City Council Work Session - Regular Meeting

Well, good evening, everyone. We'd like to call our, 05/11/2026 council meeting to order. We thank you, those who are joining us in the audience, those who are also joining us remotely and virtually. We thank you for doing so. We are glad to be with you. We have our council member to my left back, the dean, council member here who's been here who hadn't been here for last few meetings. We're certainly glad to see him. And before we get too far in, well, no, we always start with prayer. I'll come back. Council member here, he has some brief words he'd like to share immediately following.

But at this time, if we could have doctor Ann Dockery from Soul Harvest Church. If doctor Dockery would come to the podium, if we could all please stand for the prayer as doctor Dockery comes, and we would ask at the end of the prayer if we could repeat the pledge of allegiance in unison. Hey, doctor Dockery.

Hey, doctor.

God

bless you. Father, in the matchless name of Jesus, we thank you this evening, God, for your grace, your mercy, your goodness, and your kindness. We thank you for the privilege, oh god, to lead, oh god, in the name of Jesus, for leadership. We thank you for the privilege of servanthood, oh god. For you say he who is greatest among us must be servants among us. We thank you for wisdom. We thank you for unity. We pray, lord god, that you would envelop this council this evening, oh god, that you would be with them, that you would lead them and guide them, that lord, they would trust you with all they are and all that they have, That they would trust you in decisions, both large and small. That they would consult you and lean and depend on you. That, Lord, they would do justly.

For you say when the righteous are in charge, the people rejoice. Let justice be done, oh God, and and let consideration be done to the least and the greatest, lord, to all in the name of Jesus. Lord god, and we thank you for the spirit of integrity. We ask that it would be evident in this place this evening. We thank you for the spirit of unity. Lord, for even that when we disagree, we can agree to disagree.

Yes, lord.

We thank you for your love. We thank you for your mercy. We thank you for your goodness in Jesus name. In Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation

under God, indivisible, with liberty, and justice for all.

Doctor. Dockery, thank you so much for that wonderful prayer. If you could take just a few minutes, tell us about yourself and your ministry.

Oh, well, I am Bishop Anne Newell Dockery. Many know me as Newell, but I got married a few years ago. And my husband is out there, minister Dockery. And I thank God for him and for the ministry. I am the founder and pastor of the Soul Harvest Apostolic Church at 135 North Main Street in Spring Lake, North Carolina.

I'm also the founder of Harvest House Outreach Ministries. We serve between seven hundred and nine hundred Cumberland County citizens on a weekly basis with hot meals, groceries, clothes, and counseling and guidance. That's what we do. We're a small church, but our motto is we are a church not just in the community, but there for the community. And we consider it a privilege and an honor to serve the residents that God has blessed us to be near.

One thing we always say, if our church left the community, would they miss us? And we know that it's true. They would. Thank you for the privilege of service and for having me this evening.

Well, thank you. Thank you, doc doc let's give a round of applause. Thank you. Your husband, reverend Dockery, and also the other ministers that make Soul Harvest such a great asset in our community. So thank you so much for what you're doing. Thank you for the prayer and joining us tonight. Counsel with that, we will move to our dean, city council who's back. He's been out playing a little hooky, but I'll turn it over to dean here. Councilman Mayor.

I didn't think this was gonna be hard, but to start settling in spirit. I wanna thank the of course, my colleagues here for keeping

Yeah.

Is it not on? Something on my beard? I was eating chips. I got it.

She's trying

to get it right.

There you go.

Let me get it off. Let me get it off. I'm dead. That's what I mean. My team is looking out for me. Thank you. First, I just two announcements, but one is I wanna thank, of course, like I was saying, my colleagues around the diocese that kept up with me while I was a little while I was ill. I was I was extremely sick. And but thank thanks to all my lord and savior Jesus Christ and the medication and the doctors that I'm I'm stronger. I'm healed in Jesus name.

I feel so so good. And I just wanted to thank my colleagues for some of you all sent me some impactful texts that I you really you touched my heart. And I was overwhelmed with text messages and calls and emails and cards. I even received some tonight just getting my mail for the first time. Thank you all for that.

So that was what I know I really wanted to do just to thank the city of Fayetteville for your your heart well, get well cards and things along that line. So thank you for that. Let us move forward to mayor and council, city of Fayetteville. I invite you to join me and doctor Hewitt on May 13 as we do another DUG in the district and District 4. This will be our very, very first dug in the district.

So I'm asking those of you that hear my voice tonight to please come Wednesday, May 13, 05:30 to 07:30PM. That will be in our very own Smith Recreation Center, 1520 Slater Avenue, Fayetteville, North Carolina. Love to see you all there. It's not just for District 4 residents, which I hope I want them to pack it out, but as also for all the citizens within the city of Fayetteville. We'd love to see you dug in the district, May 13, this Wednesday at 05:30 to 07:30.

And on point would be doctor Douglas Hewitt. What? With a mouthful of chips. It starts at 06:30? Okay. Okay. Then they changed it because I'm looking at 05:30 on my I have 05:30 on what I'm reading.

It's 05:30. It's 05:30. 05:30.

So put your hands down.

I said, well, I've been

telling everybody this time for for several weeks. But thank you all. I hope you'll be there. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, council.

Alright. Thank you, dean. Councilman DJ Hair, thank you. Certainly, mister and glad to see you back. Counsel, with that, we'll move to our pledge our, announcements we've had and city manager's report. Doctor. Hewitt.

Yes, sir. Thank you, mayor, and good evening members of council. And thank you, doctor Heer, for making sure I'm on time for our event on Wednesday. A few announcements of somewhat wordy tonight, but two very impactful projects. First, thanks to John McNeil, our senior project manager for traffic services, for his efforts with a $200,000 NCDOT companion funding that was approved in the FY twenty six CIP.

NCDOT will be able to move forward with more than 3,400,000 worth of pedestrian improvements. This is roughly a 5.8% match. These projects were identified by NCDOT Highway Safety Improvement Program. And some of the projects are NC 162 Bunts Road and Bingham Drive at Mary Kirk, which is in District 6 And 7. Bunts Bingham at Bailey Lake and Bibar, which is also in District 6 And 7, Bunce Road, Bingham at Lake Ridge 6 And 7, Skabo at Ridgewood Court in District 7, Rosehill at Ramsey Street District 2, Ireland Drive at Village Drive, additional fourth leg of a high visibility crosswalk, which is in District 5.

And then finally, work on Hope Loop Road at Lake Rim Elementary, which is also high visibility crossings, which is in District 8. As it really goes, as we've talked about, upstairs and before, the staff's effort to try to work with NCDOT and other funding partners, with a little bit of money from the city goes a long way when we're able to layer that in with our partners, particularly NCDOT and FAMPO. Along those same lines on transportation, the city of Fayetteville is developing a comprehensive safety action plan with funding from the federal, safe streets for all, which is a grant focusing on making streets safer and reducing traffic crashes, serious injuries, deaths in Fayetteville. We're asking for public participation. We'll have it on Monday, May 18 at the Bill Chris Senior Center at 5PM, on Tuesday, May 19 at College Lakes Recreation Center at 6PM, on Wednesday the twentieth at Kiwanis Recreation Center at 6PM, Wednesday the twenty seventh, here at City Hall at eleven, AM.

Information on, safe streets for all and those meeting times and dates is available on the city's website. And then finally, mayor, members of council, particularly doctor Hair and myself who've been here for some time, we it is that season where we wish some folks a happy retirement, and one of those is my own Derek Bowens has identified that he plans to retire at the May, and he served us faithfully for twenty five years in the IT department. So if you see Derek Bowens in the near future, I'm pleased to take an opportunity to thank him for everything he's done. You may not know it, but we had at one time, when I came in 2004, you had, what, doctor here, about five or six people in our IT department that was running the entire city?

He was one of them.

He was one of them. And along with Uli and Tracy Howard Glover, can't remember the other lady's name, but please congratulate Derek on a job well done and for faithful service to the city.

Alright. Thank you, doctor Hughes. Certainly, we do appreciate mister Bowen, his service to the city and to the community, and all of you who who do that. And now we I was looking for miss Alex, but I think she tipped out somewhere, but another person from our corporate comms who her husband received orders to deploy, so we're gonna miss her. Come come on in here. So let's give her a round of applause. You all seen this smiling face taking our pictures and making sure that that the city's outward facing information is is communicated to the citizens. So we thank you for your service along, mister Bowen, and and so many others of the, team that makes up city of Fairview. Thank you, doctor Hewitt. Alright.

With that, council, we move to approval of the agenda. If we can have a motion to approve using our SureSystems. Motion by council member Jones. Is there a second? Second by Davis. Any discussion? Alright, council. I look to you for your votes to approve the agenda. Alright. Who we missing? Airports in what you doing over there? Alright. We'll we'll count him in. We'll see him now. Alright.

Alright. Motion carries. Councilors, we move to the consented items. There was some discussion upstairs. I know doc councilman Jones had 7 o eight two. Did you still want to separate that? Wanna pull that? Alright. It was also mentioned that although 7O845 and I'm sorry. O84 and six were were NCDOT.

It was gonna be just added to the record that there'll be some further discussion about how we improve our municipal agreements to include, you know, wider sidewalks when we have an opportunity in some of the enhanced services. So upon the approval of that, can you mention that? So I'll I'll go to you council member Jones or council member Green, you had your light on? You had one? I was

just gonna pull seven point o a five.

Okay. Alright. So I'll I'll go to alright. So we'll get a motion to approve. Council member Green, with with exception of 7.015 and

7.012. Okay.

Alright. And seconded by Joan. Alright. Discussion. Alright. Counsel, I look to you for your vote. Who are we missing, madam clerk?

Yourself, sir.

No. I pressed my butt. I see. Alright. Alright. Okay. Alright. Motion carries unanimous. Alright. So council, 7 o 82, council member Jones, you wanted to give us some insight on it?

Yes, sir. Very quickly. Thank you so much, mister mayor. I just wanted to pull this particular item just so that the community would be aware of what's going on. There was some slight confusion, so I wanted to just provide some context.

There was back in 2022, there was an effort to put the Bright Air neighborhood on the national register for historic areas with miss Cynthia Leakes and former ACM, Telle Whitfield helped us eliminate that bottleneck so that we can get that through. It's a three year or so process. So now in June, we will be particular Bright Hill will be going before the board to have that nomination to receive this historic designation. So what's going forward now, what we have before us is an extension of that historic designation to include College Heights and Seabrook Hills, which I share part of that area with councilman, excuse me, DJ Hare. So I just wanted to bring some context and let the community know that those were two separate things.

So the one for Broaddale community, that will, and my hands are crossed, that they will get approved in June for that. And this is just an extension because we felt it was important to expand to our other historically significant neighborhoods.

