City Council - Regular Meeting

Heat. Heat. Welcome to the regular meeting of the Morton City Council, August the 4th, 2025. Ask Wendy Kato if she will give us uh lead us in the pledge of allegiance to the flag. If you'll please stand. I aliance 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.

Next, we'll have an invitation given by Reverend Daniel Gutz for the New Life Church of God. Daniel, welcome.

Thank you for the invitation. and it's an honor. Let's pray. Father God, we uh are here together, God, to remember that your word says, "If my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face, then I will hear from heaven and heal their land." This board is calling on your name to give them wisdom and understanding to approve what is right for this land and for its people. We all ask you that you guide them and show them the right path. We are surrounded by issues, statutes, and laws that require that this war moves according to your word and to what is good and best for this community. Grant them what is needed and let us know that you're still in your throne and in control of our lives and decisions. In Christ's sake we ask you. Amen.

Amen.

Thank you, Daniel. like to introduce council to my far right. Wendy Kato, mayor pro Tim. Chris Jernigan, city council. Keith Riggsby, our city attorney. I'm Ronnie Thompson, your mayor. Sally Sandy, our city manager. Butch McWain, city council. Chris Hawkins, city council. Uh we have city clerk Renee Carwell and assistant city clerk Jessica Lman and our interpreters for the deaf community, Danette Stelman Bridges and Ernest Williams IVth. We have a retirement that I'd like to announce. um for Joel Nelson who I'm sorry yeah resolution about like to read that resolution for Joel Nelson whereas Joel Nelson was employed by the city of Morington full-time in the Compass cable department on March 24th 2008 as a service technician and whereas Joel RN Nelson has faithfully served and given of his time and effort for the citizens of the city of Morington for 17 years And whereas Joel R. Nelson retired from the city of Morganington as a service technician in the Compass cable department on June 27th, 2025. And whereas the Morgan City Council wishes to officially recognize the contributions of Joel Joel R. Nelson and express their appreciation for a job well done. Now therefore, be it resolved the city of Morington present this resolution to Joel Nelson, adopted this fourth day of August, 2025. Ronnie Thompson, mayor. Sally Sandy, city manager. Uh Joel was not able to be with us. Sally, you make sure that he gets that uh resolution, please.

Absolutely. We also have a presentation of some service pins. At this time, um we'd like to recognize Israel Gibson, 25 years, assistant chief at the fire division public safety. I'll call on Chris Hawkins if if uh Israel come forward. And Chris, if you make that presentation. Congratulations on 25 years. Thank you so much for your service and and for helping keep us safe and protecting us and thank you for your leadership and the example that you set. It's an honor for me on behalf of city council to present you with this 25 year p. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Appreciate it. Would you like to say something? I just appreciate y'all putting up with me this long. Thank you. very much. No, I appreciate it. It's been an honor and it's been a pleasure to work city. Thank you so much. We have another 25-year service pin. Josiah Brown, captain uh in the public safety. I'll ask Butch McWain if he'll make that presentation. Hey, he's in a hurry, too. I'm always in a hurry. Kevin Brown desire. It is my honor. 25 years is downhill now. Yes, sir.

It sure is. Thank you very much. Uh the commitment that requires we all know and are aware of it. And thank you very much. Thank you. I just want to say thank you. I've enjoyed my time at the city and some of y'all know I only have a few months left and I'll be back in January. But it's been a pleasure. You don't have to brag now. I love it. I've enjoyed every minute of it. So, thank you. Thank you.

Next, we have u under public advocacy some recognitions, a municipal electric safety award for no lost workday cases. And Brooks Kirby, if you'll come forward and is Craig here? Craig is here to present. And Bart Chapman's also here.

And Bart Chapman, if you'll come forward. Thank you guys for having me tonight. I'm uh with Electric Cities of North Carolina. I know you guys are members of ours and every year at Electric Cities, our safety and training department uh recognizes our members that work safely uh throughout the year with no OSHA worst work day accidents or lost time accidents. Um, Morgan has won this award several times. Uh, and you have to qualify to win this award based on not having any lost work days due to accidents or injuries. So, on behalf of Electric Cities, uh, I want to present this award to Bart and Brooks and the city of Morington. Also, uh, talk about Miss Sally for just a second.

Oh gosh, that's bad. We know um pine hit here and uh I'm from eastern North Carolina and I've been in this industry 27 years. So I think between the three of us here there's close to a hundred years of experience here. Uh but I've seen quite a few hurricanes and they're not as prevalent in the western part of the state but uh the work these guys did I saw it firsthand. Uh Miss Sally pitched in. We were on the phone hundreds of times in about four or five days. Yes, we were. Uh, so we coordinate the mutual aid, so we were able to get some people up here to help you guys out. But, um,

y'all have a beautiful town. U, some great line workers and, uh, great city manager. You're kind. Congratulations to you guys. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you, Mark. Thank you for having me. Brooks, would you like to say something? Brooks, they're going to pick.

Yes. Just a few words. Uh I want to thank Greg Craig for coming up. I want to thank Sally for her guidance and each one of you guys on the council including M uh for the support through your funding of our department and all the departments. Without your support, we couldn't buy the equipment or the training to remain safe on the job. So I want to thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Brooks. picture.

