City Council - Regular Meeting

We'll now call this regular council meeting to order and uh welcome everyone who's come out for the meeting tonight and also those who be watching the meeting on G10 TV. We're going to begin by rising for the pledge of allegiance led by Councilman Smith, Councilwoman Smith, followed by the invocation. I 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.

Let us pray. Our most gracious heavenly father, we thank you today for being with us, Lord. We thank you for uh just your presence in our lives. We know that that you're with us wherever we're at. For those of us that believe in you, that you uh you never leave us, Lord. And we know that in this room, there are so many believers that have come together for one reason or another. And we know that your power and your spirit is mighty in this place tonight, Lord. Uh Lord, I always ask for your grace and for your blessing for all the actions that we do. uh for the wisdom for the city council as they move through items that will make our community a better place for everyone that lives in Jacksonville and calls this place home. Lord, we're so uh grateful for your love, for your mercy, and your many blessings that you bestow upon us each and every day. Thank you, Lord, for all that you do. In your name that we pray. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Council, I entertain a motion to adopt the agenda for tonight's meeting. So move second. Have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Hear none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. All oppose. Next we have public comment, but I don't believe anybody has signed up. Is that correct? Okay. So, we're going to go ahead and move on to adoption of the minutes and the consent items. There's nine consent items on the agenda and the minutes are from the April 7th, 2026 workshop. Move adoption of the minutes and consent items as presented. Second.

I have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I.

All opposed. Okay. So, we'll drop down here and there's going to be some public hearings and as soon as I get geared up here with the Okay, let's get yours till I get it. This is going to be a presentation on the uh proposed fiscal year budget for FY27.

Thank you, mayor. So what we have before us tonight is a presentation on the fiscal year 2627 budget. And after the presentation, we are asking council to hold the public hearing which has been advertised for our citizens to provide comments to council prior to consideration of a budget for next fiscal year. We've gone over multiple items throughout the year talking about budget preparation. We do our budget process a little bit differently, but we have the same requirements as everyone else in the state. General statute requires that the council adopt a budget by June 30th of every year and then it's a balanced budget meaning that the revenues cover all of the expenses. Uh that's our challenge every year. Some people do it a little differently but that's how we operate and then once council adopts a budget it will be for the fiscal year July 1st through June 30th. the schedule that council has utilized this year after adoption. Um, in October of last calendar year, council had a post-budget retreat. In February of 2026, council had a planning retreat. On April 7th, you were presented with the budget and we walked through those copies. Uh, we also put the copy on the website and posted a hard copy in the clerk's office and in the library for people to review. Tonight we're scheduled for the public hearing. The next meeting that council has scheduled will be May 4th. Note for all citizens, that's not a Tuesday. Tuesday is May 5th. We've moved that meeting to May 4th because of the North Carolina League of Municipalities City Vision Conference. So that'll be on May 4th and that's a workshop. We'll have discussion by council on that date to review the budget and then council is scheduled to consider adoption of the fiscy year budget on the May 19th meeting. Um there are a lot of things that are going on right now and as do every year. The state goes through their annual budget process during this time

and the county goes through their annual bud budget process at the same time. So there are other factors outside of our process. Uh, but this is what we use for this FY27 proposed budget. Total budget of 134 million. That's down from the 142 million that we have for the current fiscal year, FY26. The tax rate that has been included inside of the proposed budget is 60. That's the same tax rate that we've had for the last 5 years. The focal points have been priority investment on employees, the Uptown Jacksonville investment, investment in public safety, change in business practices, a water and sewer rate increase of 1%, and sanitation uh for commercial and business rates. No change for residential, but a change due to the increase in landfill charges that Enso County is considering for the general fund of that $134 million, $71 million uh is out of the general fund. The main revenue sources for the general fund as proposed are the adalorum tax, the sales tax, and then you have fees for services and investment earnings. total expenditures by each fund. You'll see that 143 as amended for last year is the FY26 budget. You'll see the 134 for this year. You'll see increase in in the general fund and you'll see a decrease in the water and sewer fund from year to year. You also see a solid waste fund decrease. The major point of discussion in this year's budget process has been the property revaluation. North Carolina general statute requires that counties complete a property revaluation every eight years. Each county in North Carolina determines how they will do

