City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to Brevard City Council regular meeting of August 3rd, 2026. It is great to see, I mean, we have a full house here. This is wonderful. We have all ages. I mean, young? I'm not quite sure. How about an age? How old are you? People ranging from age 11 to almost 100. So, it's a great span of our demographic, and it's so wonderful to see everybody here. As well as, I just want to welcome everyone that's watching us on the livestream. As we start, I want to introduce everyone that is sitting up here. And we have plenty of seats, folks. Just come on in and find a seat. But s

Luke, could you tell us a little bit about Glade Creek Baptist Church?

Well, we appreciate everything that you and your congregation do, and we are so glad to have Glade Creek Baptist Church as part of our community, looking after all of us. So thank you. Amen. All right, if everyone would stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. Attention, honor, pledge.

Council, you have the draft agenda. Are there any proposed changes to the draft agenda?

Any other proposed changes? Okay, Council, do I have a motion to approve the amended agenda? So moved. Do I have a second?

Opposed? The approved modified agenda is approved. Okay. The minutes. We have the draft minutes of the April 10, 2026 budget workshop. Are there any corrections or modifications to those minutes? Do I have a motion to approve those minutes?

Opposed? Those minutes are approved. We have the minutes of the July 20th, 2026 regular meeting. Are there any proposed changes or modifications to those minutes? Do I have a motion to approve those minutes?

Opposed? Those minutes are approved. All right. We're going to move right into awards and recognition. And we have a couple of very special things, actually three very special things that we are doing this evening. Now, the first thing I have is a proclamation. And this is a very special proclamation for a very special day. I'm not going to ask her to stand up here while I read it because it's actually sort of long. And Carolyn Lemon Winchester is going to celebrate her 100th birthday on August 9th. So she's just a little short of 300. And I want to recognize her, not just for reaching the age

Would you like to make any comments? It's your turn.

Thank you for joining your grandmother. Great-grandmother. Great-grandmother. Great-grandmother. Oh, what am I doing? I'm not done.

Well, that was certainly special. Wow, you don't get to do that very often. All right, now I have another really great award, and this is to recognize Howie Granite. Howie, stand me up here, please. And I am presenting to Howard a certificate of appreciation in recognition of dedicated service to the City of Brevard as a member of the Parks, Trails, and Recreation Committee from January 2020 to July of 2026. Howie, thank you very much. And I want to give you one of my coins. This is the mayor coin. And you get that for community service. Now, Howie, you know, a lot of people think that when yo

And I am turning it over to our city clerk who is going to administer the oath of office to police officer Joshua Norton.

all right well we will now move on to public comments All right, public comment. The public is invited to speak during public comment at this time on any topic unless it is a public hearing item on this agenda. Anyone who wants to speak must register with the city clerk, which is the sign-up list. When it is your turn, step to the podium in front of city council. State your name and address clearly. Limit comments to three minutes or less and avoid repetition. Direct comments to the full council, not to an individual council member or to staff. And I will give you a 30 second warning when you

Thank you, Mr. Offen. Our next speaker is Rodney Locks.

Thank you, Mr. Locks. Our next speaker is Doug Powell.

Thank you, Mr. Powell. Our next speaker is James Veal.

Thank you, Mr. Beale. Our next speaker is Adam Perkins.

Thank you, Mr. Perkins. All right, and that is everybody that has signed up for public comment. All right, we are going to move on to special presentations. And we have the Cassius Valley Road Sewer Extension presentation. Mr. Manager, is that you?

Okay, Mr. Manager, so you are actually looking for a vote tonight from council to adopt the funding strategy as presented.

Okay. Do I have a motion to approve the funding strategy as presented?

Okay. Can I ask a clarifying question on that? So the future budget amendments, could we alter the funding strategy at that point? Yes. Okay. So the motion tonight is really just the total dollar amount?

All right. With that additional information, do I have a motion to approve and adopt this funding strategy?

We'll open it up for additional questions and comments. Mr. Baker.

Yeah, this project on Cassius Valley Road has been discussed for a while at the housing committee level. It's a great project. The home ownership, we've got several things going on in the city of Brevard right now with affordable housing, We've really hit the gas on all those efforts over the last sort of five or six years. And we've got several different things happening, you know, affordable housing that is for rent, like Fairhaven Meadows, which is being built by the roundabout and should be open by the end of the year. But this is another, goes hand in hand in that with actual home ownersh

And was the intent of that grant from the county's perspective to actually build the entire section from wherever it needed to go to the development?

Okay. And just for the public, we discussed this again at the Housing Committee, but I remember we talked about the Housing Assistance Corporation already had a list compiled of folks that were interested in the program. Is that correct?