And while you're doing that, we would like to say thank you to you, Craig, and to everybody down there because I've said it more than once. We couldn't have put it back together without you. Absolutely. Amen. Get down. It's awesome. Thank you. See you next week. Next on our agenda is an update about Hurricane Helen. Sally,

isn't that timely? Um, we probably did talk at least a hundred times dur during the few weeks after the storm hit. And and again, I will reiterate that the support that we got from electric cities and our sister cities across the state was pretty amazing and and something that we can't really repay them for. Um so just a little bit of of where we are and it's almost a year later and we're still going through it. Um, I know recently we were able to open up parts of the greenway and parts of Kataba Meadows and getting small pieces back in working order a little bit at the time. Um, would just like in a quick overview to remind everyone. So, we are estimating that our total damages to public infrastructure is running about 42.5 million dollars. and and that's our latest newest number. We have received to date about $2 and a half million dollars from insurance reimbursements and those were two types of insurance. Our League of Municipalities liability property and liability coverage and our flood insurance. We have received to date $1,711,000 from FEMA. And that is on some of the projects that they have identified that we have identified that they have approved and the state has written the check for. They have obligated and we are waiting on the state to write a check for another $120,000. So that brings my 42.5 million down to a little over $ 38 million that we are still looking for and working to find. There's about another 1.6 six million that we have signed applications and

done what we believe is complete to turn those into FEMA, but they have not yet approved those and sent them up the chain to be paid. So, what is left? Um, obviously about 35 to$36 million worth of stuff and and projects and things that we need to do. And you're we're going to talk about some of them tonight. As you'll see, meeting by meeting, we are starting to award engineering for some of the the larger rehab and rebuild projects. We are starting to take RFQS to hire more engineers. This this storm is an engineers dream is all I can say. Um we are looking at trying to put our infrastructure back together. the electric department. We have received, and we've talked about it before, $844,000 as a reimbursement for what we paid to the cities that came and helped us that Craig helped coordinate. Um, but we are still trying to get about $2.7 to$3 million from them, which is what we spent in electric. And we spent that a long time ago, and we have not been able to get FEMA to accept and approve those expenditures yet, either. Um, we are working on raw water and we're going to talk about that a little more tonight. Our pump house over there that flooded needs work. Uh, the greenway, so the boardwalk is under design and we hope to have that ready to go to bid pretty soon and issue a construction contract for that. We're guessing that's going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of we'll call it 3 millionish is how it's looking. And that is just for the boardwalk. 800 by 15 feet is about the size of that um

Greenway Rocky Ford the end down toward Grace Ridge. We still haven't really done much work on that. We are pursuing a couple of opportunities to try to find a way if we can get some um ideas on some engineering, some permitting how that's going to work and then ultimately take that to a bid process and then that'll be a FEMA ask process as well. Uh the weir the lowhead we wear weir the dam at the water plant. We know we have some work to do there and that's going to be a little bit down the road too. Um, and finally, I would say Kataba Meadows and the soccer complex. So, our two largest parks. Um, we are out with an RFQ to try to select an engineer. We hope to bring that back before you all if we're lucky at the September council meeting would be our plan to award a contract to an engineer to then get started on looking for a contractor uh turf rebuilders and and to begin to put those two parks back together. Um those are really the highlights. There's still a lot of work left to be done. Um, and we are, as they say, eating the elephant. Maybe I'll say two bites at the time and and working on trying to get that done. But I just wanted to give everybody kind of an update.

Sally, can I ask what the questions are that FEMA's asking regarding the repayment to our sister cities that helped us so much? So, they have paid that. Okay. So, we finally won that battle with them. What they have not paid is the work that we did. the materials that we bought, the hours that our linemen spent, the truck usage that we had, the the distribution system parts that we put back together. So, they they have finally I mean, it took a while. Okay. It it took six to eight months before we got the money for the mutual aid, but but now they're going through that information

and and it is they require that it be so detailed that on October the 2nd at 9:00 a.m. In the morning, Brooks and Bart were in a line truck on Buchelle Street and they touched poles at GPS coordinates, blah blah blah blah blah, and did this kind of work. And that's the detail you have to give them to get a reimbursement. And I know that people say it's been a year, but

for the things that had been destroyed 12 plus years, especially the recreation, and so it's it's hard to recoup all that and and rebuild all that in just a year. Yeah. And our pump house, I mean, it's been there more than 50 years. And and and our work that we did at the sewer plant and a lot of that is largely done. We didn't talk about that tonight in Silver Creek. So, we're we're still working on all those assets. So, patience, I guess, is what I'm saying. It is definitely a test of endurance.

Thank you, Sally. Next on our agenda is the historic Morgan Festival update. Sharon Jablonsky, if you'll give us an update, please. If you don't mind, I'm going to actually uh just do Morton Festival, roll right into social district. That works.

And then do play music on the porch. How's that? So, Historic Morton Festival, uh, full throttle fund. You can see our ground on G-hoged in this year. September 5th and 6, noon to 11 and 9 to 10. Of course, I should always say it's, uh, presented by UNCC Health, Blue Ridge Healthcare. They're a major partner in this. Uh, 250 plus craft vendors. We have been sold out for the last 30 days. There is not an inch on the street lift. Uh, plenty of kids rides and activities will of course be in play. Food. I just want to mention I know everybody remembers there there a lot of criticism last year about the food prices. Um more importantly it it seemed that the food was never listed and the the menus were not listed and the prices beside them. So they seem to change throughout the day. Um there is a requirement in place that they have to put the menus up and they have to put the pricing and that has to be shown and you know Brian Black runs that stretch of street so I can assure you that they will have the menus and the pricing up. Uh we also did a good job of um Can we put the There you go. Uh we also did a good job of bringing back some or talking people to come back that had some lower price items. So that should help too. Uh mainstage entertainers, we have Jack, I hope this is right, Wararf and the Tobacco Flats. They're Americana folk and rock and Chapel Hill, which is country music. Um they had the golden buzzard, I believe, on one of the shows. Chapel Heart.

