City Council - Regular Meeting

Call the meeting to order. The Wington City Council like to welcome all those who are with us here this evening. All those who are watching us at home. Thank you for taking an interest in your government. At this time, I'd like to call on Captain John Michael of the Wilmington Police Department to please come forward. Or is it the fire department? I'm sorry. The fire department. Captain John Michael. I'm sorry about that. Please give our invocation if everyone stand remain standing afterwards for the pledge of allegiance. Captain, welcome.

Thank you. Let's bow our hands in reverence. Heavenly Father, ask that you will be with us today as we continue the journey of building a better community. We pray over everyone gathered here today. Grant them wisdom that is fair, courage that is steady, and a heart that seeks the good of every neighbor. Unite us as one city working together in strength and compassion. In Jesus Christ's name I pray. Amen.

Amen. Pledge 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. We have several presentations this evening. Uh the first one is I would like to recognize uh the class the Wilmington 101 class of 2026. Are there any members here from that? Oh, they're all here. Well, y'all going to all meet me up front and I'd like the entire Wington City Council, if y'all don't mind, to come also because this is a big thing. These people have taken time out of their busy schedules to learn more about their community and their city. And I really appreciate that. Are you speaking for this crap thing? Okay, come on over here. [laughter] City of Wilmington, North Carolina in the recognition of the Wilmington 101 class of 2026. Whereas Wilmington 101 is designed to educate, engage, and empower residents by deepening their understanding of local government and community challenges with the goal of

developing informed, motivated leaders committed to the betterment of Wilmington. And whereas the program includes six interactive sessions covering topics such as recreation and urban forestry, public safety, planning and transportation, two very important ones, sustainability and emergency operations, affordable housing and leadership grounded in community advocacy. And whereas Wilmington 101 serves as a catalyst for civic involvement by preparing participants to be informed advocates and encouraging service on local boards, commissions, and in other leadership roles. Now, therefore, let it be resolved that the Wilmington City Council recognizes the members of Wilmington 101 class of 2026 for their dedication to civic learning and their engagement with the work of the city government. And I would just like to say thank you to each and every one of you for taking time out of your busy schedules to learn about our community and to learn about our city government, which is very important, and how they interact with county governments and state governments and federal governments. And it's always a very complicated issue, but it's something that we always work through. So, this time I turn it over to Dory.

Thank you so much, mayor, and thank you to the entire city of Wilmington and their team for a tremendous program. Um, it was well organized. It was um a great opportunity for us to learn about our community. Um this wonderful group behind me of you know fellow citizens was wonderful to learn alongside and I encourage anyone in this room to share with their friends and families that live in the city of Wilmington to participate and learn more about how you can get involved and learn about how wonderful the city of Wilmington is. So thank you so much.

Thank you. Please give them a big round of applause. Thank you. [applause] I'm going to give this an [cheering] E. Thank you guys. Thank you everybody. Thank you. You got all the pictures you need? Go ahead, Lord. Oh, you want me to read the Okay, very good.

Can I have the list, please? I don't have the list here. [laughter] The mayor's always last to know anyway. So, let me see it. Yeah. Give you a capsic. Where'd you put the list? Somebody had it.

We have an extra one. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you so much, Dory. I believe you're the first one. So, congratulations. Where are you? Right here. Right here. No. No. Yeah. Yeah. Give We're giving you one each one of you a certificate. Okay. [laughter] Yes. Thank you for spearheading this program. Lauren, is Lauren here? Lauren. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. We have um L Hanley. Where's L? L here.

EJ. We got L here. [laughter] Constant Haymon. There you go. Constants. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Kelsey Hobbs. Kelsey. Thank you, Elizabeth Conic. That was very close. Very close. Thank you. Sometimes I get it right. Jan Carlo Lukeman Gano. Jan Carlo. There you go.

Thank you, sir. Sir John Mueller. Thank you, John. Thank you. Carleta Murray. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. J Nanto Nanto. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Yes. Terry Parm. Thank you so much. Nice to see you.

Nice to see you also. Thank you, Eric. Thank you, sir. Cara Snook. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Kathleen Shower. Good to see you again.

Francisco Tamasino. Thank you, sir. Avery Williams and Santa Ununas. Good to meet you. That's all right. Sorry. There we go. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Find you. Okay. Okay. Dylan, did you take a picture? You got it? Yeah, I got it. I got it. Okay. Okay. Thank you everybody. Thank you very much. [applause]

Susan Lombardo here. Bring him up. Hello everybody. Good to see you. Good to see you. This is proclamation naming. May 2026 is Huntington Disease Awareness Month. And I'm going to turn it over to Susan after I read the proclamation. Uh the city of women to North Carolina proclamation reads, "Whereas Huntington disease is an inherited progressively degenerated neurological disease that causes total physical and mental deterioration over a 10 to 20 year period. And whereas the prevalence of Huntington's disease makes it a rare disease and there are over 80,000 citizens in the state of North Carolina with the potential to develop Huntington's disease and over 14,000 currently diagnosed cases. And whereas there is a 50% chance for the children of Huntington Huntington's par patients to inherit the disease and continue to pass it down generation after generation. And whereas stigma, genetic discrimination, and fear prevent many patients from seeking care. And whereas although there has been great progress in medical research and treatment, there's still no cure for those suffering from this disease. And whereas since 2009, research has been working to improve the care and quality of life of those affected through care navigation, referrals to healthcare, and financial planning resources, family support, education, community building, and anonymous genetic testing. And whereas

the month of May is recognized internationally as Huntington's disease awareness month. Now therefore, on behalf of the Wilmington City Council, I Bill Sappo do hereby proclaim the month of May 2026 as Huntington's disease awareness month in the city of Wington, North Carolina. I appreciate you bringing this in light and sharing this with this community. So Susan, I'm going to turn it over to you. I serve on the family advisory board with HD reach and um with me here we have families from Wilm the Wilmington area and the surrounding areas that have been affected by Huntington's disease and we really just want to make sure there's knowledge out there about this disease. Make sure that you know where to go for information. And so hdgreach.org org is the primary resource where you can find out about um information resources and we also have a support team support group that meets right here in Wilmington um the second Tuesday of every month at six o'clock and that is at Mad Mole. So we do have resources here locally to bring our people together. So thank you for this recognition.

Thank you so much. Thank you. I'm going give you the proclamation. Okay, Dylan, do you have a picture? One. Ready? Okay. One, two, three. All right. Thank you. Thank you everybody. Thank you. [applause] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Nice to meet you.

Nice meeting you. Next, I'd like to recognize Miss Karen Mills of the WNO and Mr. Andy Thompson, the city of Wilmington Transportation Division Engineer. That year, proclamation naming May 2026 as bicycle awareness month. Where's the bike? I thought about riding my bike down here, but I didn't want to get all sweaty.

Gotcha. Okay. City of Wilmington, North Carolina proclamation reads, "Whereas the month of May is observed as National Bike Month and Wilmington City Council is committed to the promotion of safe bicycling for both transportation as well as recreation. And whereas in 2024, 55 crashes involving bicycles bicyclists incurred in Wilmington, which underscores the importance of ensuring driver awareness and bicyclist safety education in addition to safe facilities for bicycling to prevent crashes. And whereas the city of Wilmington is committed to promoting the safe use of bicycles on the city's streets and trails through bicycle facilities such as the Gary Shell cross city trail, the river to sea bikeway, the south college road trail, bike lanes, intersection improvements, and the bicycle facilities included in the city's adopted plans and capital improvement programs. Whereas the city of Wilmington supports education above bicycle safety through the Wilmington Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, better known as the WNO BA Looker campaign, which encourages children and adults to operate their bicycles in a safe manner and educates drivers on how to share the road with bicyclists. And whereas the city of Wilmington supports the annual river to sea bike ride which begins and ends in downtown Wilmington and takes place in 2026 on Saturday May 2nd which we just passed. I think we had to cancel because of rain. And whereas the city of Wilmington has been designated as a bicycle friendly community by the League of American Bicyclists since 2011 with the most recent recognition occurring in 2024 as the city continues to make improvements to benefit the bicycling community. Now, therefore, the Wilmington City Council proclaims May is bicycle awareness month and will continue to promote safe bicycling opportunities for Wilmington citizens. And I just want to say thank you for all the advice and recommendations that you give us when we're planning trails throughout our community and they've been being heavily used these days as

you can see. So, I want to say thank you for your public service to our community. So, this turn over to Karen.

Thank you. Um, I want to say I'm uh the city of Wilmington representative and vice chair of the active transportation advisory committee for the WNO. Um, I'd like to thank you for your proclamation recognizing May is bike month. For over 15 years, our committee has been deeply committed to advancing bicycle infrastructure, education, and accessibility through Wilmington. And we regularly engage with community members regarding the connectivity and improvement of new and existing bike paths and routes. We are fortunate to live in such a beautiful area that recognizes the importance of safe and accessible cycling options for our families, recreational riders, commuters, cycling clubs, and visitors alike. There's a link on the wmpo.org website where you can find local bike maps and the of the area and other resources. And although you missed the river to sea expo, which was new, we had that on Friday and the 36th annual river to sea ride that was cancelled due to weather. That was this past Saturday. Anyone can join some of the bike month events going on around the such as national bike to work day on May 15th or the Friday morning's bike bus to the international school at Gregory. Kickstands up at 7:15.

We look forward to seeing you all out there pedaling. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you. [applause] Thank you.

Thank you very much. Our next um item is proclaiming uh and naming May 20 uh May 2026 as treatment court month. And at this time like to recognize the honorable Judge Lindseay McKe, the Honorable Judge Robin Robinson, and the Honorable Judge Bas. Here come the judges. Come on down. and Katie Corping, our public defender that's also here with us. All you lawyers, behave yourselves. [cough] [clears throat] City of Wilmington, North Carolina proclamation reads, "Whereas according to All Rise, treatment courts are the most successful justice system intervention in our nation's history for reducing crime by addressing substance use and mental health disorders. Whereas treatment courts save an average of more than 6,000 for every individual they serve. And whereas treatment courts provide a range of economic benefits to communities such as reduce costs in court and prison expenditures, increased tax revenues, lower foster care expenses, and decrease costs related to victimization. And whereas treatment courts combine accountability with evidence-based treatment, and whereas treatment courts annually refer more than 150,000 people to life-saving treatment and recovery support services. And whereas according to all rise, treatment courts significantly improve substance use and mental health disorder treatment outcomes and prevent fatal

overdoses. And whereas treatment courts facilitate communitywide partnerships bringing together public safety and public health. And whereas there are now more than 4,000 treatment courts nationwide with three treatment courts currently operating in Wilmington, North Carolina, a drug treatment court, a mental health treatment court, and a veterans treatment court. And whereas treatment courts demonstrate that when one person rises, we all rise. Therefore, be it resolved that the city of Wilmington declares that treatment court month be established during the month of May. And I just want to say thank you to all of the judges and to the public defenders office for everything you folks do. I've been to these treatment courts. I've seen you all in action and it does work and you have saved a tremendous amount of lives in our community. So I want to say thank you. So Judge Fac, I'm going to turn it over to you.

Okay.

Well, thank you, Mr. Mayor, City Council. Thank you all for your recognition of this very important u endeavor in our community recovery courts, our veterans treatment court, and our mental health courts. And as you stated um and also with the um public defender who is in our mental health court through Katie Corping uh Judge McKe presides over our community empowerment court and that's the one that deals with individuals that are struggling with mental health issues and become criminal justice involved as a result of that. Judge Robin Robinson presides over our veterans treatment court which you know that's a very special population to us because of what they have done. we're able to do what we do every day in terms of defending our freedom and exercising our constitutional rights and so forth. And uh Katie Corping here is a public defender in the community empowerment court. Um I have the privilege of presiding over community recovery court which is the longest of our courts. It's been around for 29 years. Uh these two treatment courts here have been around for three years and it is the uh the work of the u the support of the community in terms of making referrals in terms of the uh the the district attorney's office which by the way uh city councilman David Joiner was one of our DAs in the program before uh he uh went on to bigger and greener pastures and so forth. Um but did a great work but it is an important work. It truly does save lives, but not only that, it saves tax dollars as well. And uh it is our privilege every day to get up in the morning and meet those individual to see the life transformations that happen over a 12 to 24month period of time. And it is a program of accountability, but uh most importantly, it also, as we said, saves tax dollars, but it saves lives. And at the same time it uh empowers and makes the community safer so that we can all pursue our dreams and raise our families in a safe community. So thank you for this recognition.

