Town Council - Regular Meeting

The first item on the agenda is the approval of the agenda and we've got to change the close session. The one that is there consult with attorney needs to be removed and we need to add I'm echoing. Okay, it's 143-318 period 11 A4 economic development and 143-318 period 11 A6 personnel

as modified to include close session 143.318 21 development and 1438.11 out personnel. I I I I have a question. Wait, okay. Okay. Now, so so the original one was to consult with the with the attorney. Um, we're not going to be able to do that tonight. Is that what I understand?

That's correct. He could not be here this evening. Okay. So, I have a motion made by Councilman McGow and a seconded by Councilman Dobin to approve the agenda. All in favor? All opposed? Okay. The next item is the consent agenda. Agenda items. Do I have a motion to accept those? Motion made by Councilman Brown and seconded by Councilman Dobin to approve the consent agenda items. All in favor? All opposed? The next item is a continuing of the ordinance to extend corporate limits partial ID 05 IO5021E to October the 20th limits uh Gordon Road parcel ID 05105021 One E is in Edward continuing until October 20th, 2025.

Motion made by Councilman McGawan, seconded by Councilman Brown. All in favor? The next is to to uh extend the public hearing for partial ID55021E until October the 20th. I move we um reference the ordinance to amend zoning of Gordon Road partial ID 05105 021E Edward and it be continued until October 20th 2025 meeting

motion made by Councilman Brown seconded by Councilwoman Dobin. All in favor? Okay, we have the first open forum. Anybody wishing to address council, please come forward and limit your comments to 3 minutes. No one coming forward. We cancel the first open forum. Um, I just want to say that I want to thank everybody that came out to the park yesterday. Uh, we had a very good event. I thank all the council people that showed up, all the staff that showed up and the people that brought their puppy dogs to the park. It was a beautiful day honoring Karen. It was um really touching to me and I think that her family and JC was very touched by it. We loved her. But uh we had a wonderful day and I I'm just so thankful for that. The next thing I attended a meeting for Councilman Gowen. I went to the Central Pines. I actually went to the meeting. Yes, I did. They've got a beautiful building. Oh, they do. We had a a wonderful wonderful meeting and it was a real good meeting. Um, I got to meet a lot of the the people that were there and I had a had a real good time. So, I I did fill in for you. But now, if you need me to, I will. But

something coming out. I can't remember what it was, but it's important. Okay. It's secret. It's secret. Okay. It's secret. You just make sure you tell me when the date I will.

Okay. But that's all I have for my part. So now I'm going to turn it over to Miss Worland. Okay. Um I just have a couple of updates for you before we go into the first item on the agenda. And I just wanted to update you as soon as I can find my piece of paper, which I don't think I put in my folder. Anyway, um on the lights for the intersections on I42, I'm going off of memory. I've been in contact with the engineer for Duke in Energy and they we filled out the paperwork, sent that into them and they are getting some information back to us on a design and what the cost would be for us to do the lights at those two intersections. um for the intersection of Wilson's Mills Road and Fire Department Road. I did meet with the manager of JD's store and he said that um he felt like the owners would be in support of this and so he's supposed to get me some information from them next week that we have to have for the ordin or for the um resolution that you have to approve for us to send in to do so that they can get started with the planning and design. So, as soon as I get that back from him, we'll send it into DOT and hopefully we'll get that ready before your October meeting so you can pass it in and then they can get started. Um, I'm going off memory because my sheet is not in here. the master campus plan. I know that um there may be some conversation about that as we look at the draft contract with mostly architects for the police department, but I did want to let you know that I've spoken with a couple of architects for

design of the both the Veterans Memorial and the um sorry, my mind's going blank, the sign, the front lawn sign. and then we will put some bids out for that. So, we'll talk more about that at the work session, but I did want you to know that I've made some contacts this week. Okay, I think that's it for me. Okay. And we are not going to be going over the grass because the attorney is not here. He's going to Yes. So, when we got to that, I was just going to ask you if you could table it until October. Okay.

