City Council - Regular Meeting

Wow. Good to see all of you here tonight. Um, welcome to the December 1st, 2025 meeting of the Stacil City Council. I'd like to call forward Reverend Jeremy Canada, senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Statesville, who will deliver the invocation, followed by my leading of the pledge of allegiance to the flag. Jeremy, please please stand if you're able. Please, if you are a praying type, pray with me. [clears throat and cough] Gracious and ever faithful God, this evening we gather with grateful hearts in this season of thanksgiving to honor these servants of our community and our mayor Kasi Coute. For 20 years he has offered his leadership, his vision, his steadfast presence to the people of Statesville. and we give you thanks for the countless hours that he has devoted to the work of governance, for the decisions that he with this council and others have made with integrity, and for the quiet sacrifices that public service so often requires. We thank you that in times of trial and crisis, our council has been able to be called upon and called upon you for direction of steadfast support. And so, Lord, we are grateful for the ways that our community has grown under their guidance. For the opportunities that have taken root and expanded, for the spirit of cooperation that has shaped Statesville into this place, this city that we call, where it all comes together [snorts] through seasons of challenge and seasons of promise, you have used their gifts to strengthen the community that we love. And so we now also give you thanks for Kost's wife Teresa whose devotion, encouragement, and partnership have sustained him through many years.

We ask you to assure her of the blessings of her unseen labors, the patience, the support, and the grace that she has offered him every day. and for each of the spouses of those who are on our council. Even tonight, as we honor Mayor Coutier and the members who are departing, we remember with gratitude the other members of our city council who are completing their service and rotating off of their positions and for their diligence, their dedication, their willingness to shoulder the responsibilities of leadership. We offer you our sincere thanks for their countless hours. May they while having been many be known to us and we acknowledge them and the time that they spend for us and away from family and friends. [snorts] May they find fulfillment in knowing that they have contributed to the well-being of our neighborhood, this community. And may they have deserved rest and the reward of a job well done. And now, oh Lord, in time very soon, we lift to you our mayor elect, Doug Hendricks, and the incoming city council. And as they begin their new tenures and terms, we ask that you grant them wisdom, clarity of purpose, and a spirit of unity. May they be tempered against temper. May they be civil to each other as examples of civility for us all. guide their decisions, steady their hearts, and inspire them to lead with justice, compassion, and courage. May they seek always the common good to steward this city with humility and hope. May they never be too proud to call upon you when the ship of our city may not always be in safe harbor. And may they always view their success as our victory. Oh God, as Mayor Coutite, Teresa, the council, as we enter into a new chapter, grant us all respit and your joy.

Welcome our new leaders to step forward. Grant them your strength, your abiding courage. And [clears throat] with gratitude for the past, and a hope for the future, we offer this prayer to you in your most holy and gracious name. Amen. Thank you very much, Jeremy. 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.

You may [clears throat] be seated. Well, there's not a whole monstrous agenda to adopt, but is there a motion that we adopt the agenda as presented? So, move. Second. Second. All in favor, please say I. I.

Any opposed? The motion carries unanimously. Uh behind uh typically uh number five is our code of ethics and front and center strategic plan. Um well, I hope I hope the new council will adopt a policy that we adopted a few years ago, which is at the first um full meeting of the the new year, they will sign their pledge to abide by the code of ethics and the front and center strategic plan. Uh at this time, I'm going to ask Mr. Johnson, Mr. Joe Hudson, and I will leave the roster and try to find a seat. And I think we've got a presentation. And you're going to make that happen for

um Mr. Bowers is we were worried about you. [laughter] All right. So Joe and I'll go down here and then while you're going I'm going to give an introduction to uh to Mr. Bowers.

So as by way of introduction, Walter L. Bowers Jr. Esquire is a mission-driven leader with a distinguished record of public service, legal experience, ministry, and community engagement. In May 2025, he was appointed director of the governor's Charlotte office, where he serves as a liaison between state government, local leaders, and community stakeholders. In this role, he works to strengthen collaboration, expand access to state resources, and promote equitable outcomes across the region. A licensed attorney, Bowers brings a unique perspective shaped by his work in both the legal and law enforcement arenas, including service as a patrol officer and later in the legal division of the Charlotte Meckllinburgg Police Department. He is also a proud US Army veteran, having served as a captain during Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2005 to 2006. In his pastoral role, Bowers has supported mission efforts in Haiti, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. His broad span of service exemplifies a steadfast dedication to bridging communities, advancing opportunity, and empowering those he is called to serve. Welcome.

