City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. I'm Alan Joins, Mayor of Winston-Salem. It's my pleasure to call to order the September 8th meeting of the Winston-Salem City Council and ask the City Secretary to call the City Clerk. The City Secretary is here, so you can call it too, but the City Clerk to call the roll.

Council Member Joyner. Present. Council Member Clark.

Here.

Council Member Andrew Bowen.

Here.

Council Member Scipio. Present. Mayor Pro Tem Adams. Here. Council Member Taylor. Present. Council Member Burke.

Here.

Thank you. As we hold our regular moment of silence, I would ask that we remember 9-11, the 25th anniversary of this terrible tragedy. We'll have the resolution a little bit later on the agenda, but I believe it's appropriate to remember this day and all those who were killed that day. As we have our moment of silence, please join the City Council in me. Thank you. Would you join the City Council meeting in the Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge 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.

Our sergeant in arms tonight is Lieutenant Vernon Chu.

Thank you, Lieutenant, and our fire marshal is Fire Marshal Micah Bodford. Thank you for being with us. May I have the city manager update, please?

Yes, sir, thank you. I'm gonna start tonight, the Winston-Salem Transit Authority has implemented its largest service redesign in recent years on August the 30th, transitioning from primarily 60-minute service to a primarily 30-minute service to provide more frequent and convenient transit options. Both WISTA managers and DOT staff have dedicated a significant amount of time to monitoring services, engaging with riders, and continuing public education about the changes. I've asked Jeff Franzler to provide you a short update on how this first week of service changes went. Mr. Franzler.

Thank you, Mr. Manager, and good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, members of City Council. I'm Jeff Fansler, Director of Transportation. I want to start with just a note of gratitude to this council for being bold and allowing staff and adopting this resolution of support for the West Division Network. And a second note just to our leadership with City Mayor's Office and staff. That really put in a tremendous amount of work to roll this out. Largest service change in the history of WSDA to my knowledge, and so I just want to recognize that. But as the manager said, I just want to give you just a brief update on how things are going. On August 30th, this past Sunday week, we did implement the Council Adopted Vision Network, where it does represent the largest service change in really the recent history for WSDA. The new network includes, as you know, the increased frequency, 30-minute headways for 70% of our routes, and then two new job access crosstown routes. We call those the WSDA X lines, WSDA X West and WSDA X South. So this implementation really required extraordinary effort by staff, hundreds of hours associated with the planning and service implementation. Promotional campaigns and videos, a number of you guys participated in. We appreciate that. Deployment of new buses and over 500 physical stops had to be adjusted or implemented. So just a tremendous effort in the field by all the way down to our field staff that really played their part in these service changes. But first week, I'm happy to say, was very good. All service changes, we had a question mark. This is a big change for us. And it didn't happen without some hiccups. We did have some riders that still, despite all the marketing that we did, which I commend staff for a tremendous effort, we still had folks that We're unsure of what to do. And I'll tell you that our contractor with Wista was on site at the TC and our staff answering questions the entire week. And so we was able to meet folks where they were and get where they needed to be. If you spent any time on those routes, you know that on day one, we had ridership on those new routes. And we saw some of those improvements take heed right away with the first week. And so I'm happy to say, We intend, and we have just recertified all of our passenger counters on the buses, which allows us to get really good passenger data. And so in a few months, once what we call normalized, the routes normalized, we'll be able to come back and present some actual ridership trends once we know more. First week's hard to tell, but we do know there was ridership successfully on those new routes, and folks are figuring out those new service models on the street. And looking ahead, I'll remind Council that, you know, the second phase of this is the microtransit pilot, right, that was funded in the FY27 budget. And so while we're celebrating this service change, we're looking ahead to January, where we've committed to rolling out the two new microtransit zones that replace some of the fixed route that was taken away to fund the increased frequency. Because you remember, we recycled those operators and buses to meet the higher frequency requirements. And so just remind you in January, we're going to be moving towards that. So staff is heavily at work planning those just like we did the fixed route changes. And we'll continue to monitor the ridership trends as we go. But I'm happy to say the first week, we had no major incidents. We onboarded a new security contract the same week and a lot of changes at one time for Wista. But we stand here today, I think, better positioned for our community in terms of public transportation. And so we'll continue on that momentum and work forward, work towards microtransit in January. So I'm happy to take any questions. And Manager, I appreciate the time.

