Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

All right. All right. All right. Welcome everybody. Good evening and happy Tuesday. Welcome to the Waxaw Town Board of Commissioners this March 10th, 2026. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence to give thanks and praise. [snorts]

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. All righty. Thank you very much, everybody. Uh, let's see here. Tonight's agenda. I saw some emails going around about some minor adjustments to this evening's agenda. Uh, does anybody know what those adjustments are at this point? Um, that was Barbie. Where'd Barbie go? Uh, let's see here.

Number six, the street dedication. Yeah, number six. Number six. So, item six in the consent agenda is being removed. Are there any other adjustments or amendments to tonight's agenda? Uh, yes. I would like to add an item to new business regarding the safety of the wax or water supply. New business. There's nothing there. We will add an item one. Safety of Waxaw Water Supply.

Barbie's not here. Barbie's not here yet. Uh, which item was that? Uh, Richard, we're adding a K1 new business. Item one, safety of waxall water supply. Any other adjustments or amendments? Hearing none, then could I get a motion to approve tonight's amended agenda? So moved. All in favor? Any opposed?

Hearing none, this motion carries. Uh, next up we have public comments. These are general public comments. Again, we ask that general public comments be made general in nature, directed to the board as a whole and not any individual. We ask you to keep them polite. You have three minutes. First up tonight, Dame Judy Davis.

Hello, mayor. Hello, commissioners. I don't have a split personality. Some people think I do. Can I have an extra three minutes? Just kidding. I'm here to give you my 30 minutes. I mean, my 30 complaints of No, I'm just kidding. I'm here to thank you. Okay. Where's the timer? Thank you, town of town government Janet Torano, the historian Chris Morfield for displaying the the traveling African-American and the Rosenwald School. That was incredible. I brought my grandsons to see it and I learned some stuff about some people that were in my ancestors that were connected to this town. Um, I want to thank you Parks and Wreck. They have a great stationary bike bike for old people. Amy Merrill asked me if I was doing the litter sweep in April. Um, and it's a great way to volunteer all ages. Um, not just old people, not just young people. Thank you, Mayor Murray, for separating church and state, but posting on your private Facebook about the hundred-year-old veteran at the church at the veteran church. And then the Museum of Waxaw had another hundred-year um birthday party for him. And there was a USO sign in the background. Um, thank you Waxaw Police for host for doing a drop off food drop off for the atrisisk uh youth during spring break that are food and secure and the youth council leader. Michael Kenova was there with some of the other youth volunteers and he's 18. And thank you winners. Y'all are youth. Oh, this is so good. Oh my gosh, the youth is here. Amen. Thank you. DOT James Kelly, my cousin was telling me how kind the DOT was him when he was working with getting a driveway and we have some undeveloped land that we don't have a driveway or turnaround, but he was telling me that

they were working with him. They showed him how to buy the pipes and they would install it for free. So, thank you Department of Transportation. I just like how the whole town, this was a whole week's worth of blessings. Oh gosh, I got to hurry. Uh, thank you provisions. uh a place to eat and Larry and Diane Hook I think are moving to California but anyway they do the Rotary flag so I don't know who's going to do that. Thank you, Waxaw Women Club. I was able to help with the free prom dresses and thank you Suzanne for donating dresses. That might be anonymous [snorts] information, but there was like 500 dresses. And I'm a fashion victim, but they all the young fashionable ladies were all assigned. So, I got to help the door lady who retired. Her husband was a a bus driver. They moved from New York heading to Florida, but it was too hot. So, they stayed here and they love it. Um, she retired and she was the real fashionista. She was a makeup and fashion artist behind the scenes at Good Morning America. So, I had the perfect person. I would just point to her at the fashion thing. Um, there's so many things to think beyond that. So many things to thank this town. Thank you for your collaborative work this week. It was a incredible week. There's so much stuff, but I have no complaints. Thank you so much and congratulations. I thought the young people were here to um to help us old people. Thank you, Miss Judy. All right, next up, uh Franklin Coreo. first time up here so apologize for any sort of uh technical difficulties. Um so uh good evening board. Um I come as a uh

frequent patron of Crossroads Coffee House. I'm also a resident here at Waxaw. Um this is in regards to that intersection that's in front of that establishment. So that's going to be the uh North Broom Street and that's going to be McDonald that becomes Howie uh Mine Road. Um so that intersection does have a crosswalk. However, there is no flashing lights of any kind. And so when you're trying to do that crosswalk uh take the crosswalk from the public parking which is near the uh water tower uh into the uh into uh the coffee house. uh there is a dip or almost like on that hill meaning that all the traffic coming up north on that Broom Street road. It's very difficult for them to see anyone running AC or not running but walking across and especially when it gets backed up there's just no way for the drivers to know. Um, and so, um, even when you're driving as well, if you're trying to make a turn, um, it's tough to see, uh, you know, coming up on North Broom Street. Um, and it's further down that road, you're able, you do have a flashing crosswalk, so that'd be, uh, North Main Street. Um, so if we could just add one to that one, I think that'd be great. Um, and then secondly, uh, this is a, uh, just, uh, I know that the working session last, uh, I believe two weeks ago, uh, was in reference to being able to maintain these roads long term. Um, and something that I believe should be mentioned is just the size of vehicles and how much they've increased in the past about 10 years or so. So, uh, I just have some general facts here. Do with them as you will. I know there's a study being done currently and a lot of factors are being weighed in. Um, so this could be something that could be added to that, uh, data extrapolation, uh, if you will. So, um, from 2013 to 2023, the average car has increased in length 12.24%.

So, this is going from 14 1/2 ft to 16 1/2 ft long. Uh, in terms of width, we're looking at an increase of 17 and 12% increase. So, that would be going from a width of uh, 5 1/2 ft to 6.8 8 ft. And so, uh, I know that some members of the commissioners or some of the commissioners made, uh, a comment regarding Millbridge and how that seems to be very, you know, tight. And it just so happens cars have gotten bigger. So maybe back then those roads would have been, Wow, that time goes down fast. Um, it may have just been that back then those roads were adequate. And so when considering uh you know uh being able to maintain these roads for our kids and our grandkids, uh the size of the vehicles and just you know the weight of the vehicles should be taken into consideration as a heavier vehicle will absolutely tear up the um the the p not the pavement but the road a lot a lot quicker than than a lighter one and also just the general size. Uh and I'm out of time so thank you everyone. Appreciate it.

