Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Good evening. Welcome. Welcome everyone. This kicks off today's first meeting of the new year. Welcome. Very exciting to be here once again. Hope everybody enjoyed some time off in the holidays and enjoyed some time with their families and friends and loved ones and everybody in between. So, we'll kick things off tonight. Welcome to our regular board of commissioners meeting for the town of Waxaw this January 13, 2026. Please rise for the presentation of our pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence to give thanks and praise 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. All righty. Uh, I've been hearing some grumblings about some adjustments and amendments to the agenda. So, do we have any adjustments to the agenda this evening?

Uh, yes. Um I wanted to if you look at the agenda um remove item seven from the consent agenda. Item E7 removed or moved removed? Removed. And then um add item one under eye of olds business to approve um the a change to the retreat dates to be February 26th and 27th. essentially moving that consent agenda item to old business.

Mhm. And then removing um item number one of new business and just um added to a work session date in the future. Um it seems like a presentation that's lengthy and might have a lot of questions and we kind of have a heavy duty agenda here. So, okay, I think that's fair. There's bound to be some discussions around projects and project priorities. Mary, can can you repeat that? What What are we It would be removing item J1. So, from new business, item one and just putting it toward a work session. Um,

thank you. And then amending number one in letter M uh to read the next meeting of the Waxor Board of Commissioners will be a work session beginning at 6:30 on January 27th, 2026. So instead of a work session starting at 5:00 p.m., we want a work session starting at 6:30. Yes. Very. That's what I'd like. Let me see. And we can discuss that when we get to it, Mr. Mayor. May I interrupt for point of clarification please

on the removal of the work session and I am in concurrence um are we do we need to call out a specific date that we're moving it to is my question to the clerk and if so would that date be then January 27th oh for the work session the work session for the new business item I removed do we have to specify a date is a date needed to be specified so in other words do we have to say table it for such and such a date or can we just simply removed from the agenda.

That would work sessions are the work sessions are listed on the meeting schedule and they're um outlined as 5:00 p.m. You can take care of that portion of the business and decide if you want to u have the work sessions at 6:30 and then we can update the meeting schedule. The meeting schedule serves as our notice for publishing. Otherwise, we would have to publish a notice for each one of those meetings. Um, so we could do that when you look at the meeting schedule. So I think the primary question for item J1, the discussion about the project advocacy, the technical method or procedure for removing that, can we simply say it's removed from the agenda or do we need to officially table this for the January 27th work? you know, you can remove it from the agenda and if your action is is to put it on the work session. Um it would be helpful if you could direct staff what date you would like to see that information if it's at the next meeting or the next work session. Uh so that way we would be able to plan to figure out which which meeting you want to see that information come back.

So I I think it would be safe to say that we would table it until the next work session or next available work session. I would just defer it. I would not table it. Very well. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Cool. So, when we get to that item, we'll do a simple vote to defer. All good. Yes.

Uh I would like to also remove consent agenda item six, the ABC and planning board appointments. I feel like it's a little premature. We only received the OAB recommendations yesterday and uh the other applications today. Not that we would necessarily, you know, go against the OAB, but I just feel like we need to do our due diligence. Uh we received more information this the last time such appointments were made. So, okay, a little more consideration is needed, but yeah,

that seems reasonable. Anyone opposed to that? And uh I'd also like to add an item, board of commissioners 2026 priorities. Uh just a list of ideas I'd like to discuss. Uh could we put that in J1 in in place of the J1 that was removed or do we need to move it to the end? Uh let's see here. Let me get to J1 so I know what I'm talking about. I think we can discuss it at that time. Okay.

So, we'll leave it as that discussion. So, during that discussion, we'll discuss the deferment and then anything else related to the capital improvements priorities uh legislative priorities. Well, J1 then is now board of commissioners 2026 priorities, right? So, we need a number for each one. I guess each priority you mean or for for each item because the priorities discussion is a separate item than the uh is your goal to discuss the priorities individually?

Uh let's just put it at the end I guess because we're still discussing this. So let's put it at the end. Uh J that would make it J uh J9 J9. Okay. So I'll move that to J9. Yeah.

Okay. So item J1 is now moved to be item J9. Oh no it's not. Well J1 stays where it is. I guess because we're deferring it or Well, we discussed deferring it and now you're talking about talking about it. No, it's something. No, I thought that's what you said. We're deferring it, right? It's a separate item. J1, I believe, if I may interpret, J1 will be uh deferred and then um J9 is added and then you're requesting to add just a conversational point as as what would be equivalent of J9. Exactly. Y

So it's not that. Gotcha. And it was BOC priorities. Thank you, Commissioner Don. All righty. So, uh, so just to clarify, the retreat dates are what we're discussing, correct? Because we had already adopted it on on the, um, well, the retreat dates were in the consent agenda, correct?

Right. We move that. If you recall at your meeting in December, you had the meeting schedule um and you decided to uh move your retreat from January to February to February. So what is in the packet now is that decision to put that in February. So the meeting schedule just needs to be re readopted. It's a routine in nature type item. Unless you just want to pull it to talk about the retreat dates specifically.

Yeah, just the retreat dates because we um the the schedule's already been decided was decided December 9th. So, we really only just need to approve those um new retreat dates. Correct. And that meeting schedule with those dates are there. So you just the meeting schedule is a big change though because it adds you know what we approved last year was the first meeting of the month to be a regular meeting and the second meeting to be a work session. This new schedule is a big change that I don't think we're really comfortable with. And so we want to strike that out and then talk about the uh the retreat dates only.

The other meeting dates were not revised. What was moved was the retreat dates that were showing for the end of January. Nothing else. And all of that information was already there at your December 9th meeting. So all was the only direction that you gave staff was to move the retreat dates from January to February and that's all that's on the schedule. That's what you're you're approving is just the February retreat dates. Everything else you already approved in January the on December the 9th.

No, there's more than that though because it changes the second meeting of the month from a regular meeting to a from a work session. sorry to a regular meeting and puts the work session at 5:00 p.m. So that's the change that we don't we're not comfortable with. Yeah. And that's the change we talked we were going to discuss on item M. So the look ahead would be the changing of the time for that work session. Well, there wouldn't be a point in discussing it at that point because they put it in the consent agenda. Well, that's why that's why we pulled it off.

That's why we pulled it off. Item seven. May I clarify? Uh, Commissioner Wedra, you're asking to move remove from the consent the calendar and put it into the regular session for discussion. Is that correct? Well, the calendar as it reads isn't the calendar that we received December 9th. So, I wanted to remove the new calendar. Okay. And then just keep the old calendar and accept the new retreat dates the way you need to publish it.

But that's what you're doing. This is not a new calendar. No, this ex it's it's not a new calendar as far as the dates are concerned other than those dates. But the the work sessions were to be 6:30 in place of the regular meeting the way that it was written December 9th, not 5 to6 work session. That was not indicated in the adoption of the December 9th. Correct. Because an adoption of the consent agenda would be an adoption of the 5:00 PM work session. Yes. And I think that that's where the that's where the hitch is. So you want to move that out to discuss it tonight. That's my major question too. You you want to put it out to discuss it

tonight is what I hear you saying. Is that correct? In the looking ahead section. So we will remove item seven from the consent. Okay. Which is the readoption of the meeting schedule. Then we will have that discussion in section M. Okay. Just want to clarify that and then you can uh take that time and have that discussion. Okay. Very good.

Sounds good. So, just to recap, uh, just to make sure I'm clear on my notes and everybody's clear on what's going on, we are removing consent agenda item six, the consideration of the appointments to fill the midterm vacancies. We're removing consent agenda item uh, number seven, uh, the approval and readoption of the Waxaw board of commissioners meeting schedule. Then, we are adding to old business a discussion of the retreat date changes and the retreat. So that was added to item I1. So we'll discuss the retreat dates then and adopt the schedule once we have an agreement. Uh we will remove or defer item J1 the discussion regarding project advocacy and the legislative priorities. We will move that and defer it to the next work session and We will add to new business item nine, the BOC priorities. And then item M is still there. We will have that discussion at that time as per the agenda. So all in favor of the agenda as amended or can I get a motion to adopt the agenda as amended?

So moved. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Alrighty. Well, that was quick and easy. This motion carries. Uh, next order of business will be the famed consent agenda. Oh, wait, no, general public comments. Oh, there are no public comments. Back to the consent agenda. So, thank you very much. Uh, we are at the consent agenda. So, can I get a motion to adopt the consent agenda as amended? Motion to adopt the consent agenda as amended. All in favor? I. Any opposed?

All righty. Next up is item F, recognitions. Um, tonight we have a very, very, very, very, very, very special recognition. Um, it doesn't go without saying that that we are at a big loss as a result of this recognition. But I will introduce him assembly Leonard to discuss this uh special recognition tonight.

Yes, definitely something very bittersweet, exciting for his next adventure, but uh sad for staff because he's been such an integral part of team Waxaw. So um we're celebrating the service of Todd Matthews, um one of our longest tenur employees. He's actually about coming up on his 24 years of service on January 22nd. So, um, that's that's amazing. 24 years, that's over two decades. So, um, that's that's exciting, but bittersweet because as of February 1st, he will be retiring. Um, so a big big loss for us. Um, but again, exciting for you. Um, a little bit about Todd, he grew up in [clears throat] the area, so he's born and raised here, so has a big investment in seeing Waxaw thrive. Um, and he actually decided to join Team Waxaw in 2002. um and he had a passion for the community, uh a desire to contribute and be part of the town and um growing its services. Uh he built actually built the public services department from the ground up. Uh and he's guided it to what it is today. Um and that is something you can be very very proud of Todd. Um your legacy that really is your legacy and that's huge. So good job on [snorts] that. Um, they say, we all say that if you want to know something about Waxaw, ask Cod. And it's true. Um, he knows, he's seen Waxaw go, all the ups and downs, the changes, you've seen it all. Um, and so, and you've been a huge part of the success, um, and positive parts of Waxaw, uh, in building that public services department, being out in the community, um, really building those connections with staff, the town, the boards, everybody. Um, and they say if you leave something better better than you found it, and that is very true. Um, you've achieved that here, Todd. Um, and so even though we're very very excited for your next phase, it's certainly

bittersweet because we're going to miss you so much. Um, when you [snorts] think Waxaw, you think of Todd. It goes hand in hand. Um, and so it'll be adjustment for us certainly, um, as you've been to such a huge part of the team. But the good thing is he still lives here. So hopefully we'll get to see you often still. Um, good. [laughter] And, uh, he's not off the hook yet because we still have him for a few more weeks on staff. So that that's the good part. And we're certainly going to celebrate him, um, in these last few weeks. [clears throat] So Todd, I want to thank you, um, from behalf of myself, all of our staff, and everyone in the town that thank you for your dedication to the town and its citizens, we want to wish you all the happiness in the world um, as you go into retirement. Um, can please can everyone please give Todd a round of applause um for your commitment? [applause] [applause]

Yeah, you deserve all the recognition and more. If you would like to say a few words, please feel free.

If I can. My wife took my man card a few years ago, so I might tear up. Uh, a lot's happened over the years. Uh, a big night tonight. Uh, we closed down Milbridge. Been working on it since 2006. Um, I had some help with all the knowledge of Waxaw. My wife owned a barber shop and men talk more than women. So, I would know stuff that was going to happen before it happened. And I'd go ask the planning board, they said, "We don't know nothing about that." and then it would show up. So, she helped a lot and uh she put up with a lot. Uh when I first started, we had uh small team. We did events. We would spend I don't know 18 20 hours on July 4th here doing fireworks, parade, band, cookout, and all that. I'd get to go home for about 45 minutes and have with my family. So, but it's been a good ride. I appreciate Mike Simpson for hiring me when he did and um we had a town manager Mike McLaren that was here for eight years. He really kind of took me under his wing and taught me a lot about the municipality end. I knew the landscape and the mechanic part of it but all the other and he really helped me out a lot. So I appreciate that and I thank all the team. It's been a great team to work with and I've seen a lot come and go and they move to bigger and better things. But it's been a good ride and I appreciate it. [applause]

Mr. Mayor, if I may for a second when you please. Commissioner Ferris.

Mr. Matthews, if you would please give me one one minute. It's an honor to be able to celebrate your 24 years of service, and I'd like to take a moment to just simply say thank you. One constant I observed I'd like to share is the manner in which your team spoke about you. In every conversation I had with the dedicated men and women of public service, they referenced you with reverence. Your leadership and respect was clear and and the sense of purpose gave direction to our public service team. That constant is notable and speaks volumes about the culture you have helped foster here in Waxaw. Thank you for your stewardship, your steadiness, and your commitment to serving this great town. Your leadership is clearly resonated throughout the department as it reflects in the professionalism of your team that serves Waxaw daily. Thank you, sir, for your service.

Appreciate that. I'll take my public service team and put it up against any team in the United States. Some of them sitting back here right now. And they get it done. So, they make your job a lot easier. I just wanted to make sure we said thank you and I appreciate it everything that you've done for the town. Thank you. Thank [applause] you.