uh mayor protein had a question yes uh thanks to all the dot staff uh vista and everybody involved uh will we continue for a while to market what the changes we've done for those folks that maybe didn't pay attention at the beginning not the ones that still don't know what to do but they have no idea that maybe they wake up and they decide they want to catch a bus And will we continue to kind of keep that word out there with an intentional marketing initiative?

Mayor Pro Tem, great question. The answer is yes, and there's two things I'll say. We have a marketing campaign that takes us into October, and so still quite a bit of effort still to go on with videos and literature that goes out. Second piece I'll mention is we're trying to engage large employers in our community, in their HR departments, to help spread the word of what's now available in the community for them if they need that. So we certainly will try to do that, and we're asking for help any chance that we get.

Thank you.

Council Member Andre Bowen.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Fansler, I think I told you earlier today, but my family and I rode the Wista X Western Route on Saturday. We went from Atrium Hospital all the way up to the Walmart and back again. The drivers did a great job of, as you're coming on board, just like, hey, this is not going downtown. This is going here. Are you sure you need to ride this bus? And I said, yes, this is where I want to go. And and then kind of to kind of reiterate your question, I would say majority of the bus stops on that route had some sort of signage stating that the routes had changed. I know that there were a handful that there were a couple that were missing. So you may want to ride along that route and just check and see if there are any that need to be have added more literature there. But great job. I loved it. I look forward to riding the southern route. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Fensler.

Thank you, Jeff. Just a couple of other announcements and some other business. One is, just as a reminder again, that our yard waste stickers, we've determined that they've had a little bit of adhesion problems, so their new stickers have been ordered, and we will continue to pick up the yard waste cans until the revised stickers are mailed out to everybody who has purchased one of those. so that you keep putting out your yard waste cart. Mine's sticking on fine now, so hopefully most people are still staying in the short term. A couple of greenway updates. There is a new greenway guide available. It's a free, comprehensive Winston-Salem area greenway guide to the Piedmont Trails, and it's on the Piedmont Trails website. It highlights greenways throughout the Winston-Salem metropolitan area. The guide was developed in partnership with Piedmont Legacy Trails with support from Winston-Salem Area Transportation Planning Organization, or our TPO, as we like to call it. There's a Long Branch Trail meeting and survey that the public is invited to get involved in, the planning of the Long Branch Trail proposed connector to the grounds and other areas in its vicinity. A public meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 30th, between 5.30 and 7 at Samaritan's Ministries on Northwest Boulevard. The public is also invited to participate in a survey on the project, which is on the city's website. The public is also invited to participate in a survey regarding the Salem Creek Greenway and the area of the greenway that is prone to flooding. The responses will help guide the Salem Creek Greenway low bridge project. The survey is available again on the website, and there will be a public meeting in October to discuss results of that and what we're going to try to do there. A couple of different events that are going on to make sure you and the community are aware of. On Saturday, the 12th, the Human Relations Department is hosting the International Village Food and Music Festival at Winston Square Park from noon to 5 p.m. The festival goers can enjoy international entertainment, food, and vendors. They always have a good time there and a good crowd. The Planning and Development Services Department will host the Rural Hall Area Plan public meeting on Wednesday, September 23rd from 530 to 730 at the Rural Hall Town Hall. I'm sure you're thinking just like I am. That's Rural Hall. We're in Winston-Salem. But our Planning and Development Department covers the whole county, and each of these areas do have the small area plans are called by predominant name, but they also have different folks in it. So There's parts of the Northeast Ward that is included, specifically the Chandler Point neighborhood, the Fox Glen subdivision, and the homes near Stanleyville Baptist Church. So a map is available on the Planning Department website. Again, that meeting is on Wednesday, September 23rd from 530 to 730 at the Rural Hall Town Hall. The City Services Expo and Community Conversation event is scheduled for Thursday, September 24th from 4.30 to 6.30 at the Strickland Center at Forsyth Tech Community College. There'll be two parts to the event. The City Services Expo, which will include informational tables and departmental representatives talking with residents about services the city provides and answering specific questions residents might have. That portion of the event will be from 4.30 to 5.30, at which time they'll transition to the community conversations where attendees will hear a short presentation on the city's strategic plan and then participate in small group breakouts where residents can engage in solution-focused discussions about our community. This is free and open to the public, and we hope most of the council members will be able to take part in those conversations at those tables. Keep Winston-Salem Beautiful is gearing up for its annual Big Sweep cleanup, which is on October 3rd, where they need volunteers to make it all happen. The cleanup includes the city's waterways, as well as neighborhoods, and along our street and roadways. This is a great opportunity for students who need volunteer hours or others. You can sign up on our website, under cityofwinstonsalem.org or cityofws.org, KWSB. Keep Winston-Salem beautiful. And then lastly, we just received some news this afternoon that the city received a certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association for our annual comprehensive financial report for the fiscal year 26. That's the prior year. Established in 1945, this program encourages state and local governments to go beyond the minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting principles. Its goal is to promote the preparation of annual comprehensive financial reports that demonstrate transparency and full disclosure of our financial condition. The Certificate of Achievement is the highest form of recognition in governmental accounting and financial reporting and is a part of our efforts to make sure that we have financial transparency for the cities. And with that, Mayor, I'll be ready to answer any additional questions.

