City Council - Regular Meeting

uh call this meeting to order. I would ask all who are able to please stand for the invocation and the pledge of allegiance. Good evening everyone. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you so much for this day and thank you for the many blessings that you've brought on our community. I pray for our mayor and council members as they make decisions that affect our community, staff and citizens. And I pray that the staff um are able to make their presentations in a the in a manner that everyone can understand well. And in your name we pray. Amen. Amen.

Join me in the pledge of allegiance. 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.

Thank you. Our um city attorney uh Leah Messik is home with the sick child, but she is joining us um online. So, just wanted to let you know that we have an empty seat, but not not an empty place. Um, excuse me. So, there were no additional charges, I mean changes to the agend agenda during pre-aggenda. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. And a and we have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. I.

Any opposed? Thank you. The motion carries unanimously. So um we address the 2026 code of ethics and front and street front front and center strategic plan. Uh as always uh city council strives to follow the code and the plan. So uh we will move forward. Um we have one proclamation uh tonight. So um let me step over to the other podium. and following the presentation. Uh would you all stick around for a picture? So if uh if sh if uh Shellyley and Joel will step up with me, please. [clears throat] I want to thank the first we'll start off. I want just want to thank the the Irale 250 committee for their leadership and work they've already done to prepare for our nation's 250th anniversary. Um the not only just Joel and and Shelley were involved in this effort that are in the room tonight, but Todd Scott was engaged and also our own April Nesbet served on committees for this for this. and we are so so grateful and I'm proud to to be part of this milestone and I encourage our residents uh to stay engaged and take take part in this America 250 events as they're announced throughout the year. So, thank you. And here is our uh America 250 proclamation celebrating 250 years of American independence. Whereas on July 4th, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was was adopted, establishing the United States of America in affirming the enduring principles of liberty, equality, and

self-governance. And whereas the year 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of that historic event known nationwide as the United States Semiquentennial or America 250. And whereas this milestone provides an opportunity to reflect on our nation's history, its achievements, its challenges, and the generations whose service and sacrifice have strengthened our democracy. And whereas the city of Statesville, founded in 1789, has grown alongside our nation and continues to contribute to the civic, cultural, and economic vitality of North Carolina in and the United States. And whereas commemorating America 250 promotes civic engagement, historical understanding, volunteerism, and renewed commitment to the ideals that unite us as Americans. Now I therefore now therefore I, J. Douglas Hendricks, mayor of the city of Statesville, together with the Statesville City Council, do hereby proclaim the year 2026 as America 250 in the in the city of Statesville and encourage residents, schools, civic organizations, businesses, and community partners to participate in activities and events that honor our shared history and inspired continued service to our community and nation.

[applause]

All right. Next will be our uh city manager report. Ron, thank you, [clears throat] Mr. Mayor. Sorry, it's touchy. Um, this is a good opportunity. We're moving this up in the meeting. Uh, just going to see if this works. Um, try and get through these presentations pretty quick. But it's important to I think this is an important way to show the public as well as you how the money that you all are allowing us to to, you know, be put into the budgets each year, how that's being deployed and some of the, you know, important things that are going on in the city. So, I appreciate the time to do this. So, I'm going to start with our airport terminal building. Uh, as you all know, since we had our one day of our retreat in the new building, we are up and running. Uh, the groundbreaking or the the ribbon cutting is going to take place later on in the month. Uh, and I'll get to that in a little while, but beautiful facility. Uh, this is just one of several projects going on out at the airport. Um, I've mentioned a couple times about the see the um, sorry, I'll just point to point and point to them. The top right hand corner, the terminal April or April apron. Sorry, I'm all over myself. Um the apron experience. Um the design is complete. Construction funds are forthcoming. Uh and this is off this is on the side of the airport that the terminal building

