City Council - Regular Meeting

They're back on the back rope. Thank you and welcome to each one of you as well. We also welcome any members of the press that might be present and uh anyone joining us live on social media or on our website. We're now down to item number two, additions or deletions to our agenda. Mr. City Manager.

Good evening, Mayor, Council. Uh, I am requesting that council add two close sessions this evening under item seven. We currently have a personnel close session. I'm requesting a uh real estate close session and an attorney client privilege close session. Those are my only additions or deletions. Okay. Thank you very much. What's the pleasure of councel? Mr. Mayor, I'll make a motion to approve the agenda as amended by our city manager. Second.

Okay. Is there any discussion? Okay. You may record your vote. Have 70. Unanimously the agenda has been approved. We're down to public forum. Before I do that, I want to recognize another person that just came in uh representing the chamber. I'm sure it's Amy Boozer. Glad to have you with us here this evening. So, we're now down to public forum. We've had two people to sign up this evening. Uh the first is Crystal Prince. And uh if you would come to the podium please and state your name and your subject for the clerk. Right to the podium.

My name is Crystal Prince and I'm here speaking in reference to the homeless situation here in Thomasville. I heard on the news this evening that there was going to be a meeting tonight in reference to giving the ones that have cars permission to park. My question is, what's going to be done about the ones that don't have cars? We f to get in some of the coldest weather this weekend. I would hate to turn on the news Saturday morning and hear about bodies, kids that have been unhoused and have frozen to death. My next question is why has Thomasville not looked into the ESG grant funding from the state of North Carolina which will allow homeless a homeless coordinator to be put in place with the city of Thomasville. This situation has went on for too long and I'm tired of hearing about broken promises. Something needs to be done. These are human lives that are at stake. Every night I pray hard, especially with the cold weather coming. So, I don't really see how anyone of you can really go home and sleep. I'm up between 4 and 5:00 each morning praying. There's a lot of times where I'm outside praying with only a robe [clears throat] because I want to feel what I'm praying for. So if I'm praying for someone that's out in a cold

in 17 20 degree weather, I need to feel that so God can be able to to understand to feel the connection. It's time that Thomasville step up and do something. I mean now, not a year from now, not months from now. Something really needs to be done. And especially before this cold weather comes in, someone needs to be able to say, "Look, we have a heart to come up and open up a warming center. At least let these people be able to come in off the streets. No one is going to be able to walk out here in this snow. Come on, have a heart. That's all I'm asking. Have a heart. Please think about this tonight. Everyone is homeless does not have a car. They need more than a car. and they need resources. If there was a homeless coordinator put in place, this would be able to help the citizens of of Thomasville that are unhoused. They will have the resources. Case management, come on. It's no one money that's coming out your own personal pockets. I'm just asking you to use the resources that's out there that's available to help this community.

Thank you. That's all. Have a good night. We do we do have two in town that are warming places for the homeless at this time. So, and how often are they going to be open? They will be. Okay. Thank you. The next is Janice Hurley. Please state your name and

Good evening. And I'm Janice Hurley from Davidson Medical Ministries DC Connect. And I'm here tonight to talk about our point in time count. And that is the counting of our unhoused friends and neighbors. And um that happens for one single night all across the nation. And it's how we get access to potentially more funds to house our friends and neighbors. And that count happens from next Wednesday to the following Wednesday. And so people from the agency that I have the privilege of leading and many volunteers throughout Davidson County are going to be out counting people who do not have homes and connecting them to the vital resources that they need in our community. DC Connect partners with over 60 partners to help people have access to quality resources that they need to have a life filled with hope and to move from crisis to sustainability. And so it's a great opportunity to be a part of that. And um it's really I mean a beautiful thing. HUD helps to bring in more dollars into our communities. And we've done a really poor job in the last 10 years. Last year we did a better job. We're hoping to do an even better job this year. And so um we have flyers throughout your community saying, "Hey, these are the meals that we're offering." and they're in addition, some of them, to the meals that are already offered in our community to bring people out. And then there's just signs that are posted as well, and I've posted them all on um utility polls saying, "Hey, we're going to be out in your neighborhood walking around and looking for our friends and neighbors who need assistance." And so, it's a great opportunity. And if you have time to volunteer, I have an amazing staff who'd love to train you on how to fill out this sheet so you can help us count our unhoused neighbors. So if you have any questions, you can reach out to our office or I'll be here for a little bit. Thank you.

