Town Council - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call the July 10th Oakidge Town I'm sorry. Yes. Let's pull our microphones down. I'd like to call the July 10th Oakidge Town Council meeting to order. First item is the invocation. We have the distinct privilege of having Adrian Adrien Einrod, our parks and recck co-chair, give us the invocation. Stand as you're able.

Let us pray. Gracious God, as we open this meeting for the town of Oakidge, we ask for your presence to be among us. We lift up the members of the town council, the staff who support them, and all those gathered here in service to this community. Grant the council wisdom in their deliberations, clarity in their decisions, and compassion in their leadership. May their work reflect a deep commitment to the well-being of every resident, and a vision for a thriving united town. We also hold close in thought and prayer the families and communities in Texas who are suffering loss and hardship from recent flooding. May comfort, support, and resilience surround them in the days ahead. And may we be reminded of our shared humanity and the strength that comes from staying together in times of need. Excuse me. May the spirit of unity guide our community that even our difference we find common ground, mutual respect, and a shared hope for the future. Bless this town, its people, its leaders, and its future. May all that is said and done here tonight serve the good of Oakidge's people in a spirit of union gratitude. We offer this prayer in your name. Amen. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Okay. Next item is the approval or amending of the agenda. Is there a motion?

I'd like to make a motion that we amend the agenda as follows. that we eliminate items 3C, the minutes for the special called meeting since they're not ready yet, as well as 9B, excuse me, the presentation by the water advisory board and 9C, the discussion of the village conveyance agreement. In addition, I'd like to add a close session to discuss matters that are within the attorney client privilege by providing instructions to the town attorney about handling or settling claims, litigation, or other proceedings per North Carolina General Statute 14318.11 uh part A3.

Is there a second?

Is there a discussion? U Mr. Mayor, um I asked to have the water advisory committee uh share their workshop presentations uh that they provided to the town council on June the 11th um with the citizens that are here uh at the meeting. It doesn't sound like a controversial request. Um I was told by you that there was insufficient votes to uh keep it on the agenda. Um if not tonight when uh if we can wait a month uh with consensus to hold the discussion in August, I would be okay with that. Otherwise, uh I'd like to provide my reasoning to the town council to leave the item on the agenda. But I'm open to pushing this a month if the council would so choose.

We we're not ready to take a vote. So then let me just go ahead and explain why I'd like to have this discussion. Um this should not fit as the discussion of the item. It should just be a short reason why something should not be on the agenda. Promise I won't take five minutes. Shouldn't take five minutes. It should take about 30 seconds. So is that a policy of the council? Is that just your desire?

But it's typically you state a simple reason why something may or not be on the real agenda. You're welcome to take the five minutes, but uh I believe it's sort of out of order, but go ahead. The village with water system is currently owned by Envir Links. It's maintained and operated by them. Current annual cost. This all came from the water advisory committee. It's u as presented and I thought that it would be good for the citizens to see it uh and hear it from the water advisory committee. very informative. Um, current operating costs are $16,100 a year for 18 homes. The entire cost to date have been paid by the Village Woods residents just like every other citizen and every other neighborhood that has a um community whale. Under the New Deal voted by the uh town council, um we would take over Village Woods, collect $12,960 a year from residents of Village Woods, and accept a known loss of $3,140 a year. The annual losses would be paid by other water customers, specifically um currently Honeyut reserves. In other words, the town knowingly purchases a system um knowing that they're going to lose money and transfer the cost to other citizens in the town. Uh the town ordinance references and was acknowledged by the water advisory committee to set a minimum threshold of 30 unit homes uh for any town owned community well system. Uh this is a water advisory committee and town uh calculation that anything less than 30 homes would lose money. Village Woods is 18 units, yet it gets special treatment consideration. Three town council members are choosing to ignore the town's ordinance and water rules for

this one deal. The Villagewood deal also allows them to keep their irrigation system and not pay for the water they use there. While other water systems, community wells, if they join our system, including um Honeyut reserves, has to pay for their water. Environ Links is selling the system for a dollar to us, but we're going to still pay them the 16,100 a year. Uh, but they'll no longer have the financial responsibility for maintaining or repairing the system. That'll fall on the town now. Uh, so it's a great deal for Envirinks. I don't care how you spin it. When the chairman of the water advisory committee that lives in Village Woods and lobbies individual town council members to receive a rate reduction for their water in their development and even though the proposal doesn't meet the town ordinance or the water rules and it loses money, that's just a conflict of interest. The the chairman should have recused himself from that conversation. Worse than that, to get three town council members to ignore the conflict of interest, the non-compliance with the ordinance and the rules and the financial loss and support the deal. Uh that's an even bigger problem and the citizens need to know about that and that's why I want to have the discussion in this.

So I'd like to make a comment wait before are you finishing?

Nope. There are uh two members of this council that are liaison to the water advisory committee. Can you guess how many conversations I've had with the liaison about this deal in the past 15 months? The answer is zero. Um I don't know why we have two liaison on the water advisory committee. Um I don't know why we have any at all if they're not going to communicate with uh the town council. Um this proposal was brought 15 months ago at the time. majority of the council recognized that the deal was a loser um as far as money would go and it wasn't in compliance with the ordinance. There was never a vote on it simply because it was recognized that there was no need to vote on something that didn't meet our requirements. Yet here it is the same deal, same conflict, same non-compliance and same losses and a lack of transparency and a lack of communication except now there's enough town council members to vote to pass this thing through. something changed, but we just don't know what. To be clear, my criticism is directed and reserved specifically to those promoting and voting for a special deal for some citizens at the expense of others. It's the inconsistency of choosing to follow some ordinances and ignore others that I'm criticizing. It's the lack of fiscal conservatism and the willingness to take on a financial loss. It's a lack of transparency and the perception of influence favoritism and manipulating the system that sets an ugly precedent here in this town. That's where I direct my criticism.

So, the citizens of Oakidge deserve to hear from the elected officials on how this deal was made and how they arrived at their decision. Uh before we go any further, I would encourage the rest of council not to relitigate this matter because that's basically what's happening. Uh, basically what I'd like to say is please make it short. What I'd like to say is I made a motion to amend the agenda. It's my motion. I should be allowed to speak first. You should. I apologize. And I believe that we should continue. We have a second on the motion and I would like to call the question on this.

The only thing I would add is this matter has been discuss discuss discussed in public for the last 14 plus months. The information we've reviewed in the special call meeting has not changed materially. I have had repeated discussions with all members of council on this. So I beg to differ. Um this is more refle reflects a disagreement with the results. But the motion has been called. Um unless there's any really short conversation, I'd like to call a vote. Is there any short conversation? All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. I'll say I.

Okay, we're good. Okay, let's move forward. Uh, we have approval. Uh, we'd like to approve the June 5th, 2025 regular meeting, June 5th, 2025 close session. We do not have the June 11th which has been removed. Is there a motion to approve the minutes? It's a moved. Second. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. I. Next item is resolutions proclamation announcement. We have a presentation by K9 Capers Committee. You ready? I just He was out of order. I know.

Hello, my name is Annette Joyce and this is Laura Lucian and we're with the K9 Capers Committee. Um, K9 Capers was held back in April and it was basically a celebration of all our furry friends and their owners. Um and our goal was to raise money for participating um rescues and we have them with us tonight and we're going to give them um the money that we made. So um I'll just call them up and they'll come up and stand. So first off we have Rough Love Dog Rescue. Okay, I'm just going to stand. Um, Haley Graves Foundation. Is someone here with them tonight? Okay, we'll make sure they get it. Red Dog Farm Animal Rescue. Triad Golden Retriever Rescue Vintage Fur Senior Dogs. And we have um a little furry friend with them. And I didn't catch his name. Puggy. Okay. Oh, and um North Star Blood Hounds Rescue.

And Caboose is with us again this year. And she's not wearing a cast. So all of these groups participated and in the event and we're very very happy to be able to present them with a significant donation. Thank you. What did you guys get in the picture too?

Oh, please do. Sorry. Right. Mayor Kinnman, I cannot see your head at all. Oh, there's somebody tall. Really? How about this? Tall person in front of you. All right, whatever. Over here. There we go. Oh, there we go.

