[0:00] Here we go.
[0:04] All right, everybody ready?
[0:09] » Good evening and welcome to the city
[0:10] council meeting of the city of Lenor for
[0:12] Tuesday, September the 1st, 2026. We
[0:16] welcome you here this evening. Thank you
[0:19] for coming out and those that will be
[0:20] joining us on our broadcast. Uh today is
[0:24] a very special day. September 1st uh
[0:27] eight 19 years ago the greatest football
[0:30] game in the world was won in Michigan.
[0:34] [laughter]
[0:35] At least I get to say that on it. But it
[0:38] was 19 years ago today and I was there.
[0:42] So it was a great time for sure to be
[0:45] for that. And also another special day
[0:47] on September 1st. this would have been
[0:49] my parents 88th wedding anniversary
[0:52] today. So, uh I wish they were here to c
[0:55] celebrate it, but uh anyway, I know they
[0:58] are uh in heaven together. So, that's
[1:01] great on that. So, thank you for that.
[1:04] As we go to our time of a moment of
[1:06] silence and our pledge of allegiance,
[1:07] please keep uh please keep our country
[1:10] and all the things that we have going
[1:11] on. There's all kind of uh deals out
[1:14] there right now that we're that we need
[1:17] to pray pray for and and uh and let
[1:20] people know that we're thinking about uh
[1:22] so many things and uh there's just so
[1:25] much that out there right now that's
[1:27] happening in our world. So please pray
[1:28] for uh our community and all the things
[1:31] that are happening uh that we that that
[1:34] we can uh certainly say good things
[1:36] about whenever we can. So please now
[1:39] join me for a moment of silence.
[2:16] Thank you. Please salute the flag. I
[2:19] pledge allegiance to the flag of the
[2:21] United States of America and to the
[2:23] republic for which it stands, one nation
[2:26] under God, indivisible, with liberty and
[2:29] justice for all.
[2:31] » Thank you.
[2:36] » Let's get started tonight. We do not
[2:38] have matters scheduled for public
[2:40] hearings this evening. So, we'll move on
[2:42] to our consent agenda items uh
[2:45] consisting of uh six items on here. Item
[2:49] A are the minutes of the city council
[2:51] meeting of Tuesday, August 18th, 2026.
[2:55] Item B are the minutes of the committee
[2:58] of the whole meeting of Tuesday, August
[3:01] 25th, 2026.
[3:03] Item C are the minutes of the closed
[3:05] session uh meeting of Tuesday, August
[3:08] 25th as reviewed by the city council,
[3:11] our city attorney, and the city manager.
[3:14] Item D is the capital project budget
[3:16] ordinance for Lenor High School campus
[3:19] capital project. This is phase one
[3:22] approval of a capital project budget
[3:25] ordinance to authorize [clears throat]
[3:27] activities for phase one of the
[3:28] renovations to the Lenor High School
[3:31] campus as we refer to it as the campus.
[3:34] The project will be funded by a rural
[3:36] transformation grant from North Carolina
[3:38] Commerce. two direct appropriations from
[3:41] the North Carolina General Assembly,
[3:44] community development block grant
[3:45] funding, private donations, local
[3:48] funding, and funds from the Lenor
[3:50] Tourism Development Authority. The
[3:53] recommendation to the city council is
[3:56] adopt this project budget ordinance for
[3:58] Lenor High School campus project phase
[4:00] one in the amount of 6,70,8854
[4:08] as submitted. Item E is this is an
[4:11] ordinance for amendments relating to
[4:13] chapter 9. This is the flood damage
[4:15] prevention of the Lenor code of
[4:17] ordinances. The amendments to the flood
[4:20] damage prevention ordinance come came
[4:22] before or come before the council for
[4:24] consideration following the first
[4:26] reading on June 16th, 2026 and the
[4:30] public hearing on August the 4th of
[4:32] 2026.
[4:34] Recommendation is approval of the
[4:35] ordinance amendments as submitted. And
[4:38] item F is a resolution. This is an
[4:40] amendment of the resolution accepting
[4:42] newly constructed extension on Prince
[4:45] William Drive for city maintenance GTE
[4:48] construction and realy has built 116 ft
[4:53] of Prince William Drive to the city
[4:55] street standard and the recommendation
[4:57] is the resolution be accepted as
[5:00] submitted. Those are items A through F
[5:02] of the consent agenda items and I will
[5:04] open it up for uh council for any uh
[5:08] discussion motion.
[5:10] And
[5:11] I don't know Hannah, did you have
[5:13] anything else you wanted to say to it at
[5:14] all? Or if you don't need to, that's
[5:17] fine.
[5:26] » Will you be referring to item E, I
[5:28] think. Is that
[5:29] » Sure. Yes, I'm referring to item E, the
[5:31] flood flood damage prevention ordinance.
[5:34] Um, participation in the um NFIP flood
[5:39] plane um flood damage prevention
[5:41] ordinance. It is voluntary, but it
[5:43] enables cheaper flood insurance for your
[5:47] constituents um as well as disaster
[5:50] assistance um post events, post flooding
[5:53] events. And um our ordinance it must be
[5:57] approved by the state um which is why we
[5:59] typically adopt the model um which is
[6:02] provided by the state um and uh it's
[6:06] very similar to many communities around.
[6:09] So that's what I wanted to say.
[6:11] » Thank you.
[6:12] » Have any questions for me?
[6:13] » Any questions for Hannah? And that is
[6:15] Hannah is our uh planning director for
[6:18] the city. I didn't should have said that
[6:20] before, but anyway, thank you. And has
[6:22] been working on this part of it for that
[6:24] item E.
