City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome. Thank you for taking an interest in government. We are about to start this meeting, but before we start, I want to bring in John Michael from our Wilmington Fire Department to please give our invocation. If everyone would stand and remain standing afterwards for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Let's bow our heads in reverence.

Heavenly Father, we ask that you be with us today as we continue the journey in building a better community. We pray that everyone gathered here today, you would grant them the wisdom that is fair, the courage that is steady in the heart, that seeks the good in every neighbor. Unite us as one city, working together in strength and compassion. In Jesus Christ's name I pray, amen.

Amen.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

We have two presentations this evening. The first one, I would like to recognize Ms. Kate Schmidt, who's the co-chair of Moms Demand Action, proclamation naming June 5th, 2026 as National Gun Violence Awareness Day. And if Kate will meet me up front, and I'd like to ask the entire city council to come with me.

Okay.

City of Wilmington, North Carolina proclamation reads, whereas people in the United States are 26 times more likely to die from gun homicides than people in other high income countries. Whereas in North Carolina, an average year sees 1,801 gun deaths with a rate of 16.6 deaths per 100,000 people, the 21st highest rate of gun deaths in the United States. And whereas the North Carolina gun violence is the leading cause of death for children, higher than car accidents, and two North Carolina children die from firearms each week. And whereas protecting public safety in the communities they served is among a lawmaker's highest responsibilities, and supporting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens goes hand in hand with keeping guns away from those who are a danger to themselves and others. And whereas in January 2013, Haida Pendleton was tragically shot and killed at age 15, On June the 5th, 2026, we are going to recognize her 29th birthday. And people across the United States will recognize National Gun Violence Awareness Day and wear orange. And whereas the idea was inspired by a group of Haida's friends who asked classmates to commemorate her life by wearing orange, the color that hunters wear to announce themselves to other hunters to symbolize the value of human life. And whereas anyone can join this campaign by pledging to wear orange on June the 5th and renew our commitment to reduce gun violence, pledge to do all we can to keep firearms out of the hands of those who should not have access to them, and encourage responsible gun ownership to help keep our families and communities safe. Now, therefore, on behalf of the entire Wilmington City Council, I, Mayor Bill Saffa, do hereby declare June the 5th, 2026, as National Gun Violence Awareness Day in our community and throughout the entire community, all the communities around the country. But thank you so much for bringing this to us tonight. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you all so much. I'm a survivor of gun violence myself. And so this really does mean a lot to me. It means a lot to my fellow Moms Demand Action for Gun Safety group. And so if any of you are interested in joining and helping to raise awareness around this incredibly important issue, we would love to have you join us this Saturday at Innis Park. We will be out there at 10 AM. And yeah, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you, Katie. Thank you very much. This time I'd like to recognize Jamie Windham, who is the Executive Director of the LGBTQ Center for the Cape Fear, proclaiming, proclamation naming June 2026 as Pride Month. I'm asking y'all to come on up, come on.

Jamie couldn't make it tonight, so I'm here. We got the, I think we got the entire hall here. Okay. Okay.

All right. City of Wilmington, North Carolina, proclamation reads, whereas our nation was founded on the principle of equal rights for all people, but the fulfillment of this promise has been long in coming for many Americans. And whereas on June 2026 marks the 57th anniversary of the Stonewall riots that gave birth to the Pride celebrations around the world. And whereas LGBTQ Plus Pride Month is an essential celebration that provides visibility to the LGBTQ Plus community, offers hope to those still in fear of being the authentic selves, and sends a resounding call to all to use our voices to eliminate injustice everywhere. And whereas the LGBTQ plus communities of Wilmington are an integral part of our resilient and vibrant community that contributes to Wilmington's economic, artistic, political, and social justice developments. And whereas the long and ongoing struggle of the LGBTQ plus communities for basic civil and human rights continues to provide inspiration to all those who work against discrimination and oppression, and whereas everyone should be able to live without fear of prejudice, discrimination, violence, and hatred based on race, religion, gender identity, or sexual orientation, and whereas the city of Wilmington remains committed to treating all people with fairness and respect. and whereas the City of Wilmington joins the LGBTQ plus community in Pride's jubilant expression of visibility, community, and dignity. Now therefore be it resolved that the City of Wilmington City Council on behalf of all residents of the City of Wilmington does hereby proclaim June 2026 as Pride Month in the City of Wilmington and urges all residents to respect and honor our diverse community and celebrate and build a culture of inclusion and acceptance. Everybody let's celebrate. I know I have a spokesperson somewhere here. Cynthia, I'm going to turn it over to you.

Thank you very much. We really appreciate the city recognizing and acknowledging our community, and we're grateful. And the LGBTQ Plus Center is a resource, and we exist to support and acknowledge our community. And we are here for resources, for support, for whatever our community needs. And again, thank you so much for recognizing and supporting us.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Cindy. I'm going to give this to you.

Thank you.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay. All right.

Our next order of business is our consent agenda, items one through four. Are there any items that any council member would like to hear separately? If not, what are the wishes of council in respect to the consent agenda? We have a motion to approve by Councilmember Andrews, second by Councilmember Clinton Quintana. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? That item passes unanimously. That brings us to our next item of business, which is our public information segment. We have several speakers that have signed up to speak with us this evening. The public information segment is a 30-minute segment, and each speaker will be allotted three minutes per speaker. And so our first speaker is Elizabeth Sheets, who is a city resident, and she is gonna be talking to us about the struggling art scene in Wilmington. Is Ms. Sheets here? Machetes, if you'll just go to the front right there.

Good evening, mayor, council members, and members of our community. My name is Elizabeth Sheets. I'm a local artist who many of you might remember as the official artist from the Azalea Festival this year. I'm also one of the artists that was chosen to have work in the new Novant location in Scotts Hill that opens this week. I grew up here in Wilmington and have been living back here in Wilmington for 15 years. This is Daisy Barber. She's another local artist and she's an owner of a fine art print shop called Studio G Clay. We are speaking tonight because we are concerned about the future of the visual arts in our city. For many years, Wilmington has proudly promoted itself as a city rich in culture, creativity, and the arts. The arts are woven into our identity. They help define our neighborhoods, attract visitors, support local businesses, and make Wilmington a place where people want to live and work and come visit and invest their money. Downtown Wilmington has done a great job so far by adding the farmer's markets, the Fourth Friday art walks, and many downtown festivals, but one area where it is lacking is in a good centralized arts district with working studio spaces. Today, many of the spaces where artists used to work are starting to disappear. The Castle Street Arts and Antiques District once was hoping to be a vibrant destination filled with galleries, antique stores, creative businesses, and many of those have now closed. If you drive down Castle Street, there are so many boarded up windows and empty spaces. The galleries just aren't there anymore. The identity is no longer an arts district. Likewise, the Brooklyn Arts District was envisioned to be a creative hub for Wilmington as well, and it recently gained its social district status, so you can walk around and drink But there are no galleries left. It's no longer an arts district. Bottega Art and Wine has now closed. The Acme Studio spaces are closing and hopefully be relocated elsewhere. As rents rise and redevelopment continues, the very artists and art-related businesses that helped create these districts and defined their character are finding it increasingly difficult to remain open. What prompted this speech tonight for me personally was the closing of New Elements Gallery on Front Street. This one has been around for more than 35 years and in my opinion was the most prestigious gallery downtown. These closures are not isolated incidents. They represent a broader challenge facing artists like me and Daisy and other creative entrepreneurs around Wilmington. And now Daisy's going to chime in here.

I'll give her a rest. Visual artists need places to create, exhibit, teach, and sell their work, yet affordable studio spaces are becoming increasingly scarce. Many artists like me are working from a spare bedroom, dying to find a place outside my home that I can afford. Look at Charleston, look at Savannah, even Raleigh. These are cities like Wilmington and they have figured out a better system. They have recognized investing in artists is an investment in economic development. Creative districts increase foot traffic, galleries support restaurants and retail spaces. Public art enhances property values and community pride. Artists help activate spaces that might otherwise remain vacant. There are many vacancies in Wilmington, some have been unused for years. We need the city council to take drastic measures to preserve the visual arts scene. We encourage the city council to work with artists, property owners, nonprofits, developers, and business leaders to develop a comprehensive plan for the visual arts.

Okay, thank you.

We want a new studio space in downtown Wilmington.

We're hoping- You're gonna have to wrap it up because I've got- Okay. Three minutes are up and I gave you a little bit more time to go.

No problem.

I have a list of ideas, so if you- So you can give it to the city clerk and the city clerk can pass it to us.

That would be great.

Okay.

Okay.

I think we just like more art spaces, less car washes and vape shops. Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Mr. Daniel Bailey, who is a city resident, talking to us about Myrtle Avenue resurfacing project. Is Mr. Bailey here? Okay. We have our next speaker is Nancy, who is a city resident, speak to us about the Eastwood flyover versus the Riceville Beach bridges. Nancy here.

