Town Council - Regular Meeting

errors. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, thank us. Thank you for just letting us be here tonight. I hope that you give us the wisdom to uh make good decisions for the town tonight. I wanted to take and just uh once again take a pause. We did have a couple of weeks ago an individual that passed away just right up the road here uh in a car accident. He was a member of a local church and uh friend of mine asked that I put in a word of prayer for him tonight. With that, I hope you put your hand on everybody here tonight as we leave this place. And uh with that, pray these things in your son's holy name. Amen.

Amen. Thank you. I pledge of 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.

All right, with that, we'll call the meeting to order and we'll start off with public comments. Thank you. We've got two signed up. John Pratt, I'm sorry, Jason Pratt. You'd like to start us off?

Sure. I'll be brief. My name is Jason Pratt. I live in Chestnut Oaks subdivision, which is directly across Potter Road from the proposed Wetstone Motel. And I just wanted to just highlight our community's discomfort for the location. Um, I personally have four kids from 11 to 4. Um, our neighborhood is a trick-or-treating destination. We have kids just riding scooters up to the Harris ter. And I'm just uncomfortable with this proposal. and I think it places undue risk on our children and the peace and safety concerns of parents in our community. So just brief I have nothing more to share just there's just a shared sentiment of discomfort uh for the proposal and so I just was wishing to highlight that. So thank you.

Thank you very much. Next uh Kelly Rusk. Thank you Mr. Mayor and members of the town council. Tonight, your community lives in fear and uncertainty.

Fear for the safety of their children and uncertain if they'll be forced to leave their homes for a safer destination, the Stallings, which they call home. Hundreds have sent messages now to the developer and to this count council, and we are just getting started. National groups have been organized and on the ready to raise awareness on this issue and we are here tonight to fortify you. We trust your leadership. We respect your service and believe that beyond not just abandoning wetstone drive to a motel that good leaders always find a way. So tonight I say find a way to immediately stop this safety risk. And bear in mind, it's a real safety risk. 75% 75% of sex trafficking survivors were exploited in or near a motel or hotel. There is no universal law requiring motel to check if someone is a sex offender. We could literally have an unregistered sex offender near our children if this proceeds. And I'll take a moment just to address the RD Herald company and Mr. Harold by proxy if possible. Developers have an opportunity to lift a community up by what they build to develop up as they say. A motel is developing town. So, Mr. Harold, will you prioritize the safety of our children or move forward despite the documented risks this type of development could

bring? We respect and support your right to develop, but respectfully ask that you withdraw this proposal or relocate it to a more suitable location both for what may be your own interest as motel tend to be near commercial areas and for the safety of our children. We eagerly await your response. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. those are the the folks who have signed up. Did anyone want to speak that didn't sign up yet? All right. Got one. Yes. Would you like to speak?

Yes. It's on the same situation as far as the motel or hotel. I'm not sure what they're calling it. Your name and address, please. Uh Robert Keller and 1118 Slate Ridge Road. This whole project would affect anybody on straight slight wage road dramatically

as far as drainage flooding which is already an issue on sections of that road now that comes off of there. Now you're going to add property. We don't know how far off of the back end. I don't even know where this is going to be situated because we had no information about anything on this. Um it's not going to h it's not going to be work. Why would you put a hotel in a motel here? There's no a there's no venues here to support it. There's no big businesses. There's no conference centers. Nothing. So why would people and I assume it's not affiliated, meaning it's not with Verfield or any of the other hotel chains. So you're not going to have the advertising. So why would you come here? And uh on top of that the uh there's only other one function for that and that is it's an apartment not a motel and that's what it could change into. I know they have that buy right situation but if you really look at the by right and really look how it's written there's a lot of stipulations that go around that. One of it is that can give them an avenue to get it built where you couldn't with the apartments wouldn't be allowed. Now you're going to put 318 parking spots, two buildings, three stories high, which is 40 ft approximately high. You know, as he set it up for the setbacks on this now, the setbacks are what, 25 ft on commercial plus height, which would make it about 65 ft away, but there's no reason. And now you're going to if he comes in and starts tearing all those trees out of there that are in that are separating with the zone, that's going to leave a huge mess, let alone reduce the property value in that whole development. It'll go right down fast. That's I think it's a bad idea. I think there's a lot going behind that we don't

know about. And I was really kind of surprised we were never informed about it, you know, as far as we were last year when they were trying to get the appointment, but not this time. And yet they're through two steps already that are for approval and it's like okay so what's left the road I understand is an issue but we looked on the the site I'm supposed to be talking way up here I think you can hear me um we looked on the sites and stuff there's no listing at all the sites of that proposal it is on some we got a a a mail and came off Facebook is the only way I knew about it that was the poem proposal proposal was there and it was in a second phase already through it. We didn't know. We knew nothing about it. And somebody thankfully let us know. And we're coming to the meetings and saying this is not right. Let this go. Let this go. And I had another thing that has to be done on this by right. Environmental study has to be done on this. Was that done? And can we get a copy of it if it was? Because the wetland area down past us where all the drainage goes through is an issue. Definitely an issue. And you got to add this on top of it. Not a good idea. Let alone the infrastructure part which we had with sorry I keep whacking this thing. Um the infrastructure problems the traffic. You're talking 318 you know more parking spots going on Potter Road. You know how it is in Potter Road now and let alone infrastructure for everything else. If that becomes like long-term, you know, rentals, it becomes an apartment, but they just keep calling it a hotel. That means we're running into the same situation where you're going to worry about the school systems, the Department of Public Works, you know, everything else, the the widening of this road out out here on Potter Street, which is it can't handle it now. What are you going to do to add more? So, these are issues

that really you guys got to think hard about of allowing this to go through. Move it somewhere else, you know, so you're not involved with butdding up against some other properties that is going to destroy some of that. And plus, you were talking about the issue issue with schools and stuff like this. That's that's important issues. It really is. And um all those together and nobody wants it. Nobody wants this in the whole area. Nobody. That's all all really have to say. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Any other folks that uh didn't sign up would like to speak tonight? Seeing none, we'll move on to the next item. Uh, consent agenda. Out goes the council.

I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda. Second. All in favor? I. I only heard two voices. I Well, you guys did it. I mean, yeah. Get it together. I'm like, I hear it. All right. Um, agenda approval. Anything to add or change to tonight's agenda? Nope. May I make a motion to approve the agenda as written? Second. All in favor? I I do.

All right. Next up, streetscape and fee in lie of uh in lie addendum. I'll open the public hearing and hear information from staff.

Hello council. Just give me one second. Yes, you may. Well, Brig is yes preparing. This won't change the agenda or anything. I would I would notice that we have a fairly short meeting tonight and we have a some folks here to talk about the item they talked about. So those who are willing to hang out after the meeting, we could chat for just a moment. Okay. Thank you.