Thank you everybody. [applause]

Good to see you. this time like to recognize Luis McCall, members of the Greater Wilmington Sports Hall of Fame board. If they'll please come forward. City of Wilmington, North Carolina proclam reads, "Whereas founded in 2005 by the esteemed head football coach Bill Douly, the Greater Wilmington Sports Hall of Fame recognizes individuals who have made a significant impact on sports in the greater Wilmington area. Whereas as a nonprofit organization, the Hall of Fame is sustained by the dedicated service of its volunteer board of directors and the generous support of local sponsors and community members. And whereas the Hall of Fame strengthens the community by celebrating those who have influenced the sports world and by promoting sportsmanship, excellence, hard work, teamwork, and leadership through its events, scholarships, and outreach. And whereas the Hall of Fame administers the Bill Douly Scholarship Program, which annually awards scholarships to high school student athletes selected by that year's inductees who demonstrate excellence in academics, athletics, and citizenship, helping to cultivate the next generation of leaders. And whereas since its inaugural class in 2006, the Hall of Fame has celebrated up to five individuals each year, preserving our community's rich athletic history and will culminate in the 2026 Legends Induction Banquet on Sunday, May 17th, where the following individuals will be honored for their outstanding

contributions to sports. Bill Curry, Fred Lynch, Ron Muscleman, Ed Wilson, and Tamara Young. Now therefore, on behalf of the Wilmington City Council, I, Bill Sappa, do hereby recognize May 15th through the 17th, 2026, as Greater Wilmington Sports Hall of Fame week in the city of Wilmington, honoring the achievements of these inspiring individuals and the Hall of Fame's ongoing commitment to celebrating athletic excellence and fostering community pride. Louise, it's out. It's unbelievable how many athletes that we have in the greater Wilmington area. And every year we have them, we get five new ones. And and and this is a good group right here. So, I want to thank you and the whole uh board for everything that you folks do and putting this together. So, with that, I'm going to turn it over to Miss McCall.

Thank you. Thank you, mayor. Uh this year, it is May 15th through 17th. On the 15th, we have an inductees lunchon for the press. 17th we play golf at municipal golf course. And Sunday is the banquet where right now we have over 500 people coming. Uh we've given out over 90 awards in the past, this is our 20th year. 35 of the former inductees are coming to this banquet. We've given 64 scholarships out uh 12,500 every year. One's given for each inductee in honor of them. They get to pick their high school and then the athletic director picks the students. Uh board members Joe Browning and Jennifer McIll are here with me tonight. Um it is an all volunteer and mayor, you supported it every year and we thank you for that. Um, believe it or not, he purchases a table and I get to fill it for him. So, we get that done. But thank you on behalf of the board um hall of fame. And Judge FA is here. He's a former inductee a couple of years ago. So, um, uh, it's been it's really I've been on the board 12 or 14 years in my ninth year as chair. Uh, and you know, I love sports as you do. Uh but we have uh it's it's the area around the Wilmington and we've got probably 90 on a waiting list and every year we get more people turned in that have excelled in sports. So thank you for your help.

Thank you and hang in there. Go Yankees. Go Yankees. Go Orioles.

Joe's a former inductee.

[applause]

I know, right?

Oh, thank you. Okay. Our last presentation like to recognize Miss Becky Hawk, our city manager, and the city manager's 2027 recommended budget presentation. Miss Hawk, the floor is yours. Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Prom, and members of city council. Apologize for my voice this this evening. Hopefully, it will uh clear up as I continue to speak. But I'm very pleased to be with you this evening to present the FY27 recommended budget for the city of Wilmington. Before we get into the details, I do just want to take a few moments to recognize the tremendous output of staff that went into being prepared for today. In addition to what goes into every budget with some of the recent realignments that we have had within our organization, it made the work uh doubly complicated. And so the department heads, members of our executive teams, uh supporting staff, and first and foremost, Laura Mortell, our uh future director of strategy and innovation, uh but still currently holding the role of budget director, have put hours and hours into this. And so uh could not be here without them. A little bit of a recap before we get into the details. We have been working on a budget since last November. Council

will recall that we first had our strategic work session back in November and we have had a number of council work sessions in the last few months. Tonight we are presenting the recommended budget for FY27 and then we have more work sessions in our future. We have two scheduled on both May 15th and May 29th with a budget public hearing in between there on May 19th and then budget adoption scheduled for June 2nd and June 16th with a reminder that we need a approved budget by June 30th of this year. a broad overview of where we are looking at FY27 compared to the adopted budget for FY26. Last year, the adopted budget was just over $36 million and the recommended budget for FY27 is $350,328,326. Over on the right hand side of your column are the breakdown of all of these various funds that get us to that $350 million total. The largest fund is our general fund at $176.68 million proposed for FY27 which is a proposed change of 12.6%. We will get into the details of what is driving that number as we go through the presentation. But as you move down, you can see that um some of our budgets actually have some reductions expected while others have increases. The total increase across all budget lines is proposed at 14.3% compared to the adopted budget last year. So when we look at what is driving the revenues to get us to a balanced budget, uh we first want to look at the assessed values. So we know that we went through

a reassessment last year of all of the properties within Wilmington and um we are actually seeing a bit of a negative budget driver compared to last year. What this basically means is that our growth is a little bit slower than we were expecting. And so there's a couple of reasons for that. We'll show them on some of the additional slides, but when we look at the change year-over-year, the total property value that we're expecting for FY27 is an increase of 79%. That may be surprising to a lot of residents of Wilmington and also people in the area because they see growth, growth, growth. Um but when you look at how much of the city is already developed and you look at the growth that is happening around us that is really a lot of what's driving it. We have some other impacts that is driving that percentage to be the 79 but really what we're looking at is that um the even the years of the one and a half 2% average growth that we've seen in prior years we are not expecting in the upcoming budget year. When we look at the municipal district fund that is actually projected to have a slight decrease in FY27 and uh I will go ahead and move to the next slide to give a little bit more information as to why. So, one thing that we have experienced here in Wilmington and across all of New Hover County is a higher percentage of appeal loss than what the county tax assessor's office was expecting when they did their projections last year. So, uh, to provide a little bit of background on that, essentially, when you get your appraisal or excuse me, your assessment from the tax assessor's office, if you don't agree with it, you have the opportunity to file an appeal through the county, go through an appeal process, and then they may reset the valuation to a lower rate if they're in

agreement that there is validity to your appeal. When they projected the increases in revenues based on valuations, they had built in an anticipated appeal loss of 3.5%. And what we are seeing is an actual appeal loss of about 5.1%. And so when you think about the natural growth that has occurred in Wilmington over the past year, if you are losing value through this appeals process at a rate that is greater than expected, it's essentially um zeroing out some of that increased value that you might get from the new development. So, if a property goes down $60 million in value over what was expected, well, you need $60 million in new development or new values just to get back to zero. And so, that is what is really driving that 79% of overall growth that we are expecting in next year's budget. As you can see from the graph here, we are not alone. Uh this is not a Wilmington specific issue. This is happening in all of the jurisdictions in New Hover County. I will say for reference, this is not entirely unheard of in other parts of the state. Um there are other counties that have experienced this. Um where the appeals just come in a little bit stronger than expected. And so whenever you're doing the projections, you always know that sort of a best guess, but until they actually start to come in and the process is completed, it's difficult to know exactly where they're going to land. In this case, even the relatively conservative projection of 3.5% ended up being just a little bit low. What this is leading to regarding the proposed tax rate for FY27 is an increase of 5.75 cents per 100 as

a proposal. We will go through the detail of what is going into that total in the upcoming slides, but to sort of go over what goes into a penny. So when the tax rate is increased by 1 cent, it increases our revenue by 3.543 million. And so in order to have a balanced budget, that is really one of the only levers that we have in local government to be able to make significant strides in the amount of revenue that we raise every year. And so, uh, when we put in all of the inputs and took into account all of the revenues, that is leaving us with, uh, the need for the 5.75 cents. When you break that down, it goes into a couple of different buckets. In the green box, you can see general services. Our current tax rate is 27.15 cents per 100. 5.34 of the 5.75 pennies would go into that bucket. 3.93 cents or 73% of that total will go directly to supporting public safety initiatives in the city of Wilmington. Other general fund services make up the remaining 1.41 cents. We are not proposing any change to our affordable housing tax rate or our CIP maintenance tax rate, but the additional increase comes in our debt services fund where we are proposing a point.41 cents per 100 to increase the amount of funding that we have to be able to complete the CIP projects that we have been talking about with you over the last few months. This is a lower rate than we were originally projecting. staff has continued to work on decreasing that number, looking at what is realistic to expect when we go out and take on the debt to complete these projects, what other refunds and revenue streams we may have to be able to complete those projects. And so the

the first number that you might recall when we met a few months ago was closer to a 061 or or even a 051. We're continuing to ratchet that down. We believe that we can comfortably complete all of our CIP projects for the additional 0.1 cents per 100.41 cents per 100, excuse me. The note at the bottom, the MSD property rate will remain unchanged at 5 cents per 100 of assessed value. A little bit of a history lesson when we look at the property tax rate in Wilmington over the last 10 years. It's always interesting as valuations change what that does to the tax rate. And so we have been as high as 49.84 cents per 100 up until FY21. And then the rebal brought us down to 38. You can see the other significant rebal last year brought us down to the 28.25. And if the proposed tax rate is approved this year, it would increase us back to 34 cents per 100. This is a chart that we have shown in prior year or excuse me in prior work sessions with you that we feel like is an important thing to point out when we look at our tax rate. So uh we talked about untapped potential and this is meant to show the amount of valuation that has occurred within the city. um that is the sort of tan box at the back and um the adopted budget is the red in the middle and the blue is if we had remained completely revenue neutral and we will get the gray box that is not supposed to be there out of the presentation when we post this online. Um, but what we're trying to demonstrate here is that the city has taken a very conservative approach to trying to

remain as close to revenue neutral as possible as valuations of property within the city have quite frankly skyrocketed in in the last number of years. And that's not to say that we should have completely followed the tan bar. Uh, not by any stretch. But it does show um that we have really tried to remain very very tight. And as we look at everything that we are now um feeling like we need to bring forward to propose for FY27, uh we're looking to demonstrate that there is a lot of capacity in the tax base to be able to afford the tax rate that we are proposing. Looking at the direct impact on a single family residence within the city of Wilmington. If you look at the middle house, the median appraised value of a single family home in Wilmington is $445,000. The proposed tax rate adjustment of 5.75 cents per 100 would create a new monthly tax levy of $21 a month for that homeowner. That equates to $256 per year. If you have a home that has an assessed value less than that, we picked $250,000 as an example, your tax levy under the proposed budget would go up by $12 a month or $144 a year. And if you have a higher valued home in Wilmington, in this case, one valued at $800,000, the proposed tax rate would be an increased tax levy of $38 a month or $460 a year. And we do this not because we are immune to understanding that this is still a real impact on those who pay taxes in Wilmington. Uh but it is important to show that when you um that when you break it out um that it really does become a number that on a monthly basis

um is relatively low for the property owners. M like to ask a question. A question for you Becky. Yes. So your your figures here are just for the the Wilmington portion of taxes that correct Wilmington city residents pay. That's correct. So

I think we should be clear on that, you know, because when people are going to see this, they're they're thinking, "Oh, well that's that's not that bad." But the those of us who live in the city, we understand that we pay double and we don't like it. And so this is this I'm not gonna say it's misleading, but it's just it's not the whole picture. Um, so it's like, oh, $12, uh, $21, $38, not that bad. And and and it's not, but when we anticipate what we're going to get, the other half of what we're going to have to pay, uh, that's where the change really comes in. And and we kind of are confused and upset, more more upset than confused. Not really confused because we understand that we have to pay it. But just just think that we should shed a little bit of light on that that this is just for this is just our portion of property taxes.

Sure. We we'll be happy to clarify that. Um and that does bring up a good point. Um what we're trying to demonstrate on this slide is the increase to the city tax rate. So, um, if the county does not increase their tax rate, um, which I believe at this point they are proposing not to increase it, then that would still be flat for the resident compared to last year. And so, um, this would be the only increase that they would see in their property tax rate for FY27, but we can certainly clarify on the slide. Moving on to sales tax. Um this is another area that we are seeing slowed growth compared to some of our prior years. Looking at the seven months of collections that we have received year to date, we are up approximately 5% over this time last year, which does exceed what we were estimating for the entire year. However, December and January collections have showed negative growth year-over-year. And so we expect that if that trend continues, by the time we end the fiscal year, it will be less than a 5% increase for all of FY26, probably somewhere closer to the number that was estimated for this entire year. We bring that up though just to make sure to point out that due to those reductions that we are seeing, we felt that it was important to be modest in our projections for FY27. We are also seeing the impacts of tariffs and uh international unrest and the impacts that that is having on a variety of things. And so um we want to be conscious that some of the years past of uh 7% increases uh six 6% increases that that is very unlikely to be what we experience in FY27. So this is always a little bit of

looking into a crystal ball. We talk to folks at the state level. We look at local forecasts to try to nail down what we expect for sales tax. But at this time, we are projecting an increase in FY27 of 2.5% over uh this current year's budget. Miss Hulk, we also have a um question here from Council Member Joiner. Sure.