is on. So on the north side uh the airport corporate development um area which is the southern map that you see there. Uh this is an area that we're doing site work. Uh bids have been uh actually it's not going to be awarded until next meeting. Uh we do have a low bidder that's being verified now. Uh this is this is an area where we're looking to build many hangers in the future, but as of today, this will just be the site work. Um you know, until we can get more state funding to build those hangers. The airport runway safety area, you guys have mention or you all have heard about this in the past. There's a rock dam that is uh that was not removed when the bigger project was done. This will take care of uh that project and that's going to be bid bid within the month. Police department expansion. Um you've heard a lot of updates on this. Winter weather has hurt us just a bit. Uh but things the project is moving along um pretty well. We're looking at the PD expansion being on time. We're hoping September, October of this year to be substantially complete and in the parking garage sometime in April. Uh we hope there's a lot of there's a lot of detail work going on, but I'm just trying to keep these pretty uh pretty high level. Uh Trad Street will be opened hopefully by the end of this month and that'll be good for circulation. That's been closed for quite some time. Municipal Operations Center. We talked about this at the retreat some uh the site and building design is it continues to be underway. They're uh you know finalizing the location of all of the offices and where everyone's going to live. As a reminder, this is where most of our field crews, well, if not all of our field crews for the city are all located out at what was called the warehouse facility in the past. When we built the first phase, we went into

calling it the municipal operations center because really it is kind of the heartbeat of what we do outside of public safety and and some of our office facilities and recreation. So, we're currently discussing pricing. Uh we're going to be coming to coming to you with the big uh the big topic of how do we end up paying for this and when. So, we're working on options now to kind of help with move that one forward. Fire Station 5. Uh, this one's moving along as well. Uh, the house upfit is set to begin this month. Site work should start any day. Could have even started today. I don't

Okay. Wednesday afternoon. Uh, so we're ready to go on that. Still on schedule for a July of this year opening. Uh, storm water. This is something you've heard heard about in the past, but I thought it was or thought it would be um good to point this out. Holland Drive, Beauty Street, and South Toria Drive culverts. Uh those are all areas subject to flooding. And this one is I can't remember if it's Beauty or Toria. Um but we have put in for two grants uh for Beauty and Beautia and Toria is one and then Holland would be another for a total amount of about $3.9 million. Um, these are hazard mitigation grants uh through the Department of Public Safety. This is important because if we're successful in getting these grants and there are matches that go along with it, but if we're successful in getting these, if you remember, storm water is we accumulate funds to build into these projects. So, accumulating $3.9 million for these projects um is is a tall order and will take some time to do it. Getting those off the books will allow us to get into other projects. Uh ribbon cutting ceremony for Martin Luther King Jr. Park pickle ball courts. We added four to our inventory. I think we are to 11 total for the city. Uh other recreation projects, we've rebranded the event center uh across the street from the civic center. Uh we're working on the Newtonville park and this is again the one between uh Mac Anderson Park and the high school. Uh so that's a greenway with park amenities located uh along along the greenway. So that we're going to make that a much more useful uh and and give some more uses to that

actual to that park as we move it forward. Calwell Park, pickle ball courts. There was actually one additional one built where the uh there's a wall that you can hit balls against near the parking area. Uh that one's complete now. And Kimbro Park, we are almost finished there. The shelter is shown at the bottom. Um and just needs some cleanup and some finished work and that will be completed. Um, we talked about with electric cities earlier today. Emily Gerigu and uh, Elizabeth, I don't know Elizabeth's new married name from it uh, went as representatives of the city to talk about our GIS network at the connection summit. This is that technical group that uh, Mr. Jones mentioned earlier in our presentation where shared information and was part of a presentation there to show the collaborative effort between not only public power and electricities but with other departments in the organization the waterline spline update um I I will just I won't go through all the words on this but to say that we are continuing to get the paving finished on Brookdale Stockton and And then we'll be going over to Center Street. Uh we are going to do a line cut over uh in some of these areas. Residents when the when the lines are cut over, the lines are in the ground now, but eventually they're going to be need to be cut from old line to new connection. And when that happens, we're going to give a oneweek notice to say it's going to happen and then a two-day execution day notice uh when we're when we're ready. It should be only about a half an hour of of being out of water hopefully. Uh but we have to cut it over when when the project is, you know, complete in those general areas. So that's going to be coming out. That's a

