City Council - Regular Meeting

All right. Good evening everybody. It is 6 PM. This is Tuesday, November the 18th. This is our regular board of alderman meeting for the town of Spencer for November. So, welcome everyone. We are called to order and Alderman Muhammad is going to give our invocation this evening.

Lord, as we come to you with a clear heart and a clear mind to pray for this town, this state, this nation, give us the discernment and wherewithal to move forward in this meeting for the betterment of the town and its residents. In your name we pray. Amen. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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.

All right, board. You have your agenda before you. Uh, are there any additions or deletions to the agenda? And if not, is there a motion to adopt the agenda set before you? I move to adopt the agenda as presented. Second.

There's a motion by Miss Sledge, second by Mr. Muhammad. All in favor? All right. All opposed. And our agenda is approved and set for this evening. We'll move into recognitions. And we have uh several recognitions to make this evening. I'm going to start by making the first one. And I would like to uh recognize uh Mrs. Dion Dixon for her great work uh for the 2025 Race to the River Festival that we did as part of Rowan County Creek Week. Um Dion is here with us this evening and uh super super appreciative of the work that uh you have done. Let's give her a round of applause and I'll SAY so this is the uh fourth year that we've done the race to the river as part of Rowan County Creek Week and uh this year it was once again the culmination of Rowan County Creek Week and um Dion though this is her first year doing it um because it is the first year of our parks and recreation advisory board for the town of Spencer which we are thrilled to have and um they have hit the ground running uh working on a variety of different things but uh Dion on stepped up to the plate to help lead the Race to the River Festival and it's been it was bigger and better than it's ever been and we're really appreciative of you stepping up and being willing to do that. Um it's a great success. Dion is a member of that parks and recreation advisory board and um she helped to arrange everything, coordinated uh the 5K with the Sisbury row and runners association, coordinated with the um the pedal factory for uh a couple different bike rides that they did out to the river and then on to Boon's Cave and also then coordinated uh to have a bike rodeo as a part of that and then a festival following that with various community uh organizations and some food vendors and things like that as well as live music. So, all of that to say, it was a wonderful day. We had the best

turnout that we've ever had and we look forward to next year. So, thank you so so much for your leadership and the work that you did. And Joe Morris wants to add one additional thing. I think Joe is our special projects coordinator and also our staff liaison for the the parks and recreation advisory board. So Dion sitting on the back row like a staff member, which is really kind of appropriate, but she really jumped in. She brought a group of volunteers, people that were new to Spencer and from surrounding communities and and took care of everything. Kept everybody fed. Um, and it went out the the the entire uh program went off without any problems whatsoever. And at the end of the day, which was we started pretty early, so the end of the day was like two o'clock in the afternoon, but she took her group out on the lawn and she said, "I'm going to teach these people how to police an area and she made them stretched their hands out and they walked and picked up every little bit of litter that might have been on the site." So, I I'm really appreciative to what Dion did for the town of Spitzer that day and I just wanted y'all to know that.

Wonderful. Wonderful. Thank you.

All right. And next we will turn it over to Mayor Pro Tim Secretus to uh give us two other recognitions.

Um it's my pleasure tonight to make two recognitions that I think are welld deserved. The first is going to the Spencer Public Works Department, other town staff and citizens for their work on the North Grand High School courtyards. Um, several months ago, WA How came up here and spoke and she said that she wanted to try to get a committee together to trim up the courtyards and make them look much better and so the students could and would use them and staff as well. So we kind of spearheaded that and Joel and his crew went over there and took care of all the things that students aren't allowed to do from running machinery and stuff. They brought mulch, they weeded, they pulled up things. All of this was done um when students were not in session. So learning was not disrupted in any way. And then many students jumped in to help and came over to do that too. And eventually u umbrellas are being added. So it's going to be a beautiful site and it's going to be something that students and faculty and staff will enjoy for many years to come. So we I want to give a big round of applause to them because they did all of this fortunately before all of that. How they so they've been very very busy. So let's give them a round of applause. They definitely go over and above. Um, also I want to recognize two of our Spencer restaurant owners, Amy Ray of Pinocchios and Quinta Ellis of Flemen Street Bakery in Southern Cuisine. They saw a need and stepped up to serve. uh when SNAP benefits were temporarily postponed or held back, they decided

