City Council - Special Meeting

All right. Good morning. It is now 9:09 on the 23rd and there being a corner council, I hereby call our next legislative agenda meeting to order. Um, I'd like to first start off and welcome our distinguished guests. Senator Craraven, Senator Johnson, thank you so much for being here. Rest of council, thank y'all for being here today as well. Uh, Councilman McGee cannot unfortunately make it this morning. So, we are going to just go ahead and kick right off and I'm going to turn this over to our city manager Mark Watson to kind of intro start introducing our items here and if you have any questions, this is going to be an open discussion so feel free. Thank you.

Good morning. It's it's a pleasure to host everyone here at the Charlotte Monroe Executive Airport. This is the first time that we have ever used this facility in this manner, but uh I think everybody will agree it's pretty nice to be used.

But u we have a a number of things that we would like to cover with you this morning. Uh Senator Craraven and Senator Johnson. Uh, one, the first thing we want to do is to bring you up to speed on uh, a number of items where you have assisted the city of Monroe and we want to you to know how we're using the resources that you have provided to us. Um, and uh, so you you'll know what what's happening there and then Lisa Hollowell will come and cover the rest of city council's legislative agenda with you. So to start off with uh first and foremost I' I'd like to introduce the topic of uh our water supply. Uh everyone should know at this point that this part of the southern Piedmont of North Carolina is under a severe drought. The city of Monroe is actually under stage one water conservation which is all voluntary. It's more of public information, making people aware uh of of the the water shortage and try, you know, reminding them to be good stewards of the resource. Um we we go into stage one with 180 days worth of water remaining in the supply. Uh the good Lord has provided some rain between the time we went into stage one and now. So that it's kind of extended that stage one uh category. Um and uh that's kind of where we're at with with that at the present time. um one of the items that you both were uh very big uh help with in assisting the city of Monroe and that was to

acquire the uh stateowned property uh off of Sutherland Avenue um where the old rock quaries are at part of the property where uh u NC do was managing uh those uh facilities. um that it just so you know the the deed was uh transmitted and recorded in December. Uh and we have already started making plans to pump those quaries as it it just so happens you know the deed gets signed and recorded in December and here we are you know in March in need of that water supply. Um the how that will work is a pretty interesting thing. We want to take just a minute. I'm going to invite Jay Voys with our uh water resources uh up and let him tell you how that actually that that resource is going to connect into our our water supply. Good morning and thank you manager Watson for the introduction and thank you for allowing me to speak this morning about activating the Monroe Rock Corey as a supplemental water supply. So as Mr. Watson stated we are in stage one voluntary water conservation and what we're doing to further delay stage two which stage two comes with rate increases to our customers which we want to avoid and ensuring that as we approach the summer season which is our highest water usage of the year that we have adequate water supply to continue serving our residents and our customers our industrial customers as well. So, as you see in front of you, there is a map showing how we're going to interconnect the rock quarry into our existing reservoir system. Uh, there at the top of the page in the center is the rock quarry. You'll see a red line that runs

south crossing US Highway 74 and Highway 601. Those will be under the highways, of course. Uh, one note I want to make about that route plan is that the city of Monroe owns all of that in fee simple. There's no acquisition of easements. There's no taking of of property. We have right ofway all the way from the rock corey to Lake Lee. So this supplemental water will be pumped into Lake Lee which has a pump running from Lake Lee to Lake Twitty. So we're able to keep Lake Twitty where our water plant is with adequate water by bringing Corey water into Lake Lee if that makes sense. So, this is a this is a project that we began in early January preparing the Corey and we're also looking at studying the Corey and how it fits into our long-term water supply. So, as we pump the Corey down, we're going to be looking at the recharge rates. We're going to be looking at uh other factors that can bring this water body into a permanent water supply for our customers. As you may know, we are inside the Rocky River subbasin, which basically brings us all into one working water supply between our three reservoir system and the Rock Corey. Anything outside of the Rocky River subbasin would require an interbasin transfer. So, we are we are appropriately using our resources that are here in our community to serve our community. I'd like to entertain any any questions you might have. I got one quick question just information on the this rate or the stage two as far what's the impact on like the commercial or the industrial

and that so it applies to residential and commercial same rate there's no differentiation.

Yes sir. Well, so one of the one of the things that the city uh did this year was to uh put in place a tiered rate system. Um so uh in the past it had been one rate for everybody whether you commercial or residential. uh tearing those uh provided actually a price break for our our lowest water users, our residential users and um I can't remember the percentage but I want to say it was somewhere in the 10 15% rate offset. Um but when you when you go into stage two there's 5% stage three is another 5% that just keeps growing and that's we want to avoid that that uh Jay how what's the estimated volume of water inside the big core. So there's two quaries but

yes sir the main quarry that you see on the page is approximately 120 million gallons and currently the city produces roughly 6 and a half million gallons of treated water per day to its customers. So, if we do the math on this, this will provide us roughly 30 to 50 days of water supply, not counting the recharge or any precipitation that would add to the quarry. And we're we're pumping from Lake Lee into Lake Twitty how much a day? Approximately 3 million gallons per day. So, h half of our production we're pumping from Lake Lee over to Lake Twitty uh for that production.

