Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone. The time is now 6 pm and the Spring Lake Board of Commissioners regular meeting is now called to order. I do ask that you silence all your cell phones and please keep any sidebar conversations to the barest of minimums, especially because we have a full house now. So if the chatter happens, it will absolutely distract from the business of the town. Um, but I am glad to see the seats are full. I don't think we've seen this more relaxed as it ever. I just hope we're not in trouble and and as Mayor Pro Tim did say, do not let this be your last meeting. Um, this is the best place for you to stay connected to the town and we just really appreciate you being here. Um, so as we begin, I would like to invite Pastor Sapple to the podium. Please let us know um your church and its location. And he's going to lead us in our pledge of allegiance and invocation. Please stand and join us.

Hi everybody. I'm Reverend Jeff Sapold, Senior Pastor Manali Christian Center Ministries here in this town of Spring Lake, North Carolina. I'm happy to be out here tonight. I do want to read a scripture before we start in our prayer. I won't be a long I've been told I'm a long-winded preacher and so I'll just cut this down to two hours instead of preaching scriptures found in Proverbs the chapter reading from the fourth verse it says thou shalt so sh excuse me so shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man. So it goes on to say trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. Sixth verse says, "In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths." Amen.

Amen.

Father, again we thank you for your loving kindness, your mercy and your grace, Lord. We thank you, Lord, because we come to this forum because we are decision makers, Lord. But we first acknowledge you in all of our decision-making processing. Lord, we look to the heels from which cometh our help because we realize that everything that we need to do, every direction that we need to travel, every voice that we need to make be heard, every step that we need to make, we first must acknowledge you. And you and all the infinite wisdom that you have will help us to make the right decisions according to what you know we need for a community. And so Lord, we recognize the instability of the climate of this country, of this state sometimes, and even of this city. Lord, we need you even more now to help us to do and make the right decisions as we move forward. We prosper in you. We move forward together and backwards never. This is our prayer with confidence. In the precious and mighty name of Jesus, we do pray. And all of God's people said, "Amen."

Amen. Amen. And God bless

youce to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. One nation under God. Amen. All right, we will now move on with our agenda. I call for any additions or deletions. Hearing and seeing none, I'll call for the approval of the agenda. Mayor Pro Commissioner Ch.

Any discussion? All in favor? The motion carries. I now call for approval of the consent items and that's draft minutes of our October 27th work session. Uh board of adjustments application Roshelinda Viag is asking to be reappointed. Our 202516 resolution of the board of commissioners town of Spring Lake adopting our 2026 meeting schedule. um 202517 resolution of the board of commissioners uh to adopt the holiday schedule. Is there a motion? Commissioner Chap. Commissioner Thompson, I second.

Uh is there any discussion? All in favor? Motion carries. We will now move on to public comments. Um and just to be specific, there is a public hearing happening later. So if your comments are uh regarding the public hearing then they will be moved to that. So I call Antonio James to the podium. Please state your name and address for the record. Address. Name and address for the record. Antonio 1043 North Carolina. Can I bring my coworker? Sure. Mr. J.

Sure. I'm gonna let Miss Gina kind of like explain the program a little bit um on her side and do you mind if I pass you all out?

That's just because this is public comments you are on a strict three minute limit. Uh so I don't want to rush you but just know that if you want to come back for a longer presentation about a program then you would reach out to the court for that. So just I don't want to rush you but I want you to know. Okay. We both work at Employment Source. Um I'm the case manager there. Antonio is a youth transition specialist. This is a brand new program. It's grant funded. It's free to participants. We work with people with disabilities and that can be a wide range of disabilities. It might not just be intellectual or developmental disabilities. Um mental health, substance use, health issues. Those are all considered disabilities. And there are other criteria on there. The youth criteria is more open. Um if they are under age 24 and they have housing insecurity or any other um juvenile in the juvenile justice system or um just lower income, they will qualify for our program. And like I said, we help them with case management, the youth with youth transition services. Antonio provides things like mentoring them, helping them with social skills and many other skills to get ready for the workforce. um if they're an adult, we help them u with resumes, getting them ready for the workforce. We also provide transportation, two job interviews, things like that until they're ready to uh go on their own, but we help them find different services, um sport transportation once they do get the job. So, we provide a lot of support connections to different resources. And so as far as with the transition specialist, I deal with the youth that's ages 14 to 24. And the the adult side is we have employment specialist that deal with adults from 25 and up. And again, it's with youth with disabilities trying to find employment, life coaching,

skills, mentoring, and counseling as well. Is there any way do you have this? Yes, we do. Could you send a digital copy to our clerk, please? Um, do you have the email or clerk in town? your heart localization. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. So, the meeting is going to go a bit differently uh than usual. We normally have our close session at the end. However, we are making a few adjustments and we are going to go into close session uh briefly now. So I will now entertain a motion uh to go into close session pursuant to NCGs 143318183 attorney client privilege and pursuant to NCGS uh 143 318 11184 economic development commissioner Javman. Any discussion? All in favor? I motion carries. We'll now go into close session and we will close shortly.

We entertain a motion to come out of close session. No actions taken. Commissioner Blasio. So move. Commissioner Thompson. All any discussion? All in favor? Motion carries. All right. We'll now move on to our presentation, first presentation of the evening and this is our certificates of appreciation. All right, mayor. Thank you very much. You are so welcome.

All right, for all of you all to know out here, I have given four years to cleaning up the town of Spring Lake. It has not been about me. It's been about the other people that have come out there and helped clean up this town. In four years, there's been 3 66 volunteers have come out and cleaned up 123,710 pounds of debris off the streets of Springway. I cannot do it by myself. I've had help along the way. I've got two commissioners up here that's helped along the way, Thompson and Palasios that's helped. But I've got some some volunteers that have come out throughout the time and I'd like to recognize two of them. I'd like to recognize Arman Coron for his recognition of except exceptional leadership as chairman of the military veterans affairs advisory committee in his dedicated involvement in the town's monthly cleanup efforts. Through his guidance and hands-on commitment, Arman has played a key role in the improvement of the appearance of Town Spring Lake, making it a cleaner and better community for all. I'm going to read the next one and then we'll get pictures taken over at the at the flags. We've got an anniversary out here and they happen to come for the meeting, but Patrick and Luke Morrison have been married 10 years and their daughter Kimberly have been a in outstanding community supporter with cleaning up the town. And this one reads, "In recognition for their outstanding family commitment to enhancing the appearance of the town of Spring Lake, through their active participation in the monthly cleanups adopted the street and service to the appearance and sustainability committee,

they made a significant and lasting impact on keeping the town of Spring Lake and beautiful." Both of these are are signed on the 10th day of November, 2025 by Mayor Anthony. If I can get them to come up with the flag picture. congratulations and thank you. Um, those cleanups are massively important and they really have a dip in the blight that's happening in Spring Lake. How many how many hundreds of tons of trash?

Tons would be 52 or uh 62 tons, which is 123,710 lbs of debris. That's amazing. That's a lot of crap. We'll move on with our next agenda item, the yard of the month. Here's your process. Thank you, mayor. So, every month we get to recognize and honor our neighbors who upkeep and maintain their property in a way that beautifies the overall appearance of the town. And we have two winners for the month of November, Robert Tunnel out of Lake Tree, and Juan and Elizabeth Rivera out of Deerfield. Are they here today?

Come on up. Receive your award. We're going to go over here and take a picture, please. Mr. Mitchell, Mr. Mitchell is part of our appearance committee and chose Mr. Tunnel this month.

So, I'm sorry. Congratulations we all should strive for you know the board.

All right. All right, we'll now move on to agenda item 9A and this is our public hearing. The reasoning from C3 heavy commercial district and CP commercial district to R5 C3 residential district conditional zoning or to a more restrictive zoning for two parcels containing a total of 9.02 02 plus or minus acres located at 6 and4 North Main Street and the budding parcel located at the northeast corner of North Main Street Rainbow Court submitted by Alex Edwards uh applicant on behalf of Gwindelyn Min and Lorenzo Mlan Jr. and BP Enterprises owner Richard Fener 2 current planning division county planning either way.