they were going to do something about it. So, they didn't just talk about it, they did it. They decided to offer meals throughout the week to anyone who needed them with no questions asked. They were concerned about the pause to the SNAP food assistance programs. and they've served up delicious meals, spaghetti meals, hot dogs and hamburgers, turkey pot pie, and in addition, they still hosted their table 10 monthly meeting, which is the second Monday of each month. Now, at table 10, you pay only what you can pay from $10 to zero. And it's done very discreetly. No one knows who pays what. So, I mean, I think they have just done a marvelous job of stepping up and offering this to uh the citizens around here and in this area and they plan to continue it through this month and then they'll revamp and see if it still needs to be done. Um, there was a great article in the paper by Chandler who's sitting here with us tonight. So, if you didn't see this or didn't see it online, go back and read it and you'll notice the headline. It is humanity and that's why they did it. And they even took the uh meals that weren't served. There were a few. They took them to the community garden down here on the corner of Second Street and Main Street, packed in to-go boxes, and announced it on Facebook. So, people went and got those, too. So, I mean, I think that's definitely a step over and above for what citizens usually do. And we have another business owner, Tiffany Jones, at Cool Noggin Salon, who is also sponsoring some families along with many

of her customers for the holidays. So, we've got business leaders in Spencer who are giving back to the community, and I think they needed to be recognized, too. So, many thanks to ALL OF THEM. THANK YOU, MAYOR PRO TIM. I TELL YOU, it's uh lots of good stuff happening in our community and um it's great to see our community rallying together and helping each other when when folks are in need and it's just uh it warms my heart in this in spite of everything else in the world that's happening. So, um I also want to make one additional recognition that I think needs to be made and that is for the organizers of the Spencer neighborhood arkw walk

that happened this Saturday. I had a chance to go to that and it was just fantastic. Um especially uh for Douglas L and Marty Limeberger. I know that they um really had it were instrumental in helping to plan that and you didn't have a chance to go. Hopefully they'll do it again next year. Uh there was also an article in the paper I believe about that and uh but I tell you it's amazing the amount of talent we have from uh artistic talent to organizational talent to um to culinary talent. It's uh it's really impressive everything going on in our community. So thank you all for all that uh all that you have done.

All right, we will move to public comment this evening. We have two folks signed up for public comment. Just a quick reminder, we have three minutes for public comment. We do have a timer that'll be on the screen to help you out. Um, and we will ask that you come forward. State your name and address for the record. And I will ask that Leslie Talbet comes forward first. Hi guys. Hello.

Okay. I'm Leslie Talbet. I'm chair of the Historic Preservation Commission and I'm going to give you status because nobody knows what the redheaded stepchildren are doing. So I will share with you where we stand. um we have been doing the standards uh certificate of appropriatenesses meetings and whatnot but we've come across some of our standards that are some have some ambiguity. So we're clarifying those because standards shouldn't be ambiguous. So we're working the standards. We're also reooking at how we have built uh our standards package online. We need to make it easier for people to go to the source. I want a door. I don't want to go through 82 pages to find what the standards are for a door. So, we're reaching out to some of our own team members that are qualified to do stuff like that. I'm not I I'm a page turner. Um, and I am going to continue to pursue pursue certified local government. Uh, we've got a great set of standards. We're maintaining them, which is something that they require in this certified government uh process, but we also have to come up with not that we have to expand the historic district, but we have to have a process in place to identify historic homes so that uh should the need arise, we've lost 40 homes uh that used to be here that are historic that don't exist anymore. And if we're going to lose them, we need to be able to replace them because that's our setting for the commercial district, which is the gem of uh small towns. That's exactly how we're listed in the registry. So, that is what I'm doing. And I am also planning, we're planning the class in March. We have a special

guest speaker who will help us kick off, but I'm going to look to you uh Peter somebody for help in promoting and advertising this because we've had a couple of good things that have not I didn't know about the artwork because an art walk because I'm not on Facebook. I found out and I went. But we we need to do a little better uh outreach unified so that we can all learn and go because I had a wonderful time even with my bad leg. So, um I'm looking for one of you to reach uh back to me and say, "Hey, I can help you get this promoted for the the class. We're planning it in March. We have a location so we don't have to use the building, but I need your help." Great. So step up dudes and you have a good holiday.

Thank you. Thank you so much Leslie. Thanks for your leadership of the group. I will say you are not the redheaded stepchildren. You are our children. And so uh whatever color hair that might be, we appreciate the work that you're doing for us. The other thing too that I want to make folks aware of and um Anna and I talked about it is um an awareness of several community calendars throughout Rowan County that we can begin to publicize some of our events on. So we're going to look to do do some of that. So get us the information so that we can publicize point you in the right direction. All right. Next is Madison G from Northland High School. Good evening.

Good evening. Um, my name is Madison Gu and I just want to take a moment to say a heart a very heartfelt thank you to everyone in the town of Spencer. Your generosity in providing the materials for our courtyard was amazing. But what truly touched me and several other students at Northowan was the fact that so many of you showed up, you lended your time, you rolled up your sleeves, and you shared your talents to help make this vision of mine come to life. Um, it's very rare to see a community come together like this and it means so much to me because we now have a beautiful space that students can sit in and enjoy and it's kind of revitalized and it hasn't been that way since I've been in high school and this was kind of my way of giving back to North. So, this is a very heartfelt thank you and I really appreciate it and it does not go unnoticed.

