City Council - Regular Meeting

I've called this special budget meeting in the Morton City Council on Monday, June 22nd, 6 p.m. I'm going to just jump right into the public hearing. At this time, I will say we're having the public hearing and approval of the Morton budget for fiscal year 26 and 27. Sally, would you like to do your program, please? Yes.

will give a quick recap since we talked about it in very much detail last time so total budget is just under 94 million just under 20 million in capital citywide tax rate recommended to stay at 50 cents for general tax and for the downtown service district tax to stay at 12 cents per hundred dollars value $2 a month increase in trash fee from $12 to $14 a month. 2.6% increase in electric rates and that's overall, so it's an average of that. And then 2.5% water and sewer increase and that is in the volume charge, not the fixed charges. no changes encompass at the time does include a 2% COLA for employees that would go into effect in July and a 2% merit for eligible employees in March recommending to adjust the salary ranges by that 2% for competitiveness and also included in this budget beginning once again since Helene to go back to our market reviews and the departments that were reviewed this year. Compass, Finance, Public Safety, Public Works and Recreation. The remainder of them will be done next year for that budget and then we have a few position reviews and reclassifications and those are in Comma and GIS and and then looking to change the finance director position to be reclassified as a dual role and that would be assistant city manager and CFO and the current assistant city manager position reclassified to a deputy city manager. And, of course, all that's included in the budget would ask that you consider adopting the ordinance that is in your book. And then along with that would go the schedule of fees and charges that supports the numbers in the budget and then the pay ranges that would go into effect July 1.

Okay, this is a public hearing. Anyone like to comment in the audience or on council? If not... Public hearing is now closed. What's the wish of council?

Motion to adopt a budget ordinance for fiscal year 2026 to 2027. Thank you, Wendy.

I have a motion to have a second. Second. Thank you, Molly. All in favor, say aye. Aye.

I need another motion, please. And our motion to adopt a schedule of fees and charges for fiscal year 2026 to 2027. Thank you, Butch. I have a motion to have a second.

Second. Thank you, Chris. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion passes. I need a third motion, please. I'd like a motion to approve pay ranges effective July 1st, 2026. Thank you, Chris. I have a motion to have a second. Second. Thank you, Wendy. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion passes.

And I would like to thank the Finance Committee especially, Sally and Dr. Earth to Wendy, Jesse, for all the work that went into putting the budget together.

Outstanding. Thank you. Outstanding. Absolutely. Incredible job.

Next on our agenda is a public hearing concerning the CDBG Community Development Block Grant for fiscal year 2026. I'll ask Jennifer Cannon to please come forward and give us an explanation on the money, please.

And you probably want to open the public hearing.

Oh, yeah. First, Jennifer, we'll let you speak. We'll open up the public hearing for the CDBG. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the Council. This is a public hearing to seek Council's approval for the fiscal year 2026 action plan so we can submit to HUD and receive the funding. The action plan is for the City of Morton CDBG program. The total funding for 2026 is $225,896. We anticipate around $30,000 in program income from the small business loan program. Bringing the total with the two, $255,896. We have three types of activities. The small business loans, which have been very successful for $90,000. Public infrastructure facilities and improvements, $90,698.80. And lastly, the non-profits. The loans to the non-profits, $30,000 for that line item.

And that is another very popular program.

Very, very successful, very good program. People have already asked if they're going to be funded. Hopefully in the fall.

Those are mainly for nonprofits, correct? Okay. This is a public hearing. Anyone like to make any comments about the CDBG program for 26-27? Jennifer, a great, great schedule. Thank you so much for being that specific for us. Thank you. Seeing no one, public hearing is now closed. What's the wish of council?

Motion to approve the 2026-2027 action plan as presented.

Thank you, Wendy. I have a motion to have a second. Second. Thank you, Chris. Any discussion? All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Motion passes. Jennifer, thank you so much.

Thank you. Then the second action is the project budget ordinance, which recognizes the numbers that she just talked about.

Okay. What's the wish of council?

Motion to adopt the CDBG 2026-2027 project budget ordinance.

Thank you, Wendy. I have a motion to have a second. Second. Okay, any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion passes. Thank you so much. Thank you.

We got one more.

Oh, one more, yeah.