Thank you. Any questions of Mr. Pate? Thank you very much, Mr. Pate. I did want to remind folks that we are televising this meeting live tonight on TV 13 as well as the city's YouTube page, and it will be replayed tomorrow at 9 a.m. and again tomorrow night at 9 p.m. Copies and agendas of previous meetings are always available online, and just click on the Watch Meetings Online option. We do have an honorarium tonight, and I ask the city clerk to read that one, please.

Resolution honoring the memory of September 11, 2001, and recognizing the courage and service of first responders. Whereas on September 11, 2001, the United States of America experienced one of the most tragic and devastating attacks in its history, resulting in the loss of nearly 3,000 innocent lives and forever changing our nation. And whereas the events of September 11th touched not only the citizens of New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania, but also communities across the nation, including the city of Winston-Salem, where residents shared in the grief, sorrow, and lasting impact of that day. And whereas the sacrifices made by firefighters, law enforcement officers, emergency medical personnel, military members and countless volunteers demonstrated extraordinary courage, selflessness and dedication to the preservation of life in the face of unimaginable danger. And whereas the members of the Winston-Salem Police Department and the Winston-Salem Fire Department answered the call to serve beyond the boundaries of their own community by deploying personnel to New York City to assist with recovery, rescue, and support efforts following the attacks. And whereas the willingness of these public servants to leave their families, travel to a city in crisis, and contribute their skills and expertise during a time of national need reflects the highest ideals of public service and exemplifies the values of courage, duty, compassion, and sacrifice. And whereas the city of Winston-Salem remains forever grateful for the dedication and service of all first responders who stood ready to protect and aid others during one of the darkest chapters in our nation's history. And whereas it is fitting that the city pause each year to honor the memory of those who lost their lives, recognize the heroism of those who responded and reaffirm our commitment to unity, resilience, freedom, and service to one another. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Mayor and City Council of the City of Winston-Salem hereby recognize September 11th as a day of remembrance and reflection for the victims, families, survivors, first responders, and all those affected by the tragic events of September 11th, 2001. And be it further resolved that the City of Winston-Salem expresses its deepest gratitude and appreciation to the members of the Winston-Salem Police Department and and the Winston-Salem Fire Department who answered the call to assist in New York City and whose service brought honor to this community. And be it further resolved that the City encourages all residents to reflect upon the lessons of courage, sacrifice, unity, and perseverance demonstrated in the aftermath of the attacks. And be it finally resolved that the City of Winston-Salem solemnly affirms that the lives lost on September 11, 2001 shall never be forgotten and that the courage displayed by first responders and ordinary citizens alike will continue to inspire future generations.

