City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Welcome to the City Council meeting of the City of Lenoir for Tuesday, June the 2nd, 2026. We welcome you here. Welcome to summertime. We're in June is here. Unbelievable, isn't it? Time is moving on. Glad to have you tonight. As we normally do, we'll start in just a minute with a moment of silence at our Pledge of Allegiance. I want to say special thanks. Appreciate some of the things going on. Joshua, thanks for the neon night ride the other night. That was a very nice event in the community, and I know a lot of people enjoyed that, so we do appreciate that and a lot of good things that are going on. A lot of things coming up in the summer, and we'll be talking about that soon. Anyway, please join us now for a moment of silence and our Pledge of Allegiance. 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. And I better, I left somebody out of that neon night ride. I need to thank our Parks and Recreation and all their staff and Main Street for all their work on that. So thank y'all. Didn't mean to do that. I was just sitting there trying to think of everything, but it was a fun event. Turned out to be a really nice night out there, and we appreciate that. Yes, sir. That's right. That's right. See, if I start one, I forget somebody. I don't mean to. We appreciate everybody because it always is a great effort from all of our departments when we do any kind of event. So thank you for all getting involved and helping with those. Jeff had the water fountain on. Jeff had the water fountain on. So there we go. We covered everybody. John was there. We had everybody. We appreciate all that was done. Thank you all. Glad to see Phil back. Thanks, Bill. Hope you're moving well. Keeps getting better and better, always. Good. All right. Tonight we have a couple of matters scheduled for public hearing. Tonight the first one is a community development block grant. This is from the Western Piedmont Council of Governments. We'll hold a second public hearing to discuss a community development block grant disaster recovery. That's a $4,620,000 grant request to be submitted to the North Carolina Department of Commerce Rural Economic Excuse me development division in conjunction with the city's downtown master plan this project will construct the over mountain victory pavilion rehabilitate the existing building at 1129 West Avenue Northwest and into a visitor center, auxiliary support space, and demolish the existing building at 1136 Harper Avenue as submitted. I will open the public hearing, and at first I will bring the community and economic development manager for the Western Piedmont Council of Governments, the Honorable Kyle Cave.

Well, thank you.

Yes, sir.

And I had nothing to do with the neon night ride, so. Yes, so as the mayor stated, we're here tonight to discuss the city's application for community development block grant funds through the disaster recovery program. These are funds that are coming down through the North Carolina Department of Commerce to support projects that have not been funded by other sources after the impacts of Tropical Storm Helene. You guys may remember we were here a couple months ago, February, I think I was here at that meeting for the first public hearing for CDBG programs. So at that public hearing, we notified the public that the city is interested in applying for CDBG projects throughout the year, throughout various programs. So now we're back as a requirement of all CDBG applications. You have to hold a second public hearing. This hearing is more specific to a project, so you may see me again. We've been in conversations with city staff about several other potential projects, so you may see those coming up in the future. CDBG-DR funds, just for reference, are divided into three categories. The one we're applying for now is the commercial district revitalization category. It's open now. Just this week, second category open for multifamily housing projects, and in a couple of months, there will be, maybe July, there will be opportunity for some infrastructure projects. So again, there may be other projects, but tonight we're here for specifically the, sort of an extension of the campus project, the park space that's gonna be down here on the southern end of downtown. Um, so I do want to know, and the mayor already said this, but I'll note just for the minutes in the record, uh, since the public hearing was advertised, there has been a change to the budget. So we just want to make note of that. The budget is now total project costs of four point or $4,620,000. Um, that is broken down in, uh, to kind of two categories. Construction costs are $4,200,000. and project development costs of $420,000. Project development costs are essentially grant administration. CDBG allows grant funds to be used for administration purposes, so those funds will be split by city staff and COG staff to administer and handle all the federal requirements and the inspections and the things that go into reporting for federal funding. If you all do decide you want to move forward with this application tonight, there's a couple of actions that need to be taken. So after the public hearing comment is heard and the public hearing is closed, you should have in your packet, I think, an authorizing resolution. So first action would be a motion to vote on authorizing resolution. That just allows the staff to continue forward with the application. And then the second motion, and this can all be done at once, is the approval of two plans. One is a citizen participation plan and resolution, and the other is an anti-displacement plan and resolution. Or not, that one's just a plan. And these are just required documents by HUD for any CDBG programs. Just saying that the city is open to citizen comments, citizen participation, and is not gonna displace any low-income families with this project. And just as a reminder, all CDBG funds, DR or any other programs have to go to benefiting low and moderate income individuals. So this project qualifies because the downtown, the entire downtown is within a qualified census tract, meaning that that tract is approved by HUD as a low and moderate income tract. So that's how this program qualified. There are other ways to do that, but we won't go over that today. I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have about CDBG or any other details of this project, or I can turn it over for any other public comment.