One more. This item requires three actions. So every year we do now our contract that will go into effect July 1 with the COG for Jennifer to continue working with the Senate minister in this program. And that money is also included in the project budget.

This is the agreement for the COG, correct? It is. Okay. What's the wish of council?

I'll make a motion to approve an agreement with Western Piedmont Council of Governments to administer the CDBG entitlement program for fiscal year 2026-2027, effective July 1, 2026.

Thank you, Chris. I have a motion to have a second. Second. Thank you, Molly. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. The motion passes.

Thank you. Now we're done.

Thank you. Okay, next on our agenda is consideration of some year-end budget amendments. Sally?

Yes, and so this is also an item that we do at this time of year, and this one is also multi-action because we have four budget amendments that we need to have approved. And we have those in the general fund, the cable fund, the wastewater fund, and the electric fund. And this is really, as we do every year, getting this all lined up. as we do in the budget ordinance that you've adopted at the beginning of the year, so kind of shifting funding around. The general fund is $487,800. That has a lot of maintenance and repair vehicles in it. It has some storm drain repair, some maintenance and repair buildings. We needed more money in our elections line item after we had the election. Retiree insurance, food supply, some salary and wages, and That's included in that 1, and it's probably better. Like, if we do each 1, so after I talk, do we want to consider action on those? Is everybody good with that instead of doing all 4? So they okay so that would be 487,800 dollars.

Okay. What's the wish of counsel?

And let me, wait, may I say one other thing? And you'll notice that we are funding those with insurance reimbursement funding and interest that we earn. So there's no using a fund balance for that.

Great. I'll make a motion to approve a budget amendment in the general fund in the amount of $487,800. Thank you, Chris.

I have a motion to have a second. Second. Thank you, Butch. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion passes.

Second one is in the cable fund, and that is including additional dollars, $50,000 in the professional services line item. And you will notice for those that reimbursement for services and reconnect fees. So once again, not using retained earnings for this.

Thank you, Sally. What's the wish of council?

I'll make a motion to approve a budget amendment in the cable fund in the amount of $50,000.

Thank you, Belichick. I have a motion to have a second. Second. Thank you, Wendy. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion passes. Sally?

Then wastewater is next, and this includes funding for group insurance, maintenance and repair of vehicles and equipment, some salary and wages. This amount is $92,500, and this is being funded by interest that was earned, utility penalties, and then some septage revenue. So again, not using retained earnings.

Great. What's the wish of council? Motion to approve.

I'll make a motion to approve a budget amendment in the waste fund in the amount of $92,500. Thank you, Molly.

I have a motion to have a second. Second. Thank you, Wendy. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion passes. Sally, a fourth amendment, a fourth motion.

Yes, and this is the last one, and this is in electric, and this was in the amount of $300,000, and it includes street lightings, maintenance and repair dollars, some salary and wages, and this one is all with interest that was earned. So once again, no retained earnings required.

What's the wish of counsel?

Motion to approve a budget amendment in the electric fund in the amount of $300,000.

I have a motion to have a second. Second. Thank you, Chris. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion passes. Next is consideration of a resolution approving the adoption of the City of Morton Stormwater Master Plan. I think we have Tom Warburton to come forward. And, Tom, if you'll give us the Stormwater Master Plan, please.

Sure. Good evening, and thank you for having me. The Council is asked to consider approving and adopting the City of Morganton Stormwater Master Plan prepared by McGill Associates and using funding provided to the City through NCDEQ in 2023 for stormwater planning. The Stormwater Master Plan provides the comprehensive analysis and assessment of the City's stormwater system. That includes the evaluation of flooding concerns, infrastructure capacity, recommendations for future capital improvements, and implementation strategies. The plan is intended to serve as a framework for future stormwater management decisions, improve flood resilience, and protect public infrastructure, private property, and water quality throughout the City. The plan identifies and evaluates several areas. The plan evaluates potential improvement alternatives and provides estimated cost ranges recommended for those projects. In addition, the plan includes existing and proposed stormwater conditions, stormwater network mapping, that's our drainage systems and outfalls and piping and flow direction of that piping throughout the entire city limits. hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, potential funding opportunities and opinions of probable project costs for recommended improvements for that system. The executive summary by McGill is attached for your review. The full stormwater plan is available upon request. Adoption of the stormwater master plan will establish the plan as the city's guiding document for stormwater planning, future capital improvements, and pursuit of grant funding. The resolution also authorizes the city manager or designee to take necessary administrative actions to implement the plan. The completion of the stormwater master plan satisfies three benchmarks required within the current MS4 permit. So that was a nice added bonus to just getting the actual data and reducing the data and getting maps. And of course, all these maps and all this data will help in educating the students. the citizens of morganton as well as the staff we will have all the maps posted on the website for stormwater areas stormwater requirements and then they can see the network so that hopefully will be helpful to folks so we're hoping that you'll go ahead and adopt and prove this resolution council have any questions for tom