Is there a motion? So moved. Second. Second by Mayor Pro Tem. All those in favor of the motion say aye. Aye. And that is unanimous. I'd like to ask Assistant Police Chief Jake Swain and Fire Chief Trey Mayo to join me at the podium. Certainly one of the City Council and I want to recognize not only the day of the terrible tragedy, but to thank you and your department for your folks that stepped up and traveled to New York and helped out with the effort up there. So I'll let you all fight over who's going to take this one home.

No stuff on that wall.

Okay, thank you. Please feel free to say a word. Thank you.

The goody I thank you for that Mister mayor good evening madam mayor protein members of council. You know the September 11th attacks change the fire service. The way we communicate the way we command and control fires and other major events in. Particularly in mega sized buildings. It changed what we know about firefighter cancer and changed. how we think about behavioral health and how we talk about firefighter behavioral health. It changed our imagination about planning for what bad actors can do and the use of fire as a weapon. a remarkable, a remarkable day, you know, that affected, you know, worldwide. But, you know, I think what is, what I have to stop and think about is we have hired almost two-thirds of our employees in the past 10 years. There are some who were not alive in 2001 and more than you might think, you know, we're not old enough to remember. So those of us who were in the service back in 2001 are hard at work trying to help those who have inherited that fire service understand that remembrance and readiness are very much interconnected. So thank you again for doing this tonight.

Thank you, Chief. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, Council. Echoing what Fire Chief said, same with police work. September 11th changed the way we operate and the way we work with our first responders, fire, EMS, because we know on a major event such as 9-11, it takes all of us working together. But honoring our sacrifices as first responders, as I often say, it's for others, not self. So we're always coming if something like that happens. And we were just at our retiree breakfast. We had it a couple weeks ago, and several retirees got to speak, and several of them talked about how their most memorable moment as a Winston-Hill police officer was going to help their fellow citizens in New York after the September 11th attack. So, again, remembering all the lives that were lost on September 11th, first responders and our citizens. As the police department, we just thank you all for honoring that sacrifice. Thank you, Chief. Thank you all very much.

So we move to our agenda tonight. It's comprised of two parts, the consent agenda and the general agenda. And the council always takes the consent agenda as the first order of business. Items on this agenda have been unanimously recommended 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 city council so requests in which event the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered individually. Items not removed will be voted on as a single motion. I know that the council member, Mayor Pro Tem Adams would like to see four, and Council Member Joyner would like to see eight. Are there any other items, council members? If not, is there a motion on the balance? Move approval of the balance. Second by Mayor Pro Tem. This will be a voice vote. All those in favor of approving the consent agenda, please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? And that's unanimous. May we have item C4, please.

Item C4, resolution rescinding $2,258,234 in home ARP funding allocation to Step Up America.

Yes, thank you. Good afternoon. Good evening, Ms. Floyd. Good evening. I'm looking at your presentation on the last page, the overview of the funding. So this is the amount that was left from the balance of the $4,887,567. That's what it says on the front page. It says City of Winston-Salem received $4,887,567 in home art funds. And then it tells how we could use the allocation. And then your last slide said that remaining in the budget, I'm just asked, was $2,572,567. And the approved projects is $2,315,000.