Right and I think that's important to note that you know we're talking about 26 homes here and we already have what three almost three times that on the on the wait list and the other thing I'll note on that is that while you know fair housing practices certainly prevent you from restricting who can sign on to a wait list like that. You can't say only people that live in Brevard are allowed to be on this wait list. Housing Assistance Corporation does a great job of I guess for lack of a better word, geo-targeting where they're advertising that wait list. So they've done a lot of outreach in Ro

Um, to clarify on Aaron's question, if we need to kind of look at where these funding sources are coming from, we're not making that specific decision tonight. We're more proving that we need the 88

Yes, sir. That's correct. So I will say that the maintenance budget line, I think that is a large number. I am confident that money is allocated.

Outside of that, I think this is a fantastic opportunity for our community. I mean, this is huge for home ownership for people who would never have a chance to even, especially now, consider home ownership. So it's an exciting project. That's all I have.

Yeah, I think this is a great, great move. Excuse me, I'm losing my voice, but I'll... I'll carry on here, but one of the things that I have observed is the lack of development from outside sources, developers in Transylvania County and our area, and bringing these folks in to do this project, to see them succeed, I would hope would give an example to others that they can succeed as well and would hopefully open some doors to see more development of affordable housing of this type in Transylvania County and Brevard. So I think it's great. Mr. Lytle?

Again, I'd echo it's a great program. The numbers that I've gotten are that there's 25 applications that were submitted from folks who are already in Rosenwald. Five of those have gone through the complete process and only one has ended up on the list in terms of being eligible. Again, I know that there are rules surrounding not being able to restrict who can take advantage. My first question is, and you may not be able to answer this now, I'll ask the city attorney, if we were to allocate dollars from a specific fund, is there any wiggle room in that to be able to allocate a certain number of

Okay. So, you know, that's one of my overall concerns apart from this is that, you know, we want to help everyone, but, you know, our – you know, our job is to help the folks in Brevard. Again, we can only do what we can do in terms of what law requires. I'll ask a question a third time to just make sure. So tonight we are not approving where these funds come from. We are approving that we are willing to approve the $88,000 only.

Okay, so that, yeah, that's significant. That's great to know. I mean, we've essentially have, in a way, earmarked help to folks that are currently enrolled. And I'll approve this tonight from my end with the understanding that there needs to be a later conversation about where the funds come from. Another question I have is, is the only thing that triggered this tonight the grant application? In other words, how long did we know we needed $88,000?

Okay, I mean, you know, these are, $88,000 may not sound like a lot of money, but these are big decisions. And as soon as we know or as soon as we can find out, which is two different things, as soon as we can find out where our budgets are, we should verify those as soon as possible because our budgets are so thin. So I would just give that feedback. Coming in tonight, You know, it is the 11th hour. $88,000 is a lot of money, and we spent hours talking about $25,000, let alone $88,000. I would have loved to have done this a month ago. So that's just the feedback that I have.

So when this comes back, I'll just clarify that my motion was to approve the $88,400, not where that funding would come from, with the understanding that that will come back as a budget amendment in two weeks. Can I just further clarify, that budget amendment, how will we see that in our agenda?

All right. There are no additional comments. I will call for a vote. All in favor? Opposed? Motion passes. All right. We will move on. to our consent and information. The following items are on the consent agenda. One, property tax releases of July 2026. Two, public safety committee meeting minutes June 22nd, 2026. Three, finance and human resources committee meeting minutes June 22nd, 2026. Four, finance and human resources committee meeting minutes July 14th, 2026. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda?

Opposed? Motion passes. Moving on to unfinished business. Our first item is the proposed amendment to the City of Brevard Unified Development Ordinance, Chapters 9 and 19, and the Code of Ordinances, Chapter 38, Site Triangle Regulations. And Erin Bland, our Assistant Planning Director, will present.

Council, do I have a motion to adopt the amendment as written?

Okay, we'll open for questions. Mr. Wise. Ms. Holder. Can you come back to me? Okay. Mr. Baker.

I just wanted to be clear. I know we asked last time, but I just want to be clear about what happens with a property that's non-conforming. You know, what is that exact process if they aren't able to conform to the new

Ms. Holder? No comment. All right. I'll call for a vote. All in favor?

All right. Moving on to our second item of unfinished business. Proposed amendments to the City of Brevard Unified Development Ordinance, Chapters 6, 17, and 19, and the Code of Ordinances, Chapter 38, Stormwater Management Development Regulations. And I believe Emily is going to present. Yes.