Yes, sir. Early on in this drought, um we we have three watershed lakes, Lake Monroe, Lake Lee, and Lake Twitty. The the the unique thing about the rock quarry is it is not a watershed body of water. It is it is a deep aquaferfed body of water. So you don't have all of the runoff coming off of of any land into that body of water which makes it really really really clean. Um initially in this in this uh drought we opened up the gates on Lake Monroe to feed Lake Lee that was had begun to drop already. Um Lake Monroe is what 9 ft below full pool right now?

Yes sir. um because of the because Lake Lee is so shallow and we received some rain. It's at full pool right now. Um so the the idea is right now we've shut Monroe off to let it recharge and we'll be using the rock quarry source uh to augment Lake and send it over to Tw and Twidd is about three and a half ft down. Just under five feet down.

Just under five feet down. So, thank you for that good news. Any any questions for Jay? It's a it's a it's a it is a it's a serious issue for the community, but I would like to just say thank you to Rob Miller, our utilities general manager, Jay WS, our deputy general manager, for staying on top of this issue, managing these resources. and it's it's a balance every day to watch it and make sure that it's being managed appropriately. What's the timeline on getting the quarry online?

Approximately 15 to 20 days. We've already made preparatory efforts by clearing some vegetation around the quarry as well as creating a pad site where the temporary pumps are going to be located. Uh we have the piping being delivered to the site currently and we're going to be installing it over the next 15 to 20 days. Jay, we might need you some other areas across the state. He stays here in 6,0001 feet of pipe between J. I'm sorry. Go ahead.

Go ahead. J wanted to ask I know we had the tier system and you mentioned that uh in the event that we have to go to stage two which we hope we don't um that be a rate increase but that would also uh include fines misuse of that.

That's correct. So in stage two and beyond there becomes mandatory restrictions. So we start looking at customers water usage. Uh I believe one of the caps is 5,000 gallons per month becomes I believe that's in stage three. Uh but yes, a 5% rate increase mandatory restrictions. Uh for instance, no more irrigation, no more uh lawn watering uh uses like that. Uh and we want to avoid that as as much as possible.

Okay. So at at some point if if we start going down this road of of these increasing stages um we will be seeking uh to turn on the interconnect on the east side of town with the county's water system. Uh but that will work through NCDEQ for that. Uh currently we have an intake on the west side of town, not far from here. Uh that comes out of the Kataba River Basin 2 MGD. Um that augments uh our supply. Um so it it that 2 MGD is basically feeding this industrial area right here. And Jay, also if you'll share with our Raleigh delegation, not only are you implementing and having this online in two weeks, tell them how you did Wall Street negotiation on the original pricing. So we had received an initial quote of approximately 350,000 I believe it was uh to put in this temporary piping. That was a site unseen quote. Uh since then we've done numerous job walks of the entire site to and from Lake Lee to the Rock Corey. Uh right now we are we have a contract open for roughly 215,000 and that is for two months of usage of this temporary line. Some of those are one-time costs, but approximately $50,000 per month is the rental fee for the piping and the pumps to to institute this line. Yes, sir.

So, uh senators, thank you so much for your support. Um we would be in a pickle right now if we did not have this water supply available and and be able to manage it along with our our other resources. Uh just to note the the property does have two quaries on it. The the upper quarry um I'll I'll throw my my estimate out there is probably four 40 million to 50 million gallons. uh it sits on a much higher elevation uh than the lower quarry and I've talked with our uh utility about uh that the possibility of siphoning instead of pumping off the the upper quarry into the lower quarry and then pumping it over to Lake Lee. So they're they're still working on that that idea. I don't know if my engineering uh idea is going to work or not, but at some point in time uh that that's a sizable amount of water in that upper quarry that we need to make use of. Um moving along uh next, I'd like to just give you an update on on some economic development that we have uh uh here in Monroe. And um you may be uh familiar with the North Carolina Economic Development Partnership uh program called Select Sites. Um the the general assembly uh set aside funds for a select site program which would uh pre-develop um certain sites uh around the state of North Carolina. uh Monroe applied and was selected as one of 15 uh of these sites. This was a

competitive process. To date, uh we have been awarded two grants for a total of $1.7 million. Um and that is the the purpose of that is to take this land, which is a little it's 74 acres. It's off of Sutherland Avenue. is directly across the street from Windsor Windows if you know the area. Um, and do all the preliminary um, environmental testing, uh, tree studies, Native American studies, um, you know, all of that kind of a thing. Um, and, uh, we're right now we are in the process of doing the, uh, soil and erosion control plan. Um and um looking at we have a engineering firm that's looking at what is the maximum buildable area within that 74 acres. Uh right now it looks like maximum square footage under a single building would be about 600,000 square feet. Um so the grant one part of the the 1.7 or 1.7 million will be to basically clear the property uh prepare it for grading but it will not grade it for pad. That will be whatever company comes in and and purchases uh can develop the prop uh the pad appropriate to their use. Um, but we'll clear it all the way back to the buffers and install the erosion control measures um, and make it ready for future development. We also have the traffic analysis that's already been completed. So, uh, this is going to be as turnkey of a a parcel as you can imagine. So

winter window trucks and and along that industrial path there when they're making their way to the bypass, do they go to Morgan Mill or do they go which direction are they are they going over to 601?