Alright, so did you want to do this up or down vote or you wanna

make Yes, sir. A to receive the authorization to apply for the twenty six, FYI twenty twenty six Historic Preservation Fund grant for College Heights and Seabrook Hills community.

So this is a motion to authorize them to staff the city to apply? Yes. Alright. There's motion by councilman Jones, second by Hair. Discussion? Alright, council. I look to you for your votes. Make sure I press this button right so nobody call me out. Let's see. Who are we missing now, madam clerk?

No one, sir.

Alright. Alright. Motion carries. Alright. Council council member Joan Green. I'm sorry. 7085.

Yes. Thank you, sir. If I could get ACM Yates just to answer a few questions. I pulled this just so we could have this conversation out loud. I've been fairly critical about the slowness of the project at the Market Square just because we seem to have approved it a long time ago before my time on the council, and we are still working through it with a completion date projected for the end of this year. I am very hopeful that that is going to happen. We have had some sewer solid no.

Storm water.

Storm water. Thank you. Stormwater issues come up, and we're gonna correct those as we move forward. This request is literally just move money around, but could you explain that just to the public? Because it involves reallocation of $401,980.

Yes, ma'am. I'll be happy to. If you remember, the council had approved design plans at the Market House. When they we did the community work. What came out was accessibility to the facility and to the Market House.

So this is to allow the street hardscape improvements around the Market House as well as some accessibility and the storm water improvements around it. As the public had seen, we've closed off different at different times of the road to do structural repairs to the building, the roof, things that needed to fix the building envelope so there was no water intrusion, those kinds of things. We have the kiosks are here. They're gonna be installed shortly and all those different things. So this is the hardscape around based on the input from the residents and the downtown folks as to what they wanted to see that allowed people to move to and from the Market House easier as well as improved traffic around there.

Right. Thank you. I know that part of it was also a function issue, and I know the mayor brought in up upstairs that we the original discussions centered around what the function of the Market House was gonna be, not the functionality, but what would be located there.

So Yes, ma'am. Thank you, councilor McGreen. So, you know, as as mentioned before, when the market house was an issue in 2020, DOJ came in and and working with them and other community stakeholders, we led citywide conversations for several weeks and months about how to how our community will move forward. And what came out of that was a discussion, kind of a compromise position to say that if it's preserved, that it should tell the story about what's behind it and some educate the community. You know, there were there were cases that were brought up like about mister Archie Beebe and other other cases.

And so the legislature gave a million and a half dollars to the restoration toward that effort. Also, some money for a historical trail that we we lobbied to get. Wanna know kinda where and I know you may not have figures as we talked about upstairs, but would like to know how much of the the the state's money toward this effort has been spent. Mister Gibson over there, he just snuck in here from work. I want him to talk about these screens and and what the purpose of that is because we make commitments to the community about what the outcome will be.

And so like she said, it's you know, here we fast forward five years, six years because of various reasons. We do wanna make sure that the end product is what the promise promises were to the community. So mister Gibson, come on and tell us about some screens.

Mister mayor? Oh. You're gonna talk

about it?

Yes, sir. Also invite Michael and and Byron as well. You're all correct. There are multiple phases to this project. The first phase of the project that Michael can talk about in addition to the kiosk was really the unexpected and significant repair we had to do to the clock tower and the roof.

We also had the lighting project, which has now been installed, And Byron can share information about the pedestrian improvements as well as the storm water improvements, which were significant in design time, which I think led to part to council member Greene's concern about the timing. We also made strategic decisions about making sure that when we redo the pavement, we do it once, and we do that as part of the overall improvements which are there. But Michael, to the to the mayor's question about the kiosk, but also another one if you came prepared to talk about the dollar value of the actual structural repairs that we had to make. But, Byron, if you could, if you, from memory, know the general about the storm water and the pedestrian improvements as well.

Well, thank you mayor and council. The first part of the project was just making sure that the market house was a sound structure. And that's what the state gave us funding for for historical preservation. Once you started digging into the market house, changing the clocks, making sure that the steeple and when we started digging into it, there was some significant rotten wood. The structure was basically sound, but I don't know how much more she could have taken.

So we had to redo everything to the historical preservation. And we believe you have a very nice facility now. The uplighting, when you're driving up to it, can change the lights to any color with LEDs as what council prefers throughout the seasons. So that that was done and the structure is sound now. One of the things with the kiosk, what they'll be able to do with with the 55 inch screens that'll be available, that'll tell the story from a from a stance of what happened to the history in Fayetteville.

We believe that we have some stories throughout our our historian. We wanna sit down to make sure that that that flow of information because these kiosks are will have WiFi so that we can change that story consistently over the course of what the history of Fable was and whatever those that information is. So we believe from a structural standpoint and information standpoint, just the history of the Market House, we believe we've captured that and preserved the facility. Alright. Thank you.

Mister Gibson. Counselor, any other questions? Who? Oh, yeah. Byron Sarice. The same question. Update. Mhmm.

Yeah. So kind of the scope of the project for the pedestrian improvements, if you think about down at the Market House, where you have the Black Lives Do Matter striping down there, essentially, we will be expanding the brake footprint into that lane. You'll also have pedestrian improvements at all four approaches. So the Hay Street, Green Street, Person Street, and Gillespie Street approaches. We'll have, pedestrian islands.

We'll have, two crosswalks to the Market House from one from the Hay Street approach, which will go to an ADA compliant ramp so that you can actually someone that's wheelchair bound can actually get up to the Market House. Right now, the only way for somebody on a wheelchair to get to the Market House is to go through traffic essentially with no crosswalks or anything. So we'll have some pedestrian improvements on all four approaches, high vis crosswalks. We'll also have the two crosswalks going to the Market House will actually be the brick paved sidewalk or brick paved crosswalks to kinda keep that historic feel. When it comes to the stormwater improvements, if you ride around the market house now, there's one catch basin on the inside next to the market house.

So as you expand that brick footprint, we do have to put some additional inlets around the market house so that we're not pulling water there. So that's where some of the funding that's been moved for storm water, and then we're gonna pave it all when we're done. Just to speak to the timeline as well, we submitted we had to get approval from the state historic preservation office as well as we had to go through the city's HRC. So we submitted to the state historic preservation office back in November. We didn't receive approval until January. So that kinda caused about a three month delay just getting the approvals from the state historic preservation office and then the city's historic resource commission.

So that'd all.

K. Thank you.

Alright. Thank you, sir. Mister Reeves, when do you anticipate completion of that?

We will try to be done before Dickens holiday.

Okay. Alright. Alright. Thank you. Council member McMillan.

Yes. Thank you, mister mayor. I just wanna acknowledge maybe people watching, listening now who are part of the compromise the mayor spoke of. Wanna acknowledge that there are a lot of people who did not want the market house to stand, period. I was outside with hundreds of other people outside of City Hall in 2020 when three three local pastors came in and and really talked to the council about taking the the marketplace down.

They talked about its ties to systemic injustice, talked about it's it being a vestige of chattel slavery, and in commitment to those who still view that marketplace as a symbol of systemic justice, there are still interested citizens who wanna make sure that the story of all of Fayetteville and especially connections to the work we need to continue to do towards liberation and eradication of systemic injustice continues, which brings me to a question around how those people and all citizens in Fayetteville can have input into what's on the kiosks, what symbols, what words especially are represented there. Wanted to ask doctor Hewitt if there are ways or things that we can talk to the residents about, our constituents about, ways that they can have input into what symbols and words are displayed.

Yes, sir. Thank you for for that question. As to hearken me back again to that time, we actually one of the problem is I have as a manager was when the council received a report and mayor what do we have? Maybe 30 respondents from a survey and the council members said that's not enough. And they sent us back out and I think we received was it several 100, almost 600 respondents.

And I think that tracks very well to what you're saying about the interest of this overall issue, whether it was to keep it up, take it down, or whatever else. But that approach that we used that was headed by new your meal and Nazar, human relations commission, and a broader coalition of people in the community. With the council's approval, I'd like to reengage that group and have them come up with a a work plan, so to speak, about how we come up with how we roll that out, how we invite those conversations. There was a local historical group that was also they weren't for or against one way about the use of the Market House, but they were very instrumental in making sure that we had a historical context to whatever we said. So they wanted for us to stay true to history.

And unless I hear differently, mayor, members of council, we'd like to reengage Yamil Nizar and have her prepare a report that tells us how we might be able to do just that to make sure, as we've often said, telling the accurate and sensitive, but accurate story of the Market House and that that and the use and prior uses of the building, if that's acceptable to the council.

Yeah. That that sounds good. And and so council, I'll I'll go back to councilor McGreen here in a second to kinda wrap this and move this up. But since we're revisiting the history, need to need to talk about it. There was a lot of leadership from the community shown during this this difficult time.

You know, it was It was meetings with multiple pastors. There were some that came here vocally, but there was a meeting between at least 10 to 15 white pastors and 10 to 15 black pastors who came in and said that, how do we keep our community on one accord with that. And so there's a lot of people to be thanked, but that was the genesis behind all this because a lot of people invested time and their word and goodwill into making sure that it is what we believe it can be. So I'm I'm hearing from the council through this discussion that you'll bring human relations back to the conversation, that there'll be more discussion with council about how the program works to me, you know, because history's history. So it's a matter of of of writing it accurately.

So maybe there'll be someone other than the city that's engaged, you know, whether it's our universities or or some of the other folks. But community stepped up good the last time. I'm sure they'll do a great job this time. So look forward to it. Councilmember Green, I'll go go to you for motion.

Motion. Alright. I'd like to make motion that we approve the award and authorize the city manager to execute a contract for the Market Square pedestrian improvement project in the amount of $648,519.20 to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder of Morgan Trucking and General Construction and approved CPOA 2020 dash 12022 dash 192022 dash 21, and 2023 dash two to reallocate funds in the amount of $401,980 to cover the project cost.

That's a mouthful, but motion by council member Green and second about Davis. Did I see you on there? Alright. Alright. Discussion. Alright, council. I look to you for your votes. Alright. Motion carries. Alright. Council moving to the eight point section reports from boards and and commissions. We received Linear Park report. We have doctor Wayne Riggins here, president of the Linear Park Corporation. Doctor Riggins, good evening.

Good evening. I don't really like getting briefed by people.

Yes. Sorry. I gotta go to Claire.

I just brought a CV because my entire career has been public service to include my medical career. I don't know a good many of you on the council, but I've known Doug. I've known Michael for a pretty long time. The bottom line for the question at hand tonight for the council is to expand the purview of the linear park to include, the Central City Park Trail.