So Erin's just passing out. Uh the bottom one is the current or the first one you'll get is the addendum, which is what we're proposing is the change to the streetscape, and the thicker one is what our current um streetscape plans are. So the text amendment I'm bringing today to you is TX260102 which is a streetscape addendum and amendment. This amendment is proposed to update the staff and board recommended design standards within the stalling streetscape plan to simplify options, improve clarity, and create a more cohesive town center. It also revises the fee and loo structure to ensure adequate funding where needed. We had a planning board meeting for this on February 17th and of course today is our town council hearing. Just some background for this text amendment. Some recent conditional zoning applications within town center have highlighted challenges within their our current standards. These include required widths that were impractical for typical sites that we have located within the town center district. In addition, the existing fee and loo structure is not based on actual construction costs and may not s may not generate sufficient funded funding where needed. And these changes are also being proposed at council's request uh following recent conditional zoning discussions. So this is the fee and loo portion of the text amendment. Article 21.3 states that all developments requiring a major site plan review must abide by the recreation and greenway master plan as well as the stalling streetscape design standards and details plans. It also states that where improvements identified by these plans are not feasible or practical as determined by

staff, the fee and loo structural will be according to the following. A states there will be a required easement and/or right ofway to be dedicated to the town based on the identified greenway trail type or streetscape type. B states that the developer will be required to prepare and submit a detailed cost estimate. C states that the fee and loo amount will equal the cost estimate plus a 20% contingency. And lastly, D states that any fee and loo collected for streetscape or greenway improvements must be used solely for these improvements. Article 21.4-5 adds that where improvements for streetscape are not feasible, the fi loo structure will be followed. Do you have any questions on the fee and loo structure before I move on to the addendum? Yeah,

go ahead. No, no, I I'll have questions at the end, but go ahead.

I just had a question around like where we're now introducing where effectively the staff will determine whether or not it's feasible or not. And I noticed we don't have any criteria around that there. So, are we deliberately leaving that a little more nebulous so that it can cover more area or kind of what's the my my only concern would be is that potentially could set us up for some type of legal challenge since there's not necessarily a specific examples but if you I mean if that covers us from a legal point of view then I'm okay with it. We we left it for staff to determine based on that, but we can also add in as based on topography or storm water control, but just not limited to that. If you want to add that in to that sentence that um up here states um improvements are not feasible or practical as determined by staff. We can add a parenthesy that adds those and just say not limited to if something else comes up. And and when does that determination come? Do they have to have a site plan effectively at that point?

Yes. So this would be when uh they brought a major development review to us and they didn't have that streetscape. We would then discuss between staff and the developer why that wasn't there. If staff does see that as not feasible or practical or if we would require them to build it. Okay. I'll have another question at the end, but I'll just another suggestion. If you don't want to amend the ordinance, that could always be a reason where the developer could ask for a variance if we wanted to leave it open, right? Because that's usually due to the topography issues. Yeah, that is

I had a question. I think it was on the next page uh of your presentation for item B, which my question is perhaps answered in item C.

Okay. um that as I'm reading through this um with my skeptical eye where um we're requiring the developer developer to prepare this cost estimate now it's going to come to Kevin or Justin to look at it but to have somebody my thought is you know is somebody trying to get one over on us and say well here's a lowball estimate that do we need to put anything in there to um require that it comes from some type of credentialed uh indiv individual or anything like that. And ultimately we have the the veto power on that. But that was just my thought and I was I didn't I wondered if anybody else had that thought as well.

We could always request to have it prepared by a licensed engineer stamped approved by an engineer and then shown to Kevin or you know Kevin is also an engineer so he could review it and then send it back if he does not see that as feasible. Um Melanie what do you think? No, I mean I assumed it would have to be by a licensed engineer and but we can certainly clarify that. Yeah, but if we don't have to assume then we can put it in there, right? Right. Okay. Thanks. Okay. Any other

I'm not clear you are you have are you doing the same um fee in lie of the same structure the percentage as you were as we are now? No, this is this is a different fe structure. The old fianl structure was not enforcable and may not have generated enough funds to to build it if we did. Okay. Can you just give me give us an example of what the fee would be for somebody who's going to put in a store and apartments. Um I don't have exact numbers. Um,

no, I don't need an examp. I'm just saying, you know, for instance, if it was, you know, $500,000, what would the fee be? I don't want to put in the landscaping. So, if it was like $500,000 to put in the streetscape, it would be that $500,000 plus a 20% contingency. Okay. All right. Yes. I understand where the greenway in FIA in lie of

but I mean help me understand kind of a condition we would see where we would not make I mean the streetscapes are very specific to very specific roads

but I guess my question is what kind of situation would we see where we would allow them to go with fee in lie of or the site plan wouldn't simply require them to effectively have enough space to be able to do that work or I I guess I'm trying to understand kind of what situation we would run into where they wouldn't actually have to do the streetscape improvements. One example could be if the road was under construction by NCDOT and they could not put it there because of that construction, then we would have that ride ofway dedicated to us. We would have the fenlue and then we can build it later on once the construction is finished. But it also allows the developer to move on with their project without being held up by that.

That's good. All right. And and if it's a different situation, say it's a flood plane area where that building isn't the building isn't feasible. Um what are some other like what's another area where this this money not the greenway but the streetscape improvements would like could we could end up using them? So indeed it does say it must be used for streetscape improvements or solely for greenway improvements. So, we could use it to um install other streetscape improvements on a different side of the road or uh or like on town owned property. I believe

if it's a part of the streetscape plan. Yes, if it's part of the streetscape plan. Yes. Right. So, like out here perhaps theoretically. Okay. Yeah, theoretically. Okay. Great. Thank you. Any other questions? I have something probably for the other part, but just keep going if you're you're okay. Great. Oh, we're not done.

Okay. So, for the addendum, there were three main corridors identified. You have greenway, typical, and narrow. In each of these, currently, there is four subtypes. We are reducing this to three subtypes in this proposal. I'll go through those more in a second. Um, here we just have some examples of some surrounding municipalities and what their downtown areas are and what their streetscapes look like. This is Raya Farms in Charlotte. It is 26 ft 8 in. This is in downtown Matthews, just about 10 ft of sidewalk with a 5 to 6 foot landscaping strip. Also in downtown Matthews, about 10 ft. This is in downtown Waxaw, which is about 11t pedestrian walkway. And then we have an additional 12T sidewalk to the curb. So right here you have this in front of you if you need to see it up close. This is what the actual addendum will be. The addendum would be inserted directly after page A1 in the current streetscape plan that you do have and it would remove pages A2 through B8 just for your reference. The first page is a map that we have here. It shows where each plan type is located. So this green area is your greenway. This purple area is your typical corridor. And this orange is your narrow corridor. The narrow um streetscape types may be added on later as more streets are added on with new developments. So here you just have an overview of the greenway typical and narrow corridors. Here we'll have the greenway. We have greenway against a building which includes a 6 to 8 foot wide stamped concrete strip, a 10 to 14 foot wide