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for having me. Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board. My name is Richard Fig, planner two for Cumberland County's current planning and inspections division. I'm here to present Z25-22, which is located within the downtown area of the town of Spring Lake. The applicant owner is Lorenzo McClean Jr., Glendel McClean, and BDC Enterprises. Their agent is Alex Edwards. The request is to go from CP plan commercial and C3 heavy commercial to R5 CZ residential conditional zoning. Their intent is to develop into multifamily housing in the form of an apartment community and the total acreage of the project is approximately 9.02 acres. As with all conditional zonings, the applicant is required to submit a conditional zoning site plan which we have here. and I will uh hearken back to that later on during the presentation to give a bit more detail. The subject property is predominantly undeveloped wooded lands with single family residential structure on the premises. Uh the surrounding uses are predominantly single family residential along with multifamily residential, some industrial, commercial along with some institutional as well. Here's a uh graphic showing the surrounding zoning districts of the area. So to the west we have P and D with C3 and then going in a counterclockwise fashion we have R six, C3, uh C1, R6A, R10, and then if you look to the south we have O and I as well. This is an aerial to kind of give a better uh depiction of the surrounding area, give it some character and color. As you can see, um the area is

predominantly wooded lands with subdivision towards the west. Uh it's a budding north main street with more frag directly to the north. The subject property does not contain any hydric or hydrocclusion soils. Uh there is uh town of Spring Lake water and sewer lines above the property down North Main Street. Here is a contour overlay showing the subject property with um the contours uh for the elevation going from south to north. We can see that uh there is um depression going from south to north. Apologize. The Spring Lake land the subject properties located within the Spring Lake area land use plan with the uh land use classifications being flex area and downtown. The associated zoning districts are mixed air uh mixed UC, CV, C1, R5, and R5A. Uh, flex area 2 includes larger parcels which would benefit from intentional development that brings the highest density and best use to the land and to the town. On larger parcels, these sites are suitable for apartment complex developments. This usually is due to proximity proximity to existing apartments or to commercial areas. In this way, vertical development can act as a buffer between commercial areas and less dense residential areas. request is consistent with the adopted land use plan. Here is a view of the subject property looking at it towards across from North Main Street. This is a south view looking down

towards downtown with the subject property on the left hand side. Here's a west view looking away from the subject property. with the subject property on your right hand side. This is looking away from downtown north view, North Main Street. And this is a development profile um a general project summary of what is being proposed. I'll walk you through it a little bit. The total number of apartment units is 204. Uh the total number of threestory apartment buildings uh are three and will be located uh along North Main Street. Uh each structure will have 12 units per floor with a unit count per building of 36 units for a total of 108. The building heights will be approximately 36 ft. The total number of fourstory apartment buildings which will be located in the interior of the parcel are two. And each structure will have 12 units per floor with a unit count per building of 48 units for a total of 96. The building heights will be approximately 54 ft in height. The proposed total mix of the units will be one bedroom. 84 units will be one bedroom, one bath. 60 units will be twobedroom, two bath and 30 units or 60 units will be three bed, three bath. Uh total acreage of open space will be approximately 3.37 acres and the common area and recreation space will be approximately 4.04 acres. The total number of parking spaces uh which is required will be 306. The applicant has provided 328. All right. So uh this is the conditional zone site plan the applicant has submitted. Uh let's see. And you can see North Main

Street. The three boxes along North Main Street are the threetory uh apartment buildings. And along North Main Street, there will be flowering trees and sidewalks. If you're coming up North Main Street towards the main entrance, which will be located off North Main Street, uh it turns into a 30- foot wide drive aisle, which circles or uh snakes through the proposed development and terminates over into the emergency access entrance and exit for emergency access uh vehicles uh right directly located off North Boulevard. towards the interior with the gray boxes, you'll see those two boxes are the fourstory uh apartment uh buildings. And then uh located off Rainbow Court, there will be a dedicated entrance and exit for waste services to facilitate uh the dumpster and trash receptacles key conditions. So, these are conditions that have been agreed to and worked out between the town and the applicant. The owner shall pay a fee of on-site open space in accordance with the Spring Lake Municipal Code 36718 to satisfy the recreation open space requirement in the total amount of $40,000. This shall be paid prior to the issuance of the first building permit. Two, an architectural rendering in color of the proposed development demonstrating conformance with the intent of the Main Street Overlay district's facade guide shall be submitted with the final site plan in conformance with section 4274 and must be approved by the town manager. Three, at the time of the final site plan submittal, a landscape plan shall meet the requirements of the Spring Lake landscaping ordinance for tree plantings. If unable to comply with the tree planning requirements of the landscape ordinance, the town manager can approve a fee in LU of uh tree planning based on

a rate of $300 per tree. Any such fees collected by the town shall be used to beautify and landscape parks and recreation spaces or other town properties located within the town spring. This shall be paid prior to the issuance of the first building permit for any building. staff recommends approval of this request. Uh the applicant has agreed to the conditions uh the conditions of approval. Uh the planning board uh in October recommended denial. Um and that uh concludes my presentation. So I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

Are there any questions from the board? Gracias.

David Moon, Deputy Director of Inspections for the County. I wanted to add to the presentation that in 2023, a conditional zoning application was submitted on this property was presented to the joint planning board. At that case, the initial zoning site plan was for a 72 unit um apartment complex. What is now proposed by a new developer is a 240 unit mixed juice complex. The U joint planning board found that in 2003 that that case was not compliant with the land use plan and recommended to deny. It came before in 2023. The board of commission I believe was called alderman at that point. the um board denied it and at the time state laws now have changed in the past few months but an applicant property owner had to wait one year before they could resubmit that year has passed new plan has come before you in both cases 2023 and 2025 staff found the applications to be consistent with the um land use plans and recommended approval. There has been some change between now and in the past. Further review of the zoning ordinance said that a um placement of commercial office uses on the first floor is encouraged. In 2023, staff had probably correctly said it was required, but copy of the ordinance with me this evening that says

it's encouraged. Board also needs to recognize that under conditional zoning special development standards unique development standards can be adopted that differ from the current zoning code. Basically establishing a specific zoning code standards for that site. new information in coordination with Department of Transportation, Troy Baker with the division six, they are not going to allow on uh road parking, on street parking. That's important for commercial office on the first floor. The plan back in 2023 had on street parking. DOT has changed it plan. It's going to be road improvements along that north end of Main Street. And do is saying those plans do not include on street parking. That makes it difficult for commercial and office on that first floor. So staff had recommended um approval of the um zoning request. My planning board has recommended denial. You have any other questions? So glad to address those.

Thank you, sir. Commissioner Thank you. You said that Baker with DOT said he would not be approving on street parking or commercial. Is that correct? Correct. Is that in writing? Like how what is the basis for that statement?

That was based on uh our staff coordination with him. The district office is also part of our government review team. We forward two um state agencies including DOT. The um the development review cases and the zoning cases and the information we received back from Department of Transportation was that there are road improvements that would not be able to accommodate the on street park. my understanding he's here tonight. The applicant has also reached out to DOT. Okay. And so other than that, the planning board denied it. And what were the reasons planning board denied it? They recommended denial because they found that it was in not consistent with the conditions of the land use plan that um they thought there was a need for office and commercial on that first floor. The code the zoning code not the conference plan but the zoning code encourages the office of commercial for vertical mixed use development. doesn't say it's required or it's encouraged and that's in your zoning ordinances. So under conditional zonings you can establish special standards. The comprehensive plan the land use plan does not have any specific policy that says in the main street area there must be vertical mixed use with loss commercial in the first floor.

Can we get the proposed plan back up here please? Uh the that one.

All right. And just to be clear, this plan and I saw in lie of sidewalk. Is that correct? It does not include sidewalk in this plan. No, this does include sidewalks along Main Street. It does include Correct. Thank you. Oh, um so uh staff has approved this correct staff recommended to approve find it consistent with the language plan based on

based on the um because this is flex that area is flex zone flex correct right so and Right. So that's a flex area which means that we can do um mixed um mixed uh R5 R5 and this was was this R5. So this is currently CD and C3 heavy commercial if I remember correct but we can do R5 and R5.

The future land use plan does specify that that is a associated District 4x2. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions from the board? Thank you. I'll now declare this public hearing open. Uh is there anyone here to speak in favor of this development? If you are, please approach the podium. Um state your name and address for the record.