We're now down to the consent agenda and Thank you. Your consent agenda tonight will be the following items. This is a single vote that you will take to approve all of the items. Your consent agenda consists of a consideration of minutes of the organizational meeting of December 1st, 2025. Item B, consideration minutes of the briefing meeting on December 8th, 2025. Item C, consideration of minutes of the council meeting on December 13, 2025. It also includes a budget amendment. The amendment appropriates $244,7 $244,73 for the street paving reserve and $500,000 from the Pel reserve for the fiscal year 2026 city street resurfacing project. [clears throat] It also has appropriations of $55,000 of grant funding for the National League of Cities for the second phase of the Southern Cities Economic Inclusion Initiative grant and a $55,000 local match for that from contingency that is included in the administration department. The grant program supports minority women and veteranowned businesses in the community. With this appropriation, the general fund contingency balance is at $263,485. Item E is consideration of amendment to no parking ordinance. It adds portions of East Sunrise Avenue to the uh to our no parking ordinance. This was a request

from the community uh on East Sunrise Avenue and this will include uh the addition of East Sunrise Avenue. Uh this was modified from last month at the neighbors requ neighborhood's request. And item F is consideration of of the APAC Thompson Arthur contract for paving the public works uh parking lot. That is your consent agenda this evening.

Thank you very much. Having heard the consent agenda, what's the pleasure of council? I'll move that we approve the consent agenda as presented by our city manager. Second. Okay, we have a motion second. Any discussion? You may record your vote. [snorts] Have 70. So, the consent agenda has been approved unanimously. Now down to our regular agenda. Item A is consideration of Apac Thompson Arthur contract, city of Thomasville Street resurfacing contract. Mr. City Manager,

since we've just voted on budget amendment that allows us to put money in place, we are now requesting consideration of the APAC Thompson Arthur contract for city of Thomasville street resurfacing, which will resurface approximately 5 and a half miles of streets this spring. Okay. What's the pleasure of councel? Mr. Mayor, I make a motion that we approve the ape Thompson author contract for the street paving and Thomasville. Second.

Okay. We've got a motion to second. Any discussion? You may record your vote. Got a unanimous vote on that as well. 70. Thank you very much. Item B, consideration of the contract with the National League of Cities Institute for the $55,000 Southern [clears throat] Cities Economic Initiative Grant. Mr. City Manager.

All right. Well, again, as part of that budget amendment, we put in place the funds necessary to enact this this agreement uh with the National League of Cities. This is to uh fund a uh support a two-year small business incubation in micro capital initiative designed to expand inclusive entrepreneurship in Thomasville. The project will deliver uh four cohorts of training uh to in individuals within the community that are interested in entrepreneurial uh activities. This could be for existing businesses, new businesses. uh either uh group is uh welcome to join. Uh it also establishes a uh agreements with other organizations, the Chamber of Commerce uh and uh DDCC and other uh for economic development. Uh, and we'll also include microrants that could include rent assistance uh to uh help these new businesses get their start or continue their their activities within the city of Thomasville.

Okay. I defer to council for action on this item. Mr. Mr. Mayor, I'll make a motion for the consideration of the contract of the National League of Cities Institution for the $55,000 Southern Cities Economic Grant. Is there a second? Second. Okay, we have a motion, a second now. Any discussion? Michael, how should people who are interested in participating in this program get more information?

Uh, we have information on our website. We have information in Facebook. Our uh EMO coordinator, our economic mobility coordinator is also managing this program that is Atalia Cardinius. Uh and she can be reached at city hall and uh we have information uh in various forms and we're we've already held one of the meetings uh with anticipation of the of the council approving this uh with our Hispanic community trying to reach all in the community. [snorts] Any further discussion or questions?

