City Council - Regular Meeting

He's right in front of Chief talking to Chief Wilson.

All right. Ready? Everybody ready? Good time.

Good evening and welcome to the city council meeting of the city of Lenor for Tuesday, April the 7th, 2026. We welcome you this evening. Thank you for coming and being with us this evening. As we normally do, we will start in just a few minutes with our moment of silence and we'll remain standing to salute our country with our pledge of allegiance. Uh to that uh first thing I'd like to mention before we go to that is I would like to say congratulations to our fire chief chief Norman Stains who has received the professional credentiing the commission on professional uh credentiing uh easy to read. with the chief fire officer uh CFO and this is for demonstrating a high level of competence as witnessed by your peers by documenting professional, educational, technical and community service achievements and fulfilling prescribed standards of performance, ethics, and conduct required for CFO. So, Chief Stains, you're one of only two in in Cwell County.

Yeah, that's right. It this goes for uh issued in February 2014 is when it expired and now it will not expire again till March of Is that right? It's a three-year renewal. Oh, it's a three-year renewal. I need to rehearse that before I did it, didn't I? Anyway, congratulations, Chief Chief, for what you have have done, what you mean for the city of Monor and our fire department. And thank you very much for that. So, Anyway, that's that's a good note to start out with.

And now now I need to pray for all of us and me especially. So please join us

as we stand for a moment of silence. Thank you. Please salute the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Tonight, as we get started, we have several special recognitions to do tonight. And I'm going to read them from here. Uh I'm having a little back pain right now. And I don't know if I can stand up to do go through three proclamations. So, if you'll indulge me tonight and I will come down and I'll join those that are receiving our proclamations tonight at the podium when we when we do that. So, our first tonight is our proclamation recognition of uh public safety to telecommunicators week. This is for April 12th through the 18th, 2026. And we'll be presenting this to Chief uh Wilson in just a few minutes. So, whereas the city of Lenor Police Department telecommunicators play a vital role in the protection of human life and property in our community. And whereas they have been successfully serving the public safety communication needs of the city of Lenor throughout the year. And whereas while enduring long hours, abnormal schedules, and handling frequent life and death emergencies, telecommunicators set high

standards in performing their duties in a dedicated, diligent, and compassionate manner. And whereas they provide a critical communication link between the residents and the emergency responders. And whereas telecommunicators effectively coordinate emergency services to ensure the health and safety of our residents, visitors, and travelers in our community 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And whereas our public safety communications personnel serve the public daily in countless ways without due recognition by the beneficiaries of their services. Now therefore be it resolved that I as mayor of the city of Lenor and on beha on behalf of the Lenor city council do hereby proclaim and declare the week of April 12th through April 18th 2026 as national public safety telecommunicators week in the city of Lenor in honor of the men and women whose diligence and professionalism keep our city and first responders safe. witnessed this my hand and seal this the seventh day of April 2026. Congratulations for that. You will come up. We'll present it. We'll shoot a picture now and then we'll do pictures after we do the others if that's okay.

Present this first. you lead us. Thank you,

Mr. Mayor. Council, thank you for this recognition of National Telecommunicators Week next week. Uh just a little recap from 2025. Our communicators answered over 52,000 calls coming into our call center. That's that's a lot. They're a busy busy busy group. 72 over 7,200 of those were 911 emergency calls. Over 10,000 were non 911 calls, 21,000 over 21,000 officer initiated calls, almost 40,000 our CAD system entries into that uh into that computer system and um 315 after hours calls for water and sewer and other things for Lenor to so to say this this group uh is busy is an understatement. They're constantly on the go. Um, we always uh like to talk about they're the the calm behind the call. When somebody calls in, a lot of times they're upset. Uh, they're frantic and it takes someone to get them calm back down so they can get the information to get officers where they need to go. And these men and women do that day in day out. um they're um they're a lot of times they're the the on someone's worst day, they're the the one that someone needs to talk to to get information and to uh get people where they got to go. So, we not only thank them during telecommunicators week next week, but we thank them day in day out because that's 247, 365 days a year that they're there um not only making sure our officers are safe, but our community is safe and for that. I appreciate them.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Chief.

