City Council - Regular Meeting

Special meeting minutes from February 9th, 2026. Uh, don't need a soundtrack. Let's just leave it. Does make it more soothing. It does. Think about it. Go ahead.

Item B4 is the approval of January 20th um, close session uh, meeting minutes and those are on your desk. I do ask that we remove February 9th close session minutes um from the agenda. Those were not prepared uh and ready for tonight's meeting. So recommend removal of those. Item B5 is the uh exhibition of flags and banners on city flag poles, light post, and power poles. This is an amendment to our existing uh policy. Um during the January 5th, 2026 city council meeting on the consent item and other business, it was mentioned that there was uh interest from city council in a revision to um this policy. And so attached are the recommended changes to the policy which allows a city manager the discretion to consider banner or flag displays that are not included in the policy. And so you can see um the amendments uh there strikethroughs and then recommended changes in red your packet. Item B6 is the police department u requesting vehicles to be declared surplus and sold at public auction. There's a memo and it lists the three vehicles that um police department needs to declare surplus. Item B7 is the request to apply for the Embridge Safe Community Grant and this is uh for the fire department to replace two multi- gas meters. This is a non-matching grant. Item B8 is uh another fire department grant, the assistance to firefighters grant, and this is to purchase bailout kits. Um there is a 5% local match. Uh the total proposed project is $30,611.50.

So the 5% local match is $1,53058. And that comes from an existing allocation in the budget should it be necessary. Correct. Yes. The match would be um in their equipment maintenance budget.

It's included in their existing budget. Item B9 is the fire department request to apply for the Gary foundation grant to purchase a drone. This is a non-matching grant and the drone amount is $9,8652. Agenda item B10 is also a fire department grant for a FEMA fire prevention and safety grant. This is for um the fire department to purchase the fire extinguisher training prop and associated instructional materials. Uh the cost the total cost um is $20,000. There's a 5% local match and that $1,000 is in their supplies budget. So they have that budget as well. Item B1 is the Mini Brooks Act exemption public works sign shop. And so under North County law, a local local government may exempt itself from the Mini Brooks Act, which means that the city would not be required to use the RFQ qualifications based selection process uh for that professional service. And so um public works is requesting the the waiver of that. Item B12 is budget amendment number 13, general fund capital. Uh, the proposed budget amendment appropriates $5,950,000 from the general fund unrestricted fund balance to general fund capital purchases. And item B13 is the consideration of a facade enhancement grant for 140 North Main Street. Uh, the applicant is Melissa Hbert and Melinda Sis

Sus. They are with the major William Chronicle D chapter for a mural at 140 North Main Street. Uh this request is for $2,500 to fund uh the facade enhancement grant. Um the summary of action states that the Main Street Advisory Board has reviewed and voted not to recommend awarding this facade grant for 140 North Main Street. So on the consent, the council's vote during the consent is to accept that denial. Those are the 13 items on consent. So, mayor, I'll turn it back over to you for any questions. Thank you, Miles. I appreciate that. Any questions for Miles on any of the consent agenda items? Is now the appropriate time to ask for amendments? Yes.

Yes, sir. Okay. I will move to remove item 13 and place it on the regular agenda. I know there's quite a number of people here for that. Do you have any of it first? Let's do a C2. Yeah. And then just move all that down down accordingly. Uh would would you would there be any issue with moving it actually to C4? Is that I mean we can do it C2 if you want. I had planned for C4 because I assume this is where it was going, but if you want to do it before public hearing, we can. Would you prefer C2? Uh well, I was going to do it. Oh, well I mean I just know they got That's fine. Yeah, let's put it in C2. Okay, that sounds good. Okay. C2.

Yeah, it will be. Yes. Um, any other questions for Miles? Uh, just a couple uh with the amendment to the flag and banner policy, if I understand that correctly. Um, based on the amendments, council would have no involvement with any exceptions to the flag and banner policy. That would be solely within the city manager's uh ambit. That's correct. Yes, sir. And um with respect to the Mini Brooks Act exemption for the uh sign shop, why why are we seeking an exemption?

Uh because we're moving forward with uh the project and so instead of going through that process, it would take us um considerable time to go through the RFQ process. And so this budget for this fiscal year, we're already into March. And so we'd like to waver that and go ahead and get that thing designed so we can expend the funds this fiscal year. Okay. Thank you. All right, if there's no other questions on any of the items, uh we will be amending the agenda to move remove item B13 from the consent agenda and add it to the regular agenda at item as item C2. Uh we will also be removing the approval of the February 9th close session minutes from B4. Um, so that will take us conclude our work session and take us into the regular meeting. So I will now call to order the regular meeting, the March 2nd regular meeting of the Belmont City Council. And I believe we have a guest here, um, Pastor Sam Warner to do the invocation for us.

Thank you, Mayor Jordan. Let us pray. Come Lord Jesus, our guest to be and bless this city council, staff and citizens present bestowed by thee. Blessed are you, oh God, our living and loving and bountiful bread. May tonight's discussion shared and decisions made promote justice, mercy, and grace, the truly best food by which we all are fed. And during these challenging and deeply uncertain times, bless us, oh Lord, with your Holy Spirit everywhere. And fill our broken and troubled world with your unceasing love and eternal care. For this I pray in Christ's name. Amen.

Amen. Thank you. Councilman Jason Runfeld will be leading us in the pledge of allegiance. 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.

All right. I believe we have some uh recognitions tonight. So, we have a presentation from the ABC board of representatives. You want to come on up here? All right. And just a reminder, if you would don't be shy, get that mic does not pick up well. So, if you would get nice and close, uh, so that everybody at home can hear you. Uh, I'm Marty Wright, one of the board members from the Belmont ABC board. And I'm going to introduce Bill Montgomery, our general manager, who has done a wonderful job, as you guys already know, because we have a quarterly distribution to make.

Yes, we had a good quarter. Uh it was for October, November, December of 2025. Uh today's distribution amount is 59,33458. All right. That's great. Awesome. Thank you. Good to see you, sir.

Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you for that. We appreciate it. Um Chief Falls, I believe you have something on the uh the agenda here. Good evening everyone. Tonight it's my pleasure to present um the Belmont Police Department Mighty Mighty Oak Award to one of our citizens. And I'm going to uh read what it says. To all whom these presents, may it come may come the mighty oak award the highest civilian honor bestowed by the Belmont Police Department. It recognizes individuals who have demonstrated exceptional strength, character, resilience, and unwavering commitment to the safety and well-being of the Belmont community. Like the Oak, the citizens provide a foundation of stability and protection for those around them. The chief of police of the Belmont Police Department does hereby bequet the honor and recognition of this occasion for service going above and beyond the call of duty hereby awarded to Pastor Sam Warner.

You just come up Sam like to say a little bit more about the award. This award is presented to Pastor Sam Warner for acts of distinguished service and that transcend the ordinary expectations of a citizen. Through your recent actions, you have demonstrated a profound commitment to the sanctity and life and the security of our neighborhoods. Just as the oak provides shelter from the storm and deep roots for the soul. You have provided a canopy of protection for your fellow citizens and a foundation of trust with the Bowmont Police Department. and testimony there on the date of uh the second day of March 2026 in the city of Belmont, North Carolina, United States of America. So, I'd like to present this to you, Sam, for all that you've done for us and all you've done for the community and keeping your doors open for us. anytime we need something, you're there for us. We appreciate everyone at the church as well, especially can't stand up here without a picture.

Absolutely. Thank you. That's awesome. That is awesome. Thank you for that, Chief. I appreciate that.

Is there Can you hear me now? All right. I will entertain a motion to set the agenda as amended. Motion to set the agenda. Yeah. No, I mean, I'm assuming that includes moving B13 to C2 and removing February 9th closed session meeting minutes from B4. That's correct. As amended. Yep. So moved. Second, Jason and seconded by Jim. All in favor? I. Any opposed? All right. The agenda is set and that will take us to agenda item uh C1 public.

Uh you got to have a motion to approve the consent agenda as modified. We set the regular. You're correct. That is correct. So I you want to make that motion for me? I will make a motion to approve the consent agenda as modified. Thank you, Jim. Motion made by Jim, seconded by Alex. All in favor? I.

Any opposed? All right. The consent agenda is approved. Thank you, Jim, for that. So that will take us then to agenda item C1, which is public comment. So I think it is always helpful to go over the rules for public comment. So I will do that briefly. Um persons who wish to address council during public comment period will register on the signup sheet. So, if you're signed up, you will be here in front of me. Each person signed up will have three minutes to make his or her remarks. Speakers will be acknowledged by the mayor in order in which their names appear on the signup sheet. Speakers will address council from the podium and begin their remarks by stating their name and addresses. The public public comment period is not intended to require council to answer any impromptu questions. Speakers will address all comments to the council as a whole and not one individual commissioner. Discussions between speakers and members of the audience is not allowed. Speakers will be civil and courteous in their language and present in presentation and will refrain from personal attacks. Uh speakers shall not discuss any of the following matters which are in close session uh which includes but not limited to matters within the attorney client privilege anticipation of pending litigation, personal, contractual or property acquisitions, matters that are made confidential by law, matters that are subject to public hearings. Action items brought up during public comment period will be at the discretion of council and may be referred to city staff for further investigation. All right, so with that out of the way, our first speaker will be Bridget Somerville.

Thank you. And I believe the lights the lights will show you kind of where you are on your time. Thank you.

My name is Bridget Somerville and I live at 51 Bowen Drive in Belmont. I'm coming to city council tonight to ask permission for Greenwood Cemetery to be um included in the Reese Across America wreath playing s uh ceremony. When Reese Across America started in 2008, they now include all 50 states and military cemeteries overseas. This event will occur on Saturday, September, I'm sorry, December 19th at 12 o'clock at cemeteries around the world. In order for the Reese across America to list Greenwood Cemetery and to accept monetary donations for Greenwood and to have us listed on their website, the city has to approve my request. The city will not be accepting any monetary donations or need to do anything to pertaining to this event with the exception of picking up the empty boxes that the wreaths are delivered in. If the boxes cannot be picked up by public works, I will be glad to take them that day um because I do not want them left at Greenwood Cemetery over the holidays. There are boy scout troops and girl scout troops that I would ask to participate to receive service project time. And I also plan to ask the American Legion Post 144 to help that day. I am not aware of how many veterans graves are at Greenwood. In 1998, Keith Wilson's Eagle project was to catalog the veterans graves. There was documentation that was left at city hall then um since you've moved.

I'm not sure if that documentation is still there. Um I would like to ask if you um have any questions if you could contact me about this. Um again the only reason I do have to have permission um to have the wreath delivered there. You will not have to do anything. It is strictly just to get Greenwood Cemetery on the website. Um, if you don't know what Reesecross America is, there is a website, um, racecrossamea.org. If you've never seen the pictures, it is just a phenomenal thing. Um, but I think that our veterans at Greenwood deserve this. Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you, Mr. Mr. Mayor. Um, I know we don't normally comment uh during public comment. Um, but do we know is this an annual thing or is this a It's not It's not a one time thing. It's an annual. Yeah. And Smith Cemetery was included in 2025. Um, but they only had their Reese on their on the black row iron fence. They did not actually have theirs on the grave. Um, so we would want to put on the graves. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Can we ask staff to look into that? Absolutely. I think that would be appropriate.

What form permission? Like does it need to be a resolution or I'm not sure. I'll I'll reach out to uh Miss Somerville and get more information then bring that back maybe for a consent item. Thank you. Thank you for bringing that up.

Next we have Mr. Ted Alexander with us. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and members of city council. I'm Ted Alexander. I live at 409 Bowmont Avenue in Shelby and I in the North Carolina Senate and I represent the five precincts up around Cherville. But uh tonight I'm here as uh as a member or the chairman co-chairman of the America's semiquentennial committee for the general assembly and I do appreciate the opportunity to come before you tonight. Uh that that that committee is uh uh charged with working to promote and uh patriotic and unifying events and and activities throughout the state. And I'm here I want to con commend tonight the members of the William Chronicle D for developing a a very thoughtful design for their mural. Uh they've been sharing this with me all along and it's precisely the sort of thing the sort of project that we're honoring that we are hoping communities will undertake. Uh not only because it celebrates the birthplace of this great country but also because it will have a long lasting shelf life. uh continuous uh it will be a continuous and attractive reminder of the foundation of our constitutional republic and rather than just maybe say a one-time event which is good and we want to encourage those this is certainly a forward-looking uh activity or project. So I want to commend the Belmont for its downtown main street revitalization efforts over the years and I know that this mural will add to the diversity and vi vibrancy of downtown. I I I really do remember well several years ago when I was director of the Uptown Shelby Association, we would share information with the early Main Street program here in Belmont. And uh I think that uh y'all have done an

outstanding really good job over the many years. And these kinds of murals I think uh have been incorporated successfully into downtown programs all over the state. They represent a a diversity variety of um musical themes, historic ghost signs, historical events. I know Cherables done several recently very attractive and so I just say that uh guest Gaston County has been in the forefront of semiquincential activities. If you remember recently, the Gastonia had the u uh freedom of monuments, charters of freedom monuments uh uh installed in downtown Gastonia at the Rotary Pavilion Plaza. Also, a book has been done about the Barnhive family three three-part trilogy. So anyway, I applaud the D and all those who have had a hard hand in the design and future implementation this project and I look forward to the inspiration it will elicit as we both reflect upon and carry forward the spirit of 1776 and our semiquin centennial and hopefully this will carry on through our tsentennial in 2076. I don't think I'll be around then but I know many of y'all will. So thank you for allowing me to be here this evening.

