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[1:10] Listen,
[1:15] they trouble.
[1:35] All right, we'll call the June town
council meeting to order.
[1:41] Welcome everybody.
See first item for
[1:48] consideration is um adoption of the
agenda.
[1:55] Are there amendments or
[2:00] other on on the agenda
[2:05] including the consent agenda? I would
like to remove the item seven cash
[2:10] management policy and item eight fund
balance policy from the consent agenda.
[2:17] Just for want me to be here and share
some updates, a couple quick things. Uh
[2:21] I would say it slowed down a little bit
after graduation. It is not. Crown is on
[2:25] campus. So we see a lot of uh high
school students running around and next
[2:29] week we start some more camps. But since
the last time we were together, we
[2:32] hosted a Memorial Day event as well as
graduation. So we appreciate every came
[2:36] out to those events of celebration and
remembrance as well. Um, tickets are on
[2:42] sale for our summer concert series at
the amphitheater at the Brinkley
[2:46] Amphitheater. Uh, Robbie Marcales and
Philadelphia big brass concert is this
[2:52] Saturday. Um, so it's not too late to
get your tickets, but hurry up. It's
[2:56] coming quick. Uh, Carl Carti and special
guest is on July 20th and we're working
[3:00] on a third concert in August. We're not
quite ready to announce the name yet
[3:04] because we're still in the contract
negotiations with that artist, but stay
[3:07] tuned. That'll be coming out soon.
Speaking of tickets, football season
[3:10] tickets are now on sale. Two time
defending champions. Come out and watch
[3:14] them. Uh they are back on campus and I
can tell you they are getting bigger and
[3:18] bigger every year. Uh we we have grown
men walking around the uh the cafeteria
[3:23] now. And then as a reminder to everyone
in town, the Starbucks and Chick-fil-A
[3:27] are open with modified hours. Please
come out, grab a cup of coffee in the
[3:31] morning, grab a lunch at Chick-fil-A.
And then the last thing I have is an
[3:34] academic update. You may have seen it,
but we're excited to announce that
[3:37] anyone who has attended and graduated
from Cleveland Isoothermal and Gaston
[3:42] Community College is looking to come
through one of our nursing pathways. We
[3:45] now have what we call the Foothills
Nursing Promise, which is a 50% off
[3:49] tuition for them. Just another way that
we're trying to serve the backyard first
[3:53] uh and making sure we're taking care of
the region and the community first and
[3:56] foremost. So, thank you guys for the
opportunity to be here.
[4:03] Is there anyone that has signed up for
public comment that is not on the
[4:06] agenda? Please step forward state your
name.
[4:09] Yeah, my name is Matthew. I'm a general
contractor here in town. Been here 25
[4:14] years. Uh mine is fairly simple. I'm
really looking for just um putting a
[4:21] little bit of idea before the board on
system development fees that are just
[4:27] part of your online 23 24 budget. Um
I've got access or we own 25 plus lots
[4:36] within the city of town springs. So for
us, you know, when we get into lots that
[4:43] are pre-tapped with water and sewer
historically when we these properties
[4:48] they're they're pre-tapped. Now, if
we've got new business, it's something
[4:51] different, but majority of what we have
is is purchased pre-tapped. So, we're
[4:57] used to paying water tap numbers and
sewer tap numbers for connection fees,
[5:02] but I've got the new 2324 stuff for all
of these that are have system
[5:07] development fees tied to them. So, these
system development fees for each lot
[5:11] come to around $4,500.
That's $112,000
[5:16] on just
that we have here in town for the same
[5:21] things that are already pre-tapped. You
know, we're not we're not adding any
[5:26] more work. We're just hooking on to
existing tax.
[5:31] Um other municipalities Shel half price
basically Cleveland County uh whether
[5:37] it's Gaffne P County
all these are probably 50% of what we're
[5:44] doing here. So I'm just kind of putting
toward you guys to see if there's uh
[5:48] something we can do for uh properties
that are pre-tapped or just connection
[5:53] fees versus new work, new builds, new
money for new developments coming in.
[5:58] I've got all existing stuff.
[6:03] Yeah.
[6:09] Next on the agenda is adoption of the
consent agenda of course minus items
[6:15] number seven and eight. Is there a
motion to adopt the consent agenda?
[6:20] So move that motion from Councilman
Wood. Is there a second?
[6:24] Second.
Second. Council Green. Any further
[6:27] discussion on the consent agenda?
If not, all those in favor say I.
[6:32] Oppos? Likewise. Consent agenda is
adopted.
[6:36] That will take us to regular business
and we will begin with the cash
[6:39] management policy. And Mr. Parker, I'll
let you take over.
[6:45] Yes. So, if you all would turn to page
21
[6:49] of your agenda, this is the substantive
change to that cash management policy.
[6:55] And so, uh, this policy has been in
place. It's policy that affects our
[6:58] finance department. It's part of Miss
Allen standard operating procedures. And
[7:03] so, this policy spells out how we will
assess
[7:09] our
um our monthly utility payments. And so,
[7:14] Substantive change is again there on
page 21 under a deposits third paragraph
[7:21] down. Utility payments will be applied
as follows.
[7:26] Um this amendment to the policy is
including item two listed there which is
[7:33] yardbulk
waste. So what happens is if you have a
[7:38] $50 bill from the town of Boiling
Springs and you say I am only going to
[7:42] pay $19 which is what you charge me for
water we will then apply that bill in
[7:48] the order listed under utility payments
will be applied. So we apply to
[7:51] penalties first then yard bulk waste
then recycling garbage waste water then
[7:57] water. The reason for that is that we
cannot turn off your sewer use but we
[8:02] can actually we can turn your water off.
And so you as the consumer will tell us
[8:06] where to apply the money. Council has
said that. And so that's what this uh
[8:10] policy update does. It incorporates the
yard bulk waste item that's located in
[8:16] the proposed budget that can be
incorporated even if uh that fee the fee
[8:21] schedule is set at zero. It just updates
the policy to reflect that.
[8:27] And Rhonda is nodding at me.
I had to check to make sure
[8:33] is not
she's nodding at me. Rhonda is not
[8:38] questions or comments from council.
[8:43] I have a couple questions on
section A number item.
[8:50] Are we g are we giving cash receipts to
customers?
[8:54] Yes.
Yes. Who reconciles cash receipts or who
[8:59] reconciles receipts to deposit?
Emily does that every day?
[9:05] Yes, Emily reconciles what is in what is
reported in utility billing.
[9:17] Emily reports what is reconciles what is
reported in utility billing with the
[9:21] receipts that were taken in. And then I
match those um those those documents
[9:27] with what is actually hitting the bank.
Okay. And general statute requires that
[9:35] we deposit cash daily
cash and check
[9:38] $250 or more.
This policy is
[9:45] just to clarify there. The only change
was um what Mr. Parker said that um we
[9:52] were adding the yard waste fee but it
has a long time since it was passed. So
[9:59] there may not any.
Okay. And item C the two random risk
[10:05] space and time.
Are we are we doing that?
[10:09] I do that. Um I probably do it more
often than than that.
[10:17] And section B item D annual supplies
inventory. We taking an annual supply
[10:22] inventory.
[10:32] Tell me which
section B
[10:38] is
okay inventory.
[10:46] So that physical inventory like
[10:52] a physical inventory of supplies.
Um
[10:57] I mean I don't know that we necessarily
take a physical inventory. So I I would
[11:02] say no with an aster that we only order
supplies when needed.
[11:09] Um
so we expense all supplies bought when
[11:13] purchased.
Yes.
[11:14] Yes.
Okay.
[11:21] And then the dual signatures for tab
checks. Who's approved to sign checks?
[11:26] Rhonda and I.
Right now it's just us.
[11:29] Okay.
And we do not employ I mean it allows us
[11:32] to use electronic signatures but we do
not.
[11:38] Okay. That was all the questions I had.
Anybody else?
[11:43] Other comments or questions on the cash
management and policy?
[11:47] My question would be you say that uh you
expensive when you buy them. Are we cash
[11:52] or acrual basis?
Cash basis for budget purposes and acral
[11:56] basis for reporting purposes.
So both sides of the street.
[12:01] I am on both sides of the street. Yes, I
have to report. That would be cash basis
[12:06] when you expense them with your
person.
[12:11] At the end of the year, I will acrew um
we get an invoice that comes in in July
[12:17] for something that was done in May or
June. Of course, I will acrew that
[12:20] accounts payable and it'll get reported
as an expense for this year rather than
[12:25] next year.
[12:29] That leads to your question. But yeah,
we budget for cash, but we have to
[12:33] report for approval.
[12:37] But each individual would have to do an
inventory,
[12:42] right? Yeah.
[12:46] I guess what?
Yeah. You know, we don't really, I
[12:51] guess, take an inventory, per se, but
Emily pretty much keeps up with what we
[12:56] need in orders. If I happen to notice, I
see all of the bills when they come in.
[13:01] If I happen to notice something is we've
ordered a lot of paper in a month, then
[13:05] I might question that. Or I have
questioned before, if we're ordering
[13:09] envelopes and we shouldn't be needing
them, then I'll question that. But, you
[13:13] know, as far as going out and counting
how many rings of paper we have, we
[13:18] really don't need that. Does apologist
need to protect that?
[13:28] If it's there, then we and we don't do
it. We either need to do it or we need
[13:32] to take it out.
Yeah.
[13:34] As far as Yeah. taking an actual
physical count. Emily routinely goes and
[13:40] make sure that we don't need anything.
But with our with the admin side, the
[13:45] police probably do something similar on
their side. And I'm sure do something
[13:49] similar on their side.
Yeah, I know state I have to deal with
[13:54] that. We do semianual and annual
inventory and that's how we do our
[14:00] ordering and that's how we set our
budget
[14:05] but
we don't need to have that in there.
[14:12] It probably is.
I'll look at it.
[14:16] And it's just weird like open this box
of pins and it's lost or it's whatever.
[14:23] So it really
for me I would consider that immaterial
[14:27] but now
if Mike has pipes and whatever I'm sure
[14:31] that is material and he probably does
keep an inventory of that but I read the
[14:35] paper's immaterial for us. So
we're talking versus copper fittings
[14:46] and I'm sure the police have their own
ammo and vests and that kind of thing.
[14:51] We don't think we have anything that's
worth
[14:55] anything that's listed as as an asset is
all now master asset list. So we do have
[15:01] an am
asset management list and so all that
[15:07] some of it's listed physically some of
it the lion share of especially with
[15:11] regard to public department and the
broader greenway uh is listed in an
[15:15] electronic database that we use called
asset centrals.
[15:24] Is there is this something that we that
you feel we should we should table until
[15:29] next meeting to discuss this particular
item or
[15:33] I I would be okay if they just
we approve it as amended take that take
[15:38] that
[15:42] section
[15:48] I think it's the number of assets I
think is probably
[15:55] Well, if you can if you don't if you
take out the whole um
[16:00] the the nonmaterial assets, if you look
at what Mike and them have, it may be
[16:05] material because it's not just what we
have.
[16:08] Well, whatever whatever the policy said
we should do. So, if it says policy says
[16:12] we should count, then you should count
too. Everybody's account or we need to
[16:16] have sections of the policy that says
Mike will do his inventory and and chief
[16:22] will do his inventory and
and you won't you know whatever the
[16:26] policy says I think we should do or we
should the policy should be what we do I
[16:32] guess
and I guess we can set a dollar on that
[16:36] it's an item x number of dollars greater
than the
[16:41] yearly
[16:45] paper and pens,
papers, pens and paper clips.
[16:50] You sort of get into the weeds a lot.
So, I wanted to make it straight
[16:53] forward.
I guess that's what I consider is what
[16:56] is material. Um, we've got a box of
paper sitting inside the copy or is that
[17:01] really material to the
rest of the town and its assets?
[17:09] And I and I agree. I don't consider it,
but I think, you know, Mike, he's he he
[17:15] has
he could have a handful of things could
[17:18] be worth thousands of dollars.
So, I think it's I think it's different,
[17:21] but I think the policies should reflect
what what we're doing some way or
[17:26] another. It should say office supplies
or
[17:31] something.