Thank you. Council, do I have a motion to adopt the amendment?

second yeah I'll just say what I said last time and say that I appreciate the the focus on on equity here and not punishing certain developments just because they might have the word multi multifamily in them and focusing instead on the actual footprint of the of the development itself and how much stormwater they would actually create. Just one question, I know that as a part of the state law that has passed, the same law that got rid of parking minimums statewide, there were some stormwater provisions in that. Does any of this overlap?

Okay, okay. Then I'll just say I'm looking forward to seeing the full stormwater plan. And as I've said before, particularly the recommendations on how we structure the fees to be sure that they are as equitable as our rules are. So that's all.

Once implemented, is there a plan for like an appeal process, hardship? No appeal process for anyone? For stormwater?

I'll just say that one thing that's really nice about this is it's pretty proactive, and it kind of rethinks about strategies moving forward that, you know, in the past we've historically kind of used an outdated way of dealing with stormwater, so this is actually a nice ordinance to grow into in the future.

All right, we have a motion and a second. All in favor? Opposed? Motion passes. All right, our third item of unfinished business is the proposed amendments to the City of Brevard Code of Ordinances, Chapter 42, Loitering, Trespassing, Public Intoxication, and Hours of Operation.

Thank you, Chief. all right i think we'll open this up for questions and discussion before i ask for a motion and we will start with Mr. Daniel.

I have a couple of questions. I understand your report very well. Thank you for that. I have some knowledge of some of the situations that you have encountered. I did mention at the last discussion that the Some of the city on properties are not listed here and I see they're still not listed here My only concern is not is that? The reassurance that our officers know what properties Are being affected.

Well, I think so, too. I think that's important. The other thing that I noticed is that, and it's also something I didn't mention before, but our bike paths. the greenways are not on this list. And also they're exempt from the firearms part of this ordinance. And I was curious about that.

Well, I mean, that's not really my question. That is actually exempt.

Can you go back to the slide with the percentages?

Yes. And so I believe it's, yeah, at the bottom, 9% of calls for service resulted in arrest for trespassing, intoxication. So I think you alluded to the fact that state law, in essence, gives you what you need to be able to enforce this area in terms of public intoxication.

And the same for trespassing, okay. My second question is, how will you distinguish between someone loitering and visiting or assembling? How does an officer distinguish the two?

And I just want to be clear, you know, when you say in front of the storefront, you mean on public sidewalk in front of storefront?

And that's the one thing that I want to make sure that we're clear on, and even if we can have a written policy on that, because that's the area that I see can be left up to interpretation. Okay. And so maybe if there's a dual, if there's like a criteria. Yeah, they're hanging out and they're doing this.

And so I wanted to say great for having the collection improvements. First thing that drove me crazy when you started off. and then the use of the bikes. What I would say lastly is I think it's very important that there's reporting. I'd like to see quarterly reporting if this were to pass, and also an annual review with a lot of detail. Again, some of the detail that you gave tonight, but over the course of each month, and that'll also, it would seem, That's that extra incentive to make sure that the data collection has to be right in order for you to do that, otherwise that's a nightmare.

And sorry, one more thing, you know, and lastly, both for public and myself, just to be very, very clear, with the change of the code, what is it, can you articulate what is it that this will allow you to do that you're not allowed to do today that would help Right, that would help officers.

I'm going to start with my dumbest question first. Can you just tell me what CAD stands for?

So thank you for the presentation. I talked to you earlier today because this can get confusing. I'm still very confused about the state and how they view law enforcement, but that's not our problem here, or we're trying to solve that problem. A couple things. One, for intoxication, I've heard a lot about the social district and why people are allowed to drink in the social district. That's a straw man argument. There are really strict rules around the social district and how you're allowed to consume alcohol, what you have to do, and so I think that is a, it's really a straw man. These are tw

Mrs. Mayor, I apologize, I have a follow-up just based on what he said before. Just one question, do you know

But do we know, like, of all the calls, how many people, you know, how many people repeat calls? Like, if there's 182 calls for service, is there 15 people that we're having to go out 182 times for?

excuse me let's let's have miss holders question answered this mayor I'd like to just say say one thing please thank you let's make sure that that us up here as a council we like to address just staff at the appropriate time yeah thank you yeah chief I'll be glad to

Yeah. First, just let me say, I think this might be a reoccurring theme as we deal with some other issues that are coming up, but that is that you can't have public safety without the trust of the public. And as Dean said, transparency and oversight um i think are critical so thank you for digging into those data issues and um you know i also want to say those quarterly reports that i suggested we implement at the last meeting at the committee level the public safety committee that is open to the public anybody can come to that that was not I brought it up because we were discussing this, but