But, um, so the next item on your agenda is review of the draft contract and Josh Bennett for Mostly Architects is here. So, I'll ask Josh to come up and just review that with you. In your packet, you should have gotten a copy of the draft contract for design services. I don't think I put Did I put the proposal that they originally submitted would have had these pictures on it? Okay. Oh, there's a lot of So, they have both of those, Josh. Okay. Good evening. Good evening, all. Thank you very much.

The floor is yours.

I'm here tonight uh to in support of the town's efforts to design and build a new police station. We uh have been talking with folks in the town about this project for quite a while now. We're very excited about the opportunity and what this means for the town of Wilson's Mills. Uh our proposal included what we think are some uh relevant projects. uh local nearby uh probably the same size, maybe a little larger than what we we discussed and contracted around. Uh we worked with your attorney extensively to refine the terms of the contract that we wrote and uh we've got all of their comments incorporated. Our proposal for now takes us through design. So we would stop work at the end of what we call construction documents and the town would then have the option to proceed with bidding and construction administration or based on the design and the cost wait uh to make make any other further adjustments. So we're happy to to amend our proposal and contract in any way that sees fit that meets you all's needs. We want to be of assistance. One thing that I did um speak with Miss Wley about was the need for a campus master plan. Um and that that is something that our firm does quite a lot for local governments. And in fact, when we first wrote our proposal for this project, uh we our team really questioned um should we be doing more and exploring more about this site and what your future needs are going to be to make sure that we get this building in the right spot with the right infrastructure. Um, we want to see you set up for success beyond the next 20, 30, 40 years. Um, we just completed a similar effort for Johnston County and I'm sure that their county manager uh would explain to you the process that we

went through uh and be happy to to tell you about what to expect out of what we were able to do for them. So, with that, I'll take any questions that you might have. Yes, sir. Concrete soil.

Which project was it? Which project?

Okay. Um I I I know what that is. I'm not going to hazard it without the full context of that particular instance. It it No, it's a real thing and it's our geotech will recommend uh for lack of a better term, soil amendments. So let's say we get out there and we find that there's there's bad soil, right? They'll come in and they'll say, "Okay, we're going to replace it with a compactable fill uh or a concrete soil that we can use to bear the building on." Geotech may also come out and say you've got bad soil, but really if you drove a couple piles or some rammed dur peers or some rammed aggregate peers that that would suffice as well.

That's not what we're proposing for this project, mind you. That's that was a solution on another project, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They make up a lot of words, too. All right. I do like microphones, so I'm sorry I didn't have battery powered, so you've got to be careful. You got it right. Yeah, that that's true. Um, not all on page 19. It's not all of these things are recently completed uh projects. For example, Johnson County Public um public service uh public safety center is completed last year, a year and a half ago, was it not? Year and a half ago.

Okay. I just want to make sure that I'm looking at the right thing. Okay, the big thing is and this u this styies me a little bit and I'm wondering how you come about this. If you go to page 20, you don't have it in front of you. Um you've got 1 2 3 4 5 six uh projects. Then you have columns for budget, bid, final cost, uh change orders, and then delivery method. I really want to hit one of them at at the end of this because that's going to require a little bit more of a lengthy and maybe somewhat controversial or a questionable answer on your part. So, I'm looking at this and every one of these, I guess it was everyone. I'd have to go through and do it again. I'm looking at my notes. The first one, uh, the budget was 17.5 Johnson County final cost or the bid price 177. The final price was 18. So you're only 0.5 over 500,000 over. The next one you were over. That was considerably larger. Um, no, you were under by 11.1. That was the detention center. Under by 11.1 mil. The next one, Lincoln County Emergency, you were over by just one mil. That's not bad. The next one was even Leaden County Chemport 165 across the board. The next one you were under by point4. The next one under by point4 and the next one under by.5. That's really impressive. When I pick up a newspaper or I read about things, everybody is over budget. How How do you go about doing that so well? I mean, I'm impressed. I really am. I'm not being negative, but you were so close on all of these things. How do you How do you do that?

It's a fair question and I appreciate the the skepticism I I see in your eyes. No, I'm not. It's not I'm not being skeptical. I'm taking it as the absolute truth and that's you're you're not I take I take Oh, you glanced at him. What? Oh, did I?

