Council - workshop

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Town of Surf City workshop agenda. We're going to call the meeting to order, and I'm going to ask for Hugh Kennedy. Hugh Kennedy is going to lead us in our invocation, and John will follow us with the pledge. If you would, please stand.

Lord, thank you for allowing us to gather here today. Thank you for keeping us safe, keeping us healthy, and thank you for our beautiful community. Please give us the wisdom as a board and the patience to make good decisions for Surf City. Thank you for these and all our many blessings. Amen.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,

under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Again, I wanted to welcome you here. Chief Voorhees is on his way to deliver our public comments. And while he's up here, I'm just going to ask him to step on over to the mic for a second. Oh, he's got to go back. I'm going to ask him to step on over to the mic. A recap on the scenario that happened in Surf City last night and how well I'm very proud of the town of Surf City for the way that we responded.

Good to see everybody. Good to be here. I had Jason put it up on the board so everybody that was watching online could see what I was about to say and anybody that wanted to could follow along. And I made a written statement just to make sure that I didn't miss anything or leave anything out. But good evening. I wanted to provide a quick update on the bomb threat that was received last night at the Surf City Pier. At approximately 8 p.m., the Pender County 911 Communications Center in Burgaw received a telephone call reporting a bomb threat at the pier. Upon receiving notification of the threat, Surf City police officers immediately evacuated the pier and the surrounding area to ensure the safety of all patrons, employees, and visitors. Assistance was requested from regional law enforcement and emergency response partners. Bomb technicians from the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office Bomb Squad along with agents from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation responded to the scene. A New Hanover County Sheriff's Office K-19 was also deployed in support of the Bomb Squad operations. Additionally, a Pender County EMS Fire Drone provided aerial support to assist responders during the incident. A thorough search of the pier and surrounding areas was conducted. No suspicious devices or hazards were located and no injuries were reported as a result of the incident. The investigation is ongoing at this time. Investigators are working to identify the individual or individuals responsible for making the threat. And all appropriate criminal charges will be pursued if we are able to identify a suspect. I'd like to thank our officers, the dispatchers, Surf City Fire Department, New Hanover County Sheriff's Office, Bomb Squad, K-9 Unit, State Bureau of Investigation, Pender EMS and Fire, Pender County Sheriff's Office, North Carolina Highway Patrol, and all the other assisting agencies for the rapid response, professionalism, and teamwork. Their coordinated efforts ensured the safety of the public and allowed the incident to be resolved safely, efficiently, and quickly. We take all threats of this nature seriously and will continue to work diligently to protect our residents and visitors. If you have any questions that I can't answer, I will. Just please keep in mind that it is active investigation. Some of the information is sensitive and it can't be released in a public forum.

Understood. Any other questions? Appreciate it.

Start to finish was about three hours until we had the area cleared and everyone was off-scene so it It progressed quickly. So we cleared it out as quickly as we could. Thank you very much. You're welcome.

Yes, sir At this time we're gonna move on to the adoption of the agenda I would like to request that we pull item number two from the agenda, which is the budget however We will Cal will give us an update as to why we're going to pull it from the budget. So if I can, do I have a motion?

I'll make a motion to remove that from the agenda. I'll second it.

I have a motion and a second to pull item number two, the budget, from the agenda. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any discussion? Everybody said aye, right? OK. Motion carries. Do I have a motion to adopt the agenda as amended?

I'll make a motion to adopt the agenda as presented.

I'll second.

I have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda as amended. All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed, same sign. Motion carries. This time we have public comments, and the citizens have an opportunity to address the council for no more than three minutes per speaker.