Related to the fact that we have to project this, we have to make an educated guess on this. Um, would it be possible for you to provide to council a list of what the projections for each of these fiscal years were starting in 23? Because it's helpful to know what it actually was. Um, I'm curious about what we budgeted for compared to how it came out. I'd like to see those numbers side by side in the future.

Sure. Happy to get that. Um, it's it's been an interesting last couple of years. COVID was also everything coming out of COVID was a very strange time. Um what we um what we will likely see is that we did exceed our projected um uh what we'd say um on this side of the fence is is that at some point that's going to run out of runway. Um and so um but happy to get that information for you. When we summarize all of the revenue, um, we are looking at property tax performance that is below expectations where year-over-year growth is significantly lower than projected largely due to the appeals process. That does create significant downstream pressure on our overall revenue stability. We have also underutilized some of our revenue capacity in the past um where um we do believe that there is some opportunity to um to tap into that in this current or in this upcoming year. Sales tax growth has also been moderated by these external factors like we discussed and we do expect it to slow in in the coming year. So when you put all of those things together with the requests that we have in this budget, it does require the 5.75 cents in property tax increase in order to fund everything. Again, 5.34 cents dedicated to the general fund and 41 cents dedicated to capital programs. And of course, this is ultimately council's budget. So this is just what is proposed. Um but uh we do feel like everything that we have put forward has validity. And through the upcoming work sessions, we know we'll get into a lot more detail about each of those, but we do want to spend a few minutes talking about some of the highlights tonight, especially the proposed focus areas for funding in next year's budget. And they really kind of fall into six

major areas. We have the living wage initiative, public safety, general budget pressures, supporting wave transit, other costs, and then our capital improvements program. Council has been hearing about living wage since November, but we did want to spend a couple of months uh re-educating you, but also educating the public who may be hearing about this for the first time. So, the main driver in this budget really focuses on living wage. And when we ask what's a living wage, it's a wage level that is necessary to afford an adequate standard of living for workers and their families calculated for work performed during normal work hours. It reflects the local cost of living, not a one-sizefits-all benchmark because it uses the area median income which is set by the federal government. That rate is adjusted annually for housing, transportation, food, health care, and child care costs. And we tie it to the city's desired pay philosophy by saying that it is our goal that the minimum living wage for a full-time employee working for the city of Wilmington would be equal to 60% of area median income. We recognize that that is still considered a low to moderate income earner. Um, but we do believe that it is a good place to start and it also will require a significant increase in our overall budget just to reach that level for our workforce. And here's why it matters. It helps us maintain equity, competitiveness, and affordability as regional costs of living change over time. But it also provides a number of business benefits. Helps us increase retention and reduce recruitment costs. allows for higher engagement and productivity and a more experienced workforce and an increased ability to recruit top talent. It also strengthens our local economy by

increasing employee spending hour and encourages corresponding wage adjustments across regional employers. We are not looking to make this a race to the top. We're looking to set a rate that we feel is right for our organization and for our community and then stand by that and then make sure that we are providing the work environment and the opportunities that make employees want to come and stay here because they feel valued on all fronts. With that in mind, we believe that it will also help establish us as an employer of choice. Going into a little bit more detail about AMI and our current city workforce composition. The area median income for a single person household is $75,885 annually. 60% of that rate is $45,531 per year. We currently have 329 city positions with a pay rate that starts below that number. And of the employees who are actually on the payroll today, 138 of them or 13% of our workforce earn less than $45,531 a year. The starting pay rate for some positions right now is just over $37,000. When you look at 80% of AMI, that is equivalent to $60,78 annually. 69% of our city positions have a pay rate that start below that number. That is 833 positions who work for the city of Wilmington. And the current number that are actually filled with employees on the payroll that are earning less than 80% AMI is 517 or just over half of our workforce. I won't go through all of these, but

just wanted to provide a list of the actual positions and the minimum pay for them. Um, these are all positions that are on our payroll right now. And again, all of these positions have a starting pay below the 45,531. Moving to the group of employees who have starting pay between 60 and 80% of AMI with the max salary of $60,78. We have a lot of them. Uh there are a number on not only this page but also the next page and I highlighted two of them, the firefighter and the police officer um because of the detail that we go into on the next slide. But again, these are the salaries that we're posting uh when we go out and attempt to recruit employees for these positions and um and also hope to retain employees once they get here at some of these pay rates. The impact of moving to a living wage for our workforce will be significant. When we look at our current police officer starting pay, we are at $52,154 per year. puts us essentially just below the mid the midpoint when you look at all of our um competitors and um and other cities across North Carolina that were selected previously to be those that we compare ourselves to. Though we don't know what they those cities are going to do in FY27, if we were to implement the living wage, the starting pay for a police officer would increase to $62,593 annually. Similarly to our firefighters, the current starting pay is $48,368. Implementing the living wage philosophy will increase the starting pay to $58,36 per year. We believe that this is um a a great way to look at our pay plan

because it allows us to both um increase the floor for our lowest paid positions, but then when you apply that philosophy across our entire pay plan, it has the benefit of moving some of our hardest to fill positions up to the top of the market in terms of what we're able to then advertise to get qualified candidates here and then be able to retain them. The impact on this strategy is significant. We are focusing on frontline staff in our implementation philosophy. And if implemented, 100% of our full-time staff would be making at least 60% of AMI. 85% of them do currently. And 74% of our full-time staff would be making at least 80% of AMI. Currently, only 47% do. When we break it down further and look at our first responders, 100% of them would be making at least 60% of AMI and 70% would now be making more than 80% AMI, whereas 39% of them currently do today. The total cost of this is significant and we realize that the total annual impact for FY27 would be $16.7 million. 14.2 million of that would come from the general fund. the remaining would be spread across other funds that help support certain positions.

We have a question here on council member Santa. Thank you, mayor. Um I have a question about living the living wage overall. U my first question is when we've talked about this in the budget work sessions. Um I've asked about what this would look like if we did a phased approach. Is that something that's later in the slide deck or that we'll talk about on Friday? We don't have that in this uh in this presentation because this is the recommended budget for FY27. So the recommendation for FY27 is full implementation, but we will certainly have the staged implementation available for the work session for council to review that.

So you can talk about that pretty. Great. My next question is um looking at uh first responders. What are how many vacancies do we have right now with first responders? we will have that that we can send to you. I I wouldn't want to say I know I know we had a couple of resignations um last week and so um I need to get an updated number but it's substantial.

It it is um particularly in our police department. Um I believe we're close to 40 vacancies right now. Um and those are true vacancies. Uh we also have a significant number of employees who are going through basic law enforcement training and um are maybe out on medical leave and so they're not actually uh boots on the ground so to speak out working every single day. Um but the true vacancies is is around 40 just in that department.

So I I understand that this kind of move is part of the intention is to help us fill all of those vacancies. Absolutely. So, my next question, I've heard you answer it before, but I want you to answer it in front of everybody. Um, when you've seen a living wage implemented in the past, what does attrition look like then?

Sure. So, um, I was fortunate enough to be able to, um, have a similar strategy implemented where I was previously employed. And um the vacancy rate for the police department, we never quite got to zero, but we were one or two positions away. Um but then retention dropped and we remained uh fully staffed with no voluntary resignation for about 18 months. It it was it was transformative. Um so a move like this we what we're predicting is not only will this help us fill our vacancies but we will keep people on staff. Yes. For the long term. Yes. That that is certainly the goal.

This will save us overall in the long term.

Absolutely. You save on turnover costs um and also the um the stress and risk of burnout um on staff that are having to carry the load of um of a fully staffed department with less than full staffing. Um, the other benefit of a move like this, if I may, is that um, it often leads to already certified police officers applying to essentially transfer into your organization. So, I always say we we love our our folks who want to go through B and start their career with us, but the amount of time that it takes once they just get hired to the time they're out on the street and a fully functioning police officer is um nearly a year, if not over a year, by the time they get through all of their training. And so to be able to hire somebody who's already certified, um they they need to learn Wilmington most likely, but um they they have um the years of experience that also allows us to go and look at that work performance and make sure that they're also the kind of police officer that we want to be hiring. So um we we would very much like to be attracting candidates like that. And we are very hopeful that if we implement this living wage philosophy that we that we'll be successful in those endeavors

across all departments, not I mean yes. Yeah. So so police is obviously the um the most concerning right now. Um but we do expect that this would apply to all departments. We do have some other vacancies that have been difficult to fill and uh we very much hope that this would change those fortunes. Thank you.

We have another question here from Council Member Clinton Quintana. Hi Becky. Um, thank you for presenting this information to us today. My question is, you mentioned um, stabilization for about 18 months. Is that correct? Up to 18 months. Did something happen after 18 months? No, you you just sort of naturally, you know, somebody starts, you know, somebody decides that they want to move on or they, you know, where we were, Charlotte was kind of that big dog next door that um would sometimes um recruit folks away. And so it wasn't like a mass exodus after 18 months. It was just it was the first um resignation that got handed in.

So more like a onesie twoosie, but not like a mass exit or anything like that.

Exactly. um in in today's workforce, an 8 to 10% annual attrition rate is not unexpected. Uh people are more um willing to move and go than um maybe they were in decades past. So we fully expect that we'll always have some level of it. Um, but what we're looking to do is significantly slow that rate, but then also when you do have one, if you can have a competitive applicant pool of people who are um anxious to be the one selected for your role, then it also gives you confidence that you're going to be able to fill that vacancy when you do experience that. Whereas right now um we um we are losing them faster than we're gaining them when we're looking at that uh vacancy rate is not getting smaller right now. It's it's getting bigger every time we have a a a resignation.

Okay. Thank you, Becky. Thank you. Also have a question from Council Member Andrew. So you eliminated um a certain number of vacant positions through reorganization and so how much in um recurring savings did that generate and why isn't that offsetting more of this tax increase?

Sure. So um that generated about $500,000 in annual savings. Um and when you have over,00 employees um it doesn't the math doesn't math in terms of that um covering what we need to do. Um, we certainly want to acknowledge the pay increases that councils in the past have given to our staff. Um, the issue is that the existing pay rate was still so low that yes, it was a 7% or a 9% increase, but that didn't move the needle to actually get that pay rate up to a competitive level. And so the cost to implement uh to move the entire pay scale like we need to to not experience significant compression and actually have um new employees jumping over the pay rates of existing employees. We need to move everybody with it and moving,00 people adds up to millions of dollars.

Thank you. We have another question. Council member Joiner. I just don't want us to leave the topic of first responders without without also at least briefly giving us an overview of where we stand on fire and how this affects that department. Yeah, we we do have um a couple of vacancies there right now. They they run their classes a little bit differently um where they uh they will have an upcoming class of folks. Um I don't know if Chief Mason is in the room right now. Chief Mikler, do you know how many vacancies we have right now? Nine. We we currently have nine. Thank you.

