer, I understand that completely. So to that I want to say yes sometimes it is hard but you know I believe you can do better than redirect displace and recite policy. Uh to conclude I want to share a short quote by the great American Pulitzer winning author writer of the road blood and meridian and no country for old men among many other works late Cormack McCarthy as he once said uh if the rule you followed brought you to this of what use was the rule? Thank you. Thank you, sir. Appreciate your comments.

Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to address the council tonight? Okay. Thank you. Seeing no one, then we will move on then to uh we do not have any reports of boards and commissions this evening. So, we'll move on to the report and recommendations of our city manager. Mr. Elbrand is not here, so I will do them quickly for you. The uh committee of the whole will meet on Tuesday, March 24th at 8:30 at City Hall, third floor. And the other item, the Foothills Regional Airport Authority, will meet on Wednesday, March 25th at noon at the airport facility. I don't think there's any other comments from any of that from the manager on that. I will move on then to any report from our city attorney, Mr. Roar. And I know you have

Yeah, just brief something briefly for foreclosed session should take maybe 10 minutes. I know that seems hard to believe from a lawyer, but really I really think it'll happen. No action. Thank you. Okay.

All right. And uh from the mayor's office, we talked about a couple things earlier. I would mention uh uh Mr. Mr. Harris, Joshua Harris's uh leadership Lenor class has uh has already started and is going very well. Had two classes so far uh with over 20 uh um people about 20 people involved in it and it's going very well. Thank you Joshua for putting that together. It's got 12 sessions I think uh that will be that will be done over till about um through May and into early June I think is when it ends. So, we look forward to that and hearing the the report from that and being able to talk to people who are taking the the class and uh so far the response has been good. A lot of people seem to be enjoying it. A lot of questions being asked and uh a lot is being learned and hopefully that will help people understand what we do, what our staff does all the time for the city of Lenor. So, good good things happening right there on that. And I think that was all I had written down for that. All right. All right. I will now turn it over to any council member if you had anything that you would like to add or say at this time. Seeing no one. All right. Then I will uh ask that we have a close session. This will be enter into close session under North Carolina General Statutes 143-318 uh.11 subsection A subsection 3 to consult with the city attorney to preserve the attorney client privilege between the attorney and the council in order to consider the handling of a judicial action. The parties in each existing lawsuit concerning which are a public body expects to receive advice during the closed session are Jonah L. Stewart, John Doe's, uh, is that

it's one 1 through 20. 1 through 20. Thank you. And Jane Doe's 1 through 20. And no action is expected from our close session tonight. So, Mr. Mayor, I would like to make a motion to go into close session. Okay. Have a motion from Council Member Stevens to go into close session. No discussion. All in favor, please say I. I. All oppose. Thank you. we will go into close session and when we come out we will probably be ready to adjourn the meeting. Thanks everyone for being with us. We certainly appreciate that and we will now go into close session and see you at another time. Bless you.

Everybody gets back. shut down. You guys may make that decision. Thank you. All right, we'll come back to open session. We need a motion to come out of close session, please. So move. Okay, Council Member Stevens makes a motion to come out of close session. All in approve. All in favor, please say I. I.

All oppose. Thank you. We're in back in open session. And I we do have someone who would like to address the council uh during the u uh petition for p citizens to come forward. Sorry we missed you before, but uh please come up and uh and give us your name and address. On the property at 214 Green Valley, place. Okay.

And they see the I guess inspector or whatever said I didn't do what I was asked to do, but I was never I nobody never asked me to do nothing. And I got one letter I had to go to the post office and get and my my garage in the trailer caught on fire and and burnt down. So we just we just lucky to get out of it. But we I I Red Cross came step in and help us with the money to buy the the stuff to build the trailer fix the trailer back. One end of what burnt. So I went to work on that and I got it all the way built to the end where you put the the aluminum back on there. I didn't get it. I come home and there's a note on the door says stopped working. So I said I I just stopped you know I didn't know what I didn't know and I called the man left his name and number. I said I called him and left on an answer machine two or three times my number my name call me back and he never did. Well then in the letter it said the garage where it burnt down they 12t of block all the way around the bottom where the basement was made. He said that they cover it up so nobody can fall in no get in or anything. So I went and bought 4 by nine sheets of no 4 by9 foot plywood and covered it and put some beams down all the way across it and I put them down screwed them down where they couldn't be moved. So that was done and then from the storm before we had you know it tore everything up over and there's some debris and stuff down there. We piled it all up in the in the pile but I hadn't got it all hauled off yet because if it rains it's two or three weeks before you get down in there again. you ain't coming back out. So we I just have one vehicle. So I just have to take it when it's dry and I I think I'd like two more piles brush piles out there that's got some plastic toys or whatever kids had in there. So now um he they he said on the letter that they

going to have it this meeting tonight or whatever they have it condemned if u because I didn't do what they told me. But I didn't know what I don't know what else I could have done. I'm just I'm just I'm disabled and and I'm the only one hired to do the job. I can't afford to hire nobody. So I work on it every day, you know, right? So I didn't I if not he said by the fourth of next month, I think or 17th of next month have it condemned or something or because I didn't do what he said. But I just wanted everybody to know. Sir, do you know who the letter came from? Um, what's it? I think the city is where it had I'm not sure. I did take a picture of it, y'all. I'm sorry.

She got it on her phone where she got a picture and his name's on there. But if we just trying to figure out who we who we can Yeah. reference you to or get to. But none of it none of the stuff is piled up in the pile. There's nothing that we put out. Just the storm brought in. He's our he's our code enforcement officer. So, okay. Uh well, the planning director was here earlier, but she has of course left since the meeting. What we'll just need to do is just uh get in touch with her and Mr. Bowick at the plane department of the city and let them get in touch with you and and uh

so they can let you know what what's the deal is. Yeah, I got to a lot of times, you know, I don't know who's doing it, but a lot of times they take the mail out of our box and stuff, but I hadn't seen nobody up there in a while now, but um I got that paper on the door to go to the post office. Okay. So, I went up there and got that last that letter and you know, whatever needs to be done, I'll be glad to do it if if it ain't done, but I'm working myself to this. I don't want to be, you know, that mess anyway. needs are. You know, I'm just doing what I can. Yes, sir. We understand. Well, we'll we've got your name and address and we'll get this information to Mr. Bowick so that he can get in touch with you and and see what what can be done.

All right. Yeah. Yeah. You may give 29492 89. Yeah. We sure do appreciate it. We just really having it rough, you know. We understand. Thank you for letting us know. We'll get get them in touch with you on that. Appreciate it. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you. If there nothing else to come before us tonight, we stand a journ.