You may record your vote. I have 70. So, that has been approved unanimously. We're down to item C, consideration of ordinance amendment establishing a safe parking program for vehicular homelessness. Mr. City Manager.

Right. I'm going to try to go with probably a little bit more detail on this because I know this has been a moving uh and quick target. Uh this program was recommended to us by one of our local uh nonprofits that provided emergency shelter, the Father Storehouse. Um a few months ago, approximately six, eight months ago, we established a a new camping ordinance. And in the pro process of that camping ordinance, it put time frames on when and where someone could camp, both on city property, which basically is never unless it's a program that we're running, um, and on private property. And it limited uh, private property camping to 48 hours without approval of a special event permit uh, issued by the city manager's office. Uh it was anticipated that that would be for a special event like a boy scout jamboree or or some type of activity of that sort. Um however it it was requested that uh that may not be serving the needs of everyone that was in our community including the homeless population. Um the father storehouse already had an emergency shelter but they were allowing individuals to camp in cars at their site. Well, in the ordinance of on camping, it specifically forbids camping in cars um or vehicles uh whether they run or not. Uh so when that was brought to our attention, uh city staff reviewed our ordinance. We reviewed other uh ordinances that were in existence. Uh we talked with the city of Greensboro because we understood that they had some sort of safe parking uh ordinance in place. It's not exactly what they do. They do have a site that they allow safe parking on city property. Um, but what we felt was that

if there was going to be an allowance for this type of activity, there had to be some ground rules for how it would take place. So, working with uh our community development staff, uh our city uh attorney, city clerk, and uh city administration, and our police department, we developed uh this amendment to our ordinance. What is it establishes is essentially an exception to the camping uh portion of our ordinance. It establishes what a safe parking site is, what who a participant is in it, the host organization, the program administrator, etc. Um the the city hereby establishes a safe parking program to allow eligible individuals to park and sleep in their vehicles overnight at designated safe parking sites. A host organization that does this uh must be located on private property with host organization consent. provide access to restroom facilities, whether they're permanent or or portable, uh, and trash disposal and adequate lighting and security. A host organization can only be a nonprofit or religious institution operating the safe parking site. uh they can have no more than 20 spaces utilized for safe parking and they have to comply with any applicable zoning, health or safety regulations beyond what this ordinance establishes. Uh we do request that the host organization register with the city of Thomasville uh and their planning and community development department. There's no fee for the registration. It's just so that we know that there's one active and we can let our police department be aware of of that activity. Um, in order to participate, an individual must have must register with the host organization, provide vehicle registration and proof of operability to the host organization. So, in other

words, no broken down vehicles, um, and agree to abide by whatever site rules and code of conduct the host organization establishes. We're not going to establish uh ground rules beyond what is in the ordinance um to to protect individuals. the uh uh it's up to the host organization to do that. Um there are priorities of families with children, seniors, and veterans. Um we discussed that last week whether that was necessary in there. We don't necessarily need to have that in there, but it just establishes that who we're trying to look out for most. Um, and then for operational guidelines, overnight parking hours shall be from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. There's no loitering outside of vehicles. There's no open flames, cooking, or alcohol consumption. There are no illegal activities are allowed on the site. Noise must be kept to a minimum. Pets must be controlled and vaccinated. Host organizations must have signed a no tring trespassing agreement with the Thomasville Police Department and the host organization will not charge the participant for use of the parking area or services provided enforcement and termination. The law law enforcement may intervene when necessary for safety or legal violations and the host organizations may request removal of participants for any reason by the Thomas Police Department. Hence [clears throat] the reason for the agreement uh the no trespassing agreement liability the host organization shall rem maintain liability insurance and we uh establish a sunset of two years for review of this of this ordinance amendment to determine how well it's been managed and of course council at any time can change the rules or uh do away with the program as as appropriate.

Okay. Thank you very much. Uh what's the pleasure of council? Mayor, I make a motion that we approve the consideration of ordinance uh amendment establishing a safe parking program for vehicular homelessness. Is there a second? Okay. And now is there any discussion or questions?