They're taking Morgan Mill right now because that interchange isn't very good. Well, that but there's the the there are some um improvements that are planned off of 601 um with the in installation of the new Skyway Bridge. There's going to be a roundabout there. Um if if you're familiar with the area, you know that FedEx is there also. Um, there's one parcel of property in between FedEx and 601 uh that I understand they're still in negotiation with that property owner to to create a quicker, easier way to get from their property onto uh 601 and interchange there. Um, that has not happened or that hasn't come to fruition as of right now. Um and it will not be but um I would I I'm going to say within the next 30 to 45 days we have another uh major uh industrial development u economic development in uh investment uh in between Windsor and FedEx that we'll be announcing um somewhere in the neighborhood of 400,000 square feet of manufacturing. Uh and Windsor has also contacted us. Uh they are ready to do their first expansion. So lots going on in that area. Um any other questions about about that? And when when we touch on this particular site and economic development in the city of Monroe, this is literally scratching the surface with within a half a mile of where we're at right now. Currently on the table is almost a million square feet of

manufacturing space. It's either currently uh under construction, currently being designed, or has just been purchased. Uh update number four, Charlotte Monroe Executive Airport. Um and uh update on the air traffic control project. Thank you so much for supporting the $6 million uh in funding for the air traffic control tower uh project. Um Monroe uh applied for uh and was selected into the FAA contract tower program. What that means is that the city of Monroe bills the tower and the FAA pays to operate it. Okay? So we we we'll pay the electric bill and you know do the basic maintenance and things like that but they will staff it. Uh the way that works here uh in the Charlotte region uh the main uh FAA uh air traffic control group is out of Charlotte. Um they also supply the individuals that are working in Concord and they'll supply those individuals that work here. Um so we were accepted into that program. Uh and as a result uh about six months ago we went through a site selection process um where uh through with the advisory uh airport advisory board, city council and staff uh six sites were uh looked at and evaluated. Um, and it this was a really really neat uh process. The FAA came in and scanned the airport with LAR and created a 3D model of everything on this property. And then they were able to create a

virtual environment to where they would go to, let's say, site A and they could simulate, you know, is is the sun rising, is the sun setting, you know, is it raining? Can I see from one end of the airport to the other? Are there obstructions? They could actually virtually raise themsel up in elevation to see how high a tower would have to be in order to have that unobstructed view. Uh, and that's how they evaluate the sites. And it was an incredible process. Um, and I'm uh very pleased to tell you that uh the new tower will be located right across the uh the run the runway there. If you see the little red sign, it says 235. Senator Johnson is behind that column right there. But the tower will be uh about 75 ft inside the wood line on the other side. Uh right there. uh perfect place for it. It'll be 49 ft from the ground to the floor of the cab and then the cab is uh 15 ft high. So 61 ft total. Can give you a perspective of that. That's about 2/3 the height of the government center tower downtown Monroe. Um should have a clear line un unobstructed view from this tower to the tower in Charlotte. Um, the other thing that the FAA is considering, they're talking about, they're excited about it actually, is installing, uh, and I will I will I I I'm not technically proficient enough to understand that how it works other than the way I explain it is they they they want to install a radar repeater here and a radar repeater in Concord And when they couple that

with the radar in Charlotte, it it turns the the radar into a a three-dimensional view for everything that's in the airspace. Um, this is the same uh radar system that they were trying to get installed in W in Reagan airport when they had the accident between the military aircraft and the and the passenger jet. Um, so that that would be an expense on the on the FAA. Um, where are we at today with this? Um, our consulting firm has already completed the initial design and has done a cost estimate. Uh the FAA as of last week um has requested that we have bid documents uh ready for release in September. Um there was a conference in Charlotte last week of all the division of aviation u and um we are getting uh encouraging news from the FAA that uh our project is on the funding list. We have applied for Oh, I didn't tell you the best part. We've applied for $12 million from the FAA under this contract tower program. Um, and uh they are giving us encouraging news that uh we are on that funding list.

Y' don't have to put the equipment. All you're doing is paying the utilities and maintenance of the grounds and stuff. It it's we build a building and we we we put the furniture in and everything everything they need to operate it. Does that include that does not include their equipment or but it it's basically radio equipment. Um, it is a dedicated fiber line from Charlotte,

which we are we we already have a dedicated fiber line right here with the US Customs House, but that'll be a dedicated fiber line from Charlotte, and we're responsible for all of that. Yeah. Yeah. Couple of other projects here u at the airport real quickly. Uh, one is the wildlife fence replacement project. Just on the other side of that tree line uh about uh 100 yards uh is a 8 foot high wildlife fence. It's not underpinned and we have a lot of wildlife that make their way onto the airport. Uh we've had the the US Fish and Wildlife Service out looking at that. Um, and the only way to really keep the wildlife, and you're talking about every every manner of wildlife. I mean, we have fox, we have coyotes, we have uh deer, we have turkey, we have I mean, you name it, it it's it's on this airfield. Um they they recommended replacement with a higher fence and a fence is underpinned. Uh that project has been bid out, awarded and it is under construction right now. Um I think what was it 10% match on that? Yeah. For the city. Uh and the rest of those come through pass through funds from the federal government through the state of North Carolina to to ours. uh other projects that are on the uh near horizon replacement of this um parking apron right here. Um the the