those revaluations and the period by which they will complete that. For Enslo County, they have chosen to complete the reval every four years. They did this in January of 2006 and then they'll complete the reval every year thereafter every four years. Uh they're in the process now of completing their revaluation. Individual taxpayers in Enzo County should have received your tax bill. You have the opportunity to appeal that process. All of your reval process goes through Enso County. So, Enso County goes through a system of review and analysis for all properties in the county and they review sales and other factors in the region and they determine what your new value is for your property. Your tax rate, your tax bill is set utilizing the city's tax rate and the valuation that is set by Enso County. Information received from Monzo County is that property values have increased 35 to 40% countywide and that no individual area has seen an isolated spike or inequity. The schedule of values has been declared fair by the state of North Carolina and there's a uniform application of those changes and the goal consistently of the assessor's office is to ensure equity and transparency for anyone that believes that their process has not been fair then they should use the appeal process. The appeal process will wrap up in May. So we're now to the formal section of the appeals. First, there was the online the informal version where you could submit your appeal online and they could give you a a judgment. Now, you're on the formal process. So, you must show up in front of the uh board to ask any questions that you may have. This slide right here represents the change that we've seen over the last four years. And this is a large

discussion in the state to say how do property values move? You may have seen where Pender County um has completed their first reval in seven years and so they've seen much larger increases in their property values. The medium sales ratio this year for Enso County shows that we're at 73%. What that means is your property value is worth 73% of what it would sell for on the open market. So when compared to similar sales were at 73%. In 2022, the median assessed value in the county was $215,000. Now, in this last reval, the median sales price is 295. So, that shows a market increase of 37%. For our examples, we've created these slides and these slides can be they're accessible online. Uh whereas we want to show individual property owners what their values were and what they will be and then out how that impacts their property tax bill. On the left hand column of this slide you will see current valuations of 100 200 300 400 and $500,000. You'll see a 30% increase on the right. So that shows you, for example, if your property was valued at $100,000 last year and it had a 30% increase on the reval, then it's now worth $130,000. What that means for you on the top of this slide, your old value was 100,000. Your new value is $130,000. The annual tax increase at a 66 tax 60 tax rate in the city of Jacksonville is $180. If broken down monthly, your monthly tax increase would be $15. So for that $100,000 valuation, your monthly increase would be $15. We've done that for those same numbers

in terms of 200300. Uh you'll see that for a $200,000 house, the monthly increase would be $30 from a city perspective. On a $300,000 house, that would be $45. On a $400,000 house, that would be a $60 per month increase. And on a $500,000 home or property, that would be a $75 a month increase. When you compare back to those median assessed values, you will see that the annual property tax, if someone had that median assessed value of $215,000 in the city of Jacksonville in 2022, their annual property tax would have been $1,295 on the city side. When you look at the 2026 median assessed value, that number is now 295,000. with the same tax rate, the new annual property tax would be $1,770 or $40 a month increase. So that shows you those two numbers that the county uses when they're determining their schedule of values. That shows the 2022 median assessed value and the 2026 median assessed value. Uh for comparison, when we're looking at our region, a lot of the questions we receive are how does our property tax base and our population and therefore one penny on our tax rate, how does that compare with other municipalities? This is just a very small comparison of some of the uh similar municipalities in the state of North Carolina. Fagatville is much larger than us. Wilmington is our neighbor to the south, also larger than us. Greenville, Gastonia, they're in the same population demographic and they're within our compensation plan defined market. And then Hickory is also in that market, but their population is lower. So when you look at the property tax base, you will see Gastonia, who's the closest to us in terms of population, their property tax base is roughly three

times the size of ours in Jacksonville. Therefore, what that means is one penny on their tax rate is worth 1.1 million where in 2025, one penny on our tax rate would be 427,000. So, these are the comparison numbers. Uh when when you hear state representatives talk about how we manage our budgets and how we set rates, it's not an applesto apples comparison. Property tax bases are different in all communities. If you look at Apex, which is the community and size, population size between us and Gastonia, the penny on their tax rate is roughly 1.6 million. They have a very large property tax base. The cost of doing services, we have some projects that are included with inside of our budget this year. Uh the Uptown Jacksonville project, if we say that the debt service payment for that project is approximately $4 million a year, then that represents 6.44 44 cents on our tax rate. When we look at the fire tax, right now Enslo County is considering making changes to the fire tax where they will continue to keep the revenue and the cities will not receive that revenue. That would be roughly 1.4 million and it would be worth 2.26 cents on the tax rate. Our employee benefits, uh, we heard from the governor a couple weeks ago that it's a priority to make sure that we are competitive as a state. So, we must compete with teacher salaries, with fire, police, and all public services that we're doing. In order to do that, this budget includes $2 million in employee benefit hard cost, and that's roughly 3.22 cents on the tax rate. Fire station number three is a renovation project uh that we have for our third out of four fire stations. Uh that debt service payment could be roughly $400,000 and that would be 64. And then the other item that we include

