Board of County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

I now call the September 21st, 2026 regular meeting of the Union County Board of Commissioners to order. At this time, I'd like to recognize Vice Chair Christina Helms for the for the invocation.

Although so inclined, please join us in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we come before you today and ask for wisdom and guidance for this board. Please let all decisions be made in honor of you and acceptable by you. Please continue to bless this county, this state, and this nation. In Jesus' holy and precious name we pray, amen.

Please join us for the pledge.

of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice

The next item on our agenda is informal comments from the community. Each speaker must address the board from the lectern and begin their remarks by giving their name, stating whether they are residents of Union County, indicating which municipality within they reside, if any. Each speaker will have three minutes to make remarks. A tone may sound at the conclusion of your remarks. A speaker may not yield any of his or her time to another speaker. Speakers may not discuss matters which are the subject of public hearings, and they must be courteous in their language and presentation. Restatements or repetitive comments by the same speaker, whether the same or separate meetings may be ruled out of order and terminated by the chair. Personal attacks will not be tolerated. Speakers may leave written comments and or supporting documents, if any, with the clerk to the board. Our first speaker tonight is Travis Wilson.

Travis Wilson, Jackson Township. Commissioners, Mr. Chair, on October 19, 1920, the Monroe Journal ran a letter to the editor by a man named Reverend Richard Allen calling for the right to vote to be extended to African-Americans. He had, in that letter, he references his work that he had done supporting the Red Cross during World War I. He led the African American efforts to raise money for that organization. In doing so, in 1918, October 5th, he held a meeting in the old courthouse. So he stood in this building down here organizing choirs for fundraising. We have two sources of information on his life, or his work at least. The first is The History of the American Negro and His Institutions by A.B. Caldwell, which is a series of books published in 1921, and he appears in volume four. That series gives us a great amount of information. It includes his photo, but It's been brought into question by some genealogical researchers in the county because Mr. Colwell may well have never been to Union County, being that he resided in Atlanta. We can set that aside, though, and what we still have are the letters that he wrote and the articles that reference him in the Monroe Journal. We have a number of articles that reference his work with the Red Cross, and in the letter that he wrote, he references the Red Cross. So I'm asking that the board place a plaque that simply reads, In memory of Richard Allen, civil rights activist who stood here October 5th, 1920. I think that much we can be absolutely certain of. We can question his photo, we can question the books that he supposedly wrote, but we know... that the man named Richard Allen, who organized Red Cross efforts in Union County among the African American community, stood in that building October 5th, 1920.

All right, thank you for your time.

Thanks, Travis. Our next speaker tonight, and I'm sorry if I mispronounce this, Sahiti Sharma. Do I have that correct? Okay, come on up.

We're all like one speaker. We already emailed you something.

Three minutes, yes, absolutely.

Sahiti Sharma, Avi Patel, and Margaraj DeWalker, Weddington. Good evening commissioners and members of the Union County community. My name is Seethi Sharma and I'm here tonight with my teammates representing Weddington High School DECA. We're here tonight because an average every day 43 children in the United States are expected to hear the words you have cancer. The number is easy to hear and move past but 43 isn't just a statistic it represents 43 children whose lives suddenly changed, 43 families facing something they've never expected and and countless people who have to come together to support them. When we first learned about the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation, we knew we wanted to do more than just simply participate. We wanted to make an impact in our own community. The National Pediatric Cancer Foundation works to fund research focused on developing safer and more effective treatments for children with cancer. They partner with leading hospitals and researchers across the country to help move pediatric cancer research forward. We realize that our campaign has to be about bringing people together, which is why we're standing here tonight.

Union County is home to thousands of families, students, businesses, schools, and community organizations. We believe that when all of these groups come together, even a goal that seems difficult for us three to achieve, it seems achievable. We would like to ask the Board of Commissioners to help us spread our message and awareness of our campaign throughout Union County, and if possible, connect us with local businesses or organizations that would be interested in supporting the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation. We're not asking the county to solve pediatric cancer. We're asking you guys to help us create more opportunities for our community to get involved. Because every conversation about pediatric cancer creates awareness. Every person who shares our campaign reaches someone new. And every business that supports us brings us closer to our goal. Every dollar raised helps support research that could ultimately give children better treatments. As high school students, we obviously aren't researchers developing these treatments.

But we do have something we can contribute. We can contribute our time, and we can contribute our voices. And we have the ability to bring together a community towards a cause that matters. We've already raised $2,000, but our journey doesn't end there. We hope to raise at least $5,000. And with the help of the community, But ultimately, we hope that this doesn't just come about reaching a number. We hope that when Union County hears about the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation, they think about a community that decided to stand behind these children and their families. Because 43 kids per day is 43 too many. Obviously, three high school students can't make that big of a difference and change that number overnight, but we can definitely start something. And with the help of the entire community, we can make that something much bigger. So thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak tonight, and thank you for letting us have Union County a part of the fight against pediatric cancer.

Thank you. Well done. Our next speaker tonight is Bill Anderson. Welcome, Mr. Anderson.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening. I'm actually a resident of Mecklenburg County, but I'm the first of three speakers, others from Union County. And we're interested in a historical site Camp New Providence which is off of Providence Road at Six Mile Creek which is the boundary between Mecklenburg and Union County. This is a very interesting site that has relevance to the 250th celebration of the American Revolution as well as our nation's history of course. Yes. My comments are essentially the first paragraph of a handout, and I would like, if I could, to distribute these to all members. I have 25 copies, so there should be some to spare.

Yes, sir. You can leave that with staff.

Let me just keep one. And the only other thing I had to do was just briefly read that first paragraph. Camp New Providence was an important American Revolution campsite of Patriot soldiers for two months during the late 1780. On October the 12th, immediately after the Patriots had a victory at Kings Mountain, Cornwallis' British Army evacuated Charlotte. Patriots immediately marched back through Charlotte and set up camp on Providence Road at Six Mile Creek at what now is known as Camp New Providence. It was the most forward base. It had 1,300 to 2,600 soldiers. Many distinguished American officers were there, including Horatio Gates, Daniel Morgan, William Smallwood, William Davidson, Thaddeus Kosciuszko, and William Washington. In late November of 1780, The Camp New Providence was the headquarters of the Southern Department of the Continental Army. There, a strategic plan was submitted that led to the American victory at Calpins. So thank you for your attention.