One of the other main focus areas of this budget is public safety needs. And the last 10 months that I've been here have spent a lot of time working with staff um learning the operations and also talking about um sort of what do they need in order to uh better feel like they can face not only today's needs but the needs of tomorrow. And so there are a number of initiatives that are either new or expanded in this budget that um as as much as um we wanted to carve back and say this isn't the year um in many cases that has been said for years and years and years for some of these initiatives and you just reach a point where you say we have to move this forward and we do feel like this is the year to do that. The total on the screen adds up to about $2 million a year. And again, we can go over more detail uh in our budget work session, but I do just want to point out a couple of items here. The mission ready gear for fire that is at the top of your screen. Um that is a different type of turnout gear. When you think about how many fires a firefighter actually responds to, it's not that many. the vast majority of their day is spent responding to medical calls, um, alarm calls, and so there is a lighter weight turnout gear that exists that has, um, been used by New Hover County Fire for three or four years that um, allows them to not have the same wear and tear on their traditional turnout gear that they need to wear when they respond to a fire. Um, it's a lighter weight, gets very hot in North Carolina, and it allows them to be more comfortable on the job. Um, but we also have not been able to fully implement POSFree turnout gear. And so this is an opportunity to put them in completely

POSFree uh uniforms that then when they do have to dawn the traditional turnout gear that may still have POS in it then that is fewer and further between and so they're wearing it less which ultimately keeps the firefighters safer. So, this $378,000 outfits the entire department in one fell swoop um so that everybody can have um this set of uniforms uh to be able to wear immediately um if we're able to have this approved. Also want to talk about the mental health services for public safety. Um this is an initiative that um has been desired by our chiefs for quite a number of years. Um this will provide um uh annual counseling services and um additional other mental health support for every member of our police and fire department. It will be handled locally. It's confidential. It will be no cost to the staff. Um seeing this implemented in other departments, um it has been a gamecher in terms of dstigmatizing asking for help or saying, "Hey, I'm not okay." And um given the demands on the staff in both of those departments, we firmly believe that um providing this um supportive program is very important to make sure that we are taking care of our own um as they take care of the community. Um the uh the one at the end, you might say, um inspections for $80,000. What is that? Um uh turns out that um if we want to keep um some of our accreditations for uh the fire department, we have an ISO1 and we're also nationally accredited, which is the absolute highest that you can be nationally. Um that they are um now requiring turnout gear to be inspected. This makes sure

that it remains safe and that there are no um leaks or um issues with any of the gear that would make it unsafe for the firefighter to be wearing. Uh but that does require an a third-party testing. Um and so this is is an annual cost um that we need to now undertake to make sure that that equipment remains in proper working order. Additional budget pressures, health insurance cost increases are $3.9 million compared to the current year. That is um over one penny on the tax rate just for health insurance. We did a complete RFP. We went out for new bids. Um we looked at bringing the costs um to a different model where we would just pay premiums and have set costs, it is still more cost-effective for us to remain self-insured. Um but uh this is something that's even as we uh we looked at how we could uh keep these costs low, this is where it landed. Um, I'll get into some detail on the next slide. We also have a number of um other types of insurance premiums that we pay as well as set contract increases. Many times when you sign a multi-year contract, there will be a built-in 3% 5% pay increase. Um, all of those are uh in the budget in terms of numbers that we have to afford. We're also looking at mandated increases to the state retirement contribution for $736,000. This is separate from the living wage. Living wage, the numbers that builds in all of the fringe benefit costs if we are to increase pay. The $736,000 is based on current pay rates. These are rates that are set by the North Carolina retirement system. They tell us what we will be paying. And so this is the uh

the increase that comes as a result of that. And then like everyone with uh personal utility bills, we are not immune to those. We uh are fully expecting that utility rate increases across all lines and all departments will result in the need for an additional $535,000 next year over the current year. We are right now running over budget on a number of these lines and we are having to scramble from other uh other lines in the budgets to be able to make sure that the utilities stay paid. Going into a little bit more detail about the health insurance costs. Um this is not a Wilmington issue. This is a nationwide issue and um some public sector neighbors of ours have seen increases as high as 28%. We've been told that nationally premiums are increasing about 20% on average. Our increase is about 14%. So by comparison, we're low even though it doesn't feel that way given the increase that we're expecting. Drivers are just higher costs in general, increased utilization. Uh we did feel that it was important to try to absorb these increases. So this does propose that the full cost is absorbed by the city to try to retain any pay increase that we do provide to our employees that they actually feel it as a pay increase and it doesn't get absorbed by um this type of additional expense. Of the 3.9 million, 3.4 million of that will come out of the general fund. The remaining $500,000 is spread across other funds that support our staff. Wave Transit also has a fairly notable increase in their budget that we are supporting in the FY27 budget proposal and um it increases their standard subsidy by about 116,000.

We have a contractual obligation to uh support them by a 3% increase and then council in years past has approved an additional 3%. That's how we get to the 116,000. And then uh the the wave board that uh myself and council member Andrews are a member of um we and and the other members of the board have spent a lot of time working with the wave transit leadership on how to better provide on-time service to its users and uh because a an unreliable system is not going to be a usable system and um there are many members of the public where this is this is their only option um for transportation. And um so through that analysis, uh the wave staff determined that a total increase of $800,000 would be necessary to be able to provide on-time service to their users. Um it involves some route changes, um splitting up a route, so it adds some additional bus lines uh to be able to shorten routes so they can get cycle through them faster. um because right now some of them are so long that when they hit traffic it backs them up and then it's just a compounding issue down the line as the day goes on. And um so this would be a shared cost with New Hover County. The $800,000 total split in half. We're proposing $400,000 and um the remaining $400,000 is included in New Horror County's proposed budget. There's an additional $126,000 allocated for capital needs. Um, and that is for an appropriated transportation project. It also helps upgrade some shelters and benches. And uh, so the total across all of those uh, three areas is $642,000. Also included in this budget are um, a

couple of um, strategic staffing investments. Um we have um recognized through the work that we've done that we have a need for an overall IT security officer for um for the organization um to help us be better protected against um cyber crime and fishing and all of the fun things that um are lurking out there um that are trying to get into our systems on a regular basis and make sure that we are as protected as possible. And also included in this budget is a change to how we cover our recreation centers. Um we need to make sure that we have at least two staff in each center at all times. Um we are not presently able to do that with the current number of staff that we have uh within our budget. So $335,000 would add 4.23 two three FTEES which our parks and recreation department has worked out a schedule that they feel confident that these additional FTEES would allow them to commit to that twoperson coverage at all times uh within every center. Moving on to our capital improvements program, an additional $31 million would be generated through the 41 cents per hundred. We've talked about these projects at length with you all, but um this is really um a predominantly non-negotiable projects that we believe are essential to our transportation and infrastructure network. They include Pinerove Bridge, Lions Bridge, Kerr Avenue Trail, Hooker Hinton and Writesville Avenue, multi-use path. Unfortunately, like everything, our capital projects continue to face rising material and labor costs. Um but uh we have seen positive response to some of our recent RFPs that have gone out and so we are hopeful that uh we are very much on the right track with our cost

estimates and um we're very confident through the work of our finance department that the proposed increase in the tax rate uh that will generate the additional $31 million will be the push that we need to get over the finish line for the current CIP that is scheduled to last for the next two ers a few enterp enterprise funds highlights. Our storm water fund balance um we are um we're completely balanced in that budget and we expect to generate $17.8 million in revenue next year. This includes a CIP transfer of $388,000. There is an annual fee adjustment that is in the stormwater fund. This was adopted by council a number of years ago. With that annual fee adjustment, the residential unit rate will go from $ 8.97 to $9.27 per month. Solidway services, a slight increase at $13.2 million. Um we are doing well in that fund and as a result um in prior years we had looked to need um uh transfers um of parking and general fund and we do not anticipate that we will need to make those transfers in FY27. Our parking fund the revenue is expected to be $9.8 million. Uh we are looking to make a CIP transfer of $375,000 for some modernization within our parking decks. um moving to uh better programs that allow for more convenience and reliable usage and payments for those that are using the decks and uh we think that that will be very well received by those that utilize those services. Our golf fund we are looking at a slight increase uh looking to the total of $2.9

million. It includes a $45,000 annual operating increase. It will require a $2 green fee increase in order to meet those revenue requirements. As council member Andrews mentioned, we have been also working to find efficiencies throughout the organization. We have eliminated 29 positions. Um, nobody was laid off. I want to be clear on that. Um, but we either took vacancies or um, we did transfer some staff to different positions. We have some folks doing retraining um because the position that they were in, we felt that it was not necessary if we made some of these changes. So overall, we were able to eliminate 29 positions. We did use some of the funding that uh was generated from that to be able to provide adjustments to some of the new positions based on expanded duties and responsibilities. They qualified for different pay grades. And so um in fairness to the employee doing more advanced work, we needed to adjust their salary accordingly.

Miss, we also have a question here from council member La. Sure. My question was on the last slide for with the enterprise funds. [clears throat] The um increase in green fees. I think it's my understanding and we haven't increase the green fees in a while. Is that right? So, it's not something that increases every year or it it does not increase every year. Was it two years ago? I'm I'm I'm seeing head nods. So, two years ago that we'll validate it um and send it to you, but it it has been it was not raised last year.

Thanks. Um and and to that end, we did a lot of analysis um looking at both their operating needs as well as their capital needs. Um and they were at a point where they would be exceeding the revenues and needing to dip into their fund balance um if we didn't increase the fees. And so that is why we are proposing the fee increase. Um going back to the finding efficiencies, um a lot of the work that is happening internally is looking at how can we streamline customer contact, have stronger and better internal communication as well as external communication. I think some of you have seen some of those efforts in the last few months with some of the community engagement events that our wonderful staff has organized and put on. Um that is not a flash in the pan. that is the new way of doing business and we're really pleased with it. We think that it will only continue to grow and um some of the creative things that folks are coming up with of how do we get out and better connect with those in the community on a regular basis. Um we've been really pleased with the turnout and uh we only expect that to continue. We've also worked to reduce duplication of services. Um we sometimes had um different departments doing little bits of a similar task and we have worked to try to put all of that together um coordinate things where it makes sense and um in many cases um instead of having maybe small groups um in different departments putting them all together actually is a force multiplier and allows them to work together to um tackle projects get them done quickly and then they can move on to the next. We're seeing that start to take hold throughout the organization and we're extremely pleased with um the uh the

coordination that is happening as a result of that. Also included in this budget is transportation mobility funding for vision zero projects. This is funded through our vehicle tax $20 a year. That rate was set a couple of years ago by council. It generates $1.8 8 million annually and we will be prioritizing projects that increase pedestrian safety throughout the city. We're also continuing to work with the WNO and um Duke Energy. They're currently completing some lighting studies for us in some um areas of the city that are of particular concern to be able to help justify implementing additional lighting there. Uh we're pleased that we um have filled uh some of our vision zero positions and um they will uh very quickly be getting to work on these initiatives. Traffic calming, uh better lighting, better pedestrian connectivity. Um these are all efforts that are important parts of our transportation network to help keep both motorized and non-motorized uh residents and visitors safe as they traverse the city.

Thank you. We also have a question here by Mayor Pro. How much money is in the transportation mobility funding pot right now?

We will look that up and we will get that to you. Also included in this budget is a shift to how we fund our nonprofit organization partners. In past years, the exact amount for each nonprofit was uh discussed as part of the budget approval. With council's support, we have changed that process. So, we will have a pot of money, $783,000 in the FY27 approved budget and then RFPs will be issued to the community for um specific programs and services that we believe um will be best supportive of the work that we are trying to do. All of those will cycle through council before they are put out on the street for responses to make sure that council agrees that those initiatives are in alignment with what we are trying to fund. the nonprofit organizations will then respond to those RFPs and the funding will be approved later in this calendar year, but certainly before the end of um of this calendar year and um that will cycle through uh citizen committee and then ultimately again come back to council for your final approval on those amounts and those organizations.

Which citizen committee is that? That is CRAC. And have we have have have we completed the appointments to that? That's now full. I believe CRAC is fully appointed. Okay. I know we had done so in recent meetings. I don't know if we had filled every seat. Thank you. Yeah.

What is not included in this budget is also important to understand. um as large of a tax increase as we are recognizing that we are needing to ask for what is not included includes uh additional funding for street paving. Um that is an area that often gets a lot of attention from the community. Uh we have about $3.5 million annually that we spend. Um we could double that and uh would probably still have many streets that we um would like to get to at a faster rate. We have a question here about council member.

Sure. Thank you, mayor. Um, my question is on the previous slide with the um recommended 783,000 for nonprofits. What was what was the that bucket of money this year? And if if it was 1% less, it increases 1% every year.

Okay. Thanks, Also not included in this budget is additional annual funding for parks maintenance. Um when we were looking at what to put into this budget, we felt it was important to prioritize public safety. It's not that we don't think that parks maintenance isn't important. Um it just came down to um what we needed to make sure that we were prioritizing. That is something that in future years uh we hope to put a lot of attention to and have conversations with council about ways that we can increase um some of that uh some of those efforts. Um we um this is in no way a reduction of current maintenance. Um this is just not expanding to a higher level uh within the parks. Also not included is uh self-contained breathing apparatus. This is for our fire department. The total cost is $2.5 million. We are pursuing a federal grant for this. Uh we expect that there will be at least some sort of a match with that but um that is something that they expire after a number of years. They are coming up on their expiration date. Uh but given the um the hope of the uh the federal grants, uh we did not feel like this was something that would be appropriate to put into this budget um because of the amount of money that it would take up when we think it will be offset by other other means. Council member Randers, you have a question.