If you look Speaking speaking to the

mayor If you look at the brief material, you'll see that the Central City Park Trail is a significant expansion in the concept of linear park. I don't know that any of you knew Harry Shaw. I I know Doug did, but not very many people knew Harry Shaw. About thirty years yeah. And doctor Hare.

About thirty years ago, Harry collected a group of friends, and they devised the idea you'd create a public private partnership to create a four mile stretch of trail through parkland that was near and dear to his heart, having grown up here in Fayetteville. And he did yeoman's work there. It was a novel concept, a public private partnership. Before they could complete that project, Harry came to me and told me he was dying and asked that I would take over the project. Not on my radar at the time, to be honest, but probably because he knew I lacked judgment, I would do it.

And so I agreed to take over that project. And then about seven years later, here in the 2025, we got that project completed. But also because he knew that in that time, I had been speaking about the fact that Fayetteville underrepresented its green space, particularly in the urban and peri urban environment. For those who you don't don't know, councilman Hare remembers back in the day when we wrote infill ordinance, when we wrote demolition by neglect, a lot of that stuff was written in my kitchen. I did a lot of work on urban and peri urban revitalization, and then later transitioned really to social justice and civil rights work.

But in this particular case, I had done an inventory of all the peri urban green space downtown, and it's very woefully underrepresented, and it's not part of the Fayetteville brand. But if you look at Masorek Park and Festival Park and Rowan Park, all of those really should be connected by signs and pathways so that you can market that as sort of the softer side of Sears. Right? The the idea about how you market a city as a first tier city is, especially to to young residents, especially to folks that you want to attract, is to market the connectivity of your green space. And so we had all of this really wonderful green space, but you could bet that a 100,000 people go up and down Bragg Boulevard every day.

And until Michael started doing the tennis center and the senior center, most of them didn't know that Masoret Park was a nine iron off Bragg Boulevard. Most of them can tell you how to get from that place to the dog park or the Botanical Park. So what I've been talking to Harry about for a long time, I started talking with Tony Schiavone many years ago, was that we needed an incentive to do that. So when he asked me to take it over, it was with the caveat that linear park would die on the vine if it was just a park in the middle of the woods with a trail in it. And so, we cobbled together the consultants and the money and the plan.

And so what you see now is sort of the skeleton. It's sort of the exoskeleton for how you connect the green space. That's back when James Doctor. Anderson was at FSU, I was on board. And I had talked to him about the fact that students need to know that they can get on a bike or get on a skateboard or go for a run and go to all of those places, and it needs to be marketable. So that's where we've moved now. So I honored my pledge to Harry. But what I think we should do is employ the purview of the same, corporation to oversee the rest of that project. The value of that is citizenry. Being engaged sort of keeps government moving.

Councilman Green mentioned that government moves at a ponderous place pace. It truly drives me crazy, because in private business, we could never do that. But, but the reason I've stayed engaged is because I believe that this is a meaningful, impactful, change in the way people see Fayetteville. And just so you know, when you look at the signage, I'm not gonna go through that briefing, y'all can read, the if you put a QR code on those signs and that's a plan, somebody can flash that sign and it says, you are here, and they can figure out how to get to the dog park. And that's a game changer for Fayetteville.

And it's low hanging fruit, and it's dollar investment, low money. And so that's basically the concept. But if I drop dead tomorrow, it won't happen. And so the reason we wanna expand the purview is I feel like we need a small group to continue the investment in that because I think it's meaningful and important. So that's the bottom line ask.

Alright. Thank you, doctor Reagan. So Okay. Michael, the going back trying to go out by memory a little bit. Few years back when the legislature was been a little generous because they they were generous up the hills, so they gave us some money for trails and Mhmm. Where where are we with that? Is this in collaboration with with some of the funding? How how doctor Riggins, what's your proposal on the signage that's enclosed in here? So just so you

know, it's paid for. So you you know that I like to do policy work and I don't like publicity, and I don't even like doing this. But the idea was to not bring anything to y'all where I had to ask for money. It's basically paid for, right? Yes. Okay. So all you have to do is say yes.

Crosswalks, all of that?

Everything is paid for. We just have to get it done. You have a paint by numbers plan. It's basically, literally paint by numbers. So now what I'm doing is I've cut back my office hours. So I go meet with his staff and say, alright. Where are we gonna put in the crosswalk signs? You're gonna begin to see them because in order to make sure it has momentum, I decided to engage it about every two or three weeks. I go meet at Parks and Rec. I I don't think that there's any money ask until you get down to the river trail. Is that about right?

Mhmm.

Yeah. There's some money, but that's a that's a different pot of money.

But yeah. So so where I was going with him, we there was Okay. There was some

Am I done?

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Thanks. So Mike, what happened? Didn't the legislature give us some money for some trails?

Yep. African American Heritage Trail and the signage to get everybody around. I don't know if if and some probably some of the council members weren't on here when we had all the signs in the in this room that the council approved with the fable state, the markers. One of the things that we're working on now is getting the thermoplast crosswalks on Murchison Road and some of the other places just to get people around, but that's the funding that we're using. The new signage that you see all around that we approved in here. So, yeah, that's those that's the same funding.

Okay. Alright.

So And goes all the way from Methodist all the way through to Fable Tech, Fable State, gets you into the downtown area and some of the trails that we haven't done yet.

Alright. And and so the work you're doing with that Mhmm. Is there is there some collaboration with these proposals that doctor Riggins had Oh, definitely. Just to make sure that that we don't have two disjoint systems, you know, because people can't tell if one was private paid for and one came from city led. We've worked

on this, you know, hip to hip for the entire seven years.

Gotcha.

They haven't done anything that was surprise. In fact, basically, we did it together and just kept it under the radar Alright. To make sure it was paid for. Everything that

was done there Talk to the mic doctor. You got that.

Everything that was done there was done in collaboration, and everything was done with consultants. And it was sent through you guys with no names attached to it, so you got to say what you think. My job was to just make sure that I kept pushing the train. Gotcha.

Okay. Right. Alright. Okay. So, councilor, proposal before us is to receive the report, give expanded guidance for, I mean, this is this looks great. This does theme and and kinda bring out some place making, is what we were trying to do.

I wanted you to ask about the QR code.

In the QR code? Alright. So I think he's looking for some guidance tonight on on on where we are with with this.

Yeah. We're just to receive the report.

Well, you had two options. You had to receive the report and to you had you had you had to receive a report and provide additional guidance. So I think he's looking for the additional guidance. Doctor Reagan, you look for additional guidance or he just wants to receive this?

What we want is for what we're asking is that the Linear Park Corporation be allowed because it's it allows us within the

His mic's not on g.

It's a it allows us within the Founding documents to have an expanded purview. We just wanted you guys to say it's okay for us to go ahead and and expand into the Central City Park Trail. Otherwise, what happens is that committee still just does that four miles, and what you really need is this whole expanded concept. So the bylaws of the committee,

have you sent this back for us to to proof it?

City attorney. City attorney said it's within the purview of the committee already. The reason we did it is to ask for you guys to give us official permission to go ahead and do what they said we could do. It was so that politically it wouldn't be messy if somebody said, well, what the hell are they doing?

Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. Alright. Mister mayor Yes, prepared to make a motion then. Well, mister mayor, I move that we accept the report from the Linear Park Corporation and expand their boundaries so they can cover the entire city with their parks trails using the QR code that was mentioned.

Alright. It's the most by mayor pro tem, seconded by council mayor, doctor Reagan. Only only addition I would say, we have have many myself and many council members this go round have been attempted to make sure that West Fayetteville is included in any of these initiatives. We know that this was the core of the city, but now the city is this. So is there a plan to make sure that something comparable is happening in the western part of the city?

Well, to to be honest, that was not in my brain case on this because I was trying to build an exoskeleton. You this took a lot of work. I mean, really, behind the scenes, Doug got emails. I'm sure he didn't wanna get Michael got tired of seeing me. But the deal is is, you know, when you're trying to do something under the radar, just keep it together with everybody having an agenda. Yeah. Would I think that this is exactly what you should do everywhere where you have, connected green space in this city? Absolutely. But, you know, your template starts somewhere. Once you do it here, if you wanna do it in West Fayetteville, I totally agree.

Whether or not it would be under the purview of this particular committee, because all these trails are connected, the maintenance would be connected, the thoroughfare would be connected, the crosswalks would be, the signage is connected.

So basically West Fayetteville would need its own

I think could execute the same concept and I think it's a great idea. Just wasn't in my bandwidth.

Gotcha. Alright. Okay. Alright. There's a motion on the floor, seconded by councilor Maher. Discussion? Alright. Council, look to you for action. Alright. Motion carries. Thank you, doctor Riggins. Alright. Council eight point o two is Fayetteville Metropolitan Housing Authority annual report. How you doing? You've been with us all day.

I know. Can't get rid of me.

How you doing?

Good. Good evening, mayor and city council. Microphone. They're pulling up a

And and speak in your mic for me so the folks watching can hear you. Thank you.

Sir. I'm kinda loud, so if I yell. While this is being pulled up, I just want to say thank you for allowing us to come here. I'm here to represent the Fayetteville Metropolitan Housing Authority and Don Weeks, our executive director, who is not able to be with us today. I'm Crystal DiPietro, the assistant executive director.

And we have several of our board members and our chair and vice chair here with us to try to fill the gap for Dawn when she could not be here. With that said, I'll get started. In the report provided, I have just put up one slide for you just to give some data. The report provided to you went into details of some of our projects and the work that we've been doing, our goals, and and where we are going.

Sorry.

I'm sorry.

Just give

me some what they do.

Yep. Yep.

Thank you. Mhmm. In case you didn't get a chance to see it, I am passing around the flyer for you to have. Our community in the housing authority, we are serving over 2,800 households with more than 6,700 residents within our units, and that's between our public housing and our voucher programs. We are dedicated to ensuring that these programs are sufficient to our tenants and to our residents in the community.

Over in in both of our programs, more than 80%, 72%, 80%, 86% have income in their homes. So our individuals are striving to make a difference and become self sufficient. And that is our goal to link them with resources and ensure that they are getting their needs met while becoming more supportive in our own community. We have administered over 2,000 housing vouchers in our community, meaning that we it our in that program, 2,000 leased housing public I'm sorry, public housing from landlords, private landlords are being rented through our voucher program, giving our residents the opportunity to be spread across our community and within each district and not isolated into one spot. Our over 800 units throughout our community are also spread across the community and not isolated in one spot.

That was done through our Hope six program, our Groveview Terrace program, now Campbell Terrace. 800 within that, over eight twenty three public housing units that are mixed in to different areas. And we want to continue we're working to continue to do that with the 84 units that we have partnered with the city for Central Park Terrace, we will be providing additional 84 available units as well as the C and I project, the Choice Neighborhood project, where we are working to with the city and other developers to bring in an additional three twenty three units. Our program alone, between our voucher program and our public housing, we have over 1,500 families on our wait list. So we recognize the need, and we are wanting and working strategically to make sure that we with the city and the and the county.

