Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Everybody, thank you very much for coming. Like to welcome you all to this April 4th board of commissioners meeting for the town of Waxaw. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence to give thanks and praise. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Alrighty, let's go ahead and kick things off. Uh, adoption of the agenda. Were there any amendments or adjustments to tonight's agenda? And all the stuff we discussed earlier has been

Mayor on it's on the motion sheet. Yes, it's on the motion sheet. Yes, sir.

Thank you very much. So, we have two items on the agenda. the uh removal of the recognition of the America 250 and that is item recognition G2 that will be postponed until May 12th. And then we have Commissioner Dant's request to add the memo to our South Carolina Governor McMaster. And we will be adding that to Where were we going to put that, Barbie? Would that be a new business item?

Actually, that will go with the um um I think H J4. Hold on. Yeah. Um J4. Oh yeah, that will go with that that item.

Any other adjustments or amendments to tonight's agenda? Hearing none, then can I get a motion to adopt tonight's agenda as amended? So moved. All in favor? I I. Any opposed? Hearing none, the motion carries. Tonight's agenda is now adopted. Uh, next up, we have general public comments. Uh, we have three folks that signed up for public comments this evening. You have three minutes. We ask you to address your comments to the board as a whole and keep them civil. We're airing this on YouTube, so kids are watching. So, first up tonight, we have a Mr. Harold Schumacher. Good evening. I promise to be civil.

I'm here to support the resolutions Commissioner Daunt is recommending. The term flidation is the sanitized word for diluting hazardous industrial waste into the public water supply. What specifically is it that turns industrial waste into a water treatment product? Simply productization. And untreated waste is now magically a water treatment chemical. After productization, mentioning the words industrial waste becomes forbidden because the rebranding only works if everyone plays along. Waxaw residents know how much havoc three captured commissioners can create. The Kataba River Water Supply Project provides twothirds of Union County's water, including Waxaw, and also serves Lancaster County. That board is made up of three members from Union County and three members from Lancaster Water and Sewer District. The three Lancaster Kataba members are refusing to consider the desire of Union County to end this practice. Even though Union County represents the majority of Kataba's water customers, we were told the benefits of drive the benefit driving flidation is about reducing cavities by 25% which translates into about one half of a cavity per child. Think about that. If half a cavity per child was really the goal, how did waste disposal become the solution? Half a cavity didn't go looking for industrial waste. But waste found its way into our water. Hydrophilic acid is is difficult and costly to dispose of and almost none of it actually goes through the regulated disposal process. The vast majority is sold to municipalities to dilute into the public water supply. The CDC calls flidation one of the top 10 public health achievements of the 20th century. I'd ask you to compare that claim to the actual benefit, half a cavity per child, forcing a population to ingest industrial waste without individual

consent for a marginal and highly debated benefit with a growing body of science showing significant harm isn't a top 10 achievement. It's a top 10 breach of public trust. Judge Chen in the federal uh fluoride trial agreed, ruling that fluidation poses an unreasonable risk to children. Beyond IQ loss in children, dozens of studies document harm across 12 areas of human health. Continuing this practice is a willful disregard for public health. I ask you to support the North Carolina and South Carolina legis legislative resolutions and I encourage the solution the resolution for the South Carolina government as well as he appoints the Lancaster board members currently blocking Union County's effort to end this practice and that appointment structure undermines representation. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Thank you, Mr. Schmoker. Next up, we have Maria Reid. Good evening. I'm Maria Reed and I live in Wako. I'm here to support the resolution stop the Maria fl I'm sorry the mic. Thank you. Um

I'm Maria Reed and I live in WoW. I'm here to support the um the resolution to end fluidation uh water fluidation. Only 5% of the world's population fluidate their water. There are more people drinking fluoridated water in the United States than the rest of the world combined. Fluoride is the only chemical added to treat people who consume the water rather than the water itself. This is done without our consent. Fluoridating water supplies is a form of mass medication which is why the most countries have rejected the practice. It's a shame that in the greatest country of the world, the land of the free, this forced mass medication is still allowed. The industrial byproducts of the phosphate fertilizer industry that's added to our water undergoes no purification procedures. Batch samples and certificates of analysis that accompany shipments of fluidation additives revealed that they're often contaminated with elevated levels of harmful toxin toxins including lead, aluminum, and arsenic. Furthermore, the addition of this industrial byproduct to water is a risk factor for elevated lead expo exposure due to the extreme acidity of silico fluorides. They can increase corrosion of the water infrastructure resulting the inlet leeching of heavy metals from pipes and fixtures into the water that residents rely on on for drinking, cooking and bottlefeeding their infants. Moreover, the corrosive nature of fluidation chemicals requires the introduction of an additional treatment chemical to the drinking water to inhibit corrosion called orthrophosphates. So in the end, in addition to to the fluoride chemicals, we are consuming a whole bunch of other toxic heavy metals. And for what? To possibly prevent a tooth cavity. There are plenty of

pharmaceutical grade fluoride products available in the stores for that, such as fluoridated toothpaste and fluoridated mouthwash. No dentist in their right mind would treat patients with the type of fluoride that's added to our water. we risk getting cancer or a neurological illness because of a possible cavity. I personally would rather risk getting a cavity, but I'm not given this choice unfortunately because someone else made this medical choice for me. We are forced to be slowly but surely sickened with this toxins. This should be a crime. Please support the resolution to end water fluidation with industrial waste byproducts. Thank you. Thank you, Maria. Uh, next up we have Abigail Praau.

Good evening. I'm here tonight because I would like to speak about a growing body of research examining the detrimental health effects of fluoride exposure, particularly on children's brain development. A 2025 study published in Jamba Pediatrics reviewed data from over 74 studies across multiple countries. It found a statistically significant association between higher fluoride exposure and lower IQ scores in children. The researchers also identified a dose response relationship, meaning that as fluoride exposure increased, IQ scores tended to decrease. On average, for every 1 milligram per liter increase in fluoride, I score IQ scores dropped by one to two points. Beyond IQ, scientists have raised concerns about broader effects on brain development, including learning ability and behavioral issues. Research suggests that fluoride may affect the brain through oxidative stress, disruption of thyroid hormones, and interference with how brain cells communicate. All processes that are extremely critical during early childhood development. There are also concerns about contaminants associated with fluidation chemicals, including arsenic and lead. The Environmental Protection Agency has set a health goal of zero for both chemicals due to their toxicity. Arsenic is a known carcinogen and lead exposure even at very low levels is linked to reduced IQ, developmental delays and lifelong learning challenges in children. Taken altogether, this evidence points to a consistent concern that higher fluoride fluoride exposure has many harmful effects on brain development along with increased potential risk for related contaminants. When the issue is something as fundamental as brain development in children, even small risk deserves serious attention. For these reasons, I respectfully ask this board to prioritize the health and safety of our community by supporting the two resolutions proposed by Commissioner Don. Thank you'all.

Thank you, Miss Praau. Um, that is all for tonight's public comments. Um, I will just add one little comment to flavor this argument a little bit. Um, if you look up the active ingredients to your fluoride toothpaste, your chewable fluoride tablets you gave your children, that is sodium fluoride. Sodium fluoride. If you look up the fluoridation that is being done to our water, that is fluorocyic acid. Fluorocyic acid is not sodium fluoride. It is not a pharmaceutical grade fluoride that you would actually consume. So they are two different things and that's the main point that a lot of folks are getting at when we talk about fluoridating our waters is it's two different things. Anywh who next up we have board of commissioners response. That was my response. Any other responses from our commissioners?

I just wanted to say thank you. I agree with all the comments. All righty. Next up, we have our consent agenda. Uh, tonight I would like to get a motion to adopt our consent agenda. So moved. All in favor? I.

Any opposed? Hearing? None. This motion carries. Next up, we have recognitions. Uh, we have a police recognition tonight. Chief Dex Wilson. Who do we got? Good evening. We're here tonight to recognize Ken Wall, who has been with the Waxaw Police Department for 5 years now. Ken retired from the NYPD. Uh, and he came to us five years ago. And with a total of 36 years of law enforcement experience, I'd say we got a good one. Uh, anybody knows Ken knows that Ken is probably one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. uh did patrol for many years and now he uh does animal control for the police department. We appreciate you, Ken. Thank you for your five years.