apron is in really bad condition. It has a shallow base. Um it it has been selected uh for replacement. Um these again are federal funds that are passed through um the division of aviation with a small match from the city. They will be uh putting a deeper base on strengthening the pad or strengthening yeah the pad to 95,000 pounds. It's right at 60,000 pounds right now. Why is that important? all of your heavier commercial I mean not commercial but um corporate aircraft uh are in that 90,000 pound range. Uh we can't park uh a a G650 out there because of the weight. Okay. Charlotte Plastics has one and when they fly in here they can't be fully loaded and they can't be full of fuel. Okay. So they have to be under the weight limit. the the runway is at 65,000 pounds. The the taxi weighs are at 65,000 pounds. So, um we have to be really really careful and we're limited about, you know, to the size of the aircraft that can come in. Uh so, that's that's stage one is getting the parking area up to up to weight limit. Stage two is uh reconstructing the taxi ways and getting them up to weight limit. And if you've ever been down this taxi way from this point down to the to the west end of the field, uh when the airfield was um when the when the air the air strip was expanded, um for whatever reason, the the taxi way was not straightened and it it winds around like a snake down here. So they're that's going to be straightened

out. Uh and lastly the third project will be to uh improve the the strength of the the actual runway itself. Um that is probably in the six to eight years away. All right. Lastly, um and I'm just hitting hitting the highlights. There's a whole lot more to what's going on here at the airport. But lastly, in the for the sake of time, I'd like to invite uh Chief Fowler to come up. Um, the general assembly's been very gracious and y'all have been very kind to support the Monroe Fire Department with some funding uh for some of the uh needed uh equipment uh that um actually gets used uh across the region, not just here in the city of Monroe. But I'll let Chief Fowler tell you how he is spending the state's money.

Thank you, Mr. Watson. at at our previous uh legislative agenda, he reminded everybody that he is very good at spending money. I'm very very familiar to that. Very familiar with spending money. So, thank you, sir. Good morning, Mayor and Council.

Senator Craraven, Senator Johnson. Um I do just want to start by saying thank you to both of you for the support. Um you did allocate $250,000 uh to the fire department. Um 80,000 of that was for water rescue to improve that. Um 95,000 was for our hazmat hazardous materials response program and then 75,000 for the um for our training for some training upgrades. So want to just a a quick overview of of the department. Um Monroe is the only career only municipal department in Union County. Um all the other departments are private 501c3 departments. Um we have a very good working relationship with each of those departments. We do a lot of automatic aid, mutual aid really on a daily basis with the county departments, have a really good relationship. They help us out a lot and we go out and and assist them. So we've got a good relationship there. We provide a variety of services. Um of course do any type of fire protection. um structural grass, wildland, that type of thing. We provide ARF, airport protection here at the airport. Emergency medical, we don't transport, but we do um first responder, emergency medical, technical rescue, basically any type of rescue, water rescue being one of those, hazard materials response, and uh then we enforce the state fire code um administer that here in the city. Um, we are very pleased to say that we are accredited. We're internationally accredited, one of probably about maybe 25 or so in the state and we do have an ISO class one. Uh, very very pleased with that, too. And again, one of probably 30 or so in the state. So, and

I say all that not not bragging or boastfully, but just to say thank you for the support that we get here in the city through the the manager and the city council and through through the state as well. So, we appreciate that. Do have uh three of our chief officers with us this morning. I do want to I think you know all of them. Uh Deputy Chief Brian Kenley, Chief Johnny BL, and Deputy Chief um Travis Stigall. I certainly appreciate them and what they do for us every day. So the first thing, let's talk just a minute about the uh the hazmat portion of this. There was 95,000 allocated for that. Really 91,000 of that which was our initial last was for one piece of equipment. It's called a it's called a threat ID and basically it identifies any type of chemicals. You know, one of the first steps we have to do when we go to any kind of hazmat incident is identify what we're dealing with. So, this device will identify up to like 23,000 different chemicals. It'll identify solids, powders, liquids, gases, and uh so we actually purchased that as soon as we got the the funding and that's been in service for for some time now. We do provide that hazmat service countywide. We've got a interlocal agreement with Union County. We provide that countywide. We also uh go to Anson County quite I won't say often but occasionally. Um there there are seven state hazmat response teams in the in the state. The closest one being in Charlotte, but when you go east, the next state team is in Fedville. So we do go east occasionally. Um I think there's about probably a total of maybe 22 or so technician level teams in the state and u we're we're fortunate to operate one of those here. We actually went to uh Pageland or our guys went to Pageland

Friday evening. Chief Life went with that company there. They had a a fire down at the um what was itco and they had some concerns with some hash materials involved in that. So um we do provide that service wherever it's needed. Of course that can be for you know roadway incidents, railway railway incidents, fixed facilities, uh wherever it wherever it may be. um our water rescue. Um we do provide that service countywide as well through a through an agreement with Union County and uh we are a um type two team with the state um registered with the state of North Carolina and available for deployments and we have done deployments in the past. Helen, we um we actually sent two teams to western North Carolina during during Helen. Chief Life was actually on one of those teams. Uh, Cheap Life actually heads up our our water rescue program. Um, so we've used 80 thou 80 80,000 of that to purchase an additional setup and it's actually here and feel free to walk out and take a look at it when when we leave here. Um, give you a little static display if you'd like a little more uh interactive portion. We'll we'll find some water somewhere and put you out in a boat and we'll uh this will be a beautiful day for it. But uh so what this does, this is the our third setup like this. During Helen, as as I said, we sent two teams to Western North Carolina. We have the people to do that. Um but that left us um with no resources left here in town. Now, Helen was a certainly a very uh unique event and they were needing help and so we we sent the second team there. But what this will do, allow us to have to actually stand up three teams, three 12 person teams if if we need to do that. So, thank you for that. That included a trailer and two RAS. We

