City Council - Regular Meeting

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Good evening everyone. I'm Alan Joins, mayor of Winston Salem. It is my pleasure to call to order this April 6th meeting of the Winston Salem City Council and ask the city clerk to call the role, please. Council member Joiner, present. Council member Clark here. Council member Andrew Bowen here. Council member CPIO present. Mayor Prom 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 with me in the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisibley andice for all that's what we needed

thank you our sergeant-at-arms tonight is Lieutenant Brian Ashley Absolutely. Lieutenant, thank you for being with us. And our fire marshal is Michael Bowden. Bodford, excuse me. Bodford, excuse me. I'll get it right in a minute there. Thank you for being with us. Um, before we get into the gist of the meeting, I want to recognize we have a group of guests with us tonight. 30 students from the Steam and Read program at the Union Community Development Corporation at Union Baptist Church. Mrs. Landa Miller Milner is executive director of operations. I'll ask our guests to stand up. All right. This is a free program there at Union Baptist Church that's designed to incorporate and improve reading skills uh for all these students there. So, thank you all for being here. I also want to recognize Council Member Burke for a comment.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you uh to the students uh from the Union Baptist Church Steam and Read program. Thank you so much for coming. Last Sunday, I had the privilege of attending your graduation and celebration. And I want you to know I left there so inspired and so proud of you because I found out that during the 2025 school year, 126 scholars were served. And even more impressive than that, 85% of the scholars showed meable growth in math. And scholars from third through high school advanced across more than 600 academic skills. So we need to give them a round of app of applause. This kind of growth does not happen by accident. Oh no. This is the result of strong leadership. Shout out to the visionary Bishop Sir Walter Mack and the executive director that the mayor has already mentioned, Miss Leseand Milner. these teachers, retired principles, curriculum coordinators, and educators who understand how to mirror the curriculum just like the curriculum of the state of North Carolina. So, as a former educator, I can tell you firsthand what this means. what you are doing, you are pouring into these students, into the next generation, and it will change the trajectory of their future. Thank you so much, scholars. We're proud of you. Keep up the good work.

And thank you all for being with us tonight. Y'all may be seated. Tonight's meeting is being televised live on TV 13 and on the city's YouTube page and it will be replayed on Wednesday at 9:00 am and again Wednesday night at 900 PM. Copies of our agendas as well as videos of previous meetings are always available online on the city's website and just click on the watch meetings online option. So now I'd like to recognize our city manager for his update.

Uh thank you mayor. Whole series of things to talk about tonight. Um, one is just to remind council as you're we'll be looking at the first phase of the compensation uh package changes tonight. We do have a contract with our vendor uh Evergreen that is is in the process of looking at our phase one of our three-year classification and compensation program. Uh that's will be done uh in the next several months. They're currently working on that gathering information to get that done and then that'll be followed right behind it with a second phase that we also want to get completed by the end of next fiscal year. So, uh, again, this is one piece that's on your agenda tonight, but just to re remind you that that's going to be followed up with reviews of all of the other staff members that we have. Uh the Wist Salem Transit Authority or WISTA as we call them in partnership with the uh with the city DOT is preparing the launch of UMO which is a modern fair payment system designed to make public transportation easier, faster, and more connected for riders across the community. Beginning on April the 13th, customers will be able to use the UMO mobility app or a reloadable smart card to pay fairs, plan trips, and navigate the system with greater convenience and confidence. With UMO, the writers will be able to pay fairs directly from their smartphone or smart card, manage passes, and track spending in real time, plan trips quickly using integrated trip planning tools. And the riders are encouraged to download the uh app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play ahead of our launch day to explore the features and prepare for seamless transition. Wiston, the city will provide ongoing hands-on support both at the transit center and in the community to ensure all riders