Thank you, Mr. Anderson. Our next speaker tonight is John Houston.

Hello. Welcome.

Welcome. Thank you. My name is John Houston. I'm a member of Whitington. We live in Union County, Sandy Ridge Division, partly. So in addition to what Mr. Anderson has said, I would like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to present the facts supporting the importance of Camp New Providence, which was a Revolutionary War encampment. The events described by Mr. Anderson happened in 1780 at what is now Union County, North Carolina, along present-day Providence Road where it crosses Six Mile Creek. That is a fact. Mr. Anderson underlined the importance of the camp and how the Southern Campaign Command decisions made their result in a concerted effort to counter Lord Cornwallis and future engagements, eventually leading all the way to the victory at Yorktown on October 19th, 1781. Some of you may have noticed the historical marker that is presently the only acknowledgement of Camp New Providence. The only acknowledgement. That's it. Events of 1780 at Camp New Providence led directly to why we, as Americans, are able to celebrate Independence Day every Fourth of July. To be sure, there were other catalysts that affected the eventual outcome of our war for independence. But the decisions made by the Patriot Commanders of the Southern Campaign here at Camp New Providence must not be overlooked or lost to history. During this time of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of our nation, the events and decisions taken at Camp New Providence should be given the recognition they richly deserve. Camp New Providence and Union County has been lost, forgotten, and overlooked in the annals of local and national history far too long. Consequently, we respectfully request the Union County Board of Commissioners to proclaim October 20th as Camp New Providence Day in Union County and prepare a proclamation to be adopted by the board. October 20th is the exact day in which Brigadier General William Davidson created Camp New Providence, only eight days after Cornwallis evacuated Charlotte. Thank you for your time and attention.

Thank you, Mr. Houston. Thank you. Our next speaker tonight is Gail Butler.

Good evening, Chair and members of the Union County Board of Commissioners. My name is Gail Butler, and I serve as the chair of the Weddington Parks and Events Advisory Board. I'm here this evening to respectfully request that Union County officially recognize October 20th as Camp New Providence Day. Our board had the distinct honor of welcoming John Houston who delivered the informative presentation about Camp New Providence and encouraged us to recognize its historical importance and significance in the Revolutionary War. Union County has a rich history in Revolutionary War heritage and Camp New Providence located near Six Mile Creek represents an important chapter in our county's history. The town of Weddington embraced this opportunity to honor the historic site. On July 31st and August 1st, we proudly celebrated our first annual Camp New Providence event. This celebration brought our community together, educated our residents, highlighted an important part of Union County's Revolutionary War heritage. Our board has already begun planning the second annual Camp New Providence celebration for October 2027. We look forward to building upon the success of our inaugural event. We're establishing a lasting tradition for future generations by officially recognizing October 20th as Camp New Providence Day in Union County We will demonstrate its commitment to serving our history, honoring our Revolutionary War heritage, and ensuring that the story of Camp New Providence is never forgotten.

Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Butler. Our next speaker tonight is Hunter Nestor.

Good evening, Chairman and members of the Board. I'm not a Union County resident, but I am the Planning Director for the Village of Marvin, and I'm here tonight on behalf of our Village Council. I'm here to request that the Union County Board of Commissioners consider appropriating $300,000 next fiscal year or a future fiscal year towards the Village-required local match as the County's partnership contribution towards a critical intersection program project in Marvin. Two more of an intersections were carried through phase three of the county's critical intersection program. Uh, and now, and both now have NCDOT concurred preferred designs and cost estimates in hand, and both are recommended for roundabouts. Our council is committed to completing one of these projects and we are applying to CRTPO this cycle. Our pre-submittal meeting is, um, October 13th and the application is due at the end of October. CRTPO requires us to document where our local match comes from. And a commitment from this board is something that will assist the village in getting this project complete. We are currently looking to prioritize Stacy Howie and Waxhaw-Marvin Road, and this is because NCDOT has indicated that it will commit $200,000 of spot safety funds here towards that local match. Additionally, that intersection is currently failing as it is today. A driver turning off Stacy Howie in the morning peak waits an average of about 15 minutes, which is a level service F for both peak hours at that intersection. In five years, it has produced 22 crashes, 15 of them were left turn crashes and seven people were injured. And it's getting worse, worse, faster than anywhere else here in that study of those intersections in phase three. In 2002, there's roughly about 1,700 cars per day on that road, and 2022 was 11,000 cars per road, which is one of the highest growth rates of any roads across all six intersections in phase three. Furthermore, Waxhaw-Marvin Road is a north-south connector between US-521 and NC-16, which in CDOT is about to widen 16. And construction begins approximately in 2030 and will go to about 2035. And for those years, drivers avoiding the construction and work zones are going to be using Waxhaw-Marvin Road. With an intersection already failing and the road about to absorb that detour, in a perfect scenario, we should be finishing that roundabout as NC-16 work begins, not starting it. With the county's potential future commitment of $300,000 and NCDOT's commitment of $200,000, Marvin carries the remaining portion of the match, which at a minimum would be $1.2 million. The village, our size, with a tax rate of five and two-thirds cents, every dollar in the match helps draw down the amount for federal dollars. Commissioners, the county built this program for exactly this gap. Project's too expensive for a small village to build alone and too small to complete with the long range plan. Marvin has done every step in this program that asks of us and we're asking the county to partner with us and get this project complete. Thank you. And I've got some just documents and information that I would like to hand out.

Yeah, if you can leave that with staff. Thank you. Okay, so our last speaker for tonight is Madeline Bile. Welcome.