Thank you for your comments. and Mr. Bobby Hulk. [clears throat]

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tim, and uh the rest of the board and particularly the three new guys. Congratulations. We are certainly glad to have y'all. I watched all the meetings. I don't get here, but I watch you on YouTube and things are going really well. But I'm here tonight to ask a favor of you. I live in Alma Village, most of y'all know. Uh Alma Village is a oneway in one way out circular neighborhood. Great neighborhood. Um the city came through started I think last summer public works the guys came through and started taking down those nice smelly Bradford pairs that damaging our sidewalks and did the inner part of our circle and did a great job as they usually do. But unfortunately, I live on the outer side of the circle. And uh we have I went back and counted. We have about 30 28 to 30 of those trees. There's three. I'm not sure what they are, but they appear to be Bradfords and they may be dead. But we just ask, we were told you couldn't finish it last year. We ask if you could find a way to get the rest of those trees or even if you we'll compromise and settle if you can do half this year and half next year as budget. But we really need those trees taken out. They're damaging sidewalks. The guys come in and grind them down, help us out with it. But we really need those Bradfords to go. And if you want to get a nice odor right through the neighborhood tonight, roll your window down and you'll understand part of the reason. But that's why I'm here. And uh y'all keep up the great work. It's really refreshing to see y'all work together.

Thank you, Mr. Hall. And that concludes tonight's public comments. Uh, next up we have board commissioner response. Any commissioners have responses to any of the comments tonight? Just regarding the crosswalk by um, crossroads there. I understand what the speaker was talking about. I personally am not a huge fan of where the flashing lights are right now and I think they might be better located in that crossroads crosswalk. Um, and thanks everyone else for your good feedback. We'll look into the issue with the trees, too. Any other comments from the board? All righty. Next up, we have the consent agenda. Can I get a motion to adopt tonight's consent agenda

as amended? So moved. All in favor? I I. Any opposed?

Hearing? None. The motion carries. Tonight's consent agenda is adopted. All right. Recognition. Um, today we have a couple good recognitions. Really heartfelt and I'm I'm excited about these. Um, so first of all, we have the recognition of Detective Ronnie Horn with the awarding of his badge and his service weapon on his retirement. Uh, and we also have a proclamation to read as well. Chief Wilson, good evening. Uh, recently Rodney Horn retired after completing 25 years of service in law enforcement. The last 11 of those years were spent here. Uh since retiring, he moved to the mountains and otherwise he would have been here, but uh he came earlier today for a promotional ceremony, found out it was going to rain tonight, rode a motorcycle down and went back to the mountains. So he is not here, but I am. Uh so Sergeant Horn spent the last 11 years at Waxaw Police Department. During this time, he worked patrol, narcotics, patrol sergeant, and criminal investigation sergeant. He was also an active member in the special response team and field force. Tonight, we're asking for a resolution to allow Sergeant Horn to retain his badge and duty gun. That's all I have. And we also have a proclamation to read into the record as well.

Commissioner Suedra,

proclamation honoring Sergeant Detective Ronnie Horn upon his retirement. Whereas, Sergeant Detective Ronnie Horn has faithfully served the state of North Carolina and the citizens as dedicated as a dedicated member with the city of Monroe Police and Waxaw Police Departments. Whereas during his distinguished career spanning 25 years, Sergeant Detective Horn has demonstrated the highest standards of integrity, professionalism, courage, and commitment to public safety. Whereas Sergeant Detective Horn has served in the capacity of patrol officer, narcotics, ABC enforcement officer, sergeant on patrol, and sergeant over criminal investigations, contributing significantly to the safety, stability, and vital part of Waxaw special response and field force teams and well-being of our community. Whereas throughout his tenure, Sergeant Detective Horn has upheld the oath of office with honor, safeguarded constitutional rights, and provided protection and service [snorts] with unwavering dedication. Whereas the citizens of the town of Waxaw recognize that the profession of law enforcement requires sacrifice not only from the Sergeant Detective Horn, but also from his family. And we extend our sincere gratitude to the Horn family for their steadfast support. And whereas it is fitting and proper to formally recognize Sergeant Detective Horn for his exemplary public service and award him his service badge and issued Glock 17 sidearm in accordance with North Carolina General Statute 20-187.2A in appreciation for his loyalty and dedication to the town of Waxon and the Waxaw Police Department. Now therefore, it be proclaimed that Robert J. Murray uh mayor of the town of Waxaw by virtue of the authority vested in him do hereby recognize and commend Sergeant Detective Ronnie Horn for his distinguished service and extend on behalf of the board of commissioners and the citizens of the town of Waxar our deepest appre appreciation for his commitment to

protecting and serving our comm community. Be it further proclaimed that in recognition of his honorable and faithful service, Sergeant Detective Ronnie Horn is hereby authorized to retain his official badge and service weapon as a symbol of his years of dedicated service and sacrifice to the town of Waxaw in accordance with applicable law and departmental policy. Can I get a motion to adopt proclamation 20260005 honoring Sergeant Detective Ronnie Horn and awarding his badge and service weapon upon retirement from the Waxaw Police Department. So moved. All in favor? I. This motion carries. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Ronnie Horn. [applause] Alrighty. Next up, we have the adoption of a proclamation honoring the Cuthbertson High School Boys and Girls Indoor Trackee.

Oops. Commissioner Dio, you got something down there? I certainly do, Mayor. Thank you. Outstanding

proclamation recognizing the Cupersonson High School boys and girls indoor track and field teams as 2025 state champions. The Cupersonson High School boys and girls indoor track and field teams achieved an extraordinary accomplishment by winning the 2025 North Carolina High School Athletic Association 7A Indoor Track and Field State Championships. Exemplifying outstanding athletic performance, teamwork, and dedication. The girls team secured its eighth indoor state championship while the boys team earned their third indoor state title, further enhancing Cupersonson High School's reputation as one of North Carolina's premier track and field programs. These latest championships bring Cuppersonson High School's total of 16 state titles in indoor and outdoor track and field over the past 10 years. And when including cross country, the school's running programs have achieved 22 state championships during that same period. A testament to the sustained excellence and culture of success cultivated across all seasons. This achieves this achievement marks the third time in program history that Cupersonson High School has swept the indoor state meet, representing the most indoor championship sweeps of any school in North Carolina history. The girls state champions are honored for their outstanding performances in the relay teams, polevault, and a 1600 meter run. And I hope I'm not butchering anybody's names. The athletes include Isabella Cartonus, Kobe McCullum, Diero Anderson, Pensac, and McCullum, where areas the boys state champions are honored for their outstanding performances in the relay teams and polevault. The athletes include Ryder, Sigiza, Lightfoot, Haymore, Ashock, Dixon, Gatlin, Wilson, Pegasus, and Chapman. Their leadership and dedication of student athletes, coaches, families, and

supporters have fostered a culture of excellence that brings great pride to Cubbertson High School, Union County Public Schools, and the Waxaw community. Now therefore, be it proclaimed that Robert Murray, mayor of the town of Waxaw, by the authority vested in him, proudly congratulate and honor the Cupersonson High School boys and girls indoor track and field teams for the remarkable achievement in winning the 2025 North Carolina High School Athletic Association 7A Indoor Track and Field State Championships. We recognize and celebrate the dedication, skill, the perseverance of the athletes and the guidance and leadership of the coaches and the unwavering support of families and the community. Their accomplishments reflect the highest standards of excellence and bring pride to Union County and the Union County Public Schools. [applause]

[applause] [applause]

All right. So, I have to ask the question. Yeah, sure. Who worked out over the summer? They all did. Uh, exactly.

