City Council - Regular Meeting

Evening, I would like to call this regular scheduled City Council meeting to order. Madam Clerk, call the roll.

Present. Ms. Donato-Mendez? Here. Mr. Berla? Here. Mr. Seifert?

Here.

Mr. Venable?

Here.

Mr. Begley? Here. Ms. Gill? Here. Ms. Walts? Here.

and we have a full forum. Thank you so much, Amanda. Could you lead us in prayer and pledge of allegiance and invocation of Catherine Hill, Councilwoman Boone?

Father God, it's in the matchless name of Jesus the Christ that we say thank you for this day, God. Father, we thank you for life, health, and strength and opportunity to do your will, God. Father, we ask that you be with us throughout this meeting. We thank you for the citizens that have come, God, to show their concerns. Father, we just pray and ask that we be of one mind and one accord, God, doing the will of you, God, that we will do what's pleasing for your people. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Thank you Councilwoman Gill for that wonderful Pledge of Allegiance and hearty prayer. We would like to welcome you all to the City Council's meeting. This is our regularly scheduled meeting every second Monday of the month. So thank you for coming out and joining us in the city's business. Do we have a motion to approve the agenda? There are some removals and some add-ons if you all would look at that before you make a decision.

Madam Mayor.

Yes, Madam Mayor. Is it not the time to add something to the agenda? If you have something you'd like to add to the council's problem.

I would. I would like to be added to the agenda. The piece of the email that was delivered to WISES and the dispatch. I was on the board discussion.

Council.

I don't have a problem with that.

Neither do I.

Any other council members?

Now that's a motion to amend the agenda. So there's motion and a second.

It is. So I would like to make a motion that we add the email that went out to dispatch at WICS. Thank you. All right.

So then should we?

If there's any discussion and then call for a vote.

Okay. Any discussion? We will be. I think we've got to go out to any of my guys at this time. Yeah, okay. Well, you can call her both manner. We'll come back to the consent agenda and be recited question. Absolutely. Okay.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Could I ask a question? Absolutely. Could I also get an add-on? Yeah. Whatever, CAF 143, client, client privilege. Okay. Finish up from last month, or last post-session.

Yes, that's included. Thank you.

So we'll need a motion to add that one if you'll move that item. Yes. Mm-hmm.

I'm also going to add on. You have to say yes. The add-on is 10-26-38 and the removal is the citizen recognition that there was a conflict in scheduling time. Was the council agreeing to the agenda? Yes.

I'll make a motion that we add on the add-on removal.

Second. Do we need a consensus on the vote? Do we have a consensus? Yes. Thank you. All right, moving on to the consent agenda. So we have a motion for the consent agenda.

Make the motion we accept the consent agenda.

Thank you. Do we have any discussion? We have a motion by Councilmember Michael Venable and seconded by Mayor Pro Tem, Tammy Walker. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, Come on up.

Hello, everybody. How are we doing? Good, good, good. That's me. I have a few papers that I want to leave with the clerk. I just want to give an idea to you all and to the public what is included in the packages so that it can be, give me one second, so it can be included for public knowledge. We have a copy of the original funding grant application that the city released. We had a copy of the full submitted application by Recovery Alive Inc. We have a copy of a violation letter received from the city. We have a copy of the response to the zoning violation. We have pictures of signs that have been posted on the residence. We have another letter that was received from the city of Henderson's Department Services Department of Violation. We then have a response and notice of appeal, litigation hold, and public records request from our attorney to the city. And then we have... A huge amount of copies of emails and telephone conversations, date and times that happened between these city employees and the city council. And then we have a copy of the North Carolina Association of Recovery Residencies certification that Recovery Alive has to operate as level one recovery housing, not as transitional housing. And then we have a copy of the NAR standards, which are the state and national standards of what recovery homes are. not transitional living. Thank you. All right. Thank you. All right. Good evening, Mayor, City Council members, City Manager Sproul, staff, and members of the community. My name is Tisha Temple, and I serve as the Chief Executive Officer of Recovery Live East. I'm also a woman who's living in long-term recovery. Before I begin, I want to say thank you to the City of Henderson for its willingness to invest opioid settlement funding into recovery solutions. Addiction has touched families throughout this community, and I genuinely believe that everyone in this room wants to see people healed, families be restored, and lives being saved. Tonight, I'm here to provide an update, which is a required part of the opioid settlement agreement that was given to us, is to present to you all where we are standing at as of today. So to explain why our second, okay, sorry. I lost my place. Okay. Tonight, I'm here to provide an update on New Roots Recovery Alive Home and to explain why the second home that we proposed was never opened and to respectfully request consideration regarding the remaining funds that were originally awarded for that project. I'm pleased to report that New Roots is open and they are serving women in recovery. Women are living there today. Women are maintaining employment. Women are participating in recovery support. Women are rebuilding relationships with their children and their families. Women are becoming productive members of the community. Lives are being changed, and that is something for us to celebrate. However, to understand where we are today, it is very important to understand how we arrived here. Recovery Alive originally proposed two recovery homes in Henderson. New Roots was intended to serve women and the Anchor Holes was intended to serve men.

That is one of my children who lives here in Henderson.

I'll admit you're probably wondering when I'm coming to see my grandson. Anchor Holes was intended to serve men. Our goal was simple. Provide safe, structured recovery housing for individuals who are rebuilding their lives after addiction. Long before any grant funds were awarded, Recovery Alive engaged the community publicly. We held meetings, we answered questions, we shared our vision, and we hosted a gala to raise awareness and support for recovery housing in Henderson and Vance Counts. We never attempted to hide what we were doing. We've never operated behind closed doors. We welcome public discussion because we believed then and we believe now that transparency builds trust. Before moving forward with New Roots, Recovery Alive completed its due diligence regarding the property and the intended use of the home. We understand that we are operating as a level one recovery residency. commonly known as sober living. This model is recognized nationally and within North Carolina. It is not a treatment program. It is not a halfway house. It is not transitional housing. It is a residential home where adults voluntarily choose to live together while they are pursuing their recovery. Throughout this process, I personally provided information to city staff on multiple occasions. explaining the nature of our housing model. I explained why Recovery Alive did not fit the classifications that were repeatedly being applied to our home. I provided documentation, standards, guidance, and information regarding recovery housing. I participated in many conversations in this same building with many city employees, answered their questions, and sought cooperation in every step along the way with them. Despite those efforts, concerns continued to escalate. Allegations were made suggesting that Recovery Alive was operating unlawfully. Letters were distributed, signs were posted, meetings were held, statements were made within the community suggesting violations of recovery and that repercussions could follow. Residents Supporters and potential partners were exposed to messages that created uncertainty about our ability to continue operating. The impact has been significant. What should have been a very beautiful season of opening a recovery home became a season that was marked by confusion, division, heartache, stigma, and barriers. Most importantly, it created obstacles to opening the second home.

The anchor holds.

Potential investors who had expressed interest in purchasing a property for Recovery Alive to lease as a men's recovery home stepped away. Understandably, many people do not want to place themselves in the middle of controversy or public opposition. Opportunities that we disappeared promising disappeared. sitting with city employees and having them tell the current landlord that they would be held accountable to a great degree if we did not move out of that home was traumatizing to other people. And I can understand completely why no other investor would ever want to have to sit in a meeting with city employees while they're being told that they are breaking the law when they are not. As concerns continued, Recovery Aligned found itself in a difficult position of having to maintain legal counsel. That was never our desire. As a nonprofit organization, every dollar matters. We would have preferred to invest those funds into recovery services, housing assistance, transportation, and resident services. Instead, we found ourselves paying attorneys to obtain clarity regarding issues that we had already spent months providing for free through me driving back and forth to the city, answering emails and talking on the phone to tell them the exact same thing that our attorney told them. Tonight, I am providing that documentation It includes the letters, the emails, the dates of the meeting, the timelines of the phone calls, and the correspondences that are related to this process. I did not provide these materials to embarrass anyone. Please hear my heart. I do not provide them to create any conflict. I provide them because transparency matters. Facts matter. and the fact that the public understands matters to me. Ultimately, after legal counsel became involved, the city's attorney provided clarification confirming the legal position that Recovery Alive had consistently presented regarding our housing model. The proposed board of adjustment process was withdrawn. I believe it is important to say this carefully and respectfully. The matter was not resolved because Recovery Alive received special treatment. The matter was not resolved because exceptions were granted. The matter was not resolved because rules were ignored. The matter was resolved because the legal framework did not support the path that had been proposed. That distinction matters. During public discussions and meetings, statements were made that created the impression that special accommodations or special considerations had been provided to Recovery Alive. In fact, some comments suggested that our home had been allowed to move forward while others were required to follow different rules. That was not our experience. Recovery Alive never requested special treatment. Recovery Alive never requested exemptions. Recovery Alive never asked to bypass any regulations. We simply asked that existing laws be interpreted and applied correctly based on the housing model that we operate. Unfortunately, by the time legal clarification was received, much of the damage had already occurred. Relationships had been strained. Investors stepped away. Momentum had been lost. And the men's recovery home was unable to open within the awarded time frame. I want to be clear about something. I'm not asking anybody in this room to take a side. I'm not asking the people to choose Recovery Alive or their city staff, community members, or neighbors. I believe most people involved were acting according to what they believe was right. I believe many concerns were sincere, even when information that they had was incomplete. But good intentions do not erase that outcome. The outcome was that lawful recovery housing projects faced significant barriers. The outcome was that Recovery Alive incurred legal expenses that could have been invested directly into recovery services. The outcome was that investors stepped away. The outcome is that the man's home was never opened. And the outcome was that individuals that were seeking recovery lost the opportunities that may have changed their lives. The women at New Roots are not zoning issues. They are mothers. They are daughters. They are sisters. They are employees. They are neighbors. They are human beings who are rebuilding their lives in our city. Likewise, the men that we hope to serve through the anchor holes are not legal questions. They are fathers. They are sons. They are workers. They are people who are trying to overcome addiction and create a better future. As a woman in recovery myself, I know what it feels like when someone opens a door for you. I also know what it feels like when the door closes. Recovery housing is not ultimately about buildings. It is about people. People trying to stay alive. People rebuilding a relationship with their children. people trying to rebuild what addiction has stolen from them. Before I close, I would like to recognize the women who are here tonight for New Roots Recovery Alive Home.

