Council - Regular Meeting

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Good evening and welcome to the Surf City Town Council meeting for March 3rd, 2026. [clears throat] U we're going to call the meeting to order and I'm going to call on our pastor tonight, Nick Adams from the gathering to lead us in our invocation, which will be followed by John Kowski, councilman, to lead us in our pledge. if you would all please stand.

All right, everybody, let's pray. God, thank you uh for warmer weather, for sunshine, for a beautiful day. Uh help us to be present with you and each other in these mo next few moments. Dear Lord, I uh just thank you for the town and just thank you for the honor and privilege to uh lift them up to you. Dear Lord, I pray that uh we would all just be reminded to help us not to do things out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but to value others above ourselves and know that you will work things out in a way that uh that honors and glorifies you. I just uh thank you for all the people that make up this town. And dear Lord, I pray that you just give the councilmen and women and mayor and police and all the staff that makes up the town, dear Lord, wisdom and discernment and and decisions they need to make. And uh I just pray you go before them tonight. And I just thank you for letting me be a part of it and uh in any kind of way. And I look forward to what you're going to do. We love you in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.

[clears throat]

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you all for attending tonight. At this time, I'm going to call up um Sandy Maro. She is the chair for the beautifification enhancement committee to do her awards for the month of March. Thank you. Um I don't know if the folks are here today, but we're going to recognize them in clap form anyway, just as if they were here. So, our home of the month goes to the Marcus Wilson family and they live at 52 South Oak Drive and um they have a lovely home and a beautiful looking yard and we really appreciate when our citizens do a little extra work to um make everything beautiful as we drive around our community. So, we'll be taking taking their certificate and taking some photos in front of their house tomorrow. They're correct me. not here, right? [laughter] Um, our business of the month goes to Capefar Seafood Company and I am not Is anyone here from Capefar tonight? I don't I think they said they weren't able to make it, but we will be also going to see them tomorrow. But I just wanted to mention it's a new restaurant in town. I know we had some um concerns about egress and uh getting in and out and the wateride community and things like that, but I do think we can all agree they made an extra effort to make sure that their building and their grounds and their whole area looks really beautiful. And on top of that, they did a little extra enhancement by

donating to um at least three different nonprofit and charitable organizations during their opening weekend. and they may continue to do such things. We can only hope because that's the kind of wonderful community that we live in. And it's wonderful when our businesses um and so many of them do. They all give back to the community and that's what we love to celebrate. And also um can I talk about other things?

Absolutely. [laughter] The other things I wanted to mention was on April 18th, the Topsel Island Longboard Association is doing an whole island beach sweep and each of the communities is supporting that. So, our beautifification committee is going to definitely be representing Surf City and we hope we can get all of you out there to help us do that. And that will be on April 18th and I believe it'll start in the morning. I don't have the exact time, but I'm sure we'll be posting a bunch of information about that. and I [clears throat] hope to see you all out there. Thank you. Thank you, Sandy. Um, are there other members from your committee here tonight?

If they if you if they would please stand and you can introduce them. I think there's a lot of recognition that needs to be made. [laughter] She's here. She's one of our master gardeners. Put her talents to good use by helping select um appropriate greenery and flowers and bushes and things that we use. We planted along Roland and a lot of other areas around the community. And we have [snorts] at least two other members are also master gardeners. And so we love it. And anytime we're working on these projects, we'd love to have anyone come out and uh help us dig in the dirt. That's

Thank you very much. Thank you, Miss Debbie. Um, up next is the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association 100th anniversary. And we have a proclamation and Hugh Kennedy is going to read the proclamation.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. from the office of mayor surf city. This proclamation centennial proclamation commemorating the 100th anniversary anniversary of the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association. Whereas 2026 marks the 100th anniversary of the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association, which has advanced coastal restoration and protection for a century, fostering collaboration among scientists, policy makers, and communities. And whereas the preservation of shores and beaches remain vital for community safety, economic strength, ecological health and recreation as it was at American Shore Beach Preservation founding. And whereas we have benefited from American Shore Beach Preservation leadership and translating science into policy and advocating for resilient coasts. And whereas the town of Surf City seeks to continue working with American Shore Beach Protection Association to address future coastal challenges. Now therefore, it be resolved the town of Surf City commends American Shore Beach Protection Association for a century of leadership and reaffirms its founding purpose to promote the well-being of the nation through careful stewardship of coasts and shores. We celebrate the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association centennial and renew our commitment to collaborative coastal preservation for current and future generations. Passed, approved, and adopted this third day of March, 2026 by the mayor and town council of Surf City, North Carolina. Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, moving on. I'm going to call up a very special man um by the name of Owen Reese. Um and he's gonna You can stand right over here by the surfboard so you you're not like right in front, but come on up, Owen. [laughter] So, tonight it is truly my honor to recognize one of Surf City's very best. He is a young man who represents the determination, discipline, and the heart of community. Again, his name is Owen Reese. Owen is a proud resident of Surf City and a senior at Topppsel High School. He is also the son of one of our longtime employees, Donna Ree. Recently, Owen competed and became the 2026 7A North Carolina High School Athletic Association indoor track state champion in the 3200 meters, [applause] [applause] finishing in an incredible time of 9 minutes 20.46 seconds. If you are not a distance runner, the 3,200 meters is not just a race of speed. It's eight grueling laps that test endurance, mental toughness, and willpower. Owen just didn't compete. He excelled at the highest level in our state. But Owen's accomplishments don't stop at the finish line. This spring he will graduate from Topsil High School on May 28, 2026 C. And in June, he will report to the prestigious United States Naval Academy [applause]

after earning an appointment and distinguish that reflects academic e excellence, leadership, and character of the highest order. In addition, Owen has rec recruited to compete in the Navy's division one track of cross-country programs where he will continue to pursue excellence as a student athlete. Owen, your commitment of your sport, your education, and your country speaks volumes to who you are. You make your family proud. You make your school proud. and tonight you make Surf City proud.

On behalf of the town council and the citizens of Surf City, congratulations on your state championship and your appointment to the Naval Academy. We will be cheering you on on the track and in the service to our nation. Well done, Owen. I'd like to invite the Topppsil High School principal who is here tonight to come up and say a few words about Owen. Um so, Dr. Michael Sassers here along with his coach can also come up. Coach Rosie um and also coach Shirley if you would please come up and stand with with Owen. And if you don't mind um Dr. Michael if you would speak into the microphone so everybody can always

like I said you have 30 minutes. [laughter]

30 minutes. Where do I begin? Well, let me tell you the story. Uh it is always a blessed evening when we get to come together and recognize excellence. And it's not just what Owen does with his legs and his running, but it's what he does in the classroom which is admirable. If you recognize what it means to be a student athlete, you recognize dedication both in the hours and the time that goes in practice, but making sure that you stay on top of all your academic endeavors. his record in the classroom, national honor society, uh, state qualifier in our career and technical student organization for health occupations. He is an AP scholar having earned 30 college credits through our advanced placement program. He has a 4.625 GPA. Yes, round of applause. [applause] Owen is stellar in every imagination of possible. What I enjoy the most in the time that I've gotten to know him is just how he reflects upon excellence. I always have a saying that we work to better our best. And that certainly is what you do at Owen each and every day that you model for us what it means to have great character, to have honor and integrity. I'm proud that you'll be representing Topsel High School at the Naval Academy, serving our country, and proud of what you'll continue to move forward and everything that this community has taught and given you with. So, congratulations. We are proud of you. [applause]

This time, I also want to invite up his parents, um, Gil and Donna Ree. I want y'all to get in a group photo and um feel free if y'all if you want to say a few words about your son, you're more than welcome to. [laughter]

You guys come on in like you love him. [laughter] Fantastic. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. [applause] [applause]

For those of you that may not know, this is not the first time Owen Reese has been recognized by this council. It seems like it was four, three, four, five years ago before he had his driver's license. Just to give you an idea, the kind of drive this kid has, he was recognized, he invented or created some type of hybrid bicycle, lawnmower pulling, [laughter] individual landscaping, uh, hobby job, and he'd pedal that bicycle and that lawnmower around town and hustle up grass cutting job. That's the kind of that's the kind of drive this kid's got. Anyway, I just wanted It ain't the first time we've seen those old That's right. Thank you again, Owen. Thank you so much.

All right, moving on. Do we um have a motion to adopt the agenda tonight? I'll make a motion to adopt the agenda. Mayor, second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. Before we do that, I I wanted to ask that we move a consent agenda item, item three. from the consent agenda, move it to uh following item four of the uh old business. That way we sequence to change an ordinance with the uh variance or uh for that uh particular ordinance otherwise we're out of sequence. And

so item item item three to move to um old business after following item number two under old business. Uh the following item four old business item four. So do I we have a motion? Anybody can remove it from consent. So now it's just a motion to adopt the agenda as modified. We have a motion to adopt the agenda as modified. I'll make a motion to adopt the agenda [snorts] as mot modified. I have a motion and a second. All in favor say I.

All oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. At this time, we will go into um a motion to approve the consent agenda as modified. Do I have a motion? I'll make a motion to do that. Do I have a second? I'll second. Have a motion and a second. All in favor say I.

All oppose, same sign. Motion carries. Next up is public comment. and Carla Cedarelli, our town clerk, will call up public comments. Patty Gilbride. Okay. Uh Patty Gilbride, 813, um 8th Street. I just wanted to chat about our taxes for a minute, which has been kind of a been chatting about that for a while now. But um I live in the Enslow portion of Surf City, so I've had a couple revaluations within the last four years. Um you know, my husband and I moved down here around 2015, so it's been about a decade. Uh we came here from New Jersey, which is the land of high taxes, of course. Um you know, our taxes were close to a third down here. Of course, we had the high insurance, but you know, you live at the beach, you deal with high insurance. So, um, going back then, uh, the first few years we were here, 15, 16, and 17, our taxes were, uh, 2576. Um, for 18 and 19, they went to 3,241. Um, 20 and 21, they were 3,267. This is obviously my surf, city, and county tax. Um, 22, 23, and 24, they were 5,588. and uh 2025 taxes are a whopping $6,218. Um I took a quick look online to see what the national average was an increase in property taxes and it's 52%. Um my taxes here in Surf City have gone up 141% in the last 10 years. Um, I don't know. I guess this is kind of a done deal, but at the very least, I want to remind the council um of your promise to um adjust the tax rate when the new uh valuations came in for Pender and for Enslow um to help take the burden off

the backs of the folks that live here. Um, and oh, just for the record, I checked my New Jersey taxes because I was curious if I had stayed there, um, what my taxes would be, and after 10 years, they've only increased 18.7%. So, thank you for what you do and have a good night. You Patty,

good to see you back in town. Cindy Kennedy, Cindy Kennedy, 140B James Avenue. Um, I just have a comment about pivot parking. So, I know they make a lot of money handling the parking in this town and other towns, but every year when you go to renew, there's an issue and you can't do it online. You either have to make a phone call, stay on hold, or you have to go down there. And you would think with the money that they make. That would be seamless. You go through the whole process and it says, "We don't recognize your email address." The first year they recognized it. Now it does not recognize our email address. So if we're having that issue, I'm assuming other people are. So I just want to make you aware of that. And I also have a comment to make to Andy. When you ran for your position there, your big thing was you were going to repeal the taxes. Every day on Facebook or social media, you had a comment about how you were going to do that. And I have not seen not one comment about how you are going to do that since you've been voted in. So, I would like to know how you're handling that. And I'm sure everybody else that voted for you would like to know that also. Thank you,

Miss Kenny. Just FYI, um, taxes cannot be repealed. Taxes can I'm going to ask our town attorney, can taxes be repealed this point? No. it's if before January 1 if there's like a substantial change in the anticipated revenues of the the town, there's a an option to do that, but that's something that's already passed and even then it would be an extraordinary deal. Uh not not something that would been applicable for the town of Surf City. Thank you.

Thank you. And thank you for your comments on Pivot Parking. So [clears throat] they are a a a third party contractor. So we are our our town manager continues to you know be in correspondence with Pivot Parking every day. So thank you Jeremy Sugars.

Before my time starts I want to ask about um the fee schedule. I don't want to I don't want to be labor it. Um, old business number two. Are you guys doing anything about that? Um, are you voting on that tonight or are you you're going to vote on that tonight? So, you're going to make Okay. So, we're going to have a discussion about that. Basically, I thought it was going to be maybe moved a little bit down the road or not. Or is it okay? All right. A couple things real quick. Uh, Jeremy, 150 Cornell Lane. Uh, I want to uh very quickly talk about a couple things. Um, first um and Mr. Plow, don't want to belabor this, but um during public um during your council forum, I would like an answer from you. I asked the question last month. I want an answer to what Miss Kennedy and I asked last month. As a citizen, you ran on a campaign promise. It was on your signs, your Facebook. I want an answer from you. That's what what's we're owed as citizens. Okay? That's number. And I don't want none of this technical BS crap that you're good at doing. I What I would like to know is exactly what you're going to do to make that happen. Uh number two is I asked uh the council about public comment time. I said that um I believe that public comment time should be one, but I think that if you're a non-citizen, I think you should be identified as a non-citizen. I think that if a person comes here and speaks from Hamstead or from Sneez Ferry or Wilmington or they live in ETJ, they're not a citizen. They should be recognized as not a citizen. I think it's very important that we recognize who the citizens are that are speaking because those are the people that you represent, not the people outside of that. So, I think that's super important. Um uh next thing is I want to talk about the fee schedule. One of the things that has been brought to my attention is uh you know owning several business in downtown area uh that the council's wanted to uh have some discussion and make a decision on changing the amount of parking passes that are allowed per business for employees. Um and it um they want to move it down from 20 whatever it was unlimited at one time now down to 24 uh actually four plus 20. I talked to Mr. Brewer about that and um I think that's not businessfriendly. I think one of the

things would be best for this council to do is get the players involved in the downtown area and talk with them about some solutions about presenting uh presenting W2's payroll numbers, some some issues, some items that they can come up and scheme. If you don't have a business downtown and you don't know how this would affect it, which we we create hundreds of thousands of dollars, our business personally, for sales tax for this community, and you think if we're going to get a girl to drive from Hamstead to come into Surf City and pay 25 bucks to park to work, it's not going to happen. they'll go work somewhere else. So, we we know the struggles that already we already have with um finding people to work at our our businesses. So, I would implore you, all of you, to take an opportunity and get the players involved and get some input about that instead of making a fast RAS decision. There needs to be something done about it. It's it's it is out of control for sure, but there can be a better solution. There's no doubt about it. And the last thing is I want to say uh we're opening a new restaurant downtown at the old Hardies building, and I want to commend uh Mr. Price, Mr. Smith, uh, Kenar inspector and fire marshal Burton. They have made it so simple to open a business in our community and I just want to thank them for that because usually you go to communities, you have to jump through red tape. Not that we don't have to, but they make it super simple. So, I want to thank them for that process and port I want to wrap up with that. So, I would like the council to address those and their council wrap up those couple items that I talked about. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Thank you. Appreciate it. Thanks.

Okay. All right. Well, before while we were while we're on this little I've been trying to like take in consideration when someone speaks because because that's not to get in any type of debate. So, [clears throat] on repealing taxes, we we just heard from our from our attorney that taxes cannot be repealed. Um I think we heard from that many months ago that taxes cannot be repealed. Do we vote on the tax rate every budget season? Yes, we do. Um I would like to also state that um citizen non-citizen when you come up to the podium you do give your address. Does it say citizen non-citizen? No. I don't know if if that is actually something legal that the attorney would say that we could address. Um as far as like do you have to state that you're a citizen? I know you have to state your address. Um, I will let the attorney make a comment there whether it be tonight or another time if you want to.

Right. I mean, that's just a a policy decision whether you want to separate the citizens from the non-citizens in the order in which they speak, you could certainly do so. That's just a a policy decision the board will want to make. [clears throat and cough]

We can always take that into consideration. Um, and then as part as far as parking passes, I'm sure we're going to get into a discussion with that. um when it comes to that item. So um I do want you know we we we have lost um I want to say on average maybe 40 parking spaces in the downtown area in the last month or so. So it is supply and demand of course adjust many things. It did come up in our workshop is this is not the first time it's came up so we're not discussing it for the first time tonight um just so everyone knows. So, moving on. Um, we're going to go on to our next item, which is our public hearing. And David Price, um, no, actually, yeah,

Melissa, who's who's doing this? Melissa. Melissa's. Um, public hearings expansion phase two, proposed installment financing agreement.

Good evening, Madame Mayor. This public hearing is concerning if the town council for the town of Surf City should approve the proposed installment financing agreement and certain related documents pursuant to section 160A-20 of the general statutes of North Carolina as amended for the person purpose of providing funds with a other available funds in an amount not to exceed $5.2 2 million for the acquisition, construction, improvement, and equipping the new public utilities facility, including but not limited to to equipment, material storage, and maintenance facilities, [clears throat] office facilities, parking facilities, and access areas. All to be located at or near 1220 NC Highway 210 East, Hamstead, North Carolina. The town would secure the repayment by it by it of monies advanced pursuant to such proposed agreement by granting a security interest in a portion of the project and certain related properties. This public hearing will give anyone wishing to make a comment or ask questions about the agreement to ask them at this time.

So, do I have a motion to open the public hearing? I'll make a motion to open the public hearing. Mayor, second. I have a motion and a second. Melissa, you might as well say on the front row. Have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. I. All oppose. Same sign. Public hearing is opened. Now is your time to come up and ask any questions concerning what was presented by our finance director, Melissa. Any council have any questions?