here, last year for the FY26 budget, city council adopted a fund balance appropriation of approximately $3 million. In order to have adequate revenues to cover all expenses, that would require 4.9. So if you add those five items together, that's approximately 17.46 cents on the tax rate. as you look at those comparisons. The Uptown Jacksonville project is is a very large project that we've been working on now for a little about four years. Uh this is the breakdown of those five phases. We've had some questions from individuals about where's that process at and then what does that cost us as we're going into this into this project where we're trying to expand the tax base and the services provided to our citizens. You will see the five phases here. Utility infrastructure being the first. That's estimated at $2.3 million. If we paid that strictly out of a fund balance, then that would be roughly 3.71 cents on the tax rate. The roadway improvements going into the project are approximately $5 million. That's 8.06 cents. The multi-use facility, uh, these numbers range in terms of final estimates, but if you're looking at 60 million, then the annual debt service on that project, as we said two slides previously, would be 4 million. That would be 6.45. 45 and then the rectangular fields are estimated at $20 million. So if you do that on an annual debt service payment, that would be 1.3 million a year or 2.16% or 2.16 pennies on the tax rate. And then the final phase is the amphitheater. We've not gone through the planning phases for the amphitheater, so we can't give you an honest estimate for that project, but that is the final phase. And uh so you would see that that would cost something because last time we checked they're not building epitheaters for free. Uh so the last two steps that council has before you, you have the council discussion at the workshop on May 4th and then once

again on May 19th, we'll be back in this room for council to consider the adoption of the FY27 proposed budget. As long as our budgets adopted by the council before June 30th, then we have satisfied the general statute. questions. Council what you heard or not? Not a question. May I make a comment?

Um I just want to let the public know as well as the folks here in the room. We the May 4th discussion that's coming is the first chance that we're going to have to really talk about the rate that is set for the coming budget cycle and whether that will stay where it is or come down. on and I can't speak for anyone but myself, but we we're very aware of the um sort of shock and awe of some of the property valuation changes and and how steep some of them have been and how people are reacting. We're we're not clueless, we're not deaf, we're hearing the concern. Um for some folks it's a minor concern, for some folks it's a major concern. Um so we will be looking at that. Um and just so you know, we we're we have options and much like the county is reviewing their options, we're reviewing our options. So my my advice would be tune in May 4th to hear the discussion on what that rate will actually be. Um cuz right now it's set where it was, but that doesn't mean that's where it has to stay.

I just want to add, sir, um I welcome the emails that are coming. So if you have input, please feel free to continue to send the email. I welcome them personally. U for those of you who have my personal email, feel free to do so. Um it just broadens the conversation. So, I wanted to let the public know that we do read your emails and I'm definitely taking them into consideration. Thank you. Okay. What do you need? Just a public hearing, sir.

Just a public hearing. That'll be it. Okay. At this time, I'm going to go ahead and recess the regular council meeting and open up the public hearing on the budget. Is there anyone present that wishes to speak to the budget at this time? Okay, I see no takers. So, I'll close the public hearing and reconvene the council meeting. And we're going to move on to uh number 11, which let me borrow your screen here since mine doesn't want to behave. This is going to be here we go.

This is going to be a map amendment, a zoning map amendment for Ljun Boulevard resoning from residential single family 7 to corridor commercial and Ryan King will be presenting this item. Thank you.

Good evening, mayor, city council. Uh good to see you this evening. Um the next two items that I will be presenting before you tonight are both map amendments. Uh the first one being a um map amendment that came in um by Charles Frigs and Associates on behalf of Xiva LLC. Uh this is on a partial land right here at the corner near City Hall at Har Street in Ljun Boulevard. It's a small track of land. It's 356 acres and identified as tax ID number 427-23, which I'll show you a photo of that here in just a second. The current property is zoned RSF7 and they are asking that the map be amended to quarter commercial. This parcel as I mentioned before it a bunch Luna Boulevard and it's since u Mr. Rig shared earlier that since 1980 has been a paved parking lot that was part of the Wakovia building back when it was a financial institution and then it's kind of gone over some changes. I think at one time it was the the license plate agency was here and the prospective buyer has come in and wants to redevelop the property and it's been determined that in order to do that redevelopment it would make sense to blend these properties together and also have that commercial zoning. Thus the reason why we're here before you this evening. So on the screen here, you'll see that it's zoned the yellow color, which is the residential single family 7, and the request is shown there on the right side, which would take it to the same zoning as our typical quarter commercial um zoning that we have on our main highways. The CMA plan identifies this area as office, so there's no needs to uh no need to change this. As far as the camel land use plan goes, we did advertise uh with the newspaper ads the public hearing sign shown before you on the screen as well as we notified all the adjoining property owners of