Thank you.

The fact that they are sitting in this room tonight is evidence that recovery works and that recovery housing works. These women are employed. They're participating in their recovery. They are contributing to this community. They are creating new futures for themselves and their families. And they asked me to share their sincere gratitude for the city's investment in recovery housing. and for believing that people do deserve a second chance. Your investment did not simply help fund a house. It created a home. It created stability. It created hope. And it created opportunities for women who are working every day to build healthier and more productive lives. Despite the challenges we have experienced, Recovery Alive remains committed to Henderson. We remain committed to partnership, we remain committed to transparency, and we remain committed to serving the people of this community. Because the second home was unable to open within the original timeframe, I respectfully ask the Council to consider allowing the remaining funds originally associated with that initiative to be invested into strengthening new routes and supporting the women who are currently being served and who will be served. These funds could support move-in assistance and rental assistance for women who are entering recovery. They could support transportation and stabilization services. They could assist with property improvements that enhance privacy, safety, and neighborhood compatibility, including fencing and other improvements that benefit both the residents and the neighbors. They could support recovery programming, resident resources, and services that directly align with the intended purpose of the opioid settlement funding. I encourage each one of you tonight, when we have funding to be able to give away through a city or a county, I hope that all of you dig a little deeper into what those funds can be used for and what the law states and how it will be helpful. Although we can't open a second home at this time because we don't have the investors, we can still use those fundings from the opioid settlement grant application to do the other things. They are all listed on planning of that settlement. These investments would continue fulfilling the original goal. to help overcome addiction, achieve stability, and provide and to build productive lives. As we move forward, my hope is that we would not revisit conflict. My hope is that we learn from this experience. My hope is that future recovery initiatives are evaluated based on facts and not fear. My hope is that stigma never becomes a barrier to recovery in this community again. My hope is that Henderson continues to be a community that opens doors for healing. And most importantly, my hope is that every decision we make keeps people at the center of the conversation. Recovery housing should never have to win a popularity contest before people receive help. The question should always be, is it lawful? Is it effective? Is it helping?

People recover.

If the answer is yes, then we should work together to make it successful. Thank you for your time, your partnership, your investment, and your commitment to the people of Henderson and Baines County. I would be happy to answer any questions.

Tisha, thank you so much for that very heartfelt testimony. And I believe in your work. I've seen your work. Your work works. So thank you for what you're doing in our community because it is a challenge for us here. And there are numbers to show. Like you said, there are facts to show that we have many people in our community that are challenged with opioid use. So thank you so much. Counsel, do you have anything? I have a question.

Absolutely. Again, thank you, Ms. Temple, for your great work in the community. I was interested in the funds that were that. You said the reinvestment was there?

So the other funds were reimbursed after we spent them, and we have not spent $18,000. Thank you. That could also help pay up your support worker to continue to work in this community until the house is full as well. Robin is with me. She's the RA Homes Director for North Carolina. And she travels to this community very often until we can raise up a leader here who can go through peer support training. That is our goal, to have someone from Henderson providing that support. They could also help with Gathmount and part of salary as well, as she spends a lot of time.

Thank you so much.

Yes, ma'am.

Anything, counsel? Okay, thank you so much.

Thank you.

And our city manager will be in touch.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you all.

I do want to say that the last of this month is the end of the grant application. So if we could hear something. I know that y'all are super busy. And so I just want to remind you, in case y'all didn't know that that application falls out at the end of the month. Yeah, thank you. Thank you so much.

All right, next we'll have a presentation from Amanda Welsh from the Henderson-Oxford Airport, the airport manager. Come on up, Amanda.

Thank you. If I may add, there are, I believe, members of the authority in the audience. Thank you.

Yes, sir. Good evening, Henderson.

Good evening.

Thank you. My name is Amanda Welsh. I am the airport manager for the Henderson-Oxford Airport. I'm here today. Mr. Dave Thomas is here today with me. You know him as the Henderson electee to the board of directors and he's the chair. We also have John Conner. He is the representative from Granville County and Seth Lumpkin from Oxford. And then we also have with us, if you'd stand or acknowledge yourselves, just a smattering of airport supporters. You all want to put your hands up? Yeah. Thank you. So Henderson, how much would you pay for the town of Henderson's name to be printed all over, all over in the country? In lists, guides, forums, specialized apps, and spoken amongst higher network crowds. This is what the Henderson Oxford Airport does for the town of Henderson. It puts Henderson out there in airport lists, FAA publications, guidebooks, piloting apps, and it's talked about. It makes Henderson talked about as an affordable and convenient alternative to RGU amongst those with airplanes. The airport provides not only hard, measurable value, as Mr. Thomas will show shortly, but so, so many soft values that are so much harder to quantify, and these softer values are so worth supporting as well. Some standard daily activities the airport has going on, Catering orders are being placed from places like Mezcalito, Habibie's, and Smithfield. Rental cars are delivered from Enterprise. People come in for the late. They go to grab supplies in town, popping into Walmart, grabbing coffee downtown, or at an Outfitters in town. Pilots run to Chick-fil-A for a quick meal or towed over to Skipper Forsyth for the famous local food, as per our recommendations of the airport. Airport maintenance workers run into towns to buy supplies from Lowe's, Hughes Plumbing, United Refrigeration, Walmart. They go to lunch at parking lot taco trucks, Waffle House, grab food from Aldi. They're in Henderson all the time. Schools, preschools, youth groups, and the YMCA are invited for free, some camp visits or school field trips. Where children are introduced to aviation, careers in aviation, generalized STEM technology, and leadership development. Our flight instructors and maintenance are training local youth for well-paying jobs. Locals stop in as they are driving by and just take a second to eat lunch, have a breather, and watch some airplanes, never knowing what they will see, a huge business jet or a tiny rotorcraft, adding to the appeal of the area. The airport provides so much in terms of local service. to the local community and town of Henderson. Supporting the Henderson-Oxford Airport supports this town of Henderson and those in it. End of story, period. Thank you, guys. As I've talked about the soft skills, I'll have Dave Thomas give you some real data here.

Thank you. I think you have the handout or folder in your packet that explains quite a bit First thing is the sheet here that shows exactly from our division of aviation that our airport has $15 million business revenue. It offers, we have six new jobs through our support. This is a 2019 sort of project. Summary, so it has gone up some, but the $2.2 million personal income, we have 320,000 state and local taxes paid, 25,200 operations at the airport. That means that we have to take off as landings of that quantity. 90,300 population within 30 minutes of the airport. And we have 39 based aircraft, which that has changed. And then we have 52. So since this hasn't been updated. The other item you have in your packet explains a lot of the airport. What can you do? amount of money that is what is used at the airport to support the airport and to support our community. I don't know if you want me to read this to you or if you're able to read it yourself and understand it better if you read it. One of the greatest values lies not in the planes based here today, but in the business jobs, in investments, and it can attract over the next 5, 10, 20 years for community the size of Henderson, recreation of assets like HMZ, would be it would be really successful. The whole thing spent an expense if it was a loss. So we're asking that you should consider all of anything key. And then you have to support the airport. And then so we can see what and you are made.

You have you. Questions? Absolutely. Thank you so much. Does anyone have any questions? You said there were 60 jobs supported?

Yes, ma'am.

How many residents from Henderson?

How many residents from Henderson?

So I can speak just a little of that handout. Excuse me, the DOT puts that out every year, the NC Department of Transportation Division of Aviation. And that is made after querying the whole area that the airport supports. And so that's not even direct airport jobs, but that's jobs in the area, including Henderson, that wouldn't exist without the airport. So I'm sorry, that's not broken down in that specific number. However, if you look in the letter that Ms. Thomas sent, you see all those lists of businesses that fly in and out. The jobs are in those places.