All right. My name is Alex Edwards and I'm representing the owners on this property and wanted to speak on behalf of them. This project why it matters. This project addresses critical housing needs that residents had spoken for when the land use plan was being developed and it does so in a way that is compatible with the land use plan in multiple areas. Richard mentioned them that the land use plan allows R5 you know, high density residential on the flex area number two parcel. And that's what this one is. It's flex area number two. And while the plan favors mixed use, this purely residential uh uh project reflects Spring Lake's immediate needs and helps it to thrive right now. That was another one of the themes in the vision plan. Uh the DOT I did get that in writing um that they said that because they are widening widening Main Street road that if you put on street parking there and the road isn't wide enough for them to accommodate their widening project. Also in the current code mixed use requires 10 acres. We have nine acres. The surrounding owners didn't want to sell. Can't force them. You know understand that. So we have 9 acres. It also requires the street parking and we couldn't accomplish that. We also wanted to say that, you know, there's an example where you bring in rooftops first and then the development, the commercial follows that. If you look up in Cameron when they first started building those uh houses at first, I mean that was out in cable furniture was out there all by itself and nothing was going on and they looked like they were crazy for being out there. But then eventually those rooftops came and once all of those rooftops came then you started seeing the commercial activity

pick up and nobody forced the commercial folks to come out at that time. The commercial will follow that high when you concentrate residential the commercial will come in. That's why mixed use works in big cities downtowns where you have a bunch of people in a small area. So the more people you bring into this main street corridor the better off the the more thriving the properties are going to be. But if you bring in, there's already a glut in commercial space around Spring Lake in the major shopping centers. There's office space available, there's retail space available, and if you put more on the market right now, it's not economically feasible to do that. So, this project, it addresses what the what the residents have asked for developing the vision for Spring Lake and the land use plan. It speaks to that. It addresses that need and that will be good for Spring Lake, good for its residents, and good for the future, and can be the catalyst for the change that we were seeking that we all are seeking as a community.

Thank you for your time.

I'm Billy Wellington. I live at 46 in, uh, mayor and council and manager. um this is a good project for the town. So the planning staff did it job by recommending it. The planning board that voted against it did the wrong thing. They did it based on the the commercial overlay district of Main Street. I was a part of creating that thing and we were talked into including the whole main street but we narrowed it down to a very finite area to take in spring and then a few blocks after to concentrate on because it's too big of a long space to try to create a bunch of stuff here and there. Miss Edwards is exactly right. Before we ever get any really good commercial people to come Spring Lake, you're going to have to create more rooftops.

You're going to have to create more economic stability with the people that come and we're only going to do that with new stuff. Uh you know yourselves are seeing some of the smaller things I'm beginning to do with new stuff. Taking old stuff and remodeling it and making it new stuff again. I am bringing a better clientele, a better uh paying customer. And until we get that in Spring Lake, we're not going to get any commercial stuff. I rode down Main Street tonight with one light on. Was that joking?

And I want to thank everybody that's for serving and doing their job. But this is I applaud him for coming here and making that kind of investment. It's a risk for him. It's a multi-million dollar investment for the city of Spring Lake tax base. It's going to be water and sewer bills. It's going to be electricity bills for utilities and those people are going to hopefully stay here and shop here. So, I'm totally in support of it. And I think it'll be a great thing for the city. Please state your name.

My name is Harold. I live at 206 Tram Road here in Spring Lake. Used to be in Manchester when I was a child here. But I'm speaking in favor of this proposal simply because you look at the Bibility of Main Street, we don't do something now, you're not going to have anything to do in the future. But there's no there there's no commercial on on uh Main Street anymore other than first night. There's no there's no traffic that comes to to uh Main Street. So there has to be something that's going to generate some viability on Main Street or you won't have a main street. But this project I think is a great project. And speaking from someone who spent 30 plus years in finance in city government, you're looking at expanding your tax base because the the taxes right now are based on the backs of the current residents. If you expand the tax base, you get more money coming in and you see less of an opportunity or a requirement to raise taxes on the current citizens. So that's why I'm in favor of this and I appreciate your time. Thank you. Is there anyone else here to speak in favor of this? Please state your name and address for the record. Even though the picture's on the wall that speaks for just a young,

but for the record, Larry G. 592 Pine Tree Lane. Born and raised in Rio in his beloved city. Uh served as mayor for four years. Uh prior to that mayor pro Tim 40 years as an educator in the school system and I think I have done a wonderful job. Now two years ago this project similar to us to this time and we can see as as Mr. Wellers mentioned also Mr. Mr. What was done in those two years? One night left on after two. What would it be after four? If you divide that by half, it be 1/4 of a life. Lord have mercy. I support this this proposal. Mr. the claim that I have family members and I did a quick math with 204 humans if one person occupies that that's 204 people but most times people have a spouse most time they have children so do the math 116 people who have needs hot water clothes where do they go that way this south. Now, we do have an abundance of gas station and oil change station, but now when you live on Highway 210, they don't have time to stop if they make that light at Walmart because they're hauling buggy.

I could use another term, but they're on their way out. And when you go out, no, then you see the development is going on there. And I don't think because of our resident, I don't think that they're going through those kinds of changes uh to deny because so old that it needs to you need to change paper because it's turned yellow and got so many scratches and marks on him. All you got to do is bring out new on a brand new sheet of paper. And and I did this so that you understand Is that your overlay plan? Is that your overlay plan? Well, let me show you what you can do tomorrow. And if you deny this in what, a month, we might be back. And this is what we can start with. This is called the bullying loss.

Clean sheets of paper. a new beginning, new efforts, and new work. And then in less than six months, we will see what's happening on the corner on the corner of Chapel Hill Road and and and Drag Boulevard and in selected spots here in Spring Lake. That's my presentation. Thank you. Is there anyone else here to speak in favor? Please approach state your name and address for the record.

My name is Carolyn Cooper. I live in Deerfield. I wasn't one of those to get the yard of the month, but I don't. But anyway, for all of the reasons that the people who have spoken earlier, I stand in support of this resigning.

Is there anyone else? I got the first Robert 206 Lake Street Boulevard. I've been here for 30 years. My family and I are raised here, but I'm pro I'm agreeing with the program because we're aware of this. You go down main people come out of town, they feel I feel embarrassed. I go around I don't know if they is that me or But we are burning this program.

God forgive me. Can you do that?

I'm a 81year-old son of spring. This town, my first job was right up there in that bank. I've seen this town prosper.

I've seen it die. One of the first lessons, one of the many lessons I learned here was in econ. You can't have growth unless you have demand. People over demand. And I don't see a base of people willing to buy a damn thing without people. The people are running through Spring Lake. Every time I come here to visit, I come up 210 and I notice how the freeway dump you in town running 55 miles an hour, hauling ass out of town. Excuse my friends, but that's what's happening. Nothing else of any good is happening here. And you people, I love you. I love this town and I hate to see it. This property has been in my family for eons. I'm not trying to get rich. It doesn't matter to me about the money. We just want to sell the property to help the town grow.

Amen. That's all. And I wish to God that you would just have give us a chance to do that. That's all. And I thank you for your time. Can you please orderly state your name and address? My name is Lorenzo Mlan Jr. I live 6105 Welsh Court Mall.

Hi, my name is Veronica French and I own two homes here in Spring Lake, North Carolina. I pay taxes on the homes. I currently reside in Seattle, Washington. But I will tell you, I come back and forth because of my rentals. One rental, the other one I select my vacation home. And I will tell you when I come back, it's sad. Main Street looks horrible. Seriously, it's horrible. Looks dead. And I don't know why the board would want this to be honest with you.

Um, I'm going to retire in a couple years. I'm an educator. And I don't even know if I want to come back to Arizona. Seriously, it's depressing. I have to be honest, it's very depressing. And I feel that this will be something wonderful. And I think that um it's a good program. I really do. So, I just want to share that with you guys. And I hope you guys do the right thing. Again, Veronica French. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Marla Wat. This property we're talking about is of course my third of mile too. has been stated. I am for this. Who wouldn't be? The town has really Thank you. Just like they said, if they increase the speeding to help get on through, they don't even know where Spring Lake is. What's out there? Let them know Spring Lake. Not a thing out there. No, I don't live Mary's neighbor. This is my home. I was born and raised here. But I don't understand why you were not accept this plane. I heard something a while ago about Department of Transportation and what was it?