Hi, Madeline Bile. I live in Monroe. Sorry, I got stung by a wasp, so my hand's a little swollen, so my handwriting is not excellent right now. I'm here to talk about the jail referendum that's on this November's ballot. I do want to start by saying that I do support the bond, but We are in desperate need of a jail, but I've heard a lot of concern from the community. A lot of people are concerned about the lack of information they're finding about the referendum. They agree that a new jail is needed, but also hesitant to vote for a long-term tax increase, especially at a time when people are struggling to afford groceries. I just have a list of questions. My printer is... running on Eon Inc, so I did draft an email I can send to you guys afterwards so I don't leave you hanging. My first question is what will the next steps be if the bond does not pass or the referendum does not pass? The county has known this was an issue for years. Why has this not taken a higher priority? People are upset that delaying this issue has led to a significant increase in the estimated cost of construction. What is the estimated length of the bond, like the time for the bond? Is there a place that we can find a proposal so we know how we're voting to use these funds? Surveys have estimated that the new facility should have 1,100 beds. Why are we only planning on building a facility with 500 beds and a 600-quart capacity? Have we looked into options of increasing the core size and adding future wings as needed? So I just want to present some questions that people have asked. So thank you for your time, and I'll send that. Do you want it to? Okay, thank you.

Thank you. okay so is there that's the end of our speaker list is there anybody in the audience that would like to make informal comments that haven't that hasn't signed up all right seeing none then we will move we'll move to our next two items or the next two items on our agenda are public hearings one for rezoning and one for transportation grant before opening up the first public hearing i'll read the rules that will apply to members of the public for each of these public hearings Each speaker must address the board from the lectern and begin their remarks by giving their name, stating whether they are residents of Union County, indicating the municipality within which they reside, if any. Each speaker will have three minutes to make remarks. A tone may sound at the conclusion of your remarks. A speaker may not yield any of his or her time to another speaker. Speakers shall limit their remarks to the subject of the public hearing. Speakers may leave written comments and or supporting documents, if any, with the clerk to the board. The first public hearing on the agenda is item 26-513 for rezoning petition RZ2026-010, Light and Industrial York. I will open the public hearing and now recognize Bjorn Hansen, Senior Planner, for brief comments. Welcome, Bjorn.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Manager Matthews. This is a... Your screens are working correct? Okay, good. I'll go ahead and get started. So this is a straight rezoning, called light industrial because a little bit of backstory to this. There was a heavy industrial rezoning proposal on this property. This is coded as RZ, meaning that there's no site plan or conditions associated with this. It's approximately 26 acres on 601 South, several miles south of the city of Monroe. It's currently zoned RA-40 and the request is to rezone it to light industrial. And again, there's no conditions or site plan associated with this. The existing conditions are that it's along 601, which is a multi-lane corridor. There are some limited commercial and residential uses nearby. And the site itself, you can see it's gated. There is some graded areas for material storage. Behind there, there is a small construction demolition landfill. And this aerial shows a better explanation of the uses that are on the site. If you're familiar with the existing truck stop that's on 601 by Hargett. It's just north of there. And so this is the site. You can see that there is some materials stored back here that was permitted approximately seven years ago. And then the area was graded for some equipment storage. In terms of environmental features, there is a floodplain on the northern portion of the site. Judging by the aerial, you would think that there is some material stored in there. This isn't a survey-grade type of aerial, though, so we can't definitively say that. However, the applicant is here, has said that they are moving some material around back there to ensure that it's not in a floodplain. Otherwise, it's just forested on the remainder of the property, with the exception of the areas that have been cleared for the material storage In terms of zoning, the area down below B4CZ, that was rezoned last year for a Dollar General. Then you have the truck stop on the northwestern portion of that intersection, and then this site, and it's all zoned RA40, which is pretty similar for this part of the county. In terms of transportation, there's no funded road improvements on the section of 601. There'll be a slight modification to the U-turn at Hargett as a result of the Dollar General, but that's not a DOT project. It's approximately 14,000 vehicles per day on the road, and a pretty healthy percent is truck traffic. In terms of land use map, this is a employment corridor overlay for 601, so underneath there would be RA40. It doesn't mean that every parcel is appropriate for commercial or industrial uses, but it's a good starting point for evaluating appropriateness with the land use map. In terms of schools and utilities, it's not residential, so the school system is not consulted, and water and sewer are not available to the site, so any development would require a well and septic. Community meeting was not required. No comments have been received. The site's been advertised and letters have been sent out. We've had a few people call to ask questions, but they didn't express opposition to the proposal. And we normally consult with adjacent municipalities. In this instance, Monroe is several miles away, so they were not consulted. In terms of the positives, it's consistent with the land use map. Both for the rural land use plan and the overall comprehensive plan It's not a small piece of land meaning that you're not going to deal with a lot of constraints requiring variances to allow Light industrial uses to occur on the site. It's near existing business and commercial zoned properties and Would be a benefit to the overall area in terms of increased business opportunity but obviously when you change from undeveloped to developed you do have the potential for increased noise light traffic exposure and then the negatives are that again it's next to residential by and large so people who currently have residential zone properties are going to have non-residential uses in the future and that with a light industrial rezoning that doesn't have any conditions you don't know necessarily what's going to go there obviously it has to be within that light industrial zoning district but potentially some uses could be more intense than you're envisioning. Also, the fact that water and sewer are not available does limit the intensity of employment uses that are really possible on this site. However, after weighing the positives and negatives, we recommended approval. The planning board agreed and unanimously recommended approval at its August meeting. I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have. The applicant is also here and happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Bjorn. Any questions for Bjorn? If the applicant's here and would like to make some comments, by all means. You good, Mr. York? All right. Any questions for the applicant? All right. Okay. Thank you, Bjorn. Thank you, Mr. York. I do not have anybody signed up to speak in this public hearing. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to make some comments one way or the other? Seeing none. Okay. Then I will now close the public hearing. The second public hearing tonight is item 26-516 for FY28-5311, administrative transportation grant application, and FY2026-5307, urbanized area formula funding application. That's a lot. I will now open the public hearing and recognize Teresa Torres, transportation director, for brief comments. Welcome. Thank you.

Thank you. Good evening, Mr. Chair, board members, county manager Matthews. I will always give you a mouthful when I'm up here. This public hearing is for two transportation grants. The first one is our FY28-5311 admin grant. It is for $284,825. It is split with a 80% federal, 5% state, DOT and 15% local match. The state does ask that we include their 5% in our budget in case they can't cover it when it comes time. And this grant covers four of our administration staff. The next one is for our federal fiscal year 26-5307 urbanized grant. This one is for a little over $1.5 million. It covers operational costs and capital costs. The split for operations is 50-50, and the split for the capital is 80-20.

thank you all right Thank You Teresa any questions for Teresa Teresa I do have one question sorry so we've you know obviously we've seen this come before us about every year I believe yes historically how long have we been successful in getting these grants do you have any idea

5311 has been here for a very long time. I've been in transportation for 10 years, and I know it's been a part of the grants much longer than that. The 5311 started in 2018 when we became urbanized. We were able to get those funds.