feel confident using the new system. And I know you've got a a bit on transit on the agenda tonight as well. Uh changing again, the Winston Salem Fairgrounds will host their second annual 82nd annual hockey game called Emergency Responders Credit Union Battle of the Badges, which is between the Winston Salem Fire Department and the Winston Salem Police Department, and it benefits four local nonprofit organizations. The game is at the Fairgrounds Arena on Friday, April 17th with doors opening at 6 followed by the game at 7. The benefiting organizations are the Forsight Humane Society, Special Olympics of Foresight County, the Winston Salem Police Foundation, and the Winston Salem Professional Firefighters Association. You can find the tickets at the Winston Saleylm Fairgrounds.com. And there's a variety of options depending on some add-ons for just a basic ticket for 10 or you can get special edition uh pucks, t-shirts, or game jerseys. Speaking of the Special Olympics, uh they the Winston Salem, North Carolina Special Olympics for Scythe County group announces their annual spring games which will take place April 8th through the 10th uh this month from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. each day at the JDL Fast Track located at 255 Empire Drive here in Winston Salem. The 3-day celebration of athletic skill, courage, and community is organized as follows. On April 8th, there will be the elementary school aged. April 9th will be the middle school and then on April 10th will be the high schoolers and adults. Athletes are allowed to participate in one field event and one track event. And additional inclusive programs will be offered for athletes of all ages and ability levels. So, we encourage people to come out and uh cheer on their favorite uh Special Olympic athletes.

The Winston Salem Police Department in sp and partnership with the Winston Salem Police Foundation and Modern Automotive is now accepting entries for the third annual Paint the PD high school mural contest. The contest is designed to foster meaningful connections between youth, local youth, and law enforcement while bringing creativity and vibrancy to our Winston Salem PD facilities. This year, students are invited to create an original mural design inspired by the police department's wise statement to secure the hope and well-being of our community. A panel of police department personnel will review all submissions and select three finalists. Finalist designs will be featured on social media where the public will vote to determine the overall winner. The first place winner will receive a $3,000 prize and the opportunity to paint their mural at the uh police department district 2 office for public display. So again, for those high school students, $3,000 prize. In addition, the winner school will receive $1,000. An additional $1,000 will also be awarded and split between the second and third place finalist. The contest is open to all Foresight County students in grades 9 through 12 who are in good academic standing. They do not need to be enrolled in an art class to participate. Thanks to the generous sponsor of support of our contest sponsors, Modern Automotive and the Winston Salem Police Foundation, all materials needed to complete the mural, including paint and brushes, will be provided. The deadline for entries is April 30th of this year. Designs may be submitted digitally or delivered in person to the public safety center at 725 North Cherry Street here in Winston Salem. Submissions should be of sufficient size and quality to clearly display design details. And if they need more information, they're available on our website.

A few events to make sure you and the public are aware of. On this Saturday, April the 11th, from 9 to noon, Keep Winston Salem Beautiful is holding the Greatest American Cleanup as a part of the statewide America 250 initiative. Volunteers are needed to clean up Winston Salem and a variety of locations and some of those locations can be chosen by the volunteers or they can be assigned to specific areas. And again, you can get more information on our website. On Saturday, the following Saturday, the April the 18th, the Pedmont Earth Day Fair will be held at the Winston Salem Fairgrounds starting at 10:00 a.m. and going till 400 p.m. That's always a well attended event with lots of vendors and participants. So encourage people to participate. And then continuing with this theme, on Wednesday the 22nd, a solar panel reveal event will be held at 10 pm 10:00 a.m. Sorry, 10:00 a.m. at Fire Station 3, 295 North Liberty Street. This is an expansion of our renewable energy use with solar panels and will be a wonderful way again to celebrate Earth Day. And then the last event I'll mention is on Thursday, April 23rd. The city will be hosting a city services expo and community conversation on service priorities. Uh this was uh placed on your calendars or adopted as a part of your calendar when you adopted for this year. This is a town hall type meeting. Uh again, it was approved as a part of the council's 26th calendar. City departments will have tables and staff members on hand to educate the community about the various city services we provide to residents and answer questions residents may have about those services. There will also be a brief presentation on the city's budget process and then some small group conversations where residents can share their thoughts on the services they'd like to see more of, what services they would like they would be willing to have

less of, and what service they are content with as is. Uh this is a great opportunity for you as the council to hear from the people in all wards of the city and for the city uh residents to provide you with and the staff with input on what their priorities are for the community. Again, the city services expo and community conversation will be held from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the fairgrounds home and garden center on Thursday, April 23rd. And more uh information on that can be also be found on the website. And there will be additional flyers uh also passed out about that. And with that, I'll stand ready to answer any additional questions. Thank you, Mr. P. Any questions for Mr. Pate? Like you covered it very well. Thank you.

So now we have one honorarium tonight and Mayor Pro Tim Adams is going to read this proclamation and present it regarding child abuse prevention months. Thank you. Item H1, proclamation declaring April 2026 as child abuse prevention month.