Hello, I'm Nancy Patch, 1516 Landalee Drive, and for 35 years I've watched the disturbing, uncontrolled growth allowed by policies of the city and state. I'm actually here to remind this council that NC DOT and WMPO totally ignored your 2025 resolution for a 5710 public hearing. They also run roughshod over citizens you serve by ignoring our outcry and barreling ahead with the Eastwood flyover simultaneously with the Wrightsville Beach bridges. This should not happen in any sane universe. Moreover, they've never allowed a public hearing, although required in their own SNP NEPA rules. Their tabletops, held in 17 and 18, bear little resemblance to the current plan. Here's the history. The project was approved in 2018 based on just 37 public comment cards. Budget, $22.5 million. NC DOT's own rules state that any post-approval changes, like the following four items, require public re-engagement for transparency. One, major change in timing structure of project. Drysdale Drive Extension was split out with a budget of $22 million, but still we're planning for the flyover later. The extension is done but unfinished and not reaping its benefit. Two, major increase in budget at Drysdale Extension Breakout, the flyover ballooned to 81 million versus 22.5. Wow, why? What does this include? Three, significant controversy. Growing citizen outcry as they learn more. Opposing petition holds well over a thousand signatures. Simpler options or creative alternative ideas for grade level changes will not be entertained. This disregard of the public's concern is an abuse of power. Four, major unforeseen impact nearby. Emergency rightful beach bridges weren't on anyone's radar screen in 2018. This alone should trigger a date postponing amendment. There are no adequate detour routes except for Airlie Road, which is a North Carolina scenic byway with no shoulders, and Wrightsville Avenue, which is a two lane road with a suicide lane in the middle. All four triggers have occurred with no re-engagement. I actually call this the stealth project as it's all behind closed doors. Please note ill-designed infrastructure can cause more harm than good. As a private citizen, I cannot request a stiff amendment. I would if I could, believe me. However, you, as Wilmington's governing body, we beg you to request a stiff amendment from both WMPO and NC DOT demanding needed transparency. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Next speaker is Mr. Peter Loftus, who's also a city resident, talking about U-5710, the flyover at Eastwood and military cutoff.

Peter here?

Yeah, Peter's there. Mr. Mayor, council members, thank you for the opportunity to speak. I support the resolution before the council related to this Eastwood overpass project. However, there's a little bit more that can be done, and there's other options to explore in lieu of this flyover. The original rationale for this project, which began in 2015, hasn't come to pass. I reviewed 20 years' worth of DOT traffic volume data, and the projections and the amount of traffic in this area has not come anywhere near the projections. In fact, in some cases, traffic volume has not moved much at all. I also looked at the seasonal adjustment that the DOT provides because we know as citizens of Wilmington, there's a huge change in traffic volumes during the tourist season. Between the months of March and October, there's very little extra volume on those roads. In fact, they're below the averages that are quoted by the DOT. between April and September, specifically Thursday through Sunday, those volumes spike enormously, as we all know. There's nothing a flyover is going to do to change that traffic pattern. They also talk about safety at that intersection. I looked at 10 years' worth of accident data that was provided by the city of Wilmington at five intersections, including the one in question for the project. There were 54 accidents over a 10-year period at the military cutoff Eastwood Road intersection, which is about five and a half a year. The intersection itself has no physical issues in terms of safety. It's square. The visuals are great. The signals are easily seen. The biggest issue is operator error. Driving habits, as we all know, have declined significantly over the decades. And instead of building a flyover to try to reduce it would be better just to enforce the motor vehicle laws that we currently have on the books and to ensure that the DMV is not issuing licenses to people who are not qualified to drive on the public roads. There are other things that can be done in terms of, as the previous speaker mentioned, the Drysdale Drive Extension is not being fully utilized. I spoke to Wilmington Traffic Engineer about that. They spoke to the DOT, and the DOT is unwilling to change some traffic patterns now. Their answer is basically, we'll wait until the project is done before we fully utilize the Drysdale Drive Extension. As a taxpayer, we've spent $15 million on that extension, and it seems a poor use of money that if we're gonna wait, the timeline is four years, it's probably more like six years for that extension to be fully utilized, which would probably alleviate some of the issues at the intersection that we have now without a flyover. Additionally, the DOT signed a contract last July to implement a AI-based software traffic signal management system at 2,500 intersections across the state. To the best of my knowledge, on all the inquiries I made, that has not been implemented at this intersection. And despite the fact that this intersection is supposedly one of the worst in the state, it would be very simple to use what's already been allocated by the NC DOT at the state level, which was $12 million, to run a pilot program at that intersection to see if we can improve the wait times as opposed to putting the shovel in the ground and spending years and $80 million and huge amounts of disruption. I think these things are easily doable. They're a lot more cost efficient. They will reduce the amount of chaos that's going to occur when they run this project. And I urge you to do more than just pass a resolution. As the previous speaker mentioned, The DOT didn't seem to care about it. But we as a citizen, we do care about it. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

Next speaker is Ms. Natalie English, who is also a city resident. She's going to speak to us about the 2027 city budget.

Thank you, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, members of council. At our last board meeting for the Greater Wilmington Chamber of Commerce, we received an update from city manager Becky Hawk on the city's organizational realignment initiative, as well as the proposed fiscal year 27 budget. Her presentation highlighted several priorities that the business community has long supported, including efficient government, strong organizational culture, responsive customer service, and long-term economic competitiveness. Following that presentation, our board members discussed the proposed budget and the investments it would make in essential public services. By a super majority vote of the members present, not unanimous, the board expressed support for continued investment in core government functions that directly impact public safety and quality of life, including competitive compensation, mental health resources, staffing, training, and equipment for police, fire, and emergency response personnel. At a time when many communities across the country are struggling to recruit and retain public safety personnel, Wilmington's focus on these core services demonstrates a commitment to long-term community success. We are proud to support our law enforcement, fire services, and other first responders. I also want to recognize and appreciate the work that you all did last Friday, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, Council, staff, for I think it was eight hours. going line by line through the budget to identify any efficiencies and ensure that taxpayer resources are being used responsibly. As business leaders, we understand that attracting and retaining high quality employees often requires ongoing investments in compensation, particularly in a competitive labor market. We look forward to continuing discussions about how the city can remain a competitive employer while balancing its responsibility to taxpayers and maintaining the high level of service our community expects. Board members are encouraging city leadership to continue pursuing opportunities to improve customer service, strengthen workplace culture, increase operational efficiency, and enhance employee morale throughout the organization. Also, as it relates to the purchase of this building and the properties around it, when that topic came to City Council, the Chamber Board voted to support that purchase, believing that it could be a generational opportunity that deserves careful consideration before any disposition decisions are made. Specifically, we encourage still the city to evaluate opportunities related to convention center expansion, convention supportive hotel development, and the parking infrastructure needed to support those uses. We appreciate your leadership, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, members of council, and city manager Hogg. And we look forward to working with you to create a more efficient, responsive, and business friendly city while maintaining a strong commitment to the essential services that residents and businesses rely upon every day. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker is Mr. James DeHaven, who's a city resident, who'll also be talking to us about North Carolina Department of Transportation Project U-5710, Eastwood and Military Cut-Off Overpass.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the City Council, and citizens of Wilmington. My name is James de Haven. I've lived here in Wilmington for 13 years with my wife. First of all, thank you for providing me with a forum to speak on the DOT U5710 and Wrightsville Beach bridge repair issue. I do appreciate it. Tonight, I'd like you to consider what a minimum of four years of construction will do to area shops, restaurants, and rental properties in the immediate area of Eastwood Road and down into Wrightsville Beach. There is simply no good way to detour what the DOT tells us is 60,000 plus vehicles per day around the intersection of Eastwood and Military Cut-Off. It will be a slow and painful experience for drivers and will likely cause irreparable economic damage. To make matters worse, the DOT is planning on replacing three bridges on Wrightsville Beach at the exact same time as the U5710 project. even loyal customers will decide to avoid the chaos altogether and go elsewhere. Quite by accident, I met a gentleman in Pinehurst last summer, and he said he owned a business on Eastwood Road. I asked him about his opinion on the proposed overpass project, and he said without any hesitation at all that he thought it would put his tenant out of business, and he also said he would have a difficult time finding another suitable tenant. Several of us have visited a number of those area retail establishments and shopping centers like Progress Point, Landfall Center, Lumina Station, others down on Eastwood Road and into Wrightsville Beach. The owners I spoke with are deeply concerned. Some told us they were already planning on terminating leases and moving or closing altogether if the Overpass project moves forward. Empty storefronts are not a good look and discourage others from investing here. If you're not concerned with the future of those small businesses, consider that with such business failures and with those shuttered properties will come a loss of sales tax and occupancy tax revenue, along with a loss of retail jobs. These two projects could potentially turn this area from a spectacular oasis into an economic desert. This would certainly be a self-inflicted economic wound to this community. I am respectfully asking that you pass the resolution tonight, asking the DOT to postpone the U57 project until the Wrightsville Beach repairs are completed. And during the bridge repair process, you fully encourage the DOT to reevaluate the merits of alternate solutions. The alternate solutions will be less costly and less obstructive than this construction project and fully address the variable traffic conditions in this seasonal community. Thank you very much.

