Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Well, good evening, everyone. It's great to see you. Smiling faces. I want to call the meeting to order, and we're going to start with introductions first.

Good evening. I am Christine Smith, clerk to the board. Welcome. Good evening. I am Arlissa Easton, deputy clerk to the board.

Good evening. My name is Commissioner Yvette Townsend Ingram. I'm also a Y Commissioner, YTI. I go by, and I serve Mecklenburg County at large.

Good evening. I am Mecklenburg County Commissioner Elaine Powell. representing North Mecklenburg, Huntersville, Davidson, Cornelius, and Orlando. Hello. Thank you.

Welcome.

Good evening. I'm George Dunlap, elected by the people of District 3.

Good evening. My name is Lee Altman, county commissioner serving at large, and I also have the privilege of serving as vice chair. Welcome.

Good evening and welcome. My name is Mark Jarrell. I've been elected by the people of District 4. I see a lot of District 4 people there. But I also have the honor of serving as chairman of the board. Welcome.

Good evening and welcome. My name is Arthur Griffin and I have the pleasure of serving for County Commissioner at large.

Good afternoon. The name is Vilma D. Leak and I represent the most powerful people in the county and that's District 2. But I've been told to stop saying that but I can't do it. And I won't do it. The most powerful people is District 2. Welcome and thank you for being here tonight. You look good.

Good evening. I'm Laura Meyer, and I represent District 5.

Good evening. My name is Susan Rodriguez McDowell, and I have the honor of serving as the elected leader for District 6.

Good evening and welcome. My name is Mike Bryan, and I'm Mecklenburg County Manager. Good evening, Tyrone Wade, County Attorney.

At this time, what I'm going to do is turn to our vice chair to lead us in the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance. And when we get to the Pledge of Allegiance, we're going to ask all of you all to stand.

Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. It is a privilege to have the opportunity to give the invocation tonight from my synagogue that we always say when we are praying for our country. O God, and God of our ancestors, grant our country the will and the wherewithal to fulfill its calling to justice, liberty, and equality. May each of us fulfill our responsibilities of citizenship with care, generosity, and gratitude, ever conscious of the extraordinary blessing of freedom, ever mindful of our duties to one another. Bless those who volunteer to labor on behalf of us all. May they find the strength and courage to complete their tasks and fulfill their dreams. May our judges, elected leaders, and all who hold public office exercise responsibilities of the public with wisdom, fairness, and justice. Fill us with love and kindness and bless us that we may walk with integrity on the path of peace and righteousness. Creator and protector of all, watch over our armed forces and all those entrusted with our safety as they daily put their lives at risk to protect us and our freedoms. Be with them in times of danger and give them courage to act with honor and dignity as well as insight to do what is right. Fill us with the gifts of love and courage that we may create a world that reflects your glory. May we respond to the charge for what does God demand of you, but to act justly, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. May the one who brings peace on high bring peace and prosperity to our world and keep us in safety and let us say amen.

Thank you, Commissioner Altman. We'll move forward with the agenda. At the start of every meeting, we make sure that we lift up our county mission, our vision, and our board budget priorities. These are the items that guide our decisions and our discussion, and we think it's important for you all to know. Our mission is to serve Mecklenburg County residents by helping improve their lives and community. Our vision is Mecklenburg County will be a community of pride and choice for people to live, learn, work and recreate. Our FY26-27 board budget priorities are as follows. Economic development, education, environmental stewardship, health equity and wellness, services for our seniors, workforce development, and reducing racial disparities. And with that, the next part of the agenda is our awards and recognition. And for that, I'll turn the gavel over to our vice chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is my pleasure to call upon our colleague, Commissioner Susan Rodriguez McDowell, to bring forth the joint proclamation celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. Thank you.

Thank you so much. It really is truly an honor for me to be able to bring forward this joint proclamation on behalf of the city of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. Before I actually read the proclamation, the Latin American Chamber has put together a video to sort of introduce what we're celebrating tonight. So let's roll the tape.

Hi, my name is Gina Esquivel, and I am an entrepreneur, consultant for social good. Astrid Chirinos, Vice President of Government Affairs and Community Engagement for the YMCA of Greater Charlotte.

Christian Oscar Gallardo, owner of Carolina's First Choice Agency.

My name is Claudia Soto. I am the Vice Chair of the Charlotte Latin American Chamber of Commerce and the owner and managing attorney of Superlox.

Emiliano González-Portino, Founder at the Brand Building Shop and Founding Partner at Aurelius AI, Narrative Alignment for Institutions and Organizations.

Federico Rios, Interim Executive Director for the Latin American Coalition.

Gabe Esparza, Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Administration.

Mauro Hernández, Founder and CEO, Momentum Digital Marketing. Joana Suárez, Founder and CEO of Relavo Restorations and Snagit.

Representative Jordan Lopez, serving North Carolina House District 112.

Lise Monterrey Duval, Charlotte Mecklenburg Board of Education.

This is Manolo with Manolo's Bakery. I love you, Charlo. My name is Manuel Rey. I'm the President and CEO for SparkCentral.

Marta Tataje, Chair of the Charlotte Latin American Chamber of Commerce.

Hi, my name is Omar Jorge Pena. I am the CEO of Compare Foods Supermarkets.

Patrick Gorman, Realtor. and board member of NORAD. I'm Rafael Prieto, Fiestas Patrias president.

Rocio Gonzalez-Sornosa, executive director of the Women's Business Center of Charlotte.

Susan Rodriguez-Mical, Mecklenburg County commissioner.

JD Masueta-Arias, Charlotte City Council member. Jose Alvarez, vice president, Prospera North Carolina.

Thank you for that video that just speaks so well to how many leaders of this community are Hispanic heritage. And so with that, I'm going to read the proclamation. And as I begin to read, I'll ask Marta Tataje and Rafael Prieto to please come down to the podium to receive the proclamation. All right. So whereas each year from September 15th through October 15th, our nation celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month, honoring the histories, cultures, and contributions of people with roots across Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, South America, and Spain. Traditions woven throughout Charlotte-Mecklenburg through our neighborhoods, businesses, food, music, art, language, faith, and spirit of familia and community. And whereas Hispanic and Latino communities are helping power America's future, according to the 2026 US Latino GDP report, US Latino economic output has reached $4.4 trillion, which would rank as the fourth largest economy in the world. And in Charlotte, the nation's second largest financial center, Latino entrepreneurs, professionals, workers, and consumers create jobs, build businesses, and strengthen our regional economy. And whereas Hispanic and Latino residents contribute across Charlotte Mecklenburg as entrepreneurs, bankers, educators, builders, health care professionals, artists, small business owners, public servants, students, parents, and community leaders, bringing talent, innovation, global connections, and an entrepreneurial spirit to one of the nation's fastest growing communities. And whereas this growing impact is reflected in historic leadership, including Liz Monterey Duvall, the first Latina elected to the Charlotte Mecklenburg Board of Education, Susan Rodriguez-Maydol, serving on the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners since 2018. Juan J.D. Mazueras-Arias, the first Latino elected to Charlotte City Council. Representative Jordan Lopez, the first Afro-Latino elected to the North Carolina House. And Gabriel J. Esparza, the Charlotte hometown leader, North Carolina Secretary of Administration, and the first Latino in state history to lead a cabinet department. together, showing the next generation they belong wherever decisions are made. And whereas Hispanic and Latino residents have helped build Charlotte-Mecklenburg through generations of hard work, entrepreneurship, creativity, service, advocacy, and love of community, Whereas Hispanic, oops, I just did that one. Now, therefore, we, Robert E. Harrington, Mayor of Charlotte, and Mark D. Jarrell, Chair of the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners, do hereby proclaim September 15th through October 15th, 2026, as Hispanic Heritage Month in Charlotte, Mecklenburg, and commend its observance to all residents. Witness our hands and the official seals of the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. So moved.

Second.

Can I just say that this has been a very tough year for the Latino community and for, in fact, all immigrants, but Latinos have been particularly targeted. And the reason why this is so important this year is because of all of the pain and the trauma that has been endured and is ongoing, it's not over. And so I really want us all to think about the folks who have suffered the most and think about how we can always pull together and get through these hard times. So with that, I thank my colleagues for their support and I ask you to take the vote.

Thank you for those comments, Commissioner. The motion having been properly made and seconded, all those in favor say aye. Aye.

Madam Chair, can I call for a hand vote? I'd like to see this recorded. Absolutely.

All those in favor, raise your right hand. Thank you, Chairman Emeritus. And now it's your time. We would love to hear you. Thank you so much for coming. What's his name?

Good evening, and thank you so much, Chair Jarrell.

Good to see you. Always good to see you.

And Vice Chair Altman, thank you so much for those kind words. Members of the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners, county manager and county leaders, happy Hispanic Heritage Month. My name is Marta Tataje, and I serve as chair of the Charlotte Latin American Chamber of Commerce and a proud District 5 constituent. Today I am joined by representatives from our business, nonprofit, and education communities. If you look behind me here, if you all want to stand up, those who are with us here tonight, please stand. And please stay standing. This year, the CLCC has stepped forward with a renewed vision to serve not only as a networking organization, but as a strategic connector, impactful resource partner, and collective voice for Hispanic and Latino business owners in the businesses that support them. Our mission, in part, is to help ensure Hispanic and Latino private sector has a seat at the table as investments, contracting opportunities, transit connections, workforce development, commercial revitalization and supportive services are shaped to sustain our progress. Hispanic Heritage Month is not only about recognizing what Hispanic and Latino businesses already have contributed. It's about working together to design the Mecklenburg County that we are becoming. We welcome an open channel of dialogue so the CLCC can serve as a direct partner and voice for Hispanic and Latino business owners in the policy decisions that do affect us. So we are, somos, proud of being part of this region that we are building together. Commissioners, thank you so much. Commissioner Rodriguez-McDowell, thank you so much for this invitation and everything that you've done to help us to get here today. And thank you for this special proclamation ceremony. God bless. So for all of us who are still standing, we have been invited to come down and get a picture taken with our Board of County Commissioners. So if everyone could please come down. Thank you.

Viva Los Hispanos de Charlotte!

Can we say a few words?

Amen.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for being here.

Hello. Good to see you. Okay. Rafael. Always a pleasure. I saw you right when I came out.

This is Orlando. Remember when he first came. No, no, no, no. You're perfect. You're perfect. Remember you.

Congratulations. Thank you.

Yes. Love you. Love you too. You got to turn around. Okay, wait a second.