Uh something about not enough

parking partners on street park. That's nothing to worry about. Once they get this project started, of course, they will notice that the uh to fix it to to uh make accommodation to fix whatever the problem is. It's very simple, y'all. Everything's been put out for you. Everything's been show been worked on several times. It's been at this for I don't know how many years. It's time for something to happen for spring. So that there still would be a spring. Thank you for your time. My name is Betty Sanford 104 Drive right here in Spring Lake. We've been here now about 40 years. And I want to tell you something. I agree with everything because when I first came here, honey, this place was popping, okay? It was doing good, but it has gone down tremendously.

And when you come up Main Street is just Main Street, you know, there's nothing really going on. But if you go over on 87 and you see all these different stores and stuff, you know, small stores, little things that we really don't really need all of that, you know, two or places almost door to door, you know, we don't need all of that. We need something that's really going to bring people into Spring Lake and that way we won't have our taxes going up. you know, we're constantly getting the taxes brought up and stuff like that. But if you get businesses in here and houses in here, then that would, you know, help us. I'm and and I don't need all that. And I'm a widow and I don't need all that. And I think we need to do something about it. We really do because everybody do go right through Spring Lake and go right on the camera. We got a YMCA and we don't have one here. They have things there that we don't have. Why? You know why? We got children and everything that we think the children do got to go to bed.

Why? I said that about 10 years ago now. Why is everything in in bed? We got to take the kids bed to the movies to bowl. Why? You know, we don't we don't have a little hospital here, something like that here in Spring Lake. Why not have that?

Can we please keep the conversations down? You know, we need we need to have that and that will produce a lot of things going on here in Spring Lake. Y'all understand what I'm saying to you? All right. So, it it may not seem like you're talking loud, but your voice is projected this way and it it disrupts the conversation happening at the podium. So, please keep your conversations address, please.

My name is Renee McLean Smith and I live at 311 Street in this property you're talking about is my family's property and um this town has really gone down tremendously. I left in 1987. and I went to New York State 20 years and I came back here in 2017. I was surprised to see my town was dead as it is. Just like I said, I was born and raised here. There's nothing here in Spring Lake for the old folks that live here. Nothing. So, I'll own rental property here. And I think that this will be a great thing to do for the town of Spring Lake because we need to bring people back here that's going to be able to sustain the sales, shop in our town and keep our money in our town. When we don't have that, this town dies. As you can see right now, there's nothing on Main Street. I try not to even come down Main Street for nothing, but periodically I do. But I want everyone to know that you need to bring people here in order to sustain this place. Because we have less people here now than we did when I was growing up. We have less things to do now than it was when I was growing up. And spring shouldn't be like that. It was thriving in 97 when I left here, but when I came

back here in 2017, it was dead. And it gets dead every year. Okay. So, I wish you would just approve this and we could go on with life. Hopefully bring some life back to spring. Thank you.

Good evening. I'm Jasmine Dion Coen from 5411 Mallet Court in Fville, North Carolina. And I'm related to all them people. Mcleans, not Mclanes. They're simp. But I'm with Lorenzo's family, my grandfather. And I'm here to say much as we know faith without works is dead. Amen.

We also have to know that leadership without vision will yield no results. And in these trying times where people are making decisions as to how they are able to live, how they are able to work, the the difficulties in finding housing that is affordable and accessible to where you are. Um I grew up in Spring Lake and I joined the military to leave Spring Lake and they brought me right back. So I was able to see my town as a young girl growing up walking Street Lane cutting across to get to my auntie's house at 604 North Main Street. Cut through the woods. Some of these shortcuts you might not know because some people live here and you're of Spring Lake, but I'm from Spring Lake. And I take that with me everywhere I go. And one thing that resonates with me is when you tell people, "Where are you from? I'm from Spring Lake." They look at you like, "Oh, I've even heard someone say that's where those poor people live." But I would argue we need to make informed decisions so that we see that that's not where just poor choices live. And as elected officials, the opportunity to gain constituents, the opportunity to grow as a community. I see there's no reason why Spring Lake should be any difference than what's growing and showing in Hope Mills. We're an amazing community here. There are opportunities for growth and I see the opportunity in a challenge. I don't see that as oh my gosh this is going to be hard or oh my gosh this is going to be different because sometimes in order to overcome difficulties you have to dare to be different and in whatever decisions you render I would hope that you take into consideration what is best for the constituents what is best for this town of mostly commuters who are going here there or wherever individuals who are in the military who hopefully if we can get them to stay in apartments or

be in the town they can get a sense of Hey, this is a nice community. Maybe when I separate, much like our maybe when I separate, I want to live in Spring Lake. I want to do something in Spring Lake. I want to build Spring Lake. So, we can start by building on this property so that we can build this community. Thank you. I'm sorry. Did you say your name? Recording. I made sure I got to make sure it's all on record. Thank you. Is there anyone else here to speak in favor of this last call? Is there anyone here to speak in favor? Is there anyone to speak in opposition? Please approach podium. State your name and address for the record.

My name is My name I reside at 300 North 2nd Street, two blocks from Main Street. I am not related to anybody in the crowd, but I am related to Grady Howard, who was the first mayor of Spring Lake, who had Howard's variety store on Main Street, where I grew up roller skating up and down the aisles, where I went and to the Spring Lake Library that's now the um police annex, where I went and got peach sodas at V Point on the corner. Um where four generations, including my four children who I'm raising here and I don't believe is a poor choice by living in Spring Lake. I have four children that I'm raising and I had four generations of Howard, Shepard, and McGllin's getting their haircut at Johnny's Barber Shop. I had I remember the hardware store. I remember everything about Spring Lake. I'm sorry. Um, I am also on the Cumberland County Joint Planning Board and I do want to remind you that the Cumberland County Joint Planning Board a year and a half ago denied the same request. It was denied because we are looking to have a thriving commercial corridor through Main Street. I also want to let you know the makeup of the Cumberland County Joint Planning Board. It is volunteerbased, but on there we have a former planning director who was the planning director for Cumberland County. We also have a former um Cumberland County planning staff member who also continues to do planning on there. And then myself who actually specializes professionally in

downtown development. Um, I have managed downtown development in Fateville, North Carolina and in Somerville, South Carolina. So, I feel like we had a lot to go on this the Cland County Joint Planning Board a year and a half ago because of the requirement to have first floor commercial development. Um, which is all that we're asking, first floor commercial development, something on Main Street that goes with the apartments. Um, denied it. It came to this same governing body. This was after the Spring Lake land use plan was adopted and the Main Street Overlay District was adopted. Nothing's changed in that year and a half. Um, but that requirement for firstf flooror commercial development still exists. The planning staff did talk a lot about the Flex 2 development which does allow for housing, but this also has a street overlay district which encourages, requires, really would be crazy helpful for the property owners. I've talked to several property owners and I don't feel that Main Street is completely dead. You have Patrick Morrison who is in here that's opening his cafe. You have Dr. Ziz who put on a new facade. You have Commissioner Elect Teddy Burgess who has a thriving boxing gym. You have a lot of things. And then I have a commercial space that hopefully will become something fantastic. I'm hoping that it will be a really great commercial space for and then just as so I it was not an arbitrary decision that the Cland County Joint Planning Board nor the commissioners this last

time denied this request. What we're asking for is firstf flooror commercial development that abutts to Main Street that goes on Main Street so that the rest of the Main Street can thrive within walking distance of Main Street. You have 13 apartment complexes and four established neighborhoods. You have plenty of people that can populate that area. What you also have in Spring Lake is 79% renter occupied units. So you only have You were talking about the pride of Spring Lake, Commissioner Palos, when you give out those appearance commission awards, don't you feel or just to all of you, don't you feel like owner occupied has more pride in what they own? Do you really want to? We've got 11,530 residents in Spring Lake. 9,18 of those right now are renters. This would just increase the renter base in Spring Lake. I just wanted to read the deviation requested by the applicant from 2023, which states, "The Main Street Overlay District allows for multiple family development, but requires commercial or office development on the first floor to promote mixeduse buildings along Main Street. Yes, you want commercial below, residential above, residential behind." that makes sense to have mixed use development. What doesn't make sense is a completely residential apartment complex

um that does not lend itself to the commercial corridor. There's a lot of reasons that Main Street is what it is, but there's a lot of property owners that are doing their best. Um, and from someone who doesn't live in Seattle, Washington or Fayville or anything else, I live two streets away from Main Street. Raising my children, we have property on Main Street. We just want to make things better. We want to make it a thriving commercial corridor.