I thank you very much.

Thank you for everybody here and I I love Waxaw. Thank you for making it what it is. I'm just happy to do my part and great chief and thank you for all your service, Ken. are definitely a pleasure to see around town. All righty. Next up, we have our town's excellence in communication award presented by Mr. Bradley Lour. Hello. Thank you. And uh spot on on the pronunciation of my last name. Thank you.

Good evening, Board of Commissioners. I'm Bradley Lucor, your public information officer and communications manager. Tonight, I'm proud to report that the town of Waxaw received two awards at the North Carolina City and County Communicators, also known as NC3C conference last week during the Excellence in Communications Awards. The town won. I have to hold this. There's not a thing to hold it up. Uh, second place in the category digital external newsletter for the Waxaw Happenings newsletter. For those of you who don't know, Waxaw Happenings is published once a month and includes news, upcoming events, and other helpful information about our town. And anyone can sign up by visiting waxaw.com/newsletter right now. That's waxaw.com/newsletter. The town also won third place in the category citizen participation for the video we made in December where a resident thanks several of our public services team members for going above and beyond to help him during the leaf season. This year was the largest competition NC3C has ever had with 266 award submissions from across the state. The town of Waxaw submitted for two awards and placed in both of them, giving us a 100% return on investment. I'd like to thank all of the staff for their hard work for what goes into our collective town communications. Also, thank you to town manager Scott Dadson for his support. And of course, thank you to all of you, the board, for your support. I'm proud to serve a town that values its connection with residents and I'm very grateful to serve as your communications manager. Thank you.

Oh, get your picture, Brad. Congratulations to you and the team and I think it is a team effort. I all the communication that I see coming out of the staff, it's obvious that the entire staff is participating and it's it's been very helpful. So, thank you. All righty. Next up for presentations, we have the presentation of the public art committee crosswalk mural selection. Miss Sarah.

Hello. All right. Good evening, mayor, commissioners. My name is Sarah Clapper, and I'm the current chair of the public art committee here in Waxaw. I am here tonight to talk to you about um the two crosswalks painted at the intersection of Nesbbit and Bridick Road um at the entrance to the Kensington Elementary School. This intersection receives a lot of pedestrian traffic from kids and families walking to school and people people walking to the HC Nesbbit Park. The public art committee wanted to add some public art to this intersection while also drawing attention to the crossing areas for the pedestrians. Um, how do I Oh, thank you. Okay. Sorry, I'm not don't know how to work the clicker. Um, this is the location of the crosswalk. The public art committee decided to create an art contest open to the Kensington Elementary students who were in grades three through five where students could create artwork that would be painted in the crosswalk. There were some parameters including the theme must be related to nature, sports or school pride and it must follow certain traffic rules in including no words, no 3D imagery and no traffic related colors.

Okay. We received over 30 entries back from Kensington Elementary School. Each entry was discussed and viewed by the public art committee. The PAC judged each entry based on the criteria provided and chose fourth grader Bernardo Benelli for his fun sports and schools themed artwork. He and his family are here today and we would like to recognize this young man and his artistic talents. We're excited to have this partnership with Kensington Elementary and to have the opportunity to showcase our talented students here at Student Artists here in Wagsaw. We'd also like to welcome um um Bernardo's art teacher, Miss Carolene

and um also um assistant principal Samantha Gabriel. Okay. Um they're both in attendance. The mural will be painted um by this summer when we have less traffic after school is already out. The project should take about a week, whether depending it will we will be done as a community build. We are looking forward to seeing the final project and appreciate the collaboration with the Kensington Elementary School. And with that, I'd like to close. Are there any questions? Comments or questions from the board? No questions. I just wanted to say thank you. That was a really great representation of uh school and fun put together. I like the representation of all the sports.

He is an amazing artist and I really do like the addition of the book and the pencil. Just the pencil is my favorite. Okay. Well, thank you everybody. I appreciate it. It's very thoughtful. Congratulations, Bernard. Great job. Great job teacher. Oh, yeah. Sure. Thank you.

All righty. Next up for presentations, we have the Ginger Snap 5K. Good evening. Um, my name is Carrie Goule. I'm the executive director of Girls on the Run of Union County and McGomery counties. It's my board chair, Terry Evans, and our program manager, Emily Sauls. We appreciate the opportunity to come and speak with you about the gender snap 5K and our partnership with the town of Waxaw. For those of you who don't know, uh, Girls on the Run is a youth empowerment program that is offered to girls third through eighth grade. And even though running's in the name, it's not just about running. U, the 5K that we do is a culmination of a 10-week program led by coaches uh that uh teach girls to uh to empower themselves, to make goals. And a lot of times for these girls, this is the first time they've ever set a goal like this. So, we teach girls is they don't have to run. It's just about completing the 5K. And um this is where the town comes into play. We have um so we are 20 years old. Our council is 20 years old and Girls on the Run is actually 30 years old. We were started in Charlotte 30 years ago and went from 13 girls to now over two million girls in every state and actually technically international because of Canada. We're in Canada now too. So in just in Union County, we've served over 20,000 girls. We've given over 5,800 scholarships and we've given out $67,000 u of scholarships in the last 20 years to girls. We never want finances to be a barrier for girls that to want to participate in our program. So we offer financial assistance to anyone who needs it. So clicker. Okay. So we do have a program but we do have trained coaches. Most of them are uh teachers or people in the school system

or parents and uh we do have a physical component to it but it really is about um promoting life skills and teaching the girls um to have a healthy lifestyle. So where does our partnership have with the town of Waxaw? Um, in the fall we have the Ginger Snap uh 5K and we would not be able to do this event without the partnership that we have with the town of Waxall. From logistics to um traffic control to police presence and just everyday um you know just planning and day of chaos, we would not be able to have this. And if you've never been, I encourage you to go. It's the Saturday before Thanksgiving every year and it's a wonderful event. And I don't know if you can see some of the faces. If you've um if you've never seen someone cross a finish line for the first time, it is just really amazing. And this is where a lot of these girls realize that they can do hard things and they can set a goal and work towards it. And it's just a really amazing thing to watch. And so we would like to thank the town for um for their partnership. We couldn't do this without you. And we just wanted to offer a a small token uh of our appreciation on behalf of our board and our staff and um all of the girls that we have celebrated with with the town of Waxaw Waxaw over the years. Um we would like to offer you this check for $5,000. So, thank you so much for your support. Well, on behalf of the town of Waxaw, it's a pleasure to help and serve Girls on the Run as much as we can. So, we're glad to see this is one of our many successful events every year. So, thank you.

Next up, we have a presentation on our FY25 audit report. Mr. Nick Wicker. Hold on to your hat, folks. This is where the meeting gets really exciting.

Just to speak to that a little bit. You know, I feel like I always have to follow something nice and fun. People clap, get their picture taken. Nobody ever takes my picture and nobody ever claps. So, extremely disappointed for that.

I don't know. Give us a big check. See what happens. Right. Right. There's the idea there. So, first and foremost, on behalf of Strickland Hardy, I would like to thank each and every one of you for the opportunity to serve the citizens of the town of Waxaw. Um, and I am Nick Wicker. I'm the director of governmental services with our firm. So, just to hop down into it and okay, that's self-explanatory. So, the services we've performed are the annual audit of the financial statements. We have assisted with the preparation of the financial statements and reported to management on observations and recommendations for improvements, consultation on accounting matters as requested and then attendance at board meetings as requested. So we are independent in accordance with yellowbook 2018 and thus we can appine over the financial statements. There have been no impairment factors. Um we express an unmodified opinion over your basic financial statements. That's what we commonly refer to as a clean opinion in the industry and that's ultimately what you guys are striving for. We did perform a single audit for FY2025. The major program we tested was POW bill and we also express an unmodified opinion for the single audit. So your required supplementary information included in the financial statements consist of the management's discussion and analysis. The town's proportionate share of the net pension liability and asset elders. the town's contributions to elders and then the changes in the town's total pension liability for LEOSA and that is your law enforcement officer special separation allowance and then the town's total pension liability as a percentage of covered payroll for LEOSA. I mentioned this to say that RSI is not subjected to the same audit procedures as your basic financial statements and thus we have not provided any assurance over them. Um your other supplementary information consists of the budget and actual schedules, the combining schedules and then your other tax schedules. We did assess one material weakness for

the year 2025001 budgetary controls and that is a repeat finding from FY24. We did not assess any significant deficiencies and we noted no other recommendations. Do you'all have any questions about that? Any questions from the board? No deficiencies, no recommendations. Sounds like good news to me.