We've got, hold on a second.

Wait, wait, wait, wait.

Okay, I gave it to Marta and Rafael. Can you guys go up front and hold it in Spanish and English?

Trying to hide it in the back, right?

I remember when you first came to the country.

To the country?

Yes, did you hold it down? Oh, yeah, I'm good.

There you go, guys. Thank you, thank you.

Absolutely.

Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for coming. It's nice to see you again. How are you? Good, I'm glad. Absolutely. Have you been here?

Yes.

I was looking for you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course. Zaina. You as well. Lorena, Lorena. How's your husband? Hello, hello. Good to see you again.

My grandmother used to say that.

I love it. All right.

Hello, good to see you.

All right.

Yes.

This is the best part of the job, what you just saw, all right? For sure. We are so thankful for getting to have this moment with you. And we will now turn to our colleague, Commissioner Laura Meyer, who has a proclamation honoring a great American. Dolly Parton for Dolly Parton Day.

Thank you, Commissioner. Yeah, I'm very honored to be reading this. Dolly Parton obviously was a great singer and actress, but more than anything, her philanthropy stands out. She did not get into the political fray. She just did what was right and did what was in her heart. So I'm very honored. Whereas throughout her remarkable career, Dolly Parton has earned numerous awards and is widely regarded as one of the most influential and beloved artists in the history of American music. And whereas Dolly consistently chose kindness over bitterness and unity over division, showing through her words and actions that people with different backgrounds, beliefs, and experiences can still treat one another with dignity, grace, and respect. And whereas, in addition to her artistic accomplishments, Dolly Parton has demonstrated an enduring commitment to philanthropy and service, most notably through the Dollywood Foundation and the Imagination Library, and has provided hundreds of millions of free books to children around the world, helping to promote early childhood literacy and educational opportunity. Whereas, Sept. 25th, written as 925 or 925, provides a fitting tribute to Dolly and her iconic film and song, 9 to 5, while giving our community an opportunity for a day of kindness and service. And whereas, I challenge everyone in Mecklenburg County to perform at least one Dolly good deed in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, and donate a book to a child through Smart Start of Mecklenburg County. And whereas if every person in Mecklenburg County does one good thing for someone else, imagine the difference one day can make. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners do hereby proclaim Friday, September 25, 2026 as Dolly Parton Day in Mecklenburg County and encourage all citizens to join us in the special observance. This 15th day of September 2026, Mark Durrell, Chair, Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners. So moved.

Second.

Thank you. And I'd like to invite Mike Blackwelder, who is the CEO of Smart Start Mecklenburg County, who's going to accept this proclamation.

Good evening, everybody. Thank you, Chair Durrell, County Commissioners, County Manager Bryant, County staff. I appreciate the opportunity to be here and accept this proclamation. It's a great honor. My name is Mike Blackwelder. I'm the CEO of Smart Start of Mecklenburg County, and we have the privilege of running the Dolly Parton Imagination Library here in Mecklenburg County. The program came to Charlotte in 2014. A group of funders came together to bring it here initially in one zip code, 28205. In 2017, the state came in and took over, and they decided to fund the entire state, which meant the entire county of Mecklenburg in all zip codes. So since that time, we have distributed over 5.3 million books throughout Mecklenburg County. That impact is huge. Dolly started this program in honor of her father, who never learned to read or write during his entire life, and she knew the power of education. The program puts a book in the hands of young children ages zero to five. A book is delivered by mail each month, and it gives them a chance to read with their family, promotes kindergarten readiness, and gets children ready for school. It is a strong foundation for literacy, and it helps get children ready for school and prepared for pre-K, which you all continue to generously support through MEC Pre-K. At any given time, we have nearly 40,000 children on the registration for Dolly Parton Imagination Library, and last year we delivered over 370,000 books throughout the community. We're proud to also provide the bilingual version of this program here in our community, which continues to grow. Access was important to Dolly. We mentioned that you've asked folks in the community to donate books. We have little libraries throughout the county where we provide another opportunity to provide free books to children and also an opportunity to register for the Imagination Library Program. We've also received some generous financial donations during this time and we're using those to offset costs when we lost state funding last year. I would love to invite you all to join us to continue celebrating Dolly Day on September 25th, 925, of course. We will be with our friends at Noda Brewing Company, who actually helped bring the program here initially. And that will be from 3 PM to 9 PM on 925. And it's just a way to celebrate, fun, family-friendly way to celebrate Dolly and her legacy. And lastly, as a lifelong Dolly fan my entire life, I just want to thank you all for taking the opportunity to recognize Dolly and her work. The words in your proclamation are exactly right. Nobody exhibited philanthropy and service and kindness more than her. Dolly used to say, if you see somebody without a smile, give them yours. So the Dolly Good Deed edition was spot on. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Hang on one second. Don't leave. Thank you for those beautiful comments. And the motion having been properly made and seconded, all those in favor, please say nine to five.

Nine to five.

That is unanimous. So let's now take a picture. All right. And use your best asset, which I think Dolly said is your smile.

Oh, OK. Asset. What a way to make it.

Wow. Crazy if you let it. Who says you can't have fun? One more.

A lot of all of us knew that. Right, right.

At least we didn't say Jolene.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I return the gavel to you.

All right. And now we'll move to the next part of the agenda, which is the arts and culture moment. And I'm going to invite Charlotte's creative down. Yes. Yes. So we'll receive a presentation from Charlotte is Creative. I think all of us know Matt, but for those in the television land, it's Matt Olin and team. You guys are welcome to go up there.

Yeah, come on up, come on up. Good evening, commissioners, county manager, county staff. Y'all have done a dolly good deed. I am Matt Olin, the co-founder and executive director of Charlotte is Creative. And for the past decade, our nonprofit's mission has been to provide the resources, training, connections, and opportunities that emerging artists and creative entrepreneurs need to be supported and successful in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg region. And tonight, on behalf of the thousands of residents we serve every year, and our dedicated board of directors, some of whom are here with us today, we really just wanna say thank you. We wanna say thank you because over the last three years, Mecklenburg County invested ARPA funding into one of our flagship programs, the Creative Entrepreneurs Initiative, or CEI, as we call it. CEI starts with a pretty simple idea. Artists and creatives are small businesses. They're designers, musicians, dancers, photographers, filmmakers, visual artists, and makers of all kinds. And like any other entrepreneur, talent alone isn't enough. They need to understand finances, contracts, project management, pricing, marketing, communications, and how to build relationships that can help turn their creative talent into a sustainable career. This work is deeply connected to the county's priorities around workforce development, economic development, and upward mobility. Because when we talk about helping Mecklenburg County residents rise economically, it's important to remember that our creative community is a critical part of our local workforce. Helping a creative entrepreneur strengthen their business, increase their income, and build a sustainable career is workforce development, it's small business development, its economic mobility with real impact on our local economy. The county's investment has allowed us to put these ideas into action, supporting creative entrepreneurs not just with training, but also with mentorship, relationships, resources, and direct financial support. But rather than me telling you what the investment looks like, we thought it would be much more meaningful for you to meet three of the people you have invested in, each of whom who is now having their own ripple effect of impact throughout the county. So you're going to hear from Chef Rihanna Radcliffe of Your Brazen Chef LLC, Audrey Baron of Baron Dance, and fashion designer and CIC board member Will White. Each has graduated from our CEI program, and each can tell you far better than I can what happens when our community invests in the entrepreneurial potential of its creative people. Commissioners, thank you for believing in this work, and more importantly, thank you for believing in them. So Chef, I'm going to turn it over to you.

Thank you guys for having us today. Thank you for having us talk and speak about the wonderful things that we have been able to accomplish. I have graduated fall 2024. And in that program, I've done three cohorts already, different cohorts from different companies. This is the only one that's dedicated for creatives. It's with the creative forward mindset. So if I'm, as a chef, trying to figure out my taxes, for example, they dedicate how to do that in my mindset. There are three people that I kind of want to give shout outs to because through the CEI cohort, I was able to meet people. I have a catering company, but I also have a culinary series called Plated Possibilities. And we like to incorporate art into that dinner series so that you can see who are creatives in Charlotte that you can support outside of the dinner. So our first dinner, we had it at Queen City Arts. That was introduced to me from Travis Barnes. who was in that cohort with me. The second dinner, we were able to have Victoria Call, who's a ceramic artist, and we got to incorporate her ceramic work into plates, bowls, things like that. The third dinner, we were able to have Carolina Quintana, and she has doodling. So people were able to sit in a doodle booth and get their drawing almost like a cartoon, but not. And so we're able to showcase who is actually in Charlotte that you can support. And you guys are bridging the gaps on how different creatives can come together and also make it work to support each other. So CEI definitely brought me to these people who I wouldn't have met otherwise. So thank you, and I'm going to hand it over.

Good evening. My name is Audrey Barron. I've been a contemporary dance choreographer, performer, and educator in Charlotte for over 20 years. I'm also the founder and director of Barron Dance, a nonprofit dance company focused on mentorship, collaboration, and access to dance throughout Charlotte. I participated in CEI this spring, and although I never know what to expect from Charlotte as creative in the best way, the experience exceeded my expectations on multiple levels. Even after working as a dance artist for two decades, there were skills that I lacked, practical tools related to taxes, legality, marketing, but also personal assets like public speaking and confidence. CEI hires local and regional experts in these fields, offering each cohort real time and attention with these unique professionals. I say unique because the carefully selected instructors are not only leaders in their respective fields, but they know how to and are hungry to share their knowledge with artists. Every Monday from January to May this year I walked away from class feeling empowered, enlightened, and enthusiastic about the future of dance in Charlotte, a feeling I frankly don't feel very often. More than that, CEI, more than just business school for artists, CEI is a landing space for also carefully selected creatives to collide, build connections, and plant the seeds of collaboration. I've already hired and been hired by several of my cohort members for performances and community events, and the web keeps expanding. The relationships and resources that CEI affords us are invaluable, but they do hold value. The fact that Charlotte is creative pays artists for this experience seems too good to be true. But it has been real for many years for dozens of local artists. For this gem of a program to lose funding would be a disservice to the hundreds of Charlotte creatives who have not had the chance to apply for and participate in CEI. If Charlotte wants to be a world class city, it needs to support our world class artists. Notice I didn't say attract or bring in, because we're here. We just need to be taken seriously, supported from the ground up, and allowed space, time, and resources and opportunities to grow and shine, not just for the advancement of our own careers, but for the benefit of Charlotte, the city I love and have been a part of for 20 years. I mentioned confidence and public speaking before. I literally would not be here speaking on behalf of Charlotte's creative if not for CEI. Maybe that's part of their plan. But if so, I'm here for it, and I hope you will be too. Thank you.