Yes. Official. Yes, official. Thank you, mayor, members of the council. City of Winston Salem proclamation from the office of the mayor. Whereas in 2025, child protective services agencies in Vay County investigated 3,338 cases of child abuse and neglect with 38% of victims under the age of five. And whereas every child in Winston Salem represents promise, potential, and the future of our community, and the safety and well-being of children are critical to the strength and prosperity of families, neighborhoods, and our entire region. And whereas child abuse and neglect are preventable, and creating safe, stable, and nurturing environments for children requires awareness, education, and support for parents and caregivers throughout our county. And whereas child abuse can have a long-term psychological, emotional, and physical effects that have lasting consequences for victims of abuse. And whereas protective factors such as parental resilience, knowledge of parenting and child development, strong social social connections and access to support services reduce the risk of abuse and strengthens families. And whereas effective child abuse prevention strategies succeed because of the partnerships created between child welfare, education, healthc care, community, faith-based organizations, businesses, and law enforcement agencies. And whereas we acknowledge that we must work together as a community to increase awareness about

child abuse and collectively advocate for the social, emotional, and well-being needs of children and families to thrive in safe, stable, and nurturing environments. And whereas symbolic initiatives such as pinwheel gardens serve as visible reminders of our shared responsibility to nurture, protect, and support the children of Winston Salem and for county and encourage public engagement and prevention efforts. Now therefore, I, J. Allen Jones joins, mayor of the city of Winston Salem, North Carolina, do hereby proclaim April 2026 as child abuse prevent prevention month given under my seal, hand and seal this 6th day of April 2026 signed J. Allen joins mayor.

Thank you, Mayor Prom. Elizabeth Miller, who's the CEO of the parenting path, is here to receive the proclamation. just wanted to make sure that you understand we as a community appreciate everything that you do as well as all the collaborative partners in the community as well. So, if you'd like to say a few words, but thank you so very much for everything that you do.

Good evening. Thank you so much, Mayor Prom Adams. Thank you so much, Mayor Joins and members of our city council. We appreciate your recognition of April as child abuse prevention month and hope that we as a community can continue to collaborate to get more resources towards this really important cause. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Miller.

Thank you for doing that. Um, we now turn to our agenda. The agenda is comprised of two parts. The consent agenda and the uh general agenda. It's always the practice of the council to take the consent agenda as the first order of business. Items on this agenda have been unanimously recommended by uh committee of the city council or are being uh estab recommended by established city procedure. There will be no discussion of the items on this agenda unless a council member so request in which time 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. Are there any items you wish to pull tonight? Council members. Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion. Excuse me. Council member Joiner.

Oh, did you have an item, Council Member Joiner? No, not from the consent agenda. Okay. Okay. Okay. A motion to approve the consent agenda. Move for approval of the consent agenda. Second. Seconded by Council Member Taylor. This will be a voice uh voice vote. All those in favor of the motion, please say I.

Anyone oppose? No. And that is unanimous. Thank you. We now go to the general agenda which uh includes a demolition hearing, multiple bond issuances for city improvements, uh a designation of a voting delegate for the North Carolina League of Municipalities annual vote, transit route changes, the implementation of a fire department salary market study. We'll begin with the general agenda, which is the demolition hearing, uh which is item G1. It is a public hearing and anyone in council chamber will be given opportunity to speak. Item G1, please.

Item G1, public hearing and consideration of an ordinance ordering the demolition and removal of a structure located at 633 Malbury Street Southboard. Committee of the Hall recommends approval. Thank you. Is there anyone in the council chair who wishes to be heard on this proposed demolition? Seeing no one, I declare the public hearing closed. I recognize Mayor Pio Madam as the chairman of the general government committee. Thank you, mayor. I'm going to go ahead and recognize council member Joiner. She's the council member of the ward.

Thank you, mayor. Mayor Proim. Uh I would like to postpone um voting on this for 30 days and have it come back to us on May 4th. There's been some challenges with the uh the owner and with uh being clear about what needs to move forward. So, if we can hold this for another month, there's a motion to table this. Motion to table this until the May 4th May 4th meeting on is there a second? Second. Second. Any discussion? All those in favor of the motion, please say I. I.

Anyone oppose? No. And then we will table that to um the the fourth, I think it says. All right. Now, we got a a several items related to the issuance of uh general obligation bonds. I'll ask our chief financial officer, Mr. Leam uh to come forward and give us just a brief summary of the various items we're going to be dealing with tonight.

