Town Council - Regular Meeting

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the opportunity to gather today in service to our community. We recognize that leadership is both a privilege and a responsibility, and we ask for your guidance as we undertake the work before us. Grant us wisdom to make sound decisions, discernment and the humility to recognize that none of us have all the answers. Help us to listen carefully, speak thoughtfully, and treat one another with civility and respect, even when we disagree. Lord, may our discussions be productive, our actions just, and our motives be centered on serving others rather than ourselves. Give us the compassion for those facing challenges, gratitude for those who contribute to our community, and a shared commitment to improving lives of all who call Oak Ridge home. Finally, guide us to be faithful stewards of the resources entrusted to us and inspire us to seek solutions that strengthen our community today and for generations to come. In your holy name we pray.

Amen. Amen. Thank you, Stuart. Please join me with the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.

The Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic and indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Second on the agenda is to approve the agenda. May I have a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. Is there a second? Second. All in favor? Aye. Next, we have three minutes to approve. The May 7th regular meeting, the April 9th regular meeting, and a February 11th special called meeting for the capital improvement plan. I will entertain motions to either approve them separately or for someone to make a motion to approve them all together.

I move that we approve all three sets of minutes as printed on the agenda.

Is there a second? Second. Okay. Any debate? Okay. Then all in favor, say aye. Aye. Okay. I do not believe we have... any resolutions or proclamations or announcements. So we have the report from Guilford County Sheriff's Office. Would you come forward, sir, and state your name? And thank you for being here.

I'm Deputy Agnew with the Guilford County Sheriff's Office. First, I want to thank the council for giving us this time to report on what we found for the month of May. And second, I want to thank the sheriff for the opportunity. For the month of May, the Guilford County Sheriff's Office responded to 217 calls for service in Oak Ridge town limits, resulting in 10 case reports. Of note, there were no significant incidents or crime trends that occurred in the township for the month. Breaking down the offenses by type, we had two simple assault reports, one fraud report, one larceny report, one motor vehicle theft report, and five all other offense reports. Our busiest day during the month of May appeared to be Saturday, but fluctuated for the whole weekend from Friday to Sunday. And the busiest time appeared to be from midnight to 4 a.m. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you, sir.

Next, we'll have a report from the Oak Ridge Fire Department. Come forward, please, and state your name.

Good evening. Good evening. I am Mark Liberty with the Oak Ridge Fire Department. We had a total of 73 alarms this month. Two were other. We had also smoke scares, lockouts, animal rescues, etc. 28. We had three false alarms, four hazardous responses, including arcing wires, bomb removal, power line down, etc., 35 emergency medical responses, and one structure fire. We had 314 training hours. The message for the month of June, the safety message is grilling safety. Just some tips for June. Keep grills at least 10 feet away from homes, decks, garages, and other combustible materials. Never leave a grill unattended while cooking. Inspect propane tanks, hoses, and connections before each use. If you smell gas, turn off the tank immediately and do not ignite the grill. Clean grease and fat build up regularly to help prevent flare-ups and grill fires. Keep children and pets at least three feet away from grilling area. Have a fire extinguisher nearby and know how to use it. Allow coals and ashes to cool completely before disposable. Place them in a metal container away from structures. Thank you. Thank you.

Can you update us? Are we still within a fire ban in the area?

No, sir.

Okay, thank you. Okay, tonight we have three public hearings. The first one, Mr. Bruce, are you going to introduce or Mr. Taylor? Okay, the first one is a rezoning case, RZ 2601, AG Agriculture to RS 40. Mr. Taylor?

Yes, tonight we have, as you said before you, RZ26-01, a rezoning case from agricultural to RS40 residential. The applicant is Mowbray Limited Partnership, LLC. They are being represented by the developers of BSC Holdings, which are made up of Amanda Williams and Barry Siegel. The request, as we've said, is to rezone from agricultural to RS-40 residential. The property is located at 8128 East Hill Road, located on the north side of East Hill Road, approximately 1,242 feet west of the intersection of Oak Ridge Road and East Hill Road, being an Oak Ridge township. The tax map ID for this parcel is 163002. All property owners that are within 500 feet of this property were sent letters as well as this property was posted. The existing use of this property right now has been in forestry and the track size is approximately 94.3 acres. It currently is not in any overlay districts. It is part of the Jordan Lake watershed, and the site does include floodplains along the northwest portion of the property, upper northwest portion of the property, and that is along the Hall River. Public water for this will be determined during the subdivision process. However, with this acreage, it does look like we do require within our ordinance the subdivisions of 30 or more units that is required to have a dedicated community well system. The tree conservation areas will be determined during the subdivision approval process, which all occurs before it has to come back before the Planning and Zoning Board to review. East Trail Road is considered an existing collector street and the new street into this development will just become a local street. All accesses within this development will have to be made to meet NCDOT standards and One thing that I was not able to find, no traffic counts have occurred that I could find that DOT has done on East Harrell Road. The closest that were found were on an upper part of 68 near the Kings Crossing Shopping Center, and then further on down to almost in front of the Carriage Cove subdivision. is where the other one was taken that I found. And of course, those were along 150 and 68, so they would show much higher counts than what would be on this collector road. Sidewalks are not required for this type of development in RS-40, and a traffic study is not required by the Town of Oak Ridge Ordinance. However, NCDOT may require such a study during the subdivision process when they're doing their review of the streets. The impact analysis with our future land use code recommends RS-40 zoning for development on tracks outside the town core with marginal environmental, agricultural, historic, or community open space value. And also within the comprehensive pedestrian transportation plan, the town of Oak Ridge existing proposed facilities map from the pedestrian plan does show a proposed trail following along the Hall River and a proposed paved shoulder along East Hale Road. With all that being said, the staff proposed that the request is consistent with the recommendations of the Oak Ridge Future Land Use Plan, and staff recommended approval of the rezoning application. At last week's Planning and Zoning Board meeting, They approved their written, give to the board their written recommendation addressing comprehensive land use plan consistency and other appropriate matters. A motion was made to recommend approval to town council, the application for rezoning and the proposal they said was consistent with the adopted land use plan and also reasonable and in the public interest. The motion was made and seconded and it was approved by six to zero in favor of that motion. I'd also like to bring forth to you because of recent statute change is the town council is no longer required to do what we all consider that huge, long document consistency statement. So now I have broken those down into what those motions now can state. And it's a lot more simple than having to read everything else off. And that is my report to council.

May I ask you to show me more definitively the trail that you mentioned? Yes. Okay. Okay. So the trail is on the north side of the hall?

Is that correct?

Okay. Okay.

Thank you.

Sorry, what trail are we talking about?

It's an easement. An easement, I'm sorry. A trail easement.

Who owns an easement that we own, the town?

It's shown in the pedestrian plan. A proposed easement is shown in the pedestrian plan for us to possibly seek for this.

Okay, so as I understand it, Mr. Bruce, this is a public hearing, so we'll take 20 minutes for those people. that are in favor of this, and then we'll grant another 20 minutes for those that are not favorable. We'll limit discussions to individuals to three minutes. Is that appropriate, Mr. Bruce? You don't have to do that.

Typically, you just limit the entire time.

The entire time, sorry. 20 minutes, and you can take it. I've still got my training wheels on. Okay, so 20 minutes for those that are for the zoning change, as Mr. Taylor saw, and then there'll be 20 minutes for those opposed. I just ask you to be attentive to those that are speaking and those that you follow, so we're not listening to the same argument again. Please be attentive to that. Okay. Those people that are for this zoning adjustment, please come forward. State your name and your street address.