I just want to clarify so people understand what this project is. This is property, land property that we already own and it's going in addition to where we're doing our public utilities building on 210 currently that people might have seen. And in restructuring what's currently there and using that as more of an office space, we've lost storage. So, this is basically adding that storage back into that lot.

I can cover it. Melissa Melissa handles all of our finances and does a fantastic job. Uh, this project is a phase two of our public utilities complex um over at 1220 NC210 uh near H2O place where our water tower is. So, as the town grows, the need for additional storage uh equipment storage, office space, etc. uh is all necessary. So uh what we are doing is uh seeking a loan in order to pay for that. Uh the repayment of that loan is built into existing uh water and sewer rates. There's no increase in rates to fund uh the repayment of the loan. uh we in order for the local government to borrow money uh we have to get certain approvals through the local government commission or the LGC. So holding a public hearing on the essentially on the borrowing is necessary in order to do that. Um but I can say that that all the finances are in place for this. Uh we we put out a request for proposals for banking. Uh we did get uh we did receive those uh yesterday at a favorable rate for the town uh at 3.74% at a 15-year uh repayment. And with that uh we are able to pay that off earlier uh if we find that necessary or beneficial to the town. Um so essentially that's that's the impetus of the project um and the requirement to hold a public hearing for this. But [clears throat] capital projects like this are built into our uh rate model uh where we look at uh future needs uh for our utility system. The utility system uh I think worth mentioning is uh what's called an enterprise fund where it's funded

through rates uh from users. This is not a taxfunded uh uh department uh by any means. So um happy to try to answer any questions if council has. This is a public hearing. So the public can ask a question. Yes, Mr. Bass. Yes, you can come up to the podium. State your name and address, please.

Real quick question. My name is David Bats. I'm 1307 North Topsel Drive. My question is this. Is this why we went up on our taxes was to pay for this? So, how much of the tax increase we're paying now is going to be paid on that loan? Yes, sir. So, your your property taxes do not pay for any sort of enterprise expenditures. So, once again, uh water and sewer rates are what fund capital and operational needs of the utility system. So, uh property taxes do not go towards this.

Okay. So, this funding was already in motion before the tax increase, correct? or the arrangement to to to um get this funding for this. So there's no way any of the tax increase is going to be paid be used to be paying for this. That's that's correct. Yes, sir. That's black letter law. That's it. Correct. Yes, sir. So later on down the line, we're not going to come back and hear [clears throat] well a portion of it was or another portion of it. Okay, sir. Great. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Would anyone else like to make comments? Can I ask a question? Yes, sir.

Mr. Brewer, can you give the timeline for the build out of the three new buildings for us? Yes. So, uh once again, we will anticipate a um meeting with the local government commission. Once again, the the financial oversight of all local governments uh within the state of North Carolina. That meeting will be scheduled in April. Um so once we have full approval from the LGC uh contractors uh and our engineering team etc is already working on securing permits and we would anticipate uh land clearing and grading to commence um most likely this summer and the completion

oh I don't think we've given been given a a specific timeline. This one's going to be a little bit more complex. Um, I can phone a friend with Mr. Price, but I I don't I don't recall seeing a timeline on this yet. Um, Councilman Plle, if I remember, in the in the CIP it was 2728. Is that correct? Yes, Councilman, this is um we have to depend on DEQ for permits, so don't hold us to this, but the uh if everything goes smooth uh with a 90-day permit time, it's uh May of 28th. So, we'll be able to occupy those buildings then in in May. Are we going to stage them or do them all at the same time?

Well, the first building is well underway. That was paid for out of savings. Uh that would be scheduled to be occupied in June of this year. Right. The three additional buildings will be going up simultaneously. So, May of 28 if everything goes good with the permitting. So, and the first building is the storage building, right? No, the first building is administrative building. That's the one that we did a Okay. No, no, I'm talking about the three new ones. They're all workshops and storage buildings. So for heavy equipment, they're going to be done simultaneously. Yes, sir. Okay, good. Thank you. Yes, sir. Please come up and state your name and address.

My name is Mike McCusker. I'm at 1016 South Topell Drive, Surf City. Uh I am a resident of this city. I am a citizen of the United States. Uh first off, uh Kyle, I want to say great job in your discussion of this conversation so it's clear to us knuckleheads uh who understand what's being discussed. I would ask what page of theund or 539 documents that were put out was that put on if anybody could tell me. Page 512.

Did it go to the detail that Kyle just did a great job of explaining for us knuckleheads? That's not his description is not going to be in the presentation.

So I I I go one to say thank you for a great job. Two 539 pages for us as citizens to go through to try to find the detail of the conversation. What he asked which identified which was a critical point that the question he asked was are you adding to my taxes taking away from my taxes? How does it affect me as a citizen of this city? So great job on your part. I would highly recommend you look at how you present all the data we're going to talk about tonight so it's clear and easy for a citizens of your or residents of your city to understand this. Uh all not all that data had to be put on there. Keep it simple, concise, just like you give a brief to a commander. You are commanders, you're you're our commissioners to to do that. So as a conversation I had with him previously. So thank you very much. Great job. Thank you. Any other comments? Hearing none. Do I have a motion to close public hearing?

I'll make a motion to close the public hearing. I'll second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. I. All oppose? Same sign. Motion carries. It is requested that the town consil consider approval of the financing agreement as presented. Do I have a motion to do so? I'll make a motion to do so. Have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. I. All oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. Moving on to old business. Um is the first item is going to be resolution of fee schedule update and Kyle Brewer will present.

Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um and thank you uh to those in attendance and watching. The first item on old business um is the update to the fee schedule uh which sometimes occurs uh from time to time uh depending on uh what is going on with the town. So uh as the mayor had mentioned prior uh the fee schedule was addressed um back in January at the work session. Uh we also had uh system development fees that were part of the fee schedule. um and what we we had to hold a 45day public hearing etc. So that's why the timing of this uh came a little bit later not to try and and um dissuade interest in in the item. Uh system development fees are not on the agenda and not are not on the fee schedule uh this evening. So therefore, there are several uh requested fee changes um that go go across all department or most departments. Um I'll start off with a simple um t-shirt replacement fee. This is based on summer camp uh and through our parks and recreation department. Um there is an increase in the annexation fees for uh requests for annexations from $240 to 300 uh $300. Um and then we get into a sibling discount that was uh requested to be added to the fee schedule. That sibling discount is applied to once again parks, recreation, and tourism uh programs. Uh whereas if a participant uh brings a sibling along, then that sibling uh would receive a a discount uh for registration. Uh lastly is the parking uh rate changes. Uh once again through timing it would have been preferable to have this before uh March 3rd but uh timing of everything we just wanted everything to be consistent

[clears throat] and other circumstances but essentially uh the existing fee schedule allowed for um the the parking system is broken up between A and B lots and uh A lots are always $5. B lots were a range between three and five. That way adjustments could be made. Uh what we're recommending is that uh the parking uh system all be applied equally. So $5 uh across the board. Um and then also the full day parking would go from uh $20 which was typical in a B lot to $25 to be consistent with the A uh parking rates. In addition to that um and what we had heard about earlier is uh our business parking. Uh so right now businesses within the island town center or a uh geographical boundary uh downtown Surf City which also includes uh what what I would refer to as old Roland uh that goes to where the old swing bridge was um is provided for uh first and foremost four free parking uh passes that typically will go to owners or managers of the business. And then what the fee schedule allowed for was a a graduated rate uh as to where the first uh let me get my notes. Uh the first one through five parking passes beyond four were charged at $100. Uh six through 10 were $75 and then 10 plus were charged at $50. So um what we did was we said okay we're going to just apply a consistent fee schedule to those additional passes. But there was no there was no maximum on how many passes could be obtained by an island town center uh business owner or a manager um whoever's operating that business.

In addition um they we do have multiple businesses under one roof. Um so they they would qualify as separate businesses. What has been presented is having a cap on how many parking permits would be available to our businesses. Um whereas that would be set at um cap of 20. So technically speaking, if if you're a business, you're going to get four as as uh first four are going to be free and then you can purchase up to 20 beyond that. Um once again, if you have two businesses under one roof, you can technically get 48 uh parking passes for those two businesses. Doing a little bit of uh analysis on what was sold last year. So these are these are just last year numbers. Um a great majority uh of our businesses do not even come close to uh obtaining 20 parking passes. Mostly it's it's going to be 10 or less. We do have uh five or six businesses downtown uh that would have purchased uh more than the proposed 20 cap or the 20 plus4. Couple of them are real close. Um, but also too, there's some businesses that chose to purchase all their passes under one business name because it might have been easier because they they were getting a price discount on anything beyond at that $50 rate as opposed to registering two businesses. Um, Pivot, once again, I'm not trying to sit here and bash Pivot, but they they they probably could have done a better job at tracking that or managing that, but um essentially understanding that businesses are always um dealing with with part-time employees, some are temporary employees, etc. They might not have the time um to to mess around logistically with pivot

parking and trying to switch those out. Uh we have two about 280 parking passes uh in our island town center. As the mayor had mentioned, uh some of those parking areas are are lease lots. So the town entertains uh or is in a in a lease with a property owner where parking revenue is shared on a monthly basis typically on a 50/50 split. We do all the enforcement. They provide the land uh in order to park people. It's always been the goal of council since since parking was initiated to expand parking as much as possible and therefore we we typically will seek leases with property owners to expand the availability of parking not constrict it. Um access to the beach is something that um you know we take very seriously and want to make sure that we have as much access as possible. Um but we have a little area to do that in. So, um, once again, you know, the number of those top five or six was about equal to the 280 available spaces downtown. Um, primary impetus of of having certain caps not to uh penalize uh business owners, but understanding that that uh business owners uh and downtown business is a core uh engine of of the town. So, uh that's some explanation behind the fee schedule. Uh, Madame Mayor and Council, I know, um, again, we had talked about this before, but um, if I can answer any additional questions, I'll be more than happy to try and do that.