Okay. You heard Kyle's comments. Anyone have any questions concerning this community development block grant funding that we are trying to apply for? Okay, hearing no one there. I guess we are in a public hearing. If there's anyone in the audience who'd like to address the council or any question at this time, this is an open public hearing for that. All right, I see no one, so I will close the public hearing and I will turn it over to council for any discussion, a motion. Motions, whenever you're ready, because we do have two motions. You can do them both together if you so desire.

Mr. Mayor?

Yes, sir.

I move to approve the authorizing resolution to submit a $4,620,000 grant application to the North Carolina Department of Commerce Division of Community Revitalization, DCR, Next, I move to approve the citizen participation plan and resolution. and the anti-displacement plan as required by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Okay. So a motion from Council Member Presswood. Motions? I motioned together of the two in there for the language as he just said. I'm not going to repeat that motion. We've got it there for you. And I'm sure our clerk has gotten the information together. So any discussion from Council at all? If not, all in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? Thank you. That carries unanimously. Thank you very much. Thank you, Kyle. Appreciate the work that you're doing and the Western Piedmont Council is doing on this and many other projects that we have got going on together right now. So thank you for that. We look forward to it as we continue the campus project and all the things that we're doing at that end. So you've all been a great help for us on that. Thank you. All right, our next public hearing will be FY2026-2027 annual budget. We'll hold this for any public comments regarding the annual budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2027 for the city of Lenoir. Upon conclusion of this public hearing, council may take action on adoption of the enclosed FY2026-2027 budget ordinance. I will open the public hearing. And if anyone would like to address the council concerning this. Mr. Hildebrand, I'll turn it to you.

Mr. Mayor, council, just some summary information for you tonight. The budget total is $42,038,375. That's broken into the general fund, which is $27,104,230. The special district fund is $285,875. The TDA fund is $125,000. and the water and sewer fund is $14,523,270. As we've mentioned last month at our council meeting when the budget was presented, the property tax rate is recommended at 46 cent per 100 evaluation. That's the same as last year. Also, the rescue readiness tax proposed to be .85 cent per 100, and that's the same as last year as well. All of the general fund fees and charges remained unchanged. The downtown municipal service district budget totals, as I said, 285,875, and that's balanced with 18 cent per 100 assessed valuation, and that's the same as the current year. The TDA budget is $125,000, and that's the same as last year as well. Our water and sewer fund, the only increases there is a 3.75% increase, and that's into our water and sewer rates for retail customers. So for 5,000 gallons, the average bill would be increased by $2.12. Our budget also proposes a 5% increase in our bulk and resale rates, which is our bulk customers. That's 5%. Other than that, everything else stays the same. There's no increases in other fees or charges for the year. and I can go into the, I think Rebecca asked me earlier, council member, to read the 270 pages, which I can, but if not, we'll just go with the summary.

Unless we have any questions, we'll leave that alone.

Okay, any questions or discussions concerning the... Let me also thank Finance Director Donna Bean and Department Directors and all the staff for putting the budget together. It takes a lot of work, it takes a team to do that, and they spent a lot of time and effort putting that together, so thank you for your efforts.

And on behalf of the council, I would say thank you, Mr. Elderbrand, for your work, Donna Bean, our finance director, all of our department leaders, staff that have worked so hard putting this together. They hunt every way they can to save money, do the job, but still get it done. And we do appreciate that, the willingness to all work together as a team. We truly want to be team. Lenore and team above measure, whatever we call it, to make sure that we're doing the good things for our citizens of Lenore. So we do appreciate your work there. So council, if you had any. Anyway, no one has anything else to bring. I will close the public hearing and I'll turn it over to council for any action when you're ready.

