City Council - Regular Meeting

We got Thank you.

I have now moved every box you gave my wife Please. Good evening everyone. I'm Alan Joins, mayor of Winston Salem. My pleasure to call to order this March 2nd meeting of the Winston Salem City Council and ask the city clerk to call the role, please. Council member Joiner, present. Member Clark here. Council member Andrew Bowen here. Council member Cypio present. Mayor Pro Tim Adams here. Council member Taylor present. Council member Hall present. And council member Burke here.

Thank you very much. Would you please join the city council and me in a moment of silence? Thank you. Would you please join the city council and me in the pledge of

allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you very much. I recognize our sergeant-at-arms tonight is Lieutenant Joshua Cafe. Lieutenant, thank you for being with us. And the fire marshall tonight is Pete Geke. Hope I said that right, Mr. Marshall. U Thank you for being with us tonight. We are televising this meeting live tonight on TV 13 and it will be replayed tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. and again Wednesday at 900 PM. Of course, as you know, copies of our agenda as well as videos of previous meetings are always available on the city's website and just click on the quote watch meetings online option. Turn the meeting over now to the city manager for his update.

Uh thank you, mayor. Uh a couple of uh different items for tonight. One is to remind folks that our bulky item pickup will start on March 2nd and extend through September 4th. So encourage residents to go on the city uh website to see when your when your day is scheduled or week is scheduled for that. There's u on February 17th um the office of housing development hosted a developer builder information session to review the submission requirements for the affordable housing development RFP that was released on February 5th. 35 people attended in person and another 30 participated via YouTube live stream. Attendees included nonprofit developers, for-profit developers, contractors, and community partners. The RFP closes March 6 and would come to the general government committee in April with some final recommendations to council in May for those funds. The uh geographic mapping improvement staff developed with assistance from the city GIS manager an updated GIS based mapping resources that shows a new map of all the city own lots including filtering by ward, current affordable housing project locations. And these tools are intended to support strategic planning, council briefings, public communication and equitable geographic distribution analysis. And you can see that portal on the housing de department development department website or web page. Our sustainability department is promoting no moch as we're into March now campaign. This campaign encourages residents to not mow their lawns in March to protect pollinators habitats. As springtime begins, birds and insects need to have an abundance of food sources, and not mowing your grass provides extra sources of nutrients for them, which enhances their ability to

pollinate and protect the seasonal growing cycle. So, if you're interested in participation, you could sign a pledge to not mow during March, and you'll receive a yard sign indicating that you're participating and would not be cited for tall grass during the campaign. In terms of uh for council's information as well, you've heard this a couple of times, but our community agency funding request uh have been received. We have more than 70 nonprofit agencies that have submitted applications for local funding. Staff are currently reviewing all those uh applications for completeness and assembling them along with supporting documentation for each of the groups so council members can easily access this information electronically. You should expect to receive these items um Monday, March the 9th. And uh so next at the committee the whole meeting, we'll do a little little update on on those items that you'll be getting and how to follow up with your scoring. A couple of events that are going on to make sure everyone is uh aware of the mayor's youth violence crime summit follow or the follow-up summit to that. The council members and the public are invited to participate in this important dialogue. Information obtained at the October 30th summit as well as the youth focus group meetings will be presented on Saturday, March the 7th between 9 and 11 a.m. at the Benton Convention Center. Free parking will be available in the six Cherry Trade parking deck, which is located at 519 North Cherry Street across from the Benton Convention Center. They do ask that you RSVP by um this week to the mayor's office so that they will know that you're attending planning to attend. Our Winston Salem Police Department Academy class number 81 will graduate 23 new police officers on Thursday, March

5th at in the evening at 6 pm. We're excited to welcome these new officers to our team that will help serve and protect our city. And then our Wista program as again as council has had a lot of discussions about is conducting in-person and virtual meetings in February to gather or did in February to gather public input and share updates on planned service adjustments to improve our network efficiency and service to our riders. Proposed changes include reduced travel time, new and modified routes, selective route um eliminations, and an introduction of microtransit in targeted areas. The meetings to date have been well attended thanks in part to a robust social media campaign, distribution of flyers along routes proposed for elimination and the support of local media outlets that have shared the event information and covered the early sessions. DOT staff held an all-day popup event last week at the Clark Campbell Transportation Center for existing writers to learn about the proposed changes. Engagement efforts will continue this week at two additional community meetings scheduled from 5:30 to 7:30 on Wednesday the 4th at Sprag Street Community Center and on Thursday, March 5th at Hannes Hosery Community Center. So, we encourage everyone uh that's interested to come and participate in those events. And with that, I'll stand ready to