County. We recognize that most of our over 60 most of our units are over 60 years old and we are strategically working to a plan so that we can either rehab or build new in certain areas so that our tenants are getting the same services within that that all tenants in our community are getting. Our first project right now that we are working on is in partnership with a loan that we received from the city recently to rehab thirty two units for our elderly at Hillside Manor. I would like to give great thanks to the city and to your economic and community development department who strategically works with us on a regular basis. Chris Cauley truly takes the time to listen to our ideas and our needs and tries to help find a way for us to navigate through that.

I know there was a lot of information in your packets in regards to our goals and what's coming next. So with that, with the information I've provided, I'm happy to take any questions.

Alright. I do have a couple of them. First, did Chris pay you to tell to say that?

He did not. Okay. I think he is he in the room? I hope so. Alright. Alex has my money too. His

team Okay.

His team is amazing. His team

is amazing.

Trying to trying to see about that. Alright. Did have one question before I go to councilor Maher. It's been an ongoing problem for the number of people with vouchers and the number of available units or on the waiting list. Let me say the waiting list. How often does HUD reanalyze that? Because it seems that we've had that 2,000 number at least for some time, if I can recall right. And populations grow, more people move in, you know, and then people are able to take those vouchers to other communities. So how often does the government reassess your need?

Well, that is a that's a good question. I and I haven't seen that happen in quite a while, mostly because funding and what's available across the board and the different programs that and projects that they are funding over additional vouchers. I will say that we did receive an additional five HUD VASH vouchers for our veterans, which puts us over two fifty specifically for our veterans.

Is that included in your 2,000?

That is included in my 2,000. We have 248 currently. And the the numbers that are on the flyer are for those that are actually housed in those programs.

Gotcha. Okay. Councilman here. Thank you. Is it Crystal?

Yes, sir.

Okay. Miss Crystal, thank you. Very familiar with your system here, and I I I talked to a lot of rental companies that are not listed on your list that are opening and have been accepted to do business with the federal housing authority, especially when folks have their vouchers. The the question that I received probably maybe a week or two ago was the difficulty. Is the only way to make the housing authority aware of availability with others outside of that's on this list is how?

So just to clarify, the what's on our list are where our public housing is at, not our section eight voucher qualified landlords. We have a list on our website that tenants can look there. Natanya Hassell is our section eight, our leased housing director who keeps that updated and works directly with our landlords and does orientation for new landlords that are interested in becoming section eight voucher landlords.

If I wanted to share this information with those that may be interested, tell me what that website is because I'm looking for it on your

Yes, have.

How does it read?

It is wwwfmhanc.org.

Alrighty. Thank you. Thank you, Mia.

Alright. Alright. Thank you. Council, look to you for a motion to receive a report from Federal Metropolitan Housing. Unless you have other questions. Move

to receive, sir.

Alright. It's motion by councilor Maher, seconded by mayor pro tem discussion. Alright. Look to you for your votes. Unanimous. Thank you.

Thank you.

Alright. Tell miss Don we said hello.

Absolutely.

Alright. Council moving to eight point o three. Report from I saw doctor Hatch back there. How are you, sir? Chairman of Fayetteville Cullen County Parks and Rec Advisory. Good to see you, sir.

Good to see you as well. Good evening. Good evening, mayor, council members, and city staff. My name is Tom Hatch, and I am the proud to proud to serve on the Fayetteville Cumberland Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission as chair this year. Thank you for the opportunity to provide a brief update on our work. The commission remains focused on three primary goals. First, we advise Parks and Recreation Director on programming to ensure offerings meet the needs and interests of our community. Saying we provide input on capital improvements to help guide thoughtful strategic investments in our facilities. And third, we review and offer feedback on the master plan for the Parks and Recreation to ensure long term planning aligns with the growth and vision of Fayetteville and Cumberland County. So over the past year, our work has centered on several key action items.

We have continued to serve as a sounding board for new ideas and initiatives while also strengthening communication between the commission and local government leaders and Parks and Recreation staff. I'm pleased to share a few highlights of our accomplishments. The commission approved the request to rename the North Street Baseball Field in honor of Coach Donald Bennett, recognizing his lasting impact on our community. We also had the opportunity to participate in a first look at the new courts at Glenville Lake and groundbreaking ceremony at the MacArthur Road Sports Complex, which were very exciting milestones. Additionally, we expanded our meeting structure to include dedicated time for updates from our city council and county commission representatives, improving alignment, communication.

Jennifer Ayr and also council member Jones were instrumental in helping provide valuable insight into the purpose and responsibilities of this advisory commission, helping to strengthen our effectiveness moving forward. Looking ahead, we have several activities and initiatives currently in progress excited about the upcoming grand opening of the courts at Glenville Lake. Fingers crossed, this is going be happening soon. We know with everything outside, it's all contingent on weather and temperature and getting stuff done. Of course, spring sports are successfully underway with strong participation across programs.

In addition, construction is ongoing for the Tokay tennis and pickleball courts, which will further expand recreational opportunities in our community. As we continue to work, there are areas that will require ongoing attention, and these include ensuring equitable access to parks and programs across all areas of the city, keeping pace in not only city, but also the county as well, keeping pace with growth and demand for recreational space and maintaining existing facilities at a high standard while new projects are being developed. Based on our discussions in keeping with the 2020 master plan, the commission would like to offer one key recommendation to the council, that the city continue moving toward the development of an indoor aquatics center. Just gonna let that sit for a minute.

I think their meeting is Thursday. Uh-huh. I I I understand. This

type of facility would provide year round recreational opportunities, support health and wellness, and serve as a viable asset for residents of all ages. In closing, the Fayetteville Cumberland Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission remains committed to supporting a strong, accessible, and forward looking parks and recreation system. We appreciate your continued support and partnership. And at this time, I respectfully ask the council that you accept this report.

Thank you. Yes. Thank you so much. I appreciate the hard work you and community members are doing. We do have several several questions. So go to mayor pro we'll go to council member here pro tem Jones and council member McNair. I thought I saw her. Okay. So I'll come back to her.

Thank you, mayor. Thank you, chairman Hatch for

Yes,

sir. The great work. That's one thing that we have been looking for, and we've heard it well tonight and over the last few months from our committees and boards of being totally involved with our city and being our boots on the ground for council. I don't know if this goes directly to you or if this goes to, our interim and our, director. If he would come up, I sent a few questions out.

I don't know if they will forward to you. And just for updates and if if there are none, just wanted to make sure I wanted to keep it keep it in your heart to, give us those. I would like to and I didn't see it today, but it's understandable. Love to get some, updates on the MLK Park, the walking trail at Glenville Lake, where we are with that. Love to get an update on our Seabrook Park or walking trail that's supposed to have been I'm not well, need updates so we can just know where we are.

And one additional thing, as I look around and I see the identification signs, I see several of them up and down the Marks And Road quarter in various locations of the city. I was wondering if any of those signs had anything to do with the proposed signs for the Glenville Lake Trail that we spoke about doing our meetings and even, doing our work sessions when you have given us reports. Let

me ask one thing real quick. Does the advisory board have was those projects that the advisory board has because I don't wanna have to put doctor Hatch into something that Well, no.

I was asking doctor

Hatch This ask to item is we gotta get him approved and released. No, sir. Okay. Alright. So Am I

going too far?

Yeah. It's wrong venue for that because he's here to present with the things that Okay.

And I knew that. I knew that. I was just wondering why it wasn't there. But nevertheless, it's already been dropped. So we'll I'll be looking for those updates. But thank you, doctor Hatch. Yes, Thank you.

You can jack Michael up on a separate one. Can get a meal. Alright. Thank you,

Merritt. Chairman Hatch, how do you hear from the constituents to advise on the committee?

Well, our committee is made up of folks from the county and from the city. And so as we are in the community, whether we are at work or at play or at church or standing in the grocery store or we are out supporting various events, we're talking and hearing from them and their thoughts and concerns with regard to what they what they think should be happening. And and we bring that back in and we share those out loud with one another in our meetings.

And the board consists of how many people? There are 14. And how many from the county?

Seven from the county.

And seven from the city.

Seven. Yes. Eight and eight. Sorry. Eight from the county, eight from the city. So 16.

Okay. Thank you, mister mayor. Yes.

Councilman Jones. Thank you.

Just a statement. Thank you so much, sir. Just first, thank you all for welcoming me to the board. I like the thoughtfulness that's going, that's occurring on on the on the commission. I do like that.

So to kinda piggyback off mayor pro tem, that's one of the things that we do highly encourage as far as ensuring that the committee members feel valued and that their input and time on the board is appreciated. So I openly say that, I know we all do, to say we appreciate the time and the openness and I think there are some opportunities again to go within that scope which thank you miss Jennifer for coming to support the committee the commission at that particular time. But I look forward to that because there are some meaningful engagement that's there and some things that are coming forth that for both both sides, county and city can consider. So thank you so much.

Yes, sir. Thank you.

Alright. Alright. Counsel, if there are no other questions, if we can receive the report. So chairman Hatch? McNair, you had a question?

Alright. Go ahead. Alright. It's a vote by council member McNair. You can go ahead. Okay. Thank you.

Oh, thank you, mister chairman, for such a fine report there. With that being said, I would like to make a motion to receive the Fairview Cumberland Parks and Recs Advisory Commission annual report.

Alright. The motion by councilor McNair. Is that second by Ferguson? Alright. Discussion? Council, I look to you for your votes. Alright, mister Hatch. Thank you. Yes, sir. Alright. Council moving to item eight point o four is a firefighter local relief fund annual update. Good evening, sir.

Good evening. Evening, mister mayor.

Let's get your mic. There you go.

Alright. There you go. That better. Okay.

Yes, sir.

I'm Jason Davis, battalion chief for the fire department, and I serve as the chair of the Fayetteville Fire Department local firefighters relief fund board. Just for some history, the firefighters relief fund was created through legislative action in nineteen o seven to ensure firefighters that were injured on the job would not become destitute. Funds for the firefighters relief fund come from a tax levied on insurance policies in North Carolina. Then each county in the state receives a portion which is then divided between the eligible departments there. These funds are designated to be used only for purposes specified in law.

Using these monies for non approved purposes jeopardizes eligibility for future disbursements. Over time, some changes to general statute have allowed the local firefighters relief funds to use funds for other purposes. Our local relief fund is managed by a board consisting of five people. Statute dictates that two of the seats are elected by the fire department members from eligible personnel, two are appointed by city council, and one by the state fire marshal. Currently, we oversee a supplemental retirement plan as part of this that provides a yearly stipend to retirees.