I know there's a lot that was a lot and we can go on center. How many business businesses [clears throat] are there in Allentown Center? I don't have a census of how many businesses. um talked to uh one of our residents and I I would say at at minimum 30 businesses uh downtown and how many are getting 240.

Uh well the the number in which uh I would have is you you have top six businesses uh and the sum of that is 279 passes that were provided last year and that's just a gross number. I don't have that broken down between the four and then residual behind the four. So, how many spaces did you say were available in the Island Town Center area? 280 something. 281. Yes. 281 and two 279 of the top six. 279 are being taken by six uh in in total number of passes um provided license plates registered. Yes. Okay.

Would be a good way to put it. Yeah. Okay. So, this is all covered under one fee schedule. Yes. Right. So, there is a resolution presented to you for a fee schedule update for sibling um discount for t-shirts and for parking. Madame Mayor, can we uh evaluate these separately because some of us may have uh differing opinions of what we would like to approve and and what perhaps we would like to table or what we would like to not approve because we have five different or six different.

All right, let's take sibling. Let's take t-shirts first. I feel like that's going to be the easiest. I'm good with the t-shirts. T-shirt's great. All right, $10. Do I have a motion to fee to approve the fee schedule on t-shirts? I'll make a motion to approve fee schedule on t-shirts. I'll second. Motion and a second. All in favor say I. All oppose. Same sign. Yes. Okay. Let's move to sibling discount. Frank, come on up here, buddy. [laughter] If we give this sibling discount, are we a wash on what it costs to run these programs versus what it costs to uh fund it with a discount?

No, sir. So, um I asked Hunter to pull some numbers prior to meeting [clears throat] last year. Um resident [snorts] siblings, we had 124 and that's not counting the first child in the household. These are just the additional people attached to that first child. So 124 resident siblings, nine employee siblings, and [snorts] 58 non-resident siblings. A total of 191 siblings. If we were to have this applied this discount last year, that would be a total of $5,730 that we would not obtain in revenue. Um our for a week, for a month, for the summer for the summer. I haven't broken down by week, but I know we got a few things. Um

so in total, our revenue was over 14, I believe. so that we would still be in the positive in retrospect. Um, one of the considerations I was hoping to explain is we have current and upcoming competition if you want to call it. The YMCA is opening nearby. EMA offers a program. Holly Ridge has their own. Pender County has their own. So, um, every one of these municipalities or organizations offers a discount. Um, we were offering at a comparable rate and a comparable way. So we weren't looking to put a strain on our revenue in any capacity there. [snorts] Do you have any intention of increasing the weekly rates for summer camp?

This calendar year we do not. Every other year we we evaluate our prices. And so after this summer, we'll be taking a look at our neighbors and uh looking at our own uh looking at what we can do to if we need to increase rates. All right. So you said if last based on last year it it was a wash or it wasn't a wash. No sir, not a wash. We were in the uh positive. We had a revenue from summer camp and I can get those numbers that exact number to you. You our incremental revenue over cost was 14,000. Is that approximately? And I'll get you the exact number

and that the costs are calculated based upon the fully loaded cost including our personnel, the counselors and our direct costs. Yeah. uh counselors, the trips, the transportation, all that good stuff uniform. Um, and my understanding is as part of the budget process, uh, in fact this month sometime we'll be seeing an entire fee schedule then for parks and wreck and and the the programs that uh that we offer and or the so related to Yes, sir.

Yeah. Yeah. Um, I my preference would be to include the sibling discount as part of that discussion. And that way we can see the entire budget for uh the parks and recck programs uh together. Uh if it's feasible to offer our residents uh sibling discount, that would be something I think from a community's perspective we would support. Uh I'm less [snorts] uh inclined to suggest that uh non-residents because our residents also pay property taxes. So, um, if if you would I mean if it makes sense putting this as part of the fee schedule uh discussion that comes up on the 19th of March, it wouldn't probably when do we open registration for summer camp?

March 11th. Yeah. Like it's usually like the first or second week. So, we'd already be open in registration. So, then you're having to go back if it's something we're going to implement for the summer. We'd be refunding people. Does offering this discount put us below our our price point of what we're making? Does it hurt? In other words, does it hurt us? Does it take away?

No, sir. Unless there was a household with a hundred kids, I don't think we'd ever be in danger of not recouping our our money. But again, this doesn't um affect you don't get $60 off the third kid and and $90 off the fourth. It's a straight 30 per sibling. And so I ran the numbers with Hunter. We we are not going to be in a deficit. uh implementing this assuming we hit our minimum which again we would not uh follow through with running our program if we wouldn't hit our minimum. I'm getting out is we're not it's not hurting us to get discount. That's correct. More of a community thing and a little bit more of a it's an incentive for families. Yes, sir.

To to want to do it. We don't get hurt for it. I don't I don't see a problem in it. I I still have a challenge with uh non-residents getting a discount when our residents siblings though there's no financial benefit to the town by giving the discount is there's only a financial deficit associated with that. So the non-residents are already going to be paying an inflated rate due to the non-resident um rate and so that $30 off would be at a the inflated rate to begin with. Again, it's more philosophical than economic, and I know that that's out of character for me. Um, I apologize. Uh,

is this is this uh Okay, so explain it to me this way. Um, the camp gets filled up by mostly our residents. So, uh, I could pull that information. I remember hearing that, okay, the camp's open [clears throat] and within six days it's full. So I when I got here in in May, that was a conversation I was I wanted to get a hold on. And so each of the past three years has fluctuated due to either fee schedule changes or other businesses or organizations offering summer camp. So last year Holly Ridge offered their first summer camp. And so that number this year, I don't have it in front of me, but I it it was closer to 50/50 than it is, you know, 8020 or anything like that.

Well, your your sibling ratios are 2 to1, right? 129 versus 59. Uh it is 58 to 124. Yeah. Okay. I was close. So yeah. So so it's 2 to1 in terms of the how the discount will be applied. John, uh so it for two siblings in in our town, there's one sibling out of the town that would get the discount. Yeah. Per last year's numbers. Last year's numbers. Yeah. Well, well, that's all the spaces were taken up city. If I can

I I'll jump in because I feel like we're getting ready to spin down a rabbit hole. Let's go ahead and vote on this knowing that it could needs it may or may not be need to look at in the future because of timing. They're already going to open it up on the 11th. You're talking about pushing it back to 19th. I believe we've missed that window. So, if I can, I'd like to make a motion that we pass the sibling discount as presented. Second. If we can do that or no, you Well, I'm kind of We have a motion and a second on the floor. Any discussion, Trudy? I'd like to offer an amendment to um let's

I was saying I agree by offering the advantage to the residents and and there are other camps opening for out people outside of Surf City and they can figure out the costs and benefits and travel and all the things that will affect those families. But I mean our taxpayers pay a lot of money and so I'm certainly in favor of of giving sibling discount to ser city residents. So, Andy,

uh I agree with uh Councilwoman Solomon that uh if we are going to take a an economic uh hit uh on this even though we still stay in in the black on the program, that's money that has to that could have gone somewhere else as well. That offering it to residents is uh approp more appropriate than offering it across the board. And I would support that amendment. So, we had a motion on the table to approve as um it was presented. All in favor say I. I. All oppose. Same sign. As presented for by you

as amended as amended that you just amended. It is requested the town celot um and a second. If you would raise your hand on Hugh's motion, if you approve his motion as presented to accept it as presented by our parks and recck director, raise your hand. Right. Three. If you oppose giving a sibling discount to outside outside of Surf City, raise your hand. Motion passes to accept the sibling discount as presented. Thank you. Okay, moving on to parking.

You might want to, Madame Mayor, just a suggestion, uh, tackle the annexation fee real quick. Okay, annexation. [laughter] All right, let's move to annexation first. Um, any questions concerning the annexation fee schedule?