Thank you, sir. Next speaker is Mr. Tom Harris, city resident, who's going to be talking to us about budget priorities.

I guess we should correct that to part-time city resident.

Whatever you'd like to do, Mr. Harris.

Thank you, Bill. First of all, I'd like to thank City Manager Hawke. I looked at the video of the budget meeting Friday that took nearly seven hours. At the very end, she indicated that the first hour free parking is coming back to the two decks downtown. I appreciate that. As long as we're talking about parking, and I also appreciate the fact that you're restoring that $250,000 a year that the city had incorrectly been taking out of the Parking Enterprise Fund. For those of you in the audience who don't understand how the Enterprise Fund works, the money in the Enterprise Fund, the Parking Enterprise Fund, for example, is only supposed to be used for parking-related issues. And over two years ago, I sent an email to all council members, some of you, three of you were not on council at that time, did not get a reply response from any of the seven council members, did have some conversations with Mayor Saffo at Chief Williams' retirement ceremony at the church. But it's taken over two years to get that money restored. So in the meantime, at least $250,000 has come out incorrectly that needs to go back in. Possibly 500,000, because I haven't been able to get clear indication of whether the 250K came out two years or just one year. But we know it came out one year. The reason that money is important is because if the parking fund is robust and has adequate funds, we don't need to raise parking rates. And Mayor Saffo, I was concerned about some of your comments in the budget hearing on Friday when you were talking about using higher, looking at parking rates to possibly raise them to try to get more money from the people who live outside the city limits who come in to park but but the reality is that money you know couldn't go in the general fund or be used for any other purposes other than than parking uh so if anything it would you know if more people park the rates go down uh and that's really what we're after because i mean quite frankly people don't like to pay the current rates to park downtown when they're As soon as they hit the city sidewalks, they're typically panhandled a lot of times, three or four times in a single block. We don't need to add insult to injury, you know, high parking rates on top of not adequately addressing the, you know, the panhandling issue. The other thing concerning parking is the fact that when I dug, when I got in the weeds, and that's, I would encourage all of y'all to get in the weeds on things. I mean, don't just accept the quick presentation from the city manager or anybody really, just get in the weeds. If you get in the weeds on the Skyline Center parking deck, there are a number of free spaces that were given to one of the tenants that they've got, they've had ever since, how many years has the building been leased now, like four or five, something like that? That's probably hundreds of thousand dollars in revenue that to best of my knowledge, I haven't been able to find that the city which got that benefit of that money by giving that tenant a free gift has paid the parking fund anything. One last thing and then I won't go way over, but I do need a few more seconds. Another thing that needs to be looked at is the valuation that was put on that parking deck when the building value was split between the parking deck and the building itself. As you know, it was bought as a package. Then the city had an appraisal done that frankly it overvalued the deck, so the deck assumed a greater portion of the debt than it should have. The reason it was a flawed appraisal is because it did not take income approach to appraising a commercial income-producing property into account at all. It only took into account comparables in other cities that were equivalent to a Market Street deck surrounded by robust storefronts, restaurants, stuff like that, things that drive people to the deck to park. I'm out of time, but I would love to have a further discussion about this. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Next speaker is Ms. Diana Hill, who's also a city resident, who's talking to us about the budget. Ms. Hill? Do you want to roar that a little bit? We can't see you.

That's probably all for the board. Oh, I'm going down.

Okay, I'm not that short, okay.

Okay, so good evening Mayor, Mayor Potem, Council. I've lived here 33 years, so I just wanna go put that on the record. I'm here to express my strong support for the proposed city budget, especially the provision of a living wage for all city staff. Public safety and city maintenance are vital for our local community. High turnover in safety professions leads to significant losses in training investments, which total $190,000 per police candidate alone. We must offer competitive wages to retain essential expertise. This is particularly critical given that New Hanover County ranks third in the state in alcohol sales receipts, only behind Mecklenburg and Wake. Since both of those counties have over a million residents, and New Hanover County has 235,000 residents, statistically, we are the number one imbibing county of 100. Managing the ramifications of high alcohol consumption requires a highly professional, well compensated workforce of police, fire, and EMT personnel. Let's keep in mind when people drink as fast as they can in commercial areas, they will be driving home throughout our neighborhoods. With the city being down 45 plus police, it leaves our neighborhoods pretty vulnerable. With over 4.2 million annual visitors and 66,000 vehicles crossing the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge daily, we rely on our city staff to protect both residents and guests. It is only right that we compensate them appropriately. It was concerning to hear a local business opposition to this initiative on May 19th. Our first responders and essential staff should not be expected to live with the hardships that Mr. Harris suggested on the 19th, outhouses, single wide trailers, roommates, while performing such critical roles on our behalf. As a retired personnel manager from a Fortune 20 corporation, I know firsthand that if an organization does not offer competitive compensation and a safe work environment, talent will migrate to other employers. I applaud the city manager's commitment to professional wages and the city attorney's goal of increased applicant scrutiny, which can only lead to a feeling of well-being at work. The city's responsibility is to recruit and maintain a high-quality workforce by providing a safe work environment and fair pay. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker is Robin Morgan, a city resident, also be talking to us about the city budget opinion. Mr. Morgan here? Okay. We have some time left. Ms. Morgan? Ms. Morgan, I'm sorry. Ms. Morgan? Is Ms. Morgan here?

Okay.

All right. Next speaker is Mr. Troy Herring, who is a city resident, will be talking to us about the city budget from a city worker's perspective.

Hello, City Council.

How are you doing?

Thank you for allowing me to speak and hello to my fellow citizens. My name is Troy Herring. I work for the solid waste department here in the city of Wilmington. I'm here to speak about the city manager's proposed budget, specifically in reference to her inclusion of the living wage philosophy and what a living wage would mean to me. Our job in the solid waste department is not a pretty one. In fact, it's ugly. Quite frankly, it's disgusting. It's gross and it reeks. While the rest of the city sleeps, we get ready hours before the sun rises, ready to face incredibly arduous conditions. We work in the rain, from the light drizzle to thunderous tropical storms. We work in the heat, 90 degrees in the sun, all while that well-known southern humidity brings up the heat index to over 100 degrees and climbing. We work in the cold, freezing from a wind chill that brings temperature into the teens. We fight against traffic on College Road, Oleander Drive, Wrightsville Avenue, and Carolina Beach Road, all while narrowly being missed by cars speeding mere feet away from us as we just tried to dump a trash can. All of these conditions aren't even including the horrendously vile things we have to touch, smell, see, hear, and unfortunately, sometimes taste. But don't worry, I'll save you and anyone else listening on the specifics of the truly vulgar things we come in contact with. All I can say is to use your imagination. Whatever you're thinking of right now is correct. Now, you might think I'm complaining, but it's the opposite. I am bragging. I have pride about the job that I do. because I love my job and I love being able to serve my community that I live in. My coworkers are the same way. We work for the city of Wilmington because we care about the city of Wilmington. We have blisters and aching backs and lots of callus to prove it. So please understand how badly it hurts and confusing it is to find out that many of my coworkers are the lowest paid full-time employees who work for the city of Wilmington. Anyone you see working on the back of a city truck is making the lowest wage possible for a city of Wilmington employee. Full-time, skilled workers, struggling paycheck to paycheck. Many of the issues I've heard raised by my fellow citizens about this budget are valid. And it seems to me like they just want to make sure money is going to the right places and to the people who truly need it. I urge you city council members to take their concerns to heart and compassion and understanding. When it comes to approving a living wage for all of the blue collar individuals who keep this city from falling apart, please realize that we need relief desperately. Whether or not we deserve a living wage should not be a question to ask. I am proud that my job is to take care of the things this city chooses to throw away. Just please don't choose to throw us away too. Thank you.

Next and last speaker is Mr. Ty Green, who is a city resident. Talk to us about flock cameras and fighting crime. Mr. Green, welcome.