this request. We have had a conversation with two uh folks that received those notices um and explained to them kind of what has happened, what was going on. We took this to the planning board last week and they considered the information that's found in your packet and had some discussions on this and they recommended approval after they considered and I would remind council as well anytime that we go through a map amendment that we consider that is it consistent with our land use plan and is the request reasonable. So with that being said, we believe that it is um consistent with the Cameron land use plan as I just showed you with the map. And then also we believe based on the findings of facts that we have prepared in A throughJ that it is in the affirmative and therefore it is reasonable to reszone this property. Be happy to answer any questions that the mayor and council may have at this time.

Council, any questions, Ryan, on this item? Thank you, Ryan. Thank you. I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. I I do. It's very minor, but I've been concerned about the size of those um notice signs. Can you go back to that? Have they been enlarged or are there any plans to make them a little bit larger? There there's no plans at this time to make them larger. They're actually larger today than they were in years past. Okay. But if that's a concern, that's something that we certainly can see what we could possibly do

if we could do that. Um, I know I passed them several times because I noticed them, but um, you can pass them quite quickly and I was just wondering when they have these notices out here, how many people actually show up based on those signs? So, if you could just let me know based on the signage that you put out for each event, how many people actually show up? Do you do anything besides put the signs out? Yes, sir. Per the statutes, we post information in the newspaper. So they have to run our notices have to be sent out in the newspaper and the letters to the adjoining property owners between 10 days and 25 days before the hearing. Just the adjoining property owners, right?

That's correct. And that's basically anybody that directly abuts or across the street from. How about the uh social media? Um really the only thing social media-wise that we have um would that would include would be the planning board meeting where we have the same dialogue and we tell the public through G10 that this would be considered by city council at whatever date that request would be moving forward to. Yeah. Looking at I see what you're talking about looking at the sign. If you're going by 25 35 miles an hour the prints kind of small to I mean there's a lot of stuff on that sign that would make it very difficult to

to read. Um you just stated um to council member Smith that in the past the size was much smaller than what they are now but this size meets our current regulations or the North Carolina general statutes because I'm just wondering um if it's too big it can become a distraction with drivers trying to read. So, in conjunction with um Mayor Phillips statement, do we place this on our digital advertising board public um these particular hearings?

To my knowledge, we do not post anything on digital boards. The only ones that I know of would be where we have agreements with the billboard companies with their electronic billboards and then the the transportation system. Is there a possibility if your department can look into that to see if that's another avenue in terms of advertisement? That's the wish of the mayor and council. we that would be above and beyond what the statute requires, but we certainly can look at that

because the other issue going back to council member Smith, if you're talking about property owners and adjacent property owners, those individuals would receive notices, but there might be other individuals that are impacted be, but because they're not the property owner or the adjacent property owner, they may not be receiving that information thereby they're not present or don't realize that there is a meeting to come to to voice their opinion something you need to review just just it needs to be updated I think just the way we way we communicate with people

and I think that's what it is the communication aspect because no one reads the paper you know I mean we might have to do it but who gets that anymore so and we also put it on our social media do we ask that the city of Jacksonville Facebook we put it on the Facebook, but it's on.

Honestly, with this kind of notification, social media will be far more effective than a billboard just because of the geo confusion. If you put it up on Western Boulevard, there's no reasonzoning happening there. People are not going to know where it is, what neighborhood it is. Whereas, if we post it on social, we can geo tag it with the neighborhood or the street, and people will be able to more easily associate where that's happening, too. So, it's worth looking at. But I think for limiting confusion, including social might even make more sense than tying up the expensive billboard space for something that maybe doesn't apply anywhere near where the billboard sits. I think it's a good idea. So I would say social makes more sense as a channel.

And I will just, you know, the general assembly is making changes to the laws all the time. I can tell you that this law we used to have to do within 100 or 200 feet depending on whether it was a reasonzoning or special use. And the general assembly has reduced that down to just the adjoiners. Mhm. There used to be a thing called a protest petition that they did away with as well. So the the general assembly has shrunk what we are required by law to notify. So um but any direction that the mayor and council wants to give give staff, I mean we certainly can. Yeah.