So, here we have the AUC 260. This is required communication with governance at the conclusion of the audit. And I'm not going to read this letter to you verbatim, but I do want to point out one thing here for FY2025. We did implement Gazsb statement standard number 101, compensated absences. And what that really accomplished is previously only annual leave acred vacation was recognized as a liability in your financial statements. With the implementation of Gazsby 101, now other leave types are also being recognized as liabilities if they meet certain criteria. Um in the case of the town of Waxaw, we added sick leave was the primary addition this year. Um any questions there? Perfect. So, that's really the only thing I want to point out on this page. I would also like to say that we not we did not encounter any difficulties in dealing with management. We had no disagreements about encounting policies and procedures in practice. And then the next letter we'll look at is the AUC 265 and that's the communication of material weaknesses and significant deficiencies. We've already mentioned the material weakness. We assessed for budgetary controls and we did not assess any other significant deficiencies. Do y'all have any questions about those? Outstanding. So getting into the trends, this is what really matters. So looking at your governmental fund balance for the last five fiscal years, your general fund as compared to FY2024 had a decrease of $553,264. That's approximately 2.3%. and all other funds had a decrease of $982,58. That's an approximate decrease of 7.3%. So in totality, your governmental fund balance had a decrease of 1,535,322

or 4.1%. The key factors here is this decrease is primarily driven by planned capital spending. Any questions here? We'll go a little bit more into the details of your fund balance on the next one. I was just going to add that that planned capital spending. You're talking about the building of the town hall campus, correct? Correct. And your other capital projects that are ongoing.

Looking at your governmental fund balance by category for the last five fiscal years, your non-spendable fund balance did not change. And that consists of pre prepaid items, what we call prepaid expenses and inventory. Your restricted fund balance had a decrease of $4,762,141 or 25.3%. Committed fund balance had an increase of $3,195 or 1.9%. Your assigned fund balance had an increase of $100,693 or 9.7%. And your unassigned fund balance had an increase of $3,122,931 or 17.8%. And then again in totality um fund balance had a decrease of $1,535,322. And so so this really indicates the transition now from the construction phase like the town hall um to the actual operating phase and your liquidity profile improved. And I would like to point out here that the 20,76,796 that is what is actually available to appropriate from us governance. Any questions there? Looking at your governmental revenues by source for the last five fiscal years, your advalorum taxes had an increase of $238,71 or 1.8%. Your other taxes had a decrease of $18,327 or 4.2%. 2%. Your intergovernmental revenues had a decrease of $4,431,614 or 32.2%. And your other revenues had an increase of $521,427 or 24.6%. So in totality, as compared to FY2024, your revenues had a decrease of 3,690,443

or 12.6%. Key points here. Your decline was driven by one-time grants expiring such as the state appropriations, tap grants, um, ARPA funding. Property tax growth remained stable and other changes were driven in for your other revenues, those changes were primarily driven by building inspection fees.

So that intergovernmental as it came up, those were grants that were received and then yes, these are payouts that have occurred. So your intergovernmental really consists of unrestricted intergovernmental and restricted intergovernmental. And typically your grants that you receive for capital projects or such type things are going to be restricted into intergovernmental revenue. And so those are consolidated in here as one line item. But in your actual basic financial statements it's broken out into two. And sales tax is that intergovernmental or is that one? So your sales tax is included in intergovernmental. So you're talking about your local option sales tax. Yes sir. That is correct. Okay. So just to highlight this is not a reduction in our sales tax revenues. This is just a movement of funds from grants basically.

No, you're you're you actually had an increase in your local option sales tax revenue for FY25 as compared to FY24. Great.

Yep. Thank you. Looking at your governmental expenditures for the last five fiscal years as compared to FY2024, your general government expenditures had an increase of $783,272 or 22.8%. Public safety had an increase of $559,674 or 12.7%. Economic and community development had an increase of $449,250 or 19.1%. Culture and recreation had a decrease of $199,844 or 7.9%. Public service and transportation had an increase of $91,355 or 4.1%. Environmental protection had an increase of $197,04 or 10.6%. Capital Outlay had a decrease of 12,936,931 which was roughly 69.8%. And then debt service had an increase of $25,516 or roughly.9%. So in totality, your um governmental expenditures had a decrease of $1,30,74 as compared to FY2024. The general government increase was primarily due to facilities management expenses. The public safety was primarily due to salaries related benefits and capital vehicles. Economic development was primarily due to professional services and computer software. Culture and recreation. I can't read my own handwriting. I think it says decrease in capital equipment. And you know the biggest change here was your capital outlay. And that biggest change is due to the completion of the town campus. Any questions here?

Now looking at just your general fund fund balance by category for the last five fiscal years. Again, there was no change in non-spendable. Your restricted had a decrease of $4,52,49 or 61.3%. and your unassigned had an increase of $3,498,785 or 20%. So in totality, your general fund fund balance had a decrease of $553,264 or 2.3%. Um the LGC fund balance available, the 88.96, that actually comes from the LGC's data input report. My calculation is roughly a percent higher than their calculation. I don't have an explanation as to why. Um, any questions on that? Looking at your general fund revenues by source, your avalorum taxes had an increase of $238,71. Other taxes had an increase of $476. Intergovernmental had an increase of $924,15 or 13.1% and other had an increase of $619,697 or 33.7%. So in totality your revenues had an increase as compared to FY24 of 1,782,259 which also turned out to be 8.1%. So your operating revenues grew strongly and the ABC distributions contributed materially to the change for your intergovernmental. Any questions here? Outstanding. Looking at your general fund expenditures for the last five fiscal years, your general government had an increase of $840,780 or 24.9%. Public safety had an increase of $655,415

or 15.2%. Economic and community development had an increase of $379,12 16 which is 16.4%. Culture and recreation had an increase of $37,220 or 1.6%. Public service and transportation had a decrease of $86,55 or 5.1%. Environmental protection had an increase of $197,04 or 10.6%. Capital outlay had a decrease of $524,000 $524,944 which is 100% as compared to FY24. And then debt service had an increase of $25,516 or roughly 1%. So in totality, your general fund expenditures increased 1,523,588 as compared to FY24. And that represents an 8.1% growth. So your expenditure growth and your revenue growth match, which is outstanding. That means you are budgeting appropriately. um your operating balance is preserved and the increases were obviously planned for. Any questions there? And looking at your general funds working capital for the last five fiscal year, your increase in current assets as compared to FY24 was 3,339,313 or 14.7%. Current liabilities went up $112,477. Working capital increased $3,226,836 and your working capital ratio had an increase of 0.93 as compared to FY24. So your liquidity strengthened the ratio remains exceptionally strong and short-term fiscal short-term fiscal risk of the

town is very low. So there's that. Um any questions? Any questions from the board? All righty. All right. Well, I appreciate the opportunity to be here tonight. I hope the rest of the meeting goes well. I'm going to turn around and get my picture taken. Hopefully, a round of applause. And thank you all so much. I hope you have a blessed evening.