Thank you Senator. Okay, thank you. All right, next we have Miss Melissa Hbert.

We're going to come with a little show and tell here. All right,

Mr. Mayor and council members, we really appreciate the opportunity to be here and talk with you tonight. I am Melissa Hbert. I am the vice regent of the Major William Chronicle, Daughters of the American Revolution chapter. And I just want to take a couple of minutes and share with you who we are and why this mural project is important to us. The Daughters of the American Revolution was created by an act of Congress in 1890. And since then, we've had over 1 million women who have been members. And today there's over 200,000 active members in the D in chapters all over the states and some internationally. We are a nonprofit, non-political women's service organization and we work toward three key mission areas. And this mural really does touch each one of those areas. The first is historic preservation. We want to preserve the memory of our patriots who fought and sometimes gave the ultimate sacrifice. We want to honor the name our namesake Major William Chronicle and the South Fork boys who were from this area. They were real and they walked on the land that we're sitting here tonight on. Their lives and their contributions should be preserved and remembered and talked about and shared. and we feel this mural will help us do that. Our second mission area is education. We work hard to complete projects that will educate the public about our country's founding and the men and women who made it happen. This mural is more than just beautiful pictures from our our artists, our local artist, Boyce McKenna, uh depicting Major Chronicle and the South Fork Boys. Uh but it's an important educational aspect. There's an important educational aspect to it, too. We're going to have a plaque with this mural that shares who they were and why

they were important. And we want to also add a QR code linking to more information to just say everything that they did for us. Why are we doing this? Because it's just not taught in schools. And we strive for the opportunities to share. And in that vein, we're also creating an America 250 essay contest, partnering with local high schools, and we're going to award scholarships to winners when we unveil this mural in June. And the last mission of our the last mission area that we have is patriotism. This mural is about America 250. It's about remembering and commemorating our local heroes. We want to celebrate two points in history. Obviously, the first is 1776 and the founding of our country, but the second is today 2026 because we want to show that we still care and we want to draw a line between those two points and we think the D can do this and we can do this with this mural. We just want to celebrate America 250. We want to celebrate our country. We want to celebrate our city. but we're a small nonprofit organization and to do that we need your help and we appreciate your consideration and your support for our grant application. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. And you may not want to go forward because I believe there will be probably some questions. All right. So, next I believe we have Lynn Smitty. talk a little bit about the Southport Boys under three minutes. So, what do you know about the Southport Boys?

We know about 20 men who lived up and down the South Fork River and Major William Chronicle who lived not too far from where we are tonight lived in this area. They fought in what would become known as the Battle of Kings Mountain. And at this point in history, the British the war and the morale was very low in the Carolinas. William Chronicle was only 25 years old, recently engaged and if you know Colonel Frederick Hambright, he realized that William Chronicle had great leadership abilities and he put him in charge of the Southport boys. British Patrick Ferguson was sent to the Carolinas to crush our patriot ideals. He threatened to destroy our crops, homes, and families by fire and sword if we did not kneel to the crown. On October 7th, 1780, 1500 patriots from the Carolinas ended up at the bottom of the King's Mountain battlefield. William Chronicle raised his hat, looked at the South Fork boys up to Patrick Ferguson up there, and said, "Face to the hill." And they began the first charge up to Patrick Ferguson. At that moment, Major Chronicle was shot and killed with a musk ball to the chest and the loyalist continued to shoot musk volleys down the hill and do bayonet charges. At that point, three more Southport boys were killed. John Maddox, who was William's best friend, and then you had John Boyd. He had just moved here from Ireland, got married, but he understood what this country could be, and he fought and died for our freedom. And then there's William Rab. Sadly, we know nothing really about him except that he's buried with Maddox, Boyd, and Chronicle at the bottom of the mountain at King's Mountain. That Frederick Hambrite who had put William Chronicle

in charge took over the command. He was then shot three times and his thigh was bleeding profusely, but he would not give up. He told the South Fork boys, looking up at Patrick Ferguson, "Huzzah! My brave boys! Fight on a few bit minutes more and this battle will be over." They did the final charge and it was Patrick Ferguson was killed. Their persistence to make this country free of tyranny rule is why we have the freedoms that we have today. Whether you were born here or you moved to Gaston County, these this is our heritage. These are our ancestors. They're my ancestors and this is why they should not be forgotten because without them, America would have never existed.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much.

All right. Next, we have Christine Rorian. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and members of the council. Thank you for this opportunity. My name is Christine Rayovian, and I have the honor to serve as regent of the Major William Chronicle chapter of the D here in Belmont. Belmont's new motto or tagline is many threads, one community. And that phrase reflects the people of Belmont, their backgrounds, industries, neighborhoods, families, and shared history that have shaped this town. The Chronicle name is one of those threads. As you've heard from Lynn, long before there was a Chronicle Mill or a Chronicle District, even before Belmont was an incorporated town, Major William Chronicle and the South Fork Boys were part of the fight for American independence. Their service and sacrifice are woven into this region's earliest history. More than a century later, when the textile mill was established in 1901, the chronicle name was chosen and woven into Belmont's industrial history in recognition of his role in this region's early history. It has remained part of our landscape ever since. For near for nearly 100 years, our chapter has carried that same name. This mural is deeply meaningful to us because it honors the original reason it became part of Belmont's story. It makes visible the history behind a name that residents see every day. And it is encouraging to know that many in our community feel the same way. This effort has already received financial support from our members, Belmont residents and Belmont businesses, a sign that there is shared interest in preserving and telling this story. We respectfully ask for your support as we work to bring this project to life. And we're grateful for your consideration. Thank you.

Thank you. Next we have Miss Elizabeth Adterbury.

Don't you worry. You're on the clock.

This is Liz. Liz's rules tonight. That's right. Okay, now you can start. My name is Elizabeth Adterbury. If y'all y'all don't know me, um I live at 403 North Main Street in Belmont. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Mr. City Council people for letting me come up here and talk and be funny. Okay, I'm here tonight because I serve on the Gaston County 250 committee and I gave you all a brochure. The committee has been very active in our county for the last year and continues through this year. We've got lots of programs and events planned by different entities, the library, the other museums in the county, and just lots of things going on to celebrate our birthday, and it will continue. Of course, one of the main things that happened in our area is the Battle of Kings Mountain. I'd like to read from what our brochure says. The Battle of Kings Mountain. The battle was the first major patriot victory in the South following the British invasion of Charleston five months prior to May 1780. Thomas Jefferson called the battle the turn of the tide of success. This battle is reenacted each October at Kings Mountain National Park near the North Carolina South Carolina line. The South Fort Boys, a group of militia from Lincoln County, which Gaston became invol or beca which included Gaston County, led in battle by Major William Chronicle, who was killed in action. In

early 2025, the four Gaston County Daughters of the American Revolution chapters came together to host a highway marker unveiling in Belmont. Did you know, just as a little curiosity fact, I was doing a little research that in 1930, Herbert Hoover spoke at the battle ground of Kings Mountain. So, we it's a very important battle to the history of our nation. Um, I'd like to just say it's appropriate that a mural be dedicated and painted on one of our buildings in Belmont because this area, the young men came from this area. And the museum that I'm also involved with, the Belmont Historical Society and Service Treasurer, is located on land that was the Chronicle family land. and North Carolina DOT thinks it's very important that me that William Chronicle be recognized because we have a state marker located on our front lawn. So the Gaston County 250 committee and the Belmont Historical Society hope that you will consider this grant request. Does that mean I got to shut up before I go? Don't forget what tomorrow is.

Vote. There you go. Done. There you go. Thank you. I've seen some of you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Adterbury. All right. Next, I believe it's MJ Forester. Is that right? Mary Francis. That's right. What's your step?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Council for allowing us. And I'm speaking in favor of the mural as well. Uh, for many of you who do not know, I'm the widow of Senator Jim Forester, who served Gaston County from 1991 until 2011. As a 20-year member of the colonial dames se 17th century, I share a French hugenot uncle with Dolly Madison. As a 49year member of the National Society of the American Revolution, my ancestor fought with Francis Marion in the swamps of South Carolina is married in Bwell County and his memorable is in the univers in the history museum of Charleston. I was raised to believe that America was the most significant land of the free and the home of the brave. And it's fitting that we commemorate it with a specific element of that history. Belmont and Gaston County has numerous museums, historical societies, cemeteries, monuments, memorials, um national holidays, heroes that we give credit to for this great nation. This D researches does incredible authentication and verification by the national office. It is proper that we have a recognition, a specific recognition. Fortunately, the Major William Chronicle chapter wants to do this and present it to the town. The artist, the internationally known Boyce McKini has murals and Fresh Coast internationally. I want to close my comments with

American Creed which was approved by the US House of Representatives in 1917 as the Americans creed. It is also the D creed. Would my D lady stand with me and recite it? I had to recite this in the fifth grade and 69 other fifth graders following me. 69 years of fifth graders followed me and having to learn the Americans creed approximately and it ended in 1962. Will you share it with me? I believe in the United States as a government of the people by the people and for the people whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governor. A democracy and a republic, a sovereign nation of many sovereign states, a perfect union, one and inseparable, established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots gave their lives and fortunes. I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies. Please consider this mural as a gift from the D to the city of

Thank you, Miss. Thank you.

All right. And last, Stephen McKe. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and members of the council. So, my name is Steve McKe. I live in Denver, North Carolina. Uh, but I am also the state president of the North Carolina Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. And I am here to speak on behalf of the William Chronicle chapter, D, and their attempt to uh solicit funds for the mural in downtown Belmont. So, one of the things that that I'd like to do uh in my role in the Sons of the American Revolution is not so much talk about the what, as the why. And that's what I'm going to do tonight. Why this mural is important not only to to Belmont as a community, but really to North Carolinians as a whole. Uh Irish novelist CS Lewis uh once said that since it is so likely that children will meet with cruel enemies, let them at least have heard stories of brave knights and heroic courage. And that's important for our kids to hear in a civic role as well as they grow and mature as American citizens so that when we are gone, they then rise to the occasion to defend those very principles upon which the revolution was fought. And uh I know Senator Alexander mentioned the tsentennial. I will be a ripe old 96 years old if I make it. Um and so that's a tall order. So this is our once in a-lifetime opportunity. It really is to really lay a foundation um of information and things that our kids can see and be inspired by and then go forward to become those defenders of liberty for the next 250 years. So, as America celebrates its 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, there's going to be many ways to honor those revolutionary ideals that provided a solid foundation of liberty and the rights of mankind that this republic is based on. Art remains one of the more

lasting ways that we can do that, right? It's visible. It's vibrant. It makes us think. Um, and so, and it tends to last a long time. The Wii Major William Chronicle chapter of the D has proposed a mural dedicated to the South Fork boys. This mural will serve as a strong reminder that the actions taken by local citizens at the foundation of our nation that certain fundamental self-evident truths still exist in these United States. Truths like we are all created equal, that we all have certain rights given to us by Almighty God that are inalienable from our common humanity. defined the nation's soul and has inspired every rebirth of freedom that has ever happened in these United States. So we talk about women, right? The women at Synica Falls in 1848 declared that all men and women were created equal. Abraham Lincoln speaking on the fields of Gettysburg in 1863, you know, asked Americans to rededicate their their lives to those principles so that we could become that more perfect union where each and every one of us could enjoy the truths that were laid down in the Declaration of Independence. In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. He's speaking to the promisory note that the civil rights act was there or the civil rights movement was there to declare and that's this uh particular promise from the declaration. So many threads, one community. This is the story of all of us as Americans. It will be a lasting impression and it will make a great addition from Belmont to the citizens of your city and North Carolina. So I stand in support. Thank you for your time and I appreciate your the opportunity to speak.

Thank you, Mr. Appreciate that. All right. No one else has signed up for public comment. So that will complete our public comment section. That will take us to amended agenda item C2, which is consideration of the facade enhancement grant for 140 North Main Street. Uh Miles, I believe you said staff is prepared to Yes. I have Cassie Lackey, the uh community development director who is part of the main street.

Thank you. As Casy makes her way up, we can frame what we're doing here tonight for everyone. You know, this is uh an application for a facade enhancement grant, which would be and Cassidy can explain the program, but it's up to $2,500 uh which is uh out of an amount budgeted uh to the uh community uh development department for uh facade enhancements, basically uh improving buildings. Um, it can be, you know, awnings, uh, doors, windows, um, as well as murals. Uh, but we're not here to approve or disapprove a mural. Um, the mural is going to be, uh, on the building of 140 North Main Street. Uh, the property owner is free to, um, do whatever he wants with the building. We're we're debating whether out of and we can talk about what the total project budget is um whether the city will give $2500 in city funds which would be matched by the applicant for for this project. But um we're not here to say yay or nay to the mural. We're we're just here to discuss whether the city is going to give $2,500 towards the erection of that mural. The owner is free to put it up regardless of what happens here tonight.

That's absolutely correct. Thank you, Jim, for clarifying that. The position that we'll be undertaking this evening. So, testing. Well, that was threequarters of my presentation. So, Jim is good at that. I'm not going to lie.