Uh yes, sir. Mayor, so definitely appreciate uh the insight from Michael. um about kind of giving us a little bit of background to understanding how we came to this point. Uh local organization did come to us about about it. I'm very grateful for the father storehouse and unity's uh men's shelter for the work they are doing in our community. Um cuz for a long time we didn't have a warming shelter here in Thomasville, but this year um we do. And so at uh Unity, which is at 608 National Highway, and then at 609 National Highway, which is the father storehouse, we have a women and children's homeless shelter. And so one of the biggest ways as a community what we can do at this time as we know that times are uh going to get cold this uh uh weekend is definitely step up and make sure uh that we are volunteering. Uh you Miss Lisa Johnston down there at uh Unity Men's Shelter has asked for volunteers. I know I'll be helping over the weekend at uh Father Sorehouse. And so if you have some time over the weekend that is the best way as a community we can do our part to make sure that the people in our community um have that dignity. And we know this is not an end- all beall solution for this. Um, but this has given the people that are in our community that we don't know already are staying in their cars the ability to be able to have a safe place to be able to do that. And so I just wanted to make that clear statement.

Anyone else?

Yeah, I want to add this ordinance is for vehicular homelessness. Homelessness is a manyheaded beast. There's nowhere in America and probably the world, the developed world, that has figured out this problem because it is so complicated and it has so many causes. I will say that there was a study in October from the USC School of Social Work that found that giving people money who are experiencing homelessness pretty much ends homelessness. But I don't think that that's something that we're ready to advocate for here. So, it's a problem that we cannot solve with one ordinance, with one simple solution. But like Jquest said, one of our organizations here in town that is already trying to do something about this came to us with this idea. So, these are the boots on the ground people who are already trying to help with this issue. And um I'm grateful that we're taking this tech and you guys for all this research and we need more ideas. So, if you have them, bring them to us. And if you know of an area where there are unhoused people, please let Janice know because that pick count what? [laughter]

Because that pick count is super important because it determines their funding. Thank you. Okay. Anyone else? I just would like to say I want to thank

I just want to thank everybody tonight and you know about the homeless situation but one of the things that we got to understand about Thomasville we we coming a long way and we are trying you know Miss Brenda can't do it all at the father storehouse so in the future you know maybe can open up some other places that we can do other warming centers and different things like that because it is needed but we are doing something about it. So, I thank God for that. Thank you. Anyone else?

Okay. The vote is to approve this item C. So, you may record your vote. And we have 70. So, that has been approved. We're down now down to item six, committee reports and appointments. And we'll start this evening with Mayor Pro Tim Jockz Johnson.

Thank you so much, Mayor. I have not submitted a copy of my activities. It has been in a very very eventful month. Um and very grateful to be able to um have served in the role of Mayor Proim this month and uh was able to as many of you all know uh been able to welcome the Walk for Peace here in Thomasville. Uh I wanted to definitely take this moment because oftent times we we talk about our employees and we talk about the hard work that they do. Um, but for myself in this opportunity, I really got to sit in the room and to see some of the most hardworking individuals I have ever seen. And so I wanted definitely not to forget anybody. I know um we can get on a long thing with uh forgetting people, but I wanted to give these folks their flowers because oftent times you see what happens on the big bigger picture. Um but you don't see the people that are really doing that behind thescenes work 24/7. And so I really want to give them that that credit for today. and uh he's not here because he's sick. And if you weren't there on the weekend, you know how cold it was. Um but our deputy city manager uh Eddie Bowling who really headed up this uh uh this this endeavor to really make sure that this was an amazing event for our community. And so I wanted to to be definitely give him his credit to our police and fire, Chief Myers, Chief Carter, uh to Sam as our emergency management uh coordinator. uh those three individuals really made sure uh along with our sheriffs um not only that they had the uh the protection but also the escorts and so I I see some representation from our police department. So definitely thank you all. I know we had 100% of our police department out and activated and so I thank all of you all for just the level of professionalism that you all carry not only that night but every night in the city and I really do appreciate that. Um also to our Grace Lutheran Church for hosting it. Uh, Reverend Jenna, uh, it was great to be able to meet her. Um, but she really opened up her doors to not just that congregation, um, but also to the resources to make sure that the monks were able to, uh, have a really good place to be able to