We'll get picture with you and the council. Uh anyone else that you want in the picture in a few minutes. Thank you. Okay. Our next proclamation tonight is a special recognition for fair housing month. And on behalf of the city council, I'll present a proclamation to Dylan Kever. Dylan is here from the Kataba Valley Association of Real Realtors. will be proclaiming the month of April 2026 as fair housing month throughout the city of Lenor. So the proclamation for fair harousing month having a tough time reading fair whereas the fair housing act enacted on April 11th 1968 enshrined into federal law the goal of eliminating racial segregation and ending housing discrimination in the United States. And whereas the Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, sex, valuable status, and national origin and disability, and commits uh recipients of federal funding to affirmatively further fair housing in their communities. And whereas the city of Lenor is committed to the mission and intent of Congress to provide fair and equal housing opportunities for all. And whereas our social fabric, the economy, health, and environment are strengthened in diverse inclusive communities. And whereas more than 50 years after the passage of the Fair Housing Act, discrimination persists and many communities remain segregated. And whereas acts of housing discrimination and barriers to equal housing opportunity are repugnant to a common sense of decency and fairness. Now therefore, it be it resolved that the city of Wenor does hereby declare the month of April 2026 as fair housing

month. The city of Lenor as an inclusive community committed to fair housing and to promoting appropriate activities by private and public entities to provide and advocate for equal housing opportunities for all residents and prospective residents of Lenor. We adopted this the 7th day of April 2026. And I'll ask Dylan if he'll join me at the podium. Thank you, sir. Fair housing is more than a policy. It's a promise day in and day out. A promise that everyone, regardless of background, has the opportunity to find a safe place to call home. That promise matters here in Lenor when people can live where they choose. Our neighbors grow stronger, our communities grow closer and our city grows more vibrant. The Kataba Valley Association of Realtors is proud to stand behind that promise every day. and through the work of our members and through partnerships with leaders like the ones in this room, Mayor Gimbons, uh members of the council, thank you for recognizing Fair Housing Month and for your continued commitment to make Lenor a place where everyone belongs. We are honored to accept this proclamation on behalf of the Kataba Valley Association of Realtors. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. We certainly appreciate it. Thank you. And our next one, uh, very special tonight, our special recognition. This is, uh, a proclamation to the representatives of Blue Ridge Energy and Duke Energy in honor and celebration of line worker appreciation day, which is recognized annually on Saturday, April the 18th. I will read that. I do welcome uh, Robin Nicholson from Duke Energy tonight. Robin is the, as I told her earlier, she's the chief person for Blue Ridge and I mean, dang it, for Duke in this area. I'll get it right in a minute. I'll get it right in a minute.

And we also welcome Fletcher Helms from Blue Ridge Energy as well. Thank y'all. And we have another guest. Uh,

thank you. Glad to have you from Blue Ridge as well on that. So, let me read this one to you and we'll present it to y'all in just a few minutes. Whereas, on April 10th, 2013, a resolution was passed in the United States Senate to recognize April 18th annually as National Lineman Line Worker Appreciation Day. And whereas the profession of the electrical line worker is steeped in personal, family, and professional tradition. And whereas line workers are often first responders during storms and other catastrophic events, working to make the scene safe for other public safety officials and to expedite the return of vital electrical power to our communities. And whereas these brave men and women work with thousands of volts of electricity high at top power lines 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, risking and sometimes losing their lives to keep electricity flowing. And whereas line workers are often faced with dangerous conditions far from their families as they work to construct and maintain energy infrastructure throughout the state of North Carolina and the United States. And whereas line workers must use their technical knowledge, physical strength, and ingenuity to achieve success in challenges they face every day. And whereas the city of Wenor thanks these skilled and heroic line workers who brave hurricanes, ice storms, snowstorms, floods, and other natural disasters to maintain our community's energy grid. Now therefore be it resolved that I as mayor and on behalf of Lenor City Council do hereby proclaim Saturday the 18th of April 2026 as line worker appreciation day in the

city of Lenor, North Carolina done this the 7th day of April 2026. Thank you all. If y'all will join me at the podium right Thank you. Now, why don't we while y'all are here, we'll just get the council and we'll take a picture.