Sir, I I take two things very seriously and that that is that is your time and your money. Okay. I spend your money like it's my money. And and that that to me is very important. We do a lot of these types of projects. We know what they're going to cost. When I come in here and say, "Hey, if we make this change, it's going to add $500,000." I want to make sure I'm telling you the right thing because if I'm over or under, it could mean the difference between you guys taking out a bigger loan or between you guys not maybe not getting something you thought you originally couldn't, right? So the LA I really don't want you to have to get more money, but I also don't want it to come in so low that you go, "Well, gosh, Josh, if I had known it was going to be that cheap, I could have gotten an extra garage bed."

That that's a disservice to you as well. So our cost estimators that we work with work all over the the state of North Carolina and all up and down the East Coast. So we know what the market conditions are going to be on the day we go out to bid. So, we plan very closely and pride ourselves on.

All right, let me ask my final question. And he's going to be very interested in this, too, and he'll probably ask it a different way, but I've got some numbers here that I put up. And that's the same page, page 20. The final the final column is delivery method. And I've taken the liberty of putting next to the delivery method the final cost over or under. And I find it very interesting. One, two, three, four of them were design build and one, two, three were construction manager. What's the AR? At risk.

At risk. Okay. So, the final cost was just slightly over on the design builds except for one. It came in under, but the CM, the construction manager, boy, they were just about right on each and every time. So, I'm looking at that and if I was throwing my my $5 out here, I'd go, "Hey, let's go C." What's the difference between the two? And what do you think? In in the way that we record our numbers, the the numbers for the Seymar jobs have a contingency built into them. And that contingency is where the change orders go to during construction. In a design, bid build project, if there's a change order, that has to come back out of your pocket directly. So, in other words, um, Seymour comes up, we we price out the project, you write a guaranteed maximum price contract with them, we include some sort of contingency with that, and they say, "Okay, $5 million." And you go, "Okay, $5 million." At the end of the job, with any luck, you get 50 grand back. Right? Now, on a design, bid build, we put it out to bid. The contractor says, "Okay, we're going to build it for 4.9 million." And then we work with them and we say, "Okay, well, we found some unsuitable soil. Uh, this product isn't made anymore. We've got to coordinate this electrical piece." And then they write a bunch of change orders and then they get paid for the additional work. And then by the end of the job, it costs $5 million

out of our pocket. Out of out of your pocket. So in the end, maybe they come out the same price, maybe one's a little more than the other or not, but one of them you control the pricing with the contractor during design into construction. The other one we design and then throw it out to bid to whoever wants to give us a price. I'm going I'm going to yield the floor to Mr. Brown because he'll talk to you about this now. So basically you're you're you're the first thing you were talking about was design build. Correct. Design. There's design bid build and then there's Seymour which is kind of a modified design build. That that's what Dave was talking about.

The Seymour the Seymar that that's what I was that's what I was referencing. So that's that's what Yeah. Yes, sir. Yeah. So on what what's on what what I what I I look through and and and it's and that's I I pay attention. Mine's own. Oh, I believe you. Yes, sir. Listening to you. But so when I when I look on and I see designed bid build and then I see the Seymour which is

what what we Right. What's the disadvantage to design build industrywide? Now, I know you I know you have your own personal issues with with design. I do and I understand those issues. Um, but there's also issues going whatever direction that that you go to build a building. now, right? Um, what is what is your honest feeling on design build?

I I enjoy design build because I think you control quality a little more. Um, and you choose a contractor based on qualifications. you do have to pay 3% more maybe because they're going to have a an upfront fee what what they call pre-construction services, right?

Um but if we get good participation in a design build semar kind of con configuration, then we have a a trusted partner, right? So, uh let's say I leave tonight and you say, you know, I I do trust Josh. We get we do the same thing with your contractor and you say, we've got it. We've got the architect we need and we've got the contractor we need. They're going to take care of us, tell us what we need to hear, make help us make the right decisions, design, bid, build, we we get a direct feedback of the market that day and then it's managing that pot of money through construction with that contractor who may or may not have picked everything up. They took the lowest price on all the drywall. That drywall sub goes out of business. General things that happen. The perception on design build is that, well, we don't get the lowest price. Fact of the matter is your design build contractor is required by state law to bid every package.

