Town Council - Regular Meeting

25 to order. Let's stand and pledge allegiance to the flag United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty, justice for all. Remain standing for the invocation.

Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, we thank you so much for your blessings on us as individuals, on this town, our town folks. Lord, you've been good to us. We thank you for every little blessing. We just pray that you would keep our town safe. Lord, we just pray that you would make us as councilmen wise, and that Lord, we would make decisions that are that are good for our people, that we would be fair in our in our thinking, in our reasoning, and in our voting. Lord, we just thank you most of all for the one that you sent that died for our sins, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And I just pray this prayer in in his name. Amen.

The first item, wait a minute, on the agenda is to approve the agenda. And we need to make one correction. We need to take off the close session. Make a motion we approve the agenda as uh it um changed. Where's the word I'm looking for? Amended. Thanks. Motion made by Councilman McGowan, seconded by Councilwoman Dobbin. I I I Are we going to reschedu that or at some point? Um,

there is no need for it tonight because we have no new information to discuss. All in favor of approving the agenda? All opposed? Okay. The next is the consent consent agenda items. y'all have all read them or anything that you have a question about.

Motion made by Councilman Jernigan, seconded by Mayor Pro Tam Triet. Any discussion? All in favor? All opposed? No. Okay. The next item on our agenda is a public hearing to extend corporate limits on Gordon Road partial ID05 I521E and it needs to be continued to January the 21st meeting. Second. Motion made by Councilman Jernigan, seconded by Councilman McGowan. All in favor?

I got I'm sorry, that actually should be January 20th. 20th. Okay. Motion. Second. Okay. Motion amended. All in favor? All opposed. Uh, ordinance to amend zoning on Gordon Road partial ID55021E needs to be to continue to January the 20th meeting. So moved. Motion made by Councilman Jernigan, seconded by Councilwoman Dobin. All in favor?

I. Any opposed? Okay. The next item is a public hearing for the town of Wilson Mills strategic plan. We need and I'm open. Yeah. No, we're going to open the public hearing. Okay. Opening the public hearing to review the town of Wilson Mill strategic plan. and y'all have a copy in front of you with the timelines on it. Um Lyanna is going to present this to us.

Good evening. Um on your table tonight, you received an updated version. The actual plan strategic plan report is the same as what you received in your packet. What was added was a timeline and um for the sake of the public who may have missed the joint meeting with the p with the planning board, I'm just going to go over how this came about. Um on October 8th and 9th, the um North Carolina League of Municipalities held a workshop in Winston Salem. Mayor Fleet Bird and team of council, pending council, and myself developed the strategic plan, this draft strategic plan. Um, during the two-day workshop, the municipal team reviewed options using a template that the league provided. We selected four main focus areas, two objectives for each of those areas, and then four two initiatives or action items for each of those objectives. So 16 strategic action items for the town to plan to accomplish over the next five-year planning period. After the workshop, the draft plan was reviewed by the full town council, the planning board, and administrative staff. Some changes were made um and then we have set out this draft copy for review tonight. So in your copy the four main focus areas the first one is a connected vibrant and healthy community. The second is economic development. The third is reliable and equitable access to utility services. And the fourth is interconnectivity. And I'm not going to read the full five-page document. We do have public copies available if anybody is

interested. Um, it has been available since it was announced that we were having the public hearing tonight. But if you will look behind the report at the timeline, the timing worksheet, each one of these pages is the um focus area, one of the focus areas. The first one for connected, vibrant, and healthy community. Those objectives were supporting an active lifestyle for residents by providing vital parks and recreational opportunities and cultivating partnerships with local human service agencies, nonprofit organizations, and other institutions to support the needs of the residents. In the workshop, the timing for those goals were for fiscal years 2627 and 2728. And just a little bit about why we chose that timeline. One is because you'll see later that some of the other goals we felt were already ongoing and needed to be worked on this coming fiscal year and the next. But the town the main part of of this goal has to do with the park and the town's master park plan will need to be updated in order for us to secure any kind of part F monies. And that update not only requires town budget amounts but also input from the public about future park plans and the areas that are currently not being utilized. And then once those initiatives about discussing this with the public are completed with the new master park plan, we've identifi and we've identified the projects to move forward with. We'll invite focus groups to engage and support these park updates. such as groups in the community and then all completed projects will be