Mr. Mayor, I have to say because my daughter was on the track team, these are the hardest working kids in Union County and definitely in North Carolina and they want to go to track. Uh they don't miss a meet. They don't miss a Patrick and I have to say it's yes, they work hard. I see them running all summer long all over Lawson uh and all over Waxaw. So, I'm a little jealous that you guys could do that, but I have to give a lot of credit to the parents as well and the coaching staff because this coaching staff makes them want to go to track practice in all types of weather, in the cold, in the heat. And uh you know that I can't say enough about this coaching staff and uh really raising that bar and the higher you raise it, the kids will meet and then surpass that bar. And I just wanted to say I'm proud of you as a uh Cuddy parent and ex uh track team parent and uh on the board of commissioners here. So, thank you for your dedication and you're a great example for everyone out there. Keep running. All right. So, we'll take a few minutes. We'll get a photo with the team.

Oh, yes. First, I'd like to get a motion. One second. Sorry. We'll wait when I get back. One second. One second, guys. Second, y'all. One second. We got to make a motion for you. Just keep quiet for a second. All right. Can I get a motion to adopt Proclamation Pro 2026006, honoring Cuthbertson High School track and field teams, both boys and girls. So moved. All in favor? I. Motion carries. [applause] We'll have a short recess now to take a photo.

Need all the room to get everybody in. these back there. Get up a little bit closer.

I resemble that from the back. You guys are good.

Yeah, we're good. We're good. One good idea. Which one are we supposed to look at?

[applause]

Hicks. Thank you. Thank you. Great job. You're Now the room's empty.

I know.

Okay. Perfect. Perfect. Go ahead. Yep. Back. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. So, we had one more proclamation that was on the consent agenda this evening. We're going to go ahead and read that into the record. We'll do that real quick. Um, and this is a proclamation in support of national colorctal cancer awareness month. So whereas colurectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer related deaths in North Carolina and the United States among men and women of all races and ethnic groups and the risk of developing colorectile cancer increases with age particularly for individuals aged 45 and older. Colorectal can whereas colurectal cancer is being diagnosed at an increasing rate among younger adults with approximately 20% of new cases occurring in individuals aged 54 and younger nearly double the rate since 1995 highlighting the urgent need for greater awareness early detection and preventative screening. Whereas colurectal cancer is one of the few cancers that can be prevented through

timely screening and is often preventable, treatable and beatable when detected early. Whereas the national colarctal cancer awareness month provides an important opportunity to raise awareness and educate the public on the importance of early detection and recommended screening guidelines. And whereas during the month of March, we stand with those affected by colorectal cancer and recognize the ongoing efforts of advocates, researchers, and healthc care providers who work tirelessly to reduce its impact. And in memory of those who have lost and in honor of survivors, we renew our commitment to promoting, preventing, educating, and hope for our future free from colorectal cancer. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that I, Robert J. February the 3rd, by the powers vested in me as the mayor of the town of Waxaw, do hereby proclaim March 2026 as National Colarctal Cancer Awareness Month in Union County and urge all citizens to observe this month with appropriate programs and activities. I further encourage residents to increase their awareness and understanding of the importance of early detection and screening for colo for colon cancer which affects a significant number of families across our state each year and to commit themselves to prevention, timely detection, and effective treatment in order to reduce the impact of this disease on individuals, families, and communities throughout the state of North Carolina. Duly adopted and effective this 10th day of March, 2026. And this was approved or adopted in our consent agenda this evening. All righty. Presentations. We have the public art committee's 2026 sculpture walk project update.

Good evening, mayor, commissioners. My name is Sarah Claproot. I'm here representing the public art art committee of Waxaw as their chairwoman and I'm here to update you on our serpentine walk and the sculptures that we are placing there. Um [clears throat] the public art sculpture walk project. This is an annual outdoor sculpture gallery that was created in 2024 in partnership with the downtown design committee. There are five concrete pads along the serpentine walk along west south main street. There actually six. I'm going to correct that. Um the timeline the current pieces will be removed in midappril and new pieces will be installed at the same time all completed before our wonderful kaleidoscope festival in May. Um this is the third installation of the outdoor sculpture walk located on the serpentine walk on northwest north main street by the railroad tracks. Um the call for sculpture artists for this went out in late December and early January of this year and was open for over 30 days. The call was sent to all artists who have been part of the gallery since the beginning, to local art committees including the Waxaw Arts count council, to the downtown Waxaw Association, to the sculptures who have submitted last year but weren't chosen, and to the larger artist groups in the Charlotte area. We received six submissions from local and regional artists totaling 14 sculptures for consideration. At the PAC meeting in February, the DWA design committee members joined us to collaborate on selecting five new sculptures to be on display from April 2026 until April 2027. For these 14 sculptures, several factors were considered when selecting a piece. The biggest consideration was their size. Some of the locations of the pads have trees overhanging or power lines that are fairly low where a taller sculpture would not be a good fit. We also take into consideration the colors, the shapes, and the overall aesthetic to make sure that it is not inappropriate or offensive and that it aligns with the

themes of Waxaw, which include nature, history, and culture. While we have six concrete pads in total, we're going to put the metal butterfly that sculpture that was on um on the first pad that was previously within the CSX right ofway on the south side of the tracks and we moved it and repainted it. So for site one, we are installing the butterfly sculpture. The butterfly was painted this year by the public art committee to demonstrate community involvement and to show our dedication to bringing exciting and unique art to Waxaw. This butterfly sculpture is repainted by different artists each year. They can artists can apply and can be chosen to paint the butterfly. [snorts] This piece would start the serpentine walk um from the downtown towards Rehobith. For site two, we have Scott Griffin's gnome home. This is a smaller stainless steel piece that will be installed in a location with a low tree overhang. The gnome home is a whimsical piece that will be great fun for families. The artist states the gnome home is simple fun where families can guess if gnomes do indeed live there because sometimes not seeing is believing. Site three will be Meta Lilia by Niko Armoray. This piece is an appreciation for the simple joys in life created in honor of the artist's grandmother. Site four will be the feather by artist Kirk CE. He is a nationally renowned sculpture artist and this will be his first display in Waxaw. The feather will serve as a testament to Waxaw's history and is the artist's debut sculpture. It has been exhibited in 36 states already since 2019 and has a very big following. So, we're hoping it brings a lot of visitors to Waxall. Site five will be The Large Watcher by Matt Amante. The Large Watcher is part of a series he created with spherical forms and hemispheres that give the impression that the sculpture is actually looking back at you. And site six is rising spirit by Chris Wilson, which reflects our region's heritage and