Mr. Mayor, from the council side, we too appreciate the job that was done by the city manager and all the department and department heads because 200 and how many pages, it's a huge endeavor. And we do this every year. And I just wanna thank them for that hard work. And I'd also like to make a motion that we accept the recommended FY26-27 budget as presented.

Okay, we have a motion from Council Member Stephens to accept the budget ordinance, I think we call it, as presented for all this work. And we appreciate that. Any other questions, comments? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? Thank you. Thank you again. All the work putting this together. We have a budget coming here, so here we go. All right. We'll move on then to consent agenda items. Tonight consisting of minutes of the city council meeting of Tuesday, May 19th. Item B are the minutes of the City Council budget meeting of Thursday, May 21st. Item C are minutes of the Committee of the Whole meeting of Tuesday, May 26th, as submitted. Item D is the resolution, this is approval of a resolution authorizing an application to the Greater Hickory MPO for the surface transportation program. This is a direct appointment funds for the Harper Avenue Streetscape LAP project. The proposed Harper Avenue Streetscape project represents a significant opportunity to close a major gap in the pedestrian network, improve stormwater performance, and enhance the safety and appearance of this key corridor. This project has an estimated total cost of $10 million. And this initial LAP application is for the pre-construction cost that's design, R slash W acquisition, and utility relocation, which total $2,042,106. The application for these funds requires endorsement of the Lenore City Council and the commitment of a 20% cash match up to $408,421. Future applications will be pursue construction cost as submitted. Out of me is the contract amendment. This is approval of engineering service contract amendment number one with McGill Associates for the Lenore Valdez Waterline Interconnection project. The cost summary of the additional services is as follows. Engineering report 48,000 lump sum. Additional survey as the Big View Lane, 15,000 lump sum. Easement maps, Carpenter Road, 38,000 lump sum. Easement maps, Waterfront Club, 11,000 lump sum as submitted. On the left is the Utility Construction Agreement. This is consideration of the NCDOT Utility Construction Agreement. That's TIP number U-4700CB, the Betterment Portion of Adjusting Water Facilities in Conflict with Upgrading the U.S. 321 intersection of SR 1809-1952. That's the Pine Mountain Road. Once completed, the City of Lenoir will assume the responsibility for the normal maintenance and operation of the utility lines. The estimated cost of the City's share of the Betterment Agreement is $237,884.02 as submitted. Item G is the Utility Construction Agreement. This is consideration of an NCDOT Utility Construction Agreement, that's TIP. U-4700CA, the betterment portion of adjusting water facilities in conflict with upgrading US 321 intersection at SR 1160. That's the Mount Hermon road. Once completed, the City of Winora will assume the responsibility for the normal maintenance and operation of the utility lines. The estimated cost to the City's share of the betterment agreement is $145,564. and 62 cents as submitted. Item H is a capital project budget ordinance. This is consideration of the approval of the FY 2026 Unifor Consortium Home Program Capital Project Ordinance in the amount of $1,226,597.50 and the consideration of the approval of the FY 2026 Community Development Block Grant Program called the CDBG Capital Project Ordinance in the amount of $118,866 as submitted. And item I is a sidewalk cafe permit renewal for Furcott Fermentables. This Sidewalk Cafe must meet all provisions of Section 13-3 of the Lenore City Code. The Sidewalk Cafe tables and chairs will be removed while business is closed. Workout fermentable hours are Wednesday to Friday from 4 to 9 p.m. Saturday 2 to 8 p.m. This business is in the social district and is permitted by the City of Winona planning department to sell alcoholic beverages in the social district. Alcoholic beverages sold and consumed in the Furcott Sidewalk Cafe shall be in social district containers according to the social district management and maintenance plan as submitted. Those are your items A through I for the consent agenda. I'll open it up to council for any discussion and motion when you're ready.

Mr. Mayor, I'll make a motion that we approve the consent agenda items A through I as presented.

I have a motion from Council Member Thomas that we approve the consent agenda items A through I as read and presented. No other discussion. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? Thank you very much. We will move then to this on our agenda, the requests and petitions of any citizens. If anyone would like to address the council tonight, this is the time to do so. With it, please come forward if you want to. We welcome everyone. Thank you for being with us on that. And seeing no one, coming forward, we'll move on. We do not have any reports of boards and commissions, so we'll move on to the reports and recommendations of the city manager, Mr. Hildebrand.