Good evening. My name is Amanda Williams, 8105 Tribiano Court. I am here on behalf of BSC Holdings, and we are the contract holders for the property on East Herald Road with the Malbury Limited Partnership 94 acres is the size of the track that Sean mentioned. We're proposing 49 lots. There's several reasons for that. As you noticed on the map that was up a couple minutes ago, the topography is a lot of rolling hills. There's a massive creek down the middle. There's floodplains in the back. And we want to be sensitive to all of that, as well as obviously there's environmental regulations that protect the creek and the floodplains and all that. But we want to protect the beauty of that development. We are the developers of Oak Ridge Landing, if you know that subdivision on 159 Oak Ridge United Methodist Church. We developed that a couple years ago. And what we're planning and proposing tonight is do exactly the same as Oak Ridge Landing. Same large lots. In fact, maybe even possibly larger lots on this because of the topography and whatnot. And try to really protect the natural beauty of it. The only thing that we're proposing to grade is the streets and sell the lots to custom builders, and they will obviously go through the town's ordinances. It's required to build the house and all the other things that they need to do. There is what we believe is very minimal impact to adjoining neighbors. As you saw, a lot of the single-family homes that are existing are closer to East Harrell Road. The site has a very narrow entrance in. You may have seen it's about 130 feet wide on East Herald. And then it comes in and widens out. So what we're proposing is to try to do a community well lower in that area closer to East Herald to meet Oak Ridge's requirements to have community water. And then most of the single family would obviously, because of the terrain and the creek, back into the creek and be further up towards the site. Our engineers have spent several conversations with the town engineers trying to understand the water system. And so is our well engineer as well, so that we can do what is needed to build a community well and do the correct piping through the development such that when Oak Ridge does get their water system to East Herald, they can abandon the well and go ahead and have every connection they need. And from my understanding, I guess Oak Ridge is looking to take over that community well. after we get it approved through you all. As Sean mentioned, we do have an area in the back with floodplain, and we are planning to dedicate that for an easement for the Mountain to Sea Trail. We've also designed our development to have a common area such that that common area does have access down to the subdivision so that all of the residents in that subdivision can access the community trail, the Mountain to Sea Trail as well. I mentioned our frontage is really small. I know there was some concern at the planning board about our entrance being across the street from an existing subdivision. That's not possible. We sit right across the street from the Civil War graveyard on East Harold Road. There was also some concern about traffic in the last meeting, and I completely understand that. Obviously, it's an NCDOT road. They're going to make the determinations. They're going to talk to you all. They're going to tell us what the requirements are, and we will have to meet whatever the requirements are. Otherwise, the development will not get approved. We will not get a driveway permit. We do show on the plan that we had showed in Sean and staff that we would have sub streets to the other larger tracks if they were ever developed in the future. But we are 49 lots and less because of the fact of, A, the topography and the creek, but also because there's not the ability to have a second access point. And quite frankly, having a smaller community is kind of something that's more attractive to a lot of folks. There was concern about turn lanes. Again, that kind of goes back to NCDOT. So kind of to close, I just wanted to say, you know, we're looking to provide a much-needed development into Oak Ridge. I live here. I've lived here for 10 years. I raised my boys here. And there's a lot of amenities in Oak Ridge that are wonderful. The park is great. The schools are great. You know, I could go on. And so I know there are lots of others that would like to continue to pay town taxes to do all those great amenities, and we'd like to give them the chance to do that. So I appreciate your listening tonight. Happy to answer questions after we get to the time. And will anybody else speak that would like to speak? Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else to speak? Please come forward. State your name and your address.

Thank you. My name is Barry Siegel, 2732 Pleasant Ridge Road. I am one of the developers of BSC Holdings, and I certainly don't want to repeat things that Amanda said, but I'd like to just highlight a couple things. First of all, the road construction will, of course, meet NCDOT's requirements. in terms of the construction of the road and specifically the width of the road, the amount of stone on the road and the asphalt, as well as the shoulders of the road and the ditches and so forth. And as part of that process, after we construct the road, Okay, DOT will do their inspection, okay, and make sure it complies, okay, with the standards and certifications by the testing folks and by the engineers. And then when we reach the critical point in terms of the number of houses, then DOT will do another inspection, okay, and make a determination at that point. whether they will take the roads over for maintenance or they're going to require us to do something else to it. And with regard to traffic, I know everybody WANTS TO TALK ABOUT TRAFFIC. CERTAINLY DOT WILL DETERMINE IF IN FACT THERE'S ANY NEED FOR ANY TYPE OF IMPROVEMENTS ON EAST TOWER ROAD. AND AS EVERYBODY KNOWS, A SINGLE FAMILY DEVELOPMENT IS IN FACT ONE OF THE LOWEST TRIP GENERATIONS. If asked, I can certainly share that information, but I don't think it's necessary at this particular point in time. And as far as the houses, as Amanda said, we're certainly planning to bring in the same group of builders. that we had worked with on Oak Ridge Landing, and we would anticipate that the product is certainly going to be similar in some regards and a very, very desirable neighborhood. So we're here to answer any questions that you may have. Thank you.

Is there anyone else that will speak for? Okay those will close the session for those that were for this development and zoning change. Anyone wanting to speak against it will go for another 20 minutes and look to the first person to that wants to speak in opposition to this this zoning change. Raise your hand or come forward. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Come forward and state your name.

I live at 8000 Pate Drive. It's off of Kerner, which is the only paved road off of East Herald Road. And it's across from where the subdivision is going to be built. The traffic out there is horrible already. They put in 49 homes. You figure at minimum you're going to have two cars per house. That's two times a day they're going to be coming in and out. So that's 200 more cars up and down that road. When there's a wreck on 68 or there's a wreck on 150 and it has to be detoured, they route it down East Herald Road. We've seen it at a standstill, bumper to bumper out there, just normal traffic being rerouted. People use that road as a cut-through. We have dump trucks that fly through. Nobody honors the speed limit. It's supposed to be 35, 40 miles an hour through there. It changes. They're running 60, 70 miles an hour. I mean, the traffic's horrible already. I don't understand how it's going to handle that much more traffic. Because the people in our neighborhood are in and out, in and out, constantly, all day long. Not just two trips, going to work and coming home and staying. They're in and out. So it's gonna be traffic like that coming from that place too. In addition, we have been there 34 years. We were averaging 126 gallons a minute of water. Our water is not that anymore. Our water pressure has died. We have nothing compared to what we had. If they put that in and we have no water, who's going to help us? We're going to be hung out to dry, no water. We're going to have to go to the grocery store and buy the jugs to flush our toilets. I mean, you know, it is too much out there already. It does not need to be built. That's all I have to say.

Thank you. Anybody else in opposition? Yes, sir.

I'm Aaron McGalliard. First, I want to ask the council. So I am representing my aunt, who is right there. She's at 7423 Laurel Hill Lane Road. So she's been there since the mid 90s, late 90s. And I grew up going on her horse ranch. She is directly next door to the proposed lot that's going to be rezoned and potentially developed. Some of the things that, you know, as I was sitting there today on the lot, actually, you know, doing horse duties out on her ranch, as we were going through that, I was talking to her about this, and some of the things that came to mind for me was the well, and that was addressed earlier with Sean, and talking about a community well and 30 homes and all of that, so I acknowledge that. I understand that. My concern is the aquifers and the studies that have been done are going to be done. Because as we just heard, there are depletions in water pressure already. I've seen that in my aunt's home firsthand and continue to see that. So the impact of bringing in a well that is that size, that's great for that community. But the concern is what aquifer is it pulling from? The average use rate per home. what that's gonna look like and what that aquifer can handle without depleting the surrounding area and the groundwater variation that's gonna cause My Ants Well to potentially change its course in GPM. Traffic study, I would strongly encourage the council to pursue that or ask for that as an exception. In this case, as we just heard, traffic on that road is HECTIC, WE WILL SAY. THE ROAD IS OLD, AND THE AMOUNT OF CONSTRUCTION AND HEAVY MATERIALS AND HEAVY EQUIPMENT THAT ARE GOING TO BE COMING THROUGH THAT ROAD OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF YEARS, IF THIS IS DEVELOPED, AS A TOWN, I WOULDN'T WANT THAT JUST FROM A SHEER, YOU KNOW, DRIVING AROUND TOWN. IT'S NOT GOING TO HOLD. THAT ROAD'S DEGRADING, IS A NICE WAY TO PUT IT, CURRENTLY. with her land being next door as stuff's being developed, graded, as the land's being prepped to be sold to builders, what is that gonna look like from a beautification standpoint and what is that gonna look like for the current land that's there and how is that gonna be not impact her and her ranch and the line that's there. Because correct me if I'm wrong, I don't even know it's what, three, four, five acres, you know, from a vertical line of what's gonna be, what she's gonna see as they go down through there. So it is a lot that we will visually, that will visually impact us. But again, I go back to groundwater and what that's gonna do for her wealth. Talked about sewer already. I assume we talked about the runoff with Hall River and everything. So are there going to be stipulations for permeable versus impermeable surfaces? And what is that going to look like per lot? And what's the impact there going to be from an environmental standpoint? spent a prior life in Wilmington and dealing with the PFAS and everything that came through the Cape Fear down there. I'm very sensitive to how the runoffs handled and what that looks like just from a surrounding area right there. And there are opportunities for all of that to be affected. I know it won't be that extreme, but again, it's an opportunity for stuff to be impacted for sure.