Mayor, did you want me to give the update first? Absolutely, yes, sir. Good evening, Madam Mayor and Council. Just wanted to give an update as to the action to pull item number two, which was the consideration and adoption of the fiscal year 26-27 budget. As the board knows and most public knows, we've tried to communicate this, is the reval process that has been undergoing in Pender County and Onslow County has been essentially halted through legislation that's been filed at the state legislature. That legislation introduced as Senate Bill 889 has made its way through the Senate, has made its way through the House, and has been ratified, yet has not been signed by the governor. It was sent to the governor's office on June 10th. By law, he has 10 days to either sign, do not sign, or veto that bill. At this point, we don't know where that is going to go. So there's pretty strict restrictions in the budget legislation, General Statute 159. So we are moving forward with as much caution as possible with this. And therefore, we want to hold off on adopting a budget and setting a tax rate through a budget ordinance until that matter has been resolved. It would be likely that this board would need to call a special meeting between now and June 30th. June 30th is a statutory deadline for adoption of a fiscal year budget, or the town would have to adopt a interim budget as defined within the statute. The state has provided some guidance because this does impact multiple counties and municipalities within the state. So the school government who works under the University of North Carolina as well as the local government commission is advising that municipalities or counties do not adopt a budget until this matter has been resolved and should be considering a third option of an interim budget. So we don't know exactly where that will go. An interim budget is a very temporary solution to continue us through the new fiscal year, which starts on July 1st. And essentially, it must be adopted in order to recognize revenues, levy property taxes for the budget. The interim budget... We'll make interim interim appropriations that cover the time period between July one and the adoption of the budget ordinance. Interim appropriations have a limited scope. However, they can only be used for the purposes of paying salaries, debt service payments and the usual ordinary expenses of the local unit. A unit may not levy property taxes, assess new fees or authorize new expenditures. Interim appropriations are used only to keep the government running on a temporary basis. Although often referred to as an interim budget, interim appropriations do not technically constitute a budget because they do not include revenues. Instead, they simply authorize a unit to continue to make routine expenditures until the budget ordinance is adopted. So again, we hope that we're not in that situation. However, that is going to be a third option that may be presented to this board and may be asked that you adopt an interim budget on June 30th if we have to wait till the absolute deadline for the budget adoption process. So essentially that's where we are with the process. Some additional information that we've been able to secure from both Onslow and Pender County to reflect any growth that has occurred within the municipal limits from over the last year, new houses, renovations, additions, etc., that is taxable value that can be assessed. So that will have an impact if the legislation moves forward and the revaluations do not go into effect this year. So that additional value, taxable value, could have an impact on the potential tax rate that would be presented with the budget. So I don't want to give a specific because we're still crunching some numbers there, but We could potentially see up to a penny reduced from 48 and a half to 47 and a half. But again, that is very preliminary. We will get the numbers put together and get this sent out to the board. But once again, regardless of option A or option B or interim budget, nothing will be finalized until we can get a little bit of word and clarity from the General Assembly. So that is my update, Madam Mayor. As far as the budget is presented, expenditures, et cetera, that stuff is all cleaned up and was presented to you in your agenda packet this evening. So expenditures shouldn't really change. It's just going to be how the taxable value and the levy is applied to the expenditure for a balanced budget and hopefully moving forward. So I hope I've been able to be clear in that explanation and how we will be moving forward. At this point, hang tight. We will move forward as directed, and we'll certainly be in close contact with our legal counsel on what the most prudent options and decisions that we need to make moving forward.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right. We'll move on to public comments. Carla?

Amanda Bostic?

Anything?

I live at 404 North Topsail Drive, and my family has lived there for more than 50 years. So I've seen our little town explode. My concern that I want to address today is the safety of the children, and not just the children, but senior citizens along North Topsail Drive. There's not a stop sign at all along that stretch, and when people are trying to avoid traffic on 210, they're speeding down that one. My next-door neighbor, they're both in their late 70s, and I've seen them several times trying to back out, you know, for somebody to slam on brakes. I've seen children crossing with their families from Salt Marsh. I'm not sure the title of that big place, but anyway, they're often crossing to go to the— I guess it's 15, the access 15. That's a really popular access. There's a lot of traffic, a lot of foot traffic that goes over there. A lot of children cross at that section. Sometimes with parents, a lot of times without parents. Stop sign anywhere in that vicinity would be wonderful, but particularly my concern is for North Topsail Drive I don't know if that's something that's being addressed I do appreciate the sidewalks on each side that has helped keep some of the people out of the street But they do still walk down the middle of the road because it's like this is Disney World and I appreciate that I'm happy to be here, too but I really Just today, I saw two girls almost get hit by a truck because they were trying to cross the road, and that truck was going really fast down that road. So that's just what I wanted to share tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Bostick.

No more. No more. OK.

All right, we will move to our next item. Dr. Reynolds is here to give us a facilities expansion update. I stopped by there this morning and it looks absolutely beautiful inside.

Mayor, council, I left Mr. Rawson at the house tonight. He deserved the evening off. As far as money goes, nothing really has changed from the last time that we spoke up here. Everything's still on track. Just an update on building progress for Station 25. Exterior paint is complete. We have finished the vestibule structure and the roof, and interior finishes are being completed. The pervious concrete drive has been poured. The demolition of the old training building has been complete in the back, and that has allowed us to kind of grade and clean up in the back as well. Coming up for that is landscaping and one other update. I told you last time the generator wasn't coming until the 15th. That has been pushed back again to June 30th. Speaking with our electrical vendor and suppliers, that date seems to be good. So it shouldn't push us back too far, but that will be June 13th. Public utilities, we've focused a lot on the exterior of the building in the past month. Fencing is up. Asphalt, striping, we've got all your parking spots in. Interior finishes, we did final paint. Landscaping has started. The generator was actually set yesterday, and so they're going to work on getting that set up. And we've got folks on the inside of the building doing final clean and windows as well. So we'll have a clean building by tomorrow afternoon. Any questions for me?