The fact that we can honor your departure and honor your retirement without feeling afraid of your departure and your retirement speaks a lot to the culture you created and the team you've created. And I've talked with a few of these guys on more than one occasion. And you guys, you do public service with a really big service. And your attention to the public, to the town of Waxaw, your dedication to all of us and your community is just, it's heartwarming. It's all inspiring. And I'm just glad that I get to be a part of it in some little way. So, thank you. Alrighty. Um, we have a presentation by Mr. James Kelly. All right, good evening. James Kelly, traffic and transportation engineer. Tonight we have the part two of the on the road series, or we can say on the road again for any Willie Nelson fans out there. Um, but the purpose of this series is really to help to update and really inform the community on upcoming road and safety projects in Waxaw in a clear and engaging way. And ultimately, we are working to develop a web page um actually Bradley of our communications team deserves kudos on this. He has helped develop a web page to display information on the town website to help keep the community informed. And this is this is big because we keep getting some of the same questions over and over and over again. So, it's great just to tell folks, hey, go to the website. There's the most updated, uh, information on a certain project and folks can explore the fine details for themselves. So, today, um, we're going to talk about really kind of help give a quick recap of what we discussed during part one, recognizing that we have new commissioners on the board, um, and then move into uh, some various projects that we've also added on to the website. This

will include a requested item from Mayor Murray to talk about the Waxel Marvin and Bonds Grove Church Road intersection or on the western side of of Bonds Grove. We'll talk about the U5769 doubleA project which is the Bonds Grove Church Road and NC16 uh intersection not to be confused with the other Bonds Grove. And then we'll move in to talk about some updates with the Uni County uh downtown Waxel water line. Move into the discussion on the upcoming sewer line project. Give some highle updates there. then moved to talk about the New Town and Cupersonson roundabout project, the NC75 Old Providence Road roundabout project, the Broom Street improvements that are upcoming, the Helms Road grade separation, and the Helms Road uh extension project or Parkway West, and then ultimately lead into some discussions on some high level discussions on traffic impact analysis to move into more further discussion on that uh next time and take any requests from the board that you may have if you want to explore something a little bit further. Um I'll just note you know this high level note that you know by the time we present this information sometimes it becomes outdated because project schedules are are subject to change due to design rideway and construction factors. So giving you just a quick recap of part one uh we talked about these steps that um are involved within the transportation project process and really from a very high level view there's five primary steps. So you move from a planning step which was where you identify your transportation needs. You collect data. You get public input. These are your long range plans and then move into the programming stage which is where you start to prioritize these projects. Secure funding um include those in established uh official programs such as the state transportation improvement plan, CIPs, that sort of thing. Um and then move into the last three which are design, rightway and [clears throat] construction. So design is obviously designing um getting those conceptual layouts, those environmental studies,

again heavy involvement with the public to get uh stakeholder engagement input, starting to develop those final plans and cost estimates. And then ultimately moving into rideofway, which is where you identify property impacts, enter into negotiations, acquisition, land acquisition, easement acquisition, that sort of thing. And then ultimately the last part, which is really what the public sees. So the public doesn't really see a lot of the steps before. They see the construction, the 6 to 12 months um that lead up to this, but that's where you start to advertise and award contracts to your contractors, project completion, and then ultimately ongoing maintenance responsibility. So the emphasis here is that each step in this transportation project process may take several years to decades to to really complete depending upon the project scale. So some smaller projects, you know, you're typically on a on a five three to five year program. Larger projects can take multiple decades to uh bring to fruition. But this helps to explain to the public very at a very high level the five preliminary steps in that process from the planning to to uh construction. So where can you access this information? It's it's very easy. It's just one click. So, you just go to waxaw.com, hover over our town, and click on traffic projects, and that'll take you to a site where we have the part one projects that we discussed. So, if you missed that, feel free to go back and take a look at that. We discussed the um NC16 Providence Road widening project, the upcoming Kensington Drive widening project, Pine Oak and Prescott Glenn roundabout project that was just recently completed before the end of the year uh before the end of last year, the Pineoke and Waxel Marvin traffic signal, the Millbridge traffic signal, and ultimately the Waxel Marvin bridge replacement and how those projects besides the 16 winding project all tied together leading up to that uh Wax on Marvin bridge replacement because really we need to get those projects, Kensington Drive, Pine Oak, Milbridge bridge, all those projects completed before we start that uh bridge

replacement with NC DOT to help alleviate some of those uh traffic issues that we're going to anticipate. So, feel free to dive u more into that on the website. Again, just very simple, one click, hover over our town, go to traffic projects, and you're there. So, um Bradley with our communications team also has uploaded the part two. So everything that you will see tonight has been uploaded to the website as well so the community can go back and explore that whenever they would like. So moving into the first project which is the Waxel Marvin and Bonds Grove Church Road project which has a a state a step number associated with it HL0116. So, I'll just note this is a NC DOT administered project with Union County and Village of Marvin involvement and the scope is um if you've traveled that that particular intersection, you know that the the roads are poorly aligned. Um so, it's going to add a roundabout at that intersection which will be a huge safety improvement for um the village of Marvin and unincorporated Union County. project schedule. Right now, they're in the rightway phase. Um, April 2026 is when they will start acquisition. Um, DOT will then move into uh relocations, utility relocations, April 2027 to ultimately move to award the contract in September 2028. So, that does not mean that it's going to be completed by September 2028. That just means that's the contract when it's actually going to be awarded. Um, I'll also note some other things. So, as a part of this project, the village of Marvin and Union County are matching 20% of the overall project costs with the remaining 80% covered by the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization and NC DOT. So, those are your state and federal dollars. Um, of the 20% total, Union County cost share equates to about 46% and the village of Marvin cost share equates to uh 54%. Why is this important? This is important because as

a part of one of Waxaw's developments, the Adelina development, um through their traffic impact analysis or TIA identified mitigations, there was an identified mitigation at this intersection, even though it's outside of Waxaw municipal limits. So, as a part of that development at this particular intersection, the development is responsible for an eastbound right turn lane um within phase one or 2027 of their projected schedule for for development. Considering that this project is already underway, discussions have been held to where the uh developer is permitted to provide a payment in loo uh for this proportional identified mitigation and monies will can then be applied to the HL0116 already program. So this this really boils down for from a choice for you all. Whenever we receive this money, which is expected in 2027, the town of Waxaw may then choose to give Union County the payment in lie for this turn lane to be applied to the project. And that equates to an estimated value of $237,783. And if you break that down based upon the agreement that Uni County and Village of Marvin has, those are the breakdowns that will be paid um to to each municipality. Again, those monies for the payment eloo are anticipated to be received by 2027. and if used for the project may be used to assist Union County and Village of Marvin with current funding and and and especially in the event if they have a potential uh future shortfall in their funding. So, this is more of an engagement type um presentation. So, if you have any questions, feel free to ask now. I'll just take a quick break before moving into the next project. So based on your last comment there, so it sounds like we've baked in the possibility of a shortfall and that's already accounted for in the funds that are being allocated because you know 28 is a couple years away. So there might be some price changes and so forth.

That's correct. So it sounds like we've got that baked in.

Yeah, you're spot on with that. So with the constru construction timeline of September 2028, um there could be anticipated shortfalls with inflationary factors, contingency factors, those sorts of things. And in that event, the town at that time once we receive the monies may decide uh to support Union County and provide those funds to Union County if you choose to do so. Hearing no further questions, we're going to move on to the next one. So, not to be confused with the other Bonds Grove project, this is the Bonsgrove and NC16 project on the eastern side. Um, so this is also an NC DOT administered project with town of Waxaw contributions. So, the scope of this project is to construct a northbound left turn lane along with a traffic signal at this intersection. We get a lot of complaints about this. Um, most people going north, they sit there and you have three or four cars that are queued up and then everyone else gets blocked on their way trying to go north. So, this will be a huge improvement. Um, right acquisition has already begun. And as far as utilities, that's that's already be begun, too. So, we're anticipating uh DOT to award the contract sometime in February of this year. So, right around the corner. Um, again, that's to award that does not mean that it's going to be constructed February. So, that there there's going to be some gap there before it's actually uh fully constructed. So, I'll note this uh to highlight this to you because you'll see this as another agenda item um within your packet tonight. But, um the town of Waxaw is a part of a new grant project fund is able to match these monies held in reserve to be paid to do DOT. So that fund is identified as fund 407 and that's within um your agenda packet that uh the town manager will talk further about uh later uh this evening. Um as far as some other notes to mention so the entire town match is 355,000 that is our contribution to this NC DOT

project. With that said, we are also anticipated to receive another fee and loo from again the Adelina development for this intersection in the amount of 235,000. So that's just something to keep in mind uh as we receive those those fee and lose over time um as the as that development comes online as a part of their mitigations. Questions on this one? Hearing none, we'll just move right into the uni county downtown Waxaw waterline project. So this is a highlevel view um just to give some folks some more information of what's going on, what's already occurred and what what's what's going to look like moving forward. So again, this is a Union County administered project with uh they're using Dawn Development as their contractor. The scope is for this particular project is a replacement of 8 8,000 linear feet of water line. Um really it's to replace the existing infrastructure which dates back to the 1930s. So it's long overdue for an infrastructure upgrade uh when it comes to that. So right now that project is already ongoing. There's work on Rahobitth right now that's ti that's being completed along with southeastern portion of town here. Um Union County has asked us if they have any questions if you guys have any questions to reach out to them. Um so that I provided their contact information here um to provide a little bit more of details and what people can expect. You can obviously expect some impacts coming to downtown Waxall. Um, luckily we were able to have some good partnerships with Union County and postpone some of the work especially in the downtown uh core after the holiday season so that way uh there it's a little bit less impactful. But some things that you can expect are some rough road conditions while Union County uh water and sewer line work is underway. Again, like I said, I've kind of highlighted those areas that are in process right now. house of the Rahobath road section along with the southeastern portion of town. But you're also going to start to see movement to the downtown

core and downtown vicinity here within the next about uh four to four to five months. So, and then something else to note along with this project again from a high level perspective once this waterline work is complete the next phase of this project is the sewer line replacement. So, you can expect work to continue throughout the downtown core and throughout this downtown vicinity um over the next two years as that infrastructure is upgraded. I'll pause there. Looks like you might have some questions. I just have a quick question. Um so, they're doing the water line first, correct? And then the sewer line. Do they overlap?

Some of them do. Yes. Okay. So you'll see you so that's so so I guess um I guess is your question leading to what are those over what what are those um overlaps? Um well yeah and how much does that impact Main Street itself because Rahobitth while that's impacted impacting Main Street uh is a little different because there's less way to travel right you can go around Rahobath if you needed to somehow won't be easy but you you find a way

you're right it's it's definitely going to be a it's definitely going to be a challenge I'll say that it's definitely going to be a challenge and it's going to be something that uh we're working in advance with some of those business owners downtown to let them know that this is coming. Um, work with them from a downtown and communication aspect so that way everyone is aware so they they don't get caught off guard. Um, I know one of the big questions we've been asked already, well, what about when they tie in? Am I going to lose water service? And there will be brief interruptions and that those interruptions are especially in the downtown core. Union County is already working with us to make sure that those brief interruptions are at a off hour uh, if you will. So, I can't guarantee that, of course, but that's just something that's going to be managed through um Union County.

Mr. Mayor, um question for James real fast,

please. Um just to uh expand on expectations for the folks that may see well are currently already seeing interruptions water line sewer line and then those essentially trenches will be filled in and and then afterwards and they'll come back through and pave. So at the end of the two years of construction. Well, we're we're currently discussing some options with that because we realize that with the current open cuts, if we leave those open for too long, that could risk some damage to the the asphalt underneath with infiltration and that sort of thing. So, we are discussing some options with Uni County at this time. But for right now, as far as the overall uh look at this project right now, you can see that the predominant water line work is done south of 75 right now. They're then going to move north of NC75 and then with their sewer line project, they're going to probably kick back up with the north side again and then work their way south. So, that's the general flow of things subject to change, of course. And um yes, we are currently um in coordination with Union County to try to get some of those uh items addressed now so that way folks aren't waiting two years for a full replacement. Yeah.

Thank you.

Any other questions? Questions? All righty. All right. On to New Town and Cupbertson Road. So, this one has been long talked about for quite some quite some time now. So, again, this is an NC DOT administered project with Union County and Village of West Wesley Chapel involvement. So, why am I talking about this? It's close enough to Waxaw where we get plenty of questions about it. So even though it's not a waxall project or waxall in combination with NC DOT project, it's important for the community to understand where the current uh process is with DOT on this project. So again, the scope is to add a roundabout at this intersection. Uh rightway acquisition has already begun with um utility relocation expected to start at the end of this year and then moving to awarding the contract uh January 2028. So any questions on this particular intersection? Hearing none, we'll move right into one that's that will be uh impacting Waxall and that is the NC75 and Old Providence Road or U6248 project. Um this is an NC DOT administered project with a significant uh town of Waxaw contribution. Again, the scope is to add a roundabout right there at the Circle K on Old Providence Road in 75. projected schedule is a little bit up in the air to tell you the truth right now, but um rightway acquisition has already began and utility relocations are expected to begin later this year. Now, I'll add a little caveat here as far as construction considering the location and the impacts of this particular project. We've already been in coordination with NC DOT and NC DOT um has been great to work with in this particular case and they are going to try to limit the construction to summertime so that way there's not as many impacts to the schools. Now that could be summertime 2027 or if they get delayed it could be summertime 2028. It just depends upon that. But as far as some additional contributions um you can

see that the total the town of Waxel is contributing quite a substantial amount to this project. total of 710,000 of which 282,000 has already been approved of a previous ordinance that's this uh that the previous board authorized and then also 428,000 from fee and lose and you can see that that account number that we've received and are reserving that for when the bill comes due. So any questions on this one

James? Yes. Uh on that last one, what is the typical timeline for completion from start to finish because that's kind of major. There's no easy way around that. So, how long would that take? It's a great question. Um the I'm going to hit you with the typical engineer response, which is it depends, right? So, but um but from my experience, I've worked on other roundabouts within this area. Um you can expect DOT to truly aim for that summertime schedule. So, when they let the contract in May, they're going to be starting construction June and wanting to get done before school gets back in session. Now, they can't guarantee that timeline, but you're talking at least at least three months. Yeah.

Thank you. Yep.