Hi, everyone. My name is Will White. Thank you for having us. And once again, thank you for the ARPA funds and being able to sow into the seed that is CEI, a part of Charlotte is Creative. So I'm a fashion designer, illustrator, and public event producer. And I am also a single father. So when it comes to everything that I do, someone's watching me, right? And isn't that the case for all of us, right? So when I made my foray into Charlotte is Creative and the CEI cohort back in 2023, I had a few kind of knowledgeable tidbits about business, but I had no idea what I was doing. I was literally bumbling my way through the entire experience because I didn't have anyone to hold my hand or teach me what that actually looked like. I came from a very pragmatic family. My dad is from Wabalaw, South Carolina. My mom is from the Bronx, New York. And they were always employees. They were never business owners. And so I didn't know where to start to become a business owner, let alone a creative business owner. And CEI was the answer to all of those things in one. What it did, it kind of gave me a two-fold gift. The first fold was all of this pertinent information that I was able to glean from people who had already been through it, figured out what the problems were, and figured out how they can correct them, and taught me how to correct them. But also what it gave me was a certain level of confidence, because there were some things that I did know. It was like, wait, I was already doing that, so I can keep doing this. And one of the things that it's really afforded me is an opportunity to be in rooms that I might not have ever stepped foot in before. Because one of the things that the creators of Charlotte's Creative, Matt and Tim, they come and they just shroud you with love, right? They shroud you with love, and they shroud you with the gift that is education. And they pay you for this gift. And it's just like the gifts just keep on coming. And by the end of it, I was able to sit down and have a meeting to be able to bring my own programming to this beautiful city of Charlotte, North Carolina, and the county of Mecklenburg, where during springtime, I produced the public-facing fashion events for the Charlotte Shout Festival. And when I tell you the feedback that I have gotten from people all over the city for just doing the things that I love to do and being able to get paid for the things that I love to do, and support my two children has been, bar none, one of the greatest experiences of my life. And I am so grateful that Charlotte's Creative has also, with CEI, given me an opportunity to turn around and show my children how they can be business owners, how they can, for themselves, do what they love creatively and still afford a life for maybe some grandkids, great grandkids, who knows where it goes. But once again, I am so grateful to everything that you guys have done for us, and I really hope that you guys are able to see all of what CEI is doing for the creative small businesses here in Charlotte. And I thank you, and I hope that we continue to build on this relationship.

Hold up. Before you go, let me do this. I want to turn to Commissioner Rodriguez-McDowell. The arts and culture moment was spawned by her idea, and I want to give her an opportunity to provide any comments if she'd like.

Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Well, I just want to say congratulations to all of you and thank you for bringing your stories to us because it's super helpful for us to actually hear tangibly where these public dollars are going and how it's benefiting the community. And I'm just so extremely proud that the county is part of y'all's creative process. So thank you for what you bring to us all. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

All right, next up on the agenda is public appearance. Madam Clerk, we still don't have any speakers, correct? That is correct. All right, so we will move to appointments. All right, and we're gonna start with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee. Appointments are needed on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee to fill six terms. This has come back to us, so we will be voting. There are quite a few candidates here, so we're just gonna go down the list. First up is Laura Bailey.

Are you going to allow some advocacy?

Well, no, no, no, no. No, because this is what came back.

You're voting.

Yeah, so we're going to vote now.

Thank you.

All right.

Women's advisory, right?

Yes.

Because I'm on my iPad. I'm on my iPad.

Oh, and I'm on my chair's notes. I'm sorry. So we need to go to women's advisory first? Is that what we're doing? Yes.

We had to change the order.

Okay, give me one. Let me go into the...

No, it's the community relations committee we're doing first. I'm sorry? It's not on the women's. It is. You probably have to refresh.

No, my chair's notes has community relations first. I wasn't on the iPad. I'm getting on the iPad now, so I'll do the women's advisory board. Thank you, Elaine.

No, no, no. It's women's advisory.

No. Let me hear from the clerk. Go ahead.

The latest update at 5 o'clock.

So we have to do the Community Relations Committee first because you have already nominated these people. And some of these people, if you don't pick them to be appointed, will be on the Women's Advisory Board. So we have moved the Women's Advisory Board. So Community Relations Committee is first.

Okay. So the iPad is wrong.

So you have to refresh your iPads.

Refresh your iPads. Everybody refresh your iPads.

We did.

Still doesn't put it in the right order.

Oh, see, y'all just changed it.

The CRC is now first. All right. We'll give everybody time to open it up. It sure did refresh.

All right. So is everybody there?

Yep, we're there.

All right. Let's go through the CRC again. We are going to vote.

Okay.

Thank you. All right.

Let's start with, uh, Laura Bailey. One, two, three, four, five, six or seven. No. Okay. Yash, but Nagar, there's total six opportunities, right? Okay. Keep your hands up, please. Madam clerk, you got this.

It's seven, two.

Thank you. So both of those are appointed.

Ingrid Nunez.

Ingrid Nunez, two. Sarita Butler.

Sarita Butler was one. Madam Clerk. Lee Knipe.

Lee Kenight. Jessica Edwards. Got one, Madam Clerk. Robert Edwards. Kim Lamb. Got one, two, three, four. Okay. Jennifer Louise Jean. We got two. Rory Pegram, District Four. Ryan Reed. Kira Robinson. Omar Saxton. Get to Constance Wallace. Okay. Aditya Upadhyay.

Very good.

One, two, four. Constance Wallace. That's unanimous, Madam Clerk. Jamie Wildgoose. Two, three, four. Oh, that's five. And then Cindy Young.

I'll do five, it's five, thank you.

How many?

She got five. So Madam Clerk, by my tally that we have appointed Laura Bailey, Yash Bhatnagar, Constance Wallace, Jamie Walgus, and Cindy Young, so that means there's one other slot that's open, so we'll go back through. Is that what you've got?

That is correct.

All right. So I'm going to start with Ingrid Nunez.

Are we starting over again?

Yes, ma'am. We've got one more to seat. So we're going to go down the list. Ingrid Nunez, I see one. Saritha Butler. Lee Knipe. Jessica Edwards. Robert Edwards. Kim Lam.

One, two, three. I'll make it five.

All right. So that would be our sixth one, Madam Clerk.

Yes, sir.

All right. Moving on. Thank you. Next up, what I've got is JCPC, Madam Clerk.

Yes, that's correct. All right.

Everybody's refreshed properly. Appointments are needed on the JCPC to fill two two-year terms expiring June 30, 2028. This is the youth slot. The JCPC committee recommends Brianna DeCruz. Commissioner Powell.

We're voting.

Brianna DeCruz.

Oh, we're not voting?

Brianna DeCruz. It's just one? No, there's two slots. We're starting with Brianna DeCruz. She's the top of the list, so we're starting there. This is who was recommended by the JCPC. All right. So Brianna is appointed.

It's not loaded yet.

Now we have George Doe. District 3?

Yep.

District 3. George for George. All right. Benjamin Marchand. And then we have Amrita Yalagada. One, two, three, four, five. Okay. So I've got Brianna DeCruz and Amrita.

That is correct.

All right. All right, next, appointments are needed on the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council to fill one two-year term expiring June 30, 2028, substance abuse professional slot. The JCPC Committee recommends Phil McNeary.

Okay.

Is there... What was the...

They recommend Phil McNeary. There are two... It's been moved and seconded to appoint Phil McNeary. All those in favor, let's see by show of hands. One, two, three, four... All right, that's unanimous. All right, so Phil is appointed there. And then we've got juvenile crime. Let me see, excuse me, I'm sorry. Appointments are needed on the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council to fill one two-year term expiring June 30th, 2028 for the business community slot. They recommend Chiquita Patterson. Make a motion.

So moved. Second.

Moved and seconded. All those in favor, let's see by show of hands. All right, Ms. Patterson is appointed. Appointments are needed on Juvenile Crime Prevention Council to fill two unexpired terms expiring June 30th, 2027. This is gonna be the general public slot. The JCPC Committee recommends Joseph Williams. And as you can see, there are a lot of candidates, but can we get something on Joseph Williams? So moved.

Second.

Moved and seconded. All those in favor, let's see by show of hands. All right, so Joseph is appointed. Now we've got to go down the list to fill the other slot. First up, Carla Carlisle. Two, three, okay. George Doe, he was picked up. He's already picked up. I didn't think he was appointed. He didn't make it.

He didn't get appointed. No, he didn't.

Okay, so let's go with George Doe. All right, Imani Eason. Alexandra Jenkins. Carlton Johnson. J.G. Lockhart. Jennifer Louis-Jean. Benjamin Marchand. Three. Bobby Mattress.

Real Mattress.

Okay. Next on the list is Phil McNary, but we've already taken care of him, right, Madam Clerk? That's correct. Okay. Chiquita Patterson was also taken care of. So we move to Monica Pettiford. One, two, three, four, five. So Monica has five. So then both of those slots, six, both of those slots would be filled. It would be Monica Pettiford and Joseph Williams. All right, let's move on to the Women's Advisory Board at this point. Nominations or appointments are needed on the Women's Advisory Board to fill two unexpired terms. The chair of the board recommends in order of preference is going to be Tara Newton, Natasha Allen, Octavia Birch, and Erica Curry. Are there any other nominations? Madam Vice Chair.

Tracy Pratchett.

Tracy Pratchett. Commissioner Townsend Ingram.

Ingrid Bravo Nunez.

Ingrid Bravo Nunez. Any other nominations?

That's mine.

Okay.

Alison Strong.

Alison Strong. So I'm going to nominate everybody that they recommended.

Any other nominations?

Any other nominations? All right, I'll take a motion to close nominations then. So moved. Second. Moved and seconded. All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All right, nominations are closed. That will come back. Madam Clerk, let's go to the Lake Wylie Marine Commission. Reappointments are needed on the Lake Wylie Marine Commission for three, three-year terms expiring September 30th, 2029. Lawrence Justin, David Stoner, Brian Yarman are eligible for reappointment. So moved. Moved and seconded. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? We're going to move to the Building Development Commission. Reappointment is needed on the Building Development Commission for one three-year term expiring September 30, 2029. Keith Aul is eligible for reappointment. So moved. Second. Moved and properly seconded. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. Appointments are needed on the BDC to fill one three-year term expiring July 30th, 2029. American Institute of Architects slot. David Crawford, a representative of the AIA, recommends Brandon Pikes.