Good even good evening everyone. My name is uh Walter Bowers and I have the blessed uh privilege of serving as the director of the governor's office in Charlotte. uh that actually consists of about uh seven uh 17 17 counties as far west as Lincoln and as far east as uh Bladen and and Samson. And I'm I'm here to tell you that uh Statesville uh North Carolina is certainly becoming one of my uh more favorite places uh to serve. Uh our outgoing mayor um introduced me to a a great um restaurant and I said I know I knew the next time I I saw him he was gonna ask me if I checked it out. So, I was wanted to make sure I had my homework in uh order. And uh today I have the great privilege um as a servant leader to uh honor uh some individuals uh that have uh served us in an amazing way uh by the presentation of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine. And I want to take a brief moment to uh share with those who may not be familiar with this award uh what it is. Uh the Order of the Longleaf Pine is one of the highest civilian honors that can be granted by the governor of North Carolina. is traditionally awarded to individuals who have shown a lifetime of extraordinary service to the state. Uh significant contributions to their community, their field or the state at large. A demonstrated commitment to improving the lives of North Carolina North North Carolinians is also required. Uh so for example uh we have individuals in in various fields and industries uh science and and uh politics but also individuals like Michael Jordan if you're a basketball fan uh would be someone who through their service in the community was once a recipient of this award. Uh this award has been around since uh 1963 and it's something to uh take great pride in. I've personally given out this award recently to individuals who were involved in saving uh saving lives. There were some uh there were some uh

firemen. Um you may all remember that tragic incident in uh Charlotte uh not long ago where uh approximately eight uh law enforcement officers from various agencies um were were wounded and several lost their lives. but it was a it was a fire um engine um unit that actually went in and put their lives on the line uh to pull out some uh CMPD officers. And so I think that's important to mention to say that this is just not another award. Uh this is certainly something that is uh uh welld deserved. And so today we have the blessed opportunity to present this uh award to uh three individuals uh for a lifetime of of service. So at this time I believe the awards are behind me and I want to take this moment to uh present them. So, I will start I guess on my left and and as I call out your uh name, I'll ask that you uh please come up at this time and I'm going to read it I'm going to read it uh once and u for the sake of time um because the language is is similar. Uh Josh Stein, Governor, um proposing special confidence in the integrity, learning, and uh zeal of Lynwood Hudson Jr. uh to by these present confer Pine with the rank of ambassador extraordinary privilege to enjoy fully all rights granted to members of this exalted order, among which is the special privilege to propose the following. North Carolina toast is is select company anywhere in the free world. Uh here's to the land of the longleaf pine, the summerland where the sun doth shine, where the weak grow strong and the strong grow great. Theirs to down home the old north state. And so uh at this time I'm going to ask uh

Lynwood Hudson Jr. if you could uh come forward. Thank you for your service. [applause]

[applause] [applause]

And at this time, and I love how they have it uh written um in such a loving way, CO Johnson, if you could come forward at this All right. [applause] [applause]

[applause]

And I think we all may know who this uh last short gentleman is. Mayor Constantine HQ Cutter. If he could come forward at this time. [applause]

[applause] [applause]

Thank you, sir. And if [applause] and if it's if it's not out of order, I would like all three of the recipients if we could take a picture together and then I will turn it back over to uh uh to the great leadership here. So I'll ask all three of us if we could take a picture if that's all right. Thank you. And while while they're coming up, um Steve Steve Johnson was the other departing member and he has he has previously been awarded with uh the order of the longleaf pine. So if people are wondering, hm what what happened there? But Steve Steve beat us to the punch and we're proud of his efforts on our behalf, TOO. [applause] [applause]

[applause] [applause] OW. Thank you.

[clears throat] No pressure, Scott. [laughter] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. [applause]

All right. We have one item on the consent agenda and that's to approve the November 13th, 2025 pre-agenda meeting minutes and the November 17th regular meeting minutes. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Motion second. All in favor of approving the consent agenda, please say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously.

We're going to get into the regular agenda and I'm going to go to the podium. At this time, we want to once again recognize the service of the outgoing city council members and give them an opportunity to say a few parting words. Um, the first member is Kimberly Wson, who served faithfully from 2022 until 2025. And [snorts] a couple of things that stick out to me about her service is um at least at least for me um you know a lot of us try to [crying] see the lives that people live and put ourselves in their shoes and be empathetic and sympathetic and understand how their backgrounds may be different than ours. And I think I think Kim more than anybody else over the last three and a half years has shared her life and her experience with us. Certainly has made me better and stronger and more understanding of that that and she has certainly brought ideas um that are of significance to her affordable housing and uh other topics. and she has served us well and we appreciate her service and know that she will continue her advocacy throughout the community for years to come. So, Kim, uh, are you going to you want to come here or you WANT [applause] Thank you.