So even Oh, I was about to say so even though the general assembly has truncated, we still can expand as the mayor and council if we choose. I believe so. Yeah. And that's my my concern is making sure that our citizens can see these and if they do have an impact, they're able to attend these meetings. You know, just kind of get a review of of what you do and how it could be made a little bit more communicated out there and see what some other communities do, similar communities do also. Okay. Thank you. I got a vote.

All right. So, thank you, Ryan. Oops. So at this time we have a required public hearing on this matter and I'll recess the regular council meeting open to public hearing. Anyone anyone present wishes to speak to this matter?

Yes sir. If you'll please give your name and address to the clerk. Mayor Council uh Charles Riggs 502 New Street. Uh my clients are wishing to renovate the building, modify it somewhat, and we felt like it was appropriate to zone the property because you have a residential zone in a commercial zone side by side on the same on two tracks of property. And to emphasize this, the Wakovia Bank and Trust purchased this property in 1972. In 1980, they built the building and the parking lot. So that parking lot that stands today is been there for 46 years. So we felt like it's it's been used for commercial use for 46 years. So we feel like it's appropriate to ask for the commercial corridor zone.

All right. I'll be glad to answer any questions. Any questions, Mr. Roos? Thank you. Thanks, sir. Anyone else present? Seeing no one, I'm opposed to public hearing. Council, you being asked to approve the uh map amendment there. Mayor Phillips, I'll make a motion for council to approve the resoning request based on the facts of A through J being found in the affirmative and the proposed map amendment is reasonable and consistent with the camel use plan. Second. Any discuss further discussion hearing? None. All in favor signify by saying I. I.

All opposed. That brings us to number 12. Number 12 on the agenda, this is a map amendment, a zoning map amendment of the Pedri property reszoning from conservation uh under the or con under the Anzo County zoning uh to residential single family uh five and Ryan will be presenting this item.

Good evening, Mayor Council. This is a it's a it's a zoning establishment, but it's also a resoning. with your action last month where we annexed this parcel of land into the city of Jacksonville, we've got to assign it by statute city zoning. So that's why it's going from the county conservation district to a proposed city district. Um this is a parial of land that is um at the rear of the Williamsburg plantation development at the very end of Williamsburg. Um you really can't even get to it. Um it's it's it's kind of in the woods. It's going to be connected into the other tract of land that was recently annexed called the Thornwood tract. So with the proposal, um it's we've got identified as res residential single family 5. Um this parcel will have access via Fawn Trail. Um this ortho map here kind of shows you how it's kind of off the beaten path. Only one of the residents in Williamsburg was notified, which is the resident that is located. Let's back up one.

That parcel right there at the end of um Huntington Court, that was the only one that directly abuted this parcel. So that's the only person in that neighborhood that was notified to kind of carry on the same conversation we were having with the previous um the the camel land use plan. Obviously with it being in the county moving to the city, we will need council to direct staff to amend the camel land use plan when we make other adjustments in the future as we've done with previous land use map amendments. And um also go back one. I'm sorry. Um the this map here shows you the proposed zoning going from conservation to the RSF5. And because this property is back in the woods, um you can see that the reasonzoning signs, we just had to strategically place them. And we placed them uh not there on the subject property because that's what the statute says, but we had to do it somewhere within the area. So, we placed them at the end of Fawn Trail and at the intersection of Fawn and Williamsburg just to try to advertise the best that we could since it was kind of off in the woods. Um, but you know, obviously the one person that received the notice, you know, maybe they talked to neighbors, maybe they put it on their Facebook page, not sure, but you know, we we identified the properties and and notified accordingly. But um we have not had any any conversations with any residents in this neighborhood as it relates to this proposed zoning. And um as stated with the previous item, this went to the planning board at their last their meeting last week. They recommended approval. Um, and with any map amendment, we would remind council that you need to consider that the consistency, which it will be consistent if you direct staff to make the amendment to the Camelanes plan. And then also, we believe that it is reasonable as it uh meets the the staff

findings that are found in A throughJ attached. Be happy to answer any questions that the the city council may have. Was there any anybody from that affected area there present at a planning board meeting?

No, they were not. Um, thank you for reminding me though. The applicants did conduct a neighborhood uh meeting. So, the ordinance says that we can require it. It's not it's an optional neighborhood meeting for applicants to give information to residents and um they optionally had that meeting several months back and information is in the packet about that meeting. So there was some additional notifications with this particular one based on that neighborhood meeting that was conducted by the applicant. But I would I would remind the mayor and council that our planning board meetings while they are open to the public, we do not have to advertise for the planning boards. So we advertise for this meeting. Okay. So even though we do not have to advertise it, our meetings or the planning board meetings are listed on the city of Jacksonville calendar.