Hmm.

Yeah, I think that's it. The rest of the questions were answered from earlier. So, thank you.

Thank you very much. Anyone else wish to speak in opposition to this rezoning? Okay, then we'll close The opposition section of this, and I think at this point we'll open it up for rebuttals. So those that are for want to rebut or answer any of the questions brought forth in the opposition section.

Good evening again. In regards to the concerns about the well, obviously that is going to be dictated by the county and the state. They are going to require a certain amount of gallons per minute. They're going to be out there to monitor, and if we can't get water, then we're obviously not going to be able to develop. The requirement for the community well, as you know, is an Oak Ridge town requirement. And I do know as well that you guys are planning to build a water system to handle all of the new growth. And hopefully there will not be an issue with the other neighbors. And we will obviously look to the state and Oak Ridge and the county and their engineers for their guidance. And we'll have to obviously do and stick with whatever is required. The other thing about the wetlands and the impervious versus not, there is state guidelines that we strictly have to adhere. We cannot be anywhere near the wetlands. We cannot be near the creek. They are going to dictate the impervious area and any stormwater requirements and anything like that. So we will have to follow whatever the federal, state, and local guidelines are in regards to all of those. And as I mentioned earlier on traffic, unfortunately, that's NCDOT's decision. We don't get to make that decision about roads. And I know that they will study that. I would assume that any time you guys submit a site plan to them, And anytime we've ever done a development in anywhere in North Carolina, especially in this area, DOT has a say-so, and we will be guided on whatever requirements they require us to do. And if we don't meet those, we'll not get a driveway permit for this development.

Okay. Thank you. Anyone else wish to speak now in this rebuttal section? I'm sorry. Would you repeat that?

No one else is going to offer rebuttal, then you ask for sir rebuttal from anybody who wants to speak to what was spoken to strictly on the rebuttal section.

Okay. So there's no one, if there were people want to speak in rebuttal from the opposition, as I understand, then you have to... you have to direct that to comments made during the earlier rebuttal. Correct. Anybody want to do that from the opposition rebuttal segment? Yes, sir. Again, come forward and state your name and address.

Aaron, 7423 Laurel Hill Lane. Erin McGalliard, my aunt, her nephew. In regards to the well, again, 100% get what was shared just now and absolutely agree and appreciate that. And that takes care of that subdivision. that doesn't take care of the GPM, PSI and the flow rates that are occurring from the effects of that subdivision. That takes care of the subdivision itself. So all I would ask is the council consider maybe if this is the route that the council chooses to go with, that's fine, but let's get readings and ratings from surrounding well owners and do a before and after and see what the impact of the increased well and the draws from those aquifers and what that looks like. That's all.

Thank you. Anyone else from the rebuttal side, please come forward and again state your name and address.

That's Jessup. I actually contacted the group yesterday that's going to 8,000-paint drive. I contacted the group that's going to be monitoring the wells because we gave them permission and no one has reached out. So I was curious to see when they're going to actually be monitoring because we are very, very concerned about it. And they told me that they would not monitor it until the homes had been built and the well had been put in. And then they would test it and monitor it. That's kind of putting the horse before the cart or whatever the old saying goes. Because shouldn't that be tested before the homes are built? Because if they build these homes, they cannot do the well, then what are they going to do? Maybe they just need to wait until they can pipe water in for that subdivision.

That's just my opinion, but thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else from the opposition rebuttal section? Okay, I think at this point we've covered all of that, and we can bring... this section to a close, and then Mr. Thompson.

You would close the public hearing and proceed to discussion by council.

Pardon me, repeating, I'm sorry, for some reason I'm having difficult hearing.

You will close the public hearing and proceed to discussion by council.

Okay, so we will close this public hearing and now open up discussion for members of council. So I'll look to council members. Mayor Pro Tem Grayson. No questions. Ms. Clark.

Yeah, I guess I did have a question about what Ms. Jessup, I believe it was, was mentioning about monitoring water supply that would be after the houses were built. Am I allowed to address a question to her? Or a conversation, okay, yeah. So I guess what is the result if the water supply was assessed after the homes were built and then there was an issue with water? Have we experienced that in the past?

I can clarify because the town has had some experience with community well systems and drilling ourselves. The county will require what they call a drawdown test. So when a well location is determined and drilled, the well driller will run that well full on for a 24-hour period. And within a certain radius determined by the hydrogeologist at the county, they'll notify property owners within a certain radius that could be impacted and they will actually take readings of those well levels to see if there's been any impact. That all happens even before the well gets approved. There may be later tests that are done after the homes are built, but I know that for certain on any community well system, the county will require that drawdown test, and so you'll know early on.

Okay, and so that would be before the homes were all built in the new subdivision? That's correct. Okay. Okay.

And what do they do if there is a negative effect on surrounding wells during the drawdown test?

That's a good question. I'm certain there will be some sort of mitigation that's required, choose a different location, or it could be the option to serve the home whose well has been affected by the new community well system. I think there are probably multiple options in that situation. Our aquifer is unique in that it's not pulling from one big source of water. There are fractures in the bedrock. And so you can draw water here and 50 feet away. It would have absolutely no effect at all. It's very hard to predict. But there are certainly rules in place to protect neighboring property owners in those situations.

Okay.

Mr. Stone, do you have any questions?

Yeah. Let's keep in mind that this is a rezoning case. It's not about site plans or traffic. I understand the concerns, speed, increased traffic, cut-throughs, road conditions and everything. That's all regulated by the state. as far as the, I'm sorry, by NCDOT, and then the water issues are regulated by the state. This public hearing is about taking a parcel of land that is zoned agricultural, which is the lowest density and the lowest environmental impact, and the request is to move it to RS-40, which is the next the list so it's not about all the other things which will come out during the site plan development all the other things that mr. Taylor and mr. Bruce and the town will deal with I'm not ignoring the comments, because they're serious, and I understand that, but this isn't about the development. This is simply about do we rezone this from AG to RS-40? Property owners have a right to be able to develop their property.

I have no further comments. Ms. Steyer?

Yeah, this is, and speaking to some of the people here tonight, this is, of course, the first step. Once this happens, the site plan does come next. Site plans are done very carefully by our Planning and Zoning Committee, and the impact on nearby properties is always considered, but as Councilman Stone says, there is a right to develop property. And I do appreciate that RS-40 is the lowest impact. One of the interesting things about roads like East Herald Road is that sometimes when they're cut-throughs and they're sort of kind of country roads, because we've still got those around here, people actually speed more than when there are more residential homes on them. It could be a positive development in terms of speeding, although it does concern me that you say that it sometimes gets bumper to bumper, and I guess that's in unusual situations where there have to be detours. If the road is degrading at all, NCDOT is responsible for keeping it up to par. I am... pleased that the developer is willing to dedicate the back area for the MST trail, and also to not overdevelop it. I think that's something that's really important with this much acreage, almost 94 acres, to only have 49 lots. is great for our small town when you think about residential development. And community wells, this drawdown test is taken very seriously, and I think you just heard, it happens before the homes are built. I think it's also very important to know that by the town owning the well, it would be deeded to the town, and then hopefully we can get there with surface water, and then that solves basically all your problems with PFAS and aquifers. You're not relying on the aquifers anymore, you're relying on the Yadkin, water from the Yadkin River coming out of Winston-Forsyth County. So, I'm hoping, and I know that whenever something's built next to a beautiful place like a horse ranch, that it's a difficult change. So I understand the concerns. But I'm hoping that the developer will also understand those too, and perhaps tree preservation placement, buffers, things like that can be placed so that you're not sort of, your horse isn't looking into someone's garage. So I hope that's helpful. Thank you.