Stay up here. We can you can do that. Get right in front. Go ahead and speak. Let them speak. Speak. I'm moving too quick.

First of all, thank you to the city council and Mr. Mayor. this award. Everybody come up here with their little folders and I'm not quite as prepared as y'all were, but um thanks very much. Line work is a uh it's a career of service. Um you know, whenever we're out, you know, Christmas morning, Thanksgiving, there's always a lot of men out working. And um it's it's what you sign up for. It's it's what we enjoy doing. There's nothing better than working all night and seeing people's lights come back on, people being able to get up, and go to school and work. So, uh thank you'all very much on behalf of Blue Ridge and all everywhere. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Ditto. Now, on behalf of Duke Energy and all of our linemen, line workers across uh this area, the state, uh in all of our service territories, we appreciate all of you taking time to recognize the work they do. It is hazardous. Uh we try to ensure that have all the safety measures so that it does not become, you know, a a life-threatening job. But it is a uh it's a brotherhood. They'll all tell you that it's a calling. It's not for everyone. Uh but it is a great job, a great career that we truly truly appreciate the dedication and the sacrifice that they make to ensure the lights stay on. And I'll also comment just real quick. Um y'all have a y'all have an absolute jewel here in Cowell County at the community college through the line worker program that is offered there. And there's been a lot of Duke Energy employees and I know some Blue Ridge employees as well who have come through that program and just excelled then in their careers. So, uh you do have a great treasure here in Cowwell County and we're glad to be a part of that. So, thank you all for taking time to recognize uh the line workers that we have. Appreciate that.

Thank you.

Okay, good. I think mayor, y'all need to go left. Let me go. Can you see everybody?

You see everybody? There we go.

There we go. This one is good. I can tell this is probably a feel of the room. Okay. Okay.

Thank you. She saw that little long thing look like ears. Yeah, that's awesome.

Fantastic. All of y'all stand this chair just falling apart there you don't know I don't know I think you I think you do I think you do better presenting down below this place Norman you might get to use some of your skills Whenever it might be useful here, one, two.

That's it. Is it the palm of what's going on? Are you ready? Was there a full moon last night? I think there was. I'm I'm ready. I'm ready. Mike's got the camera. Go ahead. Oh, me.

Thank you. A lot of great recognitions tonight. Thank everybody for that. Chief and our police department, thank you all for all all you do. And National Fair Housing Month. Thank you all. Realtors for what you you guys do as well for all that. We appreciate it. And our linemen have left, but we appreciate them. You know, they get our power on just as fast as they can. So, that is that is great. So, all right. We'll move on then to uh we do not have matters scheduled for public hearing this evening. So, we'll move on to our consent agenda items. Uh, item A are minutes of the city council meeting, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. Item B is the minutes of the closed session meeting of the council meeting of Tuesday, March 17th as reviewed by the city council, the city attorney, and the city manager. Item C are the minutes of the city council budget uh meeting and that was Tuesday, March 24th, 2026. Item D is a proclamation that we did did for the National Public Safety Telecommunicators. Item E is a proclamation of fair housing month. Item F, the proclamation from National Line Worker Appreciation Day. Item G is a resolution. This is for water and sewer capital improvements plan. Uh this would be to adopt the water and sewer fund capital improvements plan CIP as presented by the city staff. There's a note. This resolution is to meet the requirements of any future funding applications through the NCDEQ division of water infrastructure SRF loan or grant funding programs or other available funding sources. Item G is this is an agreement for technical planning assistance with the Western Pedmont Council of Governments. This is a recommendation of an agreement between the Western Pedmont Council of

Governments and the City of Anor for the provision of technical planning assistance for a 2-year code enforcement period beginning July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2028 at a total cost of $68,000. Staff further requests that the city manager be authorized to sign the contract on behalf of the city. Note the contract amount for the previous two-year agreement was $66,000. So not a lot of change there. Those are your consent agenda items A through H. And I will open it up for council for any discussion, question or motion when you're ready.