It's looking great.

Thank you. I appreciate saying that. Thank you.

Thank you. Melissa we're to Melissa our budget she's going to give us some budget ordinance amendments the first one is fund 30 facilities expansion and through the next five items we will be asking for action to be taken.

Good evening, Madam Mayor and council. This budget amendment applies to phase one of the public utilities expansion. It's nearing completion. The funds from the water enterprise to cover phase one needs to be transferred into the project fund, which is fund 78, to cover the cost of phase one. It is respectfully requested that town council approve this budget amendment. And the amount is $3,288,500. I'll be glad to answer any questions if you have them.

Thank you, Melissa. It is requested that the town council consider approval of the budget ordinance amendment as presented. Do I have a motion?

I'll make a motion to do that.

I'll second.

I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those opposed, same sign. Motion carries. Next item is budget ordinance amendment fund 10 year-end closeout.

This year's close is quickly approaching. After review of the budget, the following departmental budgets may experience an overexpenditure without additional funding. This budget amendment will prevent that and potential audit findings that will result from an overexpenditure. It is respectfully requested council approve the budget amendment. The amount of this budget amendment is $172,981.

Thank you, Melissa. It is requested that the town council consider approval of the budget ordinance amendment as presented. Do I have a motion to do so?

I'll take a motion to do so, ma'am.

I have a motion. Do I have a second?

I'll second.

And a second. All those in favor, say aye.

Aye. Can I ask a question before we go?

Any discussion?

Yes. Ms. Moore, I'm trying to get my head around the $140,000 for solid waste. It seems like a big number. And Mr. Brewer was kind enough to share with me some of the things that impacted on that. The question I have is, are we okay for next year in the 26-27 budget?

I feel like we are, but we can definitely review that if you'd like.

That might be a good thing. I don't want to be in the same position next year. And I understand that if we don't use it, obviously it goes back to the general fund anyway. And I understand the need to make sure that we don't have an underspend because, as Mr. Brewer pointed out and the LGC confirmed it, that's not a good thing. Overspent is a lot worse than being underspent. And the money doesn't disappear. But if we could make sure that that line item is the best we can do for next budget so we don't face this again. Thank you.

Thank you. So we had a motion and a second. All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed, same sign. Motion carries. Budget Ordinance Amendment, Radio Construction Fund, 82.

Good evening, Madam Mayor and Council. Before you is a budget ordinance amendment requesting the transfer of $125,000 from Fund 82, the Disaster Operations Fund, to Fund 56, which is the LMR Radio Construction Fund, for the installation of the final LMR components or radio components at their fixed site. I know this project has kind of grown long in the tooth, but we had some stale moments there where nothing was happening, and then all of a sudden it's just been like, here we go, everything's lining up. So hopefully the cabinet will be delivered at the end of the month, and then we can get the remainder of the equipment installed and get that system commissioned and put into test mode.

James?

Thank you.

It is requested that the town council consider approval of the budget ordinance amendment as presented.

I'll make that motion, Mayor.

I'll second.

I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed, same sign. Motion carries. Budget ordinance amendment, radio construction fund 56. Aye.

Yes, ma'am. This is just the other side of that budget ordinance amendment. This is accepting the funds from Fund 82 into Fund 56. All right.

It is requested that Town Council consider approval of the budget ordinance amendment as presented.

I'll make that motion, Mayor.

I have a motion. Do I have a second?

I'll second.

Any discussion? All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed, same sign. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you all. Next item, budget ordinance amendment compact tractor closeout.

Good evening, Madam Mayor and Town Council again. The town of Surf City has received the invoice for a final lease payment on the compact tractor lease from Cat Financial. The closeout payment of $24,067 was not budgeted this year. We were not aware there was a closeout payment. This lease was signed in 2021. The town did not budget for the final payment. The invoice was received on 6-11, which was close to doing the deadline for the meeting. It is requested that Town and Council approve this budget amendment. If you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer.

Melissa? It is requested that Town and Council consider approval.