Any questions for Mr. P? Uh, Council Member Andre Bolan. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, so I attended the um community roots day this Saturday and was able to plant some uh malberry malberry tree uh at Kimberly Park. Do we have a number of how many trees were planted across uh the region? We had I think we had two different locations, right? I I do not know that. off hand, but we will or is Shayen here? Yeah. 110. Beautiful. Thank you. Thank you for doing that, council member.

All right. Thank you, Mr. P. We now go to our agenda, which is comprised of two parts. The general agenda and the consent agenda. It's always the practice of the council to take the consent agenda at the first order. The items on this agenda have been unanimously approved by a committee of the city council or are being submitted in accordance with established city procedure. There'll be no discussion of the items on this agenda unless the council member so request in which event the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered individually. Items not removed from the consent agenda will be enacted with one motion. I know that council member Adams has asked for C2. Are there any other items you wish to pull? [snorts] If not, I'd entertain a motion for the balance of the consent agenda.

So moved. Second. Uh I think council member Hall move for approval and seconded by council member Cypio. [snorts] Uh we do a voice vote. All those in favor of approving the balance of the consent agenda, please say I. I. Anyone oppose? No. And that is unanimous. Now go to item C2, please. Item C2, ordinance amending chapter 2, article 3, division 3, section 2-108 of the city code regarding police complaint filing and investigation procedures. Mayor Proim.

Thank you, Mayor. Um, a lot of you may not remember when this all took place. Uh, it was around 1993. Uh, things were a lot different than here in our city. Uh, and there's a historical perspective to it. And whenever we make changes to historical ordinances that came in place uh that was uh basically uh promoted by the citizens of Winston Salem. Uh any changes should be communicated publicly. I know it's on our website. I know we have it. But I did receive uh some calls for people that do read it and online and they saw it. And [clears throat] uh I reached out today to staff uh just to give a better understanding publicly [clears throat] of what this means to the public. Again, we have three or four other initiatives that are part of this process along with our newly formed civil service board. But again, this is the grand grandchild of all of it. So I just like to make sure the citizens know that we heard them and that we we are responding. Thank you. believe you're going to respond if you give us your name address for the records.

Uh, good evening, Mayor Joins, Mayor Prom Adams, and members of city council. My name is Charles. My name is Charles Olivo, and I'm the captain with the Winon Police Department, specifically assigned to our professional standards division. Um, do you want me to just go overall of [snorts] what's this actually encompassing? Summarize.

Summarize. Okay. So essentially uh where we're at the reason for our change in this um is to clarify the wording in our city ordinance. Uh the three key changes to it is the right now the way the city ordinance is written. It specifically says that the professional standards division will address complaints. We are changing that wording to say the Winston Silent Police Department overall. Um that way the police department will be responsible for addressing all complaints. not just the professional standards division and the reason for that is um is for efficiency essentially um and we're also making available to the citizens which they can com they can file official complaints now the way the process is currently is they would have to come down to the police department or to the city clerk's office and they would have to on a piece of paper essentially a document write what their complaint is at that point and it must be notorized and then we conduct an formal investigation. um we are remove not removing the process we are changing that process into where if they they don't have to come down to the police department to the professional standards division between 8 and 5 Monday through Friday if it's after hours we have supervisors that can address the citizens concern right away and immediately um and that that has not changed and there's also the transparency aspect of it where really nothing when it comes to the the investigation itself. Nothing has changed in that aspect. It's more about who is doing the investigation.