Does council have any more comments or questions? Then may I have a motion to approve or reject from a council member?

Mr. Mayor, in the matter of rezoning case RZ 2601, I make a motion that the proposed zoning amendment be approved based on the following, that the proposed zoning amendment is consistent and reasonable with the adopted land use plan of the town of Oak Ridge.

Is there a second? Second. Any further comments? All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed? Okay, so the motion carries to approve and we'll move on to the next public hearing. Thank you all for your endurance with that. Okay, the next public hearing is for petitions for voluntary annexation and consideration of approval of Ordinance 026-01 to extend the town's corporate limits. Is Mr. Taylor going to lead us through that?

Ms. Smith is going to enter.

Oh, Ms. Smith, excuse me. Sorry, Sandra.

Thank you, counsel. As you know, per your instructions, staff began soliciting and accepting petitions for voluntary annexation in January, and a total of 81 petitions were received. By statute, the clerk is responsible for certifying those that are eligible for annexation. And so I did that, then I worked with town attorney, Mr. Thomas, who created the attached ordinance, which is being presented for your adoption. Of the 81 petitions received, 43 are eligible for voluntary annexation at this time. and the remaining petitions will be kept on file until at such time when they may become eligible. So staff would request that you adopt Ordinance O-202-601, which is an ordinance to extend the corporate limits of the town of Oak Ridge, which would annex those eligible properties into the town effective June 30th.

Thank you. Again, since this is a public hearing, we'll give 20 minutes for those who are for this annexation, voluntary annexation of properties into the Town of Oak Ridge. Anyone for? Come forward, state your name and address. Thank you.

Hi, I am Tracy McCorkle, and my husband and I live at 9000 Quiet Reserve Road, which is at the reserve of Oak Ridge. It's off of Bridgehead Road, and we have had homeowners meetings, and the majority of our neighborhood, 17 houses, have all agreed that they would be willing to annex into the town of Oak Ridge. We feel that right now we're part of Guilford County. We don't really have a say in anything where we're located, but yet we have down Bridgehead Road, there's a street that has Oak Ridge addresses, but yet the rest of our neighborhood is all Kernersville. And so we would petition to be annexed into.

Okay. Thank you. And I'll just look to Ms. Smith. That's in this package. that neighborhood is in this package?

It is in this package. I will say that Mailing addresses are not the purview of the town. That is totally up to the post office. There is always a possibility they may change mailing addresses, but in the past, we've not had much success in requesting that, but that is not really part of this. If people come into the town, their mailing address does not change to Oak Ridge.

Okay, thank you. Anyone else wanna speak for the annexation of these properties previously mentioned by Ms. Smith? Anybody else that's for? Okay, I'll close that segment and now ask if there's anyone opposing the voluntary annexation of these properties into Oak Ridge. Please come forward and speak now. Seeing as no one is indicating that there's opposition, I guess it makes no sense to have rebuttal or does it? So I'll close the public hearing and we'll go to questions and comments from council. Ms. Clark.

No questions.

No questions or comments. Thank you, sir. There's no questions.

Ms. Snyder. I have a question. One question. What is the primary reason that some of them couldn't be included? Was it lack of proximity?

Most of them were maybe part of a subdivision, and we are not allowed to take in a subdivision unless we take the whole thing, unless it is adjacent to a piece that is already in Oak Ridge. Thank you. That's helpful.

I would say council's been following this annexation process for a number of months, so I think everybody's pretty well up to date with the applications that we received and the reasons why people have volunteered to join Oak Ridge, and we're happy that they like what they see about our town. And we're glad that Ms. Smith could clarify some of the reasons why others were not accepted. So thank you for that. Then I would, going through, like to have a motion to, I don't know if we have it written, I haven't. We have a lot of paper with this one, so. You want me to just go for it? Yeah, go ahead.

I move that we adopt ordinance 02026-01, ordinance to extend the corporate limits of the town of Oak Ridge, which will annex the eligible properties into the town effective June 30th, as described in our assistant town manager's memo. And I want to thank her and Mr. Thomas for all their hard work on this. Absolutely. Labor-intensive project.

Thank you, Ms. Snyder. Second. Second by Mr. Greeson. Any further comments? If not, we'll have a vote of counsel. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? Thank you. We have one more public hearing this evening. I think I'll be turning it over to Mr. Bruce. I will just say that in preceding that, that the current situation with the budget is being impacted by decisions with the legislature. There is a moratorium that's been proposed by Senator Berger to delay or postpone any activity until one year from now. As I understand it, that's with the House, but there's been no decision. So with that, we will have the public hearing, but we still require or believe we require some clarification from the legislature. So we'll get to that decision later, but we are in a very strange situation with this current budget. So Mr. Bruce.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. As you know, last month the budget was presented and released for public review. It's been available here at Town Hall and on our website over the past 28 days. So tonight I'm not going to run through all of that presentation, but I'll just summarize a few highlights. The town's proposed budget of $3.35 million funds personnel, essential services, parks and recreation operations and maintenance, in contracted professional services. It also includes roughly $1 million in capital costs, which include streetscaping and aesthetic contributions, improvements to the aesthetics of the NCDOT project that's currently under construction, as well as water infrastructure and some parks improvements. As the mayor mentioned, the revenues are complicated. by the uncertainty over whether the state legislature will adopt the property valuation moratorium. And also, as he mentioned, as of today, there is no resolution to that issue. So I will note that the revenues as proposed in this budget reflect the new valuations of the Guilford County Tax Department. So that's the current VALUATION. THE MORATORIUM, OF COURSE, WOULD REVERSE TO THE PREVIOUS YEARS, NECESSITATING A REVIEW OF THE PROPOSED TAX RATE. THE BUDGET DOES PROPOSE A REDUCTION IN THE TAX RATE FROM 8 CENTS TO 6.6 CENTS. SETTING THE TAX RATE AT THIS LEVEL REFLECTS OVERALL REVENUE NEUTRALITY WHEN COMBINING PROPERTY TAX REVENUE WITH SALES TAX REVENUE. plus a modest 3.3% growth factor to account for inflation. I'll also note that setting the rate at this level results in a net gain to revenue over operating expenses that's at a level consistent with the council's prior capital planning assumptions. The Finance Committee spent four meetings reviewing the proposed budget. They have a policy recommendation to keep the tax rate at the current $0.08. Chair of that committee is here this evening, and I would defer to him on that particular recommendation.

Thank you, Mr. Bruce. Since this is a public hearing, I will ask again for those in favor. of this proposed budget made by Mr. Bruce last month to come forward and speak. And then we'll have those that are opposing afterwards. But you're invited to come, raise your hand, come up, state your name and speak and express your opinion.

Mr. Mayor, would you like 20 minutes on this as well?

That's 20 minutes. I don't think I'll take that long, but give 20 minutes. Okay, anybody that wants to speak for Mr. Bruce's budget?

I'm not sure if it's for or against, but just to give you the finance take on that.

Is it appropriate at this time? Okay.