Thank you so much. We always enjoy it. [Music] All right. I don't see anyone from the sheriff's department, but the crime statistics are in the back. Uh you can take a look at the crime statistics. Uh next we have the Oakidge Fire Department. Sam, are you pitch hitting? I'm pitch hitting.

They've already had a double wreck and I've not heard the trucks come back in. So, um, Assistant Chief Sam Andrews Oakidge Fire and Rescue, 8325 Lville Roads, the station address. Um, for the month, the fire department ran 71 calls. Uh, had 234 hours, excuse me, 236 hours worth of training. Um, we did have our annual meeting on the second Monday night. Um, we had, uh, the retirement of a board member, Frank Whitaker. Um Frank's uh slot on the board uh in the election was filled by Jackie Mabe. He's a lifelong resident here of Oakidge, previous history serving with the fire department. Um so had a had a good annual meeting. Uh and for those that were there, we had the ubiquitous uh ice cream uh to uh to uh wrap up the voting process. Um but uh some other things during the month uh myself and two other firemen were detailed out to Omaha, Nebraska to the Shme factory. We went and did the acceptance testing on the new pumper tanker that will be based at uh station 51 across from Northwest. Uh the testing went very well. We had a very very very minor punch list. Um everything was looking good on the truck. It is now in Denver, North Carolina. Uh our uh firefighters took all the equipment off of the truck that's going out of service, transported it down to Denver, and it's being uh upfitted right now where they mount the actual small tools, equipment, everything on it. Uh so that's underway. Um we have the follow on um truck will be hopefully by September and there's a chance of 26 and hopefully there's a chance it could be a little bit earlier. Um, but at when the truck comes into town, we are going to have some events. We'd like the citizens to see it, touch it, participate, and see what uh what the department has done

with the tax money. It's a u it's the lead truck on this two truck order, and uh we've got already much better performance than the one units that it's replacing. So, um that's the the big news. We've got the the new truck coming. Uh for safety, couple of things. You've seen the board this month, the safety message. Please don't text and drive. Um, we have an issue in Oakidge, as in a lot of communities and a lot of places with people being inattentive while driving. Um, it came home a little closer because while they were laying out the sidewalk and everything up here at the office building, uh, they the engineers when they were with Tim nearly witnessed a wreck and when the concrete uh, contractor was there, he nearly witnessed a wreck at the intersection with people trying to race through the lights and things such as that. So, everyone needs to just please be careful and be cognizant while you're driving. We have more children walking on the sidewalks and down the sides of the roads. We have some folks that actually ride horses on the side of the roads. We have people mowing on the sides of the roads. And all it takes is a split second of inattention. And I can tell you who's going to win in a car versus a lawnmower. Um, with that, the only other safety message is especially pertinent after last night. It's been quite a while since we've had a storm with a lot of lightning activity. We had a lot of lightning activity last night. Uh the power beside of my house was tore down by a tree. Um when we have to go out on the power lines, we don't know if it's live or not. We treat every down line, whether it's coated, uncoded, we don't care. We've seen ca cable lines carry electricity uh for miles and put it into a house. Um so if you see a line that's down, please don't touch it. stay 30, 40 feet away. Even if it's not sizzling, jumping and making arcs or u how is it? I saw a comedian refer to it as spicy dirt. It's sizzling and popping. Don't touch it.

But also, if you do see that down, if we have to leave one on the road, we will we will put uh cones out. We will put tape. We have actually had our people witness as they were getting on the truck, people pull up, move everything out, and drive through the power lines with their car. So, when we do this, it is very serious. You don't know whether that line's dead or you don't know whether that line's got 4,500 volts. And I've witnessed one of those and it turned snow and mud into glass uh before we could get Duke Power there. So, last night was a wake up. If you do have a lightning issue at your house, if you do smell anything unusual, if you've never smelt burning wires, it smells like burning rubber or burnt garlic is how it's commonly described. Don't wait. go ahead and give us a call. We would rather come out and check things out. We got the thermal imaging camera. We can look and see where everything's at and we will trace it down. We would rather everybody be safe than sorry. And it's not an imposition. But uh last night that call um the house actually was missed, but it hit the yard, but then it went through sprinklers and uh lighting back into the house and uh caused some rather rather hot spots inside the walls. Um, fortunately they were there. It was early in the evening. If they had been asleep upstairs away from that, it could have been a a very tragic tale. So, um, we don't have a lot of this in Oakidge, but when we do, we need to be very cognitive and careful. So, with that, thank you and look forward to, uh, when we do have our events, we will be keeping everybody a breast of that.

Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Okay. We next have several public hearings. public to give you an overview of how a public hearing man goes. We'll introduce it. Uh then people that are in favor of that uh uh item can speak for 20 minutes. Uh please respect other people's time. Uh if you multiple people are speaking on something, please don't repeat something that someone else has already said. So the proponents will have 20 minutes to speak, the opponents will have 20 minutes to speak. If both sides speak, there will be five minutes where each side can rebut the other side. Uh and then it will be turned over to council for consideration. So, I think Sean, you're going to introduce the the first case.

Our first case tonight is RZ25-01. Our applicant is JMBB Flint Family Trust. Uh the request is a resoning request from AG Agricultural to RS40 Residential. This property is located on the west side of Willyard Road, approximately 353 feet north of the intersection of Willyard Road and Stafford Mill Road, addressed as 5207 Weward Road. The tax ID for this parcel is 237771. [Music] Uh the public was notified with all public was notified that we lived within 500 ft of the subject property. Currently the primary use for the property is just it's primarily all in forestry. The track size is 6.35 acres. It's variable to gently rolling. Um and most parcels around it right now are uh zoned agriculture, but there are some smaller parcels near it that are uh even though they're zoned agriculture, they are uh just acre lots with single family residential on them. Um, our RS40 lot is considered our base zone, based residential zone, and that allows for one development unit per acre. Um, flood planes do exist on this property along its northern borders. It uh takes a almost a quarter of this property. So, so even though this property is um 6.35 acres, there it will not be able to get six uh lots out of this as that one acre, one unit per acre because of the flood zones on this property. Public water is not available. Um and uh

tree conservation areas will be determined during the subdivision approval process. Uh, Willyard Road is considered a collector street in our transportation plan. Um, and site access. Each of these lots are all front onto Williard Road and I'll have driveways fronting uh going onto Willard Road. No new roadways will be created with this. Um, as far as our impact analysis, uh, it meets uh, objective 1.2 two of our future land use plan which recommends RS40 zoning for development on tracks outside the town core with marginal environmental, agricultural, historic or community open space value. It meets also figure 3.1 in our pedestrian uh transportation plan. And the town of Oakidge existing and proposed facilities map from the pedestrian plan does show a pedestrian pave should shoulder along Willard Road. The proposed request is consistent with recommendations Oakidge future land use plan and staff recommend approval of the resoning application. May I ask one question with the abudding flood planes in the creek? Is there any uh dedication to the town that's required?

Those will have to be dedicated to the town as part of the subdivision. Um and furthermore, uh the planning and zoning board recommendation. The planning and zoning board recommended to approve to town council the application for reszoning. The proposal is consistent with the adopted land use plan and it is also reasonable and in the public interest. The planning and zoning board um voted unanimously 6 to zero to uh recommend approval to council for this uh resoning. Is there anyone from planning zoning here that might add to the report?

I don't see anyone. Okay. All right. If not, uh, we'll open the period for people that want to speak in favor. 20 minutes. Just come up the microphone, state your name and address, and the floor is yours.

Bill Grio with Land Solutions, PO Box 347, Oakidge. Uh, here this evening speaking in favor of the applicant. Uh, thanks to the staff uh, and the planning board for putting everything together and and getting the reports out and for you guys for having the hearing tonight. Not a lot to add to this. This parcel is the remainder if if you will of a larger parcel that's been subdivided a couple times. Once it reaches x number of lots triggers the need for a reszoning because it becomes a major subdivision by default. In any event, no new road construction. We're fully aware of the uh presence of flood plane. Uh there are no protected wetlands or anything special. There's really nothing special here. No new construction of streets, anything of that nature. Um, I anticipate there'll be four lots at the end of the day. In any event, you folks have any questions or anything I can address, I'll be happy to do so.