Perfect. Thank you.

You're welcome.

Okay, so we have no speakers signed up for the public hearing. I'll open the floor to the audience. Is there anyone that would like to make comments regarding this public hearing? Okay, seeing none, then I will now close the public hearing. Next item on our agenda is item 26-526, recognition of Lifesaver Award recipients. I will now recognize Deputy County Manager Patrick Nyland for this item.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Once again, we are here to recognize two outstanding employees for life-saving activities. We are recognizing two sheriff's deputies tonight for two separate life-saving activities. So I'm going to read the first one, then I'll read the second one, and I'll ask the sheriff to come up and provide any words. The first deputy that we're recognizing tonight is Deputy Brandy Grant. Deputy Grant is being recognized for her response to a recent medical emergency at home in Indian Trail. Grant was nearby when the emergency call was dispatched and was the first responder on scene. After entering the home, she found an individual with a complete airway obstruction who could not breathe. Recognizing that every second mattered, Grant acted immediately. She lifted the individual from the floor and performed the Heimlich maneuver, successfully dislodging the obstruction and restoring the individual's ability to breathe. Grant then helped the individual into her chair, monitored her condition, and remained with her until emergency medical personnel arrived. Her quick assessment, calm demeanor, and effective use of her training directly contributed to saving a life. So that is the first one. The second one is Deputy Lucas Jacobs. Deputy Jacobs is being recognized for his actions while responding to a domestic disturbance that quickly became a medical emergency. Upon arriving at the home, Jacobs immediately intervened to bring a situation under control and prevent further harm. He then assessed the individuals involved and recognized the need for urgent medical attention. Jacobs provided life-saving aid to a woman who had serious stabbing injuries. At the same time, he helped manage the scene and directed fellow deputies to provide emergency care to the other injured individual. He continued life-saving measures until emergency medical personnel arrived and took over care. Jacob's ability to remain composed, take command, and coordinate emergency care during highly volatile and emotional charge situation directly contributed to saving both lives. And again, this is almost every meeting we get to recognize employees for these activities and it's truly special how often they're able to do that. So Sheriff, I would ask you to come up and share any words.

Welcome, Sheriff. Well, thank you.

I appreciate the opportunity and to the county commissioners and the staff. You know, it's important that you take time to honor people that deserve it. And I know he read that, and he did a really good job. But let me tell you something. You don't realize what those officers were faced when you went in there and And all that Brandi Grant's in there by herself, heimlich maneuvers, trying to save a person's life, the stress on that officer is immense. Jacobs, domestic violence, out of control, stabbing, all the things that you can imagine were going on, and he's there trying to save this woman's life. You know, those are well-deserved awards, and I appreciate you giving awards. And it's important that the county recognizes that they're out here every day doing the job that they're paid to do. Thank you.

Thank you, Sheriff.

So, Commissioners, if you'll help me congratulate the deputies on their life-saving activities. Thank you.

Do you want to do it separately or separately? We'll do it separately. Who do you want first? I guess I'll have to make sure you have something to get with me. Well, you've got to do it yourself. No, but...

Happy birthday.

Just a quick comment on Sheriff Cathy's point. I think that we're very fortunate in Union County to have the deputies that we have. No doubt that their service is very much appreciated, and the two recipients tonight certainly went above and beyond that call. So we're very, very fortunate to have you. The next item on the agenda is item 26-528, a moment of change documentary screening and panel discussion. I will now recognize Liz Cooper, Public Communications Director, for this item.

Thank you, Chairman. Good evening, Commissioners and County Management staff. I'm excited to share broadly with the public. Obviously, you all know, but Union County is hosting a public screening of a documentary called A Moment of Change this Thursday, September 24th. The documentary was produced by 100 Strong Productions, which is part of the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners. Union County is one of six North Carolina counties featured in the film about how county governments are addressing growth, changing community needs, and other challenges while working to preserve the unique characteristics of their communities. In it, our Board of Commissioners Chair, Brian Helms, is featured and was interviewed as well as county staff, and they share about growth-related challenges and strategic initiatives underway right here in Union County. Following the 35-minute documentary screening, we will host a panel discussion with all of you, and county staff, about how Union County is thoughtfully managing growth, including efforts related to rural land use planning, land preservation, agriculture, and economic development. The event is free and open to the public, but because seating is limited, we are asking people to register in advance, and all of the information is on our website at unioncountync.gov. We have a short one-minute clip that is a promo that we will play now.

Union County, just like many other counties in the state, saw probably on average a 60% increase in property values. And that's crazy. And so the one thing that we had that we could do is to try to reduce the tax rate to account for the increase in the property values. Did that mitigate everything? No, but it's the only tool that we have.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Liz. It is now time for consideration of any changes to our agenda. And I actually have a change, so I will... Ask the board if there's no problem with removing 26-530. That is item grant application and allocation additional FTEs, North Carolina Governor's Highway Safety Program item, that we remove that from tonight's agenda for consideration at a future meeting. Okay. All right, then we will remove that item. Are there any motions regarding any other requested revisions or amendments to either the consent or the business agenda? Is there a motion to approve the items listed on consent?

Sorry, motion to approve the consent agenda as amended.

Thank you, Madam Vice Chair. So we have a motion. All those in favor of the motion say aye. All right. We are now at the business portion of our agenda. The first item of business is item 26-553. That's our EMS base discussion. I'll now recognize, again, Deputy County Manager Patrick Nyland concerning this item.