Correct. So, we get the best price, you pay him a three or 5% construction management fee, and we go build a building. So, so the I enjoy design build. So, the Seymour is really the best way to go as far as you're going to get the best quality for what you're paying for. Well, my my attorney would advise me never to say never to agree with you, but because because there's laws either way you there's laws that what they do. There are things just like they're going to have to

they got to stay in if they don't then then then they they won't be ordering anything else. No, they won't because they'll be in trouble with the state. others people are going to are going to take legal action. I mean, you know, you just don't That's right. That's not going to happen. So, um I had another one. So, on on all of these that that I was looking at on my phone and now in Dave's book, which one of these is closest to what we're looking at for Wilson's Meals

size-wise? I think size-wise we had you guys around based on your number of officers and your future projections. I was guesstimating you're going to be around 12,000 to 15,000 square feet. That's on the higher end. We can we can pull back down to about 10,000. Um and deal with your current need and try to plan for expansion. I would say out of that book, the the the ones that are most closely approximating that size are going to be city of Washington. Um, and then I don't know if town of Gibsonville's in there or not. Is that the one we got, Chief? I sent you the plans. Yes, that's the one we looked at our at our work session the other day.

So, they're they're getting ready to they're working on a loan to get ready to build that one. Now, we're completing advanced site work for that project. That's a 15,000 square foot and that's going to carry them for a long time. I mean, they're they're thinking 20 years plus for that. So, tell me that that town Gibson. That was town of Gibsonville and city of Washington. That's the one we looked at the other day. We had the church. Oh, um what chief has got the plans, but I don't think they're in here. I don't think Gibsonville was in there. No, I don't think it Yeah, because it it it's still in they're getting ready to go to to construction with that one.

So So is there one here that's that you've seen? So Washington's on the cover um pretty sure that's City of Washington on there. Okay, that's the one. Yes, sir. And how how big is this one? That one's a little larger. That one's pushing 20,000 square feet. That's what I felt. But it has all the organizational components plus a couple extra, I think. Uh they've got a license plate agency. They've added on the side of it towards the end of Well, I know the the plans that we were looking at the other day that the chief's gets.

He said that he might not need all those officers, so I mean offices. So, we might be able to cut cut it back a little bit. Yeah. And that that that makes sense. I agree. Yeah. So what's the what's the building uh price per square foot on on Washington that one? Do you recall? I I do. So approximately at the time we did that that one wrapped up a couple years ago. I want to say that was around $600 a square foot. That one was built in a 500y year FEMA flood plane. So it had to be elevated about three and a half feet which required us to bring in a pretty significant amount of fill. And that was a big cost driver on that job. uh I can't recall.

I don't know if it is or not. I can't recall um Councilman Brown, but I'm happy to get you that. Um Well, we wouldn't need one that big though as a 20,000 square foot, I don't think. Yeah. I I mean I I didn't I didn't know if you had a project that was that was maybe going on. I I asked that and I I didn't figure you remember the I asked that to follow up see that you were that one that was in construction now square footage um price per square foot

I we just finished one in Virginia at 20,000 square feet and it came in at 670 a square foot. We're designing one now in Mount Ary, Maryland. Uh that is 9,000 square feet and the pricing up in that area is right around 550 a square foot. Given your site, you're going to be on the lower end because I think you get a pretty flat even site. You're not going to have a whole lot of rough grading, which is what we're seeing a lot of cost in right now. Yeah. I I think the site soilwise would be good in that area.

Um there's nothing wet in that area. So there's be no reason to dig a hole to fill it back in. Um I mean I I think I think that's I think that was that that's about all. I just wanted to make sure that I asked about what you know the the the Seymour what I I used to call design build. Yep. Um and and the design bid build.

I just want to make sure that that this council understands coming from an architect um and and that our citizens understand it as well, right? Because you know, you get you get all these Q's and Fs and I mean all this stuff. I mean, it can be confusing for if you're not in construction. Absolutely.

Okay. So, any more questions? Anyone? Well, you know, I do want to talk about I don't know how to phrase this. page 21 down the bottom where it say I know you can't get it over.