publicized in various language and commun communication formats to reach all the community members. On the second focus area, the next page for economic development. This mainly focuses on planning for town amenities that are attractive and necessary to economic development and promoting the unique character of the community with information about our natural resources, our historical background, proximity to interstates and metropolitan areas to attract business growth. um these timelines. The second goal for promoting the character of the community are slated for this coming fiscal year 2526 and fiscal year 2627. So over those two fiscal years, we would work on these two initiatives and look at so that the funding pursuits in the other goals could be could begin in 2627. Any questions about that? Okay. The third focus area is reliable and equitable access to utility services. These main goals were strengthening partnerships and agreements with counties and neighboring towns to ensure consistent and sustainable utility access and then also plan for long-term infrastructure development that supports growth and ensures service access for all citizens because we are already um in the works for interlocal agreements with Johnston County and surrounding towns. that's going on this con this fiscal year and will continue through the next. And then as part of the the agreements that we're referencing now, we plan to include in

each one of these a stipulation to meet as needed with the different entities by having a utility coordination committee. And that's something that you talked about creating once these agreements are in place. And then following the com completion of those agreements, the um I'm sorry, I lost my place where I was reading. Following the completion of agreements and utility structures for the town and neighboring communities, the town's comprehensive utility study that was approved back in June of this year would be utilized to create a master plan which would map areas for growth, upgrades, and maintenance. And that would be the case whether we continue with the agreement with the county if for some reason we were to take it over, which we've already seen that we're not going to be able to do, or if we go into some type of regionalization or authority. So, we would still want to create a master plan for the town so that we know where the infrastructure in our town as far as utility services is going forward. Any questions about the third focus area? Okay. And then the fourth focus area is interconnectivity. And these goals would be to improve connectivity and growth of neighborhood and areas in town by investing in streets and sidewalk infrastructure. And then also enhance active lifestyle practices in the community by improving active transportation modes such as walking and cycling. The timeline for the interconnectivity was put during fiscal years 2829 and 2930. Depending on how fast a capital improvement plan were to happen, this could change. Um, but the town's goal for interconnectivity is based on the

multimode transportation plan that was approved by the planning board back in August of 24. So the goal now would be to have council approve that this fiscal year and then bring the plan to fruition within the next three to five years to create that connectivity and that would include sidewalks, bicycle and pedestrian lanes along streets and areas throughout town and then areas of construction from that plan would be included in that capital improvement plan. So all of these all of these goals and initiatives are first of all going to focus on securing funding for the capital improvement plan and then funding for the actual construction work to be done. Um, one thing to note about the way that you've got the timeline in your strategic plan, we've added this as an appendix to the report because it would be easier if you change your plans to be able to change just the appendix part of it with the timeline. So you can go in if things change with budgeting or they change with the capital improvement plan or any of the master plans that we've talked about in here and things would need to come sooner or maybe we need to push them back. It's easier easier to come back to council and just change the timeline rather than to change the complete strategic plan. I will be happy to answer any question since it's a public hearing. Does there anybody in the audience have a question or would like to make a comment? Okay. Any I know that we have looked at this and looked at this as council. We have looked at it about four times.

Nothing has changed, correct? Since the last time we looked at it. Exactly. Okay. except she just added the timeline that we we had already approved that when we were going through it. So, okay. I close the public hearing at 6:44 and I ask for a vote from council to approve our strategic plan. Make a motion we approve the town of Wilson's Mill strategic plan for fiscal years 2025 to 26 through 2030 and 31 as presented.