Guys, we got about 3 minutes to say what we want to say about three and a half years worth of service. And first of all, I want to say thank you to everybody that came out and voted the first time. Thank you to everybody that voted for me the second time. I absolutely appreciate the confidence um the support that I receive in this community every day. Um I want to thank the council members and the mayor cuz we did some great work over three and a half years. And it starts with when I ran for council, it was never about having a seat and wanting to be a politician. I ran for counsel because we had literally had a a child get murdered in our community, a nine-year-old little girl, and we had a lot of crime happening in our community, and we needed a lot of work to have that cleaned up. So, as Mayor Kasiche said, bringing about change, bringing about ideas, guys, I've worked in this community all of my life. So, when you're working in the community, you get to see people every day. So trying to further their cause, we built the fire station, we built the police department, we renovated every park in our community or added a piece of equipment to every park in our community. We worked hard rewriting the UDO, which is currently still being done, getting the education about affordable housing and bringing some of those opportunities to Statesville so that people understand that it's not just about um people lowincome housing, that affordable housing is a completely different thing. So, we've worked tirelessly over the past three years, and I thank each and every one of you up here because, right, we didn't always agree. We would have some knockdown dragouts behind the scenes sometimes, but at the end of the day, we all came together for Statesville. So, I just want to thank each and every one of you for the work and the time that we [snorts] were able to spend together. And in words of wisdom for the people that are going to be up here, make sure that you get the education, guys. We're not reinventing

the wheel. Staceville is going through some changes that cities around us have already gone through. So, we don't have to reinvent the wheel to be able to do the work that we need to do in our community. We're growing and we're changing and that's a beautiful thing. We have to embrace it. We of course have to do it in a smart way. But again, thank you for serving. Thank you all for running. It's going to be a beautiful You're going to have fun. You're going to get to make some great friends and partners in this community. And I thank God for all of this opportunity. I thank God for the people that I know I won't be away from. I know I'll still see you. I'm definitely not going anywhere. As Lisa alluded to earlier, uh we're not going anywhere. This is my city. This is my home. So, we'll definitely be here. Great friends in the audience, people that I've met and been able to spend some time with. And I thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the time and opportunity. Ron probably got the brunt of most of my whining. But we did some great work. And guys, when I look across this city and I see the fire department and I see the paved streets and I see the parks and I see these things that we've done and see how Statesville South Statesville has is is moving and growing because of the ordinances and things that we created and the policy that we created. I'm excited and I just want each and every one of you to know that as you start where you start and where you finish are so important and three and a half years is nothing compared to the 35 and the other years that these guys have spent up here but I didn't come to stay up here forever. You got to come and you got to come do the work. So, it's one of those things that I thank you for the opportunity. I thank you guys for the time that we spent together and served together and congratulations to the NEW BOARD. [applause]

[applause]

WELL, JOE, MR. BOWERS, let the cat out of the bag. Lynwood Hudson, Jr., [laughter] come on up here. Joe, uh, as all of you know, Joe Joe, uh, went from the dark side to the bright side. He was a city employee for his whole career and probably had some notions of what it would be like to to move to the other side of the table and I think I think he learned that we're not as og ogorous if that's a word as he might have perceived before but obviously his expertise is in water and wastewater but he brought a lot of his um common sense that we all read about on a periodic basis and we we know the kind of person that Joe is from from that and Joe brought that sense and the caring for this community to us and I'm proud to present him his uh service plaque for the years of 2022 to 2025. Joe [applause]

[laughter]

Thank you, mayor. Never held so many plaques in my life tonight. I uh this is an amazing night for me. I started in the municipal service business when I was 14 years old. My job was to shovel coal for the electric generators that the city of Greenville, North Carolina had at that time. And now here I am standing here tonight. I reported for work uh to the government of Statesville on December the 1st, 1986. And it dawned on me I'm leaving it for the last time on December the 1st, 2025. That's an amazing thing. God and Stacil have been very good to this simple country boy. Let me tell you, I want to thank my wife Louise who even though I spent 30 years as a department head, got out and then jumped back in on the political side and I'm coming out again. The woman has not once mentioned divorce. [clears throat] Not one time. Murder, yes. But divorce, no. No, no, never has. But thank you. Thank you, baby. All right. And I want to thank the council. It has been an honor and a privilege to work with the caliber of people that we have here that care for this city. Uh it's been great working with you and then getting to know you as a person. And it's quite an honor. You're the kind of people who make somebody's life better because you cross paths and I thank you for that. And I want to thank the staff, the staff and the employees of the city of Statesville for letting me work with you, for you allowing me to come in and work with you. It's been great. And I want you to know that you are the best municipal staff in the United States.