So moved.

Second. Moved and seconded. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. All right, we're going to move to the Planning Commission. So we need a nomination or appointment for the Planning Commission to fill one three-year term expiring June 30, 2029. Robert Allen. It's the Board of Education slot. We can nominate and appoint Robert Allen for the BOE slot in accordance with the Planning Commission bylaws.

Second.

Moved and seconded. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

I just have a question. So since the school board chose them, we don't have to interview them or do we have to interview them?

We do not have to interview. It's their choice. Your appointment. We don't have to interview.

All right. Just checking.

Yep. No, that typically we do.

Because you know, ETJ matters.

Yep, it does. All right, thank you. Good call out on that. But we don't have to. Thank you. Thank you. CMS is live. Yep. All right, let's move to the public hearing at 7 o'clock. So we're going to hear on the Uniform Schedules of Value Standards and Rules for the 2027 Countywide Appeal. Ken Joyner, if you want to make your way down, I'll entertain a motion to open a public hearing to receive public comment on the proposed Uniform Schedules of Value Standards and Rules for the 2027 Countywide Appraisal. It's been moved. Second. Moved and seconded. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Mr. Joiner.

Good evening.

Good evening, sir.

Tonight's another step in the process leading us to the 2027 revaluation where we give our customers, our citizens an opportunity to come and speak to the schedule of value standards and rules.

And we have no speakers, sir.

That's why you called me down.

Since we don't have any speakers, can I make a motion to close the public hearing and adopt?

Not adopt. Not adopt. Close the public hearing. So moved. Second. Second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All right. Ayes have it. Thank you, sir.

We'll see you back in October for the approval.

All right. That was nice and easy. And you got the nice shoes again tonight, Ken. They're the coffee, right? Yeah, they're my dark coffee. I like it. I like it. All right. Mr. Manager, we'll turn to you for your report. I'm excited about this.

Yes, thank you. I have two items under my manager's report. This evening, Chair Jarrell and board members, I would like to take this time to announce the latest Above and Beyond Award winner, Dr. Adeen Kurtapek. As you are aware, the Above and Beyond Award was established to honor exemplary employees who are consistently exceeding expectations in a manner that yields greater impact to our organization and community. Adeem currently serves as our GIS systems developer in the county's land use and environmental services agency known as Louisa. He is a Louisa specialized software engineer who builds, maintains, and customizes applications and tools for managing and analyzing spatial and geographic data. Since joining the county in 2024, Adeem has modernized numerous existing and complex GIS web applications under his support, significantly improving the overall user experience. He also serves as the lead developer and primary support contact for the Quality of Life Explorer, our widely used public-facing web resource that was established in partnership with the City of Charlotte and UNC Charlotte's Urban Institute. Over the past fiscal year, Adeem has researched emerging chatbot and large language model technologies, developed a working prototype, and explored practical opportunities to thoughtfully integrate these tools into future county GIS applications. In addition, he leads efforts to enhance the county's historic energy through advanced machine learning techniques. Adim is known for going above and beyond, operating with a contagious sense of urgency and accountability. His department director, Ebenezer Gujalapudi, describes him as an invaluable asset to Louisa's GIS team and entire department. Adeem has enhanced the team's technical capabilities with his expertise and collaboration in helping the team solve intricate customer service problems with technology solutions to significantly enhance our customer experience. Mecklenburg County and Louisa are so fortunate to have him on the team. As it is customary, in addition to tonight's recognition, Adeem will receive a certificate and a $1,000 award for his unyielding service and dedication. Also, his name will be added to a plaque hanging outside of my office, along with previous above and beyond recipients. At this time, I ask that you join me in congratulating Dr. Adeem for his Above and Beyond Award. Job well done, Adeem. Please come down.

You know I use that quality of life explore all the time. I do too.

Where's the envelope? Thank you and congratulations.

Where's the check, Mike? I guarantee you.

Check's in the mail. We got a bargain if we only paid $1,000. We did. All right.

Big smile. Thank you.

Congratulations.

That was GIS, too. While the manager is making his way back, I just want the public to know that's the type of talent we have in Mecklenburg County. Best in class.

You know, thank you for that, Chairman. As you hear me always say, we have the most talented workforce in the nation. And tonight is an example of that. So congratulations again, sir. For the second item under my manager's report, Ebenezer is going to make his way over to the podium and provide you an update on code enforcement, our process, as well as technology. I recognize that several of you consistently receive concerns regarding our permitting process. I know I do, and I thought it would be of value. to develop a common understanding of the entire process, learn about some enhancements we put in place, as well as some enhancements that we have planned moving forward as well. So with that, I ask, Chairman, that you recognize Eb.

Eb, you are recognized, sir.