Can I ask Melissa a question real quick? The transfer is coming from sales tax. That's kind of...

We just picked, instead of doing fund balance like we normally did, we picked a revenue line that was already over. We had already received more than we had budgeted.

And do we own this now?

It belongs to us now.

Okay, so that final payment really is the end of the lease, but it results in a purchase. Okay, we are just giving it back. All right, that's good to know. That's all.

Any other discussions? All right. It is requested that town council consider approval of the budget ordinance amendment as presented. Do I have a motion?

I'll make that motion, Mayor.

Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor, say aye.

Aye.

All opposed, same sign. Motion carries. Thank you, Melissa. Next item is the Bike and Pedestrian Committee. And I think Jeremy will present.

Madam Mayor, members of council, before you on this item is a request for concurrence to appoint our process for creating the bike and ped update plan steering committee. This is a result of our grant to update the bike and ped plan working with NCDOT and Moffett & Nickel, the appointed higher consultant by DOT. We are proposing that the steering committee be made up of two members from the planning board that would represent land use, two members from the multi-use path committee that's an existing transportation committee, and then two members from our park and recreation advisory board. this committee would attend three meetings over a 12-month period as part of the bike of head plan update as well as public meetings and then be part of our town run shared folder where they could look at the documents and make comments and considerations as we go through this process We believe this proposed steering committee gives a good mix of our existing board and keeps us on track on our project kicked off at the end of July. I'll be happy to answer any questions the board may have.

Will Sir City Police be involved?

There will be various members of staff that will be rotating members and input. But these will be the standing members from our existing committees.

Is council going to select the members from the committees?

The way the other communities that have been recipients of this grant, they've let the boards appoint them. We've already talked with the planning board. They've appointed two members as well as the multi-use path. We still need to work with the recreation advisory committee.

And then if they're going to meet three times, is the intention for us to get some sort of update at whatever meeting council's going to have following so that we can give our input there as well?

Yes, ma'am. Part of our scope and the kickoff is we will provide monthly updates. It may not always be a formal presentation, but it will be in your packet of an update of where we are. This board will be part of all our public meetings and input throughout the whole process.

So there's no appetite to have someone from council be part of that committee? That is absolutely to this board's discretion. I think, never mind.

That is absolutely the worst, if you so choose to.

We can attend the meetings. Of course, we can attend meetings. Always attend. Yes.

And once we do the kickoff, we'll have dates set. We're actually a little behind, but that is just the nature of state funding. Just looking for concurrence to move forward.

Do we have consensus to move forward with? Certainly. Yes. Thank you. Yes.

Thank you.

Andy? Yes.

Thank you. All right, next item is committee discussion, and Carla is going to, or Kyle.

I can take it, Madam Mayor. You can chime in where you might need to or want to. It's up to you.

Go ahead.

Okay. At the May work session, it was requested that staff look into the overall effectiveness of the Promotion Special Events and Tourism Committee, or PSET. prior to appointing new members to fill those vacant spots. This is based on recent meetings and perceived confusion on direction of the committee, staff responsibilities, and the overall need for an advisory committee in this capacity. The initial formulation of the committee had a purpose in mind pertaining more to ticketed events, which have since been removed from the special events handbook. Town Council has tasked the committee with the following functions for the current year. Continue to track promotional spending through results-driven data. Report on outcomes of visitor data to include spending through accommodations and sales tax. Work with staff to develop information showing how tourism dollars help offset ad valorem taxes and update that annually. Last year, the committee was instrumental in helping develop the backyard beach bash. and has recently been working with staff to help develop an internal and external event scorecard that can be used to determine how to see continuous improvement and alignment with Surf City. These will then be transitioned from development to implementation and utilized by staff as tools for improvement. With this transition, it was discussed as to whether or not the committee is simply hearing updates at this point and should they continue in their advisory role. Should the council determine that the committee is unnecessary in the current setup and capacity tours, tourism related committee oversight should go back to the parks and recreation advisory committee where those functions were previously assigned. The committee handbook would need to be modified to reflect this update and they would again be the parks, recreation and tourism advisory committee staff. Madam clerk and I met with the, piece at chair to discuss the concerns of council and appointment and overall direction. I don't want to speak for the chair in this setting, but there was general agreement based on the information provided about original intent of the committee how that is functioning and their overall role in the process. There was still desire sort of communicated that they still, at least some of them, may still want to be involved in certain events and volunteer and do other things. But that's, again, I think that If the board is going to dissolve the piece set, the tourism functions still warrant oversight as far as input, reporting out as to what the tourism portion of Parks and Recreation Department is working on, and then also the continuous improvement that we have discussed and are excited to continue to work on internally as staff. I can answer any questions or try to answer any questions. Certainly the clerk was part of that conversation as well. And then those of you who were here when we appointed the PSET to go through that process should have some of the background knowledge or history of that committee. It has not been around for a very long couple years.