multi-use path and a 0 to 4 foot additional pedestrian zone with a total width of 16 to 26 feet. Then we have greenway not against a building which is 6 to 8 foot stamped concrete strip a 10 to 14 foot multi-use path for a total width of 16 to 22 ft. And then our third form is the greenway landscape form. It has a 3ft wide landscape strip up top. Then a 5ft wide stamped concrete strip, the 10 to 14t multi-use path, and then a 0 to 4 foot additional pedestrian zone with a total width of 18 to 26 ft. Our current greenway standards are a 30 foot 38 foot wide in total. So this is reducing that to the most being 26 ft. For our typical section, we have typical against a building which is a 6 to 8 foot stamped concrete strip, an 8 to 10 ft multi-use path, and a 0 to 4 foot additional pedest pedestrian zone with a total width of 14 to 22 feet. Our typical not against a building includes an 6 to 8 foot wide stamped concrete strip and an 8 to 10 foot multi-use path with a total width of 14 to 18 ft. And our landscape form includes a 3-ft wide landscape strip, 5 foot wide stamp concrete strip, an 8 to 10 multi-use path, and an 0 to 4 foot additional pedestrian zone for a total width of 16 to 22 feet. And for your reference, our current typical is 26 24 to 26 feet wide.

And what's that one? The typical.

This one is typical. Correct. And our last is narrow. So we have narrow against a building which includes a 2 to 4 foot stamped concrete strip, a 6 to 8 foot multi-use path, and a 0 to2 foot additional pedestrian zone with a total width of 8 to 14 ft. Our narrow not against the building includes a 2 to four foot wide stamped concrete strip and a 6 to 8 foot wide multi-use path with a total width of 8 to 12 ft. And our landscape form includes a twoft wide landscape strip, 2 foot wide stamped concrete strip and a 6 to 8 foot multi-use path and a 0 to2 foot additional pedestrian zone with a total width of 10 to 14 ft. Our current narrow plan includes a 24 to 26 foot wide uh streetscape as well. So this is reducing that. Planning board recommended approval of this text amendment on February 17th and staff also does recommend approval of TX260102 as it updates the streetscape design standards and establishes a new fee and ll structure for those improvements. And based on staff research, this amendment improves the feasibility of streetscape design standards and better aligns them with the character of our town center.

Any questions? Not a question for anything that's going to change based on what you've presented today, but just out of curiosity on the uh town center streetscape map. Yes. Of you know the way my mind works is if I were to do one side of the street greenway, I'd think, well, I do the other side of the street greenway. I'm sure there's a reason why one side is typical and one side's greenway. And if you could explain why that is. So our this follows our greenway master plan as well. So this just includes the side of the street that the greenway is on. So we usually keep that to one side of the street instead of both sides. Is there like a planning uh school of thought behind why one side is good? If you see right here where the park is,

this is your greenway streetcape. The greenway actually extends all the way down here. So you're going to keep walking on that greenway all the way down. So, you want to keep the greenway on that same side of the road instead of having people think, "Well, maybe I'll just go all the way to here and then have to cross the street to get back on the greenway." Where if they're going to use the greenway all the way down, they can walk all the way down one side. Sure. The greenway. Thanks. Yeah, Brad,

that does make sense. I I get your question. If you saw the greenway master plan, you probably put your eyes on it. It does tend to be a linear one side of the street all the way through and through green storm water facilities and all of that flood plane. So my and this is not a new question. I talked to Max and Alex. Brig, you probably heard about the question. One of the Let me back up. We have something on paper now. So it's enforceable, but I think we've all agreed and we've seen this in practice. It's it's too wide. Steve, you you did some good work on sort of that. It's it's a very large setback uh from buildings that almost feels cavernous. So So I appreciate you guys going back to the table and and right sizing some of these public improvements that a private developer would be required to make. I still have two questions. One is um uh we're asking them to put trees uh and street lights in the public rideway. Correct. and we haven't yet gotten permission from the state that that's allowable. So, I' I'd like some conversation about that either tonight or later. I I'd be fine to to to move this to another agenda. Again, I'm okay to approve it because it's an improvement of where we are today. It's it's not 100% where I'm comfortable with it yet because I've got two questions. The first one is that

yeah, developers are asking, you want me to put trees and setbacks and street lights here? Will the state allow this? And my answer is I have no idea. So what would you say? So I did reach out to Destination by Design and our NC DOT uh contact who looked over this. Our Destination by Design contact did say that they did coordinate with NC DOT at the time. He didn't have exact examples for me just yet. I know that NC and Kevin might be of help here. NC DOT determines how far trees can be planted based on speed limit size.

Um so we just don't have those exact measurements right now. If that did become a problem, what I would see is that um stamped concrete strip maybe extending a little bit wider and then having the trees be on the edge of the stamped concrete strip and the multi-use path to give us that extra Yeah. which illustrates sort of the point is is we don't quite have right

an agreement from the state that in this small geography what would it take for them to approve trees in the middle of a six foot uh stamp concrete with street light poles so that we could literally just say this is what we want you to do and can I do this by the state yeah certainly we've already gotten their sign off that's all I would ask and I don't think that's contingent upon approving this is contingent on that because we've already got a policy that I would say is bad, but that's not a that's too strong of a word for what I'm it's bad in that sense. It doesn't answer that question. Yes.

So, if we want to move this forward based on that, it's an improvement. We've taken a step better, but I still think we need to answer that question pretty quickly. We've got two projects now that are asking that question. Uh the second one is about cost. I' I've asked staff to kind of provide an estimate of what what would this cost the incremental cost above a typical sidewalk outside of the town center. I don't know that we have the answer yet. I wouldn't expect it to be here tonight. But to me, that's that's interesting information to have. Not that it would color whether or not we do streetscape in the town center of this nature because you've replaced pavers with stamped concrete. That's a savings to the developing community. I appreciate that. Um but it might give us some good information as we think about other things. For instance, um in our town center, there's a public benefit that the developer probably that probably won't realize, right? We're asking for these things there. Uh they're beautifification in some ways or things that that will be more public purpose. Uh it's it's probably a conversation to be had about um is it appropriate for the town to match u up to $10,000 or 20,000 on something like this if it becomes such an expense that we're going to get a lot of land owners that say I just can't do it. So I'd like that answer too. So again, that if we want to approve it, I'm fine because it's a step in the a right direction, but I still think there are some questions to answer about that. That's all I had and I appreciate you.

Thank you. My first thought in hearing that is is wondering whether it's asking NC DOT is like asking a lawyer and the answer is it depends. And would you get that on any project that would you get a unanimous answer to say in the future we'll agree to all of these things without knowing what a site plan even looks like or will the answer be we have to wait and see?