Thank you very much, and it's been an honor to serve. Thank you. [applause] [applause] [crying and laughter]

Steve Johnson brought a different kind of leadership to the council because he had uh served for 22 years across the street representing the county. And I remember on a number of occasions when Steve and I would talk during those years that he definitely had a county focus and wanted [snorts] the well capitulate is the right word, but wanted the city to kind of um do some things that were more county pro county than they were pro city. And I expected him to be that way. No one could have been more pro-Satesville since Steve has been on the council than he has been. And um one of the very great things about Steve has absolutely nothing to do with the decisions that we have made, but the way that he has conducted himself as it relates to me during the time that we've been here together. And that is there's not been a single time when he reached a conclusion on a topic or told me how he felt about any subject that he had reservations about that and changed his mind. And that's in this business that's very helpful because um a lot of times people are ambivalent. A lot of times people are I guess wishy-washy. Um but Steve has always been true to his word, stuck by his word. and it means a lot to me that he has been that way and we want to thank him for his service on this board from 2017 to 2025. Steve [applause]

costy said he would strictly enforce the three minute rule tonight. So I'm going to get right at it. I'm going to spend the last wear my watch though. [snorts] Okay. [laughter]

I I do confess to the sin of uh going on too long. Sometime I have this mistaken impression that people enjoy listening to me speak. Um, I will do the same thing that I did when I left the county to offer words of edi ed edification, encouragement to those who will remain on the board and those who will come after us because any successful organization, the leadership stands on the shoulders of those who came before them. Hope that I've been one of the people to plant a firm foundation for you folks. That has been my goal. I have a a spout notebook in in a cabin cabinet at my store that uh I write down aims as I come across them. Some folks at the county may have heard some of these when I depart there. I've added a few. I think I'm up to 83 now. Uh I'll only share a few with you tonight. First one is always remember trust leaves on horseback but it returns on foot. You've got an excellent attorney over there. She would never say it that way. But she advises like she believes it. Listen to her folks. She'll keep you out of trouble. She's very good. Thank you, Leah. You got to understand that there are problems and there are facts. Problems can be solved. Facts cannot. You can only mitigate the ill effects of facts over time. But you cannot fix facts. You can fix problems. Facts do not speak for themselves. You must do your homework. gather your information and relate the facts that you've discovered [clears throat] to

your audience in an effort to convince them that you are right. The first thing to consider when you're contemplating having a meeting is whether you actually need to have a meeting. That sounds simple, but if you do not have a problem well-defined to resolve or you don't have a goal well defined to reach, you probably do not need to have a meeting. So, stop wasting everybody's time. When confronting a problem, hope and pray that you're the dumbest person in the room. I've served that purpose, Doug, on many occasions. But the be best part of it is when the problem gets solved, everybody thinks I'm a whole lot smarter than I really am. If you start catching flack, relax. It just means you're over the target. Every big decision in life is a tradeoff between the day and tomorrow. Think about that and act accordingly. Every business decision comes down to a computation of net present value. What is it worth today compared to what it'll be worth tomorrow? If the math doesn't work, don't do it. When negotiating, never feel compelled to feel awkward moments of silence. Make your offer. Let them stew. You'll win a lot of negotiations by following that practice. Don't mean to offend anyone of the anyone with this one. It's just an observation I've made. Trey, [laughter]

your enemies make it difficult to get things done. At times, your friends will make it impossible. They mean well. they just won't get out of the way. To be decisive is to be divisive. You're going to have to make difficult decisions. Don't worry about perception. Don't worry about yourself. Decide. It's your job and people expect you to do it regarding temporal matters because there are some things that do not change. If I can say this, the law of God never changes. But in temporal matters, if you do not like change, you will like irrelevance a whole lot less. When in the midst of difficulty, remember that it's like that movie you've watched repeatedly. You know how it begins, you know how it ends, but you always cry in the middle. Just have faith and work yourself through it. Government does not create wealth. It transfers it. That's not an indictment of government. The Lord himself ordained government. It's got a legitimate place in our culture and our society. But only free people in free markets create wealth. Good steward of it. It's their hard-earned money. Trust in the Lord. Worry is an insult to the character of a God who promised that he would never leave you nor forsake you. Have faith. [crying] Beg the indulgence of my oldtime friend