Oh, great question. All right, moving into another Waxall project. So, this one has a little bit more detail to it because it's more of a lo it is a locally administered project or an LAP project. So this is a different type of project programming where the local government in this case Waxaw uh administers the entire project from design to rideway to construction. So a lot more involvement from us um but also it it better secures some things that we want um and can better control the design aspects uh to what the town and the community wants as well. So the scope of this project um is to construct a center turn lane along Broom Street, construct an eastbound left turn lane at NC16 and 75 intersection at some sidewalk and modernized existing facilities. So we're actually going to talk about this a little bit more in depth um because it's another agenda item on your on your agenda for this evening. But as far as our schedule right now, preliminary engineering or design right is starting now January um right now. Um assuming that the board authorizes us to go ahead and execute that contract. Um assuming that timeline, we're going to move right into right away and utilities in March 2027. And if you guys remember, the previous board um authorized with the board of transportation an amendment before we were looking at March 2029 schedule, but we've went ahead and updated that to provide a more aggressive timeline uh to get this uh um project more online projected at March 2028 for construction. some additional mentions. Um, and you'll see this more in the in one of the later presentations this evening, but from a design cost, uh, those monies are already allocated approximately 626,000 with 95,000 being approved via VS via a previous ordinance, another 172,000 provided in fe, and then 368,000 uh, from state from a combination of state and federal dollars with the CRTPO

uh, reimbursement model. So, we're going to talk more in depth about that a little bit later this evening, but any highle questions as of right now hearing none. We're going to move right into some of the big ones. So, this is the Helms Road grade separation project which is administered by the CSX Railroad and the NC DOT rail unit. So the scope of this project, this is your um you're constructing that overpass along 75 or a grade separated crossing uh over Helms Road at the railroad tracks. Projected schedule is a lot of the rideway acquisition is already is already done. So um DOT will then be moving the DOT rail unit will then be moving into relocation. Um wrapping that up a little bit here soon and then moving to actually awarding the construction contract June of this year. Um, from a programming standpoint, as far as timeline, we do have a projected timeline for this. Uh, it's really going to be a two-part project. First part is going to be your overpass, which is going to take about two years. And then the remaining part is the realignment of Helms Road itself and the roundabout at Wax Marvin, which is also going to take another two years. So, you're looking at about 2029 before this uh project is fully online.

And how does that tie in with the punch through from W Parkway to Wax Mar? Great question. And here here's that tie-in. So that that was a that was a great lead in. Thank you for that. But um so this this is the this to answer your question, Commissioner Daunt, this is the Helms Road Extension tie-in that will then pick up from this project moving over to the uh NC16 uh corridor. So this again is a locally administered project. Um the scope is that new roadway connection that that you were referring to, Commissioner Daunt. and then also some pedestrian facility enhancements with the goal of this facility being NC DOT maintained um so that way NCTO can fund future maintenance and it's less of a burden on the town. So projected schedule uh we had to talk about that. So that's another agenda item later this evening that Scott will dive more into but uh preliminary engineering we're on track for February 2026 time frame with utilities starting March 2027 and construction May 2029. Um again this I've highlighted that ordinance number that we'll talk about later this evening. Um but from a high level view any questions on this particular project?

I do have one question if I could Mr. Mayor please. I understand that um the flyover uh from my recall uh in past meetings that we will work from the fly over back up towards NC16 and that punch through as Mr. Dant uh worded it. My question at a high level area is if we can investigate any way to better sync and meet in the middle um at and find a way to um sync those projects a little closer together. I I believe that it would be prudent for us to at least investigate it.

That's a great point. Um I know from a contracting perspective, you know, something that we've done before to provide more of that aggressive timeline, uh is to request a board of transportation amendment. So that's something from a procedural standpoint that you can do. Um you're limited to a year though. Uh so when it comes to that type of amendment, that's something that we could explore. We'll provide more details on that process if that's what you as a board want to do. But um from the contracting standpoint, yeah, we're we're right now we're actually lined up to pick up uh the project right about when DOT is supposed to be finishing the project, right, which is 2029, which we all know DOT our DOT friends sometimes lag a little bit. So they could be pushed into 2030. We might actually be finishing the project at the exact same time. Um so that's just something Yes, we can definitely explore. Yeah. No, great question. Any other questions? All right. And I just wanted to kind of tie uh loop into our next conversation by giving a high-level overview of traffic impact analysis uh conditional versus by right development because that'll lead into some of our talking points um on on the road part three. So as far as from a traffic impact analysis standpoint or a TIA, these are studies u at at a very high level. These are studies that look at how a proposed development or project will affect the surrounding transportation system. So this TIA checks uh whether roads and intersections can handle the extra demand safely. And if problems are expected, it recommends and I'll highlight proportional road improvements. So the intent of a TIA is not to fix existing issues. When you're looking at a TIA, you're looking at to uh fix the proportional delays or proportional impacts that a development causes. So, if a development is 100 homes, they're responsible for uh

mitigating for those 100 homes. They're not necessarily responsible for fixing uh existing failed issues. Um these are used on both conditional and byite developments depending upon the trip generation. So, this is talked uh more about through your within your TIA ordinance. And again, I'll just note that TIA are traditionally handled through nonzoning regulatory tools. So this is your TIA ordinance itself. So your TI ordinance outlines the policy procedures, um, mitigation requirements, what we look into. Um, so that's just provides you where that information is. Again, you already know this from a conditional and by rights standpoint. Um, conditional development is allowed only specific conditions are approved. So this is more of that subjective process where you all the elected officials uh approve or deny a project based upon reasonleness and consistency with the town's adopted comprehensive plan. Whereas byite is handled differently where in byight development is development that is automatically allowed under your current zoning uh rules. So by development is more of that objective administrative process based upon whether a project meets those predefined legal standards. Um, and I'll note that you do have some other opportunity there. But so as far as preliminary plats and residential subdivisions of over nine lots, those do require uh board plan approval with strict compliance to your adopted LDC or land development code and of course uh North Carolina General Statute Chapter 160D. So just wanted to provide a very quick highlight on that. Next time we are going to take a much further dive into that. Um, we're going to talk about the uh followup of the TAS, which are those official transportation mitigation agreements, TMAs, and then move into an overview of uh the process. And this is really to help pull back the curtain, so to so to speak, so that way people uh the public gets some more of an idea of what actually goes on behind the scenes. Why does it take so long to get to construction? And we're going to talk about these uh pre-construction and

construction mountains, we like to call them, all the things that lead into that. And then ultimately talk about very high level the Waxaw master transportation plan, the update that you all adopted in 2024. And then um I just want to open it up for any questions or if you have any special requests, we'll add that when we're on the road again. Any questions from the board or requests for next time? I do have one. Please. Um when for next time uh would you also include a bullet point for traffic memos under the traffic impact analysis? I know those do traffic transportation memos. Yes, please. Sure. That's it. Excellent. Not a problem.

No other questions. Thank you, James. That was a very thorough and very helpful report. I think it's great to get these updates so people know what's going on. Perfect. Thank you. When to expect what. All righty. Next up, Mr. Mr. Kevin Robinson. Thank you, Mayor, commissioners. Um, excuse me, mayor. You're going to have to open public hearings. Oh, that's right. This is a public hearing. Forgive me. Can I get a motion to open this public hearing? All in favor? I. I. Any opposed? Hearing done. This public hearing is now open. Kevin Robinson, take it away.

Thank you, Mayor. Um so we do have two uh text amendments tonight which should be relatively straightforward. Um the first of those is the uh it's for native plant requirements, tree preservation, uh tree species um updates. Um doing a couple different things here. Uh petition 20 uh 2025 is a request uh from the planning department to amend chapter 8.3 general requirements for buffers, landscaping and lighting as well as 810 tree preservation and chapter 814 tree species list. Um and with that we'd be adding native and diverse planting requirements, also clarifying tree preservation standards and removing the tree species list. Um it will not be going away. Um, we do still we are still accounting for that and I'll get to that in just a second. Um, this update requires 75% of new tree plantings to be native to the region. It also clarifies development standards for sites that do not meet our tree preservation standards um, such as those where uh, buffers and uh, tree saves may have been removed already. Um, also removes the tree species list from the ordinance to allow for administrative maintenance. Uh, this is also the recommendation of the uh, county urban forester. Uh we also have a copy of the actual text amendment. Um if you want to see it, um we can pull that up, but I think we've covered most of it here in the presentation. Um so those in the green are the items that have been added. Um and I'll go through those real quick. Uh the first is native plant requirement. Uh native plants are those species that evolved naturally in the region without human intervention. These plants developed and adapted to local soil and climate conditions over thousands of years and are vital parts of local ecosystems necessary for the survival of pollinators, insects, birds, mammals, and other wildlife. Um the requirement on this is that at least 75% of the plantings used to meet the standards of the section shall consist of native plants. Uh species diversity. Um in this um we are requiring um that

whenever you have more than 40 or new shrubs in a development um that you have um different numbers of species and that increases uh two species at least when you have 40 to 70 shrubs um and that caps uh the single species at 60% and then that goes up to a large development where you might have more than 150 trees or shrubs um to have at least 10 different species in there um and no more than 20% of any one species. Um, also in this, um, what we've added in the green here, that's new. Then of course, whatever's, uh, in the red there, we've removed. Um, this, uh, refers to some of those areas we had talked about before um with, uh, require tree saves or buffers, uh, areas that need to be replanted. Um requirement on that now is that those are be replanted with be replanted with 1 to two inch caliber medium to large maturing trees spaced 10 to 12 feet apart and that's to uh to establish a future hardwood forest. Um previously it was a minimum of 2 inches in caliber and shall be 75% medium to large maturing. Um so the spacing on these is is is been clarified a little bit more to help with that. And this I should note this will also hopefully help to discourage some of the uh the the widespread clearing that we see of these um of these properties before development occurs as well. Uh really incentivizes them to keep u that uh that canopy in place uh before development. Um green um mentions the uh the town's tree species list um and then those trees can be selected from the list which we will keep administratively on staff and that's effectively going to mirror what the North Carolina State Extension database of trees has. We will download that periodically and keep copies of that. Um the reason for this

is that they are frequently changed. Um and it's a lot of work to come back through and change in the ordinance every single time. Um, planning staff's recommendation upon adoption of the LDC and overseeing its implementation, the planning department proposes these updates to planting standards, clarification on developments do that do not meet the minimum tree preservation standards and further adapting the tree species list by removing it from the code to allow greater administrative oversight in its day-to-day updating. uh planning staff does recommend does recommend the adoption of ordinance 2020 25 as presented. Um and then also on October 29th, planning board did consider this um and unanimous voted unanimously um to recommend approval as well. The um we have a reasonable and consistency statement included here. The text amendment request is consistent with the comprehensive plan and future planning goals for the town of Waxaw and is reasonable and in the public interest as text amendment provides needed updates to the LDC that strengthen planting requirements, offers planting uh specifics to meeting tree preservation standards and allows administrative review of the town's tree species list. Um this uh we we have a we've got recommending for a motion and approval on there. Um, this is the public hearing portion tonight. I believe it's optional for how the board wishes to proceed, whether it's just with closing the public hearing or adopting the ordinance.

Very well. Uh, I'll ask the board if they have any questions, please. Thanks for this. I think the native species and the diversification is great addition to the code. Um however I am not really comfortable with moving the tree list to administrative only. I feel like that should be policy just for transparency. You know then it will get presented at meetings and who knows there might be somebody watching who has a great idea and you know says something. So uh that would be my preference but other than that uh this is great. Thank you.

Okay. Is that an adjustment to the text then you would like to see Commissioner Don? Uh well we're not making the decision here right this is just a we're not so I'm just thinking looking forward to that decision making if there's some adjustments you want to make adjust it so that the tree list stays in the LDC. Um that would be because the current tree list you were referring to the state's tree list. Correct.

That's effectively what we're going to do is use the what the arborists at the state have on there as their list now. Um, and as they update that, we'll, you know, we'll we'll keep copies of it and everything and have it available for staff, but we weren't going to have it in the ordinance anymore. We could put it back in there. It's just going to, I suppose, depending on how it's worded, it could be done administratively if we account for that. Yeah, I would just prefer it to be in the LDC, the species list to be in the LDC so that it it's, you know, put on one of our agendas or, you know, it's it just feels like a policy thing to me more than just administrative. Okay. Um, so yeah.

Okay. And we can certainly reference the state list as a source of that tree list from our LDC. Sure. So they're still connected, but Right. Right. Yep. Okay. and and in that just a mechanism for the updates if there's any updates at the state tree list list. Yeah. Yeah. Mr. Mayor, I have a question please. Regarding the state tree list, how about we take a moment and evaluate how often they do update it. Is it once a year? Has it been once every five years? Can you include that information when you come back? I can certainly do that. Thank you so Yeah, that'd be good to know.

I mean, we have to park something in the LDC that then becomes out of date at the state level a year or two later. So, something to consider. Um perhaps there'd be a reference in there to say here's the tree list and then reference the state tree list for any updates. Yeah, we'll take a look at it. We can um we'll have to u make some minor changes to the amend to the text amendment to uh include that, but we can we can definitely do that. Cool. All righty. I will open the floor to public comments. Um nobody has signed up for public comments. So hearing none, we can move on to the next item.

Do we need to make a motion to close public comments, Mr. Mayor? Uh well, we'll go ahead and proceed to the next item since we still have one more item in the public hearing. Thank you. Sorry. No worries. So, Mr. Robinson, continue.

Okay. Let's see. All right. So, this is going to be the next one. 20 uh 21 2025. Um it's a request from the town of Waxaw Planning Department and the town attorney to amend various sections of chapter 2 administrative agencies and chapter 3 administration and enforcement procedures related to the special use permit. uh process commonly referred to as SUPs. Um the current process allows for hearsay and erosion of impartiality as the planning board recommendation is reviewed by the BOC. Uh the request also updates language in section 3.4.2 to be in line with uh NCGS 160D 406J. And just to clarify there, that is nothing against any of the boards. This is a quasi judicial process. Um, so it really makes the process a lot harder to do when you have two boards that are weighing in on it. You really want to function as a uh judicial unit when you are considering uh these cases. Uh you want to avoid um exparte communications. Um you want to ensure that um you've gone through due process when you uh when you discuss everything. Um and you want to you really want to avoid outside recommendations. So having another board involved kind of it enables that. So um and really what this does is it it takes the the SUP uh um consideration by the planning board out. Um board of commissioners still has it. Board of commissioners will be acting as they were previously um as the quasi judicial body uh to consider those SUPs. Um really it really simplifies the process as well. Um most of this um are just edits where that is being removed. Um the neighborhood meeting is another thing. Um I don't know of anywhere else where neighborhood meetings are done as part of an SUP. Um I think this was included originally just broadly neighborhood meetings across the board were included for many things and I

think they kind of slipped in on the SU because of that uh in previous ordinances. [sighs] So those are the kind of the three parts right there. So now you'll have an application um and then there will be an evidentiary hearing by the board. So upon the adoption of the LDC and overseeing its implementation, the planning department proposes these updates to ensure the special use permit process remains quasi judicial process in its entirety. The current process allows a planning board to offer a recommendation that would be hearsay since the BOC is the entity that holds the evidentiary hearing. There's a risk that even a planning board discussion could erode the impartiality of the BOC who listens to it or reviews a recommendation prior to conducting the quasi jud judicial hearing. It's much cleaner to avoid the appearance of any bias or partiality to not have planning board discuss or issue recommendations. So, the BOC is hearing and deciding it on its own. Uh it's also recommended the neighborhood meeting requirement not be part of the special use permit process. Any input would need to be presented by the individuals in a quasi judicial hearing and any standing determinations would need to be made as necessary for folks wanting to participate in that hearing. Uh this would also update language in section 3.4.2 to be in line uh with 160D. uh planning staff does recommend the adoption of 212025 as presented. Uh and this was also considered on October 29th by planning board and was also unanimously recommended for approval. We do have the reasonable and consistency statement there. Um and again um recommended action would be to close public hearing after after public hearing um and then as the board sees fit in terms of adoption. One one question I had is does a special use permit is that still does it still

allow for a public hearing or is a public hearing a part of that process? So you're conducting a quasi judicial hearing in that case? Um really it's not supposed to be it's supposed to be open to the public. It's like a court case. It's open to the public, but you're really only supposed to consider um the applicant um anyone who has standing, which is typically uh somebody right next door. Um and then any kind of expert testimony on it. It's not supposed to be open to um to for for comment like a reasonzoning or something like that. Just legislative. Anybody can come up and talk on it. It's really supposed to be limited in scope to just those withstanding and the applicant, those directly impacted by that. That's correct. Yeah. Okay. And that's part of the problem you run into with the neighborhood meetings as well where it's just a, you know, free-for-all.