actually just got this set up. Um, we've been waiting a little bit just making sure that we were we were buying the same thing that the other state teams were using so that when we are on these deployments, we're we're compatible with each other. And if we need to share a part or a motor or whatever, then then we can do that. Still working on the the motors. We do have some local funding to purchase the motors with, but u that's a long story that Chief Light can can explain more about, but uh we're working still working through the motors. Um and then finally, the um you'll see there on the last page of your handout. We um we use the other $75,000 to put a classroom down at our uh fire training facility. And this facility, it's a it's a city county joint venture. We actually built that facility in 1999. We have a tower there. We have burn props. We have a burn uh built burning set up. The one thing that we had that we were missing was a classroom. So what happened was or what was happening when we would do fire training whether recruit training or inservice training any of the lecture classroom part we would have to do somewhere else say at one of our fire stations then go there and do the do the practical part. This allows us to do it all on site. Um it's really beneficial for us but also very beneficial to all the county departments. you know, they can come there, do it all on site and uh so this funding that you provided uh allowed us to do that. We actually also through a partnership with the Union County Public Schools were able to get two of their um mobile classroom units that they were surplusing out. So, we set two of those units up. One of them is is set up as a classroom, has been in service for about

a year now. And uh the other one we're actually uh putting showers in it. Uh you you've probably heard, you know, just the concern nowadays with cancer in the fire service. So when firefighters go there and they train, they do do the live burn training. Once we get those showers set up, then we'll be able to they'll be able to come out, go there and shower instead of, you know, going back to the station or the, you know, volunteers going back to their home or whatever. allows them to to decon appropriately there. One of our uh future plans down at that training grounds and again it's a it's a joint city county training grounds um and south and south Pedmont um as the manager mentioned you know with uh the property acquisition and thank you both for that as well. It does allow us sufficient room now to put a driving pad in. That's one thing that we we don't have here in the city or the county is an area that's large enough to do the um the state recommended um fire apparatus emergency driving course because it it requires a large area and we can't just use a you know like an asphalt parking lot like um shopping center or whatever because of the the weight of those apparatus you know would eventually tear that asphalt up. Uh, our long-term plan is to uh well, hopefully not too long term, but our plan is our our plan is our plan is our plan is to put a a driving pad in there, a concrete pad uh that we could use for for our apparatus training, not just for us, but for all the departments in the county.

Could also do that. Now, now we we just find places and we do um we'll kind of do portions of it and then we'll take it down and set up and do do another portion. This would allow us to set the whole the whole course up and just run it. What's the cost? You know, the last cost estimates that we got, now these are these are dated um was about 600,000, but I would imagine it's probably in the It's probably probably almost doubled by now. So, I just mentioned while

the the chief's primary interest is is fire department, these driving pads are also used for police department training. um skidding, how to control cars, doing the what you call the pit pit maneuvers, you know, and all that kind of a thing. Similar. The the the only driving pad that I can compare to what we're looking at is the one that's uh in Charlotte. So, Chief,

we would let the police use it, you know. So it's I've never been to the training uh facility, but you talking about the live burns and stuff. Is that similar to what Midland put in? Yes. So So what we what we have there we have a we have a four-story tower that we built in in 99. Um but we don't we can't actually burn in that tower. We can we can use smoke, you know, make smoke and and and that type of thing. So a few years ago through a partnership with South Pedmont, we put in some conx boxes similar to what Midland did. So we do the live burn training in those conx boxes.

Y'all are welcome to come down and visit anytime. We'd love to love to give you a tour anytime you'd like to do that. So u chief couldn't brag because he's not a boster, but I will. Uh we have a tremendous fire department and all the things they do. We're good neighbors. We talked to about some of the places that we've been, some of the lives we save. So I just said, "Hats off to him." And I He talked about that pad and I saw y'all write that down. That's good, too. Thank you. I appreciate that. So, uh if if you look at the little map right here, you see the quarry. That's the fire training ground right there.

Oh, okay. Okay. So, with the quarry property, you see that there looks like there's an area right in here that uh is been graded off. It's actually flat as pancakes. It's adjacent to this area. So, combining the current asphalt area and this is like the perfect place for a facility like that. Mhm. Um, do you happen to know the size that you that it would take to do this? We have that. I don't have it right on hand. Um, I don't know if any of you guys we we have that information, but I don't I don't know.

Okay. It's a it's a large square, you know, and as the manager said, we do have the perfect place to put it. Um, would it fit all in that space? Oh, yeah. Yeah, it it definitely would fit. Okay. And there where the where the road goes in now. If you go in the training tower on the on the right, there's an old there's an old asphalt pad there that was from years ago. We'll just expand from that on across where the roadway something. Yeah. To the to the left side there. Okay.

So, there's plenty of room. Um, so we've got the we've got we've got the area now. We've got the the wheel. We've got the people. We've got the trucks to put on it. All we need is a little bit of fun to find that God we trust. We'll be good together. I really do appreciate both of you and appreciate um the entire delegation. So, thank you very much, Chief. One one important thing to mention too is, you know, when you and I went down there a couple months ago, it wasn't just us training. Stallings was training. I think Bakers was there. Wesley Chapel was there. Waxaw was there. I mean, everybody comes and and utilizes that those training grounds.