Thank you so much. Again, thank you, Chief Penn. Uh thank you, staff. But again, anytime we start to tweak historical ordinances uh that the community basically brought to us. Uh I just think it's important that we acknowledge anytime we're tweaking or editing or changing it. And I appreciate staff for getting back with me so quickly because when I started getting emails and calls this morning, I was like, "Okay, let me let me follow up on this." Uh, so again, thank you so much. Thank you, Captain Council Hall. [snorts]

Thank you, Mayor Joins. Thank you uh for the u summary of what you provided. Um I also got a call. It was this uh evening actually on the way here and it was similar to um what Mayor Pro Tim Adams was mentioning and the call actually was from a person that sits on the citizen review um board and police review board uh and they were not aware and so I echo Mayor Prom's uh comments that we need to make sure that they are aware of these changes whenever we are doing those sorts of things. Um, and I would also call that out to my colleagues and making sure that we understand that. And so, um, otherwise where maybe I would have been supportive, I wouldn't be supportive of actually voting for this tonight because of that particular aspect. Um, and so that's just one thing I wanted to make sure that I lived it up.

Thank you.

One more thing. uh to council member Hall. Uh in my email today, I did question whether we had reached out uh and contacted the members of the police review board and that we make it clear, you know, because again, when we appoint people to these boards and commissions and we don't include them in the communication, then we're not being transparent. So, that was one of my questions, too. uh I will be voting for it because I was one of the uh city uh citizens that was a proponent of this in 1993 along with a lot of the people in the black community. So uh I am hoping that you will immediately do that if we have not done that. Again, it's about trust and transparency.

Yes, ma'am. I'll make sure that they are aware of it. I do want to be clear that the process as it relates to the citizen police review board remains untouched. It remains intact. That's not changing at all with this amendment. Okay. This did come from public safety. I'd recognize council member Cypio, chairman of public safety. If you'd ready to make a motion. Yes. I move for approval of these changes. Second. Second by Mayor Pro Tim. Any discussion voting electronically tonight? All those in favor of the motion, please uh say I. I. Anyone oppose? No. No. And that motion passes seven to one with council member Hall voting no. Thank you, Captain. Thank you.

All right, we'll now go to the general agenda, uh, which is includes a public hearing on a proposed street closure as well as a public, uh, hearing on a proposed lease agreement for a wireless communication tower in Shaftner Park as well as consideration of revisions to the uh, March 2026 city council meeting schedule. When the public hearing is called called persons in council chamber who wishes to speak on this spec specific item will be given opportunity to speak. If there is opposition uh during this public hearing proponents and opponents will each be given 15 minutes for presentation and then three minutes for rebuttal. If no one wishes to speak I'll close the public hearing and the city council will consider the item. May we have item G1, please? Item G1, public hearing in consideration of the petition to close and abandon an unopened portion of Fineore Street located in the southwest ward. Thank you. Is there anyone in council chamber wishes to be heard on this item? Seeing no one, I'll declare a public hearing closed. Did this did come through our public works committee and I'll recognize chairman council Burke.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move for approval of agenda item G1, the resolution to close and abandon aband abandon an unopened portion of Phenomore Street. Is there a second? Second. Motion second. Council Hall, this is your ward obviously, but um any comments, questions, council member Andre boy. Thank you, sir. Um, so I just want to thank the uh DOT staff uh for they had we had a meeting at Millet Park a few weeks ago and there were a lot of questions surrounding this and the staff there did a fantastic job of answering those questions. So I just really appreciate that. Thank you sir. Sorry I had the wrong word. [laughter]

All right. Any further discussion? Now all those in favor of the motion please say I. I. Anyone opposed? No. Are we voting electronically? We vote electronically then. All those in favor of the motion please vote yes. There we go. and it's [snorts] unanimous. Thank you. Um item uh G2 Item G2, public hearing and consideration of a resolution authorizing the city to enter into an option and lease agreement with Vogue Towers 2 LLC for a wireless communication tower in Shaner Park.