Yeah. Any other questions from the board? Yes, please. Go ahead. Um I understand uh the framework that we're uh working on adjusting here. Um that was one of my first meetings as a board of adjustment uh was here over hearing at quasi judicial. It was quite a shock to walk through and understand and learn

the judicial side of it. Um my one of my fears though is um removing the o open meeting or or neighborhood meeting portion uh essentially gave um essentially standing uh to those within a certain distance. Um how does that play and do you mind walking me through how that would work out? Would it just then be the immediate adjoining properties that would then have standing or would it go down to a state minimum statute of standing? [snorts] And if so, what is that?

Typically, there's a default. Typically, there's a default on standing. And it's I don't know that there's a statewide minimum, but most places do like 100 feet or so. Um, if you've gotten notice in the mail, that usually means that you have standing by what we consider standing. the board can consider additional people who have standing, but they have to present a reason for why they have standing. And that standing is basically it's a it's a higher level of impact than what anybody else in the city would have. Um, and you have to really show, you know, why that, you know, why you would be impacted more substantially. So if a propert property was coming forth in a special use and um the immediate adjoining neighbor is 200 feet down but then there's an additional neighbor at 600 feet down, would they have standing?

That's usually why we have town attorneys. [laughter]

Yeah, Commissioner, um it's it's a fair question and there's never going to be a bright line answer to it. Um so each case and this is why it's critical to understand the quasi judicial process that each case is unique right the circumstances who will and will not have that capacity to participate um who will receive notice uh all of that's going to be one case uh unique to itself. Uh so there's not going to be a decision of 200 feet, 600 feet, 100 feet. It someone um in one case with these parameters might have standing and someone in another case with the exact same or even closer may not have standing. Right? So that that's and we'll if we cross that bridge, we'll we'll go through all of that together.

It is a rarity, but we have seen uh one for sure in our recent history. Um but uh I do appreciate that. So it it would be based off of the individual facts of that case and who then would determine who has standing. Would that be a administrative process through our staff or

board the the governing um board? So here special use permits come to the board of commissioners. I'll tell you that a lot of communities are moving that towards putting it in the hands of a board of adjustment simply because you guys are a legislative body. You're elected. You're out there. you're engaging with the public, you're having discussions. A lot of times it's it's viewed much cleaner for it to be with a board of adjustment, but tonight we're simply cleaning up the process to remove pieces that frankly shouldn't be part of a special use permit process. So, um, the standing decision would be presented if someone was wanting to have standing and there was a question about it. If someone was opposed, again, it's kind of like court. It's not full-blown court. The the rules of evidence are relaxed a little bit, but you still have to make a decision based on evidence being presented, competent evidence, substantial evidence, material evidence. And so, you will be making those decisions. You will be making an assessment of who can and cannot participate to present evidence to who can object to someone else's evidence. That all is part of that process. Okay. Commissioner Ferris, for example, I've been through several of these and both at when you have a local historic district, you're also doing quasi judicial hearings, variances, which I'm think you're familiar with. Uh, special use permits um usually default to um kind of giving them the benefit of the doubt um as long as the evidence they're they're actually presenting evidence. Um, we have I I have seen cases where people have come up say I just don't like it and you know I've got standing I'm 800 feet away. I just don't like it. And usually it's you know you try not to consider that stuff as much. So

yeah, thank you both for uh adding some clarification to that. Thank you. Any other questions from the board? All righty. Hearing none. Uh open to public comments. Nobody signed up for public comments. So, can I get a motion to close this public hearing? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Who made that motion? His mic was off.

All righty. This motion or this uh public hearing is now closed and we are proceeding to old business. Um the item of old business we discussed was the retreat date changes. So, this had to do with moving the retreat to February. Is there any items to discuss regarding this or were there any concerns that we need to go over before we motion to approve the new dates? And the new dates being Barbie again, sorry, for the new retreat. They are uh February the 26th and 27th and there's no work session at the at the second part.

Very good. And this will be a 8:00 a.m. to 400 pm kind of thing all day. Yes, sir. Yep. Any other items to discuss regarding this before I ask for a motion or ask for a vote? Concerns, questions? All righty. Could I get a motion then to approve the new retreat dates of February 26th and 27th? I move to move the retreat dates to February 26th and 27th. All in favor? I.

Any opposed? All right. Motion carries. Those retreat dates are now moved. That's nice and official. Okay. Next up, uh let's see here. New business. We're going to go ahead and defer the new business, which is the discussion of the project advocacy or the legislative priorities. We will defer that to the first work session on January 27th. So, can I get a motion to defer to January 27th? Motion to defer item J1 to February 27th. January January 27th. Hold on, Cuz that's going to be a work session. Correct.

That was the idea was to move it to a work session. We So just keep in mind that with it being a work session, we won't be making a decision on it. Is that okay? Or we could call uh if need be a special meeting to handle any action items that might be needed. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. It would be two weeks later. Any thoughts on that? Well, yeah. Sorry. I mean, if it's going to be a lengthy discussion, I think having a vote on it two weeks later is is reasonable. Reasonable, of course. Any other comments, Barbie? Any clarity to add to that?

Yeah. Yeah. I just want to clarify when you amended, if this goes back one, I'm sorry. I apologize, but on your meeting schedule, um, you also talked in at the beginning when you amended the agenda about switching the time of the work session. Is that still the intent of the board? Correct. I think that's an item we will have at the end. So item that that answers the first part. That that answers the first part. The second part of that is do you intend for the second meeting to be work session only? I think that's something we should discuss either as item M. Okay.

When we discuss the timing of the work session, I think we should also discuss the scope of that second meeting.

Okay. And the the reason I'm asking is simply that if you defer something to a work session um and feel comfortable the way we had set it up just to give clarity in this particular issue is that we put um uh we combined a work session with a defined period and then at the end of that you could have your business meeting and the business meeting was designed to deal with any business and consent by the board and Then secondly, old business. In other words, second readings of ordinances if the board chose to do that. Less new business, but more finishing old business that started at the beginning. So, um, and that goes back to this question about, uh, deferring something. So, no problem with deferring, no issue with that. I just wanted to be clear. So, uh, when you get there, if you talk about in your, uh, how you're doing it, if you don't have any ability to do that, we have to call special meetings. We have to do advanced notices and things like that. So, I'm just giving some fair warning to that. If the board decided it wanted to do something,

it wouldn't have a place to go to after that. So, just giving some context to it. Not an opinion, but just some context to it. As far as deferring this particular item, that's fine. And if you then discuss it wholly and then feel better at the next meeting. I do not as a staff have any issue with that. I I just wanted to be clear on process and how this was moving along. Just make sure I understood it. Okay. Thank you. Sounds good. So could I get a motion then to defer item J1 to January 27th? I think we already made that motion. I believe the motion is on the table. Yes. It just needs a vote. All in favor of the motion on the table. I

I any opposed? All righty. And that is now deferred. So we will go on to item J2.

Good evening, mayor, commissioners, and town staff. My name is Melissa Johnson. I am the deputy of recreation for our parks and recreation department and here this evening to present to you the agreement to move forward with the David G. Barnes skate park and meeting place park improvement plan. So, this is an action plan that will resolve site constraints, prepare the property for safe and efficient use, incorporate community input, and advance a skate park toward design, cost certainty, and funding readiness. So, the site itself, there's a picture of it there, it needs to be addressed as a whole. There are some complicated site concerns that we want to make sure are addressed in this plan and that will save us some time and money in the future when we're phasing out future development of the site amenities. So, some of the site concerns that we have, land ownership and property, there's some easements. We don't own all of the property that is involved in this site plan. So, we want to make sure we have that very clear in this action plan. There's paper roads on this plan and there's parking concerns that need to be addressed. There's utility and sewer that runs throughout the site that will also have to be taken into consideration. Safety and security concerns given its proximity to downtown and 75. There's pedestrian connectivity concerns. We want to make sure it's accessible for all at this site. um parking and amenities, the different parts that will be on this site. We want to make sure all of that is included and um all site constraints are addressed in this plan. [snorts] And it's going to need some specialized expertise. The skate park being the biggest one that is going to require specialized consultant and design um to help redesign the space

to meet current skate park standards. So that's just giving you an overview of the area itself. All of the area in yellow is what will be part of the action plan. That is the entire site with a skate park being um itemized out. And then it also shows you the connectivity to the downtown park and to downtown itself. The RFP for this project was sent out in October. We followed a qualifications space selection process and had five firms submit. We had a blind vetting process through with our advisory committee members, town staff, um, and Thomas and Hutton Consulting Service was the one that rose to the top with all of their qualifications. And so that is who we have selected to move forward with creating the park improvement action plan. They will provide a holistic approach to the entire site to address all of the concerns that are on um, that entire location there. And then the walk, one of the big takeaways is going to be the 30% design build plans for the skate park itself. So some of the ways that they will address the concerns that we have in this action plan, you they're going to review lease agreements. They're going to update easement agreements. So we'll have that land ownership and property evaluation very clear. They will lay out roads for future pedestrian connection, identify parking, have emergency access needs, all addressed in this action plan. Utility and sewer will be identified and we'll have a plan for that as far as if we need to relocate, if we need to protect it, whatever that might be. There will be storm water and waste plan. Um, they will do a preliminary site analysis. There were some groundwater concerns whenever the skate park was being um when the shades were being installed at the skate park. Uh there was some groundwater that was found just pretty close to ground level.

So, we want to make sure all of that has been addressed before we try to move forward with any kind of construction plans. They're going to address safety and security to make sure um the site itself is designed to enhance visibility and user safety. They'll also have recommendations for lighting and security cameras. We will have community input as a part of this plan. We'll have in-person meetings. There will be a community survey. We'll also look at pedestrian connectivity and how it connects to all the other pedestrian plans that we currently have. Make sure it all makes sense and connects. We want to make sure people can get there. We um will also I think the biggest part takeaway from this action plan is that we will get 30% of the construction documents. They will be design build for the skate park. This action plan itself will be phased out with the skate park being priority phase one. And so with those construction documents, we will get a cost estimate that we can then when we go out to bid, we'll at least have an idea of what it will cost. It also could help us with future grant applications um and CIP planning. So we have to look at the site as a whole just because there are so many complications that could potentially come up instead of just focusing on one small area um the skate park itself. So this is a project that has been approved for CIP funding. 140,000 is the total budget for this project that was approved. 35,000 of that project fund will go toward the skate design company focusing on those design build plans. And 50% of the entire budget itself is dedicated to dealing with skate plans and site development issues that need to be addressed before we can move forward with constructing a new skate park which as you all know you've heard from community in the past. It it's going to

need to happen some point. So we are recommending or asking for a motion to approve the proposed agreement with Thomas and Hutton Consulting Services for the David G. Barnes, Skate and Meeting Place Park improvement action plan in the amount of 140,000 and authorize a town manager to execute said agreement, but also have time for questions. Uh, one question I had in particular is the skate park and the design of the skate park. I know that that's not something just anybody can do. Um, have we taken the time and the effort to identify designers that are not only qualified but sort of preferred and recognized in the industry as being good designers of a skate park?

Yes, absolutely. So, the company that we'll be working with Thomas and Hutton is Polar um skate design and they are well known in the skate design community. Um, they actually helped us with our pump track at the downtown park. So, we've worked with them before. We've gotten references them. That was part of the vetting process when looking at all of the proposals. We want to make sure who they're choosing is someone who's going to meet our standards and is good enough in the industry and make a park that people the kids are going to love. Yes. That's the goal is to make a skate park that can really get used and and that everybody's going to enjoy. Absolutely. We want all levels out there as are now, but a skate park that makes sense. Yes. And that meets current needs and future needs.

Any other questions from the board? I'm sorry. Who was the identified expertise in skate design? The Polar. The Polar. Polar. Yeah, that's the name of their company. Okay. Um, one of the um I apologize, Mr. Mayor, if I may have a couple. No, please. Thank you. Uh, one of the things in my research um on this topic is I was looking just for um alternative uh experts and who was maybe currently actively engaged in designing one uh specifically the uh skate parks. And I just uh couple nights ago stumbled upon the city of Greenville, South Carolina

uh utilizing the experts um uh port P O RT and they designed a 10 acre specific wheel park um multi-use skate bowl uh and skate skateboard oriented and pump track oriented for mixed use uh including mountain bikes and stuff like that. Uh just something that caught my attention is there is so limited experts um in in that field. Uh especially when it comes to um hard surfaces um and what I noticed in that design was a mixture of surfaces used in the concept.

And I just wanted to point that out um while reviewing them. Did we consider uh not just uh concrete surfaces but mixed surfaces in the design elements? Absolutely. And how did that reflect in their expertise?