honors a spiritual connection with the Cherokee people. These pieces will all be installed by the end of April so that they are in place before the kaleidoscope festival. Each artist is responsible for installing and removing their pieces. Parks and recreation staff are on site during installation and removal to ensure that it goes smoothly. Each artist receives a stipen for loaning their sculptures to the town for one year. The stipend is part of the public art budget which is a part of the parks and recreation departmental budget. The total for these five artists will be $7,500. This high-caliber list of artists will attract visitors from across the region who follow them and keep up with their where their artwork is displayed. Each sculpture will have a small plaque with the artist's name, title, and a QR code that takes you to the public art page on the website where you can find more information about the artist and each sculpture. Thank you. Are there any questions?

Any questions or comments from the board? I personally look forward to seeing these. They're always kind of fun to see. It's kind of cool that they're new every year. So, yes, we're excited, too. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Thank you. Uh, next up we have the information only about our annual retreat, Mr. Scott Datson. Good evening. Um, it's hard to follow up with good art. If you've ever seen me draw or do anything, you would know why I'm a public administrator only. But uh let's see here. A clicker. There it is. Okay. So, the board of commissioners held their retreat on tw the 26th and 27th of February. Uh just a small note, uh Barbie uh has noted it in the agenda. we will have the ability for uh the public to get to not only this presentation, the report itself, but also the that we did tape those two days. So, uh the uh folks will be able to go in there and and look at that information. So, I wanted to at least let uh folks in the audience know that. Um this is a uh brief uh report. Uh this will be on our website as well, so people can go in and read it. Um let's see, we'll go from here. So, uh, we held it on the 26th in the town hall chambers right here. Uh, Central Regional Council led the retreat as a third party facilitator and we were glad to have them. Uh, the board worked on, uh, several things in in the morning and then board and staff uh, later that afternoon. Uh the objective was to strengthen connections to enhance and enhance the commission working relationships and collaborations discuss those systems and structures that support effective governance and decision-making and collaborate to develop a common vision and priorities for the town. So uh wanted to let the

public know what we were doing during that day in this report out. So, uh, three, uh, big takeaways from, uh, the retreat that day was one, work on becoming a highly effective board of commissioners. Uh, review and refresh those core governing documents, your rules of procedure you've already been working on, uh, codes of conduct, those kinds of things, and discuss your, uh, organizationwide uh, core values. And, uh, work was done in the morning on that. Then uh we began work on developing a new vision statement for the town. Previous vision the statement was adopted in 2015. So we took a good look at that and uh spent a little bit of time with that. And then we envisioned um you folks envisioned Waxaw in 10 years and these came out u both in a pre-ervey that was done and then you folks worked on those things uh uh again. Uh and those are I'm going to read them off so that uh those folks listening in get a good sense of what was happening. Fiscal respon fiscally responsive, economic prosperity, uh charm, strategically managed growth, uh family and community centric, aspirational and innovative as a town, uh a sense of place, connectivity and serviceoriented. And so, uh, these were things, uh, that you felt in 10 years if these were high on the list and done well, you know, would be a lot and make you, you and the citizens, uh, feel a a real great sense of pride here in Waxaw. So, we had some challenge themes and that's what we spent the afternoon working on. You folks spent the afternoon on with our departmental and divisional heads. uh you guys worked

together on those processes and uh talked about priority challenges. Again, everybody com uh participated in a pre- retreat survey and then you folks were able to prioritize those things and give it some thought before you got there and then think through that process again. Um some of the challenges that you folks saw was a rapid and predominantly resident rapid growth and predominantly residential in nature. Uh which leads to number two an unbalanced tax structure and revenue mix. This was a challenge long-term fiscal sustainability and cost pressures. Um that's the funny thing about inflation. When it adds on to the month, the next month's inflation report is added on to the previous month. So it's it's a escalating uh cost pressure. So uh we're facing those like private businesses are and households are as well. Capital improvement needs and backlog. Um infrastructure capacity not keeping pace with growth. Uh anybody who sits in traffic will nod to that quite a bit. Um transportation traffic and connectivity constraints. We heard uh citizen talk about connectivity across the main street and that's actually something we're going to talk about a little bit after I get down from here. Um we're going to talk about that and trying to work towards some solutions on that. Service expectations versus service capacity, what what that expectation is and what we're able to deliver and how we're able to do that. Organizational capacity and workforce sustainability. Um we're in the people business. Uh most of our budget is people and we solve problems with people uh for other people for our homeowners and uh citizens here in town. Community character and historic preservation. Um unclear what that ultimate vision may

be for Waxaw's future with some of these things not being corrected yet and not being finished. So that that led to a challenge and uh trying to make sure we're clear about that limited local control and external constraints when uh the board is talking about um going back to the legislature and um seeking um rules and changes in legislation that would empower us locally um so that we can face those challenges best. I won't do my Dylan rule versus home rule uh lecture for you folks. um economic divers. My my public administration teacher, the one class I took, would be proud as heck of me of knowing the difference between the two. I just want you all to know that um economic diversification and then commercial development are balances out. So you folks talked a lot about that. So you folks um and staff uh named these as priority and challenging themes uh during your retreat. And then you begin to prioritize from there through a series of exercises uh where you guys kind of moved around. One of the reasons it was hard to have a camera on it all day and be able to live stream it is because you were moving from table to table. There was a lot of muted conversations. The room isn't exactly set up for that. Uh, as I said before, they will be able to folks will be able to go in and listen in. Uh, but the report, I think, does a very good job of reporting out the issues that were discussed because you came back and then did them in a group setting, uh, a larger group setting and and structured these. So, the top tier issues, the foundational priorities that the board found were addressing rapid and predominantly residential growth. What do we do with that? long-term fiscal sustainability and cost pressures, economic diversity and community development. Um, infrastructure capacity not keeping pace with growth, fixing