Thank you. Is anyone in council chamber wishes to be heard on during this public hearing on this proposed lease? [snorts] Seeing no one, I'll Oh, I'm sorry. We do have someone sign up. Okay. Um Tom Johnson, it's here. I'm Tom Johnson. My address is 301 Fateville Street, Sweet 1700 in Raleigh, North Carolina. I'm the attorney and the petitioner or for the tenant in this matter. And I'm just available to answer any questions you may have. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Appreciate you being here. And looks like for the opponents, Mike Kllin, Toby, Tob [snorts]

[snorts]

Klein Tob. Okay, thank you. Mike Klein to Tob22 West 4 Street, downtown Winston Salem. What's the cost on this? No cost to the city. We're getting paid for it. Oh, there's no cost, right? Thank you. [laughter] I like it. That's a good answer to the question, right? Any Is there anyone else who would like to be heard on this item? [snorts] Yes, sir.

Very [snorts] briefly, uh, my name is Greg Kimmel. I live at 421 Archer Road in Olure Forest. Um, I've lived there since 1993. And I uh very much support this project uh from the standpoint uh that we have [clears throat] surprisingly poor cell coverage where we live. We're at the bottom of old Sherwood Forest. We have a very weak signal when the power's out. Um and we have to rely on sales service. U it gets much worse and this would be a great enhancement for the people in our neighborhood. Good point. Appreciate that.

Anyone else? Not I'll declare the public hear and close. And again, this did come through public courts. Again, I recognize Council Member Burke. Thank you again. I move for approval of item G3, the resolution authorizing the city to enter into an option and lease agreement with Vogue Towers 2 LLC for a wireless communication tower in Shaner Park. Is there a second? Second. I would like to second council member Clark and recognize council member [snorts] Clark for comment.

This is in the West Ward. Uh first off to answer the gentleman's question, we're actually leasing the land. It's a very small piece of land, a little bit over a thousand bucks a month, something like that. Um, this is a hilly town, particularly as you go west. You go west, you're getting nearer the mountains. Mr. Taylor, if you go to your bottom of your ward, it's fairly flat down that way. But you get over on the west side, uh, and you want a good example, just go to Hannes Park and you've got hills all around it. cell service is not an is not a luxury anymore. It's an assessment. Virtually all the 911 calls now are from cell phones and we do have some dead zones in the west ward and this is going to address one of them. Uh and I am supportive of it for that reason. Uh we are going to disguise it. So, it will look like a fake tree versus the cell tower, but it's it's a necessity. And um when you uh there's tennis courts right beside it. If someone were to have a heart attack on that tennis court, there may not be any sales service from there currently. So, I'm supportive of it. Uh and um with that, I'll hush.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Anyone else? I do have a motion uh to approve this. All in favor of the motion, please vote yes. Anyone opposed, vote no. And that is unanimous. Thank you very much. Item G3. Item G3, consideration of city council's 2026 revised March meeting schedule. Thank you. Recognize the city manager.

Uh thank you, mayor. Uh just uh for council's uh re review and and uh for the public's understanding as well, this is just a change in setting a date for you to meet with your local state delegation. Uh as council knows, we're have the National League of Cities coming up uh next in the next couple of weeks, March 16th through 18th, and we'll be going to the uh to visit with your federal delegation at that time and to talk about issues of concern to the city. We also want to do that with our state delegation and try to do that right before they go back into session so that our they they they know what your concerns are as as they're going into that session. So that date has been set now for March 27th at uh 9 in the morning here at city hall in the committee room. And so we're just asking that you add that to your calendar so it'll be available publicly noticed as a meeting.

Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Okay. Is there a motion to approve the new the revised schedule? Move to approve. Thank you. Councor Hall, seconded by Council Member Cypio. Any further discussion? If not, all those in favor of the motion, please vote yes. Anyone opposed, vote no. And that is unanimous. Thank you, council members. That is concludes our agenda tonight. Council member Arg may pro Tim. Yes. Uh, I know we're going to do something, but we need to acknowledge the CIAA champions in women's basketball

with our own Winston Salem State University. Go Rams. [applause] History. And of course, the the coach is named coach of the year in the CIAA. So, it's a I did a video to recognize all them this week. So, it's hopefully we're gonna be doing something. We we're doing a resolution. All right. Entertain a motion to adjurnn. Move. Second. [laughter] Thank you. Motion by council member Clark, second by council member Hall to adjurnn. All those in favor of the motion, please say I. Anyone oppose? No. That's unanimous. We are adjourned. [snorts]