Mayor Saffo, Mayor Pro Tem Spears, always good to see you. Ty Green, North 4th Street up the hill. As a retired CBP, Customs Board of Protection, TSA employee returning to my home of 11 years here in Wilmington, Having spent the last 10 in New Orleans, the murder capital of the United States, I'd like to emphasize to all here tonight that your home, Mayor Sifo, is a very safe place to live. And I support anything to keep it that way, including flock cameras. Also, I'd like to remind everyone here tonight that my colleagues at ICE, as part of the Coastal Region Human Trafficking Task Force, provided assistance to local law enforcement regarding the Cape Fear Escorts case. That was 200 women that were exploited for over 12 years, some of them being minors. I applaud their work. Last I checked, This federal support isn't an expense to our local taxes for public safety. If anyone would like to see examples of this public safety work, you can visit the Department of Homeland Security website, worst of the worst, and see what they have contributed locally. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Green. That concludes our public information segment. I would like to move the Resolution R1, which I know a lot of people are here for, which is the resolution urging the North Carolina Department of Transportation to consider traffic impacts related to the simultaneous undertaking of the Eastwood Road overpass project and bridge replacement projects at Riceville Beach. I would like to bring that forward because we have a lot of people here. I've been contacted by a significant amount of folks in the community in respect to this project and understanding the complexity that the Department of Transportation is having to work through with the critical bridge replacements at Riceville Beach as well as doing this particular overpass simultaneously. The concerns that the neighbors have shared with me and the business owners, a lot of business owners have reached out to me. is significant and it's large. And what we are asking the North Carolina Department of Transportation is to please take into consideration all of the impacts that this replacement is going to have on this community and the neighborhoods that it's going to be impacted by. I think that the folks here have been asking for a public meeting or public hearing, which was last take place on 2018. The department at this time has decided not to allow that to happen. We have asked over and over. I have personally reached out to the governor's office as well as the secretary of North Carolina Department of Transportation. They have decided that Public hearing was done and they're going to move forward with this project. What our concern is, and we all know this, the amount of people that do go to the beach in the summer months is dramatic. It takes you anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour to now to get onto a beach and it's significant. Plus the 4.2 million visitors that we have that come to New Hanover County every year for tourism related issues. And remember, if you go to any one of the three area beaches unless you're going by landing craft you have to drive through the city of Wilmington to get there so we're all feeling the impacts dramatically and so we're asking the department to please have sensitivity to please look into this particular matter to understand how we're going to work in replacing three to four bridges at one time and taking that into consideration is the amount of calls that we have gotten as elected leaders on a project that was north of us, which was up on Market Street going toward Porter's Neck, and how many years it took to complete that project, thinking that it was the City of Wilmington's project, which it was not. But it was a North Carolina Department of Transportation project. It was an initiative by the project, and we supported that initiative through the MPO. but it did take a lot of time to get that project done. This is going to have major impacts. We have a lot of utilities that are going to have to be replaced and dug up. We're going to be dealing with a lot of traffic coming through that intersection. It's probably one of the most congested areas in the entire region. We're asking the department to please take that into consideration, to please look at ways to mitigate those traffic impacts to our communities. And the only thing I can ask the citizens to do is to continue to voice your concerns, not only with the city council, but with other elected bodies. You have state representatives. You have the governor's office. You have the Department of Transportation's office. They also need to be contacted. This is not the city of Wilmington. I believe everybody on the city council has done everything that we possibly can, and we will do as much as we can. to make our voices heard and to let them know how concerned we all are about the impacts that this project's gonna have. We feel that as we hear in all of our citizen surveys that the number one issue in our community is traffic, traffic, traffic. And every time we try to put a project in place, there's gonna always be concerns from neighbors and neighborhoods in respect to what those projects look like and the impacts that those projects will have in this particular area. But to replace three bridges in addition to do this project at the same time, I think needs to be really evaluated very closely as to how the department works with the community and with the business owners in making sure that we mitigate those traffic impacts as much as possible. We know that this probably is going to happen, but we have to do everything we can in our power to make sure that we mitigate those impacts to all of our communities. At this time, I would like to ask, I will make a motion to, or we have a motion by Councilmember Clinton Quintana as well.

Mr. Mayor, actually, if you could, I'm sorry to interrupt. If you could make the motion to take it out of order first and then motion to move on.

Yes, I will do that. I'm sorry about that. I'd like to take this item R1 out of order and bring it up to the front. Do I have a motion to approve of that? We have Councilmember Joyner seconded by Councilmember Clinton Quintana. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? An aye and pass unanimously. So at this time, I'm going to ask for a motion to support the resolution urging the North Carolina Department of Transportation to consider traffic impacts related to the simultaneous undertaking of the Eastwood Road overpass project and the bridge replacement projects at Rice and Beach. We have a motion to approve by Councilmember Santa Guida, seconded by Councilmember Clinton Quintana. All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? The item passes unanimously. Thank you, everybody, for being here today. Thank you. Now let's go back to our ordinances, which is our next item of business. Item 01 is an ordinance amending the Wilmington City Code Section 8-5 on criminal history background checks and or credit history checks required of applicants and employees. And at this time, I'd like to recognize our city attorney, Ms. Meredith Everhart. Ms. Everhart.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We did the presentation on this item last time at your most recent meeting. And I don't have any additional information. I didn't receive any follow up questions directly from council since that time. But if you have any additional questions, I'd be glad to answer them.

Does anybody have any further questions, comments? OK. Okay, what is the wishes of the Wilmington City Council? We have a motion to approve by Councilmember Santaguida, second by Councilmember Liao. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Item passes five to two. That brings us to our next item of business, which is item 02A, 02B, and 02C, all related to the budget. O2A is an ordinance making appropriations to the general fund grant projects, financial plans, enterprise fund, debit service fund, special tax district, and convention center for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026. Item O2B is an ordinance making appropriations to the capital projects funds for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026. And item O2C is the ordinance amending various chapters of the City of Wilmington fee schedule for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026. At this time, I'd like to recognize our City Manager, Ms. Becky Hogg. Ms. Hogg.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, members of council. As was mentioned earlier, we had a very long work session last Friday in the neighborhood of seven to eight hours. I think we all lost track, but it was certainly a long day. But where we ended that day was that we would be bringing forward a proposal to increase the tax rate by 5.5 cents per 100. What you see up on the screen was everything that we discussed during that meeting, which would include the reduction from the original proposal of 5.75 down to 5.5. That would not include any reduction to the debt service fund, but it would be a slight reduction to general fund. The items on the page are what we talked about with the implementation of the living wage slightly modified with a $15,000 cap for police and fire who are sworn and or uniformed as well as a $12,000 cap for all others. We went through and found some reductions and then also talked about an addition that needed to be made for ballistic vests. due to a grant that we will not be receiving. And where we landed was with a small use of fund balance, 378,000 and change for mission ready gear for our fire department. I do understand though that there were some additional conversations around potentially considering a 4.9 cent increase. And at this time would like to ask council member Joyner if he would like to go over some of that that was discussed.

Mr. Joyner.

Well, I was going to ask if we had done the analysis on the 4.9 cents. Thank you very much. I'm glad to see that it's in the presentation. Yes, basically my question for staff was that we left off on Friday having had the discussion about the different alternatives for implementing the living wage. We had the alternative where we did across the board, or I guess that was the proposal, to do it across the board. We had the alternative one where we were looking at, I think, what was presented in the last slide, which was to do a $15,000 cap for, thank you, for police and fire to reduce any compression issues, and then to do a $12,000 cap for the remaining departments to ensure that nobody who was making well above a living wage was receiving more than that in this increase. and then we had identified the items that you went over on the previous slide. But, I mean, I had said rather clearly that I would be prepared to vote yes at 4.9 if staff could continue to do some analysis and see if there were things that we could do, potentially with revenue projections related to a sales tax, which I think we were sort of dead on arrival with that, and interest earnings, but the general fund. And so that's my question for you, Madam Manager, is where did we land with the general fund? And I'll remind maybe the press, whoever's listening, that generally our policy is to keep our fund balance between 20 and 25%. And we were at 24% on Friday.