I think whatever policy should say what
[17:35] we're doing policy says now we
everybody's counting
[17:40] and we are going to this is part of what
was in our manager's report we are going
[17:44] to undertake over the next two months a
comprehensive review of our policies for
[17:51] that are internal policies um to make
sure that they align with what we're
[17:55] doing and we're going to also work on
developing common procedures and plans
[18:00] for for what we pertain to So this was
we're going to look at this again in the
[18:06] coming
June July. So that again
[18:10] comprehensively.
So is it something that that could wait
[18:16] to be approved or does this need to be
approved?
[18:21] I would recommend since we're adding the
yard to go ahead and approve it. And if
[18:26] we wanted to amend it
um as Mr. said, Commissioner said, that
[18:32] would be appropriate and we can always
revisit if there's something else in
[18:36] there.
And I want to make sure you understand
[18:38] I'm not in any way saying I think you
should be taking inventory. I just think
[18:42] whatever policy
I agree absolutely that's why we have
[18:46] policy.
And if I were an author, that's I'd say
[18:50] you're in violation of that policy.
Policy says you should count. Says you
[18:54] are count.
Well, yeah. It doesn't
[18:57] doesn't differentiate between
[19:02] how you maintain appropriate levels if
you don't
[19:10] some periodic basis.
Right. And that's what so I think we can
[19:16] we will undertake a thorough review of
this policy going forward. So if council
[19:22] this evening just wants to change the
section that has yard waste, we will
[19:28] revisit this and it can be as soon as
the July meeting or August meeting or
[19:33] whenever
Rod and I can can sit down and she can
[19:38] tear this thing apart and tell me what
needs to be what.
[19:45] That's up to you all.
[19:50] Is there a motion to move forward?
[19:54] I'm okay moving forward as long as we,
you know, review it and I don't want to
[19:59] make it, but I do think, you know, we
should follow it. But I'm okay for
[20:11] evalu
[20:29] I think the the changes due to um you
know 8% of Boiling Springs is a lot
[20:34] different than 8% of the city of
Charlotte's budget and it's to reflect
[20:38] that.
Questions or comments? Further questions
[20:42] or comments on fund balance?
Well, I had two questions. So, I think
[20:47] you just answered one. So, this is not
new. No,
[20:51] not
down toward the middle where it says
[20:54] finance director shall prepare report
document status of the fund balance
[20:58] available to town council as part of the
hand budget prep.
[21:04] That is something I will make my best
I'll give it my best attempt.
[21:14] Let you know what it is the previous
year for sure.
[21:18] Is that going to be determined per the
audit
[21:23] or is the audit the previous previous
year?
[21:28] The audit determines what the final of
course percentage is. Um I can do my
[21:36] best but there will always be
adjustments that they will make that
[21:40] will affect that. Um, I can just
recommend we need to try to put some
[21:46] aside because our fund balance is a
little low or we think we've got this
[21:51] that we can spend this year. We need to
move some money out of um out of the
[21:56] unrestricted fund balance.
[22:01] Yeah, I can't speak for Mr. L, but I
think that's what we've been asking
[22:05] several times in your question
discussion. What was the restricted fund
[22:08] balance? What do we have? where we apply
it, how do we apply it in the future?
[22:13] So, I think that would be very helpful,
but I know it's a moving target
[22:18] a lot of different things and I don't
know how you really put that into a
[22:22] document.
It is difficult because at any given
[22:25] time during the year, our fund balance
will be different. If you if I check our
[22:30] fund balance in October, it's going to
be great because we've just received a
[22:35] lot of tax money again if we check it in
January. But now, when you don't get a
[22:41] whole lot of tax money. The May and
June, you know, from then on it's going
[22:46] to go down because we don't get that
influx of of tax money coming in to the
[22:51] general fund. So, you know, I I do my
best to to try to and and depreciation
[22:58] also, everything, you know, um goes into
that calculation um which isn't
[23:06] calculated until the very end.
[23:12] I I can't obviously calculate it unless
it's something that's purchased at the
[23:16] end of the year. We make adjustments for
uh debt service payments and
[23:30] other questions or comments.
[23:37] I think
[23:41] so.
[23:46] Yeah, we need
another person to
[23:50] work with
her. She might retire or something.
[23:55] I got that.
Sorry.
[23:58] Is there a motion to adopt the fund
balance policy?
[24:01] Councilman Green with the motion. Is
there a second? Second from Council
[24:05] Ellis, I believe. Further discussion,
questions.
[24:10] All those in favor say I. I. Likewise.
Fund balance policy is adopted.
[24:16] Moving on with regular business. Uh
final item in regular business, the Ruby
[24:21] Hunt YMCA agreement. Mr. Parker. Thank
you, Mr. Mayor. You all have a paper
[24:27] copy of this here in front of you. Um
this agreement is what um we
[24:36] approved back in 2223.
And so this was at the request of the
[24:42] YMCA that we use this agreement. This
was my understanding the last yearong
[24:48] agreement that the town had with the
YMCA.
[24:51] I believe after this agreement we went
to the sixmonth
[24:55] interim agreements which we are
currently in the second half of one of
[25:00] those and is set to expire the end of
this month.
[25:05] The big substantive changes
between the two agreements
[25:14] are on page two
under item five, recreation services.
[25:24] Uh number one, town residents will
receive a minimum of a 10% discount off
[25:28] the joining fee. Currently
that is 50% off the joining fee.
[25:34] Participation in athletic reads and
programming were at a reduced rate. What
[25:38] I did was I went back and figured out
what council at the time felt like were
[25:43] the issues with this specific agreement.
Um and then tried to to preempt what we
[25:49] thought they would be again. Um and so
you uses reduced rate and there was some
[25:53] trepidation about what that means. Um
let's see here.
[25:59] Item four uses the language reasonable
daily fee
[26:05] and council at the time felt like we
needed to firm up exactly what that
[26:08] meant. Um and then there was just a a
note on there about baseball and item
[26:14] seven though the current agreement
doesn't doesn't call out baseball. It
[26:18] spec says that the recreation management
program or recreation program will be
[26:23] left to the discretion of the YMCA. But
this is a
[26:28] here proposed agreement that we received
from the YMCA. It will need to go back
[26:33] to the YMCA if you all choose to adopt
it. Um it will need to go back to them
[26:39] for their signature and approval.
There is also an additional request that
[26:47] moving forward
um oh I left a piece off. Sorry that's
[26:52] why I've got the notes. Uh we did remove
article 4 under facilities.
[26:59] Item B, the one that you have does not
say
[27:04] uh that the YMCA will share 25% of
renovations and major repairs at the
[27:11] town park.
The YMCA requested that we take that
[27:15] language out. That language was taken
out of the sixmonth agreements.
[27:22] Where where is that specific conclusion?
Where was it?
[27:25] It was under B. So under uh section 4
facilities on page two B town park
[27:33] maintenance.
It was in that section and it said that
[27:37] the town would fit 75%
of maintenance costs and the YMCA would
[27:41] do 25. That is not currently in the
agreement we have with the YMCA.
[27:48] It was taken out at some point.
Um,
[27:52] and so this is a $48,000 one-year
contract.
[27:57] The YMC is also requesting that in
subsequent years, um, the town considers
[28:04] a request that the recreation budget
um, percentage that's according to the
[28:11] YMCA be set at 1.25%
of the total town budget from the
[28:16] contract agreement.
[28:20] And I can run that number for you.
[28:26] Where where is that specifically?
That's the first time we have seen this
[28:31] and I mean it's the first time I've seen
it. That's why I'm asking so many
[28:35] questions.
Yes. Um so that part is not in this
[28:39] deal. That part is is for future
consideration
[28:45] as we move. So under the assumption that
council agreed to this current document.
[28:52] Um the YMCA is requesting as we move
into next year we consider
[28:58] earmarking 1.25%
for of the total budget
[29:05] total budget. Yeah.
Yes.
[29:07] How much is it?
[29:12] 60. Let's see here. 45.
[29:21] Approximately 56,000 of this year's
56 or 66
[29:25] 56 of this year's budget approximately.
So
[29:31] almost two cents.
[29:38] I'm not in favor of adding that.
Yeah. And so that was I think that's
[29:42] what they're thinking for next year
which we
[29:45] still obviously know we've got time to
look at that again to figure out why
[29:50] subcommittee want to get together
discuss that robustly.
[29:53] Yeah. Let's let's take up the agreement
as it is.
[29:58] First of all didn't didn't we approve
this agreement on the town level what we
[30:03] want to present to
we did.
[30:06] Yes sir we did. We submit
at all levels.
[30:11] Yes, sir. Okay.
And then they come back with this
[30:15] document.
[30:19] Yes.
[30:22] And we're seeing this for the first
time.
[30:24] Yes, sir.
And we're being asked to consider how
[30:27] this plays into our budget and how that
deals with the 48,000.
[30:33] Yes, sir.
[30:39] Further comments, questions?
[30:48] I have a question.
Uh the 48,000 that we're speaking of as
[30:53] far as the budget that we're presenting
tonight,
[30:59] would if we table this agreement as it's
written from the Y
[31:05] The 48,000 is is earmarked for the Y.
But if we passed the budget and we did
[31:12] not pass the Y agreement, we'd have
$48,000
[31:16] for possibly setting up our own sports
leagues and using that money from
[31:21] something else. So that $48,000 would be
used for something for the town. So we
[31:27] could still leave that 48,000 in there.
We don't have to pull it out. We can
[31:31] leave it in. It may not go to the Y
else. Is that correct?
[31:35] Yes, sir. So, when you all pass a budget
ordinance, what you are directing me and
[31:41] Miss Ally is that these are these seven
buckets
[31:44] and you are giving us the dollar amount
that goes in each bucket. We do not the
[31:50] statutes don't allow us to budget by
line item. And so, Miss Allen and I are
[31:54] able to move those line items and that's
part of the budget ordinance as well.
[31:58] And so it may say that that we're
putting it in a you know whatever fund.
[32:04] We might call it salaries today, but in
a year from now we didn't need it in
[32:07] salaries. Miss Allen and I may have
needed to use that money to renovate
[32:11] Hannah's coffee house until we can we
can do that.
[32:15] We can make those adjustments.
It will be under contracted services as
[32:19] it is now, but it come out of contracted
services if if the law agreement doesn't
[32:23] pass.
Yes, sir.
[32:31] Do we currently have a
representative to the max?
[32:38] No, sir. It's my understanding that we
do not.
[32:41] And that's been part of every agreement
that we've had for years and years and
[32:46] years and years and years. How many
years?
[32:54] And we've had contract type issues were
relative
[32:58] application. Why would we go back to a
22 23 agreement that we already had
[33:03] difficulties with
[33:08] we already passed something that we had
talked about in house and we said hey
[33:12] this is what we want to see as far as
the contract.
[33:16] That's my question to the other council
members. Imagine many years ago if we
[33:21] took that same amount of money, that
$800,000, we put it into a town called
[33:26] Parks and Recreation and we had our own
facility,
[33:30] where would we be today?
I feel like we've been faithful partner
[33:35] to the YMCA and from my understanding
they rejected what we have offered
[33:42] with something much less.
[33:52] I say we don't I say we gave them what
we wanted and they rejected
[33:59] and we could take the money we could set
aside in a special park and recreation.
[34:03] We develop our own department and begin
implementing our park master plan. We
[34:08] could look at funding if we're doing
1.25% % of budget and let's put that in
[34:12] our own facilities as our own projects
because right now it's it's really a
[34:17] struggle over control. We give them
money under contract. We ask them to
[34:21] fill the obligations. We ask for metrics
and sometime
[34:26] so
to me if we had any other type of
[34:30] service we had this type of contract
issues with Republic with
[34:36] animal control with the physical
management of soft
[34:41] any other contract service. Would we
cancel that service or we continue?
[34:47] That's a question of answer.
[34:54] Further comments, questions.
[35:19] I think we considered the contract that
they predicted
[35:24] we as signed by
we don't have
[35:30] effective June 30th
I guess I mean this is for next year but
[35:38] You know, we've had a a long partnership
for 17 18 years and
[35:44] I think at some point it's just healthy
and some point to step back from
[35:49] to consider where we are as far as the
town and look at whether we're all in
[35:55] and we're going to do something with our
parks and recreation or if not we're
[35:58] going to keep contracting that we need
to be all in and commit to the so they
[36:02] can do their strategic planning as well.