Thank you. You too. All righty. Where are we at? That was mindboggling. All righty. Next up, we have the presentation of the Waxaw Capital Improvements Policy. Scott,

good evening, uh, mayor and, uh, commissioners. Uh, tonight, um, we're going to give an overview of the CIP or the capital improvement plan for fiscal years 27 through 2031. Um when the board uh will consider this, we'll be at your work session. You'll have those discussions then uh and we'll provide you with even more detail between now and then uh for you to have those discussions about each of the plans and uh the cost and and those kinds of things. Uh so you'll do a work session then and then after that um we will recommend uh whatever changes and modifications you want to the plan you adopt it by resolution. Adopting by resolution makes it a plan not an ordinance. Based upon that though we will be able to craft CIP ordinances your general fund budget ordinances as well as your capital reserve budget ordinance as well. Uh that's an additional thing that we're adding uh for you folks so that we're capturing your assigned and committed and um restricted funds that are for specific capital projects and the like uh within your current fund balances. So that's the kind of work you have ahead of you prior to you getting to your budget. So um I think it's a good exercise to be going through these things anyways. capital is driving somewhere around 2 and a half to three million a year in your investment strategies. As the auditor noted, um uh the large sum that came off of that large number came from when the um bond proceeds to build uh buildings such as this and the public service building then converted over to debt. So that you spend those down then that converts to your debt service as you move forward. Um and that's where a lot of that came

from as well as ARPA. ARPA was still a spendown. Matter of fact, I think our final reporting on ARPA uh which were funds that were actually received 22 23 somewhere in that range 21 22 23 um will be accounted for in this fiscal budget as well. So the auditor will be picking up on that and you'll get a good accounting on how those funds were spent as well. So that that had a lot to do with uh large amounts of spending over time, one-time dollars. So uh what's a capital improvement plan for those uh who need to know uh in the audience as well as online? Um your capital improvement plan, it's a five-year planning tool. So it gives the board an idea to dictate where it sees where staff believes it sees the needed investments in capital. Now this kind of capital in a plan is over um a certain dollar amount and uh lasts longer than a year. For example, purchase of property or uh buying uh very expensive piece of equipment. A firet truck is a long-term capital, but a police car may be a capital outlay because it's less than a dollar amount. Even if you buy 10 of them, that sits more in your outlay or your general operating expenditures. Longer term expenses are buildings, roads, um a parks, a lot of the work that you folks have been doing that have larger ticket items, generally construction projects, land purchases, and uh facility development. So, um the five-year planning tool uh tries to forecast those major capital needs and aligns them with your value sets. So the way we did this this year is we tried to ha take your um uh uh retreat and the process that we worked in as a staff with you and tried to prioritize spending over the next five years as a recommended draft to you folks. So what

we're trying to do is have a good understanding over the next five years about what our long range financial planning should be. What portion of your budget should be there? um what kinds of methods do you folks want to do uh that would improve the town's uh financial capacity and get you ahead on your infrastructure investments. We also want to provide a framework for decision- making and budget prioritization. So you may move things to outer years or move things up those kinds of things where you may not feel those priorities are correct and you may have another set of priorities. The board gets that opportunity to review those drafts and make those kinds of decisions. So um what we're doing today is reviewing the CIP process. Uh a few of the departmental request overviews. These are highlevel uh views. And then at your work session, you'll start diving into the to the numbers themselves. Uh what that fiscal impact summary looks like. In other words, the total cost and operating impacts. We tried to tie operating impacts back to capital investment for you folks. uh in our opinion and our uh recommendation to you folks and uh from there we have a good planning tool. So uh when you folks sit down you're looking at not only the projects and their needs but their cost or their estimated cost at this point point in time um and how they affect operations and uh town services and quality of life. So in the engineering and when we say engineering we're also talking about traffic transportation a lot of those kinds of investments are in these numbers. Uh we have a total of 15 projects and about 7.05 million in estimated cost. This is your transportation and connectivity priorities. Uh major projects in there

include uh monies that you have been saving for. So, you have money in reserve positions for some of these things as well as future costs that you'll have to consider such as Helms Road Extension. Uh that's the design uh ride ofway and construction. Right now, we're in design. Uh so, you've been funding that portion and you've already saved up half of construction. So, there's rightway to go and then the other half of construction once design comes back. Um, the next one is, um, I'm not going to go through the U and and those labels, but the NC 16 multi-use path, um, at 900,000, uh, North Carolina 16 turn lane and intersection improvements at 723,000 and various traffic, signal, and pedestrian improvements. So, that's a highlight of some of the projects, and you've been dealing with those when you've been developing funds such as the Broom Street project or the Helm Street project. um o over the past year uh but now we're putting them in there and now they have future costs to finish. So those are included as well. In parks and recreation, we have a total of 32 projects at around 5.37 million of estimated cost and this uh aligns in a priority focus of infrastructure and connectivity. These are things like greenway connectivity and pedestrian infrastructure, park lighting, safety and ADA compliance improvements. Our one large park um for active play is, you know, for example, Nesbbit and then of course we have the downtown park and other uh uh uh improvements around town uh that continually need in uh capital investment in them. essential amenities such as restrooms, shade structures, those kinds of things. And then emergency preparedness and life safety systems. So, um you'll review those.

And then the last one is in public services. You're looking at a total of two projects and what we've put in there is around 330,000 in estimated cost and that's in the police department roof replacement. will have to life cycle um that roof um around we've estimated around 250,000 and then you see how there's a skid steer and it's above 50,000 it's at 80 so that's when we move those kinds of cost into your CIP and your longer term um uh issues if the skid steer was 20,000 it'd be part of operating so it's it's kind of one of those things now um I in the plan, you have a total fiscal impact between 27 and 31 fiscal years of about 12.75 million. Uh, and this is how they break down. 55% in engineering, those are big facilities and transportation and traffic, parks and recreation at 42% and public services at 3%. So what we asked staff to do uh in preparing uh this for your consideration and review is we asked them to align and and address board priorities. And we've put four of them up here so that they've tried to categorize most of the investments in these four categories. Infrastructure capacity not keeping pace with growth. So trying to catch up with those things. Think transportation. Um capital improvement needs and backlog. those things that have been sitting for years that haven't moved up um or are now finally at that point where they need to get in front of you folks for for investment. Transportation, traffic, and connectivity constraints. U that's our number one popular thing around here is is fixing getting around. Um long-term fiscal sustainability and cost pressures. A lot of that asset management work. Um uh for example, roof

replacements and things like that. uh we are we have developed an internal asset management team inside and we're working on those kinds of things. So we'll hopefully be able to bring that to bear with the board so that we can show that we're trying to uh keep on top of things not let them go out from under us. So today it's just a 30,000 foot view uh your work sessions on April 28th. um lots of detail in your packet, lots of detail to be discussed. Then um based upon the outcome of that and what action you take on the plan, that'll help inform our uh the CIP budget ordinance as well as the operating ordinance. Um and again, our recommendation is going to be that you pass that through a resolution so it becomes your policy. Um, we have actually never formally adopted a five-year, although it's always been included in your budgets, uh, as a planning tool in there. Uh, this would be an adoption by the board of it as a policy statement. So, I want you to think about that as you're going through your plan, um, and going through your steps. Questions?

Questions from the board? Nope. Um so once we go through this in the work session is about is it about prioritizing at that point or is it about these are the projects we'd like to get to we may or may not get to them. Yeah this is our recommendation to you for the next five years of investment strategy. Um I think the board is looking at a couple of things. One does that meet your priorities

and uh does it meet where you folks believe investment should be made? This these are our recommendations. These are the things we see on a day-to-day basis, but do they meet your priorities uh from the elected p uh officials perspective? Secondly, when you go through that, you may question, you may rearrange time. Uh you may not want things in that list. Uh and so we'll have an opportunity to have a conversation with you and answer questions and help the board work through that. If the board feels it needs to keep studying it, then we're committed to being at the table to help you through that. Um, this is as we see our asset management and and the investment strategies as well as prior commitments that you have made to road construction is a good example of prior commitments.

Okay. Thanks. Great. Thank you, Mr. Dodson. All righty. Next up, old business. We have this final decision to make tonight regarding the Red Oak Trail parking regulations and ordinance amendments. Mr. Mr. James Kelly, come on down.