That's correct. So what you see on the screen, we did talk amongst staff and at this point we believe that it is best to leave the revenue projections where they were just with the volatility in the market for the interest earnings and then understanding that sales tax is slowing in its growth. And so what we had to look at was what would be one time costs that you can use fund balance for. So you can't use that for ongoing expenses. You have to be able to identify actual items that would be fully purchased with an FY27 in order to use that fund. And so we actually have about $3.7 million in annual expenditures related to police vehicles and so that is one area that we can identify that we would be looking to use about 2.1 million dollars of fund balance in order to purchase those vehicles that would allow council to move forward with the 4.9 cents that was requested while still being able to preserve the implementation of the living wage that has been discussed. And Dylan, if you don't mind moving forward. So as we go through, we wanted to then lay out those property tax adjustments. So we of course started our earlier conversations before we even had a budget presentation. We were as high as 6.25 cents. The budget that was brought forward that was the manager's official recommended budget was at 5.7 cents. That would have a monthly impact of $21.33 increase for a median home in Wilmington of $445,000. The 5.5 cent increase that was discussed on Friday would lower that monthly impact by about a dollar. You're down to about $20.42 a month, and that is with the small use of fund balance. And if we move down to the 4.9 cents, it would reduce that monthly impact to $18.17, but it would require the use of about $2.5 million in fund balance. And Dylan, if you can move one more slide. Did wanna highlight this and then I will get to a few comments about use of fund balance. So we've certainly talked about this extensively with council, but certainly for the public's understanding that even with these reduced tax rates, we still very much feel that this is a public safety oriented budget. Over 70% of the increased costs that are in this budget go directly to support police and fire. This competitive pay will allow us to recruit and retain qualified staff through the living wage implementation. We've again heard a lot about that tonight and feel very strongly about how important that is. But the other thing that we're also experiencing is the increased cost of doing business like everybody else is feeling. So our utilities are going up, our maintenance and repair costs are going up, equipment and supplies and annual contract increases that we don't have any control over having to spend those dollars to keep operations going. 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We also have a very large increase to our health insurance, going up $3.55 million next year. That alone is a single penny on the tax rate. And with the support for our debt service model, we are able to then also deliver an additional $31 million over the next two years in critical infrastructure and capital project improvements. So on the next page, though, talking about fund balance, you're exactly right, Councilmember Joyner. The city has a fund balance policy where we need to remain between 20 and 25%. Under either proposal, we do believe that we will be able to stay within that policy. So we will be in compliance, which is a good thing. But we do want to make sure that council and the public understand that use of fund balance, these are one-time dollars, and using them for one-time expenses will impact the availability of funds for future unexpected needs that may come up. So it's something to just be thoughtful about any time that we might be looking towards the use of fund balance. keeping within our fund balance policy is very important because it does impact our borrowing rates and we also want to always have a healthy fund balance for emergencies knowing that fema may eventually reimburse us but that always takes a long time and then seeing some of the conversations about fema at the federal level certainly not a guarantee that those reimbursements would occur or that everything that we submitted would qualify even under the best of circumstances but So one thing that I just want to stress is that fund balance to balance a budget is not a sustainable strategy, but it is one that under these circumstances, if council is comfortable, we do believe that we can still maintain the policy requirements that we need to and allocate the funding for the purposes that were stated earlier in the presentation. But it's not something that we would expect to be able to repeat in FY28.

State Councilmember Santaguido.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I have two questions, Becky. My first question, I understand that we'll be within our policy for fund balance, but if we use the, what is it, 2.2 million for police? About 2.5. How close will we be, well, how close will we be to 20% and what will be the dollar amount? that we'll have available?

Sure, so we would be in the 21 to 22% and you would be looking at having about $1.5 million left to spend for unexpected uses before you would be close to that 20% where anything below that would be problematic.

Okay, and then my second question is, you said we anticipate spending 3.7 million on police vehicles this year. Is that in line with a pattern that we see every year? Are we spending 3.7 million every year on police vehicles?

It is. The costs are creeping up every year. So we look at the replacement cycle of our police vehicles and as vehicle costs go up and equipment costs go up, the amount that we're spending every year does creep up. But that is in alignment with a typical purchase of, it's around 50 new vehicles a year that we're needing to replace.

Okay. So I think what I'm trying to get at understanding is, This is technically a one-time expense, but next year we're probably going to need to find 2.2 million for vehicle replacements or can we stretch that out on vehicle replacements?

I wouldn't recommend adjusting the replacement cycle because once you start to do that, it has a domino effect and it ends up putting everything then behind and behind and behind because you're never able to really catch up. Replacing those vehicles on the cycle that we have them is really critical to make sure that they're in good running repair and we're not spending more on repairs than the vehicle's really worth. But you are exactly right that that is something that looking forward to FY28, we would be looking to fill that hole. Certainly we would look to where we could find it through natural growth. where we could find it through organizational efficiencies. But if neither of those things pan out or create enough new dollars to spend on top of the other expenses that we know we will have going into FY28, that would be a deficit that we would have to close through discussions with council, either reducing things at that time or you would be back to the tax rate.

looking for another tax increase next year which i don't super love i'll be honest yeah miss andrews um miss hawk you mentioned the uh the life cycle of the the vehicles the police vehicles what is that life cycle mr fortune is in the audience i will let him answer that

Hi, good evening. The life cycle on our police vehicles, excuse me, for our Dodge Chargers, they were six years. And with moving to the Tahoe's, they're a little more expensive. They hold up a lot better. We can do eight years on those.

So I guess essentially, Buying a vehicle is a one-time expense, but only for a short amount of time. That's correct. For six or eight years. And so in the next year, we have the same expense.

Yes, depending on how many come up for replacement. Right, okay.

So it's not a one-time expense in the same way that purchasing real estate is a one-time expense.

It would be, um, being that the Dodge Charger is not made anymore, um, and we're moving to Tahoe's, it's a big change in expense. So we're going from a fully upfitted car that was around $35,000 to almost 75,000. So that's where, um, we need to find the extra money.

Yeah. Okay.

So essentially we are on, we are spent making this, we're spending this money annually because we're on a rolling schedule to replace these vehicles. They're not going to all expire in the same year.

That's correct.

Exactly. Thank you.

Mayor Pro Tem.

I'm not going to tell any jokes this week. Well, maybe I am. Does Ford not still make the Focus?

Yes.

Could we buy some Ford Focuses?

I would not like to see a prisoner get squished in the back of one.

Well, I mean, if we almost eliminate crime in Ford Focus, like electric Ford Focuses would do us very well.

Unfortunately, we're very limited on the type of patrol vehicles that we have available now. There's basically two pickup trucks and three SUVs that are available for purchase that are pursuit rated. So we're very limited. And all of them are within $4,000 or $5,000 of each other. So there's no cheap option.

So we're going from 35-ish to 70,000. So we're getting basically one vehicle where we could have gotten two or three.

Two or three, yes.

And also driving a Tahoe compared to driving a Dodge Charger, the gas consumption goes up as well, right?

No, they've done very well with the gas mileage, yes.

Okay. All right. And I got a question for Ms. Hawk. How much did we spend earlier this year on radios?

We took a million dollars out of fund balance and then we were able to transfer the rest of it from some other funds that we had. I think the total spend was around, is it seven million? I think it was about 7.9 million was the total spend.

A million from fund balance and then another seven million or so from other accounts?

From other funds. Yeah, we actually had to take it from the fleet fund.

Okay, so that was in the fleet fund.

Yeah, if that had not been purchased this fiscal year, we would have also been trying to absorb that in this next fiscal year because they were coming due. We just ended up not being able to wait.

I got you. So we got living wage employees with new radios. I'd rather have living wage employees on old radios. It's just me.

These radios at least work, the new ones. Yeah. So it's, you know, that's a positive.

Yeah, I got you.

Okay.

That's all I got for the moment.

So Becky, what is the total amount that we have? I know it's 21% and you folks feel pretty confident that because our goal and objective is 20 to 25. What is the total amount that we have as far as money? We're telling the people 27%. I just want people to understand how much money we are carrying in the savings account. And I know we take that into consideration because of hurricanes and we should keep a good, healthy, strong fund balance. I've seen fund balances here as low as 10. I've seen them as high as 36. And they vary. But that is the citizen's money. So we're putting it into a savings account for one-time purchases or emergency purposes. So what is the total amount that we have in there right now?

So last year on 6-30-2025, we had $42.8 million in unassigned fund balance. Council spent about $2 million during this current year in appropriations. So our adjusted fund balance is about $40.8 million.

In all the years I've been here except for that one significant mistake that was made in regards to property reevaluation when we had to come out of the fund balance $10 million because of a mistake with the tax department, not our tax department. We haven't really spent that kind of money during the year on any emergency purposes except for during hurricane season. Is that correct?

Are you asking me? Yeah. Oh, sorry. I've only been here 11 months, but- I guess my past experience has always been that way. But in general, we are very cautious about what we try to fit within existing operating budgets. We exhaust that before we bring something forward to ask for a fund balance appropriation mid-year.

I mean, I think it's appropriate for one-time expenses. We've done it before. I think we still have a very healthy fund balance, almost 22%. I think we're not being crazy with it. We're trying to be fair to the employees of the city that provide significant services for our community. and not just police and fire, but as this gentleman said earlier, picking up the trash is also very important. I guarantee you if nobody picks up your trash, it could get very volatile out there. But also we take care of parks, 733 acres of park land We maintain the streets, we cut the hedges, the bushes, take care of planning, zoning issues. I mean, there's a lot of things that go into running a city. And just like every other entity and family, we're also seeing significant impacts to our budget because of inflation and cost. And so we've wrestled with this thing since last November. We've had several budget retreats. We went through a significant meeting the other day. We went line by line, department by department. So I think that the Proposed at 4.9, from my perspective, is good. It's fair. It gives everybody what they need. And just like anything else, every year and every budget, we have to go through there and make significant and tough decisions. Next year can be, is no different than this year. I'm sure there'll be some issues and things that we are challenged with that we're gonna have to address, that we're gonna make some tough decisions on. But I'm for 4.9. I think it's fair and equitable, and I think that the way the fund balance, and I appreciate your conservative viewpoint on it in regards to making certain that we stay within that range. I wouldn't want to go below that range, but I think it's fair and equitable that we purchase these vehicles with that fund balance. It still leaves us with 22%, and I think that's pretty healthy. Yes, sir. Mayor Pro Tem.