It's a good question. I I think that that a town policy in a limited geography, we're talking not a 100 acres here, I don't think, uh, right in our quote town center, probably could get a an answer to the form, right? the form of can a tree be in the setback or excuse me, can a tree be in the public rideway down where I live, the couple projects we've done and maybe up on the north end of town, all of the trees have to be past the sidewalk and into the private ownership out of the state's rideway. Obviously, that doesn't work here. This is this is the reverse of that. It's better from a streetscape perspective, but I think that that's a question we should at least ask and see if we can't get a an adopted state policy on. Well, what would it take? Do does that mean we need to start maintaining those roads? If that's the case, we probably shouldn't do that. But if it's simply like, oh, that fits. It's a town center. That makes good sense for a town center. Slow the speeds, build development to the streets, people walking, we want that. I would hope we could at least get an answer that's that's applicable for our town center.

And I can tell you the the buildings that I work in downtown, I mean, they they have trees. I mean, very similar to this layout currently, right in the tree wells, right offside the curb. Yeah. Yeah. I mean I mean it practically looks exactly like this here. Yeah. Most small town downtowns do that. I think that's the that's the point. It's something that's been done elsewhere. I think it's could be a simple meeting or two and a couple of emails back and forth to get an approval. That's all I'm asking for for sure. Again, it doesn't doesn't mean we shouldn't approve it tonight if everybody's comfortable. Yeah. Tony, Erin, it doesn't say public comments, but I assume that's the case. We have public comments if there are any.

Yes. So, you can just open and close at the same time if no one signed up. Well, I opened the public hearing a bit ago. Now, I'm going to ask for public comments. Could you just restate you open the public hearing again just to clarify? I did. I will. I will open the public hearing again. Anybody from the public have any comments on this issue? If not, then we will close the public hearing and council deliberation and and how votes the council. Yeah. I would just ask before we vote to approve, I'd like to just see staff come back in another meeting with an answer about the cost in the state's approval. I just think it makes it's a cleaner bill, so to speak, if we do it that way.

Are you asking to table it? I'll make a motion to table it until such time as those questions are answered. Second. All in favor? I tableabling tabled. Great. Thank you. Thanks, Bri. Yeah. Thank you very much. Thanks, Bri. just to say it out loud. I mean, there was a couple of requested changes, so we'll include that in there before it comes back. Do you want me to state them out loud? Yeah, I think there was um estimate should come from an engineering that should be put in there. Mhm. And then I thought there was one more

I wanted a co I wanted to see a cost estimate of how much this would cost for a typical streetscape to be put in and NC DOT approvals for trees and street lights within the right of way. Okay. All right. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Thanks. Thank you. And don't leave. I am still here up to discuss text amendment 26.01.03 fence updates. Yes. So, um I'll open the public hearing and

you got to get really close and uh and I will have information from Bridge again.

Thank you. As mayor stated, this is text amendment TX260103 for an update to our fence ordinance. This this amendment aims to improve clarity, consistency, and the enforcability of fence regulations currently outlined in article 2.13-2. We had a planning board meeting for this text amendment on February 17th as well. And tonight is the town council public hearing. Just some background, this amendment is being proposed because we have seen an increase in permit applications for fences, especially fences on corner lots. The standards that we currently have for these lots have been difficult to interpret consistently. Just some background, I also have about five applications for fences that are open right now that are four corner lots that are waiting on this text amendment for a request of six feet, which we are proposing. Here are the specifics for reference here. Uh for article 2.13-2, you don't see letter A. It is just states that permits are required to build a fence. There is no change there. Letter B clarifies fence appearance and material regulations like no chain link, vinyl coated chain link, or similar materials. Letter C and D.

Wait, wait, wait. Back to that again. Maybe I misread that earlier. No, you're good. So B, oh, I misheard what you said. I'm I'm good. Go ahead. Sorry. Okay, no problem. Yeah.

Letters C and D are clarifying height regulations for fences located in front yards. And we're also adding a figure that further clarifies the location and height of these. So if you see this red line here, anything in front of that red line cannot exceed 5 ft, which is not a change from our current ordinance. This is just clarifying that with language and the figure. Letter F includes a change to allow fences in sideyards that a butter street or run along a street to be a maximum of 6 ft. This is a change from our previous ordinance that only allows these fences to be 5t in height. And we're also adding a figure here that shows the location of these fences and their height requirements. So again, we have this front area that cannot exceed 5 ft and then this sideyard that runs along a street cannot exceed 6 f feet in this area.

I have a question on this one here. Yes. Um I know that uh our police staff are uh very familiar with at least a couple of dogs in our neighborhood. And I know that at least in our neighborhood when people are putting up a fence, usually it is for some type of pet type scenario. And I know at least one of these dogs can stand at a standstill and pop right over a six-foot fence. So my my question is is there any variance available for the six-foot? No, because that would not be a land use issue. So variances are for more land use issues and a dog would be more police

issue, not a land use issue. So I guess my question here is is that if you have a corner lot, you can't have a dog that jumps over six feet. Is that what we're saying?

I suppose um it's just it's not a land use issue. That would be a personal property issue, I suppose. I I think that the reason why I'm asking this is that this has come up before multiple times where the people have said we'll build a larger fence but the town won't let us. And so I I think it's something that needs to be addressed because I mean you got police saying, "Hey, we can't do anything because and the people that own the dog want to do something, but the town won't let them." And so it's kind of a catch 22 of our own creation. So I think that there needs to be some way that they can come back to us and offer if it needs to be a 7 foot or 8ft fence. And I wouldn't bring it up if it hadn't been a problem in the past.

I'm not sure of a process planning and zoning can do for that. Um, if we don't allow it, it I don't think we would be allowed to do a variance in that case because again, it's not a land use issue. So, I don't think we have a process that they could go through to change that other than a text amendment for the entire town as it is.

Okay. So, so I'm gonna be reluctant to approve this simply because I know that this is going to cause a problem because it's already a problem. And so, um, so I think that would be something we need to fix before we would implement this. Is the is the case against that just to say that if you own a dog that jumps very high to put it on a lead in the backyard so that it can't jump over the fence because then you're opening the door to a a litany of inongruous fences. That would look weird cuz what if I want to build a 14t high fence on the side of my yard and a 5ft fence in the front? Well, I think I think you're going to get that anyway because the way that this is read, like you can put a six foot fence on one side and put a 10ft fence on the back and the other side.