I don't We could we're sort of riding
[36:07] the fence here both ways, right?
So, I think tonight we need to make a
[36:12] pretty difficult decision about things.
Maybe not tonight. Maybe we'll
[36:17] pass it on down the road for a little
while, but it does have a budget
[36:21] tonight.
[36:29] Other comments?
We got this tonight. There's there's too
[36:34] many unknowns in it for me to
[36:39] support.
And if we supported this, why did we
[36:43] change it?
You know, why don't we amend it? If we
[36:46] we were okay with it, why why did we
amend it? You know, if we're okay with
[36:50] it, we should have just kept kept on.
So,
[36:55] I'm very disappointed.
And
[37:01] I don't I don't think I've ever heard
since I've been on the council when we
[37:05] when we when we come up every year we
tell how much money we allocate for
[37:08] them. I don't think I've ever heard
somebody come before this council say we
[37:12] appreciate your money.
It's always it ain't enough.
[37:22] We're the only no other municipality who
who attends or uses the Ruby W
[37:28] contributes
and to my knowledge they never solicit
[37:31] money from Moberore Kingtown.
[37:38] I think we've been a faithful partner
for a long time. We're the largest
[37:41] contributor to the Y.
It's not not the B Springs wise, but
[37:46] down Frank was the largest contributor
to the construction of the
[37:51] up.
[37:54] I think that's the part that a lot of
people our citizens people do not see.
[38:00] They just see that bigger contract. They
don't understand that we've been
[38:04] partners with them a long time and have
put a lot of money in it as
[38:10] council talked about. I don't know the
exact figure, but it's a lot. It's six.
[38:17] So,
[38:24] and I think I would be remiss if I
didn't basically say I know that the
[38:29] YMCA is a gathering place in town. I
know that it is a wonderful opportunity
[38:34] for kids, for senior citizens, for
everybody, but I also know that not
[38:39] every person uses the YMCA and I still
feel that we are subsidizing recreation
[38:44] for greater western county and beyond
and
[38:51] and we just have some budget constraints
this year that we're looking at funding
[38:54] major projects and we're looking at
where we go with infrastructure and CIP
[39:00] and many things. It's not we don't
provide funding for recreation, but it
[39:05] gets to a point where my opinion if
we're going to provide a certain level
[39:09] funding and we need to keep it all in
house so we have internal controls
[39:12] internal policies on what
[39:18] I also would like to say I think I think
Miss Pitch does a wonderful job
[39:22] operation.
I think she does commendable job there.
[39:28] And I and I've said this a thousand
times. I don't think anybody believes
[39:32] it, but I am not anti-wise.
I think the Y is is a great institution.
[39:38] I'm glad we've got it. But when I put on
my town commissioner hat, we're talking
[39:43] about the town the town citizens and and
the representation that servicing
[39:49] everybody. I think I think the dollars
just don't add up. I think and like
[39:58] Councilman Thomas said, if if we had if
we had a if Mike had 45 $46,000 in his
[40:05] budget, he couldn't tell us where he
spent every penny of it,
[40:10] we'd have issues with that. If McGill or
somebody couldn't fulfill the contract
[40:15] obligations, we wouldn't continue those
contracts.
[40:18] And we had we had a conversation about
the cash budget and counting all the
[40:23] beans here and either we need to count
the beans of all that those beans or we
[40:29] need to give freely with the
understanding that hey we'll loosen the
[40:34] controls and I think there was a there
was a young lady at the Ruby Hunt board
[40:37] and she was in finance and I remember
what she said very clearly she said
[40:42] would there be any opportunity to reduce
um the town's control over the funds and
[40:47] keep the funding at the same amount of
money and I think that's what this
[40:50] agreement in essence is trying
And I told her truthless no that's not
[40:56] what my feelings would be that we would
loosen the controls. In fact we want to
[41:00] see greater metrics about where the
money is and that's just from a physical
[41:04] standpoint.
[41:13] So I'm not sure how we proceed. Mr.
Mayor, is there a motion to proceed?
[41:19] to proceed.
Question.
[41:23] I guess we have a couple considerations.
We could consider um tableling this
[41:27] agreement and continue working on the
agreement at a later date to be able to
[41:33] bring that back and we could do budget
amendments to reflect that whether we
[41:37] reduce our amount from that based on
this contract
[41:42] or whether we increase our bas
[41:48] if
if the Y wants to come back to the table
[41:51] and work. But I think if the shoe was on
the other foot and we had given the Y a
[41:56] contract that was changed or had some
stuff omitted, I don't think they would
[42:01] be approving it on the same day that
I'm not complete understanding.
[42:06] I think I think we're just kicking the
can.
[42:10] I mean, I'm willing to go back to the
table and talk with them if that's what
[42:13] they're willing to do. But if they're
not, then I don't know which way to go
[42:18] because this contract's too for me to
approve.
[42:25] So we've approved a contract and they
rejected and now they approve the
[42:30] contract to us.
We either have to reject it or approve
[42:33] it and effectively ending the contract.
What kind of notice do we have to give
[42:38] to the
mean under the current contract?
[42:41] So I think you said expired anyway. So
you you are not under any obligation
[42:49] this evening to approve or deny any or
table for that matter any deal because
[42:54] we have a deal until June 30. Now that
deal will expire and so that means that
[42:59] effective July 1, we will be out of the
contract period. If council wants us to
[43:05] pick back up with an additional
contract, we will just date it after
[43:08] July one, whatever that contract may be.
It seems to me we are always the one
[43:16] that's
having to
[43:20] renegotiate.
I I thought I thought we were very
[43:24] adamant when we gave them this contract
that that was the contract that we felt
[43:28] good with and they rejected it
which
[43:36] I I think we should move on with our
budget and I think our budget I don't
[43:40] think we should change the the
that a rate we're going to win anything
[43:44] because of the Ruby Hunt, but I think we
should just proceed with our budget
[43:50] without the Y agreement and then we can
decide if we want to how we want to use
[43:56] those funds. We want to hire our own
recreation director or we want to hire
[44:01] somebody part-time. Do we want to do we
can decide that ourselves?
[44:06] That's that's what I think we should do.
I think we should move on. I think we
[44:10] should consider their contract.
[44:15] And that would not require action
because I mean this is presented to you
[44:22] for your consideration but no action
required unless I mean if you do nothing
[44:28] to it it goes away.
If you want to keep it then we need to
[44:34] take it but if you take no action then
it will just be recorded that it was
[44:39] presented in the minutes and no action
was taken and so it just naturally goes
[44:45] away. I will say
um kind of to bridge
[44:51] you all also allocate funding for the
Ruby Hunt Library and so if if your
[44:57] instruction to staff is that we need to
take away the funding for rep services
[45:03] there is not to my knowledge an
agreement we've discussed this before
[45:08] there's no kind of written contract that
I have found and I reached out to
[45:13] Cleveland County to They have Cleveland
County contributes $18,000 a year.
[45:18] That's a line item on their budget
that's earmarked. They give it to the
[45:22] town. Rhonda then takes $8,000
from the town budget and adds it to and
[45:29] they she flips that to the YMCA.
Um
[45:33] I want to bring that up just because
while we're talking about this, it's
[45:36] something that that you all have
mentioned to me before.
[45:40] And so there is that potential $8,000 as
well.
[45:48] Is it under administration? I'm going
off memory now. Rhonda,
[45:52] it's a recreation.
Is it? I couldn't remember. So, it's
[45:55] under parks and wreck as well.
Yes.
[45:59] 8,000 parks and as well. So, there's 48
and then our additional 8,000 that we
[46:05] get. Now, the 18 from the county is
recorded
[46:09] on the revenue sheet as library
donation. And so, comes in at 18 goes
[46:14] out at 18. So it breaks
and it's allocated for the county.
[46:20] The county has listed it in their budget
as Borland Springs library.
[46:27] So if we and I'm not I'm not anybody
saying that they should do this, but if
[46:30] we
stop our eight, they still get the 18.
[46:37] I'm not I'm not suggesting that. I mean,
yeah, I made a promise to Nancy.
[46:44] If you know Nancy.
Oh yeah, I know you should make I know
[46:47] you shouldn't make promises to her
either.
[46:50] She she talked to me about continuing
funding for the library. This been a
[46:54] long many many years ago and that she
hoped that we could continue funding the
[46:58] library and I would not be in
[47:06] but she was a strong advocate for that
for libraries and for reading and she
[47:10] still
and it is the western Cleveland County
[47:14] Library and that's why the county
provides funding for it.
[47:17] I guess she wouldn't mention mind
mention apologize to remember.
[47:24] So is there a motion to
adopt the agreement? Is there a motion
[47:30] to table the agreement?
And
[47:34] or if none then no action is required. I
do want to offer the opportunity for a
[47:41] motion to table if that is
desirable.
[47:48] So what's the difference between table
and no action?
[47:52] Tabling means that we will
bring it back.
[47:55] No action means that it will expire at
the end of the month.
[48:00] Wouldn't preclude
further discussions or negotiations or
[48:04] anything else. It would just be starting
from scratch.
[48:13] All right, hearing none.
Moving on
[48:18] uh to
public hearing for lease agreement on
[48:22] 103 North Main Street.
I will open
[48:34] after the public meeting has been
opened. Citizen speakers will be
[48:37] acknowledged in the order in which
they've signed up as a speaker and will
[48:40] address all comments to the council as a
whole and not one individual. Council
[48:44] members speakers will address the
council from the speaker podium at the
[48:47] front of the room and will begin their
remarks by stating their name and
[48:51] address. Discussions between speakers
and members of the audience will not be
[48:54] allowed. Public hearing is not intended
to require the council to answer any
[48:58] impromptu questions. Speakers are
expected to be civil in their language
[49:02] and presentation. All comments from the
speaker shall be directly related to the
[49:06] subject of the public hearing. Each
speaker is allotted three minutes.
[49:09] Speaker is not permitted to share,
reserve, or relinquish any remaining
[49:13] time allocated to them to another
speaker. Any written materials,
[49:17] petitions, photographs, and or other
documents may be delivered to the town
[49:21] clerk. With that, we will open the
public hearing for the lease agreement
[49:26] for 103 North Main Street at 7:21.
[49:33] and
[49:37] discuss
[49:41] people to speak. Yes. And I can start
off by saying this is our lease
[49:46] agreement with Laura England for the
property uh list at 103 North Main
[49:53] Street. We all call it Satara. And so
this is a 16month agreement. The reason
[49:58] it's a 16-month agreement is because
this will then bring the STAR property.
[50:04] Uh that lease to the same term as the
post office building
[50:09] because the build the lease for the post
office is also expiring on October 31st
[50:16] of 25. Um, you've got a letter there
from real estate appraiser Bill McCarter
[50:21] which says that uh $710 is the fair
market value for that building due to
[50:26] its age and condition.
If there are any questions on the staff
[50:32] side, we are here to answer questions or
comments from council.
[50:38] Question is Miss England.
Yes.
[50:42] approved and ready to sign.
I think it did reflect like a $10
[50:48] increase or something like that.
Yes, sir.
[50:50] So, one question I had is, you know, she
mentioned that she her husband did
[50:54] substantial upgrades to that building.
How's that ever factored into I guess
[51:00] negotiations on I know we've already
purchased property and all that stuff,
[51:03] but is that just the risk that you doing
the upgrades?
[51:08] I spoke with Morer about that because
I'm not I don't know about commercial
[51:11] real estate. Um and he said yes that is
the risk that you took when she
[51:15] renovated the building.
If she if it's a fix to the building it
[51:19] becomes part of the building. If it's
quicker or something like that remove it
[51:23] but it's part of the structure it's part
of the structure you can't remove.