Okay, sure. Stuart Meese, 1810 Wild Fern Drive, and current chairperson of the Finance Committee. So just for those that are unaware, the Finance Committee... It's a group of citizens, five citizens that meet completely voluntary, as Bill said over four times. And we're just offering advice, much more so than anything else, just another set of eyes. And so it's for my recommendation, as we discussed last month, I was not able to come. The Finance Committee continues to unanimously recommend maintaining the tax rate at $0.08. And our reasoning behind that is while Guilford County's property assessment resulted in an unprecedented average increase of nearly 50%, the tax rate itself remains unchanged and continues to be the lowest in North Carolina. Maintaining the current rate allows Oak Ridge to remain proactive rather than reactive as we navigate the uncertainty surrounded by the state budget, as the mayor said, inflationary pressures, and other external economic factors. The committee believes it's important to preserve the town's longstanding financial strength and flexibility, rising costs for goods and services, reduced interest earnings, increased competition affecting ABC revenues, public safety improvements at 68-150 intersection, enhancement to our parks and recreational amenities, and continued investment in the Water Enterprise Fund all require thoughtful financial planning. Just as we emphasized last month, lowering the effective tax burden today may limit the ability of future town councils to address emerging needs without making more difficult decisions later. Maintaining the current 8-cent rate preserves options, protects the town's strong financial position, and supports investments that contribute to Oak Ridge's exceptional quality of life. The impact to the average household is approximately $10 or so per month. generating roughly about $300,000 annually to support critical services, infrastructure, and strategic investments. The question remains the same as it was a month ago, and that is, is saving approximately $10 per month worth weakening, potentially weakening, the financial position that's made Oak Ridge one of the most admired and desirable communities in the triad? I think the Finance Committee believes the answer is no. By maintaining the 8-cent rate, It's a prudent investment in Oak Ridge's future and helps ensure that the town remains a community that others across North Carolina continue to view as a model of financial stewardship, quality services, and exceptional livability. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Mason. As you said, I'm not sure that was in favor or not, but is there anybody else that wants to speak in favor? That was just a scratch. All right. All right. Anybody opposed to Mr. Bruce's proposal? Okay. There's no opposition to Mr. Bruce's proposed budget that was presented last month. And Mr. Beese, I don't guess you want to stand up and debate yourself. So with that, I guess I will close this part of the hearing and go to council comments. I'll start with Mayor Pro Tem Greeson.

No comments.

Mr. Stone.

Yeah, so basically tonight we're gonna acknowledge receipt of the town manager's proposed budget and we're gonna postpone a decision and a vote until the special call meeting that we scheduled last month for June 23rd. Is that accurate?

Yeah, and I understand that the terminology is continuation. Is that correct?

Yeah, I'm asking the council. Okay. Yeah, I'm fine with it. Okay. Ms. Clark?

Yes, I agree with continuing.

I mean, I would rather not continue it because I understand that, first of all, I understand from Senator Berger, he says it's highly unlikely that his moratorium is going to pass. A friend of mine who's also very close to the legislature called me last night and said it's not going forward. everything they said everything but dead on arrival well it's already arrived but so I would rather make the decision at this public meeting because our other meeting is a daytime meeting and then we wouldn't need to have that if the moratorium doesn't pass that's my preference because we could always even if we did make a budget and it did pass my understanding is we could still change it before June 30th.

Okay, thank you. I'm more aligned with what Mr. Stone said. I'm not privy to private conversations either with Senator Berger or others that are close to the process. The reason we selected the 23rd of June earlier last month was to get hopefully either the most definitive and hopefully definitive information from which we would then be making a decision. So I'm in favor of continuing with the meeting on the 23rd. I forget that we set a time. 10.30. Look to Mr. Bruce for that, but that's what I would be in favor of. 11 a.m. 11 a.m. Thank you. Clarification 11 a.m. So with that, I would look for a proposal to continue this public hearing on the 23rd of June at 11 a.m. Is that the correct approach, Mr. Bruce?

The public hearing was closed, so I don't think you're continuing the public hearing. Just simply the discussion.

Do that one again, I'm sorry.

Continuing the discussion, not the public hearing.

We will not be, the public hearing's closed. We will not be redoing the public hearing or continuing that. We will continue discussion and a vote on the budget at that time on the 23rd at 11 o'clock. Do I have a motion for that?

Could I get a quick clarification? I guess, Ms. Schneider, are you saying that if we made a decision tonight that we could, if something passed, then change it at the 23rd meeting? Yes. But otherwise, we just leave it as is and nothing changes? Well, right.

And then we wouldn't need to have the meeting on the 23rd. For instance, if we pass a budget tonight, and nothing changes, and the only thing that could change, we think, although maybe there are other things with this legislature, but if something significant changed, like the moratorium passed, then we have the meeting on the 23rd, and we can adjust things as needed. But if nothing changes, then we don't need to have that meeting.

And again, the reason is you have to have a budget by June 30th. You can have as many meetings about it as you want to, and as many votes, just so you have one by June 30th. So that's why there would be that option, as Councilwoman Schneider described.

All right. So do I have a motion?

Make a motion for the June 23rd meeting, special call meeting.

And a second? Second. All right. Any further discussion?

No, I guess not.

If there's no further discussion, we have a motion on the floor to... continue the discussion and make a decision about this year's budget based on further information that will come definitively from the state on the proposed moratorium and make that decision on the budget on June 23rd at 11 o'clock at that meeting which will also be a public meeting it just will not be a public hearing. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. All opposed?

I'll say aye if everyone else is on. I mean, it's fine.

Okay, thank you. So after six Howartons, we are through the public hearings. We now have time for public comments and community organization reports. As I understand it, our friend Jim is not here, but Ms. Smith, did he leave the report from the ABC board? for us that's in the back or not?

It's not in the back, but I did email it to council.

Okay, yeah. I can't remember the exact numbers. They may be in the packet. I didn't see it, but rough numbers for the quarter the town received about just shy of $45,000 from the ABC board. Any other community organizations that want to... speak to the town and council.

Okay.

No further community organizations. Any comments from the public? All right, there are none of those. So we are down to our ninth segment of our agenda today, the town manager's report. The first is consideration approval of parks recreation fee schedule. Mr. Bruce.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The proposed parks and recreation facility rental fee schedule has been reviewed and studied and discussed for several months. It's actually included as a ATTACHMENT TO THE BUDGET, BUT WE PULLED IT AS A SEPARATE APPROVAL ITEM, ANTICIPATING THAT THE BUDGET MAY GET CONTINUED. SEVERAL, BASED ON OUR PARK SUPERINTENDENT, BROCK DUNAGAN, HIS REVIEW OF NEIGHBORING JURISDICTIONS AND THEIR CURRENT FEE SCHEDULES, WE'VE BROUGHT OUR FACILITY RENTAL FEES MORE IN LINE WITH NEIGHBORING JURISDICTIONS. SO SEVERAL CHANGES. We've also simplified, I think, the facility rental fee schedule by simply having a base rate and then a reduced rate for all Oak Ridge residents and nonprofits. I'm happy to answer any questions about what's changed, but I think council is pretty familiar with what's proposed.

Okay. Any questions to Mr. Bruce? Ms. Snyder?

No, thank you.

Mr. Grayson? Ms. Clark? No.

So the new rates will necessitate a conversation about the youth association's current program at some point. That's not a question. That's just a comment assumption. The other thing is, and I'm going to vote for this, but we've had an open house and the staff has stated that the Redmond house is being reserved and used and rented. I would ask that we take probably the next 90 days to conduct an analysis of the cost of the operations and the recent rentals. to determine a more appropriate fee schedule for the Redmond House. But again, I don't have an issue with the fee schedule as presented, but these are just some watchouts that I think we have to deal with.

Okay. Any...

I think we've already asked Parks and Rec to report to us periodically, and I would leave that in their hands on how the farmhouse is doing. So didn't we say they were gonna report to us annually?

I believe that's correct.

Yeah, I would just encourage council to consider moving that time schedule up. We're talking about for one facility and I don't believe it would be that difficult to at least figure out how much it costs to operate it. We shouldn't be losing money on this thing.