big deal. These I've said it a number of times. This project's taking a long time because of the the way that you have to go about it. And so when you finally get it cut over, hopefully that's the end of, you know, folks living in these affected areas, you know, saga of their the road in front of them or street in front of them. Crews have begun the waterline work um on South Meeting Street. It's going north from the railroad and then south on US21 from Amity Hill Road. So if you remember, this is all being done in pieces and we'll connect up at a later date. And so we're just over halfway done. Alexander and Stockton Street sidewalk project. Um they had said they were going to start this week. I think we are having some issues uh with some easements, but hopefully we can get those two moving. We're very likely going to start on Alexander uh because of some uh right ofway issues on Stockton. Um but hopefully we can get that done. Um they've said about three months for the for the total project. This one is a long time in the making. Um, and it's just get it's one thing after another, unfortunately. And the key dates, and I'm going to end my part here. Uh, key dates. So, the, uh, annual banquet for the fire department is this Friday at 6 PM. Uh, city service award lunchon is March 25th. Uh, and that's for employees uh, of of the city. Airport ribbon cutting March 26th. and the city offices will be closed on April 3rd for Good Friday. I'd be glad to answer any questions that you have. Any questions for Mr. Smith? Thank you, Ron. Thank you. So, we'll move forward with um the consent agenda. All items are considered to be ret

routine by the city council and will be enacted by one motion. Uh these items are item A, consider approving the February 12th, 2026 pre-agenda meeting minutes and the February 16th, 2026 regular meeting minutes. Item B is consider approving the first reading of an ordinance that authorizes the city to enter into an amended restated project power sales agreement with North Carolina Municipal Power Agency 1. Item C is consider approving the first reading of an ordinance that authorizes the city to enter into an amended and restated supplemental power sales agreement with North Carolina Municipal uh Power Agency 1. Uh item D is consider approving the second reading of the resoning request ZC26-01 that's 540 Monroe Street to reszone from B5 general business zoning district to R5 high density single family residential district. Item E is consider approving the second reading of the resoning request ZC26-02. That's uh 149 Weeping Cherry Lane to remove a portion of the parcel located at 149 Weeping Cherry Lane from the city's extra territorial jurisdiction zoning to the Iredell County's jurisdiction. Uh item F is consider approving an urban archery ordinance and allowing the police department to submit a letter on behalf of the city of Statesville to participate in the urban archery season. Item G is consider approving fund balance to appro to to approve budget amendment 2026-18 to pay an economic incentive in the amount of $186,688.26

26 cents to Ducson Bobcat. Item H is consider appropriating fund B um fund balance to approve budget amendment $226-9 to pay an economic incentive in the amount of $80,79367 to the Statesville Industrial Partners LLC. And item I is consider appropriating a fund balance fund balance to approve budget amendment 2026-20 to pay an economic incentive in the amount of $216,170.17 to North Point Development LLC. Are there any items on the consent agenda that need to be moved to the regular agenda?

Hearing none. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. Have a second. Seconded. Thank you. Um any discussion on the motion? All in favor say I.

Any opposed? Uh carry. The uh motion carries unanimously. So we'll begin the regular agenda. Uh item nine is to conduct a public hearing and consider a reszoning request ZC26-05 initiated by Mr. Richard Allen Lewis on behind of T on behalf of TKC Land Development 2 LLC to reszone three parcels um located along Dover Road. Um Mr. Calder. Thank you, Mayor and Council members. So this will be a straight resoning from Arredell County residential agricultural district to the state city of Statesville heavy industrial district. That's the request here. You can see on the vicinity map the [clears throat] green dot in the southeastern uh part of the city. That's where we're talking about and it's just off of Dover Road which is exit 45 off of I77. It consists of three parcels of land that equal 10 acres and it's the land is currently owned by Daniel Plyier, Marty Tucker, and James Cheryl Revocable Trust. As you can see here, the site photos show you the land as it is today, um, undeveloped. And then the aerial photo shows the way these parcels are laid out in the area. And it's important to mention here that the Larkin Commerce Industrial Park was originally reszoneed back in 2007. At that time, these parcels were not available, but now we do have the