[51:29] A lot of laces, especially the ones with
the state, if there's a significant
[51:33] amount of upill dollars required, then
less
[51:43] is the landlord in other words typically
recoups that over a time period
[51:50] all typically. But now if the lease the
renter is doing it then like council gr
[52:02] and I think the the understanding that
I've always kind of and vicious does
[52:07] significant amount of of commercial uh
lease work in his practice but I think
[52:12] that kind of the thought we've always
had is the town does not really so we
[52:17] the first thought was we don't really
want to go into the lease business but
[52:21] we've blown through that one a little
bit. That's fine. Uh and then the second
[52:25] kind of thing is we really don't want to
be in the business of upfitting and
[52:29] fixing a lot of that. We would much
rather have tenants who are willing to
[52:33] do that. Um and we have been lucky so
far and that we have found tenants who
[52:38] are willing to to do that or a
significant portion of
[52:44] I had one question about light. You know
it it says in there light pictures.
[52:50] Okay. They put up a light fixture then
it's a fixed in the building that that
[52:54] belongs to the landlord if they leave
but I couldn't find anywhere in there
[52:58] where it addresses light
and I'm possibly overlooked
[53:05] that's been a sticking point in a lot of
the state leases that I've had
[53:09] experience with over years and finally
went back in there they went state
[53:14] property went back in there and put a
specific wording in there that says who
[53:18] is responsible for tubes.
[53:23] If it's in there, you can point it out
to me.
[53:34] Light tubes, light bulbs.
In commercial properties, you typically
[53:38] have light tubes.
A lot of people gone to LEDs. So, you
[53:42] don't have those anymore.
But typically, if you've got things like
[53:44] light fixtures, you know, you know, and
they have just standard, they want like
[53:49] this
could do that
[53:57] would allow for a tenant to restore it
back to the way it was when they vacate
[54:02] the property and just take that back
out. they restored the property and at
[54:07] their expense made sure that it was done
right
[54:17] if they got a burnout light they call to
send somebody
[54:23] that would be possibility
and I don't think it's spelled out but I
[54:27] mean it doesn't necessarily have to be
feel good about it's not spelled out if
[54:32] picture don't work that should be our
the physical
[54:37] system
[54:43] all
I assume you'd be talking like if it's
[54:46] got a just a regular res
[54:55] but we wouldn't be required to
fix
[55:01] the other
[55:08] Is there anyone from the public signed
up for this?
[55:16] Are there any further questions or
comments from council before we close
[55:19] the public hearing?
[55:24] Close this public hearing at 7:27.
[55:30] And what is the pleasure of council
regarding
[55:33] police agreement 103?
Police agreement 103 be approved. Motion
[55:40] from council green. Is there a second?
Second second council Thomas. Further
[55:44] discussion questions.
All those in favor say I. I. Likewise.
[55:51] This agreement is entered into. Before
we move into the second, I just want to
[55:56] be clear after opening, we'll do the
staff report and then we'll have public
[56:02] input and then we'll have council uh
comments just to to clear up that
[56:08] process. All right. So, we will open up
a public hearing uh for lease agreement
[56:14] at 145 South Main Street. That's the gym
728.
[56:20] And Mr. Parker?
Yes, sir.
[56:22] Thank you, Mr. Mr. Mayor, this is the
town owned gym behind the old town hall.
[56:28] This is currently being used by the
Gardenwood University wrestling
[56:31] department. This is a lease amendment
and so it still follows those same
[56:35] requirements. We are just changing the
original lease dated uh here while ago.
[56:41] I'm sorry. U it was the lease deal back
in 2020
[56:46] uh that we had originally signed with
with Gardner web. The substantive change
[56:52] is twofold. Firstly, the uh proposed
rent on this property is going from $100
[56:59] per month to $500 per month. And you
have a email chain there from me and Mr.
[57:06] Marter which suggests that that is the
fair market value of that building. Um,
[57:12] and then the this is for a three-year
term with two additional optional
[57:19] renewal periods. Um, the tricky thing
with this one, because it is an
[57:25] amendment, Mr. Schwepy and I needed to
renegotiate parts of it with with the
[57:29] university because we cannot lease
property for longer than 10 years unless
[57:35] we undergo the conveyance procedures as
if we were selling the property. So,
[57:39] once we after a 10 year period, we have
to pretend that we're selling it to. And
[57:43] so that's why we want to keep this one.
This will keep the life of the lease at
[57:46] nine total years.
And so this just allows us that that
[57:51] three year initial period, Mr. Mayor.
And I'm here for questions if is anyone
[57:57] signed up to speak on this. Thank you.
Does that mean that for n for the nine
[58:03] terms of lease it'll be $500 a month?
Yes.
[58:09] years that captures that's starting the
original plus amendments. So it's not
[58:14] starting a new nine yearly. This is um
three years and then two
[58:20] three and two.
Yeah.
[58:21] Yes sir.
But but the the rental will be locked in
[58:25] at $500.
It will for the first three years and
[58:29] then we have the option to renew
um in two additional terms. So if at
[58:35] that point we decide we do not want to
renew, we're under no obligation to
[58:38] renew, then we can say, "Hey, Bill, what
is the fair market value of this
[58:42] property now?" And he can say 550 and
then we will
[58:47] Well, I just I'm not I just thought, you
know, things could happen
[58:53] maybe somebody maybe somebody else come
by and say, "I'll give you $1,000."
[58:57] Right.
[59:02] And so what happens when If we get to
demolish the entire property
[59:08] when we discussed this last that the gym
was uh not something the council wanted
[59:15] to look at demolishing and so when we
had looked at that back in March I
[59:21] believe is what it was. U we had gotten
prices on demolishing our entire portion
[59:27] and then also prices to demolish just
the uh the property less. And so um at
[59:36] that point my recollection was that
council wanted to move forward with the
[59:40] lease
because we we want to keep the gym for
[59:45] either cultural and historic value and
or for its utility. But moving forward
[59:51] we have enterprise to go there. The
lease would not necessarily limit us to
[59:58] demolish.
[1:00:01] So we would be locked into three years
back in contract, right? At least three
[1:00:10] years
[1:00:13] that
yes, we would need to
[1:00:17] we have to wait three years before we
could demolish that.
[1:00:25] I think we need to clarify that we're
not right now not considering that. I
[1:00:29] mean
think that
[1:00:38] and I wouldn't I think it does not
knowing that the college has
[1:00:42] a substantial investment there in that
property. They have upgraded that
[1:00:46] property and they they maintain it well.
So
[1:00:49] you know we talked about
and how she did that
[1:00:55] with this facility.
They've been a good
[1:01:01] and I agree with that. But I also see a
time that maybe it would be mutual
[1:01:04] beneficial for the town and for the
university that
[1:01:11] I do and you know I see maybe not but I
see they might come to look at maybe
[1:01:17] their own recreation program maybe.
always brings a fitness center and
[1:01:25] but I would also
I don't think the council ever just say
[1:01:31] hey you're out tomorrow
[1:01:36] would be
mutually agreed upon as possible if you
[1:01:40] put in that time
other questions and comments for council
[1:01:46] regarding the lease agreement at 145
I make motion agreement be approved.
[1:01:51] Motion for Mr. Green. Is there a second?
Uh yes, we do. Uh we will end the public
[1:01:56] hearing.
Any other further comments? Okay. Uh
[1:02:00] we'll end the public hearing at 7:33.
[1:02:04] Mr.
[1:02:08] Motion from Mr. Green to renew the
lease. Second from Councilman Ellis,
[1:02:12] excuse me. And uh any further questions,
comments, discussion? All those in favor
[1:02:18] of renewing the agreement with 145 South
Main Street. Say
[1:02:21] I likewise and
that carries.
[1:02:28] Thank you Daniel for being really a good
not good very often.
[1:02:37] All right, we will we have one more
public hearing. This probably won't take
[1:02:40] long.
Um, so we will open up the public
[1:02:45] hearing for the proposed budget for
fiscal year 25 at 7:34.
[1:02:53] Mr. Park,
thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, and I, Miss
[1:02:59] Holland is coming up the budget
presentation. I will start off by saying
[1:03:05] that this is the third edit uh to the
slideshow so that I can exercise the
[1:03:11] maximum amount of brevity that you all
are used to receiving from me but on a
[1:03:17] very serious note you know I appreciate
council's willingness to work and this
[1:03:22] is in the slideshow but I'll say it now
appreciate you all uh for what you've
[1:03:26] done your willingness to work appreciate
the department heads and our town staff
[1:03:30] as you all know this budget has been
labor of love for us for the past
[1:03:35] several months. And so it's definitely
something that we
[1:03:43] definitely something that we've worked
on both uh as a group of seven as a
[1:03:48] group of of council and department heads
and then we've received some public
[1:03:52] input. I'm sure that you all have as
well. So it's definitely something that
[1:03:56] um I think we we can all be proud of
where we're potentially headed. Um, you
[1:04:04] all received a copy of my official
budget message and you have got the 2425
[1:04:10] budget ordinance staff report there. Um,
you are being presented this evening
[1:04:17] with two options. And so option number
one or option A,
[1:04:23] I don't really
surprise you. Option A, yes, it's okay.
[1:04:31] to levy the adorum tax rate at 41 cents
per property valuation. Option B uh is
[1:04:38] to levy the adalorum tax rate at 40
cents per $100 property valuation.
[1:04:45] Um the the substantive difference
between the two is that option A would
[1:04:52] allocate an additional $33,000 to the
solid waste department where option B
[1:04:58] would not allocate that additional
$33,000 and council has expressed an
[1:05:02] interest that that $33,000 be put into
the reserve for a trash truck fund.
[1:05:13] And we are now up and running.
[1:05:24] [Music]
[1:05:34] relationship with the dog.
Yes, that's that is Leo. Yes, the town.
[1:05:41] Tracy keeps wanting us to have that for
that's a whole another topic.
[1:05:46] That's a whole deal. We'll get to that.
[1:05:53] We are
just
[1:06:00] all right. So, we started off uh with a
tax rate of 38 cents. Um, you have all
[1:06:06] heard me say that one penny is $33,000.
That's an approximate number. The actual
[1:06:12] is $32,800.
Uh, but I can't I can't think that way.
[1:06:17] So, I have to round up. Um, with the
consumer price index, um, projected
[1:06:22] inflation rate at what I checked today
was 3.4 uh, percent.
[1:06:28] and the North Carolina League of
Municipalities suggesting that we
[1:06:30] decrease our sales tax revenue by 7%
which equates to approximately $45,000.
[1:06:36] Um, and we also started the year off by
increasing our debt service by $102,000
[1:06:42] and some change. This is what staff
considered when we began the budget
[1:06:47] process.
Next, um, and so from there, we worked
[1:06:52] with with you all in council. We
received feedback from council. We
[1:06:55] worked uh department heads and tried to
put our heads to use the people's money
[1:07:00] to accomplish the goals uh that council
has in mind for the upcoming year. Um
[1:07:06] these are just the highlights from the
six uh departments. There are seven in
[1:07:11] the budget ordinance, but I combined
streets into one. And so it tells you on
[1:07:15] there administration, we're focusing on
intersection improvements while also
[1:07:20] making sure that we meet those debt
service obligations at the post office
[1:07:23] and sat property. uh upgraded equipment
for our police department and also
[1:07:28] allocating money for animal control. The
fire service 8.75 cent tax uh which is
[1:07:36] based on our total property valuation.
Um the streets department which is
[1:07:41] divided into two parts paddle bill and
non-paddle bill. Palville money comes
[1:07:45] from the state. We use that for paving
and sidewalks. Non-paddle bill money the
[1:07:50] overwhelming majority of that goes to
Um there's also the safe streets for all
[1:07:56] grant in that line item as you're
looking at your budget ordinance there.
[1:08:00] Um the next one is solid waste and so we
were met with some challenges in our
[1:08:05] solid waste department both in terms of
an increase in tipping fees from the
[1:08:09] Cleveland County landfill but also a 5%
increase in recycling fees from Republic
[1:08:15] which is our third party vendor. Um, and
the cost of trash cans continuing to
[1:08:22] increase. Right now at $69 per can, that
is trash and recycling. Uh, both.