So I mean it's it that is something to come. So that'll be part of the input from the community and from the design terms so from the design team. But yes, we're totally open to that. Um I've seen that park in Greenville. It's it's really cool and I think it is the way that the industry is going. And then also having some parallel elements outside of the actual like what you look at the skatepark what it is now. Having some parallel elements that tie into the pedestrian walkways, things like that. So we're we're definitely considering all of that. The community input will also play a huge role in that design um of the skate park because we want to know what people are looking for. What do they want to come and use? And then also hear from the experts at the company as well. But yeah, we're thinking future. Thank you.

Yeah, absolutely. Um any other questions? Well, as I looked at um the the proposal, um it said two community meetings. That's what they are in charge of. That's not to say that we can't have any other input meetings on our own. Yeah, I think we'll um probably need to do that. And then the other question is and how do we get this not to be a runaway train? Um just because you know in dealing with realistic you know

I don't think any of us well maybe some of us that were skaters at one point might weigh [laughter] in but he was um um how do we get this not to have every single bell and whistle? How do we um make it something that is um within a sane budget to to be you know blunt because if we put it up to kids they're going to want you know a a disco ball and you know tick tock and you know all of that you know

but um we have to be realistic with what we can do and I would hate to have a design plan that we can't achieve and that or that it's going to take 10 years to achieve. So, I know that when um the skaters came in on several occasions for their pitch um and in in going to the skate shop and speaking to them, they told me they really just needed the bare minimum, right? They

would [clears throat] be happy with a resurface, adding some leggges or whatever they called them. and um they didn't really and so their expectation it's is that it's going to happen sooner than later because they're not asking for a grand redesign. They're asking for a skatepark they can use sooner rather than later. Um and my concern is with consultants is that that's what they do. They're paid to to dream big, right?

I don't want them to dream big. I want them to dream in realistic terms. And you know, if I we just need to be conservative with this. And um I haven't been here a long time, but the two consultants that we've used, they're great, but they're they're paid to, you know, be artistic and not worry about where the money's coming from. Sure. So, yeah, we're definitely looking for realistic design given the space itself and also for the actual bidding process that will then follow for construction. So, yes, I I hear you. Mr. Mayor, I have a question,

please. I was here for that meeting and the the young men that came up and presented, that was kind of the what they presented as a resurfacing. That was [clears throat] something they were interested in. So, how did we get from a resurfacing to a new a 35,000 of the 140 as a new skate design? And that would be my concern. How big is this going to get? And if and if it continues on, as you know, as we've put off construction and concrete, everything gets more expensive. I think most of the kids had aired their concern. They want something now opposed to waiting.

Sure. So, the elements itself inside of the skate park are really outdated. Um it it can't just be resurfaced. The whole area does need to be redesigned. There's some draining concerns. It's holding water. So resurfacing without actually fixing the issues isn't going to solve any of the problems that are happening. And that total cost is for the entire site, not just the skate park. So that also includes the Barnes Park and the meeting place area as well. That's not just the skate park. It's just that we understand that for the community, the skate park is a priority uh for this project, for this site location. And so that is a big part of the focus. But without solving all the other issues that are on that site, we can't just focus on the skate park because everything kind of trickles downhill literally on that site.

Yeah. Thank you. Sure. Another point of inquiry, please. Yeah. Are there safety concerns around the skate park be besides the obvious? Besides the obvious, aside from gravity. [laughter] Exactly. Exactly. That were identified. and also uh the verbatims or feedback from the folks using the skate park on what they'd like to see. Do we have an updated um you know kind of a list of those verbatims of what their asks are?

Maybe not the specifics of their asks. And I think it's going to depend on the kid or person that you ask because someone who is skating at a higher level may have different requests um than someone who's maybe on a more beginner level. Um so I think having a wide variety that will meet all the needs within reason um would be the way to go. But I don't have a specific list of those requests at this time. Regarding safety, yes, there are big safety concerns. Um there's gaps in the concrete that can no longer be patched. It's it's been bandaided a lot of the different resurfacing areas to the point where it can't be bandaided any longer.

And a and a resurface would be a band-aid uh in certain areas, but there's there's certain parts of that park where the metal the amount of metal that is in there because there's steel beams throughout. Um, it can't just have another layer of concrete put on top of it. Some of it just needs to be redone completely.

I just feel like we're only getting one option here and it seems like a pretty grand option. Um, so I'd really like to see maybe some lower cost options um rather than spending this entire 140,000 just on design for something. Um, I'd love to see some of that money go towards actually addressing some of the more urgent issues at the skate park because, you know, as Commissioner Dulio pointed out, you know, that's what the skaters said, uh, you know, just fix up the surfaces, you know, and you're saying, well, there's other issues. Okay, but, you know, I'd like to see more options, though, not the entire fix for the whole area. I I would agree with that. And I had one maybe two more questions. Uh the you mentioned variety for the skaters. We have a pump track now. The skateboarders are using that. Correct.

Some are. It's a really fast pump track, so not all levels of skaters are using it. I see more bikers out there than skaters. Well, so you're saying that might be a a graduation for the advanced level skaters that could go there for their ne um need for variety.

Some um but pump track is only in pretty much one direction and just have some has some hills. It doesn't have rails, which a lot of them like to do. It doesn't have a big jump like they like to jump off the stairs. You've probably seen them in downtown where they are going really fast down the sidewalk and then um jumping over stairs. So, they want to see some obstacles like that inside of a skate park. Um but the pump track isn't able to provide that. And regarding the proposal, I understand it's one plan. We did have five proposals that submitted, but we were looking at qualifications. So, it was a request for qualifications on this. So, we were looking for the firm with the highest qualifications that could address all of the concerns that we have for that site location. They weren't given um it wasn't done by a proposal with budgetary right there. So, so it would be another process. It would be a minimum three months to then go out to bid to receive proposals. You have to leave it open for a certain period of time and then review all of those proposals as well. Another piece of feedback I got from the skaters was that they would like more of uh so there's sort of ramp skating and street skating, right? And

that they would like more of a street skating area, just a flat concrete surface to skate on. Um, and maybe we could provide some of that um as part of a design or uh Yeah, in addition to other options. I' I'd really like to see other options.

Yeah. So, the the skate park design is only part of this entire plan and then that is something that will then go out to bid for construction, but we will have a start of it. But we would be able to implement or put in all of the input that we get from the community, try to have more street skating opportunities in that design for the skate park portion of the entire plan.

Any other questions? Okay. Do we feel ready to vote on this motion? Mr. Mayor, please. It sounds like there's some questions and I do hear my fellow commissioners that there are some additional concerns. I'd like to make a recommendation to continue this item uh for our next business meeting. Are we thinking this could be a work session item? Is that where you're going? I was actually going to uh continue it uh for February 10th. Okay. Okay. For our next regular business meeting, is there information staff should be looking forward to provide at that time?

It does sound like that there is information on maybe scope and scale uh that we can uh deliberate um and evaluate. In the meantime, I think we will there is an expiration of January 31st on this proposal. So, we will just have to get the consultants to agree to that extended deadline. I I think if they want the business, they'll extend it. But, um, just wanted to make you aware.

But, I I think what I hear the board saying is that uh I would like staff to go back and have a second conversation with the consultant based upon some things tonight planning for another meeting um as well as some future input. If you folks have input and want to get it to me via uh my email, please do that and we'll make sure that we include that in our discussion.

One thing I'll ask too to my fellow commissioners is are we thinking we want to look at a plan that's lower cost and maybe more immediate in its implementation? Uh because it sounds like this plan is the I don't want to say it's the grand design, but it's definitely a far-reaching long-term solution type of plan. that incorporates other elements in that area, the skate park and the other park adjacent. Um, are we thinking the skate park needs maybe a more near-term plan for repair and upgrade or what? I mean, I would like to see that only because all I hear is that kids have nothing to do in Waxaw. And so, you know, knowing what what happens after school when kids have nothing to do, I'd rather them get on a um skateboard rather than dig, you know, ding-dong ditch and get yelled at and losen. You know what I mean? So, um I think it gets them outside and I I think it has to be more immediate. It has to be cost-effective and um I just don't want them waiting five years for us to be able to afford, you know, something that's not reachable right now.

I agree. And and if there is immediate safety concerns, then that that's a priority. Does that sound like clear enough feedback to come back in February then? I think so. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much, Melissa. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. You're very welcome. Excuse me, mayor. So, someone will need to make a motion to do that to direct staff to do that. Table table. Don't table. Don't table. Defer. Defer. All right. Can I get a motion to defer this item to the February 10th board of commissioners meeting? So moved. All in favor? I I.

Any opposed? Hearing none. This item is now deferred or tabled. Deferred. Deferred. Not tabled. I wrote tabled. Let me write defer. All righty. Next up, Mr. James Kelly again. All right. Good evening. Contract for Kimley Horn.

Yes. Good evening again. So, this is that project that we were talking about earlier that we're going to discuss in more detail. So, this is the uh Broom Street improvements uh HL0115 project. And um to provide some information to the board, the town of Waxaw released a request for letters of interest, an RF LOI uh for the provision of preliminary engineering services to prepare the engineering design plan and construction documents for this Broom Street roadway improvements project HL0115. Again, this is a locally administered project which involves federal dollars and state dollars. So, there's strict compliances that we have to abide by in these types of contracts. Um, the town of Waxall solicited uh this RF LOI and received a total of 11 responses. Um, and staff is really seeking your approval this evening to award the professional engineering services contract to Kimley Horn and authorize the town manager to execute the contract. So again, this is that locally administered project that we were talking about earlier that where the scope is to construct a center turn lane along Broom Street, construct an eastbound left turn lane at the NC16 and NC75 intersection, which will help uh dramatically from a capacity standpoint, and add sidewalk and modernize existing pedestrian facilities. again that schedule that we've already discussed before. Um, preliminary engineering is programmed uh within the STIP to start January 2026, move into rightways March 2027. And like I said before, we've already done a board of transportation amendment to uh provide an aggressive schedule for this when it comes to construction, modifying construction from March 2029, advancing that to March 2028. So, here's that overview. Very preliminary sketch drawings is what we have right now. So you can see we'll add that eastbound uh left addition from NC75 to NC16 which will be great. Um then we'll continue those pedestrian improvements, those roadway widening

type improvements um from that aspect as well all the way from uh the intersection of 16 and 75 to North Church Street. So that's your scope of improvements. Now, the PEF selection process that stands for professional engineering firm uh selection that those documents those full documents are within your agenda packet. So, you'll see letters uh from town staff to and from NC DOT to and from some folks in Raleigh authorizing uh various things, but essentially the process is this. The town of Waxel released the RF LOI for the provision of preliminary engineering services to prepare the engineering design plan and construction documents for this improvement project. We solicited responses through the Duncan Parnell bid room website, the town of Waxaw website, and town of Waxall social media pages. Uh staff received a total of 11 responses and the selection process was done in accordance with the selection criterion outlined in the RF LOI which has been approved by the uh state and federal folks. So within that selection process and those 11 firms, you'll see this more detailed within your agenda packet. But from a high level, Kimley Horn ranked the highest based upon our selection criterion with 30% going towards demonstration of understanding of the project objectives and responsibility in delivering the services advertised. 15% going to experience and qualifications of the project team, 40% going to local knowledge and experience with similar projects, and 15% going toward uh project related experience with federally funded projects. Uh again, that NC DOT concurrence letter is included within your uh full agenda packet this evening. So, some just some quick outlines of all the tasks that are included within this. Um task one goes into field surveys. Additionally, Kimley Horn will explore the subsurface utility exploration, traffic analysis, environmental documentation. These are steps that we have to follow from the state and uh federal folks. The National

Environmental Policy Act, the NEPA, environmental permitting, 30% preliminary design plans, geotechnical investigation, public involvement, uh signal design, 75% rideway plans, private utility coordination, rideway acquisition support, utility relocation, permitting, final construction plans are those 100% plans moving into bid phase services, and ultimately uh assistance with project management and coordination. I do need to make the board aware of one change. Uh starting in January 2026, the uh NC transportation department uh outlined some additional uh contract provisions for non-federal entity contracts under federal awards. This is just some standard language that um the NC DOT folks and really statewide folks uh wanted moving contract contracts that are moving toward uh this design phase to include within their special provisions. We reached out to the consultant, uh, Kimley Horn, and they said, "Yes, we're fine with including these provisions." And they've sent us an updated, uh, contract. So, within this updated contract, which is not within your agenda packet, you'll see this uh, additional contract provisions that are pretty standard as far as uh, making sure that you follow uh, contract work hours, safety standards, those those sorts of things. So, um, the language is is pretty standard. Um, as far as the fees and expenses, uh, the total where the funding comes from and the total amount, uh, requested. So, the total amount requested is $626,5744. And there there's the breakdown for each of those uh, those tasks and how much is being allocated. And again, within your agenda packets this evening is more detail if you if you're interested. As far as from a funding standpoint, uh, all the monies have already been allocated and and reserved. So the town is uh contributing 95,000 via an ordinance that the town has originally approved. Um 172,000 are coming from the Louu uh TIA mitigations and you can see the account where the monies are. Um the 36870

is from a combination of of bundled between state and federal dollars through your CARPO uh direct attributable grant that we've received. Um I'll note that those state and federal monies are based on a reimbursement model. What does that mean? That just means that you spend the money, you get reimbursed the money. Um the remaining 9,000 in there, so the difference between the 63 uh 635 and 626 that that can go to aid to account for NCDOT review fees. So as we go throughout this process, this federal process, state process, um NC DOT is going to charge the project for their time in reviewing uh the documents. So that additional monies will be will be spent there. Um do you have any questions? If not, we're asking for board action on this this evening.

Any questions from the board? Yeah, please. So, uh, could you go back to that slide with the comparison between Kimley Horn and the other companies? Yeah, this one. So, these rankings here, uh, this is what you decided on Kimley Horn on, right? It wasn't based on any prices given by each person. No. So that's that's one thing especially when you're dealing with federal and state projects is you cannot ask for prices uh when you're involving the selection process. That's a negotiation phase that's occurs after the professional selection has been made. Okay. So you're making your determination based on things completely separate from cost.

Correct. It's a completely objective process that is not involving any cost until after this election has been made and approved. Is there one or two sentences you can use to describe why Kimley Horn is continually used by the town of Waxaw? I'll say their local knowledge is superior to a lot of other organizations and within your agenda packet this evening they supplied uh their RF LOI. I encourage you all to look into that. um their RF LOI was was very superior in the sense of their local knowledge with the town uh with what we were looking for and those criterion that we were uh analyzing.