opportunity to absorb them into the larger development. Looking at the zoning map, you can see the site is completely surrounded by a heavy industrial district which allows a wide range of uh industrial uses to support economic and employment development. [clears throat] In addition, the applicant will be seeking annexation concurrent with this resoning request. The 2045 land development plan characterizes [clears throat] this area as an industrial flex area, intent area. And I'd like to add it is these three small parcels are in the tier 2 growth area. Once they're if they are reszoned and amended, they would become tier one. The 2045 land development plan is supportive of this request as it shows these parcels to be in the tier 2 growth area with an employment center industrial flex intent area. Therefore, staff and the planning board recommend option one to approve the requested resoning to HI. And I would be glad to take any questions at this time. Thank you. So, I'm calling us into a public hearing. Um, are there any questions for Mr. Cer? Yes, James.

Uh, Mr. Cer, do we I think it makes a lot of sense for this for these three parcels to to be in the Larkin development and to have the hi zoning designation. Do we have any idea of what the anticipated use of these parcels will be? Right now, we do not. We just know that it's industrial in nature. Um, with this being a standard, some call it by right zoning, uh, the ordinance does not require that the, uh, applicant to make that known upfront or to even give a site plan. Um, so right now we don't know. Thank you, M.

You any other questions? Thank you very much, Mr. Cer. Thank you, sir. Okay. The uh the applicant does not have an does not have a presentation but is available. Is that correct tonight? So uh does anybody have any questions for the

the applicant? Okay. Um the no one signed up to um to have public comment regarding this. So, um, I will close the public hearing. Um, and I don't guess there would be any questions for Leah. Yeah. So, no, no more questions for the staff or applicant. Okay. Is there a motion to approve the resoning request? Uh, and if you would, whoever, whichever council member making the motion needs to read the consistency uh, agreement on page 106. Mr. Mayor, I move that the zoning amendment is recommended for approval. It is consistent with the city's comprehensive land use plan is reasonable and in the public interest because the 2045 land development plan supports the continuation of industrial uses in this area.

Second. Okay, we have a motion and second. Any any further discussion? All in favor say I. I.

Any opposed? [clears throat] Motion carries unanimously. Thank you very much. Okay. Uh the item 10 on the agenda is conduct a public hearing to consider passing the first reading of an ordinance to annex AX26-05 which is the same Do Lin Commerce Park uh filed by Mr. Richard Allen Lewis on behalf of the TKC Land Development 2 LLC for approximately 10 acres located on Dover Road. I will open the public hearing and Mr. Mr. Coller, back to you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. As the mayor stated, this is uh an annexation for the same three parcels we just discussed, reszoning. So, we are talking about the uh the three parcels that equal 10 acres owned by the Daniel Plier, Marty Tucker, James, Cheryl, Revocable Trust. As you can see on the voting map here, um this property is adjacent to the voting ward number one. It's a contiguous annexation and it's also important to note that it is considered as infield within the Larkin Commerce Park. Statesville Public Power has stated that the site is in the Statesville's public power exclusive territory and can be served with no problems. Our water and sewer department uh commented that in terms of water, the supply is not an issue, but modeling would be required for uh for fireflow requirements. if not more uh if they can't be met,

more than one options do exist such as looping the system, booster stations, towers to augment fireflow demand and other things. In regards to sewer, um they said that phase one could fit into the Troutman pipe. Beyond that, it would require additional solutions such as the gravity line we have we now have under design being the closest available solution. The fire department stated this would be in the uh service area of station 3. And you can see by looking at the pink area on the map that this area where the star is is just outside of the 4minute response time for station 3. They do have mutual aid agreements with with Troutman and shepherds, but they're going to be about the same response time as station 3. Uh the police had no concerns at this time. With that being said, city staff has reviewed the request and determined that the site meets statutory requirements for annexation. The services can be provided by the city with the exception of fire, noting that parcels along with all of the Larkin car commerce park are outside the 4minute response time. Mutual aid may be provided by neighboring fire departments. Oops. Let's go back and I would be glad to take any questions at this time. Any questions for Mr. Cer on the annexation? Okay. Um, is there a motion to approve the annexation request?