It was originally set up for Surf City Labs.

Well, that was it was seemed to be the kickoff of the committee the desire for Council to appoint members is to assist in that process as you all know that that process was a laborious process in regards to involvement of the town and town staff, you know, a lot of work that had went into those events, you know, and that simply, those events do not exist. Now, assistance in setting up, assistance in working events, I mean, volunteer efforts are always welcomed within the town in any committees, because I think a lot of our committees strive on that. But yes, to answer your question, I think that was one of the impetuses of setting up the PSET.

Anyone else have any questions?

I just wanted to ask Mr. Sedati, you have the bandwidth in that committee then to manage. I think the data part of it is critical, and I think understanding the impact tourism has on our economy and our livelihoods here is important. So I just want to make sure that you're good with that.

Yeah, I think between staff and the current PRAC committee, we could absorb those duties.

So expanding the PRAC is not something, adding additional volunteers to the PRAC is not? I don't think at this time that we find that necessary, but we'd like to reserve the right to request more bodies if needed.

Thank you. That's a fair request, too. They do a lot, and like you said, the data portion of what PSET was doing just from the meetings that I went to is pretty substantial and definitely has the potential to benefit the community as a whole down the road. And they were just kind of getting their feet wet. But I think that's definitely something the staff could probably absorb. But I would like to see the Parks and Rec Committee maybe get another member or two if they felt like it was warranted.

Good. Yeah, again, I'm not micromanaging Mr. Sedati and his oversight of the committees. He does a really good job at that. We've been heavily involved in understanding promotional efforts, where those are going, how they're performing, making adjustments monthly as to the valuable accommodations dollars that are being put out. uh, in order to, um, you know, target off, uh, off season or shoulder season, uh, tourism, which is our, our main efforts. And, um, I do believe that it's going to take a little bit of time for, um, Mr. Sadati and, and, um, Ms. Larson to, uh, bring that, that P rack up to, up to speed as to what they've been working on, what the piece that has been evaluating, um, so that they have an understanding of what the outcomes that, Staff is certainly driving for outcomes of the data analysis and how that is being effective for the town. So again, I think it's just going to take a little bit of time to get them up to speed. But again, something that I'm confident he can communicate and work with the committee to do.

You just need consensus on this guy.

Yeah, the official action would have to come through. My opinion would have to come through a modification of the committee handbook to eliminate the committee. And then also the secondary action to that is to put the T back in the PRTAC and modify what their sort of overview purpose, et cetera, looks like. And we can go back to prior iterations or prior versions and then this board would obviously have the opportunity to modify that as you see fit.

We should be able to do that just through resolution and change in the handbook. And we should be able to do that on the next consent agenda, if that's the wishes that are stated here. And a resolution to dissolve then the current committee and to change Parks and Rec back and the revised handbook

We're making that change. Can we get some feedback from Parks and Rec Committee to see if they would like maybe another member? For sure.

Yeah, we have.

We're going to make changes. We might as well do it all at once, right?

And what we can do then is just maybe table that to the next work session.

Gotcha.

Bring it back to that.

Thank you, Frank.

Thank you.