Thank you guys. Madison, I don't think we're the ones that uh deserve the thank you. I think you are. Um it's incredibly impressive of what you have achieved, not only the finished product, but organizing everybody and reaching out to leaders in the community to to help make this happen. So, what I would say is keep making it happen and keep asking us to help. Thank you. Absolutely. All right, we will move on from public comment to our consent agenda. Uh again the only item on our consent agenda are approval of our minutes from last month and so uh if there is a motion to approve the consent agenda I will accept it. So move a motion by Mr. Muhammad. Is there a second?

Second. Second by mayor prom. All in favor. Right. All opposed. And that is approved. The next item is to consider authorizing the town manager to execute a contract with the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources for a Parks and Recreation Trust Fund grant which we have lovingly come to know as part F because of our success with those and this grant would be for the Standback Forest Center. Mr. Morris, good to see you.

Good to be back. Um, we were notified by the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources a few weeks back uh that we had been a awarded a grant of $246,813 be applied uh to the property that 4011 Street that we have known formerly as the Carter House uh for the Stan Sandbat Forest Center. uh a matching grant of $250,000 was provided by Fred and Alice Standback. And so um this will be a uh procedural element of moving forward with uh this particular project in that we're asking the board to authorize the town manager to execute the contract uh with uh North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources for the uh parks and recreation trust fund grant. Um subsequent to that authorization uh we will uh begin the due diligence on the project including design work. Uh Pete Bogle has been the architect uh that we worked with uh to develop the uh the project and also with uh Lynn Rker who was a landscape architect who worked on the original uh sambach forest plan a dozen years ago. And so we're excited about this project and we would um ask your consent in terms of the authorization of the contract.

Thank you, Joe. And as uh just as a reminder uh for our board and for our community as well, uh this part F grants do require matching funds and so the matching funds were uh from private donations. You want to talk about that? And one other item uh related to that, Mr. Mayor, I'll add is that the property was donated to us. So, the citizens of this town will have an exquisite uh recreation facility at very little cost. And so, good for us.

And mayor, if if I may on this on this item, uh Anna and I were looking earlier at it and with more of a fine tooth comb on the signature lines and it appears that the state would like the mayor to execute the agreement. So we just need to adjust the motion a little bit to be authorizing the mayor to execute uh the agreement.

All right. So the request is for a motion for the mayor to execute the contract for the park. All right. Any questions board and if there aren't is there a motion to uh to execute? I move that execute that Mr. May motion by Mr. Muhammad second. Second by Miss Moody. All in favor? All opposed. And that is approved. Very good. Thank you, Joe.

One question I had, Joe. The uh scope of this runs until uh 2028 from what I understand. Well, how at what point will I mean we're not going to are we going to be using this grant money for that whole period or will we get the project finished before then? it. Um I have not explored an anticipated timeline with Pete on as far as the construction. Um I imagine that we will based on your decision tonight, I'll have a conversation with him tomorrow to begin putting together the construction documents and the all the architectural drawings that will need for the project. Realistically, I bet it'll be January before he can work on it given the holidays and whatnot. And so, if there's a 60 to 90 day design period, another uh 60 days of um of advertising for request for biz and that sort of thing. Uh I need to check with the town manager. I I'm not sure what our budget cut off is for formal bids versus informal.

This would be above the formal bid. Okay. And so we'll do formal bids. Uh so probably May, June, we'll start construction. If I I would think it would be maybe less than six months that to actually build it out. So they give us three years if we need it. Yeah, we we'll have we should be able to do this in plenty of time. And if if we have a demolition party, I'll let you know. It could be fun. Yes, it could. I will say Joe I Joe's optimistic on his schedule, I think. But I'm going to go with it. So So when it's not, you can uh mayor, when you get get to my age, you have to compress the weather.

Yeah, I understand. I was going to say August the construction started. Okay, I'll do my That's good. All right. Awesome. Thanks, Joe. Thanks for all your work with that. All right, next item is to consider adopting ordinance 25-11.006, which is yet another grant. We'll be accepting a $99,800 grant from the North Carolina Railroad Company from their brownfield grant program uh for a uh rail for the North Carolina Railroad for site assessment work and that is related to our uh finishing company site. And um are you going to talk about that one? Yes, I can describe this item.