that unbalanced tax structure and revenue mix, capital improvement needs, backlog getting a handle on that, organizational capacity and workforce sustainability, transportation, traffic and connectivity constraints. In other words, um those were foundational to other things being able to be achieved. Um the um uh the council of governments central did a um took all of that back and gave us back uh recommended steps and recommendations on how to deal with the each of these challenges. That's what this is. Um, we're recommending that the board um talk about this at your work session and dive into it a bit more now that we've organized all of that information so you folks can uh push back, pull, add, subtract um and give it that flavor and uh that you folks feel uh comfortable with. And then that will give us that vision and uh those marching orders as we move through budgets and our regular service year and all of those kinds of things. So uh what did we do on Friday? Well, Friday was a report out day. Um and each of our division heads or department heads came up and did a series of reports. This is also in that packet. Uh the department heads and division heads were challenged with doing a one-pager that had a series of metrics on it from things like operations, year in review, uh trends and pressures, um some of the outputs, what we do, the efficiencies, how we try to do that, and the outcomes. So those reports were done. The board had a chance to go back and forth. You now have those as part of your permanent record. So you we can have that. we now have a framework that we can use when we come back and talk to the board and give

updates as to where we are and how things are going. So, um the six key areas, as I said, were outlined by our department and division heads and of course you folks had back and forth about those issues, had questions, um comments and uh uh I think it was uh well received. So, what happens next? Uh we're recommending a March 24th work session where you can dive deeper into this, have further discussions, give better directions, formalize that and I am recommending that you folks then affirm that as we move forward whatever that final product is so that we have an affirm document um we can use and uh to outline what we do. And then in late March, early April, uh we've already be uh we'll begin that process starting tomorrow is having a senior staff and how we take these things and deal with them strategically and tactically. So um in other words, we had a opportunity to participate together. Uh you folks have an opportunity to talk through this, give good guidance, then we have the ability to create our plans and our work plans around achieving those goals for you folks. So, our uh full report will be available uh online at waxaw.com. Um so people can read it and uh give you folks feedback when you're in the grocery store. You know, there's nothing better than being in the bread aisle and someone taps you on the shoulder and gives you that gentle hate to bother your butt, but that's what you signed up for. Uh we all sign up for that. Uh even our staff gets stopped, you know, can I bend your ear for a second? And thankfully, we all do that. We don't mind having our ears bent. So, uh, I think that's part of our small town charm. All right, questions.

Can you go back to the slide, uh, the last slide from day one, the summary from Central? That one there. Yeah, this one I think is kind of the most telling slide and I think it really represents the net summary of the most valuable work we did during um, the retreat. So the fact that we came up with fairly agreed upon challenges in terms of staff [snorts] and board recognizing what the town faces in terms of challenges, the fact that there was such a strong alignment, I think is a really telling sign that a lot of the things that concern everybody, it's it's all pretty obvious. So there's nothing elusive about the challenges of Waxaw right now. So

I think this will be the thing that we looking forward will be keeping an eye on to see how we can address everything that comes up how it addresses these things these issues.

Yep. And I think this is where the board's work is around too. So it's more than just go out and do a study come back. It's let's have a conversation about set expectations you know try to figure out the best way through it and then have that conversation. And I think one thing to note uh to the public as they listen to this part of the presentation is that you folks are in a work session process now. So once a month you folks are work sessioning things. Um you've done some preliminary uh priorities of agenda items and things that you would like to come back and talk to. But this also then gives you some structure to really dive into some of these things. It allows staff to be prepared to, you know, um, advise and, um, give the best information possible for you folks to make good decisions moving forward. Uh I just wanted to thank you for putting it together in this manner because uh our other retreats were not like this and it gave us an opportunity to talk a lot more things through and with staff and uh like the mayor said, you know, there were a lot of common goals. There was overlap in every section. uh and now we have a a direction to move forward and and prioritize now from this list what we can get done in the short term, long medium-term, long term. So, I appreciate your work on that and Central as usual did a great job.

They did. They really do a great job. As a former COG director, I can actually say hire your local COG. You're a member. Barbie knows about the COG. Any other questions or comments from the board? Thank you, Mr. Datson. That was an excellent summary. Thank you. All righty. Next up, we have some old business. Good old business. Uh, safe streets for all. Mr. James, Mr. Susan.

Good evening. Uh, James Kelly, traffic and transportation engineer, and I have Susan that's going to join me here momentarily. Um tonight we're talking about the safe streets and roads for all SS4A implementation grant specific to the grant writing services. So the uh information presented to you tonight will be comprehensive but the focus will be u specific to those grant writing services. Um so first up if you recall at your last workshop in February uh the board fine-tuned some project selections and um we went through the selection overview and breakdown. looking at to see what projects would score most favorably for the town as we move forward and then really become more fiscally responsible with those numbers uh from the previous recommendation from the task force to really narrow down that scope. So for right now what we're presenting for next steps is a proposed resolution for you guys to consider um and an MOA for Whit O'Brien's grant writing support and these are services through the uh North Carolina League of Municipalities. So there's no additional charge to the town for these services. These are already included within your existing membership. And I and I want to emphasize at this time, we're only proposing to put together the grant application. The reason why is because we have to come back uh to you all to request uh action on considering endorsing implementation of the grant submitt commitments. So if you change your mind throughout this process, ideally we would like to know uh sooner than later. Um but you always have more time to change your mind or to edit edit things down. So, if the town is granted the award, just want to emphasize this again, the town may choose to accept or reject the award. So, you're not uh financially committed yet um at this point. Looking at the project selections that the board narrowed down at their workshop, you can see those breakdowns from the segments of Howy Mine from North Proidence Street to Deer Creek Drive, uh North Church Street segments,

McDonald Street, Price Street, Caldwell. uh some of those segments are included or were included in public comment earlier tonight. So that's good to hear that there's support for that. Um but I'll just note that these are planning level costs at these stages are not fully engineered cost estimates and they're really for reference purposes only. But it gives us a good place to start when we're working with the uh grant writing folks as we narrow down the scope and as we fine-tune those estimates. So if you recall the original um recommendation was for about a total of about 18.2 2 million to be more fiscally responsible that averages down to let's say 7.5 after you add some additional contingency. So of this for this particular grant the federal match is 80% and the town matches 20%. And of course that's 20% over a period of 5 years. So if you recall correctly the original uh was about 728,000 740,000 in that range per year and uh you all have narrowed that down to closer to 300,000 per year over five years. Um, so with that, I will toss it over to Susan real quick.