Yeah, I it looked like and we just we just got this. So, it it looked like 146,000 was budgeted citywide for park facilities maintenance. Does that sound right? Our our budget guru will answer that. Tom, do you have something to add to that? Right. So, so there's both operating maintenance and capital maintenance. Okay. So, so you were probably looking at operating maintenance.

Okay. Because we know that Greenfield Park, for example, has some huge maintenance needs. And so, would most of those fall under operating or capital? Depends on depends on the amount. Um, I believe we are talking about paving a portion of um of the trail there this fiscal year. um will be starting July 1st. Um so we do have some investment planned for Greenfield Park with the funds that we do have. And I know there's the Lion's Bridge under maintenance or excuse me, under capital, but what about things like the bathroom facilities? Where does that fall?

So are we doing a needs assessment on that right now? Okay. Okay. So, we also have a separate building maintenance budget um that uh that some of that maintenance would come out of. Um so, if if there's any in particular to go look at, but we can uh we can certainly pay attention to that, but we would need to schedule that in um if there are significant for our budget workshop, our next budget workshop because I've got gotten a lot of questions about that. People want to know in particular Sure. um about parks maintenance and particularly grainfield.

We also have a question here from Council Member Clinton Quintano. So that was also my question was concerning um bathrooms but um and thank you uh Council Member Andrews for asking. My additional question would be so when you talk about additional annual funding for park maintenance, is this going to be something like new project maintenance? Is that what you're I mean I think we need a little bit of clarification and maybe that comes in the budget work section session. However, I'm asking because we are of course in our city council meeting and for those that are listening.

Sure. Um the the annual funding that is listed here is intended to refer to the um the overall level of maintenance and appearance that you would experience when you go into a park. Um so anything that is an actual infrastructure uh improvement since that falls into other buckets um that is not what is included here. This is how often is the grass cut. This is how often are the buildings powerwashed. Um this is if there are um you know if there are basic levels of of maintenance in terms of if things are broken or whatnot, we are able to cover that with our existing facilities maintenance budget. So if there are needs that are not being met at particular locations, we can absolutely get staff out there and make those corrections. But a lot of this is about the the overall um level of um I guess tidiness and uh how manicured uh you might see something. How often are the uh parking lots repaved? Um how often are they restriped? All of the the small things that go into that overall experience when you go into a park.

Council member Joiner. I just want to clarify though, those are in the budget. They're in the budget and they are in the budget every year. Correct. What I'm hearing you say is that you are not bringing us a proposal to increase that correct this fiscal year. Correct. Correct. Which would in which would cause us to have a higher tax rate if we were to include that. That is correct. Thank you.

Also not included is a downtown camera replacement and expansion program. Uh we are currently looking at um some partner funding opportunities that we are hoping will significantly reduce the expected cost to this camera system uh to be able to both replace some of the existing that is outdated and also expand it within our downtown core. The estimate that we have um for everything that we believe we need to do is about $2 million. And um we are also looking at um street barricades, essentially car stop barricades to replace the saw horses that are currently uh the official uh road barricade. In the interim, we have adopted a an approach of using large trucks, our trash trucks, any um heavy machinery that we have to help block intersections. um not just from um somebody who may have bad intent, but uh medical uh conditions happen. Um you know, somebody not paying attention. There's a number of ways that um having a closed street with pedestrians on it can um quickly turn into a bad situation. Um there are products out there that um are in use that uh we do plan to um bring to you in future meetings. um looking at some other pots of funding that we have um but that is not specifically included in the 27 budget. So just to wrap up the property tax adjustment um again we are looking at a total proposed increase of 5.75 cents per $100 of assessed value. 5.34 pennies of that um is to general services with almost four pennies of that being specifically to support public safety initiatives. Affordable housing has no change and CIP maintenance has no change and debt service would require an additional 041 pennies in order to meet the needs of

those capital projects. And uh again uh understand Mayor Prom um but the Wilmington portion of the tax rate under this proposal would uh require uh an additional monthly payment of $12 for somebody with a home assessed at 250,000, $21 a month for somebody with a home assessed at $445,000 and $31 a month for someone with a home assessed at 800,000. Obviously, somebody's specific valuation uh would impact up or down from there. And that concludes my presentation. As a reminder, we have a work session with you all on the 15th of May. uh as you review your budget document and this presentation over the coming weeks, if there are questions that you know that you will have ahead of time, we would encourage you to please email those to myself so that we can have staff look up that information and have those answers prepared uh to share with you at that meeting. Thank you very much for your time.

Okay, thank you. Okay, brings us to our next item of business, which is our consent agenda items one through four. Are there any items that any council member would like to hear separately? If not, what are the wishes of this council? Motion to approve by council member Andrews, second by council member Clinton Quintana. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying I. I.

Any opposed? Item passes unanimously. Okay, that brings us to our next item business which is our public information segment. Uh we have several speakers that have signed up to speak with us this evening. Each speaker will be allotted three minutes. Our first speaker is Kathleen Lawrence who is a city resident who will be talking to us about parking. Is Miss Lawrence here? Seeing Miss Lawrence, our second speaker is Mr. Tom Harris, city resident. Um, several topics, proposed budget and the additional topic of of whatever Living Hope Day Center for Individuals experiencing homelessness. Mr. Harris, floor is yours. I feel uncomfortable presenting tonight because everything has gone so smooth and I'm always the guy that can get things off track. So, I apologize in advance for that. But the the reality is I have some concerns. My first concern is sitting and listening to the budget in terms of the living wage. Uh my business in Wilmington cannot afford to pay my employees living wage, all my employees. That's just the reality of small businesses. We can't. And it just doesn't seem right for us to have our taxes go up to subsidize city workers. I mean, I'm all for if a position in the city is hard to be filled because it's not paying enough, raise the wages. If retention is a problem in a in a specific position, raise the wages. But as far as a philosophical across the board increase, it's just not right. Because the realities of what occurs outside of this wonderful sequestered room and the wonderful sequester 12th floor, we live in the real world. We struggle.

Fortunately, I don't struggle in my other businesses in other parts of the state, but if you're running a a storefront business in downtown Wilmington, you struggle. That's just the reality. I'd rather I don't mind my taxes going up because I I'll bring money from another part of the state to pay that $2,000 whatever cost to pay extra tax in my building, but I want those tax dollars to be used for things that are prioritized and most needed. downtown. We need help with the with the homelessness issue. We're, for lack of better word, we're overrun sometimes. Uh I I hear it likened to an outdoor mental asylum sometimes. I didn't hear any money in the budget for the maybe I missed it for the for the new uh lowbearer shelter. Was that money in that 700 something,000? That's not going to come close to covering that. Where where is that money? I mean, we were promised that shelter, but I don't I don't know that I really understood how it's going to be paid for. We need help. Okay, I didn't want to use all my time for this, but I just had to say something to hear in that budget presentation where we small businesses cannot afford to pay our workers, all of our workers a living wage. Sure, I've got, you know, managers and some positions that are comparable to what the city pays, but as far as the the core workforce, my small business, other small businesses cannot afford it. Transparency. What happened to the press terminal? Where did it go? The press used to be able to go into city hall, look at emails. They can't do that. When I talked to some folks in uh Matthews, same problem there. Transparency issue. Let's don't let it happen here.

The big issue is what's happening to our city employees. And I'm I'm not talking about lack of pay. I'm talking about lack of a healthy work environment where they want to come to work. They don't feel fearful. They don't feel threatened. [sighs]

I don't know if y'all are getting in the weeds and talking to the people who've been uh fired or forced to uh resign, which is in essence same thing as firing. You know, we're going to we're going to uh fire you unless you resign. It's not right. It's not right for people to be working in a a state of fear. And when they bring that up at a at a town hall meeting to to hear the response from from uh the city management that uh as long as you don't do something wrong, there's nothing to fear. But how do you define something wrong when you're seeing your peers, the people you work with, your colleagues fired or forced to resign for little petty things that are I don't even know they'd amount to mole hills. I mean, it's Shakespearean. It's much to do about nothing in most cases. Did y'all know they formed a a support group? I mean, they're emotionally traumatized from what happened to them. I'm getting close. I'm out of time. I'm out of time and I guess I get out of patience too on some things. So, uh I am proposing that to the budget be added two things. Uh I'm I'm proposing that the city retain an independent qualified organizational psychologist consulting firm specializing in workplace culture to conduct a comprehensive confidential assessment of the current work environment within city government. It'll look at things like psychological safety to the extent to which employees feel safe speaking up without fear of retaliation, perceive fairness and consistency in management decisions, trust in leadership and communication transparency, employee morale and engagement, experience a perception of retaliation, coercion or pressure in employment

decisions. overall workplace climate, organizational culture. I don't want my tax dollars used for things that are coercive and and threatening to employees. Mr. Harris, I'll fight that. I'm out of time. Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you. U second thing is just just just get it over there to the to um Mr. Harris, just bring it up there. Okay. Thank you. Next speaker is Miss Charlene Zorn, who's a city resident, speaking about youth vaping in Wilmington, city limits.

Before you get started, can you put that down? Is that better? Yeah. We want to be really short. Yeah. We want to be able to see you and hear you.

Good evening. My name is Charlene Zorn. I'm the stepmother of Solomon Win. My 15-year-old stepson passed away on June 17, 2023 because of vaping. This would have been his senior year at New Hover High School. First, I'd like to thank the city council for considering a resolution in support of T21 SAI's law. I hope for unanimous support of the resolution. In addition to thanking the city council for your support in Sally's law, I would like to ask the city council to consider a zoning ordinance within city limits for tobacco, vape, and CBD shops to provide an additional layer of protection for our youth. These stores are targeting our youth with brightly lit signs with fruity flavors products to entice our youth with [clears throat] devices that look like everything from video games that can be synced to cell phones, highlighter markers, cartoon characters, etc. These products have been designed to attract people under the age of 21. Currently, 20% of all North Carolina high school students vape. That's twice the national average. Unfortunately, this is not a pro not a problem just in our high schools. It's also in our elementary and middle schools. As a parent advocate, I get a lot of phone calls and emails from community resources referring families to me so I can help them with their children who have become addicted to vaping. Currently, I'm working with two different families. One who has a child who has major mental health issues related to vaping. The other whose child was expelled from school over vaping issues. There isn't anywhere you can go anymore where somebody isn't vaping. Even though our city and county has smoking and vaping ordinances, they aren't enforced the way they should be. In December, two instances in North Carolina turned deadly and were connected to disputes over vape pens. A stabbing in North Fight High School in Winston Salem and a robbery in Emma, I know I said that wrong, parks in

in Moresville. We're putting our youth physical and mental health at risk due to vapes. A single 5% 50 millgram disposable vape contained as much as 50 contained as much nicotine as one to three packs of cigarettes. If you've never been to a vape store, I challenge you to go into one. Look around. Ask questions. If you want me to go with you, just ask. I'll go. Don't like them, but I'll go with you. I want to give you some examples of zoning ordinance restrictions in other mi municipalities that have imposed to protect our youth. The city of Jacksonville restricted vapes, tobacco, and CBD retailers within 1,500 ft of schools, parks, daycare centers, 500 feet from residential areas, and 2,000 ft from similar businesses. The town of Southport restricted tobacco, vape, and CBD re retailers within 500 ft of schools, playgrounds, parks, churches. 500 feet from residential areas and a thousand feet from similar businesses. In the city of Whiteville restricted tobacco, vape and CBD retailers with,000 ft from schools, daycarees, parks, and community centers, 400 ft from residential areas, and 1500 feet from similar businesses. In closing, I would like to thank you in advance for your support of Sally's law and beg you to please take into consideration zoning restrictions within Wilmington city limits to prevent any other family from experiencing the loss my family has. And I would be happy to put you in touch with Ernest Watts from Region 8 to Tobacco Control. Um he covers this entire area of the state and he's the expert on all things tobacco and vaping related.