stay here in the city of Thomasville. And I definitely can't forget our tourism director, Miss uh Cameron Madison, um who definitely helped um make sure that we are understanding the uh not only the importance of marketing events in our city, but we are making sure that information is distributed in our community in a in a in a very uh concrete kind of way. And so I definitely wanted to highlight that as well as the uh MLK ortorial contest uh also happened over the weekend uh where I had the opportunity to present the proclamation with Councilwoman Dana Lomba and Councilwoman Erica Saunders. And if you all have not attended the MLK ortorial contest or any of the week-long events, I'm telling you, you are in for a treat. We have some of the most talented high school juniors and seniors and we add an addition to our third grade superstars. And y'all, let me tell y'all, hearing those third graders speak, it was something as an educator truly warmed my heart because I'm telling you, getting high schoolers to be able to do some public speaking is not easy. So, doing it now is something that's going to make it way easier for them in the in the end when they get to the high school. So, I was very grateful for that. Very excited to be able to honor our community service awards recipients. And our youngest recipient, our woman uh is up here on the city council, Pton Williams, was honored this year, as well as Mr. Robert Gilmore. So, [applause] knows a whole lot for my committee reports, but I would definitely get that for uh Wendy and I appreciate it.

Thank you very much. Uh, Council Member Dana Pala. Um, my report has been submitted and I wanted to say I am so thankful and grateful to be involved with the Monk the Peace Walk. our town did amazing. So, thank you to the police and fire. Okay. Thank you very much, Council Member Doug Hunt.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, just a couple points. Um, it's going to get bitterly cold this weekend. I know we talked about homelessness. Let's not forget about our pets. Don't leave them outside. Make sure they have fresh water, some some bedding. You know, if they're going to be out there, try to be nice to them. Also think about our city employees that are out there picking up the garbage, cleaning the roads, and everything else. Uh it's going to be bitterly cold. So, let's all be safe and enjoy ourselves in the snow. But, uh the biggest thing is be safe. And I have submitted a copy of my activities, and I'll let that stand as my report. Thank you very much, Council Member Hunter Threat.

Thank you, [clears throat] Mayor. Uh I have submitted a copy of my activities to the clerk, and I I think everything's been covered, so I'll let that stand as my report. Thank you, Council Member Peyton Williams. I have also submitted a copy of my activities and I got the opportunity, there were really like three edifying experiences um in the last week. Y'all talked about two of them, the monk walk and then the MLK oral contest. That was incredible. But also today, I got the opportunity to tour our water treatment plant and our other what is it? Waste treatment.

Waste treatment plant. Both of those I didn't learn much obviously. No, I'm just kidding. They were great. It was awesome. And it's so cool to know that there are these um experts in their field doing chemistry and keeping our water safe and working so hard in a completely unrecognized role. So um like you guys said, we just have the best people who work for this city and I'm so thankful for them and for the opportunity even now I've been up here for four years, but to to meet more folks that I've never met before and see them in action. So, I will let that stand as my report. Thank you very much, Council Member Lisa Shell.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I have submitted I was actually the first to submit my report this month because I'm always late. Um, this weekend was very humbling with the Monkwalk, Martin Luther King touring our buildings last week. You know, our city worked hard. They all come together. Eddie Bowlolan, our deputy city manager, police department, fire department, sanitation department, everything. But I want to thank Michael for cancelling his vacation and coming back early. Thank you, Michael. Eddie had it under control, but thank you anyway for coming back. Thanks to the city council, Dana Lomba, [snorts] Jacquz Johnson, Hunter Thrift, Payton Williams for being there. Erica was sick, couldn't be there. It was very, they were very nice, but it was just really nice to see our city, our employees working together as a team. As I will always say, there is not an I in team. It takes everybody. and I will let that stand as my report.

Okay. Thank you very much, Council Member Erica Sanders.