Thank you, Chair. Appreciate the opportunity to provide a brief update on our EMS base station location search. So right now we are still operating what is called a dynamic deployment model. What that means is we run 12 hour shifts and our EMS personnel are in the trucks for those 12 hours. They don't have physical locations to go to to get out of the truck, to get a meal, to go to the bathroom. They have posting locations. Sometimes those can be in parking lots, sometimes those can be in buildings and it's all dependent on a system we have called marvelous what marvelous does is it uses past call volume to predict where future calls will be it works very well in an urban setting so you think about monroe your 74 corridor it does a good job of posting trucks in those areas in anticipation that we're going to have calls because we do What it doesn't do well is anticipate those one-off calls in the New Salem or in Allen's Crossroad. It just, there isn't a lot of call volume in those areas, so it is never predictive that there is gonna be a call there. So about a year and a half ago, we came to the board to ask for a modification to that plan. We wanted to go to a hybrid model where we had some base stations and some dynamic trucks because in your, again, in your Indian Trail, your Waxhaw, your Monroe, those dynamic trucks do very good. They're able to respond quickly. The predictive model works and they're able to get to the calls. The challenge we were having is when there was a call in New Salem, it could take 20, 30 minutes for a ALS truck to get there. At the same time you all authorized the change in model, we added a tiered system, ALS, BLS. So advanced life support, basic life support. Most of the calls we run in Union County can be run by basic level service. But when we need an ALS truck, we need an ALS truck. So what we will do is station those paramedics, those highest level advanced care out in those base stations. So if they do need to get to a call in New Salem for a cardiac, that they're there on site ready to go. Again, some of these, some of what we're trying to do here is be as effective as we can, partner with other fire departments without investing a ton of capital. A simple base station, greenfield construction could be two and a half million dollars, and we're looking at five of those. So it was not something we wanted to try to come up with 12 and a half million dollars if we didn't have to. So what you will see tonight is through our partnerships with the fire departments, we've come up with a plan. There's no action requested tonight, but we wanna get feedback from you all because several of these items, if you're okay with them, will come to you over the next few months. So the first kind of domino that fell in all this is when Fairview Fire Department built their new station, it left their old station vacant. So we purchased that in May of 25, about a year and a half ago. We are currently designing that facility for a mild renovation. We anticipate that design will be done shortly and we will be out for bid sometime this year. Allen's Crossroad, which is spelled wrong, I thought I corrected that, but I apologize. Allen's Crossroad and Griffith Road both have existing space in current fire departments that they said they will allow us to use. So that would get the truck inside, allow it to be on shore power. Another benefit from this is when these trucks are on the road, they're running constantly because they need the generator to charge the electronics on board. When they're in base stations, they can plug into shore power and not have to run the diesel engine, which saves a lot of wear and tear. on those engines. Jackson Fire Department is also in the middle of a design and renovation. They are in some value engineering with their contractor to try to bring the cost down a little bit, but they also said that after that renovation, they will have space that we can put a truck in there if they want. New Salem has four fire departments. It's the biggest fire district in our county. Three of them are base stations, and they have one main station. Station 5, 6, and 7, all of those are fairly old stations, and they cannot order new fire trucks because of the size of those stations. They can't get the size of a new truck in their old stations. So they are currently... under construction on station five and they have a plan to start station six in december station seven will come later but station six is the one that is in an area we have looked at and said yes this would provide coverage for that new salem district So this is kind of a summary of where we are. The old Fairview Department, we've purchased that. We are designing, going to renovate that, and we think that we'll be able to go live there December of 2026. Allen's Crossroad has agreed to a five-year term of $1,500 a month with a 2% annual escalation. Griffith Road is the same five-year term, $1,500 a month. with a 2% annual escalation. New Salem's a little bit different because this add-on bay for New Salem, this is not something they will do if we don't want them to do it. So what we will do on this one is pay the construction cost and some of the land development costs if we want to partner with them at that station. And that'd be $675,000 split in thirds, a third at the start of construction, a third in midpoint, and a third at the end of it. It would be a longer year term with a lower lease. So it would be a 15-year term, $750 a month to help with utilities, insurance, and some of the maintenance that goes on. And then Jackson Fire Department, again, they are still working through their final cost with their contractor, but we anticipate it to be in that same $1,500 to $2,000 a month whenever they're done. You can see the timelines. The first three would be December of 2026, and we plan to go live as soon as we can execute those lease agreements. And then the other two, New Salem still has to build Station 6, and Jackson has to do their addition to their station. So that's a lot of information. But again, what we were trying to do here is not build our own stations. partner with the fire departments where we could. So we wanted to get the board's feedback. Again, no action requested tonight, but if something stood out to you and say, no, we don't want to do this, we want you to look at something else, we wanted to get that because especially with New Salem Station 6, they are waiting on us at this point to say, yes, we're interested or no, we're not. And if we're not interested, they're going to move forward without the EMS bay. But we do think this, after looking at it for a year and a half, is the most cost-effective, efficient way to provide bay stations to our EMS personnel.

Any questions for Patrick? Patrick, I've got a question here. So in regards to the proposed numbers for Allen's Crossroads and Griffith Road, and even for Jackson, and you may have covered this, and I'm sorry if I missed it, but we're looking at approximately $1,500 a month lease agreement for various terms, like Allen's and Griffith are five-year terms. I don't know that we've got that worked out completely with Jackson. But now this is for exactly how much space?

In general, it's about the size of a fire department bay at each station. Some bays are a little bit bigger, some are a little bit smaller. In the case of New Salem specifically, there's actually some day room space built into the EMS, so they would have a bathroom, they'd have a kitchen area. In all these other departments, they'd be using the existing infrastructure for the fire department. So it's really... 12 to 1,800 square feet of space, but it also includes the utilities that they're able, the shore power that they're able to hook up to.

Gotcha. Okay. Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you, Patrick.

We don't need a motion, but for New Salem 6, if we are okay with that, I'd like to notify them, just listen. We put it in front of the board, they're okay with it. It'll come back to you as a lease and probably a capital project ordinance just to move the money where it needs to go. But if there are no major objections, we just wanna get them the ability where they can tell the contractor to go ahead and start getting building permits and set up the logistics.

I think that you can let them know that we're interested at this point. Obviously, this needs to be brought back before the board. Yes, sir. But I think that the board would be interested at least in their chain edit.

Okay. Thank you.

All right. So the next item of business on our agenda is item 26-546, interlocal agreement. Concerning the City of Monroe parking lot, I will again recognize Patrick Nyland, Deputy County Manager, for your comments. Welcome back, Patrick.