Okay, so that's my last question. How many years have the city of Henderson funded this airport? 56 to 78, I mean? So when was it ratified? Did it start? I mean, and what was it starting?

I came on board in 2019, so I'm going to defer.

I believe the original one goes back to 1945. I do know. And the city had been given that in 1945.

I believe that's exactly, but I don't know by how much.

It was 25,000 prior. It was 25,000 prior, and then it went up to 33,000.

And the agreement is 80 years old, but this was written by the General Assembly. And so I have three questions. Is the aeronautics authority still operating under this 1945 Act? Because I know why it was. It came for economic development, and I still think you guys are doing that with it. But are you still operating under the 1945 Act? Yeah. Okay. Second question is, has the Act ever been amended by the General Assembly?

No, ma'am. I don't know if.

Okay. And does the act, according to you all, because you guys are the expert, does the act still align with modern aviation law and governance practices?

As far as I know, yes, ma'am.

Thank you.

Go ahead. Thank you. Ms. Welch, I do have a question about, I understand that you were, or the authority was fortunate enough to have an award by Golden Leaf. Listen, but can you tell us what that's going to do for you?

Yes, we've had just an award from Golden Leaf, and this is just to say that other organizations do see the investment potential in the return on investment. Golden Leaf has just awarded, will you remind me of the exact number? Sorry?

$600,000. Okay, $600,000 in support of building a water main to put the airport on city water.

A growth is hampered by being on a wet. So having that city water, the Golden Leaf Foundation did find it a very worthwhile cause to put growth mindset on the airport with that $600,000. And I can speak on the founding paper, the charter paperwork. I do believe that it is up to date because the FAA and the Division of Aviation, that's part of things that they love and they red flag things that are no longer legally correct or legally current. And we have not been red flagged for that. Awesome.

And I think as well, if I'm not mistaken, that by having the water line there, you're going to be able to provide fire suppression. Is that right?

Yes, yes. Larger hangers. Of course, building fire code, larger hangers require sprinkler systems. Sprinkler systems are generally not a water engineer, but unavailable on wells. So the mains water is going to be able to have us into that if that's necessary or a multitude of other reasons that mains water would be helpful.

Alrighty, well, Mrs. Welsh and Chairman Thomas, thank you so much for being here and for your informative presentation. As you may know, throughout our budget discussions, we've talked extensively about economic development, business recruitment, and how to grow our tech space. And I have a list of questions which some of you have already answered, but one that I really would love to ask, from your perspective, what would the long-term impact on our community be in terms of our economic competitiveness if local governments chose to reduce their support for the airport, from your perspective?

Thank you.

Well, the support that Henderson gives the airport, Henderson is the first name on the airports. And if the funding is not appropriated for the airport, then I would lose my position as representative for the city of Henderson. By losing that, we lose the name of Henderson on the airport. So now you're looking at commercial people that are building commercial equipment, industries that want to locate in Henderson. They look at that and say, well, what happened to the name Henderson Oxford Airport? Henderson would not support the airport. So the industry, in my opinion, is going to look at it and say, well, we don't need to come to Henderson if they can't support their own airport. So I'm looking at that as a way of that the industry, whatever industry it may be, would be looking at it as that's a positive. We've got one of the better airports around.

Thank you.

I have a question. Okay, thank you. I just wanted to be also clear. Okay, so we have been supporting the airport roughly about eight years. somewhere around that, 79, 80 years, and back off in 1946.

Actually, the airport, as it is known as of today, was constructed in, what was it, 68? I believe it was 68. So that, before that, I don't know how much money was actually spent by the four entities.

Okay, sir. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. And we're having this conversation because the city, we're dealing with our own issues. And one of the things we were contemplating in some of our budget cuts was not totally not funding or giving money to the airport every year. I think what we were trying to do is just try to see where we could save some money. So we definitely appreciate everything that you do. Our business and our partnership with the airport. So we don't see this as a you know, cancellation of partnership, but we just want to have you come in, re-emphasize some things for us, and let us see the positives, and then we can make a more strategic decision. So thank you.

I think as you do that, if you just remember the return on investment, I know that it is tempting and necessary sometimes to look at budgets and say, cut, cut, cut. You cutting would just be unfortunate for the city. Overall, if you look at the numbers again, please do read the letter with you and those numbers there. Henderson is, of course, the biggest of the areas that support the airport. So you are, of course, you know, going to have a lot of impact. I appreciate it.

Thank you. Do you see a decrease in funding and the same impact?

No, quite frankly. you decreasing funding um is not going to help the airport be able to keep um like mr thomas said we have some of the nicest facilities we have um a very very very well done airport and that is on really quite little um from you we get most of our funding um elsewhere for our like some of our projects but we just need that um support to to keep going and to year over year um be able to do what we do. My father-in-law, Steve Welsh, is a flight instructor, one of our supporters to the airport.

My name is Steve Welsh. I work at the airport and flight instructor. I teach a lot of the younger folks that come through there. The biggest thing that your funding does is is that any of the grants we get, like the Water Main Grant was one that just gave us the money. But a lot of things we get from the federal government, the FAA, for right now, if you want out there now, there's a taxiway extension and things like that. We built some new hangars about, what was it, four years ago now. Just things like that to get improved. They require us to put down 10%. And it varies from time to time. They require us to put down 10% of our money, and then they'll fund 9%. So, you know, if you really look at the total investment that any of the four municipalities involved in the airport have invested over the years, it is significant. But compared to what's actually been invested by outside parties, it's a lot less significant. So to the extent that, you know, you cut it back, you know, the airport would obviously still exist. But the ability to go after some of those grants where it's a 90-10 or a 5-95 or an 80-20 or something like that, where somebody brings the 80 and we have to come up with a 20. we would not be able to make the updates as quick. So that's really, if you say, what would the impact be, would be on that shared funding of these. A million-dollar project really only costs these municipalities $100,000, because they've got to come up with 10%. So that's probably, to answer that question you asked earlier, just as a really succinct way of telling you where it goes. I mean, is somebody going to get fired tomorrow or something like that? No. No. But, you know, for those, the economic development for the airport to, you know, build more hangars or do this, that, or another thing, that's the kind of thing that it does. Is that helpful?

That is. Thank you so much.

Yes. I've got one thing to say.

How often do y'all have board meetings? And I don't think the person that sits on our board for the airport has been to a meeting yet. So how often do y'all have y'all meetings?

We don't really have a set time for meetings. We have meetings when we have a project to discuss and see about funding, or that's the main thing that we have as far as meetings, as far as a board meeting. We communicate back and forth with each other very often, but not necessarily as a meeting.

And how often did y'all give updates back to the municipalities that give y'all the funds?

Anytime that they would request it, we would be glad to show you where the money goes. I give you a packet every year when I request the funding that has normally shows or tells you where the money was spent for that year and what it was spent on. One of the things to go back to what Steve was saying, From 2022. Today's date. We have. The 12 million. 326,000 dollars worth of updates repairs and replacements in the airport.

Thank you, Mayor.

Dave and Amanda, thank you all for being here to give us an overview. I would encourage my fellow council members, if you have not been out to the airport, to go visit. I had an opportunity to go with Leadership Advance a couple years ago. I would also encourage members of the community to go out there. I'm sure Amanda and her father would be happy to show you around. It's actually pretty neat that a city like Henderson has an airport with call letters HNZ. I mean, that's a really neat thing, in my opinion. And it's good for our community. It's good for business. And it's good for economic development. We may not see it right now, but it will pay dividends down the road. What Henderson provides in support is really a nominal amount, but it demonstrates support of a resource here in town that you just can't measure the impact it has now and what it could have in the future. In my opinion, we don't necessarily have an expense problem in Henderson with our budget. We've got a revenue problem, and we need investment. We need economic development. We need investors. And this is a symbol of our commitment to that future for us. So for what it's worth, I just wanted to say those things and encourage you all to go out there and spend some time at the airport. Thank you.

Good, ma'am. Now, if you have an interest in construction vehicles. Yes, ma'am. Thank you for your kind words, and I'd like to also extend that invite. Please do. Contact me, contact the airport, and we'd be happy to show you around and show you what we do on a day-to-day basis.

We're in the process of changing the taxiway. So it's a lot of construction and a lot of activity going on.

I have a question. And Mr. Mann, you said this comes out every year.

No, sorry. That's just not, that's the most up-to-date one right now. I apologize. Yeah, it should come out next.

Okay.

No, next year.

Sorry. Yes. Sorry. So we went from 30 last year. So we're now at 33. Yeah.