Hearing none. Okay, Mr. Mr. Smith, I'm assuming that the the fee is consistent with the cost to the town. Jeremy Smith, if you would please if you would please come and Yes, it is. Okay. No, that that Okay. Thank you. Thank you. All right. So, with the annexation, it is requested the town consil consider approval the annexation fee schedule as presented. I'll make that motion. I'll second it. All in favor say I. I. All oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. All right. Parking.

Madam Mayor, if I may make additional suggestion, then I'm done with suggestions. [laughter] Uh is that the uh hourly, daily, and weekly fees be addressed separately? Separately. Yes. Well, I like to uh start off by saying something. I uh and it's just from myself. I don't hate to be a wrenched in the gears. I just feel that maybe this needs some further discussion. Time time is of the essence here with our daily and weekly will seem to be minor adjustments. Yeah. Nothing to do

nothing with ITC business. That's still still on the list. Well, I I believe that those are reasonably consistent with what other towns do. uh our bee lots are not that inconvenient, right? So, uh as compared to what you might experience in Writesville Beach where it's blocks and blocks to the ocean. So, I think uh simplicity is is great. That being said, I'd like to make a motion that we approve the hourly and daily and weekly rates as presented. I'll second. All right, we have a motion and a second. All in favor say I.

I. All oppose, same sign. I don't quite understand it. $5 $25 in the $100 are raising the rates on the This doesn't have anything to do with the business. We ain't got here yet. That's my That's my All right. Let's Let's hook. All All in all in favor, raise your hand of the All in oppose. Which one? for the $525. Sorry, I'm just making sure we're on the right. Everybody's on the same page. Sorry. Motion carries. Okay. Now for the passes. Did we do the zoning violations? No, not yet. Save that for last. If you want an easy one,

I'll make a motion we pass the zoning [laughter] violation. I mean, you know, $100 a day per violation once final notice or stop work order is issued. I'll second. Have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. I. All oppose. Same sign. Is that the last one? That's it. Okay. There's nothing else except Okay. Parking passes. Who wants to start off? I know there's somebody, right?

Well, I I will say I agree with the business owners. I know that there's no way that you can ask a bus boy who's making $8 an hour to pay $20 a shift to try to park. Um, I think the issue is that not every single person that's working at your business should be parking in the lot either. Like we need the businesses that are utilizing a lot more of these passes to really push for their staff to find a way to carpool. Like there are like you can park at the new park where the skate park is and get a ride to come over. Um, that being said, I think we've really stricken this a lot from where it was unlimited to now we're really kind of crimping down and I know that not everybody needs all 20 passes. Um, and I don't necessarily think that it's a huge jump, but I would like to see a total of 29 or maybe even 30 if that makes it easier for numbers. Um, as a whole with four of the the parking passes and then an additional five or six. I know it's not a lot, but it helps a little bit. And then um I know moving forward it's something that we're probably going to have to look at as a whole for council because um we are we're running into an issue of less and less spaces for us to be able to utilize and we can't let the businesses take up all of them. And you know we we need that responsibility from the business owners to say hey like don't go park at at beach access right in front of the ocean when you got to go to work. try to find the other lot next to the water tower or somewhere else so that we're we're still able to use the beach parking spaces for what they're there for. And that's for us to be able to pay for beach nourishment and not end up having to put that fee back onto our taxpayers down the road. So that would be

if I could if I could get something explained to me. I I just don't understand. Okay. Uh, so I own a business and I have 10 employees and they're they're parking in lots, but all my 10 employees don't spend 8 hours inside my business. They spend maybe four hours and they leave. Some of them maybe are part-time, they spend three hours or what have you. So their pass enables them to park all week, seven days a week in our parking lot. Yeah.

So if Excuse me. So, if they're not working, they can still drive to our beach and park there and take up a parking spot. If it's for working, is there some way that the businesses can issue them placard, a pass for the day that they work and return to them at the day that they don't work and do it that way. another employee to use instead of having 50 employees getting 50 parking passes and 50 employees aren't in the business at one time but they still can I think it's unfortunate it's run by license plates and then if you have a your car is broken down then you don't your car is not cleared and I mean I I just think there could be a better way to handle it.

So [laughter] and I'll explain just real quick that and you all know this that the registration is um equal across the board. So whether you are a resident uh or you are an employee or and may not live in Surf City, the infrastructure in place for enforcement is through the license plate. So uh that ambassador that goes through with with LPR technology is scanning license plates. If that license plate isn't registered, it dings. That's where the the ticket comes into play. So, if you had, once again, we'll just, this is probably not reality, but we're just using numbers. If you had 280 employees that were parking downtown, that would be 280 red flags that an ambassador would have to then do an additional investigation to then identify or document a placard. I've communicated with with some of our our business owners downtown, and I think it's a I don't speak for them by any means. There is a consensus that that something h something could change with the applicability of businessued parking. Um and that can come in many different forms in regard to you either park here designated parking or inverse to that you don't park in these parking spaces. You it's up to you to find parking somewhere else throughout the the system or network. So, I think that that the process of a placard um it would it's just going to cause additional concerns or issues with the enforcement side of of things with the program. I I hear what you're saying though.

I'm just trying to figure out, you know, because if if if I work one day a week, but I have my parking pass, well, the other six days I can go park for free and go to the beach. Of course. Yeah. I just think that that's where that space is occupied by somebody that's a visitor that would pay for that spot. Yes. That's all I'm just trying to figure is something like that feasible for us to try to tackle this year though.

Uh not this year. No. Uh next year we we absolutely could uh try and and implement the infrastructure necessary on the enforcement side to uh be able to provide that guidance back to business owners. Um because again, open parking spaces equates to patrons that may be able to park and visit the business. So there there's also revenue tied to all of that as well from a different standpoint.

So ju just to to give some numbers to the situation here, Mr. Kowski's example was a good one. It's that they work one or two shifts a week and they park all for the entire year. assuming that one in 10 of these people uses the beach on a particular day and we have I calculated we have 690 parking passes I and I did the math a little bit differently. So or alternatively if uh you're looking at the opportunity cost the lost revenue the top line lost revenue to the town is about $150,000 a year. That's what this costs us right now under the current fee schedule. Uh I'm not making a judgment. I'm simply sharing with you the math. So uh it's either the opportunity cost or uh in terms of John uh Mr. Klossky's uh example, it is the unavailability of a spot that would be available for a paying customer. If you were to apply the $300 uh per year co or price, which is if you live in Hamstead and you want to buy a parking pass, you're going to get charged $300. You get it for the full year. It's $147,000 of revenue that we uh generate when we only generate $47,000 from the sale of parking passes. Not a judgment, simply the math.

Thank you. Again, I think the re one reason why this has come up was because we lost two valuable parking lots. How many spaces, Kyle? Approximately? Probably about 40. We lost 40 Allen Town Center parking lots um that we did lease. So, [clears throat] are we currently trying to identify spaces to uh supplement that back?

Yes. and and you know, we as we talked about in the annual planning meeting, we do have a project that we're going to seek some grants for to add in 25 or so spaces next to the old police department. Um, you know, that's a viable location. Um, you know, it's it's a constant uh fluctuating number and as we see more empty lots get built on and driveways get put in, etc., those are those are the onesie twoosies that we see. And then yes, the choice to not lease out a piece of property uh because that owner has, you know, some other interest, you know, I cannot control that. But yes, you know, we do seek out uh potential opportunities. Um you know, typically those have come to the town. Those doesn't really happen that way anymore. Um and you know, some of the more recent requests that we've made have been met with a denial. So

understood. Okay. So, let me ask [clears throat] you this. So, uh I know we're a little bit late in the game for any changes between now and when we need to. Um can we put something in effect for next year to look at this a little different? I just I just don't want it to affect any of the businesses because they don't have enough parking. Yeah. So, so absur visitors are one thing, but our businesses are one of the things that the visitors they come for the beach, but they come for the the restaurants, they come from the the stores, the shops, you know. So if you know we don't want to.

So my my suggestion with that is that um regardless of what council decision is in regards to placing a cap, not placing a cap, however you want to address that and make a decision is fine. it at minimum and what you what is probably a better route is to identify what the cost is per employee parking uh per pass and then the number or a cap or maximum or no maximum is a pol it gets written into the parking policy. That way that can be adjusted. Uh and we don't have to bring a fee schedule back to the board to make that decision because a fee schedule um typically is a a budgetary uh item that we don't we don't want to mess with the fee schedule uh on a frequent basis throughout a fiscal year. So I think that if anything uh whatever the direction is on number or no number whatever that is we can if if that can be directed towards policy uh making versus fee schedule then I think that's a better route for y'all. Um but the dollar figure still has to be approved.

Thank you Kyle. Thank you. So it is requested approve we could approve it now for the cost and uh pull out the cap. you can it will not affectuate uh the number of passes because again our good friends downtown business owners they're going to get they need to get their passes. Um we've already delayed that process. So my assumption is that uh Pivot Parking will have a lot of visitors tomorrow from our friends in the island town center to get their parking passes because uh the season is ramping up. The the as the pastor said the weather is getting warmer. So,

all right. So, let's just there's going to be a lot of discussion here. If we could continue on, we could stay here for hours. So, it is requested the town cons town council consider approval of the resolution as presented. Is there a motion to approve? I would make a motion to approve with an amendment. Is there a motion to approve with an amendment? A motion approve with an amendment to increase the cap to 26 for a total of 30.