Motion made by Councilman McGawan. Seconded by Councilman Jernigan to approve the plan. All in favor? All opposed? Okay. Okay. Staff, y'all got your work cut out for you. At this time, we will open our first open forum. If you have any thing you want to bring to cancel, please come forward, state your name, your address, and limit your comments to three minutes. No one wishing to come forward. I cancel the open forum at 6:46. Okay. regular business. I feel like I have been meeting forever. It seems like every time we turn around, we have meetings. Um Lyanna and Wendy and I attended a um meeting at the Central Pines on regionalization and um several of our towns from our area was there and members of Johnston County were there. They presented a a a format of what regionalization on sewer and water should look like. And um I'm hoping that it will help us as we move forward with ours uh maybe we can use some of the information that was given. It was very informative I thought um that we had. And that's all I've got. L will go to you.

Okay. Um the next item on your agenda is the approval of the 2026 holiday schedule and the we'll we'll start with that. So the holiday schedule has not changed other than the dates at Christmas. We always go by the state's holiday schedule and that's what this is again this year. So unless anybody has any questions or changes, make a motion we adopt the 2026 holiday schedule for the table.

Motion made by Councilman Brown and second been by Councilman McGawan. All in favor? All opposed? Okay. And the next item is the 2026 dates and times for the council and the planning board meetings. And those are also based on the first and third, I'm sorry, the first Monday, the third Monday of the month for council, the fourth Monday for council work sessions, and the fourth Monday following that work session for the planning board meetings. There are some changes on here. If the holiday fell on one of those days, we changed it to the following evening.

Make a motion we approve the town of Wilson's Mills council member uh council meeting schedule as well as the planning board schedule as presented. Second. Motion made by Councilman McGawan, seconded by Councilman Brown. All in favor? All opposed? Okay, that's all I have, ma'am. Okay, Sherry, this is on our fund balance policy.

Yes, council. Um, you Lyn had mentioned about a review of the town fund balance that um that the council wanted to see it again. So, um, on September the 19th of 2022, the town council approved it and it states that we should have a 35% minimum within throughout the year. Um sometimes it falls below that because of our expenditures at the time especially at the first of the fiscal year because we have mortgage payment all these big payments have to come out but eventually by the end of the year it comes back up and I made a list on this um on my letter that I had presented to you the the years and the percentages where they stood at that time and we only fell below the 35% and that was in 2023. Jay, our state auditor or our auditor, he said that he expected it to fall because that's the day that's the year that we had um bought town hall and so therefore it fell up under the 35%. And so, but it still remains in June of 2020 2024 at 45%. So, I think we're in good standing still. Uh

Sherry, a quick question. Um, I remember years ago we used to have it considerably higher than I I don't know what the minimum was at that point in time, but we always had it much higher. I would feel more comfortable now with all of our expenditures pretty much lined up. We know what we've got coming pretty much. I'd be I'd feel a lot more comfortable raising that 35. Really? Yeah, I would. Um, I mean 35 gives us right now based upon our expenditures how much? Three months, four months? Yes, approximately three months.

Yeah, I' I'd be more comfortable with something like six months. So, raising it to from 35 to maybe 45 or even if you look at what we've been doing other than 2023, you know, raising it to I think 45% is something that's not bad, right? Would you would you expect any problem with that or proceed expect any problems with it? But as Cap I mean if you remember what Lyanna read out in our strategic plan the town has a lot of expenses coming up even if we do find funding for it. It may be such as we get a 5050 grant. Yeah.

You know, and if we get a 5050 grant on $500,000, then the town's going to have to pay out $250,000. So, I just want to keep that in mind before you, you know, if you want to increase it. But it is a flexible percentage. That's what you were just talking about. We can move these things around. So, but but the more we save, the better off we are until we start to incur those expenses. Then we can certainly change it. Can we not? You can. Yeah, I still feel comfortable with something like a 45%. Chair, I wanted to ask on these percentages that you presented since 2018, are is this unrestricted fund balance percentages? Yes.