Well, remember, we did talk and Parks and Rec spoke about the fact that, you know, we've really only just opened it completely for business. So we need to, and we've only just started marketing it. So I think we need to see how that goes to analyze it. To do an analysis too soon wouldn't be fair to the situation. We want to get a good look. both at seasonal use but at use after we start marketing it. And it is great that people were there and so many people, I must have taken 20 tours through the house and almost everyone said, this is amazing, how do I rent it? But we need to see the results of this first marketing attempt. We had our first ad in the paper. I think we need to wait and see how this takes shape. We haven't been, as aggressive as you're suggesting with any other facility in our park.

To be fair, to add to that, I don't think Mr. Stone is suggesting a rate change based on demand. I think it's just based on what it costs to operate it. So I think those are kind of two different things, not really I could see if you're arguing, let's increase the rate because it is in high demand. That may be one thing to maybe consider in the future, like you said, after kind of seeing how it rents out and whatnot. But just as far as losing money, you know, on running the AC and electricity or something, you know, I don't know what else it is to operate it, but kind of just seeing those costs. Right.

I get it, but it's, we don't build things in the park. We never get our costs back on the sports fields, for instance. On the picnic shelters, maybe we've gotten our costs back after a couple of years. The maintenance isn't high, but the construction is high. But you don't even get maintenance back on our fields, especially given that the majority of use is deep deeply reimbursed by the town so i would just say we leave this for another day to decide on this but i think that it wouldn't be fair to measure even costs and revenues either one of them until we have a steady presence in the community and we're still developing that as we just begin our marketing in earnest yeah i'm of the opinion that

always an opinion that we need to understand our cost of operation and how that relates to our fees. We certainly have done that in the last close to 18 months with the fields themselves and the shelters. In this case, when we were evaluating it earlier and listening to the recommendations from the Parks and Rec Committee, they specifically asked to maintain the pricing for the farmhouse community center until marketing could get done and additional parking could be provided, which is still in process, progress. So I'm in favor of approving the planning and zoning fee schedule, but I agree, sometime, and since we don't really have a full season, with this that we could, I don't think 90 days is an appropriate time, just as you come up to speed. So I'm just in favor of the approving the schedule as is, and we'll be able to change those for the next season out in probably the beginning of 2027.

Was that a motion?

No, that's just my opinion.

Well, I move that we approve the facility fee rental for parks and rec as presented.

Second. All right. We have a motion to approve and a second. All in favor, say aye.

Aye.

All opposed? Thank you. Thank you. We have another thing, Mr. Bruce, for consideration of the approval of planning and zoning fee schedule. Would you lead us through that, sir?

It's similar exercise for planning and zoning fees at council's direction. We are doing a more regular update of all of our fee schedules. Sean reviewed, again, what neighboring jurisdictions are charging and also keeping in mind what it costs for staff to prepare applications that come before him. So there are some adjustments proposed. We do have new fees proposed for a long, long time. We have not charged for development clearance permits. We've been unusual in those regards as almost all jurisdictions charge for the staff time required to review and approve those. It's a nominal $50 fee for a new single family residence, for instance. But it does reflect the fact that it does take time from staff to review these items. Happy again to discuss any individual changes, but I present this proposed planning and zoning fee schedule for your approval.

Okay, any comments from council?

Questions? Actually, I have, Sean, in general, and I know we're aligning more with other municipalities and the county fees and everything. In general, how much of an increase does this represent

For us, since we had not increased these fees in over 10 years, and it's probably some instances probably over 15 years, probably even 20 years, we're looking at, like for the development clearance certificate fees, that's a 100% increase because we've never had it. And then other areas where... we're looking probably at a 25 in general probably a 25 to 50 percent but throughout one of the things I was trying to keep in my mind is and it's one of the things that probably some residents and developers like is that we're usually less than everybody else so overall we are matching what our neighbors are, but we are still overall staying just below as well. Thank you. Thank you.

Any other comments?

I'll make a motion to approve.

Second. Okay. There's been a motion to approve and a second. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. So all opposed. Is there any other business, Mr. Bruce?

No.

Okay, thank you. Except for item 10, new business. And are you presenting that? I'll present if there are questions.

Patty's not going to present? Oh, okay.

Okay.

There is a memo in your packets from the Special Events Committee requesting up to $8,000 in additional funds for the current fiscal year to create and install a memorial in honor of the 25th anniversary of the tragic events of September 11th, 2001. Part of the reason for the request at this time is to have the installation complete by September 11th of this year. There is some detail in your packets about the proposed design and the location. I believe the Special Events Committee is still working with the designer slash installer to try and find some cost savings. But I would defer to Ms. Domachowski for specific questions about the design and placement of the proposed memorial.

Okay. Any questions or comments from Council? Clerk? Clerk?

I mean, I guess my only question or comment is in the memo, it does state that the location is kind of to be determined based on it sounds like an electrical source. So I guess I don't know. I agree with having electrical source. Can we ask Patty to step up?

Would you mind?

And you could tell us that you are an electrical expert.

Solar? Okay. Patty Domchowski, 7320 Hidden View Drive. Just to give you a little bit more background, our original plan was to have the site over at the old park by the restrooms there where the flagpoles are. And we were very limited there in the space that we had. So when we had the new design come through, which was a much nicer design, we looked at our other areas that we might consider. And the Veterans Honor Green is just perfect for just another area that we could put it up there also. There was a little discussion on the electrical. I don't know that we have the electrical at the site up at the Veterans Honor Green. So the display is up that needs electric for one week. So if we use something like solar, we could use solar and just use it for a week and we just take it away instead of having an electrical connection having to be put in. So that's kind of our discussion on that.

Yeah, and my understanding was that when we do the walkthrough of the site with the vendor and with Brock, we might find a location that's closer than others to electrical so that maybe at some point we could have electrical, but there are battery pack options, solar options, and also mostly aesthetic concerns, right? Correct.

Okay, so it sounds like the location will be in Heritage Farm Park somewhere around there. Veterans Honor Green. Okay, and so the cost still would be the $8,000? Up to $8,000. Okay. Okay. And then, so I guess just in the future, if there is some electrical work needed, then that would just be a separate thing. Okay. Okay. Right.

Or maybe it's done together with another project or something at some time that would make sense, if we even need it, you know?

Right.

Right. Okay. Mr. Reason, any comments from you, questions?

Make a motion to approve it.

Thank you. Let me make a comment, because I'm all in favor of this project. I think from the first day I was on council, I indicated that we're giving a salary to do these roles. And I've said at that time that I would donate my salary back to the town and that has been done to support this project. Now, could I ask for your motion? Already been made and seconded. Okay.

Well, this is discussion then. And I just want to thank Patty for getting the piece donated from D.H. Griffin to have a piece from the Twin Towers in our Veterans Honor Green. I mean, and this beautiful design, I just, I think it's fantastic. And I want to thank you for coming up with this idea and especially aligned with the 25th anniversary of 9-11.

So we, as Mr. Stone says, somewhere in here we have a, I don't think we have any further discussion. So we have a motion and a second. So I'll ask all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? No. Thank you very, very much. Thank you. So, great. Good news. Sam. Sam. I understand you've been awarding a lot earlier tonight, so welcome.

Yes.

For your financial report, your financial audit recommendations, and I think you have some movement of funds to capital that you want to talk to us about.

Yes, sir.

Okay, please proceed.