Um yes. Anyway, very popular in their field of country music. That's Friday night. And then Saturday, you've got the Phoebe's Rock and Blues Band and Vegas McGraw Tim McGraw tribute band. We tried to get Tim, but it just wasn't available.

So, we of course hope to see you on the street September 5th and six. Looking forward to it. And if you haven't signed up to volunteer, let's get to it, boys and girls. All right. Next is the social district. And this is just an update. Um I'm going to read to you. The official boundary signs for the district have been ordered and are currently in production. We anticipate receiving them in approximately two weeks. I hope that's down to about a week. Um we in to ensure a smooth roll out, we have already distributed registration forms as well as maintenance and operations plans to all downtown retailers for review. If your business did not receive a form or if you don't fall under the traditional retail category, but would like to participate, you need to call McKenzie at the Main Street office to get a form. We recently held a virtual training session for ABC permitted businesses to review the rules, regulations, and procedures for the social district. Registration forms have been sent out to these businesses, and we have already begun receiving responses. At this time, ABC preventive businesses are starting to train employees on all rules and regulations for the social district. I will tell you that McKenzie took the time. She uh did a training video. They did it on Zoom. Um, I think about everybody participated that signed up, which is 12 ABC permitted establishments and 12 retail establishments. So, um, uh, Chad, you've lost me again. There you go. Um, anyway, um, what I want to tell you is the training video was done. She did a live one with them and then she gave them the video. So, that, as you know, and I know employees change constantly. so they can always train their employees. Okay. Um so at this time everybody that signed up should have their questions answered. All right. Uh next steps are installing

window signage for participating businesses. And I just keep putting this up so that people will get used to it. The boundary signage uh we are still hoping it will get in here so we can get it in place. And um so we're still hoping for mid August. Okay. And then the last thing is uh what if for one day everything stopped and we all just listen to the music. Play music on the porch day is August 30th. If you'll go to Facebook uh you can see the schedule. I also believe that they've tried to do I think they've got an Instagram that'll be live in the morning and uh Morgan. So, this is a worldwide event, guys, and you can actually go to the worldwide map and you will find Morgan listed, which is really cool. And huge kudos to Jay Brandt, who is a part of the arts commission, and he sees to this. I mean, this is his baby. Um, so it's uh Morgan has 17 porches, free live music, starts right starts at 9:00 am at the farmers market and will end this year on the square and run from 6:30 to 10 with like three live bands. Everything's free, so it's all over town. So if you just you go and get the schedule and that's it for that

questions for Sharon. Excited about the music. It that's a really a good event for everybody. It is. It is. And Hobo Kane who will be playing on one of the porches is coming in early and they're going to he's going to do a show Friday night at the Grind. Yep. For wants to attend. Sharon, thanks.

Okay. The other upcoming events, uh, public safety is going to have cops on top at the Chick-fil-A August the 15th. Um, this is a fundraiser for the Blue Elves Christmas project. Under Parks and Recreation, Katamea's Park partially opening effective July 21st. Obviously, Collet Street swimming pool continue regular hours during the month of August. Monday, September the 1st will be the last day for outdoor swimming. Fall and winter hours for indoor swimming at the aquatic center will begin on Tuesday, September 2nd. Splash pads at Martha's Park and MLK Park will close sometime after Labor Day, depending on the weather. Uh downtown and art in the hall at city hall, August and September, uh Abby Warbertton, uh her goal is to bring fun and joy into a space through watercolor. and she comes to us from her new home in Morington by way of Charleston, South Carolina. The American Red Cross blood drive will be Thursday, August 22nd from 9:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in Council Chambers. That's open to the public. Farmers Market is Wednesday from Wednesdays from 10:00 a.m. to 100 p.m. at 111 North Green Street. Saturdays from 8 to noon at 300 Beach Street. The third Thursday art crawl will be Thursday, August 21st from 4 pm to 8:00 pm in downtown Morganington. And the performing arts center, August the 4th, it's uh the deadline for new season ticket holders August the 11th for senior single tickets.

It's when they start. It's when they start when they start for our performing arts center. Okay. Next on our agenda is consideration of changing the city council meeting for for September. Sally Um, so as usually occurs for us, the first Monday in September is Labor Day and that is a holiday. And so we would ask you move the meeting for one week to the following Monday. What's the wish of council? Motion to change the city council meeting date from September 1st, 2025 to September 8th, 2025. Have a motion to have a second. Second.

Thank you, Butch. All in favor of the Any discussion? All in favor of the motion say I. I. All right, motion passes. Under consent agenda, Sally.

So, tonight that includes three items that we would ask that the council approve in one motion unless somebody wants something removed and discussed separately. For those of you viewing at home, that includes two sets of minutes. Minutes from the June 2nd meeting and then the special meeting held on June the 16th to adopt the budget. It includes a resolution accepting um appropriations from the state drinking water division um water infrastructure division at DEEQ. This is for the Silver Creek project that yes is still underway and we're still talking about um once we got bids we had to ask for additional dollars and so the total is $6,190,856 and then finally award of a contract for continued upgrades at the delivery for substation and this is for our relay relay panel in the amount of $53,838 to utility package. and construction.

The inter any any members wish to have any items taken off the consent agenda? If no, not I'll entertain a motion. So move. Thank you, Wendy. A motion to accept the consent agenda. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Chris. All in favor say I. Motion passes. Okay. The next order of business is to consider a resolution to accept funding from the North Carolina Division of Water In in Infrastructure Drinking Water Wastewater State Reserve for the Silver Creek Pump Station project. No, I think I think we just did that. I think we are at the ordinance the item one under other business.

Okay. uh the adoption of an ordinance pending uh for amending part eight offenses chapter one of the code of ordinances disorderly conduct. I'm going to call on Chief Ryan if you'll come forward and give us some history about disorderly conduct, please. Lots of history.