Okay. Um, and one thing that we may want to consider and we can talk with the auditor about it and then bring an amendment back to council about the changing the percentage in there. There is a percentage that the LGC looks at just like they look at the the fact that you don't want to go below a certain amount obviously, but then they also look at the fact that you're not just storing away taxpayer money. Exactly. Um and and there's a there's a legal term for the way that they the way they put that in the statute. Okay, you can probably tell, but they just want to be sure that we're not that we're actually using the money that we collect from the taxpayers

to well detain pay for for town business. So, and I I don't know that there's a specific percentage for that, but I'm sure the auditors or somebody at the LGC could advise as to whether or not we wouldn't we just wouldn't want to make it look like we're collecting more taxes to just

No, I I don't think we can use the word squirreling in in the budget process. That counselor would probably say it's not a legal term, but uh it's pretty it's pretty accurate. But I just I just look at other towns and I look at the problems they get into and I just want to keep an arms length away from any of that. I don't mean to go overboard and say 60 70%. But something that's something that's doable and it's it's not exorbitant. 45% to me that's just my thought is is

well and other than the year that we bought town hall, we've pretty much stayed there. I don't think that that percentage would be an issue. I still just feel I would feel more comfortable rather than trying to pass that tonight that we do get some confirmation from the auditor. I would I would too. It's an it's an important step, but like I said, I want to maintain an arms length away from the problems at uh was it Rono Rapids or was it Rocky Mount? There have been lots and and Spring Lake Spring Lake and Benson. I I just want to stay away from those sorts of things. Sure. Sure. I can um contact the uh Jay in the morning and see what his thoughts are on it and bring it back to council. I mean, if that's if you prefer that.

Yeah, I was going to say I mean, if if if we if we as a council think that that that we need to increase it, then by all means, I'm you know, I I don't I don't have a problem with with with saving. Um, and I was just going to going to say that, you know, based on our strategic plan and not just our strategic plan, but uh regionalization as as mayor has has mentioned um things that are not not this year. Yeah.

But that are coming down the pipeline. Um but you made it you you made it it is flexible. Um I you know I just wouldn't want to jump up there like you said and do a 50%. I mean I don't think that's even even considerable. But I would just I would be interested in hearing back from maybe the work session. Okay. And see just seeing what what they say. All right. If we don't change it, we'll have to revise the plan. So that have to be re I agree. But this plan Yeah. Yeah. We'll have to re balance policy.

Sherry, just refresh my memory. Sherry, am I correct that at one point in time um we had a considerable fund balance and we used Tim was involved in that. We used part of that to help with the police cars. Yes. Am I right? Remember that. So I I see that perhaps coming up and maybe not for police cars but other other things. So if we I I feel comfortable with the 45 and we would have some some extra cash to do some things. Okay. So, yeah. Go ahead, JC. And I thank the attorney.

Yeah. I don't I don't have too much legal, if you can hear me, too much legal to weigh in on this. Um I I I have sat in on enough audit presentations to know though that that they do they do discourage too high of a um a fund balance.

Absolutely. And and and to the point that council member McGowan just made, you know, you had probably sufficient fund balance to buy the police cars, but if you had a policy that prevented you from spending down from that, you wouldn't have been able to buy those police cars. So, I think there's um there is some, you know, value in having a a high enough uh policy, a high enough goal so that you do have the funds available, but enough flexibility to spend it down if you need to as well. Um, but I I I just second checking with the auditor, see if there's a I'm not aware of of a hard cap on it either, but they do start to question um if it's high

if it's too high. They pressure you to bring it back down. Exactly. Uh I uh semi disagree with you, David. I semi disagree with I go ahead. Yeah, it is. It is. It is. Uh, yeah. I like having the 45% balance that we've got now or got now,