I mean, if you flip to the next page here, you would be allowed to put a an up to an 8ft fence here. You wouldn't be allowed to put anything past this red line. So this is just an example for you of how that step up transition would look on the side from 5T to six foot and it would look similar a little taller from uh 6T to 8 ft. Yes. So most of the fence permits that I have gotten just for reference um if they're putting that 6 foot here they're putting a sixt here as well and here. They're not usually doing an 8 foot here. they're gonna keep it consistent around

and it doesn't bother me as long as there's a way that somebody could come here and go I really need to do it this way and get some type of variance for it. What I don't want to do is again create a situation where we're we are creating our own worst enemy, right? We can't do that because of the rules that we put in place. And so that that's just my thought is I mean I'm not saying it's impossible. So, you've got one one or two cases of a dog that jumps over a 5ft fence that's driving sort of this conversation. Now,

I I know for a fact that in in Carrie Greens, the police have been called several times to a dog that is I've seen the dog. It's very vicious. They have a six-foot fence already, and that dog will pop right over that fence like it's it doesn't even have to run. and it just boop right over that fence. What size fence are you suggesting? I'm just saying that we allow somebody to be able to come back and get a fence permit that's higher if that's if six foot's not going to be So if their fence is if a dog already jumps over, what size fence do they have in place now? They don't I mean it's Oh, it's six foot. It's six foot

and it's jumping right over right over it. What level of responsibility does the dog owner have to restrain their dog versus asking for the town to drop a rule? I think that I mean right now it your the only option is is for that person to have that dog tied in the backyard. I mean they can't just let them run in their backyard. So just for your reference as well, we currently only allow five feet here. So we are raising it to six feet. We're only allowing five feet here and here.

Okay. All right. I'm just saying I think that this will eventually not saying I have a problem with it. I just think that there should be some way of getting some type of variance in it if somebody needs it. But and I know that another text amendment. Okay. Yeah. Okay. All right. And they could come and request that text amendment just like we've done before. That would be very specific. The council can the council can

Okay. Greg, would you have know how many lots in town um have fences that are in excess of 5 foot that that need to be changed or if they fell they wouldn't be able to put them back up? Is there a So I don't have an exact estimate, but I can tell you that we've had over seven, eight in the past year, half a year um that code enforcement has found that has been higher than 5T along these uh side streets on a corner lot. And all of them have only been 6 ft which is uh one of the reasons that we chose 6t as well as just some of our research for other surrounding municipalities. Okay. Similar to ours.

Okay. So that that works for me. I mean as long as there's a pathway that works. Yes. So, as I said, this is just an example of what it could look like on a corner lot of that 5 foot to six foot transition. Does anybody have a current fence that's built out of compliance that would have to be torn down and rebuilt because of this? There are current fences that are out of compliance that if this passed, they would be in compliance. So, there would be in compliance. This will be helpful to those who are out. Correct. Correct. There's I don't know of any that would have to tear down um their fences. Okay. Thank you.

Yeah.

So, planning board recommended approval for this text amendment on February 17th. Staff also recommends approval of TX260103 as it clarifies existing standards within our ordinance while also improving clarity and consistency with new figures. And again, these changes align with common practice in surrounding municipalities. Any other questions for me? Um, a lot of this I think started, I don't know, maybe six months ago when somebody in my neighborhood got cited because he was replacing a piece of his fence and he's calling me and I'm like, you know, well, because he got approval from the n our HOA,

but he didn't and I didn't know either that needed to get approval from the town. Correct. and I got a letter saying I got to do that. But anyway, um I'm just wondering about the HOA. I I'm pretty sure that our HOA is stronger, more stringent, and I'm guessing that most of them are. Yes. But I don't know what the criteria is. Do you are you familiar with

I don't know exactly what each HOA requires, but whoever is stricter would most likely you would have to follow those rules. So for us, as long as say you're building that um fence in that front yard, as long as it's not doesn't exceed 5T, we are going to approve it. But then it's up to your HOA um whatever their requirements are that they also approve those. Right. Okay. So, whatever is stricter usually. Mayor, I'll make a motion if y'all are ready. No. No. Are there any public comments from the U anybody here? I don't have any experience in this

if you're uh wanting to make a public comment to the Hi, Brad. Hey, thank you. Um I would Oh, Brad. uh public comments, your name and address. And thank you. By the way, he's on our Shannamara HOA board. He probably has some experience with

Brad Ray 909 Bailey Court. I guess I would land where Mike got to on this fence issue, no matter the fence, no matter the size, uh does the owner not have some responsibility? Because I heard your comments, Stephen. This is a very vicious, not vicious, but very vicious. Are we harboring a potential issue of someone getting mauled? I like your point. You you just popped up an even a bigger can of worms because you it doesn't it could be the a Satan hell hound unless he actually bites somebody, you can't do anything about it. So So I mean

but we don't have to let him continue to get out, right? I mean just just and I don't have a dog in this fight. pardon the pun. However, however, if if my grandson was around um he, you know, it would be a different story. And we have to have we have to we can't just change every rule. I'm looking at you. I'm sorry. I should be looking here. We can't just change every rule. We got to have the public's got to have some responsibility, right? I I purely understand that there. I'm just taking previous example of of taking in just making sure it shouldn't be a dialogue back and forth though, Stephen. I agree. You know that.

I agree. I And you know, I don't like that role. I think we should have dialogue. But I kind of did that. I just I think it's important that the public has some responsibility in this. And if I had a dog and it was deemed very vicious, I would have some responsibility. Yes, you would. Thank you. Thank Well, and and to give you a perfect example, you gave a hypothetical about your grandson. Uh, but Mr. Ray's son does live next door to me and his grandson is out in the driveway and I do have a dog that likes to attack people and I don't let him out unless he's on a leash. He's the mean one. We have a nice one, too. But, but I do bear the onus on that because I know he'll go and bite somebody.

Yeah. I mean, I I I completely agree with you. It's just that I also know the history of this scenario, so I'm trying to That's one thing. It's also one other thing if that dog did get across the fence and hurt a child. All right, I'm going to close public comments. Council, how do you do you want to proceed or how do you want to proceed? I want to make a motion to approve um yes, I'll make a motion to prove text amendment 26.01.03 03 um the fence update and find it's reasonable and consistent with our rules. I can't read that but

include the zoom in. That's what I just tried to do. Um hold on. Sorry. Very feudal way. I can't read all that but um you don't have to read it all. Just there it is. Um sorry. That's all right. There we go. uh and that that it's reasonably consistent with our comp land use plan adopted 2017 supports the goals of promoting quality development insurance compliance with state land use regulations etc. That was very so well said that I'd like to second it. Mr. Mayor, thank you. All in favor? I. That's unanimous. Thank you, Bridge. Thank you.

That passes. Uh Max gets his turn at TX26.02.01 resubmittal waiting period the state statute amendment. Hey Max, why did Bridge get the hard ones and you got the soft? Yeah. So Bridge is working on those for quite a while. We were going to bring that back in December, both of those. Um but as you know the election and some certain resonings kind of delayed us. Okay. Um, so thanks Bridge for I know it's all bridge day. Um, I'm going to open the public hearing and hear from Max.