Yes, Council Mayor Sally, good evening. Uh what you have before you I would consider as an opportunity to re-educate what reasonable expectations are for our community members. Shortly after I became interim chief, I asked Chief Bowman if he would reach out to one of the associations that were members with and see if they are experiencing the same problems that we are, what we're seeing, what we're responding to for calls for service and crimes. And that email was very farreaching and we got a lot of responses on it. And after going through all the responses, you had probably three quarters that wanted to know what others were doing as well. And the quarter that we received was by far new New Hover County had the best. And basically, you're probably asking yourself, well, what is going on? What are we seeing? What are we responding to? Um just to give you a few examples. Um this deals with our public spaces overall, but when we talk specifically about the square, armed subject, damage to property, vandalism, domestic violence incidents, fight and pro progress, assaults, harass or threats made, indecent exposure to include public se sex acts, intoxicated subjects, overdoses, and urinating in public. and some of the vandalism. What what we've encountered is in the bathrooms, broken toilets, broken sinks, human feces on the ground, human feces on the walls, and the list can go on and on. So, with New Hover County, they basically had a three-part process um similar to what we're doing tonight or what's before you. They enacted an ordinance that restricted

um community members from being in their public places from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. or 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. in the morning. Um no camping, any items that are left behind, they can be discarded. They put up signs everywhere. And then it went into the educational component. So they enacted it. Then they did a two-eek educational component where the deputies and with New Hover County it also encompeted this encompassed the city of Wilmington. So educational component for two weeks. They had flyers of basically what their signs are. No camping. Um no one should be on the property during these hours so forth and so on. But they also added another component to the educational side where they handed out flyers of what the resources are in the community if they need housing, if they need mental health um help, if they need substance abuse help, so forth and so on. And then after the two weeks, they went into strict enforcement. So we have received since January 1 of 2023, we've responded to 288 calls for service at our square. Okay. Now, most of the calls are actually crimes that have been committed. And when you talk about crimes that have been committed committed overall in the United States, approximately 40% of all crimes are reported to the police. So that number in reality is a whole lot higher than this. Um, so what we would do if you pass this, oh well, let me back up. 40% of the 288 calls that were reported to us occurred at night between 900 pm and 6 in the morning. Okay. So, if you pass this, again, we're going to follow New Hover County where this is the first step se and then the rest of the month we're talking about or looking at getting signs, putting the signs up, and then

September, the whole month is an educational component. And then October 1st would be the enforcement side of it. And the reason that the educational component is so long is because I don't want to arrest community members. It is to give them every opportunity to understand what was passed, find other avenues, um other resources to to seek assistance. And also, if we do if you do pass it tonight, we could really start the the educational component of this this week and almost give us a full 60 days of educating those community members before enforcement goes into effect. questions for Chief.

What has been the um handover has has done a good job? You like the format that they're doing? Um do they have results? What is the measurable results that they've seen? Yeah, they've had they've cleaned up their parks and their and their public spaces drastically. And what happens to someone who you arrest because they're not following?

Well, we have two options. We can arrest by through citation or actually put them in handcuffs and take them to the magistrate's office. Um, I think that a lot of discretion comes into play here with the officers. You know, for instance, if if it's a new community member that isn't aware of what's going on or maybe doesn't see a sign, then they get a warning and and you educate them on that. But we have individuals that frequent that place very often and they should know really with almost 60 days of an educational component that they shouldn't be there. Ron, this is geared mainly to the square. So doesn't affect Martin Luther King Park?

Well, it affects all of the the city parks and the public spaces that are that are run and owned by the city. Um, so the square is the obvious one, right? that's the one that that basically people see day in and day out. Um but also it gives us um I guess the authority to go into those parks and and and to tell people that they're not supposed to be there as well. Um and we have seen problems in other areas and Martha's Park um to be one of them. But the community house courtyard, the um mini park at the end of um Union and King um and they say they can they'll argue with you.

My I guess my question more specifically is the skate park. I know a lot of people are down there at night and you know I can I I can't give you an answer on the skate park. You know, it might be one of those things that with the skate park at night, out of sight, out of mind, unless we get a call for service. But, you know, once this goes into into effect, then the officers will know that they really need to start more than what they're doing now, especially during the educational component because we want to we want to talk to those people before the enforcement part kicks in. Skate park closes at 10:00. This starts at 10:00, right? Okay. Okay. Other questions?

Shouldn't be in the skate park at midnight. This addresses parking parking lots a lot um in there. Um well and yeah because you know for a while there we were getting people that were camping out in the parking lots. Yeah. So again a huge you know almost 60 days of educating everybody and what's going on and then if again if somebody new comes into the community you know we don't have to take enforcement action. That educational component can come back in and educate them. That's really what needs to happen. Ryan, looks like a lot of work went into this. Thank you so much. Um, any other questions? What's the wish of council?

Motion to approve adoption of an ordinance amending part 8 offenses chapter one of the code of ordinances to add the attached ordinance and motion to authorize the department of public safety to post signage that would be the same as or similar to the notice attached to this summary. Thank you, Chris. I have a motion to have a second. Second. Thanks, Chris. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. Motion passes. Next on our agenda is our favorite topic with the Silver Creek pump station upgrade project. Sally, now we're at Silver Creek again.

You know, we talk about it a lot. Um, so this is an amendment that we are bringing to you for the engineering contract. And as you know, after Helen, we had to stop work out there, re-evaluate, do some additional engineering. what is happening with that now and and where construction projects are, the days to complete the project by contract needs to be extended because getting items, having the work done, all the things associated with it and and so we have received a change order from Highfield Engineering and it is for the additional days that they will be providing construction contract administration and construction observation and and making sure the project is done correctly. And this is for an amount of $190,700. This too will come out of the state money that we just talked about.