but I don't think we need to set it move it up to that amount. I think 35%'s a good amount. Yeah, I'd like to see us keep it in the 45% range, but that I don't think it's then because then if we have to do something that brings it underneath the 45%. We don't have to worry about coming and worrying about it, right? We we if we keep it at 35%, if we start getting close to 35, then we need to think about it. But I I mean, I don't have a problem with trying to keep it at 45. But I just don't think we need to set that as the as the uh official policy

as a official policy. I think 35 is because I back when I first got on this council, we were at 98 99 and I thought I always thought that was too much because we we're not using the money that the taxpayers have given to us. So, uh you know, it's not that I don't want it to stay at 45%. But I just don't think we set 45% as the our low number. We're 35% is fine with the with the this the state and everything. That's just my opinion.

The reason I was talking about a little bit higher, Jay, one of the reasons is what you were referring to, Sherry, and that is the these expenses that we're going to have coming up in the relatively near future that are not already built in, right? And it may be another police car, too. So, if we didn't do 45 or we did a 40 something like that, we're we we would have that money and we still wouldn't attract the evil eye of LGC or anybody like that. So, think about think about 40 or something like that, too. I'll just 35 to me is just a little bit too low. It only gives us you said four months. Yes. Four months of of of uh protection. Exactly.

I just feel a little bit more comfortable with something a little bit higher. And and I I think Leanne asked, but I want to make sure it this is on these numbers are on nonrestricted funds. Correct. Exactly. Not on the restricted or No, it's not on restricted funds. And and I would just be curious if you're going to ask him just get a if he can get a what's the norm for a town our size. Okay. Just I mean that don't mean that we're going to go by just give us a why not ask. Okay. Are there are there published uh rates that other towns are are holding? I can look in that tomorrow. That'd be fun to look at too.

And also make sure that if we go to 45, how much would that how many months would that be? Okay. Cuz we need that's the one section we're talking about changing. So we need to make sure it's correct when we All right. When we get it in there. Okay. So now we'll give you something work on you bring back to us. Exactly. Thank you so much. C Sherry. Yes. We're still talking fund balance policy. Can I can I go to page two real quick? Sure. Just help me out here on the very bottom, the restricted fund balance and committed fund balance. They're absolutely identical statements, are they not? Is there any difference that I'm missing here? I don't see any any difference.

Okay. The restricted fund balance is money that you say like if the auditor did an audit on our master fund account because that's restricted money that we just can't do anything with. We have to have a specific reason why we tap into that money. Got it. And you better be good with it. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So I mean the restricted and the the committed fund balance is like the committed is us. We're like the general fund balance. That is us. And but the restricted is for like special funding.

Okay. Maybe there's a different way to word the the committed fund balance because when I looked at it, I read the two and I went those two are identical statements with with separate uh I could just put on on letter C. I could put just general fund balance. Yeah. Some something restricted like Sherry said is is usually the state says this amount of fund balance has to be used for this like our liabilities committed fund balance you probably are more familiar with the term earmarked so if we put specific amounts in a budget for successive years and they're earmarked for certain projects that would be a committed fund balance amount

so we could we you another council two years down the road could use that money for something other than what you've earmarked it for because they could vote to change it. But a restricted fund balance could not be changed because that's what the state says you got to use your fund balance for this. I I fully understand that. But to me, it's just it's a question of semantics right now. Okay. And I want to be able to come back and and and look at these two and and see the difference like you're saying. Right now the paragraphs are absolutely identical. There's no difference between a restricted and a committed fund balance. So, if we could add some words in there to further define that perhaps. Okay. To help me out, Leanne, just make sure I understand on the committed.

It cannot be if if a council was to vote and council, this might be if if if a a council was to vote on a committed amount for five years. As long as it's stated in five years, the if there's a new council, they would have to abide by that. Is that not correct? they could come in and vote differently.