Okay. So I don't presentation, but I did write a memo. So this is 26 TX1 or 0201 for the resubmitt waiting period. Um, so this is an amendment to section 5.3-4 which is named waiting period for subsequent applications. Um, and this is in our development ordinance and the mandatory it's requiring any development that's denied to wait four months. But under 160D state statute session law uh 2020 2025-94 House Bill 926 section 11 eliminated the authority for local governments to impose a mandatory waiting period. So, for example, if a conditional zoning or reszoning was denied, they could submit the next day as long as they filed the correct application and fees and they would have to go through the they would could go through the exact process again.

So, we're required to do this. So, even if we don't adopt this, we have to follow state statutes regardless. So, we should adopt it. So, I can make a motion if you're ready to close here. Yep. Max, you okay with that? Yeah, sure. State law. What the heck? Uh, public comments. Anyone from the uh here that wants All right, I will close the public hearing and uh how's it go, council? Mayor, I'll make I don't want to make all the motion. All right, Mike, make one. Go ahead. Look, well, I I don't like it. I don't like that the state did this, but they did. Um I know we don't have a choice. I I know. So, how's we can I I let you see the amendment.

It doesn't limit us, though. I mean, they will reapply. we could redeny if that's what we did. So, it's just a it's a procedural thing. So, that's my my only question, Max, is with uh item C, I'm I'm assuming that um if they're reprocessed, that means that the fee schedule starts over again, too, and they have to pay what they paid the first time. They would be required to submit a full application, which includes the fee. Okay. Which may or may not have increased in the interim. Correct. Yes. So, I would like to make a motion to approve uh TX26.02 02.01 and find that it is uh consistent and reasonable with the am I going with state statute there? Comprehensive plan and state statute.

State statute and comprehensive land use plan of the town. Second. All in favor? I unanimous. Thank you all. Thank you, Max. Don't go anywhere. Max is next up for item um six TX26.02. 02.02 annexation and reszoning concurrent presentation and vote.

Hey, yes. Thanks. So, this is TX260202 and this text amendment is adding language clarifying when a conditional resoning um and an annexation can be voted on. So, for example, under state statute 160D 204, you can already do this, and I think we could already do this per our ordinance anyways, but we're adding the clarifying language to our our development ordinance so that it's clear and procedural so that we can explain this to developers. So, I added in 5.3-3 review by Stallings Town Council when a zoning map amendment involves a property proposed for annexation, the town council may conduct the public hearings for annexation and the zoning uh map amendment at the same meeting and may take action on both matters concurrently. And then any approval of the zoning map amendment shall be contingent upon the adoption and effective date of the annexation ordinance and have the same effect in accordance with 160D. So in for an example if a annexation was proposed on the agenda and then the next meeting next item was a conditional zoning you could then hear the conditional zoning and make a vote on the annexation and conditional zoning at the same time. So you don't have to go through annexation vote then conditional zoning vote. You could just

it would be one motion. Yep. Yep. Clears up the awkwardness we've seen before. So yeah, that goes and then the planning board did recommend approval of this and we as staff also agree and this is something you could already do. We're just adding the language to clarify. Y I recommend I um move that close. Um we need to open the public hearing. Anybody from the audience want to speak on this issue? Seeing none, we'll close the public hearing now. council. I can go. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, it's your turn.

Um I move that we um approve the uh planning department's recommendation regarding annexation and resoning concurrent uh TX26.02.02.

All right, we have a motion. Are we second? Second. Well, does she need to add anything to that motion? You can do that as a second motion. Can we All right. You want to amend your motion to just say amend your motion to include the reason statement of consistency and reasonableness and including in my motion is the statement of consistency and reasonleness. Do we have that? I don't second. Who seconded the first the original? No, I think I did. Brad, I'll second. Okay with a second it. Yeah, I'm completely amended that. Yeah.

All right. Uh All right. So, we've got both the annexation and the statement of consistency. Second, first and seconded. All in favor? I I unanimous. That passes. Thank you, Max. Next up, Aaron giving us overview of the communications. Hi guys. It's nice to see you from this side. Do we look different?

I usually see the side of your faces, so that's pretty cool. So, good evening. Um, happy to be here. Um, tonight per council direction, we are coming to you with what we do in the town as far as communications is concerned. And then that way you guys can give us feedback. Um, we're not asking for a decision tonight. You guys can think about it. let us know what you'd like to see differently, what you'd like to include, what you'd like to add, etc. But right now, we're just giving you an overview of what we currently do so that you can really understand all the different parts. Okay? So, we're going to give you what we have in total as far as tools for communication. The first one is the website. We're going to call this our library. Our website houses all of our information for every department. Um, I'm going to use planning and zoning for an example. You can go on there and find information almost about any case about any types of permits, about what they require. You have on there council minutes, council um, agendas. It is very lengthy. It has a long shelf life and it is really a resource for any area. Um, anybody in my generation or older, think of it as the encyclopedia that we used to go to on the shelf. If you're younger than me, forget that. Forget I said that. Um, but anyway, this is our library and it houses everything that we do here at the town. Another form that we have is social media. It is an instant type of communication. It is timesensitive often. Um, it has short bites and it is really for the masses who choose to tune in. If you choose to get your information via social media, we have that available for you. Another type that we have is direct email. Direct email is also instant. Um, but most of the time the direct emails

that we send to the masses are based on statute. Um, we are told that we have to do some things via email if people have asked for those emails. against it's it's a subscriberbased form of communication because they have to tell us they want that communication in that form. We also have a blog um and the blog that we have is instant as far as the delivery is concerned because we do share that there's a new blog post via social media and it is on our website but those are short educational bites about the town or about government in general. Um, I'll give you one that is usually really popular is why is my zip code not in stallings? Why is my address not in stallings? Well, we have explained that on our blog. So, these areformational pieces um just just to help the citizens of our town learn more about our town and understand why we do some things the way we do. And then we also have legal ads and snail mail. These are also based on statutes. These meet or exceed statutory requirements. But what I want you to realize about all of these different avenues is that all of them direct you to the website. They direct you to our library for the complete source of information. And that is the purpose for all of them. So you can get the complete picture if you choose to go there. So we're going to dive a little bit more into social media. We've already given you a little bit of what it is. So now we're going to show you how we use it. There are three different types of departments who administer pages for social media. and they have different intents. First, we have the administrative social media sites. Those are more formal in feel. They really talk about um special service changes or special services that we offer. Great example is it's snowing, the town hall is closed or it's snowing so your garbage is going to be delayed. Okay, those are the more formal professional feel that we have for those social media