So this this work uh we've been talking about it for most of the year. Uh and this is really kind of a procedural step. Uh but just to start from the beginning, we had uh had a very good conversation with the North Carolina Railroad Company about these grant opportunities. Uh it started out as a opportunity for a $50,000 due diligence grant and uh we were awarded that and we're in the process of of executing that. I think we also had done a budget amendment and all that sort of thing when they kind of said hold uh you know hold on we want to do this instead and so that's when this uh other grant of basically $100,000 came came along and earlier in the year I believe in April the board authorized uh executing that grant document but we we this is the other piece of that that we do need to handle is the the budget amendment to allow the funds to flow through uh the work has uh based on the on the grant acceptance that happened uh and and that all was signed in July. Sammits uh contractors have been doing the assessment work and that that has been happening. So, uh, this just helps us clean up budget-wise to allow the funds to flow through. And then we do have additional, uh, good news that we'll probably be having on the December agenda if we can get all the ducks in a row for the larger $750,000 infrastructure grant for the same site, but also from the North Carolina Railroad Company.

Thank you. Any questions on this item? If not necessary a motion to adopt ordinance 25-11.006. I move that we adopt ordinance 25-11.006. Motion by Mr. Muhammad. Is there a second? Second.

Second by mayor prom. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? Right. All opposed. That is approved unanimously. Thank you all. All right. We'll move to our departmental reports and we'll start with Mr. Blunt in the planning department. Before I report, let me echo some comments by the manager. The North Carolina Railroad has been amazingly pleasant to work with on these grant opportunities. And when they didn't think we quite fit for that early $50,000 grant, there was a chance we were just going to lose out. They're the ones that said, "Hey, let's give you $100,000 instead." And we appreciated that. As Joe will tell you, some of these grants take months and months to put together. uh you have to resubmit and resubmit to get everything just right. With North Carolina Railroad, it's been an email and a conversation on the phone and they send us a check. So, they're really great people to work with and we look forward to working with in the future. And my planning report report. Before I give you my normal statement, let me say that I was checking some statistics to fill out a report the other day and stumbled across one I thought you'd be interested in. uh year to date the number of zoning permits that I have issued in 2024 it was 74 total permits for a variety of different things uh as of this date and this year it's up to 105. So that's a 42% increase over the number of permits we're issuing. So although the economy seems to have dampered down just a little bit, things are still happening in Spencer and we should be excited about that. And with that, I will tell you as I normally do, you have my written report. I'll be glad to answer any questions.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Blunt. Board, any questions? You got out easy tonight. Thank you. I appreciate your quotes as always, sir. All right. Code enforcement chief file.

Good evening. Good evening. I'm gonna try to keep this roll going here. It's about the quickest we've moved. I'm not blow blow it for you tonight.

I have provided the uh standard monthly report for code enforcement. Um again, we're still maintaining between 80 85 and 90% voluntary compliance for the year. So, I'm certainly uh still happy about uh how our code officer is working. And if you'll kind of notice this uh you know, this reflects primarily October um cases. So, we're kind of winding down that high grass issue that we typically do. So, you'll see next month's report and then obviously the following month we'll kind of transition more to minimum housing and some other issues that uh that we kind of have to push to the aside while we're working on uh keeping the uh yards trimmed and staying on people about that. Um good thing is if you notice there's no notice of bills in there. So, I've not had to bill anybody this year. So, we're getting a lot of good voluntary compliance. We're certainly happy about that. But I'll try to answer any questions you may have about the code enforcement.

Thank you, sir. Any questions? I have a really simple one. What is minimal housing? Um, email you about this last. I mean, effectively anything. It's kind of a blanket statement, but anything that has to do with the uh the living conditions of the residents and the poor living conditions. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. It could be, you know, you know, as far as repairs needed to happen with the house. It could be uh just uh issues within the house, that sort of thing. But it's it's living conditions. Okay. Thank you. All right. We'll move to the police department.

All righty. again, uh, standard monthly report. Um, 2,142, uh, events this month. And then you'll notice that we've added the AC team report back in. So, it didn't have a 100% complete, uh, report. Um, I did catch a typo on there that somebody left in there. That second line down, it says July 25 cases. I believe that was a typo by one of the, uh, one of my guys when they were putting this report together. But, uh, so ACE team's back up and going. Uh, we've been assisting other agencies as we've kind of always tried to lend a hand to those that were needing us. So, we've uh we've been to Granite Corey recently. We'll be in Landis next week for the parade, about five or six of us, and then they will pay us back on our parade day and send about five of their people to help us out. So, we're still still working good with other agencies, and we certainly appreciate them coming next week. So, we have a lot of busy uh busy times coming right now. the uh across the street is in full uh full-fledged work mode. So, we're working about four or five people um every weekend across the street at the museum for Polar Express and kind of mixing that in with our other uh events and and items that we have going on for the holiday time. But, um I will try to answer any questions you have about this much report.