Okay, and then I have a more specific question for our attorney on, let me find it here, 42-5. And section C, we're gonna get real in the weeds on some legal stuff here. So the first, everything before the comma, that which is it shall be unlawful for any person to habitually loaf or loiter on the streets do you want no I'm not going to do you understand the rest of that sentence to read in such a way as to obstruct is that second clause there does that apply to the first

Yeah, and I understand that. I think just increasing the penalty or creating a penalty in my mind you know increases the scrutiny on the language or should and so I think all along and I'm sorry because we've talked about this at the committee level and now we're getting into the weeds on it here but I all along I've been uncomfortable with the habitually loaf or loiter on the streets because of what you just said don't ask me to define that and that is opens us up and our officers up for potential liability.

And the reason I asked my original question about whether that second clause applies, because the second clause clarifies to obstruct or interfere with the free passage into or out of any public business or private property. That is either a yes or a no. You're either obstructing or you're not obstructing. but it's much more clear, habitually low for loiter. I don't, I can't. So if that second clause was, you know, applied to the first, I would be more comfortable with it. Or, and I, the other thing we could do is just strike that the first part altogether.

Okay. Well, maybe we'll, We'll get to that point when we have a motion. There's no motion. Whether the mayor is ready for a motion or not.

Yeah, I'm finished with my comment for now.

I'm just going to verify that you're finished. Yes, thank you. Any additional questions?

I would just like to address something that Mr. Wise said, which I happen to agree with. And I think Mr. Austin from the barbershop put it well a couple meetings ago, that calling this a homeless problem does a disservice to the homeless. This is people who are being disruptive and committing criminal behavior, and that's all it is. It has nothing to do with whether they're homeless or not. And I think that's been confused. I think there's some feeling that we are looking to deal with homelessness in this way. That's not what we're doing. We're dealing with disruptive or criminal behavior. And

Any other additional questions or comments before I call for a motion?

Okay, thank you. All right, Council, do I have a motion concerning the proposed amendment?

I've got one more question and then I will have a motion. Go ahead, Mr. Baker. Sorry, 42-5, Section C, the word congregate, does that have to be more than one person?

Okay, I'm going to read something to you and you tell me what you think it means. It shall be unlawful to loiter or congregate on the streets or sidewalks of the city in such a way as to obstruct or interfere with the free passage into or out of any public business or private property.

Would loiter be one person and congregate could be multiple? But the second clause applies as if you can't block the free passage.

Right. That's what I'm trying to get at is that the loitering is not just loitering.

All right. All right, council. Do I have a motion regarding this proposed amendment?

I'll make a motion that we approve the amendment as presented with the change of just section 42-5, removing in the title loitering generally and then amending section C to read it shall be unlawful to loiter or to congregate on the streets or sidewalks of the city in such a way as to obstruct or interfere with the free passage into or out of any public business or private property.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Baker. Do I have a second? Second. All right. All in favor? Do we want to have more discussion?

I know, but now we have something to talk about.

I just want to make just some more general comments and talk to the public about why I think this is so difficult and why we spent so much time on it. And that is that over the last 10 years or so, but really before that, we've all kind of witnessed in this country – this new sort of political project that recognizes and tries to make legitimate cruelty as a policy. And knowing everybody that's up here on the dais, I know that we are all incredibly sensitive to that and I personally reject that as a policy. Cruelty is not a policy and is not, certainly not a policy that I want anything to do w

Thank you, Mr. Baker. Does anyone else have any additional comments? Mr. Lytle? Mr. Daniel? Ms. Holder?

All right, we have a motion and a second. All in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. All right, we will take a five-minute break and then come back for new business.

All right, are we back on Becky? Yes. Okay. And everybody is back.

We have removed the MSD proposal, and so our first business is the letter of interest to the county regarding the old courthouse. And I will give council just a little background about this request. As we all know, the county is in the process of building the new courthouse. We expect them to actually start construction starting this fall with about a two year time frame to build the new courthouse out on Morris Road. They have recently really started looking and talking about what they plan to do with the old courthouse. The courthouse is the most iconic building in the county. It is the symb

Transmit. Thank you, good lawyer. This official letter to our Transylvania County Board of Commissioners concerning our interest in the courthouse building and interest in a feasibility study moving forward.

I'll open it for questions and comments.