Well, questions will come later. Anyone else who speak in favor? Question, but you know, no questions yet. Uh, all right. There's no one else who seeks speak in favor. If there's anyone who speak in opposition, if you want to pose a question, you'll need to pose it during one of these two sessions. You won't get the answer during that session, but you can pose a question and we'll consider it later. So, if you'd like to speak, come up to the microphone, state your name and address.

So, Greg Brown, 884 Case Ridge Drive in Oakidge. So the I my question would be are these single family dwellings that are proposed to go in or would it be a multi multif family dwelling? Can you pull the mic up? I I can hardly hear you. We talked about will will these be single family dwellings or multiple family dwellings? Right. You'll get your answer later. There's no discussion at the point right now. So there's no back and forth right now. You just, you know. All right. Anyone else wish to speak in opposition? If not, Mr. Greco, if you like, you can step up and answer that question really quickly.

These will all be uh single family residential. That's the only thing that's allowed there in the RS40 designation. Anything else you'd like to add? No, sir. Okay. Anyone else like to speak in oppos in support as a rebuttal? If not, if there's anyone that would speak in opposition and rebuttal. If not, the period for open public comment is closed. Now it's up to council uh questions or a motion. Um I'm ready to make a motion. I'll make the motion if you don't mind. Okay. Go ahead.

Okay. Um Mr. Mayor, I make a motion that uh we approve the zoning amendment. Uh I make the motion that the proposed zoning amendment be approved based on the following. The proposed zoning amendment is consistent with the adopted comprehensive plan of the town of Oakidge. The planning board has provided the council with a written statement of the proposed zoning amendment is consistent with the comprehensive plan and the council concurs and adopts the planning board's findings by consistency of reference. In addition, the council further finds the proposed resoning amendment is consistent with the comprehensive plan because the future land use plan recommends RS40 zoning for development on tracks outside the town core with marginal environmental, agricultural, historic or community open space value and the proposal is reasonable. The council considers the proposed zoning amendment to be reasonable because the report of the town staff finding the proposed zoning amendment to be reasonable is adopted by reference. And the council further finds that the proposed zoning amendment is reasonable because RS40 is the most common residential zoning having the least density and impact on surrounding properties while recognizing the property owner's rights for development. And the proposed zoning amendment is in the public interest. The council considers the proposed zoning amendment to be in the p council's or in the public's best interest. Uh the report of the town staff finding the proposed amendment to be in the public's interest adopted by reference. And the council further finds that the proposed zoning amendment is in the public's interest as the population growth and development occur and provide housing options for current and future residents will support surrounding businesses and the town's economic well-being.

Is there a second? Second. Just so you know, we have to read all that stuff. So, Mr. Stone, you made the motion and is you have any comments? No comments. M. Snder. No. It's a good proposal. Thank you, Mr. Hart. Mr. Harden, anything. Mr. Greon? No, I have nothing. If that not all those in favor say I. I oppose. Guys have it. And we have a second one. Mr.

Okay. Our second one is, amazingly enough, RZ25-02. Uh it is the applicant is uh 1850 highway 68 LLC. It is uh a request also a request to zone from AG agricultural to RS40 residential. The property is located on the east side of NC Highway 68 North, approximately a half mile south of the intersection of East Hill Road and NC Highway 68 North, addressed as 1850 NC Highway 68 North being in Oakidge Township. The tax ID number for this is 163231. All property owners within 500 ft of this property were notified uh by letters. Um the existing you the this is also a parcel that is all within forestry and is probably 99% forested. It track size is 29.6 acres. Parcel is variable to gently rolling and to the north is zoned agriculture to the south is uh RS40. Um to the east is zoned agriculture and to the west is um the river oaks community which is zoned RS40 single family residential. Um this is part of the Jordan Lake watershed and this site does not include any flood planes and it only has two small areas where there are some perennial streams on this. This property is not served by any type of public water or sanitary sewer. Uh and on street trans uh on the under transportation NC68 is considered a major thorough affair.

uh streets within this. Since this will include streets to be built, uh the streets will be considered local collectors. And with this, all accesses must be designed and constructed to NC DOT standards and to the standards set forth by article 8, division 9, section 30-860, streets of the town of Oakidge code of ordinances. traffic counts along NC68 north through this area. And this was a traffic count taken in 2024 uh right near the intersection of uh uh River Oaks. Um was 11,323 annual average daily traffic. Uh traffic impact study requirements for a traffic impact analysis study is not required by the took town of Coke Oakidge code of ordinances. However, NC DOT may require study be completed during the subdivision review process. And also with this, since this is part of our scenic corridor, uh the town, this is also uh a unique situation because it's in an overlay zone. The overlay requirement could allow us to require a uh traffic impact analysis for this. Um, future land use compatibility recommends RS40 zoning for development on tracks outside the town core with marginal environmental, agricultural, historic, or community open space value. Uh, this meets our the town of Oakidge existing and proposed facilities map from the pedestrian plan does show a proposed sidewalk extending north to Case Ridge Drive from the intersection

of Highway 68 and Oakidge Road and our my staff recommendation. The proposed request is consistent with the recommendations of Oakidge future land use plan and staff recommend approval of the reasonzoning application. when this the planning and zoning board written recommendation uh as when this the planning and zoning board met and reviewed this application they made a motion to recommend approval to the town council the application for resoning the proposal is consistent with the adopted land use plan it is also reasonable and in the public interest and the board voted uh unanimously in this and in favor of reszoning this property to RS406 to zero.

Okay, we're going to open up the period for public comment. Those which speak in favor have 20 minutes. Come up, state your name and address and the floor is yours.

Bill Grio with Land Solutions, PO Box 347, Oakidge. Uh speaking in favor of this application as well this evening. Uh you folks have heard the staff report. uh you've gotten the recommendation from the planning board. I can only add a little bit. I feel as if I need to up my game and stretch this 20 minutes to compete with the uh length of the motions to approve or deny. But in any event, u I did look at this parcel in terms of what district uh may be the most appropriate. So I looked at every district within the ordinance whe all the acronyms, the PDRs, UDPs, all that. uh kept coming back to RS40. Uh as Mr. Taylor has mentioned, uh probably the most significant thing here that we need to pay attention to and certainly we're well aware of procedures and whatnot is the entrance. If you're familiar with the first entrance or the southernmost entrance into River Oaks as you're heading north on 68, uh I'll be proposing our entrance align with that to create a nice perpendicular intersection. Uh we've had some preliminary discussions with DOT. Uh I'm absolutely confident there'll be a del lane or a right in lane required. Uh we're not positive at this point uh whether we'll do much more improvement to the center to get a center left turn lane. I did that in college and don't remember how wide it is exactly. But in any event, uh we will certainly be in compliance with DO's uh requirements, if you will. it's not an option on our part. Uh similar to the first reszoning, these will all be single family homes. Uh again, everything is in alignment with land use plan with recommendations so forth, so on. Happy to address any comments you folks may have. Anyone else wish to speak in favor of this resoning?

If there's no one wish in favor, we'll open up 20 minutes for people that are opposed to this resoning. Just step up, state your name and address and the floor is yours. Not seeing anyone that speaks in opposite. Did you want to speak? Please just state your name and address and the floor is yours.

Um, my name is Beth Schaw and I live at 1817 Wild Fern Drive in Oakidge in River Oaks. Um, I've lived here about 19 years and I've seen a lot of growth. Um, I wouldn't say I'm opposed, but I am concerned about traffic. This is going to intersect the the road that I leave every day. And historically, as you all remember, Harold Road caused a lot of deaths. the way the patterns were. Um, and I'm just concerned about young kids pulling out of the first the northern uh exit out of River Oaks, stopping, maybe picking up a friend or the increase in traffic pattern is potentially dangerous. So, I hope that that's addressed. I'm I've never spoke before, but I'm just concerned about safety. Thank you. Anyone else wish to speak in opposition? Seeing none, we'll close that. Since both sides spoke, uh the proponents have an opportunity to rebut if they'd like. Okay. If that's there's no no uh further public comment, we'll close the session for open comment and we'll turn it over to council for questions or a motion.