I mean, your budget is only for a year and you set that at the beginning of the fiscal year. Um I I'd probably have to defer some of this to Sherry, but until you you've um either entered into a contract or otherwise committed the funds, then then a just because you vote to take a certain action, a later council can can vote to take a different action. I wasn't clear. I was talking about if we had a contract to spend x amount of a dollar. That's different. That's different. That cannot be changed. Correct. If it's a contract, depending on how it's worded, you know, a later council could try to terminate the contract, see if there's any provisions that allow for, but it's not easily done, right?

Okay, that Thank you, Sherry. You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you, Sherry, thank you. Okay. Does council have any comments? I do. Well, not comments. I got questions. Um, Leanne, town hall timeline. We still looking for December, I'm sure. Correct. The end of December. That's correct. Okay, that is good. And it's looking good. If you haven't been to I'm stopping by this week. I me earlier. I'm stopping by this week. It's looking good. And I'm just going to sneak in the back there. They put the cabinets in.

Oh, didn't in the kitchen. Yeah, it looks great.

So, right now we're planning for your December I think it's a December meeting doing a walk through. Is that right? Is that what we got on there? Um, which is December 15th. No, the is it the January meeting's the open house? We were anyway, I've got it in my notes somewhere, but um I think we were talk we had talked about before the December meeting having a walkthrough over there before we come back here for the December meeting, but we won't have furniture in until December 18th. That'll be the last thing that goes in because they'll have to get out all the wires hooked up for the AV and everything. So, the the furniture will be delivered on December 18th, but we can still do a walkthrough if you want. 18

or you can come by anytime and we'll Well, I'm excited. I'm excited. We're gonna have a new a new member up with the dies, too. Looks very different than it did. Oh, it does. It's not as big as it was when we start putting walls in there, but it looks so nice. It does. It really does. Second thing is uh the the burning in town ordinance. I know we were talking about the UDO being retyped. Is have have we made any progress on that? Wendy, Leanne, whoever wants to answer. up there if you want to.

I am working still working on that. Um even though part of it we tried to retype it. We've had to even go back a little further with some reformatting on it. But I am still actively working on that. um blocking some time off to try to get it done. Oops. How much is remaining, Wendy? I mean, I'm looking at a lot of I'm looking My two concerns were the the burning obviously and also the uh the setbacks for developers.

I'm about halfway through with it at this point. everything else that's coming in. I can't focus on just that for long periods of time because I'm having to address other things that are coming up as well. But I'm I am trying I have even taken it home with me at night to try to work on it some to try to get it done.

Well, I I' I'd say I appreciate you doing that. I I certainly don't expect you to do that. Um, but I appreciate you doing that. And I'm going to ask, I think Dave asked one time, but I'm going to ask again, would it help you if this council or if y'all looked into getting uh somebody from the outside that we we could help get that done with you or do you need to be hands-on involved?

I need to be hands-on with it because of some of the changes and the wording that needs to be involved with it. We we need to make sure it's right. And if you bring in an outside person, they're not going to understand some of the language and the lingo and the legal terms. And we just need to make sure when we do it this time, it's done correctly. I just wanted to ask and and then again to follow up to see if we needed to look at outside resources, but you answer that question. Uh nuisance abatement, what did we come up with on that? I think we talked about that in our uh work session. Thank you. As far as changing the timeline on our nuisance abatements,

yes.

Um, Gabe and I have tried several times to get together on that between his schedule and my schedule. Um, it can be changed. It can be changed at council's discretion. I did a little bit of research and the towns around us are all basically where we are with the 15 days. And the reasoning for that is by the time you find it, you type the letter and you mail it and you give them a chance to respond. Some people work Monday through Friday and can only address these things on weekends. So they need at least one weekend in there to be able to do whatever they need to do. And if they happen to work on call or every other weekend, they may need extra time. Now, if they call and ask for an extension and they have a good reason, yes, we'll give them an extension because we we're trying to work with them. But don't we all automatically give them an extension if they don't respond on that first 15-day letter that we send another one giving them another 15 days.