Thank you. Is there anyone else here to speak against this development against?

Okay. Is there anyone else here to speak against this development

last time? Is there anyone to speak against? If not, I officially declare this hearing closed and uh we'll take any comments from the board. Um Mayor President, thank you mayor. So um first um the u my focus group is healthy community and we are working on that my main Main Street overlay district. Uh we're probably convinced it. Um but um one of the things that I heard that really resonated was that um DOT would not approve park on street parking in that area. So that's a big deal. Um I'm also looking here where it says request request is consistent with the adopted land use plan which it is because that's flex. So um for those reasons I feel like this would be uh you could benefit from because it is consistent with our land and uh we would not be able to have on street parking so residential I mean um commercial below could not be achieved um based on so

thank you mayor okay so uh I think the third bullet point on this specific slide helps address a lot of this which Also suitable to flex area 2, which is the property we're talking about, is the central business zoning district like commercial uses in multi- family housing. It I don't see a requirement, attorney, do you see a requirement anywhere in this that requires that it be mixed use?

There is no requirement. uh it is something that if you look at the flex areas and what the goal was, it was something that was preferred uh there's a huge difference between required and preferred. Uh and quite frankly uh if you follow the flex areas again, it allows or at least also encourages family housing. And if you look at the new statutory scheme uh that the legislature passed a few years ago, uh you actually They're not binding, but you have to consider. It says the board shall consider the flex areas uh and what is allowed in them. Uh so again, it's not controlling you to do what you want tonight. Uh but you have to consider that some years ago, y'all were encouraging in addition to mixed use, but also uh multif family housing.

Thank you. So we shall consider the updated land use map just like we shall consider the main street over the district. Correct.

Okay. All right. So rentals. Okay. We heard it tonight and we are aware it's included in the land use map or plan that Spring Lake has a 80% rental population which is really high. The county has just under 50%. Spring Lake has a 80% rental population. Uh home ownership helps several issues. Helps reduce poverty because it increases a uh uh your overall um what is the word I'm looking for here? Thank you. and it uh ensures community stability. It increases civic engagement. There are several things that home ownership.

We're talking about a rental now. At the end of the day, it's an apartment complex. In this flex use, we have we don't have the opportunity to include single family dwellings in that area anyways. Um, now we know that this was included in the Main Street Overlakes district. I when I look at the map of the Overlate District, I think we all expect that the downtown area of Spring Lake to not include anything past Rainbow Court. I think that's not spec. It is included as the main street over Lake District, but I don't think anybody assumes that that is part of downtown Spring Light. Um, and the flex area here also brings up the point that it should act as, in my words, immediation from Bragg Boulevard into the downtown area. And so, an apartment complex, I don't think stops that. I think it does. It can promote mediation from Brad Boulevard into the downtown area. There, my understanding is there is a wall that is going to be most apartment complexes in Spring Lake have a wall around it, right? They're encompassed in in a wall. And so that's why I asked the question earlier about sidewalks, trees, those things are important to me because Main Street you have a lot of walking people in that area. And so I think that sidewalks and trees will help mediate that area and uh help sustain some of that walking that a lot of people do. I think in general the Overlay district is intended to help

people live, work, eat, and shop on Main Street. We know that we're underwhelmed with Main Street and that it's currently underdeveloped. Um, and so the Main Street Overlay district was designed to help preserve and protect that area. And I hear constantly from property owners how it means to restrict and limit property owners. Uh and so tonight we're not talking about whether or not we should get rid of the main street district, but I think that does play a significant role here. So that's a conversation for a future board to discuss and take action on. But I think that the plan as is so long as it includes a transition from Bright Boulevard into the downtown area by way of sidewalks and trees will help alleviate some of that. Now I know that there's an in lie of fee that is optioned in the proposal which means in lie of a green space the developer is going to pay $40,000 to the town in lie of a tree we're going to pay $300 for each tree we can in lie of sidewalks that we can build that there will be a nominal fee for that as well whatever that is determined by the town manager. No,

sorry. Not for sidewalks. I'm sorry. I saw that in number five of the conditional zoning. Number five, letter N as in Nancy. where sidewalk construction is not feasible due to a change in use or redevelopment, the developer shall pay a fee including sidewalk construction. I thought they said that were included. Correct. Correct.

Where feasible where where it's feasible. Um and so mayor, you just interrupted me. and I'm trying not to. Okay. So, in lie of uh do you have something to address on that, John?

Yes. Um when this first proposal first came to us, um when you hear us talking about home street parking, off street parking, um do sidewalks, the trees, everything related to that is because um just to be blunt, I actually requested that they parallel parking adjacent to this property for the purposes of having additional parking down. By doing that, um it kind of triggered these conversation with DOT and DOT is saying that if we're going to have this development, we need to have some type of DCL lane. Uh you need to have fire access in and off Boulevard and this nature. So it's a lot bigger than just the sidewalk, but the sidewalk and the trees what you see in there that feeds in lie of is because um density um is favored over sprawl in your inner core areas. And so we have a ordinance and landscape plan that requires uh let's just say 10 street 10 trees in this area. And so in lie of those trees, if you're trying to just meet the requirement by putting 10 of them in this area, you end up with three of them dying immediately and the other three dying over time. And so what you're required to do is put 10 in. They're ultimately going to die. That happened exactly at fire station.

Um and so now the trees aren't there because they die. So when you try to over put the trees in just the maintenance requirement, you end up creating problems downream. So when you see this about sidewalks and visibility, you'll notice right here at the end of uh Root Street, you'll notice there's a curve cut ADA access for the sidewalk. So when I look at sidewalks and walkability throughout town, um that is a key component to connect all of the shopping down on the north end. Okay. And be a sidewalk. Every morning when I come in here, there's a lady walking in the middle of the road. Well, not really. And so you go, why what would happen if you just had a sidewalk and connect this? So the sidewalk is a condition of the zone. Uh the trees and the landscaping is a condition of the zone, but it allows us to um have trees planted in other areas instead of trying to over plan just. So um that's the kind of the overarching issues when you start talking about trees. and dail lanes for turn movements, uh, emergency access, all the things that come into this that you really just don't hear in the public hearing. It's all the background stuff to where, you know, staff is trying to say, well, what is good for the community, but at the end of the day, um, the planning commission does not deny anything. This board does, right? So, the decision to or not is yours.

Thank you. So,

yeah, I think this area though does grant that flexibility. That's the reason it was approved that way. When we had the when we passed this plan a couple years ago, we had heavy community involvement as well as uh stakeholders at the table to include what they wanted this area to look like. All of downtown, all of Spring Lake, but downtown specifically. And this area was deemed complex because we wanted it to be a transition. I think the town overall saw this as a transition. didn't necessarily connect it to uh what we consider downtown spring lake but saw that there was an important transition transition that would need to be included in that. So heavy density I think is appropriate here. I think the time will come where it will create that foot foot traffic as so long as we are able to bring in businesses downtown. Um, you know, we've got the beautiful murals up and if you're just visiting Spring Lake for the first time, hopefully you saw enough and hopefully enough street lights were turned on that you can see that kind of thing. But and as you leave Spring Lake, you'll probably see some more. But if we can get more foot traffic, I'm in favor of it. And you know, the question about the the uh street parking, I understand that I appreciate you addressing that point because the uh the DOT wouldn't uh approve of that. It'd be really tough, you know, you can obviously see it'd be really tough to squeeze that in, especially when the time comes that they have to buy in Main Street as they do all those updated projects. Uh so anyway, I appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you. I heard the 12 people get up and speak.