I have a question for Mr. Taylor. It says under special information overlay districts none. Should it say there that it's in the scenic corridor? It should. Okay. So, I ask that that be amended in my staff report. Okay. Thank you. Um any other questions? I'm sorry. Where is that at? An um the second page, so the back side of the first page under special information, it says uh overlay districts none, but it is in the scenic corridor, which is an overlay district. Yep. Thank you so I think that's an important factor to consider. Thank you. So, if that's the question, uh, Mr. Taylor, you said we have the option of requesting a traffic study.

When would that be appropriate to consider? That would be done during with the planning and zoning board during the subdivision process and it would be up to the planning and zoning board

to do that. Um, and one of the there is something unique with this property and that when Rivero, as Mr. Grio uh pointed out, when that was developed, they were at that time they were already required to put in turn lanes there. Um, so there already is a left turn lane into Case Ridge Drive and also a right del lane. And so the 68 has been widened right there. Um, and he's also brought up that the DOT will require them to put in a a right turn in del lane as well.

So the requirements that basically what I'm getting at is basically the requirements that DOT puts has already put in place are the same things that would already come back in a transportation study. So if we need to require that or not, it wouldn't change what they could or could not do. What about a roundabout? Roundabout. What about a roundabout? I'm joking. Uh the only other thing too soon. I know it's too soon. I understand. Uh did you do any outreach to the neighbors at all?

We did not do an official uh big mailing and rent town hall and do all that. I have had some conversations with some Kelly Ford residents and with one or two River Oaks residents. Mostly answering questions. All right. Thank you. Any other questions? Y Sean? Sure. So, the traffic concerns are pretty much handled during the site plan development and then with DOT, correct?

Yes. So, as an example, if creating an intersection turns out to be something problematic, um, and DOT says stoplight, not roundabout, but they say that that's an issue, then the site plan would relocate the entrance or whatever. This is simply about the reasonzoning. Exactly. Thank you.

Any other questions? If not, is there a motion to approve or deny? I'd like to move that we approve the proposed zoning amendment from AG to RS40. Um I move that the proposed amen zoning amendment be approved because of the following. The proposed zoning amendment is consistent with Oakidge's future land use plan. The planning board has provided council with its written statement that the proposed amendment is consistent with this con comprehensive plan and the council concurs and adopts the planning board's finding of consistency by reference and the council considers the proposed zoning amendment to be reasonable and uh adopts the town staff report finding that the proposed zoning amendment is reasonable and that is adopted by by reference. And the council considers the proposed zoning amendment to be in the public interest because the report of the town staff finds the proposed zoning amendment to be in the public interest and is adopted by reference.

That was a little shorter. Is there a second? Second. Although any further discussion, I I just want to say thank you for coming to speak and I like you, I would care very much about the traffic issues, but I do have confidence both in NC DOT and in our planning and zoning board to address those uh as the project moves forward. Anything else? If not, all those in favor say I. I oppose. The eyes have it. And last but not least, we have a lease of a lease or rental of real property that we have to consider. Would you introduce that, Mr. Bruce?

Um, I'm just going to um sort of paraphrase the resolution details on the proposed lease. Um, and this is uh approximately 2,000 square feet of space within the Town Park Maintenance Building uh that the Oakidge Youth Association has uh used since uh 2011. Uh the original lease uh ran from 2011 to 2021. Um and I will Mr. Hartin asked a question earlier of me um what the original arrangement uh with that lease was. uh Oak Oakidge Youth Association actually came to the town at that time requesting space. Uh the town enlarged the proposed building based on that space. Uh and o the contributed to the costs that were associated with that enlargement. Uh so there were annual lease payments from 2011 to 2021. Um and once that was paid off, now the town rents that space for $1. Um the new lease is being renewed on a three-year uh basis. Uh the current lease actually expired last year. Uh Mr. Thomas um uh pointed that out during the course of uh some research on this uh project. So this is a lease that's retroactive to last year at this time uh and will run two more years until June 30th uh 2027.

Okay. Since this is a lease or re rental of real property, we do have to hold a public hearing. So, all those in favor of leasing this building to youth Oakidge Youth Association have 20 minutes to speak in favor. Seeing none, is there anyone that we seek in opposition? Seeing none, public comment session is closed. Town council have any questions or a motion? Mr. Mr. Mayor, I make a motion that uh we approve resolution R2025-05 to lease the park maintenance building to the Oakidge Youth Association as presented. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? Mr. Stone? No.

Mr. Greon, Mr. Harton, Mr. Bruce answered my questions earlier. Miss Schneider. No. No. No question. Again, it's a formality. We have to charge at least a dollar. So, uh, but they get half the building and it's been going on since since the beginning. So youth association does a great job. So uh this is definitely something we want to continue to let them have access to. Uh any further comments or discussion? If not, all those in favor say I. I. Opposed. The eyes have it. Okay. First period of public comment. Do we have any community organizations? I don't see the academy here this week.

Uh so this is a public comment session where any you can come up. Uh you have three minutes. Just state your name and address and you can speak about anything you'd like. Anyone like to speak during public comment. Okay, we'll close the first session of public comment. She'll have a second chance at the later. Uh old business reconsideration approval of park entrance master plan. I'm sorry. Before we leave, I I know Angie's not here, but I would just remind everyone that uh I would like to just remind everyone that uh Oakidge Military Academy is having a ski shoot on uh August 9th

at Shane's. All right. Thank you. Uh now we're going to go on to reconsideration approval of park entrance mass master plan lighting. Would that be you, Mr. Bruce?

It is. Thank you. Um this is a um uh continuation from uh the May town council meeting uh in order to get additional information um seek additional proposals and to receive a contract from Duke Energy. Um you have two proposals in your packets. The first is from Oakidge Electric. Um and they would be uh the proposal there is to install a series of ballards to light the walkways that would connect the parking areas in town park and Oakidge Town Hall with the new farmhouse community center. Uh the total proposal from Oakidge Electric is $44,045. Um Duke Energy also uh we've reached out to Duke Energy for a proposal uh for 14 uh LED traditional acorn style pedestrian scale street lights. It's a very different proposal than Oakidge Electric. Uh we did ask uh Oakidge Electric if they would be able to bid on a similar proposal. Uh with the equipment that's required to install uh this type of lighting, they suggested uh it was more appropriate uh to um that they would not bid on that. Um, we do have a uh contract from Duke uh that um indicates the $417 per per month cost to lease the poles over a minimum of 10 years. Uh we would continue paying that monthly cost uh past 10 years, but it does give us the ability at that point to uh to upgrade or to choose to um uh install different lighting uh without penalty. Uh council also uh had requested uh that we conduct that staff conduct a net present value analysis to review the two proposals in light of the monthly payment versus the upfront uh full cost uh with uh finance officer uh Andrew's assistance. Uh we've prepared that

analysis. Uh they're very similar. Um the total cost in net present value over uh over the the life of the project. Um the Duke Energy proposal does come in at approximately $96,500 over 25 years. Um and the Oakidge electric proposal using the same analysis is at 101,000. Is it council's pleasure? Uh determine which proposal you'd prefer us to implement. Okay. Uh any initial questions, Mr. Greon? No comments. Mr. Stone, not at this time. Mr. Harden? No, I was satisfied with the NPV analysis. Thank you, sir. No questions. I Well, one thing I maybe we should close one of the doors. I don't know if someone sitting back there wants to pop up. Thank you.

Thank you. That was It's getting a little hard to hear. Just on the edge. Yeah. Um Thank you. Yeah. I I'll wait for some comments once we after we make a motion. Uh with that, if there aren't any further clarifying questions, is there a motion to approve or deny this uh proposal? I make a motion to approve the Duke Energy proposal for lighting Town Park walkways between the parking lot and Lynville Road crosswalk, including farmhouse grounds, u as presented in this packet. Is there a second? Second. It's been duly made and seconded. Miss Schneider, your floor is yours to begin with.