So moved. Have a second. close the public hearing. Sorry. So, we have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion on the motion? Okay, everyone in favor of the motion, please say I. I. I. Any opposed?

Motion carries unanimously. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Okay. The um item 11 uh is to conduct a public hearing and consider passing the first reading of a reasonzoning request ZC2515 Chapel Road Harmony Vistas. Um and it's my understanding that uh the applicant has not appeared. That is that is correct. So once you open the public hearing, uh the applicant has requested that uh they delay this or postpone it to the next meeting which would be March 16th at 6 p.m.

Okay. So I uh open the public hearing and we're taking it to just bringing it up to Yeah. So the applicant has requested let's postponing this decision with for the reasoning and the accompanying annexation until the next meeting which would be March March 16th. Okay. require us to pass that? No, because we opened it here and we'll continue the decision until the next meeting. But I do think that there needs to be a vote to approve doing so. So, do I have a motion to allow this to be delayed until the next meeting? Motion approved.

Motion. We have a first and second. Any discussion? Yeah. Why Why do they want to do this? They they well I'm assuming they couldn't be here and therefore if there's any changes to the conditions they could not be here to approve or agree to this is the conditions that we talked about Thursday. Okay. So do I have a second? I have a second motion and a second. Any more discussion? All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Great. Thank you Mary. It um carries unanimously. And then how do we do that for the annexation as well? Do the same thing. Okay.

Yeah. Do the so same process. I'm going to close this public hearing. All right. So the So we need to go back through that same process again.

Okay. So the um item 12 would be conduct a public hearing to consider approving the first reading of the petition of annexation for AX26 tax-01 Chapel Road. I will open the public hearing. We have uh do I have a motion to postpone this uh action until the next meeting? Move to postpone this until the 16 March meeting. Second. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any more discussion? All in favor say I. I.

Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. I call us out of public hearing. All right. Ron is going to um consider we're going to consider approving the affordable housing fund and policy. U Mr. Smith.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um I'm going to start my presentation by just saying uh that the strategic plan nexus u for this affordable housing fund and policy uh falls under the connecting our communities um uh component uh which is to promote the development of a range of housing types throughout our community and housing stability for residents. So I just wanted to say that out front. So, you all have uh heard some about the affordable housing fund. Uh those that have been on council um prior to the most recent election have heard it since about June of last year. So, this is something that's been talked about quite a bit and has evolved over time uh into what you're seeing tonight. So, what what the affordable housing fund is is it's basically a special revenue fund established by the city council that would be used to um match home funds. Um when we when we get back into that program, the money that would populate or or add to this fund is would be from primarily the sale of city property. Every time uh a a city property, other than some that are protected out at the airport or if it has some other designated use, every time a sale is made, that would then come to the city council for you to decide. Do you want to put all of the amount into uh the fund or do you want to put part of the amount or none? It just depends on, you know, what what the needs are at the time.

[clears throat]

The way that I kind of see this uh rolling out is that right now our grants manager is dealing with property issues for the city. Uh so as I as you know as of now I think he would be the one doing the primary administration of the program. Uh, I don't see a lot of work go having to go into this because we really don't have a whole lot of property to sell to be honest with you. When we're dealing with the home funds and the administration of that of that program, that is that's kind of up in the air at this point. We had previously used the Statesville Housing Authority. We may be making a change sometime in the next I would say couple of months at the latest and anyone that we use is going to have a more we're going to have a a seat at the table in the administration of those funds and that's going to be primarily finance and planning. Finance would be looking at the oversight from the from the monetary perspective while planning is going to be looking at, you know, how can they help to put projects in the pipeline and help that administrator actually come up with what they're going to be spending those funds on. So again, I mentioned that this would be uh you all would have the ability to um hear every property sale, decide how it's going to be applied and and whether or not you're going to use all of it. So case-byase basis and the fund will build over time so that it's going to roll over each year. It's not something that you have to start from scratch each budget year. So the benefits of doing this um it establishes a fund that's solely dedicated to affordable and attainable housing. It gets back to the to the um to the nexus back to the strategic plan. home funds match um would not come directly from the general fund at that point. It's not a lot of money that we we end up having to apply. It's 25% of