Thank you, ma'am. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker is Katrina Brooks who's a city resident be talking about Sally's law. Good evening. [cough] First, let me say thank you for allowing me to come and speak. I am the biological mother of Solomon Isaiah Win standing here before you today only as a certified peer support specialist who dedicatedly serves in this marginalized community of New Hover County. But as a mother of Solomon Isaiah Win, I'm carrying the burden and the grief that no parent should ever have to bear. I'm here to speak for my son who was tragically cut his life was tragically cut short by the devastating effects of vaping and for countless schoolage children in our community who remain at risk. The crisis of our youth vaping is not in our in a distant threat. It is an epidemic unfolding in our hallways and in our classrooms. These devices are often marketed with flavors as Charlene said and designed that appeal to children. It's not looking for adults to come are and they're delivering a consequence to our children and for my son ultimately it was death. It has high concentrations of nicotine and other harmful substance to de developing lungs and brains of our young children. We are seeing a generation of students struggle with addiction, respiratory issues, and mental health

complications that often follow substance use. In my work as a community health worker, I see daily how substances can become a two-way street with mental health creating cycles that incredibly difficult to break. For our children, vaping is often the first entry point into the cycle and that cycle that leads to the suffering loss of potent of their potential and as my family knows too well, the loss of a life. This is why I am urging you to pass solace law into effect. We need legislative action that recognize the severity of this issue and provides the necessary protection of our youth. We must hold those who market these products to our children accountable and ensure that our schools are a safe environment where students can thrive without the shadow of addiction. Passage of this law is about more than just regula regulations to these companies. It is about acknowledging the value of our children's lives and the sanctity of their future. I ask you to consider the empty chair that I now see at my table cuz my son ain't there to eat his burgers that he love to eat. I want to say, "Mom, I want more pancakes cuz that was his favorite."

[sighs]

the tragedy my family has had to endure. I pray that no other family has to endure that fate. My son was a loving, warm I never had to discipline him the times he was with with me. Um loved his dad, worked out with his dad, and got to the point where he couldn't even walk to the bus stop to get on the bus to go to handover. um couldn't play football, something he loved, because he take he took he made the choice to vape and I pray that somehow someway we protect the rest of the children. No other parent has to go through this. Thank you.

Thank you, man. Next speaker is uh Max Hammer and B Lane Lenir who are also city residents. Talk about the North Carolina Tobaca 21 coalition. Good evening all and thank you Mr. Mayor, Mr. Mayor Prom and council members for having us. My name is Max Hammer

and my name is Bel Laneir. You may remember us from the past two council meetings. To reiterate, we are both high school students at Katefir Academy and proud members of the North Carolina Tobacco 21 coalition. I want to begin by expressing our sincere gratitude for the time and consideration that you all have extended to us. Thank you for considering the resolution and we hope for unanimous support. As you may recall, we previously shared the story of Solomon Win, a student and athlete at New Hover County High School or New Hover High School who should be graduating this May. Solomon became addicted to vaping and passed away at age 15 from vaping related lung complications. And it is in his honor and in the presence of his bi biological mother and his stepmother that we continue to bring this issue before our elected leaders both at a local and state level. Sally's story originated here in this city and in this community.

North Carolina remains one of the six states that still allows tobacco and nicotine products sales to 18-year-olds. This means older high schoolers can legally buy vapes. Often they pass it on to younger students like myself and Max. Raising the purchasing age to 21 through Sie's law would break this chain by providing a barrier that protects minors from the dangers of nicotine products and by establishing a retail permitting license structure similar to that required for alcohol. We are deeply grateful for your willingness to consider our resolution and hear the impact of youth vaping in Wilmington. Knowing my city leaders care about the well-being of students like me gives me real encouragement. We hope Sally's story stays with you and we look forward to your continued interest in protecting Wilmington's youth. Thank you guys.

Thank you. Thank you. And next and last speaker is Angelica who's a city resident will be talking to us about the budget. Is Miss here? Okay. This concludes this portion of the meeting. Our next uh item of business is our public hearings. We have one item this evening I believe item PH1 which is a ordinance amending the land development code chapter 18 to allow for semi-permanent structures to be permitted with conditions in the central business district. And I will also note that whoever makes this motion must read a consistency statement for the record. So at this time I'd like to recognize our city manager, Miss Becky Hog.

Thank you Mr. Mayor, Mayor Prom, and members of council. This item will be presented by one of our planners, Grace Lame.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Prom, and members of the council. For your review, I present a proposed land development code amendment to allow for semi-permanent structures to be permitted with conditions in the central business district. This is an applicant initiated code amendment that originated from a variance request submitted to the board of adjustment in August of 2025 to allow for an uncladded shipping container to remain as placed in the central business district. The board decided that a code amendment might be the mo more appropriate route to allow this structure type to be utilized in this district. This application was submitted in February of this year, reviewed by staff and presented to planning commission in April. The land development code design standards for new development in the central business district were clearly written with primary buildings in mind. As a result, smaller accessory structures or ancillary features are not specifically addressed and are held to the same requirements as principal structures. Um the land of sorry I'm all tripped up now. Applying full CBD design standards related to fenestration materials and building articulation to small-scale semi-permanent structures can pose practical implementation issues when compared to applying the standards to new development. This is especially apparent on properties with existing structures that are set back more than the CBD dimensional standards would typically allow. The proposed amendment would establish semi-permanent structure as an accessory used in the land development code allowed only within the CBD subject to conditions. So these conditions outline that no more than one semi-permanent structure shall be permitted to lot to one lot. Such structures may only be used to serve food and beverages as an accessory use to a primary restaurant or nightclub.

They may not be permitted as primary structures and they may only be permitted as accessory uses to principal structures existing as of May 4th, 2026. This condition was added by staff in order to ensure that all new development will be held to the CBD design standards. The conditions go on to place limits on the maximum size for semi-permanent structures and set minimum standards regarding the outward appearance. Semi-permanent structures will be subject to all building setback requirements aside from the maximum front setback, meaning that they can be located in front of the existing principal structure. Planning commission expressed concerns regarding the orientation of such structures at the public hearing in April and so staff modified the proposal to include language that regul regulates the placement of the narrow and wide facades according to the lot layout. In the example shown on the screen, you can see the narrow facade of the semi-permanent structure facing the primary frontage and the longer facade oriented towards the side interior property line. This is the proposed definition of semi-permanent structure to be added to article 8 of the land development code. And this map shows the general location of the central business district within the city limits. Also shown as the historic district overlay where additional review and approval from the historic preservation commission would be required for semi-permanent structures to be approved. Staff reviewed locations throughout the C the CBD with non-conforming buildings set back more than the dimensional standards were would currently allow. And here you can see some examples of where these structures could be permitted. Staff has reviewed this application's alignment with relevant adopted plans in

including the create Wilmington comprehensive plan. The plan's growth strategies map identifies areas of opportunity with corresponding policies to guide the look, feel, and use of new development. This plan also offers broader policy guidance to shape new development throughout the city. Staff assessed this application with relevant policies and found modest support for the application's alignment with the plan. Staff did not receive any comments in support or opposition of this application. And to summarize the application and staff's findings, the current land development code design standards for the central business district do not allow accessory structures, meaning that they are held to standards that may be unnecessary or even infeasible, especially for the adaptive reuse of non-conforming structures. By distinguishing between primary and semi-permanent structures, the city can m maintain its commitment to highquality design while allowing flexibility for smaller secondary use specific features. Staff recommends approval finding the request to be reasonable in public interest and consistent with the relevant policies of the create Wilmington comprehensive plan and plan commission has voted to recommend approval of the proposed amendment subject to additional conditions regarding the building orientation along primary frontages. This concludes staff presentation. I'd like to submit the case summary and all attachments into the record. I'm available for any staff questions and the applicant is here tonight as well.

Okay. Very good. Any questions of st of our staff? Okay. Okay. Yes. Uh council member law I have a quick question. Um maybe two. The in A3 the um semi-permanent structures are limited to buildings existing um to I guess tomorrow. um today May 4th May it says May May 5th in my copy um that's right but but the tell me about the um reason for limiting that

um so that from today um all new development would be subject to the current um CBD standards and they would not be allowed to utilize this type of structure. So this is really meant for more um non-conforming structures or buildings that exist as of today. So it's not to encourage more people to Right. It's to allow the expansion of uses that might not be able to considering their current lot layout without having to redevelop the entire lot.

Okay. Um the other thing I was wondering um in the definition of um the semi-permanent structure is there there's no requirement about how often it's used or how long it can be there or anything like that. It's um just looking at unintended consequences of having a um one of the shipping containers not being used and just sitting there. Right. That that's not included in this proposal right now. Thanks. Okay. Any other questions?

Okay. Thank you. All right. This time I' like to recognize the applicant. Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Prom, uh, council members. My name is Joseph Epcarian. Uh, I'm the owner of the Eagles Dare at 420 North Third Street. Uh, and I'm the person that submitted this. Uh we've gone down this this road with originally applying for a variance going through that with the board of adjustment ultimately getting to the point where we were recommended to do a text amendment. Uh zoning office and also the planning commission uh it's been a very you know it's been a long long road to get to where we're at. Uh but it it's ultimately especially with the planning commission been been very good and fruitful and I think where we're at here uh and what we submitted is a good step in the right direction. This addresses my issue. I think there is a larger conversation to be had about the adaptive reuse of shipping containers and how that could be affected in our community not only for retail and commercial use but also in other other avenues. That's for a conversation for another day I think. uh what was directed to me when we were first dealing with this was to worry about myself. And so from that is where this amendment came from and the and the wording that associated with it very much addresses again a pre-existing building that has been that is already located there that this is something to add to as an ancillary thing that currently our code does not address. You know, the first question that I always get is, well, what about cargo district? And I have to remind people that in the eyes of the city, those are no different than new buildings, then the new library and museum is no different than the building structures you see over in the

cargo district. And they, the developers of that area worked through the code so that again, in the eyes of the city, that's no different than a new apartment building. So again, when we dealt when we addressed this, we came up and started using the term of a semi-permanent structure and used it in very much in accordance with what works for the Eagle's DARE. Um, and and that's kind of where we we find ourselves right now. Uh, asking for for uh uh approval of this, please. Any questions for the applicant? Thank you. Yes, we have a question here. Mayor Pro Tim What are you going to use it for?

So, we currently it's it's already on on site. It has been on site uh for since our our inception three and a half years ago, sir. Uh and it we currently use it for uh an ancillary bar, a secondary bar for our larger events like the beginnings of free concert Friday, which began this last Friday. Uh but we also use it for storage as well. So, we we have some storage stuff in there, but on our larger scale events, we pop the the window open and we serve out of that as well, sir. Okay, cool. Then thank you. We have to charge you for that promo. Okay. [laughter] Anybody else? Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir.

Thank you. I'm going to open up the public hearing and ask if anyone in the public wishes to speak on this particular issue. Seeing none, are there any further questions or comments that you receive? Uh, madame clerk? No, sir, I did not. Any further questions from councel? If not, what are the wishes of council? And I will close the public hearing. We have a motion to approve. Council member Clinton Quintana, second by Mayor Pro Tim Spears. Council member Clint Quintana, could you please read into the record the consistency statement, please?

Yes, sir. I move to approve the proposed amendment to the land development code and find it to be consistent with the relevant policies in the comprehensive plan based on the application materials and the information provided at the public hearing and in the staff report and to find approval of this of the request is reasonable and in the public interest for the following reasons. The proposed amendment supports the functional needs of downtown businesses and the aesthetics goal of the central business district. Okay, very good. All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying I. I.

Any oppose? That item passes unanimously on first reading. Is there a motion to wave second reading? Motion made by council member Andrew, second by council member Joiner. Discussion. All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying I. I. Any oppose? Item passes unanimously on first as well as second reading. That brings us to our next item of business, which is our ordinances. Item 01 is an ordinance amending Wilmington City Code section 8-5 on criminal history, background checks, andor credit history checks required of applicants and employees. At this time, like to recognize city manager, Miss Hawk. Miss Hawk.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, mayor proto members of council. This item will be handled by our city attorney, Meredith Everheart. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tim, and members of council. Um, tonight we've got before you a change to section 8-5, which is the section on requiring criminal history and credit checks for um prospective employees and applicants and also um now will include current employees. Um, as you know, as part of the city attorney's work plan this year, we were uh as part of my work plan to begin a revision of the entire code. We brought to you a chapter 1 revision a couple of months ago. And speaking with the city manager, um we just determined that this was a particular um item that we wanted to move up on that agenda instead of just pushing straight through with chapter 2, three, and so forth. um because of the um potential safety uh safety involvement here. We what this uh new revision will do is that it will now require criminal history background checks for all particular I'm sorry for all applicants for final applicants for employment with the city. Previously it was just for applicants to certain positions. This will make sure that all applicants receive a criminal history background check. This will not affect our um ban the box provisions. This is only applicable for final applicants of employment after a conditional offer of employment is made. So this will not prevent anyone from applying to the city or from going through the process. Um this is only in with regard to final applicants for employment. And uh further the the next major change will be that after individuals are employed um this new language will provide that they will be subject to random additional criminal history background checks um during the course of their employment. This would be similar to

what we do right now for um individuals with um random drug checks or alcohol checks. And so this will be similar to that except it'll be a criminal history background check. This will um reinforce the city's policies that employees are to report any type of criminal conviction to the city and make sure that they're continuing to do that and will give us an opportunity to check on that periodically and randomly. Um the same for credit checks with regard to those being performed for all um individuals who uh who are final applicants for employment. I'd be glad to answer any of your questions.