Any firefighter that retires in good standing with at least twenty years of service is eligible. Each year of service equates to one share with the value of the share based on funds received in that year. There were 144 retirees that received a payment in February 2026. Besides the retirement fund, the board also receives occasional requests from active personnel that need financial assistance for various reasons. Some requests are allowed automatically with board approval, while others that fall within certain criteria must be approved by designated personnel with the North Carolina State Firefighters Association.

Some examples of allowed expenses are costs incurred to manage the fund. Firefighter membership dues with the State Firefighters Association are also approved with permission. The board is required to submit financial reports by the October annually to the State Firefighters Association to maintain eligibility. This ensures a layer of oversight that protects the board and provides accountability to an outside party. As part of this process, the State Firefighters Association maintains a surety bond that ensures the funds as a whole.

Currently, the board holds some funds in some checking and money market accounts while the bulk is held in interest generating investments, that keep the retirement funds solvent. As of this submission, there is $12,999.99 in checking, $5,303.06 in money market accounts with Truist, and $2,019,998 invested in funds with Woodman Insurance. The current and retired members of the fire department appreciate the city's and council's roles with this board and look forward to your continued support.

Alright. Thank you, sir. Alright. Councilmember Hondros. Thank you,

mister mayor. I've had the pleasure of sitting in on one of their meetings. They

Yes, sir.

Have very thorough and accurate reports. And with that, if there's no questions, I'd like to move to receive the report.

Question, mister mayor.

So I got a motion and a second. I got a motion by councilor Alejandro, second by Davis. Discussion, council mayor pro tem.

Thank you, mister mayor. Yes, sir. Can you just explain the criteria for receiving these funds? As you stated, you said some requests are amount automatically by the board while others fall within certain criteria. Explain that criteria and the dollar amount if there is any.

There's not a dollar amount associated with it. The criteria is set in statute and there's certain things that we at the local level with the board can automatically approve and then it's done. Basically, a firefighter, if they were injured as part of the job and they need some financial assistance, they can make a request and we can can pay that out. So then,

you're getting to my point. So it would have to occur with something on the job. You mentioned something about hardship. What if the family's just going through hardship? Would that apply?

If there is

some type of hardship, they can make a request. We can consider it, and we have to send that type of request up to the State Firefighters Association. There's people that sit there that would review it and would give a a yes or a

no.

And these dollar figures you're talking about are statewide. Correct?

Yes,

So what is the annual that Fayetteville receives?

It varies from year to year. Last year, it was around $270,000.

And that's what's held in the truest bank?

The money that we take in every year from the state, we divvy that up as part of the retirement shares.

Gotcha. Alright. Thank you, mister mayor. Alright.

Chief, I

just have one question. So the not the complicated, this is completely different, but we do a lot of business with Truist. Wonder if they appreciate that. So how do you how do you tell them where you hold the funds at?

Truist Bank, we hold them there. We know that's where the Citibanks and it is easy to

the one that does Truist know that.

I'm sure they do. Okay.

Alright. Alright. Thank you. Alright. So Say it again. Yeah. They gonna hear it a lot. Alright. There's a motion by councilor Mujandro, so the second by Davis. Discussion council look to you for your vote. So thank you for your your good work.

Great job.

Yep. Yes, sir.

Alright. Motion carries. Alright. Council moving to nine point o one. Mister Lowry, mister Brayboy, showtime. How y'all doing, man? Doing good, mayor.

Good evening, mayor. Might work if I start it. Good evening, mayor, mayor Perotem, city council members. I'm Chris Lowry, the strategy and performance manager for the city. Presenting with me tonight is mister Andrew Brayboy.

He's our senior corporate performance analyst. Tonight, we'll be presenting on the third quarter performance updates for your f y twenty six strategic plan. So this update will reflect continued progress across council strategic priorities and highlight how departments are translating strategy into measurable outcomes throughout our community. As a reminder, the data presented tonight includes a mix of our quarterly activity, year end year to date totals, as well as some data from our scorecard. Many of these measures received will be lagging indicators, meaning they reflect completed activity from prior actions rather than real time demands or any of our future pipeline activities that will be coming out.

Some measures also are heavily influenced by broader economic conditions, resident participation, and market activity. Because of that, staff continues to monitor our trends closely and making proactive adjustments where needed as we move forward into the final quarter of our FY twenty six plan.

Good evening, council mayor mayor pro tem. So as we approach the final stretch of of the fiscal year, four of our five current strategic plan priorities continue to build on the foundation that we set in our f y twenty five strategic plan. So this includes our ongoing commitment to a comprehensive approach to community safety, enhanced economic growth throughout the city, continue the city's commitment to revitalization efforts and housing needs. Our newest priority, of course, is our to evaluate and expand transportation and other connectivity for residents. And then finally, increase parks and recreation opportunities for youth engagement and interaction.

So our first priority is our comprehensive community safety. And priority one continues to deliver measurable results in prevention, response, and community collaboration. With three quarters already completed in FY twenty six, the majority of the comprehensive safety metrics are either at or ahead of pace. The Fayetteville Cares Day Resource Center recorded 233 unique interactions in q three, bringing our year to date total to 1,084 unique interactions, already 90% of our annual target. The center now operates with 49 active community partners, well above our annual target.

This reflects continued growth in the city services network. Total interactions at the center reached 8,117 year to date. And while this remains slightly behind our pace, the volume is expected to climb in q four as our hot weather increases our service demand. For OCS, they continue to strengthen partnerships and outreach across all three of its core areas. For community safety micro grants, in q three, OCS awarded 22 new community safety micro grants representing a 115,000 invested directly into our community.

Year to date, 42 grants totaling $199,500 have been awarded, placing the program at nearly 100% of its annual funding target with a full quarter remaining. For behavioral health services through OCS, An an additional seventy two individuals successfully accessed mental health services through OCS in Q3. This is our strongest quarter to date. This brings our year to date total to a 186 individuals served against our annual target of 200, still with one quarter remaining. For community engagement and youth activation through OCS, OCS supported 49 community engagement events in q three, bringing the year to date total to a 189 events, already 51% above the annual target.

And this continues to be the city's primary mechanism for maintaining a visible, preventative presence in neighborhoods, strengthening trust residents, and proactively addressing safety concerns before they escalate to calls for service. Now, as you recall, the priority is to have a comprehensive approach to community safety. And in this in this regard, our response and infrastructure data continue to perform well. The fire department's ninetieth percentile response time came in at seven minutes and nineteen seconds in q three, meaning our annual target of seven minutes and twenty seconds, which also improved upon their q two metric. The police department's priority one response time improved to an average of four hundred and forty two seconds or seven minutes and twenty two seconds, which is well inside our target of 600 and the strongest performance of the fiscal year for the police department.

Reported incidents of violent crime are down 18% compared to its baseline, more than double our annual target and reduction of 8%. Also, the first what

you're saying? Can you repeat that? So, mister Pitts can catch that bar.

Yeah. So, it's down 18% across across its baseline.

Oh, my.

So, the fire department's dollar loss save ratio came in at 92.17%, which is just under target, but this reflects, you know, how value property is saved, and it fluctuates from quarter to quarter. But even with the slight reduction this quarter, the fire department remains on track with industry benchmarks. Pilbara Services made significant Q3 progress on stormwater and drainage infrastructure. Crew crews inspected 31,054 stormwater assets in q three alone, bringing our year to date total to 38,066 assets, which is more than three times our annual target of 12,000 inspections. For open conveyances, 14,656 linear feet were repaired, maintained, and inspected in Q3.

This doubled the QT pace. QT q two pace. Sorry about that. But as you can see, we're still slightly behind our annual target. So collectively, these outcomes demonstrate Fayetteville's commitment to a comprehensive safety. OCS, fire, police, all working collectively to achieve a safer Fayetteville. Investing in prevention, mental health, and outreach while maintaining strong response for poor performance and a resilient infrastructure across the city.

Under priority two for quarter three reflects continued economic development activity within investment momentum continuing despite broader market uncertainty. During quarter three, approximately $1,990,000 was invested through ECD grants and loans, continuing investment activity throughout the city even as onetime ARPA funding has been phased out. Quarter three also continued showing positive movement in several market indicators. The citywide vacance vacancy rate continued improving, decreasing from 6.23% in quarter one to 5.75% in quarter three. Commercial permitting activity also continued to increase throughout the year, growing from 35 permits in quarter one to 57 permits in quarter two and seventy five in quarter three.

At the same time, staff continues to monitor lower than anticipated activity in our small business investment funding and commercial and residential permitting. These are highly market sensitive indicators that naturally ebb and flow based on economic conditions, financial cost, and the level of risk that many business owners are willing to take. For the small business program specifically, participation requires businesses to apply for the assistance. While staff has actively marketed the programs, participation has remained lower than anticipated. Recognizing this early, staff brought recommendations back to council last Monday night, if you recall, in which you took the action to broaden the program's requirements and improve the overall program effectiveness and accessibility.

Commercial and residential permit permitting activity also remains largely market driven and influenced by factors outside of direct departmental control. Historically, we see these trends start to increase later on in that fourth quarter, end of year third, beginning of year fourth, you start to see an increase. It is also important to remember that one permit could also be for a single apartment, or it could be for a 200 room or 200 housing unit complex. Development services continues to review, approve, and process permits in a timely manner despite increasing workloads and staffing constraints. Plan review activity continues increasing, and development service has continued to maintain timely review and permitting despite the workloads.

Overall, quarter three reflects continued economic investment activity, improving market indicators, and proactive operational adjustments as staff prepares for increased activity moving into quarter four. Under priority three, quarter three reflects continued progress in neighborhood stabilization, housing assistance, and long term revitalization efforts throughout the city. This quarter, two homeowners received critical or emergency repairs through the city's partnership with the Fayetteville Urban Ministry and Fayetteville Area Habitat for Humanity. Because residents must apply for assistance, activity levels are partially dependent on resident participation and partner capacity. Staff also identified that the original annual target was overstated.

As you noticed there, the second highlighted one is stated that there is 50. However, that number should be 25 based on the historical reports to HUD. So we're gonna I wanted to be transparent with counsel that that number would change. That number was either inaccurate or it was a clerical error. It should have been 25 that was reported to HUD, so that will be a change that I wanted to address here before you've seen it on the next report.

Within that, operational constraints within partner agencies were identified early and have already been proactively addressed. During quarter three, the city added 72 affordable housing units to the housing stock through the certificate of occupancy for Cliffmore Park. We also assisted five first time homebuyers through the Homebuyer Hero program this quarter, bringing our year to date to 27 compared to only nine last year at the same time. This quarter also included continued progress on larger redevelopment initiatives. Staff advanced the Merchants and Choice neighborhood initiative by submitting the f I '25 HUD application request in $26,000,000 while documenting more than $531,000,000 in committed public and private leverage.