So I've asked this question several times and it was how much can we get a dollar amount for the 18% increase from last year?

There was what 18%?

The, the, when we, the increase we did last year for employees was, how much was that? Let me rephrase it that way. And I want to say this. I'm kind of getting to a point where I'm feeling like When I'm asking these questions, just please give me the best answer that we have. We've been through a lot of work sessions. I've asked a lot of questions. I haven't necessarily got the best answer that I could get, and I've had to ask answers repeatedly. And it's kind of ticking me off just a little bit. So just give me the same respect that I'm giving you. And that goes to anybody that comes to the microphone or any question that's being asked. I'm asking that very nicely.

We will look it up and confirm. So I have market adjustments last year. Oh, actually, I do have it right here. So market adjustment last year was 9% for police and fire, 3% for, I think an additional 3% for senior firefighter and officer, and then everybody else in the city got 5%. Okay.

So what did you get that night? What, 18% or what? As a total, what is that?

No, like a police officer is only going to get 9%. Okay.

All right. Yeah. What was the dollar amount?

We will look that up.

Okay. Yep. So I want to talk to Troy. Troy, right? Right. And thank you for your words, because I want to say this. From anybody who has to go through this budget, and there's a dual role that we have here, be mindful of taxpayers in this community and also to satisfy the people that work for this organization. Trust me, it's not an easy task. I want to see the employees of this organization living really well, living their best lives. I understand that there's some things that you do that a lot of us in this room couldn't do. I also understand that there are things that law enforcement does and firefighters do that a lot of us could not do, or we have chosen not to do them. But it doesn't negate what we have to do when we sit in these positions. Because you understand, we make revenue off of property taxes. But when our citizens are saying, hey, look at all the growth. We're booming. There's development everywhere. We're not being really vocal or being transparent about, well, there are some people in this community who boast about paying taxes, but then they're finding the loophole not to pay those taxes, so we're losing revenue. We're saying it amongst each other. We're not saying it to the public because I know the emails that I read, they say, hey, I live at such and such, my house is this amount of money and I pay this much property tax. Well, maybe they don't. They found a loophole. They're not paying the tax. So who has to carry that property tax burden? The people that don't understand the loophole. The everyday working people that are just trying their best, and so we don't know. Does $12 monthly impact a person? No, not monthly. $144 annually? Well, that's an increase, especially when groceries are up. Gas is up, electricity is up, but we're telling you as property taxpayers, you know what, I'd rather spend my $12 a month on my property taxes that would help somebody have a livable wage, and we would, but how do we know? How do we know that $12 a month, $21 a month, $38 a month isn't the reason that you can't have a full tank of gas? or you can't buy a loaf of bread or you can't buy cheese or whatever that you buy. So I'm just saying that it's a difficult task that we have up here and we don't want anybody, well I don't, and I feel the same for anybody that sits up here. We're not trying to undermine anybody or undervalue anybody in this community. We're trying to do a really difficult task. So I want to say that. And I also want to say that I'm here. I'm sitting in this seat. I've been a resident of this community for 49 years. I know the good, the bad, the ins, the outs. I know it all. When I sit in this seat, that's how I'm serving. I'm serving from a person that knows this community. That's okay, Diana. You don't have to do all that. Roll your eyes. It's fine. I'm speaking the truth. We're going to do the best that we can. It'll be what it'll be. Some people will be happy. Some people will not be happy. There has been, and we have been, every single year trying to close the gap or to appease the people, not only of this city, but our employees, and it's difficult. Council Member Sandeguito.

Thank you. Thanks for answering my questions about what it would look like to go to 4.9. I think I want to make a broader statement about this budget and everything that's in it, not just this one item that's coming to us tonight. When I think about why I wanted to run for office and why I wanted an opportunity to sit in this seat and make these kinds of decisions, It was because I see in our city that we need more affordable housing. We need better opportunities for our local workforce. I hear from people that we need a city that's more bikeable, more walkable, and that we need to invest in public transit. And I think this budget does all of those things. Actually, I don't think that. I know that because we went through it line by line on Friday. And I think it's incredible that six months into office, I'm facing an opportunity to bring these things to our residents, to our employees, to our taxpayers, and to really focus on a local government that provides incredible service to the residents of the city and our visitors. So if a 22% fund balance is what we need to do to make that happen, then I am on board with that.

Ms. Hall.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to follow up on Mayor Pro Tem's question. The increases last year were $7.6 million in general funds with an additional million from other funds. Thank you.

Okay. I'll also note that we are, this will have two readings. So, I mean, so we're not going to do second reading tonight. This is only a first reading tonight. And then our second meeting, we will adopt it. I just want to be clear to everybody that's out there tonight.

Anybody else?

So what do y'all want to do? 4.9?

Mr. Mayor, there is an updated resolution that got handed out while I was speaking to council members that does reflect the 4.9. Council member Andrews.

Well, I think you know where I'm going. I have been requesting a number that we finally got on Friday, which is the number that it's gonna take to implement the 2024 strategy to address unsheltered homelessness. and that number we found out on Friday is $26 million. And we don't have that. We have some ideas of where we can get it, but we know that that's going to, it's going to require us to come up with some funding no matter what. Hopefully get some funding from the county, hopefully get some funding from the endowment. They're the only folks in this county who have those kind of resources and they also have a mission to spend those resources. on transformative change. And I think this is one of the most transformative things we can do is to implement that plan that we went forward with two years ago. And for that reason, I'm hesitant to dip into um our reserves because um I know that we're going to need to do it eventually I know that this is something we need to do it's something that our community wants us to do it's something that we spent months on in 2024 coming up with a plan we finally have a number and I really want to find a way to move forward on that. I know that that's a real priority for you too, Mr. Mayor, and many of us up here. For that reason, I hesitate to dip into savings to pay for something that we know is going to be something that we have to spend next year as well. The thing about recurring expenses like the living wage, which I am 100% behind, we have to pay for it again next year. And we're going to have to pay for police vehicles again next year, some of them. And so I'm really hesitant to dig into the reserves just to get the tax rate down an extra 51 cents.

Ms. Lowell.

Yeah, we had this number to try to get it below five cents, and this is exactly the slide that I've been looking at every time we make an adjustment, and to work so hard to get it down under five cents, and it still only makes like a dollar difference a month. and to go into, whether we go into the fund balance or not, and none of us wants to raise taxes, but we really don't want to do it two years in a row. So I would be, I'm a little hesitant too to take that out of the fund balance and I know I've been pushing to get it down and pull things out of, we've all been in public meetings and outside of them throwing ideas at the to try to pull things out or decrease the expenses. But you know what? Decreasing the expenses is decreasing the services to you, to the city. The cost of everything's going up. And every time we look at the budget, it's like, we don't cut out police and fire. I'm not gonna compromise on those expenses. We're dangerously low on some of our personnel. Every time we look at something, it's like, no, we can't cut that. It's too important to use, too important to the people of our community. We have vacancy rates in some of these technical and professionally highly skilled positions. Some of the vacancy takes us like 100 days, 500 days, 700 days to fill some of these positions because they don't pay enough. and that really impacts the services we can deliver. So when we increase the tax rate, kind of like the representative from the chamber when Ms. English came up earlier, we're asking for a lot, whether it's 5.5 or 4.9, but we're also, you're asking a lot of us, you're expecting a lot in return. and that is what we will be focused on from here on out no matter which budget we pass is um continuing to ask questions and continuing to make sure that the money goes where it's supposed to go to make the biggest difference for your for you for you in your daily life so that's a long long way to say i would i'm hesitant also to take out the um money from the fund balance at this point, especially since I spent so much time and energy and blood, sweat, and tears recovering from Hurricane Florence. That's also, that could happen any other, that could happen again any year, so. Okay.

Y'all ready to vote? What do y'all want to do?

I have a motion.

Okay.

I have a motion to approve the substitute ordinance, the one that's at 4.9.

You're going to push the button?

I'm trying to. There we go.

We have a motion to approve by Council Member Joyner. Does it have a second to that?

I'll second it. Okay.

All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Can I vote no? Okay.

I vote no. Okay. We have two, three, four, three. Passes four, three.

Okay.