No, you don't want to get involved with a shady company. I get it. Yeah. Yeah. So that's going

right. I don't know how to

You took the answer out of my mouth, sir. Yeah. Oh, no. You're not you're not getting in the middle of that. And I'm not bringing any of that to your doorstep. Any litigation we're involved in is not because we brought it. Okay. So, what we need to decide is whether we want them to design our police department. And remember, this is not constructing it. This is designing it. architect design. Yes, ma'am.

That we can take and do construction whenever we have the money to do it. Correct. So this is just the plans to to get the plans to this to build it

and yeah. Also, I like to find out. So are you suggesting that we go with the uh the question management

same that is that is preferred. I I I do think we've got some time to consider that and to watch the the market and see how it reacts and then I'm certainly able to to talk to our contracting partners on other projects to gauge their interest and how they would want to to see this project done. But most of the time they they prefer a Seymar methodology.

You able to know with respect to litigation through build program or you know it's interesting some of our litigation isn't even tied to the project itself. that's tied to other things. Um, so it's it's it's hard to say. Um, but but I'd say I I don't know of any off the top of my head that are tied to to Seymar Design Build.

I just want I I I have another one. Um, another I just want to make sure that I understand correct that mayor that we're to approve the design, not the construction, the architect. The architect design. Yes.

And we can take that want to take those and and take them to someone else. They're going to be usable if we if we choose. John Pup Construction Company and we bid it out. What you what you're proposing to

give us? Yeah. to contract with us is so this is a nuanced thing about architecture and I don't want to over complicate this but architects um provide provide instruments of service and that's what our drawings are technically considered. Um those drawings require a certain level of interpretation. Our services would traditionally run all the way through construction. Okay? We would have phases beyond what we've currently written into our contract which include what we call bidding and negotiation where we help the contractor bid the project and then we would have construction administration where we come out to the site and confirm that the building is being built in accordance with the plans. To your question, these drawings will be usable, right? we can take them and bid them out. But I said we, meaning us here in this room, we would want to be included as part of that because should you take our drawings and have someone else build from them and then call me and say, "Josh, they built the building upside down. What do I do?" I would say, "I don't know. I didn't realize you were building the project. Why wasn't I there to help interpret the drawings?" So, does that make sense when you go to Well, I want to give that example.

It does. I understand. I just want to make sure that that we and our community understand that if we if we bring in what you what you draw up it does not mean that it will not change. It does not mean that if we say look thank you for your time company right we're going to go with a a construction company because out of A and C construction we sent out based on your drawings

we're going with a they're going to build just because you drew it up and it's got that stamp on does not mean that a is going to deal with like Yes sir. Well said. Yep. It is not understands that. Yep. Because that's complicated. Right.

Yeah. We're not handing them a set of instructions on how to build a building. We're handing them a documentation of what you want to see built. I mean, it's a lot. Yes, sir. I appreciate that. And and I'm going to be right here the whole way through. I mean, communities like this don't make this type of investment lightly. Yeah. I have one question for Lyanna. Is this within our budget for the grant? The design is. Yes. Yes. That's what I It is not the

See, this this is what we've got to keep in mind and make sure that you understand. You can design this building, but we don't have the money to pay to build it. Until we can get more money, we just want the design done because we have the grant money to pay for that at at the time that we get the money. Then we're going to want to put it on the ground. And uh it may be you that we contact to do that and and we can keep moving. The time you get it designed, I'm hoping and praying that we got some more money and we can keep just keep rolling. But right now, all we're doing is designing. Yep.

And that that's all this money is for. And it's what the grant money was given to us for to pay for the design of this building and make sure that it has the things that the police department wants and needs in that building and it's up to code and and I know that you have built many many many buildings for police off departments and so you know what you're doing so um we can be assured of that that it's going to be acceptable when you finish with it. If if I may, mayor, this is exactly what we've worked through with Gibsonville. We designed their building.

They've used that design as leverage to be able to say, "We're ready to go. If we only had the funding, how help us get the funding?" And and that's been a big boon to them. But that that is absolutely how we've worked with with Gibsonville. And that's what we're going to have to do. We're going to have to when we get the design in our hand and say this is what we've got now. We need the money to build it. Yep. And that's what we're going to have to do. Go after more money from the the state and the federal and anybody else that can help us. You heard that, Chief. Go get us some money. And he's going he's going to try to be getting some public works grants in there. I mean police grants. Turn around.