Thank you. It's good to be here. The Church Street parking lot behind the government center, this is flanked by North Charlotte Avenue, Old Monroe, and Skyway Drive. This is where the majority of our employees live. All the judicial functions, people visiting the judicial center and City of Monroe employees. City of Monroe does have a public lot that in front of their city hall where most of the public goes, but a lot of their city employees use this lot. This parking lot is owned by the City of Monroe, but a lot of it is located on CSX right away. So we're somewhat limited, or they are somewhat limited with what they can access. do on it um over the years there's been no agreement in place between the city and the county we've we've just used it it has deteriorated to a point um that it's it's in need of some major improvements it's funny before this meeting i've had two employees come to me and say great it's about time we did something and i'm like well we haven't done anything yet but I think we're a little bit spoiled because we don't park in that lot but a lot of our employees do there are also safety concerns there's no street lighting out there there's no security cameras so we have talked to the city for several years and we think we have finally come to an agreement that makes sense for both sides and we'd like the board to hear the terms of its day again we're not voting on the interlocal but want you to hear what we're proposing and then get some feedback This would be what's called full depth reclamation. So what they do is they come in with a big grinder, they grind up the existing asphalt, they mix it with a Portland cement and then they put it back down. It's a fairly efficient way to repave large areas. And what it gets at is the heart of the structural issues underneath the asphalt. You can go over and do a thin layer of asphalt on top of this parking lot, and the cracks would come back within three or four months. So this is the right way to do it. As part of this, there would be some islands rebuilt that have deteriorated over the years. There would also be some lighting added to it. You can see the existing is 254 spaces, and the new is 246 spaces. A lot of that is because those lighting apparatus take up some of the parking. But I will tell you, if you've gone out there and looked, there are no lines on the ground. So we are not getting 254 people in that parking lot right now. So we would go through, do the full depth reclamation, repave it, repaint it, and add lighting. This is the total cost of that project. The proposal is that we would be responsible for 50% of the cost of that, 50% of the cost of the utilities to run the light, and any maintenance potholes that came up over the years, we would agree to 50% of that on a reimbursement basis. uh it would be a 10-year agreement and during that 10-year agreement the city would agree that this remains an open non-permitted non-fee lot for the period of time at the at the conclusion of that agreement we'd obviously look at the condition of the payment see if we wanted to extend that but we have seen the city put some permit parking in in place and we we want to try to protect our employees protect people using the judicial center and and not have that be the case. And we feel like this is the most cost-effective way to do that. You can see in the budget this year, we put up to $750,000. If you go back to this, one of the things we have talked about is closing off these two exits on the Charlotte Avenue side. That gets a little more complicated and it requires DOT participation. So I think long-term, we'd still wanna look at that. It's just not gonna be something we can get done quickly. There's some safety, issues that dot would want us to to address and some structural issues especially with stormwater so it's a little bit more challenging so we think moving forward with this existing plan makes the most sense right now the interlocal agreement is currently in contract routing again on a high level we've we've agreed to terms with staff over there obviously the attorneys will take a look at it just make sure we're not missing anything but we'd like to bring this back to you all for execution sometime in october

Thank you, Patrick. Any questions for Patrick?

Can you go back a couple of slides to Bauer? On the exit on... Charlotte Avenue. These down here? Yes, sir. Can we make that right turn only, or does that have to go through DOT if we did that? That has to go through DOT.

Okay, never mind. Thank you. So the biggest issue is if we were going to close these off, we would have to put some major stormwater infrastructure in to handle it, and it's DOT.

Well, not necessarily close it off, but turning left out of that parking lot is virtually impossible. Yeah. And I didn't know if we could just make it left turn only. Or excuse me, right turn only.

We can ask, we can try. The only way we could be able to do that is put some type of physical barrier to prevent people, because you can put no right turn, but people are still gonna take the left turn. So we can certainly explore that with the city and DOT.

Okay, thank you.

Any other questions? Patrick, I'll just say this. I appreciate staff looking at this. I mean, that parking lot, I lived in Union County my whole life, and that parking lot seems like it's always been a disaster of some sort. And you're right. I think that it is a public safety issue. It's not only a safety issue for our employees, our associates here in the county, but also City of Monroe, and then also the visitors to Monroe City Hall as well as the government center and even the judicial center here in Union County. So I think that it's long overdue. that we do some improvements there. And most importantly, lighting and safety concerns need to be addressed. So yeah, I appreciate that and we're looking forward to you bringing that back to us.

Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, so our final item of business tonight is item 26-523. That's I-77 South toll lanes and directed vote at CRTPO board meeting. I think I'm gonna recognize several individuals tonight. So I'll recognize Bjorn Hanson, our senior planner, as well as Chair Richardson for CRTPO, and also Neil Burke, CRTPO staff. So I'll recognize you all and open this item.

Mr. Chairman, I'll be the most brief because they know everything. And so that's why I'm going to turn it over to Neil, Deputy Director for Carpo and Mayor Pro Tem from the Town of Stallings, but also the Chairman of the Carpo Board, Brad Richardson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the board. It's a pleasure to be here with you all tonight. I just have a brief presentation that I'd like to provide an overview of the current 77 South project. Not sure how to get to the presentation.

Is that your thumb drive? Yeah.

See, Bjorn, you weren't going to be as brief as you thought.

Well, Neil did email it to me, and I just realized I didn't put it on here for him.

That's not the right one. Sorry.

Sorry about that.