Thank you, Commissioners and County Manager Bryan, for the opportunity to present. Before I jump into the court enforcement thing, I would also once again like to thank Dr. Adam. He has a great leader in Jai Wei, who is also the GIS Director. We recruited Jai from Disney. He worked for over 20 years with Disney, and so we recruited him from there, and Jai has been great in trying to push our team to enhancing technology, and the team has really responded, and Dr. Adam is one of those that was recruited by Jai to come in and help us in the county. As I get started, I also would like to recognize our court enforcement team. We have Patrick Granson, who is the director of court enforcement. Next to him is Andy Herring, who is the deputy director for commercial. And then Melanie Sellers, who is the deputy director for residential. So I only have the privilege of cheerleading for them and giving you an update on the great work that they and their team are doing. Next slide. Again, just as a primer, Mecklenburg County Court Enforcement, we have a basic function, which is to save lives and prevent injury by making sure, I'm just going to paraphrase, I'm not going to read every word, challenge your intelligence by doing that, but to make sure that all construction in the county is safe. not only during construction, but when it's occupied. That's our goal. Next slide, please. And many a times when it comes to code, there is some confusion between what responsibility do these towns have and what responsibility does county has and the city has. So I just laid it out there for you. The local jurisdictions, that is the city and the towns, they own certain regulations that are local. For example, like zoning, development, planning, landscaping, et cetera. So all those fall under the purview of the towns. The county does not get involved in reviewing those. So any applicant that is developing, depending on the jurisdiction, would apply to the towns and have their review conducted there. Just as a side note, Louisa Land Development does some of the reviews for the towns. So in a sense, they work with Louisa, another division within Louisa Land Development that does these for the towns. The city of Charlotte does its own review with respect to this horizontal development. What the county does is, After the local approvals are concurrent with that, construction plans are submitted to county court enforcement where we are the ones that review the plans, approve the plans for permitting, issue the permits, then do inspections, and finally issue a certificate of occupancy when they can actually move into the building or structure. Next slide, please. The regulatory authority the county has is actually, in the general statute, we are called the authority having jurisdiction under the North Carolina general statutes. And so that authorizes some city employees as well and county employees to enforce the state building code. Next slide, please. So when it comes to county code enforcement, which is my focus, broadly speaking, we provide these three services, plan review, permitting, and inspections. So when you sometimes get calls from your customers, it is one of these three areas. And so I just wanted to make sure I do a primer on what those mean. Next slide, please. So I just want to quickly walk you through what a plan review process looks like. A applicant, which is primarily for larger projects or even small ones, there's an architect on an engineer team that prepares the plans and submits to us. They submit to us through the electronic system, which we now call Acela-MEC. And we have a gating process where we pre-screen all the submittals to make sure that all the pieces of the documents are there, are present. And our system also, for example, if there's an architect or an engineer, we are connected to the state system to verify that they are properly licensed in order to do the kind of work that they're supposed to do. So we go through a checklist, a gating process. And then, depending on the kind of a project, because every project is unique as to who needs to touch it, the system routes them to the various agencies that need to review the plans. Because one set of plans can include electrical, mechanical, plumbing, building, construction, fire, Charlotte Water, all these different agencies. So the set of plans are submitted through the system. They are triaged to make sure all the pieces are there, and then they are routed. And then the plans are reviewed by every individual agency, and comments are provided. Sometimes, you know, they go through cycles of review, and once the reviews are all complete and everybody is satisfied with the plans and all the connections are made, we issue an approval. So that constitutes one cycle. That is the plan review approval. In FY25, just to give you a context, Mecklenburg County Court Enforcement reviewed almost 4,000 large commercial plans. And you can see a large commercial may be a high rise uptown. It can be the Bank of America Stadium renovations to large apartment complexes. All those things have so much data that is presented to us. Almost 4,000 of those were done last year. And small commercial, we did about 1,100. So if you see on a daily basis, there's quite a few plan reviews that concurrently take place. Next slide, please. So what happens, once the plans are approved, if I'm the wanting to build something, then I either go hire a contractor to build according to the approved plan. So that's what jump starts the permit application process. So a contractor can get the bid and then say, OK, I'm going to build a contract. So they come and pull a permit. So there's a permit application submittal. It is reviewed to make sure that the contractor has a proper generalize, you know, contractor's license, they're proper, you know, certified in order to do what they're supposed to do. And then the fees are assessed, they pay the fees, and then the permits are issued. When the permit is issued, it means now you are ready to go build according to the plans. Okay, so we have the planned review silo, we have the permitting silo, and then we have the inspection silo. For example, last year, Mecklenburg County Court of FY25, we issued almost 100,000 permits. Yeah, that's the goal. That's about 485 per day. So the reason I mention that is when you hear from customers we are having trouble, that's a very small percentage. That is our staff is doing a great job trying to move this. Sometimes things do happen where they're either stuck in the system or a proper notification doesn't out because of technology, et cetera, and our staff is constantly making sure that needs to happen. And wherever we are the ones that are the hold up, we do. reach out to the customer. When we find out, we apologize and make sure they get their services right. But for the context, I want to make sure you understand 100,000 permits were issued in FY25. The next slide, please. We have the inspection and the approval process. This is the third silo where once the permit is issued, you see in the first bar, then construction starts. The code requires constructions at certain intervals. So what happens is the contractor is the only one that knows when it is ready for an inspection. So they have to call in for an inspection. So for example, if you're building your house or you're adding a room, Once they pour the concrete, they call in for an inspection just to make sure everything is right. And then after they do the framing, before they close it out, they need to call for an inspection to make sure the wires are properly there, the water lines are properly installed, the electric wires, and all the framing is properly done, etc. So the contractor is the one that knows when to call that. So they call for an inspection, then inspection is performed. If they pass, they move on to the next step. If they fail, our inspector lets them know what needs to be corrected, then they go back for the following inspection. And then once all the required inspections are complete, Then we issue what is called, after the final inspection, they get a certificate of occupancy. We have a temporary certificate of occupancy that allows them to start moving in stuff and doing the preliminary moving in. And then small things are fixed, and then we issue a final certificate of occupancy. Again, for context, in FY25, Mecklenburg County Court Enforcement, LUISA, did almost 315,000 inspections. Some days it goes close to 2,000. Some days it is about 1,600. So that many inspections happen on any given day on an average. 315,000 inspections performed in FY25. Next slide, please. I'm not going to go into all the details, but these are all the codes that Mecklenburg County Court Enforcement enforces. The state code, we do not enforce the local code, it's primarily the state building code is what Mecklenburg County Court Enforcement enforces. Next slide, please. And just to give you a brief timeline of our journey. Some of you may be aware, I came to the county in 2013, January. After I came over a year later, you know, there was some concern with the building community about code enforcement and the technology and the slowness, etc. So then the county, we launched into an improvement effort where we hired Gartner to come in and do a study. So Gartner came and did a study and said, yeah, there are, things are going well in a sense, but there are also opportunities for improvement. One thing I want to say is, Mecklenburg County is the one or two in the nation that offers a lot of boutique services to our customer, which are not offered anywhere else. And our customer has become accustomed to those services. For example, we have something called on schedule. It means if you are a competent and a good engineer, for example, you can book your time six to eight months in advance for a plan review. You can call code enforcement or go online right now and say, I think my plans will be ready in February of 2027. I want to book time. We are able to do that so that the big contractors and the big developers can have a time. So we are not a first in, first out organization. So that they can plan their efforts better. They have a deadline to work towards. There's no one else that does that. And the reason I mention that is all of that is done through technology. And so our technology implementation is more complex than off the shelf. And our customers are used to that level of service from us. And therefore, after Gartner recommended that we upgrade our technology, because the previous one we had, I should say, McLemore County pretty much built it. Because it started as a small thing in year 2000, and over 15 years, every time our customer or BDC hears the customer and says, we want this customization, we add it on, we add it on, we add it on. So it became like a 1969 Volkswagen bus, but had some 2,000 engine parts in it. And so it became unwieldy. And so what Gardner recommended is the city was using Acela then already, said it would be helpful for the county to go out and see what other technologies are out there. So we went out with an RFP and in consultation with IT and Louisa, we selected Acela because even the city was using it as the vendor of choice. to replace our old technology system. And we began that implementation in 2018-19, but you all are very aware what happened. COVID hit and the implementation slowed down significantly because at that time we were just trying to make sure we get all the work done and we did not have the ability to, what do you call, do a huge technology outfit during that time. So it slowed down a little bit, but then the other big change that happened is, Whenever you go on a technology journey like that, what they do is what you call stories. Stories are what the technology consultant needs to say, this is how the process is supposed to work. We want you to make technology. Technology is just a tool. So if the process is good, you put a technology on it, it'll be a good process. If your process is bad, it doesn't matter how good a technology you put on it, your process is bad. So technology is just a tool. So we developed a lot of stories that says this is how it is supposed to flow through the system. And so they began developing that way. But as you know, regulation is not static. The state changed some regulations, and the city also adopted its UDO. which was a wholesale rewrite of some of their local zoning development ordinances. And which then added complexity where it not only slowed down, because now we had to redo a lot of the thinking behind it, but also software development and testing took longer and became more complex than originally anticipated. Next slide, please. So what we call now the county's Acela, just to make sure people understand it is distinct from the cities, we call it Acela MEC. So that we have a brand that says this is Mecklenburg County's Acela system. And in this system, we have a lot of partner agencies. As we said, we are kind of the final approval. But as part of the approval process, there's a lot of agencies that have to provide input. So when an application flows through the system, unless all the partner agencies give a thumbs up, the county cannot give final approval. And sometimes you hear from customers saying, the county is delaying my project. When we look under the... You know, when we dig deeper we realize it is stuck in somewhere of the partner agency review process and therefore we cannot. It's okay, we will try to follow up and make, you know, to do that and please let those calls come in to us because we want to know to make sure that ultimately the customer is served. They don't have to do the run around. That's part of Louisa's mission. We don't tell the customer you go here and there. We pick up the phone, call them, and connect them to the right person as much as possible. So the next slide, please. The partner agencies for LUISA code enforcement are the six towns, as I said. They work in our technology system. The city of Charlotte does. Charlotte Water, Charlotte Fire, Environmental Health, Historical Landmarks, NCDOT, and CDOT. These are just a few. So all these agencies have their hands in our system because they are part of the review process, depending on the kind of project and where it is located. The next slide, please. And sometimes there's also this confusion about what is the city review, what is the county review? So I just wanted to provide this. The city performs the land development reviews within their jurisdiction. For example, if a developer comes and says they want to build a warehouse, the city is responsible solely to make sure the zoning and all the UDO requirements are met. The county has no input into that process. It's a uniquely city function. When the plans are submitted to the county, that's when the city has a role in that. When the building is being built, they still have to review the plans and approve them for zoning, urban forestry, strong water, UDO, of the construction side of the house as well. And so that is kind of where the city intersects with our process, in addition to Charlotte Fire, Charlotte Water, CDOT, depending on what the project is. Next. Slide please. Like I said, regulation, the regulatory environment has changed. Pre-2020, remember our old system that I mentioned? All of us were in one system, the city and the county. But once the UDO was adopted, the city, because its business model has changed, has moved the urban forestry, stormwater, and zoning into their acela system. So the review is not part of the city system. That's because they have consolidated and according to their business model, the city decided that the Charlotte Development Center that's here in this building, they wanted all their staff to be together to work collaboratively. So their business model necessitated them coming out of the city system and doing it in the city's system. But not only that, the UDO also has required more reviews by the city because the requirements have changed. And so there is a more intensive review on the city side than before. Next slide, please. So because of the UDL and the city's change in their business model, their number of reviews has increased. And these zoning urban forestry stormwater are now done in the city system. And therefore, the customer submits a separate application to the city for those things. So what happens now is the city will perform its review in its system, and then the results are then moved to the county system manually. And so you may be hearing that is some of the pain the customer is experiencing, and I'm going to walk you through what the city and the county are working together to automate that process as well. Next slide, please. And also the other thing, then as part of the city's change in business model, the staff that used to be in the Russell Roselle building previously for zoning, et cetera, have now moved to this building. So the interaction with the customer is in this location, not at the Russell Roselle building location, as it was pre-2020. Next challenge. Next, yeah, common customer challenges that you may be hearing. I don't know where my... process, where my permit is, or where my application is. I don't know who to call. I can't reach anyone. I can't see, and I don't know how to search in the system. Again, we are very much aware of this, and we are working feverishly. And at the end of my presentation today, I'm going to actually present to you what Dr. Adim developed for us to make all this possible to enhance our customer service. Next slide, please. So the current opportunities that we have and we are working upon is the technology improvements. Because of the changes in regulation, changes in customer expectation, we are not going to say we have arrived with respect to technology. We always know. Dr. Johnson and Michael now and Dina before have kind of told us it's a continuous improvement organization. We don't say we have arrived. So we are constantly refining it. But only know that any technology change takes time. because we want to make sure we are not breaking what is already there. And so we have received a lot of customer input, and we continue to refine our technology. Regulatory updates, just even more recently, even the recent legislative session has changed some regulations. So now we have to go and update the technology to meet those. And some of them are coming online January 1 of 2027. The UDO implementation continues to be refined, and we are also working with our partners to make it more transparent about review agency turnarounds. For example, if five of the six agencies are done and one is delayed, the whole process is delayed. So we'll continue to work with our partner agencies to see how we can do that. Next slide, please. So, as I mentioned before, the current system where we have ASELEMEC, the county system, has all these agencies that work in it. So the way I'd like to describe it commonly is, you know, it's like we are all in this kitchen, we are all making the meal together, and we have all these chefs at the table so we know who's doing what, and they can see who else. The city system has the zoning, stormwater, urban forestry, and UDO. So the customer pain point has been when they log into the current county system, they don't know what's going on in the city system, okay? And so next slide please, the current state is the city team has access into the county system. They have some licenses to be able to access. But we do understand and do acknowledge that once they do the review in their system, they have to come back into our system and put the data in. But that's what the current process flow is. We have no visibility to the city system because we don't need it, because we are not part of their unique review process. The city's turnaround times are different than the county's. They are also trying to make sure they can go faster. And the last thing I want to say, the last bullet, in responding to the customer, You know, Louisa, one of the blessings I have is I have a great team of six divisions that are always looking for ways to help each other and the county at large. So GIS, we just threw out an idea to say our customer wants to know what is going on in the system, and we don't want them every time to go in, user ID, password, click on five different things to get there. So GIS... Dr. Adam and his cohorts have built us a dashboard that will make it a lot easier for the customer to know where they are in the county system. And you are the first one to be able to see it live and it's going live tonight on our website and to the customers tomorrow. And so last slide before I show you that live. The current opportunities we have and what we are working on is building a pipeline behind the scenes between the city system and the county system. so the data can flow. So we are in consultation with the city, talking to them to make that possible so that they don't have to manually enter the data and the customer also can see it. And we are hoping to accomplish that in the next few months. Again, the best-case scenario would be for us to be in one, but that's a much longer term because it is very complex. And there's only a certain portion of the city that kind of works with ours, but we had a meeting with the city manager and the county manager, and that would be the best long-term scenario. But also, we are constantly working on streamlining the customer experience. Louisa code enforcement, we have answered over 12,000 calls last year. We have a call center and staff dedicated to answer calls. As you know, if you come into the customer service center, we have people that can sit with the customer and walk them through. And we are using all of that information to refine our system to make sure. With that said, if I can have us go to that There you go. This is the page that anybody can go to. You can go it from online. It's a link that is going to be put online. So you don't have to have a cell access. You don't have to really, what do you call, log into our system. Can I have Brittany put 1-2-2-2-5, please? It automatically populates all the possible 1-2-2-2-5s. 2-5, I don't know why it pulled up 9-6. Yeah. Five. Yeah, go to Rocky River, the second one, please. I'm sorry. Five. Yeah, the Rocky River Church Road, the second one, if you want to. See, this is kind of what pulls up. So for this particular address, this is the permit. To the left-hand side, you see RESDEM. That's the permit. If you click on it, if you remember a few years ago, I told you that it's going to be like a Domino's Pizza app. So this dashboard lays out and says submitted, reviewed, received, intake. It kind of tells you exactly where all the steps that have been completed in the process. On the top, you will see in the middle, permits, then inspections. If you click on inspections, it'll tell you what all inspections took place. And if you hit on conditions, all the holes that are on the project. So the customer knows which agency to call to get the holes resolved. So our GIS team has built this with any RE number, any address, if they have interacted with the county Acela. This doesn't have the historical data going back because it's in the old system. But with Acela, you can put that in there for any address and get the current state, where it is, what are the holes. And so we've heard the customer. But this is only what is in the county system. So we'll work with the city to see how best we can also pull their data into this. But now the customer doesn't have to call us. They can go here. We are going to start making it public tomorrow. And then they will be able to see where they are and if they have any questions, we're more than happy to help them. With that, thank you for the opportunity to present. This is great.