Good evening, Mayor Joins, Mayor Pro Tim Adams, and members of city council. Um this item comes before you um to uh approve the final steps to issue twothirds general obligation bonds in the amount of 10,440,000. These are for projects previously authorized. Many of the projects are are complete and well underway. Um so at this time it is necessary to do the bond issuance. Um in addition, we are asking for your approval to um refund our 2016 bonds um on June the 2nd if the rates are favorable. As of today, uh rates are still fluctuating and there's a lot of volatility in the market. So as of today, we would not do that. But if if it improves by June, this just gives us the authority to do that. Um the actions tonight include holding an individual public hearing on each bond order and at the conclusion of each hearing, council would need to adopt each bond order individually and then adopt the final bond resolution to allow us to proceed.

Very good. Any questions, Miss Le? All right. May we have item G2, please? I mean G2A. Item 2. Item G2A, public hearing and consideration of bond order authorizing the issuance of not to exceed 6,612,190 general obligation streets and sidewalks bonds of the city of Winston Salem, North Carolina. Thank you. This is a public hearing. Does anyone wish to be heard on this issuance of seeing no one? declare the public hearing closed and recognize a chairman of the finance committee, Council Member Clark.

I move for approval of agenda item G2A, the general obligation, streets and sidewalk bonds. Is there a second? Second. Motion and second. Any discussion? This will be a voice vote on all these bond items. All those in favor of the motion, please say I. I. Anyone opposed? No. And that's unanimous. Thank you. Item G2B. Item G2B, public hearing and consideration of bond order authorizing the issuance of not to exceed $449,345 general obligation parks and recreation bonds of the city of Winston Salem, North Carolina.

Thank you. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone in council chamber who wishes to be heard of this issuance of bonds? Seeing one and declare the public hearing closed and again recognize council member Clark. I move for approval of agenda item G2B, the general obligation parks and recreation bonds. Second. Motion second by council recipio. Any discussion? All those in favor of the motion, please say I. Anyone oppose? No. And that's unanimous. Thank you.

Item G2C. Item G2C, public hearing and consideration of bond order authorizing the issuance of not to exceed $247,865 general obligation public safety bonds of the city of Winston Salem, North Carolina. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone in council chamber who wishes to be heard on this issuance of bonds? Seeing no one, I declare a public hearing closed. Again, recognize council member Clark. I move for approval of agenda item G2C, the general obligation public safety bonds. Second. Second by council recipio. Any discussion or questions? Not all def motion, please say I.

I. Anyone oppose? No. That's unanimous. Thank you. Item G2D. Item G2D, public hearing and consideration of bond order authorizing the issuance of not to exceed 1,130,600 general obligation public facilities bonds of the city of Winston Salem, North Carolina. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone in the council chamber who wishes to be heard on this proposed issuance of bonds? Seeing no one, I'll declare the public hearing closed. Recognize council member Clark. I move for the approval of agenda item G2D to general obligation public facility bonds. Is there a second?

Second. Second by council recipio. Any discussion? All those favor the motion please say I. I. Anyone oppose? No. That's unanimous. Thank you. Item G2E. Item G2E. Public hearing and consideration of bond order authorizing the issuance of not to exceed $2 million general obligation housing bonds of the city of Winston Salem, North Carolina. Again, this is a public hearing. Is there anyone in council chamber who wishes to be heard on this bond issuance? I declare a public hearing closed and recognize council member Clark. I move for the approval of agenda item G2E, the general obligation housing bonds.

Second. Second by mayor prom Adams. Any discussion? All right. All those in favor of the motion, please say I. I. Anyone oppose? No. And that is unanimous. Thank you. Item G2F. Item G2F, public hearing and consideration of bond order authorizing the issuance of not to exceed $37,800,000 general obligation refunding bonds of the city of Winston Salem, North Carolina. Thank you. This is a public hearing. it to anyone in the council chamber who wishes to be heard on this issuance of $37,800,000 of general obligation refunding bonds.

Seeing no one, I declare the public hearing closed and again recognize Council Member Clark. Yeah. And I do want to reiterate all the previous bonds were new bonds. These are re refinancing existing bonds hopefully at a lower interest rate. With that, I move for approval of agenda item G2F, the general obligation refunding bonds. Is there a second? Second. Second by council recipio. Any discussion, questions? If not, all in favor of the motion, please say I. I.