Okay. Well, I had some issues with um giving Miss Wendy my report, but on tonight, I want to say um at the end of um 2025, December 19th, I went to the employee social at the Methodist church and also in 2025 um the Christmas at the big cheer. Also, um 2026, um January 6 council briefing meeting. Um also 2026 January the 6 school board meeting. Went to a schoolboard meeting. And then January the 15th, I went to a beautifification committee meeting for my first time. And also that same day, January the 15, I took a tour with um with um Mike and um

Lisa Lisa and all the council members that and Thrift Hunter Thrift and

and we just had and Eddie and we had a wonderful time touring around um Thomasville. I love when we went to the fire station. I love um going into the water plant. I just just think it's very special. um when you go around and you see all the things that everybody um does and it's so important, but when you just not involved, you don't know what it takes to run a city. So, you have to involve yourself even as a um a person that um just live here. You have to get involved with what's going on so you can really really understand that these people work hard in this city. Amen. everybody, the police department, the fire um station people, everybody just work hard. And that's my report. Oh, I also went to the MLK um at the Freedom Concert Revival on Friday night. Then also the ortorial contest community awards January the 17th. And I enjoyed my whole weekend until I got sick. [laughter] So, thank you very much. That's my report for tonight.

Okay. Thank you very much. Uh I'm going to back up and pick up some things from December. They pretty much everything else has been covered, I believe. But we did have several events toward the end of of December with different groups. And it's always a pleasure during Christmas time to to meet with these uh folks. We had the city schools open house, the city seniors group lunchon, uh we had the beautifification Christmas breakfast, uh Thomasville housing authority open house, and we had our city Christmas lunchon and awards banquet back before Christmas. Uh had the pleasure and the honor today to swear in a new police officer. So, we're, you know, we've been talking about our police department, how good uh good it is, and and they do a great job. And so, uh it was my pleasure to swear in a new officer. So, hopefully he'll have a long career here in Thomasville with us.

Okay, let's go now to our city manager, Michael Brandt.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh you all have already stated many things about the peace walk. Uh that was an amazing event. Uh from a perspective of the inside view uh yes I was out of town Friday through Sunday morning. My wife was like if you don't come home you're going to miss this. And she so she made me uh made the decision for me that we came home. Um I did not I had no doubt that our police and everyone else would handle the event. I I have full faith in Eddie. That's what his background is. Um and I appreciate the work that he was doing. What is truly amazing and what maybe people don't understand is this started on Tuesday when we got a phone call from an organizer asking us to help them. Um so we planned all of this in in days and we did not know the routes of everything that was going on until the morning of the event. Um, so there was an amazing amount of coordination and this is this is not the best way to describe this, but in many ways this was like a slowm moving tornado. Um, we knew generally where it was going. We knew it was coming. We knew that it was going to affect a small portion of the city greatly as it moved through. Um, but we didn't know where exactly it was going to end and we didn't know what was going to be the results because we had to both prepare for the the monks themselves and their walking. We also then realized as time went on that more and more people were coming to this event. We've estimated somewhere between 7 to 10,000 people were in Thomasville that day. That's that's an everybody's day event population and it takes them six to nine months to plan that event. We did it in three, four days. Um, so there was a tremendous amount of coordination and

that coordination went to the county, to the sheriff's department, the the population of volunteers that came out. I was talking to some of the nurses, some of the doctors, they didn't know they were coming until that day where they got a phone call and said, "Hey, can you come help with the with this uh event?" So, and the turnout of all the people that came to support the church and support the the the monks themselves that we weren't related, you know, we had no connection directly to them. Uh, but it was really incredible to see and and for those that were able to participate, it was very moving. It's on video. Wendy did a great job capturing it uh with various video uh that's on our Facebook page. We're going to try getting some of the drone footage up on our website so or Facebook so that you can see just how many people were out there. Um, but it was really an amazing thing to watch our staff who who always perform so well together. Um, you know, there was a moment in time where we needed to get cardboard. It was we had to switch out actually that this picture that's on on your screen, the person in yellow is talking to a volunteer telling us that we had to get the blankets picked up and get cardboard down. And I still don't know completely why we had to do that, but we did. Um, so we did and in 15 minutes we had located cardboard in the city. I had not only the sanitation department bring us cardboard, but the police and fire departments went into their garbage and pulled cardboard out. So, we were able to replace all the cardboard, you know, very quickly. Uh, and you know, that was the type of day it was was that whatever the need was, our staff was there to answer the call for that for the what they requested. Um and and that is um we were told that we had given them more support than they had experienced anywhere else on their on their walk. And that's a testament to Thomasville,