That's a good point. It's not necessarily going to benefit just Monroe. It's going to benefit quite a few other places. Correct. And just kind of on that point, uh, Senator Craraven and I when we're advocating for local funds and stuff, the idea of regionalism and and that it's not just for that one, that helps us a lot because having having it where it's serving an area as opposed to one specific department and and you can bring in others and so it makes it a lot easier for us to Yes. Thank you. try to advocate that way. Okay.

Thank you. Thank you, uh, Chief Fowler. I, since we're we're on that topic of regionalism, what, uh, what's also on this map is the, uh, Monroe Police Department firing range. Um, and I heard that, you know, Matthews comes down and uses it, Pineville uses it, uh, state and federal departments come and use it. uh Waxaw uses it, Medill uses it. We So it is uh it's the along with the the the fire training ground which gets a lot of local use. Our our uh police department firing range also gets a lot of use. Um and that's that's a topic that y'all may hear some more about uh in in the coming months. Uh any any questions about any of that? So again, a big thank you for all that you have done to support the city of Monroe. I think it's evident that we've taken these dollars that you provided uh and we have put them to good use and not one dollar wasted. Uh at this time I'd like to invite uh Assistant City Manager Lisa Hollowwell uh to the podium. And Lisa uh because of her uh years of experience working with the general assembly uh really has a responsibility for the city's legislative agenda. I know she communicates a lot with your offices, but she takes the the direction of city

council uh puts that uh into an agenda, gets that adopted, and then continues to monitor the the progress of any bills uh that come up that would be associated with any of the legislative items that city council uh has on their agenda. So, uh, Lisa, if you would please, uh, cover the rest of the city council's legislative agenda.

Absolutely. Thank you, manager. Um, Mayor Burns and Mayor Pro Timnthony and council members, Senator Crave and Senator Johnson. It's my pleasure to go over the legislative agenda with you. You have a brochure in front of you and it's laid out primarily with the funding priorities as well as policy priorities. most of the priorities on this brochure, it affects more than just the city of Monroe. As we go through these, it affects in in one case all of the municipalities um in the state and then we have some other that are regional in focus. The first item that I want to talk about is one of my favorites, which is the POW POW bill. So, this is the aid to municipalities. It's funds that go out to over 500 cities and towns to help them pay for resurfacing their roads, for maintenance of their roads, and the streets that they own. And Monroe owns 174 uh miles of road. And that's pretty significant. There are only about 20 municipalities that own more than the city of Monroe. And you think about the 174, that's even more than, you know, the the distance between Raleigh and Monroe, which Senator Johnson, you travel pretty regularly, and it it may be equivalent to what how much you travel um Senator Craraven, when you're going from your home to Raleigh. So, we've got a lot of uh roads to maintain. And on the agenda last year, it was a we were asking for a 20% increase. And that would be 10% for each year of the bianium. Had you passed, you know, a budget last year, if you were to do a budget this year, we would ask that you look at maybe enhancing that program by about 10%. And that would mean about 150,000 for the city of Monroe. And senators, the the council has made uh street repaving a priority. And in the budget in the current year, they've

put a lot of additional money into it because they recognize that it can't just be the POW bill funds that, you know, maintain and construct and and contract resurface our roads. And we've got a $6 million program in the current year and six million next year. And then over a four-year period, we're looking at paving over 20 miles of our of our roads. So they recognize it can't just be the that aid to municipalities and they've they've actually got a major program going. That's a combination of POW bill funds, general fund, and also the $30 vehicle registration tax that Monroe takes advantage of. While we're talking about the POW bill, this also appears on the policy agenda. And senators, you probably know this or remember this that currently those municipalities that are over 400,000 in population are held outside of the formula. Um and they're held to their 2019 um their 2019 um allocation amount. Those that formula is based on 75% population and 25% lane miles. So this is a special provision that's put into the bill every year. And if it's not in there, then that will mean a reduction to the city of Monroe and all of the other municipalities. Um, so it's important to have that. The second U special provision that is typically included is that the Department of Transportation may not go in after the general assembly passes the the budget and and does the appropriation for the PAL bill. They cannot go in and reduce it. They they actually did that uh back in 2019 2020. they reduce that um aid to municipalities without the general assembly's authority. So that special provision is important because cities uh count on that. They budget for it and and it's important that whatever the general assembly has appropriated that

DOT follows that. The next one is uh the Winchester area redevelopment. This was also on the agenda for for last year and continues. There's a lot of historical and cultural significance to the Winchester area and the city is in the process of um doing a a design out there for a full revitalization that will include private and public partnerships. Um some um a historical walking trail out there that will show the history of this area. And we're repurposing some of the buildings out there as well that will um have a presence with the city of Monroe. Right now, one of the buildings is currently under uh renovation that will house the fire department headquarters as well as um being an inventory depot of sorts um for the fire department and they're currently already moving in and you utilizing some of that. Um the next one is related to the Charlotte Monroe Executive Airport Improvements. Um we've got an amount on there about 8.5 million if you were to have um some direct appropriations. This airport is growing. There's still a lot of needs out here that often fall to um the taxpayers of Monroe to help um support some of the changes here and we would just request if you have some additional transportation dollars, we would love to have those come out for um for the airport. Have we been able to recruit any more jets or folks like that to come and doicile here with with some of the improvements that we've done at the airport?