Uh what's the wish of council? I'll enter a motion to approve and authorize amendment number three to contract parenthetically task order number one with Highfield Engineering to complete design verification, electrical improvements, bid phase services, and construction contract administration for the Silver Creek pump station upgrade project not to exceed the amount of $190,700. Thank you, Butch. I have a motion. I have a second. Second. Thank you, Chris. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. Motion passes.

I would also like to say that the additional construction cost and some of these additional cost over and above what was originally designed, we are still working through the FEMA process to see if we can gather any of those dollars as well. Thanks, Sally. Next on our agenda is um consideration of contract for engineering service for the raw water pump station. Sally. Oh, no. Brad, I call Brad. Brad, you'll come forward to give us engineering services, please. Favorite subject, Brad.

Hello, everybody. After Hurricane Helen uh impacted everyone in western North Carolina, it seems like um we did a assessment of our raw water pump station at the water plant. Garver Engineering actually came in, did a rough overview of the existing equipment, sediment that was left over from the storm and the high water and the flooding. And they gave us some insight and some identified some opportunities that we could make the pump station more resilient so if we ever had uh an event like that again that it would hopefully be able to withstand it. Uh they identified an opportunity at the raw water pump station, the intake. Um they we we had to actually get a swift water rescue team to take some of our employees out to the pump station while it was still flooded to kind of do a little bit of an assessment. So, one of the big features of the resiliency measure was to have a walkway that would be above the flood level to get over to the pump station. So, that's one of the site improvements that they're going to be looking at designing as well of as well as testing a lot of the equipment, some of the pumps. We're going to do some vibration analysis to see if any of the sand or the sediment that the pumps operated in were permanently damaged. Um, and as far as the electrical equipment, we're going to raise most of the the equipment up at a higher level within the pump station. And we also have our emergency pump and um that's going to be probably replaced. It was uh an antiquated piece of equipment to begin with and then the storm basically

drove a stake right through its heart. So, we're going to be replacing that pump and the associated electrical components and drives for that are going to be elevated as well. So, um, we're excited that this project is going to happen. And, um, as far as Garver goes, they have done a really good job at a master plan for water and sewer infrastructure, and some of these items that are on uh, that master plan are going to be addressed with this project. So, we're ahead of the game as far as that goes. So, any questions for Brad? What's the wish council?

Make a motion to award a contract to Garner Engineering Work order 2025-01 not to exceed the amount of 395,152 for engineering services for the repair and rehab of the raw water intake pump station at the water treatment plant and to authorize the mayor and or city manager to execute said contract and any other necessary documents. Thank you, Chris. I have a motion to have a second. Second. Thanks, Chris. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. Motion passes. Next is consideration of a contract for Shuy Park building exterior. Uh Sally.

Yes. So, we continue the theme of restoration and repair work from Hurricane Hela. As you know, we've done quite a bit to Shuy and have been using that park. There is still some work to be done to the buildings there. HVAC replacement, hot water heater replacement, roof repairs, some of that. So, we have taken bids or or quotes on that and would recommend awarding the contract to Heritage Construction and Design in Morgan in the amount of $129,900 for those repairs. We would also ask that you approve a 5% contingency, $6,495 to let the staff manage that in case anything that we haven't accounted for yet should occur while we're doing the work.

What's the wish of council? Motion to award a contract to Heritage Construction and Design of Morgan for interior and exterior repair of the building located at Shuy Park in the amount of $129,900 with a 5% contingency of $6,495. Thank you, Wendy. I have a motion to have a second. Second. Thank you, Butch. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. Motion passes. Next is consideration of a contract for electronic parking. I'll ask Sharon Jabbronsky to give us an update. Okay. I'm the relief from the hurricane.

Um, as you know, May 20th, the downtown parking committee met and there was two uh items that came out of that. One was ordinance changes uh to change the enforcement and what and what the punishments are. However, that will be brought to you at next month's meeting. So, for this month, um, one of the things that was very clear to us was that we needed to look into the some electronic ticketing system and get away from actually chalking tires, which seems to be a lawsuit waiting to happen. Now, that I I don't even know what to say to that. Um so the directive again was in response to ongoing challenges with manual ticketing processes including talking of tire inefficiency of collections and lack of repercussion for non-payments of tickets as well as habitual offenders. So we did uh did some research uh there are a number of units out there however one stands far and above the rest of them and that's T2 parking management systems. Go ahead Chad. Um, the big things I would point out for this system is that they do collections. Uh, it's a better way of permitting parking. So, with if you're a resident downtown, you can actually go online and put your information in or we can help you um put your information in. You do not have to have a sticker on your car. They will know it by the license plate. Um, the mobile payments, you can actually um pay right then. You can see your ticket. you can scan the QR code, you can pay it right then. If you're not comfortable doing that, then you can call a 1-800 number. Uh I don't think we have to have any pay stations in this case. That may be an option we look at. Enforcement, uh you'll see on down the line and then the analytics of it, which is we would actually know who's not