Um I think this is a reasonable proposal. I think it was reasonable a couple months ago, but it's fine to have more information. We do have all of that now and I'm eager to get this installed as I think it will be a great service to our residents. Mr. Harden, I think the benefit of the time lapse that we had was Bill, correct me, but I think uh we determined that three additional lights were probably advantageous to put in and that's part of this package. So I I agree I agree with the Duke proposal. Mr. Greon, uh no questions, Mr. Stone. So it's 417 a month times 14.

No, 417 a month is the is the total cost for all 14. So the total cost $417 a month for all the poles. That's correct. And plus obviously electricity and such for 10 years. Yes. No, it includes the electricity. It includes the electricity, right? The 417 or is there a separate meter? Separate meter. Okay. There's a separate me Oh, I'm sorry. I I Yeah. Okay. Thank you, Sean. Yeah, it's a it's a it's a turnkey.

Anything else? That's it. Okay. Uh, you know, the the net present value is important, but I think the even bigger reason I believe is is it it basically removes uh a lot of risk. Uh, if we did go with, let's say, Oakidge Electric, there would be some things that we would attempt to maintain on our own. There'd be some things that we'd ask Oakidge Electric to do, but definitely after the warranty period, we'd have to make, you know, all the all the all the risk is on us. So, even though it's relatively close, I think this is definitely a u a better solution. Also, since Oakidge Electric really couldn't offer the same solution. So, I think this is a a wise move. It, like I said, removes a lot of risk. What's interesting is as these lights get changed in the parking lot, it'll go under a low. We will be saving money because this style light is a lower cost option with uh Duke Energy, right? So, the main parking lot's getting changed over to these style lights. Is that correct?

No. No, they'd still be the taller. Yeah, but I thought that I thought the main parking lot will switch from being the I guess the halid to LED. So, that'll almost drop the price by 3/4 on the usage. All right. It won't be same style lights, but I I understand what you're saying. Okay. But as we transition to style newer technology, we're going to save some money on the main parking lot. Yeah. And that's where the the per unit cost drops down cuz like what our rental rate that we're paying for the parking lot lights now will drop because of Yeah. All right. Any other comments or questions? All those in favor say I. I.

Opposed? No. So, it's four to one. Okay, next item. Let's see. What do we got? Back to the agenda. Uh, town manager report. Um, several uh committee appointments for council's consideration. Uh, the first is uh the appointment of Ty Lindsay um from uh parks and recck advisory board alternate to a regular member. Is there a motion to approve the appointment of Ty Lindsay? Make the motion that we approve the appointment of title NC to parks and recreation advisory board. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I.

Opposed. Post has not. It's unanimous. Uh the second is to consider approval of appointment of Barbara Engel as a parks and recreation advisory board alternate. Is there a motion to approve the appointment of Barbara Angel? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Uh there any discussion? All those in favor say I. I opposed. Uh the third is to consider approval of unsealing minutes of the June 15th, 2023 closed session, June 29th, 2023 closed session, and July 11th, 2024 closed session. Here's a motion to approve the unsealing. So moved. Is there a second? Second. Second.

Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Uh, and lastly, I'm I'm going to ask assistant town manager and clerk Sandra Smith to uh present the proposal for accepting voluntary annexation requests. [Applause]

Thank you, council. Excuse me. Um, staff has recently received four voluntary annexation requests from property owners along the southern border. It has been a couple of years since we have accepted any voluntary annexation request. Um for several years there we did it pretty much annually and it seemed like we kind of had gotten all the lowhanging fruit. Now it seems that there's going to be a um sewer line from Greensboro which has spurred some of the residents along um the southern border to want to come into Oakidge. Um, in addition, we have not approached the people in our ETJ in the last several years. I provided some statistics in the memo um as far as how many voluntary annexations we have accepted in the last several years. And um as a result, there are three options that staff came up with um in which you could could um accept voluntary annexation requests. again. Uh, one would be just kind of word of mouth and let property owners um, you know, contact us. That is a little bit difficult because we it's hard to get the word out because we don't have even when we had the Northwest Observer, it didn't mail to those houses along those areas um, in either the southern border or in the ETJ. The other um options we believe are to do a targeted mailing which is what we did um a couple of years ago. Um that would be approximately 250 letters we think um to be sent out um that would require you know some work on the part of staff um some postage not a whole lot and then we

would see how many we get. The other option would be do a blanket mailing, which we have talked about in the past and we keep kind of booting it down the road. Um, in which we would try to contact everyone in our ETJ as well as everyone that could be eligible along the southern border. That would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 600 letters. We believe we would get a greater response that way. It would um obviously be, you know, more postage, more time on staff. Uh the town attorney has to get involved after I have certified um all of them and he has to draw up the meats and bounds and do all that um kind of work. But um we believe if if council wants to continue to get people in um by voluntarily annexing them, that would be the the best way to do that. Um we would also need to know what kind of timeline we're looking at. Traditionally, we have accepted them to be effective on July 1st. Uh the reason for that is that's when the fiscal year starts and that's when they get their tax bills. Um I'm not quite sure and maybe Mr. Anders has an answer or town attorney as far as if we do them midyear uh how that works as far as taxes go. But um anyway, council's pleasure what you'd like to do.

Uh any initial questions, Mr. Greon, Mr. Stone? Um, yeah, Sandra pretty much answered mine. We've got a really smart finance guy here and a attorney that can figure out I think that if we do voluntary annexation um that moving that process forward because you're really based on this you're talking about a year uh and that might be reasonable based on everything that we have to go through but I would think that if there is a way to accelerate that um it might be to our advantage and also to the people that want to voluntarily join Oakidge. Mr. Hartin, any questions, observations?

Um, I'm I'm not opposed to the recommendation, but I would like to know what happens. I think there are four people from the southern area, right, that have that have made a request to become part of Oakidge, what is their time? Anybody that What's their timeline?

That's up to council. anybody that we have ever received a voluntary annexation proposal from in the past, it says on there that your application is still um valid unless you tell us you don't want it. So, we would contact anybody who perhaps was not eligible for one reason or another, their distance was too far, they were satellite, that kind of thing. Um, so that would be up to council as far as when we um address those four people that we've already gotten or anybody else that we've already gotten.

But regarding these four people, you're you're not aware that there are any concerns that the council would have of not accepting them in a timely manner? The only concern that I would imagine is the Greensboro sewer line. I do not know when that is planned to be put in. Mr. Taylor, do you know that answer? Uh, don't know at this time, but we do know it's coming. Mater,

um, would you, we have in the past proposed a deadline. In other words, when you send out the letters, would you say the deadline for your submissions is uh you know, September 30th or something? Okay. Um and traditionally, I believe we've said April 1st, something like that. And that gives us time to staff time to work on them, the town attorney. April 1. Okay, that's in order. Oh, absolutely. I just was wondering if

April might be kind of late because we don't know how many we're going to get and so I would suggest maybe we were trying to accommodate the public. Yeah. Where we out after the first of the year. If you get more of a head start on of it on it, then you could cut it off sooner. Right. If we went ahead with it soon, like got the letters out in by August, we could have an earlier deadline. I I just want to make sure I remember it was quite a rush at the end because it's people aren't aware of the fact that there is a lot of legal and boundary work that goes into

the main rush is is from staff because it depends on how many you get and the more you get obviously the more work there is that has to be done. I do think this is a good effort for our town. So, I'm in favor of going all in on this uh with the third bullet point that you recommend, but I also think it's good for property owners who get the opportunity to come into our town and have a full voice.

Um I'm I'm in favor of the the blanket. I I would defer to C staff to decide timelines and stuff like that. I would not try to man micromanage the process. I'd say I I I understand the concern. So I would make sure you keep that in yourself in consideration that maybe the April date is too doesn't give you because that's May June. So you basically just have two months to get everything together for July 1. So but I will defer to staff to decide how they want to run that. So any other questions before we ask Go ahead.