And I've talked to the other municipalities. They're all about the same. The allotment is the same. I just would make one recommendation with the council's approval is that hopefully, you know, we don't have to be in a situation like this for you guys to come, right? To explain. I think a report, because any funder, anytime someone is receiving money from any entity, they normally give an update, right? So I think like I said, I heard you say you give it once a year. Yes. Okay. I think that should be made available to all of the council members. I've flown on a plane out of that airport during Hurricane Helene, so you guys were great when we flew some supplies down to Western North Carolina. I just think that the airport should maybe give us some reports so we'll know what's going on, as well as Mayor Pro Tem Walker is that board member. Maybe even translating it through her to bring it back to us would be a great idea. That's pretty much all I have to say.

We'd be happy to have you.

Thank you.

And thank you for that recommendation. Thank you.

Any more questions?

Okay.

Mr. Seth Lumpkin is the Oxford member of the Board of...

Yes, thank you. Thank you for hearing us this evening. Just for the record, I wanted to put in, since some of you all had questions about the organization of the airport authority board and some of the rules that go into it. This is from the City of Oxford's Code of Ordinances. I have not checked Henderson's

yeah i'm sure it's and and y'all i will submit this on this so you guys can look at it and thank you thank you so much you can give that to the male protein thank you thank you thank you very much thank you both thank you so much okay moving forward we have um A couple of proclamations. All of them are not on the agenda because I didn't want to read that many, but I will acknowledge that it is gun violence awareness month. We'll be in prevention. We'll start with Pride Month. Whereas June 2026 marks the yearly common I'm a motion of LGBTQ Pride Month across the United States, and whereas communities benefit from recognizing and honoring the diverse contributions of individuals and groups who help strengthen our shared society, whereas recognizing important observances encourages continued progress, fosters inclusion, and supports efforts that build a more welcoming and equitable environment for everyone, whereas such a recognition reaffirms our commitment to respect, dignity, and the fundamental worth of every person. I, Melissa Elliott, the mayor of the city of Pendleton, North Carolina, do hereby proclaim June 26th as Pride Month. Secondly, PTSD Awareness Month, whereas post-traumatic stress disorder is a health condition that can affect individuals who have experienced or witnessed traumatic events, including but not limited to military service members, first responders, and survivors of violence, child abuse, bullying, and natural disasters. Whereas increased awareness and understanding of PTSD help reduce stigma, encourage early intervention, and promote access to effective treatment and support. Whereas raising awareness about PTSD strengthens communities by fostering compassion, promoting mental health education, and supporting those who are infected. whereas recognizing PTSD Awareness Month provides an opportunity for individuals, families, and communities to learn more about the signs, impacts, and resources available for recovery. Now, therefore, I, Melissa Elliott, the mayor of the city of Henderson, North Carolina, do here prior to planning June 26th as PTSD Month. On June 21st, 2026, Dr. Alice Salins will be going around the city because it is also Make Music Day. Whereas Make Music Day is an annual worldwide celebration held on June 21st that encourages people of all ages, backgrounds, and skill levels to create and enjoy music. Music is a universal language that brings people together, strengthens communities, and enriches the cultural fabric of society. Communities benefit when residents come together through shared artistic experiences that inspire collaboration, learning, and appreciation for the arts. Make Music Day highlights the importance of accessible participatory music making that fosters creativity, connection, and joy. Now therefore, I, Melissa Elliott, the Mayor of the City of Henderson, North Carolina, do proclaim here June 21st, 2026 as Make Music Day. Now we will move forward into our public comment period on agenda items. We didn't have anyone sign up for an agenda item. So we will move forward to new business. And that will be care of 2609 C closing a portion of Wyndham Avenue, Mr. Hale's food.

Thank you. You may recall that this came before it was a public hearing. And we have attempted to reach out to the one person who had commented on that closing and repeatedly, but we've not been able to communicate with him. However, I'd like to recommend that his concern seemed to be access. And I believe that he would set up an amusement for that gentleman that would satisfy the concern. So they're asking to win this to you for a final determination. Council.

We have a motion on the floor.

Move to approve CAF 2609. Do we have a second? Second.

We have a motion on the floor by Council Member Noel, seconded by Council Member Venable, that is clerk, call the roll.

Yes. Mr. Noel? Yes. Mr. Seifert?

Yes.

Mr. Neville, yes. Mr. Davey, yes.

Ms. Gill, yes. And the motion is passed.

Yes.

Ms. Johnson. I'm sorry. Ms. Castellan-Chamberlain. All right, moving forward to CAS 2631, authorizing the application of FEMA grant by the Henderson Fire Department in the amount of $1 million, requested by Fire Chief Tim Twisdale. Mr. Manager? I could ask the Chief to come up with.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the Council. Good evening. The cap before you is requesting your recommendation for us to proceed with the Assistance to Firefighters grant. It's generally put out annually by the federal government. It's an opportunity to obtain up to a million dollars for a replacement ladder truck. It's historically been And the issue is all made it prepared to keep our department. So it's not a guarantee, but it's and asked to proceed with the documentation to the myth is grand in hopes that we would obtain a thing was all.

And so.

I'm in the most.

I'm saying we have a motion by council members and a whole second I'm April 10. Yes.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

And the motion has passed. Moving forward to carry 2632 to rezone banks, county tax parcels 00030910, located at 602 South Garner Street from AOIA. Office institutional a district to a big one central business district is the manager.

There are a lot of that. So some of them have been looking to come up to you know that one.

The new council. So this is a property that is down the end of going at 3. um it was presented to the planning board um to rezone this to a big one central business district in order to allow them to do a change of use um planning board okayed it um so we're bringing it to you to get your recommendation on approving council i make a motion that would move forward second any discussion

Okay, we have a motion on the floor by Councilmember Venable and seconded by Councilwoman Champion, Madam Clerk. Thank you, Ms. Listcombe.

Mr. Feinberg?

Yes.

Mr. Venable?

Yes.

Mr. Dandy?

Yes.

Ms. Gill? Yes. Ms. Lauper? Yes. Ms. Champion? Yes. Ms. Domenica Munoz? Yes. Mr. Noel?

Yes. And the motion has passed moving forward to have 2634. Except that a war from the review of justice assistance for bulletproof vets program is going to be a 25 grand misdemeanor.

They have to have you this request. The application and this is simply a mass in that we're going to order was appreciated. It probably will have been put under the consent agenda. I've got a bad boy here so yes, we will.

Thank you so much and thank you she for working it in there. All right, though.

And I think that's a motion.

I don't know if I have a little bit more than a goal and second about how some of the site now. Yes, thank you. Yes.

Yeah, yes.

We can yeah. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

And the motion has passed moving forward to carry 2635 is the end of the fiscal year 27 and we'll find it is the man.

They are part of the absolute I have to work with you come back up for. You know you're going. Quick rundown on where we stand. And we've asked the council for a little debate in the room.

Meeting the council at the end. There's a recommended budget that I presented about a month ago now. And through the budget work sessions that we went through, where we went line item by line item through all of the funds, remind council that particularly with the general fund that we have earmarked, we're not expending, but we have earmarked $5 million out of fund balance to reach a balance within the general fund. That came through a very aggressive effort of cuts across the board in many areas and the remaining amounts of the budgets that are in place now for approval are very lean but adequate to carry out the functions and objectives within those departments. Now staff will be challenged throughout the course of FY27 to utilize those funds and areas through savings where cuts were made. We realize that there's compliance issues as it might relate to training. various updates and upgrades within their departments as it might relate to certifications and what have you. In the case that that may occur where all travel has been cut out of the FY27 budget, savings would be utilized in other lines to facilitate the ability for staff to require training to maintain certifications and what have you. If there are after the review of savings to carry out those various types of trainings. We'll have to cover that regardless. And through the savings program or initiative that we'll have in place throughout FY27, the surpluses that will exist across the board will be gathered as we typically do. We'll gather those savings. We will do a journal entry, put those savings into a reserve line, and backfill any overruns that might occur through the mandate of training as it may occur. Now, capital outlay was also cut out across the board to give us the savings that it will provide. There may be an occasion throughout the course of FY27 where there may be an emergency need for a capital outlay item as it applies. We'll have to look at that on a case-by-case basis. And there again, if it's something that's deemed absolutely necessary, then we can use our year-end savings to capture the funds that we need to backfill that expense. That usually doesn't happen, but just for the record that there's a provision to take care of that on a case-by-case basis. For the enterprise funds, those funds are fairly self-sustaining but we are using more fund balance out of the enterprise funds to balance those budgets. It's very rare that we would have an occurrence where any of those earmarked fund balance funds used to balance those enterprise funds would be very great for us to use any amount at the year end. There's enough revenue generation and enterprise funds. But we are using more of the enterprise funds, fund balance to balance as a result of the higher salaries that were accommodated for post-sabotage. That's a brief summary of where we are with the FY27 budget. It is balanced in all funds. The high use of fund balance, again, is a focal point. We are wrapping up FY26 with a great deal of savings effort to add our fund balance as we get into the FY26 audit and start to analyze how much actual expense that will realize versus the amount of revenue to offset that. And we'll see where we end up as we start to put together these financial statements. Again, aggressive savings strategy is in place for FY27. The director and staff know that this is going to be, as I mentioned during the budget work savings, a fiscal year on savings steroids to try to mitigate as much expense as possible. But we will carry out with the objectives and goals the providing of goods and services for the city of Henderson as needed to do our due diligence in that manner. So rest assured that the city won't lack and the things that it needs to carry out, we will use our strategies at the year end to cover any overruns that need to be handled to ensure that we have a good audit. So with that being said, I'll

Hello, Joey. Thank you so much again. So good to see you once again. Simply a comment. I believe that everyone at this table could agree that this is not a feel-good budget. This is not something that makes me jump up and down and cheer. However, it is our reality. It is a culmination of our past that has led us to this point. And we have reiterated time and time again that we must grow, that economic development has to happen, and I 100% agree with that. However, that's only one side of the equation. I would simply, and it seems like staff has worked towards this, but I also believe there's opportunity for improvement in terms of the organization and the structure of our city, our city departments, and I have confidence in it. And what I have been able to pick up from both you and the city manager, that those analyses and evaluations are happening. We must do all that we can to ensure that we're using every taxpayer dollar to the best extent possible. So thank you so much. Although, again, challenging times, as I've told you before, you have produced a good budget given our current climate. So thank you, and I just wanted to vocalize that.