to the people of Thomasville, and to the people who work for the city of Thomasville. They gave up a three-day weekend um you know, holiday to to do that effort. Um I know everyone slept pretty well on Monday morning uh when the time came. So, um I I will the only other thing is it doesn't end because now we got a storm coming. Um and if you know it's one of those cases where they're telling us it could be up to 20 inches of snow, which means we're going to not get any snow at all. But we're preparing. Um we will be prepared and I will we do need to discuss uh uh the retreat. I didn't ask for that to be added, but that's something that we need to talk about because we're supposed to have our retreat this weekend uh for for budget. So, I think we need to consider doing that. So, maybe after our close session, we can have a brief conversation about that under other business.

Uh other than that, if you uh be please prepare, get your milk, get your bread, get your [clears throat] cookies. Um, and unfortunately, uh, it's going to be very cold. So, please watch your water, make sure your pipes don't freeze. You may have to run, you know, open your cabinets, let the let the warm air get into your cabinets, uh, if you got pipes on the outside of your of your house or or building. Um, it's going to be cold for the next week at starting Friday night into Saturday. Uh, and they're even calling for snow the following weekend. Uh, so we haven't had this type of snap in quite a while, seven years.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Uh, our city attorney, Misty Whitman.

Thank you. Um, Michael, to answer your question about the monks, um, typically monks will sleep on something in a pilgrimage or journey that is symbolic to a self um, inflicted povert state. so that they are being mindful and choosing to participate in suffering of those around them. So that's why they typically do that. Um it's not required, but they're very serious about this journey. So it's amazing that the city was able to come up with that that quickly. That's impressive. Um the only thing that I wanted to add this evening is um with this potential weather, we may not have any weather. We we don't know. Uh North Carolina weather, we have to love it. But um Mills on Wheels. So Mills on Wheels is completely staffed by volunteers. And so if we do have bad weather, our volunteers cannot get out to deliver the mills, nor can they get into the houses. We have a few that will run with four-wheel drive trucks and folks that will come out in big rugged boots to deliver. But please be mindful of your neighbors, especially your neighbors who are shutins who do receive mills on wheels. And just understand that they may not have those services if we have bad weather. So, please check on them and please offer them a meal if you have extra and try to help them out and ask folks in your church to do the same. Just be extra mindful of those folks. We'll be watching it, but you know, typically if the weather's bad, we just can't deliver. So, please be mindful of that. That's the only thing I have to add.

Okay. Thank you very much. Uh, I'm going to go back to Mayor Pro Tim just for another.

Thank you so much, Mayor. I knew I was going to get in trouble with naming names, but I knew it was important to do it. Um Darl with our public works department, Michael hit on it. Um but Daryl really went out the way and I really wanted to make sure I didn't forget anybody. Um because each sing individual person as well as our amazing parks and recck director, Corey Tobin, I'm telling you, he does a little bit of everything, but he was out there as well. As well as she her name was mentioned, Miss Wendy Martin. Every individual person that worked in our community had and played an extremely important role. and I really wanted to make sure I gave you all your flowers because not only was it cold, um, but you all took a lot of your own personal time, own personal money, and invested in this event. So, I appreciate it and I know that the city appreciated it as well. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. And, uh, of course, Corey's filling in for Eddie tonight and he's Cory, you've done a great job. He had to run the the voting and it's a kind of a technical thing, but he's done great. So, let's we're going to do it one more time. We're now down to item se seven, close session for personnel, real estate, and attorney client. And I need a motion to go into close session. Mr. Mayor, I'll make a motion to go into close session for personnel, real estate, and attorney client. Second. Any discussion? Okay, you may record your vote. And we have 70. So we'll now be