Well, good evening. Tonight we are presenting the um final drawings for the Red Oaks Trails parking revisions along that section of Red Oaks near the intersection of NC16. Um the action requested this evening is to uh recommend approval for these site drawings. But before we get there, um you should all have an 11 by17 sheet in front of you which details the the proposed modifications. Um one update to let the board know is last time during your work session we discussed the ADA parking staff had to take some additional time to uh review that and we we looked at the ADA codes and the ADA codes um say that the ADA spot has to be the closest and most accessible. So, we weren't able to uh accommodate the board's request on having the ADA spot located to the west of the driveway. So, we're still having to meet those codes. So, we propose the ADA spot on the north side of the roadway, just east of the driveway because that does provide the closest and most accessible um option to meet those codes. Um besides that, everything else remains the same. You have eight parking spots on the south side of the road. you have your midblock crossing crossing in there with your signage um striping to go along with it. Um there's also an engineering study within your agenda packet to support that midblock crossing. So you have that as well. Um happy to take any questions. Oh, one more thing. The total cost estimated cost is approximately 25,000. And I know that while that may sound like a lot, when you break it down, uh it's really a lot of that cost is your ADA um access meeting that ADA requirements and ADA code. So if you think about it, you know, an ADA ramp cost you about 2500 to 3,000 per ramp. You have four here. So if you do the math, you're math, you're already at 50% of that cost. Um you're adding some ADA parking facilities there to support that. A lot of your cost is already built in to meet those ADA standards.

iding signage. We uh staff did explore some cost savings opportunities um in particular when it comes to the street lights. So uh we reached out to some some Duke folks for to get some estimated costs and we found a more viable and more um cost-effective solution. So, we're implementing a uh solar powered lights there um to help illuminate the crossings uh the two crossings, the first crossing at NC16 and the second crossing at the midblock um at a third of the cost of what uh Duke had requested. So, there is some there's some cost savings there. Um besides that, happy to take any questions. Any questions from the board?

Mr. Mayor, I'd just like to say thank you to staff. I'd like to say thank you to the residents that participated in two input sessions um to uh voice their concerns. Uh staff heard us. Um we have a great small pride of ownership community. Um the Oaks on Providence and Red Oaks Trail. We love walking in our community. Uh it's a mixed generation. Um older families, uh original owners, newer, younger families walking that neighborhood. This brings vital pedestrian safety at a very busy intersection with a commercial aspect now at the front of it. Um, it added a dynamic that we just voiced a concern about as a whole as a community and I just gratefully appreciate staff's time and consideration on this issue and I know that I think this has addressed a lot of the community's bullet points discussed with staff.

Thank you. Any other comments? All righty. Hearing none, then after reviewing and re-reviewing and drawing and redrawing, could I get a motion to approve the newly modified parking layout marking option B, parking regulations for the Red Oak Trail, as presented? So moved. All in favor? I opposed. Glad we could finally come to an agreement on this one. This motion carries. Thanks again, James, for you and all your hard work, for your time and engineering on this, James. All righty. Next up, we have the approval for the process of the sale of the town owned property. Uh, Allar, you have a presentation for us.

Hi, good evening. Just a little bit. All right. Okay. Okay. So, tonight I'm going to be proposing uh or presenting a proposed framework for how the town can move forward uh with the Salem redevelopment of two town owned properties uh at a key gateway into downtown. Uh so, the purpose of tonight uh the goal is to walk through the proposed approach uh for the sale of these properties using an RFP process. So, I'll review the the framework, proposed evaluation criteria, and the timeline and then gather your feedback and direction before requesting approval to move forward. So, the opportunity here is these are two town-owned parcels in a highly visible gateway into downtown. This gives us the unique ability to guide what happens here in a way that aligns with the downtown master plan, supports local businesses, and creates a positive ripple effect for surrounding properties. So, this process is open to a range of interested parties, including local businesses, property owners, or development teams. So, the subject properties. So, these are the town-owned parcels located at 321 North Broom Street and 316 North Church Street. They sit an important entry point into downtown and are positioned to influence future development patterns. So, full paral details and technical information will be included in the formal RFP. And that takes us to what is an RFP. So, a request for proposals is a structured competitive process that is used to solicit redevelopment concepts. So rather than focusing solely on price, it allows you to evaluate a how a site will be developed, including design, use, timeline, and financial capacity. So why use an RFP? This approach allows us to evaluate beyond just the purchase price and instead prioritize quality, long-term impact, and alignment with community goals. It helps ensure that we are selecting a team that has the ability to successfully deliver the project. So really just protects us from

selling to the highest bidder but getting the wrong project. And the development goals for this project. So these are the outcomes that we're trying to achieve. So this would be more commercial activities, stronger support for local businesses, improved walkability and a stronger tax base. So these priorities will guide how the proposals are evaluated. So some key components in the RFP. The RFP will include all necessary information for interested teams to prepare a complete proposal. This includes site details, constraints, development expectations, submission requirements, evaluation criteria, and a clear process and timeline. We'll also include a draft development agreement terms. So expectations are clear upfront and a part of those submission requirements. So proposals should include all necess proposals need to include um they'll need to clearly outline the vision for the site proposed uses design approach and overall investment. They'll need to demonstrate a realistic timeline and the financial capacity to complete the project and some baseline expectations. So in addition to those submission requirements, these are some of those baselines expectations that we would like them to include. alignment with the talent design standards, a commercial component, and the ability to demonstrate both financial capacity and the ability to deliver the project within a defined timeline. So, something I would like you to consider is the parcel strategy. We are proposing to allow flexibility for proposals on both one or both parcels. However, there is a preference for unified development across both parcels to create a more cohesive and impactful gateway. Otherwise, we risk two unrelated projects that do not work together. So the evaluation criteria proposals will be evaluated based on experience, quality of the concept, financial feasibility, alignment with town goals, and the overall value. So purchase price is still a part of that equation, but it's not the only factor. Just allows for a more balanced and strategic

selection process. So that process overview and timeline once issued, the RFP will include a site visit opportunity and a public Q&A period. Proposals will be due after a 45day submission window and will be publicly received and shared. The board will have time to review followed by a p public work session discussion before a final selection is made. But after that the selection is not the end of the process. So following the selection a development agreement will be negotiated and brought back for board approval. This agreement sets expectations for design timeline and performance and includes protections such as financing requirements and reversion clauses to ensure the project is delivered. So this ensures that the project you select is the project that gets built and that the property is developed rather than held. So I just wanted to get your feedback on a few key items. Uh just wanted to check if these are the right priorities and development goals and if you support encouraging a unified project and are the evaluation criteria appropriate. So welcome any input on uses, priorities or expectations that we would like to see reflected in the RFP or answer any questions.

Questions from the board. Commissioner Don. Yeah, I noticed a few slides ago it said mixed use or commercial. Um, but I think we're really just looking for commercial, right? I mean, mixed use seems to imply that there might be residential in there, which we don't want. So, okay. Yeah, I have to agree. I think we'd like to do straight commercial there. Okay. Got it. It sounds like there's a lot of board review in all of this as well. So, there'll be plenty of opportunity to comment and steer on that.

Uh I also had a question about um maybe was two slides ago. It talked about uh public input. Was it public input or Q&A or I So, these were just some of the community priorities that were identified and public input and engagement received in the downtown master plan. Yeah, I think it was um once the RFP is put out. Yes. And there's a site visit. That slide it said something about Oh, yes. So, there is uh a two-eek period where uh people can submit questions and then we respond to those publicly. So, it's a public Q&A that will be posted online. Anyone that submits a question so it's an online it's not an in-person at the board meeting type of thing. It's correct. Okay.

Okay. And then um yeah public work session discussion that was it public review period 45day proposal submission window. So once it's put out correct then they'll have 45 days to submit their proposal. All of this has to be done. Yes. Within 45 days and submitted to you.