I say we, I mean the city. Malcolm Weeks is a airport director. Malcolm, I correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I remember in uh the advisory meeting about two months ago, you said that the amount of corporate jet traffic over the last quarter has increased by 30%. And that's transient, right? Not if you're talking I'm talking about getting them doiciled here so that we can get the property tax off. Uh we are working on that. Our biggest problem is tailpipe. Of course you got to have a hanger that will accommodate.

Got the Harris hanger open now. We can only have a certain size jet in there. We will go back back. So in the 18 to 2020 million range in there, but but obviously what would be great is to be able to build some sizable hangers that would accommodate the the larger jets. We do have people that call constantly. Have you got hanger space and it's it's at a very serious premium in the market the general market

this proximity to Charlotte with all the executive traffic that's coming in none of them want to go in and out of Charlotte Douglas and you can from here to depending on the day of the week from here to downtown from Charlotte Douglas to downtown is probably closer here than it is over there with Wilkinson and very similar three minutes from here to downtown Charlotte we've had to have that just really like to capitalize on on that as much as we could. We need to

and Senator Johnson, you know that we've been moving toward having private hangers. So, we do land leases and and private hangers are are being built and the newest one is the one out here. Um and and that houses, you know, new aircraft. We've got another pad that we have contracted for and that will also be on the, you know, tax roles regarding the hanger itself as well as the aircraft that do saw there. And then we've got another one in the works.

Um what what is no longer on the list because we are doing the bienial legislative agenda and we and we tweak it in the second year to sort of correspond to your legislature and your session. Um we don't have the city hall replacement on there anymore. And that was a um we we heard from from our council that that they really want the city to utilize the buildings that we currently have, renovate those when when we need to to try to house um the city functions in what we currently have and and not look to have a city hall replacement. So, we've we've done that. We've had some significant upgrades over this past year. We've improved the downtown building and now housing staff in the downstairs that hadn't happened before. Uh we've renovated some of the Ellen Fitzgerald building which used to be the old senior center and now that's housing some of engineering and that will eventually house all of it. Uh we've got also um the fieldhouse which is right across from the Monroe Elementary School, middle school,

old Walter Bickett.

Old Walter Bickicket. And and so that was just an old fieldhouse and we've renovated that and that houses our department of property management. And then there's another space um to to house city functions. And then also out at um Winchester out at the we call it the old ceramics building. And that one is what's going to ha house our fire HQ. So, so basically we're we are in the process of looking at our space needs for long term like what do we have now and and what can be accommodated now and then what does that look like in 10 years so we can get a real plan in place if needed. Um, also what's not on the list is the wastewater treatment plant expansion. And really this came as a result of um the the combination of water and and sewer with electric and new leadership there. And they did a new evaluation of when we will actually need a wastewater treatment plant expansion and that's now pushed out to uh 2032 or beyond. So we feel good about that. So those are no longer on the list. So with our policy priorities, so we have those three major money ones. Um we've got the the water basin criteria. This remains um on the list from council and we'd like to see a revision in the general statute that would have any type of uh water transfer interbasin certificates issued at the main river level instead of the subbasin level. Um and that stays on there. We know that is um probably difficult to have happen, but that is on there. Um the other one, another one that's very important is um protecting planning and zoning authority. And this is in regards to the down that it's called now the down zoning special provision that was put into the hurricane relief bill that would require uh written consent from all the property owners in an affected

um zone and and consent from them. and said we the House did put forward a bill that would exclude all of Union County. Um they and we would just ask that um you look at that this coming year and and maybe provide some types of tweaks or be able to eliminate Union and City of Monroe altogether.

The county the county tier ranking system. This is one that affects you know more than just the city of Monroe. And this is the ranking system of the economically distressed this classification of one to three. And the the the ask is that you have a study the department of commerce do a study to look at is there a way to have um that designation made broad more narrow than just the broad county level. The house did pass a bill that would require the UNCC school of government to to do a study. not the school of government, it's the policy collaborative. Um, and we would just ask that maybe the Senate take that up and move that forward. And again, that's beyond and that just the city of Monroe emergency medical services. This is one that is also a study to look at how services provided across the state. It, you know, it is understood that services are different throughout the state depending on where you live, depends on the type of emergency medical services you receive. when you call the EMS or an ambulance to come out and uh we would ask that that that get studied and looked at and perhaps even an opportunity for the state to get involved with a little bit more regulation on it. So it won't depend on where you live on the type of service that you receive. Uh the other item on here is um this is one that was added this year and it's related to the um the House Select Committee that started up in December and they've been a it's been a very very active committee looking at property tax and maybe ways to um control the the the the values of properties or the actual property tax rates. I'm sure you're familiar with what they're doing. Um I think as of last week there was discussion about maybe a constitutional amendment on it and I think that that the the council is um they had passed a

statement there. They are in support of um leaving those decisions to the local level. Um but we would love to be involved at the you know be at the table when it comes time to try to figure out what you want to do with with that. We recognize that there is a a need to stabilize um that process of everinccreasing property values. And Mr. Manager, I think that completes everything.