Ken Robertson. You know I can't talk very long without mentioning Monuscu. Monuscu was the second most quoted source at the constitutional convention after the scriptures themselves. Monscu says in the course of human history there have only been four forms of government that have ever existed. First one is monarchy. The guiding principle is honor. You do what you do for the honor of the king. The second one he says was aristocracy. The guiding principle which is moderation doing moderation and society will remain well balanced. There's despatism or what we call a dictator guiding principle of which is fear. You dare not cross the dictator. It may lop off your head. The fourth form of government at his time he says is newly discovered. He called it republicanism. with a little R in some quarters and other places he call it republican democracy. He's there's but one guiding principle for this form of government and it is virtue. That philosophy has built western civilization. It built the United States. This is the greatest country that has ever existed in the course of human history. be virtuous. It's the glue that holds it together. My final words are not my own. I borrow them from Nathan the prophet. I will not sin by pray by failing to pray for you. God bless you all. God bless

Ky. I want to say a couple of words for him. He said if I brag on him a little bit, he might give me a little extra time. [laughter] I know that Costy Where'd he go? I know that Costy loved Statesville. Having worked with him, we haven't always agreed. But at every turn, I knew that he loved this city and he had the best interest of its people at heart. I love everyone up here. We've had our differences. We've argued. They were still wrong, but we argued, [laughter] but I never questioned their motives. They're good people.

They're the people Muscu spoke of, and I appreciate them very much, and I thank you for the opportunity to serve you. Thank you. [applause] Well, I'm going to say some more words about this fella later, but I could I could spend the rest of my life talking about this next um as most of you know, Jeff and I started on the same today and we're going to end on the same day. And um man, I thought about that a lot recently. Um when you're in this job a long time, you you know, you don't know everything about the people that you work with, but you learn more and more as you go. And and I have shared some good times and some sad times through the years. And I And I really I mean this is this is an this is a fairly solemn occasion, but my but the the absolute truth is that if Jack Johnson is your friend, you'll never have a better friend ever, anywhere, anytime. He to me is that person. And I do want to tell a humorous story, not to diminish that in any way, but time that we had both bought tickets to one of those reverse raffle things, you know, where the last people in get some money. Used to get a car, but cars got so expensive that they didn't make enough money to give you a car. So Teresa and I were going to be at the beach. Jeff said, "Well, I'm going I'll look after it." And by some good fortune, when you get down to the last

10, they start asking around, "Do you want to partner up with these people? Do you want to make a consortium or something?" They they call it, "Oh, it was it was already like 10:00 at night on a you know, school night." And uh started calling about every 10 minutes. Uh there's down to 10. You want to get in? You want to get in? I said, "Yeah, start putting something together." Because I'd had an experience before where I' i'd run my mouth too much. first one I ever went to and I have I got in the last eight and I said I'm driving that car to Charlotte tonight. I don't care what happens. Soundly got soundly defeated. So Jeff put a group together. I think of five people kept calling you know we're still in we're still in this that we're down to this many whatever. Um he called me back. He said, "We won, but two darn ladies who bought a half ticket each both took a full share." In other words, there were five shares. It was supposed to be 1/5if each. But these two ladies who had only bought one ticket together, each took a full share. And costy, there's no money left for you, buddy. [laughter]

But when you know you don't have to worry about that. He said, "I'm not leaving this place." He might have I don't know. He might have might have used some stronger language than that. He said, "I'm not leaving this place till you have your money one way or the other." And I don't I don't And I thought to myself, and I told Theresa, I said, "If that had been me, I would have tucked tail and said, "Good night. Thank you very much." and just forgotten about it. But I knew I was going to have my money. [laughter] And I guess I'll ask you after the meeting how you got it. But e he either strong armed those two ladies into pwning up the money that wasn't theirs or either went to the organizers and said, "You owe my man a, you know, a little bit of money." But in any event, that's that's a silly kind of example, but that's an example that I've been thinking about. I hadn't heard about that in years. But [clears throat] Jack, you know what I think about you? 1989 to 2025. And you've probably sat in that same seat for all 36 years, haven't you? I sure have.

Yeah. And this tight city that we live in probably hadn't replaced the chair during that 36 years either. [laughter] But I we want to thank you for your service. If you'll if you do you want to come forward?