paying. Uh it's and it's real time data, so it's there's no question. Um go ahead, Joe. They have a a tremendous amount of customer service and supports. Uh I I spoke to two towns and I I'll say that again, but uh they were extremely complimentary. You can call them anytime. It does not cost extra. They're there for you. They do ongoing training that you're always offered to join in on if you want to. Go ahead. Um this you can see that the really great thing about this that I thought was that it is um scalable. In other words, honestly, it it can do really big cities. It can do parking decks, which it does across the university system in North Carolina, but it also does small towns. And it was developed by officers who had had to live this with the the parking that never goes away. Um, so we did speak with the city of Newburn and the city of Lincoln and both officers u actually I spoke to the chief in both cases uh were very complimentary. Lincolnington had actually gone away from it for a little bit and tried someone else. He said, "Boy, that was a mistake." Um, he said, "They don't nickel and dime you to death. The price is the price and they they do what they say they're going to do." And um, you know, they had a lot of good things to say. Go ahead. Go ahead. This is the hardware. It's basically you're holding a computer in your hand and a camera allin one. Um, it's really cool that it it comes with a printer. It's it prints as well and the um paper is rainproof. So, you know, it's amazing to me what you can do these days. Go ahead. Um the cool part about it is it uses I never say this right. I won't say GPS. It uses GPS and so it takes pictures of

the um license plate, but you also take a picture of the tire valve. And if that tire valve moves it, you know it. And um so you but you have to move within so many feet. So you can't beat the system, I guess, is what I'm trying to say. Unlike going out and washing off the chalk or moving your car to hide the chalk. Um it doesn't work like that. Uh I love their name. It's called Scull Law and those are habitual repeat offenders and it it literally notates that. So go ahead. Um and it just repeats here uh violate it will actually u let the officer know when someone's gone over two hours and and it tells them so they can go back. So even if they haven't ridden right then they know. Uh and it's hard to argue because this is what you get on the ticket, your license plate, the picture of it and and the information. And again, you can pay online. Uh there is the other thing it does have in its system is a dispute if you want to dispute. But the the so a chief actually has the same information against real time. So if they call up and it's only been 30 minutes, then he's they've already got the information from the software. Go ahead. Uh some of the other things we really liked was the revenue reports. uh the summary of the aging reports on tickets, the collection rates by the month, revenue breakdown, um closed tickets. The other thing that we liked was again the vehicle exception. So again, this allows for residential online permitting as well as the other thing that we have a lot downtown seems to be construction workers. And there's always the question of do we know? Well, our venture knows, our our building people know. And so all

they have to do is let the officer know and and then give the license plate or whatever and that lets them know that they have an exception for a period of time. So um anyway, go ahead. Go ahead. The other thing that again is big is the collection services and so they send out the notices, not us. Uh and you can see how it goes around the 30 60 90day. um if you allow them they will um for okay so in Lincoln and Newburn and I will just say this and I put it in my letter to you is that and that will need to be in next month's piece but the what they both said is this does not stop people from not paying. The only way to stop them from not paying is to have an actual punishment. And uh both of them said if you get that ordinance enacted, would you please send it to us? So um uh I mean you you can look at literally you you just uh tow the car, you know, for those who just are repeat offenders or they refuse to pay the tickets or whatever, you just tow the car. I would say it would only take a couple toes and I you'd probably be done. And because originally we had talked about booting, but you can actually skip the booting, the tow, and that's on that person to pay those fines to get their car back.

Sharon, I noticed on the diagram we're looking at now, step five, which is state debt set off pro procedures, they could take it out of their state refund if they if you allow that. Yes. Which we participate in that program here in North Carolina.

We do. Okay. So, it's just a matter of, you know, you guys can be thinking about it, but it is a matter of what you're willing to do. It doesn't have to tie up the court systems. We're not going to the mag office to, you know, to take out a warrant or something like that. It's just there's there's this is XYZ. I mean, you can do increased fines. I've never found that to work because if they're not going to pay the, you know, five or 10, they're not going to pay the 25 or 50. Um, so there has to be some repercussion. Go ahead. Uh this is just the imple implementation timeline. The reason we're bringing to this to you now is this works in phases and it should be operational by October. So that's why we decide to do this first and then we'll bring you the ordinance at the next month. And finally, uh, the it was cost effective in that the the one-time cost heavy is upfront the $9,562, but every year thereafter uh is is just a steady uh three $3,800 and that um allows you to have the software. So,

questions for Sharon. you you didn't address tourism um in uh

so if we um if council when we when we put this before you one of the things that we're looking at is taking all the parking around the courthouse square that touches the courthouse square and making it visitor customer parking only as well as permitted parking for residential because we just don't have but eight of you you know in in the area we're talking about. So what's cool is because of its software capability, it can tell you where the folks are from and and if let's just say that somebody decides that they are cute and they are employed and they want to go down there and work. I don't think it's going to take but about 24 to 48 hours for the officer to figure out this is not a visitor customer. Um but at any rate that's what would be nice is actually knowing where our visitors from which would help us with marketing as well. uh because marketing you know is always a shot in the dark. Um so I think there's a lot of good features and again both towns were very complimentary of the company and I will say you tell you that they have been very responsive in all of our questions and requests. They did a presentation u

presentation was very good and a lot of information that we got from it. To follow up on Wendy's question, I've noticed a lot of Tennessee license plates, especially recently, and I'm not sure that's just visitors or 40 opened up. Okay, maybe that's what it was. Okay. Their insurance laws are are different from ours, and there are a lot of people living here with Tennessee licenses. He is correct about that.

You are very correct. And the other question I have is in our lots that are limited by time, is there a way to accept or whatever the festival um parade times um if somebody's parked in a two-hour lot and they're here for the festival. We do not we do not enforce during special events like that. Well, that's that was No, I didn't know how that would work.

And we will actually be bringing something to you that deals with our lots based on the surveys that we got back from folks. Uh we're going to we're going to try a temporary offer at least through December to see if it will work with some of our parking lots. But nevertheless, in event situations, we do not enforce it.