We have any questions? Yeah, Council Member Santeo. Thank you, Mayor. Um, this is a request mainly for these amendments as they come through. Can we get redlined versions of these so that we can see what's actually changing in the ordinance when you bring them to us? Um, so that we can just understand. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Mayor P.

So, Meredith, you said that this was a little further down in the code and you moved it up. How far down was it? So this is this is chapter 8 um 8-5. Um so we previously brought chapter 1 to you. That was kind of the lowerhanging fruit at the very beginning with the definition section. Um that was fairly easy to to take care of and get that out of the way. And then I had a conversation with the city manager about any particular items that had come up or that um were of particular interest. Um, we both discussed several of them and this was one of the ones that we decided we wanted to needed to be moved up because we want to ensure that that both the citizens and our employees are safe in the workplace. And we think that having these background checks for all employees prior to employment and having a method to to do these checks after they're employed on a random basis would would assist in that. U well well not one more question but my next question is uh how many incidents or have we had any incidents like this that would make this move up on our on on your radar not my radar.

So I'm I I don't know and I'll defer to the city manager in in just a moment um if she's aware. I don't know of any specific incidents where we've had something bad happen um as a result of this. But I do know that for instance, one of the situations that we discussed was the fact that we have um you know individuals who are out riding on the back of trash trucks who are handing out little mini trucks to kids on their route. Um, and those are not people who are typically screened for having criminal background checks done because when you think of a um of a solid waste worker, you don't normally think of having a lot of interaction with children. Um, and so this would just kind of across the board have us do criminal background checks for everyone, realizing that at some point there's a good chance that that most individuals that that work for us are going to have interactions with children and with the public that we that aren't necessarily included in all of their job descriptions.

Okay. Gotcha. But in the cover letter, it it uses the term violence, right? So are are we looking for violently? Yes, sir. Potential vi wait potentially violent people or are we looking for people who uh shouldn't who shouldn't be around children? Okay. All of the above.

Yes, sir. All of the above. Um so any any crime that is related to harming children is considered a violent felony for the most part. And so it would apply to any violent felonies um any um like DUI or particular misdemeanors. Um but it is predominantly violent felonies and those are listed out in the ordinance as well.

Okay. Um one more thing. So I'm I'm looking and I'm conflicted about this and and I'm conflicted because I understand the the severity and that that we should protect our um employees and co-workers and things of that nature. Um but I I I've listened to Mr. I've listen I listened to Mr. Harris and and how he feels that employees are being targeted. And I would feel like this this may kind of kind of further that sentiment like, wow, all of a sudden we're we're going to get we've been here 20 years and never had a background check and and we're going to get a criminal background check, which you know, things do change. You could be a law-abiding citizen for 20 years and then one day just decide to crack your coworker upside the head. That could happen. Um but so I'm not conflicted on that part as far as you know um violence could just erupt. Not not that I condone violence, but uh the credit history thing is kind of is throwing me for a loop because I would say, you know, person fills out an application, you know, they're qualified to receive a job and because is is this bad credit history? because if they have a bad credit history and we're going to weed them out and to me that indicates that they need a job more than the person with a good credit history so they could help repair their credit history. I mean because we all know that at certain points in life your c your credit score may not be that good and you may need some work and so work would help you to rebuild your credit history. So I've I've never quite understood that. I mean, if a person is a some type of embezzler or or criminal or a thief or something like that, they they probably won't even have a credit history. They would have a record that indicates that

they steal or embezzle. So, like I said, I'm just somewhat conflicted by that.

Just to clarify, that's exactly what we're talking about. We're talking about people who have when we say credit checks, um, we're looking for people who actually have criminal records. regarding financial crimes and so so background uh not quite sure how to how to clarify it but if for people who are you know have written bad checks that's going to be a criminal issue who have um convictions for theft or bribery or things of that nature. And so it's not just do you have we're not looking to see if somebody's just got bad credit. Um, we're looking to see if they have criminal convictions and a criminal history related to financial crimes.

Gotcha. Or if you work for us and all of a sudden you have credit bad credit bad credit score, you're going to be fired. If if I may, Mayor Prom, the other thing that I would want to clarify is that um that would only apply to certain positions. So, if you are not coming into contact with money through the course of your job, we don't care if you have bad credit. Um, quite frankly, we don't even care if you've written a bad check and you have a criminal conviction for it. That would Let's not say that, Becky. Not say that on the record.

Well, no, no, no. Truly, that that would not prohibit you from being employed in certain positions with the city of Wilmington. There are some that it would absolutely preclude you from being able to u be employed in. Um but couldn't work for Laura.

Uh but the but the the point of this is um right now we uh do not um uh complete these checks on all of our employees. Um they're only for selective positions. We just want to treat everybody the same in terms of running them through it. And then the decisions that are made if something does come up would be specific to that particular position and also specific to the uh the severity of the crime and also um how much time has elapsed since um since that conviction was made. If something happened 20 years ago and there's been no issue, it wouldn't even show up on the check. it only goes back seven years. If it happened to for some reason, that's long in the past. That's not something that we're worried about. Um the concern right now is is the lack of consistency um and potentially um having employees where there could be something in their background that really should be precluding them um from working in the organization and working with the community and and we don't actually know that right now.

Okay. Thank you. And it's the same period of seven years for the criminal history as well. Okay. Well, thanks for the clarity. I just wanted to help you all uh flesh it out so people could have a better understanding of of what they're hearing. Council member Clinton Quintono.

Well, I think um Becky answered the majority of my questions which were, you know, former banker here so I'm always concerned when I see that um companies are doing criminal history background checks and credit checks. the credit history was um a question of was that for financial employees, employees who are maybe dealing with budgets, funding, things of that nature. And so you have confirmed that. Um and I'm hearing you all are thinking seven years. Is that accurate?

Yes, ma'am. If you'll look in um in section C of the ordinance, which is included in your packet, um it specifically goes into the credit checks. It's making it so that the credit checks will be done on all employees, but there's only going to be something brought up if they've been convicted within the previous seven years of application with something involving theft, concealment, fraud, worthless check, misappropriation, or a felony crime involving those things, embezzlement, robbery, or the like. um that they wouldn't be involved with uh be offered employment with the city in a position where they would have the ability to change or create financial records to collect revenue in a form to include CA cash credit or electronic fund transfer or a position responsible for issuing permits for codes violations or a position where a function of the position includes managing grant funds. So, the checks will be done of everyone, but they're not going to be uh ruled out unless they have to do um it has to do with one of those convictions within the last seven years.

Checks, criminal background checks done on every employee. Yes, ma'am. Criminal background checks will be Yes. Not credit history. Yeah. You're saying credit history as well? I think that there's a I think that there's a a con um miscommunication about the term credit history. Yes. Um I think when we say credit um credit history that it's it's in reference to financial crimes. Um and so it's not just we're not just checking your credit. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Coun Joiner.

Um how do we land on the seven-year window? So, we've always had the the seven years has been what we've uh what we've been doing in the past. Um we felt like 10 years was too long um because it it was preventing um good employees who had something 8 n 10 years ago uh from receiving possible offers of employment. So, we felt like 10 years was a little bit too long and that maybe five years was a little bit too short that we wanted to look back a little further. So it was a general consensus um uh that we came to for seven years but seven years was what we had before previously. So we're not changing that. Um it's just the discussion when we went to seven years. it. We previously did have it at 10 years, but we ran into some situations, especially in the police department where we were having some individuals who who had um you know, drug infractions, say that were 10 years ago that would keep them um from being offered employment. And so we changed it. It was changed within I believe the last five or 10 years from seven years to to se from 10 years to seven years. Well, that you've actually brought up sort of the point that I wanted to make, which is if we're looking at section F of the proposed ordinance, which is unchanged, I think, from the current ordinance, maybe section E. I just am a little surprised on the misdemeanor conviction for controlled substances that that sevenyear I mean there's a there's a huge difference between a misdemeanor conviction for controlled substances and a felony conviction for controlled substances and I'm a little surprised honestly that it's seven years and especially because we celebrated treatment courts tonight and the idea that people can get treatment and addiction is a disease and people can turn their life around um and be gainfully employed and and overcome uh their disease and and be in recovery. So, I'm actually a little bit concerned

about the misdemeanor portion of this. I don't have any objection to the felony drug conviction portion. Um, but I'd actually like some further conversation on the misdemeanor portion and um I don't want to move anything tonight because I know that I'm sort of bringing this up cold because it wasn't one of the proposed changes, but um I'd like I'd like to have some more conversation on that in the future.

Yes, sir. And I will say that there is um included in this ordinance um an appeals process or a way to um explain any of those convictions for for any misdemeanor if you have any misdemeanors that come up that would typically rule you out of a of an employment offer. there is a a process that's outlined in the ordinance for you providing mitigation of those circumstances um just for those reasons so that we are making sure that we're actually ruling out employees who need to be ruled out and and not ruling out employees who we who we think would be um a good fit. Okay. Thank you for that information. So I guess to resolve the point that I'm trying to bring up, I'm not going to move anything tonight, but if you could please provide me with some details on that appeals process, I'd be appreciative.

Yes, sir. We'll do. Thank you. Okay, Council Member Long, I'm not going to let the credit history thing die yet. Um, so when you're checking someone's criminal criminal history, would you not find financial crimes on that? Yes, ma'am.

So, why is credit history check called out as a separate thing in like in section D um specifically? It does sound like you're like looking at Equifax or whatever the credit score agencies are. So, why do we need two different um descriptions if everything's going to show up in the criminal history? Okay. And um sorry I'm I apologize again for the confusion as far as the credit history goes. I was misunderstanding the question. So for for certain positions the credit history is being done for those financial positions

the actual like looking up your personal credit correct score and all that. Okay. Yes. For the financial positions. Um and so but we're also looking for the financial convictions um that have to do with that too which will come up in the criminal history checks. But there is a separate credit check that's being done for certain positions um that where we are looking at their credit history, credit score, creditworthiness for those financial positions. The logic being if you can't manage your own finances, why should we trust you to manage the cities? Is that kind of the Indeed. Okay. Thank you for the clarification. Yes, ma'am. Sorry for the confusion.

Council member Santuo. Thank you. I have a question about the um and I'm going to try to give an example. I'm I'm not an attorney and I don't work in the court system. So, I'm just going to try to make sure I understand this. Let's say somebody applies for a job working with youth and they're a final they're they make it through the process. They're a finalist. We do the background check and we f we see that eight years ago they were convicted of child abuse and they are still on probation for that crime. What happens then? So just for clarification for is that the clear question? Yeah.

Um we would have already before we do this check we would have already made them a conditional offer for employment. So, it's not just in the last few like these are our top three finalists. It's somebody that we've made a conditional offer of employment to and then we run that criminal history check. In our offer letters, it indicates that um those offers are contingent upon uh criminal criminal background checks and passing drug screening and and all the other things. And so we would have the ability at that point if it was a felony um then they were involved then that offer would offer would be revoked

even if it was more than seven years ago but they're still serving part of that sentence. Oh I'm sorry you said eight years ago right? What I'm what I'm trying to understand is if somebody who is on probation for child abuse would be working with children according to this. That is really my question, I guess. Okay, hang on for just a second. Let me find the right section. I believe if you're saying if they are still on probation, I I've got to find it. But I believe that it says in here that they have to it's been the last day of so they have to be like off probation for seven years. Okay.

And I think I've missed that in here because this looks like it's from the date of conviction. So hang on for I apologize if I've missed that and it's in here. I just I just want to be really clear about what we're talking about here because

this matters a lot for our community. Well, if if it's I mean, from what I'm sensing here, the consensus is that we continue this item and get a little bit more clarity and maybe we can uh talk about this at an agenda briefing meeting if you want to or we can or at one of the um meetings that are upcoming with our budget just to get a little bit more clarity. There's a lot of questions up here and there seems to be a little confusion and I just want to make sure that we are all clear before we make this decision if that's okay. You you think Meredith you'll be ready in two weeks to give us an update so I can go ahead and continue this for two weeks. Sure, that'd be fine.