Thank you. I'll also mention as I've done so in the last three, maybe four budget presentations on the very serious need for the city of Henderson to grow, for our tax base to grow, for our revenue streams to grow, and for the city to really be very aggressive on any effort and initiatives to ensure that Henderson has a competitive edge with the surrounding communities to garner interest in this city. We have to have that. It's an absolute necessity. And I encourage council to take every step, as I've alluded to a number of times, to capitalize on what can be put together to foster that effort, strengthen that effort, work with the county, and get some revenue into this city.

I just want to say, when you have a tree, an extremely large tree, when you get ready to get that tree down, very rarely do a person start at the root of that tree to remove that tree, because we're talking about a large tree that's going to fall and damage some house. That's what I see that happened in this particular budget. You started at the bottom. You're trying to cut a $22,000 a year job. But you didn't go to the top of the tree. And at the very top of that tree is where the tremendous amount of money is. I haven't seen any cuts when it came down to staffing. And it's just my opinion that some of those departments don't need all those people. That's just my opinion. I don't work there. I'm not the expert on that, but I just see it as being ridiculous to start at the root of that tree to bring that tree down. And yes, you have been thorough with what you've done. You've said everything you need to say, but I can't approve this budget with the way it looks.

Also, no more discussion. Do we have a motion? You want me to pass the budget or not pass the budget? Councilwoman Champagne, do you have a motion?

No, not to pass it. That's your motion? That's my motion. I make a motion that we do not pass this budget. If we're going to cut, if we're going to do what we're supposed to, we can't just pinpoint a $22,000 a year budget when you've got people making $100,000 and some thousand dollars a year. No, I'm not approving that. Thank you. Thank you.

We have a motion not to pass the budget on the floor by Councilwoman Champion and it's seconded by Councilwoman Catherine Hill. Madam Clerk for Colorado.

Mr. Dagey.

Affirm for me what affirmative or negative means here. The motion is to not pass the budget.

Well, that's what the motion is.

We agree to not pass the budget.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yes. The champion. Yes. Yes. No. To not passing it. Mr. Noel? No. Mr. Seifert? No.

Mr. Van Emel? Yes.

It sounds like we have a tie. Is that correct, Madam Clerk?

It's a tie.

Okay. Well, I'm going to say not to pass the budget. All right. Moving on to the next item for the motion to pass, not to pass the budget. Okay.

Perfect. A reminder to the board that we do need to pass the budget.

Of course. Just like the statement. It's stated for how many months in the month? The state needs to pass their budget, too. I understand.

So I know we need to pass a budget, but not as is.

May I suggest that we have a special call meeting to discuss it further? The finance director and I will try to have some additional options and proposals.

Council, do you agree with the special call meeting? Yes, that's fine. Thank you. All right, moving forward to care 2636. Proving a site plan for the veteran home. Requested by our city and Mr. Billingsford, Mrs.

If I may, I believe Mr. Orville White is in the audience. Yeah, we are. Council, you may remember that Mr. White is in the process of organizing the memorial over in front of the police station downtown. And he came to us back some months ago and questioned that you approved the materials that would go into that monument because of the way it's harvested and the lead time needed for it. He is back with us today to let us know that that process has moved forward at great speed. who's done an excellent job of finding funds for this, and he is asking that you approve tonight a site plan for placement of that monument and construction.

Thank you, Deirdre. They are a fabulous site plan. Yes, yes. They're fabulous. Are there any questions about that? Nothing's changed since our previous conversations other than we're a little bit ahead of schedule. Just letting you all know, If we have tentatively scheduled, providing that the contractor can meet all his deadlines, it will be installed on June 25th, Thursday the 25th. So we've already communicated with the police chief and others involved that they have to block off the streets. But we intend to go home the night of June 25th with it installed. We will be planning a July the 4th event on Saturday morning at 10 o'clock. from the police station to celebrate not just the monument, but the 250th birthday of our great nation. And we just thought that was a good place to have it. I want to begin by inviting all of you to come to that. So with that, I'll address any questions you may have.

Thank you, Mr. Harwell. First of all, thank you for your service and thank you for such advocacy work and receiving all those funds and getting it done. So thank you for your hard work. Anyone else?

I MAKE A MOTION. I MAKE A MOTION. I MAKE A MOTION.

I MAKE A MOTION. I MAKE A MOTION. I MAKE A MOTION. I MAKE A MOTION. I MAKE A MOTION. I MAKE A MOTION. I MAKE A MOTION. I MAKE A MOTION. I MAKE A MOTION. I MAKE A MOTION. I MAKE A MOTION. I MAKE A MOTION. I MAKE A MOTION.

I MAKE A MOTION. I MAKE A MOTION. I MAKE A MOTION. Mr. Noel?

Yes.

Mr. Seifert?

Yes.

Mr. Venable?

Yes.

Mr. Davey?

Yes. Thank you, and the motion has passed. Thank you so much, Mr. Hartley.

Thank you, Mary, and I appreciate this so much. You just don't know how much I appreciate what you've done for us and the staff that have been wonderful in your work. So far as funding goes, we'll need about $30,000. Thank you. But if I didn't hear it might be about moving the best you can call me and then I'll be well, I need to think that we will give you permission to pass your best.

All right, we'll move on to the add-on I want to have 2638 question by fire chief and it sounds like that was the man.

We came up with that.

Good evening again. This item is merely an adoption of the formality. Vance County historically has always been a part of the Tall River Hazard Mitigation Plan. In doing so, the City of Henderson agrees to adopt that plan of action as a general course of how duties fall when they come from the state level, federal level, on down to Henderson and then back forward. It's basically a framework that navigates a pathway for federal funding in case of disasters. Emergency management, local emergency management in Vance County helps that path flow, and we are basically signing off and will continue to be a part of that progress. The last revision was in 2021, and this was a last-minute item that came in late to our office a week ago. Councils.

Thank you. Priority.

Let me have a motion.

Second. We have a motion on the floor by Council Member Venable, seconded by Mayor Fulton Walker, Madam Clerk. Is there any discussion? Madam Clerk.

Ms. Falford? Yes. Ms. Hampton? Yes. Ms. Gomez-Avena? Yes. Mr. Noel?

Yes.

Mr. Seifert?

Yes.

Mr. Venable?

Yes.

Mr. Dakey?

Yes. Ms. Gale?

Yes.

And most in this plan as thank you and then I think we're going to need a little guidance on this discussion and also on champion wants to have a good understanding that I'm the person that is identified as a public official so how we have.

So the substance of the email itself was obviously personnel so we can discuss the substance of the email session. Conduct avoid members. You cannot discussion closed session that must be discussed in open session. So. A conversation about that is appropriate that it needs to make to stick to that. Not the substance of leading.

Thank you so much.

So, I guess my primary concern about that email. Is as the attorney who mentioned it, I need you, Mr attorney to to give the. consequences of that email. I need you to tell us what you told us as far as how we can proceed.

So the release of the email is a violation of 168-168, which is a misdemeanor. As we have discussed, because it's an elected official, your options are really limited to, you can do a So choose, you could do a censure resolution. There's the more extreme process of a motion which would involve removing someone from the board. That's pretty extreme measure and that requires due process and evidentiary hearings and things like that. So those are really the two options that I think the board has to address conduct by a sitting elected official.

so with that being said um i also would like for you to mention the um quorum what consists of a quorum so that i can make sure we did like we were supposed to do in our special call a quorum is majority of the board and it i think is your question earlier was did we have a quorum at the last process and the answer to that would be yes thank you so This is what I'm looking at. And it's not about getting back at anybody because that's not how I operate, which I could. But the thing that I'm looking at is what others may have gone through. And this is not the first time since I've been on this council that it has happened. So it leads me to believe that at some point when the email went out, I'm looking at Dan and make sure I stay on task. That when the email went out, it was given to WICS and it was given to the daily dispatch. That information that was on that, because it's public record, the information that was on the email was the exact email that we received. So they received the same type of information that we had. I think it's only fair that if we're going to protect one employee, we need to protect them all. And certain employees, in my opinion, may have been violated, if that's the right way to use. And I think at this time, I would like to make a motion that we don't censor, but we take the second option.