Yes, however, there are pending projects that we are looking at for that remaining budget. They just have not come to council yet.

Could we, I know we basically, it's probably been discussed a lot in committee as well. So this money, I saw the requirements of what it could be used for. But in essence, we could have used all this money if we wanted to for housing construction if we wanted to, right? And affordable housing. I don't like low income. Affordable housing within the AMS.

So it would specifically have to be for the lower AMI, which is what we're having trouble having developers partner with us on without other supportive funds. So that, as well as looking at developers who are willing to work with individuals who are experiencing homelessness. So what we have found is it's a lot more affordable to rehab existing properties if we can find them. And then also we've done things such as non-congregate shelter creation. But besides that, we have not We have not explored, well, we have explored, but we have not been able to fund any large developments. We did put some money into CNI, which is the Cleveland Avenue projects that would give us about four units, but that's about it. We have looked at other projects as well.

So we can say Definitely also that well, let me ask this question Have we funded other projects like this before and that are ongoing presently that we funded? rental arrears assistance Homeless households and non-congregate shelter facilities

So, we have never done non-congregate shelter. Our first non-congregate shelter will be Family Services. The only other non-congregate shelter we did have in existence in Winstead and Frenshife County was ESR, which is now Burton Street Apartments. Burton Street Apartments is this type of housing. However, Neighborhood Services staff wrote a grant for that directly to HUD, so it was not funded under this. It was done prior to this type of funding becoming available. But we did write a grant directly to HUD for continuum of care funds to help fund that and then also use some CDBG for the acquisition of that. Rental arrears was done with COVID money. All of the COVID money ended on June 30th, 2026. So we have not been able to do anything else far as prevention assistance and any of those programs that we were funding during COVID.

So we can use the $35,000. Has it already been distributed?

That has already been distributed. That was gone within about two weeks.

Okay. Last question or comment. I would be interested, again, as we move forward with all of these different things that we're doing, that there is auditing taking place to make sure that we are compliant and the people that are receiving the taxpayers' money are compliant and that we have follow-up to that as we go forward, specifically with anything that comes from HUD when it comes to development, housing, and that sort of thing. Thank you so much. Members of the council, I move for approval.

Second. Second by Council Member Clark. Any discussion? Can we vote on this electronically, folks? All those in favor of the motion, please indicate by voting yes. Anyone opposed, vote no. And that is unanimous. Thank you very much. Item C8, please.

Item C8, resolution amending the Winston-Salem Transit Authority Extreme Weather and Special Events Fair Policy.

Council Member Jordan.

Thank you, Mayor. Mr. Fansler.

Hello again, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, Members of Council, and good evening, Mayor Pro, Council Member Joyner, excuse me. The item really as presented now before you, C8, is to amend our extreme weather fare policy. As you know, August 2025, we adopted an extreme weather policy. To combat the extreme climate changes and swings with our temperatures, this was both for extreme cold and extreme hot weather, where we set some and adopted some thresholds that would allow, once those thresholds are met, as reported by the National Weather Service, we would offer fare-free transportation service through the WSDA programs. And from there, we found there was some challenges with how the policy was written, largely in terms of operations. And so we had some time parameters where we thought we could provide service where we'd capture when those thresholds would be met. But as I mentioned at Public Works Committee, we just got it wrong. And so as presented and revised before you tonight, it is to amend that to essentially allow If those thresholds are met, allow for fare-free service the entire operational day. That helps with communicating to our riders, helps with operators when they're getting folks on and off the bus so they know that there's no time discrepancy to figure out. And then lastly, it helps with being able to get folks to and from. What we found is we might give you a free ride there to a warming center or a cooling center, but maybe based on the time, we couldn't give you a free ride back. And so just some of those operational challenges we dealt with where, frankly, we tried that, and we just feel like this is a better solution. So as written, there's no changes to the thresholds, but it is a change to when we provide the service, and it is revised to basically give it free service the entire operational day, as currently written.