So it'll be yeah submitted to me. Um and you have actually two options on that um on how you kind of want to um open these bids. Um I obviously recommend you know we I think we separate opening from evaluation. Um and opening can and should be done publicly. So option A would be that staff myself would open proposals internally only to see if they're complete. So check for completeness only and immediately log and publish proposer names in a basic summary online. We'll have a a landing page for this. Or option B is for you to open uh the proposals at a public work session and only announce who submitted and then the confirmation of receipt. Um and then after opening um we'll propose we'll post all proposals online uh make them available as public record and then give uh the commissioners one to two uh weeks for uh independent review and then we will provide you with all proposals a sample a s simple evaluation matrix and then at a public work session we can discuss it. Um we'll present the summaries of each proposal and then commissioners can discuss strengths, concerns or preferences. Um, and then you there's no voting yet, but you can create a short list of two to three projects or proposals that you'd like. Um, and then you would have a final selection in a regular meeting.

So, option A would have uh staff just check the applications for making sure that they provided all the necessary information. Yes. And then they are like shared the proposal name and a brief summary. That probably makes sense. So that if they're missing something, then they would have an opportunity either to add it or if it's before the 45 days. I'm saying would they be able to take it back and do what they need to do? No, once it's in, it's in. Once it's in, it's Yeah. As is. Mhm.

Do we have a sense on how much time and even expense there might be for anyone coming in with a proposal or are we looking at that and maybe is this process a little too arduous with that in mind? Um I know it sounds like a lot and that's kind of what I'm getting at.

Yeah. No, I get it. And but actually I think this kind of protects um kind of local developers and things like this because it's not just based on price only. It allows them to, you know, present a really good project and then we have time to kind of negotiate the terms. But, you know, as a commissioner said at the work session, there's no rush on these parcels that it really gives you a chance to um kind of determine the outcome. And then these are really uh key parcels that I think could really revitalize that whole strip there and kind of start some movement on the other properties. So um and if at the end of this two to three months if there's not a proposal that you like you don't you are not obligated to pick any of the proposals then we just go back to an open you know auction on the property. So um but obviously completely up to you if um

if you feel it it's too long but this just allows you a little bit more control over the outcome and not just the sale and then someone doesn't just purchase it and then it sits there and is held and there's no redevelopment that happens. So, I just want to make sure that we're not creating a barrier to entry for someone that isn't a Fortune 500 type of thing. Yes, I understand. And it sounds like a lot of requirements, but basically, we just want their vision um and just want to be able to see if they have the capacity to deliver that project. And it's not necessarily detailed design or drawings or

No, I mean we you could ask for we'd ask for a rendering. So, just like a basic, you know, sketch or drawing of kind of like what they would envision for the space. um and just you know their out like vision for it. So it doesn't have to be you know these plans or you know full color proposal. It's just something that details it. Okay. I think it's important to go that direction so that we can have a say on what goes there. it doesn't just get purchased and then it sits five, six years and then then what? Um, we definitely wanted to add value to to the downtown and fulfill some empty uh spots and and what people are looking for that will keep them in town. Yes. And I think that's the most critical aspect is getting it sold and getting it developed.

Yeah. Immediately um or at least as close to immediately as possible in a municipal environment. I I I would like to make make at least a rendering or part of the requirement package upon the submittal. I think that would be reasonable. Is that a bullet point of requirement? Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you. Mhm. I don't know if anybody has any objections to that. some kind of concept sketch at least is I mean it almost seemed implied with the list of what we're looking for it seemed implied but yeah I think having that requirement is reasonable.

Thank you. Anything else? All righty. So this is an old business. So consider the approval process for the sale of town business. Any other questions or comments from the board? Do we need to do a modification of the motion modified to add the rendering requirement and and also the also to say straight commercial not Yeah.

All righty. All righty. Here we go. So, can I get a motion to approve the request for proposal method for the sale of the redevelopment of town property with the amendments of including commercial only and a rendering as a requirement to the proposal? So moved. All in favor? I. Any opposed? This motion as modified or this uh motion as amended carries. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I think I'm staying for the next one.

Cool. Thanks, Aara. All righty. Next up, uh um she's Oh, you're still up. Approval. Proposal approved. Yeah. The Howie Mine Lot. Yes. Parking. Yay.

All right. So, excuse me. This item is a follow-up to the March 24th work session where we reviewed the proposed improvements to the Howie Mine Road parking lot. Um, so again, this is a town lease lot that serves as one of the most utilized parking areas supporting downtown businesses and visitors. So following the lease renegotiation, staff evaluated options to increase improve the layout and increase capacity. So the proposed design increases the lot from 18 to 25 spaces, including two ADA accessible spaces um when it had uh zero before, and improves overall circulation and safety within the lot. So, the estimated estimated project cost is approximately $16,836 using our in-house public services team. Um, this also this is a huge significant cost savings from the uh estimated uh cost of $49,000 if we use outside contractors. This also improves the efficiency of the lease reducing the cost per space from about $333 per year per space to approximately $240 per space. So this project allows us to increase capacity while lowering lowering that cost per space. So from a staff perspective, this is a cost-effective improvement to an existing high-use asset that supports downtown activity. So staff is recommending approval to move forward with the proposed improvements and happy to answer any questions if you had any from last week.

And the proposal, as you stated, includes in-house public service work being used on this to save that cost. Any other questions or comments from the board? All righty. Hearing none, then I would like to get a motion to approve the proposed parking improvements for the Howie Mine lot as presented. Like to so moved as presented. All in favor? I. Any opposed?

Hearing none. This motion carries. Thank you very much, Miss Alara. All righty. Next up, we have uh the amendment to the agenda was Commissioner Dant's item regarding a resolution for South Carolina.

Yeah. Um I don't want to beat this topic to death. Um a lot's been said on it. Um I'll just say that uh the public water supply is not an appropriate place for drugs to be added. Um the I believe that the agenda was published before the addition of this letter to the governor. And the reason we need to send a letter to the governor is because he's the one his office is the one that appointed the decision makers across the state line there. So um I'll just read this out so that it's on the record. Dear Governor McMaster, on behalf of the residents of Waxaw, North Carolina, we are writing to respectfully request your consideration and assistance regarding a matter of growing concern to our community. Waxaw receives its public water supply from the Lancaster County Water and Sewer District, LCWSD, in South Carolina. As such, decisions made by LCWSD directly impact the health and preferences of our residents despite the fact that they do not have representation within South Carolina's governance structure. Wax residents have expressed concerns about the continued practice of adding silica fluorides to the public water supply. While we recognize that this issue has been debated for many years, our community believes strongly in the importance of local choice and the ability of residents to decide what substances are introduced into their drinking water. Members of the Union County Board of Commissioners who serve as liaison to LCWSD have advocated for discontinuing flidation. However, they have been consistently outvoted by other members of the district's governing body who are appointed by your office. Given this structure, our residents have no direct recourse other than to respectfully appeal to your office. We ask that you consider engaging with LCWSD leadership, reviewing the current policy and

supporting efforts that would allow for greater local input or ultimately the discontinuation of silica fluoride additives in the water supplied to our community. This request is made in the spirit of interstate cooperation and mutual respect. Waxaw and Lancaster County share not only infrastructure but also economic, cultural, and personal ties. We believe this issue presents an opportunity to strengthen that relationship by ensuring that the voices of all affected citizens are heard. Thank you for your time and thoughtful consideration of this matter. We would welcome any opportunity to discuss this further or to provide additional input from our residents. Is there further action needed, Barbie, to ensure that this letter is coming from the board as a whole and not just a single commissioner? just the direction to add it and um let me know how you want it to uh um be uh drafted.

Okay. And then we then I can get signatures from from everyone. Perfect. Do any board members object to being named or listed on this letter to the governor of South Carolina? No. Nope. No. All right. Sounds good. I think we can throw all our names on there and we can throw all our signatures on there as well. We'll get that off to our friends in South Carolina. Should we add that to the motion then? I guess because the motion was just for the support of Yeah, the motions are for the resolutions. Um Barbie, yes, you can just add resolution and memo. Okay.