I think Dan explained that it would have to be a hearing.

Yes, there is a process called a motion which you can remove a member of the council. There are some requirements for how that process plays out. It's a very rare process. I believe it's only been used once. that I know of in the state of North Carolina, but it is a process.

That's the process.

If the motion is to pursue that, then we obviously have to have a more robust discussion of how that looks.

Yes.

Okay. Council Member Dickey. I'd like to speak right first.

Are we at this point having a hearing?

I guess there's a motion.

So there is a motion that she wants to go to the second option. Is there a second? Second. So we have a motion and we have a second. Now we can open for discussion.

Discussion. I'd like to explain the circumstances around the event. First of all, and my phone will show this, I received a call from the daily dispatch on Thursday, I believe it was, around noon or so. And it was Tyler Davis in the dispatch. I can say that. And he asked me about an email that had been sent out. And I said, I'm not sure what you're talking about. And I'm just going to jump to a conversation. Hold on a second.

Are we in a, this sounds more like a hearing. I'd like to be honest.

I think he's part of commented on the motion would be for against. Now, I guess it would be the motion is about your conduct. So you would probably recuse yourself from the vote on that. Right. I think it's fair to be heard.

Oh, I like that. Again, the reason I like to say that, I want you to know, and I think if you're fair, I did not initiate this. I was called by a newspaper and asked, and I said, what are you talking about? And then he repeated the email to me. I'm not going to say it, but you're saying that's the information. And I said, okay, okay. How do you get such information? He said, I have a source. So I did not initiate this. I just wanted you to know that. This is not something I'm allowed to do. I did see the email earlier, shook my head, and that was it. But I left it alone. But when he called me and said he had it, and I said, what are you talking about? And he said it to me in detail. And I wish he was here tonight. He would confirm it, but I do not see him. I think John Rose was over there. This was the initial when it first happened. And I said, well, okay. He said, I'd like to get a copy of it. And then I thought, well, and I even said to him then, I'm not sure how to respond to that. And I thought about it. But we've been told by previous managers and attorneys that but our email site is public information. I said, well, he said, I'm writing a story about it. I'd like to get it right. I said, well, if you've already known what it is, and I didn't release it, and it's public information on the email site, see if I can send it to you. And I called the manager. And so again, the next call on my phone, and I could show you it was the manager. And I called and said, Paylor, am I correct in that information on the email site is public information? And how do you feel about it? Because it said things about him, and I thought that was the only negative thing he said. And he said, and you're right, that's my understanding of it, and I don't have any problem with you saying it. That was our conversation. I then said, okay, if you're okay with it. Then I called Tyler back, and then I did send it to him in the phone time. We showed the time I sent it. It was about the time that you guys had it. I did not try to hide it. Obviously, I wouldn't afford it from my email. So I was trying to hide it and send it from something else. So That was what it was about. I did not initiate it. I believed I was trusted as an elected official to be transparent about public information. And I was airing it. There was something, Marion Lark, Dr. Marion Lark, a good friend that's my life. We had a DEC meeting one day. It was very, very 50-50 what we were going to do. And I remember him saying, we air, let's air on the side of the race. That day, if I aired, I aired on the side of transparency to the public. Story of his life. It was on the public email site. And I sent it to him. And as far as the dispatch, I mean, I believe that was the next day. And John Charles Rose confirmed this. He called me and said he was doing a story for Wiz. I think it was the next night. And could he get a copy of the email? And I said, well, it's a public site. You're calling me about it. So yeah, I released it to him. But I did it in role, and I believe, as an elected official, we say we're transparent. And I was being transparent when I filed public information. If I erred on the side of that, that was it. I did not believe it was confidential, or I didn't believe it was personnel information. It was just listed people's names as suggested by one counsel. I did not think that was releasing any information that was of personnel, and I would never do that.

I will note, if there was permission from Taylor to release that email, that would actually not be a violation of 162, because he has the right to alter his release of this personal information.

He wasn't the only person, though. There was another person that got ripped up on the internet. So we can't get going. At least for that aspect.

So, Mr. Turner, how many times, do you remember the last discussion that we had Do you remember the last discussion we had about emails? And you told us one thing. This time, we were told it's a misdemeanor. Now, if we've been told about those emails, and in my opinion, that email shouldn't have went out to either one of them. That's just my opinion. But as a 20 year person that has sat on the council, that feels like they don't need training, which we got that in training about sending out emails. I'm trying to understand here. If we're going to do things, we need to do it across the board. Cause if that's the case, then I might as well call John Charles Rose tomorrow and tell him what I'm talking about tonight, tomorrow. If you want to be fair, be fair across the board. That's not, that's not skip around and be fair. or do what we need to do for one council member if you're not going to do it for all.

One more comment, Mayor. May I please? Sure, Mrs. Philly-Purney. Our last manager, who was also our attorney, told us when we use any, and I never used the site for that. I get lots of information from the city. I don't generally say anything but yes or no. Good job, Chief. I was told if you use that site and send out an email such as that to all the people, 11 people or so, and you and the manager got it and the clerk got it, it was like a meeting. That could be seen as violations of open meetings law because you're sending out an email to all the members, which makes it a meeting, but it's not open to the public. So I was a little, I was a little shaken to see that.

Yeah. So it's the, I don't know that that advice is entirely correct. Um, there is, um, so the open meeting law requires what's called simultaneous communication. And there's actually a court of appeals case on this, um, in which the board members were emailing each other about a potential censure motion, um, and The council member who was the subject of that motion sued the village and said exactly that. They're violating the open meetings laws by exchanging these emails. The court of appeals said that email exchange in that context was not simultaneous communication because they didn't occur simultaneously. The exchanges occurred over the course of hours and days and weeks. And so I think conceivably there could be an electronic meeting. There was a violation of the open meeting law, but it would require electronic communication like a chat room or a conference call or something along those lines. But email exchanges generally, over the course of a period of time, don't meet that simultaneous communication requirement. The advice that sending an email creates a public record is potentially true, but it's overbroad. Whether something is a public record or not depends upon the content of the document not the format. So an email could be public information, could be public record, or it could not be depending on what the content of the email is. If you're emailing each other about where to go for lunch, that you're not transacting public business, that's not necessarily a public record. So emailing about personnel information is not public record because it is made confidential by 168.168. So it's the content of the email that controls whether it's public or not.

I will say, in my defense, I was doing what I thought a transparent elected official should do. And that's the only reason I did it. It's not initiated by me, but I responded in what I thought was appropriate manner. And I'll accept, since that was bad judgment, I'll accept that. That's what it is. Beyond that, I don't believe that has intent on my part. Well, I wrote rules that are to the level of anything beyond.

So, um, Mr Mr Attorney, so the same way we get the information about the email going out. Um, I guess my question is maybe we need to look a little bit further into it since they were supposed to have already had the email.

That's what it sounds like.

I think we need to look a little bit further into it to find out who initially sent that email to the dispatch and to John Charles.

I will say, I don't know if they were sending me. I can't say they did or didn't. All he said to me was, I asked him how you got this information. He said, I have my source. When I talked to John Charles, it had been out. John Charles said, I saw it on social media. That was the next day. It'd been out. So that was after the fact. The initial, how it was leaked from the dispatch guy, Tyler Davis was the one that told me that. And I was around, while I'm showing my phone, this is a call from him and then the paler, and then Tyler. That was around 12, 12, 15, 20, something like that. But he had it, and I made sure, I did not say, oh, God should say, I said, what are you talking about? He said, the email, it was, And by and how so you really get it says that he said that's a big wow, how do you get that I had my sources so that's how that happened in all the shit and when I know the mail or so on call.

I don't know if you have a second council member.

So this question is for maybe city manager. If you knew what was the purpose of that I T to do an investigation.

Mr. Venable, I didn't know with any certainty about whether or not Mr. Daisy was going to release anything. You didn't know? Yeah, I didn't know.

Okay. Okay. I thought the attorney just said that you gave him permission to release, so I'm kind of confused right now. He said he was okay, but... I'm confused right here, because why would you do an investigation if you already knew what was going on? Why would you have the IT to investigate?

I have absolutely no population that was the day we were going to release that email. I had no idea where it came from.