Anyone opposed? No. That's unanimous. Thank you. Item uh G 2G. Item G2G, resolution authorizing issuance of 2026A taxable, 2026B general obligation and 2026 C general obligation refunding bonds. Recognize council member Clark. I move for approval of agenda item G2G, the 2026A, 2026B, and 2026 C bond issuances. Second by council recipio. Any discussion?

Not. We're going to vote on this one electronically. So if you all those in favor of the motion, please vote yes. Anyone opposed, vote no.

And that is unanimous. Thank you, Council Member Clark. I wish I got paid by the motion. Item G3. Item G3. Resolution regarding the appointment of a voting delegate to the North Carolina League of Municipalities 2026 board of directors. Think you do have a resolution in in there. Council member uh Mayor Pro Tim Adams, I think. Yes. I move for the approval of agenda item G3, the voting delegate resolution for the North Carolina League of Municipalities.

Is there a second? Second. Second by council member Clark. Any discussion? Not all is in favor of the motion, please indicate by voting yes. Anyone opposed, vote no.

That's unanimous. Thank you. Item G4. Item G4. Resolution approving Winston Salem Transit Authority route network changes identified in the route study. Committee of the whole recommends approval. Mr. Fansler is going to give us a brief summary of what we're doing here tonight. Mr.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, excuse me, Mayor Pro Tim, members of city council. Jeff Fansler, director of transportation. City council, you have uh seen this item many times stating back to your retreat in January. And the item before you really is adoption of the proposed was the route network changes. And we spent some time talking about those. Uh 30 second summary of that is we're going to terminate some underperforming routes and we're going to add those buses to our higher performing routes. We spent a lot of time talking about that. We're going to make a couple geography changes on a few routes highlighted there at 87, 93, and 104 so we can increase the frequency on those routes to make those more attractive for riders, get those about 30 minute service. And then we're going to introduce microtransit zones. And so we're going to show the a little bit of change in that in just a moment. And then finally, we're going to also introduce those two new cross town routes, the West to X North and the West to X South, which is our first kind of non-down headed route that allows for access and supports other fixed routes in our network. So avoids downtown connecting folks from where they live to where they they may have employment. You've seen this slide before just summarizes what we just talked about. It talks about how currently 70% of our of our routes come every hour and then a big change there is almost 70% is going to come every 30 minutes and even some every 20 minutes. So so that's the key difference in our fixed route system is really driving that frequency improvement. And then of course again highlighting those two cross town routes with the X north and WA X South. Take special note to that microtransit zone in the northwest part of town because as you recall, we spent some time talking with both both constituents that ride our bus our buses and our our our me our riders and then of course at a committee level where we had concerns about some areas of town that may be uh left unserved and we'll talk about that just briefly in just a moment. But a key slide here that you haven't seen before, wanted to take just a moment to to summarize because in your packet you'll see a lot of comments. You'll see a lot of summary data from all the public outreach that we did. I want to highlight the work that our our staff did, namely Kelly, really driving the engagement section of of getting feedback on the bus, where the riders actually ride, and then with all of our

survey data. And we summarized that, and it's in your packet, and you've heard us talk about that to se several iterations, but here you'll see the routes shown in blue there are higher performing routes where basically service goes unchanged. The orange routes are are where we do show service changes. And to summarize this real briefly, we give about 5,500 rides a day. Having said all that, 90% of those riders are really unaffected or their ride increases. Their their experience may be better. 90%. Ones that don't have service, okay, or that the route may be going away. We have introduced a number of new services where they can be serviced. So, it's just a small sample size really that left without an option. And we've tried to be intentional. We talked early on about we cannot say yes to everyone, but we're trying to maximize the dollar value that we have and put buses where we can maximize those rides. I think we've done that. But having said all that, we did hear concern about the southeast part of town in a number of iterations, both on the bus, both in person at the TC when we had that all day event and then at the committee level. And so I wanted to kind of talk about that following those discussions where we we changed some of what we were recommending tonight to as we go into implementation should this be adopted. And this map looks a little different. You notice in the souththeast part of town, we are recommending a microtransit zone to support those fixed route options. Okay? And that was something that we had analyzed early on with the route network. We had identified some possib some possible uh ge geography areas that could support microransit and then have microtransit support the fixed route and we're recommending that in the southeast part of town. But to do that we're going to have to fund that. And so working with the team we went back to the the the no where we knew there were some eligible dollars and we had a conversation with the TPO staff about what that could look like. And so I'm happy to say that we did apply and of course they're subject to of course approval tonight and subsequent approvals by the TAC. But we did submit a application for CMAC funding through the regional flexible funding program which has been administered by the planning organization uh here in our in our area.