I heard the one person speak against as we look at this property. Yes, it brings people to Spring Lake. 204 apartment comp two an apartment complex, not our first. We have many complexes here in Spring Lake. one bedroom, there's 84, there's 62 bedroom, and 63 bedrooms. So, I've been studying this all weekend. I've been looking at it. I've been been doing the pros and cons, doing the second and third order effects as any good military person does. Couple things I heard was, "We have to do something now. It's time for something to happen in Spring Lake. And my question to you is to build apartments on Main Street so that we can build businesses elsewhere. It just doesn't make too much sense to me. If we've got a Main Street, Main Street should be thriving with businesses. Main Street should be the focus point. What is Main Street 50 years ago is not what it is today. Main Street 10 years from now or 20 years from now probably isn't what it's going to be today. So Main Street is something that continues to evolve. But as I keep working with this to build apartments on Main Street, build businesses elsewhere, I I just have to to continue to to work through this. Thank you. I know y'all whispering, but he gets pretty loud up here. Jack,

I just want to say that I'm from and I know what a thriving ministry looks like. Um, I am for this because I think it's going to add the necessary foot traffic that we need for downtown Main Street. We know that this overlay district has not worked. was implemented in 2014 and we have you know we see that it has not worked. This is the start of something good and we need this to get more foot traffic in because businesses will see that we have luxury apartments and they will follow. I think that this is necessary. I stand with it and you know this is going to bring the necessary contraction when we have first Friday on May. Okay. It's going to make you just be crowded with people. Um I believe that this is something wonderful for Main Street. We see the example and I think businesses will follow when they see this come to fruition. So that's any other comments from the board. All right, we'll now move on to our new business and uh this is J and today we're in this is zoning 250022 reszoning from C3 heavy commercial district and CP plant commercial district to R5 CZ residential conditional zoning to a more or to a more restrictive zoning district for two parcels to lane 9.02 102 acres located at 604 North Main Street and abuing the parcel and the abuing parcel located at the northeast corner of Main Street Rainbow Court. I will nowain a motion to approve or deny um zoning 250022. Commissioner Chapley,

I make a motion to um approve commercial district.

I second. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? The motion carries.

Congratulations. come see us again. You're right. Don't make this your last meeting because we just So again, I I do agree with the board that this is a an excellent addition to Main Street. I look forward to it. We've seen some renditions and it seems to be a beautiful development that is absolutely going to add to the problem. So, thank you. Um, can we get Yes, ma'am.

Can we get a timeline on this development?

Uh, well, right now we need to the big deal is going to be financing. Uh, it depends on what the country is going through in terms of recession. If head into a recession. All that stuff is up in the air. Uh interest rates. So, first thing is get an appraisal, a commercial appraisal. That's going to take 30 days. Once we get that 30 days, we need to also shop around. Once I have the appraisal, get the bids for construction. And once I can do all of that, then have a better idea of financing. If the family wants to do development themselves, if they want to have a third party do it, they want to partner with somebody. Uh but the financing is going to be the big big issue first and that that valuation will allow creditors or lenders to know what they can for the property.

No ballpark. So no ballpark. I would think uh 30 days for the appraisal and 90 days for some due diligence on say summer of u summer of 26. I would think that developer if the family wants to stay as a as partners the developer could start otherwise third quarter 2026 some final the final plan. Thank you.

All right. We'll now move on to resolution or excuse me, agenda item 10B resolution 202518 resolution commissioners of the town of Spring Lake directing the clerk to investigate a petition for annexation from James and I hope I said that correctly. can for the property located at 1523 North Pride Boulevard received under GS uh 16831 and directing staff to conduct a feasibility study. Mr. Lord,

uh really this is kind of an academic process and it is procedural in nature. At the end of the day, it would appear that sanitation is a donut hole inside already there. Streets are already there. Pipes are already there. Water is already there.

Any questions or comments from the board? See? None. I entertain a motion to approve resolution 25 or 202518. Mayor move. Is there a second? Commissioner J. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Motion carries. We will now move on to the proposal audit services 23, 24, and 25. Mr. Overton. I know this is exciting news. This is about the audit.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Um, last month we sent out uh requests for bids to six different uh CPA firms in North Carolina. Uh, three of them declined to bid. Uh, one was Greg Eley. He could not bid because he has an employee who has a non-compete uh contract with his former employer, Cherry Becker. So, he can't bid against Cherry Becker for two years. uh two other firms that I reached out to said they did not have the staff or time. They were already hooked up fully and they did could not uh perform the audits in a timely manner. Uh we did receive three bids and you will see those right here. Our Cherry Becker out of Raleigh that is our current auditor that is working on the 22 audit. Um Martin and Stars from Hickory, North Carolina. Uh that firm does about 65 other municipal and county audits in North Carolina and Car Rigs and Ingram out of Goldsboro. Car rigs and Ingram is my former employer. So you know it. I worked there nine years before I came here. So I just want to make you aware of that. Um all of these firms, CPA firms are qualified. Um, Cherry Beckard does some of the biggest audits in the state. Raleigh, Charlotte, Meckllinburgg County, they're well qualified. Martin and Stars, as I said, they do 65 audits statewide uh of municipal governments. And Carriage at England also does a number of uh municipal towns. A lot of them uh towns this size are a little bigger. Uh so all of them are equally qualified. Uh it is our recommendation that we award the

contract for 23 24 and 25 to car rigs in Ingram out of Goldsboro. Uh they are the low bid. Uh Cherry Beckard's uh bid includes up to two major programs. A major program is a federal grant in excess of or state grant in excess of either 500,000 for state or 750,000 for federal. In 23 we have the American Rescue Plan, $3 million. So that's your one major program for 23. In 24, I don't think we have any major programs. We just barely have 750 in total. Okay. If they go over 750, they'll have to pick a smaller program and make it major. So we may have one, but we're right at the border line. in 25 uh FEMA reimbursing us for the work at the wastewater plant and also power bill may be a major state program but we should not have more than two in any one year. Um car rigs in England bid is 5,000 for each major program. Uh so that's why I take 5,000 times two so it's equal and uh Cherry Beckert it's 8,000 including two major programs. If we had three, they would charge us extra, but we we're not going to have three in any in any year in any of these years. Uh Martin and Star's bid is a price not an hourly rate not to exceed 65,000, 70,000 or 78,000 each three years. Um, Martin and Starns also would bill us for any travel and for hotel meals and mileage in addition to those fees. Uh, they are the furthest away in Hickory. So, that travel expense may add up. Most of that, but most of the work will probably be done remotely. We just email

the stuff, but it's my recommendation to give it to Car Rex angle. Um, I'm sure they will do an excellent job for you. And they can start as soon as Cherry Becker finishes 22. Thank you, sir. Commissioner Glass. Thank you. Hey, thank you, Mr. Overton, for getting this far with this budget or these audits. So, Cherry Becker has 22 right now. Yes. And, uh, we anticipate them to be done when? Uh hopefully this month or early next month. Okay. Would it be faster using them for the other following audits?

It doesn't make any difference already for Okay. All right. Thank you. That's all I have. But we are we should switch our auditors every few years. No, I don't. They the LGC tells you that and there is a reason for that. If you have the same auditor year after year after year, they get complacent

and they trust you when when maybe they shouldn't. But I will tell you this, most of these audit firms, they're going to do an audit remotely. Car rigs in England's going to show up. They're going to be here. And in my opinion, you cannot do a decent audit remotely from Hickory and Robin or Goldsboro. If you don't show up at the client's office, you don't get to see everything. You You're not willing to get your hands dirty. And that's just my opinion for what it's worth. But they, like I said, they're all qualified. But Carl Rig and England, they'll do the audit here.

So, um, I have a question. So I see where they have the audit fee for uh 47250 and then there's a single audit fee. What is that? Single audit fee is there are three types of audit. They're just a plain audit when you have less than $100,000 of federal and state grants. Okay?

It's just a financial audit. They don't have to do any grant compliance if you have less than 100,000. That doesn't apply. There is a yellow book audit. The yellow book audit, you have to do some compliance work for audits if you have more than 100,000 but less than 750,000. So 2024 may be a yellowbook only audit. A single audit, if you have federal grants in excess of 750,000 or state grants in excess of 500, you have to have a single audit. They have to test the compliance with all the grant requirements. Okay. We will have a single audit in 2023 and 25 for certain.