Just one further thing. I would like to see if there's a way to the four people that have already applied and I assume that was before July 1st if there was some way to accelerate their acceptance. May I ask Mr. Anders or Mr. Thomas what what happens if they are not effective on July 1st as far as their taxes rated but I don't think the county tax office would okay welcome that

right. It's a doable thing. I think I would urge council to hold to that one effective date for the next fiscal year. Even if you went ahead and accepted the four southern border properties and and uh approved it after the hearing, I'd still make it effective the beginning of the next fiscal year. They would be annexed but it would become effective be part of the town as of the next I see. All right. Any other questions?

So, and we're talking about right here $468. Have we thought about because staff's time is kind of compressed. There's a lot going on here in the town. Have we considered using a um a business that would do this for us? I mean, I don't know what it would cost, but if it was if it doubled that amount, if it was less than $1,000, it from a town staff standpoint, it might be worth every bit of that.

Well, the main thing is, I mean, obviously it takes a little while to prepare the letters and send them out, but that's not the major thing as far as the time. That's not I mean, we we could get a mailing service. That's not the the major thing as far as time, though. Okay. There are a lot of phone calls. People don't know. They don't understand. And then there's just a lot of background as far as certifying the applications.

Again, I'd say staff knows how to do this. They can decide if they need outside assistance or something like that. And and any and the cost is something that's well within the the town manager's uh authority. So he won't have to come back to us for uh approval on stamps or envelopes or if you did decide to use a mailing service. That's all within your spending allowance. So uh any other comments? If not, uh is there a motion to approve? And which one? I move that we instruct staff to send a blanket mailing to all property owners in our ETJ as well as along our southern border and to work with the town attorney to create an ordinance accepting eligible voluntary access annexation request effective June 30th 2026 to align with the fiscal year in property taxes.

There a second. Second. Any further discussion? If not, all those in favor say I. I opposed. Guys have it. Any other business? No other business. Okay. Financial update. Where's that big box you brought? Where's that box? Good.

As part of premove activities, we're trying to return records. So, uh, although the, uh, the abject look of terror on your faces when I walked in with that was, you know, it kind of stings. I know that you, you know, you don't quite consider me the entertainment option that you would normally choose on a Thursday night. But, um, overall financial, um, we're getting started for the new year. Uh, everyone should have gotten a copy of the financials um with the first month of the year in uh or last month of the year wrapped up in this 3,68,000 in assets, 3,68,000 in liabilities and fund balance of that uh almost 3 million of the 3,68,000 is uh fund balance where uh we've maintained a strong uh cash position and a own uh position on our assets. Um behind this you've got uh a little bit different. We've got the statement of revenues. We broke it down by fund to try to give you a little more detailed information. Uh because the traditional uh income statement that comes out of Black Mountain lumps everything together uh so that all the funds here are segregated. Uh you can see clear what it what revenues and what expenses are coming out on those. And then the uh the bank schedule, we're still working with the banks looking at, you know, with rates. We're constantly watching that. Um relations are good. Uh we have, you know, with the um spend down of the ARPA funds and those things like that that we had carried for so long during the process of building the parks. All that's pretty well off the books. Um following this there's a detail of all expenses, all revenue items

um and then the normal monthly schedules with the um uh supplement schedule three with the um assets, four with the debt service and five is the water fund. Now, on the debt service, we have to fill out a annual report on that. That's all been filed and and uh is in process uh with the state. Um we have to do it once a month or I personally guarantee that we will schedule the payments for 12 months. So, I do it by the year. Uh most of our year-end stuff has been some house cleaning. Um the county is wrapping up with collection. uh the ACH wire transfer the property tax was only $939.19 sounds very low but the property taxes are normally collected much earlier in the year uh motor vehicle taxes conversely are monthly it's 11,64876 fairly stable amount for the town uh total was 1258795 and that wraps up collections through 630 uh for the month we had sales tax property tax which is normal uh interest for June June planning and zoning had some fees. Uh we had the franchise taxes which are telecom, video programming, electric power pipe, natural gas, donations to the veterans honor green, and some park revenues. I've already talked about our investments staff uh compliance. Um we've still got to support ARPA reports because the money coming on the water projects is ARPA money via the state. um Bill's done a good job of sending that in and the state's actually turning those around fairly quickly uh much much faster than before. Um the uh CIP process is underway uh for the auditors. I even went and made up pictures of the uh projects under

construction on uh the morning of January the 1st. So um auditors also as an addendum to this auditors have confirmed uh today they will be there for interim work to start on Tuesday the 14th. So we're getting a earlier start to everything. Um and uh we're um waiting for them to to come in. We've already got our list and we're doing like Santa Claus. We're checking it twice. Um but the uh work on water system, we're following that. Workers comp, property and casualty insurance, both of those have been renewed. Um very happy in dealing with the league. Um with the workers comp, the uh premiums actually decreased again this year. So that and the property casualty have been very reasonable. uh on that same area due to the capital projects with the water tank underway and uh with the water lines coming um pursuant to your resolution that you adopted at the January meeting. Uh we have increased the bond on the finance officer and my assistant finance officers. um very um very capable individuals. Although I believe Bill has like three titles and has a rolling uh you know name tag and title tag on his desk and Sander does too. But um we're required by statute to have the bonding done and we're following along uh just as a reminder. There's some ifs, some ands, and some buts on it. But the the school of government feels that the legislature wasn't extremely clear. So, they're opting to advise people to use the most conservative approach, which is we include the capital projects at the maximum amount that could be spent during the year. So, we've done that. We basically have increased the bond from 500,000 to 1 million per person.

Premium's not that bad. Um all that paperwork will be coming out and should be bonding and be effective uh with tomorrow and then we'll be in full compliance for this upcoming year. Um and um the last thing as the finance office report came out behind it was the final budget amendment number five for the year. Um fairly minor $11,77. Uh we had to just tweak a very few things. Uh but as uh while you did authorize me last time, I would request a motion that you um accept this one as well as the motion to accept the finance officer's report. But but here you list 2023.

What? You list 2023 is when you want to do this. Oh, I'm sorry. You got a Delorean that does uh you know, just wondering. No capacitor. I'm my own worst enemy, typing. I will readily tell people I have never had a typing class in my life. I could either choose accounting or typing at Northwest at that time. And I think I chose fairly well, although it is not nice when the young people look at me and laugh at my two-finger hunting peg. So, just to clarify, you need two motions. Yes, sir. One for your finance report and one for the budget amendment. Yes, sir. Okay. Is there a motion to accept the bud the finance office uh finance report? So, moved. There a second. Second.

Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I opposed. And then we need a second motion to approve his budget amendment for $11,77. So moved. Second. Second. Okay. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Eyes have it. Thank you. Thank you. Committee reports. Parks and Wreck.

Good evening, council um and everybody. My name is John Browning. I live at 8024 Lynville Road. I'm co-chair along with Adrien Ekenrod who's dressed much better than I am tonight to give our report. Here's just a few highlights from our June 19th meeting. We approved a survey to be done by McGill and Associates and the survey uh regarding the phase 2 construction at the Heritage Farm Park. The construction is ongoing currently. um resident citizens can come to the town or can visit the town's website uh for the survey or their flyers up at the town park with a QR code and we're also going to have a booth at Music in the Park so people can uh use the QR code to do this survey and it's so important. And I hope everybody uh phone a friend, phone all the friends you know about getting this survey in because we really want your input. What what you want to see how many pickle ball courts that you want over at Heritage Farm Park and just input. We want everybody's input about about what you like to see at Heritage Farm Park. So please, please, please uh fill out that survey. Um the fence is up at the playground at Heritage Farm Park. Brock says he's gotten lots of good positive feedback about the child containment uh device that's there. So parents love it. They don't have to keep both eyes all the time on their kids. So that's been some good positive feedback about that fencing. Um our open house for the farmhouse community center uh is pretty much set in stone. We hope u September 14th with a rain date of September 21st. Um, we're going to start a new event, Music on the Lawn. I think the the intent is to have the bands on the back porch and and the uh patrons in in the grass in the ground. So, our first one of those will be August 31st. And then we're going to have another music on the lawn September 28th, 2:00 to 4:00 Sunday afternoon, a low-key thing. Bring your food and drinks and

just enjoy being out and hearing some good music. Uh, speaking of good music, we had a very successful music in the park last month with special occasion band. Uh, 1300 people is is a good guesstimate and I I believe they're every bit of those. So, uh, that series continues to to be a success. Um, and this coming Saturday, the 12th, we have Eric and the Chill Tones. Uh, fun fact, he that band was just voted the best local band by the news and record in their reader survey. So, they put on a good show. So hopefully we'll see everybody this coming Saturday the 12th from uh 6:00 to 9:00. Um let's see what else. I did want to just let you know I really appreciate the special events committee. Patty and and her crew just just work so hard. Uh we were out of town, but I've heard just the best uh feedback from the uh July 4th kids bike parade and and again most all things fun and and exciting happened because of the special events committee and we sure appreciate their hard work u to make the park just just a bet a really good place. And lastly, I do appreciate you appointing Ty Lindsay and Barb Engel uh to our board. So with that, I think that'll all the highlights that I have. Any questions or comments? Great job as always.