Mr. Chair, before... We take your questions. I just want to reiterate what Ebenezer mentioned regarding the conversation and meetings I've had with City Manager Marcus Jones, that he is committed to having his team work alongside Ebenezer to work towards these improvements that he shared with you. And I just want to make sure you guys have awareness of that. Thank you. Thank you. Commissioner Rodriguez-McDowell.

Oh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Everybody loves a dashboard. So that's fantastic. But I do have some questions. It sounds like the volume is quite a factor, OK? Correct me if I'm wrong. But how are we with staff? Do we have enough staff? This is a question I've asked about other departments for many, many years. And then later on, we find out, well, yeah, there wasn't quite enough resources there. uh how how are we doing with resources uh human resources because i mean i i i am curious about if you're checking these kinds of things it is a human correct not an ai per thing that's that's handling all of this can you speak to that please sure thank you commissioner we have adequate staff we have we have about 20 25 vacancies at any given time in code the reason being

Code is a unique skill set, but also the kind of building we are doing in McLemore County is not being built anywhere in North Carolina. Raleigh doesn't have as many high rises being built as we do here. I think over the last six years, on the average, six to eight years, I'll have Patrick correct me if I'm wrong, we built an average of 15,000 apartments a year. So the pool of qualified available candidates is not as great. And so we do have enough to be able to push the work through. And we always, you know, So continuously, we are continuous recruitment because we also have retirements on the other end. So some of them we try to bring back with part-time, the retirees to come and kind of take some of that off. We have some third party. When it gets to a certain level where we need help, we also have a third party that can come in and help us take some of that workload off. But we are able to meet the customer need and requirements at this time. But we always have, you can look at the HR website, it always says Inspector 3. It's a constant posting out there because we are consistently recruiting. But at the same time, we are also doing training in-house. We have the veterans program. We are even going to UNC Charlotte and trying to bring in students that are interested in that. And so we have created eight positions just for those folks to come in to train with us so that we can bring them in the ground floor and they can make their way up because we are already thinking about the next generation.

Commissioner, the other point I want to make to that, and keep me honest, is in the past where business cases regarding staffing levels have been tied to other competing needs in our general fund, that's not necessarily the case. for Louisa because they have a separate funding source to support their operation. If there was a need, we don't have the same constraints that we have in the general fund associated with their separate fund.

Thank you. That's key. That's really, really important. The one thing I'm a bit fuzzy on is there's got to be code people that are checking out the plans before the thing is built. They have to approve. Then you have code people that are going out and inspecting. So isn't, that's two different things, right?

Yeah, two different staff, two different skill sets, and also the state certifies them annually. We also have an ISO rating for the local McLemore County code enforcement, which staff have to do about 120 hours of training annually. technical training. So we have the most trained and qualified staff in the state. And actually, Patrick is one of the few that actually sits on the International Court Council as well. So we do have very distinguished staff that actually teach other jurisdictions on what code means. And so we do have that. The issue is now, one of the interesting things we've been seeing is those that used to be in business, who had their own electrical business or plumbing business are now coming to work for the county because, you know, they're just tired of the run around. They said, you know, I've learned what I need to, now I want to serve the community. So we are seeing some of that. And so we are able to maintain a stable staff number but as the county manager indicated we are fully fee funded so revenue is not the issue is just finding the right person because we don't want to put somebody out there in the field that doesn't completely understand what they're doing and have a issue so we are very picky on who we have reviewing plans and who we inspect so the novice inspectors are primarily started off as residential basic stuff and they work their way through they have mentors in the department to help them grow in their careers

Thank you. That's really helpful. Appreciate it.

We're going to go Commissioner Powell, Meyer, then Townsend Ingram. Sure.

Thank you. The first thing I want to say is, you know, eight years' worth of thanks to Patrick Granson for always answering my calls and being so reliable and walking me through anything complex that I have to deal with. The second thing is I had to call another county to advocate for someone who had been taken advantage of. And I was asked for help because of knowledge of being a county commissioner, like how to help this person. So I'm calling the other county and I say, I'm from Mecklenburg County. I'm calling on behalf of so-and-so. And they're like, Mecklenburg is about code enforcement. They're like, it is golden Mecklenburg's golden. So I felt like I was treated better just because of Mecklenburg county. Um, imagine this, like this is up north. So then there's a slide here that, um, I just have to talk about where it says city performs land development reviews within their jurisdiction, including the ETJ. county has no role or input and like I feel like that's it's reality but it's awful it's an awful reality we should have input and it this is the smartest place to have it so I'm begging for everyone to push for more of that because the land that is left that is an undeveloped really needs advocacy on how to do it the best way possible especially including stormwater and so It's reality, it shouldn't be reality. How can we work better in pre-development? I think we will all have a better future if we can do that. I do have a question about what happens when all the rules aren't followed, you know, because you talked about all the things that you have to do. So when the rules aren't followed and you have to issue a notice of violation, do you have any data on how many of those we have?

Thank you, Commissioner, for the question. We don't really issue notices of violation technically because once the construction is complete and we issue a certificate of occupancy, the county court enforcement role is complete. So during the process, we just don't issue the CO or the TCO. So until that issue is corrected, they will not get a certificate of occupancy. But once it is constructed, the notices of violation you may be talking about is primarily after somebody's occupied and there's an issue. It is the city's court enforcement division, the neighborhoods. They are the ones that will go and say you're not maintaining the property properly or there is mold or whatever. They are the ones that issue the notice of violation. County court enforcement If it's not built according to plan, we fail the inspection and say, redo it, we'll be back. They just don't get a CO.

Thank you for that. So there's so much ETJ area that I represent, which is a lot of my phone calls for Patrick. When somebody, a contractor does something without the proper code enforcement paperwork,

Yeah, then we can get involved. Correct. We can then get involved, and then we issue a citation to the owner or the occupant and say, you need to bring this up to code. Fire marshal sometimes goes and says, do not occupy. We can shut them down. But that's very rare. But if somebody builds something not according to code, then code officers can go and say, this is not according to code. It cannot be occupied. Or you have to bring it up to code, apply for these permits.

Thank you. Commissioner Meyer.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. First of all, Ebenezer, thank you, your entire staff, all the inspectors, all the departments for keeping us safe and our buildings in compliance. Everything you do is wonderful, so thank you. And the dashboard, you keep pointing. Who is the genius?

Oh, there. He's the one that got the award.

Oh, okay. You're amazing. Thank you. Because I know all of us do, but I know I do. I'm always sending you an angry homeowner's or a contractor's email. And this is going to keep everybody honest because they always blame the county.

Yeah.

Always.

Yes, ma'am.

And they're always like, oh, okay, thank you very much. And you always show, and I know it takes so much time, and I imagine this is just going to give so much of your time back to you.

Yeah, I mean, I think we want to help the customer with transparency. And our goal was from the beginning to keep it simple. And that's why I use the Domino's Speeds app. I kept that concept since the beginning. The last seven years, I've been saying that. You just need to know it's in the oven. It's on its way. It's delivered. That's all they need to know. And this is all the information they have. And if they need to dig deeper, most of the information is there. But if they want something else, they can always call. Yes.

Well, thank you. Thank you. And thank you very much. That's all.

Commissioner Townsend Ingram.

I want to say thank you. I'm just amazed at your department, just how the skill and the level of talent in Mecklenburg County, it is really impressive. A lot of my questions were already answered through your presentation as you went through. Thank you very much for that. And it's very detailed and it's easily readable. My question is more so geared towards Kind of piggybacking on what Commissioner Powell was talking about. Unless there is something egregiously violated, the county really does not have any wherewithal to say, no, this can't be built or this can't go forward. And my mind goes to data centers immediately, right? What power do we have to say, no, this cannot be built based on a Louisa violation or something of that nature? We really do not have any power. WERE WITHOUT ANY CONTROL OVER THAT. AND THAT'S SOMETHING THAT I WANT THE PUBLIC TO UNDERSTAND, BECAUSE THAT'S SOMETHING THAT HAS, YOU KNOW, THEY CONSTANTLY, WELL, YOU KNOW, YOU'VE APPROVED A DATA CENTER TO GO HERE, THERE.

WE JUST CHECKED FOR COMPLIANCE WITH THE STATE CODE. DOES THE BUILDING MEET THE STATE CODE, ELECTRICAL, MECHANICAL, PLUMBING, YOU KNOW, IN THE CODE ENFORCEMENT ARENA. SO, YEAH, AS A COUNTY, I DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH I'll defer to the legal folks to tell us what authority we may or may not have, but as far as court enforcement, I have no authority to stop anything.

Thank you. That's it. Commissioner Griffin and Commissioner Dunlap.