All right. Everyone look at the... Finance officers reported everyone should have gotten a copy. Financial reports, holding stable for this time period. Always slows down in the spring, the tax collection, because of course taxes were due 12-31, and the motor vehicle is the residual piece of the puzzle. Guilford County does a good job of trying to collect in full and usually early in the year. So overall, that's good. On the month, we received ACH wire transfer, 3608.52 from May for property taxes, motor vehicle, 12,251.82. Motor vehicle holds fairly stable because they're on a rotation. The 3608.52 actually is good because that indicates that the bulk of our property taxes have already been received, and this is very small, very residual because these are in late collections. So, overall, good indication. This is everything collected through 531. For the month, on the income statement, there's sales tax, property tax disbursements that we always get. We also received interest for May. The annual beer and wine excise tax revenue came in. That's a once a year that is not part of the ABC board and the ABC revenues. This is basically an excise tax collected on beer and wine sold through grocery stores, convenience stores, and things such as that. And it was reflecting the trend we've seen with the ABC revenues. It was down some. So it's softening around all aspects. Property and zoning, we had fees paid on that, solid waste disposal tax for the quarter, HPC donations, and park revenues. Our investments, we're still watching those, looking for options there. We support the staff with grant compliance throughout the month, the budget preparation. We're continuing to support the ARPA reports, the CIP process, and work on the water system. Bill's doing a phenomenal job with sending in for the grants, and North Carolina is doing a phenomenal job of sending the money back out. It's really sped up, so it's made my job a little easier. We have to move a lot of things around with paying these large bills, but it has worked out really well. Now we get to the meat of the issue for the night. I've got E, F, and G. I'm going to be asking for motions on all three of these. The first one is the RFP process. You should have received a summary, two pages with a synopsis of the results we had on the RFP for audit services and for Those in the audience that may not know, pursuant to North Carolina general statutes, all municipalities are required to have an annual audit performed by an independent, certified public accounting firm and opinion rendered. And the timing, the only thing that's really changed Well, I've been doing it since 98. About the only change has been they moved the date this year permanently from October 31st to December 31st because of additional time needed for complexity of audit work, grant compliance, ARPA grant compliance specifically. And then the other thing is there are less firms doing governmental audit work. So they moved the due date out to 12-31, whereas in the past we've received the audit, usually it is being processed and turned in by October 31 and they will come and present to town council at the November meeting. Now the new schedule would be they'll have it done by December 31 and we would have a presence here at the first meeting in January to present. We went through this RFP. We got it out, as I stated in there, by advertising it. The listserv with the clerics is a statewide. The NCAA CPA's blog is a statewide. Posted on our website. And we, four of us masers, since they're pulling out of the market, they gave us, very honestly, my first question was, who's your competitors? and we got a list of those firms and I made direct email contact soliciting a response to our RFP, letting them know it was there. We followed up and we also got references from nearby towns. The report that I've got for you is basically referring Thompson Price out of Whiteville, North Carolina. They are the firm of the three respondents. They are the one with the longest history, the broadest depth and breadth of knowledge. It especially intrigued me that they also do water and sewer districts. They're familiar with that. They're familiar with operational water systems, which we are getting into. They also do everything from counties down to a wide variety of specialty governmental units, well familiar with the single audit requirements that we have. It did not hurt also that in addition to this breadth of knowledge, depth of knowledge, they have extremely long-term client relations with quite a number of municipalities and governmental units. Their list of clientele in here and their detail was in the dozens, with the nearest being Rockingham County and the town of Kernersville. I personally spoke with the finance officer at the town of Kernersville, and she was extremely pleased with the quality of work. they had been a client of Florvis Mazers up until this last year. And when they did an RFP, they awarded it to Thompson Price. So they've got the knowledge, they've got the history, and they've got the experience. Also, they are the most reasonable in value for the work we're needing. And in there, there is two, essentially it's a single audit with two major programs. The water tank, and the water lines because of the dollar volume of the grant money being a million dollars or greater. So we've got to have those. They had the cheapest reasonable rates on everything, including hourly rate for consultation. They pointed out in their paperwork that they do consider this a year-round relationship, that if we need advice, If we have questions, if we have concerns, anything that arises, they're available at a very reasonable rate to advise. The other thing, they were going to be on the schedule. Everything was two weeks of field work, and when you add up the hours, they were actually going to be spending more hours doing our work for a lower fee than the other two competitors. So, and also no admin fees, no travel fees as one of the firms had. And just because I'm the CPA guy that I am, the $4,400 on the other one was the cost of mileage at this year's governmental rate for four employees to drive back and forth to Raleigh every day. I couldn't figure out why they, it all divided out to 102 miles each day round trip, or each way. And when we got the rest of their packet, it was all in Raleigh. So I think we're going to get good work out of this. I would ask that you approve the recommendation. I have got the audit contract and the engagement letter with me. If you approve in the affirmative, I will need, I've already got my stuff ready to go. I have to pre-audit it. I have read all 18 pages. I would need to get the mayor to sign the engagement letter and the contract and bill as management for town to sign the engagement letter. We can get it returned to them tomorrow and move forward with our annual required audit. If you have any questions or any concerns, I am open. And I know normally most of the stuff that I give y'all is somewhat boring, but hopefully we will establish a new long-term relationship. This is the first RFP since I've been here. In 1998, when we started, the very first year, we were actually solicited by Dixon Odom and Company back in the day out of High Point. They were the major player in doing governmental audit work in the whole triad region. And, you know, so we've had good relations, reasonable, and, you know, with them merging and getting to be a bigger national firm, I think now they're ranked somewhere around 15th nationally, with larger growth does come, larger fees and more cost, and, you know, kind of that personal touch that we had for so many years it's kind of been fading and I do appreciate the fact that they did acknowledge that they are dropping back out of this market segment and it's not as I said it's not unusual nationally in my profession for the audit side they are pulling out a governmental so that's my request if you have any questions I'm available and will answer anything to the best of my knowledge But I do feel good that this is the most effective, cost-effective, and logic and reasonable response to the RFP.

Do you want to cover your third subject?

Okay. I can go ahead and hit it. Budget amendment on F. This is the easy one. Brock has identified some needs. He is under budget by about $50,000 on operations for the park. Asking for redirection of $20,000 from park operations to capital fund. This is for some fixed assets to be purchased before the end of the year. This is a lot of smaller stuff, benches.

And we're talking end of fiscal year.

End of the fiscal year, yes, by June 30th. And then third, I'm requesting a motion to grant the finance officer authority to adjust the budget through 6-30-26 to ensure a balanced budget and report back to council at next meeting on July 9th. And what this is, so that the public understands, under North Carolina general statutes, finance officers are, in fact, allowed by that statute to amend the budget at any point in time. Our operational guidelines and accounting guidelines, just like our investment guidelines, are more conservative and stricter than what is allowed under general statutes. So I do not adjust this budget unless I come to you all for an affirmative motion and vote. This is the once a year, and we've done this every year, is that I ask for CART launch to adjust because if we have something that crops up between this meeting and June 30th, it's extremely difficult, especially as we've grown, it's extremely difficult to have a call meeting for council to approve an adjustment, and we must end the year with a balanced budget. will have all the adjustments I bring them in and you will have those as part of your packet in July to see everything and it just allows me basically what we do is we move items that are underspent or unspent to other areas in the same for instance we rebalance out workers comp insurance between Parks and Recreation and the admin function. We rebalanced some of the payroll taxes between the line items based on the splits. And that's an annual thing that I've had with the council since 98 and would ask for that as my third item for approval specifically. Go ahead.

Well, I move that we approve the contract to hire Thompson Price, Adams & Company, PA to perform the audit. Great work on that.

Thank you. Is there a second?

Second.

Is there any discussion? All in favor then say aye. Aye. Thank you. Okay. Mr. Bruce, did we need to, the financial report we need to approve? Okay, ma'am.

And the budget, the budget adjustment and the authority.

Yeah, but let's do the financial report first. May I have a proposal?

I move that we approve the financial report as presented.

Second. The financial report's been approved and seconded. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. And now we'll go to the third item, which was to move 20,000 from the operations budget of the park to the capital to buy mostly for, I'm going to call it furniture, for the areas of the park that require it. Is there a motion to approve the third item?

I think a motion. We approve the request to amend to take $20,000 park operations and move to the capital fund.

Is there a second? Second. Second. Okay. Any discussion? I think most of us have talked about this in council briefings, so there's no discussion. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Okay.

Mr. Mayor, I make a motion that we grant the request of the finance officer to use his authority to adjust the budget through 6-30-26 to ensure a balanced budget.

Is there a second?

Second. Second.

Further discussion? If not, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed?

Thank you, and I'm done in less than a Howerton.