Thank you.

Uh finance committee didn't report meet. Uh water advisory committee did uh it's um I I don't see anyone from the water advisory, but the water advisory committee is making great progress. Um with the the the water man's out for a bid. We're hopefully getting it back. Actually, five five biders showed up for the pre five or five. Yeah. So, we've gotten good interest in the bids. Uh interesting thing we're exploring is hooking up the commons. The commons uses a great deal of water. Uh and hooking up the commons would make the system profitable a lot earlier than wood. So there's a lot of exciting things. We're working on a marketing plan for outreach to uh hook people up. Uh and we also had a very productive conversation with the local developers and builders on some of the changes we're thinking of doing. So um historic preservation,

can can I add?

Yes. Of course. Yes. um being the leazison uh with the water committee uh from the beginning. Water is big and it's very confusing. The water committee has attempted for the past year to make sure that the information that is shared with council is shared at the same time so that there's not uh a lot of cross talk uh with it. Uh it's not an issue of refusing to talk to anybody. We felt that we've had two presentations and things as Mayor Kennan has indicated are moving very quickly. Uh in fact they're there some very positive things. You're you're seeing the the water tower. Uh he mentioned the bidding that's going on. We will have a lot of information that's impacting even the most recent forecast that uh Mr. Hall presented uh to council and to the committee a short month ago. Um along with that yesterday uh we we we learned a lot from local developers that that helped us. Very appreciative Mr. Combmes and and uh Joe helped me Brady

and of course Francis Dizzy's part of the committee. So we got a lot of good information there. Um uh the the other thing that we know as this information that there's a lot that we will probably learn within the next three to six weeks uh that will have dramatic and and we hope very positive impacts on our future water system. Um for that reason that the committee is already beginning to realize that we're going to need to start uh a marketing approach. Yesterday we did review uh a brochure that will come out. It's probably either late August or early September once those changes are made uh as part of an overall uh plan to educate the community on uh the future water system and the time frames etc. So expect that uh no specific dates but there is awareness that communication needs to go on to explain what's going on uh and uh the commitments of the town. Thank you.

Historic preservation I don't see anyone I don't think they met either did they? Uh planning and zoning uh we I guess we heard from them. Anything else that they had that might be of interest to us? It was just the two reasonzonings. Okay. on that board of adjustment did not meet mountain to sea trail. Thank you for sticking it out.

I'm Ann Steel, 8927 Grove Park Drive in Oakidge, chair of the MST committee, and we held our regularly scheduled meeting on June 24th here at town hall. Um the headarters update. Several committee members and their families have worked to keep the trail in decent shape over the last month or so. Uh we did have a trail workday yesterday um where drainage issues near the new houses being built in Riverside have caused some wet areas. So we've done some rerouting and we've done um trimming and cutting. That is just normal for this time of year. I did not go back out today after that massive storm yesterday. So, I'm not sure how of our rerouting efforts made out, but we'll see. Um, the Carriage Cove Pimberly Estates area. Um, there's two bridges that are being built. One is actually completed that I know of. And Joel Deon, our task force manager, and myself are going out to meet our the scout tomorrow morning to examine his project and hopefully sign off on his Eagle Scout project for him there.

Good. Um with the final with the building of the bridges and the establishment of the trail head and parking lot um we are moving closer to a grand opening of the trail and starting hopefully at our July meeting um we'll work on beginning to think about trail names and signage and um all the other things that'll be needed to open over there on Wednesday, June 18th. Martha Bill Bruce and I met with local and state trail leaders Palmer Palmer McIntyre from the Piedmont Land Conservancy and Brent and Lawrence and Betsy Brown from Friends of the MST to discuss current status of Oakidge and future plans for the local trails. Um, we've also been made aware of a large number of grants available for trail projects in North Carolina. The grants vary in what they will cover, but Oakidge needs to keep this in mind as we move forward with trail projects. For instance, what grants might be available to help pay for adding educational information to trails such as the Headwaters Trail. An interpretive trail could include information such as native wildlife, native plants, important geographic and historical markers. So, we will continue to look into grant specifics and ideas for use in Oakidge. Um, as far as information from the Friends of the MST, Martha shared an update that she received for two notable dates. Um, 2026, as we all know, is the 250th anniversary of the country, and the friends are planning to have activities across the state. So, we'd like to hopefully do some things here in Oakidge. And also the friends will be celebrating 50 years in 2027. I'm

wrapping up. We and we will determine um any ideas for um some activities around here. So if anyone has suggestions, please let us know. We're happy to take those and just uh thank you for your continued support with trails. Thank you so much. Questions. Thank you. Thanks. Conservation easement. I don't think there's anything to report. Is there? Okay. Special events. Do you need a special dispensation? Okay,

don't beat me tonight. She She beat the buzzer there. Patty Damchowski, 7320 Hidden View Drive. Veterans Honor Green um construction construction continues on the boardwalk. We expected to be completed in August. Okay. Uh Fourth of July parade was was a success. Uh thanks to the Oakidge Youth Association for loaning us their sound system. Thanks to Ann and Matt Schneider for setting it up and providing wonderful patriotic music for the entire event. It was amazing. Uh, thanks to the Moon and Back Frozen Treats who served over 220 free ice cream treats to the kids, Southern Foods for donating hot dogs and rolls, Lowe's Foods for the free water, cookies, and balloons, and the Lions Club for free water at the starting line. Also, Confident Confident Kids Pediatrics for donating a free bike and bike accessories. And this year, we added seven homes foster foster care facility that did fairy hair weaving for the kids. Okay. Also, thanks to Mike Matzager and and our new scout special events leazison, Hassini,

Hashni,

Hashini uh Cartrit, for helping uh where needed. The scouts were great and they provided um their professional ceremony as always to start out the parade. At our committee meeting tonight, we went over what went right and what went wrong and what we can improve upon last next year. Um next year, we're going to celebrate our uh country's 250th anniversary, and we hope to look at and do some events to celebrate that here in Oakidge. As always, thanks to the parks and recck group, especially Brock and the rest of his crew for helping to set up and clean up, and to Ashley Genevie for helping with the cash box and the flyers. And also thanks um hope people noticed that there's the Kernersville News this today. I don't know if it came out today, but they had a great article on the kids bike parade. So, thanks out shout out to them. Our next event will be 911. that will take place at the flag pole by the concession building in the old park. We'll be working with the fire department for their input. Uh the memorial will be set up from Sunday, September 7th through Saturday, September 13th with the ceremony being on Thursday, September 11th at 9:00 a.m. And I will reach out to Orma to see if they're available. They should be back at school at that time. Veterans uh day will be held at the Veterans Honor Green at 10 a.m. on November 11th. Our guest speaker will be Christine Cris Christian Castelli. Uh we will also be participating in the September 27th Heritage Day and we're going to have a muffin baking contest this year. Uh we'll round out our events for the year with the Night of the Light event on December 6th. will be moving the installation of the luminaries to a weekend to hopefully get more volunteers.