Mr. Mayor, I make a motion that we approve the consent agenda agenda items A through H as presented. Thank you. Have a motion from council member Thomas that we approve the consent agenda items A through H as presented. No other discussion. All in favor, please say I.

All opposed. Thank you very much. All right. Next was on our agenda is request and petitions of any citizens. If there's anyone that's here to speak to the council tonight, this is the time to do so. Most everybody here is uh our staff. Thank you for that and our guest always. Well, you're part of us too on that. So, seeing no one and we'll move on to uh we do not have reports of our boards and commissions this evening. So, we'll move to the report and recommendations of the city manager, Mr. Hildebrand. Mayor Council tonight only have some items for information for you. Uh the first one is the Lenora Tourism Development Authority will meet on Thursday, April 9th at 4 o'clock, third floor city hall. The Lenor Business Advisory Board will meet on Thursday, April 9th uh at 6 o'clock third floor city hall. The city county service committee will meet on Monday, April 13th at noon at the J Bhal Civic Center. Uh the planning board will meet on Monday, April 13th, 5:30, and that'll be held in these chambers. Uh the economic development advisory committee will meet on Tuesday, April 14th, 8:15 a.m. and that's going to be held at Jay Hebril Civic Center. Uh the ABC board will meet on Thursday, April 16th at 2 p.m. Uh also the 4th annual Lenor Bicycle Festival and Bootlegger 100 will be held on Saturday, April 18th. And you can find more information on those items uh on the city's website. And then lastly, the parks and recreation board will meet on Monday, April 20th at six o'clock, and that's going to be held at the Martin Luther King uh Junior Center. Other than that, that's all I have unless you have questions.

Any questions from Mr. Hildbrand concerning any that is going on? Okay. Thank you. All right. We'll move on. Any report from our city attorney, Mr. Roar? Anything? Nothing to report. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Uh, do you want me to sue somebody? I'm seeing shaking heads. We're just We're just happy you're not talking. Have to give you a hard time. ask me to talk some more. I'll be glad to. No, no, we're good. The topic I can offer an opinion. Yeah, we know. We're good.

We're good. Thank you. I was trying to think um everything from my office. I don't know of anything that we're have at this point going on. Uh with that, we had a cruise in for a one this this past weekend. I think everything went well with that. Um downtown went out had a wonderful Easter and all that. So everything I think is moving moving forward there. All right. Do we have a report of anything for recommendations from our council members? Anybody have anything? We do have an item on on here listed. This would be for our voting delegate. Uh we would need to recommend that uh according to this either myself or Mayor Pro Tim Perkins be appointed to serve as the city of Wor's voting delegate at the North Carolina League of Municipalities annual business meeting. That's city vision. uh the 2026 uh conference that will be held in Raleigh at the Raleigh Convention Center. So anybody since you're on the board maybe

Yeah, it may be better. I am a member of the league board. So maybe be better if you you serve as our voting delegate. Make all kind of excuses. So we need to do a motion to Yeah, we do need a motion to appoint Mayor Pro Tim Perkins as the voting delegate. Mr. Mayor, I make a motion that we uh approve mayor pro Tim Ike Perkins to be appointed to uh our voting delegate. Okay. Motion from council member reveal that Mayor Pro Tim Perkins serve as the voting delegate at the league of municipalities conference city vision conference in Raleigh in May. No other discussion on that. All in favor please say I. I.

All opposed. Thank you very much. This vote vote the right way. Thank you very much. Okay. Anything else to come before us tonight at all? Since you took my mouth, I mean, he took my gabble. This meeting is a journ practice. He just couldn't wait to do it. Could he