Great. Thank you for any questions. I think it bears mentioning out loud for our community and especially our younger community that I'm always amazed that fentanyl is present every single a team report. And so I think that bears pointing out verbally for our community that there's fentanyl. That's really dangerous more so than I would say your average drug use. Definitely. Um so I just

and you'll notice sometimes there are spikes on that report. Obviously, when we get lab reports back that indicate fentanel, we'll try to update it. So, you'll see that there are months where it may be a decimal point before and there's months where it may be a much higher significant amount. So, um fortunately and unfortunately, this month is our lab month take the narcotics to be tested. So, the ones that we have not reflected in the report likely will be in next month or January's report. So, you'll see that kind of spike up a little bit. Do we get dark? We do. available.

Yeah, about every officer is assigned between two and four uh dosage units and we do unfortunately have to use it quite often. So I believe in the last month I believe we narcan two or three people but unfortunate but uh but fortunate for the community that we're able to carry and provide and the county does real good. The county actually cycles that out for us so it's no cost to the agency. So as our anybody that's carrying Narcan that gets towards the expiration date, we cycle it out with the county and they send us new for freeze. All righty. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Next is our public works report. Mr. Taylor, Taylor, the lights look great. You know, it's my favorite.

They I was driving in tonight and thought just how wonderful it looked. Hallmark Channel sque. I was going to say good evening, mayor, members of the board. Good evening. Um the sum up the last month, Christmas lights and leaves. pretty much where we are. Leaves have been crazy. So, I've got to give you I've got to give you credit in your your cruise. So, I spent one day blowing leaves and my little girl was so excited that she was going to get to go play in the leaves and the next day they were gone. They were gone. It was amazing. Don't worry, I've got more back. So, there's going to be plenty of time.

I was so incredibly impressed at at how quickly those were taken care of. Hey, tell them I'll bring some over. I think everybody in town will bring you some if you want. I have piles of them at the shop. Just bring her down there one day. She'll be fine for sure. Uh so our regular services, we are running on schedule. Um last week, 4 day week, we were behind on leaves, but we've caught back up. We'll be we'll get all the way across town this week and get in Mr. Miller's neighborhood. Good.

So, all at one time. Um, a couple updates. Uh, Thanksgiving because we've gone to a four-day trash route. Thanksgiving, you know, we're off Thursday and Friday. So, Thursday will run on Wednesday. We will run two routes that day. So, the other truck will come out of out of retirement and it'll be run we'll run Thursday two Wednesday and Thursday on Wednesday. So, if any of y'all are on Thursday's route, make sure you get it out on Wednesday, Tuesday night. And I and I think sometimes we we offer the advice everyone get it out on Monday and

yeah. Yeah, you can do that. And I was going to get to that when we get to Christmas because Christmas we're we work Monday, Tuesday. We're off Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week this year. So we will run Monday and Tuesday on Monday and Wednesday and Thursday on Tuesday. Everyone will get picked up before Christmas. So, our basically our recommendation is is put it out on Monday and it will get picked up sometime Monday or Tuesday. We're not sure exactly when and how much the trucks will hold. So, so if we hear a racket, it's and it's on Monday or Tuesday. It's not Santa Claus. It's true. You won't be here until Thursday. I'm sorry.

For sure. So, um just a few other things. Uh the we did have a smaller uh storm water project on Second Street towards Whitehead. We had two catch basins that had collapsed. Um that has been fixed and done. The road was paid back. So everything is complete there. And uh Christmas lights. Uh we've got everything up and ready to go except for the Merry Christmas signs will be lit the day of the parade. They will come on and then the library park will be lit the same day. Uh everything else is up. The large Christmas tree will be lit for Winterfest. when the Christmas tree light laying face down, but the tree is up. So, and just an update on the live staking. The weather has been too warm to order the live stakes. So, it'll probably be into December before we get that done um for the ground temperature. They won't even let me order the live stakes right now. They're they're not cutting them. So, um soon as that happens though, then we'll get our our final 5,000 for that project and get it taken care of. So, and I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.

All right. Thank you. Forward. Any questions? So, I thought in conjunction with the Winterfest, I was thinking that the big tree is going to be lit for the parade and then turned back off and relit. It's very possible. I don't know that the decision has been made on that yet. Okay. Well, that's just something that I remember. It's very possible. I mean, it's available. It's available. I mean, we just don't have it hooked up right now. Everything's functional. So, if they decide to do that, we'll be happy to. That was that was kind of what I thought we had talked about. So, can you confirm? I can. Okay. Yeah. And just let me know. And if that's what they want, I'll make sure it gets on that day and we'll get it turned back off that evening. Fine.

No problem. All right. Thank you for your work to All right. Next is our finance report. Yep.

Peter. So Heather, our finance officer, has uh been at a conference uh in Cherokee the last two days, three days I think. Uh which was a really neat opportunity. So it's the state chapter of the government finance officers association was having the conference and uh Heather was awarded scholarship to attend at no cost uh to the town uh for the registration, lodging, etc. as a firsttime attendee. So she that was a competitive process where she applied and was one of several selected. So we were excited to allow her to be able to take part in that training.