Six months for design is a comfortable time frame for a project this size. We can always do it in in less, but then it it cheats you guys out of review time. So, we want to we want to make sure you've got time to review and understand what's in it. And how often do you fill us in? As often as you like. If you say, "Josh, go away and call me when it's done," I will. If you say we want you to come and present once a month, I'm happy to do that as well. What are we looking at, Leah? What are you thinking? Monthly, three months, six months? I think it's going to depend on the progress and you know, I can keep you guys up to date and then if you want him to come in and go over some stuff with you, we can certainly do that at a meeting, a regular meeting or a work session. Ken,

if I may, the architectural process is typically defined by a few different phases. So, there is programming and conceptual design. There's schematic design, design development, and construction documents. Each one of those completion times provides a a really good stopping point for me to come in here and say, "Okay, guys, here's what we've got. Does this look good?" And then approve us to move forward with the next phase. And and at that meeting, I can present it. We can talk about it. And you can say, "Go ahead or stop uh back up. We can we can talk about it then." So that that might be good. Al. So during during this time, are you going to be in contract with chief and the department the police department to make sure you're putting in there what?

Oh yes. Okay. Yes. That's my primary responsibility is is to first to the town obviously, but then after that is to the chief. Okay. Because I want to be sure that the chief and and the officers have enough say so in it that that it's it's got what they need and what they want. Oh. We'll we'll be all the way down to the toilet paper dispenser by the time we're done, ma'am. Okay. I I I I don't want us to build or design a building that our police department does not want. Correct. I mean, it's not our build. I mean, it is our building, but we're not going to be using it. I want to be sure it's something that they want. And

it's not It does It's not my building either, so it it does me no good to deny something you all don't want. Exactly. Exactly. Okay. What's How much is was the grant for? How much was the grant for? The total grant that's part of the three million for the C town hall campus. So this is this is fitting into the planning for the campus. So way the way the way that it's going as far as as cost on the the campus. We're not going to need to come back and say we're going to run 52,000 or 50,000 short. That's a question for him, but I've got the number that he gave me in our budget. So yes, that's the 520

the 552 32. Yeah. I just want to make sure 553 in our it is it is it is the last we don't have we don't come back and and after if if this council approves this and say $20,000 short. Y'all need to approve $20,000. The last um grant project budget that you got had this number in it and everything was balanced. Okay, sounds good. Mayor, what do you need from us? I need a motion to approve this contract. All right. I'll make a motion that we approve. If I might. Yes.

If you could, um, when you're doing the motion, the copy that you have before you still has some of the notes from the attorney, and I think the last conversations that we had with the attorney were the notes that he had put in there, you were fine with it. So, this is still a marked up version. If you'll just make sure your motion's just make it as presented as presented with the markups from the attorney. All right. I make a motion we approve the uh the the uh design project uh in accordance with the Mosley approve the Mosley architects bid and u as presented and marked up. Is that correct? From the attorney. Yes, sir. From the attorney. From the attorney. Okay. Anything else I need to say?

I got a motion. Motion made by Councilman McGawan to approve the contract with Mosley as it is written with markups by the attorney in the amount of

$553,329. [Music] I'm sorry. 552,329. Motion made by Councilman McGawan, seconded by Council Pro Tim. Mayor Pro Tim Griplet. Any discussion? Any more questions? All in favor? I before before we move on and vote, I just want to say that I appreciate you being here and I did look at the numbers um of how projects go and you know there's no guarantee that there'll be a a this would would not overrun or come up you know savings And I just want to say that I understand that that this is is part of a of a of a grant that that we got that we we received the town received. It it's hard. It's it's really hard for me and as as a small town town council person, even though I understand for half million

that's that's tough for me on a 15,000t building architectural design. But remember what it's being used for. It's not just a building. It is a police department. I I understand. But it's still um I still I mean it's it's still lot Yeah, it is. Okay, we have a motion. It has been seconded. Any more discussion? All in favor? All opposed?

Thank you, mayor. Can we verify so that you were voting? No. Okay. And everybody else was yes. Yes.