That brings us to the second one, which is the ordinance making appropriations to the capital projects fund for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026, which is item O2B. What are the wishes of council in respect to that? Motion by Councilman Rangel, second by Councilmember Joyner. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Again, no. No. Board. Okay, we have a, let me have, we don't, let's see a raise of hands. All those in favor of that because this thing is not working properly, raise your hands. One, two, three, four, five, five to two. Okay, that brings us to our next item, which is item O2C, which is the ordinance amending various chapters of the City of Wilmington fee schedule for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026. What are the wishes of council in respect to that? A motion to approve by Council Member Andrews, second by Council Member Joyner. Ms. Hawke?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just want to clarify that this would be the amended fee schedule that does lower the one day cost that we talked about from $100 to $60. Okay, very good.

All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Can everybody raise their hand please again? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

That passes unanimously. Okay. Thank you. That brings us to our next item, which is item 03, which is an ordinance to amend various funds for the issuance of limited obligation bonds series 2026. This time I'd like to recognize city manager, Ms. Hawk. Ms. Hawk.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and members of council. This item will be presented by Martha Wayne, our CFO.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and Council. The item I have before you tonight is one of the last items that I'm going to bring forward related to the debt issuance this year. I know it's been before you several other times. This is the slide that I have before you just as a really quick recap of what we did. We had approximately 25 million in new funds. Those funds went towards parks maintenance facility, public safety radios, various streets and sidewalk projects, as well as the Water Street Park improvement. In addition, the limited obligation bonds also comprised a refunding portion where we were refinancing some of our debt to be able to save funds. We actually closed on the limited obligation bond series 2026 on May 21st. One of the good things to indicate is that we actually saved approximately $1.8 million with the refunding portion of this debt issuance. The ordinance before you tonight is actually the appropriation that is needed to be able to repay the old outstanding debt as well as to appropriate the premium and cost of issuance. So the ordinance will essentially allow us to move forward with what we intended to use the debt for, make repayments for the portion that we were refunding and appropriate the premium. So I'm happy to answer any questions you have on this portion.

You're going to save us money, right?

We are saving money. We saved approximately $1.8 million. There you go.

You can put it in the fund balance.

There you go. Okay, great.

What are the wishes of council in respect to the ordinance? We have a motion to approve by Councilmember Lyle, seconded by Councilmember Clinton Quintana. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? I didn't pass unanimously on first reading. Is there a motion to waive second reading? Motion made by Councilmember Lyle, second by Councilmember Joyner. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Item passed unanimously on first as well as second reading. That brings us to our next item, which is item 04, which is an ordinance to amend the Stormwater Management Fund for the refunding of Revenue Bond Series 2015A. Again, I'd like to recognize City Manager, Ms. Becky Hawke. Ms. Hawke.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And again, Martha Wayne.

Martha, welcome back.

Yes, you get to see me several times right in a row tonight. Once again, this is one of the last portions of the stormwater revenue refunding that we did. This debt also closed on May 21st. Once again, we saved money. We saved approximately $476,000 by doing this refunding. The ordinance brought before you today is to essentially be able to make the payments on the debt that we're refunding as well as to appropriate debt issuance and premiums. So very similar to the last one, this was just a separate issuance because it related specifically to the stormwater fee refunding. Happy to answer any questions you may have.

Saving some money again, aren't we? Yes. Thank you. With the wishes of council in respect to the ordinance, we have a motion approved by council member Santaguida, second by council member Joyner. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Item passed unanimously on first reading. Is there a motion to waive second reading? Motion made by Councilmember Joyner, seconded by Councilmember Clinton Quintana. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The item passes unanimously on first as well as second reading. That brings us to item 05, which is an ordinance to amend the Parks and Recreation Capital Projects funds to comply with governmental accounting standards for the recording of the Greenville Loop Road future park property gross purchase price. Again, I'd like to recognize City Manager, Ms. Hawk. Ms. Hawk.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Once again, Martha Wayne.

Star of the show.

Okay, so this ordinance is essentially an administrative ordinance as indicated in the title. This is essentially making sure and ensuring that we're in compliance with accounting standards. So as you all know, we recently required some property for a new park that we're in the process of having additional public input on. The purchase price of the park was approximately 9.7 million. Of that, City of Wilmington contributed a million, New Hanover County contributed a million, and New Hanover Community Endowment, approximately 7.75 million. So essentially what this ordinance is doing is it's actually appropriating the contributions that the city received from the county as well as the endowment so we can record the full amount of the property on our books. So this is solely administrative to be in compliance with accounting standards. Okay. Very good. Happy to answer any questions.

Any questions?

Okay.

All right. What are the wishes of council in respect to the ordinance? We have a motion to approve by Councilmember Santaguida, second by Councilmember Andrews. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? The item passes unanimously on first reading. Is there a motion to waive second reading? Motion made by Councilmember Clinton Quintana, second by Councilmember Andrews. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Item passes unanimously on first as well as second reading. That brings us to our next item, which is item 06, which is an ordinance amending the various projects and grant funds for adjustment from budget to actual funding and expenditures. And at this time, I'd like to recognize City Manager Ms. Halk. Ms. Halk.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. One final time, Martha Wayne.

It's the end of the year, so we're trying to do a lot of cleanup to make sure our books are in compliance. And so once again, I'm bringing forward an administrative ordinance. This administrative ordinance is to essentially clean up various grant projects to account for estimates versus actual activity. So the grants involved are CDBG and home grants. And whenever we're going through the budget process, we try to estimate as accurately as possible the amount of revenue we will receive. And towards the end of each fiscal year, we need to do a cleanup entry to be able to essentially adjust the numbers for actual activities. So this is solely administrative. I'm happy to answer any other questions you may have.

We're complying with all the rules and regulations from the federal, state, and local governments? Gotcha. We have a motion to approve by Councilmember Joyner, second by Councilmember Clinton Quintana. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? That item passes unanimously on first reading. Is there a motion to waive second reading? Motion made by Councilmember Santa Guida, seconded by Councilmember Andrews. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Item passes unanimously on first as well as second reading. That brings us through our next item of business, which is item 07A, which is a resolution accepting public streets and storm drainage facilities at kando street and chronily alley and then we have an accompanying item 07b which is the ordinance making supplemental appropriations of twelve thousand and eleven dollars from a payment in lieu for kando street improvements to the city streets and sidewalks capital project fund again i'd like to recognize city manager miss hawk miss hawk

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, members of council. This item will be presented by Rob Gordon from our Transportation Department. And I believe that he will actually be able to also talk about 08A and 08B at the same time. And then council will just take individual action on each. Okay.

Good evening. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, members of City Council, item number 07A is a resolution for roadway and drainage acceptance of Kandu Street and Cronley Alley. Kandu Street was built with the Stokely Center project in 2006 and serves as the northern access to Costco. Cronley Alley was previously an unimproved alley and was built to serve two new residences proposed along that alley. In total, 425 linear feet are being proposed for acceptance. All improvements within the right-of-way have been installed per the approved plans and inspected by city staff. it was determined by staff that the pavement markings and asphalt along kandu street needed some maintenance the applicant agreed to make a payment in lieu for those maintenance items the amount of twelve thousand and eleven dollars the companion item o7b is an ordinance making supplemental appropriation of these payment in lieu funds to the city streets and sidewalks capital project fund there are additional details and photos in your agenda packet I'm happy to answer any questions you have on the resolution, and Aaron Beckner, Assistant Director for Transportation, is available if there are any questions on the companion ordinance.

Are there any questions of our city staff, Mr. Gordon? If not, what are the wishes of council in respect to the resolution of 07A? We have a motion to approve by Councilmember Andrews, second by Councilmember Liao. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed? Item passes unanimously. So now let's go to item 07B, which is the ordinance making the supplemental appropriation of 12,011 from a payment in lieu of to Kando Street improvements to City Streets and Sidewalks Capital Project Fund. We have a motion approved by Councilmember Clinton Quintana, second by Councilmember Santa Guida. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Item passes unanimously on first reading. Is there a motion to waive second reading? Motion made by Council Member Santaguida, second by Council Member Clinton Quintana.

Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Item passes unanimously on first as well as second reading. That brings us to our next item, which is item 08A, which is a resolution accepting public streets and storm drainage facilities within the woodlands at Echo Farms track number two. And then it has the accompanying item 08B, which is the ordinance establishing a speed limit of 100 miles per hour, no, 25 miles per hour on Owendog Court, Muscat Bay Drive, and Old Titanium Court. I think we've heard all about all those, so I'm gonna ask for what's the wishes of council in respect to the resolution. We have a motion to approve by Councilmember Andrews, second by Councilmember, On Clinton-Quintana, any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The item passes unanimously. Now let's go to item 08B, which is establishing the speed limit of 25 miles per hour on Alwindah Court and Muscat Bay Drive and Old Titanium Road. What are the wishes of council? We have a motion to approve by Councilmember Santa Guida, second by Councilmember Clinton-Quintana. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The item passes unanimously on first reading. Is there a motion to waive second reading? Motion made by Councilmember Andrews, seconded by Councilmember Santaguida. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Item passes unanimously on first as well as second reading. Now to resolutions. We've already done R1. Let's go to R2, which is a resolution expressing support for North Carolina Senate Bill 970 slash House Bill 1084. At this time, I'd like to recognize Councilmember Cassidy Santaguida. Ms. Santaguida.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm going to give you a bit of a break. You sound like an auctioneer up here.