And we apply for a three-year pilot which is the max we can do uh for this type of service. And you can see there we apply for just over $6 million which requires that local match. Now, having said all that, you'll notice that a couple things have to happen. TAC is going to have to take take action on this. And so, we're going to present this to the board, and we're hopeful for support there because this is a large dollar ask for the TAC and the CMAC program. And so, we're going to make sure we we explain that, but justify the need of all the conversations that we've had uh to date. But then notice there in FY29, because this is a three-year pilot, how much we requested in the application is not quite the amount available in the CMAC program, which means we're not going to be able to fully fund the program for the three-year pilot. So, I want to just be real transparent with the with the council tonight is that in in the the third year of this program, we're going to have to make some policy decisions on how we continue this program or not and fund that accordingly. And then even beyond that, because as I mentioned, it's a three-year pilot and that funding goes away. And so then there'll have to be some decisions that this council will have to make and staff will do our job working with the budget office to make those recommendations. But then just want to be real transparent tonight that moving forward in year three and beyond we'll have to make some budget decisions about how we continue the microransit should you consider that and approve that tonight. Uh but to be clear uh we we are recommending two microtransit zones both northwest and southeast. One key takeaway I want to highlight though to make all this work with the integration with the funding with the outreach and marketing we are recommending a January launch for those two. So we have talked about August we still plan to do August for all the fixed route changes but January is a better time frame for staff. This is a lot of work to change all at one time and frankly it just puts us in a better chance for success if we can say January for the microtransit. So, city council tonight, we're asking for that consideration in August go live for fixed route and then in January go live for the microransit options. Having said all that, let's talk about next steps. TAC will consider those funding uh applications in May. So, we'll be presenting that to the TAC for

consideration in May. If approved, then we'll we'll consider that successful and we'll move forward. Uh service planning is well underway for that August launch for all fixed route changes and then like as I mentioned microtransit set to launch in January upon approval tonight. Couple of those reasons we have to do those contract amendments with our provider. We have to integrate with the Yumo that you heard the city manager talk about tonight that's just about to go live. A lot of integration work still to be done when you talk about these brand new types of service. And then of course we got to market a little bit targeting those microtransit elements and how they support the fixed route to make our riders aware of how microtransit can support in that area but also connecting to the fixed route service. We have to do our scheduling and optimizations to make sure that the routes overlap correctly to the minute so that you know when your bus is supposed to arrive at your stop and then of course hire the operators and train those. And then finally to support all this way back you still you still we're still buying buses right? We've had those successful bus award grant awards from US DOT and we're expecting the first wave of those in May. Really been on our partners uh with new flyer to get those in production and we're expecting those uh in May to support these changes. So council all that a lot of information try to summarize it. We've been working on this for a long time and so I'm happy to take any questions but this is a resolution uh to approve what is before you tonight.

Any questions? Mayor Proim. Yes. Thank you Mr. Fler. you and your department, you you guys do a great job. Um, when it comes to the ask getting to the T, right? We don't foresee any issues. I mean, do we, the mayor and council member Clark and I need to be lobbying our other members on the committee to help them understand before, you know, a call or email that, you know, this what this is.

Mayor Pro Tim, I I appreciate your question. I think we're in good standing. We've been real clearly communicating with the TPO and Hunter and his team and it looks like the funding that's available and the applicants that we received that we have a strong chance to get that uh the full funding that we applied for with the amount that's available which not quite all that we need but we have a strong shot. So we'll we'll take your vote and I think that's be all we need. the weighted vote. I think

yeah it is um we were in DC uh on the hill uh last month and we were already let's say we knew that the only there are two things that rose to the top of the list for everybody that was there just not Winston and that was public safety and transportation. uh do we foresee that we now need to be working towards March of next year with our congressional and senate uh representatives to help them understand and we build our case. Uh we do a good job of building our case to go ahead and do that so we can get to the front of the line maybe. I think that's a great comment and in our legislative priorities from the department level, right, not the city level. We're going to continue re recommending that uh we we advocate for supporting uh public transit. We all know that it is a large taxbased burden and it only supports about 15% uh the federal dollars only support about 15% of the overall cost of the transit fund. So to your point, we are largely underfunded in that perspective and it is a local tax burden to fully fund that. So any lobbying efforts in that regard will certainly help our case.