pages. Um, also anything that you do as a council as far as as far as your meetings are concerned, those agendas are told there that, hey, they've been posted. Go look at the agenda on the website. We also have social media pages for our parks and recreation program. Always the favorite. These are more light and fun in feel. These are about our programs, our fun events, great pictures of our community, all the fun stuff. So people who want to see all that, they have a choice to tune in, if you will, to the parks and recreation social media platforms. We also have the police social media platforms. Those are more about community relations. They're about safety. They're about traffic. Anything that is affecting us um or any emergency type situations, the PD will put on their social media platforms. We have direct email and as we mentioned before um people have to tell us they want to subscribe to that and we do that um via our website. But what we send dur via direct email are your master meeting calendar changes or additions when you have special meetings we have to notice those. We've you've heard me say the sunshine list. The sunshine list is an email notification list that is required by state statute. So anytimes you guys have different meetings or special meetings, those are advertised in that way. Your regular council agendas are advertised via email to those who would like it. And also any special services. Um for instance, when we do bulk pickup, again, you have a garbage service change, something like that. We've mentioned the blog and how it's more short educational bites. Um, I'm glad so much of the public is here tonight. In case you don't know, that blog is called the Stalling Source and it is short educational historical bites and they have a longer shelf life um because they really just kind of give

you some facts, some things that go on in our town or some reasons or some history behind our town. And then we mentioned the legal ads and the snail mail. Those again are required by state statute that we advertise certain things in the newspaper. Um I want to let you guys know for those of you who are newer on our council, we use the Monroe Enquir Journal. Why? Why do we use the Monroe Enquir Journal? Because it's cheaper than the Charlotte Observer substantially. So, and it meets the statutory requirement of being in a local newspaper of local circulation. So that is why we use the Monroe Enquir Journal for our legal ads. And when I say a legal ad, what do I mean? When we do an annexation, it has to have the the all of the measurements of that parcel and that has to be spelled out in the legal ad. Um, when we do our budget adoption, we have to say in a newspaper that we are having a budget public hearing. Um, there are many things that planning and zoning have to put in a legal ad in a newspaper. And then I listed code enforcement violations because those are things that we have to send through snail mail. Okay, those types of notices or violations have to go directly to that individual's home via via mail. And then of course the website, the library. I know you guys know what's on it, but I just wanted to reiterate that is council minutes, council agendas, council audio or video of our meetings, projects, all contact information for staff and council, complete calendar of meetings, events, programs, and in addition on the front page of our website, it also every time we post on social media, those are also scrolled on the homepage of our website. So it is truly our library and

everything that we're doing and it is capturing all of that. So that is all of the different avenues that we have for communications and the and a brief snippet on how we use each of those avenues. Now we are happy to hear suggestions. We would love to hear what you would like to add. You don't have to do that this evening. You can if you want. Happy to answer any questions. But this was just so you can understand how right now currently we are organizing the information that we have and what how we are using it and what we're doing with it. Thank you. Now each department questions

does does their own um like the notifying neighbors when there's a a subdivision. So for planning and zoning their the way they do their their communications is actually going to come back to you with MAX and MAC in June. But to short answer for your question, yes, absolutely. Things that that the planning department has to do that comes out of the planning department. Okay. And so if we hired a new I forgot the title, uh PI, a public information officer. Okay. that person would be doing all of these different things that you're talking about.

Well, that is something we would have to coordinate with the planning department and we would have to narrow down their scope of work. That would TBD to be determined. I didn't know we had a blog. Well, there you go. Congratulations. You get to go read it tonight. Okay.

One of the um you know notices that um stands out to me is is as Mr. Keller mentioned earlier during public comment was about and my question is is whether we've explored or could explore um expanding the radius of any zoting items that require mail to be sent out to beyond 500 ft. uh and whether that's 1,000 ft or if there's any subdivision that is touched by that, even if it's one home, that we hit more homes in those subdivisions because I know if there was something that was impacting my my home or my subdivision, I wouldn't want to have to find out on Facebook and then realize, well, this process is pretty far down the road. So, is that something that we have explored?

Um, it is something that I know this this body has talked about before. However, and I I don't mean to just hit the ball down the court, but Max and Mccarly, our planning attorney, are going to come to the council in June with their particular communications aspects and that would be addressed then is the radius for those zoning notices. Thanks.

And then um just this is this is a topic that given my my day job and the way that I receive information really informs the way that that helps me do my job. And so I've had conversations with Alex and with Erin and just for the visibility of everybody is that I feel like the most important thing that we can do to have people expect from us on a regular basis is communication about what's happening in a way that is beyond a statutory level to say okay well here are the meeting here the here's the meeting agenda 2 weeks later after we've approved the minutes here are the meeting minutes. But in the interim, yes, you could go back, you could listen to the recording, you could watch the video, but people have lives to lead that to sit there for two or three hours given the length of some of the meetings. Um, and you know, if your choice is to watch a Seinfeld rerun and or watch a town council meeting, I know which one I'm picking. Um, so I I don't expect anybody to sit there and do that. Um, so you know, I I've looked at surrounding m municipalities and what they have done. And so like for for some examples, there's one that I pulled up today of um Waxaw on on their town website from uh 12 days ago. They had a construction project going on. It's a blog post with a screenshot of what they've done, subheaders, what's being done, why this project matters, what to expect. Um and and you know, the counterpoint to that is you can do those things. We've just had uh uh several subdivisions impacted by a reservicing project where we did put out a lot of notice and and still have questions about that, which is understandable that you might get a flyer on your door, it might blow away, you might throw it in the garbage, whatever the case might be. But um Indian Trail on the other hand, um you know, on their Facebook pages, we'll put on were you unable to attend the town council meeting last night? Well, we've got 18,000 people and we don't have 18,000 people in this room. And so obviously most people are not going to know what's going on in the meeting. that they put out here is what happened last night. This is from December 9th. Oath of office, appointments to boards, presentations, items discussed, managers report. So

that at least you could go back the next day and look at it and say, "Well, that was 2 minutes. I didn't have to sit there for 2 hours." And so um again, this is something that I've I've discussed with Alex and with Aaron. And um I'll let Aaron give the answer about the the workload capacity of it. Obviously, we're everybody uh has a lot on their plate here, but um that's my biggest question is what what's the next step that we can do? We're not going to be hiring uh a 20-year communications professional. It doesn't fit the needs of the town. Um but I think that we can do a better job of sharing what we're doing in every meeting. And so my question is um where does that fit in within the work capacity of the town? And and then I know we've discussed as a budget item as well um perhaps adding someone who might be able to uh share some of those responsibilities.

Yes. So just so the council knows, we just had this conversation two hours ago. So um what Alex and I chatted about was what we would do is we would take all of the council's suggestions or input and we'll come back to you at budget time with some options. And when I say at a budget meeting, that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be a budget item, okay? It's just we will categorize those interests and additions and let you know how we think we can best handle those. One other item too that I know um has been a question and like I' I've sat outside for some meetings too and I think this is in the budget this year is a revamp of the audio visual system as well because there are going to be future meetings where we have overflow capacity and unfortunately we have overhead speakers but these microphones don't connect to those overhead speakers.