I do sound like an auctioneer right now.

I do. Thank you so much. And I wanted to bring this resolution to members of city council because I think it's important that we support some state legislation that's been introduced in the 2026 session of the North Carolina General Assembly. There's a Senate and House bill companion. And this is related to e-bikes. So the popularity of electric bicycles, also known as e-bikes, has resulted in the growing presence of e-bikes on streets and greenways and the growing need for local governments to be able to regulate their increased usage. I've personally had numerous conversations and phone calls and emails from city residents who are asking us to do something about this. This legislation from the state would allow us to implement local regulations. I want to be really clear with folks in our community. I'm not interested in banning e-bikes from Wilmington, but I do think it is important that we have the ability to introduce some regulations. So e-bikes are defined in North Carolina general statute under vehicle definitions, but there aren't currently any regulations for them, meaning there's no helmet, age, speed limit, or license rules. So this legislation would classify e-bikes into three categories and allow municipality-specific authority to regulate them. Just to be very clear, what this legislation would do is classify e-bikes into three listed categories, class one electric bicycle, class two electric bicycle class three electric assisted bicycle the difference between these i'm not going to read through this for all of you it has to do with the speeds that are reached and the type of assistance that the passenger gets this would also authorize cities to regulate e-bikes on any street road or highway within municipal limits to include restricting the use of a class or classes of e-bike sorry, e-bikes on multi-use paths, sidewalks, or trails, and establishing speed limits on greenways or shared use paths. This would also require people under the age of 18 operating or riding Class III e-bikes to wear a helmet, which I think is really important. The call that I get most often about e-bikes is kids zooming around town without helmets on. So this would provide for that. And then there's also some appropriation of funding from the highway fund for educational materials and public awareness. So I would ask for your support in this motion because I think it's becoming an increasingly important safety issue in our city.

Sounds like we get a lot of calls on that one. Absolutely. So what are the wishes of council? We have a motion to approve.

I have a question and my touch pad's not allowing me to request to speak. This is probably for the city attorney. What is, if this were to pass and we were able to pass a regulation, what would be the enforcement, uh, enforcement mechanism for local governments?

It would give us the ability to pass local ordinances regulated according to what city council wants to do. And so it would be enforced through the police department as part of our local ordinances.

As either an infraction or a class three misdemeanor?

Yes, sir.

Okay. Thank you.

All right. We have a motion to approve by Councilmember Clinton Quintana, second by Councilmember Lyle. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? The item passes unanimously. Okay. This brings us to our last item of business, which is item R3, which is a resolution expressing support for Navy Week to return to Wilmington. This I'd like to recognize Councilmember Celeste Andrews. Ms. Andrews?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I would like to recognize Jack Pollock, who's sitting here in the audience, who is also a member of our planning commission. Mr. Pollock, would you like to come up and introduce this item? He doesn't know I'm doing this, but he does. Well, he does now.

Thank you. I promised to be brief, which you all know is a challenge for me. So basically, quick piece of history, 2019, 2023, as part of the Azalea Festival, United States Navy came in and augmented several of the activities that went on with the festival, put on a lot of demonstrations. We actually, in one of those two years, actually had a ship come into the harbor. have gotten into the schools and helped teach STEM classes. So we approached the, we being the Navy League, approached the Azalea Festival team this year and talked about doing the same thing because next year, as you know, is the 80th 80th anniversary of the Azalea Festival. They, as well as the battleship, as well as the county commission, which by the way passed their resolution last night, as well as talking to the mayor, city manager, and the chief of staff, laid out, it was about a four and a half page proposal about what this would look like and the events that we could come in and augment the Azalea Festival to include what I just mentioned, the air show that tends to go on. We're going to try and bring a boat back. We're just looking for City Council to, as long as others, endorse that endeavor. We will formalize our committee and start planning. We expect the Department of Navy through their community outreach, to come back in the late July, early August timeframe with a yes or no. Right now there's, I think there's a dozen, you can, they will sponsor a dozen in the United States this year. We have made the cut into the top 20 already. So again, we're asking, you know, members of council to just formally with this resolution, endorse that effort to, you know, to bring that event and series of events back next year as part of the Azalea Festival.

Thank you so much.

Any questions?

Great.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. And I would just like to say that the Mayor and Councilmember Clinton Quintana and Councilmember Lyle, along with the City Manager and the Clerk and our Legislative Affairs Director were in Raleigh for the North Carolina League of Municipalities. At the same time, we had crossed paths with the delegation from the USS North Carolina battleship, and they took time to meet us in Raleigh. And we had a delightful meeting. Even though they represented the USS North Carolina submarine, and we were there with council members from all over North Carolina, they wanted to meet with us. And we do have a special relationship because of the battleship and because of the strong Navy organization that we have here with them. And one of the things that I took away from that, oh, and by the way, they were there during Navy week, which was in Charlotte this year. And that was the reason that they were here in North Carolina. And one of the things we learned from them is that all their family members wear red on Fridays. Well, it's not Friday, but in honor of this, that's why I wore red tonight. And Madam Clerk decided to wear red too, so that was really good. And red stands for remember everyone deployed. And so I thought that that was a wonderful thing to remember. So with that, I would like to, Oh, it's already been moved.

Okay. So we have a motion to approve by Councilmember Santaguida, seconded by Councilmember Clinton Quintana. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Good resolution. Thank you. Thank you very much. This concludes the regular agenda. Are there any items to be brought forward by our city attorney?

No, sir.

Our city manager?

No, sir.

Our city clerk? Ms. Santaguida?

said a lot tonight i'm good thank you customer branders i just wanted to say that um if you if you don't know uh living hope day center has been providing a great service to our unsheltered residents especially in the downtown area they are losing their space in a very short amount of time. They have located another location and they started a GoFundMe to be able to raise the money they need to lease that new space. And so if you can help with this dollar or so a month that you're gonna be saving in taxes, If you could go to gofundme.com and just search on Living Hope, throw some money their way because they really do provide a great service and they really do provide a lifeline for our unsheltered friends in Wilmington.

Thank you.

Mayor Pro Tem.

Council Member Clinton Quintana.

I just want to take a moment to thank Troy for being bold and standing. I like to say 10 toes down. Thank you for coming tonight and giving us your story. I'm right there with you. I know exactly how you feel. I've done a lot of jobs and some of those have been cleaning some toilets and some stuff that we don't even want to talk about. I really appreciate you coming in, and Councilwoman Andrews, I appreciate you announcing the GoFundMe for Living Hope Day Center. Living Hope Day Center is just a really special place, so I hope that you all will contribute something, however much that is. Thank you.

Councilmember Long?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We just went to the opening of Thalian Hall's new exhibit. I encourage everyone to check it out. It's from Quebec and it's called Hublow, which I had no idea what it was, but it's a really interesting dome and you go in and you sit down and it's very relaxing and it's kind of like a planetarium experience, but encourage everybody to check that out. It's temporary, so don't hesitate. And at the WMPO meeting last week, the Independence Extension that had caused some concern for residents was taken out of this dip. So I wanted to, that's already been picked up by the media, but I didn't want anybody to miss it. That's all. Thank you. Council Member Joyner?

I wanted to wish everybody a happy Pride and it was nice to celebrate with the proclamation earlier tonight. Mayor Saffa, you correctly identified that the Stonewall uprising riots, it's called different things by different groups, but it's commemorated in the month of June and it is sort of seen as the birth of the modern LGBTQ rights movement. Another reason that we celebrate in June is that a lot of LGBTQ rights in the United States have been won in the court system, and traditionally the Supreme Court hands down major decisions like things related to marriage equality, employment rights for LGBTQ people, those were handed down in June as well, so we are celebrating those this month. And there is a lot going on in Wilmington for Pride this month. And it's going to be a hot one because we're at the beach, but it's going to be a good time. And I encourage everybody to get out and celebrate and look forward to seeing all of our LGBTQ community and allies.

Thank you. And I just lastly like to just thank the city staff. Becky, what you folks did with the property there off of Chestnut, just putting that temporary park there in the timeframe that you put it in without having to write an epistle was phenomenal. I just want to say thank you and good work to everybody that did that. I was impressed and I love the red, white and blue. For those of you who have not seen it, you should. With that, thank you for taking an interest in your government. We stand adjourned.