I'd second that. There is a motion and a second to amend the emotion or to amend the requested approval from 20 to 26 and then give the for employee purchases and then give the four for the business itself for free which brings it to a total of 30. Or is there a discussion available? There is a discussion available.

All right, Kyle, I apologize. You may have to do some math. Adding those additional six. I mean, obviously, we come up with 20 for a reason or it was presented for 20 reason. What is the impact of adding this six, do you think, as far as passes and whatnot?

There's uh there's a lot of assumptions that go into it. I I I may defer to Councilman Plle to to provide a response to that. I'm sure he can provide that a lot quicker than I can. But um essentially it's it's going to be based on frequency of an individual that is uh visiting the beach outside of working hours. Um how often they're working and how long they're working and and the duration or within the day in which that shift in which in which they are working. because if somebody comes in at 4:00 p.m. and works till 11, there's really there's two hours of paid parking that gets netted out of that scenario.

So, there's a lot of variables that go into it. Um, it's just, you know, the way that I look at is just the raw numbers applied to the the the network of uh parking availability. My feeling is I think well we got into a situation where I've I think we've we've seen this this the way it was be being abused and and John's mentioned a scenario um you know and and just different people getting parking passes and and you know because they don't want to pay for parking and I get that and so I I understand Pivot has come to us with a with an amendment to this and asking us to but I we didn't I guess I haven't felt comfortable that I and you're asking a good question too. what's the difference 20 30 like what where are we in numbers and dollars and so I'm not sure that we have an answer for the 20 and and that kind of thing but I also Alicia and I have talked and we're saying but so late in the game we we need to be thinking forward for next year but what can this was a lot to take in here at the last minute what can we do to help some of those businesses that this is hurting them when they've they're used to having they do have a lot of employees you know um and we've capped it and not given them up so I think that's what we What do we do now? We have to do something now. Parking started Sunday. We're past it.

If you have if you even if you give a business, if they use all 30 of their parking passes, not all 30 of those people are going to be using that at the same time.

Like you're you're going to have a portion of it and it's going to be, you know, whether it's shift in the morning or shift at night. And hopefully if you have employees that have early shifts, they go find one of the free lots and they park there instead. And you now have to figure out who to provide these to. Yeah, we've seen some of the behavior in it. We need to work to curb that, but we we've we've definitely it's been unlimited. It's been unlimited. And that was not a good way to go. So, we've got to limit it. But what is the great number? I don't know. One one of the other challenges we have too is the inability or an an easy mechanism by a business to move a pass from one employee to another particularly if an employee no longer is employed but is is then replaced rather than being able to transition that uh pass uh it's easier to it might have been easier to purchase an additional pass for $50 if we could help facilitate that as well through pivot. that that might alleviate some of the strain and and actually have a cost savings for the business. Again, I'm concerned about the opportunity cost associated with as many passes as we have when we don't control when that pass can be used. Uh if it if we could hypothetically be able to control it can only be used when you're working, then that whole issue would be mute. But we don't have that mechanism in place now.

Yeah. And I thought it would benefit the businesses from having placers or something like that because if my waitress needs to quit and move away or whatever then I've got to and I hire someone else then I got to go report another license plate. So I don't know. I mean I thought it but that's back to what you're saying. If you're working you get you get given some type of tax.

Well we and if you think about it one of the reasons why our revenue per is 50 cents on the dollar is in part due to these kinds of situations. uh the the quote unquote free. I'm not arguing that we ought not to do this. I'm just saying that is one of the factors that plays into the uh uh the difference in how much we pro make in terms of uh nourishment profit as opposed to other communities where they don't have this issue or have and I'm not sure if Pivot has solved this issue for others. I know at in Wrightville Beach uh not even residents get free passes. So, and I'm not arguing that we should do that, okay? Don't get me wrong. I'm just saying

be careful. We we we're faced with an interesting I would I would say that we'll definitely revisit. I think that's one of the things right now there's a motion. Yeah. Right now there's a motion and a second to do 26 at a $100 per. Yes. With four free available to the business itself with a total of 30. There's a motion and a second. All in favor say I. I. All oppose, same sign. Motion carries. Okay. Wow. All right. Item number three, the fund balance policy, and Melissa, our finance director, will come back up and present.

And I'm going to give just a little bit of background because this one um has been a evolving uh process. We we talked about this um was it in December Jan January work session uh and council you had you had uh uh created a little subgroup to discuss uh what fund balance policy would look like. So we went through uh those deliberations and ultimately uh determined uh the recommended fund balance policy to present to uh to the board for adoption. Uh what the fund balance policy uh does uh within our budgeting process and and demonstration of uh fiscal responsibility and and overall financial health. um is that it it provides some uh parameters as to uh what fund balance is typically uh uh spent on. Um things that that we need to account for exposure to natural disasters and weather related emergencies, potential long-term infrastructure disruptions that would impact revenue, uh uncertainty and external funding for critical infrastructure projects, uh and the need for fiscal flexibility to respond to unplanned capital needs, personnel adjustments, or contracted services outside the adopted uh budget. things happen in the middle of the fiscal year. This provides uh some general guard rails as to how we're going to react to that and also uh should the fund balance uh go below a certain percentage uh requires a uh mechanism in which how we are going to

bring that fund balance back up. Being a coastal community, uh it is of of utmost importance to be able to have a healthy fund balance. Not that we're just sitting on a bunch of money, but things happen in coastal environments that we have to be prepared for. Uh we have to pay for things to get us back whole. Uh some of those expenditures may become reimburseable through uh federal uh support, FEMA. Uh we've heard uh discussions on the national level about reform. That that is uncertain to us at this time. Uh we could have um god forbid a tree fall in and come through the roof of this building. The the government has to be able to recover from that and we have to have the the finances to be able to do that. With that being said, uh the town did not have a fund balance policy. Although uh being good fiscal stewards of the taxpayer dollar, we certainly made sure that we had a fund balance in place to be able to address those issues if they come up. What this policy does is sets a uh a percentage of what our uh annual expenditure would be and and says okay you're going to maintain uh that percentage uh in order to qualify to this policy. So uh what we had come up with is a prior iteration is that that we would have a scale between 70 we want to maintain 75 to 100% of those expenditures and then there's some uh things that that get transferred out of of revenue that uh would be uh sort of assigned uh monetary transfers that we have to do. Uh power bill for roads that

comes from the state. Um, a couple of other things we said is okay well let's look at at the number of 85%. 85% is uh generally speaking uh a percentage less than 100 but that dollar figure is generally represented of what we transfer over to beach nourishment every year. So uh advalorum taxes uh that we talked about revenue that's brought in through property taxes um you know for a long time 10 cents of the advalorum gets transferred over to beach nourishment that that equates to a general dollar figure which has increased based on value of property within the town u but is generally around $2 million that we're that we are transferring over to beach nourishment. when you apply advalorum at about 10 million in revenue uh and then you net out the beach nourishment transfer that percentage is about 85%. So that's where we felt comfortable at setting that uh to 85% and not 100 or the sliding scale between 75 and 100. Um, so what we're here to present to you is a policy that uh sort of wraps that up in in general sense, but still provides council the flexibility that that you may need to make decisions uh on a yearover-year basis because there may be a priority that uh you are faced with funding that you're going to have to make that decision on. And and uh you know, we still provide that flexibility. you can make that decision, but you know that there's going to have to be a plan that myself and the finance director brings back to you that says, "Okay, this is what you're going to what our recommendation to you is is how to get back to that number." Um, and that that

will be our obligation through the policy. So, um, happy to try to answer any questions. Um but we have gone uh through great deliberations I think on on fund balance policy uh you know good deliberations to discuss these things. Um and we didn't want to sort of pigeon pigeon hole ourselves uh too tightly because again that doesn't give you or future boards the flexibility that you may need. But, uh, you know, Melissa and I, uh, or or anybody that sits in these positions are always going to, uh, be as fiscally conservative as possible when making our recommendations to the board.

Look, you didn't even have to say anything, Melissa. [laughter] So the purpose again was to maintain adequate levels of unassigned fund balance to protect the town's financial stability to absorb revenue disruptions and long-term planning for emergency capital needs and economic uncertainties. Yes. Which is amazing.