Yeah. [applause] [applause] Well, this is something that [clears throat] I'm not used to, especially when my wife's looking at me. [laughter] But really, I'm kind of sad. I'm not so sad about leaving the council. I'm sad that I lost my brother-in-law last Wednesday, and I thought a lot of him. And just yesterday, I found out another brother-in-law's in hospice house. I'm going to lose him. I went to see him. I'm just wondering if he's still there, but [clears throat] I guess he is or they would have called me. But you know uh you've heard a lot about lawyers [laughter] and you know sometimes you think about [clears throat] lawyers is not very truthful but in my 36 years I found one time that Cary was exactly right. He told the truth. When my when my wife Betty died, I I don't know how he figured it out. He come up to me one day and he put his arm around me and said, "You

will find another woman that you love much, much more." Now, how he knew that, I don't know, but she's sitting [laughter] right there. So [laughter] So I don't believe my grandsons is here. [laughter] So they they're supposed to be here, but one of them Well, no. Okay, I I won't finish what I was going to say, but since Steve wanted to hog up on all the time, I [laughter] Yeah, that's that's that's Steve for you. He'll he'll tell me just shut up. Sit down, stupid. That's what he tells me. [laughter] So, I'm I'm going to do just that. But I want the whole world to know I've got the best wife as any man ever has in this world.

Oh, YES. [applause] Hold up all the time.

[laughter]

So, I'm not as articulate as the mayor, so I'm going to read from my my written comments. [clears throat and cough] Tonight, we honor Mayor Constantine H. Costiq for over two decades of mayoral service to Statesville, making him the longest serving mayor in the city's history. From his start on city council in 1989, he has exemplified integrity, collaboration, and a deep commitment to our community. Beyond city leadership, his lifelong civic involvement reflects a devotion to improving the lives of others. Mayor Coutay has always looked to achieve success through partnership, cooperation, and collaboration and has always shared credit for the outcomes in any accolades with those same partners. His vision, leadership, and service have left a lasting impact on Statesville. So, this is where I'll break. So, I've probably worked with Costi as close as anybody for the last seven and a half years. And um I've grown to appreciate many, many things about him. The thing that I appreciate potentially the most is his dedication to this city. It's been said a lot tonight. And you cannot put enough emphasis on 36 years. I graduated from high school in 1989, and I am not a young man. Uh [laughter] [clears throat] but that's a testament to the dedication that that he has, you know, attributed to this city. He we we meet before every agenda. Doug, you got big shoes to fill. So we meet before every agenda or every meeting to talk about the agenda. I don't have to know all of the facts about the the cases or the cars that we have on the agenda. I know have to I have to know all the facts. And this is for the family, I think. Uh, and where

the car was built, when it was built, what color the, you know, the that that is going to be every detail. Ki is going to ask me that. And that is that's true dedication. He cares about the most minuscule things that we do do here at the city. And and I have the utmost respect for that man. I appreciate everything he's done for me. I've been here seven and a half years. Uh, I've, you know, as I stepped in, I remember talking to Costi before coming here and just about, you know, what is Statesville? What do we, what can I expect? And this group, the groups before it, but under Costi's leadership for sure has done great things. All you have to do is look around statesville right now and we are absolutely in the best place I think we've ever been. So with that, Costi, thank you for your service.

[applause] [applause]

OH MY GOD. [laughter] YEAH, I was I was looking forward to hanging Jap's plaque on my wall. [laughter]

[applause]

Well, through the years, a lot of people have asked, "How did how did you get started in this?" And I'll tell you about that in a minute. And a lot of people said, when when did you decide you wanted to be mayor? And I'll tell you about that in a minute, too. But as it as it all um relates to my time in this room, it starts on March the 18th, 1972. That's when Teresa and I, two juniors at Wake Forest University, went on our first date. And um you talk about that you were you probably weren't even born then, one year old. And I don't think I don't know if she's figured it out yet, but I figured it out pretty quickly that whatever trajectory my life took started that day. It's all about that. It always has been and it always will be. And um one of one of and y'all if I mentioned this person's name you would you'd know her. She's not in this room but she's a hard case. She told me one time she said I was in a room and I heard somebody say something unkind about Teresa. And I went up to them and said buddy there's something wrong with you because there's nothing wrong with Teresa. And that's how I feel and I I love her and I've appreciated her guidance. Uh we had somebody tell us yesterday about his spouse. He said, "Well, I had to show a lot of grace today. Had to show a lot of grace today. Teresa has to show me a lot of grace every day." And and thank God she

has continued to do so. And I'm so proud of our lives together. Uh, our three children are here and our three grandchildren. I think that's what you've been hearing for the last 15 minutes. [laughter] And I hope it's like it was in church. It always bugs you more when it's your kids than it bugs everybody else who's in there. But I apologize if baby Jordan has been uh out of sorts a little bit. But gosh, my um my two brothers and their spouses are here. two of two of Billy and Carol's children and one of their spouses are here. So, um it's it's been a family affair. I really appreciate appreciate it. And I don't know when we moved to Statesville, we didn't live in Statesville proper. Um actually, our first house got annexed in 1992 a after we moved away from it. So, all the people that were mad at us, probably still mad at us from from doing that in 1992. Um, I I would have been one of those people. But for some reason, we moved into the city, still hadn't thought about doing anything like this. And a guy who had been a an adult mentor of uh of mine growing up and actually his wife worked for the city for a long time. I think I think he was maybe the first Hey, Jordan. I think I think he might have been one of the first ATL large council members, and I don't know if he was just trying to pass the baton or what, but he said, "I think you'd I think you'd be a good person to do this someday." And that must have been early in 1989. So, I took the bait and I guess I I guess it was still $5 back then. I paid my $5. Was it $5 back then,

It was.