So, this is phase one, right? if we want to order the equipment tonight. So, we would award this contract and and then you would allow us to use a special appropriations line item already in the budget to to do this purchase. So, we don't need an amendment for it. And then step two would be to bring you back basically what I'm going to refer to as the new parking map. So, it would be the map with the zones and the times and all of those things. And that's when you would approve that because that goes into our parking ordinance. And along with that would be charges like ticket charge. Um if you if we decide that you know after five times you get towed or or or whatever that is that is the information that would then go in the system to build the system so that it would monitor it that way.

That's correct. Other questions? Sure. I have a couple just forformational purposes. Uh you mentioned Lincolnington really liked it. Why did they decide to go away from it for a time? You know, when I said that I thought, boy, I wish I had my piece of paper in front of me. Um I think they had a change in uh staffing and they kind of I think they got confused is what I understand and they went with another service and they realized they messed up and then they figured out what was supposed to be being done and so they went back to the T2 systems. Okay. is and that's but but it was good knowledge because he learned yeah that um that was a mistake and I think there was a change in staffing.

Okay. And and I'm sure there's a lot of things but what what's one of our biggest issues with parking downtown? Is it just folks overstaying the the time limit opinion? Yeah. There isn't one. We have a walking problem. Yeah.

Um look 34 years of this. It's never going to change. But if this actually helps it, I'm all for it. Truth of the matter is it's employees. They're abusing it. We are not wanting to punish our customers. That is not what this is about. And um the employees want to park at the front door or they want they they they refuse to park at any of the thousand literally thousand surface parking free all day that we have because walking two blocks is too much. Mhm.

So, um, on the flip side, our visitors and customers, especially our locals, get upset because two hours is not enough, which is why I suggest I'm going to suggest the all day free around the square and let them be able to then park four hours, five hours because ladies still and men get their hair done. you know, we are pushing restaurants like crazy and and hope to have another one open in the next, you know, nine months. Um along with the hedge that should be open in I hope four months. Um so you've got to give people time to shop and do business. Mhm.

We again we listen to the survey and we're going to try and balance it and give an opportunity for them to take surface lots closer in as free and just keep the on street is 2hour and then the all day free around the square and see if maybe that will help if if you guys go along with it. I know in looking at the cost I first wondered is is the problem big enough for that? But if you're a business owner downtown, it is a big problem because it it's the lifeblood of your business.

You know, a parking space, and I wish I I could remember, I know it's a lot more, but it's it's tens of thousands of dollars a year is what a parking space means to your business. And so, it's very frustrating when the secretaries and and quite frankly, even business owners park right in front of their business. I mean, you you just want to shake your head and go, you do you, boo. just go for it. It's not a punishment to them either. I mean, it it's when when you have a business in downtown, parking close by is a premium and and and it's kind of up to the public entity to to monitor that. In this building, city employees aren't allowed to park out front because that's where our customers need to park. We park in the back.

That's right. And believe me, if somebody parks out front, we hear about it. So, I Yeah. Same thing. Yeah, same things. Other questions? Okay. What's the wish of council? I'll make a motion to award a contract for an electronic parking management system to T2 parking management systems not to exceed the amount of 9,000 $652 initially with an annual cost of $3,828 and to authorize the mayor and city and or city manager to execute said contract and any other necessary documents. Thank you, Chris. I have a motion. I have a second. I'll second. Thank you, Butch. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I.

Motion passes. I have another motion. Motion to direct staff to use special appropriations funding to pay for this system. Thank you, Wendy. I have a motion to have a second. Second. Thank you, Chris. Any discussion? All in favor say I. Motion passes. Next is consideration of award of a contract to Smart Electric for the wastewater treatment plant. Sally,

so as as repairs continue, this one is at the wastewater treatment plant and it is damaged from Helen and staff has um received three bids to do some work out there. Would recommend awarding this to Smart Electric Company as having the lowest responsive responsible bid in an amount of $55,873. This is being paid for by insurance reimbursement. So no budget is no budget amendments required. And this is for the influent pump station. Okay. What's the wish of council?

Make a motion to award a contract with Smart Electric Company to perform work associated with the influent pump station wires at the wastewater treatment plant in the amount not to exceed $55,873 and to authorize the mayor andor city manager to execute said contract and any other necessary documents. Thank you, Chris. Have a motion to have a second. Second. Thank you, Wendy. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. Motion passes. Next is consideration uh for new electrical equipment and storm damage. Sally,

so more of the same. This is to do some permanent repairs at some of our sewer lift stations out in our collection system. And those would be Kataba Meadows, Dough Run, Lost Corners, and Powerhouse Road. And again, we've been through the same process in in in selecting our award tonight. Um, the lowest responsive responsible bid came from Maynard Electric Company and that is for $147,276. And Sally, that's for the four lift stations, correct? That is correct.

What's the wish of council? Make the motion to award a contract with Maynard Electric Company to perform the work associated with electrical repairs at the four sewer lift stations not to exceed $147,276 and to authorize the mayor andor the city manager to execute said contract and any other necessary documents. Thank you, Butch. I have a motion to have a second. Second. Thank you, Chris. Any discussion? All in favor of the motion say I. I

motion passes. Next is consideration uh for some engineering cost to do for design verification for the water waste for the water treatment plant. Sally, yes. And and so you're getting ready um to to hear again too from Brad. So this is the famous sedimentation fauculation coagulation project that we have been talking about for any number of years now. Um I am happy to say that this project has nothing to do with damage from project. Wow. All right. There we go. Um the tail end of this project.

We consider this normal work. Let's consider this one normal work. Um so you know that we have done some engineering already to design and to look at this project. Um this is again you're getting ready to be asked to award a contract for the construction of this project finally in in your next item. Like everything else this is taking longer. Getting the equipment is taking longer all the things. So we are extending the days to complete the project from 275 to 540 calendar days. that requires additional engineering for the oversight work, the administration, the construction um administration work and that is in the amount of $229,600 um as a change order to the engineering contract to high engineering and this is also being paid for by the state appropriation.