That's an automatic extension. We have to You can't automatically abate it as soon as you send them one letter. You can't automatically go in there and do what needs to be done. You have to give them fair warning after you've asked them to clean it up. You have to give them fair warning that since you didn't, we're going to What about that? That that uh you mentioned at one point in time a um habitual offender. What's is that rule still in effect?

That rule is still in effect and Clever is getting me a list together of the ones and actually I can look back at the list myself. Um, the ones that have had at least three letters in 12 months for the same violation, we can mail them a chronic letter and effective next year if we have issues with them, we can automatically clean their stuff up without having to go through all that process.

Okay. I'm just very I'm I'm just very concerned as is as is council member Brown that um we have we have too many uh you know Home Depot garden tractors sitting in yards. That's just an example, but you you you know what I'm getting at. Okay. Thank you. Um yeah, and I'll just echo I I I looked into this refresh my memory and checked your town ordinance um prior to the last meeting. uh it didn't come up and so I'm I'm running off a little bit of a rusty memory here. But um I did notice that there was the 15 days stated in your ordinance. You can change that. Um you know I but I don't have you know Wendy addressed the reasons why it's at 15 days. Um it could be shorter. I don't think you'd run into a legal problem if it was shorter. Not not legally. Um and certainly the habitual offender uh statute that she referenced, she accurately described that that um and I I again just going off memory I think it is three three warnings or three of um violations in the prior year. But if they meet that criteria, whatever it is, and you send them a notice, um, notifying them that they're going to be, um, counted as a habitual offender, then you can you can summarily abate, which means just go in there and take care of it as soon as you notice that it's a problem without having to send any notice.

It'll be interesting to see the uh the list that he comes up with. Thank you.

Yeah. and and and and and the the number of vehicles that's just sitting in in yards, backyards, on streets, um where fire trucks can't even turn around. Um it's getting to be we we going to have to nip it in the bud as Barney says. And um and and if we don't go ahead and and pursue it and pursue it aggressively, it's going to get more out of control than I think that what we as council even realize. Um because you ride by a neighborhood and I intentionally look I think everybody in some neighborhoods thinks they got to have about four undrivable cars whether they need them or not. So and the other thing is the percentage on rentals. Did we find out on the percentage on rentals that we can work work away from? maybe towards probably away from.

According to the blogs on the school of government website, you cannot legally put a percentage of rentals. The town can't legally put a percentage of rentals on a homeowners association. If the homeowners association chooses to do that, that's up to them. But unless I something I don't ask the homeowners association to do it. I'm not sure what the legality of that would be, but if it's legal, we can definitely That was the question. I didn't hear and we asked the homeowners association to do it.

I know I know my my HOA has one and and we we abide by it and we're very happy with it. Uh, don't the properties have to be built before the homeowner association is established?

I don't I don't know. I don't We can I think we can change our percentage anytime we want. I'm not sure though. If if that were the case, we'd we'd probably knock it down to like 5%. But you may be right. I don't know. I'd have to check with the HOA on that. until until there's um where Councilman McGowan lives, uh the actual developer is the HOA until he turns it over to the community. Um and they have matter of fact, they have two HOAs because one section was finished and and the developer turned it over. Then the next section was finished and they turned it over. So if you have an HOA, the developer is the HOA until they turn it over. Now, I'm not sure that that that that what is existing it would probably be a lot more hoops to jump through to to lower the percentage of what we have or at least not let it keep rising on on rentals. But I think we could certainly any more developments that come in put a percentage on those even before there's an HOA and even before there is a groundbreaking. I don't know that we can do that.

As much as I'd like to see that, I don't know that we can do that. That's that's ana thing.