Yeah. [laughter] And so, here we go. Uh, not a clue what was going to happen. And then the other thing that was so amazing is I was 37 years old. Maggie, the youngest, was three or four or five months old. Uh Hannah and Martha a little bit older. And so I'm going to take off on this enterprise of running for office in Statesville. And on a Sunday morning, I was trying to remember why Teresa and I weren't jogging together. The reason was she was back at home with three kids and I'm out gallivanting around on Sunday morning jogging. Typical. And I'm going down East Broad Street. Um right there about Magnolia or Vine somewhere in that area. And a guy that I've never met before is out putting out a sign. And I look I look on the sign and I knew there was a guy running for council that was a fireman. Had been a fireman. And I look at the sign and there's there's the you know whatever you call it the bust of a guy in full fire uniform. And it says vote Johnson for whatever. So I could I'm smart enough to know that the face on the sign and the face that I was looking at were one in the same person. I said you must be Mr. Johnson. And he had he had served a full career as a fireman. for the Statesville Fire Department. I didn't know him from out Adam Adam's house cat. Teresa and I came here when I was 24 or 25 years old. I'm trying to cut a wide swath doing civic stuff and growing a law practice and I'm sure had never seen me before. And we met on that day and I guess we started our friendship then. So, we were both elected and things rocked along pretty well.

And I guess the first time that it crossed my mind that maybe someday I'd like to be mayor is the then mayor was about six years into his term. And I went to him and I said, I didn't say when you're going to quit, but I said, when you decide you're through, I think I would like to give this a shot. and he said, 'Well, it might be at the end of two more years, but I'll let you know. And he said, I've decided I want to go another term, and sometime late in that term, he said, do you have time to go out with me after tonight's meeting? And he said, I'm I'm not going to run for another term as mayor of Statesville. And so that would have been probably in early 2005. So, actually, I had no vision of serving as mayor. Uh I understand there's some people that are born thinking they need to be mayor or governor or president, but I didn't I didn't have any such dreams at all and had not a clue what I was getting into. And then a person who'd been a friend, a very good friend, families were friends, kids grew up together, Nancy during the first years. I would not have made it without Nancy. She had been a city employee for a long time uh on a contract basis for a while and then became a part-time employee. I remember when she was offered a full-time job, show you how great my advice is. I said, "Don't take it. They'll work even harder than they're working you already." But she took it and it was one of the great things that happened in my life and uh happened for our city. and she made those first years of my life as mayor um unforgettable and I'm indebted to you forever.

And then we rocked along and of course something called the great recession came around and we we all that were here Japan we thought we were on the cusp. We thought it was Stacil's turn. Here we go. And then the bottom fell out. And what people didn't realize is when you're sort of at the bottom of the heap, you don't get back to even as quickly as the people that were flourishing a little better than you are. So our recovery was a lot slower than it was other places. And of course, we saw what was happening to the south. We got bashed quite a bit for not growing. Uh, interestingly, the same people that said, "When are we going to grow are the ones that are saying, you know, how about putting the brakes on now?" But in fairness, it gave the council, in part through good leadership, in part through a great staff, an opportunity to build our infrastructure. People that keep talking about our infrastructure being inadequate are are mistaken. I mean again it's not we have great water resources, great electric resources, great wastewater resources, great storm water resources, all of that is in order. So we were perched for growth and then um we had one one manager had taken early retirement and then went back into the workforce in another community and we hired an interim manager who was on the staff. And about one month after Ron had left the county to take another job, our then manager said, "Oh, by the way, I'm I'm going to retire." And the council was reluctant to pay any money to hire a new manager.