All right, next item is the MOU Traffic Management Services, and Kyle Brewer will present.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you, and good evening again, Madam Mayor and Council. So what's before you is an MOU, Memorandum of Understanding, with Topsail Beach for the purpose of proposed traffic management services. The purpose of this MOU is to establish seasonal interlocal agreement between the town of Surf City and Topsail Beach to provide traffic management services at key intersections in which we see congestion during peak times, primarily at the North Carolina 50 and North Carolina 210 intersection. Additional intersection management services may be provided at the Food Lion intersection as well. Services would be provided during peak seasonal times to improve traffic flow, public safety, emergency access, and visitor mobility. The town of Surf City would serve as the lead agency responsible for procuring services, managing day-to-day operations, coordinating scheduling, and serving as the primary point of contact. Surf City would pay all contractor invoices and provide cost documentation at Topsail Beach for reimbursement. Costs associated with traffic management services would be shared equally between the two municipalities unless otherwise agreed upon by both parties. The town of Topsail Beach, as of yesterday afternoon, has committed to funding up to $30,000 based on the 50-50 split as referenced in the MOU. Operational adjustments related to staffing levels, hours of service, weather events or traffic conditions will be managed by Surf City within the approved budget. The agreement would establish clear procedures for budgeting, invoicing, reporting, liability and termination to ensure transparency and accountability between both municipalities. Some key benefits of the MOU are as follows. It provides a coordinated approach to managing seasonal traffic impacts that affect both communities, shares operational costs and resources between municipalities while maintaining consistent oversight and service delivery, creates a formal framework for evaluating traffic management effectiveness and informing future transportation planning efforts. An additional data collection will be provided and will begin potentially as soon as this weekend by providing outbound predictive drive times to supplement already captured inbound predictive drive times. We don't feel like if this board were to move forward with this that we would have this in place by the weekend. However, data collection can start basically immediately on this proposition. The town continues to collect data for outbound traffic from the S curve to the island roundabout and from Shell Road to the island roundabout. Inbound data is being collected from Shepherd's Road to the island roundabout and from Magnolia Reserve to the island roundabout. What I feel is, and I should step back just for a second, These data collections were solely based on trying to evaluate effectiveness of the bridge light, not for 50 and 210. So additional data points would need to be collected, as I mentioned, for outbound flow, and we would want to pick up the gap from the island roundabout back to points on the mainland, Shepherd's Road and northern pintail place at Magnolia Reserve to be consistent with what we're collecting on inbound. And again, if we can get that set up right now, we will at least have one weekend of verified data and what that would look like as the baseline prior to operational changes at the intersections. We've been in constant contact with the vendor We did have two quotes on this. I shared some of the pricing with this and I was very clear in my message to you all that this is not a cheap solution by any means. I think that what Topsail Beach has proposed certainly serves as a pilot project, a opportunity to evaluate any effectiveness that this may bring. The traffic management service vendor does feel pretty strongly that both of those intersections would need to be managed in order to see significant results. How we measure those results, I think, become a little bit more subjective in regards to what people's tolerance is for being stuck in traffic. So, you know, if that's a half time, from what our current timing is. Is that good? I'm not sure. I think it just depends on the different people. But it would be our goal to be able to objectively present back to this board as well as Topsail Beach an understanding of what that impact. And I think if it's working, it's going to be visible. People are going to know it's working, but also always want to have some of that, the layer of data that would back that up. Again, happy to answer any questions that the board may have on this. A lot of it's just going to come down to the operational side and us working with the vendor in their setup, their approach, and documentation and reporting. But the way that this would work is that essentially our police department would be the operational contact with the vendor as they set up on a daily basis, manage the intersections. The vendor doesn't hold the key to the traffic light box, so there will be coordination on that point so that lights can be cut off. Do a flashing status. Perhaps there's opportunity to cut them back on during the middle of when we know that there's valleys or lull times within the traffic, but again, I'll let the operational side handle that as we would move forward. So working with Melissa, our finance officer, we would be able to find funding for this at that 30,000 level. within our current budget. I do think it's proper for Fund 21 to do this as the one-time expenditure as we're looking at this. Funding this long-term, we'll have to come back to the table and have these discussions as to whether or not any impact is really being shown through the service, but I do feel strongly we've got to in order to figure if it's going to work, we're going to have to try it as just a temporary solution. And as I mentioned, I think this will be very powerful in trying to help guide longer-term planning efforts, improvements, and seeking funding elsewhere that may be able to supplement local expenditures for a state roadway traffic congestion issue. So again, happy to answer any questions or try to answer them.

These individuals will be controlling the traffic lights, not so much as being in, like a person being in the traffic.

No, they will be in the intersection, and essentially their operation is that, according to DOT traffic management, there's forewarning signs that have to be put up. So when you're entering into an intersection and What they would do is constrict the intersection down to single lanes for the approach to manage that, but there would be flaggers within the intersection that are controlling the traffic. The traffic light that I mentioned is the initial, the box that we would have to get into, give them a key, or DOT give them a key to turn the light off. But they're not gonna be at the box turning lights off and lights off, we won't do that.

Oh, at 60,000. What timeframe are we looking? How long? I mean, weekends we're looking at.

Um, so we are, we are looking at, uh, let me get back to my, we can, we can essentially get through July and that's, um, with several days at both intersections being managed. Um, I do want to see just the singular intersection as well as both intersections to get that, that, uh, data comparison. Does it just work at 52 10? We don't need both intersections, but once again, we're going to have to figure this out to determine its effectiveness. So if we started on June 27, which would be the weekend following this, we would have a weekend in place. We'd roll into the 3rd, 4th, and 5th for the 4th of July. And then the 11th and 12th is where I would propose that we have both intersections that are manned. And then subsequent weekends of the 18th and 25th would be the singular intersection that would be manned. And we'd be able to tell the difference just from that standpoint.