Absolutely. So that is in your budget. Um we did get a estimate for that from a company. They came in and looked at everything that we have. So, that will be on the table for you guys to decide with budget. Great. Um, I've talked too much, Brad. You were going to ask a question and so I'll let you do that.

Thank you. You didn't talk too much. In fact, I you made great points. Cross some off my list. Um, uh, I think let me agree with Mike on sort of an overarching comment is that we we tend to are viewed we tend to be viewed by those who interact with us negatively as we can be trusted. We're working behind the scenes. Votes are decided well in advance of public comment and that's natural. That's how government tends to be viewed and it's offensive, but I get it. I feel the same way about some forms of government. Um I know this body we don't do those things generally, but it's hard to convince. One thing that would be more helpful in convincing those that say we don't like to communicate is to do what Mike said, go well well beyond the statutory limits. And I think we do. Um, some examples would be I I don't I know we have the sunshine list, uh, a state required list where you I can't find it. Uh, if I go to the website, uh, someone asked me to help me find out. I would say call Aaron. But if I go to Matthews Indian Trail on their homepage, it's pretty easy to determine where do you click to put in your email address.

I've been looking at ours for the last 20 minutes and I can't find it. Um, it's probably here somewhere, but it's not intuitive and I can't find it. Sure, we can make we can put that in a different spot.

Yeah, front and center. To me, that's the most important thing. Let folks know that we want to we want them to know they live in our town. Number one, and number two, that we want to overcommunicate. I'm okay with expanding the the the legal notices to whatever Mac and Max say for reasonzonings. Those are the ones where people care the most about the Wetstone Motel that gets a lot of public interest. I think at parks UNICE does a great job of of being fun and getting on the police. You do a great job. Um I would just like to see on our homepage if that's where everybody's being directed. Uh less big banner image of Alex in the playground, which is a great image. U but more of of the social media feed where I can see again I'm not a web designer. I don't claim to be, but but I've got to scroll down to find the

um the the anything the live feed from the from the social media that's at the bottom. I don't often scroll down. It should be at the top. Click here to sign up for the sunshine list. Call it something different. Stalling's information list. Something that's not state required. You do have to call it sunshine list. Okay. Yeah. I'm sorry.

Little things like that. And I don't have many suggestions. I don't know that we need a PIO. We're a small town. We got a lot of issues, but the budget for that seems to be excessive with our town size. I'm I'm open to that discussion, of course. Uh, and that I think that's the the two comments I'd make tonight or the few comments I make. I think I think I will echo the we use a lot of real estate on the website for things that hang around that probably I mean I'll say probably 30% of the website is our running list on the side that really has more to do with internals here at than probably communications externally and and and I often find that I have to dig several menus down to to to finally find the one thing that I want. So, I think those would be the two big things. I think also our meetings, like for the meeting tonight, for example,

I mean, it's only on this website at the point that the agenda is attached to it. So it some of the folks are asking two, three, four weeks when this meeting is going to happen, but it doesn't show up on the website. Um and and the one that I get asked the most out of everything, when is the next bulk pickup coming? Um so um those are quarterly,

I know, but that is the biggest question I get asked. Um, so I mean like like Brad was saying, it just feels like some of those things over time have gotten to be more popular than other things and maybe those things need to find themsel either one click away or on that main page. I think that's my biggest now all of all of our meetings are listed on the homepage um with the dates coming up. So we can talk offline about how to make that more prominent if you think people aren't finding the meetings. Yeah, I'll take it. Yeah, I'll take and give you something. Absolutely. Just let just let us know. Absolutely. Thank you for that.

And I I'll say it was a good starting point, too. Like I spent time today going between uh surrounding jurisdictions websites. I think two towns that do a good job, Matthews and Indian Trail, their websites look very similar. And right on, without even scrolling, there's six or seven little circular buttons right across the front. Now, we've got four squares that say facilities, reservations. They're rectangles. Actually, I did go to school permit, online bill pay, garbage and recycling, and report a public infrastructure concern where um if you go to to the town of Matthews website, there's, you know, seven little buttons across the front that I just think that newsletter, garbage and recycling, agenda and minutes, reporter concern, town calendar, parks and wreck, and so right there, it's like boom, here's all the things you're probably going to be looking for. Um, I just really like the presentation of that.

Absolutely. And given just just a little bit of background, those four buttons came out of a survey with that the citizens wanted to see on the front. So that's where those four buttons came from, but we can that that's not to say that we can't add more. Sure.

Yeah. Absolutely. And they the just to expand on what we were talking about earlier, the the crux of the conversation that we were having about our level of communications really is a a question of if we add someone to the town payroll is one, then we're increasing our budget, and two, how much of a communications need do we have versus what's the next best step for us to take as a town? because to bring in somebody full-time then we might say well that doesn't make sense because there's not enough story to be told necessarily. Um so so my question is uh for staff I think an assessment of the level of um current work capacity um and for Miss Nichols as as a town clerk and an assistant town manager you end up and correct me if I'm wrong here being a catch-all for a lot of things because you're not public works you're not uh planning you're not engineering so a lot of that does come on your shoulders so trying to understand of um you know even if we do take an incremental step forward is that something that um makes sense for the for the current workload of of the staff?

Sure. And just so everyone understands the history as well, we did at one point have a communication specialist. That person in that position left the town for another opportunity and that role was just not backfield. So that role went away and those duties were assumed. Yeah. And Erin, on top of that, obviously there's a lot of tools out there that help do these type of things, and I think you do most of this kind of manually. No, we do. We do. I actually have um software that I do for all the social media and everything that post on. Okay, that's what I want. Are you talking about AI? Well, I mean, no, not necessarily, but the there are

Yeah, I don't do that manually. Okay. And are those tools you feel like are doing a good job for? Absolutely. Okay. Okay. I mean, there have been places where we went in there and there was still people typing. Uh so yeah, I mean if you needed anything from us like that there that would make you more productive on this that that would be something else along with, you know,

Absolutely. And it may help you when you when you're looking at what you want versus what we do. Um, in your packet were the job descriptions for the PIOS for the neighboring towns that have been brought up this evening, Waxaw, Indian Trail, and Matthews. So you can see what that person is doing day in and day out. Um, so that you can really look to see, okay, what is it that you want out of that type of toolbox? and then we can see if that's something we can add now or if we would need additional support for that. All right, I appreciate your uh all the in-depth work you did for this course

uh informational session tonight and we'll certainly be talking about it in budget uh one of our budget meetings upcoming. Yes, Monday. Wow, that is meeting Monday. Thank you. All right, thank you very much. And and that notice is posted on the bulletin board outside of town hall, by the way. All right. Hey, that brings us up to adjournment. Motion to adjourn. Second. All in favor? I I All right. Thank you all. Thank you for attending. See you next at one point. His name is Oh, no.