And I think probably Steve and I talked about it. We we knew we had to do that. But the only way we could convince the council to spend any money, they knew Ron well enough to say, "Well, if if Smith will come and lead the search, then we'll we'll spend the money to hire the Council of Governments to lead us through the search." And on my way home after the first meeting, uh I think I knew then who the manager should be. And I talked to the two people on the council that knew him the best and they both said, "If you pull that off, it will be one of the best things that has ever happened to the city of Statesville." And Ron, it was it was one of the best things that's happened to the city of Statesville. Yes. [applause] Um, Ron is just a great leader. I, again, I've I've only been an elected official in one community, as you all know, but I put him against any manager anywhere in the world for sure. We are very fortunate. And I hope the new council members, if they don't already know that, will find that out pretty soon. He's a hard work, hardworking individual. He has 550 employees to worry about and nine primadonas that he has to deal with on a daily basis. And he complains a little bit, but he does a hell of a job. And perhaps, well, it wouldn't be so bad if my legacy is did you have a role in hiring Ron Matthews? Ron Matthews. Ron Matthews, [laughter] he's a good person, too. But Ron Smith, then I wouldn't mind that being my

legacy. But actually, the actually to just to to finish, um, couple people said it's the people. It's all the this all the staff and employees past and present that we've worked with. the vast majority of all the council members passed and certainly all of the council members currently that we've worked with and the citizens Kim alluded to this that we get to meet that we probably would not have gotten to meet otherwise and to see the good and the goodness and the kindness and the generosity that gives statesville a spirit that is rarely if ever duplicated. There is a statesful spirit. Don't know where it comes from. I don't know why it's there. But we get along better than most. We're able to talk to one another better than most. We listen to differing opinions better than most. And because of that, we flourish better than most. And it's my hope that this council will exude that kind of spirit and carry that spirit on lead this community as it continues to grow and grows even better and grows even stronger. It has I don't know what the hell I'm going to do tomorrow, but I didn't do I didn't know what the hell I was going to do 36 years ago when

Jeff and I raised our hands and took the oath, but it came out okay. And I thank every one of you. It's just great to look around this room and see so many faces that some that we've known for a long time, some not so long, but still we're all we're all friends. We're all We love our community. We make that number one as far as this job goes, then we'll be just fine. And I thank you all very much for that. [applause] [applause]

[applause] and the heck with the three minute uh time limit for [laughter] um all right I think the next process I don't think we have any other business and I think what I would like to do is ask for a motion to adjourn the meeting of this so move Second. [laughter] Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor of adjourning, please say I. I. We are adjourned. [applause] Yeah.

Now, I think Oh, okay. Thank you. Speed I'll do I'll do my best. Don't leave yet. Don't leave out. Don't leave. We

in the spirit of uh moving things forward. Oh yeah.

I'd like to call this meeting to order for new business. For the purpose of swearing in the new mayor and the new council members, I'd ask that the honorable judge crossweight come forward. I'd ask that the mayor elect Doug Hendricks and his family come forward. We will have the swearing in of the mayor. Byebye. And I think we've been and sincerely faithful and true allegiance to the state of maybe

[applause] [applause]

would like you. Yeah.

And tip

and tip. [laughter] sitting in the wrong. [laughter] Raise your right Madison Ken Robertson. He needs to go up there.

Yeah, she got reelected. She trying to tell me something.

Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Tell me something. [laughter] each of you solemnly and sincerely swear that you will support the Constitution and laws of the United States, that you will [clears throat] be faithful and bear true allegiance to the state of North Carolina and to the Constitutional powers and authorities which are or may be established for the government thereof. that will endeavor to support, maintain and defend the constitution and laws of set state in consistent with the constitution of the best your knowledge and ability and have each of you of your office as [applause]

[applause]

Thank you. No, that is perfect. I will get it done.

You too. Right. Good. This puts you in a good spot up there, would you?

Thank you. Delicious. No, absolutely. Thank you. This is Christ and George. I've already done one of his. Do I have two of his? Yeah. And then here's the This is the best seat in the house. Says mayor and one says everyone just a moment please. Thank you.

[applause] [applause]

seat. Yeah, James assume he's [laughter] at least. Well, poor black ink. I'm glad somebody adjusted the chair. You wouldn't be able to see me. [laughter]

So, um, thank y'all so much for coming out tonight. This is a to to follow Costy. Um, it's quite an honor. So, thank y'all coming out. So, we need to um do the mayor prom vote. Okay. Do we have a nomination for Mayor Pro Tim? I'd like to nominate David Jones. I second nominate David Jones.

We have a motion and a second for David Jones. Any other nominations from the from the floor? Okay. All in favor of electing David Jones as our mayor pro Tim say I. I. I. Any opposed? That's a dang good thing, David. My first. Thank you. Thank you for being willing to serve. So that's about it, right? I have a motion to adjourn. Second.

Yes. So, okay. So there's no other. So oh we need to everybody needs to sign their oath please for Emily and return to Emily. So we have a motion on the floor and a second to adjurnn. Any discussion? We are said adjourned. Thank you all for coming out tonight.