somewhere between $125 and $150,000 per year, but generally we have to go back to the general fund to find that money to match the home funds. This could as properties are sold add to this fund that would then allow you to apply to that match. By by selling these properties, it we reduce city maintenance and liability on those properties. We've been trying to get properties out of our uh portfolio, so to speak, uh and return those non-producing lands to the tax roles. So, if you approve this fund, uh the next steps we'll be bringing a new home funds proposal to you as I mentioned sometime I'm I'm going to give myself a little bit more time sometime within the next couple of months and um we only have one property that I'm aware of that somebody is is interested in. this actually would be a relatively um you know higher on the higher end of the value of properties that we have. So the decision you would have a decision to make if the if the fund is put in place and if this property uh is brought before you. So I'd be glad to answer any questions that you have. Um this is again something that we've been talking about quite quite a long time. Um and hopefully if I can't answer it I can get you that answer moving forward.

Any questions for Mr. Smith. M M Mr. Mayor. Yes. I I I have a few questions. Uh Ron, and sorry to put you on the spot,

but just just zooming out and looking at the big picture, just thinking about this policy, uh it just got me thinking, what what is the city's goal for affordable housing? That's very big picture. Um at this point, we've been I don't know that we have a big picture goal. there might be individual goals that that folks on on council have. Um, we've we've been trying to crack the affordability code such that we can in small bite-sized pieces. And this is kind of how I look at this. The home funds, other than the Idol housing fund, home funds are probably our biggest pro our biggest program that we contribute to as a city. Um, but it's still only about hundred, let's just say $150,000 a year. It's not it's not a big um it's it's not changing the world by any means.

And do we have any idea about how many affordable housing units we have now and how many more that we need?

Well, I let me interrupt. So, I think what you're the city is not looking to get into affordable housing business. We just want to kind of when we have to do that 25% match for the home funds, we don't want to go into the general fund. So that's what Yeah, that's what we're doing with these with when we do the affordable this affordable attainable the home when we're doing this. This is what's going to take care of that. That that takes us out of getting into that era of trying to find attainable housing. We and do all that kind of stuff. we're going to let other agencies and we're just going to provide them with a 25% match.

One one of the major issues, this is something that we've been working on for probably about two years and we didn't have a policy in place. We wanted to have a policy in place that created a procedure that would allow us to do a match and we had none. And that's why we had tasked the staff to develop a policy that gave the council flexibility that when we did sell a piece of property, we could make a decision on where the proceeds of those funds would go. We would have a policy in place that provided us some guidelines. But yet, it did not tie any council's hands in how properties were sold or how we funded this fund. It was just a policy, a structure, and that's all that we're really have in front of us is a structure. It doesn't bind us to anything. It just has a policy in place, and it allows us the ability to fund this fund, the home funds for future matches,

and also give us the opportunity to have a part in the decision making in some areas where we didn't have that line of communication. So this policy right here is just a door open to bring in something that is much needed to our city for uh the greater good of the people and people may be able to benefit from this uh process. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. All right. Uh la last year the city sent on an RFP for homefunded affordable housing projects. It's about $1.3 million. Can you tell us what happened with that RFP or or did anything happen with it?

Yeah, we we did send it out. We actually sent it out twice and we now have one proposal in hand. So that is something that's going to be coming to you all um again hopefully within the next couple of months. There previously the housing authority was our administrator on home funds and that 1.3 um or some some amount in that number that's where that came from. So that the 1.3 is previous home funds that have not yet been spent down. U that's okay because there are there's eight years in which to do it. But there was a there was a push last year by the city council to speed that up so to speak. So that's what really got us going on the on the RFP. Um the one or the one proposal that we have seems very much viable. uh but we are working through some issues with the housing authority uh to get us to the point where you can re review it.