Wise. So I moved to Brevard and you're gonna say I'm not local, but that's okay. I moved to Brevard in 2009 and this courthouse was being discussed then. And when I checked today, my calendar said 2026, still being discussed. And I think there's a really strong opportunity here for us with lots of caveats because I'm an architect and old buildings worry me a lot, especially this kind of age. But what I think is critical for our community is this has to be a civic building. It has to maintain a civic presence because it is the most important building in the county. So I'm really exciting if the

Yeah, as Councilman Wise said, this is our county's icon, and an icon for the city of Brevard as well. I truly believe this is one of the most important projects that we could endeavor upon over the next few years. This is where we recite the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, it's where we light the Christmas tree during the holidays. It's where our Memorial Day service is. I've attended protests there. I've attended vigils there when national events have brought people out to vigils. And it would be very hard to do any of those things in front of a hotel or an office building. I think

I'll just say that I echo all the comments. It's important to preserve the building, but I do want to make sure that we, after this, we do all due diligence. I think we have consensus about what we'd like to see, but for budget, for the public, we owe it to make sure that we have a side-by-side comparison of all options. So that's renovating, that's side by side with renovating this building, building a new building. All of those options need to be weighed together so that we make a decision in the end that's eyes wide open. Thanks.

Opposed? Motion passes. Moving on to our next item, a new business appointment of member to the Parks, Trails, and Recreation Committee. Who's presenting? Is that you, Mr. Lytle?

Yeah, I'll do that. So as part of the Finance Human Resource Committee, we reviewed applications for a citizen appointment on the Parks and Trails Committee. There were, in the end, there were three candidates. One who had... applied earlier without an opening and then expressed interest later on. We had Ms. Shawna Powell and Mr. Ryan Olsen, all are great applicants, but the committee recommends Shawna Powell to be to be appointed to the committee, mainly because a great educational background in parks and rec, owns a business as well that is in the industry, and also we think would bring fres

Council, do I have a motion concerning the draft resolution appointing a member to the Parks, Trails, and Recreation Committee?

I'll make a motion that we approve the resolution appointing Shanna Powell to the Parks, Trails, and Recreation Committee.

Ms. Powell's application is really impressive. I'm excited. I'm a co-chair of that committee.

Some sort of chair. It's been a long night. That's all. Thank you.

I think it's great that we can recognize Howie's service on this committee and appoint a new member at the same meeting. So excited to get started.

It looked like there were some very good applications here. I had three people for one position. That's Great for our committee recruitment, and I look forward to hearing from her work.

Opposed? Motion passes. All right, and that is the end of new business, and we are on remarks and future agenda considerations. And we will start with Mr. Lytle.

Thanks, and I'd echo Councilman Baker's comments about the new codes and unhoused. And I think that it's an issue and a crisis that has to be attacked from all ends. One of those is giving our law enforcement officers the ability to act in the moment. And the other will be putting those things in place to make sure that we give those persons help after the fact so that there's no repeat. We want to make sure that they've got somewhere to sleep, somewhere to congregate and be a part of the community here downtown. So I just wanted to echo that change of this vote tonight is in no way in no way

Yeah, I would like to address a vote that we took at our last meeting concerning the food trucks, and particularly the one in Jordan Street parking lot. I voted for that measure. I thought about that, and I think my comment was is we'll see how it works, and if it doesn't work, we'll we'll deal with it, but my concern is by the time you know that a food truck in the Jordan Street parking lot is gonna adversely affect one of the restaurants there, that restaurant could possibly be out of business. So I feel like we may, I feel like I voted for that without giving it full thought, so I would lik

Yeah, I just have one question, and it's a follow-up, Mr. Manager, to the HACC discussion. If we do not receive the grant, will we build that sewer regardless?

Okay. Thank you. And looking forward to talking about that more in a couple weeks.

I'm not going to try to follow that up. No comment.

Madam Clerk. Nothing for me, thanks. Mr. Manager.

Absolutely. You know, the Music Center is just one of the things that makes this community so special. And also what makes it so special are people like our two awardees today, you know, 100 years old. you know still giving back to this community being on committees and really working to make things better that is the type of community that brevard is caring about everybody regardless of their housing situation and doing everything we can within our power to help people when they need help that's brevard that is this city We also have a number of things going on this week. Our city also stays

We are looking forward to that dunk tank. So come. That's true. I do want to compliment both of your departments for doing that blood drive because it is such a critical shortage. And that friendly competition was a good way to do it. And the friendly competition to see who's going to raise as much money in the dunk tank. Are you going to keep track of what each person brings it? Okay, all right. Well, we are looking forward to tomorrow evening, that's for sure. And then my last reminder is that we have our fall prevention, in other words, falling down prevention, how to prevent falls, that ou

Good job, y'all. There will be no lowering tomorrow night.