They are on the calendar. Yes, ma'am. Okay. All right. Any questions arrive? Thank you. Thank you, council. Okay. This time I will recess the uh regular meeting and open up public hearing on this matter. Is there anyone here present who wishes to speak to this matter? If you would, sir, please give your name and address to the clerk.

Mayor, council, uh Brockfister, Kimley Horn. Um he representing the property. Uh address is 1070 South Main Street in Holly Springs. Um I'm here as the applicant. Just wanted to say I appreciate staff and y'all's consideration of this and and their presentation. Happy to answer any questions if y'all have them. Council, any questions? Thank you, sir. Appreciate you coming. Thank you. Anyone else wish to speak to this matter? I hear no one. I'm going to close the public hearing and council, you're being asked to approve the zoning map amendment and I think it was the camera use land use plan amendment. Need a motion.

Mr. Mayor, I move that we grant the resoning um and the CAM amendment that's um reciprocal or coordinated finding that the reasoning is reasonable and that one or more of the findings of facts A through J were found in the affirmative and it advances the public interest. Second. I have a motion and a second. Is there any other discussion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. All opposed. Okay, that brings us down to uh we're going to go to the reports right now and I will start with Mr. Willingham. Are you ready, sir? Thank you. No report. No report. Happy to be here. Pro 10.

I have two items, sir. I want to remind the public that on Saturday at 10 a.m. at Ljun Memorial Gardens, we have the Vietnam Veterans Recognition that's held annually. If you are available at 10 a.m., please join us at the gardens as we recognize our Vietnam veterans. Um, and then there's a second item I'd like to bring up for council uh to consider in the future. I think it's time that we have a methodical review of our UDO. It was passed in 2014 and it has been sitting there predominantly unchanged ever since until about last 6 to 8 months ago. We started reviewing certain sections of it as as problems began to arise and inconsistencies were found. In that time, we've made quite a few changes and amendments to it. Um, but I think I'm I'm aware some conversations with our attorney that general statutes have changed, legislators doing different things and changing the authority we have, what we can do and can't do in a UDO. So, I think a consistent and methodical review of that entire document would prevent us from having unnecessary liability might help us to clarify some things that are either confusing or redundant or perhaps overreach we can remove. Make it a little easier for our community to uh do what it needs to do. It may take some time because

Yes, sir. It will not be a simple thing. It will very large document. Dr. Washington.

Yes. Um for the public, I'd like to announce that on this past Friday um the city of Jacksonville serves as the host city for um the North Carolina Military Child of the Year semi finalist recognition ceremony. And this past Friday was the fifth year that um the city of Jacksonville has served as the host city. So this is a program that um is was birthed out of operation homefront. Um many years ago I served as a judge and this particular program is about selecting seven military child of the year from the seven branches of service including the National Guard. So this year out of 68 semifinalists so the 68 semifinalists all were competing for that coveted award for the seven military branches of service. The state of North Carolina had seven out of those 68. So Hannah Kurski, Marine Corps, Daniel Prain, Marine Corps of Swansboro, North Carolina, and Hannah Kurtsky of Sneeze Ferry, North Carolina. Virginia Burke, Marine Corps, Havlock, North Carolina. Victoria Vancor, Coast Guard, Kill Devil's Hill, North Carolina. Natalie Perez, Army, Fagatville, North Carolina. Kenzie Robinson, Army, West End, North Carolina. And Genesis Hall, National Guard, Marian, North Carolina. Out of those seven semifinalists, two Hannah Kurtsky was named Military Child of the Year for the Marine Corps and Victoria Vancor was named Military

Child of the Year Coast Guard. So, two out of seven military child of the year came from the state of North Carolina and what an accomplishment for these military dependent children. In addition, this past Saturday, I had a chance to attend a mental health symposium um that was um put on by Delta Sigma Theta Incorporated sorority that's located here in Jacksonville, North Carolina, talking about the various different types of mental health issues that we are seeing individuals struggling either through childhood trauma, domestic violence, um workplace place toxicity, um, divorce, financial distress, fill in the blank. It was a very empowering and enlightening conversation that the sorority put on for the public. So, thank you to Delta Sigma Thetus for enlightening us about mental health. And that concludes my report.

Thank you. Well, I'm going to take up uh Councilman Yiro's time and he would have taken 10 minutes, but no.