Okay. So I'll say motion to adopt resolution res20260 NC House Bill 929 and res20607 SC House Bill 4258 in support of prohibiting flidation and public water systems and direct the town clerk to disseminate the resolutions and the memo to the appropriate NC and SC government agencies And oh, you already have in here. And send the memorandum to Governor McMaster. It's already in here. All in favor? I

I. Any opposed? Hearing none. This motion carries. Thank you for your work on this, Commissioner D. It's definitely a good catch and a good addition. So, thank you. Thanks. Alrighty. Next up, we have new business, the approval for the proposed amendments to the Waxhall building exterior improvement grant program. Miss Janet, what do you got?

Good evening. I'm Janet Pirano, your uh assistant planning director and I also serve as a staff leazison to the Historic Preservation Commission. Um, tonight I'm here to talk about a modification to the building exterior improvement grant. Um, it's a request by the planning staff for modifications. Um, the red line changes were included in your agenda packet. And just to summarize the requested changes, um, we are looking to limit roof repairs to $10,000 reimbursements. Remove new signs and/or existing lighting installations from eligibility. uh allow for signs or lighting to be eligible if they are historic signs or historic lighting that are being renovated. Um and expand the grant eligibility boundary to include Rahobitth Road from Highway 75 south to Ashton Manor Way. So you'll see the boundary map there. Um, and the reason for this was we've had a request actually a couple of times from the property owner at 615 West South Main Street inquiring about a building grant. Um, her building was constructed in 1945. It is just outside. It is adjacent to the grant boundary. Um, but it is within the main street boundary and we thought, well, I I don't know why that boundary for the grants would stop there. it makes sense that it would continue and at least include uh that particular building. Um and then as HPC was discussing this, we talked about extending down RahobitH. Um so there's about 20 homes on Rahobath Road. About half of those uh were built over 50 years ago. Um and 50 years is the benchmark for a structure to be considered historic. Um and then of those four of those buildings are over 100 years old. So we thought um perhaps adding that

section over Hobith Road to the grant boundary would make sense. Uh the Historic Preservation Commission considered the amendment uh to the building exterior program at their March 12th meeting uh and voted unanimously for a favorable recommendation. Um and with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions. Any comments or questions from the board? All righty. Hearing none, then can I get a motion to Where are we at? Can I get a motion to approve the proposed amendments to the Waxall building exterior improvement grants program as presented? So moved.

All in favor? I. Any opposed? This motion carries. Thank you, Janet. Uh next up we have building exterior grant petition.

Okay. So we have a uh request um from property owner Roy Miles for roof repairs at 101-103 East North Main Street. Um the request is only to repair the roof over the um southwest corner of the building. It's about 400 square f feet. Uh you can see it in the black section um of the photo outlined there. Uh the rest of the roof was repaired about eight years ago. Um and uh Mr. Miles said to me the other day that uh he probably should have just repaired the entire roof at that time. Um as we go through, you'll see how the roof varies um in height. So, the building was originally constructed about 1900 and the present appearance of the building is the result of a remodeling in 1924 after there was a fire that spread and destroyed several buildings along Main Street. Um, during the remodeling, the height was reduced from a full two stories to a graduated height, ranging from one story at the rear to two stories in the front portion of the building. Um, and you can see how they have the step parapet now along the side of the building. Uh it was originally construct constructed for a merchant Hugh Wilson Broom. It was constructed by the Ble brothers. Uh Broom sold general merchandise here under his name until his death and his brother continued the business until 1912 when the building was leased for a short time by the Nib and Price Company as they were waiting for their uh new headquarters to be built. Uh over the years it has served several different commercial u purposes. Um and it most recently housed Indigo Pearl. Um currently the west portion of the building is vacant and the property owner is doing some remodeling in that portion and the east side of the building houses 88A boutique.

The applicant received two contractor quotes. Uh Carolina Elite Roofing at $9,430 and all phase exteriors at 17,625. Uh there is quite a range there between the two. Um the property owner u intends to go with the Carolina Elite Roofing Company and I think that all phase was high on their quote. Um the work is similar um comparable. So I don't know why they were so high but um he's looking at Carolina to do that work. Uh so far this year, um we we've had several grant opportunities and the balance in our grant fund, if this is approved as requested, uh will be $79463. And I would be happy to answer any questions,

questions or comments from the board.

Do you know if he's thought about doing any exterior work on the brick? I know I spoke to him briefly and he was thinking about it. Okay. So, we have had several conversations about that. Uh the plan is to make sure that the roof is watertight and then proceed with brick work. Um we've gotten a recommendation from our state historic preservation office about someone who specializes in antique, you know, historic brick on buildings like this. Uh actually, we have our restoration specialist coming to town tomorrow. Um, and one of the stops that we have planned is to stop by Royy's building uh to take a look at that brick and mortar again.

Thank you. Any other questions? All righty then. Let's go ahead and get a motion to approve the building exterior improvements grant petition BEIG 0012026 as presented for up to 50% of the actual cost of the work not to exceed $4,715. So moved. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Hearing none. Motion carries. Thank you.

Thank you, Miss Pirano. Next up, we have the consideration of the adoption of resolution 20260008, the necessity of acquiring a certain real property for public purposes. We have a little piece of land that uh needs to be a road.

Well, good evening. So tonight item is considering um the acquisition of real property for a public use for intersection improvements at the North Broom Street or NC16 and Ble Mill Road intersection. The action requested tonight is to authorize the exercise of imminent domain powers and condemnation proceedings uh related to the uh acquisition of real property for a portion of this parcel. So to provide some background as far as where the powers of imminent domain come from. They come from and are written into the United States Constitution in particular as a part of the fifth amendment where the fifth amendment states u nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation. Um in addition that it's incorporated within the North Carolina General Statute Chapter 4A. Um, as far as the overall process and the property owner rights, it's based upon a legal and ethical foundation and there is due process as a part of this process. So, there are certain rights that the property owners have and those are predominantly listed here. The first being that the uh property owner has the right to have the property appraised by a licensed appraiser and accompany the appraiser if they desire to do so on the inspection of the property. Um, in addition, the property owner has the right to have the property appraised for value without any appraiser conflict of interest and without undue influence or coercion uh reflected in the appraised value. Furthermore, the property owner has the right to receive a written offer for compensation and negotiate that written offer for compensation. It's not applicable in this case, but the property owner has the right to be paid the full amount of compensation prior to being required to vacate the property. That's not required in this case. We're just um looking at a small sliver of land that we'll detail here further. Um in addition, the property owner has the right to receive an offer to purchase any small remaining tracks left over from acquisition at fair market value. Again, that's not the case here. Um a

majority of the property is remaining after um said acquisition. Uh additionally, the property owner has the right to be informed of these rights and benefits under the relocation program if dwelling or building is in the path of a highway project. Again, that's not applicable in this case. Um and then final last two is be assured of these rights under title six the civil rights act of 1964 um NC general statutes and 49 CFR code of federal regulations and then finally the property owner has a right to have compensation determined by a court of law if a settlement cannot be reached. So those those are the legal and ethical foundations to provide some background um on this particular project. Here are the existing conditions at the Broom Street or NC16 and Blemill Road intersection. There are notable safety and congestion issues at this intersection. Um, a lot of that has to do with the skewed road alignment and the lack of turn lanes and the lack of the signal being uh or the intersection being signalized. So, as you can see, this intersection is unsignalized. Turn lanes are non-existent. And we do have failing levels of service in approaches. So when you think of level of service, failing level of services, think of it almost like a report card, a school report card, and F is failing A is superb. So um as we walk through this a little bit further, you can see that this intersection is on your high injury network within your adopted uh safe streets and roads for all safety action plan and public safety improvements are necessary at this intersection. In addition, the project is also identified on your adopted master transportation plan as the Ble Mill Realignment Project. And I'll note that these improvements um will reduce severe and fatal injury crashes as a part of the board's uh adopted vision zero initiative and compliance with the Federal Highway Administration and United States Department of Transportation safe systems approach.