And thank you. Good to see everybody tonight. Susan Lee, administrative services manager. So, wearing the grant hat tonight. U, this agreement, like James had said, is is specifically for just the grant writing services. We are members of the North Carolina League of Municipalities. So, this is at no cost to the town. They received a federal grant to provide these services to us. So this is a wonderful opportunity for us to take advantage of. This is a highly complex grant uh a little bit more than we have capacity to handle internally. There's a lot of budget cost analysis, a lot of modeling that will go into this grant. So this is why we decided to request your support to take advantage of this opportunity to have Widow O'Brien's uh work with us to get this grant uh application submitted. Wid O'Brien is a very successful grant firm. They for a planning grant they have about a 78% success rate. Implementation grant is a little bit trickier but we're optimistic that uh we will get across the finish line with that with this grant application. There's a maximum value that they assigned to these grants and Widow O'Briens is recommending the maximum value of $30,000 from the league. Not from the town. This is no cost to the town, but from the league to authorize a $30,000 uh uh cost value for this grant. So, how do I

this one? There we go. So, sorry. I don't do this too often. So, what we're requesting is a motion to approve the resolution to 20260004 authorizing the engagement of the grant writing services. And it's a two-part process. Uh the board will approve the resolution as well authorized Tom Manager Datson to sign the memorandum of agreement for the services as well. And attorney Dinger has reviewed all this for us and given his okay on this. So, this like James has said and we're saying here, this is only for the grant application process. This is basically step one to start this process. Uh once we get more into the process, we typically with these grants, they will then need a resolution from the board authorizing the implementation grant. And at that point, a local match commitment that you're yes, we want to go forward with this. Yes, we'll we'll supply funding. And but we still have always the last step as James had said and we're saying here again we always have an opt- out clause even if we awarded the grant uh we can opt not to pursue it not sign any contracts and just stop it at that way but like we've said this is a wonderful opportunity I think you've done a great as far as selections and we would just like your permission to go ahead and proceed.

Any questions or comments from the board? you may have already covered this. Um, thank you by the way in taking taking this on and um uh it's the $7.5 million that that we kind of outlined and you're going to be writing the grant on is uh very necessary and I think you guys did a great job in guiding us and in our decisions. Um, but on that 7.5, is it an all orno once you write the grant or do they would they reserve the right to knock it down in a the project list down and of course the total as well?

So it depends. So it doesn't it's not an all or nothing because it's a reimbursement model. So what that means is you you basically pay as you go. So if you want to stop and say, "Hey, no, we're we only want to do this amount now." um you can opt into that. Okay. Thank you. When um when you apply for the grant, is it taken as a whole? So would they say well yes to the how we mine portion and maybe no to something else or when you submit it it's for every project like they'll accept every one or are they going to pick and choose which ones are better or worse? I think what they'll do is they'll look at it from a comprehensive approach. Okay.

And um that's what we helped to guide throughout the process was the the federal folks want to see more than just one thing getting done. They want to see how everything ties in. How the story aligns with uh your goals as far as transportation safety improvements in particular. So when you're looking at that, I think a more con comprehensive approach will benefit you. Okay. Yeah. Cool. All righty then. So without further ado, I will go ahead and request a motion to adopt resolution res 2026004. So moved. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Hearing none. The motion carries. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

All righty. Next up, we have the consideration to enter into a contract between the North Carolina Department of Transportation and the town of Waxaw for the Helms Road Extension Project HL0158. Yes. So, the board has seen this a few times now. Um, there's no presentation for this one. Um, but this is the consideration of approval to enter into a contract between the North Carolina Department of Transportation, NC DOT, and the town of Waxall for the Helms Road extension project. Um, so really the town of Waxel must enter into a contract with the North Carolina Department of Transportation to receive project funding for the ride-of-way uh, utility and construction phases uh, specifically for the project for the Helms Road extension. and staff is seeking board approval to authorize the town manager to execute the contract this [clears throat] evening. So, if you have any other questions, uh we we're happy to uh help answer those questions. Um but I think the board has seen this a few times now, so it should be pretty familiar. So,

we can probably go through both of these fairly quickly. Any questions or comments from the board? No, I think we're all in agreement on getting this one done as soon as we can. So, all righty then. I'll go ahead and request a motion to enter into an agreement with the North Carolina Department of Transportation for the Helms Road Extension HL0158 uh project for the right-of-way acquisition utilities constructions in the amount of 4,923,274 and authorizing the town manager to execute set agreement. [clears throat] [laughter] Easy for you to say. All in favor?

I. Any opposed? All righty, this motion carries. So the next one is the uh consideration for the award awarding the contract to Kimley Horn and this will be for the request for letters of interest uh for the preliminary engineering services associated with HL0158.

Correct. So this is part two of the presentation this evening. This one is specific to the design contract for the same project Helms Road Extension. Um, just to provide you with some background context, this is a locally administered project, which means that the town will basically be acting as the uh representative or agent for the North Carolina Department of Transportation as we move through this contract. So, the town will be responsible for all the things outlined within that contract that you all just approved. Um the scope for this particular item is the obviously a new roadway connection, pedestrian facility enhancements, and of course making sure that this is a uh future NCDOT maintained roadway. So that way that's less cost burden on the town uh moving forward. a few updates to uh to the schedule, but it's it's fairly similar is preliminary engineering if approved this evening will start uh this month and then we'll move into instead of March 2027, we're projecting out to May 2027 for rideway and utilities and then of course construction two years after that um May 2029. So additional mentions the the town contribute full contributions is about $5.67 67 million of which the 4.9 you've already approved the rightway and construction town match uh along with the uh 750 that you've um designated prior via ordinance for this um for this particular design. So again there's that scope there's that full scope. So it's going to tie into um the CSX rail project and DOT rail project um with the full overpass uh connection. So you'll have a full u essentially a full western road extension, full western bypass around town which will help significantly. And of course we're designing to meet the trucks. So hopefully we can reroute some of the truck traffic as well that comes through downtown. Um as far as the selection process, they're uh the federal folks are very strict on this process. So we have to follow this to the tea. Uh the town of Waxawar released a request for

letters of interest ri for the provision of preliminary engineering services to prepare the engineering design plan and construction documents uh for Helms Road. We solicited these responses through the Duncan Parnell bid room, uh the town of Waxaw website as well as the town of Waxall social media pages and we we received the minimum of of total three responses and the selection process was done in accordance with the selection criterion outlined within that full RF LOI. So those selection criterion were the following 30% going to demonstration of understanding of project objectives and responsibility in delivering services advertised 15% for experience and qualifications of the team uh 40% going into local knowledge and experience with similar projects and 15% going into uh project related experience with federally funded projects. So you can see those three submissions and uh based upon those selection criterion and ranking through the decision-m process uh decision matrix process um Kimley Horn ranked the the highest of the three firms. Um I'll also note that um in your agenda packet is a memorandum further outlining the differentiate uh differentiating aspects that Kimley Horn exceeded with. So, the selection committee um of the responding firms, Kimley Horn, demonstrated a superior understanding of the Helms Red Extension project. Um the firm accurately identified the project's key challenges, including coordination with adjacent NC DOT tip projects, uh federal funding requirements, and the need to upgrade the existing corridor for future maintenance transfer to uh NC DOT. In addition, Kimley Horn's extensive prior work along the corridor, including feasibility studies, drainage assessments um provided them with unique insight into alignment constraints, environmental considerations, and hydraulic needs for the corridor. Their technical approach outlined a context sensitive design process supported by a