Yep. And I know they also do work at the state level as well and federal just some small local outfit at all. So correct. Thank you. Yeah. I mean just looking at these scores it's really negligible between Kimley Horn and RK and K. Yeah. Some of them came close. Some of them did come close. I think um some of the deciding factors were within that RF LOI, what the town has stated and was approved by NC DOT on what we were looking for. Uh some firms just missed the mark on that. So they were they were docked points. Yeah. There's about five on here that are very close and final score.

Yeah. Okay. So, we're looking for a motion to award HL0115 contract to Kimley Horn. Can I get a motion? Motion to award uh HL01 I'm sorry. Is that the one? Yeah. Yes. uh to award the HL0115 Broom Street Improvements Professional Engineering Services contract to Kimley Horn in the amount of 626,5744 and authorize the town manager to execute the contract. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Hearing none, this motion carries. Thank you.

Thank you very much. One step closer to a little better road. All righty. Mr. James Kelly, don't go anywhere.

All right. So this next item um that our IT folks are helping pulling up is the consideration of the approval of side agreement letters uh for the intersection improvements at Waxaw Marvin and Pine Oak Road. So if the board recalls uh this was back in June July of last year we said hey we're in 60 days we'll bring this back to you. Well, it's took us a little bit longer than 60 days, but we're happy to uh announce some good news when it comes to this is that the there's an opportunity for the board to decide to move forward with the side agreement letters in lie of uh condemnation. So, as we walk throughout this, our requested action this evening is to um authorize the town manager to execute these site agreement letters along with uh the joint written direction for dispersement of funds. So, let's walk through that. So to provide you some background again this is at the location of the intersection of Waxaw Marvin Road and Pine Oak Road and we're going to focus in on parcels five and six. Um again at your July 8th 2025 BOC meeting the item uh for condemnation consideration was removed from the agenda to allow for additional time to negotiate with those two property owners. Um and good news is an agreement has been reached and is returning to the BOC for your approval consideration in lie of proceeding with condemnation. So again to provide some more uh detailed uh numbers figures parcel 5 the owner is uh Miss Dorothy Laney very nice lady and um you can see the impacts for the project there and our current offer based upon a certified appraisal and certified review. And I'll just emphasize that that is that that is an appraisal and certified review that's done separate from the town. So that therefore there's no there's no bias there. Um based upon the certified appraisal and certified review, both uh third parties agreed that the amount for just compensation would be $49,325. In addition, uh the property owner has

requested this site agreement letter for approval for you all tonight. But there's that uh full breakdown uh full breakdown there for you there. and then the right diagram Graham to uh if you guys have any questions. But as far as the side agreement highlights, um the Miss Laney had some valid concerns when it comes to preserving her trees. I'm preserving one particular tree named uh the Betty tree or Betty's tree. So when it comes to trees, uh we are within this within the site agreement that you can read within your agenda packet, you'll see that uh we're going to identify the trees and bush removals and uh the trees that are going to be preserved along with uh providing some additional tree screening for the property owner and then of course ensuring the preservation of this Betty's tree. Um taking extra measures to pro protect this tree that's very significant to the owner. Um, in addition, we're going to look at some guardrail and separation devices just as some added safety measures, and we'll have to explore right of entry agreement in order to access the uh owner's property. So, that'll be a follow-up action. Um, also look at a concrete driveway apron, which is an inind uh restoration. Also, the property owner was property owner was concerned about her septic tank and sewer tap explorations. So, we've outlined a procedure if the septic tank is damaged by construction and then also a procedure to explore potential sewer taps in the future. In addition, uh we've outlined equipment storage uh procedures, erosion control, construction timelines, construction work hours was a concern. We're going to um match those DOT construction hours to not not have any of of those nighttime hours really. Um also some seating and mulching. So those were her concerns and we're just outlining those concerns uh to meet the uh property owner in addition to the just compensation. Similar type of thing going on with the other parcel. Uh the owner is Melvin Witherspoon. Uh his current offer and certified appraisal came back at 14,375,000

u with the additional side agreement letter. So you can see the breakdown there. Um plus the rightway diagram plus the highlights. Again, we're very very similar to the Laney parcel minus the the Betty Street because that was specific to the Laney parcel. So, happy to take any questions and um request action from you all tonight. Any questions from the board? Hearing none, then can I get a motion to authorize the town manager to execute the side agreement as shown? So moved. All in favor? I I Any opposed? None opposed. This motion carries. Mayor, point of clarification.

I need to get Someone needs to read the whole thing in the motion. Yeah. Uh motion to authorize the town manager to execute the site agreement letter for parcel 06168021 Dorothy Laney along with the joint written direction for dispersement of funds in lie of condemnation. All in favor? I. Any opposed? And then the second motion is um motion to authorize the town manager to execute the side agreement letter for parcel 06168022A Melvin Witherspoon along with the joint written direction for dispersement of funds in lie of condemnation. All in favor I

I any opposed hearing none that motion carries. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you very much James. Next up we have A reading of the proposed changes for the ordinance amending the town code related to the operation of bicycles and ebikes and whatnot. Mayor Board, how are y'all? Good afternoon, Sergeant. Good evening.

So, I'm Lieutenant Wack. I'll be standing in for Chief Wilson today. Uh we got uh first reading of a ordinance that has to do with updating some of the old ones that we had to include some of these ebikes and everything that we have in town for uh public safety. you want to make sure that uh people everyone knows what they are and where they can be. Um so it's the first reading of the ordinance that updates the town code related to the operation of bicycles, electric bikes, scooters, skateboards, and similar devices on town streets, sidewalks, parks, and greenways. The purpose of the ordinance to modernize and consolidate our existing regulations, many of which date back to the '9s. And I know for a fact the last time we looked at bicycles on sidewalks was like 2014. So I mean it's about time that we added a little bit in there. And to clearly address newer devices such as electric bicycles, electric scooters, and motorized recreational devices. The goal is to improve public safety, protect uh protect pedestrians, access, and ensure compliance with ADA uh accessibility standards while also providing clear guidance clear guidance for residents and law enforcement. Under the propos proposed ordinance, bicyclist and nonmotorized recreational devices may operate on public streets and sidewalks unless otherwise posted. So this is clear determination between bicycles and non-motorized recreational devices. Think of a regular bicycle that people have put their feet on the pedal and they give it all the power it has and a something like a a regular skateboard or a scooter that's they're powering it. Okay. They can be on sidewalks. The rest of them cannot. On streets, operators must follow traffic laws, ride as far to the right as uh practicable practicable and may not ride more than two arrests except in designated designated [snorts] bike lanes. On sidewalks, bicycles and non-motorized recreational devices are allowed, but electric bicycles, mopeds,

motorized recreational devices, and motorcycles are prohibited. All sidewalk operators must yield to pedestrians. Provide an audible signal before passing and travel at a safe speed not exceeding 10 miles per hour. In town parks and on greenways, all regulated devices are limited to maximum speed of 15 mph and pedestrians always have the rightway. Bicyclists must ride single file and stay to the right when passing. Operators under the age of 16 are required to wear properly fitted bicycle helmet. Bicycles and similar devices may only be left in designated racks or spaces to avoid safety hazards. So, you can't just throw it down in the uh grass at the park. You got to go put it up so people are not tripping over your bicycle. Um, for nighttime operation on streets, devices must have appropriate front lighting and rear reflectors or lights. Enforcement will be handled as a civil infraction with a maximum penalty of $50 per violation. Law enforcement would also have the authority to impound a regulated device if necessary until the violation is is resolved. Uh finally, the ordinance repeals several older ordinances adopted between 93 and 2014 and replaces them with a single clear and consistent set of rules. So tonight, we're just looking for feedback and direction on proposed ordinance and uh then once we have all that, we'll bring it back to do it again.

Thank you very much. Any questions from the board? I think these are very timely updates. Perhaps a little behind, but yes, I agree. Yeah, they're they're all over the place these days. So, it's good to see. Thank you. All righty. All right. We will vote on that at a later date.

Next up, town manager Scott Datson. [snorts] Good evening. Uh tonight's presentation starts with the financial report for a reason. You need to understand that before we go into the three proposed ordinances that you have. The first one being a budget amendment to your current CIP budget for this fiscal year. Second being two separate ordinances that we're recommending that are called capital improvement ordinances. They're standalone and there's a reason for that. So, we're going to go through this presentation and help you understand it from a financial position of what's in your reserves. So, when you get the financial report, um let's see how I do this. Here you go. Um, when you get your financial reports on a monthly basis,

I think we're getting you a new mic. What's that? We're getting you a new microphone. Oh, getting me a new M. You'd be a good roadie. Can you hear me now? Gotcha.

Now better. Okay. So, you folks as a legislative body appropriate by funds. You don't appropriate by cash. Okay. That's the first thing. So, let's take some key financial takeaways from your December 31st report. Your operating finances are uh stable with your spendings below mid-year levels and revenues uh tracking based on collection timing. Meaning that the majority of your funds are done on a quarterly basis number one. And then secondly, the majority the largest portion which is property taxes are collected October, November, December. um uh that's when the majority of those funds are collected. So that's your largest cash position at any one time in the year. Um the current cash position, now we're flipping to cash. How much money do you have on hand supports ongoing operations? Um most capital improvement funds are already committed to approved projects that will occur over several years. and we're going to talk about those tonight because I'm going to ask you to do some adjustments to those so that your projects can carry forward. Um, and then that's that board action that we're going to talk about. So, the general fund, which you really have a general fund and some small special funds, you don't have a utility fund, you don't have an enterprise fund, you don't have any other fund accounting uh that you really deal with. You generally you you have a general fund. So, your year-to- date general fund is tracking with expected within expected ranges. So, your um am I do I have no what was that? What did I do? Well, me and technology, right? Lord have mercy. There you go. All right. So, what you have here in

revenues is you have a budget, for example, of revenues of 26 million. To date, you've received approximately 15 million of that or 58%. Your expenses um are I know that those two numbers are different. We've amended the budget since the beginning, but uh what's understood is your expenses um are at 43%. So, we your department managers uh and your finance team control your expenditures fairly well and keep that below that 50% number. December 31st is 50% of the way through the fiscal year. Your cash on hand is 39 million and that's a big number. So we're going to talk about what that means. So, uh, just to give you a little bit more dive down, the things that are controlled basically what I would call at the county level, your property taxes, your motor vehicle taxes, and things like that represent um, around 13 almost 14 million of your budget. And the monies that come from the state represent about 31% or about 9.5 million of your budget. Those are your sales taxes, franchise taxes, and those kinds of other taxes that uh you receive as a prata basis or in different legislatively um allocated ways. Um that you jin up locally um most specifically in franchise, but in and in motor vehicle, but in areas such as sales tax, you get a proportion backed by state law. So the way the county redistributes those dollars is not uh did you jin up that much in sales in in the town? No, you get a proportion of all of Union County

as does Monroe, as does Indian Trail, as does Stallings, as does, uh do the other towns. So based upon that, um your biggest single collection is property taxes. So you're at about 58% of all revenues collected. That's a good position to be in. um expenditures are at 43%. So that's a good spread. It's where we like to keep it and uh we try to work towards that below 100% on spending so that we create um reserve and fund balance. So if you look at it by cash um you have and we I'm only highlighting three of the funds. So this is by fund your cash flow. Uh your general fund has the largest amount at 27 million in it. Capital reserves sit at 5 point essentially 5.4 million and your building inspections uh we monitor that because that's a standalone separately statutory uh group of spending on how we deal with that. and they're sitting at fairly steady at about 6.3 I mean 633,000 by cash. Um these are two there there's there's a list of about 12 maybe 14 different bank accounts. Um but these are the two that give us the most relativity and we use the most or we monitor the most. First is your truest operating. You notice that that number from August uh well July it spikes up a bit. We've we get a bit we haven't spent as much. We get more inflow of cash relative to spending and then it begins to decrease over time. And that's because you're not receiving your large amount of cash until quarterly payments somewhere about a fourth of the way through and then

halfway through that's when you're largest. And so those funds begin to uh look better as we go through the year because secondly, we're also investing in cash. So we invest that cash to get a return and add it as a revenue line item uh for use by the town. So your CIP is and and this is your cash position. So this is what we want to talk about and how it relates to the three actions we're asking you folks to consider. uh in the CIP it serves as your dedicated reserve. You have a designated fund. Um in other words, it is designated. It is not undesated. And those are two very important terms. You don't have your audit yet. you won't have it because state law moved that audit date out into February uh due to Helen last year and the inability for a lot of our communities in the western part of the state to be able to give timely financials. So the state treasurer moved that date out uh so you will not get that until February. But we do know where our cash is. We do know understand what our beginning cash balances were. So um this is subject to change when the auditor comes back in and makes adjusting journal entries. Uh so this is an unodudited view of this. So in your CIP cash reserve position it is not all in one spot. It is in about three different spots in your uh funds. One is your uh and what those total are are about cash on hand. out of that 39 million cash on hand uh is about 10.6 million is already reserved. In other words, your cash position is really 29. These are reserved.

Of that cash on hand that is in those CIP reserves, 9.6 million is committed to projects. So, the board in your November uh report that you got from me, you saw a bit of the breakdown. We're going to be more specific about it tonight so you understand this. So, here's the bad news. It's not bad, but here's the news to date until we get the audit reported in the adjusting journal entry and the board can then take further actions on your uh cash position. Um, right now you're short on your current project. So, we're going to talk about that. Now, this is such an easy to see uh chart here, but let's talk about it a bit. Does this have a pointer? Does it have a pointer? Is it the middle button?

Yeah. Okay. I didn't click it off. I'm winning. my children. I when my kids come home from school, I have to give them my phone because I don't know how to operate it. Um, in this um I'm sorry that people can't see this specifically on your computer. There's a series of numbers that I want you to see. Your CIP fund or fund 403 is right here. Uh we start off at about 5.7, we're at about 5.4 4 million and our obligated reserved of that f 5.4 million in fund 403 is about 5364. So that is what you have reserved in that particular fund for obligated projects. The second one is this fund 385. It's also a CIP fund and in there your obligated reserves are 355. The cash sitting in there is about 910,000. That is where your um motor vehicle taxes, your tag taxes. That's where these go. These monies go here, and they're used for small capital projects, and you have actually obligated it to a very specific project called Bonds Grove. Did I do I get the right one? Is it east or west? Where's James?