[1:08:29] And then, um, recreation, including the
YMCA agreement, ongoing maintenance to
[1:08:35] our park, which is in the budget for us
to replace ceiling tiles, sinks, and
[1:08:39] toilets at both of our bathrooms at the
shelter facility. Making sure that the
[1:08:44] town's long-standing commitment to the
Broad River Greenway is continue to be
[1:08:47] realized, which I know is a priority for
council. Um, and then making sure that
[1:08:52] we continue to invest in our community
events, including music on main websock,
[1:08:58] the Christmas tree lighting,
[1:09:04] which I
was that it.
[1:09:07] Oh, okay. Next.
[1:09:11] Um, and so then totaling the general
fund, the total general fund will be
[1:09:16] approximately
4.54.65
[1:09:19] million. That is a 2% year-over-year
increase uh when you compare it to last
[1:09:25] year's budget.
[1:09:31] Um, and then in the water sewer fund to
just always remind us that it is an
[1:09:35] enterprise fund and so by definition it
is designed to make money. We have to
[1:09:40] run it a little bit differently than we
do the general fund. Uh we inherited a
[1:09:44] 4% water increase from the city of
Shelby, a recommended 2 and a half%
[1:09:48] increase from the North Carolina Royal
Water Association, which is how we uh
[1:09:53] staff settled on our recommended
increase amount at 6.5%.
[1:09:58] This will go to fund um capital assets
in the water sewer fund. As council has
[1:10:04] reiterated several times, we are
concerned about our capital capital
[1:10:08] asset condition ratio which is currently
at 50%.
[1:10:14] Um though on the upcoming audit, as Miss
Keller discussed, we are in danger of
[1:10:19] taking below that number. And so the
only way to get that number back up is
[1:10:23] to replace our capital assets with with
new assets. And so we've got to get some
[1:10:28] of those older depreciated things off.
Um that's going to happen equipment
[1:10:33] purchases.
Sorry, equipment purchases, but then
[1:10:38] also um through our capital projects
like the South Main Street water line
[1:10:45] replacement
um and upgrading that line, which
[1:10:49] services all of University from a cast
iron pipe to iron pipe, but then also
[1:10:54] undertaking some some needed and
critical upgrades at our wastewater
[1:10:59] treatment plant. And I put this in my
letter and I meant it. Um, you all have
[1:11:04] always reiterated to me that you want
our infrastructure to be the envy of
[1:11:09] this region of the state and to be a gym
uh that we have here in town. And we
[1:11:15] have heard that. Um, we were on the
phone with someone from North Carolina
[1:11:19] Department of Environmental Quality.
He's one of our regulators, Mike. Um,
[1:11:23] Todd Isaac and I were were on a team's
call with him the other week and he
[1:11:27] said, "I am frequently told that you
cannot have crystal clear water if it
[1:11:33] comes through the UV process." And I
always tell people, Boiling Springs uses
[1:11:38] UV bulbs and their water is sparkling
crystal clear. And that is the
[1:11:42] reputation that we want to have. Um, and
so that is what we kept in mind as we
[1:11:48] looked at recommending water sewer
increases.
[1:11:53] Um I promise to be brief and so you all
have before you two options option A
[1:11:59] which is to levy that add the alarm rate
of 41 cents per 100 a 6 and a half%
[1:12:04] increase in the water sewer rate and
adopting the proposed feed schedule. Um
[1:12:10] that option allocates $33,000 to a
capital reserve line there in the budget
[1:12:17] which would be used for a trash truck.
That is the option that staff
[1:12:21] recommends.
Um option B is to levy the adalore rate
[1:12:26] at 40 cents 6 and a half% increase in
the water sewer rates and the adoption
[1:12:30] of the attached fee schedule. The only
difference in the two options is that
[1:12:36] option A includes the additional penny
on the rate and that money then goes to
[1:12:41] the capital reserve for potential
purchase of a trash truck. And with
[1:12:45] that, Mr. Mayor, I conclude our Thank
you. Is there anyone from the public
[1:12:50] signed up to speak regarding the budget?
Nobody signed up for the public hearing.
[1:12:54] Y'all had me read that statement at the
beginning. I thought we were going to
[1:12:56] get
[1:13:00] uh council comments, questions. Of
course, this is something that we spent
[1:13:05] a lot of hours with and I know there's
probably some
[1:13:10] um desire to move forward with one or
the other, but as always, your
[1:13:15] thoughtful discussion is I respect it
and appreciate it. So, uh with that,
[1:13:21] floor is open for whoever wants to
comment or ask questions.
[1:13:25] I I'll comment
as as I've stated before, I'm in favor
[1:13:30] 41.
$33,000 reserve
[1:13:35] because uh I think
how much new how much would a new
[1:13:40] garbage truck cost Mike
[1:13:44] $250.
So 250 $300
[1:13:49] if if we had to purchase a new truck
today,
[1:13:53] we'd be looking at raising taxes 10
cents,
[1:13:57] wouldn't we?
So I think if we're going to be
[1:14:00] proactive, we need to start having some
money put back. Also, we're in danger of
[1:14:06] our fund balance to be falling below
that amount.
[1:14:12] I know you look up there and probably
majority of the citizens look 40 or 41.
[1:14:18] I'll take 40. But I think it I think if
they if they really understand what
[1:14:23] we're doing with that is rather than
having a drastic property tax increase
[1:14:27] when that happens then we have
been proactive in preparing for that and
[1:14:34] not
be looking at a steep increase.
[1:14:41] I also
council
[1:14:46] 41. I was on the council when we started
putting money back and boy we were glad
[1:14:52] we put it back when we had to get that
garbage truck. We had to put extra money
[1:14:57] in. We had something to start.
So I think that all things that we
[1:15:03] didn't want to do
the citizens of springs which got
[1:15:09] things in there and I don't know what we
cut out
[1:15:14] further comments or questions.
[1:15:18] So, we're just doing comments now. We're
not we're not motioning for anything.
[1:15:22] So, my comments would be to to go with
the option B, the 40 cents. Um,
[1:15:29] we're talking about that 33,000 I think
it is go forward to trash truck.
[1:15:34] We pretty much got that money for uh
that we didn't have on the budget for
[1:15:39] the retail strategies that Cleveland
County gave us. If we were going to cut
[1:15:44] anything, it was going to be retail
strategies. Retail strategies got funded
[1:15:49] through the county. So, u I I say I I
would comment that I would lean towards
[1:15:56] the 40 cent rather than 40. Option B.
[1:16:04] So how does the that 48,000 that was was
going to be allocated? We could to
[1:16:10] change we can change any of those
numbers now and we can make an amendment
[1:16:15] saying we want to put a line of 35,000
for recreation or parttime whatever and
[1:16:21] we could allocate 13,000 from that
toward
[1:16:25] trash.
I mean we we could make some
[1:16:29] recommendations to change stuff like
One thing that I don't know that I agree
[1:16:33] with in the budget is 3% 3% merit. I
would suggest 3% 2% merit 1% which is
[1:16:40] roughly $12,000
11,000 something
[1:16:45] 11,000 with 13,000 $24,000 for a trash
and we still accomplish the same thing
[1:16:52] by having 24,000 set aside
[1:16:57] and
on the hunt.
[1:17:01] But it reduces that 48,000 recreation
down to where we have 35,000 and there's
[1:17:06] a lot of consideration going in that
compete with the YMCA on providing
[1:17:10] baseball league. What does that look
like? Do we then charge fee if the YMCA
[1:17:15] wants to use the baseball
league and that generates revenue?
[1:17:20] There's a lot of lot of things could
happen with that. or we just setting
[1:17:23] aside $48,000 to say we're going to do
something recreation
[1:17:29] and I'm not I don't know that I would
agree just let that money just sit there
[1:17:33] for
so I don't know that's just my ide
[1:17:42] for me would be 40 looking at reducing
some of this funding and it's not that
[1:17:48] I'm not promp employee I just think what
I'm looking at across the board 5%
[1:17:55] cost everything 5%. I mean I know that
still affects the bottom line but that
[1:18:00] that gives the town some money to be
able to put in reserve for trash and
[1:18:04] accomplish our goals without heavy
taxation.
[1:18:09] So, so you were saying that you'd want
to change the budget to say 2% from
[1:18:17] three to two
uh 3% cola 2% merit and then that that
[1:18:21] 1% saving add that to capital reserve
for which I think is 11,000 12,000
[1:18:28] I think it's 11600 now we went off
memory.
[1:18:31] Yes. 11600 plus 13,000 would give us
$24,600 that we can put aside. That's
[1:18:36] that's a pretty good
And I think that would be something that
[1:18:40] I would like to see. But that's just my
opinion of trying to crunch numbers and
[1:18:44] trying to be a good steward of dollars
[1:18:50] because we do need to set aside.
But with the YMCA agreement going to
[1:18:57] end, what do we do? I mean, either we
need to earmark that money for a project
[1:19:01] specific purpose or what's what's the
plan now?
[1:19:04] I'd like to $1,000. We can discuss that
later. That there that we don't need to
[1:19:09] decide where that money goes tonight.
I don't I agree, but I have a question
[1:19:15] that would be in I don't know in that
discussion. Could that $48,000 go to It
[1:19:22] would be in park to recreation would it
not? Could it go to uh the some upgraded
[1:19:28] park? It can. It can go to whatever. So
the 40,000. So if you all will look at
[1:19:34] the budget that it's got FY2425 budget
ordinance, it doesn't matter which one
[1:19:39] you look at, you all are telling Rhonda
and many would agree, but most that you
[1:19:48] are that you are accepting that a column
we're getting this much money, but that
[1:19:53] you put that money in these spaces
and that's all you're doing. So if we
[1:20:01] Rhonda and I move up to 10% of a total
account out. And so like if you all said
[1:20:07] to me, Zach, we want to take of the 48 I
Rhonda and I can take up to 26,000
[1:20:14] roughly out of that 48,000 without it
ever coming to you. So you can say,
[1:20:19] "Hey, we want to do this." It doesn't
require a budget amendment. Ronda and I
[1:20:23] can move that money without much hoopla.
anything over that 10% threshold between
[1:20:28] the departments, Rhonda and I will come
to you all and say we are moving X
[1:20:34] amount of dollars from recreation to
trash truck reserve or whatever you all
[1:20:41] choose
[1:20:44] as long as I get the non.
But is the line,000?
[1:20:51] It says YMCA contract with the line
item. The state doesn't allow us to
[1:20:55] budget by line item.
And so though you all have seen the line
[1:20:59] items, those are not reflected at all in
the budget or
[1:21:02] you contracted services.
It's contracted services YMCA, but you
[1:21:07] all are just putting them into big
buckets. these buckets and then Rhonda
[1:21:13] and I move them interchangeably between
items. So it we could put in there
[1:21:17] whatever we want to and call it
whatever. We can move them around
[1:21:23] with no issue. So we don't earark money
in the same way that in the traditional
[1:21:28] sense where it has to be used for that
purpose. That's not that's not an action
[1:21:32] that you all are taking. If you want to
do that, we can. There's a another way
[1:21:36] that we do that.
What about under expended accounts.
[1:21:42] If we get toward the end of the year,
those underexpended accounts, can any of
[1:21:45] that money be
earmarked for trash?
[1:21:50] We can as we uh so I think probably and
what normally happens is at the end of
[1:21:56] the year, so June 30, Mary Grace will
get all the auto paperwork together and
[1:22:01] start compiling that and then all of
that any overages where we have more
[1:22:06] revenues than those undered
to fund balance automatically. Now, if
[1:22:11] you want to say we need to restrict x
amount of $33,000 for a trash and I
[1:22:19] don't want anyone to touch that money,
then that's a that's a different ball
[1:22:23] game.
That's a restricted.
[1:22:24] Yes.
Right. Then it comes out of that regular
[1:22:28] that regular pot and it goes into its
own separate account there.
[1:22:34] You have any idea about
how much that might be unexpended.
[1:22:41] I do not not right now. I don't
Would it be a substantial amount? Would
[1:22:46] it be I mean just from years past maybe.
I'm not I'm not
[1:22:50] Gosh, every year so different. Um
this year has been pretty tight, but
[1:22:56] we've had some
um vacancies in the police department
[1:23:01] budget. So, I'm still trying to hit
moving targets at this point. I have
[1:23:06] some accounts that need some money, some
accounts that have some money. So, this
[1:23:10] is that time of year where I'm hitting
moving targets
[1:23:14] before the
right now. Yes, it is.