Oh, wow. I do have a few things and I'll be very brief. Um but I wanted to say that um between the North Carolina League of M municipalities and the National League of Cities, I have been driving, listening, learning um from the both uh the state and federal level uh regarding everything pertaining to the city and I have definitely enjoyed um every every session that I've been a part of. Thank you to the city for allowing me to be able to represent you there. Um, also with the Divine Nine legislative day that was held on April 8th, um, I wanted to definitely publicly thank uh, Senator Lazaro for being there and, um, allowing me to be able to talk with him just for a little bit. Um, we did have some, uh, scheduling conflict, but we did u, we were able to connect. So, um, definitely wanted to thank him for that. Uh I also got a chance to uh speak with very briefly uh Representative Greg uh Murphy as well as Senator Tillis. So that was a great um opportunity. Um shifting just a little bit, I want to give a shout out to Ward 2. First of all, I had the privilege and honor to celebrate the 75th birthday of Dr. Dolores Perry of Bethl Church. uh she turned 75 and she looks like she is 25 and um I tell you she's a great great example for us um when it come to uh being a woman being a professional um and you know for those of you who don't know Bethl uh Word Church is um one of the ministries that do food pantry give out. So um I just wanted to acknowledge her. uh her birthday is April 1st of all days, but she's celebrating for the entire month. And then of course I have to um mention another World War II resident. I think

I'll read this part here for her. President Trump signed into law. Legislation that authorizes the president to award the Medal of Honor to retired United States Marine Corps Major James Capers Jr. for his extraordinary hero heroism during the Vietnam War. I know it has been a long time coming. And um for those of you who have ever just had an opportunity just to sit in a room with him uh full of wisdom and a lot of stories. So I wanted to u definitely uh publicly recognize that u we're standing by for the date in which he's going to be awarded and wherever I am I'm going to fly back to make sure I am there.

That deserves a standing ovation. It

it really does. It does. there were so many that had their hands um involved in it and I'm just very grateful to uh be here in the city of Jacksonville and to be able to uh recognize that momentous occasion. Um and finally, nope, not finally, environmental and appearance. Uh, we will be at Jacksonville Common Elementary School on this Friday, the 24th of April at 9:00 am for Arbor Day. So, I get to plant a few trees with all of our small packages. So, I'm excited about that. Done that before. It's a highlight of my year, believe it or not. Um, I do enjoy that um moment and uh so if you are available, come on out and join the kids. And finally, today I had the opportunity to um hang out with the Jacksonville Board of Realators and their community conversation. This is that was my first u meeting with them. Of course, we had several representatives. Definitely want to give a shout out to Jacksonville's own police department. Uh their passing information that they were able to um just enlight me on as well as others who were in the room. Um, I want to share something that um I got it right here in front of me. Give me one quick second. Got excited about Major James Capers. Uh, Christina Aspbury. Um, there was something that came up and I think it's worth uh mentioning here um that we need to be on the lookout especially our seniors when it comes to seller impersonation fraud. Um, so I want to encourage everyone definitely go out on the deed fraud uh website. There's a growing issue called

seller um impersonation fraud where someone pretends to be a property owner and tries to sell land they don't actually own. Um so it is going on, it is happening. So we want to definitely alert our citizens ensuring that um if you are approached if you're called to definitely use much caution and also for those who are coming to the doors and selling their products if they don't have a permit send them on their way and call those who need to know that there are those who are operating in the city without permits. That's all I have.

Excellent report. Thank you. I think the only thing I have to report is uh I did have the opportunity to go to be asked to go to Raleigh and uh serve on the nominating committee for the officers for the upcoming year for the board of or for the North Carolina League of Municipalities. And uh there was I think about 12 12 of us that uh sat in a room and we interviewed all these different app uh people that were put their hat in the ring and it looks like we've got a good slate of leadership coming in. It's a very diverse group that uh we've selected and uh hopefully that'll lead into a good year for the league and uh I really enjoyed that opportunity to network with all these mayors and council members from all over the state. So Mr. Ray Thank you, mayor. I do want to remind everyone that the general assembly kicked off their short session today. Short is only a word that has five letters with no definition, but it doesn't mean how long they'll be in session. They are scheduled to go through Julyish, but as Senator Lazarus said in his recent interview, that could go on until they're finished doing the business that they need to do. So, if you need to make a trip to Raleigh to talk to any of our legislators, as Miss Smith has referenced to um you can ask us for any information or documents that you need to take with you. We will gladly prepare that information. We're working on some things now that we're ready to send in conjunction with the North Carolina League of Municipalities. On a side note, uh 32 years ago today, Miss Pam Macintosh started working with the city of Jacksonville. She's not here tonight because she left out today. She said she didn't want to stay any longer. We're not sure if she's coming back tomorrow, but she definitely made it 32 years. So, if you see Pam, we're just excited to have her as a member of our team. And if you're not happy to see Pam, that's Mr. Bitner's fault, who also did not show up for the meeting tonight. It's crazy how this happens.