Thank you. Council member Andrew Bowen.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Fanler, thank you very much for this. Um, this is something I've been asking for, very excited to work with you on. Um, I was was excited to see the microtransit coming online on the the northwest part of the town, but when as I was going over this this past weekend and saw the the the new model going down to the southeast, I was I was ecstatic. So, thank you for um finding ways to make that happen and looking forward to uh three years or two two years from however long it takes us to find the funding for that to to make that work. Uh my one question is um our during our our public comment in March um there's a lot of of comment around this um for that you mentioned from marketing about the changes coming up. Um are we going to have anything in in Spanish or in other languages that are impacting the writers that that are in who do not speak English? Absolutely. And we have a large uh rock ship base that's also blind and visually impaired. And so we are also working to have the literature available uh to to cast our net there as well.

Thank you, sir. Customer. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Fansler, I'm so happy that we were able to work out something for the Southeast cuz they looked like they were just not going to be able to ride. Um so I have two questions. The three-year pilot that you referenced, is that for both microtransits or just one? It's a good question. It is for We have one application for microtransit Winston Salem. It just happens to be two zones. So, to answer your question, it applies to both zones. Both zones. Okay. And then um your proposal is to make all of the changes for the fixed routes and implement them in August.

That's correct. Correct. That means that um the routes that are being eliminated will be eliminated as of the end of July and if so how are we going to be telling our writers about that change?

I appreciate you bringing that up because I failed to mention um route 97 which is the kind of Ronald road kind of shadowon area. It will connect that is a higher importance route because of what it connects to. We actually have worked the the funding model to in include that route for as long as we can which we think can carry that through the end of the calendar year to bridge the gap. Now route 108 will likely not be able to sustain that just because of the dollars don't make sense. We don't have the funding available for that. So to your point we will communicate that service termination and and and make our ridership uh base aware of what can support them turn the calendar turn as the year calendar turns over. Thank you, Mayor Po. Um,

Mr. Fazler, I don't know whether you all have thought about it, but could we start to create some signs that can go out to these bus routes that are going to be changed or eliminated because, you know, everybody doesn't do social media or TV or our website. So, uh, could we do that, you know, put forth that effort with our, uh, marketing department? Pro Tim, I I appreciate that. That's a good comment because yes, we can in both English and Spanish and we'll do that at bus stops where folks are are accessing the bus and there's also a couple great spots on the buses where we can also advertise that. So, we'll work with the team to make sure they're in both areas. Thank you. Very good. Thank you, Miss Fans. I recognize the chairman of our public works committee, Council Member Burke.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move for approval of agenda item G4, the Worester route network changes. Second. Second. Second by council member Hall. Any discussion? This will be electronic. All those in favor of the motion, please indicate v voting yes. Anyone opposed, vote no.

And that is unanimous. Thank you very much. Item uh G5, please. Item G5, consideration of items related to implementation of fire classification market study. Committee of the whole recommends approval 6 to2. Recognize Dr. Kina. uh Koffield Jones who's our director of human resources for a little presentation on this although we've talked about it a lot already but Dr. Jones if you would please.

Good evening mayor and members of council. Um I'm going to briefly go through the timeline um because you all have heard this a couple of times. So I just want to go through that timeline briefly to recap. uh you had this item on the general government committee in December and then we came back in March to the committee of the whole also on the 323 meeting um for public comment. There were no comments at that particular time and uh as a group you all approved uh our recommendations to implement the rec the recommendations the first full pay period of April. I'm not going to go through every slide. Um I will just highlight a few things just um to not take up all of your time and hearing what you have already heard. Uh the study was conducted by PTRC Pedmont Triad Regional Council. It um this is their final the final study and recommendations. The process was fair and equitable. Also, um the city manager mentioned that the rest of the organization would be looked at starting this month and then um phase one and then phase two completed by the end of the fiscal year and then part three would be after that. And as a result of this study, um, most of the well, everyone will receive at least a 4.32% increase in their salary. And this is in addition to the 2% for the merit that was um that was received in January of this year. the components of the study, the salary range analysis, actual salary analysis, and the benefit survey. The findings um from our current pay