Thank you. And one of the concerns I have with the policy is just like the the long-term viability. So how do we en ensure that uh the fund remains sustainable over time if if land sales decrease or if they stop altogether? I don't see a I don't see a reason that if you if the count if the council chose to put more money into the fund then you can do that or uh so so if you've spent it down and you know you have a trunch of home funds coming up you can either replenish the the home the the the affordable housing policy or you can cut you can you can take from the general fund anytime you want. So, if the match money is not there for home funds, then you can pull from the general fund if you if you if you choose to do so.

My last question, I'm I'm sorry, Mr. Mayor, but thank thank you for uh indulging me here. Uh just how do we measure the effectiveness of the fund? That's why my first question was just about our goals. That that should be the first thing that we do is establish a clear goal. As we have this many affordable housing units, the city wants to see 100 affordable housing units each year for the next 5 years. goals are specific and measurable. Uh but how do we measure the effectiveness of the fund each year that we go through this process?

Well, a lot of the when we receive federal money, and granted, we're doing a match. This thing's all about a match. When we're receiving federal money, they come with very strict guidelines and how the money is used. The the goals are already set and and given to us by the federal government. [clears throat] The the whole thing about us having a policy is we had no policy. We had none. No. I understand. I understand. And and so I think initially the goal was to have a policy a procedure in place that provided structure in how we would fund this match.

No, I I I understand and and thank you for that and that affordable housing is something that's very important to me. In fact, it's a passion of mine and so I appreciate the council developing this policy. But you know, Mr. Mayor, when we were in Asheville for our school of government training, we learned that we have a fiduciary responsibility to the citizens that we serve. It's not clear to me that we have a coherent affordable housing goal or that we're following our housing initiatives in our land development plan. We don't know how many affordable housing units we have. We don't know how many more we need. We don't have any assurance of the long-term viability of this policy. We don't have any specific performance metrics to evaluate the success of the fund. Um so so Mr. Mayor, I I I just cannot in good conscience support this plan uh or this policy. What what I do support is looking at our existing framework, our existing policy as it relates to housing and housing affordability.

We don't have a policy working. We have policy in the land development plan. We have policy in our strategic plan. And so I I do favor looking at that policy, working on it, uh bolstering it, and making it uh work for our citizens that that need affordable housing. So thank you all. I can understand that. The obviously the council is extremely aware of the housing issues in this community and each person here has expressed those those desires to do that. Staff is doing an amazing job. the you know Ron and I went to the what's the name of the organiz the United Ways group

the we build Concord right but it's it's we have analousing

the Iredale housing fund I mean it exists today and so um we are participating in those things our staff uh our new staff specifically uh is very strong in the providing attainable housing workforce housing So you're right, we don't have we may not have a policy. This is a start in that direction. This is a very small piece of that. Um and I think we you know it's probably good to go ahead and proceed with with this opportunity. I certainly understand your um your input and your opinion.

Mr. Mayor, I move that we uh approve the affordable housing fund and policy recommendations. Second. Okay. Any more discussion?

I'd like to say just for a moment, I know it's coming in. We have a lot of questions and that and that's and that is expected. But when you look at for those that's been here, this home fund that was brought up was a eye opener for us. We learned things that we didn't know and that's why we put things in place so that we can move forward so we can be able to do the things that is right to do because at one point we depend on an agency that we thought was going to do the amount of houses they had said and they was going to do this and do that and it didn't happen. We're not going back on that. We're moving forward. So questions that that that we learn, we have to look at our city and see where we are and what we're doing to move forward. And the home fund now is going to give us that gateway to be able to work with other agencies that we didn't have before and be able to have a more of a positive structure as time goes on. So I understand, you know, and I I understand where you're coming from, but please understand what we're coming from and what we're trying to do. And so we moving that table a little bit down the line to do better than what we have done in the past.

Thank you. Thank you. Any more discussion, comments? Okay, we have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. Any opposed? I Okay. Um motion passes 7 to one. [snorts] Um is there any other business? There's no advisory board meeting minutes. I don't believe any other business. Do I hear a motion to adjurnn? So move. Do I have a second? All in favor say I.