Mayors? Yes. Okay. Okay. As the person who pretty much got the most feedback, from that email that I released to my colleagues for discussion. A lot of feedback. Looking at the police report and the IT report, sent that email around 9.25. I think it said Mr. Dakey had forwarded that email. The IT specialist has a sheet and it has everyone who receives the email And then it has everyone who forwards the email. So there were two additional recipients of the email. One was John Rose at WIZS and the other one was at Tyler, whatever, at the dispatch. And those were two additional recipients and the sender to those two recipients was naked. So within a two-hour window, three-hour window, whenever you look at it, four-hour window. Within a very short period of time, the dispatch had that information. Now, the dispatch starts to call me at home, and after about the seventh time, I turned it off. Okay, and John Rose, the same thing. They know that they had received this email in a non-traditional manner. It was, you know, city email. So it's like receiving stolen goods. and then asking me about Stoke Goods. You know, they already knew that the email was sent to colleagues and they knew it was an in-house email. So for them to receive that email from Dakey and the other mystery person, it just goes to show that they will print and report by any means necessary. And I'm OK with that. I still stand on my decision. But I think that if we have people, we have colleagues. And as Councilwoman Geraldine said before, this is not the first time that our closed session meetings have leaked to the public. It's happened the last couple of years. But we can now identify one source of the leak. And I'm glad we can.

Can we move to the motion? We have a motion on the floor.

And then you have to be clear with this motion. So we've got a motion was it to pursue the a motion process. Yes, on the floor in a second. So yes. Madam clerk.

This channel, yes. This year, no, no, no, no. The general yes.

To clarify you should use himself as the motion is about this.

Yes. This offer this.

And the motion has passed. All right that being said we have public comment period on agenda items. And we have several people that have signed up. So we can have Ms. Pat Steed come to the podium. You have three minutes to address the council. Please state your name and your address. And you have three minutes. And welcome.

Ms. Pat Steed. I've lived at 720 Charlotte Drive for 58 years. And I was just going to comment about the data center and the needs of the community already has a very old electric power system. And we have a very great need to update our water system, which I know y'all working on it, but we're way behind Virginia in those upgrades. And if the power, if the data center starts pulling for those systems, we're going to have blackouts. You've got a hospital right down the road that needs that power. We also have the needs for the water for the hospital. I was working the day they cut the water line to the hospital. If you all remember some years ago, quite a number of years ago, there was a, A long line of volunteers that had to go from carry water from the well behind the hospital into the back of the hospital just to flush commodes. It takes at least two to three liters of water to flush a commode. What is our life going to be like when we can't do that? So we are already one of the poorest counties in North Carolina. And this is a great burden on us. And what I propose is that we delay all work on the data center until they provide the sources they need. They do the electric power upgrades. They do the water supply upgrades to meet their needs to cool their systems so that it doesn't draw from ours that are so It's already inadequate. So I just, that's what I have to say. Just please delay it and demand that they do these things themselves at their expense and not lay it on the poor citizens of Vance County. There are citizens throughout the country that have addressed this problem in different ways. like Apex, they denied it because of the water source. And then there are cities bigger than ours, richer than ours, that have debated for other reasons. And they have put out stipulations that they have to provide these sources before they construct the data center and start pulling from the resources of the local people. And they also demand that A lot of the personnel that are hired for these data centers come from the local people. They generally hire, depending on the size, from 50 to 200 people in a facility at a nice salary. If you consider that, that would really have the community in that way. And also, they demanded other things about providing other things for the community. Instead of us paying them and doing all the work ourselves and draining our pockets, let them do the work. And the power that they create, they'll use a certain amount. And what they don't use, they can give back to the community and stop taking money from our pockets, but putting money back into our pockets and helping us. We're helping them by letting them come here. They need the land, they need the resources, and they should be made to pay their share and not lay it on us. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. T. Wonderful recommendations. Thank you so much. Next, we have Lee Faulkner on another agenda item. Mr. Faulkner, if you can state your address. And you have three minutes to address the council.

My name is Lee Faulkner. I live here in Henderson, 201 Country Club Drive, here in Henderson, North Carolina. I've been living here since 74. I wanted to listen to what you had to say. I didn't understand everything you were saying today, especially the vote not to admit, not to approve something. So that confused me. But I have been hearing problems about the debt that we have, the problem with the data center that we have, but the concerns we have about data center that we have with a lot of people in Vance County or in Henderson, North Carolina. I don't think I'm surprising you to tell you that people are concerned about these situations. Some people were saying that Joey Fuqua was the finance director and the city manager was Paylor Spruill. are they the ones that are giving our city council the bad advice? And so I asked, I'll ask the people in this town that I trust the most to give me honest, truthful advice. I'm talking about some people that you, we all would respect and admire. And what they told me was, no, that Taylor Spruill and Joey Fuqua, Fuqua were exemplary employers of employees that they had integrity, that you could trust them, and that they knew what they were doing, and they could give you good advice. And I said, well, why in the world are people suggesting that maybe that's the problem that we've, for the last 15 years, that we've not had good advice for our council members? And people were saying, well, it's not because of Joey Buford and Baylor Spruill, It may be that people just want to deflect blame. So what I'm saying is people I trust and the people I have talked to say that take the advice and respect the advice. And we appreciate and applaud. I can hear one time applaud what's happened in the last few years. We applaud that you've hired such good employees as Joy Fuqua for our finance director. And Taylor Spruill, as our city manager, stick with them and take their advice. And part of their advice is to hire good people to advise you what to do about things like the data center. That's what I have to say. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Fowler. That was a great night. Bobby Lequire? Lequire? Oh, I'm sorry. It's time to come on up. We have three minutes to adjust the council. Well done. Give your name, your address, please.

My name is Bobby Laquire. I live at 198 Sandstone and Henderson. So I'm in the county. This is my first city council meeting. I came to talk about the data center. So I live, so I'm advocating for my home, my mother's home, my neighbor's homes. In my county, in my city, and I'm going to try not to cry because it's close to my heart. So the data center will impact multiple established rural communities. Hunter's Ridge, it's directly across from it. Carolina Pines, Westwood Hills, Watkins Community, Watkins Campground, Huntsdale, Farmers, Farmland, two churches, and Northland. It affects us and all of us in more than one way. So I'm concerned, I'm just gonna list my concerns. I'm concerned and I'm shaken because I do want transparency and I do appreciate transparency and I feel like our city and our county needs to be transparent. And so I appreciate transparency, So I'm concerned about the massive amount of water that will be needed to cool the standards center and what they are proposing because it all scares me. And I've done a lot of research. I'm concerned about infrastructure and who will pay for it. I'm concerned about the electricity needs and who will pay for it because I saw a report that they're asking for um, sales and use tax for electricity and, um, uh, I forgot the other equipment. And so that's what governor Josh Stein is fine. Um, and that they don't need it anymore. So I'm concerned about air pollution, water pollution. I'm concerned about birds. I'm concerned about nature, their habitat, wildlife. It just upsets me. I am concerned about the construction phase because of what happened when phase three development happened and it hurt phase one homes. I'm concerned that the first developer of Huntsman did not tell us they filled in a car. I'm concerned I'm sorry. I'm concerned about the traffic during construction. I'm concerned about whose interest this developer supports. I'm concerned about the impact on my home and my property values. Somebody worded it perfectly this weekend on the internet. They said, we have worked hard. Our home is our main asset. And that's what we stand to lose a lot. I'm concerned about code violations. I'm concerned about who's going to make the developer accountable. I'm concerned about our water and electricity needs. I'm concerned about who will pay taxes due to the status. Because I know they get tax breaks. I'm concerned that we as citizens will for the bill. I'm concerned. Number one about human beings and citizens and our public health. Um, thank you so much for listening to me and giving me the opportunity to speak because I am a quiet person. I do not make waves. I don't like to, so I'm being forced to, so. You know, I mean, I'm shaking. This is not easy for me. But please, please, here are concerns. We are scared. We are researching. And there's a lot of research out there that's good research. That's not, we're not making stuff up. You know, and I don't mean any disrespect by that. I just mean that, um, I don't support China. I'm not crazy. You know, we just get all these things on the internet about, you know, I'm just a person standing up for what I believe in. Please listen to us.

Please. Thank you, Ms. Bobby. Next, we have Ann Rivera.

Hello, my name is Ann Rivera. I live off Abbott Road. I'm a county resident, not a city resident. After many community members have watched these events.

Anna, hold on a second. What is your address? You said Abbott Road. Can you give us your address?

This city has actually already threatened me multiple times, so I'm not willing to give my actual street address, but I do live off of Abbott Road.

Yeah. Okay. Mr. Dane, how do we proceed with that?

She can speak. We can't require. Oh, cool.