I'd just like to make a comment about the if I may about the emergency medical services piece. Um what uh limited knowledge I have is it's very vague in general at the state level as far as statute language and things like that. Um, and I know um in uh our county they do they do a tremendous job and our our uh first responders here and in Monroe do a wonderful job, but there are a lot of pieces that we do locally that are different from other places across the state. uh we have a dynamic deployment uh model that we use which I think needs some further attention in examining and it would just be great to get more input and more of a uh structure in place for for everyone in the state of North Carolina to follow so that um if the time comes or when it comes not if it comes when it comes for to a family member or someone you love or a friend or a neighbor uh that service is going to be needed and and I think now's the time to speak to that. So, I appreciate your attention to that. Thank you.

Any other questions?

I I will say that regarding the the emergency medical service that um uh city council has uh taken that up uh in discussions especially in the public safety committee. Uh the uh fire chief and the fire department have been working with emergency medical uh service here in the county to determine what types of uh medical procedures can and cannot be used uh or administered by the fire department or the the the first responders uh in the city of Monroe. there have been some changes to what can be administered by those first responders such as the fire department uh in the city. Um and and I don't in in general, let's just say there's a uh half a dozen to eight uh different new procedures or procedures that can be performed by an EMT level responder without having a whole lot of additional training. Um this the chief has supplied that information to the public safety committee. um and uh recom and he's made a recommendation in the budget that that we move forward with that uh improved enhanced EMT level of response within the city and um I believe the the total cost of that program was about 73,000 $75,000. So we'll be council y'all will be seeing that uh in the budget. The other thing uh that I would just like to mention that kind of ties a lot of what has been discussed uh here today together

um that city council you will be seeing this in your uh budget review sessions uh staff's been working on this u the whole topic of uh the tax base and the what makes up the tax base and and what is a percentage of residential compared to industrial, commercial, and institutional. Um, the city of Monroe has an incredibly strong economy. We are the industrial heartbeat of Union County. uh within the city of Monroe. When you look at industrial, commercial, uh and institutional properties that are zoned for those use uses, they make up 40% of the total uh 60% being residential. Um, so you you you look at that and then then the second thing that folks like to talk about is what is the what's the tax, you know, if if that's what the zoning looks like, what does the tax base look like? and and right now uh for uh industrial, commercial, institutional which is basically no tax uh compared to residential it's 39% industrial commercial uh with the remainder being residential. So, if you factor out the institutional part of that, uh, it really pushes Monroe's tax base to be, uh, close to a 50/50. I'm going out on a limb. I'll tell you, by saying that right now, because uh, staff's still working those numbers, but those are numbers that will be shared during uh,

council's uh, budget deliberations. Um, but that just underscores all of the the planning, the investment uh that has gone into the city of Monroe. Uh, how strong it is and how strong it continues to be. Uh, the future is bright. Um, I will tell you that not a week goes by that we don't get calls from uh industrial site selectors or there's call there are calls from uh companies that are wanting to uh come here uh either from out of state, out of the country uh or relocate from one of our neighboring counties. And recently we've had two large um manufacturers to relocate here in the city of Monroe from outside the city. So with that, mayor, do you have any parting words?

Yeah. Uh gentlemen, I thank you for being here today. Um I personally the things that you know I see um here that that I that we have on our policies I know one of the biggest challenges is this county ranking system. I understand because that's a lot with funding but I think that that would really help our area. I think uh Miss Suda could probably speak to this as well. um in funding. I think a very meaningful project that I think council would like for you guys to, you know, focus on or look at would be the Winchester redevelopment area. Um so please, you know, we'll be happy to talk to you guys more about that, too. It is a very meaningful project for the entire city of Monroe. Um I know Senator Johnson, you've mentioned interest in this as well. So if there's anything that we can do to get you guys information, please let us know.

So council, anybody else? I I echo what you said. We we might not sound like we asking for a lot of money, but then we talk about the quality of our citizens lives and keep on prospering and improving our city. So, we put an extra blessing on you and that's again council.

I would I would say this, we appreciate everything that you you've pushed for Monroe. As you can see, we've utilized your money to the to the inth degree that we can use it. Um, I would say this, having spoken to hundreds of citizens through this last campaign pro uh process, development is an issue. Um, they they understand what the downzoning bill did and so there is some concern that we do something to address that for for Monroe

Council. And I'd like to encourage you guys to come downtown to N Monroe any Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I'm very proud to report that we have a parking problem. We uh we don't have enough parking downtown. So consider when you come as our guest downtown to look and see all the restaurants, the breweries, the distilleries, the shops, the events going on at the Dow or the Science Center, uh along with people living downtown and upscale second and third floor adaptively reused buildings. um that we're in need of a parking structure and if that could be considered as part of some of the funding for transportation, it would not only help with retail and residential, it would help with our businesses, uh both municipal and private downtown if that's something that could be on your radar for this coming year. And we do thank you for being here today.

People look like they're having a good time, too. They're having a great time. Everybody's smiling. It's fun to people watch. Absolutely. Everybody's having a good time. I like that sales tax, Miss Thompson. Thank y'all for being here. Thank y'all for being here to be here. Okay. Anybody else? Any department heads? Anything else you would like to say? No. Okay. Well, then at this time, do I hear a motion to adjurnn? Second. Okay. Have a motion second. All those in favor? I I Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you, gentlemen.