So the threshold being exactly what?

Yeah, so since we're in the summertime, the threshold currently is 95 degrees and 100 degrees with the heat index. That's the way the current warm weather temperature is, threshold as reported by the National Weather Service. And then just for transparency, for the cold weather, it is an apparent temperature, what we call wind chill, at or below 20 degrees.

So what I'd like to see... The other day, last week, we had a temperature of 93 degrees, but the heat index was 104. So with that 95 and 100 degree heat index, there would not have been any relief for citizens. And so there's lots of days where the temperature is in the 90s, below 95. the heat index sends us to a very unbearable place. So like to see, make sure that that is the wording.

Council Member Joyner, to that point, we have the same experience where we've had some concern about the high humidity and where the heat index does exceed 100 degrees. And looking at this operationally, making that revision would not be an issue for us. And frankly, the way the cold weather threshold is set is just looking at the wind chill anyway doesn't have two kind of criteria like the hot weather does. And so if there was a decision, I think from a staff level, I would just recommend that we just do one at 100 degree heat index. And so at any point, if that is satisfied, I think we could assume that the criteria is satisfied. So if that's a motion that you'd like to make, I think from a staff perspective, we could facilitate that.

I would appreciate that. That is a great idea. Mayor, thank you, Mr. Fansler. With that said, I would move for approval of the resolution amending the extreme weather and special events fair policy to define extreme heat as a heat index of 100 degrees or above.

Second.

Second. Council Member Hall, any discussion? If not, all those in favor of the amended motion, please indicate by voting yes. Anyone opposed, vote no. And that is unanimous. Thank you. We'll now turn to the general agenda, which includes three public hearings on demolition ordinances, a historic landmark designation, and a program to address deer and wild turkey management at the Smith-Reynolds Airport. When each public hearing is called, persons in the council chamber will be given an opportunity to speak. If there is opposition to a public hearing item, the proponents and opponents will each be given 15 minutes for presentation and 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 and consideration of an ordinance ordering the demolition and removal of a structure at 2608 Stockton Street.

This is a public hearing, yes, sir. Anyone in the council chamber who wishes to be heard on this proposed demolition and removal of this structure at 2608 Stockton Street? Seeing no one I'll declare the public hearing closed and recognize councilor Taylor Thank You mayor. I move for approval of agenda item g1 Second by mayor prayer Tim Adams discussion Not all those in favor the motion, please indicate by voting. Yes anyone opposed vote no And that is unanimous thank you item g2 I

Item G2, public hearing and consideration of an ordinance ordering the demolition and removal of a structure at 3005 Teresa Avenue located in the Northeast Ward.

This is a public hearing. Is there anyone in the council chamber who wishes to be heard on this proposed demolition and removal of this structure at 3005 Teresa Avenue? Seeing no one, I'll declare the public hearing closed and recognize Council Member Burke.

I move for approval of agenda item G2, the demolition ordinance for 3005 Teresa Avenue. Second.

Second. Mayor Poetian-Adams, any discussion? If not, I'll lose the fact. Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead, Council Member Burke.

Discussion. Thank you. I have a request, and the request is could... council be provided with a list of all current properties being considered for demolition, along with the estimated cost for these demolitions. And this information would be helpful to council to better understand the properties that are being prioritized, the financial impact, and the basis for the decisions. And I'm directing that question to you, Dr. Lanier.

Absolutely, Council Member. I know that Mrs. McClam has that list available. I don't know if it's in the detail that you want right now, but we do have that available.

Can it be created in the detail that I just heard? Absolutely. Okay. Thank you so much. Certainly.

Okay. All those in favor of the motion, please indicate by voting yes. Anyone opposed, vote no. And this motion passes seven in favor, one against. Council Member Joyner voting no. Item G3.

Item G3, public hearing and consideration of an ordinance ordering the demolition and removal of a structure at 1511 Addick Street located in the East Ward.