Staff also continued to advance in redevelopment planning efforts through ongoing coordination with developers and legal counsel. This is a long one, so I'm trying to make sure I get through it and hit all the points. On the revitalization side, development services and ECD continues to coordinate stabilization efforts, prioritizing repairs over demolitions whenever possible and protecting our general fund dollars whenever there's available funding from other sources. Approximately 8,574 violations were voluntarily corrected by property owners over the first three quarters, averaging more than 950 voluntary resolutions per month. This means approximately 80% or eight out of 10 of our violations are resolved on its own or with the occupants,

while it

was still under the notice of violation. We are also beginning to see increased utilization of demolition funding, in quarter three. Early in the fiscal year, many demolitions or corrections were done with grants and funding, outside of the general fund, which helped reduce our reliance on that general fund. However, once that starts to dry up, we have to start leaning in more onto that general fund dollar. So proactive enforcement activity also continues to increase each quarter, growing from 2,140 cases in quarter one to right at 3,350 cases in quarter three.

Quarter three also included blight removal efforts, site preparation supporting the operation in as much Veterans Village project, and ongoing historic preservation initiatives tied to the Broadell and Seabrook nomination process. Overall, quarter three reflects continued progress and stabilization, housing assistance, proactive enforcement, and long term redevelopment position in the city as it moves into its final quarter for FY twenty six.

Our newest priority for this year, again, is our transportation and connectivity. And priority four remains a strategic area of focus for council. It aims to enhance how residents and visitors move throughout Fayetteville, whether by road, bus, connected sidewalks and trails, bikes, by air. So beginning with transit, staff continues to implement the three recommendations identified in the Title VI fare and service equity study, ensuring that city's transit system remains equitable and accessible for all riders. Transit service reliably finished Q3 at 75%, meeting our annual on time performance target, and staff continues to monitor route level performance and refine schedules as ridership patterns evolve.

Regarding the percentage of routes operating at thirty minutes, frequency, or better, we finished Q2 at 28%, which is slightly below our 35% target. So achieving this metric is tied to various things fleet, staffing, route restructuring, and all those things that fall within that equity study that we're trying to address. In partnership with IT, 18 transportation and connectivity plans have been have now been incorporated into the city's new master connectivity GIS overlay map. So this is 80% over what we projected for our target for this year. And again, this is a GIS tool which integrates transportation, infrastructure, and development data to inform planning, project management, and future connectivity decisions for the city, everything overlaid into one map.

Public services constructed an additional 8,379 linear feet of sidewalk in Q3 through city and private development projects, and this brings our year to date total to 32,044 linear feet already exceeding the annual target. On roadway resurfacing, year to date totals remain at 14.69 miles against an annual target of 39. And Marcom also completed 38 communication efforts promoting transportation options in Q3, continuing to support rider awareness and engagement across digital and traditional channels. And finally, the airport team continues to explore and analyze strategies to expand flight options and enhance regional connectivity through potential public private partnerships. And staff will continue to evaluate connectivity needs citywide with a focus on supporting future growth and making Fayetteville's transportation and connectivity networks safer, more efficient, effective, and more connected for our residents.

And our final priority is our youth engagement initiative. Youth engagement remains the cornerstone of our community strategy, and q three data shows continued strong performance across nearly every measure. The Orange Street School Project reached 2,231 total participants in q three, with one with 1,003 students served directly through STEM and similar school based initiatives. So year to date totals of 3,718 total participants and fourteen seventy eight STEM students served both substantially exceed our target for the year. Parks and Recreation also added a hundred and ninety four new hours of youth engagement programming in q three, more than double the annual target of 75, alongside eight new programming opportunities, brand new opportunities introduced in q three.

Grant funding pursuant also remains strong with 30,000 in granting opportunities applied for in q three, which brings the year end or the year to date grant applications to 50,000, exceeding our annual projection. Across the city's flagship youth programs, the counselor in training or the CIT program remains at 74 enrolled youth, which is 48% above our target. The Fayetteville Cumberland Youth Council, f y f c y c, enrolled 62 youth in q three, again, which is 24% above our annual target. The junior officials program holds at 12 enrolled youth against a target of 23, and staff is exploring ways to expand awareness ahead of the next enrollment cycle for this. And finally, the PALS program closed at closed q three at 49 youth, which now exceeds the annual cumulative target of 120 PALS program participations.

And all of these flagship youth programs can be viewed, assessed, or if you wanna see more detail about it on the Fayetteville's website on the Parks and Recreation and Youth Engagement, all of these programs are listed on the city website for more information. So next, in collaboration with OCS, nine parks and recreation events were cohosted through OCS, bringing our year end total to 14 engagement events already exceeding the annual target of 10. And also, ECD provided $674,000 which was invested in parks and recreation progress projects in q three, in which the department also hosted or participated in 23 youth focused educational and outreach events. On infrastructure supporting youth access and mobility, the 2018 pedestrian sidewalk plan advanced significant significantly in q three with 87% of identified projects now complete, which is up from our q two metric of 52%. So as you can see, these youth center programs and infrastructure investments foster leadership, teamwork, and confidence while keeping youth connected to and engaged with positive community outlets and future ready opportunities.

So as you can see, council, tonight's update staff continues advancing a significant amount of work within council's established priorities, and the quarter three data reflects meaningful progress and continued momentum across the organization. Moving forward, staff will bring back your FY '27, not the FY '26, but the FY '27 strategic plan priority action plans and support and performance analysis for council's consideration and adoption. We'll also return to council in August 2026 with the FY 'twenty six year end closeout or the year end strategic plan update, providing a comprehensive look at the year end performance, accomplishments, trends, and emerging focus areas moving into f I twenty seven. So thank you, counsel, for your continued leadership and support as staff continues advancing your strategic priorities throughout the city. We appreciate counsel's partnership and direction as departments continue working to translate strategic goals into measurable outcomes that positively impact our residents, our businesses, and our neighborhoods.

Thank you, mister Lowry. Thank you, mister Brayboy. Did have a couple questions before I go to the dean over here. Very thorough. I like the the KPIs, and you guys always do a good job with that. I I I don't know if this question would be for you or maybe for the manager. I didn't see any information or very little participation in the employee and the resident surveys. Like, so you got resident surveys. There were NA's all across for most of them, you know. How's your trash service? How's the you know, what should feel about the economy? What should feel about public safety? Did the police respond? And on the employee surveys about it's just a great place to work. I saw one person fill it out for the last couple of quarters.

How how do you all track that or or how do we get those surveys so we can get some feedback on that?

So it's a it's a biennial survey, so every other year. So implementation Really year? Okay. Yes, sir. Okay. So in your first year, you start building out your work plans, starting to integrate that in, and then you start implementing after you build your work plans to address the concerns that either residents or employees have. And then from there, you start implementing. So if you did a survey every year, by the time you start implementing any of the changes or

Well, I guess I'm I'm not saying restrategize. Right? But for a company that you call for anything says if you hold on for a brief survey, plus one if you were satisfied too. I mean, you you always get ongoing information because you got ongoing interaction. So particularly with the with the citizens, you know, it I can't I don't think we can make policy adjustments every two years.

You know, if you're 50% in satisfaction on something, that's not information you need to know every two years. Because to me, it seems like you wanna match and see if it's declining or if it's improving, what do we do right or what do we do wrong. Like, I I guess this is a conversation with the manager because this this comes up during our evaluations that where we want surveys for people who interact with development services, people who interact with the city in any way because at the end of the day, they're the customer. The citizen is the customer and the user of our services. So I I would like to to hear more about that. And then on the employee level, how do you check-in every two years if yeah. I guess that's that's more of a manager question. Mister Hood, you wanna

do that? Yes, sir. We provided the council the development services data earlier this year.

That was just an example.

And we also as we talked about the strategic planning retreat, information I was unaware of, and I thank the council members who were there for reminding me of it, that we actually if you go to our website now, we actually have surveys when you go to our website. Customer service feedback is always an important part. And so as to not shortchange and leave something out, we'll be happy to put that together again in an in an administrative report

Thank you.

Of all that we're doing.

Well well, not asking necessarily for that, but that should be in here because you've got a space for it. It just doesn't have the information plugged in. You you see you see where the citizens slide talking about, counsel? Sir?

Which which Light light.

So if you go to if you go to the to the the scorecard, the scorecard KPS master spreadsheet.

So so that metric that you're referring to, that's on our citywide residential or our resident survey Uh-huh. Which falls so the resident survey and then employee survey, they're on opposite cycles.

So you got different different reports for that?

Right. So that's on council's scorecard. These are that won't fall into council's one of council's priority KPIs.

I gotcha. Alright. Right. So you're saying you're gonna give us a spreadsheet report with because why did you have it on here if it's not to be included in here?

Because that's a part of council's adopted scorecard. Those metrics that fall within for the resident survey. And this past, which would have been in October going into December, is when we typically would have the resident survey, and we didn't have one on this cycle because it failed in tangent with

So I guess that goes back to the every two years.

So That's right.

So yeah. I guess my question is more directed over there. But I don't wanna I don't wanna belabor this because you just you just gather data and give it back to us. So I guess I guess this is a doctor Hewitt conversation that we I think we gotta hear more often every two years. So I guess this needs to probably be a conversation that you know, surveys have come up regularly, and I I like what you said about specifically the developmental service for them to do it.

But but certainly would like to hear from from the citizens about what how we're doing more than that and the employees. Right? Because, I mean, they need to be able to speak freely, maybe to take it in a random way or something just so that we can know what what we have. And the last question I have, tell the council about the program you're working with with Deloitte. Deloitte is an accounting major accounting firm, one of the the largest accounting firms. They have a a program where they they put some of their master level folks here to help you with data collection. Can you talk to us about that?

Yes, sir, thanks for that. So FSU as well as Deloitte, their master's program actually reached out and we had a meeting with them and we brought in some, I would say interns, but they were students through FSU, and we actually had Some MBA students, Yeah, some were MBA, there were a few that were undergrad, but they were all business majors. I think we had six different teams, between four and five students per team. They reached out. We set up a few meetings.

We were in the introductions. We gave some ideas of where we've seen that there would be areas that need improvement or just some touch points. From there, we helped set up a team. We orchestrated it with the department heads for each one of those teams, and each group went to that team and actually took took on a project. And from there, they looked at some of the data and then ultimately gave out recommendations to staff for them to look at and then potentially bringing their students back to look at how we could implement some of those changes. So it was more of a process improvement that the team did within the individual departments.