We may not in 24. Okay. So, you don't always get charged that. But yeah, if if we do not now with Cherry Beckard Mhm. uh or car rigs in Ingram, you can reduce it by the single audit fee for 24 cuz it's not we may not have one. Or you may cut car rigs and Ingram we only have one major program. You can reduce it by 5,000.

Cherry Becker's going to charge you 8,000 whether it's one or two major programs. But we will have one in 23. We may have two and 25 but anyway you do it uh CRI is going to be your low ve

so just to be clear this is a contract uh proposal for just these three audit years. Yes sir. Okay. So it's not ongoing. So this is just to wrap up this work and then the board after 25 is done they can do whatever they want.

Yeah. They can they can rebid it again in 25. Uh now the local government commission will not approve any contract until we finish 22 and then they will only approve one year at a time. Okay? You know we may still have a commitment of three years but LGC approves it one year at a time. Like I said, the LGC has worked with all three of these firms on numerous audits, so the LGC will not have a problem with any of them. Any other questions or comments from the board? And I'll entertain a motion to approve the BMC from Carl Carl Rigs and Ingram PLLC.

Yeah. Are we So, are we going with Carl Rig? Yes, ma'am. That's my recommendation. Got it. Okay. So, he's recommending that we approve the bid received from car rates and Ingram P LLC for the 23 24 and 25 audits. I don't know who was first, so I'm going to go with Commissioner Blasios. So move second. Any discussion? Yes.

Go ahead. Jimmy, thank you very much for for digging into this the hard work on on getting to where we are on our office. Uh the recommendation carries a lot of weight in the fact that that you work for Carl Rig Gold, but what sold me on this is the onsite review as we're dealing with transparency a as we're trying to to get this done, get this completed the right way so that we don't have to this ever again. That's what sold me. All in favor?

The motion was a resounding unanimous yes. Awesome. Thank you so much.

Um I am going to allow my team to go first with um our updates because I left my notebook in the back. Thank you. I have nothing right now other than thank you uh everybody who came out to vote. Thank you everybody who came today. Some of you we'd love to see you back more often so you have a better understanding of what it is we do and we don't take this work lightly. But thank you so much for taking the time to come out and speak with us. In light of elections, I'd like to introduce our commissioner elect, introduce him to some, present to others, Mr. Tony Burgess.

Um, so I do would like to let you know that Commissioner Thompson was called away for a family emergency. So she was excused during this meeting.

All right. Um, one, I'd like to thank everybody who's who's done the cleanups. Tonight I was able to honor some people that that stood by my side over four years. Uh, two of commissioners up here were very important to me. Commissioner Palasio and his son Levi uh with the driving force on January 17, 2022 to begin this program of cleaning up this big. We've got people that have wanted to help that's come out to help. Um but I just wanted to let everyone know that in the 11 cleanups that we had this year cleaning up on Main Street, cleaning up Manchester, cleaning up all all throughout the town that 11 that in 11 cleanups,

we had 107 volunteers and we cleaned up 105,000 710 pounds of debris during this time. So, every volunteer counts. Every volunteer is important. It has made an improvement on our town and hopefully we'll be able to continue to improve that. Um, moving on to our MBA, we held our annual Veterans Day ceremony Friday, November 7th. I know Veterans Day is coming up tomorrow, but it gives us an opportunity to to do this while the town is working so we can get things set up for them. Uh we have about 40 people in attendance. This is a good event that we have. Our guest speaker was Marine Lieutenant General Walter Gaskin Senior who brought an inspiring message to us. Lieutenant General Gas did his recon on the back and he was a wellprepared Marine when he came in to to give us his words of wisdom as we went through there. Not to be outdone, our veteran of the year was Dr. David Dickerhoff. He was our fourth veteran of the year. Dr. Dickerhoff has served his country well as a medical service officer. When it got out of the military, went back to or went to dental school, came back in the army, served in Operation Desert Shield, Desert Storm during the liberation of Kuwait. Dr. Dicker Hoffs called Spring Lake home for many years. He started the Spring Lake Dental Group and continued to be a part of Spring Lake's appearance and sustainability committee as the chair at one time. came back later to be a member of the community who was instrumental in the first mural on the Spring Lake Arts Trail as well as the third mural that is displayed again on our main street on Stitch Time. Dr. Dickerhoff's had huge

impact in Spring Lake and thus becomes our fourth Spring Lake veteran of the year. So for all of you that have served, for all of you that are family members of somebody who served, please let's continue this program so we can highlight, we can recognize those veterans who have served and done great things in Spring Lake to build our town to make things better for us. So next year, who will be the fifth veteran of the year? That's up to you all. As far as Veterans Day, I'd like to thank my brothers and sisters in arms. This is my last time on the dice to tell you thank you for your service. You changed this world, but this world has also changed you. And so, as a veteran, I want to thank you, appreciate you. I serve with two great veterans on this board. 50% of this elected officials is made up of veterans over 50 years of service to the United States Army. And today is the Marine Corps's 250th birthday. To all the devil dogs out there, Operation Turkey is coming up on next Saturday. If you know anyone who needs a meal. I don't care if they drive a Tesla. I don't care if they if they're walking on two feet. On Thanksgiving Day here at Town Hall, Operation Turkey, the Military Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee will be handing out 1,000 meals to anybody who wants it. to gate guards who are protecting our fort to our our people that are working in the hotels to people who are traveling who don't have a meal they can come here and get a meal. We also have people who will

be out delivering those meals to people. So if you know somebody please please tell them to come up here and get themselves a turkey meal for Thanksgiving. The military tribute banner program has been a a success flying on Main Street. We've had 34 banners flying there. It has been wonderful. Miss Dickman, thank you very much for the hard work, dedication that you've done to ensure that the banner program got started and to be continued. So Carly will be getting a hold of folks, but the banners will be coming down Wednesday, the day after Veterans Day, so that you can come and retrieve your banner, clean it up, proudly display it at home, and bring it back next year so that it can be flown again. So our banners fly from day to Veterans Day. So if you're interested in paying tribute to to a veteran, doesn't have to be family member, but in spring here, I tell you that that our veterans are are most important to our our population here. So, I just want to tell everybody, thank you for for the job both.

Absolutely. Yeah, I knew I was having a sound. So again, happy Veterans Day to all veterans. Commissioner Lman hit the nail on the edge. We are a veteran community. We grow will always be a veteran community. We are a military community for gradually around the corner. Um so again, thank you for your service. Um, and for me it was an honor to serve um, and even more of an honor to serve with Thank you. So, um, mayor's coalition meeting just happened this past weekend. We got some updates from DT. Nothing involving Spring Lake um, as of yet, but there are plans uh, in the pipeline as you heard about the main street widening, main street paving. Those things are coming um, and we'll give you more information about those as they progress. Um the Veterans Day event was spectacular. Um good job to Military Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee because they shined. Um it was it was immaculate and anytime we get to go and have any event on the park that was built by the hands of the people here and that work for the town of Spring Lake is always a pleasure. First Friday we had a lot of fun. It was the last one of the season and so that series is now closed out and we will um we'll do it again next year. Um same that time, same location. So we will be closed tomorrow in honor of Veterans Day. So please be mindful that town hall will be fully closed um for that. Uh I have a fan meeting coming up um on the 19th. So I'll bring back more information about um what's happening there, our Fanville area metropolitan transportation

organization. This is where we go and sit and talk to DOT. This is where we talk about transportation and bringing transportation uh back to Spring Lake. And so all of those things are currently in the works. So I'll have more updates on that. um our focus group 4 meeting because of an opportunity that has been presented to me. We will be moving that to the 25th of November at 5:30 p.m. and a notice will go out to uh remember our committee members um to let them know about that. But the one thing that is taking me away from the town is an opportunity that I am shocked by and very very proud of. Um there are almost 20,000 mayors in the United States and I was selected as one of 30 um to go to the United States Global Leaders Conference. So I'll be in DC from the 17th through the 18th. Um and this is I'm still shocked like how do they find me? How where they get this from? But um I will let you guys know uh what happens because the Council on Foreign Relations is uh they're a big deal. So um again, the United States Global Leadership Conference in in partnership with conference or Council of Foreign Relations selected your mayor. So I hope you guys are proud because I am extremely proud. And I'll let you know what happens because I don't even know.