That's 10 days of observations? Let's see.

Nine. And then two weekends would be intersection, both intersections.

Six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Yeah, 11 in total.

They're running about six grand a day.

Yeah. Five for both lights. Um, about five grand, a little over five grand, 5,800. Yeah. Yeah.

57 makes about the 60,000. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. And, and we have to, we'll keep track obviously on the running budget on this. Um, and then they'll, they'll have to put together a traffic plan. And if this board wants to move forward, we will start our communication tomorrow with DOT. They'll require a special event permit for us to obtain, similar to what we would see at Lake Linda when they do the intersection traffic management, even though that's a static application. But there's still some additional work that we need to do and additional coordination. Manager Burke was on the call this afternoon with the vendor again so that she was able to answer some of the questions because their board is obviously very interested in this. I think both jurisdictions are very interested in this. There are some viewpoints on traffic in general, and again, I think we're going to have to continue to work together on this, whether short-term or long-term solutions to figure out what's going to be implementable actions and certain things that we're just not going to be able to manage, unfortunately.

I think it's worth a try. I mean, that's what our citizens have been asking for some sort of traffic control, and we can't put the bonus on our police department, obviously. Do they get paid enough for the verbal abuse they're going to receive? Because I'm sure they're going to get a little of that.

Yeah, and that's another, not on that subject of verbal abuse, but, you know, again, the traffic management, and confirmed again today, is, you know, their services I don't know if this is the right word to use, but they're, they're fairly transient. So it's not, um, that we are locked into even 11 days. We could, we could have two weekends and no improvement has been made and we can make a decision to cut the cord on it. Um, where there's not going to be penalties for that. Um, if we know that, you know, the rain forecast James is providing a forecast of the weekend is going to be a complete washout. We know that we're not going to get the day trip or volume. And we also know that our system can handle the check-in and check-out. It's just when you start adding the day-tripper volume plus the rental check-in and check-out, that's where the collapse in the network and the volume over capacity is just completely taxed.

Are any other towns doing anything like this currently? We've seen any results similar?

No, not that I'm aware of. Primarily, you see this focused around special events, concerts, where towns that may have a large amphitheater do this every weekend, or the city of Raleigh, who's going to have... Sports events or whatever it might be but the the constant traffic control I have seen You know my own experience the effort to divert traffic of certain locations You know that may or may not work I haven't seen where law enforcement has has gone into intersections for an entire like season to work that traffic management and That's where long-term solutions, we have got to push for those. You're super popular.

We know that.

30,000 people a day. So that's kind of where we're at. And, you know, again, I've committed to Christina. I'm happy to, since we're kind of the gatekeepers of the data and are capturing all this, I'm happy to go down to their board and talk to them. about what that looks like so that everybody remains informed and a decision can be made because we'll be back here in a month looking at the outcome of this. Why nine to five? So good question. Nine to five covers essentially their flagging operation due to the fact that there is setup for the operation. So they have to give advance notice before you enter an intersection. they have to implement a coning of the intersection to restrict. So we just felt, and they feel, obviously, it's their interpretation of this, Having a lull in that, number one, getting employees to show up for two or three hours of work is going to be very difficult for them to do. But they would have to take all that down, put the light back to a normal cycle, and then come back and set everything back up.

I wasn't asking the question splitting morning and then having a gap and then after. Why end at 5 o'clock? Because I think three of us experienced traffic coming off the island. Sure. Coming here today, that was a little bit different. Yeah. So 5 p.m., I'm wondering if that's too early and 9 a.m. is too early, doing it 10 to 6. Does that make any sense? Or adding an hour, doing it 9 to 6.

Yeah, and we can add the hour if we need to. We can adjust the timing based on the already data that we have, but we haven't gotten to that point of strict operational guidelines as to what we're going to look like.

Well, on a Friday afternoon, getting back onto the island around 5 or 6 o'clock can become, well, backed up to 17 on 50 almost. We don't have any control now. No, I understand. I understand. But if we stop the control at 5 o'clock and there's still a backlog of a lot of traffic, that's the question I'm asking. Sure.

flexibility in that as we proceed with where if we see that it's alleviating congestion and we feel like we need to add an hour we can do that as well just as long as it falls within that $30,000 budget that we're obligated to and and that we're giving advance notice so for them to be able to actually employ the individuals but you know I can I can tell you

Memorial Day weekend is our outlier, but Friday at 4.30 would have been a peak for the day, and that's coming from Shepherd's Road was 30 minutes to get to the Island Roundabout. That's a pretty hefty hike when your average listed out between May 21 and June 15 is six minutes. So you're five times what that normal average trip would take. But then when you look at Friday, May 29th, there may have been weather or whatever, but your peak timing was at 5.30 p.m. on that Friday, and that was inbound at 11 minutes.