So, as Jim noted in a couple of different ways, the facade enhancement grant program is available to commercial properties within the Main Street District. We've got the grant amounts there. It can range from $500 all the way up to 2500. Since they are matching grants, that means the applicant has to spend that amount or more. Um the process for these, they're reviewed by the main street design committee first, then the main street advisory board, and then this comes here to rest finally with the city council. Um two things that I do want to note about those groups. They are for the committee and the board, all volunteers. And so at the design committee, we've got artists and creatives. and then the Main Street board are the folks you guys appoint as well as um I just also want to point out Jim and Joe are both known members of the main street advisory board as they'll be voting here tonight both abstain from voting as part of the main street board process just for some technicalities um so here's just a quick timeline of everything that the applicant has done um as part of this process so we started back in November we didn't have a design committee design committ meeting in December, so January 15th, it was reviewed. Um after that, some discussion amongst the members, a group wanted to get together and to meet with the applicants to see if there could be some changes made that might make it more amunable to the design committee and the very broad guidelines that are um in your packet. I included a blank application for you guys to review. Um, so the applicants and the property owners very kindly met with us and we had a lovely discussion and they very quickly made the suggested changes and then came back to the design committee. Um, which we'll get to that feedback here in just a moment. Um, but it then went to the main street board and has landed here again with you guys this evening. not again with you guys. But

just to to clarify, um, one of the the changes that were made had to do with the lettering of of Belmont in the mural that the design, as originally proposed, used the Belmont trademark logo and word marks without the city's uh con consent or permission. And so for for copyright and trademark reasons, that needed to be modified. Is that correct? Um so here was the initial design that they proposed. So some of the feedback in that meeting with the applicants and the property owners. We discussed removing that official city logo and then discussed um you know taking that plaque since we do have plenty of those physically around and it's a lot of text if you're reading kind of from a vehicle passing. A mural's you know sometimes not always but intended for viewing from a vehicle rather than a pedestrian standpoint. So some of the groups suggested maybe that and actually having that sign, that plaque there next to the mural to then allow for a little bit easier inclusion of a QR code and then allow more room for the artistic elements there for the mural. Um so within a week or less, they move quick. Um we had design number two, which they showed you here, which um led to just those changes that we discussed.

Um so if they accommodated all the requests from the first meeting, what Unless you're gonna get to that. So, I know we're stealing your thunder here.

Thank you. Um, no, it just um with such broad guidelines in the facade enhancement grant program and having such creatives in these volunteer groups, I just feel like they they expressed their point of view. Um, you know, a lot as artists, none of them had any issue with the general content of the mural. The artistry everyone was very thought was very well done, visually stunning as noted there. Um the artist was local, everybody appreciated that. So at a true content base, no issue. It's just when they we broaden, you know, with this kind of limited scope and murals has been a a very small sort of addition. We sort of just added a footnote to this when the program was adapted. We don't really have mural specific guidelines as you see, you know, for more um historic preservation if you're reappointing brick surfaces or things like that. We've got pages of Secretary of Interior standards that we'd have to follow for the murals. We don't have that built into this application.

Were these considerations discussed at the meeting with the applicant and the building owner or was there and I obviously it's hard for anyone to speak to to their understanding. were not them. But was perhaps there some disconnect if they thought that all they had to do was change the lettering of uh in the word mark of Belmont uh and they would get the blessing or was it discussed that these were other concerns? These were comments that were provided at the second design committee review. Okay. So were these ever discussed with the applicant?

Not in detail. We knew that they were up against a if we do more changes, we're incurring more fees. And since the decision ultimately rests with council, they just decided to move it up the flag pole, so to speak. All right. Anybody have any questions for Cassie? Not so much for Cassie. I know my colleague mentioned a moment ago, Councilman Hefron, that this is not really the the time that we would offer up any personal thoughts or commentary on this. I mean, procedurally, just for my own edification, it's not like this is a public hearing. So, why can't we offer up personal thoughts or feelings about this? I don't think I

or maybe I misunderstood. I'm sorry. I think you must misunderstood. Okay. Yeah. I I think that would be fine. I think the issue is they uh and the applicant can speak to this perhaps, but the issue is they are now any further changes are going to incur further charges. No, I heard that part, but you're um at the when we set the table up front before Cassie started her presentation, you had mentioned something about that it was basically just to decide whether or not council wanted to to give them $2,500, not whether it was a good idea. Right. Right. Well, not I I I set the stage to that. It's not to like whatever we vote today, it's not to approve or disapprove the mural.

It's to decide whether we're going to give $2,500 on the facade enhancement. So, what I'm trying to say is even if we were to say no, and I'm not saying that's what we're going to decide. That wouldn't preclude the owner of the building from proceeding with the mural can still go up. It's just a matter of are they going to get $2,500 from the city to to do it, but they're free to to do whatever they want. I'm sorry, I misunderstood you. I mean, we can, if you look at the policy, uh, it even says, uh, the city council reserves the right to accept or deny any application for any reason. So, we can opine and do whatever we want uh, by the express terms of policy.

Yeah. Um, okay. Thank you for that clarification. Could you put those considerations back up, Cassie, please? It was the last one. Um, so I know Mark and I got to see this presentation from the Chronicle chapter of DAR uh in the tourism development meeting recently. We were very impressed and I think it's a wonderful addition for what we're all looking to celebrate this summer. Um, and uh just the I know the artist himself is actually very renowned. He's done work at I think most of the Paramount parks and uh some work with Disney and and so that's certainly not a question. And I I I like the uh changes that were suggested. I think that hopefully incorporates the message that they're trying to convey. Um I you know I I would be fully uh in support of this. I did have one question. I don't know if this is for you or for the applicant, but the um is the applicant the William Chronicle DAR chapter or is it Miss because it was listed in the in the application as the

I believe the names were those of the organization. Okay. So if the grant were approved, it would be to the organization. Correct. Correct. Okay. Just wanted to clarify that. That's all. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone have any other questions? Any discussion? Further discussion on this?

Um let me ask um so there was a one meeting after the initial denial and then these um considerations were were addressed and obviously Joe and myself can attest to some of that because we were we were there. Um but there was no uh meeting with the applicant after the second denial to to discuss any of these reasons. Okay. Um All right. And um and then I'm just looking through the policy itself and and like you said, one it says the city council reserves the right to accept or deny any application for any reason. I'm also trying to find um what's the what what's the standard like I I I'm it's very vague. It talks about grants are subject to fair and impartial review of the merits of the project, completeness of the application, availability of grant funds and other factors and facade should be in harmony with the character of the main street district. Is there any further guidance as to how we go about assessing these items?

No. And as I mentioned earlier, these are so broad. I feel like that was part of a struggle for the group is it would be have more to lean on. And I would um uh ask one, this is what I want to ask. Um uh so I think in their application they said that they worked with the Belmont Historical Society, local historians, the Sons of the American Revolution, and various reenactors to achieve authenticity of the look. Is the mural historically accurate? I can't speak to that. Can we have the can come up.

Thank you. Let me first say that we have really enjoyed working with Cassidy over these many months. We actually started this process last June to capture exactly what you're asking about. How do we get to that accuracy? And we have had several iterations. you saw of the two um working with various historians uh working with Liz uh working with the Kingsbury artillery, working with S D chapters and asking you know the authenticity of the look of the particularly major chronicle and the Southport boys. So we feel that at this point it's very accurate as far as depiction. There are a couple of things that we are still going to modify that Boyce can do fairly easily when he's direct actually up on that boom lift painting. Um because Major Chronicle was part of the militia. He was not part of the colonial army. So he wasn't double breasted uh in his coat and we're going to correct that. But other than that, historical accuracy

and that was very important to you to detect historic. Absolutely. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Um I don't you might have mentioned this. I apologize if I missed it, but they they have applied to the tourism development authority for for additional grant funding. Have you all made a decision on that? That's the next voting on that this month. Our process there is to hear it one month.

And my last question, generally these matters are are brought by either the building owner or the tenant. And obviously the applicant here, the D in this case is neither. So would that impact like how this would work in execution uh should the um uh grant be uh provided? We don't have anything in the guidelines that say how it can be paid out. And while they are not the tenant, it was um it is noted in there that if it's a tenant situation, they supply a letter from the property owner giving permission saying that they're in favor of which they did supply. Yeah. and the property is here in the audience. Agreed.

Yes. All right. Duly noted. Cassidy, can you go back to that slide? I'm sorry I asked you to bring that up and I never finished my thought with it, but the um Did you get any additional color or commentary around some of these points that they made or was this kind of the extent of it? Being that this was almost two months ago, I don't want to try to color any of that. This was pulled from our meeting notes where we just drop things down as they go.

Um so I don't want to that I do want to highlight there was absolutely no slight intended to the mural design overall for what it is. Um they noted a lot of one one moment in time that's highlighting um you know none to America 250 kind of a big one. Yeah it's a big deal. Um but not to the group to the artist to the property owner any of that. Yeah. Well, I know for council's reference, I know they mentioned the other uh mural in town that references uh William Chronicle. I think that's on the parking deck at the Chronicle. It is. Um which is kind of down. It's not nearly as visible as this. Correct.

But I know it does incorporate at least one reference to William Chronicle, albeit one that's maybe a little more difficult to see than this one. So, um and I think it's also a little more abstract, whereas this one is more Yeah, this one is definitely more, you know, specific. there's no mistaking, you know, who that is, especially with the

the verbiage that's incorporated there. Um, but yeah, some of the points I was just wondering if they are putting any additional commentary on, but I'll take your word. I will say having and Joe can probably uh also attest to this having um sat in those meetings some at least some of them you know they um the individuals involved in the discussions proceeding in good faith um and trying to um you know ensure that um Bel you know downtown Belmont uh looks uh as good as as possible and like cases you know, obviously they mean no slight or disrespect, but um you know, that is, you know, again, they're operating in good faith. Whether um you know, me or Joe might ultimately agree with all the reasons set forth or not, they took the task very seriously and and spent a fair amount of time um you know, discussing it back and forth in different uh different aspects of it. So it certainly did

and I don't know if it makes a difference or not but at the committee level attendance can vary. So some people may have seen it the first round and not the second or vice versa. Not the case for the majority but

anything yes please come on back up. I I just wanted to make um a comment about these bullet points. When we met with the committee to get that initial feedback that um drove us to make the couple of changes, um we specifically asked at the end of that meeting, are there any other concerns? And we were told no. And we we asked, is the money still going to be available? and we were told yes. So those those were the last two questions we asked during that meeting and then we actually got this feedback sent to us. We looked online and saw it as part of the public record and we were kind of surprised and and we got the specific feedback just a few days ago. Um, so, so we've been kind of looking through these concerns and feeling like we we probably didn't convey our message well enough in those meet in that meeting, which is why we invited the folks here tonight. And hopefully we've addressed some of those concerns. Um, you know, for instance, is this a duplicate? Yes, there's a beautiful, beautiful mural on that parking garage of the Chronicle Mill. It's stunning. And it does say the back panel as you come around and it's only going to be seen if you drive down there into that garage. It does say Major Chronicle, but there's no context to it as far as the educational purpose. And education is is one of our pillars. So that's why we feel that we do have a very distinct mural and it can benefit the community. and some of these other comments. Um, does it kind of fit into the many

threads of the community? We think that it does because this is our heritage. These are our ancestors. We have many people in our community that can trace their lineage back to these folks. So, they're part of our thread and it's important that we continue to remember these folks um and carry them on into the future. I always say America 250. I don't say the long said because I almost messed that up. But we feel that it is so very important to remember the 250 years and look back to our local Belmont heroes. And if there's anything else that you'd like me to address, I'd be happy to do it.

Any other questions for the applicants? I just want to say that if what we just heard about the way that the applicant was treated and the guidance that they were given or were not given, if that's accurate, um I have an issue with that. I have a big issue with that.

Um and I personally I don't agree with any of these points of consideration. In fact, I take issue with several of them. I know we've got great volunteers and believe me, I we could not do what Belmont does without our volunteers, but I'm just saying it's for me personally, um I think the the has done more than what the typical, you know, facade enhancement application may ask for in my view. I can't speak for the rest of council, but um I just want to put that out there that I think they they've done a great job with what's been asked of them. And um so just for

I will say that again having been in the the meetings certainly the intent of the Main Street board and its committee members was to provide this feedback to uh the applicant. Uh and there were discussions about having uh meetings with the applicant uh and And I can't I wasn't involved in those because I was out of the country, but I do know that I think Joe was and so I know that after the first decision that prompted yes, let's reach out whether it was to Mr. Kromlish, whether it was to the applicant, let's go and talk to them. Let's make sure they understand. Let's work with them. Um now what happened after that meeting what was understood by the parties there seemed to be a disconnect but uh certainly uh from the perspective of of the board the members they were very much we want to convey our concerns to them uh what and it might have end up being lost in the translation.

Yeah I would I would agree with that. I think it was we were really clear up to the point where we had the meeting the in-person meeting then where that feedback fell in between the two. I don't know if it was a timing issue because council meeting tonight, it was able to come up on our agenda tonight very quickly and essentially just make that final decision. Um or whether it was lost in translation as Jim says where that ended up, you know, apologies if that if it fell that way. But um but that's the absolutely wanted to Yes. Yeah. But that's why we're here right now uh is ultimately to to bring it up to to make a final decision for Can I offer a motion? Sure, absolutely.

I'd like to make a motion to grant the $2,500 to the applicant for the mural. All right. Motion made by Alex, second by Charlie. All in favor? I. Any opposed? All right. So, the the grant passes. Thank you. Thank you. Great mural design. And and just let me say real quickly, um, thank you to everyone that came out tonight, uh, in support of that. It is very helpful when we hear from the community to be able to make these decisions. Also, thank you to our main street board that puts time in for these things and everyone's involvement. Obviously, we're we're able to come to a final decision here. Congratulations.