You're gonna swear you come back. I will be leaving and this is fully covered. They paid all expense paid for for me to come and be a part of this conference. So, um yeah, I'm stoked. That's a big deal. It really is. Where is ABC? Oh, okay. In DC, thank you. How did they make you? I gotta find out. Kudos. Thank you.

All right. So, we have our appearance committee meeting on Wednesday at 4:00 at the rec center. So, anybody that wants to participate or even wants to join our citizen committee, these are made up of our neighbors that volunteer their time to help work on solutions to help beautify the and address needs. Uh that's at 4:00 the rec center on Wednesday. And then I want to acknowledge our first responders here in the building today. Thank you guys. Thank you Jensen ladies that are out there somewhere for showing up at the meeting. I don't know why you're here, but it's good to be reminded of the way they look after our comm our community and the scary circumstances that happen all the time. So, thank you guys for putting it on the line for us. We appreciate you guys.

Thank you, Mayor. Appreciate your job. Okay, they saved the best for last.

Okay, so Spring Lake Middle School, they they will be having their first PTO meeting on November 12th. So if you have a student or a level one that attends spring, we really need your support. Um the PTO, they do many things. They help support the school. Um the teachers, um anything that the school might need and so if you have a child, please come out and support the PTL. It will be from 5 to 6:30 on November 12th. And lastly, Manchester, they're having a family legacy month celebration. So reading is a passion of mine and I hope you enjoy it, too. So they're going to have it on Thursday on November 13th from 5:30 to 7:30. So if you have any children that go to our local schools, please support our schools because they need people involved. Thank you. And Mayor Bronson has one caveat.

Yes. Um Deerfield, you all are up uh our focus group. They will be coming through Deerfield on the 13th. When Mr. Yeah. this Thursday and they will be Are we going to have the three colors? Yes. And can you give them a quick overview of what you're actually talking about?

So, they will be coming through here for you on Thursday. Uh staff and whoever else comes and they will be looking at your yard. If you're doing well, you'll get a green. If you have a few violations, ordinance violations, you'll get an orange. And if it's a mess, you're going to get a red hanger on your door. So, this is uh our way of letting people know it's educational plus is cleaning up our communities. So, this is the first group and that's Deerfield. So, whatever get cleaned up and straightened up, we want you to have a red hanger. Deerfield accepts the challenge.

So, be on the lookout. Go clean up your eyes. We want you all to get green. Mr. Rory, I don't think I have to. You have to

the uh all of you have referenced our focus groups. And so I serve on each one of those focus groups with you as board members. And uh focus group number one is basically our water and sewer infrastructure group. Number two is our bike or parents community. clean up. That carries over into our focus group three, which is housing and trying to look at how do we have affordable housing and clean housing, available housing throughout the community. And finally, number four is the economic development piece that kind of connects all that. Um, one of the things that I want to give you an update on is the last meeting of the water infrastructure sewer group was Wednesday, I think last week.

Um, we will be meeting with PWC, not the staff will be meeting with PWC um this Wednesday as in two days from now to discuss uh rate increases from PWC that will begin approximately 21% rate increase beginning in July of 2026. So um we don't produce water, we purchase it. So we're going to have to take purchase that water at an increased rate. Um you know all things remaining the same um this is what we shared with the focus groups. What does that mean and how does that impact this community when it comes to our water? Um, keep in mind that to date, um, we've already spent about $400,000 on outsourced contractors to fix things, water leaks, water line replacement, sewer replacement. That does include projects uh in and around Deerfield. It does include a a note today about a storm water sink hole along road. So we're addressing those issues today. Um so it continues to be a constant challenge and battle for us dayto day to address all these issues. We have actually um authorized the water group to actually to spend up to $250,000 of our revenue for the purpose of installing insert valves throughout the city. So we can water flow in zones. We also authorize up to 250,000 outdoor contractors to clean um our sewer and water line rightways. Think of a a pipe that runs through the woods that nobody has seen for years.

This is something that we're dealing with because we just can't get to them. Um so the reason why I share that is because this is a critical component of the development or the sustainability if you will for the town of Spring Lake. We talk about a lot of things but at the end of the day if there is no water there is no road if there is no water in those sent there is no road so we have an allocation we have a limited capacity of water we have a limited capacity of sewer so we got to keep all those things in mind as it comes to and I think someone earlier mentioned something about our tax rate our water rates and things of that nature and how it falls on our current residents so u this is what was shared and This is just a snippet. More is to come. Okay? More is to come. I promise you. Is that right now, um, if you purchase water from the town of Spring Lake, uh, via PWC, okay? Your rate for 3,000 gallons of water is 38.90 or equivalent to 1.3 cents per gallon. Okay. Um, if you go to Walmart, just for way of comparison, you'll pay $137 per gallon for that water or a total of $4,110 for 3,000 gallons. So, this is what we're talking about in terms of our photo and sustainability of our water infrastructure in particular, where it comes from, the options that we have. We have limited options. So if we if we realize an increase of 21% um in our local water purchase from PWC um that is reflected in the need of our rate adjustment to the tune of around 10%. So, um, just to just to break even. And so, the key to that is understanding

what we're trying to fix and how we're we're fighting this uphill battle. Every day it seems like one step forward, two steps back, one step forward, two steps back with the challenges that we face, but staff is championing that. And I all the kiddos in the world. So, all things remaining the same, we're looking at a $300,000 increase next year for the purchase of our water.

Now, that is equivalent to a 10% rate increase um rate reduction 10% that mean it's $600,000. Um if you think of it from this perspective, how How do you how do you res that? How do you store that? And so what can we do against that? It's all part of our infrastructure group looking at fixing with um and moving forward with our um asset inventory assessment trying to get clean and max projects under which are under projects. Um, so we're bringing that to you and I hate to be that bearer of that news, but I think that u I have a responsibility to make sure that the board and public is aware and updated and not like what I'm saying, but they're aware and informed and the decisions that have to be made to have and sustainable water and sewer system. That's why I serve every groups just to kind of connect all those. So with that, there's the great news and the bad news and move forward.

I do want to reiterate this increase is coming on on the PWC side and we buy from them. So when we buy at a higher cost, we have to sell at a higher cost. We are trying to be as as proactive with getting the information out as possible. A rate increase is coming. It is not Spring Lake raising your water rates because we want to build something. This is it's a cost that's coming to us and our water utility is a business entity in itself

and it has to operate as a business. That means when the product that we purchase goes up, we have to sell it at a higher cost. Just reiterating that so that we are completely clear. I can't do anything about the senior citizens rates when PWC says and if we don't raise rates, then we don't make the money we need to provide the quality services. We don't make the money we need to fix the damage that's already done. We compound the damage because we don't have the money to fix it. So, we have to we have to make sure that our utility fund, our water is operating like a business in the black so that we can continue to provide drinking water. You want your toilets to flush. You want the firefighters to be able to, you know, put out fires. We want our water. Even though that doesn't work anyway,

you guys know what I'm trying to say. Yes. Make sure that we are so when it comes down in January, correct? Yes, sir. January, we will be looking at how we make those increases so that we continue to operate. So, if there's nothing further, Mr. Porter, did you have anything?

Uh, just briefly, the SOPA issue still moving forward. um ran into uh outside counsel uh John Manderlac uh that we hired to do that ran into him Friday evening um made sure he knew that we wanted to keep moving forward Mr. uh independently uh I guess mind too set up for meetings all be up on Friday I think um I believe or sometime soon so that's going forward and then uh for everything else we're not suing anybody right now nor

clerk did you have anything ma'am you should she's not going to be here at all next week I don't know what we're going to do without her is that next is your Friday that we're missing. Friday. That feels like all of this. This week? This week? Yes. You're leaving in two days. I don't know what we're going to do without Carly. Don't call her. Don't call the town. We're going to shut down cuz Carly's calling. I'm kidding. But she'll be out of out of office Wednesday through Friday. Yes.

If there is nothing else then uh this meeting is adjourned. Have a wonderful evening. Thank you all and I look forward to seeing you all back in EC2. A lost.