Alright. Thank you. Councilman Hare and then Jones and McMillan.

Thanks, mayor. And, guys, thank you. You always give a very good detail and thorough report. You all do very well together. As we if you would go to number two, and it's probably more for my clarity than anyone.

For example, when we look at jobs retained through EDC, the small businesses that are supported through partnership and the one there about the amount of funds that we invest in small businesses, unless it's listed somewhere else, do we show a listing, for example, of the last one I just mentioned, the small businesses, or who who it is that we are that are reaching out for us for funding to do business?

The ones that have received it or the ones that

have applied?

The ones have received it. Yes. Is that somewhere that I that's something I would just, I guess, personally like to know who what businesses, what type of businesses is it that we are helping. I'm glad that we're helping.

We certainly can provide you with that information, but I I do not have that with

me tonight.

That that's something I personally would like. I mean, I don't mind if you it might be good to to share it with my colleagues, but it's always good to kinda know. I would like to know that. When you say we have jobs that are retained through grants, give me a little bit more clarity on what that means. What it says which one is that on? Yeah. That's that's under that's supposed to be up under two? Yes, sir. Mhmm.

Yes, sir. So when we make small business loans

Yes, sir.

To small businesses, they have to either preserve a job or create a job. So create or retain. And so that's what those numbers are for. For every $25,000, we need to create a or retain a job.

And is that information given to us so we know what that is too if we want to

know? Certainly.

Yes.

Okay. I like to see that too. Now when you go to number three, I know that we have to pay for well, right here, I guess, it's saying only three per quarter if we look at the blighted structures. And I know that's that's one of our priorities we have a lot of discussion on as far as cleaning Fayetteville and get rid of a diletted buildings. What is there anywhere within that line item?

Do we does the city get a return back at all on those blighted that we go in and actually pay the money to demo? Do we get You know, know that well, I know that that it is to put liens on certain properties and whatnot. But, I mean, I don't even know. Just wondering how that goes. Do we get a return back? Are are we successful with any of those liens? Are we are we in the green or in the red?

I I do not have an answer for that.

It's just data guys here, sir.

Yeah. I I could definitely research that with staff.

I I was just I just wondered. I just wondered how what the return was on Are we just spending the money and not getting any return back on those lanes? Just

I do. Outside of the lanes, I'm not a 100%. But

Yeah. But if you could get that and share, I would love to have it. Thank you, mayor.

Yes, sir. Alright. Councilman Jones.

Thank you, mister mayor. Very quickly, first of all, thank you all again. I always like the QI, lean management aspect of what you all do. Just saw some opportunities for us when we had the community meeting over in the District 3 area, one of the top three things that came up was having the city to continue to brand itself in a positive manner. And I was just looking over to scorecards everything as regards to like the 32,000 linear feet of sidewalks, the over 42 miles of roadways that were paved, and how we even exceed curb cleaning.

Things like that that community probably does not know. So just maybe not for you all, just in general for staff, those are some opportunities that we may can use to continue to market ourselves in a positive manner to do that. And then lastly, I know the permitting aspect is market driven. I'm gonna be curious to find out what that would look like with what we have going on now if it really looks at that permitting process and is there a correlation with the low numbers that we're seeing. We know there's a market aspect but I'll be curious to see if there's some sort of correlation so that we can do some work there. Alright, thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, sir. Yeah. Council member? Yes.

Thank you, mister mayor. Thank you again. It was a damn good brief. Y'all y'all have expertise and show it every time you're on the diocese. In terms of telling our story.

I hear all of the thousands of incidents of of us doing right in terms of providing services, in terms of dispersing grants, answering calls, etcetera. And I think you spoke very well to the priorities that were laid out earlier this year by the council. I'm looking for ways still to to tell the story of how this impacts individuals and families in my district. And it's not a not a knock on you all at all. I'm I'm asking all all staff just about every meeting for disaggregated data data that shows what's going on in District 8 and in Western Fayetteville so that they feel included in all the success and the impact.

And we'll be able to tell the story out there as to how it's really impacting people in our area and our neighborhoods. Also, looking for honest ways to tell the story in a way that puts us in relation to crises that we're facing, the gaps that we need to meet, I'm thinking primarily about housing. Periodically, in this room, we talk about the gap, the housing shortage. We'd love to hear in our metrics and our advancements how we're eating into that, how we're reducing the delta in terms of housing and then other issues like our in house population. I know we can't do that in every measure, but I think where we do have those statistics, we might be able to paint the picture.

And then this is something that came up earlier this year. This is for the council because we are talking about strategic priorities. We mentioned environmental protections and environmental strategic objectives and we did move on it. Since we had that conversation earlier this year, we understand, I think, little bit better how finite our resources are. We're paying 4 something for gas.

We're in a drought. We're facing this question of how to protect ourselves in terms of the data center question. And I think it'd be great to revisit environmental protections in a strategic plan. Overall, I want to say thank you and congratulations again. I'm hearing also more in terms of measures of effectiveness. I hear throughout that brief home buyers and youth, the numbers that have been impacted by by the work of our staff and the services provided. I'm hearing about students served. I'm hearing percentages above annual and quarterly targets. And just wanna say thank you for your expertise and and thank you for for your work. Thank you, councilman.

Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you, mister mayor. Thank you, mister Lowry. Thank you, mister Braebord. I wanna follow-up with my colleague Jones' question. We talked about permitting. You said staffing. Do we have a lack of staffing? That's why we only had a 133 permits, which was the lowest of all three quarters.

Think we had a

I I know we had a retirement for a long term planner. Outside of that I'm I don't wanna speak in Doctor. Newton's behalf, Ms. Jody can come up and speak on that, but I do I know outside of the retirement.

See what happens when you come give all this data.

I know questions. There are a couple positions that are unfilled, the planning and zoning manager, which we're hopeful to fill shortly, and some planners. Hopeful to make some fill those positions in the next couple of weeks or a month that would alleviate some of that workload.

Alright. First of all.

But the answer is no. The staffing there does not impact the permits. It would you would see that on the timeliness of our us doing inspections Mhmm. And that is measured on a separate metric. But we will follow-up with doctor Newton tomorrow and send that out to council in a separate

Let me follow-up to that question because our vacancy rate went down quite a few percentage rates. How come it go up in planning?

That's citywide. So that's Oh, citywide. Yep. Yes, sir. And that's you're looking at your commercial, residential.

Yeah.

Yep. So that's a combination of all those metrics together.

Next question is stormwater. If you go to slide one, says stormwater assets inspected. How do we go from 3,000 to 31,000?

So those are done individual. So each one of those are individual act. So it could be a bridge. It could could be a drainage. It could be any one of those points. So they are set on cycles that they go through inspection. So you may see a a high point at this point, and then next time it drops down to 2,000 or 3,000.

I'm totally understanding that. But from 3,000 to 31,000?

That is a large jump.

Is that a large jump or is that a misprint?

We verified that with our data and that's that was the correct number. So we can we can

Which one is that number?

Work with

public The services to get last item on slide one. Let me go back to sidewalks. I don't know what slide this on. But it said that our pedestrian plan from 2018 is 87% completed. Correct?

Yes, sir.

Once and it'll probably be completed by the end of the year according to how fast you're moving. What do we start next? Do we start the supplement plan, or do we have to do another pedestrian plan to start increasing our sidewalks around the city?

Byron, Sheila, can you help us?

Yeah, so a number of the remaining projects on the 2018 plan, they're the ones that are currently under design or in construction right now. I kinda discussed that a couple weeks ago. Coming into the, CIP for next year, we do have projects proposed in sidewalks and supplemental plan. So we're we're moving forward with the 2025 adopted pedestrian plan and supplemental school plan. So those projects would be '27 and on.

Right. So the supplement plan, I think, is the 2022 pedestrian supplement plan that we emphasize sidewalks around schools.

Supplemental plan. They were they were done in tandem.

Same time. Gotcha. Outstanding. My last question was the demo. My colleague council member here talked about demolition. I'm trying to figure out what slide that was on. But if we are number three, If we did 42% in the third quarter and only 12% in the second quarter, how do we get to a 100% funding? Because you said the demo for CDBG is pretty much all gone. So the rest of it will come out of the general fund. Correct?

Yes, sir. Once we expend all the CDBG funded, it will be relying on the general fund.

And we always ask this question every year, is there enough funding for blight removal? And the answer is always no. So how much do we need to increase that so we don't have full capacity by the third quarter?

Chris, it's a trick question. Don't take it bait. You'll see that in the next month or so when we bring you the demolition of several large commercial structures that can total more than a million dollars.

Gotcha.

But

it is you are correct. And it has also been a priority of this council for us to work to try to make sure things don't end up on a blighted list. It's also been your interest for us particularly for residential or property for us to access CDBG funds so that we're have to put a lien on the people's property. But sadly we've got a couple of large commercial structures out here that we have to bring to the council for your consideration and assistance in figuring out

what to do with

them. Some of them are on Merkerson Road and some of them are in other locations as Thank

you, mister mayor. Thank great job, fellas.

Alright. Councilman Davis, and then with second round, the council gotta move. We got one more item public hearing. Folks waiting on us. Miss councilman Davis?

Thank you, mister mayor. Quick question. On number two, the enhancing growth throughout the city. When we talk about jobs created, in quarter one, it was 124. Why is there such a decline in from quarter one to quarter three in jobs created? Is that because it's already almost maxed out?

No, sir. Unfortunately, they counted internships in that, and so that makes up the discrepancy. We will not be reporting internships in the future because it skews those numbers.

Okay. Thank

you. Thank you, mister mayor.

Alright. Second round. Councilman McMillan in here.

Thank you, mister mayor. I'd just like me like to make a motion to receive the report.

Alright. I'll come back to that. Is there a second on that? Second about Davis. Alright. Councilman Harris, you had a follow-up?

Well, not so well, yes, sir. But, basically, that's why it was somewhat rather important that we receive that that data on if there is any funding received back on those liens when we do the demo. So sorry. I thought I was already on. And especially with what you just stated, we get rid of having the corridor and a couple of other places.

Yes, sir. Yeah.

That's why it's important to have that.

We're really excited, and I'm working gonna be working with the city attorney that a lot of the properties that we go out, when we have, fines, that, or money that is owed to the city, if there's a way for us to attach liens and then maybe try to enforce those liens to either get the property owners to sell them versus us just holding thousands of dollars of unpaid liens and stuff like that and the property is just sitting. But we've been working on a variety of strategies. I think I mentioned to some of you when we were in Raleigh, not a ramp alternative, but that program I talked about that we haven't told the city attorney about completely. So, she's, put pride in place, something that, an idea that we have. And that will will partly be successful by having some real teeth, which is when people let property sit with violations for long, long periods of time, was to try to compel them to

Right. Fix them up. Not trying to prolong this, mayor. I know we wanna move on, but that's why it's so important for us to have some some issues where we have some teeth and some things because I'm sick and tired of having fines go out, liens go out, conversations go out, people screaming for years about things in their neighborhood, and we don't get nothing. So I really, really hope we get to that point to where there is some additional teeth to get some of these things done. Thank you, Mayor. Alright.