[1:23:17] Yes, sir.
How about lap salaries? How is that
[1:23:21] treated? You have a you have a position
vacant for a month, two months.
[1:23:28] How can we treat lap salary dollars? So
that is um like with the upfit to the
[1:23:36] old the old post office what will become
Hannah there's in the police department
[1:23:42] there was a because there were two
positions that were not filled until
[1:23:46] recently. So there was extra money in
salaries. Well Rhonda and I can pull
[1:23:50] that out and put it somewhere else so
long as it's under the 10% of the total
[1:23:54] account. Um we can do that. So that's
how we did not have to do a fund balance
[1:23:59] appropriation to cover the up and
renovation of that building because we
[1:24:04] use salary money that was left over to
plug that hole. And so that's what we do
[1:24:08] on items that
lines where they have gone over. We can
[1:24:13] just internally move that again as long
as it's not over the 10%.
[1:24:20] And so Ron and I make those adjustments
as needed to, you know, I'll give you
[1:24:26] the prime example. Street lighting is
going to be over. Uh because Doom Energy
[1:24:32] is going up, you know, that left and
right. And so we are we have to just
[1:24:36] naturally find money somewhere in the
budget to plug that hole. And the merit
[1:24:40] is a a natural place where we can do
that. So by having money allocated to
[1:24:46] the merit bonus
um we're able to have more flexibility
[1:24:51] and we can use that money to fill in the
gaps with whatever issues may arise that
[1:24:56] that we don't budget for.
[1:25:00] I can agree with Councilman Thomas on
the 40 rate and a 5% raise. I think the
[1:25:06] 5% is consistent with
municipalities
[1:25:14] across the state of North Carolina.
There'll be a lot of people They don't
[1:25:19] get 3% 4%.
But
[1:25:26] they're going to have to fund all the
increases that potentially pass this
[1:25:30] budget.
[1:25:35] So I have a question, I guess.
So what we're looking at now is adding a
[1:25:41] third option, option C, which is just
like option B except for the merit. Is
[1:25:49] that correct?
So I guess possibly we'll have three
[1:25:54] votes possibly.
[1:26:01] Are there any other comments or
questions before we end the
[1:26:08] not in favor of
reducing from six to five. And you know,
[1:26:14] I know
I and I don't I don't mean it's exactly
[1:26:18] like it sounds, but to me, I'm not
worried about what everybody else is
[1:26:21] doing. To me, I'm looking at what I
think we need to be doing. And I think
[1:26:26] we have examples all over the board
where we can't find people fill
[1:26:30] positions. And I think one way you do
that is by treating them well when they
[1:26:35] get here. So
[1:26:40] I'm in favor of of the proposal budget
as it was far as
[1:26:48] I think you had projected like 2.3%. I
mean because of the longevity of the
[1:26:54] employees and stuff like that not
everybody's going to receive.
[1:26:58] Yes sir.
Not rest assured if it is 2% not
[1:27:04] everyone will receive 2%. We are running
a meritocracy here at the town of
[1:27:09] Springs. Um and so when you say to me we
put in 2% 3% 12% merit. What you are
[1:27:16] saying is every employee does not get
that or we would have called it a cost
[1:27:20] of living adjustment.
And the town's been really good in the
[1:27:24] past few years
with inflation several things. ARPA
[1:27:29] funds we've done 7% I think at point and
continue to look at percentages.
[1:27:35] Is that not correct? Couple years ago 7%
last year it was 7%
[1:27:40] and uh so so we I definitely agree with
Mr.
[1:27:44] circumstance. We want to continue to
retain good employees and
[1:27:52] maybe that's why police department
it had been pulled in.
[1:27:57] Yeah, there's a lot of variage.
[1:28:10] Yeah, it's a whole package but we looked
at adding um insurance plans and
[1:28:14] different things. So, so I think in
general the the board has been extremely
[1:28:20] promployed and trying to keep the stable
workforce. I I don't think that would if
[1:28:24] reducing it that 1% this year to say
that they're not fulfilling their
[1:28:28] obligations. It's just we have other
financial obligations. We're trying to
[1:28:33] spread spread the budget as we can
still providing that 5% increase
[1:28:41] $1,000
$1,600 is that
[1:28:47] it goes towards something.
[1:28:59] Any other questions before we difficult
close the public hearing
[1:29:06] continue to have discussions? Mr. Park,
I have a um so if
[1:29:15] I'm open to whatever uh you all leave
that indirect. If we are going to make
[1:29:21] these adjustments,
we cannot approve the ordinance as it is
[1:29:25] written because you have to tell us
exactly how much money Rhonda can put in
[1:29:30] every bucket. So, we'll need to meet
again. I think that the same thing can
[1:29:35] be accomplished
by approving option B.
[1:29:41] Then we can do a proposed budget
amendment at our next meeting.
[1:29:48] So that would be before July.
Well, so if we approve option B tonight,
[1:29:53] that sets the rate at 40 cents, which I
think Councilman Thomas is what I
[1:29:57] understood
more.
[1:30:01] Okay. And so then we set it at 40 cents
and that does not fund a trash truck.
[1:30:07] But if that is council's desire, when we
reconvene either July one or whenever.
[1:30:13] You all can then say to to Miss Allen
and myself, we want to take what would
[1:30:20] have been $48,000
in the um
[1:30:26] YMCA
in the YMCA general and take 33 of that
[1:30:29] and put it in the trash truck fund. Does
that make sense? And then I can also
[1:30:34] norm
the um I can build in and norm the merit
[1:30:40] based increases
because you the personnel policy gives
[1:30:44] me discretion over creating the rubric
by which we assess merit based increases
[1:30:49] and so I develop that that rubric. I can
norm that so that um we we give out a 2%
[1:30:57] max. I can do that without it being an
issue if that's what you all want to do.
[1:31:01] That way we you're not coming back in
another week or two because Ron and I if
[1:31:06] we do start rearranging things these
numbers on the page are going to change
[1:31:10] and Ron and I have to the numbers have
to be correct for the major assignment.
[1:31:14] So you can nor it's 2%. I can understand
that.
[1:31:18] I I think it is important to state that
the reason why uh the increases have
[1:31:24] happened over the past couple of years
for staff pay and and benefits is
[1:31:28] because with the salary studies we had
done we were well below uh m
[1:31:35] municipalities of our comparable
municipalities. So I I don't it's it's
[1:31:39] not as if we have just been boosting
salaries for the heck of it. we are
[1:31:44] trying to catch up and still are not
caught up. Um I do I do think it's worth
[1:31:50] uh mentioning that. So that's that's all
we're
[1:31:53] Yeah, we were not we're not even to this
point.
[1:31:56] I I have one other and I probably don't
know how I feel about it, but if if
[1:32:00] we're going to start moving that $48,000
and everybody's on agreement here that
[1:32:05] doesn't matter what the Y does, they
come back and you know want to
[1:32:08] renegotiate and that that door's closed,
we're spending the money somewhere else.
[1:32:17] I mean, I just everybody needs to know,
you know, we start moving that money and
[1:32:21] even if like we tabled it tonight or
something and it like
[1:32:28] our attorney says,
uh, that doesn't preclude us from
[1:32:33] starting all over from scratch if they
come back if if that's the desire. But I
[1:32:38] just want to make sure everybody
understands if we move that money out,
[1:32:42] we're pretty well saying at least for
the next year or we got to come up with
[1:32:48] that money somewhere.
We haven't moved any money out at this
[1:32:51] time.
And we will not move any money out until
[1:32:54] you all meet. So that 48
if we and I may be just reading the
[1:32:59] desire. If if you would like us to
rewrite the ordinance, we gladly will do
[1:33:03] that. that will just require us to meet
again in toward the end of June. If
[1:33:08] that's what you all want to do, that's
perfectly fine, too.
[1:33:11] Yeah.
But my my point was maybe they don't
[1:33:14] come back till
August
[1:33:19] and the money's
and the money's gone. We already that's
[1:33:23] too late
and and I'm okay with that myself. I
[1:33:26] just want to make sure everybody
understands, you know,
[1:33:31] let's um let's close the public hearing
and then we can move on with motions and
[1:33:36] discussion and action. So we'll close
the public hearing at 85.
[1:33:45] What's the pleasure of the council
regarding the budget for this year?
[1:33:50] Well, I motion that we adopt motion.
All right, councilman Wood
[1:33:59] with a motion for option B.
[1:34:04] Is there a second?
[1:34:16] Hearing none.
That fails. I move we adopt option A.
[1:34:23] All right. Councilman Green.
A motion to adopt
[1:34:29] option A. Councilman Ellis with
The second
[1:34:34] discussion from council.
[1:34:48] Any comments? We have a motion and a
second on the table.
[1:34:52] With no comments or discussion, we'll
call the question. All those in favor
[1:34:58] say I. And let's do raise your hand so
that we can
[1:35:02] All those opposed like sign. So that
fails. So we have
[1:35:10] failed on option A and option B. Um
[1:35:15] so we will now have perhaps another
option. Uh but this is going to require
[1:35:22] we'll need to set a date.
We're going to have subsequent budget.
[1:35:26] Yeah. We'll have to have a we have to
get this done before July 1.
[1:35:30] Uh and we have to have 10 days or
whatever when we present the new
[1:35:34] document. Uh and so we'll have to
uh once we figure out well I guess we
[1:35:40] could we could come up with what we want
to present in the document tonight and
[1:35:45] that could be hashed out or we could not
and then we'd have to have another
[1:35:49] meeting before
uh so uh back to council. I guess you
[1:35:55] could enter another
Another
[1:36:01] motion for option two.
No, I mean I guess we could return back.
[1:36:06] I mean, so since we proposed both of
those, could we not have another
[1:36:16] option or
[1:36:23] I'm not sure about option B because
there was not a second.
[1:36:26] Motion was reconsidered.
my
[1:36:30] one time.
[1:36:34] Um,
[1:36:40] you would have to reconsider.
[1:36:44] So, option
[1:36:50] option A is now because it failed. So it
is beyond.
[1:36:57] Yes. Uh option B
[1:37:02] it failed for lack of a second but it
wasn't necessarily voted down. I
[1:37:10] think I think it'll have to be a change.
I think whoever made the motion
[1:37:15] potentially make a change. I think
failed failed for
[1:37:20] that motion did for sure.
[1:37:26] But it's still going to require you to
come back.
[1:37:29] So, Councilman Wood would need to modify
his motion.
[1:37:33] I wouldn't know what to modify because
if I modify it, I'm going to make it I'm
[1:37:37] going to make it option C with changing
the u uh the cost of living, leaving it
[1:37:46] the same, and changing the uh the merit
raise 2% which Mark uh Councilman Thomas
[1:37:53] uh mentioned that you said if we did
that we'd have to come back even
[1:37:57] right I think the mayor was saying
pretty
[1:38:01] we could tell what we want to do we have
to come back
[1:38:03] right
kind
[1:38:07] discussion like we had
especially budget discussion it sounds
[1:38:14] for you to come back you would crunch
the number based on just like you did
[1:38:18] with a budget discussions you're doing a
motion the next whenever
[1:38:26] the substantive change I think from B
could potentially be that we option B
[1:38:33] with the addition of a $33,000
just to move $33,000 from the recreation
[1:38:42] budget and put it into
the um
[1:38:48] sanitation budget or solid waste. if you
wanted to put it in the the trash truck
[1:38:53] item line item.
I don't know.
[1:38:57] Would that be a because that's a change
in the motion.
[1:39:05] I don't I think I think you're going to
have to come back.
[1:39:14] So June 25th,
uh the 18th is the planning board
[1:39:19] meeting. So we are not bound to
Tuesdays. Um, we can do the 13th. That
[1:39:25] is a Thursday. Well, well I have we
decided we got to come
[1:39:32] decide not to meet again.
Yeah.
[1:39:35] Gentlemen, we've we've been at this for
a dozen hours now.
[1:39:38] Can we not? not a his
we've been at this for a dozen hours
[1:39:44] and with the motions on the table, no
one was offering any comments and we're
[1:39:48] just kind of spinning our wheels here.
I agree.