And so yes uh you you do have the finance report and the main uh highlight to convey is about the schedule on the audit and uh we are expecting that the uh the audit will be presented at our December meeting and uh that we're on track for the December 31st submission deadline for this year. Great. Good. Yep. All right, thank you very much. And we'll move to our active living report. This is Ward.

Good evening. Um so uh our parks and recreation advisory board met on November 5th and um as is tradition with most of our commissions and boards, they won't be meeting in December, but they'll be meeting um the first Wednesday in January again. Um so they're in the process of developing a 2025 report and 2026 work plan to present uh to you all. Um most likely I believe it will be more thoroughly presented during the planning session next year. Um but they might have something a little bit before that just to get a better idea from you all. Um, and as has been stated already, I hate that she had to leave, but um, Race to River was such a success this year and, um, Beyond was just so helpful with everything. Um, and Trunk or Treat, Trunk or Treat also went well. Um, Kyle was instrumental in that one. Um, and I spent most of the time on Murphy duty.

Thanks, Anna.

Because Yeah. Um and um the upcoming events we have uh the Spencer's Holiday Caravan Parade will be on Wednesday, November 26th starting around 6:30 p.m. Um they do need more volunteers and information can be found on their Facebook page. Um if you just uh search on Facebook Spencer's Holiday Caravan Parade, it will come up. Um, and schedule-wise, town hall will close at 3 p.m. that day to accommodate parade staffing needs. Uh, road road closures, which, uh, all of this information has been published on the website. Um, social media, uh, things are set to go on the electronic sign. Um, there's a sign on the front door. Um, and I've submitted information to, I believe, the Salsbury Post calendar, but I still need to do the Rowan uh tourism one. Um, but, uh, between 5 and 9, Salisbury Avenue will be closed from Jefferson Street to 11th Street. Uh, between 3:30 and 7:30, and these are all PM. Um Jefferson Street will be closed from US Highway 29 to North Whitehead Avenue, North Whitehead Avenue from Forestdale Drive to Second Street and Oakwood Drive will be closed from North Whitehead Avenue to Pineroft Lane. So the uh the next thing uh Winterfest um which they also need volunteers and if anybody um sees Pat Sledge or Patty Serest please tell them if you are willing to volunteer. Um there's also information on the website uh which is spencexperience.org.

Um, and it will be December 5th from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. December 6th from 2:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. December 7th from 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. And then the senior the Spencer senior Christmas lunchon, which is 4:55 plus, uh, is on December 10th at 12:00 p.m. at the Oakdale Baptist Church. Um, and make sure anyone who's interested in attending call to register by December 3rd and the number is 7042167714. Um, and all of the information I'm mentioning tonight is also on our website and uh Facebook um and Instagram. Uh, and I also was able to attend the Roy Municipal Association meeting uh along with uh Alderwoman Sledge and Mayor Williams. Um, yeah, I was just Yes. Okay. Um, and uh it I it was really good. Um there was a big emphasis on communication between municipalities especially regarding events so that we can um crossromote and make sure that events aren't happening at the same time and that's um when we found out more about the Salsbury Post and Gran County tourism community calendars. Um so we've begun to uh post on those. And then uh with the library uh the school year started so there's been a decrease in patrons. Um librarian librarian McCra recently went to Paris and was able to explore a range of cultural institutions and actually earlier today she shared a slideshow of um photos she took highlighting that trip uh with some patrons. Um she has secured commitments from several local authors

to present the works at the library um at no cost to the public. And keep an eye on the library's Facebook page for uh updates on upcoming programs and events. Um and I forgot to include it in my report, but there will be some information coming soon. I believe next month about um there's a partnership with the some of the local libraries and the American Red Cross for blood pressure monitoring. Um so we'll have more information about that coming soon. Great. Thank you. All right. Can I make a comment real?

Um this senior dinner, I know it's just was thrown together in the last quick u you know it was originally cancelled and everything else. Uh this has not been attended very well lately and I think part of the problem is naturally we're talking about senior people like myself they're not does not understand or do not get email Facebook or anything like that in the past they have contacted churches let churches contact these people go through that I would appreciate if what somebody from the town would just contact our local churches in our community and remind them that this is a lunchon coming out and most of them don't understand you got to contact a number to attend. So, I I know there's a lot of complaints last year. People have said, "I didn't know about it." And I just want to make sure we educate people because like I said, uh older people just don't really uh use social media as much as they should. Please, I encourage you to do that if you don't mind. Any other questions or feedback? I like it that we have a very long active living report. It means that uh things are very active in town.