Thank you. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone in Council Chamber who wishes to be heard on this proposed demolition removal structure at 1511 Attucks Street? Seeing no one, I declare the public hearing closed and recognize Council Member Sepia.

I move for approval of agenda item G3, the demolition ordinance for 1511 Attucks Street.

Second.

Second by Council Member Hall. Any discussion or questions? If not, all those in favor of the motion, please indicate by voting yes. Anyone opposed, vote no. And that is unanimous. Thank you. Item G4.

Item G4, public hearing and consideration of designating the Chatham Block as a local historic landmark.

This is a public hearing, and I think Michelle McCullough is going to tee this one up for us.

Thank you, Mayor Joins, Mayor Pro Tem Adams, member of council. Tonight, we have a public hearing for the Chatham block. They have applied to be a local historic landmark. The address and the information is on your screen. I will try to be as brief as possible. How's that? Next slide. Do I have a remote here? Thank you. Here is a map showing you. I think you all know where the Chatham Block is. It is actually where Aperture is downtown in Winston-Salem, Perk. You know, it's that block, that building. Just to go over for those watching and for those who are unfamiliar with the landmark process, This designation, we received the nomination from property owners. This is not a proactive thing done from staff. This is taken in applications. There are two criteria for landmarks, special local significance and integrity of the building and site. We are required to give the State Historic Preservation Office the opportunity to comment. They get 30 days to comment. It then goes to public hearing at the Forsyth County Historic Resource Commission, then comes here as you being our certified local government. you get the final say in whether it becomes a landmark or not here. If it is designated, it will then go to the tax office. This program is the one program where there is a financial benefit of up to 50% property tax deferral. That percentage is determined on what portion of the property is designated, exterior, interior, site, so whichever portion. And then from that point on, a designation, meaning if you designate it tonight, that property will have to go through design review. So any change made to that property will have to go to the Forsyth County Historic Resource Commission using the landmark design review guidelines or standards to use. So again, as I said, there are two criteria. So there are special local significance. And in this case, there are two forms of significance. It is architectural significance and commerce significance. The architectural significance is based on the designer who was Harold Macklin. He was a local architect. This is one of the only buildings he did in this stripped classicism art deco style. It was one of his last designs he did before the depression happened. The building retains a lot of his character defining features he designed in that building. The commercial significance I find to be the more interesting part of this designation and it was the building was actually built on the site that St. Paul's owned previously.

Y'all tore our church down. They tore the church down. Sorry.