Agree with that. I do want to you again having sat in on those meetings, they they were operating in good faith and to you know, they're everyone is trying to do what they think is is best for the city of Belmont. And so, um, in my mind, while I try and resp, you know, me and Joe both sit in on on the Main Street Court and and DBDA meetings and I I, you know, we want to respect their efforts and their work. However, I would just note that the policy is very vague on what exactly the standards are. Um, and it expressly says council has a right to accept or deny any application for any reason. I I can't say I agree with all the concerns that were expressed, but you know, they they took the time to express those concerns, but at the end of the day, I'm not an art critic, and there's no

nothing in the standards, I think, that speaks to that speaks for any anything that this mural has runs a follow of. And so therefore, I would also vote as I did to approve. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for that, Jim. And just as a point, um, it may open up a broader conversation as I'm sure we're moving into more support of arts, um, and seeing more murals coming up that it might make sense at some point to address. Yeah. Yeah. If we're going to continue funding it through the facade grant, which is fine. Like, I'm not going to sit and judge artwork. There's nothing wrong with it under the policy. So,

yeah. At the same time, I think it would have been beneficial for some of the feedback to be more specific. For example, I don't really know what makes the mural not welcoming. seems very vague and gauzy. Like if you're going to reject something for that, I think it'd be good to have specifics. It's not welcoming because of X or it violates this principle or whatever or it's counter to our tagline. Yeah. I wasn't really sure what that meant either. So like one would say it was the beginning of the threat, right? Yeah. And as we stated, at least let the applicant know the this criticism ahead of time. All right, Laura, you guys had to go through that.

I'm sorry. Sure. Yeah, if you Laura, you want to grab those from her and we will make sure those go in. Thank you. We appreciate all your time tonight. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Well, that with that um complete, we will go ahead and move to amended agenda item C3 that is a public hearing economic development for project family 2025 amendment into or to the incentive grant amount. So I will um take a motion to go into public hearing. Motion to go into public hearing.

All right. Seconded by Charlie, made by Alex, seconded by Charlie. All in favor? Any opposed? All right, we are in public hearing. I believe we have I'll take it over. Yep. Yep. Thank you, Mayor. Turn members of council. Um

we have the members of the Gaston County EDC. We have uh Kylie Sharp and Parish Williams here tonight uh to answer any questions. But from the summary of action here that you can see that uh project family 2025 was a project uh for an incentive grant that the EDC brought to you all on September 2nd, 2025. and you all um unanimously approved this project. Um it was for an investment of $4.5 million to expand an existing operations in Gaston County. Uh and include the purchase and installation of additional machinery and equipment and anticipated creating 30 new jobs at the annual county average wage. Um when we were going into the um economic development agreement, there was some changes that the EDC brought to us and um the amount had changed from uh that $4.5 million to actually $8 million. Um the change is $3.5 million for investment for machinery and equipment and it also included a building expansion at an estimated cost of $4.5 million. Um given that the um agreement was over that initial amount, I requested um and talking with our city attorney that we go through this process again to have a have a public hearing, bring the EDC before you all again and just to go through it so that uh that amount is um the actual amount that the grant is for. Uh I did uh advertise the public hearing in the gazette on February 5th, 2026. So that meets our general statutes. and Miles, real quick, just to let for the record, uh, no one signed up to speak.

Okay, good. Thank you, sir. Um, and so they also have included in the um packet here the Gaston County local incentive grant estimate. And so I'll turn it over to um the EDC if they'd like to fill in any blanks that I've missed.

Yeah, sure. Thank you, Miles. Uh, good evening everybody. I'm Kylie Sharp with the Gaston County EDC. I serve as the project administrator that oversees the grant program. Miles really filled in um all the blanks there. Um but just reiterating that it's an existing industry um looking to expand their operations. This was previously approved um and they just changed their project scope a little bit, increase their investment plans um including building expansion and more purchasing of new advanced manufacturing machinery and equipment. Um so we would just like to revise that amendment to reflect it more accurately um as we go kind of into the economic development agreement um into fiscal and budgeting and all that kind of thing. So the company still plans on creating those 30 new jobs and they will still meet that Gaston County average wage. So here to answer any questions you might have about the project grant process amendment or anything.

So what did we originally approve? We approved a level one incentive grant. Was that correct? Still a level one. So it's still a level one. All the different percentages each year stay the same. The only thing that has changed is the amount of the total investment. Exactly. And you all the city attorney felt that because of that uh we needed to go back through a public hearing again. I I'm just so the only thing in the based on what we already approved the only thing that's changed is instead of investing what 4.5 million they're investing 8 million. Yes.

Yes. Not only

okay

so yes but the percentages and all that. So, how uh did the county the other thing that changed was the you know, now we're talking about um additional building expansion too, not just machinery equipment. So, yeah, it' be personal property kind of changes the characterization of the calculation too, right? Depreciation. It was not in the original scope that was previously communicated. Okay. And was an economic, right? But it changes the math a little bit.

Did the county what did the county do following this change in scope? Did they do anything? We did not do that on the county level. Um, considering it was still a level one incentive. Everything kind of gets grouped into that. A lot of times the original anticipated investment isn't what it ends up being. So, as long as it stays within that level one, we usually don't alter our, you know, amend our resolution. And um did uh has an economic development agreement actually been entered into yet? No. No, we wanted to get this done prior to that because that would have been I'm like, well, they just amend the economic development. But if it hasn't been that was Yeah, that's how this initiated.

They brought it to me and the amount was 8 million. I said, hey, they've only approved 4.5 million. I'm not signing it. Let's go through the process again so that y'all are aware. Understood. Thank you. So is the change on they increasing the real estate side or the machine? The change was mostly just to the real estate side. So including that building expansion that was not previously communicated in their project scope. At first it was just machinery and equipment. I believe that was 4.5. Um and then or

machinery um and then tacking on their their building expansion plans for 2026. Initially the um amount was 4.5 4.5 for machinery and equipment. The new one is 3.5 for machinery and equipment and then the 4.5 for the property. So it did change the amount there as well. Okay. Okay. And this is a fiveyear grant. Yes. You know when the break here is um when the taxes that we make off of this project net out to what we invest in this project.

That's a great question. Um Miles did include a spreadsheet that kind of shows the breakdown of the year by year. I'm not sure exactly. I can we can get that information to you. Well, I calculated nine years. Okay. Which is four years after the grant ends. Sure. So in theory, if they ceased operations in year five, we'd never turn a profit, so to speak, on this deal, right? Right. And I mean, the good thing is it is an existing industry, so they're already here. They seem very committed to staying here. Um, expanding a building and investing in machinery, equipment is also, you know, an incentive for them to stay here as well. So,

well, how do we know what we're doing here is like I guess what I always come back to with this is how much of is us just subsidizing a business decision that's already been made versus actually changing behavior. I mean, it's a good question that kind of goes into the psychology of the grant itself. Um, happy to share our grant program overview as well with you, which kind of goes into detail of of why we do this. Um it's to induce more investment to induce creation of jobs eventually create a larger tax base for the county and the city um and for just long-term growth for the existing industries and expanding industry coming into the county.

Okay. And you said that the jobs are being paid with county average. Yes. Yes. Um as of the resolution last year it was like 54 parish. I might refer to Parish for that one for 2026. Yeah. Um I mean we are the we are in Belmont. So I want to look out for the taxpayers in Belmont. Um I'm just wondering how on a $54,000

annual wage someone in Belmont could afford to work at this place. Again, that's not it's the average wage. So, not every single position would be 54. So, there might be higher paying jobs, might be lower. I understand that. But as far as like and this Yeah. And this ex this industry is already in Belmont. So, they are operating, you know, at this level consistently and have enough incentive to grow and add more jobs. So, hopefully they will find people in Belmont to fill those. Well, if um you use the kind of the standard Rule of thumb, if you go out to rent an apartment, take out a mortgage on a home,

30% of your income should be used for housing. Anything above that is considered stressed. So that works out to 13-400 a month on that salary. Yeah. And and the resolution just states that it meets or exceeds that average wage. It doesn't say that that's the actually average wage that they will be offering, but I can get that information for you if you'd like that, too. Well, I mean, just based on my numbers, you'd have to make about because the average rent in Belmont's about $2,200 a month, which is crazy anywhere near that when I moved here. Uh, but that would work out to an average salary of around 80,000 a year, which is significantly higher than $54,000. So, Right. Right.

What I'm kind of concerned about is that all these jobs, such as they are, will go to people who don't actually live here. Okay. Right. And they are manufacturing jobs. So that will also kind of be proportionate to a manufacturing sally that that you see. Well, I understand like I mean I guess I understand. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying as far as like I don't want them to be here. The question isn't should they be here. It's kind of like what we were just discussing. Should we pay them to be here? Um well so just my thought process on that. So the majority of the increase was for real estate expansion, right? For the real estate expansion.

Yeah. So in the event worst case scenario the business was to go belly up, the real estate side would still be in my opinion it would be safe. That should increase. But I do agree with you on the business side. Um and it is concerning to think that we would be um giving tax for people that can't afford to be in Belmont. is a little lower on the scale than what we typically see. Yeah, but that's on average. Again, that doesn't specifically speak to this opportunity and what the opening is. She's just sharing what the averages of gas count. No, I think that was the average for the jobs, right? For this specific one. I thought it was just the county average.

We we always state that in the resolution to show that that's a priority we make when we offer incentives is that the average wage must meet or exceed the uh county average wages. So, we don't necessarily know what this project, but again, I could potentially give get those numbers to you if that's something you're interested in, we require that as part of the I'm not sure about that.

And remind me because with the grants, we always give it the code name, but for some reason, I thought that was just if it was a new business that was trying to come here. Are we not privy to who this company is since they're already an existing facility? in this setting and when it comes to a resolution, we try to keep it um under code name until we hit that economic development agreement stage. Um that's just the process it's been that I've I've come into as well. So, was it discussed the first go around? The name was not shared. Okay. Okay.

And they have five is you have the same fiveyear period to add the 30 jobs. Is that right? or they do rather. Yes. Yes. Yes. Their goal is actually to add those within two years. So, and whatever portion may not be reached within five years, that's when you get that pro up. Yeah. It's not contingent on jobs, but you know, just depending on their investment and the net new taxable value that comes from it. So, what is it? The net new taxable value. So, all they have to do is invest the money.

Yeah. And and the grant they get is solely based off of the qualified net new taxable value. So they could say they might be investing eight million only four million shows up on, you know, the increase in property value. That's what the grant's based off based off of. So they'd get that 90% that first year and it's just make sure I'm reading this right. The new amount total amount the grant amount from Belmont is $96,760. Can you repeat that? Sorry. The new grant amount total over the five years from Belmont is $96,760. I reading that right?

Yes. I do not have the spreadsheet in front of me, but I believe so. That's right. Just make sure I'm looking at it right. And that was an increase from the original approved amount of 57 57,000. So this company's already here. Have they received a grant from the past?

I believe so. Yes. So we're so we've incentivized them to be here for and then the the goal of this program is to get them here so they continue to invest in our county. But if every time they come and want to make another investment in our county if we just give tax revenue away like how I'm just trying to wrap my mind around that. Yeah, understood. I mean, it's it's for new companies and existing companies, you know, to incentivize to keep them here, to keep growing, to to keep expanding, and to keep adding jobs.

Look, manufacturing is hard. Margins are thin. Try to produce in the United States. I work for a chemical manufacturer. We have a lot of plants in the United States, and it's the same thing. We go through this with the counties and the cities all the time for the retention. I mean there is a positive contribution to our city to have manufacturing in our community jobs. It's not even maybe they don't live here but they're going to shop here, maybe they eat here, right? So, and rather have a live manufacturing facility than a building sitting vacant, right? To Joe's point, there's a substantial amount of the real estate investment. If this company did go bottom up, those positive contributions to the real estate will still be here unless you're just going to pick it up and move it, which probably wouldn't happen.

No, I get that. But like it's like event like when do I get to benefit from this, right? When do the tax kind of like the rather coarse way of putting it like if I'm constantly having every time you expand I wave the property tax at what point do we make money on that project? But what's to say then in that instance you need to know what have they already contributed? Do we This is what kind of drives me crazy about not knowing who they are too. It's, you know, it's a fair point. I mean, I kind of feel like if you want to stick your hand into the government till and kind of wave some of those rights to privacy that, you know, business would typically expect, but I think minority view on that. I think it would be helpful to understand what is the average wage for this ask,

right? Not just the county. I I don't think it makes sense to subsidize wages of If you want to make that kind of money, come work for me and I'll pieces like

Sure. Development. Those 30 jobs, they could be a h 100,000, 90,000, 80,000. The average wage is just that, if that makes sense. Yeah, it's average $54,000. Yes. But not every person's going to be making that. So like one person could be making 80 grand a year. The next person could be making,000. We can give you those break or 28. Yeah. I mean that average kind of tapers over quite a bit. Yes. No. Very accurately. I mean you could have 40 people making $30,000 a year and 10 people making whatever.

And we're happy to get you those breakdowns. And the reason that we do the code name is because a lot of times we're under NDAs. So for you guys to be able to know, we would have to get you guys under an NDA. Well, we don't know anything right now anyway. So that really changes anything. Well, just to pause it on a bigger conversation, Miles, is can we not add that to our process to get council under NDAs before we start approving these? Because to Mark's I mean there's context associated which with this that would be extremely helpful. I mean I think you can you think that'd be appropriate to have all the council members under NDAs in the future? Yeah, we could definitely ask have any other jurisdictions operated like that?