East.

East. Thank you. I get that one backwards all the time. Uh but this is for east that's the traffic light. So when you total these your obligated cash position is about 6.3. Now, the non- major special revenue funds are important for you to kind of understand because this is where either by previous actions by previous boards or even this board, you have obligated through um a another authority that you have under general statutes to obligate capital and/or grant project funds. over time you have done that because these projects may last more than one fiscal year. So we move these down into separate funds by council actions over time and then they are also part of the reserve but they're reserved for very specific things in that list. You see things like for example downtown park uh honorarium has a negative number that's a holding number sorry don't want to go into too much accounting tonight but for example there's one big one that you are very used to and that's pal bill and that is your oblig your estimated reserves in there is about 1.9 million and you will receive more funds than anticipated revenues where you're building your powell f uh funds and that has been on purpose purpose uh for for things uh to be done. Secondly, you'll see athletic barn that will go away by the end of the year because you will have paid that off, but it comes out of that fund. Next one, and these are two new ones, and we're going to talk about those because we're going to ask you to do some specific um actions. One is Helms Road. Uh James gave you a good

description of the project and the next one is um uh the Bond Grove. So there's two new ones in there that will go towards um uh very specific project. We'll ask you to pull those out and create capital funds and as separate things because they go over fiscal years. So Kensington is down here. This is where the infamous project that I think finishes the traffic light on Millbridge. This is the infamous Millbridge light. There's two. There's two Kensingtons. Okay. Kensington apparently has been around for a very long time. That's the widening.

That's the widening one. Okay. Lots of history. I I I've read back 20 years of CI uh of of of audits, which is a really great way to spend your Christmas. Um, essentially what you have here though is there's that 10 million 301 number that looks a little different because what happens is we we have um estimated reserve balances. You'll get revenue in in things like fee in lie ofs. Now James uses another term payment in lie of. So PIL or fee in Lu are both the same thing. They're they're exactly the same thing when uh we're talking about this, but you anticipate some revenues coming in. There'll be some transfers here. There's that 355. And then these are numbers that we're going to recommend move around out of CIP into a revenue position. This helps us balance our reserves and figure out what we have left. And then these are the anticipated expenses. So in this year alone, you'll expend about 6.7 million in capital. That's that that's planned. That's on purpose. That's out of the reser both out of reserves and current and current incoming income and revenue. So that's the status of your reserves. This is a a more specific list. These are the projects. Uh there's your non- major special, there's your uh small transportation fund, there's your CIP reserve. That's where we're pulling monies from. This is additional revenues that come in, and I'll explain what that is in a second. But here's your projects. Broom, I get the name right, James, uh that you just talked about. Roundabout on 75, that is.

Okay, I got it. Good. Uh, I'm good with the math part, not the explaining which one it is. There's your Millbridge Parkway light. The other Kensington.

That's the other Kensington. Thank you. Um, and then you have uh a series of other things that you had to do when you went into the budget. You had to balance your revenues in of reserve. That was what at the time management thought was best to pull over to go ahead and balance yourself so you'd have enough money. Secondly, you have equipment and grants. This 917 is a general fund number, but it has a lot of capital in it intensive. Then you have police vehicles. That's right there. That's also out of general fund. Then there are a series of other movements. This is the Pine Oak signal right here. This is an amount that needs to be done to balance that project out. Kensington to balance the other Kensington is 318,000. Then the board took an action several years ago where it designated this amount 2.525 million towards Helm's construction. So you have 2.52 million in your reserves for this project. in your general fund budget that you moved over to your CIP, you allocated 750 for the design part of it. What's missing from Helms is what we're going to start talking about next. Okay. So, the ordinance tonight is is three-fold. The first one's the CIP budget amendment. Our recommendation will be to amend that and we'll look at that here in the numbers in a second. That will balance out your projects in this current fiscal year from a capital perspective. It will also move two pots of money. It will accept some money back in from small transportation fund and then move it out again. That's Bond Grove,

the light, right, James? Thank you. And then the second one is for Helms Road and that's moving the 750 out of CIP into its own standalone project. Reason for doing that is you may enter into that on June 20th and you may not expended anything until August. So we want it to have a multi-year effect instead of having to come back and amend your budget and amend your cash positions all the time. So this makes it cleaner for the board. You can see it. you can see where it is and see what's going on with it as you move along. So this is the first ordinance and this is the CIP budget. What you have here in this line item is these are the budgeted amounts that 2.5 and these are the projects. Helms Road extension design 75 Old Providence that's that 282 the 1675 turn lane design that's that 95 Pine Oak signal that's the total amount of 750 for that and the Millbridge Parkway signal is 270 and then there is Bond Grove at 355. However, three of these projects are a bit short. Old Providence at 42, 172 at the N1675 at 172, and Milbridge Parkway signal short by 1503. Now, the reason they're short is you didn't move the reserves over. So, now what we're going to have you do is move out of reserves and into spending. Okay? So, that's 87. That completes the projects. That brings your total in CIP from here to here. Okay, so those are the actual project costs. So now we're recognizing that they were not being recognized before.

Secondly, this is where the money comes from. So you're moving 355 from 355,000 from your CIP fund reserve of 385. That's the fund number. And then 452,000 out of your reserve to finish these projects. That gives you the 807 balances your projects out. That allows you to now move forward with your projects except for two. Helms and bond. Okay. Just want to make sure we're following along with this. It took me three months to figure it out. So, you know, it's it's it's been taking a while to get there only simply because of where projects were, what they were, my, you know, learning curve and some other things. So, what this budget does, what this budget amendment does to your CIP, this is not your general fund, but it clarifies now where these projects are going to, pulls your reserve amounts in because in your general fund, it showed zero and it showed zero in your CIP. We didn't move any funds in. This recognizes the funds, allows the projects to move forward. So that in itself is what it does. But it also moves these two dollar amounts. It moves Helms Road from being back in there to its own standalone or fund 406. Bondrove then moves down to its unown fund 407. So three actions tonight. Amend your CIP. It only needs one reading. These two will require two readings. We'll recommend that you read them first and hold helms for further discussion at your work session. Okay? And I'm going to go into why. So, uh, there's your grant. Um, there's your NC16 in Bonds Grove Church, the

light. Great. I love af positive affirmations. Um, and that will make that project move forward. As everybody who travels up and down 16 says, this one will be awesome, but it's also imbalanced to a couple of other things. Um, and so there's that dollar amount. We just contributed to the DOT project. We do not manage this ourselves. They do. This is our contribution to make sure that thing works. Helms Road's a little bit different. So, as you heard from uh James earlier, this is that entirety of Helms plus the flyover. It's in total, James, about a $9.5 million project. Our half of it is around 4.7 somewhere in that neighborhood. So, our responsibility is half of Helms Road. Now, this is what Helms Road looks like. There's 750 for preliminary design. our estimates on right-of-way acquisition and the our total portion of construction. You have in your accounts 750 for design. We have cash on hand 2.525 million in reserves for our half of this construction number. You do not have this number and you don't have the other half of this number. It's not actually half. It's about 1.3 million give or take. Uh but those two numbers together add up to your

shortfall here. So this is your cash on hand. So you've got the ability to design it. You've got half of more than half of your construction cost here. And you're short here and then the other half here. Make sense? Okay. Now that 5.6 number, I just want to be really clear about that with y'all. That includes the 750,000. Okay, that's the design part that isn't in any agreements between us. Now, why am I bringing this to you now? Because I've been asked to sign an agreement to enter into with Helms. I'm not going to enter into that agreement until the board moves the money in the appropriate places and gives me the direction that we need to know that we have funds efficient because I can't sign that as your fidiciary without it. Make sense? Okay. Just want to make sure if you have questions going along, please please ask. Yes, sir.

Just for clarification purposes, I believe I am following along. So, we have a bucket 2.525 and then we've designated an additional bucket to be bound together. this 750k and then we are looking at essentially our 850k rounding up and then we have with the dedicated already bucket there is a balance due of the 2.398 [snorts] and change is that about correct that's about right thank you

okay so that 2398 includes that 848 just so you know okay it includes both of those and then our portion left in construction. Once we're in for a dime, we're in for a dollar. That's kind of the way this process moves along. But I want to make sure the board looks at me and says, "Okay, yeah, we got it." Uh until because I'm not going to sign as a fidiciary until the board says, "I got it." And makes these actions. Okay? I can't, you know, that's the authority I need from you folks to enter into these things. The reason we're asking on Helms to do this is because you don't have a certain amount of money. What we want to do is read it once and then talk further about it so that the board gets a comfort level about what it's going to need to do in the future. Now, remember a couple of things. We haven't done audited adjusting journal entries yet. That will change some of the picture, but I can't tell you how much yet. I don't know that until the auditor comes back and guides us through that process. I would argue it's a management decision, but we'll we'll have that discussion with GAAP and other accounting issues later. Um, but we wait for the auditor. We have that comfort. Then we know how much cash we're actually out and then what the board will need to continue to do to get to that point. Those, if you look back at the beginning of my conversation, some of these projects are way out and some of them have time delays. And you know, time, money, revenues, different budget years can help you get there. But once I sign the contract, I'm then taking other things away because I have a contract obligation at that point in time. So I don't want to enter into that until you all are very cleareyed about the project. Does that make sense? Okay. So, um, I'm recommending that you pass in first reading tonight your budget amendment because you only need one for that. I'm

asking you to do first reading for the other two, Bonsgrove and Helms in first reading and then hold on Helms until we have a work session. We talk about it, get a little bit more information. If you have further questions, we have the fullness of that. Then you can do the second reading at another meeting. I do not have to sign that contract on Helms now. I I have a little bit of time to do that, but this and you folks allow me to go into it gives me the ability to then sign that we have funds available and that you are dedicated to getting that project done. Make sense? Okay. Um that is it on that. I don't think there's anything else with that. Nope. So, let me stop there. You have uh do we have the budget ordinance up, Bradley? Do we have that ability to put that up? No, that's all right. So, the next action item, I don't think it's in there. So the next action item, the one I'm really talking from, I did a financial report, but the one that's in front of you is to amend your CIP. Okay. Uh do you want to see that again just one more time on this report so you understand it? Okay. Uh let's see here. Um can you put that into uh the mode where I can move it along as a slideshow? Thank you. Let's see. Let's get you right here. right here. So the CIP budget ordinance would do this on the expenditure side. You would amend it by adding 87,000 worth of expenditure. Those monies are coming from reserve and they're basically coming from fee in lie of they sit in our reserve but they were really from payment in lie of. We're

matching that back against those dollars. Then you can expend. The revenues come from here. We're moving 452,000 from reserves to here and we're moving this fund which is already there anyways for that back to here. Make sense? The third action in that ordinance as you'll see is then moving those dollars into fund 406 and 407 355 and 750. This amount up here is just going to go into 407 and this amount here is going to go into fund 406. So they'll come out of your CIP. They'll sit in standalones. You'll make first readings on those tonight. Those are the second and third action you're asked to do. You'll hold them. You'll do a second reading on Bondrove and you'll have a discussion about Helms a little bit further to make sure your folks are comfortable. Fair enough. Okay. So, my recommendation is to adopt your amendment to your CIP budget. Can I answer questions?

So, just for clarification to make sure that this is as clear as possible to the general public as well as myself and others is we are not obligating new funds. We are simply taking money and putting it into an envelope and that envelope is marked what was it 304 and 305 406 and 407 406 and 407 sorry too many numbers but anyway we're essentially putting it in an envelope marked this particular project and an envelope marked that particular project such that those funds do not then get allocated for something else. Exactly. So we don't get surprised later on the money's not there. So

Exactly. And then and So thank you. And then to highlight and to clarify as well, this is not obligating any need for new revenues. So these are all monies that you have either through your general fund and you've allocated over. Exactly. Or from your reserve positions of which the majority are coming from fee in lie of in this particular case. Exactly. And that's just something I wanted to make clear to the general public at large is that we're not obligating new funds and the need for new revenue. We're simply identifying the money we have on hand, putting it in an envelope that's specifically marked for a specific project so it doesn't accidentally get spent on something else. That is correct. Putting it under the right mattress. [laughter]

Yeah, it's a and I apologize for the longness in this, but I think you needed to understand what was in your reserves under designated.

This is very helpful. Um the board will have a future chance to designate some cash and we'll come back and talk to you about that about how to do that and what we recommend against obligated. The one the other thing I want you to understand is all of these projects outside of Helms, which is why I've asked you to do a first reading on that particular ordinance, is that everything else I've recommended comes from a previously obligated um approval that this board or a previous board has made by ordinance and it's been reserved by your auditor and by uh you in your allocation of funds. So these are allocated funds from time allocated projects over time and this is now we're spending them because your your CIP here is not all your reserve cash and all of that kind of stuff. This is just simply what you intend to spend in this fiscal year and what you where you intend to get those revenues. We just didn't show enough money in the transfers to balance those things out. This balances those out. So this you'll read a first time. Bon Grove you'll read a first time and Helms you'll read a first time. Those are three separate actions.

Good question Mr. Mayor. Any other questions that I can ask? Any other questions from the board? One question, Mr. Mayor. This also is in concert with the collections of payments that we've already received for fees and loo or payment in lu with these designated projects as in like um the bonds grove signal light at NC16. It already accounts for that. If we haven't received it yet, we have not asked you to spend it yet.

Thank you. So, if you go back, sorry to do this to you, but if you go back here to this really exciting one, there's um anticipated revenues in of another 465 that are guaranteed by agreement to come in in this fiscal year. We anticipate others in future uh we anticipate others in future year, but we're not asking you to consider those yet in spending. So these are just in either anticipated revenues because we, you know, have them or we're expecting them to come in down here. This is actually from cash. Uh these uh the 318 is coming from up here in your reserve. The 750 is coming from general fund into CIP down over into here. And this is just the balance of PAL bill that we'll get through the balance of the year. That's all that means. We're not doing anything with PAL bill right now. We're not asking you to do. You have expenditures for PAL bill this year as an ongoing concern in your general fund right now. That's for resurfacing and other projects that we have that will start here in the spring. But we also have a reserve for foul pal bill because we know in the future we'll need it. Roads have a tendency to cost you more money tomorrow than they do today. Is that reserve on the PAL bill um in its independent bucket or does it need to be future?