So I I'd like to make a couple comments if I can. I'll make them very very short. uh our finance director has done an admirable job in answering my sometimes very difficult to understand questions and providing me with the information that we need. I have to commend uh our town manager for his patience with me over the last three weeks. Uh I think the last point was at just before the meeting today. uh and we were able to come to a reasonable conclusion that protects not only our financial viability as a town but also provides us the opportunity then to evaluate what uh an excess fund balance might be used for and and that's the first step toward uh a responsible budgeting coming up in the new budget year. Just to give you an aside though, this uh particular fund balance policy is modeled after what is done in Writesville Beach. And if you've ever looked at the Writesville Beach economics and their numbers, they are run a they're running a really tight chip and doing a pretty good job in uh uh with what they have and and the uh the tax base that they have. So uh I'm confident that this is going to work for us. It gives council the uh sufficient uh flexibility to address immediate issues. It gives us the security of knowing that if something should happen, we aren't going to be there uh with uh you know the our fingers up our nose trying to figure out what to do. So I have to applaud the the efforts of of staff in in doing this and I I hope the council can support this. I certainly do. In fact, if anybody else wants to say something, they can. Otherwise, I'll I'll even be the guy that makes the motion.

I just think Melissa's done a fabulous job. Thank you. Thank you both. Yes. Thank you. You've done a great job. All right. So, it is requested the town council consider approval of the policy as presented. Um I'll make a motion to accept the uh fund uh policy as presented. I'll second it. A motion and a second. All in favor say I. All oppose, same sign. Motion carries. Thank you, Melissa. Thank you, Melissa. All right. Item number four is ordinance revision chapter 12 section 12.11 and caliber will present. Yes.

Thank you again madame mayor and councel. Uh this item is is essentially just to uh clarify processes that are already in place and ordinances that are already on the books. Uh this was brought uh brought forth in regards to a request for resolution to um suspend the restrictions on uh the sale of alcohol as uh it is directly related to a special event that is presented to the town, vetted through our special events committee and ultimately approved by that committee. uh which is made up of uh operational staff within uh the town, police, fire, uh facilities and grounds etc. So, uh, the ordinance when looking at this, uh, it was brought up as discussion as, uh, we could look at a couple, uh, of clarifying points. Um, not to to modify it in its intent, uh, by any means, but essentially to, uh, not penalize somebody uh, for uh, maybe entering a special event area that could be held downtown. uh somebody might want to go purchase uh alcohol from a an establishment, they can still walk back through that special event unopened uh container uh and not be uh subject to penalty. And then the other one was just clarifying uh that uh alcohol cannot be consumed or possessed uh in the areas that were already identified in the ordinance, streets, sidewalks or alleys. Um but then adding or in public parks, sound accesses and municipal buildings and grounds. So um those are essentially the clarifying uh things for the ordinance uh in order to effectuate um the process that's already in place and and for us to continue to do what we do.

Thank you. That was very well explained. Yes, I appreciate it. All right. So, it is requested that the town council consider approval the ordinance amendment as presented by Cal Brewer. I'll make a motion to do that. Sorry. [clears throat] Second. Have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I.

All oppose, same sign. Motion carries. So, this is where we take back into consideration the item that was moved off of the consent agenda. And I'll just uh quickly uh sort of uh describe the action. Uh Councilman Plow had requested to remove the resolution that um approved Oceanfest's special event uh to be able to serve alcohol within town streets uh etc. um is their upcoming event. And uh all that is then now subject to the ordinance in which count town council just adopted. Uh once again, this is not any additional restrictions that uh we had already come to know of the fine job that Oceanfest does and what they put on in the town.

We need to vote on that as well. Then again, you can vote on the resolution. So there is a motion to approve the resolution as presented. I'll make a motion we approve the resolution as presented. I'll second it. Have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Motion carries. Under new business, Melissa is in the hot seat tonight. Uh resolution finding an appointment and requesting approval for the local government commission.

So really this is a continuation of the from the public hearing. Um this resolution uh authorizes us to prepare the loan application package. Um and you've already got the request for proposals. So this authorizes Kyle and myself to actually go before the LGC and present the loan package and sign all the documents approval. So is requested that the town council consider approval of the resolution as presented. Do I have a motion? I'll make a motion to do that. Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. I.

All oppose. Same sign. Thank you, Melissa. All right. Next item is Melissa as well and it's a resolution for authorizing reimbursement. As part of the loan package, we have the ability to um claim as part of the loan or reimburse oursel uh any expenditures that we've already incurred or will incur before the loan is approved. And this resolution authorizes us to reimburse the town for those expenditures. You doing your homework and getting us reimbursements? It is requested that the town council consider approval of the resolution as presented. I'll make a motion to do that. Second. All right. We just All in favor say I. I.

All oppose. Same sign. We just made oursel whole. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Next item. Item number seven is Carla and she will pre presenting the NCLM voting delegate for 2627. Thank you, mayor. This is for uh the North Carolina League of Municipalities. Each year requests that you delegate um someone who can vote on the town's behalf on their legislative goals. This has been Mr. Brewer in the past. Suggested that you delegate him again. I'll make that nomination. Second it.

Have a motion and a second to con continue with Cal being our voting delegate for the league. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. Sorry. Same sign. Motion carries. All right. We're to the manager's report. Kyle Brewer.

Okay. Um somehow closed my we're documenting up spreadsheets and stuff. Okay. Uh once again, thank you, Madame Mayor, Council, and everybody who remains in attendance and who is watching online. I'm happy to present several items of interest that are ongoing or upcoming. Um the first one being the uh canals storm water meeting that the town will be hosting this Saturday at 11:00 a.m. Um that will be here uh at uh town hall. Our utilities director and I will um be presenting uh recommendations from the town's engineer on potential mitigation projects for storm water management. The meeting will be held here once again at the municipal complex and we are seeking input and buyin from the residents uh before programming any potential improvements. Um so as you know the uh canals or old settller's beach has uh chronic storm water issues or concerns and uh we want to be able to present a couple of options to our residents uh before attempting to move forward with those projects. Uh wanted to report on the JH Bats tract uh that the town has been evaluating. Uh that the town will conduct environmental testing on the 27 acre tract along JHB Bats Road uh beginning next week. Testing will determine soil suitability for the construction of the scalping station uh to support wastewater treatment and conveyance to our

subsurface phase 2 project at the Earl G and INZ Bats Recreation Complex. Should testing come out favorable, we will begin design work of the treatment facility. Um, it's the town's intention to have a fully contained system at this location, uh, mitigating impacts to adjoining properties, uh, through that infrastructure project. Uh, work continues to move forward on the Roland Avenue storm water uh, project um, with significant progress made in improving drainage and strengthening infrastructure in the area. Uh crews have remained focused on keeping the project on schedule and soon we'll complete the PA portion of that project which it's pretty much done um at this point. Uh once that phase is finished, the intersection is expected to reopen to the public. Uh we are anticipating a March 10 completion date. Um but there may be some some minor things that need to happen um after that. So once we are comfortable at announcing when that intersection will reopen, we certainly will. Uh the project has progressed very well. It's another good project that our contractor has completed. Um and with that, I did want to mention that the project that was completed at Seahorse again has been performing exceptionally well. We have seen a little bit [clears throat] of settling uh with the subbase on that project. So uh we will be coming back and fixing that that issue or that concern. there's a little bit of a lip where the PA is uh and where that meets the concrete apron that frames that uh the brick pavers in there. So, those projects moving forward. Um our waterline resilience uh project is also advancing um these initiatives important in investment in strengthening our water system, improving reliability and ensuring long-term service stability for our community. Um, two community meetings were held to introduce the

project and provide anticipated impacts. Got good feedback from our Roland Avenue business owners. Um, as well as our Northshore residents that uh, you know, may be impacted by that project. Once again, that's uh replacing or adding a new water line from the mainland under the intra coastal waterway and then connecting into Northshore uh for uh redundancy uh reliability, improved fire flow. And then once that water line gets installed on Northshore, uh we will come back and and install a multi-use path as part of our larger w uh townwide multi-use path project. Um, so we're we're excited to to uh do that. As as timing of of the contractor and the work that they'll be performing um as we get a little bit more honed in on that, we will communicate back with our residents so that they can uh expect uh impacts or delays uh with that project. Uh the town uh has applied for the US Department of Transportation's build grant which uh stands for the better utilizing investments to leverage development or build uh and that program provides grants for surface transportation infrastructure projects with significant local or regional impacts. Specifically, uh the town is seeking funding for final design, rightway construction, grant administration, and oversight and compliance to finalize segment one of our multi-use path, which uh will connect Magnolia Reserve on the mainland uh to fire station 25, a deer run, as well as construction funds for segment 4A uh which is Tortuga to JH Bats. The $3.7 million request is a significant investment to help bridge gaps in the bike and ped network, provide economic opportunities for our local businesses, and enhance safety for