[1:39:50] And it's it's just a little bit
disappointing. Now, please go ahead,
[1:39:54] Council L.
And I think we all knew what the two
[1:39:59] options were going to be when we got
here.
[1:40:01] And and I didn't need any comment
because that's what I voted on. A
[1:40:07] Yeah, we got a second. There was no
comments from me because I knew what I
[1:40:10] wanted and I think I'm not speaking for
council green but that those two votes
[1:40:14] were there.
Now what what do we need? I I'm confused
[1:40:20] on what's
was that I mean are you asking for that
[1:40:25] report? I mean I'm just you're going to
have to come to you know basically
[1:40:30] either a budget meeting now or or or
sometime enough time 10 days notice to
[1:40:37] you know vote again you know have
something present to the counter for the
[1:40:41] public review.
[1:40:48] just mean
to further hash this out.
[1:40:57] My goal record is saying whatever is
brought back, I'm going to vote against
[1:41:00] it,
but I'll support whatever the vote is.
[1:41:10] I'm happy to
continue resolutions if we can't come to
[1:41:15] the
[1:41:19] There are um though every day that we go
after July 1st that we're in a
[1:41:23] continuing resolution the expenses of
that day are immediately deducted from
[1:41:28] our funds upon the passage of the
budget.
[1:41:32] Is is it possible to take a five minute
recess and find out if a
[1:41:42] motion fails to get a second can
actually
[1:41:47] So, so do we need a motion for a
fiveminut recess? Is there a motion for
[1:41:52] a fiveinut recess? Motion for five.
[1:42:11] Maybe
[1:42:18] brick
river.
[1:42:46] This is all
I do.
[1:42:53] Like I said,
[1:43:07] appreciate you coming
[1:43:11] up.
Reconider
[1:43:16] motion.
[1:43:50] So that's
that's different.
[1:44:33] Yeah, he can't.
Whatever he says.
[1:44:46] You can't
[1:44:52] process
[1:44:57] the issue.
[1:45:01] failed.
Canision
[1:45:22] problem with that is because
[1:45:57] I mean seriously.
[1:46:14] How's the Kit Kat today?
Good.
[1:46:18] Took it to the vet and
his paw.
[1:46:23] He sent a picture.
Oh,
[1:46:26] well, he's so stinking cute.
Leave Tyler alone. They say it was a
[1:46:30] boy.
I thought it was a boy, but tell him
[1:46:33] they're real little, but
Yeah,
[1:46:35] that's right. Um, but they didn't say
what was wrong with this.
[1:46:40] I didn't say
[1:46:45] what you're saying.
[1:47:03] I know, right?
[1:47:26] So, he's pretty healthy then.
[1:47:31] It's a little kitten. A
it got stuck in a car
[1:47:36] up in like the wheel. Well
[1:47:45] you got any pet?
I got all pet I need.
[1:47:49] Okay.
Same. I got a few I can give away.
[1:47:56] My babies.
Every time Woody sends me another
[1:48:00] picture of another doll. Like that's
grounds. That's grounds.
[1:48:03] I thought you were talking about getting
rid of Woody. That's what I thought you
[1:48:07] got to get rid of.
Well, he'd probably go before my dogs.
[1:48:13] Don't tell him that.
Who causes more trouble around the
[1:48:16] house?
Depends on the day.
[1:48:20] I'm going to get my put up so
that way you can grow up with a dog.
[1:48:33] Yeah.
[1:48:48] We're calling the meeting back door
recesses ended. Um, with with no second,
[1:48:54] it is as if the motion never happened
and could be brought back up. Uh, if
[1:49:01] there is a desire for that, just to put
that on the table. The the option A was
[1:49:09] voted down
uh 3 to two and so it cannot be
[1:49:14] reconsidered. Option B because there was
no second was as it is as if it never
[1:49:22] occurred
um and can maybe be in introduced again.
[1:49:27] Can the same person introduce it?
So someone had to
[1:49:31] you can kind of treat this as as a as a
motion to reconsider if the prevailing
[1:49:36] side. Well, there's no so anybody can
make a motion
[1:49:42] clean slate.
Well, I make the motion to reconsider
[1:49:46] option B. All right. Councilman Woodri
[1:49:53] it's not reconsideration.
[1:49:57] Okay. I make the motion once again that
we uh approve option B.
[1:50:03] All right. Council with a motion for
option B. Is there a second?
[1:50:11] Second.
Second from Councilman Thomas.
[1:50:14] Is there discussion
for option B?
[1:50:19] I want to hear back from the manager
again about the possibility of
[1:50:26] the 3% raise and how to change that into
roots to 2% down the road if we would
[1:50:33] amend a budget possibly amend the budget
down the road. Let's talk about
[1:50:39] marriage.
[1:50:47] Yeah,
I came from you.
[1:50:49] It did come from I mean I can I can do
that. I can say hey y'all guess what bad
[1:50:54] news three if you got to get 100 to get
3%. Right. And no one's going to get
[1:50:58] 100. So I can do that now. But the
reason that the budget is normed at an
[1:51:04] expense level
and so the revenues I mean if you go
[1:51:10] later and amend the budget and you were
to say
[1:51:14] to me I want you to figure out what 1%
merit is that we budgeted for across the
[1:51:21] board and take that from the individual
salary lines allocated to each
[1:51:25] department because that that's what
you're asking. Um,
[1:51:28] that's what I understood. You said,
"Yes, I mean, and I can I can do that.
[1:51:34] Um, is there a place that you would want
the approximate one $11,600 to go?"
[1:51:44] We can do that. I mean, that certainly
can. Um, you wouldn't need to
[1:51:51] I mean, you can amend the budget to move
money into a reserve line item at
[1:51:57] anytime.
Okay,
[1:52:00] that requires three people to agree on.
But I mean obviously it either happens
[1:52:05] or it
[1:52:08] answers my question.
What he's saying is like weren't able to
[1:52:14] do that.
Yes.
[1:52:18] Yes, sir.
Any other comments, discussion, or
[1:52:22] questions?
Option B has a motion.
[1:52:31] If none we will call the question on
option B. All those in favor say I.
[1:52:37] I.
All right. And those opposed?
[1:52:42] Okay. That carries three to two.
So option B is adopted.
[1:52:52] All right.
[1:52:55] Thank you for your patience.
Um,
[1:53:00] Mr. Parker. Yes, sir.
Um,
[1:53:07] couple things here. So, I've already
talked about over the summer months.
[1:53:10] We're going to work on reviewing uh some
ordinance information. I'm going to skip
[1:53:15] that one. The town of Baltimore would
like me to convey a thank you to the
[1:53:20] town council for not increasing their
base sewer rate uh this year. Um Kim
[1:53:26] Duran and Renee Welsh are in Mon at the
Southeast Tourism Marketing College. TDA
[1:53:32] sent both of these individuals and Kim
will graduate with her three-year
[1:53:35] certificate in tourism marketing and
festivals and event planning and she
[1:53:39] asked me to tell you all about that um
and to thank you for our continued
[1:53:44] support to the TDA. The TA had an intern
this spring who worked on media contact
[1:53:49] list, itineraries, etc. But uh an
important item of note, the TDA is now
[1:53:55] suspending uh grant applications due to
some uncertainty around the American
[1:54:01] hotel.
Um
[1:54:05] sign update. We have a new battery that
we are testing out. It is a lithium
[1:54:10] battery um on the monument sign on West
College. We purchased that. that came in
[1:54:15] and was installed yesterday. Um, and
Mike can monitor the battery on an app
[1:54:21] from his telephone. So, he will be doing
that to see it alerts him to when it is
[1:54:26] dead. That would be of interest. Uh, the
town won the 2020 Ford Vision Zero
[1:54:32] Safety Award for hitting the ground
running and making strides and keeping
[1:54:37] momentum. So, I wanted to share that
with all of you. Related to our
[1:54:40] continued support of uh Vision Zero
Communities,
[1:54:45] does the uh is there a desire on the
board to not have the July meeting is my
[1:54:51] last item that requires a vote from you
all to cancel that meeting if you so
[1:54:56] desire.
[1:55:00] And with that, Mr.
[1:55:04] All right. Uh, is there any appetite to
push the next meeting until August?
[1:55:11] Uh, seeing that we've met several times
in May, not only for the council, but
[1:55:16] for the staff.
We're scheduing
[1:55:26] that one in August is August 6th.
[1:55:35] motion
[1:55:41] council Thomas with a motion second from
Council Ellis. Discussion on that
[1:55:46] matter.
All those in favor say I. I.
[1:55:51] Likewise. Okay.
That passes unanimously. Um we will go
[1:55:57] from right to left tonight. Council
Green
[1:56:01] just like to commend the staff on all
the hard work on the budget. I know
[1:56:05] haven't done that for 18 years. That is
not an easy task and
[1:56:11] I want to commend you on the job that
you do and how you do it. Uh the only
[1:56:16] other thing is I had a GCL meeting went
well. Uh council Linton would know that
[1:56:24] I was elected vice chair of that. Well,
the chair
[1:56:29] relocated. So I am now on the chair.
Found out in my last meeting, but
[1:56:38] so things are going well there. Highway
funds, you know, all the a lot of good
[1:56:44] projects and we have some good ones
there. There's no money, you know,
[1:56:46] they're really struggling with more
electric vehicles, not paying road tax.
[1:56:51] The road tax is really really suffering.
That's a that's a dilemma really dilemma
[1:56:56] for the country not just for for North
Carolina but
[1:57:01] keeping along maybe somewhere we'll get
some money
[1:57:07] and the foot meeting is next week
and not present so I'll be on approve
[1:57:14] next week
far away that's all I got
[1:57:20] Thomas
[1:57:24] This budget cycle has been a challenging
time and I'm just thankful to be working
[1:57:30] with this group of individuals and the
staff to be able to come up with some
[1:57:34] options for the town and it's very
difficult to consider all the different
[1:57:39] pieces and how they fit in. So I'm
thankful that we can have discussions
[1:57:43] and
work through these
[1:57:47] when Rhonda was talking about financials
and things earlier. I just want to say a
[1:57:51] special thank you to her. She
She looks after town in a great way. I
[1:57:56] appreciate that.
I attended the Ruby Hunt YMCA advisory
[1:58:02] board meeting just recently. And I came
away from that meeting discouraged and
[1:58:08] sort of felt like the end of
[1:58:12] I want to express my thanks to the YMCA
and to really and to the previous town
[1:58:18] council members who saw that through
that facility and to have that as a part
[1:58:24] of our community
consider where we go with recreation and
[1:58:30] what we're going to do and how we fund
and it's just not always easy easy
[1:58:36] decision but I'm thankful to be here and
working through many different steps
[1:58:41] thank you to the staff
regress me I'd like to have read to the
[1:58:46] record that talk with some of the other
board members who
[1:58:52] made the point to let me know that
Council Thomas represented as well. They
[1:58:56] were very impressed with the way he
conducted himself and the way he
[1:59:01] presented our issues. So, I think that
our becom
[1:59:13] No, I don't think what I understand you
didn't fail at all. I think you did a
[1:59:17] great job.
And if it was because of something I
[1:59:19] said or something I did,
[1:59:23] Nobody I've talked to a couple and
nobody has indicated that to me at all.
[1:59:27] Excellent. Council
thank you to Rhonda and staff for
[1:59:32] working on the budget. Rhonda, thank you
for answering questions. They're not
[1:59:37] pointing at you. We're just you just
happen to be the person.
[1:59:43] I didn't at first I didn't see you
tonight. I thought who's going to answer
[1:59:47] the question? So I'm glad we're here. I
appreciate you answering that. Uh if
[1:59:52] there was any information that came out
of that web followup, I'd like to see
[1:59:56] that at some point, please.
Uh I would also like to
[2:00:02] look at the original agreement between
the Y and the T if
[2:00:09] I need to come over here and dig through
the minutes. I'll do
[2:00:13] I would like to see
the very first one.
[2:00:17] The very first one.
graduated
[2:00:23] scale as far as
was that 2007 2008
[2:00:28] or 8 n somewhere in that ballpark I
think right I don't know who I look
[2:00:36] I also did online
we'll find it
[2:00:39] we can find it I mean don't put it top
of the priority list but I mean if you
[2:00:43] can find it or if I need to come over
here and search I'll be glad to
[2:00:49] Can you narrow down for me on that
website
[2:00:53] follow up? Are there specific things
that you're looking at?