Yeah. I don't So, two things on that. I I don't know off the top of my head whether that's legal or not. I am I have a a memory of that being something that a court of appeals has stated is improper as a land use regulation. and I'll I'll do some research if if council wants to consider whether they can or can't do that. Um, but with that being sort of an open question, I would say that if it's determined that the council, the town cannot impose a cap on rentals, I would generally advise against asking the HOA to do something that the town council can't because it's legally prohibited from doing so. Just strikes me as inviting a potential challenge. Yeah.

Yeah. that that's something we don't want to get into.

Well, I I I'm if and I think you said if if it is a a legal issue, but if it is not, you know, you have you have homes that are built, neighborhoods that are built, and I guess Dave's HOA can mandate a percentage. I think he stated that in the work session or um so the the the the more subdivisions that are built, the more investors that there are who are looking to buy houses and turn around and and rent them out. Um and it's probably more prevalent now than it ever has been. and um and we just need to make sure we know what's going on and we have our hand on the pulse of our of our community. You know, we we talk a lot about the funding. We talk a whole lot about the funding. Um but but this is something that's just as important to Dave's neighbor as it is mayor's neighbor and my neighbor. Um about what that house next door across the street is going to become. Is it going to become a rental prop property? Um, and that's the reason that I ask and maybe council can, you know, maybe what what I'm talking about is not not legal, but it may not be, but it may be. I don't know. But, um, I'd be curious to know, you know, not in time

some somewhere. And I don't know how it works, but when a developer builds a community, it's his HOA. And of course, the town, the owners are involved in it at that point. But knowing developers like we know developers, why are they putting why would they put a percentage in their covenants right off the bat when they know full well if they don't put anything in there they could sell those houses to these national uh national um rental agencies and that could be 100% and then when he turns it over to you he goes see you later. It's 100% you can't change it. So where is it coming from that it's a 25%. Is there is there something in the statute somewhere that says the developer has to leave it at you you see what I'm getting at C or members council if there's nothing in writing and no requirement he's they're going to set them at 80 90 100% who cares they don't care once they sell once they move out they're done

Dave I don't think the developer really cares once he's built it and he's sold it right he's done with it I think once he what happens is once maybe with your neighborhood if I if I remember correctly is once he's done and he and the developer turns it over to an HOA board. Yeah. Maybe

then they can develop other restrictions. You know, the developer may say, "Well, you can only build this fence or or that fence and and this that and the other." Some some very narrow uh things that he would have to decide once he turns it over. Some of these HOA companies probably have a sheet of stuff that they'll, you know, if you want to include this in your HOA policy, I guess.

Yeah, I I would agree with you. I think that's probably where the uh the limitation comes in is when it's turned over from the developer to the actual HOA to the the residents. Go ahead, councelor. Yeah, the distinction here and again I'm not sure the the answer in you know on the question but the distinction is between property owners who can covenant among themselves on what their neighborhood is to look like and how they what they want to restrict within their neighborhood. that's what the HOA would do versus the local government imposing on them via land use regulations what they can or can't do with their property in terms of renting it. And that that's the latter is subject to higher scrutiny under the law. That's where we that's where we need to just stay out of that business and leave it up to HOAs and hope they have common sense. Well, set

control however shortterm rentals like Airbnb well is what are then what you're you're saying is these homes that are being built by and and purchased by long-term rental companies. They're governed by the state. The number of them is governed by the state. And those restrictions, they incorporate the number allowed in a community probably. Okay. All right. Okay. That that's not going to be something that they going Yeah. All right. We beat this horse to death.

Okay. Okay. We're going to stay out of that business. Any more comments from council, Wendy? Thank you. I just want to say thanks for Patrick. That's a uh that was a great job on the fire hydrant. And congratulations to council member elect Doris Riley.

At this time, I'll open the second open form if anyone wishes to address council. No one wishing to address council. I close the open form at 7:22. Do I hear a motion? Make a motion we adjourn. Motion made by Councilman McGawan, seconded by Councilman Jernigan. All in favor? All opposed? Thank you.