I've noticed the areas that are designated in the here. There are three major concern areas. When when are you anticipating addressing one or all?

I think we will. We've evaluated each of those and we kind of knew about these. I think this plan just allowed us the science to go ahead and take a look and justify with some of the other. partnering agencies that may be involved in those areas and certainly anything that's just all city will try to move forward as we can get any funding or appropriate funding that we can do in our capital budget and or from any grants.

And you'll notice As with a lot here, we have a lot of DOT streets and a lot of DOT storm drain systems. So when you start looking at some of our troubled areas, they are definitely a partner in that. And so that requires working that relationship. And the railroad issue too.

The beauty of this study is it did provide, as I said, the science behind, and that can kind of help in some conversations to really be able to pinpoint some issues and say, look, we really need to address these areas at some point, come to the table together.

Thank you. Other questions? What's the wish of council?

I'll make a motion to approve a resolution adopting the City of Morganton Stormwater Master Plan.

Thank you, Chris. I have a motion to have a second. Second. Thank you, Wendy. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion passes. Tom, thank you so much. Thank you, Tom. Appreciate it. Next is consideration of adopting an electric contribution in the aid of construction and electric line extension policy. We'll call Tom McGee, our electric supervisor, and give us some direction, please.

Yes, good evening, Mr. Mayor and Council. So the item that we have before you this evening is a contribution in aid of construction and line extension policy. So essentially what this does is formalizes and standardizes construction The process that we will use going forward to look at any new requests that come in from either existing customers or developers historically, the cost associated with those facility changes have. been embedded within our rate base. And so what this does is it moves that financial responsibility to the customer that's requesting the change. And rightfully so, this is a very common policy process across the electric utility industry. And we see a lot of growth coming within the next year, especially, and want to ensure that we get out ahead of that. We obviously have mentioned before that we have some of the lowest rates in the state. And this just positions us to be in a place to continue with those low rates and ensure that any of the customers that are requesting these changes are the ones that actually see that financial responsibility.

Okay. Questions for Tom? We appreciate this. What's the wish of council?

I make a motion to approve adoption of the City of Morganton electric contribution and aid of construction and electric line extension policy and to authorize the city manager or designee to administer the policy on behalf of the city. Thank you, Butch. I have a motion to have a second.

Second. Thank you, Chris. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion passes. Thank you. Next is consideration of approval of an amendment to the City of Moreton purchasing policy. Jessie, our finance director, would you help us?

Thank you. Yes. So we have not updated our purchasing policy in quite... Well, we've updated it with some standards, but the purchase order limit is the only thing we're updating in this amendment. And it's been quite a while. It's been $1,000 for a really long time. That requires a purchase order. Requiring a purchase order is quite a... cumbersome process, so to speak. It takes time. It requires quotes and all of those kinds of things. So we looked around the state and the new average, I would say, is $2,500 to $5,000. We thought $5,000 was a little bit of a large jump for us from $1,000. So we are recommending and asking to update our purchase order limit that requires a purchase order at $2,500 instead of that $1,000 to be effective on July 1st. That really helps us kind of get as inflation has caused kind of routine items, tires, things that we get in large quantity are just requiring a lot of every week purchase orders and just the way that we order them. So I think it's going to help on some of just those routine costs. But low enough, it allows us still to have the oversight that the purchase order process is inherently for.

Questions for Jesse. Okay. What's the wish of council?

I'll make a motion to approve the amended City of Morganton purchasing policy as submitted.

Thank you so much, Molly. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you. Wendy, any discussion? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Okay, motion passes.

Thank you, Jesse. I remember when our purchase order was $100 and $150 at the garage. Wow.