So here are the uh proposed improvements and you can see I've highlighted the the areas um of projected impacted there at the bottom of the figure. So you can see from a rideway perspective um we we will require um approximately 2,480 ft of rideaway acquisition as well as approximately 360 ft of acquisition for a temporary construction easement. So that rightway is uh land taken and the yellow is a more of a temporary lease that you use as a part of the construction. So again I just want to emphasize that this is for a public use the public use specific to um roadway improvements, roadway intersection improvements as well as storm water drainage improvements and everything else to go along with this uh type of project. So we will be align realigning the blem road adding those turn lanes. So from a crash history perspective, we've seen um angled collisions and traffic signals and road realignments are the um best management practice to address those issues. Um as well as some other other types of collisions um higher severity type collisions. Also uh with these improvements, the level of service will improve from an existing level of service F to a level of service B. Um that goes back to that report card reference that I was referring to earlier. Um, so you are improving overall level of service here and again this is an improvement for a public use. Um, some more detailed information on the parcel. So it's currently owned by Waxall Investments LLC. The existing zoning is Town Center, a commercial use and there's the lot address. The figure to the right is what we're calling exhibit C. That exhibit shows uh the impacted area. And if you reference the overall partial boundary in that aerial map on the left side of your screen, you can see that we're really only taking a portion of the top left corner of the

property to accommodate for these uh public safety improvements. So, as far as the impacts and appraisal summary, on the right of your screen here, you can see the photos of that impacted area right there at the corner of um of Broom Street and Blemill Road. So, the property is currently vacant. It's a 1.296 acre vacant commercial site. Um proposed impacted areas, as discussed before, is at 2,480 ft of rideway or 0.057 057 acres and um 360 square ft of tce area or temporary construction easement which equates to 0.008 acres. Um after the taking the remainder of the property is still 1.239 acres. So the town um after a year or so of good faith negotiations um conducted a final appraisal of these impacted areas. We got those two appraisals back and they weren't exactly the same. While they weren't exactly the same, they were within a reasonable uh amount of each other. So, we're recommending the adjust compensation and the amount of the higher of the two appraisals that includes some corrections from the first appraisal. So, that recommended just compensation is total to 38,600 uh US for this impacted area. And just to provide that contact summary, so we've been reaching out to these folks since February of last year. Um before there was some it was a lesser of an impacted area until the design progressed a little bit further. Um but at that time the property owner requested $400,000 for the impacted area and then even after the updated um adjustments um you know good faith efforts were taken um several offers were extended um and there the owner is still requesting $400,000. When it came time just a few months ago, we had to

move forward with an actual appraisal to determine a third party uh evaluation, a neutral third party that is for these two certified appraisals for the final impacted acreage area which came out to be that number that you saw before the 38,600. So some final considerations as far as the broader community impact. So, we must move forward with the implementation of the north uh Broom Street and Blackmill Road intersection improvements to improve infrastructure and public safety. The land is needed for a public use to address safety concerns and mitigate the risk for high severity and fatal collisions. And uh recommended just compensation is based on the higher of our two certified independent appraisals. Um, and then of course as far as outreach and fairness, the property owner receives the just compensation and due process with this communitywide improvement. And also as a part of these intersection improvements, the property owner themselves benefit from this improvement uh by providing improved access to a potential future commercial site. So these improvements are are also a cost savings to that property owner. So, um, with that, I know you guys probably have a lot of questions, so feel free to, uh, we're happy to take questions.

Any questions from the board? Was it um Jones Holmes that was negotiating?

Correct. So, if I go back to the context summary as a part of your um that the board approved the traffic mitigation agreement between Jones Homes or the Emerson Park development, um Jones Homes offered over time generally about three to four times the appraised value. So, you can see back in February of last year with the modified areas, they offered about 40,000. When the appraisal was at 9, um even when the appraisal was at 38,000, they offered 100,000. and still the property owner refused and said, "Nope, I'm sticking to my original $400,000 offer." Um, so it's just it's the the requested amount from the property owner is simply just not reasonable based upon the uh certified appraisals.

Okie do. Any other questions, comments? So, this improvement is pretty much driven by the Eison Park development, right? No, not necessarily. Um the improvement was always on the board's master transportation plan. It just helps that um in this particular case, the Emerson Park development came along and then as a part of their traffic study that they did in 2023. Remember this improvement was identified in 2020 on your original master transportation plan with a light or without a light?

Uh wi it was without the light. It was just the blem realignment and then as a part of the identified traffic um or TIA the traffic impact analysis that identified an addition of the light and um helps to save the the existing taxpayers because the Emerson Park development will be funding this project um to to support our adopted uh the town's adopted vision. But this was also um impacted by Blight Mill, correct? because this was uh Jones Homes is there's an intersection there where they overlap. So this was it was doubly impacted. That's correct. Both developments.

That's correct. And to add to that, so Ble Mill also has further improvements. If you look at this figure here, it's really the south side of the figure. Um south the plan their view. Ble Mill has improvements from that match line there that you see at the bottom of the screen going back to the Blemill town homes. And I don't know if you have the answer to this, but once this is settled and their design, they get through the design of it all, I guess, how long before they work on the road improvement?

Yeah. So, as far as the overall process um with this imminent domain proceeding, really if you if you approve the resolution this evening, um we must reach out to the property owner and provide them a period of 30 days to respond and to have some more good faith negotiations. If there's still nothing that we can reach, um court filings will then proceed and um then construction can begin immediately thereafter. Are they ready to start construction immediately there? I guess that's really This is the last property that they need for the signal. Yeah.

And just to restate this, I think we were talking about this a while back, but this realignment corresponds with the TIA improvements that were going to be made as part of Emerson. So again, it's all sort of part of one bigger improvement for these two different developments that are impacting this intersection. Correct. So, it's all being done as sort of one time, one project. Correct. Yep. Okay. Anything else with Mr. Kelly? All righty. Hearing nothing else, then can I get a motion to approve the resolution 2026008? So moved. All in favor? I

I. Any opposed? All right. This motion carries. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Kelly. All righty. Next up, we have leadership reports. Mr. Dadson, what do you got? Mayor, who made that motion? I could barely hear. Okay. Yeah. Commissioner Dant made that motion. We good? I'm good.

Okay. Uh, in your packet will be the financial report for the period ending 33126. I have no formal presentation, but uh the board did receive it in its packet and I'm happy to answer any questions. The auditor of course stole all the thunder and the clapping and um that kind of thing,

but take my picture too with that. But uh no, so that report is in there. Um just to note, um we are basically at the end of March 75% of the way through a fiscal year. Um and a highlight should be that we are at currently about 83% of revenues received and about 61% of spending at that point in time. So um the folks are doing a good job of controlling their spending and um doing doing that. So any questions questions for Mr. Dodson?

All right. Uh next up the board of commissioner comments. Any comments from our commissioners? I'll just once again extend my thanks and appreciation to Commissioner Daunt for his work regarding the deflorination of our water supply. I think it's one of those things we're just going to have to keep chipping away at it at this side of the county. So, we'll keep it up. And the generosity of the women from the girls on the run. Yes. That's really special once again

coming through with a couple principles. That's always nice to see and we're always happy to support them. All righty. So, without further ado, can I get a motion to go into closed session pursuant to NC General Statutes 143-318.11A3 to discuss a matter involving attorney client privilege? So, move. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Hearing none, we are now in close session. Thank you.

Are you Are you surprised? appreciate it.

I for the attorney. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I saw that. That's really interesting. I saw red oaks though. I thought it was going to see if I have a public but I couldn't get the guys down here to give me any information. Guys down where? Engineering. Oh, and every and planning because it was a series of emails back and forth regarding all of this talk back and forth with Red X trip. So I asked it to pull all the emails. I want all the communications to and from

regarding Red Oaks. So that's what I just now got. So I had and so I had to respond back to Mr. Gonzalez to let him know that I just received this information. Is this Mr. Gonzalez's attorney? I do not know. Yeah, I don't know who it is. is one of the attorneys that can I get a motion to reconvene from close session? So moved. All in favor? I. Any opposed? None. Motion carries. Can I get a motion to adjurnn? So moved. All in favor? I I. We are now adjourned. Thank you very much. Have a good night. Who made the motion to reconvene? Was that Commissioner Ferris?

Ferris. Okay.