[2:00:57] Well, the town and regard
meeting with any kind of minutes or
[2:01:03] anything that came out of that.
[2:01:13] I was just curious.
That's all. Thank you. Thank you, sir.
[2:01:18] Councilman Wood.
Uh, yeah. I was I was thinking when I
[2:01:22] got elected for this position that I
had, as I've gone through this, I had no
[2:01:27] idea what I had gotten myself into. Um,
I remember the day after I was elected,
[2:01:33] I drove through town and I thought, you
know, this is really my town. I make a
[2:01:37] difference in this town. And I felt a
little different. And I still feel a
[2:01:42] little different. But I'm telling you
what, this budget process, I guess now
[2:01:44] I'm a full-fledged council member for
the town of Springs, it's been tough.
[2:01:51] And the other council members have
talked about it's been tough. They've
[2:01:55] been through other budget meetings or
going through other budgets. But these
[2:02:01] guys, all of us, we may not agree on
everything, but when it's all done and
[2:02:06] said with, I think about what Councilman
Green said from the very beginning. Once
[2:02:11] the votes had, then we're still the
council and we're united with whatever
[2:02:15] the vote is. Whether we agree or
disagree, when the votes over with,
[2:02:18] we're one council. And I think we
represent the town of Orman Springs as
[2:02:22] one council, not individuals on the
council. And I'm proud to serve with
[2:02:26] each and every one of these. And I'm
glad we got a mayor that'll
[2:02:30] circle wagons and get us get us back in
the direction. I'm glad we got an
[2:02:34] attorney that can help us get things
worked out where we don't have to have
[2:02:37] another budget meeting and start this
process over again. So, I'm just glad
[2:02:41] we're leaving here with with a voting on
budget tonight. So, I appreciate Ronda
[2:02:46] and Tracy and
Isaac. And Rhonda, I'm gonna have to say
[2:02:51] about you.
You make Zach look a whole lot better
[2:02:55] than he really is.
[2:03:02] But no, we got we got we got a great
staff. Chief Phillips, everybody, Mike,
[2:03:08] the whole everybody. And I mean, I can't
say enough about how much we appreciate
[2:03:12] you all. I hope you don't feel bad that
maybe we took 1% of your merit raise
[2:03:17] away tonight.
We should feel bad. We didn't
[2:03:22] but I mean I I just I don't I don't want
them to feel underappreciated or
[2:03:26] underserved because we thank the world
of just say that's just that's all I got
[2:03:30] to say.
Thank you sir.
[2:03:32] I think when I lay my head on that pill
I just think what a place to live.
[2:03:37] Amen. I mean, and our staff. I say it's
I want to take care of our staff because
[2:03:43] they take care of us and our citizens
and uh and it's the leadership, Zach,
[2:03:49] and his position, but it's all the
people tonight, especially Rhonda, you
[2:03:53] were kind of put on the spot for a
little bit, I thought, and you came
[2:03:56] through with flying colors. I just I
think we live in the best town in
[2:04:01] America, and I still believe that I want
to live here. Thank you for taking care
[2:04:07] of us.
Can I
[2:04:10] So now that we have a budget, I think
it's important we communicate while we
[2:04:16] have is there a way that we are
communicating
[2:04:20] the increases? People are going to ask
risk increases. I mean, is there a way
[2:04:24] that we can do that either
and some type of written communication,
[2:04:28] some type of something because
somebody's gonna say, "Hey, my water
[2:04:31] bill went up.
I'm having to pay all this extra fees.
[2:04:35] And I think if we get ahead of that and
we say, well, the reason we're doing
[2:04:38] this because we want to continue
the citizens. So, I don't know if that's
[2:04:44] something that's commonly done
or is that something we even want to do,
[2:04:49] but for me, sometimes it might
explain it to me. I got to see
[2:04:57] I think I think it's very valid. I think
we if we're going to remain united,
[2:05:02] I think we all need to be talking the
same thing. So, I I would I think it'd
[2:05:07] be great if you come up maybe some
bullet talking points for us. We're all
[2:05:12] We're not out there saying
I'm I'm not out there saying, "Well, I
[2:05:15] didn't I didn't book it."
It's not my
[2:05:18] I mean, you know, page 75 in our
wide proposed increase and it names 4%
[2:05:24] increase in from
the water the water's easy. I mean, the
[2:05:29] only thing I don't know, it says
increased lab fees, increased utility
[2:05:32] costs, inflationary pressures, increased
permitting costs from the state, but now
[2:05:37] the ongoing CIP efforts. I don't know if
I could tell my neighbor what that is.
[2:05:41] He probably didn't know either.
So, the 6 and 12% increase to water
[2:05:46] sewer, 4% came from the city of Shelby,
2% came from the North Carolina Rural
[2:05:51] Water Association's recommendation that
council approved and adopted a few years
[2:05:55] ago. A two cent tax increase covers the
post office debt service of $102,000 a
[2:06:02] year less $33,000
approximately. Um which leaves us with
[2:06:08] about $66,000 that we're on the hook
for. And so that's that's the two cents.
[2:06:13] Mr. Mayor comment um no one came to look
at the budget. It was open. Did anybody
[2:06:21] come to see the budget? So that's that's
probably not happened a lot. And There
[2:06:26] wasn't very few people here about that.
But I I'm the same way. I think we need
[2:06:30] to be able to tell the people this is
why we're doing it. They may not agree
[2:06:34] with at least we can tell them this is
why. So I think that bullet like you're
[2:06:38] talking about is a good thing
and we can make something that goes in
[2:06:42] the newslet.
Well, I think that's good. I mean I
[2:06:45] think we I think we all should be able
to defend whatever
[2:06:48] I think we should be defending it by the
same things. Exactly.
[2:06:51] And maybe maybe I don't and I don't
necessarily think we need to go out just
[2:06:55] I think it'd be good in the news, but I
think we should be prepared when they
[2:06:58] question.
Exactly.
[2:07:00] To be able to say well because some will
some will be concerned about the yard.
[2:07:05] Some will be concerned about sewer rate.
So they'll be concerned about different
[2:07:09] things. So I think
and some will be concerned about the Y2.
[2:07:13] So my hope is that we can get ahead of
those things and it's about
[2:07:17] transparency. It's about open
communication. It's about what what we
[2:07:20] do and it's not an easy decision but
it's in the long run that we find some
[2:07:25] way of communicating that and that we
have a unified message and we're sorry
[2:07:31] that's not in the town manager letter
and that's probably the most thorough
[2:07:36] letter I've ever seen
it is
[2:07:40] I see a lot of people open their water
bill and they look at the water bill
[2:07:44] they don't read that you know somebody
asked me something said well that was in
[2:07:48] the newsletter I had one guy said
Where'd you get that newsletter?
[2:07:52] Oh, you know, I'm serious. You didn't
need just got the bill out.
[2:07:57] I said
I That's what I told him. I said, "You
[2:08:01] need to read it."
I like I prepared the budget graphics
[2:08:03] for you all that those kind of things. I
can We have that. That's not anything
[2:08:08] that's fancy or new or innovative. We
can prepare something like that that
[2:08:12] says, "Hey, this is what your guard your
yard waist fee goes to this. These are
[2:08:17] the you know, if you want me to can
inflation. I could put sales tax goes
[2:08:22] rur whatever. So whatever I think you
all know I have a problem with depth. Um
[2:08:27] so I will go into the weeds very quickly
and so I will have the staff read that
[2:08:31] and tell me where I need to cut but to
whatever level you all are comfortable.
[2:08:35] I mean I'm happy to do that. Yeah. Just
something basic and as transparent as we
[2:08:41] can be. So something needs to be sent
out as a draft. We can
[2:08:45] I guess give it a thumbs up.
That's important that we communicate
[2:08:50] that because we don't have a whole lot
of people here. Maybe they're live
[2:08:54] streaming. I don't know what.
Yeah.
[2:09:01] And so we, you know, I always think and
I ask my wife and I ask a lot of
[2:09:05] neighbors, do they know what really goes
on,
[2:09:07] you know, and they like no,
but then we get asked a serious question
[2:09:12] by a few people and I just think it
would be very helpful. So
[2:09:16] citizens and taxpayers should also be
more engaged. Anybody
[2:09:20] else?
All right. Um, a couple things before
[2:09:24] and then we we have a close session
together. Um, I really am looking
[2:09:28] forward to July 20th. Um, I know that
not to dismiss the jazz man coming up
[2:09:33] this weekend, but uh, I've known Carl
Carti for quite a long time and so
[2:09:36] having him back is uh, is going to be a
really big deal and that's going to be a
[2:09:40] big day for the town as well because
that's our memorial for for Mr. Hinsley
[2:09:45] as well. Uh, July 20th, we got a little
bit of music. on that day. I'm right on
[2:09:49] that day, am I?
You are.
[2:09:51] Are you serious?
Yeah.
[2:09:52] Yes, sir. You are correct.
But then that will follow. All that will
[2:09:55] follow and it'll be an amazing day. Um I
will say that the um most positive and
[2:10:02] unified that I get feedback from from
the town is when the uh the green and
[2:10:08] gold charger flags are flying in town.
And really what that is is a huge thank
[2:10:14] you to the educators and
a a pat on the back to the students.
[2:10:20] We're a town that's built on education.
Uh we have two of the finest elementary
[2:10:25] schools around in our town. Our middle
school, Crest High School, is number one
[2:10:30] in the county in terms of test scores.
Has been for the past several years. Um
[2:10:35] we are only trailing elementary schools
who have fewer metrics. I just wanted to
[2:10:40] toot our horn just a little bit. Um but
so many of our kids are graduating and
[2:10:46] going to step on to campus and become
running bulldogs and we just support
[2:10:51] each other. And to be a town that's
built on education is what I'm about. Uh
[2:10:56] and and I'm so proud to be a part of the
entire package from prek all the way to
[2:11:03] graduate school uh at Gardener Web. Um
so thank you to everyone who is involved
[2:11:08] in that. And finally, we've done a lot
of the respectful part of the respectful
[2:11:14] growth over the past eight years. Um,
we've been very careful and have been
[2:11:20] very respectful and this budget steps
into the growth part. And I think that's
[2:11:25] why it has been painful because there
are really difficult decisions that
[2:11:28] we've had to make, tough choices, but
we're moving. We're moving places.
[2:11:33] Things are going to begin
to happen, right? Aren't they going to
[2:11:38] to happen. But seriously, I I apologize
if I lost a little bit of my temper. Um
[2:11:45] I don't think I've ever hit that gabble
before.
[2:11:48] Good. Felt a little felt really good. I
didn't. But seriously, I always
[2:11:54] appreciate the the the efforts that the
staff put in day in and day out. But I
[2:11:59] say it every week and I really don't say
it just to say it. the wisdom and
[2:12:05] forwardlooking
uh vision of this council. It is a
[2:12:09] privilege to get to work with. So, thank
you for what you've done. Thank you for
[2:12:13] the efforts that we've put in um and
honored. Um with that, we do need a
[2:12:18] motion. Got one more comment. I'd like
to say that how much we appreciate your
[2:12:24] leaders. I think I think you do a fine
job and I think uh you get a little
[2:12:30] heated when you need to get a little
heated. I think you get us back on
[2:12:33] track. So, I think I think we should we
talk about the council, but I think
[2:12:37] you're you're kind of the head of the
pack here.
[2:12:41] We got the results. That's all.
You lead us. So,
[2:12:44] thank you, sir.
Uh, is there a motion to go into close
[2:12:48] session? So, motion from Mr. Council
Thomas. Is there a second?
[2:12:52] Second.
Second from Council Green. Uh, all those
[2:12:54] in favor say.
You guys are welcome to stick around.
[2:12:58] Some of you have to stick around.
[2:13:07] Yeah, we'll go in the we'll go in the
conference room uh if you guys need to
[2:13:11] take a quick bathroom break. But listen,
we'll make it quick.
[2:13:17] Three minutes. And
we've got a couple of issues. Mr.