refined alignment development, uh targeted drainage improvements, traffic analysis, and a robust QCQA plan or quality control quality assurance plan. So uh moving into what all we're getting from this um so there's a lot a lot of tasks that's break is broken down in the full contract uh list in your agenda packet. So task one is field surveys. You have subsurface utility exploration, traffic analysis, environmental, especially with your NEPA stuff. Um your environmental permitting 30% preliminary design plans, geotechnical investigations, public involvement will be key in this. Um as we move forward, we'll have more public involvement meetings to fine-tune what the public wants to see uh along that design. In addition, uh, task 9 is 75% rightway plans, moving to private utility coordination, rightway acquisition support, utility relocation design, permitting, and ultimately to your final construction plans or your 100% plans, and then moving into bid phase services and uh, assistance with project management and coordination for this project. Um, so here's a breakdown of that design. So you can see the total lump fees for each of those. Um and this worked out with the negotiations after the project selection. So we that's what we do is we negotiate after the uh selected firm is identified and you know the town has a set amount of funding for this uh which is 750,000 via ordinance and um luckily we were able to coordinate and uh decrease some of those costs with the uh combination of the broom street project that we're already advancing. So that helped to uh make this more uh fiscally responsible. So when you look at this from an overarching perspective, total cost of the project exceeds 10 million, your um design is less than 10%. Typically design costs are more than 10%. But since we um we were able to work that down with negotiation. So the remaining 8,000 of course surplus will be held in

reserve to assist with future uh project phases as well as NC DOT review fees. And then there's that full breakdown uh for the board uh to review. So, with that, I'm happy to take any questions and uh we're looking for action this evening. Any questions or comments from the board? Yeah. Um I don't think it was on the map that you had on your slide, but when I was looking through the agenda packet, I looked at the um more detailed map and I noticed uh 30 miles hour was the uh speed limit. Is that correct? It's going to be that way the whole length. That's the design. That can always be changed within the scope. Oh, okay. But um are you looking for a higher speed?

Feels disappointingly low for a uh [laughter] pathway, you know. Yeah, I think that's I think that's a definite consideration as we've progressed the design and it could be something that pops up in public comment for example, whereas like maybe there's a desire for a uh a higher speed. One thing that we need to consider is um just making sure that those horizontal um those horizontal and vertical curves throughout that segment, the geometry of the road um it is compatible with that design speed. Yeah, just because the roads around are either 45 or 35. So just something I noticed. I think it's something that can definitely be brought up in public comment and could be adjusted. Yeah.

Any other comments? All righty. Hearing none. Can I get a motion to award the HL0158 Helms Extension Professional Engineering Services contract to Kimley Horn in the amount of $742,000 and authorize the town manager to execute the contract? So moved. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Hearing none, this motion carries. All righty. Thank you. Thank you very much, James. All righty. New business. Uh, we had an item added to new business, safety of waxall water. Commissioner Dawn, what's say?

So, I was recently reminded by some Waxaw residents of an action that the board of county commissioners took a couple of years ago, which was to cease the practice of adding silica fluorides to the uh Yadken facility. Um now the Yagken facility serves the eastern part of the county primarily uh and we're on the western part. So we get our water from Kaba uh the Lancaster County water and sewer district. Anyway, why did the board of county commissioners do this? Well, silicon fluorides are an industrial waste byproduct and there this this is passed on to local governments as fluidation and when people hear the word fluoride they think oh toothpaste it's good for your teeth. Um, all the studies though of the benefits of fluoride are based on topical application to your teeth, not consumption. There aren't any uh randomized control trials showing that ingestion of fluoride is beneficial. And in fact uh there's a lot of evidence that uh excessive fluoride exposure via fluoridated water can cause dental ferosis and bone disease. Um, so this is kind of an outdated practice that's ostensibly for dental health, but there are many parts of the world that have discarded this practice. Uh, all pretty much all of Western Europe doesn't do it. Uh, and now we have the

other half of the county. Um, you know, I don't think any cavity apocalypse has, uh, eventuated there. So, um, they've been without it for two years. Um, but unfortunately, it's still in our water supply. Um, so while we don't have any direct control over this issue, we do have a voice and I think we should use our voice for the safety of our residents. Um, I kind of just wanted to bring this up as a discussion item of what we could do. Um there are bills in the North Carolina legislature and in the South Carolina legislature at the moment um to uh cease this practice statewide. Um the South Carolina one would apply to us because that's where our water is coming from. Um but we could express support for both. Um, we could reach out to the Lancaster County Water and Sewer District. Um, interestingly, that board is directly appointed by the South Carolina Governor. Um, which is kind of surprising. Normally you would think that would be the Lancaster County Commissioners or something, but um just wanted to have a quick discussion about this and maybe if some of the more experienced folks like our attorney or our town manager have an opinion on the best way to uh use our voice in this issue. Do we have a sense of where Lancaster County is moving or maybe an idea on where the South Carolina bills might be sort of where they're at at this point in their processes if they're languishing somewhere or

I don't know the details of the state bills what what stage they're in but um I know that the Lancaster water board is very resistant to stopping although they said that you know if the FDA was to tell them to stop, they would stop, but they're they're sort of just waiting for something from above. They're not willing to make any changes on their own.

Um despite efforts by, you know, there's members of the board of county commissioners who are liaons on that board and they've made an effort to try and talk them into stopping this practice, but uh they [clears throat] they're resistant. So, um, I brought this up at the Woomer meeting, um, Western Union Municipal Alliance, that's, uh, Stallings, Marvin, Weddington, Wesley Chapel, Mineral Springs, and it was very wellreceived. So, they are looking to do something at our next meeting. I don't know if we should have some kind of a uh, joint resolution between all of the towns. Would that be the most impactful thing? Um, not sure.

Do you know if they get their water, the our partner municipalities or neighbors, do they also get their water from the from the same essentially pipeline from Lancaster County? Uh, well, Lancaster certainly does. Yeah. Well, so like Marvin would probably get their water. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Wesley Chapel might not. Yeah. Well, so all of the WMA municipalities get it from the same supplier as us except Stallings is uh sort of split between the two. So I guess depending on where you live in Stallings, you might have uh the silica fluorides or not.

Okay. It would definitely that would be something that I would be interested in seeing is if there's some cohesion um from Wuma on that issue uh before we explore it. I think I if there's a larger regional partnership um they were unanimous in support of it. They were unanimous in support of it. Do you know what the SC uh South Carolina bills uh the bill numbers are? Uh yeah, I have some more details in an email here. Um, if Don I mean Richard you we could talk about it offline for you send that to the rest of the board. Yeah.