Real quickly, what you presented tonight is extraordinarily valuable and informative and will certainly help me in terms of responding to some of the calls I received. The last piece in terms of the program, that citizens and individuals can access is just super. So thank you to you, the brain trust up top there in terms of putting it together, and the whole team. I think that's really great. Some of my calls coming off of Commissioner Powell are out in the far reaches of the county, and particularly as it relates to the lake, like Lake Wiley, Mountain Island Lake, et cetera. Where is the line in terms of when the city authorizes various construction and the sedimentation, et cetera, impacts the quality, the lake quality, et cetera? Where is that line? Because I saw the urban forestry and some other stuff is on the stormwater, all that stuff is on the city side. But ultimately, if not done correctly on the city side, it impacts the county in terms of water quality. So help me with that division of labor. Sure. Thank you, Commissioner, for that question. And one other thing, too, I want to add on. Just the sheer volume that's happening now in Mecklenburg County in terms of the growth in the building, et cetera, is having really some adverse consequences. situations in some parts of the county that we don't have any direct control over other than just simply the quality of life issues which we just can't can't deal with so just kind of combine both the answers to deal with this accelerated explosive growth and particularly the impact in terms of water quality

Sure. Thank you, Commissioner, for that question. One thing I have to say is, you know, the county stormwater and the city stormwater are all one, you know, under one umbrella, the city Charlotte-Mecklenburg stormwater services. Yes. So their responsibilities vary based on how much of the area is being drained into a creek. So while I don't want to tell you this is the direct line, both those teams work very closely together to make sure if there is any development happening closer to the water bodies, it's properly, what do you call, collaborated on. So the city ETJ, the city stormwater does the review for those plans of all development within the city ETJ. But when it comes to the Lake Catawba River, Lake Wiley, because it's a larger water body, the county gets involved. because more than one acre of area that flows into the county is responsible for managing those. But I don't want you to get lost in trying to decipher who is who. We make sure that whether it's the city or the county, because they are one united stormwater services function, we provide the services and we kind of back each other up depending on what is needed. I know that's a very general answer, but I can get you more detail because it is going to take a while for us to kind of work through every aspect because, you know, the way the streams and the creeks are in Mecklenburg County, this area is managed by the city services, this is by the county, and how the stream restoration works and how the sedimentation response works may differ just based on how much area is flowing into that particular water body.

This is good. Thank you.

Commissioner Dunlap.

Mr. Chair, I just really want to take this opportunity to publicly thank you, Ebenezer, and your entire team. I can't think of a time when I sent you a request that wasn't responded to and answered. Maybe with this new information now, I might be able to do some on my own, but I kind of like sending information to you.

Please continue to send it.

But I just wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you.

Yeah, and again, I'll be remiss to say Patrick has been with the county. He grew up with court enforcement. How many years, Patrick, 37? 37 years with county court enforcement.

Commissioner Alban.

I try not to belabor things in my comments, but I just have to take my time and say what everybody else said because I feel it so deeply, too. You know, you and I sat with a contractor, some contractors recently, And the struggle is real. I mean, and not only is a system that is not working, like, not responsive to the people it's supposed to serve, but as we were discussing, it costs homeowners money and can sometimes prevent them from being able to complete their project or drive up their costs. And, you know, this is so excellent. I am just so excited by it, and I hope that you know, all the people who have come through the system or have pending business that's in the system, that they're going to get some sort of communication so that they don't have to watch the news, because they're probably not watching this broadcast, to know about this. So, yes? Can you tell us how you're going to let people know?

Thank you, Commissioner. Yeah, as of tonight, it's already live on Polaris, because even in Polaris, you can go and check your permit. So this link is live on Polaris. We are going to make it live on the court enforcement landing page, and we will also send out a link. We have about a 6,000-member email database that are all court customers.

Amazing.

So we'll send a notification to all of them saying, starting today, you can use this link to search for your project via a resident system.

Can you add the commissioners to the bulk email? Sure, I can send it to you, yeah. Because I would love to have the link also, but amazing job.

Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. Commissioner League, did you have anything that you wanted to add?

I just want to compliment him on his presentation, following him throughout the years and the work that he's done thus far and his staff. So I'm hoping that we'll have a meeting that the community, as she brings up, that the community will be able to see this directly, rather than in a board meeting, and that would be great, and reaching more people that way. So if you can plan that, let us know, and I'll help you get it out to the people.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Louisa is a great team.

Louisa is a great team. Really a privilege to be leading them.

Well, thank you. I want to start, before I get to you, I actually want to start with Dr. Johnson. I do want to say how much I appreciate her leadership. I think it's really important for leaders to get the hell out of the way when people know what they're doing and can make things happen, right? And not be intimidated by that. And so I think that's just a mark of a phenomenal leader in and of itself. I joke around a lot about your responsiveness. I told somebody one time, I don't think I even finished typing the email before you responded. Even at night. You're halfway around the world. I try to catch them all the time. Up to 10.30. I don't know. I haven't experienced that one yet, but if you say so. But no, I think... You know, one of the things, we might have areas of opportunity in a lot of areas. I think the one thing, though, that we can do well is customer service and treating people with respect and being responsive, whether we're delivering a message they want to hear or not. I can tell you, your team, you to Patrick and the whole team, You remind me of a teacher I used to have. This teacher used to talk about Nordstrom's. And he would say, hey, they have the best customer service. You can bring a tire there. And they don't even sell tires. I'd probably send you stuff that has nothing to do with what you guys do. And I suspect that you guys have looked at an email from Jarell and said, we'll take care of it. That's our privilege, Commissioner. We'll take care of it. But, you know, I just – I would just be remiss. And I think we all feel that way. Sometimes we get these requests. We have no idea where to go. It sounds like Ebenezer. But – I mean that in all seriousness to say, you know, thank you. You guys do, I do think sometimes we're, and I tell the manager this fairly often as well, like he's a victim of his own success. And I think you all do get a lot from us because of your responsiveness. And people know that they can get an answer. And because they know that, we do get these amounts of requests on top of all of the work that you guys have to do and put in. And so just on behalf of the board, you already said it, but I certainly want to make sure that everybody in the department and I want you all to know, one, as leaders, how much we appreciate you all and respect you. And thank you for lending your time and talent and your expertise to what we have for this county and how much we appreciate you. So I wanted to end on that.

Thank you, Commissioner, again, for all your support. County Manager Bryant and also Deputy County Manager Leslie Johnson for allowing us to serve our community. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Mr. Pudi, as well as the entire team on it. Another job well done, and congratulations again to Dean on your recognition. Mr. Chairman, that concludes my report for this evening.

Thank you, Mr. Manager. Is there a motion to approve items not pulled from consent? So moved. Second. Moved and seconded. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All right. Thank you. Let's move to Commissioner Reports. I'm going to start with Commissioner Griffiths.

I have some.

I'm sorry?

I have some consent items.

Madam Clerk, I had that there were no consent items pulled.

I didn't receive any.

Did you turn those in, Commissioner?

Yes, they were on my desk.

They were not pulled. I apologize that they weren't pulled. What we'll do is we're going to have to work with staff to get some responses on those, but they're

Let me say this, and we can move forward if you don't mind.

Sure.

We have responses to them, but if we want to go to the next meeting, be fine with me.

Okay.

Many of you don't want to even hear consent items.

Nobody, Commissioner, hold on one second. But I have to say it. Okay, but here's what I want us to do. Consent items are always a part of the agenda. No one minds consent items being pulled. No one on this day minds that. And if they do, it's too bad because anyone can pull consent items. Everyone up here has pulled them. And they will pull them as needed. So with that being said, I appreciate the grace that you're extending. Let's do this. Let's make sure that we get them next meeting. We'll address them and go from there. But right now, as of today, there were none that were documented or pulled. I know that the email did go out saying that they were on your desk.

And I've worked on them today.

Okay, but they have to be in. When did I say they had to be to you guys?

It's Monday at 10 a.m.

They have to be to them Monday at 10 a.m. By 10 a.m. 10 a.m., yes. Thank you. All right. With that being said.

Let me just say thank you. Thank you, because I did talk with your staff.

Yes, ma'am.

Okay. Let me go to Commissioner reports. We're going to start with Commissioner Griffin.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to make a comment about something that's been in the news and we've talked about quite frequently, and that was I-77 South. I think the CIPRO is going to meet on the 23rd. We won't have another business meeting. We'll have a public policy meeting, I guess, on the 22nd. But I wanted to say something because there have been a lot of emails going back and forth. And I just want to speak from my perspective as an at-large county commissioner. I represent the entire county. We collectively represent the entire county. And there's seven municipalities in Mecklenburg County. And each of the seven municipalities, I've gotten communications about the I-77 South situation. Even though I did not support I-77 North, I wasn't on the county commission at that time, but certainly a citizen in this community and expressed my opinions. But because I I'm now a county commissioner, came on board, sworn in in December of 2022. I've been certainly focused on what's happening with regard to transportation in this community. And there's not one municipality in Mecklenburg County that I've not heard from residents who've indicated to me their concern and opposition to toll roads because they just simply can't afford it. More recently, and I've said this at this dais, going to the Department of Motor Vehicle, and the young lady who's probably making somewhere between $50,000 and $60,000 said to me, you're a county commissioner. I said, yes, I am. He said, what's your position on I-77 South? I said, well, I don't support it, but I want to hear from you. She said, I moved from Mooresville, North Carolina into Mecklenburg County because I couldn't get to my DMV job on time unless I use the toll lane and I couldn't afford to pay tolls each month with my salary. So here's someone moving into Mecklenburg County that lived in Mooresville because they couldn't afford to pay tolls coming down I-77. So I have been forthright and tried to be honest with people. There are a lot of communications about community benefits, a lot of different issues that I can speak to. But fundamentally, this is a user fee. Residents are paying taxes each time they fill up their gas tank. And they shouldn't pay twice. And from Martha Griffin's perspective, I want you to know publicly, uh, I do not support, uh, the toll roads by 77. So thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Commissioner Powell.

Thank you. And, um, thank you, commissioner Griffin. Cause I agree with every word that you said. And to be clear, like I have never voted yes for this and I do not support the project. And, uh, the concerns that I've heard from citizens are from every part of Mecklenburg County. We represent the most people of any voting entity that gets to vote. We represent the most people. And the fact that we only get our little measly portion of it, our three little measly votes is disturbing. And so we've heard directly from community members and I represent the North who has already gone through the painfulness of even myself, like paying the tolls when you can't get where you need to go because you're stuck on the highway. That's supposed to be funded by the gas tax dollars that are significant, like significant generation comes from Mecklenburg County for the gas taxes. And it's still a mystery. of how much we generate, because when we ask the state, how much is Mecklenburg generated? They act like it's a secret. So here we are generating all these gas tax dollars and is it coming back? You know, our citizens that can't afford it are stuck. And you know, when I was going to, when I was recovering from my surgery and I had to go, I had to ride on, there was no way to get to the doctor's appointment on time without riding through the toll. And then I was talking to the physical therapist and his bill last month just to get to work on time was more than $500 to get to work on time. That's unsustainable. And anyway, I just couldn't be more against it. We've suffered the toll roads in North Mecklenburg. The communities, you know, a lot of community members are like, no, I'm concerned that people are flipping their votes without listening to the community because of the financial coercion that is happening. And I'm real disappointed that the governor hasn't spoken in favor, you know, like spoken up for Mecklenburg. You know, our governor should be speaking at least talking to us and speaking up for Mecklenburg. when our towns really don't even have a choice. Because if our towns had the choice, they would be like, no, no, no, no, no. But they can't suffer this financial coercion. Oh, I still have 28 seconds. I can't believe it either. So I'm going to read a little quote from a community member.