Thank you. Have a great night. Appreciate you. Look forward to working with you. Yes, it is. Okay. We have the bids for the shelter at the dog park. Could you um go back up and can we get a motion to Oh, okay. I'm sorry. Item B2. Um

the nuisance abatement. We need to table that. We need a motion to table that until um October the 20th. that um that we we table the discussion about nu new nuisance abatement uh for the meeting of October 20, 2025. Motion made by Councilman McGow and seconded by Councilman Brown. Uh any discussion? All in favor? I.

Any opposed? Okay. Now we have the bid for the dog part. We have two bids. Patrick did a very good bid sheet. He told him what he wanted. And we have one from NC Property Works LLC in the amount of $8,500 and one from Max Cox u $9,500. I don't see where there's going to be a whole lot of discussion in here.

The second bid is uh is is bordering along the one we had years ago for the maintenance shed in its simplicity. So, uh I don't know what you want from us, but there's two of them, and I certainly don't want the second one. Just we need a motion to Yeah. I make a motion that we accept the bid by the NC Property Works LLC um for $8,500.

Motion made by Councilman McGawan, seconded by Mayor Pro Tim Triet to accept the bid for NC Property Works LLC in the amount of $8,500. All in favor? All opposed. Okay. Mayor, before you go to council comments, I just wanted to update everybody that um Gabriel's daughter is out of surgery. Okay. And she's doing well. And it was a nickel, not a quarter. A nickel. Yeah. That she swallowed. Um and then she

she's doing well. and he he wanted to tell he wanted me to tell everyone thank you for understanding that he needed to be there and for your thoughts and prayers. Okay. I don't some of the council didn't understand our attorney's daughter swallowed a nickel and it got hung in her her windpipe. So they had to go to emergency surgery to had to fly her to the hospital to to get it out. That's why he's not here. So I'm glad I'm glad they got it out. because they were afraid it was going to cover her w her wind pipe and she wouldn't be able to breathe. Okay, council comment.

Yes, ma'am. If no one else has anything, I do. Um, you can probably sit back and say, "Oh, it's the old windbag talking again." But this is this is important to me personally and I thought I' I'd want to bring it out to the uh to the council also. So I I kind of wrote it down and I'll try and breeze through it as quickly as I can even though, you know, we are a small rural town here in North Carolina. I'm saying this, you know, pretty much for for the record. Not trying to change any minds or anything with anybody or what have you, but even though Wilson's Mills is a small and rural town within the state of North Carolina, our opinions still matter. And as an elected member of our leader town leadership, I'd like to express mine regarding the senseless killing of Mr. Charlie Kirk. His death is a stain upon who we are as a nation. And keep in mind that we are small, but 99.99% of the populace of the United States doesn't have a voice. We don't have much of a voice here. Small town, but I'm going to take the take a shot at it here. And uh and anyway, it's a stain on who we are as a nation. As is the senseless recent killing of the young Ukrainian women on the light rail in Charlotte, the two boys celebrating mass in Minneapolis, and the wounding of two school children in Colorado. It's not a statement on gun control, but I'm rather a statement that we as a part of a great nation need to do better in raising our children and encouraging them to think for themselves using the ideals that we as parents and grandparents instill in them and not the extreme ideology festering in some of our schools and many of our colleges and universities. And I encourage our Johnson County School Board to take steps to ensure that our children in their care are not being influenced or even molded to become anything other than upstanding citizens of this great nation. And I sincerely hope that this council will

join me in extending our condolences to Mrs. uh to Mr. Kirk's wife, children, and family. And remember that no town is too small that we can ignore what's happening to our younger generation and not feel compelled to act in some positive way. and I would hope that our county and fellow municipal leaders would feel likewise. And thank you. Thank you. I I I would just um first of all, are we going um are we going to be Yes. um

the chamber. He wanted to know the progress on the chamber, how how we stand on that. Asking me to address that now. Oh, yes. Um I mean, if we're not going to address it later. Yeah. I mean, I would just like to know, we're not going to address that into close session. Yeah. Okay. Um just the pro Yeah. the progress on um

because it don't look like a whole lot's been going on to me. There's more going on inside right now and inside the walls with electrical wires um because we've accidentally lost power a couple of times, but that's to be expected. We knew that was going to happen. Um but they are on schedule. We met last Tuesday. Um we've ordered furniture, appliances. I mean I we're on schedule. So if there do you have any like specific questions about and if you if anybody wants to come by you can go inside and look because from the outside it does not look like anything has changed in like five months but on the inside it looks like a completely different place.