No problem. I'd like to begin with a brief overview of the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization and where we lie in the transportation planning process. So we're what's known as a Metropolitan Planning Organization. These are federally designated organizations. There's about 400 of these throughout the country. They're established by urban area. So in our case, we have a three-county urban area here, Iredell, Mecklenburg, and Union Counties. We have 21 cities and towns. Union County is represented by Chair Helms on the CRTPO board and also represented by Bjorn Hansen on our technical coordinating committee. In terms of what our priorities are as an organization, we establish long-range transportation policy. We also identify long-range transportation projects, and we work with NCDOT to develop a transportation improvement program every two years. NCDOT's role in this whole process is to develop that TIP with us, but more importantly, they are the deliverer of projects. They construct the projects that we identify as priorities with our jurisdictions. So I'm here tonight to talk to you all about I-77 South. This corridor is an 11 mile long corridor between uptown Charlotte and the South Carolina state line. It's included within the 2026 through 2035 Transportation Improvement Program as a freeway widening to 10 lanes, constructing managed lanes and reconstructing both interchanges at 277. It has a total project cost of $3.7 billion. Its purpose, it carries 170,000 vehicles a day. The crash rates are two and a half times higher than other pier roads in the state. This highway was originally constructed in the 1960s and 70s. It was last widened in the 1990s. So some history in terms of planning for this project. In 2007, the region undertook a fast lane study to evaluate express lane opportunities, really for the reason why I-77 was widened in the 90s, and here we are 20 years later, it's at capacity again. Adding general purpose lanes is not a solution in a fast-growing area like this. So within that study, 77 South emerged as a high-priority corridor. Then in 2014, this project was incorporated into the CRTPO's 2040 Metropolitan Transportation Plan. In 2014 and 2015, we submitted this project to NCDOT for evaluation in the 2016-2025 Transportation Improvement Program Development Process, known as P3.0 or Prioritization 3. This project was partially funded in the TIP. It scored very high, but it was a very expensive project. But with it being partially funded, it allowed NCDOT to begin preliminary engineering on the project. And then for several years, beginning in 2016, this project remained in successive STIPs. So again, we update the STIP with NCDOT every two years. We also have to update our MTP every four years. So this project remained in that step, numerous votes taken at CRTPO board meetings reinforcing regional and state support. In February 2023, CRTPO requested that NCDOT conduct a comparative delivery analysis because we recognized we could not deliver this project traditionally based upon limitations within the state law. So we were interested in looking at a public-private partnership. The outcome of that comparative analysis in 2024 was that a traditional toll delivery had a funding gap of $2 billion that we didn't have. And the P3, public-private partnership, was financially feasible with the STIP funding that we had, the $600 million, but also the additional equity that a private developer could bring. So moving into the last two years where in October of 2024, CRTPO authorized NCDOT to pursue a P3 delivery for the project. This also coincided with the formation of a task force of CRTPO board members to work with NCDOT to develop draft terms for the request for qualifications. So in May of 2025, the task force developed those draft terms with NCDOT, focused on toll rate caps, potential discounts, and waiver of tolls for vehicles that had more than three passengers. And one reason why we formed this task force is our board spent a lot of time talking about the existing project that's on the ground today with NCDOT and some lessons learned. And this was a lesson learned to work with NCDOT at the beginning to try to develop these terms to make it a better project. Also in 2025, in August of 2025, NCDOT releases the RFQ and receives commitments from four qualified design and construction firms. Then in the fall of 2025, NCDOT began conducting public engagement meetings, and the initial project maps triggered significant community concerns, particularly regarding impacts to historically African American neighborhoods along the corridor. Then in May of 2026, Charlotte City Council voted to rescind its support for the public-private partnership delivery mechanism for the project. Similar, at the May 20th CRTPO board meeting, the board subsequently takes a similar action through our weighted voting structure. The next month, NCDOT halts work on the project. So what's at stake for this project, for CRTPO? In July of 2026, the state budget included a provision requiring repayment of the I-77 South funds already expended by NCDOT, and those would be charged to the jurisdictions that voted to rescind support for the project at the May 20th meeting. There are subsequent provisions within the state budget that a jurisdiction voting to reinstate support locally for the P3 delivery process would not be required to repay their share of the funds. However, if a jurisdiction failed to take local action to reaffirm support, they would see state aid withheld until NCDOT was fully reimbursed. Another provision in that legislation was CRTPO has been given until October 5th to consider whether to reaffirm support for the project. And Charlotte's position is especially significant because within our weighted voting structure, Charlotte holds 31 of the 74 weighted votes. And that's developed by population. You know, again, $600 million is already committed to this project in the STIP through prioritization 7.0. We received that a few years ago. In addition, NCDOT has suggested that $300 million may be available in potential community benefits, as well as $100 million in bonus allocation funding that comes to an MPO when they agree to accept a tolling project. One other thing I'll close with is Charlotte City Council has a special meeting that's ongoing this evening, and they are scheduled to take a vote on this project and whether or not to reaffirm support. We don't have any updates for you all on that, but I wanted to close with that. I know that's a lot of information in a short amount of time, but I'm happy to take any questions that you have.

Thank you, Neil. Is there any questions for Neil?

I do.

Mr. Helms.

What's the cost to the county if we rescind support even though this project doesn't touch Union County?

From what I understand, Union County was not present at the October 2024 meeting where CRTPO initially supported the P3 and also was not present at the May 20th meeting. So I do not believe that Union County would be on the hook for any penalties, but that's from a transportation planning perspective and not from a legal perspective. okay and what's the county's weight in the vote the county union county has uh three votes um and that that's uh similar or consistent with mecklenburg and ireland counties each of the counties within crtpo has three weighted votes

And then municipalities have votes on their own too, is that correct?

Yeah, so like I said, Charlotte has 31 of the 74 votes, and then if there are jurisdictions with 50,000 or more population, so that's Mooresville and Huntersville, they have three votes. There are several jurisdictions that have kind of between 49, 999, and 20. They have two votes, and then the smaller jurisdictions have one vote. Good. Yeah, go ahead.

All right. Thank you, Neil. Chair Richardson, would you like to make any comments on this item? I've got some comments as well, but I wanted to give you an opportunity first.

Sure. Thank you again, Brad Richardson, a Union County native as well. I would just point out a couple of things that maybe Neil didn't mention. The authority to proceed with a managed lanes project has to be granted by our regional board. I didn't hear him mention that, but I think that's important. I think he did mention that the alternative, which would be a traditionally delivered toll project, it was not financially feasible, which leaves us with this quandary of should we do nothing and rescind support for the project, I think 77 goes back in the queue and we could see a delay of up to 10 more years before improvements are made. Those are two points I'd make in addition to, I think, a very good summary Mr. Burke presented. We'll be glad to take questions, but I would agree, Vice Chair Helms, that you're not on record as a county doing anything other than supporting through multiple votes through a decade of voting and not just the ones that we took in the past couple of years. But every time we approved a transportation plan, this was part of us. You are on the record, this county is, of being in support of this, what we would call not just a local road. In fact, clearly it's not. It's a road of regional significance. And I think that's why 11 of our 24 members have voted in support from the beginning. Three have voted in opposition from the beginning. And you've got several. All of your Union County representatives, by the way, are either have or affirm they will be voting in support of the project. But we'll take questions.