They have not. Thank you. You don't know that redemption here? We have any other questions for the presenter? I know a lot of times when uh companies come, you know, the EDC comes to us and it's like um you know, they want to move quickly. So, I don't know if the NDA process will slow a company down from being recruited at all. I don't know if that's a complication in the process at all, but we could already establish. Yeah, for sure. This one would be easier. I'm just saying overall if you put that in for all the grants.

Well, I think the NDA would be like a case by case, right? And you would have either the EDC or the um applicant determine whether or not that was something they were willing to offer. Yeah, it would be case by case, right? Wouldn't be sort of cart blanch. But I do think that in this case, I would like to have that addition. Yeah. Particular since they've already pass. Any other questions? Any other comments? We'll have a opportunity to discuss it further here in just a minute. Um, so thank you for that. We appreciate that. Thank you guys. Well, if there's no further questions on that, I will entertain a motion to come out of public hearing. Motion to come out of public hearing.

Motion made by Alex. Second by Charlie. And all in favor? Any oppos? All right, we are out of public hearing. And that will take us on to amended agenda item C4, which is discussion. C4 is the uh amended resolution for this project. Oh, I'm Yes, that's right. Yes. So, do we want to discuss uh further? Sure. Make a motion. You've already approved it. Now they want to come invest more money and that's more in my mind a harder time. We approved it. You're absolutely right. And now they want to expand their business

by a large sum.

Yes, I I understand your points. Absolutely. Um I think I think that's a good point and it's something that needs to be made and it's something that people need to understand here when we're dealing with uh funds that aren't ours. But also I know that we want to see business thrive in Belmont. We want to see people make continue to make investments in Belmont and that hopefully is not going to change. Hopefully that's something that ramps up and we see more of that. Uh if there is a process uh maybe that makes us more comfortable. I all ears because I do personally I will be selfish and say that I do want to continue to see that type of growth uh here because those tax revenues are so important. If you think about today's climate, let's talk about what's going on at the Senate or or you know at the state level. We're talking about losing funding to some some big tax revenues. Those we've seen some states get rid of property tax um which is that that's a big hit to local municipalities.

Well, I think we all want to see that business investment continue here for a lot of reasons, but I think we also to Councilman Seinger's point, I think we need to have in this case for me certainly have to give credence to you know the taxpayers and are we using it responsibly? Um, for me, I I would like to have a little more information as has been requested tonight for this particular matter for me to be comfortable with it. Well, that brings up a good question. Do we want I mean, what's the time frame on this? Is this something that has to be decided this meeting or is this something that we can table for another meeting until we get additional information or do we want to decline as is and reccome? Yeah.

And is it possible to get that additional information? Yeah. Yeah. I'd have to defer to the EDC on like a timing of it. Um is the company ready to move forward at this point? Well, the existing level one would be approved, right? Yeah. Just changing whatever the the incremental

Yeah. Well, it's just it's not even in terms of the re resolution. it would simply be changing the the total amount of of the investment. As a practical matter, the the percentages would yield if if everything goes according to plan, the percentages would yield different amounts than originally envisioned. But, you know, the the resolution doesn't say anything specific to uh change that I can see from what we've already approved other than the second paragraph which says it's going to increase the total investment to 8 million whereas I would assume the original one said 4.5 million because it doesn't delineate between machinery and equipment versus building expansion in the resolution.

Right. Yeah. Yeah, I mean it doesn't it doesn't envision any specific dollar amounts that would have to be changed, right? So, we would just be tableabling the resolution, right? And we if y'all like to table the resolution and get information regarding like the uh the salaries of the workers that they plan to hire for those 30 um those 30 jobs. And if you all would like to see what the company is and the county is okay, maybe the business is okay with it just to like share that information without an NDA. I would also like me personally, I would like to see the first incentive grant they got the first one. Okay.

Not not the one that we September 9th, but the very first one they've already received one. Okay. Okay. I'll um I'll bring it back once I get all the information. All right. So, we need a motion to table it. We need a date. Yeah. Let's Yeah, I think that April will be fine to to table it to April. We can always if we don't get all the information, April 6th.

All right. So, anyone want to make that motion? Defer until the April reference the number or the actual title of the resolution. Um I don't know if that okay. All right. So I'll make a motion to postpone item C3. Uh amended C4. Sorry. Amended item C4 to the Monday, April 6th regular meeting.

Motion made by Jason, second by Charlie. All in favor? Any opposed? All right. It does carry. So, it is postponed. All right. Thank you. All right. No, go ahead. Go ahead. I know we have an economic development policy sitting somewhere on a shelf that's like 20 or 30 years old. Maybe it would be a good idea to pull that off the shelf and work at some point. It's a good idea.

I think that's a really good idea. And obviously, we know Mark, you're don't want to say new, but rejoin. But

I think it's important too for council to come up to a direction similar to what we talked about at the retreat for developers, right? You know, we've talked multiple multiple times, what do we want to incentivize? Manufacturing visa jobs. What are we trying to potentially steer away from? Potentially large distribution centers, warehousing. So again, you know, I think it's probably a good workshop item that we discuss that because to the EDC, I'd feel bad for you guys to continue to come to us and bring us light manufacturing and then, you know, it kind of becomes a speed bump into the road, right? So

bring it back. Um I think our existing grant uh package that we have mirrors the counties and so if there's going to be any change then we can like show you what that is and then y'all can make recommendations on um the changes y'all want to see but I'll put that for a future workshop. Thank you. All right. With nothing further on that, uh we will move on to amended agenda item C5, lobbying contract recommendations. Miles, that's you.

Yes, I have a couple tonight. Um Thank you, mayor, members of council. Um during the January 20th city council workshop, um I sought direction from you all regarding uh council's desire to contract with another lobbyist. Um and the direction was that uh I reach out to Representative Loftest and Senator Overcash uh for their short list of lobbyists, narrow down the list, and then make a recommendation make a recommendation to council. I did receive uh two letters of recommendation from Loftest and Overcash and they both recommended Nathan Lewis um with the Pine State strategies. I also met with um Mr. Lewis and separately than then um the mayor and I met with Mr. Lewis as well so that we could get a good understanding of uh Mr. Lewis and his personality and see if he could work with the city. Um, and so, uh, I have in front of you tonight, uh, Nathan Lewis where he can introduce himself and, um, the consideration is to contract with Pine State Strategies as the lobbying firm and Nathan Lewis as the lobbyist. And, uh, we currently have in our budget $2,500 per month um, already budgeted for a lobbyist. So, I'll turn it over to Mr. Lewis. Mr.

Lewis, got a quick intro. Um, good evening, mayor, members of council. My name is Nathan Lewis. I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you all tonight. I own and operate Pine State strategies lobbying firm based out of Raleigh. I've got eight years of experience in politics. I've worked on campaigns from city council, US House, all different levels. Grassroots campaign. I've got six years as a lobbyist, state liaison level, and two years. Also familiar with Belmont area. My wife was coach at Belmont Abby for six years. Um we lived off of South Point Road about a year and then I moved to Raleigh. But really just want to take questions from you all and I appreciate y'all's time and look forward to working with you.

You want to have any questions for Mr. Lewis? I bet you're probably glad you don't live on South Point Road. You're going to help us with that. That's why we That's why we need lobbyists. We We lived in an old mill house and landlord left the the floor fell through. There's some squirrels coming in the house. We liked it because we went to the lake and it was right near works. It was nice. Yeah. I will I don't want to cut you off there. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Go ahead.

All right. I do want to share. So I That's Miles said, I was able to spend some time with Mr. And I was excited to hear about his love for Belmont and his um uh the fact that the way he operates it is not a situation where he will have conflicts of interest when he's bringing Belmont forward into uh in front of people to ask for funding. It's us uh which I think is huge that there's only that solo focus for us and obviously things move forward. We want to keep you a busy man and we want you to be busy. We want you to be up there knocking on a lot of doors talking about a lot of Belmont. So, I'm excited to to for the prospects there.

What kind of experience do you have lobbying the general assembly specifically? Um, and what just like is part of your practice?

Um, I've appropriated a couple hundred million. Um, I've passed several bills. a great relationship with Senator Alexander. I was hoping he would speak up for me, too. Um um yeah, I've got my six years and been at the GA a lot and a lot of changes and you'll learn that um Raleigh is very relationship based and I've got a great relationship with your delegation. Hopefully get the lots of money that y'all want. If we can get a budget get a budget. That's right. I can help with that. Can help him with that. Who do you represent or do you represent

entities or municipal? You said he does not This would be my only municipal. Okay. I'm fine with not operating in the area. I do want to pick up my hometown, little 2,000 people town back, but nothing around here. Um I represent the firearms manufacturer. We are doing some we're trying to community college budget ask couple other education clients ABC client it's pretty small shop just

how do you feel just this is not necessarily specific to to this conversation but a little bit outside of it how do you feel the current climate is for the next few years with municipal municipalities in our position they're seeking funding for infrastructure upgrades everybody's got their hand up everybody's jumping up and down needing something um What do you feel like is that that thing that will set Belmont above the other people that are jumping up and down? It helps having a layer of accountability, especially with me. And there's not there's not that many of us that have municipals. I think there's probably 60 50 but this year affected y'all, right? So minimally

minimally not compared to out west, but that's a huge hit compared to we've got the drama in the Senate, drama in the House, but infrastructure is usually top of the list. So having an accountability in Raleigh kind of kind of helps move that along. What would be your plan of attack first couple months?

Well, I think it's going to be sitting down with over cash to the rest of council. kind of seeing what is top 10 or five or three kind of what what we can do and me and overcast go in Raleigh kind of see what's reasonable now and at least start kind of dropping the seed now for long session how's uh your relationship with our legislators outside of like Donnie and Brad

um it's kind of case by case but I think that I've got a great relationship with all the appropriations folks, Brendan Jones, but I'd like to say I have a really good relationship with a very good we're going to need your general appropriations folks on both chambers are very important there for the last few years.

I did share with Mr. um our past budget requests to the uh to the state and and of course like some of the projects that we had on our CIP list that were like you know high priorities and so that's what we kind of talked about

um during our our two meetings was that you know we've got a lot of needs uh help us break down what you think that we could get um you know approved at some point. Uh, and so it's really like looking at the full list and then breaking it down and then bringing that back to you all to say, "Hey, here's the top, like you say, in the top 10 projects and then we narrow it down even even closer, you know, to get that top one project um hopefully funded." So, we we talked about that and if if you all decide to move forward in this contract is to really kind of nail that down because I think we're kind of almost to the point we probably need to start scheduling meetings to go to Raleigh and talk to those folks. Um, I think probably in uh April, I April, mid to late April is the start. So, we need

great to be there. Yeah. So, we'll be uh hitting the ground running if that's the case, looking at the projects, making sure that y'all are comfortable with those as well. Did um maybe just one more from my side. Did we reach out to Mike Hagger as like a reference or anything like that? I did not. Okay. And this would be the same monthly rate as we were paying Mike. Yes. Uh so, Mr. Lewis sent over his contract uh late last week to me and that is the amount $2,500 per month. So, it's the same amount that we were paying. I know both Brad and Donnie both told me the same thing we told you that Mr. Lewis does come highly recommended.

All right. Any other discussion? All right. So, I think Oh, go ahead. Is there a term on that? Yes. So, what I've asked Mr. Louis to do is to uh give me a contract between uh March to June 30 and we'll we'll pick those dates up and then we'll fund next year's contract. So um it'll be like a recurring contract yearly and that's what we were doing with Her as well. So the intent would be to renew it during the budget cycle. Yes. Fund it to fund it first and then

and then to renew the renew the contract on that budget. I guess maybe this is a good question for you. Like when we get to that point like um like why would we I guess as far as accountability goes and like why would we reup the contract? Like what are the KPIs, right? Like what should I be looking for you to do between now and then to say, "Yeah, we should this guy." Yeah. Hopefully when we have our meetings and we get good feedback and hopefully we get a budget and because if we don't get a budget, no city gets I was going to say probably the next four months is not the best trial.

I know that's it's a tight window. Um but yeah, I mean it's going to be I mean we'd love to have select whoever to come to Raleigh and come hang out. Um and we'll go and have the meetings we need to have and feedback is there's no if there's terrible feedback then we'll just cut our ties. But if there's room that we can get these things in the budget this either short or long session, I'd say the ROI is there.

Just to be clear, what my understanding what's in the agenda packet is not the contract. It's a proposal that if we were to the motion would be to approve the city manager entering into the contract with the uh lobbyist. Is that correct? Yes, correct. So, he would start work like next monthish. Yeah. If I can uh look through the contract and have our attorney look through it with me to make sure we're comfortable with it, then execute it as soon as possible. So, I'll anticipate that to occur hopefully by the end of the week, if not next week. I'm fine with having the gas competition, right?

I'll I'll make a motion um that We allow the city manager to enter into a contract for on behalf of the city of Elmont with Pine State strategies to serve as our lobbyist effective immediately. Motion made by Jason. I'll second. Seconded by Jim. All in favor? Any opposed? All right. Carries. Thank you for that, Nathan. Look forward to working with you. Good luck. Get that budget, please. All right. All right. All right. So, this will take us to agenda, amended agenda item C6. So, Miles, is that you again?

Yes. All right. Miles. Miles show. That's what I was just thinking. Wow. Liz has already gone. So, this is the NC DOT property transfer discussion.