And you could buy a lot.

1964, yeah, 1964, Rob. I'm not sure I would kill myself.

Okay, next on our agenda is the consideration of a resolution to be included in the NCDOT grant application to the Federal Transportation Administration for Rail Service Readiness. And Sally, are you doing that one?

I am. So since we are not busy enough and don't have enough going on with the 9 million grants that we're trying to do with FEMA and every other state agency that exists, we thought that we would get involved in one more. And actually the opportunity has come about and as you all are well aware, passenger rail has been being discussed for Western North Carolina from Salisbury to Asheville for more than a decade, probably several. and has gained some more traction and some momentum. And there are some federal opportunities and federal dollars that the state DOT is seeing to allow for some planning, and they're trying to take advantage of that. And so to that end, they reached out to the cities along the route that perhaps could be considered in the future for a stop should this happen. Obviously, Morganton has a depot that was done with federal dollars, state dollars, and local dollars 30 years ago, 25 years ago, and we want to be considered if this should ever go forward for, you know, do we fit a stop? What would we need to do in our community if we were a stop, a train stop and how does that look? And this really is the beginning of some of that. DOT has told us the application is due by July 10th. They say that they're going to end up doing a lion's share of the work. We'll go with that. It is an 80% federal grant and a 20% local funding match. They said their last studies with this were about $200,000 a community. They think that's what this is going to come at. That would make our match $40,000. Our match would not be required until budget The budget we just adopted one more budget year, so 2 years out from now, and we have some opportunities in that time, I think, to probably get some private funding to go with that and some other opportunities as well. We are recommending to you that that we sign on with and that we do this. Because should this gain traction and the momentum pick up, I don't think we want to be left out. And if this proves that we shouldn't be a stop, then we know that. And if this says we really ought to consider it, then we can start thinking about it.

What's the wish of counsel?

Motion to approve a resolution to be included in the North Carolina Department of Transportation TOD study grant application to the Federal Transportation Administration of the United States Department of Transportation.

Thank you, Wendy. I have a motion to have a second. Second. Thank you, Chris. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion passes. Now call on Wendy Smith for an additional item to be discussed Wendy.

Thank you for being here So the city as you know is currently in the process of creating this unified development ordinance That's a consolidation and update of all the city's planning zoning ordinances zoning subdivision stormwater, etc We'll be asking for a range of community input Process will be very similar to what we did with the Imagine Morganton 2040 comprehensive plan. There are a couple of upcoming opportunities for the community to provide their thoughts on topics like landscaping, building design, parking, types of housing, all that sort of thing. And there will be two different occasions at the end of this week that the community can come and give input. On Thursday night here in the council chambers, June 25th from 5 to 7.30 p.m. We'll have boards and people to talk to and information and places you can ask questions and places you can give us input all around there. And then on Friday night at TGIF down at the concert on the square, we will have A selection of the boards, maybe not all of them just for size wise down at the courthouse square as well that you can give us input and things there and maybe target a slightly different group at that event as well. Again, interactive exhibits, giving your thoughts. We want to create an ordinance that reflects what the people of Morganton want to see in their community. Also based on solid planning theory. So we encourage you to come out to these events. Be engaged. Share your views. Thank you very much.

And our consultants will be at those events. They'll be facilitating.

If it rains Thursday, you'll have alternate plans if it rains Thursday. Thursday's in time. Friday.

It's outside. TGIF will probably go on and we'll... We'll be under a tent. We'll make an adjustment somehow. We'll see how you... Although we won't turn down rain because we still do need rain. Yeah, we didn't need the rain.

Wendy. Thank you so much, Wendy. I'd like to remind people that the fireworks will be at Freedom Park on July the 4th. Also an event, I think the Glen Alpine Parade is going to be on the 4th. Sally, do you have any announcements for the community?

Yeah, and the parade is like for the whole community. Glenn Alpin has opened that up, and that is the America 250 parade for the 4th. And then at 1 o'clock on the Old Courthouse Square is going to be – ceremony. I don't know what else to call it. A celebration at the Charters of Freedom. And there's going to be some music. There's going to be some readings from our historic documents that make us who we are today and that made us America. So come out and celebrate the 250th birthday of our great country.

I hope everyone has a great Fourth of July. We are adjourned.