Yeah, which is great. It's good to see that. Thank you, Anna. All right, we'll move to our town manager report, Mr. Franis.

Well, thank you and and one thing I'll tag on to the information about the parade and that is what caused the noise over here. I was trying to pull it up and they they had something that made music and I didn't realize it. Excuse me. Uh but there is going to be a volunteer meeting on Thursday evening of this week here in this room at 6:30 p.m. So I I believe the parade committee's asking anyone interested in volunteering that day to come to the to that volunteer meeting again Thursday, November 20th, 6:30 p.m. here at town hall in the boardroom. And so back to regularly scheduled programming. Um uh tomorrow in this same space, we're going to have our final talk of the town installment for uh 2025. Uh this was our first year trying this and it's gone well. We've we've had a a group of consistent attendees and when each time we've we've added a few more folks and uh so tomorrow will be the next one. Uh Chief File and his team are going to be hosting it. It'll focus on code enforcement and police department and it's simply an opportunity for folks to come and learn about our organization and how we do what we do. And it starts at 6:15 and should be wrapped up by 8. And uh we do have a sign up form on the website, but signing up is not required. And we we will kick that off again uh in February. So the the idea is uh we've had alternating events of course uh the in-person meetings here that we call talk of the town and then our neighborhood walks and we we do a batch of them for four months in the spring. We take the summer uh off of that and we kick it back up in the fall and there we go. But really appreciate everybody who's supported that and been a part of it this year and u we've covered a lot

of ground and a lot of topics and we'll continue to do that next year and get in different areas. So u yeah again thanks to everyone for your support of that. We've talked about ourh schedule for the parade. So I'll I'll skip over that. Um, and I'll I will mention though, of course, at our December meeting, which which is coming quickly due to our schedule this month, we will have our transition for our our board our board terms and then uh the organizational type items uh that that y'all consider each year in terms of meeting schedule uh appointments and that sort of thing. Uh, one part of that that you may want to give some thought to, uh, because this is the first time we've had an election cycle that's not involved the full board. Historically, the selection of mayor pro Tim has happened by who's top vote getter and of course the full board was not up for election this time. So that that's something to chew on. I know there's other examples of how to make that determination. Uh sometimes uh boards will or councils will do that one year at a time and have a type of rotation. Uh sometimes, you know, maybe not. It's it's totally up to y'all how you want to handle it. But I just wanted to point out that the the methodology of and and maybe you decide you choose from those who just ran. I don't know. But but uh might want to think about that between now and our December meeting. So y'all maybe come with with an idea of how you want to proceed.

What we won't be doing is playing the not it game. Uhhuh. That's not I don't know how you follow Miss Patty. That's right. Very good. And we do have a draft calendar published there in the in the packet for holiday schedule for 2026. And uh it's hard to believe that we're at this last few weeks of the year. somehow it it uh it goes by and then all of a sudden you realize how much is already behind you. But um but yep that concludes my my report. I'm happy to answer any questions. Peter forward any questions.

All right hearing none. We'll move to requesting comments by mayor and board and we will start with Mr. Miller.

Okay. Tonight's theme basically was about volunteers and I really think that's important for a community success for the community is uh we have good employees but uh we need those people that can volunteer and step up and help the town employees and and and make the town a success. And I'm not going to go over all these volunteers that we talked about tonight because they've done a great job. And like I said, I appreciate what they've done. Uh like we expressed before, we need a few volunteers for the parade that's coming up. Uh we need a few volunteers for Winterfest Estas. So keep this in mind. I encourage everybody to get involved in our community. We have a great community. Uh we always need people to help out and I encourage you to step up and uh we can find something for you to do for sure.

Thank you, Mr. Miller. Miss Moody,

um I wanted to share something that's been kind of helping me and been weighing on my heart, but I love that it goes with our theme tonight of volunteerism and what a great community Spencer is. I think some of us may be experiencing heavy hearts with what's going on in our larger world. Um, but I think we can really focus on making a difference closer to home. Um, and we may all laugh, but the great Mr. Rogers said, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." And I have just been truly um motivated, moved, grateful to live in this community to see how many people have lent a hand, have jumped in to make the lives of their neighbors better. Um regardless of what we look like or where we came from. And I just think that Spencer is a great community. Um and I'm very fortunate to be a part of this community because some days it's the boost of positivity that I need to get up and do my best.