Correct. Um you all kind of read through the um summary of action, but I've I've kind of outlined it, so we can go through that real quickly. Um so Belmont Trolley has been hard at work uh to plan the trolley barn and has been working with the city regarding the agreement and we initially proposed or the Belmont Trolley initially proposed like a three-party agreement between the trolley, the city, and NC DOT. Um the location of the trolley barn initially was going to be on that NC dot uh property and that's the parcel that also includes our uh Glenway Street parking lot in that dumpster area. There's one parcel that kind of makes an angle and we we have some pictures up here we can show as well. Um so the city does lease the portion of that lot. We don't we don't lease the entire thing. Um, so in September, city attorney Wilson and I uh reached out to NC Rail uh just to bring them up to date on the project and uh discuss like what these agreements is going to look like moving forward given that we have a potential trolley born on NC DOT property. uh through the conversations that we had with them uh it was found out that if anything is constructed on NCDOT property that they have to go through um the state construction office along with anything that that the county and and the city also needs to approve. Uh so there was multiple conversations that we had with NC Rail, me and Park sitting in my office many times talking to those folks and they have been um fairly reactive to us. Um they've done a good job. You know, you hear horror stories about NC DOT, but NC Rail, I think, has really been um responsive to us and our questions. And one of the conversations we had while we were on virtual call and they also had an attorney on on the calls was that there was the potential for a property

transfer and it's allowed by um general statute. And so given that they spoke

intergovernmental property transfers is allowed by general statute. And so, you know, given that they mentioned that, we we jumped on it and said, "Hey, that would probably be a great option for the city given that we already have a parking lot. We have a dumpster pad and we have a potential uh trolley barn." Uh, of course, our rail trail rail trail uh ends at that point and anything in the future that we want to construct there as well. Uh, our plan department is going through the mobility hub grant right now trying to figure out how that property will interact with the city. And so, um, after a few discussions, I sent a letter of interest to NC do rail and it's in y'all's packet about the property transfer. Uh, they told us that they had to take that to their leadership team first before they could actually take it to the board of transportation because it in general statute also states that the board of transportation has final approval for this. And so, they really needed to get the uh leadership team on board. They did that and then they um informed me in parks that uh hey it's a go. And before I said let's go to the board of transportation then then that you all were not aware or you all didn't agree with this property transfer. I didn't want to ruin a relationship with the board of transportation. So I said let's put this on the agenda. So I slowed NC DOT down a little bit just to make sure that y'all are aware of what this thing can do for us. along the way. Rob Presley's here with us tonight, too. I asked him if he could attend. That way, he could speak on behalf of Belmont Charlie if you all would would like. But he also included a letter of support inside uh the agenda packet. Um given that he thinks that is um and his board thinks that that's a good option too, that um it just makes better sense for the city to own a strategic piece of

property where BR is concerned. So, uh, really the ask tonight is to give approval for me to go back to NC DOT and say yes, put it on the board of transportation agenda. They told us it would probably be um, April, I believe is what they said, parks with the Yeah, they said typically this is a

a consent item and they said the board of transportation has You think our consent? Wow. They said there's a hundred items and typically that's just they've got they've got the leadership team approval to put it on the consent. So typically it's like a a checkbox for them. That's what they've kind of told me in parts. But um so that's I am shocked that NCO is not nimble and adaptable.

Hey, hey, they're giving us piece of property. Whatever they want. Kudo to Miles and Miles and parts because that's got to be the cheapest property that Belmont's ever acquired. Jason, I was about to say the same thing. Hats off to you, Joe, for seeing that. I mean, that's not something that just happens for sure. So, they're basically gifting us the property. It's a Yes, a property transfer. Now, there'll probably be if we ever do anything other than what they want on there, we'd have probably have to give it back to them, but yeah, it's going to be our our property. So, no lobbyist. What's that? Oh, those are right. I just jumped on it. They offered it up. So,

good stuff. Just real quickly, Rob, I would love for you to come up and just tell us briefly about why this is this simplifies things tremendously. Presley, president Belmont Trolley. Man, what an amazing coup. Yeah. I mean, seriously.

Uh, I'll tell you a quick story. in Matthews, they had a public parking facility like this and they had a long-term lease just like you do for your public parking facility. Matthew's lease was about to expire. They went to DOT and said, "We'd like to renew our lease." And DOT said, "Sorry, we've already signed a new lease with Matthews to a paid parking company who now collects revenue from the parking lot." So, it made me nervous six, eight months ago when I heard that. And this this I don't want to discount parks and miles have I mean, this has been amazing what they've done. But I got to tell you, NC DOT has been a real champion of our trolley project for 10 years. I mean, they welcomed us 10 years ago with open arms and said, "We love it. We want to see it happen. What can we do to help make that happen?" And the local the rail guys have started realizing, man, if we're ever to improve that property, whether with a trolley barn or mobility hub that we have to go through the construction office and the the massive amount of bureaucracy is insane. But here here's the bottom line. Trolley benefits. Hey, we're building a building that we're giving to the city to be a downtown event center. So, how great is it that this building we're going to give you is now sitting on city land and not some lease that has to be renewed every so many years. It cuts the red tape on us building the building. We can deal directly with the city planning staff and the county to get our building permits pulled. The mobility hub thing, this thing, I've sat on that mobility hub committee. Wait till y'all see some of the stuff that's come out of that. That's in itself's amazing. Um the uh parking, it secures downtown parking uh in perpetuity, assuming that the city wants to continue to have it there. U it lessens complications for everybody involved. This is the head of the thread trail. When we're done, the thread trail the head of it starts right here. And the trolley barn has been designed to have restrooms that could be used for men and women who are not only attending trolley events and events at this

building, but also the thread trail people. I mean, diapers need to be changed. People need to stop and use the restroom. Um, and uh the the last thing is u this uh to me one of the reasons we've always loved this site is it's a it's the deadest corner of downtown. And by activating this site with trolley barn, thread mobility hub. Now we've all of a sudden taken the devastated corner of downtown and made it one of the liveliest corners of downtown. For you guys to be able to own this land, it's exceptional to as to the comment about um the um uh approvals going to the next. It's a consent item, but so you know, we have assuming that you guys were going to approve this gift, uh we have gone ahead and we have a relationship with the chair of the North Carolina Department of Transportation. We put to him that this is on the consent agenda and it's a really big deal for Belmont as well. Our first meeting we had 104 11ship without a reversion if the city didn't use it for transport transfer purposes.

We also own the parking lot now too, right? Yes. That's what I was gonna ask. But the drawings, the way it's situated right now, the barn, how much of that parking lot, if any, did we lose? None. Okay. We were going to add Hey, Laura. So, even that corner, we're not really losing. There you go. This is

right. That's never go back. This is causing us tracks. Well, state owns it. City owns it. Thank you.

That's why makes the big bucks. Thank you for that, Rob. We We appreciate that. That I think that's a it gets me excited when I hear I mean that's a gift from the railway doesn't happen very often from my understanding. Uh, so that's great. And then what Belmont Trolley is looking to do is exceptional as well. So we're excited about that. Well, let's accept it. Thank you. Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. So I I think essentially what we're looking for here uh is going to be a motion to approve the uh the acceptance of the property and for NC DOT to place a transfer on upcoming board transportation agenda.

I'll make that motion. And I don't know if we need to add allow parks and miles to negotiate if there's any other further negotiations needed. You can add that in for that piece of property. Yeah, I guess do we want to add pursuing that? Separate. I think that would be like more direction, right? Okay. All right. So, we'll keep that separate. So, Alex, you want to stick to that original motion? All right. Motion made by Alex. Second. Second by Jason. All in favor? Any opposed? All right. So, that will be added to the

upcoming transportation board of transportation. Great job everyone on that. Um Rob, again, thank you for your time. Please pass along to the trolley board our excitement.

All right, working our way down. So that will take us to amended agenda item C7, the Mloud Avenue traffic comment request. Chief, we're all ears. I come before you again tonight as a continuation of the Janu January 5th meeting. I plan to recap the January 5th meeting and give council an update through the traffic common process for Mloud. Just an overview of what we touched on before. Mloud Avenue extends from Main Street downtown district to Ker Boulevard NC273. It's a primary residential street consisting of town homes and a few everyday residents and now business. This is Mloud facing west. This is the intersection that um the direction was given to concentrate on for the uh possible and potential traffic common measures and stop signs. Uh this is how everything got started. A res a resident HOA member from Hawthorne neighborhood reached out the staff in reference to traffic common measures for Mloud Avenue due to speeding and safety concerns. A three-way stop on Mloud Avenue and Hawthorne Park Avenue was suggested as a solution. Staff explained the traffic common policy to the resident along with the petition requirement. Staff reviewed the traffic common request and determined Cloud Avenue qualifies under the current adopted traffic common policy. And this is just briefly about the 75% of the owners or lots on the street um which are where the devices will be installed including any owners of the culacs that intersect with the streets for which traffic common devices would be requested um would have to sign a petition. This is about the petition. This is how many residents. Of course

there's more and I'll get into that a little bit later in the slides. Um actually more because we included some other ones under council's direction. This is our findings. Um, police staff conducted a speed study on Mloud. Staff from the police department, public works and planning department evaluated results of the study and performed a site visit. Based on the results, there is a moderate number of motorist speeding. It was determined a high traffic volume utilized Mloud Avenue as a cut through. This is the results. just an overview of the speed study. And as you can see, uh I'd like to point out that 85% of the vehicles were traveling at a speed of 35 miles an hour or slower. And the speed limit is 25. And that's based on the 85 85th percentile. And out of 17,666 vehicles, 6,27 exceeded the speed limit by 10 miles an hour. All findings were presented to city council with proposed recommendations at the January 5th meeting for project approval. City council gave staff direction and continued any decisions until a future meeting. Here we are. Move forward with the traffic common process at only Hawthorne Park Avenue intersections closest to Main Street. And I think part of that was because of the the walking trail comes down to that particular intersection versus the other more towards Kener. Plus, there's a little bit more of a a grade at the other intersection as well. Contact the petitioners with clarity on the proposed location of the stop signs since we narrowed it down to one to make sure there was a clarity on their part as actually which intersection we were speaking to as to where the signs may go. Have staff provide a sketch of the proposed three-way stop at Mloud and Hawthorne Park Avenue, which I'll show you in just a minute. Don't include pricing for pedestrian crossings on Mloud. the proposed um I guess development or whatever was going there

is not going to happen and I think that's it's actually stated in one of the emails that I got back from the from the uh HOA member update the uh project cost estimate to reflect other changes that reduced significantly and have finance update the budget amendment and with the updated proposed cost which I believe is in your packet. The action plan staff reapproached the Mloud neighborhood contact and discussed including the other residents than nor New York butcher shop facing Mloud. Input is necessary before moving forward. Tom Speda HOA approached the res requested residence the butcher shop and he gave an update to us by email. I got that from public works. It was forwarded. The owner of 175 Mloud named Amy agrees with the proposed traffic cal measures. The owner of the restaurant agreed. Antonio agrees. The owner of 100 Bryant did not respond. Left a note and information but no response. And also this is from Tom to us in his email. It says it is of little consequence which intersection the city uses either 141 or 139. That's talking about the addresses related to the intersection to create the three-way stop. Each is about halfway. There is a note that they declined to sign a petition, but they were willing to give verbal feedback as to agreeing with or not. Here's a sketch plan. It's a little bit more improved from the last one we had. It's a little more clear as to what the plan is. It shows where is a stop sign ahead. One thing to note on the right side of the screen where you're coming down Mloud towards Maine. We chose to put the proposed stop sign past the first intersection as far as a stop ahead so no one would be confused on where to stop ahead at it would be past the first Hawthorne Park Avenue.

And then you had the Mloud and then the stop lines as you see all the things that were uh staff gave direction or gave staff direction on has been uh taken out as far as as far as the um blinking solar activated lights. Excuse me. We chose to take them out for a couple of reasons after going back and reapproaching the the intersection. It's really shady down there with a lot of trees and we were unsure if it was going to be effective measure. I know in Craverton on one side of um I think it's Main Street down by the old school. One works a lot of times, the other one like don't really work because there's a big oak tree there. So, we chose u as a recommendation to retract the uh blinking stop signs and that reduced the cost a lot more. And as you can see, we uh chose on the left side of the screen where the stop ahead sign would be. And this is not to scale, but there are recommendations under the uh transportation. Believe it's MUTCD or whatever. Um as to the uh as to the locations and the distances from the intersection, all that be followed when the signs would be installed by public works and they're very familiar with that. Yes, sir. Regarding the lighted signs, um, we say I don't get down there way a lot, but down near you guys in MLAN, those new signs and the pedestrian walkway, are those lit on you hope?

They have the blinking lights. They do, but they're not. You're saying they're not really reliable. Well, not in this particular case because of the all the trees. The canopy down there kind of blocks the sun. I see. We sort of ran into that with the um speed limit sign that you have on Kener Boulevard at one time. uh because when it's really cloudy or it rains a lot, we noticed that the sign didn't work going northbound on Kenir and so and there's not as many trees there as are in this location. So after we discussed it a little bit more, we chose to not move forward with that just because it's a it's a large expense and we weren't sure if it was going to be reliable for this particular location.

Is there much existing lighting right there? I can't remember on the cloud right there. As far as street lights, there's some decorative street lights, but as far as daytime, it's just very, as you can see, I don't think this really reflects it really well here, but there's a lot of trees that were planted and stuff, the canopy. So, you don't worry about visibility without the Not worried about visibility. Okay. It's a long straight shot um coming down the hill and it's about halfway on the road either direction. This is the a revised project cost estimate. Last time we had I think an extended conversation about the crosswalk. Yes. Is that are we not doing that?