So after many community members have watched these meetings and have watched what y'all have done here, I've actually been asked to come to these meetings by numerous residents, members of this community, and actually seated current elected officials. And that's because it's been made abundantly clear that many city council members and those here with higher authority powers have view the city of Henderson as their personal playground in order to get even, in order to fulfill vendettas, in order to do favors for friends, repay old debts, and many, many other things. And I can tell you right now, if you don't think I'm talking to you or about you, I am. City of Henderson is not your financial institution, nor is it your social club to help your friends. You all, much like the Board of County Commissioners, think that data centers are a golden ticket to solve all the fiduciary problems of Henderson and Vance County. But here on this planet Earth, in this country, in this culture, in this county, and in this region, Willy Wonka's golden tickets are fictitious. A data center and the annually diminishing tax revenue will not come save us. The data center industry consumes more year after year after year and actually drains annual budgets if you look at the cities and counties that already have them. The industry itself is not regulated. There is no ordinances, there's no measures, there's no means to protect us or the environment. And it doesn't seem like any of you are in a position to put a motion forward to put ordinances in place and to protect us. You officials, and that's county included, keep turning to industry as a revenue savior. And this is a farce. This is a fallacy. OK, there are other ways to generate stable revenue that is sustainable and long term. And it sounded like the airport had some good ideas earlier tonight. I also have some great ideas if you'd like to talk about it. Now, to be honest, y'all wouldn't be turning to data centers if y'all could manage the budget that you currently have. If you force the wealthy people that own several properties in the state and in downtown and in this county to actually bring their buildings to code, then maybe we can put small businesses in those places because many people run businesses out of their house because there's no place for them to go. Now, of course, when I talk about small businesses, since we love to lay them out and measure, let's look at Granville County and City of Oxford. They invested in education, they invested in their small businesses, and they protected their farms. And guess what? They had growth. That's because they followed economic trends and data. Now, when I say a data center, I am talking about the proposed site on Brody Road. This could be used for a whole lot of other things. Instead of an energy-sucking, emission-producing, constant safety threat, loud, morose, practically empty building, okay? And all I hear is that we need money. We need money to fix this and to pay for that and to pay teachers, that we have a revenue problem, not an expenditure problem. First of all, taxes and inflation only go one way. Don't lie to us taxpayers, okay? There's a lot of things that we could do that hasn't been done.

Thank you for your concerns.

I am disappointed that y'all voted against SBC 214, but you're willing to give away a municipality's worth of water to a building. I've said all I have to say. I am leaving. I'm leaving. All right. Is Robin Britt here? I believe she spoke with Recovery 8.

All right, counsel we have a of reports we have reports and Mr. Managing one of your workers. Yeah, yeah.

We're going to mention that the asset select committee on property tax reduction for that. may be aware of us in the news that that has resulted in a possible amendment to the state constitution. And if it goes through, it's uncertain at this time as to how the legislation will react to that amendment, as far as what they intend to do once they have it. I believe that that constitutes a difficult possible time coming. the municipalities as far as their ability to set tax rates and balance our budgets. So if you have any influence with state legislatures or, for that matter, the voting public, probably education at this point might be helpful. Carol, what's the number? Do you have the number of the bill? It's House Bill 1089, constitutional amendment for property tax levy limits. Thank you. Also the North Carolina Opportunity Zones nominations have been extended to June 21st. And so I think we should definitely take advantage of that and put in a request for Henderson in that scandal. The Henderson Music and Arts Festival is going to be Sunday, June the 14th, 2 to 8 p.m. at the Pavilion Field. And I also wanted to, unless Mary, you'd like to address this with the Opioid Committee? Sure. You want to do that? Absolutely. All right, I'll leave that for you. And lastly, I would like to bring to your attention that we have Sean Sullivan in the audience tonight. I have asked him to speak with you under attorney-client privilege in closed sessions. to address the quality of the water, and where we are with that. We will attempt to do that very last thing. This documentation requires this equipment, and so we'll need to clear the audience when he comes forward. That's all I have, ma'am. Mr. Tarley?

May I be?

May I protect? May I be? OK. My report for the last 30 days, over the past 30 days, I remain actively engaged in initiatives that advance public health, youth development, community safety, economic opportunity, and regional collaboration throughout the city of Henderson and beyond. My youth engagement and education was done at the Henderson Collegiate with 96 first grade students discussing leadership, education, community service, and healthy eating, where I engaged 96 first graders promoting to the second grade with pizza. and healthy fruits, thank you, Walmart. Public safety and gun violence prevention served as a panelist for the Peace Up Guns Down event in Olana and continued efforts to expand access to NoCan through partnerships with barbershops and rural health clinics. And thank you, Councilman Vanderbilt, for being at the public safety gun violence prevention. Health and wellness, I facilitated a mental health awareness event with local providers and community members, met with Lowe's, Bullcan materials, and built this discount Center regarding donations for therapeutic out-of-the-wellness space as a part of the Men's Health and Wellness Initiative. Thank you, Christy Liskum. Thank you, Tracy. Thank you, Kendrick and everybody that was engaged in that piece. That's why y'all had that beautiful outside table. Thank you, Lowe's. Thank you, Volcan Materials donated. Everything outside was donated. So we got 10,000, what, 10 tons of pea gravel. Okay, 10 tons of pea gravel. We got the sitting set. which one of the employees told me they've been asking for a table for 20 years, so I'm glad we could give her a table and chairs. And the wood came from Builders Discount, so thank you so much. And for everybody that had something to do with putting that together, I really appreciate it. Tracy Kimber was working on a name, so she'll probably send an email out for you guys to name that space. The Broadband and Public Health Conference that's coming up in July, you guys have that flyer. I've collaborated with four other mayors, and they will be coming to our city. We have the city of Enfield. We have the city of Lewisburg. We have the county of Warren, as well as the city of Oxford mayor that will be sitting on an elected official panel. But there are several other panels. And I met with Lisa Harrison, who is the director of public health, regarding planning for the upcoming event. She will also be a facilitator. We will have four panels that day. We will have... for elected officials. We will have North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. We will have the faith-based and we will have Dr. Tiffany Cornelius from Blue Cross Blue Shield. And there's a fireside chat. And so that is being hosted by Genetech who gave $100,000 for this project. And what we plan to achieve through this project is being able to help all the counties around us secure funding from the North Carolina Department of Public Health and Human Services for more infrastructure under the ground for broadband and people to have access. So if you guys are free that day, it's a 9-2-2 conference, please come out. I presented Community Engagement 101 at the North Carolina Community Health Workers Summit in Cherokee, North Carolina with my colleague Liatris Martin and served as a panelist in Raleigh for the Health of North Carolina State of Medicaid border advocacy met with regional partners and communicated with Congressman Don Davis's office regarding our border issues impacting Henderson. And with that being said, there is a flyer for you that was generated by AI, which can make you a flyer in 20 seconds. And I made this flyer. Christy Liston will be our speaker on Thursday night. We will bring the community members in so they can ask questions. Christy is going to give them a, with the permission of Peller, she's going to give them a one-on-one engagement about what is being done and how the water treatment facility works. And after the participants do that, I am going to give out some Brita water filters to the people that come to the event. So you're more than welcome to come to that. Community Development, I provided a letter of support to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services as it relates to the More Than a Job initiative. I talked a little bit about that last month. We will get five spots in that initiative for this county. Attended the Torch Run. Thank you to the law enforcement officers and Christy Listom, our Assistant City Manager, was recognized with Public Works for Honors received by the North Carolina Department of Labor through Commissioner Luke Farley at the Country Club for safety. Go Christy. Opioid response. I met with Katie Lee and there was a path that was pulled out of this package because we were trying to figure out how to move this forward. Katie Lee, Advanced Recovery, has done some extensive studying on the opioid recovery funds and she works at the Morris Clinic. She is the director and we talked about we discussed tracking opioid settlement funding, the outcomes and the deliverables. And one thing that happened with the last funding that was given out, there were no outcomes and deliverables presented. Nothing is measured. And so when people get funding, we ought to be mindful of when we're releasing it and what we're expecting from it. I think Tisha did an amazing job tonight giving a report. But normally if money is given to people or organizations, there's always a reporting aspect involved. And so with that being said, I spoke with the city manager about, um, putting together an opioid committee. And so when it came back, it only had council members on it. And for me to appoint four, I did not feel comfortable with doing that. And I want the council to chime in. I think that we should also utilize the expertise that's in our community because we have two members, uh, Katie Lee from the Vance Recovery Morris Clinic. And we also have Catherine Haslett, who is the person that trains people in Norcan. I think that with the council members, and this might be a unique situation because we haven't, we don't have, well, not really, it's not unique, but it may be a bit of a unique situation that we have four council members and we appoint two members from the community, kind of like the CAC, Community Advisory Board. So it'll be similar to that. So I just wanted to know how you guys felt about that. We do have two volunteers and we have some committees that are not full and people are not applying and we want to promote community engagement with citizens. But we have two people ready to stand up. Kaylee is very well versed with the laws and she even told us about our reporting to the state, which Pella has got on top of and they happen. But when that money was released, we had 90 days to present I report to the state, which did not happen because we didn't know. And there's been so many transitions and leadership, but apparently it got that straightened out. And so with her experience and her education in that field, I would just recommend that you guys, once we erect this committee, that you would add her on the committee to help you, guide you, lead you in decision-making as it relates to releasing the funds. And that's all I have. Do we have a motion to go to the whole session? Well if you're going to make it.

I don't know if they're going to do something. I don't know if you're going to do something. I don't know if they're going to do something. I don't know if they're going to do something. I don't know if they're going to do something.