16 seconds.

She says, the concerns I most consistently hear from residents involve long-term affordability, equity, and absence of guaranteed enforceable community benefits. So that's another thing. If people are going to flip their votes. Three, two, one. All right. Time's up.

Thank you.

I'm a no vote.

Ms. Malik.

Let me say thank you for the opportunity to speak to this issue. And I spoke to it earlier as I look and sit right here in Brooklyn right now, as we were promised years ago that there would be housing and replacement of churches and living conditions would be different. And I'm watching the meeting last night and seeing the people walk around with signs saying support this process, that they're going to bring all of this into the community. And we are the ones who suffer. And when I say that, we are the people in the black community who's always disruptive in the process. They've known about this problem over the years. It didn't just happen. It's just a part of wanting more money. And we pay gas taxes right here in Mecklenburg County. I hear no one speak against gas taxes in Mecklenburg County until recently. So we are paying double. Where are our representatives in Raleigh? I'm not hearing from them. We have representatives in Raleigh. I'm not hearing a word from them. So I want to make sure that our community knows that there are those of us who are keeping up with it and speaking against the process is always to go through our community, to disrupt our homes, our churches, our schools, our living conditions, our jobs. We're the last ones to even be thought of trying to get to work. So I'm very much concerned about the process in which we're going about it. Mecklenburg County is the largest county in the state of North Carolina. We have more people. We keep saying this, and we only talk about it when it's important for us to gain something for it. So I'm saying to this community to please listen to those of us who've lived through Brooklyn and lived through the transition that has taken place all over this country. It's not just in Mecklenburg County. It's not just in North Carolina. It's all over this country. So I'm asking us to work together and to get people out of office who's not supporting what we want. And that's a fact. We're asking you to support us and to vote in the right direction that will impact the lives of all of our people. Brooklyn, again, here I sit. One church in this community was said would be there, and that's true, across the street. 14 churches were torn down in Mecklenburg County. Drugstores. barbershops, whatever we needed. And people who look like you and me sitting around this desk did not sell ourselves down the river. We got people who sit up in positions and sell themselves for the money to get along with the people in Raleigh or what have you. Why hasn't the mayor, not, yes, the mayor, why hasn't the governor been to talk to us and to say to us, what we ought to hear, and the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, doesn't make any difference to me which party it is, because some of us serve both parties anyway. Is that a bail for me to keep going or stopping?

We're going to stop it, but thank you for the comment. He's going to stop me. We've got to stop it.

But thank you, Mr. Chairman. I respect you dearly, love what you do, how you've done it, and how you've respected this bond and this community. You know I love you.

Thank you. Love you back. Commissioner Meyer.

Thank you. I'm also going to speak on the I-77 issue. I'll try not to rehash what everybody said, but it probably will be repetitive. I am so disappointed to hear rumors that our city colleagues might be flipping their vote. I'm deeply disappointed in our governor for not standing behind Mecklenburg County and the people that are going to be deeply affected by these changes on I-77. I understand our towns and where they are because our legislature, and I love the word financial coercion from Commissioner Powell, Our legislature is putting a huge hardship on our towns. And I just don't think, and I know it's not constitutional what our legislature is doing. So I'm just doubly disappointed in our governor for not standing up for Mecklenburg County, not standing up to the legislature. I understand he has heard us. He's listened. We have representatives who have met with him. But still, we're not... We're not getting his backing. And I'm just deeply, deeply disappointed in what is going to happen. And history is repeating itself. History is repeating itself. We've been through this. And I personally cannot believe I'm sitting on a board in 2026 during the time that we are doing exactly what happened to brooklyn i can't believe that my name is going to be out there one day in in some record that i sat on a board and i want to say to every single one of you on this board how proud i am to serve with you and continuing to vote no against what's going on with i-77 so thank you thank you commissioner townsend

I want to take this opportunity. I went to an amazing conference, and I wanted to tell the community about that, the Global Africa Conference. But I feel a responsibility to do the same as my colleagues, to make it clear that I am a no emphatically. And I will tell you, there has not been one time when I have teetered in that decision, but there was... And I usually don't respond to emails directly. If other colleagues have responded or whatever, I'll just take it under consideration. But there was one particular email where an individual specifically said, please change your vote to yes because it is okay or we should not lose the commerce for this area. The regional benefit in commerce is worth harming a few people. meaning those people were expendable. Those people, the generations of lives that will be impacted, and we already have had, history is gonna repeat itself again, and we're here, able to make another decision, the right decision. And I told him for that reason, thanked him very much for his engagement, but for the reasons that he outlined in the email of why I should say yes is absolutely why I'm saying no, and I will still say no. And even though we may only have three votes and it may not matter and they're still gonna go through with the project, I think that it matters that you have representation who listens to the community and who does what we believe is in the best interest of everyone, not just a few for the sake of commerce or what's expedient. He said, please don't do what's expedient politically. This is not expedient for us. We're going against the grain. In addition to the fact that it's frustrating. It is frustrating when you were elected by the community to do a certain thing, and then they're tricked, and they're given false information, and they're misinformed, and they're sold, you know, beans, you know, from Jack and the Beanstalk, you're being told falsehood. It is whatever they promise you, they're not, unless they put it in writing, it's not executable. So please don't be deceived. My vote is no. It's going to stay no. I don't see the benefit. I see only detriment to a certain Community and I don't think that anybody is expendable that their sacrifice should be the sacrificial lamb So my vote will always say no unless There is some huge change Thank You Commissioner Rodriguez McDowell Thank You mr. Chairman I too agree with my colleagues and I'm super proud to be part of a board that

that is listening to the community and who has always stood against this project. And I think one thing that needs to be said is that it's not proven that this will actually solve the congestion problem, which is what is stated as the reason for this. I think we can look at the project that happened in the north and we can see that it did not solve the problem. I think it's really important as this goes forward and if it does go through that there needs to be people who are held accountable, follow the money, see where the development dollars are going, see where those properties who owned the properties beforehand, see who had contracts that were involved, who had competing interests. I think there could be corruption that is not coming to the surface quite yet that the community has not heard about. I think it's possible that the community benefits that have been promised will never materialize and we do not have the authority to enforce the community benefits. I don't think that anyone who is elected to my knowledge will actually have any power to hold whoever is promising community benefits to those. So this is an example of retaliatory governance and just extortion, basically. I have not seen the alternative study or any evidence that there was a previously conducted alternative study that has been asked for, and I don't think that is an unreasonable ask. for a project of this magnitude. It should have been there from the start. The towns have flipped because of the extortion of money. This is not anybody's will to flip their votes that they originally made. This kind of governance is unacceptable and should never be undertaken in a democracy. So I'm extremely disappointed in elected leaders, including our governor, and including all those at the local level who haven't been able to find the courage to stand up to the forces that want this to go forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Albee.

Thank you to all my colleagues. I think I will add to say, on top of their comments, that, as I've said before, people can have different opinions about what a toll road in the South could do, how it could be improved upon in the North. But what we know for sure is that the law that was passed by the General Assembly is an attempt to strip the locality with the right and the authority to make this decision, to strip it away from them. And that is not right. And that should concern Democrats and Republicans across the state. And it should concern our governor. And, you know, what the general assembly does, uh, you know, right now, the people who are in power there are mostly not from this community, but governor Stein, um, is the chief executive over the department of transportation and. We do elect him, and we have shared with him the legal analysis. I haven't heard back from his office on that. I would hope that his team would read that carefully, that he would not undertake to enforce a law that if his office determines that there are constitutional concerns there. I don't know their opinion. But if they did come to that conclusion, that they would share that immediately so that this community could understand how he would direct his department to respond. including the question of whether or not his department would attempt to enforce penalties against jurisdictions that voted no all along. Because as, you know, whatever constitutional defects there may be in trying to assess penalties against jurisdictions that flip their position, it's an entirely different matter for jurisdictions like the town of Matthews and the town of Davidson that all along were opposed, and Mecklenburg County that always voted no. And it would really be helpful if the governor's office would share their opinion about attempting to collect from jurisdictions that always voted no. It could change the outcome here, but not if we don't get that information in just the next couple days. So there really is a sense of urgency, and thank you.

Thank you. All right, so I want to say, colleagues, I definitely appreciate all the comments. And, you know, the continued... Advocacy. I think Commissioner Powell, you said we represent the most amount of people. And that's not to diminish any other jurisdiction. That's just a fact of the matter. And so I think that is an important distinction. And while there are some in the community that have certainly advocated for this new community benefits agreement. There's certainly a whole host of people in the community that still are not signed on. And I think we're providing advocacy for those voices as well. Although our weighted vote does not carry as much as our colleagues at the city. With that being said, I want the community to be clear that there were some primary big rocks that we were asking for, and they weren't complicated. Number one, we were asking for an alternatives analysis. Let's just make sure that we've exhausted everything that we could exhaust. We've asked for people to respect history and understand that history matters, and that, to your point, Commissioner Meyer, and to Commissioner Leak's point, that we don't want to repeat the sins of the past.

That's right.

And so as we move forward, I think it is, um, clear in my mind that I agree with you, commissioner Rodriguez McDowell. This doesn't, um, we're not solving to congestion. I think you can look at the toll roads in the north and know that Elaine does not solve congestion. What it is solving for is convenience. and said commentary on us as a community when we don't want to inconvenience the most affluent and those who have access and the means by which to travel that lane while others sit trying to get to work, Commissioner Griffin, on a job that keeps the community moving. So I think for me, I am proud of this board because our priorities, our perspective are well in order. And they're well in order for those that are in our wheelhouse, those that we should be a voice for and those that we should be advocating for. And those are the ones that keep this community moving. Some of those people are that work for the county. They work in public health, they work in social services. They work in Louisa. They work in Park and Rec. And they matter. And when we sit here, we should make sure that we are advocating on their behalf and their voices are lifted up. And when we're in certain rooms, we should make sure their voices are lifted up. And I can tell this community unequivocally that each and every person up here has done that. And so when you hear us referencing any individual elected, Um, it is because no one is afraid of undue influence or sway, but the North star is always going to be the people of Mecklenburg County. So thank you colleagues. And with that, I will call the meeting adjourned.