No. As as was noted with that it would be the crosswalk to nowhere considering the sidewalk is on the side of the road as the Hawthorne Park neighborhood. I couldn't remember where we landed on that. Yeah. and the development that was proposed. In the email that we got back from Tom, he said uh that he spoke with someone in that project from whoever the developer was. I'm not sure. And it says uh I think he quoted it as uh within certainty of 250% that's not going to happen at this point before. So we chose I didn't put that in there but since you asked I'll give you that data. The property across the street you mean? Yes. And so this I believe this was that

don't quote me but I think this was somewhere in the 9,000 little under 10,000 range to begin with. So there is a substantial reduction and I think it still provides um a lot of traffic common measures for uh the speeding issues out there because this is how this has been something before it was a four-lane road. Um I personally in the early 90s when I worked here before wrote many many people speeding tickets and just this week we've wrote some citations on this uh street even though you know it's been narrowed down to two lanes with the parking on the street. So there's been some violations where we had to write tickets this week and it is staff's recommendation for the city council to approve the project as presented. The other thing I'd like to add um is uh through some discussions with the city manager and all the other people who are involved in new install stakeholders, we chose to come up with a traffic common policy checklist. I think that week there was a couple of different checklist created. So um this is just one of those um to kind of be a little more informative about the actual process. And so we took the traffic common policy and put it's in your packet I believe and we uh did a lot of check boxing and the um basically articulation as to the um the reasons why and what we did so that it reflects what the policy is and the policy was followed to the point where it specifies what we did and the action plans that were involved. Um I was hoping Jim really liked that. So

well I do appreciate he was nodding and smiling. So, so yeah, and we can and the process moving forward is to continue to keep the uh traffic common policy checklist as we do things and I thought it was really uh more efficient and everyone did so um we did that to ensure the process is followed the way it's supposed to be step by step and that we come to a resolution of it. So when when I teach law students, you know, show your work. So that's that's good. I understand. Yes.

I've been in front of many lawyers over the years. Yeah. I understand. So, uh, when I'll just tell you a brief story about myself. Um, I got really good at DWI cases because I was at one time here early on in my career as a traffic officer under a good highway safety grant. And what I did to improve my abilities and um, is I used to sit in court after the court cases and I listened to the troopers talk about what took place and um, and then I created um, the DA had a like a sheet that they went by asking the questions, right? typical ADA stuff. And so then the um attorneys would ask certain questions. So what I did was I created a cheat sheet which is still used in several different agencies that I worked in. I created a DWI checklist. I like checklist I guess to where I actually went down step by step through the DWI process and um just at an event I just went to, I talked to an attorney and he was talk we were talking about it and discussing how you know we never lost a case together because of that. So efficiency matters and that's just just want to tell you a little brief story. But I got really good at DBI cases because of that checklist and and all of the stuff was on there. It was about six pages long, but worked really good in court. So I appreciate y'all's time.

Thank you. Any questions for Chief before he runs? All right. Thank you. Great job. Great job. Accept. Yes. So actually there's two-parter here. So we need to approve the um traffic common request as presented. Um, and then there's also a a budget amendment that goes along with that. So, we'll need a motion to do I assume we can do both at the same time. Parks, we're good with that. Okay. So, so moved. All right. Motion made by by Mark, seconded by Alex. All in favor? Any opposed? All right. So, it is approved as well as the budget amendment.

Okay. All right. Well, moving right along, we will go to agenda item amended agenda item C8. Chief, come on up. This is the staffing for adequate fire and emergency response grant request. Good evening, everybody. Long time no see.

So, another grant from the fire department. Yes, we're going to ask for another ask to put in for another grant. So, I'll run you through some of the background on this grant because it is a it is a matching grant. So, staffing for adequate fire emergency response uh was created to provide funding directly to fire departments and volunteer fire interest organizations to help them increase or maintain the number of trained frontline firefighters available in their communities. The goal of the it's called the safer grant. The goal of the safer grant is to enhance local fire department's abilities to comply with staffing response operational standards established by the National Fire Protection Association, particularly NFPA 1917 or 1710, I'm sorry. So 1710 is what relates to the municip municipal fire departments. It's the standard for organization and deployment of fire suppression operations, special operations by public career departments. It establishes the minimum recommended staffing and response requirements that pertain to many different types of occupancies. I've listed out three in the presentation because it's the three that affect the city the most. You got single family dwellings 2,000 square feet initial full first assignments and single family dwellings that 2,000 square feet that's normal residences just about anywhere. If you look at the grand scheme of things, we have much bigger houses in in the city of Belmont, much bigger than 2,000 square feet. So that is just a minimum. Next, you would have the open air strip shopping centers. We have plenty of those. Uh you look over where Taxco, Audi, even you can consider Walmart as one of those. Um apartments are initial full first assignments typically 12,000 square feet in each apartment or bigger. So that's we have tons of those that have shown up as well. So we'll start with the single family dwelling. This the house the residential residential houses that surround this area. NFBA recommends 1710 recommends some minimum staff. Um, incident command. I'm g focus on each one, but I

want you to keep in mind the number at the bottom. So, when I get to the bottom, let's get to when I get to the bottom number. Just keep that one in mind as we go through this. Uh, they require outside the area. Uh, interrupted water supply 400 gallons a minute for one person. Effective water flow application consisting of two hand lines equal 300 gallons per minute for four people. Support member for each handline is two people. Victim search and rescue team is two firefighters. Established ground ladder is two firefighters. Aerial device operator is one firefighter. Initial rapid intervention crew is four. The total recommended is 17. Remember that number as we keep going. So we'll switch over to the open air strip shopping center. You're looking at most of these numbers either double or add an additional firefighter. So the total number at the bottom jumps up to 28. Now, we're talking open air strip shopping centers here. So, then we'll and I won't go down each one of those lines, but you're more the only thing it adds there is initial medical care component because there's much more risk for injuries um and things of that nature. The apartment initial full first alarm assignment, it's the same exact number. So, the minimum is 28 that they're recommending. uh the difference between the two from the open air to the apartment is 300 the gallons per minute on your initial water flow line. If you notice the effective water flow application is 300 gpms for the apartments. Back over at the strip shopping center it's 500. That's because there's multiple hand lines in place to apply more water. It's bigger structures. So we're at 177 or 172828 for the minimum staffing current in the city of Belmont. Our staffing is at engine 43 at the main station with four assigned with minimum staffing set at three on duty. That accounts for vacation sick time and military leave any types of leave. So at any given time you you may have just three people on that company. South

Station, you got engine 44. Same exact staffing assigned for four. We have to take into account vacation, sick, time of military leave, which could drop us to three at any given time. Tower 43 at the main station was you get this council awarded us eight positions last year to staff that tower. They are we're currently still in the process of staffing due to training and unable to find folks for the captain's position. But once that is staffed, it'll be the same situation as the other two companies at four assigned minimum staffing assigned at three. During business hours, we have additional five on duty with chief, deputy chief, two division chiefs, and incident safety officer, which means the current on duty 247 staffing is nine with the possibil possibility of 12 if there's no scheduled vacation and or sick time or any other types of leave. So NFBA also says that we can use automatic aid. So what automatic aid is is simply if we're dispatched together they're automatic they're aiding us automatically but we have to has to be on the initial dispatch. So to use those automatic aid numbers we're use we're to achieve those minimum numbers. We're currently using automatic aid depending on the the area of the city by using South Point BFD, New Hope, West Meckllinburgg BFD, Kramerton Community Mount Holly Engine 33 and Mount Holly Fire Department's ladder truck 34. But with that said, just like the city of Belmont, I'm hesitant to send the city of Belmont fire truck outside of the city when we're when we're strapped because they need to stay inside the city. Those other departments are the same way. So with that also said, they Minimum staffing Mount Holly is their minimum staffing I believe is the same as ours. Three with four sign except for the ladder which is five with four minimum because they have they have two drivers on that truck. So they require an extra person for that driver position. But the volunteer departments that we're using, most of those minimum

staffing is set by the county at two two per truck. So um and also they're struggling. I coming from the volunteer fire service before I come here. All the volunteer departments around are struggling with staffing and that's a nationwide issue. It's not anything related just to Gaston County, just this area. It's nationwide. So staffing it's an issue getting people. So we're requesting to put in for the safer grant which would allow which would if awarded give us three positions. So the operational impacts if awarded we could improve response capabilities by improving minimum staffing fuel critical safety function on the fire ground. Increase safety enhance staffing reduces the risk to firefighters but ensure proper team size during structure fires aligning with current NFPA 1710 standard. All right. So now the money part financial impacts if awarded based on the previous open application announcement safer awards and it the announcement's not open for this year yet and we expect it to open any day now and it'll have a short window of closing once it opens. Based on the previous open application announcement, Safer Award funded 75% of the annual cost in years one and two while the recipient was responsible for the remaining 25%. During year three, safer funded 35% while the recipient was responsible for the remaining 65%. And at the closing of the the conclusion of a three-year period, the recipient will become responsible for 100% of the employee costs. Continue on the financial impact. So, I took it a step further and put it kind of laid it out there. So a grade 15 firefighter EMT salary range 45,657 starting to 73,051 as a top top of that salary range. So I figured everything based on the midpoint which is 595 354 to get to that midpoint. It takes a long time. So this is I would I would say worst case

looking here. So they take into account midpoint plus FLSA overtime and city paid benefits. The city cost for what it costs for one firefighter at that midpoint range is 84,67856 annual. Um, and FLSA overtime, if you're not familiar with that, that is you have non FLSA overtime and FLSA over time. FSA overtime is anything over the the allotted hours. So firefighters work 100 FLSA, they get overtime anything over 106 hours in a 14 day cycle. So every They work three pay periods. They're working one at 120, the second one at 120, the third one will be at 90. So there's two pay periods where they're over their 106. That's Fair Labor Standards Act overtime. So that's just their normal schedule. That's not working any extra. That's just their normal 24 hour schedule.

So they only get overtime once they hit 100 hours or 106 hours. 106 in a two week period. Correct. It's not the typical 80 that you would think is a normal. Is that I I just for my own is that unique to firefighters or is that that firefighter? It's for the 24-hour schedule and that is an exemption in fair standards. So yeah, anything over they're not getting overtime until they're at 106. Okay.

In that twoe period and and our guys are getting it. So at any given time in the city, if we've got 36 on duty, 24 of those are getting overtime every week because lay that out. Okay. So years one and two will fund 75% of the annual costs minus any non FLSA overtime while the city responsible for 25. So the grant funds and you can see it up here. Uh years one and two grant funds would be 6350892 per firefighter for a total of 19526. Um it's sort of implicit, but I'm assuming based on these calculations that you're thinking of three positions.

That's correct. Yes, sir. I apologize. three positions. Um so and the city share would be 21,16964 for a total of 6350892. That's the years one and two. Years three, safer will fund 35% of the annual cost of firefighters minus any non FLSA overtime. Grant funds will be uh 35% which is 2963750 for a total of 8891250. City share will be 5504106 at total of 16512318. That's in the third year. So there would be a cost to the city every year of the the grant but it would step up after year two.

Chief, let me ask you real quick. In the event one of these so we get to year four, let's say we had three, we get to year four and we find out just for some reason I don't foresee this happening. Let's just say for some reason one of those positions was eliminated moving forward. Is there any claw back of the funds that are given to the city um from the grant? Like do we would we have to repay for not keeping them on a certain amount of time? Not after the fourth year. Okay. Not after the third year. After the third year, the money is paid and that's that's good. Okay. Thank you. Hope we don't go that route. Yes, sir. Yeah.

So, recommendations from staff is to approve the grant as requested by the fire chief. Um we're using Lexipole which we've as the grant writer. So, everything's set on go. All we need is you guys okay to forward. If not, we'll go back another route and look for another grant, but we've paid the grant writer. That's that's a two-year contract with them that we get to use them again next year for a different grant. So, they decide it every year. It's based on funding based on um budget approval. So, once once the grants funded, they make the announcement. So, it changes a little bit every year. I believe we looked in last year's grant award was July, August.

So, let me ask you this. I'm not sure because I don't know if I need to fund a position and then we apply for a grant. I think that's there's some kind of like um and I don't know if this grant applies but if you you know supplant like a a funding source and then you apply for a grant then there's potential you might not get the grant. So I have to look into that a little bit more. But I think that's the way it would be that uh we don't ask for them until we get the answer from safer and at that point we fund the difference. That's kind of how I look at it. I don't want to like have council fund it. So the grant would come

without having in front of me. I'm pretty sure last year's grant announcement said in in the application it asked are they budgeted already? I think stretched for South Yeah, thinking like the just going back the timing piece of it is when we get the word from uh safer whether we have been awarded the grant and if that's within the the budget process, yeah, we'll go ahead and include it, but I wouldn't include it beforehand at all. Yeah,

I think that would be an automatic disqualifier if we had budgeted for it. Chief, I had a question about the automatic aid process. This is just something I've always been kind of curious about when you were kind of setting the table about, you know, demand minimum standards based on the type of fire that you were responding to. So, dispatch gets a call, let's say, for a 2,000 square foot single family home. They know that we need ideally at least 17 firefighters on the ground there, right? They they leave it up to each individual chief. The dispatch center has nothing to do. We have what we call call cards. Okay? Okay. So when a call comes in an address is punched in, it automatically recommends us and then that pulls our call cards. Anybody we've identified to respond with us is then dispatched as well. And is it is that call and who you who what other departments you may dispatch?