Okay. Must wish council make a motion to approve and authorize amendment number one to contract task order number two with high fuel engineering to complete design verification electrical improvements bid phase services and construction contract administration for the water treatment plant sedimentation project not to exceed amount of $229,600. Thank you Chris. I have a motion to have a second. Uh thank you Wendy. Uh, any discussion? All in favor say I. I. Motion passes. I may say that engineers may be the only people that can do more things with numbers than accountants.

Okay. Change orders to task orders to numbers to Yeah. Next is a consideration of a contract for the water plant sedimentation bases basin improvement project. Sally, no. Brad is going to do that. citiz tonight with your blessing hopefully uh the project formerly known as the coagulation fauculation and sedimentation project will become a reality right now completely but a reality

long time coming all right well um we were so fortunate to have a couple of contractors bid on this project. We opened the bids up there at the end of June and we were very surprised that uh the lowest responsible bid was a little bit above what we had anticipated from cost estimates. So um after the recommendation of the low bid by our engineer, we were very fortunate to have this contractor that uh worked with the electric department, our engineer to come up with some cost-saving measures to allow us to be able to come in uh a little more in line with our with our budget. Um, we were really surprised that some of these improvements were we were going to have our electric department handle some of the the high voltage outside the the water plant and all of the internal voltage. One of the biggest things, the electrical component of this project was going to be reducing the voltage from 4160, that's 4,160 volts to 480 pumps. A lot more efficient, uh, a little safer to work around. So, that was a lot of the cost went into a lot of those electrical components. So without the electric department, we wouldn't be able to uh see some of these cost savings. So we appreciate the electric department

working with us on that project. Um Lock Lane Lane Construction, they were the they were the low lowest responsible biders. Um again, we very appreciative of them willingness to work with us uh reducing some of the costs. The big item other than the electric is the the plate settlers in our sedimentation basins. We're going to it's a regulatory driven project. So, it's going to allow us to have more detention time and better treatment within the plant. Uh we're also going to have some automatic sludge collections uh collectors. Uh right now staff spends one to two days every time we have to take a basin out of service to clean it. So, this was going to be continuously cleaning. It's going to be a lot more efficient and it's something that the again the state regulatory agencies uh have recommended

and um but yeah, we're just so so happy to get this project underway. So, uh, please approve the project grant and and fortunate that in our negotiations, so so at the end of the day, um, that the bid amount was reduced by $151,875 and some of the electrical work the electric department is taking on to make the project work. and and our our funding source for this is that state appropriation dollars and electric dollars and some small water resources dollars. So, we have three sources of funding.

And Brad, not to put you on the spot, but uh could you explain to people at home what really is coagulation, fauculation, and sedimentation, the process in in just in general terms what happens when it comes in? Basically the the material in the in the water it's mud, silk, clays, algae comes in contact with the treatment chemical, a coagulant and what it does is it clumps it together makes it more sticky, heavy and then in the sedimentation basins that coagulated material settles out. So great. Thanks. Goes to the bottom of the basin. And that was that was the quickest I've ever explained it.

It's always an educational experience with you. So, thank you so much. Make it big. Make it sticky and heavy and it'll settle out. Don't ask. I'm sorry I asked the question. Okay. What's the wish of council? Motion to award a contract to Lock Lane Construction for the water plant sedimentation basin improvements project in the amount of 6,382,363 and to approve a $320,000 contingency and to allow the mayor and/or city manager to sign such contract and any other necessary documents. Thank you, Chris. I have a motion to have a second. Second. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I.

I need a motion passes. I need a second motion, please. Make a motion to approve a budget amendment to amend the project fund for the sedimentation project in the amount of $87,263. Thank you, Chris. I have a motion to have a second. Second. Thank you, Wendy. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. Motion passes. I need a third motion, please. Make a motion to approve a budget amendment in the amount of $242,919 to transfer electric funds to pay for electric improvements at the plant related to the sedimentation project. Thank you much. I have a motion. Do I have a second? Second.

Thank you, Chris. Any discussion? All in favor say I. Motion passes. Next is consideration of appointment to the alcohol beverage control board. What's the wish of councel? Motion to reappoint Mark Miller to the alcoholic beverage control board for a term to expire on August 5th, 2028. Thank you, Chris. I have a motion to have a second. Second. Any discussion? All in favor say I.

I. Motion passes. Next is a human relations commission. This is a mayoral appointment and I would like to appoint Romney Lopez Rodriguez, a Patton High School student representative to the human relations commission to serve during the 2526 school year. Uh we have a handout that we go in. Yeah, we have a handout for consideration for the community appearance advisory commission. It's a mayoral appointment. I would like to appoint David Lee and Susan Duckworth to the Community Appearance Advisory Commission for a three-year term expiring on June 30th, 2028.

Sally, I think we have one more motion. Correct? Yes. So, um would like to ask that the council consider going into a close session to discuss items related to a legal matter and economic development and would tell the press that we do not anticipate a decision after the close session.

What's the wish of council? Motion to go into close session pursuant to North Carolina General Statutes Section 143-318.11 and 143-318.11 to consult with attorney employed or retained by the city to discuss litigation and to preserve the attorney client privilege between the attorney and the city council and to prevent disclosure of information that is privileged or confidential pursuant to laws of state and to discuss economic development matters as per North Carolina stat general statutes section 143-318.11. I

have a motion to have a second. Second. All in favor say I. I. Motion passes. That's a mouthful, isn't it? Sure.