Good for you, Sam. All righty, we're moving down the list, and we're at committee reports. The first would be the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. Do we have anybody? Representing them it didn't meet. I don't think it didn't mean okay Finance Committee did not meet, but we already had or essentially report from mr.. Mase earlier Water Advisory Committee Spencer couldn't be here this evening, but he asked me to simply report.

Thank you for joining us tonight That the Water Advisory Committee did not make any decisions, but held discussions about marketing ideas for the new water system and also continued discussion about how to prioritize connecting subdivisions.

Okay. Thank you. The next Water Advisory Committee is when?

Wednesday, the 10th, next week.

Historic Preservation Commission. Is there anybody from HPC? No meeting?

Planning and- Not a meeting. They approved a request to demolish a building. HPC? Remember the little house up there? Didn't they meet? Yeah. Yes. Yes, it was.

Okay.

Anyway, no report. Okay.

All right. Then we are to the Planning and Zoning Board. I'm looking to see if they met.

Their only item was the rezoning.

The rezoning, which we've already covered. Same would be true for Board of Adjustment. Mountains to the Sea Trail Committee. There we go. Thank you for being here.

Good evening. I'm Ann Steele, chair of the Mountains to Sea Trail Committee, 8927 Grove Park Drive. The committee met on May 26th at Town Hall. We were happy to have two interested folks attend and learn more about our group here in Oak Ridge, as well as our entire committee was in attendance. We approved the April 28th meeting minutes. We also discussed our work day that was held on the Headwaters Trail on May 16th, It was a successful event spent doing trail maintenance as well as cutting a small reroute into the trail. We also discussed the new informational panels on the trail. One of the local scouts, Jackson Heltsley, completed his Eagle Scout project, which was to create and install four educational boards on the trail. We are very impressed with the way he completed this project, and we are working to set up what I'm calling a field trip out to go see the panels. We are extending invitations to all members of town council as well as town staff and a few others from the community including members of the scouting community. This will give Jackson an opportunity to discuss his project as well as inform members of the community about the panels and we are hopeful to have a good turnout. Please look for information about a date for the event. It'll be at the end of June. We are working on plans to complete the trails at Pemberley and Carriage Cove. Once completed, we can refine the Rufton Trail and work on signage, and that will bring us one step closer to opening the trail to the public. Our next workday is Saturday, June 13th. And this Saturday, June 6th, is National Trails Day. This is an annual event in the United States established by the American Hiking Society. The purpose is to promote the importance of trails for outdoor recreation, environmental conservation, and public health. It is celebrated every year on the first Saturday of June. It is a chance for people to explore, enjoy, and care for trails while fostering community engagement. For more information on local trail events, visit nctraildays.com or greattrailsnc.com. There are celebrations at Country Park in Greensboro from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. All ages are welcome. Hopefully everyone can get out and enjoy the beautiful trails on Saturday. Any questions?

Any questions from council?

Thank you.

Thank you very much. The Conservation Easement Committee, did they meet? Nope. All right, and then Special Events Committee, there was a lot going on for them.

Brent Caracol, 5809 Bison Drive. First off, I want to thank the council for providing the funds for our 9-11 memorial. That memorial will outlive all of us, and it'll be very beautiful when it's erected. We met on May 21st, and our fourth order of about 40 pavers was installed by our town staff at Veterans Honor Green, so we have all the pavers that we have ordered installed. Our Memorial Day ceremony was held in here because on Friday, prior to that, we felt the weather was not going to be conducive. We didn't want to ruin the grass over at the honor green, so we moved the event in here, and I think everyone would agree it was a pretty good success. Our next two events will be our July 4th kids bike ride in the Oak Ridge Town Park. We let the kids decorate their bikes. We have music, and we're working on hot dogs. I think Lion's Club is going to be providing water, and I think the fire truck from the fire department is going to give the kids a little spray of water, and me too if it's hot. The event after that will be at 6 o'clock at the amphitheater. We'll have a concert at the amphitheater. Is that for about one hour, Ann? Is it one hour?

Oh, I think it's about 45 minutes. I think that's what Patty said.

And that starts at 6 p.m. Our event after that will be the 9-11 ceremony on Friday, September 11th at 8.45 a.m.,

flagpole by the concession stand at Oak Ridgetown Park and we invite you all to attend again thank you for your support thank you thanks for the great job on Sunday it was well attended and I think people got a good chance to see the new what's available for the Farmhouse Community Center. So thanks for everything you did getting that set up. The tree board, Mr. Kinnaman.

Jim Kinnaman, 8502 Olivera Court. We had our meeting today. We continued our discussion about what the appropriate trees are to include in the memorial program. We're also starting to plan for the eight or so trees that you approved for, well, is in the budget when it gets approved. to plant the eight trees that go with the budget we've approved for the memorial tree and then also start the memorial tree program in anticipation that that would be enacted and observed in October when we would plant the trees. And also there is one neighbor of the park who's in discussions with us to donate some trees to help create a screening between the park and his property. We're going to be talking about what appropriate trees would be there. We'll have some more details on that later. Okay.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay. We're at the end of the committee reports. There's opportunity for public comments if there are any. Mr. Kinneman.

Jim Kinneman, 8502. As always, I encourage people to donate blood. June 8th is the Methodist churches. Every even month, second Monday of every even month, they have their blood drive. It also drives offered by other churches and organizations. You can always visit the Red Cross to find a site. It's the one product they haven't been able to make a replacement for. A single donation does help up to three people. And I think as Mayor Harton observed, I will be bringing my copycat devil dogs again, which everyone seems to appreciate. So if you're looking for a copycat devil dog that actually tastes better than the devil dog does, go ahead and stop by and donate.

Thanks. It was a very popular item.

Thank you. Thank you.

Mr. Kinnaman, may I have your address for the record?

8502 Hollow River Court. Yeah.

All right, any other public comments? All right, we're coming to the end with council comments.

Mr. Stone? Just thanks to the town volunteers. Memorial Day, it showed what the town can do and what we do, and the special events folks, y'all did a great job of putting that together, but it just shows what the town's about. The people that that volunteer for Music in the Park. And thanks to the town staff for their outstanding work in supporting the council and supporting the town.

Thank you. Mr. Grayson. No comments. Ms. Clark.

No comments.

Ms. Snider.

Yeah, thank you. I just wanted to introduce someone very briefly, Marcus Woodell, who's here. He's the recipient of last year's Merchants of Oak Ridge $5,000 scholarship for his first year at university. And nice to have you here. And just this evening, on behalf of the merchants, I awarded $5,000 to Georgia Lee, a graduating senior at Northwest, and last week, or the week before last, we awarded $2,000 to a continuing student at Oak Ridge Military Academy, Lucas Garcia-Fresco, I think he's a rising senior, and just amazing young people and always difficult to make the decision. And thank you to everyone who worked on, especially Ashley Royal on the staff side, Caroline Ruck, and Patty was there, Brent was there, lots of people who helped and all of staff with organizing the Farmhouse Community Center celebration and music by Parks and Rec, inspired by Phyllis Anders' interest in continuing, starting up a new music on the porch, music on the lawn series. It was just great seeing everyone there. And I think it's really exciting progress on our sidewalks on 68. They're really taking shape and it's just really great. And I know the roundabout is going in soon at Bojangles. And also you can see outside the exciting progress on our water tower. And happy Father's Day to all the fathers and do come out for 4th of July. Thank you.

Thank you. In the past week, I've given three speeches. So I think probably everybody's tired of hearing from me. So my comments, I'll leave there. Except, again, the volunteers, I echo what Mr. Stone said and Ms. Snyder. They really came through. And Patty... Domchowski left me, I think, just to share, I think this is for the evening of patriotic music. We'll hear, I guess, the music for all the armed services, the music from We Were Soldiers, God Bless the USA, Yankee Doodle, a Beach Boys medley, and of course, everybody loves 1812 Overture, so... Join us that evening, as Brent suggested. So thanks a lot. I guess it's the triad band.

That's the only thing I got from her.

So that's my comment. I'll ask if there's a motion to adjourn. So moved.

Second.

Second. All in favor, say aye.

Aye.