scale was that it would take it takes longer for someone to reach the the top of the pay schedule. Also, there were larger discrepancies in the salary ranges rather than the actual um actual salaries. Findings also included that Winston Salem's practice of recognizing military and education in a subclass system is unique. We're about the only ones that do that. Also, our education incentive for associate and bachelor's degree was at least two times higher than the majority of our market peers. We're at five and 10%. And then um most employers administer educational attainment at the beginning of the hiring process and some have a one-time payment for military. For the market analysis, um just briefly, the average actual salaries for firefighter one was 4% below market. Engineers were 2% below the actual market average. Captains 1% below. and battalion chiefs 5% above MAC um market averages. Also the current ranges at the minimum we were between 4 and 11% below the market. With the recommended changes we will be between 1% above the market to 5% above the market at the range max. the benefits survey, which we did um inform you that out of the 19 respondents, we had five to respond to the benefit survey and those are listed there for your um perusal. We have for our Winston Salem non um competitive benefits that we not have a standalone

bereavement policy were the only ones that had a 60-mi residency requirement. And then the city does not contribute to 401k and 457 plans for non-law enforcement employees. Where we were uh competitive are our employee employer monthly contributions for um our health plan. 401% a I'm sorry for 401 2% for employer contribution. Our group life max is up to three times their salary. 529 college savings plan retention bonus and then the tuition reimbursement um which we are at 42% above the market in that area. The budget analysis it would be um annualized cost of $1.96 million for salary and benefits. This represents a 4.4% 4% increase to the total FY26 fire department staffing cost and individual increases range from 4.32 to 9.53% and that is broken down by position and then you can see the benefits and that con that totals $1.9 million. The proposed plan uh provides 5% between the pay grades. The maximum ranges are the maximum of the ranges are 55% higher than the minimums. And all of the current positions would stay in their grade with the exception of battalion chief. They would move up one grade to 113 from 112. An example for uh fire captains, their earning potential. At the top of the screen, you'll see our current pay plan where we have broken down no degree with military, associates, and bachelors with military. And depending on where you

fall, depends on what it is. But the captain with a high school degree with or without military, the max earning potential is 104 $14,112. In the new plan, the captain, the same scenario, a captain with a high school diploma, no military, the earning potential increases to $116,793. The recommendations are that those certified fire employees would receive an increase to raise their salary to the minimum of the new pay pay grade or maintain their salary ratio within the midpoint of the range. and also to remove the subclass system for education and military. And then we would recommend the recommendation is to adjust education incentive to align with our with the majority of the market peers which we our current rate or our current incentive for associates degree is 5%. The max for the bachelor's degree or higher is 10%. Um the proposed is to reduce that by half or to adjust it by half. Associates degree 2 and a half% and uh bachelor's degree 5%. And this for current employees they would maintain the five and 10% and any employee hired prior to July 6th of this year would have until June 30th to 2032 in order to get the current rate at five and 10%. After that it would be the two and a half and 5%. This uh recommendation also remains above market average and adjusting the military incentive from 5% to 3%. And then the residency requirement, we would uh visit that at a future date. And so you have the financial impact $1.9

million. Um you already know that this sets the precedent for our future class and comp studies which have begun. And then the from the committee of the whole meeting it the recommendation was to um implement this the first full pay period of April. So with that I'll take any questions for Dr. Jones customer hall.

Thank you Mary Joins. Thank you Dr. Jones for the presentation. I do have a question going back um one or two slides about education um with the percentage. I think they have until June 30th of 2032 for anybody that is hired within this year. Um, if they want to be able to get the five or 10% depending on what they're what degree they're going for, what level? And although this is a part of FIRE that we're talking about tonight with the presentation, this will actually be something that is applied across the board to all city employees if adopted tonight. I just need to get clarity for that. Is that something that we're talking about for or this is just for fire?

This right now is just for fire. It will be looked at in the studies that are starting now. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Thank you. Uh I'd recognize Mayor Pro Tim if she's ready for a motion.

Yes. Um I move for approval of agenda item G5 related to the fire classification market study implementation. Thank you. Second. Second. Counc. Any discussion? If not, all those in favor of the motion, please indicate by voting yes. Anyone opposed, vote no. The motion passes unanimous. Thank you, council members, and thank you, Dr. Jones, for the presentation. That's all the items we have on our agenda. Any comments from council members? Not I entertain a motion to adjurnn.

So move second. Second by council member Burke. All those in favor of the motion to adjurnn please say I. I. Anyone oppose? No. We're adjourned.