Yes, sir. Based on the the type of structure you're responding to. Uh typically it's based on call types, not necessarily structure types. So like if it's a they they will classify to take it from a 2,000 foot resial to a to would be dispatched as a residential structure fire or an apartment fire and that's where it would plug the different the different responses. But I recall you saying that in order to get that automatic aid, the order has to come from the original dispatch, right?

They have to be on the original dispatch. So and and where that comes into play is structure fire. You remember the ISO lowering that's kind of drives all that. If once we get on scene ISO comes in and they only pull numbers for any structure. So that's the all over the structure. So the minimum requirements by NFPA, not requirements, minimum recommendations, it's not a requirement, just a recommendation is those 17 or those 28 based on whichever. So um but they're all rolling at the same time. They're all all dispatched at the same time. So

our tones go off, their tones go off, all the tones go off in in order in line and sequence, and no talking is done. All the tones have been dispatched. So we're all coming at the same time. Mutual aid is a little different. That's where we would have to manually pick up the radio. Hey, send me south voluntary fire department that we can't count because it's mutual aid. It's not on the automatic dispatch. Thank you. So, we have a structure fire like are we sending basically the entire department to that or structure? Sounds like Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.

Is that just as far as I don't know is that of practice for a city our size to basically send everybody for a structure fire. Yes. Yeah. Our size. Yes. Okay. Um so I come from across the river in Charlotte that over there you may get two or three stations but you still got 44 other stations out there. So that's a little different over there. But over here, for the most part, any city exception of Gastonia, any municipality in Gaston County, their entire department's going when they're dispatched to structure fire. Okay. I know Mount Holly is the same. All all their trucks are coming. All of ours are coming. They're all the same. And do you get a readout like when you get the address that comes in, you know immediately, hey, that's a 2400 foot house or that's a 6,000 foot house?

We can look at the map and we know the area. Yeah, we'll get But if you're understaffed on a 2,000 square foot house, you're definitely going to be understaffed on more than likely. We've got more people coming on bigger call because we would preload more departments and more engineers on the bigger on the on the call the way it's laid out. It's a spreadsheet the way you lay it out. I've always kind of wonder this, but like so if we have a fire in Belmont, we need to call um financially is there like a charge back to us? So it's all just automatic a mutual agreement. Okay. There's no charge back just like we would go to them if they call. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. I'm not And we do regularly.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What if that gets out? What if that gets out of balance over time? Well, that's kind of what I was going at. It's like because like you have a city that kind of abuses, right? It's just like, oh, we'll just rely on Mount Holl. But it's like what we discussed at the retreat. That one time they're not available, right? Yeah. I guess all it takes is that one. But, you know, we also, speaking of the retreat, we talked about North Belmont. I mean, council preliminarily moved forward with funding that. I mean, we're going to need additional resources. I would assume eventually down the road, we will need

I think in the short term, we we've got what we need to get that station up and up and functional, but we're still going to be under we're still going to be short the personel we need. Even if we added that station today with four people on that truck, we're still below 17.

12 at minimum. Oh, yeah. But then even that that' be 16, right? Max. So you're still short. And based on if everybody's there. Oh yeah, that's true. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Based off y'all's research, is this one of the more advantageous financially like grants out there? I guess you could say, with adding additional resources for staffing. Yes, sir. This is probably the best one for And I know um the grant writer, Alexa, the grant writer,

the the the chief who wrote the who is writing the narrative made some recommendations to us and he said, "We look like we stand a pretty good chance with the infrastructure we have around here in the needs." So, it's it's like a six page narative he's up to. tell the story. Uh I don't know if it's good, right? I hope so. I hope it's a good story. You may have mentioned this, but who actually funds this? Emergency management FEMA. Okay. So, it's a federal grant. Okay.

It is federal. So, the the two more grants on consent fire protection safety and the uh assistance of firefighters. All three of those are being grants. They all announced at about the same time. busy. We can also lean on our We can also lean on our local congressman for support there. He's been busy with passing out. Any more questions for the chief, Chief, thank you. We appreciate you and thank you for continuing to burden all these grants. We appreciate that. Absolutely. Thanks, Chief.

All right. So, any more discussion or motion? I would like to make a motion to approve as presented. Second question made by Alex, second by Charlie. All in favor? Any opposed? Passes. All right. Very good. Well, thank you. Um, everyone, let's move on to agenda item D, other business. So, we will start with Alex.

All right. Um, first of all, thanks again to staff, Miles, everyone for the retreat. I felt like that was very productive one that I can say then I talked to my colleagues left very excited for for the future of Belmont. So a lot of fun things happening. Uh just a comment uh last month of February earlier February I participated or was selected as I had mentioned from the GCLO to represent Gaston County Lincoln County Cleveland County uh as a delegate with our counterparts in Charlotte. So Reagan was there as well representing our area. Um so a lot of positive feedback. We have another meeting in March, but Charlotte um the big focus was let's stop talking and let's start prioritizing regional projects and getting the funding particularly aka Kataba Crossing across the finish line. And from our perspective in Gaston County, it's explaining to our counterparts over there that this benefits you. people don't want to come and work in downtown Charlotte right now because of the lagging infrastructure. So, there's a lot of positive communication happening. Um, again, we're meeting in March. We had a little bit of homework based off of some new legislation being passed, but um hoping to report more positive things from there, but outside of that, mayor, that's that's all I have.

Alex, I know to add to that, um, James Estus mentioned that Congressman Moore's office has an interest in participating in some of those discussions. That would be amazing. and Reagan, I don't know if that's something I can reach out to um Tori at the MO and ask her to extend because that was one of the conversations like we need our state leg or delegation here, but if we can get at the federal level, good point, Jason. Yeah, thank you, Alex. Yeah, totally. Uh just real quick, uh echoing what Alex said, hats off to all staff for the retreat. That was feel like we got a lot accomplished and that was one of the better retreats that I've been a part of. So, thank you to everybody for that. That's pretty much all I got. All right. Uh, sure.

Yeah. Not to beat a dead horse, but the retreat was great. Um, I've definitely been to some where I didn't want to be there, and this was not one of them. So, uh, thank you for that as much as I miss. Those can come back. Yeah. No, that's necessary. Um, terrible.

Yeah. Uh, so I was at Kevin Loftton Park yesterday. The weather was amazing. Um, and notice that there's that I don't think this is news to anyone, but there's that section of the playground where there's that erosion issue. It's basically just kind of like muddy. Uh, right now if you go over there, you'll see exactly what we're talking about. I don't know what we can do about that. if we can do anything about that. Um, but as I was sitting there making sure that my children more or less behave themselves. Um, I noticed we have the benches um that are all outside the fence. It looked like there were a number of parents that were actually sitting on the ground inside the fence. So, I'm thinking, well, we got this dead space here. Maybe we could put a couple benches or something in there. I don't know. You guys are the experts. I'll just kind of throw that out there as maybe something to think about. Um, but it seems like there's we could do with that space just to kind of at least make it look a little bit nicer.

But um and then the other thing I've gotten couple questions about these cameras going up around town. I don't know if it' be possible to have maybe um a presentation at some point from uh the police department about what those are, how we're using them. Um and then particularly kind of walking through uh the data aspect of it, like how we're using that data, who else might have access to that data. Uh we just be kind of interested in sort of like a high level discussion about those. Um and uh that is it.

I would just echo my colleagues sentiments about the retreat. Miles, I think you and staff did an excellent job with keeping us moving along. We have some a lot of really good presentations, some exciting developments, and I'm excited for what this year hopefully by the time we get to December, we've uh you made a lot of ground on some really exciting projects. So, I also want to compliment Jonathan and his staff. I know that in addition to the some of the big projects that they're undertaking right now that they've been really busy with some of the pothole repair and I know Charlie's been on top of that, too. And um so know that that's a kind of a never- ending job during this part of the year. appreciate you guys getting out and on top of that right away. Jim,

uh I would also like to thank the staff and Miles for an excellent retreat. Uh very productive. Um, sort of in keeping with uh the uh discussion about the mural that we had earlier, uh it's been uh brought to my attention that other jurisdictions in the county are uh contemplating, you know, special events for for America 250. Uh and it's been asked, well, is Belmont doing anything? Um, we well, we're going to have a mural and we're going to have the red, white, and Belmont on July 3rd, but maybe we could see if there's anything else special that we wanted to do to commemorate that um uh 250 years because um like has been alluded to, some of us are probably around for the 300. So, um

don't count yourself out just yet. Well, you're in good shape. I will I will not be here for that one. I can tell you that we could possibly collaborate with Susan Martell and American Legion. That's where that's where my but I just think that well what's Belmont doing? Some people have been asking and I don't know if we've really talked about it and I guess such plans would have to come together fairly quickly at this point but maybe we should see what we can do.

I do have um I printed out the things that we're doing. Um so if you go to www.historicbelmmont.com historicbellmont.com there's actually like historic Belmont celebrates America 250 and it's um if you kind of scroll down you can see like what the county is doing but then also goes to like events in the city of Belmont and so starts like in March where it says revolutionary music at Belmont Abbey gives the date what's going on there April there's a living history day at the Gabaldi Festival um from historical society the summer of 2026. It actually already listed new mural in downtown Belmont. So, they were in the good thing we approved.

Well, no, they were going to do it anyway. They were going to do it anyway. Predicting the future there. Um June they have the Belmont Junth celebration where there's certain things that's going on downtown at that point in July of course red white and Belmont um on July 3rd and the Gast and 250 parade where uh the town of Dallas will be holding the parade where they're actually asking for like a float I believe so that you all can ride on the float for uh the city of Belmont if you'd like to do that. So, I think we need to find out, you know, how to rent bikes. Your name all over. I need two seats for parks and miles.

I think I'm I'm on vacation. Uh the November the veteran celebration at Stow Park. Um so, they're planning something there as well. So, there are certain things. I don't know if we've probably not done a good job to get this out. Um so, maybe we can start sharing like, you know, here are the things that are taking place. Um Seems like there's a lot of the month that it's going to occur. Yeah. Yeah. A list in like a snapshot of the date of all the events, right? We have the boards in downtown. I was going to say the kiosk. Yeah. And the kiosk. Yeah. Now they're both up. Yeah. Right. We can maybe do a page just for 250. Don't overload them. We don't want them to break again. As of today, they're functionally or take advantage of them. They still work.

Yeah. Thank you, Jim, for that. That is timely. For sure. Thank you. That's all. All right. Um All right. So, I'll finish it up. And, you know, like everyone else, that was my first retreat. Um, and it was enjoyable and I enjoyed seeing my colleagues um take direction and take leadership and and continue to push everything forward. And you were so efficient. You you you did it quicker than than I did, but you were helped by the fact that that um the last presentation went went quicker. Miles, he was very succinct. Yes. But he got all the information across the matter. time to get out of there.

But it was good. I did enjoy it. Um it was I came away, like Alex was saying, I came away excited um about things to come. So really good job to you, too. That wasn't mentioned, but you you did an exceptional job leading the meeting, starting out with the vision. I thought that was a nice um piece to it. So you you did a great job. Thank you. I appreciate that.

Um okay, so just a couple quick things. Uh the Knights takeover. So, the Charlotte Knights are doing a town takeover and that is on May 30th and it's going to be for Belmont. So, we're currently working to uh have color guard for Belmont, have national anthem sung by Belmont. Uh yours truly will attempt to throw out the first pitch. I thought you were going to sing. No, I would rather attempt the first pitch uh than than sing. That's absolutely from the rubber. Absolutely. I've already been

overhanded. I've been warned. Um, but I think there's some information that's going out on the social media from the city. So, there's a QR code to get tickets. So, I would love to see a lot of people come from that cool and show up. Like I mentioned, you've got a coach in here that can probably give you some on that. That's right. He's already working on a few things for me. Uh, so so maybe we can get that one added to the list. Guard. Uh, I think we're talking to South Point. South Point's RT.

Oh, yeah. So just see if that works out. But there should be more information on that coming soon. All right. Again, that's May 30th. Uh just real quickly, uh a couple meetings. So just to refresh, the Main Street meeting. Just want to let y'all know. So there's a couple vacancies, large vacancies in downtown that are are going to be coming up. Piccolo being one of the big ones. I know there's a lot of interest in that. So I'm excited to see what comes in there. I don't think we know what it's going to be yet, but right now it is gutted. It is empty. And it's that moved quick. I think in like a week week and a half they probably hauled off 50 dumpster. It was unbelievable. Now it's just a big open space. So a lot of good things could happen there. I'm excited about that. Um a lot moving in downtown right now. Obviously the the mural was a big discussion. Uh and Main Street is also in the throws of getting all of the uh downtown events on the schedule for this year. So there's a lot going on. talk about concerts, everything else, but they're working hard to get that entertainment brought into our downtown that we all enjoy. Trolley Board, I I'm lucky to sit in on that as well. A lot of really, really good excitement there. A lot of discussion about the the property transfer that was keyed up to happen. So excited to see what happens there and appreciate Rob inviting me to be in on that. Um, and then let's see. Oh, tomorrow morning is the town and gown the meeting with Bell & Abby that we do monthly. Feel free if anyone would like to join me. I will be there. It is nine o'clock and it is uh it's in Stowh Hall. If you walk in, someone will see you and point you to the right direction. Um but again, really excited about seeing that relationship come closer. That's it for me. So, um I don't think there's anything else to see. So, I will entertain a motion to adjurnn.

Motion to adjurnn. Alex motion. Second. Second by Jason. All in favor?