Still doubled.

Yes, and then Friday, June 5th, was 16.4. So once again, we get into the what's the threshold for what is too long to get to from point A to point B, and expectation of a driver, I guess, is the only way I can explain it. We have, in my opinion, pretty good data that's been collected over the last several weeks to help guide us in making those decisions. And I look forward to working with the police department to help him make those decisions.

I think we need to understand when should we start and when should we end in terms of the day. Sure. I think Fridays may be different than Saturdays because on Fridays, obviously, people are coming home from work, but on Saturdays, It's day trippers coming to the island and the renters. And their timing may be different. I know that check-in isn't until 4 o'clock for a lot of the rental places, though some people like to come a little earlier and hang out at the beach. I'd hate to shut it down at 5 o'clock and then create this huge inflow-outflow challenge.

Sure. And just to elaborate a little bit, Like Saturday, June 6th, you know, 10 a.m., this is inbound traffic from Shepherds Road, so day tripper traffic. You know, you had a 21.8 minutes. At 9 a.m.? At 10 a.m. Okay. At 9 a.m., you were looking at, I think that changes significantly. Yeah, seven minutes. Okay. So, yeah, 10 a.m. might be the more appropriate time. Or 9.30 because we don't want to put them into a fully congested intersection.

Based on experience, you can't throw them out there to set the intersection up when you've already started your peak. No, no, no. I understand.

I think 9 o'clock is still going to be your number.

The backside of it, we'll try to. We'll look at the outbound and try to get that. And that's why I think having the gap filled from Island Roundabout back to those points of mainland destination is going to be another telling story. We just weren't. We weren't focused on that because our data collection was focused on the bridge ramp meter.

As we start this, if that's what we're going to do, it'll evolve into, we'll see different points we need to evolve into. Do you feel like this company is going to be flexible enough, because I mentioned this to you before, I believe, and it may not come up, but if it does, I want to feel like they're able to pivot and overcome that outbound Once we start trying to free flow to outbound and it gets rolling, I predict that that handy mark light, which is right here, could create a problem. Because that's shorter, I believe, from here to there than it is from there to the food line. So if you're trying to free flow them out to 17... and it stops and it becomes, Hey, we're out here, but we ain't got nowhere to send them.

Yeah. And that's, again, that's what we talked to them about today is, is field observation is going to be critical. Um, obviously they can't, they're not gonna be able to do a whole lot about that. The other interesting side of all this is going to be when people are leaving the beach, it's very prevalent for people to put their destination into their phone even though they know how to get home and follow the gps so what we have also found is that once a certain area gets backed up gps reroutes you a different route so we may see that if if they're pushing 50 hard it's going to push the gps to 50 to 17 and so we don't know you know we did talk about the the Walmart cut-through, and there's nothing they're going to be able to do about private property. But that's a concern is that we see an increase of that cut-through that obviously we can't control. But there's going to be challenges with it. I can almost promise that.

Thank you, Kyle. So it sounds like this is just a temporary study. It's a temporary solution to possibly get us through the next six weeks, five weeks, six weeks.

If it is shown that it is being effective, then I think we can call it a temporary solution. Once again, if we cause more issues, then we have resolved.

Terminated at any time.

Abandon ship. And as long as we give them, you know, like eight hours notice, I believe, is all their contract is going to require. We'll take a look at that. You don't have to execute the contract or review that. We'll do that and make sure that we're protected with the flexibility that we need. Again, these companies or these vendors are familiar with this.

Do we have consensus, Trudy?

Yes. I would ask for a vote on the MOU. That's all your vote? You're just voting on the MOU?

Not on the price because you have that authority.

That's correct, yes.

All right, so the LMOU traffic management that was presented tonight, is there a motion to approve it as presented?

I'll make a motion to approve it as presented, Mayor.

I'll second.

All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed, same sign. Motion carries. Thank you very much. Does our attorney have anything?

No, ma'am.

OK. Do I have a motion to adjourn?

I'll make a motion to adjourn, ma'am.

Do I have a second?

Second.

All those in favor say aye. Aye. We are adjourned.

Thank you. Thank you.