Thank you. Excellent job as always. Lions Lions Club had a great time. Thank you. Thank you all.

Uh tree board did not meet. We now have uh public comments. Uh this second section where you can come up and speak about anything you like. Just come up, state your name and address and you have three minutes to speak about anything. Anyone wish to speak? Yes, Adrien. Adrian Eron 5679 Timberway and Oakidge. I just wanted to echo John's comments about the survey. Um, you know, really encourage everyone, friends and family to take part of that. Um, I think the fence around the playground is just a prime example of that. when we were designing for the heritage farm park the playground for that inclusive playground um the whole parks and rec board spent considerable time and thought on trying to design that for you know an inclusive design for everybody um and despite all that thought we didn't even think about a fence and as soon as it was up there was quite a few kind of comments that hey this this is really needed when you have um you know kind of special needs or or children such as that they can they can move quick and so you know if you got grandparents taking the children up there these children can move very fast and there was some comments that without the fence it's really not as inclusive as it needs to be and that's the kind of feedback that we need. So doing the survey gets us that feedback from the citizens of what they'd like to see from this town. So just wanted to reiterate the you know strong desire to get all everyone that can participate you know take that survey.

Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else to speak during public comment? If not we'll close that and I guess we'll have council comments before we go into close session. Okay, we think we did it way. Uh, I'd like to if and nobody objects, let's change up the order a little bit here. Why don't we start with you, Miss Schneider?

Oh, okay. Um, thanks to all who came out tonight. I love seeing people here at our meetings. It makes us feel like we're reaching you, but if you can't come, watch us on YouTube. Also, thanks to Adrian for his invocation tonight because I think invocations are really important to our meetings. I agreed to continue organizing the invocation volunteers even after I stepped down as mayor. So, I'm grateful to people who want to serve in that way. And I want to invite anyone from any faith tradition or non-faith tradition to volunteer to offer future invocations. Just reach out to me or town hall. Next, um I'm not going to respond to the specifics that Mr. Stone mentioned in his comments um but feel free to call me or um others on council to find out the accurate details of the discussion to accept the village woods conveyance uh agreement that donation to the town. I understand I I do I understand that Councilman Stone isn't happy with council's majority vote to accept this community water system at our special called meeting. There were no shenanigans. There's no insider trading or whatever it is. Uh but a vote, it's a vote. Um it isn't an insider deal. Every each of us got to make our case, including Mr. Stone. And this happens for all of us. I you know, I prefer consensus. I love 50 votes. Uh but split votes are the reality. For example, I I would have loved for this vote to take place at a regular called meeting. However, the value of meeting at the same time with the full water advisory board was a great added value of doing this at a special called meeting. Um,

and as others have noted, there's lots of new information coming out about our water system. And the presentation that was proposed for tonight was designed specifically to answer questions raised by town council at the meeting 14 months ago. So I would prefer to have updates to the public that are addressing their interests and suited to the questions that I know come from our residents. So there will be expect public updates is I guess what I want to say and information sessions will come after once we get the brochure together. Um, and speaking of how we work as council members, I want to respond just in passing to some online suggestions by our mayor that would limit what members of this council can and can't say during this our public comment period. Rather than dissecting the specific proposals, I'll simply say that this is my first amendment time. Okay? And I'm not going to give that up. Um, other than guidelines for civility provided in our code of ethics, there are no restrictions on what each of us can say in our personal comments. Uh, what but whatever we say of course redowns on what you guys might think of us. So, and this is consistent across every town that I know of. To this end, I'll continue to speak about issues that I believe are important, including my decision about whether to run for reelection to this council. And just as I sometimes suggest to our citizens that you speak up to our legislators about specific bills that are being considered, I may also suggest that residents consider voting for candidates whom I believe are best for our community. whether that candidate is

me, if I run, or someone else. Um, I'm glad both of you brought up the survey and I just want to say it's not just about pickle ball. I know we hear a lot about pickle ball. It's also about tennis and basketball, picnic shelters, and whatever else you want to tell us about phase two of our Heritage Farm Park. Um, and thank you again, Patty, and the special events committee for the kids bike parade. It's just a wonderful way to celebrate our nation's birthday with our kids in our community. We also had a great Flag Day observance back on June 14th that was very moving organized by the Guilford Battle D. Um I think that's it for my comments. Thank you so much.

Um yeah, I made a lot of comments earlier about the water committee. Uh it there is a lot of activity going on right now and at the same time uh we uh had two or have are having two members uh step off of the committee and and two uh alternates are becoming full-time members of the committee. Todd Hall and Paul Magnabusa uh both were at that meeting uh yesterday. Um the the Oakidge is in the water business and and right now we're in the water business through community wells and hopefully in the near future next year or so we'll be having the main line coming down 150 hooking up to the water tower that's being constructed. Um the Mr. Stone indicated that uh the village woods uh is a negative uh but it it is part of a uh water enterprise fund and that fund uh where whereas Village Woods is a loss. There are others that are gains that they're not subsidized. Uh the the guts of the presentation that was made uh the other uh last month uh indicated that it's to the town's interest to accept as quickly as possible potential future um uh customers and and to do that as quickly as possible to get uh uh closer to a break even once everything is up and running. Um, with that it was consistent that we accept village woods. We we uh again it was there was no under the table or underneath uh or misguided. It was simply that we're in the water business and we should be accepting customers as they come up. Some of be uh more profitable than others. uh some

will be but again from the overall standpoint it's better to take them quickly and that's what last month's presentation indicated and we uh we voted along those lines. Um so many thanks to that committee and I'll stop with that. Mr. Stone

in the military we're told to fight the fights that are worth fighting uh not just the fights that you can win. Imagine what America would look like if we only fought the fights that we could win. I committed when I was elected to this position to fight for the citizens, provide transparency, and to be a fiscally conservative hawk with the taxpayers money. That's what I did tonight, and that's what I'll continue to do for the citizens of Oakidge. Thank you, Mr. Greon. Now, I got my long list of paper out here. No comments.

Um, a couple things I want to address. One, I did make a post on Facebook and Next Door, and I always put the disclaimer at the bottom that these are my personal opinions. Uh what I said in that those personal opinions in no way was what I uh would enforce on council's behavior. I was exercising my first amendment rights. I suggested that making political campaign speeches from up here is inappropriate. That's my opinion. I am not forcing that on anyone from up here. They are free to say whatever they like during their public comments. I was just saying that it would be more appropriate not to make them up from here. So, in no way was I trying to uh enforce on council any kind of uh restriction on what they may or may not say during their public comments. The second thing is to the uh the water thing. This topic has been discussed more than 14 months during which we time record the same core information multiple times including during the recent special call meeting. That meeting was public. It was properly noticed and gave all members an opportunity to participate and express their views. Ultimately, council made a decision through a formal uh a formal vote. Suggesting there's something inappropriate or rushed about that outcome doesn't reflect the actual process we followed. It took 14 months. It reflects a disagreement with the result. Uh, and that's fine. We don't we won't always agree. I understand that. But it continued to rehash a settled item, especially one with such a long public record, risk creating more confusion than clarity. That's one reason why I felt that something had been duly uh presented during a special call meeting that was public. It's recorded. You have access to the minutes. You have access to the presentation. uh you can also attend any one of the water uh committee meetings to get additional information.

So again any imp inference of impropriety is is is just wrong and and I will freely claim tell you if this vote had been taken 14 months ago I would have voted against it and I doubt there would have been any difficulty uh with uh if we did not hear it a second time. So, it's really I I feel this is more about disagreement about the result than the fact that uh it wasn't heard during a public meeting. The other thing is uh keep an eye on the roads. They're going to put up cones left and right. They're not going to be in the same place every day. So, every day you go through there, make sure you keep your eyes open and keep an eye out for the cones that, you know, already this last two weeks, they've moved those cones many times. So, keep an eye out for them. Um, as always, if you can donate blood, please do. Um, again, the survey, make sure you enter that survey. Um, and, uh, election season is coming up for us. Make sure you register to vote and make sure you vote. Uh, with that, we're going to go into close session. So, is there a motion to go into close session?

So, moved. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor say I. I. I.