With that,

gonna

wrap this dental lesson up, gentlemen. But, thank you, guys. So we've got a motion by council member McMillan and seconded by Davis. We've had discussion council look to you for your votes to receive the report from these gentlemen, the dynamic duo, Lowry Bravo. Alright. Madam clerk. I guess I sure sister now went home for the night then. Alright. Show of hands. Those in favor? Alright. Alright. Alright. Motion carries. Thank you, gentlemen.

You, mister Jody. Thank you, Alex. Alright. Council, we're moving to, public hearing. At this time, we were preparing to hold a public hearing where the city council formally seeks your input desire, individual desire to speak at the hearing must have signed up to speak with the city clerk, by name and address before the beginning of tonight's meeting. We begin with staff presentation, then we move into the formal hearing. Fifteen minutes will be allowed for those in favor and those opposed of the items of the hearing. Individual speakers are limited to three minutes each unless by previous arrangement a single spokesperson is designated, in which case that spokesperson may use the entire time. When the city clerk calls your name, please come to the podium. Please clearly state your name.

I'm gonna scratch this and address off of here because that's in my brain. Is it on this one? See, that's why I get messed For

addresses or for public hearings, we do need addresses.

Okay. See, y'all y'all trying to trick me up here. Alright, name and address. And, for the record, you may then address the city council when the light changes from green to amber. That means you have thirty seconds remaining. At the conclusion of your time, the timer will ring. And so with that, we'll turn it over to you. Good evening, sir.

Good evening, mayor, mayor pro tem Good evening. Members of city council. My name is Lamont Henson. I am a community relations specialist with Fayetteville PwC. Thank you for allowing me the time to present this evening.

Tonight's presentation is intended to provide background info on Project Area 26, one of the remaining neighborhoods included in the City Of Fayetteville phase five annexation program. The purpose of tonight's public hearing is to present the final assessment information associated with the installation of public sewer infrastructure in the project area and to ensure property owners as well as council members an understanding of the process, cost, and next steps. With an overview of this presentation, this presentation will cover a brief overview of the overall phase five annexation program, program timeline, and progress to date. The project area 26 background and events completed so far, assessment cost to property owners available financing options requested city council actions and next step. Our goal is to provide context and explain how we arrived at this point in the annexation process.

One second, sir. And if you can, you can stand up tall. Just angle the microphone so you don't have to break you back a little bit. Paula, can you move the microphone up for me as well? I wish I was that tall.

Thank you. I appreciate that. So what we're looking at is the phase five annexation map. This map illustrates the overall boundaries for phase five annexation for the phase five annexation program. The program includes 34 project areas that are identified for extension of sewer service to neighborhoods that were annexed into the city but didn't have access to public sewer at the time annexation became effective.

Project area 26 includes Clifton West and Woodmark, which are which are two remaining areas in the program. This is a timeline for phase five annexation. It officially came into effect in 2005, and the construction began in 2007. So far, there have been 25 of 34 project areas completed. More than 6,700 sewer connections are available.

We're close to half. Over 3,300 property owners have connected to the system. Construction is ongoing in several areas with other areas in the design and assessment stages. Full program completion is projected by the year 2031. I'm sure that is something that may come up again.

Again, that is the projected timeline for completion for phase five. Now there has been an increase in some costs, and this is a reflection of material costs, labor costs, as well as regulatory requirements and inflation. Here is a breakdown of some of those areas that have been completed. There are 25 projected areas already completed. This represents a substantial investment in public infrastructure and has been demonstrated by the city as well as PWC for ongoing commitment to extend sewer services to annex to annex neighborhoods.

The most recent completed area is Area 32 East Section 1. These are some of the remaining areas that are currently in process. Project Area 26 is also listed and is listed as connection available, meaning construction is complete, and residents are now able to connect to the sewer system. Other project areas are in various stages, including construction and preliminary assessment. This is a project area map four twenty six.

This map highlights and includes Clifton West and Woodmark neighborhoods. There is a total of 287 properties in this project area. Properties now have access to public sewer service following the completion of construction. Now there are six steps in the annexation process, design, preliminary assessment, construction, connection available, the assessment role, and the assessments being levied. After council confirms the assessment role, assessments will officially be levied.

This is a breakdown of some key milestones and outreach efforts that have taken place dating all the way back to 2020. As you can see, we have done our due diligence in not notifying the property owners as well as working with city council to, make sure that the process continues to progress along. The construction period was during October 2023 until March 2025, so about a year and a half. And there's been more communication done with the property owners as well as holding community meetings, and this is something that will also come up again. Typical assessment cost is around $5,000 for this area.

A front foot rate of $55.56 with a minimum of 90 feet could be something that is outside of the, typical cost of that $5,000. Now note, no payment is due until construction is complete, and the assessment roll is confirmed by city council. These are some of the payment options residents can pay in full and have no interest levied if they pay within the fifty one days of things being completed. There are also financing available for all residents up to ten years. Prime rate of 2% not to exceed 8%, but, again, this is set by city council, and installments can be made annually or monthly.

There's no penalty for early repayment. And for those that are eligible or who qualify, they can receive assistance through the city of Fayetteville's economic and community development office. Again, this is something I am presenting just for information. No action is required tonight. This will continue on or the next time that this will be met on will be June 8.

After confirmation, we will send out letters to the property owners in area in Project Area 26. We are looking to hold a community meeting on June 25 at Lake Rim Recreation Center. This meeting will allow residents to ask further questions with our staff as well as learn more about the payment and financing options available. This concludes the the presentation for Project Area 26. I greatly thank you for your time and attention. And at this time, I will accept any comments or questions about the presentation. Thank you, mayor and city council.

Thank you. We at this point, we'll open up the public hearing. Do have a couple of people who are registered and signed up to speak. So if there's some questions, we'll we'll circle back to you. Alright. Madam Clerk.

Mayor, our first speaker is mister John Amaker.

Good evening, sir.

Mister mayor, city council, thank you for having me. I just saw some Wazoo figures flashed up there by my predecessor. The questions I have are $5,000 in the assessment. I'd like to ask my predecessor if he's available for that. How did they arrive at $5,000? Who arrived

at it

and how? Yeah. You'll you'll address us during the hearing, then we'll get the question answered. Yes, sir.

So $5,000, how was that arrived at per residence? Does anybody have the answer?

Yeah. We'll we'll get that. This is your time. You've got three minutes, so you don't wanna use it with us responding. But I

thought we'd address one question at a time.

Yes,

sir. Also, in the installment plan, that's very generous, 2%. I'm not asking to take a loan out for this, but some folks will set up bank accounts to cover taxes, especially those who pay quarterlies. So is there, one, any way to reduce that amount? Two, is there any way to do this without incurring any interest payments? And that we would set up accounts to put deposits in to pay the installments monthly or quarterly or yearly. Those are my questions.

Okay. You still you still had a minute forty seven. Did you have anything else? I will get the answers to to Okay. The two things you've asked.

My esteemed colleague, Betty Amaker, my wife, we live at 6839 Brianstone Way, Clifton West, Fayetteville, North Carolina. Were there any questions that you had?

I think I've got her signed up next, so she'll she'll have some some time too.

Very

well. I cede my time.

Alright. Well, don't get too far. Well, let's get some answers for you. In terms of the $5,000, I think your question was how was the amount determined that the resident paid? So when this was done in 2005, at that time, a determination was made that the city would pay 5,000, the p w c would pay 5,000, and the other 5,000 would be paid by the customer.

And so that's where that number came from. But over time, as you can see on his graph, instead of being a ten to fifteen thousand dollar cost, over time, it's now, grown to 40,000. But the 5,000 from the customer is a fixed amount because that was that was within what was put into the agreement. Okay. And so, as to your question on the the interest, the prime is prime plus two.

So what that is is in the event that, as you said, you you wanna finance it, There is some calculation which is which is determined some years ago by council. We're not you know, the city's not a bank, so it didn't wanna compete from that level, but it was prime plus 2% if it's broken down over over payments over time. And that was kinda to help PwC offset because they're covering the 40 the the the difference between the five that you're paying and the 40 that it costs. PwC has gotta find a way to pay for that because the legislature made them responsible for that. So I hope that helped you somewhat.

But, you know, your wife still may have some time that I can that if she wants to continue some of your questions that if we didn't answer something. So I have her next to speak unless she was letting you be the spokesperson then when you can keep going. Let's keep going. Alright.

Thank you for your time.

She can't Okay. Yes. Is she is she there? Can she can do he's okay? To speak for you?

Miss Chetty.

Alright. Thank you for your time. Okay.

Alright. Counsel, any any questions? This was the public hearing. So any any other madam clerk other than miss miss Betty who allowed mister John to speak for her. Do we have any others signed up to speak?

No, sir. Mister John and miss Betty are the only two speakers.

Okay. Alright. So with that, we'll close the public hearing and counsel. Any questions? Councilman McMillan?

Yeah. Thank you, mister mayor. Was was just with this community the other night, Clifton West and Woodmark. A lot of concerns about what's happening in the past, but also the future. I wanna wanna hear about the 2031, how we came up with 2031 versus 2037.

I'm actually relieved to hear six years knocked off of that timeline. Also, it might not be a question for tonight, but it definitely is a question for counsel and the timeline of expansion of the program to include assistance or further assistance for assessment fees. And if we can give the public an earliest and the latest estimate. Because I would imagine that people are watching our meetings, are seeing what's in motion, and would not want to jump too early and move on paying assessment fees when they could have relief a little bit later. So that that is a question that's out there more more for the council than for PwC.

Thank you, council member McMillan. And mister am I pronouncing it right, mister Amaker? Forgot to tell you about so the city city council recently there's a a connection assistance program that was available, but it had income restrictions. But the council recently expanded that and raised, the eligibility for it. And so it could be a good possibility that, that you may qualify, that you may qualify, and it it would actually, offset or pay the 5,000.

And so the the the we're trying to encourage more people to connect without putting them in a financial bind. So if you can, check back with us, we just recently passed that, and that's what, your council member representative was referring to. But if you check back with the city, probably in the next thirty thirty days or so, reach out to him or myself or or and we'll get you with the right folks to tell you to how to apply for that. Okay? Alright. Thank you. Alright. Thank you, counsel. Thank you, mister Hiss. Alright. Counsel, is there a motion to adjourn? Alright. Good meeting.