Yes, sir. Good question. There it is. It's in its own bucket. These non- major special revenue funds, these are all separate. Okay. They're separate than fund 403. They're separate than fund 385. They're all down here in these buckets. They are in separate designated standalone buckets already designated through uh through previous board action. Okay. So, you're looking for a motion to approve ordinance 20260002. Yes. Very good. Then can I get a motion to approve ordinance 2026002? So moved. All in favor? I I. Any opposed?

Hearing none. This motion carries. And then the other two items you have listed will go for a second reading. Uh they'll go for first readings. First readings. Okay. Yep. First readings on the next two items on your agenda. All right. Is that correct, Barbie? Do we have those as separates? Yes. Tonight would be the first reading. First reading of the next This is This is the introduction part. Okay. So you have another two presentations to go. Well, I've already presented them. [laughter] That's what I thought. That's what I was thinking.

Yeah, that's what that's what you thought. I did this all in one to kind of get you that. But for for those listening so we understand, you're you've done this one, the CIP budget. This allows you to now do the se the first readings of the second two. And that is for these two. So, uh, the movement over into Helms Road for first reading and Bond Grove for first reading, fund 406 and fund 407. I do not know what the ordinance designations on them are, but they are two separate ordinances. Is that correct? 2026004 and 2026005. Yes, that's correct. Those are for first readings.

So, have you presented those then effectively? You're presented those. Yes. Thank you very much. Then it sounds like we can move on to the next agenda item.

Discuss the BOC priorities. Okay. They pass those ordinances in first reading. Those other two, they're just up for um feedback. They're just for first reading if they have any feedback. Yeah, just for first reading. My recommendation is you do first readings on both of those so you can hold them certainly tonight. So I would recommend you do that. You can hold them and then on to your second reading,

right? And if they have if you have any questions, you can always add that to your work session for the 27th. You can go through each individual question that you have. We'll have copies of those for you. Okay, that sounds good. All righty. So, next up, uh, the item that was added to the amended agenda was to discuss board of commissioner priorities. Does anyone want to kick this discussion off in particular? Where do we want to go with this?

Commissioner Daunt, what do you got? So, uh, you know, since Mayor Murray and Mayor Pro Tim Wedra and myself were elected in November of 2023, it's been two years of ideas that we couldn't implement. And so over the time I did make note of those ideas and um prior to the swearing in of our three new commissioners, we discussed them and so I wanted to make them public, some of them public uh here today just as a um a way of making it official that we're all in concert on this and to um so that our our town manager can uh put some on each agenda for each meeting. Some of these are lowhanging fruit, pretty easy. Um so I'll just go through one by one. There's a list of 12. Um I think 12 is a good number because of 12 months in the year. So number one, add a board response line in our agenda after public comments so that after the mayor closes public comments, he can ask the board if they want to make any comments in response to the speakers. Two, bring the original option five parking configuration for Red Oaks Trail as offered by James before the BOC for a vote. Three, do a presentation on the employee efficiency program that was implemented in 2024 to raise awareness with town employees. Four, add costs to county taxpayers to the cost to serve study and present to the BOC. Five, present options for town campus

cost mitigation. Six, do a presentation on public banking with an expert from the public banking institute. Seven, return the Christmas tree to the downtown area and explore getting a permanent tree planted so we don't have to pay for a tree every year. [snorts] Eight, bring a resolution in support of HB24, restoration of downzoning powers before the BOC for a vote. Nine, in 2025, Weddington implemented enhanced fees if large trees are cut down on land that is being developed. Let's look to do the same thing here. 10. Start the process of working with our state delegation to implement a recall process for elected officials in Waxaw, as other towns in North Carolina have done. 11. Present options to eliminate lame duck decisions and meetings immediately after an election. Wait until the newly elected are ready to be seated. 12. include representatives from each HOA once or twice a year in a BOC discussion about working in collaboratively with HOAs. So, um, [clears throat] anyone have any comments? I assume everyone is still okay with those.

Any comments or questions from the rest of the board? I think you're going to need to provide a list.

I'll email that list. [laughter] What was the third one again? Can you Just kidding. Um, no, I think that's a great list and it's definitely stuff that I know the three of us have talked about over the last couple years. So, it'll be nice to kind of take a second look at some of these things and see if we can advance them. Thank you. All righty. Next up is town leadership reports. Uh [clears throat] there are no leadership reports this month. So we will jump to board of commissioner comments. Any comments from the board? I do have a comment. U 12 comments. [laughter]

13.

So I was just thinking about uh being balanced in our thinking. You know, as we do the work of the people, it behooves us to be balanced in our thinking. And in that vein, I'd like to share a modern restatement of a quote from a 1927 book, The Science of Society, Volume 1, [snorts] which presents a high level of some of the balancing acts we have to perform on this board. So here's the quote. The ideal state undertakes to regulate social conduct only enough to take violence out of individual competition and to prevent unfairness and personal initiative. Here is a great problem in statehood. How can you guarantee peace and quiet in industry, pay the taxes to support state power, and at the same time prevent taxation from handicapping industry and keep the state from becoming parasitical or tyrannical. So there's no easy answer, but something to think about.

It's certainly a balancing act. That's definitely for sure. All righty. Any other comments from the board? Hearing none. Uh, can I get a motion to recess into close session pursuant to NCGS143-318.11A5 and NCGS 143-318.11 A3? So moved. All in favor? I. Any opposed?

Hearing none. I'd like to invite the necessary staff, our town manager, our town attorney, the town clerk, and our downtown administration, Allora. I invite you to close session with us. We are now officially in close session. Thank you very much.

Everyone, can I get a motion to reconvene open session? So moved. All in favor? I I We are now back in open session. Next on the agenda is a looking ahead item. we were going to have a little discussion about the timing and the scope of our next um of our work sessions. So, there's been apparently some discussions and some hesitations around starting meetings at 5:00 p.m. So, what we would like to do or it sounds like what we're looking to suggest is that we have a work session starting at 6:30 p.m. and that's it. Yeah. and reserve and and hold the meeting to being just a work session.

Yes. Um, one of the things that I would propose is that if there are some crucial items that can and are ready to be voted on, they don't obviously no public hearings, no first readings, um, nothing big basically. Um, my original suggestion was that we have a conventional meeting starting at 6:30, open it, do what needs to be done from a business standpoint, then close that meeting and go into close session. But I would I just want to be clear that that's in the event we need one that it wouldn't be, you know, every work session because

correct. I think it's the exception, not the rule to actually have votes and stuff like that in a regular meeting for that before a work session for the fourth Tuesday. Yeah. Yeah. It would be the exception. So that's kind of the idea. Um did you have a comment, Commissioner Ferris? So it would just be confined to essentially old business just before work session. Old business, anything that needs to be voted on and only something that needs to be voted on. Okay. But I want to be clear, we adopted the uh schedule. It was in the December 9th meeting. One meeting was going to be a regular meeting. Regular meeting.

One meeting was going to be a work session. Uh because those tend to be lengthy. Um and so limiting them to an hour. I don't think we're getting anything done. Yeah. So, um, if we need a special meeting here and there, but I think moving I think, you know, it it got a little bumpy now because it was it was changed from the original so that now the agenda was made with

moving dates moving forward because the original and and my computer shut down. The original second meeting was to be a work session only starting at 6:30 and then for some reason it got changed to a work session from 5 to 6 and then a regular meeting starting at 6:30 which is quite different from what we agreed to last year. Exactly. And this was a recommendation and a suggestion made by staff and the point of putting it on the agenda tonight as you can see is to discuss it. Yeah. So it sounds like from a board perspective, we would like the second meeting to be purely a work meeting, a work session. A work session, sorry.

And then it also sounds like then we are amunable to the idea of scheduling a what were we saying? An emergency meeting, a special meeting, sorry. A special meeting as needed. Um either at the tail end or at the beginning of the work session or another day if it doesn't come up. if something comes up in between. I mean it does and you know I think if we're planning accordingly now that will be less likely to happen less of a shock you know is this something the staff can work with Barbie what are we thinking so currently your rules of procedure indicate that work sessions are are special meetings already

already so that is that is what it's currently um uh addressed as uh one of the things that I would suggest that you do at this first work session is to amend your rules of procedure to allow you to have work sessions and not call it a special meeting. Um that's one of the things I would definitely do. That's a very easy fix. We can do that with by by motion and direction.

Okay. Um what I maybe a suggestion for you for the work sessions. Um, and if you have items that you want to act on, but there is a time constraint on those particular items, you can recess that work session and um for another day so that the items that you are um going to review in that recessed meeting then you can do that on another day. So for example, you have a work session on the 27th. If you have something that um come before you and there is a time constraint for some kind of planning zoning item then and they need to have it by a particular day then you can say well um we'll recess the meeting and we'll take action of this item at said date whether it be the very next day at a said time so that the public knows that that's a recessed meeting for that day and that time and here in the town hall. And one of the things we were talking about too is that you can easily remove an item from a special meeting. Correct.

Yes, you can remove an an item from the special meeting, but you cannot add anything. Correct. Okay. So, if we didn't I'm sorry. Sorry. Go ahead. I was just going to say so if we built up a big agenda for a work session i.e. a special meeting and then we realize okay this is going long items can't be pulled from that such that those meetings don't become unbearably long

right and I want to respect staff time and you know tonight is a a long meeting we haven't had one in a while so I expected it to be a little long but I think that if we can have work sessions the regular meetings then can be very laser focused on what we need to do and and have less discussion because we're already doing the hard work of the discussion in the work session. And so, um, I think moving forward, we can plan ahead. Um, and if when we know that this is the schedule, then we plan for those items that need to follow. If they need to, you know, a second read and whatever it is, we know how to plan for that. Now, if something should happen to come up, great. We can figure that out. But um yeah, I think we need to spend time in work sessions um just to make it easier in the long run,

right? And by having those work sessions and those longer discussions in the work session, we can have regular meetings that are more digestible to the public. you know, it doesn't it's not conducive to public engagement to have a 4hour meeting, you know,

and and just in quick research, you know, there are a lot of municip local municipalities that have one-on-one work session and uh one regular meeting or just a regular meeting. Um, and you know, by general statute, we only need to have one uh regular meeting a month. Um, so I think we I think the original adopted schedule that we had on December 9th, uh, without dictating a different time is what we need to go with.

You mind if I put a little input on that? Um uh because I've I've seen these done in a couple other places and everything and I I think we were originally talking about doing that with the just having the one meeting and then the work session, but it looked like there might be several months where potentially there was going to be a lot a lot of backed up items and other cases and everything and then it might become a little bit more regular that we might have the uh the the meeting there. Um is 6:30 is that the the earliest that y'all can do? because if you could do, you know, 5:30 or 6 or something like that for the workshop, that may give you a little bit more time to get through some of that and then if you have to have those other those other items on there. Just a suggestion.

I just feel like in terms of timing because it does kind of compress everything having it at 6:30 on two nights and trying to get everything in there and squeeze the workshop into. Well, I I mean, I'm just looking to do a work session, you know, in general, unless we need to. And so more often than not, they'll just be work sessions. I mean, the few 2 by twos, you know, before you got here, we did 2 by twos, they were two and a half hours, right? Sometimes three. And that was just with two commissioners having a discussion, right? So now when you have six of us on a board bouncing ideas off each other, it it's going to be long. And so to try to

I I think we I think we are we can plan ahead. Um I just think this is just going to be the way we work. And if it doesn't then next year we can look at it again. But I I think you guys can we can always paint [clears throat] anytime really. I mean you know anytime really. Yeah. We can change it anytime. Yep. Okay. So it sounds like then the board is in a general agreement as I am understanding the board that a 6:30 start time for a work session on the second meeting. That is a special meeting. Special meetings have that's a 48 hour notice by statute. Correct. So that's correct. So be a work session.

If the work session is or remains a special meeting, then that allows us to change that agenda 48 hours ahead of time, giving us a fairly short window to pivot if necessary. to change the date of a meeting.

Not the date, but the idea is the idea. What I'm getting at is this idea that things get backed up in the regular meeting and that there's one or two items that just need to be approved or voted on that we have a 48 hour notice to put that out saying the work sessions is already a special meeting. So 48 hour notice to a special meeting. Here's the new agenda to that special meeting and we take care of the voting items right off the bat. in the work session meeting. I just don't want that to become the norm because I agree. I agree completely and I think that we may fall back on that.

You know what I mean? Because we do and so I want to try it the way we originally said that we would do it and then if we need to tweak it then we'll revisit it if it's not working. I'm good with that. Okay. So, at this point then, it's safe to say that the first meeting of the month will be a normal board meeting. The second meeting of the month will start at 6:30 p.m. and it will be a work session. And we want to at our first work session, it sounds like, change our rules and procedures, making work sessions a work session, not a special meeting. Correct. Just take the special meeting off of it and you'll use the work session as

a work session. A regular a regular work session. Yeah. Perfect. And we can we can come up with the wording for that. Okay. That sounds great. All right. All righty. Everybody in agreement on this? Everybody feeling happy? Everybody feeling the meeting scheduled? Uh so just to be clear, we're going to take the 5:00 time off of that and followed by a regular meeting at 6:30. And we're just going to have the um second Tuesday of each month is going to be a regular meeting at 6:30. At 6:30. And the fourth uh Tuesday of the month will be a work session at 6:30. At 6:30. Yes.

And then I'll bring that back to you. We'll put it on the um on the agenda for you to read because we'll need to have that readopted. So perhaps that first work session would remain a special meeting. It will you can vote on it. It will come back on the on January the 27th. So you'll have that and your rules of procedure will be a um an agenda item on the 27th for you to um amend. Yes. So you'll be able to do that and you'll have the meeting schedule that we can post so that we don't have to uh notice those meetings each time.

Yep. Okay. All righty then. That sounds good. I'm glad we got clarification. Um, thank you for everyone's input. Can I get a motion to adjurnn? So move. All in favor? I We are now adjourned. Thank you.