our community. All elements that go into meeting the merit criteria outlined by US DOT town. Of course, we feel like we have a very strong application. Um, but that will be uh subject to uh review from federal administration um to determine the outcome of the town with its $3.7 million request. Uh just wanted to to note um and I hate that I have to note this about the water tower. Um I'm sure most people are aware uh that the town experienced vandalism and defacing of public property on the island water tower. uh contractors have been able to address the issue temporarily until the tower can be repainted. Uh this was just completed to we just repainted the entire tower two years ago. Um and it's a lengthy process. It it involves a lot of coordination. Um if you'll recall that we had a a gigantic skirt on that water tower when that had to happen, a lot of mitigation efforts. Um, I promise I'm not um lecturing anybody in this room, but um it's just a frustrating thing that the town has to deal with. Um and and quite frankly, it's it's uh you know, an issue that that our utilities department has to deal with in time, money, uh effort, and investments that go into the town's infrastructure for this to happen. Uh the police department has opened an investigation into the matter and will pursue any and all criminal charges um should should we find out uh the responsible party of that. Uh once again just a quick update uh Pivot Parking they have registered 917 resident vehicles. Um I will once again communicate with Pivot um about efficiency in the registration process. Um we've sold 133 season passes uh to date. Um, and then just as a reminder, they did have to change locations. They are now located at 119A Triton uh Lane

over near Triton Village. Um, so if you do need assistance with them, uh, please either call or visit their office. Um, but that's a just a minor update. So, uh, with that being said, happy to answer any questions uh, from council on the manager's report. Thank you. Right. Any questions for Kyle? If not, we'll move to the town attorney. No report. The sounds has no report. All right. So, we'll start with treaty. Why me? [laughter] Um I had a lot of notes. Can I Can you come back to me? I'm sorry. Seriously. I'm sorry. Congratulations.

Um I just thank you everybody for coming out. We did change the meeting time to six o'clock. So, it's awesome to see people in here and thanks for sticking it out for the whole meeting. um keep showing up and and we'll keep the time at six o'clock, but if you start disappearing, we might change it. That's it. [laughter] That's it. Okay.

I'd like to piggy back off of what Miss Holly said, great attendance tonight. Uh I know everybody didn't make it through the whole meeting, but for whatever reason, you there's a lot of things you could be doing and choosing to do on Tuesday night, and you chose to come up here and be involved, and that's a that's a big deal, and it doesn't go unnoticed. Uh again, I'd like to recognize I know we recognize him, but I'd like to commend again uh young Owen Ree on his acceptance to the US Naval Academy. What a great accomplishment for a young man from our community. The uh Doug West calling your name, brother. We got that storm order. You I know you've heard it. I know you got your page and you're the unofficial Zar the canal. So, let's get some involvement. Let people know. give them some, you know, that's going to be a great opportunity to find out why we can't do certain things and what is available and have some buying and some input on what we can do with that storm water in the canal areas. Yeah.

All the roads. Well, only if you want water under your house. [laughter] The uh I'd like to recognize our new uh two new planning board members, Mr. Brian Moxy and Clint Bailey. Uh I'm excited that both of you guys are now uh going to be involved with the board. Uh not that all boards aren't important uh and they all have their own role, but you uh the planning board you over a period of time you mold and shape and are greatly involved in what the town looks like in its future. So that's a that's a big task and I'm excited to see you two take that on and I was glad to see the sunshine. Absolutely. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Yes, sir. John Kowski to

ditto those guys down the end there. Very nice to see everybody. We started out with 34 people. Now I don't know exactly what the headcount is now, but it was a lot of people up from the eight people that showed up at our work session, but uh I'd just like to say congratulations to Owen. I was uh one of the ones that put him up the first time when I saw him trailering his weed whacker and his blower and his rakes and all kinds of equipment behind the bicycle and I was driving through town. I said, "What is this guy doing?" And then I found out he had about six or seven accounts and that's how he was doing it. It was pretty it was pretty cool to see that. U and it's really great that he got that appointment. Um like to say good good job to our town. We don't encourage or or uh mention our town workers, but they're out there all the time doing whatever they do from, you know, from the the guys that cut the lawn up to the guys that are doing the the big stuff, you know, but uh we have a really good group of people that work for this town and they do uh over and above the call of duty all the time. And uh just thanks for coming out again, Andy.

Well, you thanks for pointing out our new members of the uh the planning board. I'd also like to recognize the new members of parks and recreation advisory committee. [laughter] Uh Aaron Kaylor, Jessica Nelson, and Molly Tras. I don't know, don't see very well. And I think it's great that we have uh these volunteers and we have we're fully staffed in that. And then again, the promotion, special events, and tourism advisory committee has two new members, Jack Hargus and Christina Potter. So, I think we are 100% in all our committees now, aren't we, Mayor? Yes, we are.

Wow. Fantastic. It doesn't mean that you shouldn't volunteer when a position opens up. Um, so I just want to make a comment. I'm I'm I'm not going to argue legal semantics on on the word repeal with our attorney here. It would take too long and require too much wine. Uh, I would like to uh just point out that we took a very first important step today by approving the uh fund uh the general fund policy. Okay, that's the first step how we are going to spend our money going forward. So, uh, that's important. We also are in the process now of establishing the budget and that requires input from the department heads, which I believe is on the 19th of March is when we'll see that input, right, Carla? So, once we have that, we can start to look at the line items of where we're going to spend our money. Then, we need to understand better what the assessments look like, the new ones from uh from the county. Uh, we won't know that until sometime in the middle of March. I suspect perhaps at the end of March. Uh and then we can work uh and craft the budget and then we're going to need the council to work really hard to figure out what our uh tax rate ought to be. Uh and that's where uh the rubber meets the road uh in terms of what you are your tax levy will look like for the next tax year. And that's where we hope we can make a difference. So you need to give us a little bit of time as a council to work through this. Uh there's a lot of information we don't have yet. Uh those meetings will be open when we discuss the budget. So if you can make it, uh it's likely to be a little bit longer than the two hours that we would spend normally. So be prepared. Uh bring lunch. Uh and u uh anyway, uh thanks for showing up tonight. That was great. Um always happy to see the interest. Today was election day. The polls are closed. So, go home, figure out if your

candidate survived the gauntlet uh or not. And uh thanks again. All right, I'll go now. Sorry. [laughter]

I'm sorry. I had a couple notes. I really And a lot of things people have said, but um I do appreciate attendance, of course. Um and I appreciate people who came to the DOT presentation last night, too. That was last night, right? It's such a pillar right now. But that was I mean like anything that you guys can show up for and participate in is um that's what we've been asked to do and I think um our staff is providing um a lot of uh opportunities. I'm also proud that our staff uh has decidedly worked to fill our social media platforms with a lot of valuable information. I know a lot of people use the social media to get a lot of information and and stay in touch about their neighbors or friends but even town business. So, I encourage you to to make the Town of Surf City pages or the fire department, the police department, any of like your some of your your go-tos um so you can get accurate information. Um I would really value that. Um but I appreciate all public comment tonight and even um Mr. McCusker when you were commenting on Kyle and I appreciate that too and I understand it's 539 pages and it'd be great to anticipate everyone's questions and tackle all that information too. I'm not really sure how to do that because when we had a question, we certainly addressed it. But anyway, so we work on that. We work hard on that. I glad Kyle mentioned that the parking office has moved. I know I've had that question a lot and it is over in Triton Village now. And um and I just wanted to comment um that Surf City Expo is this Saturday over at the community center from 10:00 to 2. So we have the canals meeting at 11, but Surf City Expo is also on the same day. And so we'd love to see a lot of participation in that. So

thank you, Trudy. One of the most important things that is happening this weekend is time changes. Oh, yeah.

Time changes. Saturday, we're going to spring forward an hour and everybody's going to be like get this new refreshing feel and we're going to move forward and put smiles on our face and um so um let's keep that. I just want to make sure that you know our employees feel that the time and investment that they put into every item on our consent agenda, every item on our regular agenda, it takes so much time from every department and every employee and it is very much appreciated. Um I know we kind of like go through it and dissect it sometimes, but it is very appreciated to our new um appointments. Thank you very much. to our committee members that continue to volunteer. We appreciate you very much. Um it is not something that we take lightly. Your time is very precious. Um and also just like I just want to follow up on Kyle. Surf City does not encourage vandalism.

We don't encourage vandalism on any government property, any town property, anybody's personal property. So um you know just just keep that in mind when when you know people are social media can can be cruel to all of us and you you see all these like just crazy people like just making not crazy people but crazy comments I would say just like it sounds like we're promoting um vandalism and we do not. Um so we just want to make sure that hey you know we are going to be holding people accountable if they do vandalize you know government property. It costs money. It costs tax dollars to fix items that are vandalized. So, um, again, thank you all for that have stayed out for this meeting tonight. I know it's been a long meeting, but we do appreciate you. And if there is no other comments, I am I I am very thankful for our downtown businesses. I'm glad we got the the extra parking in place this year for those six extra spots and um for the total of 30. So hopefully that will alleviate and give a little bit extra cushion there for for for us to figure out, hey, are we going to have a special parking lot maybe next year and we can re-evaluate that all after this season. But um if there are no other comments, then I am going to call for a motion to adjurnn.

I'll make a motion to adjurnn. Second. I have a first and a second. All in favor say I. I. All oppose, same sign. We are adjourned.

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