And what's our what's the the projected date? I I can't remember. Um end of November they're hoping for a CO by 1st of December. So, we are trying our best to see if we can have our organizational meeting in December in that council chambers. So, the um the AV bids came back. That's been um we've chosen who is going to be doing that and the sign bids. So, all of that's being worked on and I think everything's going to start coming together all at one time in the next six weeks. So, it's going to be a lot busier, but inside it looks a whole lot different.

They they did have a delay because they had a a county inspection that was a little bit delayed. And that's it was delayed, but they were working on other parts of it. So, they are still on schedule. They're still on the original schedule that they presented to us, which is pretty impressive for a job like that. Sounds good. Um, one thing that that I wish that we would consider um at some point is we're going to have a pretty nice looking well a dog on good looking town. Yeah, we are.

Um, when it when it's all done and at at some point and and and and take it how you will, but we need to look at doing some kind of decorative fence in front of our our town hall instead of old a fence. You mean the DOT rightaway fence? Yeah. Do something. Yeah. Both sides. No, just at the road at 70. That that might be done when we put in the sign out there. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. We're going to have a nice sign. We're going to have a nice looking place. And then we got horse wire. Um but anyway, um are you are you donating a fence about that? Are you donating a fence for us? Council,

you know what? I will donate an estimate in any minute. I need um we have we have talked with DOT about it and we are going to have some leverage to change that or remove it which would be my preference to not have a fence at all because we're going to spend all this money on a new sign that's going to sign on. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, but anyway,

um finally, I just like to say that I had written down some stuff as well, Dave. Um, and I'm not going to go back over what you did, and you you pretty much hit hit my points. I just want to say that this this this community, this county, this state, this nation, we need we need to really we need to be we need to pray for each other. We need to pray that that that for our our country when we say our country, our citizens, you know, we're all made in God's image. Doesn't matter what you look like, how tall you are, it doesn't matter. We need to pray that we would have love and compassion for each other and understanding. I mean, we disagree. I disagree tonight with this council. I still love y'all. I disagree on on on probably more items than than than anybody that's ever been on this council, but I still don't have any ill will towards anybody. And I just think that that that we need to just we need to just pray that we would have the love that that Christ said we ought to have for one another, um for our country and each other, for our citizens. But my condolences does go out. It's not just one. It's it's it's the ones that you mentioned. It's just pure hate.

Yeah. It's evil. It's evil. Yes. And and the only way to defeat evil is with love. To have that love and to pray. Yes. Thank you.

Amen. Well, I would like to say that I am very thankful that our council has since the last year or two has learned to work together and to have work days where we can sit down and agree to disagree and work together to get to the final project. And that's very important for us as a council and for our citizens and for our staff because if we're debating at this table, our staff can't do their job. And I thank you all for doing that. That we can sit down and work together and support our staff and to do what we have to do for our citizens. And that's important. And I think that the love that you were talking about starts in the home. And a lot of times the children of this nation are not being instructed in the home to be the people they need to be and that's where it needs to start. So, so at this time I open our second open form and since there's no one to come forward I close our second open form and I need a motion. Can

I ask one can I ask one thing? I just want to make make sure of one thing before before we we close out. Um, is there is there any Never mind. I I'll ask that later. I I I I'll ask that later. Okay. Yeah. We need a motion to go motion we go into close session in accordance with U general statute 143.318.11 A atom 4 for um development and do I need to can I continue with the second one? Yes.

And also for general statute 143.318.11A as an Adam six for personnel. Motion made by Councilman McGawan, seconded by Councilman Dobin to go into close session. You invite planning director Wendy Oldm to the first portion of that close session. My motion that we invite uh planning director Wendy Oldman into the first portion of the session. Okay. All in favor?

I Carolyn. All oppose. Okay. We You seconded it. Yeah. So, we need to We're going to go into the Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead.