Town Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome, everybody. Let's get up for our Pledge of Allegiance. Marcus, lead us off.

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.

If you will remain standing for a moment of silence. You may be seated. Welcome on this rainy night tonight. You know, we always say we need to rain until we get so much of it and then we don't need it so bad anymore, do we? We kind of like to not. But whether you like it or not, it's going to rain for the next week. So let's enjoy it while we can. Some upcoming events. Look on here, and I'll tell you what, this is the biggest event of the year for Indian Trail. Family Fun Day. Mark this date for an action-packed event full of thrilling amusement rides, live music, delicious food, trucks, exciting kids activities. Vendors cap the evening with Union County's best fireworks show. It's going to be a blast. And, uh, I'm telling you what, this is how many years, three, four years we've done it at crooked Creek or my, at least that, well, I'm glad I'm not the only one that doesn't quite remember exactly how many years we've done it there, but, um, literally. We've had 10,000 people there. It lasts from this year, I think, from 2 o'clock to probably 10 o'clock. You can't park there, but buses bring people in and out. You've got free rides, like you said. Pay for nothing except for the vendors who are selling stuff. And there is food there that you can buy. But other than that, everything's free and the good time is free also. And we have last and it is culminated by I'm telling you the best fireworks show ever. So if you just come if you want to show up at 830 or nine o'clock just for the fireworks show, it's worth it. It really is. It's worth it. So do your best to get there. And, uh, that's all I have. That's all we have, uh, for the town sponsored. Um, let's do mayor's, uh, council introductions. We'll start with you this time. Clarence.

Clarence also Brooks jr. Uh, Tom Ambergy.

Crystal Buholic.

Mayor David Cohn.

Melanie Cox, town attorney.

Marcus McIntyre. Adam McLam, town manager.

Very good. All right.

Mayor, are you going to tell us what you've been up to? I mean, we've grown accustomed to hearing that. So you want to make sure you're keeping busy, man.

I will. I'm getting ready to tell you right now. There you go. Now I get to tell you what the mayor did last week. So, excuse me, for the last two weeks. And I'll try to be as brief as possible. I'll try. ABC board meeting. And also, is Alicia, Alicia's gone, didn't she? I was gonna tell her something. Don't leave, I was gonna tell you something. At ABC board meeting, good news for the town. ABC board's got too much money. And we're gonna have to give it to the town. So next We're gonna, we have to true up and it's gonna be a nice big check for the town. So I'm excited about that. So, and I know you'll be excited about it too. So that's a good thing. Okay. Next, uh, Adam and I met with Corey. Is it Latroth? I was pretty good. Um, Corey was gov was with governor Stein's office. He came in and we spent some time with As a matter of fact, we went and had lunch with him too, so it was even more a productive day, very productive day. I attended the comedy night. That was a big success, Hayden, big success. The same night I couldn't miss state night that the VFW and, uh, uh, it's great. Good state, good food. Um, I think, uh, uh, Kimberly's place sponsored some stuff, or at least we're part of the sponsorship of, um, the stakes and, uh, food this time. So I thought that was real nice and, and, uh, they went all out. It was, it was really nice, uh, visited with the Taylor Glenn HOA. As we know, we had a Taylor Glen resident come up, uh, last meeting and, um, was unhappy about some things. And Adam and I met with her HOA and hopefully that's all. taken care of. We also another day met with the Heritage HOA. Todd, myself, Adam went over. They're getting ready to turn their streets over and they wanted the town to look at it. Unfortunately, most of it wasn't in Indian Trail, but at least we came and appreciate you coming, Todd. You're always there when you're needed. uh we had coffee with the mayor with a rotary which was a little bit different uh nice thing about that was that room was filled up and uh we had a great meeting uh had a good time and uh abby was there for that and everybody got a free breakfast out of it so that was everybody that wanted it anyway so that was good um we had uh the memorial day lunch here at town Uh, that was nice hamburgers, hot dogs. Uh, that was enjoyable. We had, uh, Facebook live with, uh, life fix Patrick, our, our new public works man right there. Uh, it was a pleasure and, uh, we're lucky to have you. Um, we also met with the head of, uh, our district, um, uh, people with, uh, uh, department of, uh, transportation, DOT engineers on projects for ending trail. Uh, Todd Huntsinger were there and Adam were there. That was a very productive meeting, uh, last week, you know, as we know, um, Monroe Road was postponed again, and no fault of anybody's. Maybe Todd, Todd, you're coming up here tonight, aren't you? And maybe you'll give a brief explanation of why, and we'll put it on the long list that we have for why it got again. But what we did is we met with them, and they were very open to helping us out on a lot of other issues. things and I think and that we're gonna get some good stuff out of that I think they feel badly about it and they're gonna help us they're gonna help us get some stuff done that normally we probably wouldn't get done yeah I think y'all feel the same way so had a Poplin Pizza Party, which was nice. They were the winners of the Mayor's Tree Initiative. And then I see a picture there. Is it on behind me too, that picture? That's a great picture, by the way. I love that picture. There's a handsome fellow they got up there. My gosh. The cheer team from Porter Ridge High School won the state championship in their two categories. And I know they're real proud now. I would have loved to have had them here tonight. But unfortunately, they were getting a ring presentation at 630 tonight. And so I said, Well, how about next week? Well, next week, our meetings changed till the day after that we did it that purposely uh after graduation so a lot of those girls won't be here next week so we couldn't do it next week either so i went and had my picture made and we're going to present that to and i made a little video for them and maybe we can have them come another time i know there's some seniors that won't be around uh for that but uh anyway it was very nice and and all actually if anybody knows too or have heard about the car that caught on fire last week Two of those girls on the cheer team were the girls who helped save the lady, I think an older lady that was in the car. And her father works here. Adam, what is her father's name? Chris Meadows. Chris Meadows. He's on our, one of our public works crews. And we plan to have these girls come in, right? Yes, sir. Maybe next meeting. So yes. Very good. Uh, Adam and I met with the poplin, uh, PTO today. And yesterday was one of the things I look forward to most. The last thing I'll tell you about is that I got to emcee the Memorial Day at the VFW yesterday. And Mr. Perry, you were there yesterday. And you must have been sick because I thought you'd be there yesterday. But it was very, very, very nice. And Richard and Laura, you were there. It couldn't have been any nicer. We had a choir from... Sardis Elementary School there yesterday that sang a couple of songs. And if you know how big that hall is at VFW, it was packed. So what better day could could you ask for? Very nice. And you were there also, Clarence. Oh, Jim was Jim. I'm sorry. I talked to you a long time. Yes, that's right. Getting old, Jim. Anyway, that sums up Mayor's Week. So with that being said, let's move on. We don't have any agenda deletions or additions, do we? And if we don't, can I get a motion to approve the agenda?

Motion to approve the agenda as presented.

All in favor? Unanimous. All right, we have presentations tonight. We have the Union County representative flood study results. ryan hawkins and is lee jensen come on up let me ask who was lee jensen or was lee jensen that's a is that not a famous name no i know you are but that's it he was uh the fugitive wasn't he or something or what no he was on the tv program i'll shut up y'all go ahead

All right, good evening. My name is Brian Hawkins. I'm the County Stormwater Engineer. I'm here to present the results of the flood study that was done on the East Fork 12 Mile Creek tributaries, miscellaneous tributaries. This was a joint venture between the Town of Indian Trail the town of Wesley Chapel and Union County to determine the existing condition of some flood issues that are happening throughout the three communities. I'm going to go through all the results, even though some of these neighborhoods are not really in Indian Trail's jurisdiction, but just to give you an idea of what's going on. with the flood study the goals and objectives was so the three the three subdivisions that were Points of concern were winding Creek which is down off Potter Road. It's primarily in the county's jurisdiction Melrose Place which is off of Rogers Road across the street from a pond and the I believe it's Shiloh Valley Elementary and And then the Wesley Woods neighborhood, which from what I understand, you're well aware of what's going on in Wesley Woods. They're immediately downstream of the Taylor Glen Pond, and they've they've had some flooding issues for quite some time. And then understanding what the flood issues are going on currently, the consultant was asked to present some potential mitigation solutions that would potentially help those situations. Phase one involved primarily data collection that was done through the consultant sub-consultant, Pilot SE. They collected primarily as LIDAR data through the Melrose Place subdivision and the Wesley Woods subdivision. The Winding Creek subdivision didn't involve a whole lot of analysis, so there was no data collection down there, but additional sources of data was from FEMA resources, USGS, NRCS, ground truthing, geometry. There was a Bronte Lane, which is part of Winding Creek, culvert assessment, and the Rogers Road pond assessment. That's specifically the pond on the north side of Rogers Road next door to the elementary school. So hydraulic modeling, this is the Wesley Woods subdivision. The Taylor Glen Pond is over on the left-hand side. The results of the analysis, and this was a relatively extensive analysis since this area had no existing flood study done on it. During the 25-year storm, it was identified that there are already 11 homes subject to flooding during a 25-year storm event, and the crossings at what are identified as Points 1 and 2 were overtopping. That includes Wesley Chapel Road and Woodhurst Drive, and that's just during the 25-year storm. Extending that to the 100-year storm, they see another couple of homes are now inundated with water, and all five of the crossings in the study overtopped. So they have a significant issue going on. Unfortunately, most of those homes, those numbered homes, were built in a bowl. They're surrounded by areas that are higher than the land that they're built on. And so this was essentially our starting point to figure out whether or not there was anything that we could do to help these folks. Moving on to the primary concern that they were focusing on was during the failure of a road crossing that gets inundated with water, you look at whether or not they have access to get out of that neighborhood or get access to the home during the flood event. In this particular case, if the crossing at Brandon Court failed, eight homes would lose access just to get out or get into their respective homes. If the crossings at Woodhurst Court and Houston Drive, if they failed, then 36 homes would lose access because those are the only ways those people have been in and out of their subdivision. So during the 100-year storm, they basically would all lose access to getting in or out of that neighborhood. Or if emergency services were required, obviously they would have difficulty getting those services. Looking at the, this is the Melrose Place subdivision. I know it's, the scale of this map should have been a little smaller so you could see where the roads are, but Rogers Road is all the way over on the right-hand side, just out of view. And then there are some, there are the homes on the north side of that, are actually in Chelsea Place and Whitehall, which front on Wesley Chapel Road. This study, so the home identified on that map is number seven at 204 Sydney Court. The existing flood study for this stream ends at that home, so we basically, we had the consultant fix the analysis and reevaluate it, and they identified that there's upwards of 10 more homes here, or nine if you discount number seven, but overall 10 homes that are already subject to flooding in an area where they may not be aware that they are at risk of flooding, just because the state, or the flood insurance study does not extend into this area. These are all people that are potentially at risk of significant flooding problems that would, because they're actually mapped into what's called a zone X area, they would actually qualify for a preferred rate on their flood insurance. So this may be an opportunity to make sure those folks know that they are at a significant risk of flooding. Okay. So going back, there was no modeling done for the Winding Creek neighborhood, so we didn't have a Phase 2 for Winding Creek, however. So moving on to Phase 3, this is potential solutions that would help these people. The first one they looked at was what would it take to correct the Wesley Wood their stream network too, so that none of the roads in that network failed. And it's some pretty significant upgrades to all of the culverts that go underneath those roads, including in many cases, adding 360 inch or plus size pipes in order to keep that discharge from overtopping those roads. Wesley Woods was, I believe, built in the mid-90s. At that point, the storm events were, even for a 25-year storm event, it was significantly smaller than what we see a 25-year storm event today. While they may have worked back in 1995, they're all in significantly bad shape today.

The consultant estimates that in order to do all five of these roads, you'd be anywhere between one and a quarter million to one and a half million in cost to upgrade all of these crossings.

The second alternative was just to get the 25-year storm to work, and that would be upgrading the crossings at Wesley Chapel Road and Woodhurst Drive. That would still include a significant addition to the number of crossings or number of culverts to put under those crossings, but that was estimated at roughly a quarter of a million to 315,000. We evaluated the potential for, well, what if we just modified the Taylor Glen Pond? Is there any way we could save the... reduced the flood risk for those 11 homes that are already at risk under the 25 year storm and there was really no solution that would significantly drop the flooding concern for those people. So we didn't even entertain the idea of tripling the size of the Taylor Glen Pond at that point. Because we knew that was unfeasible. Moving on to the Melrose Place neighborhood. Ultimately, it floods the way it floods. Really, the only opportunity there would be to help decrease the flood risk for those homes would be a significant redesign for the pond on the north side of Rogers Road. That pond does not have a true outlet. It basically just overtops when it fills up and then it crosses over Rogers Road and just whatever comes in goes out. So it's the only way to truly make it have an effect is to essentially completely redesign that pond and install a formal outfall. But that would require a significantly, much more significant study to have that happen. Moving on to Winding Creek. This one's entirely primarily in the county's jurisdiction. Their issues are primarily focused on a specific storm event that happened in 2023 where they saw very significant flooding in their road that couldn't drain and we're fairly certain it was due to a tailwater effect on their outlet system that wouldn't permit their roads drain.

We're recommending that they install

a secondary outlet for their Schiller Drive, which is the image there is the Schiller Drive bridge over the winding creek. And it's we're proposing a secondary outlet in the case that the flood event prevents water from making its way through the drainage system. It would have a second way of evacuating from the road into the creek. And then they had a secondary situation on Bronte Lane, which is the farthest point back in the neighborhood. They have one failing culvert that causes that cul-de-sac to flood on occasion. So really the only recommendation there is to upsize that pipe from, I believe it's an existing 20, 24 inch pipe, we're looking at recommending to upgrade that to a 48 inch pipe with that situation. Additionally, on Winding Creek, they had a concern with regards to, they were afraid that the floods were happening in a larger capacity than what the existing flood study showed, which according to our observations and the consultant's evaluation, there was no there was no uh there was no proof or evidence that uh that would suggest that those flood uh flood boundaries were being uh were going wider than what uh the flood insurance study actually shows currently and so that's that's that's it that's that's what we have and that's that's basically a starting point of this is this is what we have and and uh If there's something you wanna look at, that's something you guys are gonna have to figure out whether or not you wanna look further into something or look at a possible design change or modification that would actually help some of these circumstances.

That's it. Any questions? I'm just wondering if you recall and from my understanding to know how far the water would have to rise to flood a house where most of these houses slab or they all slabs or combination of slab and crawl space.

I think I think I think a lot of them were crawl space, but I can't really be sure. Really, they just considered at risk if the if the flood hit the foundation. So whether or not it's on slab or on a crawl space, I couldn't really tell you. But based on the LIDAR data and the contours that are shown and how they work through the property as opposed to around the property, I'm fairly certain a lot of them are crawl space.

Any other questions? Thank you. I appreciate it. All right. That brings us to the introduction of Lee Fitzpatrick. Lee is our new public works director. And Lee, come on up and introduce yourself. I've already done that, but you can do it again.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, council members. My name is Lee Fitzpatrick.

I said Lee, didn't I? It is Lee. That's OK. All right.

I just wanted to thank you for the introduction. It's only been a week, but Adam and the rest of his team have been very welcoming, and I really appreciate their support that they've given me so far. We will have Facebook Live in two days, but just a brief background. I've been in local government for 21 years. I spent 14 years with Mecklenburg County in their operations division, and those roles, I did everything from patching asphalt, felling trees, building playgrounds, asset management, as well as working on five-year staffing models. While I was there, I actually earned my master's in public administration. And then after that, I joined the town of Matthews as their assistant public works director, which is where I was for the last seven years. So that's just a very brief background. And again, thank you for the introduction, and thank you for the opportunity to serve the town and to bring the town's vision to reality.

Well, thank you for being here. It was nice meeting you last week at the cookout. And, uh, I guess it is, uh, life I before E if E was before I you'd be, you would be leaf. So anyway, thank you for coming. Anybody have any questions? No. Thanks for, thanks for coming up. Introduce yourself. We look forward to seeing you for years to come.

I hope so. Thank you, sir.

I'm very glad you're here. If I, if nobody else wants that, I am out of the hills.

I know I had a lot and I'm looking forward to taking a lot of work off his desk so he can get back to working for you guys. So thank you.

Yeah. Thank you. You got big shoes to feel though. You know that. So anyway, okay. All right. That brings us to, um, oh, there they are public comments. I thought you'd forgotten them at first, but I, I knew didn't. All right, first person up is Mr. Jim Latrelle.

Council members. Um, I am, my name is Jim Latrell. I live in the Deerstein community. I have been here before. Um, but I am concerned about several things and I have some questions for our absent town council member. Um, so I, some of these are in the form of question, but I'll read through all of them and maybe, well, he's not here. Maybe he'll answer them. Hopefully he will. But the first question for Mr. Barber was, how does he feel about walking into this room knowing you are spreading untruths about the colleagues on this elected council, town employees, and Indian Trail town business? Elected public officials using social media to attack political foes is a growing trend, raises concerns about the tone and quality of public discourse. While social media can be a powerful tool for communication and engagement, Its use for personal or political attacks often contributes to polarization and undermines trust in democratic processes. Such behavior can divert attention from subsubstant policy debates, focusing instead on negative rhetoric and personal conflict. It also risks setting contentious example that may encourage hostility among public and other politicians, ultimately weakening accountability and respect essential for effective governments. Mr. Barber or the weasel report, which, whichever one using the weasel report to attack very, very members of this elected body and town employees, you have weaponized your council seat by the use of social media. Your attacks are disparaging to the town of Indian trail. And I have another question for Mr. Barber is, was he aware? that independent council hired by this very council. Report implies that the weasel report was basically Mr. Barber. You have been censored for this activity by the council. The Indian Trail employee handbook states, except as authorized by town council, or the town manager. A town employee may neither lobby or state opinions about public issues on behalf of any town unit. Only town council or the town manager may establish official position regarding regarding an issue and i realize that that statement is really designed for political issues but it really should apply to almost every issue because we really have to be careful what information goes out and it really is seems to me it's the responsibility of an elected official if you know of an untruth further propagating that untruth would be unaccepted.

Your three minutes are up. I'm sorry. I do. I do have something to say to you. If you have questions, make sure you leave them here. You know, when he comes back, we'll ask him.

I would like to hear the answers. I mean, because this issue has floated around for a while and we know it's a hotspot and it's very damaging. So thank you. Thank you.

Michael Falkenberry.

Good evening. Been a while since I've been here. I want to address the issue about this National Day of Prayer. We had a council member, I guess best of intention, he wanted to create the event by emails, and evidently the olive branch became poison oak. Because the emails I read, it was only between the town manager, town mayor, and Mr. Ambergy. Yet on the Weasel report, not everything was reported correctly. The mayor did make an offer to help the next year. I still confuse who has what authority to who can do what. Can a council member put on the agenda to have it done? The mayor, who? I don't know. But what I understand is why it's on social media and we know where the leak came from. The mayor sure as heck didn't put it on the Weasel report and I know the town manager didn't do it. So how did that information get out there? And it's incorrect. And what I don't understand either is one of the persons involved in it liked the post. Didn't correct it on his own Facebook page, never does. Four years. He's had an opportunity to bring this up. I agree, National Day of Prayer would be nice for this town. Do it, put it on the agenda. Don't go behind the scenes. Open and transparent government is what you're asking for, isn't it? It needs to stop because the same council member the last four years only put like five items on the agenda for any council meeting. I did my research. I didn't bring that up during the campaign. I didn't want to jinx it. because I did a PR for another candidate. It was the same thing. You want to play favorites. Now as for the Weezer report, I don't understand how Mayor Alvarez's email from 13 years ago that the mayor sent me is irrelevant now. The mayor's been, he's died, what, four years ago? If you go on the internet, just look. You see what the mayor did. He lied about a deputy Flat out. You got busted for doing it. But I'm going to tell you this. The Weasel Report, Todd Barber is part of it because that same ferret is always on the page. Whether if it's Little Joe, Little Joe T, or Miss Hollywood, it's Todd Barber. And I do have some questions real quick. Mr. Anberg, did you vote for or against the budget last year? Okay. Okay. So how can it be they're saying that you voted against the tax increase on the Weaver report and you liked it? Also, I think the mayor started something good. I think each council member should provide what they've done for the week or the last two weeks between council meetings. It may be a good idea. See what we're getting for our tax dollars. And it shows the efforts that you're putting into the job that you do have. But again, put it out and open, please. Thank you.

Thank you, Michael. Lynn Cole.

Good evening. I wanted to commend the staff on their fabulous job of putting the budget together and maintaining professionalism in light of all the crap that's on social media and the attacks against them on their salaries and their benefits and all of those things, primarily by our absent council member. I really wonder what kind of, how sad his life must be that this is how he spends his time, attacking other people, sowing division, posting lies, taking an innocent email about a national day of prayer, which couldn't be till next year because the email is after it already happened this year, and making out that the mayor's a bad guy. spreading lies about the regional transportation authority on and on and on and on and on. Y'all have censured him twice. It's done no good. This has got to stop. This is just a quantum waste of time and energy. It's a disservice to the council, to the city, everyone. So I guess I'd like to know what people have to say about this. There's apparently not much we can do, but somebody's got to put a stop to this guy and his cronies and his minions and all his little buddies that spread all these lies and division. So Mayor, I'll let you tell us what you think.

Okay. I will. Anybody else here? I would love to hear from everyone else.

I would love to hear. And I guess more importantly, what are we going to do about it? I got other things to do than come here and rant and rave about the same stuff every council meeting because one person can't behave himself and conduct himself in a professional manner. Thank you. Thank you, Leigh Ann.

All right. That concludes the public comments, which now brings us to council feedback. Anybody have anything to say? Tom.

Yeah. Mr. Falconberry, you're the pot calling the kettle black with your hornet's nest, sir. And we know someone's leaking emails to you. You're not doing PI requests. You get emails that happened yesterday, yesterday. So I don't want you to come up here being all high and mighty towards me. Sir, this is my time. You had yours. Thank you. And, you know, about the National Day of Prayer, it affected me. And it had nothing to do with Mr. Cone. And I just said, Adam, I'd like to do it. I didn't know. I could do it on my own. Guess what? I made a reservation next year, May 5th, or I'm sorry, May 7th. No, May 6th. Excuse me. That I'm going to put it on myself. So there's your answer. I was trying to follow what I thought would be protocol and sending an email about it. which is no harm, no foul. I didn't say anything derogatory. So there you go. And we're going to bless the Lord on National Prayer Day next National Day of Prayer next next year. Thank you.

All right. Any other.

Yeah, I'll say a few things. The thing about being here is that this is a very serious role that we all have, right? I've said to the mayor on numerous occasions, I'm just a simple council person. God forbid that anything happens in the town, they're not going to come to me. They're going to come to you and ask you, and you're the one who's going to have to get up and So I appreciate you being here. When we talk about things such as the National Day of Prayer, it's a good thing. It's a good thing to do. The only caution that I'd give is it has to be open to all walks of faith. Can't be just Christian based, right? Because this is the democracy that we are trusted with and we have to adhere to it. But the division, the things that we have, like right now we're talking about the budget. I think tonight we have an item where public gets to comment on the budget. Local government is the one that has the most serious or immediate effect on people's lives, not at the national level so much, not at the state level, but locally. We can increase your taxes, we can lower your taxes, we can fix your roads and so on. That debate that we are having about the budget, trying to put it together, we have a new manager in seat who I think has done a really good job of putting the budget together with his staff, a lot of long hours. Those are the sort of things that we really need to debate to have the public see that we are very serious about the monies that we are spending, how we plan for the future, how we are taking need um care of the needs right now a couple weeks ago we had a road opened up um here that that's the first time you know i've been in intro almost 20 years that's the first time that we've seen such a thing undertaken by the town right so those are very serious things and when i see these sort of things and i like i said i responded to you know the post that the mayor made um i don't like to talk about these things because i don't want to detract from the good things that we're doing in the town the good steward of the town's money the people the staff and so on But I felt, and it took me a couple of days to respond because when I saw it, I was actually on the way to my son's graduation on Friday night. I have one of my boys graduated from high school. So kind of family came up, took a couple of days, but I did respond yesterday. And I responded because I had to really defend the mayor because I looked at what was being said and it wasn't right. The one thing that we're called to do, we talk about we're Christians and we have that good faith in God. But when the time comes and we see something that's wrong, we have to speak up and say it. We don't just leave it or we like it. We have to speak up, be truthful. And that's what I think is lacking sometimes, right? Because I did my part by being truthful and speaking up. And doing so because there are six of us on the council. There's the mayor and the five council people. And we should really have good debates about things we agree or disagree on pertaining to the town. But that sort of thing, being honest with you, it has to stop at some point. That's all I'll say for it right now, Mayor. I appreciate the time.

Thank you, Marcus. Anybody else? Clarence?

So I'm not on social media that much, and I really don't see some of these posts that come through. But I hear from other people things that are said about me, and it is disheartening when you try to do your best, be your best for the town. But I want to speak, to be honest, if you know the staff and especially the mayor, the mayor is a good guy. He does a lot of good. I try my best to go to every event that I can in Indian Trail. And, you know, the mayor outdoes me on all those events. He's everywhere he can be. And I know he loves being the mayor. And it is very it breaks my heart to see stuff out there that isn't. true or as misleading about the mayor. And I wish it would stop as well. Again, I'm not going to dive into it to read posts and things of that nature. But I see what you do and I see the results of it. And I am so proud to call you mayor. I'm proud to call you a friend. You know, there's a you've mentored me in a lot of ways. You know, a lot of events that I go to and you're right there beside me introducing me to people. So I really hope this goes away, and I think it is unfair for somebody who does so much for Indian Trail and loves what he does. Thank you.

Why not?

have to speak a little bit. No, I honestly didn't plan on speaking because truly everybody in here already knows what I would say. I mean, everything Clarence and Marcus both said were very accurate. You're very involved. You love this job. You can see it's a passion. So yeah, I mean, I'm preaching to the choir if I sit here and say that you're a good person. He likes this a little bit too much, but anyways, that was all I wanted to say.

Thank you, and thank all of you for what you've said. It's not easy, and it's not, you know, my wife came tonight, and thank you. I can't keep my eyes off of you. 30 years almost, and I still can't take my eyes off of you, but... No, you know, it's very frustrating. And Tom, there's one thing about Mr. Mr. Falkenberry puts out on online. I think the most discouraging thing about the weasel report is you can't answer back to it. It is a bunch of lies. And I don't use the word lie very often. I always say mistruths. They're just doggone lies. And you can't write back. Now, Mr. Falkenberry does have his own hornet's nest. I believe you can answer back on his, on his, you, you, you, you, um, well, whether you do or you don't, you can, and, uh, uh, you can answer and, and, uh, you can defend yourself. Um, you know, uh, that's all very important to defend yourself, uh, be able to defend yourself. And I got a few minutes that, uh, that I'm going to defend myself here for a few minutes, because a lot of these posts are, are, uh, about me and, uh, And I think I think everybody in this room, everybody in this room, it may be set for one person understands what's going on. They understand they know who the weasel is. We all know who the weasel is.

We know it, you know.

So that's just a way he can blame it on somebody. Blamed it on his wife for a long time, said she was right. And that somebody we know who does it. So anyway, we get right to it. I want to get into the to the email that Tom, that you sent. Actually, you sent it to Adam and me, so you did. And I'm gonna read it, and I'm gonna go through it here. It says, I really would like to see the town recognize the National Day of Prayer. I remember us doing it when Michael Alvarez was mayor. I was hoping for David that you would get behind this event on an annual basis. I can take the lead getting the pastors and perhaps a church band to preside over the event please let me know your thoughts now the most important thing i i think in that email and that first paragraph is as tom you asked your first question i really would like to see the town recognize the national day of prayer okay my answer to you was Michael and I both have supported a gathering in Crossing Pass Park on National Day of Prayer. We did it with Mr. Henry Funderburk several years. I will be happy to put something together for you next year. That's what you asked. That's what I answered back with. You answered back. I really would like to head this up, David, if that's OK. I said, Tom, it's really not up to me. That would be a council decision. We're a good ways till next year, so we have plenty of time to ask and see what everybody wants to do. Now the reason that has to be that way is because the way Tom asked question, he didn't mean it in a bad way, but he asked it for the town. So to do that, the town would have to do that, not me. Yeah, you sure did, you sure did. All right, so anyways, okay, thanks. that so now let me read you what the weasel report said it's kind of interesting this is what the weasel wrote out said happened mayor david cohn does not support national day of prayer for the fourth year in a row okay former mayor alvarez hosted a national day of prayer event for years here in indian trail mayor david cohn has not continued the tradition no event again this year council member tom ambergy is trying to bring back the event he's not getting support from mayor cone as emails show mayor cone says mr ambergy would need to get council permission not true it is true but he says it's not true the city of monroe does not sponsor the national day of prayer now held every year in Monroe. Tom Amberg can do the event without council's approval or Mayor David Cohn's permission. Mayor David Cohn has had years to continue the tradition, but he has refused. Yet, he said it was his job to attend it was his job to attend gay pride festivals that have drag shows for kids. Now, where's all this come in, come in here. Now this is a picture that he's trying to paint to thousands of people out there. Okay. We applaud Tom Ambergy from working to have a prayer event here in town. We're we're are sure many people, churches, pastors will look to support this endeavor. Mayor David cone lied. about his record on raising taxes, which I did not, but I don't know how that he got in here to get elected. He insults people and he is not truthful. We're not surprised he has not had a prayer event in the last four years. he is up for reelection in 2027. And that's what it's all about. He wants to, he thinks by putting people down is making him look better. So I don't agree with that. I don't agree with his philosophy. I don't agree that he, but I'm gonna point out all the lies that has been told in this right here. First of all, in this email exchange, I offered to help, as you heard. The weasel, in my opinion, Mr. Barber, does nothing in this town but put mistruths on the weasel report. That's his whole job. I think when we got started here tonight, I'll let you know what I did in the last two weeks. And I'm going to tell you, I worked my butt off the last two weeks and you know what? Uh, enjoyed every minute of it. I love being your mayor and I will continue to do it because I love what I do. Council member Tom Ramberg. He is trying to bring back the event. He's not getting support for mayor Cone as email. So Mr. Cone says, Mr. Amber, he will need to get council permission. Not true. It's true. because I cannot do it on a town event. He asked for a town for the town to do it and I cannot do that. So, uh, and I would have explained that. So, but that is also not true. Well, that's fine. Well, I, I'm not, I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about what the, what it says. Well, that, that, that, that's fine. Uh, okay. So, uh, Tom states that he'd like to see the town recognize the event, and we can certainly do that. I said in the email, I'll be glad get it started the city of monroe does not sponsor the national day of prayer event now held yearly in monroe time angry can do without without approval or mayor cone's permission this uh this had five years uh tom you've had five years to do it four and a half well you actually had five don't know Yeah. Well, I'm just saying you had five years to do it. You can do it. You know what? Mr. Barber could have done it for five years. He didn't do it, but he wants to call other people a liar and he wants to call everybody else out for doing it. Now he could also do it. Okay. Uh, mayor Cohen has had years to continue the tradition, but refused, never refused yet. He said it was his job to attend gray, uh, gay pride festivals that have drag shows for kids. completely not true now let me tell you where that statement comes from gay pride has been here for two years and gay pride is something that that has happened in the parks because we have we have basically no choice you can't keep people out of parks because they're gay and we know that and and that's fine they've not hurt anyone but this is But but as soon as they come to the parks, you have people like Mr. Barber say that they're having drag shows for kids. Now, let me I want you to think about that for a minute. Do you think they really advertised that they could have that there's going to be drag shows for kids there? Of course not. Of course not. But what the mayor said, because there's been so many people say that and they get that on it, I will go to the event. And if they ever did that and you've all heard me say it, I will shut it down. I will shut it down. It's the only reason I'm there. Now, I've never seen Mr. Barber at one. I've been at every one of them. Not because I'm gay and I hold nothing against gay people, but because it was my job as the mayor, okay? There was plenty of things I probably would rather have attended that day, but I did, and you know what? I didn't see anything close to that. so that's why i'm there and that's another thing is how it's put out we applaud tam tom ambergy for working to have a prayer event in in town we're sure many people churches and pastors will look to support this endeavor mayor cone has lied about his record on raising taxes and where that comes from i've never lied about raising taxes he insults people who's insulting people Who in here is insulting people? We're not surprised. He's not had a prayer event in four years. So let me read you something that happened. Back in 2022, I found this old email. This old email is from Todd Barber. Local Indian Trail resident Henry Funderburk has organized a National Day of Prayer ceremony to help here in Indian Trail at Crossroad Pass Park on Thursday, May 5th at 1215. Our own mayor, David Cohn, will be at the event. I know some of you have attended it in the past, Todd Barber. I did it. I mean, he shows that I did. He said I didn't do it, but I did it. And that was done by Henry Funderburk. The town really never has done it, but Henry used to do it, and Henry don't do it anymore. And that's the reason it kind of faded out. Now, I'm going to tell you something. I prayed on National Day of Prayer. And I think most people in here did. And each one of you can pray any way you want to pray. And Marcus hit it, you know, if you want to pray to whatever, you can pray. And that's the intent of it. That is the intent of it. But, I mean, to me, this tells a lot. This tells an extreme lot. Well, tell you one i got another one here okay so here from the indian trail weasel report this is another one and i hope that other people get the get the word out on this mayor david cohn uh busted working with social media sites that attack council members government emails between david cohn tom ambergy have been posted on social media without an official public information request It means David Cohen is releasing information to attack other elected officials. Completely false statement. There's nothing official. Official public information request means David Cohen releasing it to the... We're open book here. Everything is open. You can look at any email that comes. Anybody in this room can ask for an email. The same people David Cohn is working with have actually exposed the dirty political behavior before C posted email where David Cohn is trying to get dirt on Michael Alvarez. Dirty David Cohn had a bad boy. He's been a bad boy for a long time. David Cohn works with social media sites that attacks council members, Todd Barber and Tom Ambergy. It's not just politics. The sites post pictures and information of council members, spouses, family, talk about they work, go to church, et cetera. The sites are about as reliable as wet toilet paper. Well, right before the November election, David Cohn posted about a council member in the Riesel Report claiming this page was put out misinformation. Three council members had this page investigated by an attorney. Not a single post was found to be untrue, and it was proven council members Barber and Ambergy had not made a single post on the Weasel Report. David Cohn lied. Okay? The public did not believe David Cohn lies as they reelect Tom Ambergi and rejected another candidate David Cohn supported running the election. The losing candidate and Mr. David Cohn have been working with others to attack council members on social media. It's been a clown show. Mayor Cohen has exposed himself as dishonest, dirty career politician. He's up for reelection in 2027. We report here with the truth and we'll keep reporting the votes and exposing the facts. Now, I want you to think of something. I'm not able to write back on this. I'm not able to answer any anything back on any of this on Mr. Barber's page. You know, he's worked it out where nobody can can can write. So Just to let you know, and I, and, and the one thing that not a, and I want to read this, what he said again, not a single post was found to be untrue and was proven. It's been proven that the council members, Barbara and Amory have not made a single post on the, on the weasel report. They become live. We had a, an independent attorney come in and do a, and looked at all of this town had to pay for it because we've never seen. And, and by the way, Mr. Barber, has been censored twice. You know what he's been censored for? Lying. God, that's surprising, isn't it? He has been censored twice for lying. All right, it's got nine pages of this attorney's report. I'm gonna read you several paragraphs out of it. The predecessor names, and this is the attorney saying this, of the subject Facebook page specifically invoked electing counsel member, man, barber to the council and were renamed and reframed as the weasel. The weasel therefore retains the followers of the people of the page. These followers would have understood those posts to become directly from, made on behalf of, and approved by Councilman Barber. In other words, those who chose to follow Councilman Barber's political website are now followers of the weasel report, and the weasel has an inescapable digital link to Councilman Barber. So he does have something to do with it, even though he claims he doesn't. The post that were made prior to the name change on October 24, excuse me, August 24, 2024, now appear to the public has been originally by the weasel itself, which if any citizen is looking through the post, the weasel leads to the conclusion that Councilman Barber is an author of post and both sides of name changes. For example, note on October 23rd page after the name changed to the weasel and the post days before the name change from August 19th appearing to have been made by the weasel. But in reality was a post from the page was named elect Todd Barber Indian Trail Council. Now, this is what the attorney concluded. Now, again, Mr. Barber's never, he tells his public that they never found anything out about it. anything wrong with this page. Councilman Barber surface level actions to distance himself from the weasel trends to mislead the public. The digital trail and similarity of post combined with Councilman Barber's literal appearance with the page's mascot and namesake weasel in public leads to the inescapable conclusion that Councilman Barber has a degree of responsibility for content creation on the weasel. For the foregoing reason, a reasonable member of the public would conclude that Councilman Barber is affiliated or responsible for the post made on the weasel. According to the above described surface level attempts, To cloud the affiliation tends to mislead the public and thus violates paragraph nine, the contact with the media use of electronic and social media with town logo that board members shall strive to be truthful and provide information in a factual and objective manner as not to mislead the public. Moreover, for the same reason, Councilman Robert's actions with the weasel undermined public confidence and trust in local government, which violates canon two of the town's code of ethics. Uh, in epilogue, the fact that this investigation was even necessary also undermines public confidence as quite frankly, even if individuals disagree with any findings in the conclusion of this report, the fact that the town has to make time and resources to analyze whatever a cartoonish social media page using council members pet weasel as a reporter. Plunity, authored by this councilman's partner, violates any ethics policy is despairing regardless of the report's conclusion. The town deserves better from Councilman Barber. So, I actually have another one, and I'm not gonna go into that one, it's just, well, I'll briefly go into it. That was 100% not true what he said. And we all know it. Where he says not a single post was found to be untrue. Every post was found to be untrue. And the last post that I had here is one that he really lambasted. And listen, it's not only me. He's lambasted everybody up here. He's lambasted Marcus when he was running. He's lambasted Clarence. and he's lambasted Crystal. He's lied about Crystal. He's lied about Clarence. He's lied about Marcus. We have him on council, and you know what? We will continue. There's nothing we can do about it. But this is my time in the light tonight, ladies and gentlemen. I've been putting up with this for four years or more, and I have not ever said anything. Go to my Facebook page. You will only see what's good for this town. You will only see positive direction for this town. You will only see me at the VFW. You will only see me doing things to make this town a better town because I love this town. I need your support. I know you're only a few people. If anybody's watching, I need your support. This has got to stop. You know, Mr. Barber's doing everything he can to run for council again next time, and by doing that, he's trying to put anybody that might run again down, and he don't care how he gets it or how he does it. Now, my wife says I'm not running again in two more years. And it's pretty hard to fight against. But I'm... Anyway.

Choose your words wisely.

What now?

Choose your words wisely.

I'll shut my mouth at that one. But the last quick thing, Mayor David Cohn's not living up to the responsibility of the town's delegate to the Charlotte Regional Transportation Organization. Why he has posted on his town's website under his bio that he's an alternate delegate to the CRTBO. He is lying. When appointed mayor in 2022, David Cohen informed the council that he rules at CRTPO. I just wanna run this, and Clarence, if you wanna add anything to this. I went to CRTPO for two years, and I attended every meeting, never missed a meeting. And every meeting that I went to, even before I ever ran, Clarence, or excuse me, even before Clarence ever ran for council, he attended every meeting at CRTPO. When he became on council, he still attended every meeting at CRTPO. Now, when you do that, you only get one seat at the table. And Clarence sat in the audience, taking notes, and finally asked Clarence one day, I said, Clarence, would you like to be the CRTPO rep? And he does a darn good job. You know what? I bet he does a better job than I did. You know, he loves what he does. He loves what he does. And there was no purpose for the town to have both of us going every time. Now, Mr. Barber thinks I should get a cut in pay. I don't know where that comes. How's Mayor Kessler go? Should the mayor give up his salary for not doing his job? You know, well. Clarence, I'm gonna let you speak on that for just a minute. Did all mayors go down there? He said traffic's terrible in our town. Speak on that for just a second, if you would.

All right.

Well, I'll wait to put you on the spot.

So I'll try to just give a short story and answer all of it. Um, when I ran for council first time, I wasn't successful, but I love been out there holding up my sign so people can see me and I could see how bad traffic was. So, um, at the time actually council member McIntyre was going to the CRTPO meetings and I would ask him questions and he could answer it through what went on at CRTPO. So, i had an interest in crtpo at the time i had a job that i can change my schedule around so i could get there whenever i needed to or change my schedule but with that said i knew that if i was elected on council the best way i can serve the people is to have knowledge on what goes on with the streets and i could find that with crtpo so i had the desire to go there so that i could be effective And as you said, in going there, I had the opportunity to meet Mayor Pro Tems and mayors from other municipalities. So I got a chance to learn and grow from that. So I really enjoy the opportunity. It gave me a chance just to see how another board operates and learn different things. And I know that you are a part of the ABC board and sometimes the ABC board has a meeting the same night as CRTPO. I, In my time being on council, I've never seen you miss a meeting as the mayor, and I knew you wouldn't want to miss a meeting, so I thought it was my opportunity to be able to give back as a council member to the town that I grew up in and I love. So I did want to be the rep, and it's grown me tremendously, and it gives me the opportunity to come back, give us the RTPO update, but it... You know, I was just talking to the town attorney earlier. I learned so many so many things at the last meeting, so it helps me grow. So I thought it was a good opportunity for me. And with you already been part of a board, then you could go to the ABC board. So that's why I ask you for the opportunity to be on the CR to go to every meeting. As you said, you only get one vote and You know, I rather me grow and be there. CRTBO is very a lot of acronyms. It's very hard to catch on to for a lot of people. But in the same aspect, I didn't want the town to not have a seat at the table if you had to be at the ABC meeting.

Thank you, Clarence, and I appreciate you more than you know. And with that being said, I think I'll close out my my argument here. And I'm sorry I had all this planned. I was hoping that that Mr. Barber would be here tonight. I made a mistake. I think I posted on social media on a post where I brought out one of these posts, and I got a lot of support from it, that I was going to bring it up tonight. It doesn't surprise me he didn't come. It does not surprise me he didn't come and I don't think it surprises anybody in this room that he didn't come. You know why? Because the truth got exposed tonight. The truth got exposed tonight and I'll be glad to do it again next time and anytime. My page is always written for anybody can write on any time, any place, anywhere. I've never seen a Facebook post or Facebook page where people can't write back, especially a town councilman where you can't you can't defend yourself. You just have to listen to this over and over and over again. about how you're a liar, how you're bad, how Marcus is bad, how Crystal's done this and how Clarence has done that, and you can't answer back, and neither can your supporters. So with that being said, I'm done, and we'll move on. If anybody has anything else to say, say it now. All right, let's move on. Now, brings us up to... law enforcement update do we have one tonight i didn't know oh okay i'm sorry i didn't hear you

Chad, welcome. Glad you're here. Thank you, thank you. Mayor, council, good evening. How are y'all? Just a couple notes. We're going to hit the highlights of the patrol side of it. I know Sergeant Leonard knocked out some of the traffic stats and stuff from the last meeting. So, again, we're going to just hit some of the highlights. And I won't bore you with the highlights. The total numbers, how's that? So looking back for the month of April, we were looking at a total of 4,711 calls for service. And again, you guys know the breakdowns of the different calls for service, and again, just hitting the highlights here. We did 881 preventative patrols. So amongst all of the Amongst all of the rest of the calls for service and the duties, our guys are still out doing preventative patrols, which is fantastic. So 881 preventative patrols. 159 traffic stops, which this is on N9 South here. And then... 76 business checks, 95 alarm calls that were picked up, and 114 911 hangups. And again, those 911 hangups, whether they be just missed dials or things that we actually had to respond to outside of it just being a missed dial. I'm sorry, my total numbers on traffic stops here, I thought they were a little off there, but the total number on traffic stops was 522 traffic stops. So I did think that first number was a little bit low. That's why I was keeping the dig going on here. getting 170 70 business checks. Um, so again, like I said, pretty busy month overall for the guys. Um, a lot of, a lot of preventative stuff going on, which is, which is good on our end. Um, the more that we can prevent, obviously that's, that's good for, for us, for the town folks. Um, and just keeping that, keeping our, our response to calls down if we're out preventing crime on the, on the front end. So any questions off of the, the very brief scenario I gave you guys here?

No, you did a good job. Under the circumstances, you came up and you did a very good job, Chad.

I appreciate you, and I appreciate you guys. I appreciate you.

Appreciate all you do, my friend.

Thank you.

All right, that brings us to the consent agenda. Can I get a motion for the consent agenda?

Motion to approve the consent agenda as presented.

All in favor? Unanimous. All right. brings to public hearings. This is a budget, uh, public hearing. Mr. McLam.

Good evening, mayor and council. I am going to scroll really quick. So we're here tonight for the public hearing so in just a second I'll ask Y'all to open up the public hearing Do you want to make one quick note? It's not in anything that y'all have received yet We actually just got word of it today and the mayor kind of alluded to it at the very beginning Next year the ABC board has let us know today that they're going to go up on their distribution amount that they are going to distribute to the town and that was not accounted for in the original budget that we posted. Obviously we didn't know it until really till today. So when you, when we, we will send out to y'all and we will repost online and everything. And then what we will look for council to adopt will be in a budget that's about $71,000 more than what we originally presented to y'all or I presented at the last council meeting. What those funds, what we're gonna do to offset that amount. So 71,000 in additional revenue. If you remember, we talked about IT needs to bring some more IT services in-house to fully fund all of our servers and switches and panels and all that information that we needed. We weren't gonna have quite enough to be able to do that, but now with this additional 71, we'll have enough to do that full takeover of all of the stuff that we needed to purchase. So we're gonna put it to that line item is what we're gonna do. So you're gonna have 71,000 more in revenue, and then we're gonna expend 71,000 more on the I.T. service side.

So very good.

Just wanted to let you all know, didn't want you to be caught off guard when we do that in the coming days. You have a question on this?

I don't have a question, but you do.

I saw it.

Sorry, I didn't see.

I didn't put it up high in regards to the I.T. budget. You're talking about bringing all the servers in house. Will that 71 get you there or are you going to need additional funds?

No. So that'll put us to the full amount that we need to buy all of the information, all of the hardware and the software side to be able to accomplish all of that. So next year we'll purchase all that. We'll be ready to go. And then the following year we could bring all, everything would be done at that point in house. Okay.

Does that 71 bring it up to 350,000?

300 and actually pretty close to debt on 350. You got good math memory. I knew how much we gave. No, no, no. One time. We, so we need to, we don't own any of our own servers.

No, no, no, no. I don't know. He's saying three 50 per year.

No, it's just three 50 this one time for the hardware.

No, no. The distribution is 50.

Yes. But both numbers are pretty close to the same. So the it, what we need for the one time, sorry.

We talked about the idea and we're good on that. The distribution from the ABC on an annual. Yes.

ABC drinks 50. Yes. All right. That's what it will be. It will be this year. It was two 79, 79. Yeah. We're going to end at three 25 for FY 26 and then FY 27 will be 350,000 in revenue. Very good. Good job selling all the alcohol.

I didn't sell it. Oh, we've got a great crew and a great, great people down there. Very, very fortunate.

Do we have anybody signed up for the.

We do. Okay. All right. I'm sorry.

Let me make a motion to open public comment.

Can I get a motion to open public comments?

Yeah, I make a motion to open public the public hearing on the fiscal year 27 Town of Indian Trail budget.

All in favor? Unanimous.

And that is open till the next meeting, right?

That Richard Sayre, come on up.

Good evening, Mayor, council members. I have followed along as Adam has presented the budget through all the budget meetings, and I request that you approve the budget when it comes up for the vote. As it has been presented, I have worked on various boards, not on a town board, but other boards. I've worked through budgets. I know how budgets work. This, of course, for a whole town is very complex. It's a big budget. Um, but for the budgets that I've worked on, I know what it, uh, what it entails, you know, you gotta balance it. You gotta balance the income with the outgo. And Adam has done that, Adam and the staff. He didn't do it alone. Thank you, Alicia, and all of your staff as well. So I ask that you do approve this as Adam has presented it. For Councilman also Brooks and Councilwoman Buchholic, thank you last year for voting for the tax rate decrease. I appreciate that. Our tax bill went down. I know some people's went up. Ours went down because of the tax decrease. So thank you for that. We also had a few neighbors that also went down. And yes, our house value did go up. If you want to know how that math works, it works real fine for me. People have mentioned things about the town staff. Maybe there was too many or whatever. The budget does include a new staff member. And it's still, the budget is less than what it was last year. So Adam and staff have done a terrific job. They always do a terrific job. Please give them support. We have the best town staff. We have added a new one, Mr. Fitzpatrick. Thank you for coming along. And taken from Adam's workload. He's been doing two jobs. But the town staff, some of them are here tonight, all of them without exception are terrific. I know most of them and I can't say enough good things about them. And if you do have a disagreement with the budget that Adam has presented, specifically, Say to the public what you don't like and what you're going to change, how it should be changed. And also, if you want, I don't know why you would want to decrease the rate even further, but if you do that, that means we're going to get even less sales tax. We already get less sales tax than Monroe and Waxhaw, even though we have more people. And if you want to know how that works and why that is, well, come to these budget meetings and learn about it or take the citizens academy class and then you'll learn why um and also they mentioned about these culverts that need replacement uh having been in a neighborhood where it needed one and it was replaced please look into getting those replaced and i think that would help the flooding thank you thank you sir there's no no one else signed up can uh can like someone close the closed session what now

I mean, not, uh, public comments. Can somebody close public comments? What now? No, no.

Do you want, at the next meeting, do you want to take additional comments or not?

I mean, you still can act. Yeah.

Make a motion to close, uh, public comments. He's the, he's the only person that signed up. Somebody won't make a motion.

Okay.

I'll make a motion to close public comments for the town of Indian Trail fiscal year 27 budget. All in favor?

Unanimous. Very good.

Can I make two additional comments, Mayor?

Of course.

All right. So the first one is Council Member McIntyre to kind of what you were saying. I was going to mention we are always open to answer questions from a staff side, whether that's from council or the public. If you have any questions, please let myself know. If I don't know, I'll get with different team members, Alicia or any of them that will have the answer and we will get that back to you. remember that there is a copy of the budget the budget book like y'all was presented to y'all at the library there's an additional one in Trina's office if somebody comes here to Town Hall and wants to see that and everything is posted on the website Abby did a tremendous job we created a separate page this time on the website for everything budget related it's got every PowerPoint every handout that y'all received and the whole budget book that y'all received is on there as well Lastly, I will end with thank you to y'all for accepting the budget and everything that you did. And then I want to say thank you to staff for all your help. We would not be here right now if it wasn't for y'all. So thank you very much.

Very good, thank you. Any other comments? I do wanna pick up on one thing that Richard said, which I really liked. Richard, I agree with you 100%. It's one thing to vote against it or for it or whatever, but to vote against it and then not say what what you would do any differently is very easy to do uh so i would just ask council if you have uh things that you don't like about it let us know and let let adam know let the town staff know uh and show us how to to better we always have our ears open so adam you did a wonderful job staff again wonderful job so thank you very much OK, that brings us to room renovation discussion. Mr. McLam.

All right. Bobby's going to bring up a different PowerPoint. All right. So as has kind of become the rule of this building a little bit, give a little bit of background, give you a timeline on what we're looking at for room renovations, show you a very quick snapshot of the design and then just talk about next steps. So I don't know, most of y'all were either on council or pretty closely tied with what was going on at the time. So we moved into this building in 2018, if I'm correct, end of 2018. So that was FY19. We moved into town hall. Almost every year since then we have done some renovation to this building. whether that was adding security upgrades downstairs at the front counter as soon as we moved in. We then contracted with architecture and construction firm, Miles and McClellan, to do some additional task orders, some larger renovations. That's when we added the extra cabinets and countertops downstairs in the tax area. We then did a renovation where we added for safety concerns after working with law enforcement, some different glass at the front counter, more actually bullet resistant glass. And then we just finished this last round of renovations. We went in and we did some security upgrades up here at the hallway. It's completely different when y'all come upstairs now. We changed some of the door configuration around and then some different code door openers. So now we're rolling into the next phase of that improvements. And this next one is actually to add some additional offices downstairs into what today is the medium community room. Just letting you all know, this was approved in the FY26 budget. This money is in the budget already. It's not new dollars we're asking for or anything like that. It was approved as the budget was approved. What we're looking to do down there is to add three offices down there, and then take down a wall that will combine the tax and finance area, and then we would move finance downstairs. So Alicia could be with all the people that do all the finance work, she would go downstairs, everybody would be down there. So that's kind of where we're headed at. We're looking at doing that, it said in your memo, engaging with Miles and McClellan on that, finish the design, and then we'll get into a little bit of contract negotiation with them for that work. We'll return to council before the end of this fiscal year for council approval of that, and we'll look to start construction in August, September, and end construction by the end of this calendar year. REALLY TONIGHT I'M JUST LOOKING TO GIVE YOU ALL SOME INFORMATION JUST SO THAT YOU ALL KIND OF KNOW WHERE WE'RE HEADED AND WHERE WE'RE WALKING DOWN THIS PATH AT. I DO BELIEVE IT SAID MOTION ON THE SHEET. I DON'T REALLY NEED A MOTION UNLESS IF YOU ALL REALLY WANT TO GIVE A MOTION TONIGHT. WELL, WHAT WOULD YOU PREFER? I PREFER A MOTION. GO AHEAD. I AGREE.

LET'S PUT IT ON RECORD. Clarence, you good or you want me to go? You good? All right. I make a motion to approve moving forward with updating the contract for council consideration as presented by staff.

All in favor? Unanimous. Thank you. Very good. Thank you, Adam. Yep. Goodness. I got one more facility. Mr. McGlann.

This is my last one for tonight, and I'll throw life under the bus for a second over there. So we today had a meeting with the public works facility, and I didn't let this be the first thing he got to do. The mayor was here last week and clearance was came as well for the the cookout. We had him out there grilling hot dogs and hamburgers for all staff, and there wasn't a choice. It was like, we need somebody to grill. And I said, all right, life and I'll grill. So that's who did the grilling. So But no, we had a great meeting today with about the public works facility kind of getting some updates on where we are at numbers wise, where we're at, you know, construction wise, what we can do, how we can work through this process. So again, just go through a quick timeline, some updates and then some next steps. So you all have seen this before. I'm not going to even read anything on it. I'm just going to tell you we're at the end of the arrow down there, which is we need to keep working on these next steps as we finish out this fiscal year and move into next fiscal year. Y'all asked for myself and staff to go back and talk with our architect about getting a better drawing done than my cartoon. Y'all didn't quite like my cartoon that much, so we got some additional drawings done by them. Also through some relationships that they have and I have from over the years, we're actually able to work with a construction firm that could give us some more tied down hard numbers for dollars wise for what we think this first phase would cost. So if you can see here different in this drawing than what you've seen in the past, you can see where it says future expansion up there on the top, kind of between number four and number six. You can also see on the left hand side of the number one, the teal color down there at the bottom, it says future expansion. So what those are is we've taken out some square footage that we don't need in the building for phase one. Those areas we have preset for future expansion. You can kind of see that blown in a little bit more here. So in the original design, they're all this action. I'll call it now a little bit of extra space, but it had uses on that bluish color on the left hand side has been taken out of the first phase of construction. But what we did is we worked in a way that will allow that to expand very easily in the next phase if it's if and when it's needed. You can also kind of see that on this drawing. If you remember, we talked about the last time those bays where it says SB2 through SB7. We talked about those being open bays rather than potentially enclosed bays to try and help on that cost. The green, yellow, and the first pink color bay would actually be climate controlled, because that's your parts warehouse storage, your fleet service, and then a potential future expansion from there as well. Just to give you, again, a quick idea of what those pictures look like, these are one of our local other municipalities that just built a facility not too long ago. So as of today, we have numbers now, if you were to build the facility today, now remember, we are talking about this in the sense of we don't have final construction drawings, they've just looked at this picture, but this is what they do for a living, right? They know these things, they understand it. You're looking at a cost of about 21 plus million dollars. And the reason why I say plus is because if you were to build it today, you're looking at about 21 million to build about 32,000 square feet. That includes the office side and the shop side. And I'm in that 32,000. I'm talking about that overhang portion for the equipment to park under. Every year that we go into the future right now, they're estimating about a million dollars more in construction for every year that we wait to move this project forward. It's based off of a percentage, but a million dollars is about what that percentage adds up to. So that's just kind of how you can see where this tracks through. Again, remember at first this facility and total site was about 13 acres of grading. We're down to about 10 acres out of that 13. Now, originally it was about 50,000 square feet of total facility. So we've cut that back to 32. Original cost was looking at about that $35 million at the time when we were talking about it. So we have come way back on that as well. so tonight i'm just kind of giving you all this information let y'all digest it a little bit more remember that we are going to come back with a financial model for how we think that we can fund quite a few of our capital projects that are hanging out there should be looking to see that back to y'all in july august time frame and at that point we would then want to look at okay council How do we want to move forward with this project? Do we want to move forward with this project? And then we'll need to take those steps to make that happen. Any questions for me?

Yes, sir.

Adam, at that 21 million, is that I'm not doing the math correctly for $656 per square foot. for 32,000 feet or square feet.

That's probably about right. That's high. Construction's expensive. Now that includes total site work as well. So that's not just the building. That's grading. That is fully moved in. That's all the furniture. That's pencil. That's everything. Like you should be able to sit at your desk or sit in the shop or do whatever you're doing for work that day fully in the door. so that's not just the vertical construction if you want that number i can give you one no no i was just i was looking at it that way i'm sure yeah thank you no other questions thank you adam yes sir all right mr mclean um i think you're still up oh yes i was like i said i was done I knew I didn't have another PowerPoint. That's what it was. So when you've been here as long as I have, you remember where things are buried in closets in the backside of underneath stairs and different places and you go digging and you find things every now and then. A WEEK AGO, TWO WEEKS AGO, WENT LOOKING FOR THIS PLAQUE THAT YOU SEE HERE. SO EARLY ON THIS YEAR, I THINK IT WAS ACTUALLY THE FIRST MEETING WHEN YOU ALL APPOINTED ME, THE TOWN MANAGER, COUNCILMEMBER BARBER ASKED ABOUT THIS BUSINESS HALL OF FAME. With some help of Trina, went back and looked through some really old records and different minutes and things to kind of understand what the town had done in the past. So the town never had an official policy or procedure or anything like that. It was just discussed and it was something that was done for a while. What it was, was if a business had been in town for 25 years, they got nominated, self-nominated themselves to the council. One of the council members reached out to staff and said, Hey, yeah, we'd like to have their name added to this. I would say if council wants to continue that process, that's probably what I would do. I would stay with something pretty simple. We can put together a very small one page policy just so that we kind of have it memorialized as to what we want to do. And then we can get this put back up in the building and continue to add names to it for businesses that have been here for 25 years that it tops me by about four.

So very good. I don't see a problem with that. Is anybody on council say that and we're all good? Yeah.

All right. We will work to bring back a policy here in the next couple of meetings. Thank you. Thank you, Adam. OK.

Finally, Mr. Hunsinger. Stormwater construction project.

All right, Mayor, Council, we talked about this a little bit at the budget workshop. I brought this up the subject matter up when we were talking about this project. So if you recall that. So just to give you a rundown of the project real quick, engineers estimate was point point point eight million. We got it for one point three eight five. Bursar excavation is the contractor. And at this point, the project is complete. uh on the memo i had my numbers in my head wrong so i apologize um contingency was off i i was based on the bid amount which is not what the contingency is based off of it's based off the subtotal so you'll see in the memo that was you know i was talking about 138 000 which is based off the 1.38 so that's my my apologies for that but anyway the base bill is actually 1.259 So the continuation was 125956, and then the bid amount itself was 1385. So the reason why this project went over by a little bit is for three reasons, and that's the stone items. As you can see on the screen, overruns were happening with the riprap, with the select backfill, and with the ABC stone. As I talked about in the memo, basically, we had enough contingency. That $125,000 could cover us for the two items, the riprap and the backfill. But unfortunately, when it came to ABC Stone, we just had to go over due to the Bowbrook condition. So if you look at this picture, this is kind of what uh the existing condition was it was already alligator cracking at the edges and we did we found out i normally i don't wouldn't wouldn't think to do this for a project but we i guess we never we didn't have pavement cores out there so we didn't realize that beau brook actually has no stone underneath so it's strictly asphalt on dirt which is the first time i've ever kind of run in that problem with an existing road except for uh our wonderful park uh road off cricket creek called uh uh what is it oakwood yes oakwood same problem we went out there and had to reconstruct oakwood but we found out it didn't have any stone and if it did have stone it was very little and so um So unfortunately by time the project got finished, they based this project, you know, demolished this road. It just couldn't hold up to the construction traffic. So if you look at it now, as you can see on the bottom right corner, you see how it's alligator cracking had gotten worse. We basically had to bring the stone up. The project's way down here where you see that yellow track hoe on the screen. That's where the culvert is. Well, we had to bring stone all the way up just to get the road passable for traffic temporarily. So if you see this, this is the other side of the culvert. Stone was brought up to this point where the cone is between these two cones. And again, all stone, that whole one side where the trago sits was just demolished. And so we basically had to add more stone on top of the road temporarily until we can get the resurfacing contractor out there to basically redo the road pretty much. We're gonna pave all the way up to the intersection intersection. So again, unforeseen conditions that happened and had to use a lot of stone to make that a safe condition for the motors to be able to drive until we could get the resurfacing guys out there. And that's just kind of a close up of where the culvert is. Again, it's actually operating as a one lane road at this point, just for that simple fact. So asking the council to recommend approving additional funds of $17,855.70 to cover that particular item. And I'll be happy to answer any questions.

If we have no questions, can I get a motion?

I'd like to make a motion to approve the additional stormwater fees, funds, and the amount of $17,855.72 to close out the final invoice for the project as presented by staff.

All in favor? Okay, Todd, you're up again.

Okay. All right, so we've had this contract for a while. Again, this contract was updated to you during the budget workshop. But just to give you some background on this again, We hired ADORA through an RFQ process to basically initiate a lot of these ARPA projects to obviously use the ARPA funds that was designated, which was, I think, total stormwater was like two million, I think, something like that. A little over $2 million we designated for stormwater projects. So this $723,675, which was the initial contract cost, is all ARPA funds. And then we did a contract amendment For that Beaubrook and Pioneer project, we wanted the consultant to be out there a couple days a week just to make sure ... Well, they were pretty adamant they wanted to be out there just to make sure the culvert was designed per their drawings and everything else. We was happy to blotch that because it gave my staff a break so they can do other things. And that contract meant was 37,728. And we didn't we didn't use all that money. So basically right now you have around 20 grand ish left of funds that need to be spent by December 26. So So what I wanted to do was finish out some stream bank restoration projects and then move forward with a couple of them I'm going to talk about in a minute. So project scope initially was the five pipe replacements. So you had three, Clover Bend, and then you had Bowbrook and Pioneer, and then you had Liberty Lane, which I've talked about for the channel. And then they've already did design work on some stream bank restoration projects, and we want to add a few more. So again, initial contract 723 amendment. So total right now contract wise is 761,403 currently in the contract. So what I want to do is we actually have 90% design plans already available for what we're calling stream stations 1B and 3B. And that's just a designation that was in the watershed management plan. That consultant went out and looked like nine locations in town, but we felt like we needed immediate attention or would need immediate attention in the future. But we had to hold out on that project because we had too much stuff going on with the bow brick and everything else. So they got it done back in late 2024, but again, couldn't really move forward with the project, just too much stuff going on. So we would like to finish out that design, which includes some permitting efforts. It'll include getting easements. easement plats, easement surveys. Again, the stream bank registration projects are hard to access, so you have to get several temporary easements just to get to the properties. So there's some effort into that. And then there is some oversight that we would like, obviously, when these projects get bid out, is, for instance, we did this for the RS&H contract, is, you know, once that project gets started, you know, it could be questions the contractor comes back with about the contract specifications, the design stuff, which we call an RFI, which is a request for information, and we need to consult the state, be on call for those questions. So we can simply send an email to them, say, look, we need you to answer this question. So again, a little bit of their time. So there's a little bit of fluff in the overall number that you'll see here in a minute. But for the most part, it's about the design efforts. We also want to do Odessa Place, and we'll show you some pictures about this in a second, but it's Stream Station 7. It's a very small area that needs to be remediated. The stream bankers are running real bad. The good thing about that is it's a very small area, and our Public Works guys would be able to fix that, so we wouldn't need to use construction dollars for that particular project. And then we had something just come in not too long ago, which is 6601 Indian Brook Drive, I'm going to talk about in a minute, and basically we had some stream break erosion at somebody's property. Obviously these efforts will involve FEMA. A lot of these streams are in the FEMA floodplain, so there will be submittals. Again, additional time and effort and paperwork that is involved in this number. So just give you a little area of where these locations are at. So we're talking about these nice design plans that go back stream stations 1B and 3B. Both of these are in the Brookhaven subdivision, and basically the creek kind of splits these two coal sacks. But if you go on to Union County GIS, a lot of these streams are not very accurate with their turns. So technically, this is what this sucker looks like. So a lot of bends. So when they get these bends, they're S curves, what I call them, basically, you know, there's a lot of erosion that happens. And so we need to combat that. So that's what that design's for. And then the other one is over at Delamere Drive, we have a huge culvert that goes through there. I have one area on the south side, downstream side of the culvert that needs to be reinforced. So that creek actually does this. And we're not doing anything right in this area. But then if you keep going, there's a hard bend right here past 90 degrees that we need to come back and reinforce.

So that's that part of the effort.

So that's that project. And then this is a new one that came about the property in the red square has a stream in the blue. That's basically kind of coincides with our property line, but unfortunately it's encroached into the property. And so if we don't go back, start reinforcing that, they're gonna keep losing property. So we wanna jump on that sooner rather than later. And unfortunately, put works, it's too big of a job for put works to be able to do. So we're trying to tie it in with some design work. In the yellow, there's two culverts at the intersection of Indian Brook and Biggers Brook, I think is what it is. that we want to replace. So the consultant would go and take a look at that, do a hydrologic analysis, see what size pipe that needs, and then there's a ditch along there. Sorry, I don't think I have it highlighted, but on the north side of the property, there's a roadside ditch that we're going to design and fix. Right now, Pullet Works has done that temporarily. because that ditch is encroached on the property, which technically shouldn't because the easement is on the other gentleman's property. So we are fixing that temporarily, but then we need to fix a permanent solution to that. So hoping to bid this out as a separate project, because again, if you just bid out the stream bank part, you're not going to get anybody to bid on.

It's too small of a project.

And then the other one's Odessa Place. Don't have no street labels, but Odessa Place is this big street right here. It's a huge corridor underneath right here. And so that creek goes like this. It's just a T-section. Well, we need to fix the T-section. So that intersection with those two creeks is getting hit pretty hard. And so we, again, I had the consultant just FY, not part of this contract, but before, just go out and take a look at some of these other areas in the watershed management plan, and this is what they felt was more critical. So that's why we put a desk place in there. So they've been out there and take a look at everything. And again, public works should be able to do that project construction wise. So again, contract right now, 761. With all this additional effort, I'm asking the council approve an extra $180,180.43 of stormwater funds, which would make the total contract of 941-583-43. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Players?

I have a question for you. I'm sorry if I missed it, but you said at the Odessa, the T intersection, what's the problem? Is it not able to handle the water that's coming through or is it not directing it?

Correct. It's basically though, and I apologize. I thought I had some, I apologize. I thought I had a picture of that creek in here and I don't, but basically it's about the creek slopes are basically vertical, completely vertical. I don't know what the technical term is, but they've got voids in the bottom of it where the creek bed is, where the water level is. That's a telltale sign that it's just going to keep losing its entirety. I can't say the word, but anyway. We need to jump on that quicker sooner or later because, again, it's just going to keep eroding. Eventually, it'll block up the stream. That wall's going to cave, and then you'll have a total blockage, and then we'll get caught out how to fix that.

just need to reinforce it thank you tom hey todd yes um the 180 000 is that due to the fact that it's been planned since 2024 or it's been sitting since 2024 that we just see an increase in concrete or so and so forth no it's it's it's caused um

like the other two projects, you know, we got to go out there and get it surveyed again, get it to get a design. So there's like four, four or five items that cause these the cost to go up. It's surveying, it's design itself. It's again, easement plats that you have to do. There's a level of effort to go get those easement for property owners. So there's time and effort in that. And then for this particular one, We're probably going to do a border tow, and that is something that Pillow Works has never done. So I've asked the consultants to teach the Pillow Works guys to be able to do that method, which will be good for us because then if it's something temporary in the future, they can go out there and just fix it and know what they're doing. So there is a level of effort of teaching those guys how to do that aspect of that method. particular reinforcement uh and then again the um i think there was one more and i can't remember one of the line item that is it's a level f that's around twenty thousand dollars that uh causes it to add up fairly quickly so that's the unfortunate thing when it comes to these designs oh the permitting that level effort with fema and stuff i mean you're gonna have to permit every one of these uh even these small ones you You have to go through a level for FEMA because they're in the floodplain. So again, you know, that's probably $20,000 to $30,000 right there. It's just paperwork.

Council Member Amber, these projects that what he's asking for tonight is design dollars only. It's not the actual construction side. So in the future, we'll come back for when we want to. If Council wants to move these projects forward for construction, we'll come back for actual construction dollars.

Right, we still have to bid these projects out, at least the first one.

Yeah, this is just design. That's $180,000.

Yeah, I was just looking at what the recommended motion says. It says design and complete a total of four stream bank restoration projects. That's why I was thinking it was restoration. We're restoring stuff.

Yeah. Also, another thing is this number has changed, and I apologize. I should have mentioned that earlier. Your memo was for like 100-something, 60-something. But, again, what they didn't have in the number – was what I was talking about with the RFI and stuff. There wasn't no level effort after the project gets bid for them to have time to answer questions and stuff like that if the contractor has runs into issues out in the field. So we had to add a little bit to that just to make it work.

Any more questions?

So again, there's a little fluff there, but you've got to have a little extra in there to cover yourself. Any more questions?

Can I get a motion? Go ahead.

I'll make a motion to approve using stormwater funds to finish two designs and complete a total of four stream bank restoration projects in the amount of $180,180.43 as presented by staff. All in favor?

Unanimous.

All right. Thank you. Our council council member Amber. Yeah, I do see what you were saying about the way that the wording was. Um, so yeah, it's completion of the design work, uh, not the construction work, but yes, sir.

Okay. Uh, Clarence crypto update, other transfer. Oh, excuse me. I'm sorry. That grand Marshall, uh, I've been called a lot of things in my life, and Clarence is certainly not the worst of them. I'm always guilty of this once, and this is my, I almost made it. Go ahead. No worries.

Come before you, Mayor and Council, to present to you one nominee for our Grand Marshal. Again, typically these come from either the Rotary Club or the Lions Club. The Lions Club has the honor to present that for the July 4th parade. Speaking with them, they are interested in nominating a joint grand marshal, both the VFW and American Legion, which they see fitting for the America 250 celebration, again, coming off of the ceremony that we just hosted yesterday at the VFW. I think it's a great nomination, so I'll kick it over to you. We do have the ability to either move forward with the one nominee and make them aware, sit down, press release, and get everything going, or we can also come back at the next meeting and select the Grand Marshal. Your choice is. Can I get a motion?

I'M GOING TO SUGGEST THAT WE TAKE THAT. I THINK IT'S VERY APT BECAUSE OF THE HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE INDEPENDENT CELEBRATION. WE'RE GOOD? EVERYBODY'S GOOD? I MAKE A MOTION THAT WE HAVE THE GRAND MARSHAL BE VFW and American Legion and the American Legion for joint grand marshals for our 4th of July parade.

As we're talking about commanders, are we talking about so essentially not a single individual, you know, both organizations as a whole. So typically in the past we've done a float for the Grand Marshal. If it's selected as such, we don't envision a specific float, right? More just encouraging them to have all their members present, all their members walking and things of that nature.

Okay, because I knew that the VFW already had plans for the... Correct. They got a new, what do you call it, Hummer or whatever that is they got over there and something else. They've got a couple things that they've got plans to... So we're not actually going to... So I guess, does that mean American Legion are just going to go with what they've got or...

correct so typically both both organizations are well represented in the parade um so we envision them to just continue that representation uh but have that honorary designation for that very good all right the motion's on the table okay all in favor i'm sorry yeah thank you thank you i'm sorry we should have done that and then i could ask a question all right now clarence crypto update

Did you go to the meeting? I'm just joking. I'm just joking, Clarence. I'm trying to keep you on your toes, man.

I'm trying to thaw out. My toes are frozen over here. All right. So I don't have a slide. Just a bit of information from what just happened with CRTPO. And I'll start off by saying, Mayor, Council, actually last Wednesday, the last meeting, CRTPO meeting, I saw Felix for NCDLT. And I was like, look, man, I can't go back to the people of Indian Trail and say that we're waiting on Duke Energy to hook up these lights at the intersection of Highway 74. And... Hayes Road so I asked him I said you need me to get the people of Indian Trail to call Duke Energy and see what's going on so left that conversation then came up here Friday and I talked to Todd Huntsinger and said hey look I don't want to tell the people of Indian Trail that we're waiting on this and he said he'll make a phone call so we're just going to give Todd the credit and say when I went back to work on Friday then I saw some flashing lights so thank you Todd Um, so there are flashing lights that, uh, Hayes road and, um, highway 74 and generally lights flash for about two weeks and then they go operational. So hopefully we'll get that going. The other thing I'd like to report is that there was a text amendment for CRTPO's memorandum of understanding bylaws on the June agenda. The purpose of the amendment to the MOU is because, as you know, the payback was signed into law last year. In conjunction with that, Mecklenburg County approved a sales tax referendum last November. The approval created the need for the MPTA, which starts the dismemberment of the MTC reference. MPO requires the representative of public transportation agencies to have a seat at the table. Therefore, this means that the MPTA will have a vote instead of the MTC. Y'all follow me? Wait, there's more. There will be similar action for the TCC board, which Todd Huntsinger is the town representative. Now, as you may know and seen all across the news that there was a vote at the last CRTPO meeting to rescind the support for the I-77 toll lanes. What does this mean? In my opinion, it means it opens up the door for a whole lot of possibilities. The reason why I say this is at the last meeting, the CRTPO chair referred to the attorneys stating that by limiting when the resolution could be rescinded, when it was adopted in 2024, we have firmly limited our ability to do so such that we don't believe this item is properly before the board tonight. Meaning that we did not have the recension of the I-77 toll lanes on the agenda at the last CRTPO meeting. It was a motion made by the mayor of Matthews, which needed a two-thirds vote to carry, and it got that vote, so it was rescinded. So with that said, in conclusion, the recension support for I-77 toll lanes, it came in effect with a weighted vote. Currently, Indian Trail has a vote based on the population of 45,000, but that should change if the town reaches 5,000. I'd just like to say that, again, if you're not aware that the support was rescinded, but there was a lot of discussion on what's next with I-77. This may not be the end of it, and just stay tuned. And also, I ask that... you as council if you have any direction that you ever need me to send up to crtp crtpo is very important that we have that conversation to make sure i'm voting that represents the town of indian trail thank you any questions for clarence no got all those acronyms thank you clarence uh manager's update mr rickland

I'll try and make this pretty quick. Most recent manager's report was posted to the town website last Friday. Mayor, as you mentioned earlier, family fun day is next Saturday. Everybody, please come out and enjoy yourself. STAFF IS MONITORING MULTIPLE BILLS THAT ARE IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY RIGHT NOW. SOME OF THOSE HAVE SOME PRETTY SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES THAT COULD MEAN COMING TO THE TOWN OF INDIAN TRAIL IF AND WHEN THEY ARE PASSED OR NOT PASSED, DEPENDING ON WHICH WAY THAT IT MAY MOVE FORWARD. TONIGHT WE HAD THE BUDGET HEARING. AGAIN, STAFF IS ALWAYS AVAILABLE TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS. at the next council meeting there are quite a few items on the agenda the first one would be the meeting is not on a tuesday it's a wednesday wednesday june 10th so hopefully have the budget adoption that night hear again about the partnership with stallings and if council would like to move forward on that as it relates to pedestrian improvements we'll have a community center update board appointments so y'all have some folders that have some board appointment applications in them well here we need to have a conversation and make a final decision on the ARPA enabled funds and where we want those last hundred and seventeen thousand or so dollars to go And then as Hayden just mentioned just a few minutes ago about America 250, just so y'all know, this is not related to the next council meeting. So just had Memorial Day, y'all just appointed American Legion and VFW. We have a couple of other things that we're going to be doing towards America 250. We will get that information out to y'all in the public in the next couple of days. We'll be posting some more information on that. If anybody has any questions, I'm here to answer them. Thank you, Adam.

Melody? Council Member Alsobrooks?

All right. So I want to say thank you to the families, family members of those who have loved ones that gave the ultimate sacrifice for this country and remember them from this past Memorial Day. Also, since last time we met, Larry Vickery has passed away. He and his wife, Lane, did a lot for Town of Indian Trail. If you knew of Lane Vickery, if you see sidewalks in Indian Trail, you can thank Lane Vickery. You could thank Lane Vickery for that. Also, Let's see. I want to say congratulations to life on your new position. And I'm going to be honest. I'm going to try to make it through this without crying. You know, there's a lot of negativity in this world, so I reach out to people and ask them to give me some positive things or things that people are doing positive in this world. And I received something from Crisis Assistance Ministry that just – allows me to see how blessed god is how god has blessed me in my life so it says here's the following update keeping families housed in the last month we saw a woman who lost her child in a car accident at three months old retained house retained house at the severe depression a mom who was assaulted and missed work due to doctor's appointments A mom moved into a hotel to house working two jobs with three children. A senior terminal counselor needed assistance with utilities. Two mothers called today about to be evicted while working but fell behind due to unforeseen crisis and we are navigating their next steps to keep them stabilized. they're partnering with Bank of America for upcoming financial empowerment to help clients with savings launched in 2020 August of 2026 so I just say that to say that you know sometimes we can go through hard times but there's probably always somebody that has it worse than we do and if you have the means to donate to agencies that nonprofits that help people then please do that and with that said thank you uh thank you we had a great meeting hope to see everybody again and i'm still waiting for people to tell me that they uh told their family and friends about that website so y'all have a good night councilmember mcintyre uh yeah uh i'm gonna take a couple minutes so please bear with me um so i i um

Yesterday was Memorial Day. I want to say special thanks to all those who serve this country and their families because when a loved one serves, the family also has to serve as well in terms of picking up the slack. Some give all and all give some. So we do thank them, owe them a debt of gratitude. I want to take a moment to welcome our new Public Works Director, Life, it is? Yes. All right. Fitzpatrick, we're happy to have you here serving our town, and we look forward to working together for the betterment of our town. I'm going to do a little personal bragging. I don't do that very often, but I'm going to just do this one, so please bear with me. I want to personally acknowledge that my son, Braden McIntyre, graduated from Metrolina Christian Academy last Friday. I think you had somebody there too, all right? So congratulations to your daughter as well. As he prepares to head to Appalachian State University, I think, Mayor, you'll like that because he's going to App State. That's where your daughter graduated from. I want to say how proud my wife Kathy and I are of him, and we wish him nothing but success in this next chapter of life. I think he's going to need it because he's going to study molecular biology with a minor in chemistry. He says he wants to be an orthopedic surgeon, so we'll see how that goes. But in addition to this, I want to extend congratulations to all of our recent high school and college graduates throughout our town. Graduation represents years of hard work, sacrifice, discipline, perseverance, not only from students themselves, but also from the families, the teachers, the mentors, and supporters who helped guide them along the way. and to future graduates from all Union County Schools who will soon walk across that stage as well. I think in two weeks, you have a daughter who's gonna graduate, Adam. So we are proud of them and we're rooting for them and we wish them continued success as they move forward toward their future goals and aspirations. I think, Melody, don't you have... Right. You do have one grant. And so there's a lot of people up here with, you know, soon to be graduates. Although the public period comment period is closed, the town still has or the public still has the opportunity to comment on our twenty six, twenty seven town budget. If anybody would like to come out and ask questions or share thoughts about the project or about the budget. We encourage you to do so. You can come talk to the town manager. You can reach out to any of the council members. And the mayor is very easy to find. He's always around town. You can reach out to him as well. The proposed budget contains no tax increases while continuing to balance the needs of the town with the needs of the people that we serve. um lastly i'll say that in in our town the mayor is seen as the leader but the responsibility of governing does not rest with one person alone serving as the mayor serving on this town council and serving our town and community are serious responsibilities we all are entrusted to govern responsibility responsibly enact sound policies budget wisely and plan for the future of our residents. Those are not small tasks, and they deserve seriousness, professionalism, and respect. The continued unnecessary behavior, distractions, and division undermine the responsibility we were elected to carry. It detracts from the real work this town has done and continues to do, and our residents deserve better. At some point, We all have to act like adults, stay focused, and do the job we were elected to do. Disagreement is part of government. Disagreement is part of life. Different viewpoints are healthy and expected. Think of President Lincoln and his team of rivals, people who would not just agree with him but disagree in order to get a very good decision. It is how we conduct ourselves that matters just as much as the decisions we make. We can disagree without disrespect, we can debate without division, and we can serve without diminishing the office or this council. At the end of the day, we were elected to work for the people of this town, not against one another. when i was entrusted by the voters last november to return to the to the town council i made a pledge to work with anyone and everyone even if we may disagree on issues i continue with this hope as my aim is to do the very best for all our residents i hope we can all get behind this let us lead with purpose and not with division thank you have a good night everybody councilmember ambergy

Yeah, thanks to everyone coming. The mayor mentioned Family Fun Day, but I don't remember the date.

Was that the 6th?

Yeah, June 6th from 2 to 10. That's a good time, especially those fireworks. Congratulations to all the graduates that are going to be graduating this weekend and first part of next week. And everybody, have a great night. God bless you. Jesus loves you.

Council Member Buhalik.

All right, someone said you should say what you've done over the last two weeks. So there's a lot of different things that I did, but two major things that I did is I attended the central line of meeting and Clarence actually joined me and we got to speak with some of the people there alongside some of our fellow municipalities just to kind of learn what's going on. And I did invite them, Adam, to come here and talk to us about certain things, you know, unbiased opinions about things just so we can have a general idea of what happens in our community. I also am in leadership union with the Chamber of Commerce, and we had an agriculture day and we went to visit Wiseacres and NC Farms. And if you haven't been to either one, you should because they're both sort of Indian Trail ish. I mean, Union County Indian Trail ish, but they're really amazing. But honestly, I can't do what they do. NC Farms was just incredible walking in and kind of learning what they did. So did that, I thought that was interesting. I do want to thank the staff as always. Y'all are amazing. Welcome, Life, to our team. You have a great team to work with. Other than that, thank you all for coming and have a good night.

Mariko.

Thank you. Life, you're the rookie. You're the last one here. So, you know, that's why you ended up cooking the other day. Get used to it, you know? When's our next cookout, Adam? But anyway, no, we enjoyed having you and I know Adam's tickled to death you're here and we're glad you're here too. So with that being said, I appreciate everybody showing up tonight and being here. And I hope all of you had a good Memorial Day yesterday. All the veterans in here, thank you for what you do and what you've done. And I'd just like to close by saying, and all the graduates also, congratulations. I know it's a big day. I even remember about the day when I graduated high school. It was a long time ago. It was a real long time ago. But I do remember that day. The last thing I'd like to say is remember, we are on this earth for only a short time. But it's what we do on this earth that determines eternity. Be nice. Help others. Don't brag on yourself and tell us how great you are. Don't tell me how you believe. Show me how you treat other people and I'll tell you what you believe. So with that being said, good night and I look forward to seeing everybody on the 11th. So can I get a motion to close?

Yeah, I want to do the motion motion to adjourn.

All in favor. Unanimous. God bless.