Um, I did have this wonderful report and I wanted to talk about the military child of the year. And as it should be, Dr. Washington did all of the report. And I say this, but from Dr. Washington because she was instrumental in making this happen. We take a lot of pride in being a military host city, but a lot of the times you don't think about the side of what it means to build a military host city except for the Marine Corps is here and there's other things that you have to do to be a part of their story and their mission. Dr. Washington took it upon herself over 5 years ago to bring that ceremony here. And every year that I've been here, she asked the question, "Do we want to continue to host this?" And I think that's a a nice way of her to say, um, we better host this again because why would we I'm not putting words in your mouth. Why would we miss this opportunity? Uh, this is an awesome opportunity for us to recognize these um students who who travel around the country and around the world with their families. And it's a it's an awesome honor. It's a blessing. It's something that one of our very own Michaela Hennean who's sitting here tonight um has experienced throughout her lifetime and can talk about this, but as Dr. Washington listed all seven of the people that are nominated and she talked about the the two finalists, which is incredible. One of the things that this program does from Operation Homefront, sorry, there's a picture, um Operation Homefront, is they provide each person with a $10,000 grant. They get a laptop and then they get a smorgus board of goodies as well. One thing that's kind of interesting about the North Carolina recognition is we recognize the semi-finalist where the other the other states do not put as much um appreciation to the the state semi-finalist and through Dr. Washington's work and efforts that's something that the team does here. We had an excellent panel of speakers. Dr. Washington kicked off the whole ceremony

um with some interesting facts about this group and then we had uh Rick Long was part of Secretary Mallet's team. Secretary Secretary Jocelyn Mallette was here speaking. Um United States Marine Corps Sergeant Major Anthony Loftess was here and then Pastor Jim Dob was here as well. So, what a great group of individuals here to appreciate not only the two finalists, but the other uh the seven youth that were recognized throughout those seven winners. One thing that she didn't give you, thank you for leaving this for me, Dr. Washington. The seven winners have combined moved 35 times in their in their lifetime. And then from the 12 months prior to being nominated, they completed um over 4,846 volunteer hours.

And then they've lived through 255 months of deployments. You know, for a lot of us, I don't even know what that means. You know, for me, I don't know what that deployment of my mom or my godmother would be like, but I can tell you it probably would have shut me down, but for these individuals, huge success. And so to be able to have that honor here, I hope it's something that we never hand off to anybody else because this is what we do as a military host city. Uh so for the mayor and the council and all of you that support this uh for Dr. Washington, thank you all for recognizing these young students and for allowing us the opportunity to be engaged in this effort.

Very cool opportunity for us as a city. Um, another one of our partners really excelled this past weekend. Earth Day was established in 1970, about the time that Pam started working for the city. And um, and we continue it today. And the cool thing about us for Earth Day is we have a partner in Sturgeon City that has taken up that mission and they make it part of their own. So this past weekend, because they could not wait until tomorrow to celebrate, this past weekend they hosted their uh Earth Day celebration and craft fair that to support environmental protection and awareness. What it basically was was education, food, family, and fun. and from the number of people that showed up uh to to look at their STEM program and to work with their students. Um what an awesome opportunity just to be in the community to learn to have some fun and to go uh experience a lot of our amazing food trucks at the same time. So if you can have some some family time and you can have some fun time, we are very thankful to that partner which is Sturgeon City for all the work that they do. And then last thing I have for you, mayor, is um this past week we utilized the skills of Jack Black and uh School of Rock to kick off our summer movie in the park series. This is a really fun event where we utilize this massive piece of grass and a screen to let people show up and watch familyoriented movies in the park. Free for everyone. If you want to show up, they're the third Fridays of each month. They're open to the public. And the next movie will be May 15th and it's Paddington in Peru. So, if you've ever gone to Peru, maybe this interests you. If you know Paddington, maybe this is never seen the movie, but uh I encourage you to go check it out because seeing the families in the park is just another event that our parks and our recreation teams work

together to allow our citizens to uh to enjoy Jacksonville at all times. Thank you, mayor. Miss Welch, you have anything? No, sir. Thank you. With that, I would uh entertain a motion to go into close session to talk a little bit about land acquisition pursuant to general statute 14318. So moved. Second. All in favor signify by saying I. I.