I have draft resolutions that I could send and you know maybe I could send that to the town manager and the mayor and it could just be propagated to the board so you guys can see it. Sure. I think it would make sense and and if we can send out those drafts I think it would make sense to review those and discuss those maybe at the next work session. Maybe it would also be a good idea to find out where our um the state is on it if there's bills up in North Carolina if and and what would that do if they say to take it out and we getting our water from South Carolina, right? Yeah, the North Carolina one wouldn't actually affect us. Uh we could express support for us for it, but it's not going to affect us.

So, um yeah. Uh maybe if all the WMA municipalities or even if some other Union County ones wanted to join in, you know, were to send something over to South Carolina, perhaps it would have some kind of impact. I I know in for full well that we're not essentially a a water authority,

right? We we don't and so we have no controls, no measures. Um and our it sounds our water authority is split uh depending on where we are um between different suppliers uh for our basin and our region. Uh but at the same time too it's worth at least having a discussion and so thank you for bringing it for discussion. Um yeah no worries. So does everybody think this is a worthy uh work session item then for two weeks from now? Yeah. Yes.

Yeah I would say so. So I I think it makes sense then Commissioner Dant if you want to go ahead and share what you have with the entirety of the board and then we can discuss it during the work session. We'll get it to Barbie and we'll get it to Mr. Dudson and chat further. Sounds good. Thanks. Awesome. Do Do you need a motion? Do Do we want this on the April work session? You might have Do we need a motion? I don't think so. No, you won't need a motion. Uh, do you not want it for the March work session? They were thinking I was thinking March. Two weeks, right? Okay. Yeah, that sounds But uh, Commissioner Ferris was thinking maybe April. So, I just wanted to wanted to

I didn't know I heard I heard from two work sessions from now and that's why I asked for clarifications. So, that would two work sessions from now would be April. Yeah. No, if if we're thinking March, if if folks are comfortable seeing it in March, there's no reason we can't do it in March. Okay. Okay. We'll set it up for March. That'd be the 24th. All righty. Well, thank you very much for bringing that item to our attention. I look forward to seeing what comes out of that. I think what'll make sense is if the towns can individually approve their resolutions and then that would then empower the mayor to [snorts] sign a joint resolution with all the towns involved. So, that'd be great. Yeah.

Cool. All righty. Next up, we have leadership reports. Uh, Mr. Datson, what do you got? I'm going to defer until the March meeting because we're going to do adjusting journal entries on financial reports. Financial reports. That's Yeah. So, sounds exciting. Yeah. Well, listen, there's nothing more exciting than setting the trial balance a fire. So, all right. Be a lot of fun. Sounds good. Uh, next up, developmental services. Mr. Kevin Robinson. What do you got?

Thank you, Mayor. Okay. All right. I'm gonna run through this pretty quick. Um there's not a lot of new stuff in here. You guys saw this uh back at the end of the third quarter, I believe. Um so, we do have a a little bit of new numbers. Um we did kind of we ended the um on the residential side of things, we ended last year strong um with about 50 new units. Most of those were town homes um and a couple of the developments, but we also had a handful of single family homes, detached homes as well. Um so you can see right there um that was the strongest quarter um actually going all the way back to I think it's quarter one of 23. So almost three years. That's the strongest residential growth we've had in terms of actual construction uh in a single quarter. Um and then also last year uh we did rebound. We are still under our overall average there. um for over the last uh 10-year period. Um again, not much changed here either. Um we did have some new um so we have some new proposed units right there which are going to be more of a mix. Um the uh predominant um land use type that we've had um over the last 10 years in terms of residential is still single family detached. Um and then we have more of a balance uh between products that are proposed to come online. um whenever that happens, whenever the market uh turns around for those at this time. Um also on non-residential, um we had a little bit more um it was built in quarter 4. I think it was uh we had one large uh retail uh project that came in at the end there as well. Um and we finished out overall pretty strong in terms of square footage um that was built. Um it's the most we've had in uh any any year in the last 10 years really in terms of square footage. Um and uh most large portion of that was um tied up in kind of a service use uh with um

storage uh buildings, but we had a substantial amount of retail as well across three different projects. Um so that kind of shows you we have a lot that's vested still um but is not started yet. Um we do have a good amount proposed as well, but we've got a lot that's in the pipeline. Um the uh you can see the valuations there as well. 24 and 25 uh both really strong years for commercial. Um I know the overall percentage of commercial to residential here is low. Um but we have chipped away a little bit at that in the last couple years. Um typically in terms of uh valuations that's that's kind of actual investment what the project costs. Um it's about 7 to 40 which I guess is about 1 to six non-residential to residential. Um and uh that will probably keep coming up as uh some of these other projects come online. This shows the valuations. This was interesting that we actually had kind of a balanced year. Um we were strongest on commercial in terms of total investment. Um, but in terms of the the permits for uh upfits, which are in the gray there, uh, and residential, we were overall pretty balanced, which was good. Hopefully gets a little bit stronger uh, in coming years, but it's good good start. Um, and then this is kind of what we've been working towards. Um, actually taking our permitting data, um, and being able to pull it into GIS and kind of play around with maps, show you guys physically what's on the ground, what's happening. Um, so I'm happy to say we had a slowdown in September with the technical issues. Um, and then we also had to go through and kind of tweak the way we do our permits, but we've got this to a point now where I'm I'm hoping that we kind of give you guys these either on a quarterly basis or at least on an annual basis to to kind of see where everything is coming in. Um, and um, you take a second to look at that. The uh, residential um, we broke those

out between uh, attached and detached. So your single family homes, detached are in yellow. your uh detached or in orange. Um and then your different types of non-residential um nonprofit community, those could be schools. Um it could be um we have a lot of HOA properties um that get built. Um those types of things, churches, those types of things would be in the green. Uh commercial retail, which you would typically associate with most of your stores. Um and then service. Um like I said, the uh storage areas, stuff like that. um would go in there. But you can kind of see where that cluster is happening up there. U Madison Park um and uh Prescott area primarily. Um and that's it. Um like I said, we've got more data. We're able to pull together uh a lot more information for this a little bit quicker now. So um as we move on, if you want other things to go into this, if we're capable of producing that for you, we'll be happy to try.

Thank you. I'm a fan of charts and graphs and maps. So, great work. Thanks. Appreciate it. Who doesn't like a pie chart? [gasps] All righty. Any commissioner comments this evening? Uh, just a week in advance, I'm going to say happy St. Patrick's Day. Um, especially to those with Irish heritage and, uh, enjoy. Thank you. All righty. Well, with that, I would like to go ahead and get a motion then to move into close session. So, can I get a motion to move into close session pursuant to NCGS143-318.11A3?

All in favor? I Richard said so. All right. Any opposed? Hearing none. Motion carries. All righty. We are now in close session. Thank you.

session. So moved. All in favor? I to motion to adjurnn. All in victim. I thank you very much. He stole my daughter, Daniel. He stole my