Mayor, council, a couple items for information this evening. This Friday is our first Friday night live concert and that features black glass. That will be held from 7 o'clock to 10 p.m. on the downtown stage. The City-County Service Committee will meet on Monday, June 8th at noon at the J.H. Broyle Civic Center. The Planning Board will meet on Monday, June 8th at 5.30 in the City-County Chambers. The Economic Development Advisory Committee will meet on Thursday, June 11th at 8 a.m. at the J.H. Broyle Civic Center. That is a change from Tuesday, but they have a special meeting on that date. The ABC Board will meet on Thursday, June 11th at 2 p.m. And then lastly, the lower advisory board will meet on Thursday, June 11th at 6 PM, third floor city hall. And that's all I have tonight unless you have questions.

DAVID BURRAGE. Any questions, Mr. Hildebrand, concerning? All right. Thank you. Board. Any report from our city attorney, Mr. Rohrer? No, sir. Glad to have you with us tonight. Hope you had a good time.

It was relaxing. I should have thrown my phone in the ocean. That interrupted things occasionally, but I needed to break it. We saw you throw it one time. It wasn't in the ocean. That was against a wall.

That's right. That's what goes down in the legendary.

And he did feel better afterwards. He did. Of course he did.

Good. Well, thank you, sir. Appreciate that. Reports and recommendations from the mayor's office. I do have the board appointments for you tonight that we talked about at our last meeting on May 19th. I made those presentations to you. Tonight I present them to you for hopefully your approval on these. I will quickly go over them. ABC board for three year term. This is a reappointment for Dr. John Tye and a new appointment for Mr. John Blair who will be coming on the board. Mr. Jerry Brooks will be retiring from the board after 22 years he served our ABC board. Former Mayor Brooks was a fine member of that and we will be doing something special for him for his service with that. The Foothills Airport Authority, two-year term, Mr. Tom Smith, a reappointment there. Winona Housing Authority, this is a five-year term, a reappointment for Mr. Pete Kidder. The Business Advisory Board, we have reappointments for three-year terms to Dana Clark and Glenda Wilson. And new appointments to this board are Hunter Greer, Katie Brummett, and Alan Hall. We'll be filling an unexpired term. a little bit shorter term and then we have one other uh seat remaining on the business advisory board which we are in the process of working on now the planning board historic preservation commission three-year term reappointments to michael korechia and mr kyle case who was here with us earlier we appreciate their service oh and uh tammy green as well as all all three are reappointments to that board we appreciate their service uh board of adjustments three-year term We have reappointments to that of Lucy McCarl and Mr. Kyle Case as well. We have a new appointment moving up from an alternate position to the full term on the Board of Adjustments, Mr. Michael Korechia, and filling the alternate term on that will be Mr. Edward Terry. As you know, the members of the Board of Adjustments, Board of, Planning Board also serve on the Board of Adjustments. And then our Recreation Advisory Board four-year term reappointments Mr. Charles Pilkington and Mr. Darren Faudrell and we have a new appointment to Mr. Dylan Laws who will be coming on our Recreation Board as well if you approve it tonight and we have one seat left on that board which we are in the process of working on now. And then the Lenore Tourism Development Authority our four-year terms Two reappointments to that, Dr. Dana Clark and Glenda Wilson to that, and a new appointment for Samantha Riley, who will be coming on filling an unexpired term on that particular one. And we do have an open fee for the Tourism Development Authority at this time that we'll be working on as well. So I'll present those to you for your consideration to fill these boards. We certainly appreciate everyone who serves. They all do a great job, and we're thankful that people are so interested in being a part of all the boards of our city, and we thank them for their service in many different ways. I present that to you. Entertain a motion for approval if you so feel inclined.

I'd like to make a motion that the annual board will be approved as submitted.

Thank you. Thank you. Motion from Council Member Perkins, Mayor Pro Tem Perkins, sorry, to approve all the board appointments as presented at this point, and we'll bring a couple others to you in the near future. So no discussion on it. All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

All opposed.

Thank you very much. Thank you for your work with that.

Now we'll go to any reported recommendations of any of our council members. Anything to come up tonight? Okay, thank you. And if nothing else is to come before us tonight, we stand adjourned. Thank you for being with us.