Absolutely. this meeting. All right, Miss Sledge,

this is um you're right. This has been a day of calling on volunteers and and um recognizing our volunteers. Um and I will put in another request for for any of you who have not yet done so but would like to go to spencerexperience.org and look at the dropdown for how to get involved. Um, we're accepting um any kind of volunteers who want to help us at Winterfest. If you have a couple of hours, you can give, if you have a couple of days, you can give, we're happy to to work around your schedule. Um, this is just um it's become an annual event that people look forward to outside of our community. people talk about it and talk about how wonderful it is and it gives me a as I say even if it's cold outside my heart is warm with all that's going on in this community. Um I have had the opportunity to attend some um to attend some um things. Um the EDC meeting is always interesting to sit in on um to hear about things that are happening across Spruing County. the municipal meetings that we attend um are a way that our communities are working together to um for the betterment of the whole county and and the region. So I just thank you all for the chance to to represent you. Um I told I shared with or Rasheed and I talked tonight uh Dr. Davis the pro the president of Living Stone we have been attending Fridays at the stone for this year entire year and um he's just received a a kidney transplant and was released from the hospital today yesterday. Today

and has normal uh kidney function happening. So that's a prayer that's been answered

and it's all because people care people here care. Um, as Erin mentioned, I have concerns about some of the things that are going on in our country with our neighbors. Um, I have neighbors who live across from me who are Hispanic. I have neighbors who live beside me who are Syrian. And I'm, you think some of them I know for sure are legal citizens because they're registered to vote. Um but it worries me that um we need to be vigilant about what's going on in our community to be sure that our rights are not being violated. So I guess I'm sticking my neck out there to say, you know, I'm willing to um to stand up and speak up, but we have to do that. We can't sit around and wait until they come for us and there's nobody else left to talk to speak for us.

Mr. Muhammed.

Well, since we're on the topic of giving back, you know, giving back is I should I say it's not an option. It's something that should be contagious. And if more people catch on to it, the world, I'm not going to say the town, this world will be a lot better place to live in and function humanely. Um, I'm thankful for the residents that are present and good to see that we can recognize some of the businesses here within the town that are giving back. And I know there are some that we have not named nor maybe we have not acknowledged but know that it does not go unrecognized with the work that is being done behind the scenes you know in front of people. But at the same token, I just want to say thank you to the staff from doing a tremendous job, you know, keeping this town, you know, up and also to my constituents here, the fellow constituent that's not here this evening. But I I appreciate all the hard work and dedication that we put into this town and know that for Winterfest and the parade that myself and my family will be willing to assist.

Dr. Dave on the list. Thank you, Mr. Muhammed. Mayor Puto,

um, one thing that I wanted to share that made my heart just burst with pride today. I had to go um to a doctor here in Palbury and I had on my shirt me my little coat that says Spencer, Counter Spencer, and he initiated a conversation as did his nurse who had been in there earlier, um, about where did I get this and why was I wearing it. So I explained and they both went on proceeded to tell just brag on Spencer. I mean, oh, I was just loving it. I said, "Oh, tell me more. Tell me more." And the doctor said that he lives in High Point and he goes through here twice a day. And he says, "I cannot believe the difference in that town since I've relocated here to Novant Heart and Vascular." and he was just so praising of the decorations, the neatness, the way the businesses are thriving and he wanted to know all about the restaurants and the nurse likewise. But they were both just so u enthusiastic about Spencer and I thought, whoa, this feels so good compared to what I used to hear 20 years ago. And it just made me proud. And I gave, you know, our board and mayors and Peter and all of our employees a lot of credit, but also gave the boards ahead of us for the vision of the town hall and the park because they really love the park. The some people thought the park was expensive, but it made the whole town turn the corner. It was a good investment. Thank you, Mayor Protown. All right, I'll close this out. Um, don't have a lot this evening. Uh, just a couple things. Um, one is that, uh, we have started, just so the board is aware, um,

mayors in Rowan County have started over the past couple months, uh, getting together, um, every other month, um, to just talk about issues within our communities and find ways to work together and collaborate. And uh it has been very refreshing to get to work alongside uh some of those colleagues in that capacity. Um and the neat thing is that we um will have a in each of the different parades within Rowing County that are happening over the next several weeks. Uh we will be having a mayor's float in the parade to show the community how everybody's working together. So really uh really neat. I'll have to give Mayor Pat Piper in Cleveland the uh credit for coming up with the idea. Um, so it's been uh been really refreshing to see our our communities working so closely together. Um, beyond that, I really don't have anything else except to say that we are thrilled. Uh, the panelist family is going to be joining us uh next month and uh appreciate all your commitment to coming to all of the meetings over the last several months leading up to your serv your time here and serving on the board. said, "We look forward to welcoming you and embracing you, and we're going to miss Andrew and all that he has brought. Um, but we're excited about the next chapter and evolution of our board." Um, and look forward to the great things that are going to happen in 2026. So, with that, that is all that I have this evening. Uh, is there any reason for executive session this evening?

All right. Hearing none, is there a motion to adjurnn? So, move. Motion by this second. Second by Mr. Muhammed. He is ready. All in favor? All opposed. We stand a journ. Thank you all.