Okay. So, we'll make it specific to to um to our next city council meeting. Madam clerk, what is that date? Is it May 19th, I believe? Sorry, I'm sorry. May 19th is the next day. May 19th. We We'll continue this item to our May 19th meeting and be prepared, Meredith, to talk about it uh on the 18th in our agenda briefing if you will, please. So, we can Sure. I'll get you some clarification on the credit history checks and also on the question that um uh council member Santaita just raised. and and and if we have any additional questions as council members, we should please um send that over to Meredith so she can address it.

And on the appeals process for Mr. Joiner as well. Okay. Thank you. So, um we have a motion to continue. We have a motion made by Mayor Pro Tim Spear, second by Council Member Joiner. Further discussion on favor of that motion, please indicate by saying I. I. Any opposed? That item has been continued. That brings us to our next item of business, which is our resolution. We have two resolutions this evening. Our first resolution is R1, which is a resolution in support of Sie's Law/tobaca 21 to protect children from vaping and nicotine addiction. At this time, I'd like to recognize our city manager, Miss Hawk. Miss Hawk.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Mayor Proton, members of council. Um, I'm actually going to turn this over to uh council member Andrews um who requested that we move forward with this item.

Thank you. Um, first of all, I'm indebted to um Charlene and Katrina and Be and Max um for bringing this to my attention, for bringing it to all of our attention. Um, so tonight I'm introducing a resolution in support of House Bill 430 and Senate Bill 318, known across North Carolina as Si's Law. Um, and that's legislation that's designed to protect children and young people from vaping and nicotine addiction. Um, the resolution is about closing a dangerous gap in North Carolina law. In 2019, Congress raised the federal minimum age for the sale of tobacco and nicotine products from 18 to 21. Uh, yet North Carolina has still not aligned its state law, creating an enforcement loophole that makes it harder for state authorities to hold violators accountable. And as your agenda memo notes, that gap leaves our uh our communities, our schools, and our families without the full protections that they deserve. And we know the stakes. So 95% of tobacco users begin before the age of 21. Um youth vaping has risen sharply in North Carolina and our state ranks among the highest in the nation. Nicotine addiction is not just a bad habit. It affects the developing brain. It impacts learning and decision-making and it can alter the trajectory of a young person's life. But um for Wilmington, this issue is also deeply personal as we've heard tonight. Um the legislation carries the name of uh Solomon Sully Wyn, a young new Hanover County student and athlete whose life was tragically cut short at just 15 years old due to complications related to vaping. and his family and his friends in this community have chosen to transform that grief into action so that other families might be spared similar heartbreak. Um, Sally's law would do three simple but important things. Raise

the legal sales age for tobacco and nicotine products from 18 to 21. Establish a retailer permitting system. And strengthen enforcement so that the law has real accountability. And tonight, Wilmington has an opportunity to send a clear message that protecting children is not partisan. It's not controversial and it's not optional. It's our responsibility and for those reasons I respectfully ask for your support of this resolution and I would like to move it. We have a motion to approve by council member Andrew seconded by council member Clinton Quintana. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying I. I.

Any opposed? That item passes unanimously. Um, and thank you for bringing that forward and thank you to the young people for coming forward and sharing uh that information with us. The great thing about local government is you can come in here and get things done. You may not be able to do that in Congress or in Jones Street and Raleigh, but you can come in here and you can make a difference. And it's beautiful to see a democracy that actually works. So, thank you for doing that. Appreciate it. Thank you very much. Thank you. Yes. [applause] Yes. Go ahead. I'm sorry. Might Max and B, right? Yes.

So, I I just want to say kudos to you two for being what, 15? How old are you? 16 years old and and coming down here uh consistent consistently to uh promote this for for someone in our community. And and this just shows as the mayor just said, this is this is how government works, you know, and and I was telling staff on last Wednesday of how well you have uh read and spoken publicly at such a young age. So, it's it's it's really amazing and thank you for coming and and doing this and and making things happen within our community. You probably have some great futures ahead of you if you don't vape.

No. that you've you've done a great job. So, congratulations.

Thank you. Thank you. And that brings us to our next item and last item of the night is item R2, which is a resolution in support of the proposed medical school at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. And I've asked for this to be brought forward. I had an opportunity to speak with uh Chancellor Valleti about this. I know that the county also passed the resolution earlier uh today about this. Um, this is a tremendous opportunity for our community and for our region. I've always believed that a university should support the region that it resides in and although it resides in the city of Wilmington, it also supports Brunswick County, Pender County, of course, New Hover County, following counties in Brunswick, I mean in Columbus as well as Bladen. And they do a tremendous amount of work on the environment, on schools, on economic development. um and they have a tremendous nursing program and a tremendous medical outreach program that they have created there. The issue is going to be is that we feel that the board of governors is very supportive of this endeavor. But we also know that there are forces out there that would probably not like to see us have this because there's a fear that we would take students from other universities around the state that also have medical schools. but also taking into consideration that the state of North Carolina currently right now is about 7,700 physicians short. And for those out there and and in this room that try to get appointments to see doctors, all types of doctors, it's extremely difficult to do. Um we know that there's another there's a 400 bed need for um additional bed space in this community. our region is growing, the medical needs are growing, and it would be a tremendous thing for us to have this in in Wilmington. And I hope that uh the board of governors has the courage to move forward. I've seen endeavors here where we've tried to get uh engineering schools and we've been blocked uh and I've seen other endeavors that have been tried to be blocked um by by some of our peer schools that are out there. I'm not

going to name them, but I do think that this is important that we support the university uh in this endeavor and I hope and pray that they get it because it would be a tremendous thing to have a teaching hospital in our region. Uh and it's way overdue and I hope that we get it. So I'm Mr. Jordan, did you have a comment? I'm sorry.

Well, well, very well said, Mr. Mayor. And I I just wanted to say um Novant Health had a sort of lunch and learn a couple of days ago where they invited I I don't know who all they invited, but they allowed they invited a lot of folks from across the community to come and have lunch and to hear about some of the improvements that they're making. Um and confronted some of the um criticisms of their hospital system pretty head-on in that meeting. Uh, but they talked about nursing staffing and the work that the Chamber of Commerce and Capefir Community College and and some educators in the region have done to improve nursing, the nursing workforce in southeastern North Carolina. Uh, but one of the questions that I raised was about recruitment and retention for physicians. Uh, and fortunately they have a pretty good retention rate for physicians when you compare it to some of their competitors or peers nationally. But from that conversation, my observation was if you can get people here, they tend to want to stay here. And so having a medical school here gets people here because it's it's self- selective that people who want to learn in this community will then likely want to stay in this community. So I fully support this.

Okay. Very good. And I'm going to read the resolution into the record. Um U resolution support proposed medical school at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Whereas access to highquality healthcare and a strong physician workforce are essential to a safe, healthy, and thriving community. And whereas the University of North Carolina Wilmington has requested authorization from the University of North Carolina Board of Governors to begin planning a doctor of medicine program with both four-year and accelerated three-year tracks with an emphasis on primary care and community-based training. And whereas southeastern North Carolina continues to experience significant population growth, increasing demand for health care services and workforce capacity. And whereas North Carolina ranks 40th of 50 states and medical students per capita, highlighting the need to expand in state medical education opportunities. And whereas the proposed program is designed around a distributed training model utilizing partnerships with hospitals, clinics, federally qualified health centers, and medical practices across the region, including rural and underserved communities. And whereas the proposed medical school builds on a foundation of regional investment in healthcare and education, including UNCW's existing health sciences programs and significant private philanth philanthropic commitments. And whereas establishing a medical school in Wilmington would serve as a catalyst for workforce development, expand educational pathways, support health care systems, and strengthen economic vitality. Therefore, be it resolved that the Wilmington City Council hereby expresses its strong support for the proposed medical school at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, and encourages the University of North Carolina Board of Governors to authorize the planning and development of the program that the Wilmington City Council formally supports continued collaboration among UNCW, healthc care partners, and community stakeholders to advance this initiative for the city of Wilmington and southeastern North Carolina. So we

have a motion to approve by council member Santaita, second by council member Andrews. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying I. Any opposed? That item passes unanimously. Thank you to everybody on this day. Thank you very much, everybody. This concludes our regular agenda. Are there any items to be brought forward by our city attorney? No, sir. Our city manager? No. Our madame clerk? No, sir. Uh, council member Santa.

Thank you, mayor. Um, you know, we are now in May, so we are rapidly approaching the end of the school year. So, lots of activities um for all of the students uh in our city. Um we've got a lot of folks getting ready to graduate. And so, I also want to take an opportunity to congratulate uh Mayor Proip Spears on his upcoming graduation. Congratulations. Congratulations, Council Member Andrews.

Yeah, we had um a lot of presentations recognizing uh May as many things. Um, but what it also is is it's military appreciation month. And um, you know, for many Americans, this month is our opportunity to say thank you. Uh, to those who wore the uniform. For me, it's also deeply personal. I am uh the daughter uh of a military member, um, a veteran myself, a former military spouse, and the proud and forever grieving gold star mother of a soldier. And um military service it's it's not carried by any one individual. It's carried by the families um who serve they endure um long deployments um uncertainty missed milestones uh homecomings and for some unimaginable loss. Um, so this month I just ask that our community uh not only thank our active duty members um and veterans, but also remember their spouses and children and parents and survivors um who all serve in their own way. And their sacrifice does not always wear a uniform, but their service is no less real. And to every military family in Wilmington, and to every family carrying the memory of someone uh who did not come home, uh we see you, we honor you, and we thank you. Very well said, Mayor Pro.

Yes, sir. First and foremost, thank you, Councilwoman Santua. Uh, stole a little bit of my thunder. I was going to say the next time you see me, I will have a masters in public administration. Uh, one way or the other, if if my grades if my grades don't come in like I need them to, I'm not going back. So, just consider me a graduate. Um, but we we have a tough job sitting here and and uh sometimes we're critical of people and organizations and and I want to give credit to where it's due to uh Novant Health and more specifically the uh Betty H. Cameron Women's and Children's Hospital. Uh my daughter was sick over the weekend um Friday and uh she was uh admitted into the hospital and uh these people just did such an amazing job just everything that was amazing and I I can't thank Novant Health enough because uh yesterday was her birthday and she was in the hospital for her birthday and they um decorated her room and brought her all kinds of stuff and um she was released today. So, she's doing fine. But, you know, we've we've seen New Hover Regional Medical Center transform into Novant Health and and we've been extremely critical of of the service that they provide. But I when I tell you that those nurses and doctors and uh respiratory specialists just did the most amazing job. Um, just it it it's I couldn't sit here today or or have a conversation with anybody going forward and just not give them credit for for a job well done. I mean, just above and beyond. And and so, uh, I

I just want to say just thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. And I don't I can't say that they knew who I was and that she received some special treatment, but I mean if they treat all of the patients that way, then then I know they're doing what they're supposed to do. So I just want to say thank you so much. Thank you, sir. Council member Clinton Quintano,

I'm going to be a bit selfish tonight. Um May is full of birthdays in my family. So I just want to give a quick shout out. My dad's birthday is tomorrow on Cinco de Mayo. And um so we always look forward to celebrating with him. But this year it's special because um as some of you know, I lost my mom a little over a year ago and he's been very sad. Um so I'm looking forward to spending some time with him and my uncle whose birthday is on the 7th. My grandsons is on the 8th and my nephew's is on the 6th. So, we're all celebrating at my uncle's house in Fugquay um on Saturday. So, I'm looking forward to some um much needed time with family. Um and uh you know, as you all know, if you're following me on my Facebook page, you know, sometimes family is self-care. So, uh, make sure that you're getting those many sbaticals in, you're taking time with family and friends, and even if it's just 24 hours. So, happy birthday, Dad. I love you. I hope you're watching, and if not, you can replay it and see it. But love all of you. Happy birthday.

Very good, Council Member Mlau. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I just want to say that I was so impressed on Saturday when I went out to the um, kickoff event for the Greenfield Park and other council members were there and I appreciate their um, attendance and all the work that staff did to put it together and all the folks that came out and they were really into it. Um, and one of the things that really struck me was, you know, you expect a few, oh, I want a playground. Oh, I want soccer. Oh, I want this to play. Most of the people said we want to save a lot of trees.

Yeah. and I was like, I love Wilmington. [laughter] So, thanks. It was a great event. And also want people to know there'll be other events um to get more public input as we uh go along with the park plans. Thanks, Joiner. Uh Sunday is Mother's Day and uh I'm very blessed that I will be getting to see both of my grandmothers and my mother. And so, I just want to wish a happy mother's day to all the mothers and uh thinking about all the mother figures that we remember as well. You're here. With that, thank you for taking an interest in your government. We stand in charge.