Thank you. Any other questions for either Neil, Bjorn, or Mr. Richardson? Okay. Well, I've got some comments that I'd like to share with our board about this as well. So I did ask for this item to be placed on the agenda, and I certainly appreciate both Neil's and Mr. Richardson being here tonight. Bjorn, thank you for your work on this as well. And I ask this to be brought to our board for really the reason to develop an official board position on this project. I think that all of us on this board recognize that when we serve on these ancillary boards, that our vote is not our own, that our vote is the will of our board. as a whole, and that there's not one commissioner that is greater than the other, and that we speak as a board when we take action, even through other boards that we serve on. That being said, this is the most expensive project in state history. So it is a huge price tag. And with that, you know, I... My experience on CRTPO with that board is that there's a lot of our colleagues that serve in other municipalities that have some split opinions on this project. And there are a lot of our colleagues that make some very valid points regarding this project. This project is not perfect. It's not. There's not gonna be a project out there that I think is perfect there's a lot of things with this project that I don't necessarily agree with. And I think that with what we're seeing with the mandate from Raleigh specifically, that municipalities that serve on CRTPO may be required to pay back sunk cost. I think that in a lot of ways, to me, that is government overreach, and I believe that that it really brings to question the purpose of having CRTPO when the state is going to dictate under harsh terms what we should or should not vote on. That's my personal opinion. And anybody that's done project management realizes that sunk cost is not a valid reason to continue with a bad project. Now, that being said, I think that this also represents, to a certain degree, a failure of responsibility in Raleigh. Again, this project's not perfect. I've got personal heartburn about some things. I wasn't crazy about the P3 delivery process. I wasn't crazy about many other things as well. But bottom line is this, and I believe that Mr. Richardson spoke to this, is we had to choose between doing nothing or doing something as a board. Well, I personally, I cannot vote to put the burden, whether I agree with it or not, whether it is government overreach or not, It is currently what has been voted on by our state legislature, and I cannot vote to support asking the residents of Union County to pay back a portion of 60 or 70 million dollars. So if there's no other questions, I will make the motion that this board reaffirm support for the I-77 project So we have a motion. Any discussion on that motion? Seeing none. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. OK. Once again, Brad, Neil, thank you for being here tonight. We appreciate the fact that you came out to our meeting and shared that information with us. all right um that brings us to the end of our business agenda i will now recognize our county manager for county comments i have no comments at this time thank you thank you brian uh commissioner wedger thank you to all the speakers tonight and i just want to um also acknowledge the actions of deputy grants and jacobs i mean

You know, very impressive, but not surprising. You know, our deputies work for us while we're out at work or sleeping at night, and I just want to acknowledge that we appreciate you very much.

Thank you, Commissioner Woodruff. Commissioner Merrill.

I have no comments tonight.

Thank you. Vice Chair Helms.

Thank you, sir. Friday evening, Commissioner Wedra and I attended the Union County Drug Court graduation ceremony. And this was put on by Judge Aaron Hux. I can't express how great a job that she does, and she's a little bitty thing, but she is full of dynamite, and the people that come across her bench have such respect for her. She was very appreciative to the county, she expressed to me personally, much she appreciates the county support for this program saturday we got to attend the randy travis festival and i think that was probably one of the coolest experiences i've ever had so i want to thank the the committee from marshville who put that on case drawn and our Liz Cooper who did so much work behind the scenes and we recognized Mr. Travis with Lifetime Achievement Award and he and his wife Mary were so gracious and so kind and it was, I actually talked to Commissioner Baucom today and he said, you know, Christina, I didn't need anything But Saturday was the coolest thing ever. I said, yes, it was. So we're still talking about it today just amongst ourselves of how just the people that came out and showed so much love to Randy and his family. It was just very impressive. And I would like to take a moment, if I could. We have a resident that I would like to wish a happy 100th birthday to, Miss Mary Lee Mack. She was born on June 17th, 1926 in Arkansas. And she has moved across the country. She was in Chicago. louisiana in all different parts of the world before she settled on her home here in union county in waxhaw specifically she had a career in early education teaching young children It didn't stop there. She had five children at home and she went to school and earned her master's degree and graduated summa cum laude and she received, it's just a remarkable achievement, a working mom to go back with littles and achieve that. She is a very devoted woman, and she is a member of the Lutheran Church. Among her family and friends, she's known as a seamstress. She also loves to garden. She is a ferocious reader and can always be found with her nose in a book and loves a good puzzle, even at 100, to keep her mind sharp. She enjoys going to the movies and apparently is a very skilled baker and everyone that know and love her enjoy her special treats. So Mary has given a life of resilience, faith, learning, and love, and legacy that carries through her five children, 11 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren, and four great-great-grandchildren. Happy birthday, Miss Mack. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Vice Chair. Yeah, very happy birthday to Miss Mack. So first of all, let me say this. I'd like to thank all of our speakers tonight. As always, I appreciate any time we get interaction like that from the public. I specifically want to recognize the DECA Pediatric Cancer Group, that group of young folks that came up here earlier and the message that they had to share with us tonight. Really appreciate that. I appreciate also the information that we got from the speakers regarding Camp New Providence. I believe that if you look hard enough, you're going to find that historically that this was a hotbed of activity during the Revolutionary War, this area. And the heritage of that is something that we're certainly proud of. You know, I want to echo some of Vice Chair Helms' comments about Saturday, the Randy Travis event. It was a really fantastic event. And, you know, it's probably one of the more fun things that we've ever gotten to do. But just seeing the graciousness from Randy and his wife, Mary, and you know, something very simple, but to be recognized right here in his hometown, I think meant a lot to him, and it certainly meant a lot to us to be able to do that. I was telling my kids, my children are small, and they didn't know who Randy Travis was, and they said, well, you know, yeah, he's a part of a local band, right? And I was like, Oh, gosh, we've got to turn on YouTube, you know. So they got an education about that as well. But he is certainly one of Union County's native sons. And we were very, very fortunate to have him and be able to recognize him. Again, thank you to our folks that came tonight. Neil, Brad, thank you guys for coming to talk to us about the I-77 project. Really appreciate your presence. That concludes my comments tonight. Thank you to my colleagues. And with that, I'll make a motion that we adjourn. All those in favor of the motion, say aye.