And Thurman Chatham and his wife, Lucy Haynes Chatham, purchased the property. This kind of became a pet project for actually Lucy to do. And that woman idea owned... Business kind of idea stuck with this building and the commercial significance there were a couple few businesses in 1931 that were in there but the two businesses most people remember are Frank a stidth which was men's clothing and Montaudo's which was Lillian Mataudo store Mataudo's came down here. She was previously in New York City from that She overheard Mrs. Reynolds, RJ Reynolds' wife, Catherine, in a hotel lobby ordering a dress from her company. And she went back and looked at her books and realized a lot of her business was coming from this town called Winston-Salem. So she decided to come down and open a second office down here. That business was in business for over 60 years. It was managed by women. It was owned by women and mostly run by women and worked in by women, which I think is fascinating. She was one of those businesses where you would go in and get information. you know measurements and rest high end but she also was very progressive because when the depression hit and other times she wanted the working woman to have somewhere to go to get clothing to she was one of the first to do ready to wear right off the the shirt so she was very inventive in a very creative I learned when we brought this to committee from a mayor pretend Adams she also opened her door after desegregation to African American women. So she was probably very progressive at all times in her thoughts. So I think that's a very interesting bit of history tied to this building that maybe a lot of people don't know. So the second part of it is the integrity. There are seven qualities of integrity. It requires location, setting, feeling, association, design, materials, and workmanship. It meets those criteria. The details of that was in the application and in your materials. The application was sent to the State Historic Preservation Office. We received their response on February 20th. They said that there was enough information here for you to make a decision. It's very helpful information that they give each time. The Forsyth County Historic Resource Commission held their public hearing on May 6th. They found unanimously that this did meet those two criteria and recommend to you to designate the exterior, interior, and site as presented in the application. In the enabling legislation for the state there are 3 things you can do with this designation this application tonight you can designated as applied for meaning the exterior interior whole site you can designate just a portion of it if you feel that the just the exterior meets those criteria you can just designate that or you can do not deny the whole whole shebang. Just to show you real quick here's an aerial map again showing you where the chat and block is located. Some historic photographs showing you some of those details over time. But the bay window, the lettering was consistently used in the same style. The original windows is still found. The limestone, the detailing. And again, it's a very stripped classicism, which shows it's very... Minimalist is the more modern term we like to use. But with those little art deco, decorative features, the original lighting, canopy, and even in the interior, the original features are there. It's just been adaptively reused for new uses. So when you go into Washington Park, make sure you look up because you can see the original cornices. You see original railings. In the theater and such, they've kept all these original features, but now we have apartments on the second floor. You know, we still have the theater. So, again, the recommendation from the Historic Resource Commission is for you to approve this. I'm here if you have any questions. Charlie Fulk is here as the applicant's rep. He's also here if you have any other questions.

Any questions of Michelle, Council Member Sapieha?

Ms. McCullough, this is not a question except I think it might be an error. On the Chatham Block recommendation page, the second bullet says the Forsyth County Historic Resources Commission held a public hearing on May the 6th, 2023.

I apologize.

So that should be 26, I'm assuming.

I must have been. I was thinking back in time. Yes, it was held this year. Okay. Thank you. Sorry, thank you for catching me.

Questions, comments? All right, thank you. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone in the council chamber who wishes to be heard on this proposed historic designation of this block? All right, seeing no one, I'll declare the public hearing closed and recognize Mayor Pro Tem Adams.

Thank you, Mayor.

I move for approval of agenda item G4, the ordinance designating the Chatham block as a local historic landmark. Second.

Second by Councilor Recipio. Is there any discussion, questions on this item? Not all those affirming the motion, please indicate by voting yes. Anyone opposed, vote no. That is unanimous. Thank you very much. Thank you, Ms. McCollum. Item G5.

Item G5, Ordinance Amending Chapter 38, Article 1, Section 38-10I, entitled Possession and Discharge of Firearms of the Code of the City of Winston-Salem to allow state and or federal wildlife officers to discharge rifles for the purpose of eliminating deer and wild turkeys within the boundaries of Smith Reynolds Airport for a one-year extension through August 31, 2027. Recognized.

Council Member Burkus is in her ward. Council Member Burkus.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move for approval of agenda item G5.

Second. Second by Council Member Clark. Any discussion?

Questions?

Not all those in favor of the motion, please indicate by voting yes. Anyone opposed, vote no. I assume that was a yes, Council Member Clark. This motion passes unanimously. Thank you. We do have a need to go into closed session. I'd recognize Mayor Prochem Adams for a motion.

I move for the City Council to go into closed session pursuant to North Carolina General Statute 143-318-11AC to conduct the City Manager's Annual Performance Review.

Second by Council Member Scipio. Oh, excuse me, Council Member Joyner, excuse me. All those in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed, no. We will now go into a closed session.

We're going to have one here in a minute.

All right, guys, we're going to take our pictures.

Thank you.

We're going to do one right here.

Like we tried to move all the stuff.

I think so. All the favor in a closed session, please say aye. Aye. We're at a closed session.

Is there a motion to adjourn? So moved. Motion by Council Member Mayor Pro Tem and seconded by several people. Council Member Clark. All those in favor of adjourning, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? We adjourn.