[6:26] » Okay, I'll go back to council. If you
[6:28] have any questions of Hannah, please ask
[6:29] now or not, I'll turn it over to you for
[6:32] any uh motion considering the consent
[6:35] agenda items as presented.
[6:37] » Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion
[6:39] that we approve the consent agenda items
[6:42] A through F as stated.
[6:44] » Okay. Have a motion from council member
[6:46] Stevens that we approve the consent
[6:48] agenda items uh A through F as
[6:50] presented. No other comments. All in
[6:53] favor, please say I.
[6:56] » All opposed.
[6:57] » Thank you.
[7:00] » Five. That's 50 tonight. So, we're
[7:02] missing uh two council members tonight
[7:04] that had some things that came up. Thank
[7:08] you for that.
[7:10] All right. We will now move to um on our
[7:13] agenda to request and petitions of any
[7:15] citizens. If there's anyone here that
[7:17] would like to address the council
[7:19] concerning uh anything uh that we're
[7:23] talking about tonight or anything else
[7:24] that you would like to consider, please
[7:26] come forward to the podium and give us
[7:27] your name and address and we will try to
[7:32] talk about it.
[7:36] Yes, sir.
[7:41] Hi there. I'm uh Josh Lammy, 112 Glendel
[7:44] Street, Lenor, North Carolina. I've
[7:46] lived here since 88. Um today, uh I just
[7:50] know we have a a fair amount of
[7:52] concerned uh residents, myself being one
[7:55] of them. I did see on the agenda today
[7:57] that you were doing an abatement at the
[7:59] address uh where the historic theater,
[8:01] the center Theater is located, which is
[8:03] a nationally registered historic
[8:05] building. I was just wondering, you
[8:07] know, what is the the the primary goal?
[8:10] What what is is that to be renovated
[8:13] hopefully or is it just to be demolished
[8:16] or do you have any plans for it or
[8:17] anything at all?
[8:22] » Yeah, we we do have it addressed that it
[8:24] will be coming up on the on the agenda
[8:26] and that will be discussed when we get
[8:28] to that that point.
[8:29] » Okay.
[8:29] » On that. So,
[8:32] » Okay.
[8:32] » Any other questions? Uh, not today.
[8:35] Thank you.
[8:35] » Okay. Thank you very much.
[8:38] Thank you. Anyone else that would like
[8:41] to address the council?
[8:44] [snorts]
[8:45] » Okay. Thank you. We'll move on. We do
[8:47] not have any reports of our boards and
[8:49] commissions. So, we'll move on to the
[8:51] report and recommendations of our city
[8:53] manager, Mr. Hildebrand.
[8:56] [snorts]
[8:56] » Mayor, council cut items for information
[8:58] this evening. You've got coming up this
[9:01] weekend. You've got the Carolina Tattoo
[9:02] and Arts Gathering will be held Friday,
[9:05] September 4th through Sunday, September
[9:07] 6th. That'll be held at the Harper Room
[9:10] and that's located at 10:16 Harper
[9:12] Avenue Northwest. Uh Monday, of course,
[9:14] is the Labor Day holiday. So, city
[9:17] office will be closed. Uh the economic
[9:19] development advisory committee will be
[9:20] meeting on Tuesday, September 8th at
[9:22] 8:15 a.m. and that's going to be held at
[9:24] the J Bore Hill Civic Center. Um then
[9:27] you have Lenora Business Advisory Board
[9:28] will meet on September 10th. That's
[9:30] Thursday at 6 o'clock, third floor city
[9:33] hall. Then coming up is the 40th annual
[9:35] sculptural celebration which will be
[9:36] held on Saturday, September 12th from 9
[9:38] to 4 at TH4 Hill Walking Park. Also,
[9:42] you've got a city county service
[9:43] committee meeting on Monday, September
[9:45] 14th, and that's going to be held at
[9:46] noon at J Horill Civic Center. Uh the
[9:49] planning board will meet on Monday,
[9:51] September 14th at 5:30 in these
[9:53] chambers. And lastly, the ABC board will
[9:55] meet on Thursday, September 17th at 2
[9:57] o'clock. That's items for information.
[10:00] If there's any questions, I'll
[10:01] [clears throat] excuse me. Move on to
[10:02] items for council consideration.
[10:05] » Any questions? Mr. Hildbrand.
[10:08] » Okay. Thank you.
[10:09] » Your first item tonight for
[10:10] consideration is abatement ordinance for
[10:12] 507 Finley Avenue. Uh city staff
[10:15] requests adoption of an ordinance
[10:16] directing staff to abate uh the
[10:18] nonresidential structure for building
[10:20] violations by demolishing the structure.
[10:22] Again, that's at 507 Finley Avenue. Uh
[10:24] the subject structure is unsafe uh for
[10:27] any use and attempts to achieve owner
[10:28] abatement have been unsuccessful and
[10:31] that's before you tonight and plan
[10:32] director Williams is here and she can
[10:34] comment further. I think in your packet
[10:36] you've got photos of of the structure
[10:38] and and attempts that been made to go
[10:40] back and correct um the problems with
[10:43] that building.
[10:45] » Okay.
[10:46] » I'll try to answer questions or Miss
[10:47] Williams can as well.
[10:50] » All right. You just walls. Yeah,
[10:53] » It's mainly just walls left. Yes,
[10:54] » There's not much left.
[10:55] » It's It's open to the elements. Yes.
[10:59] » All right. You heard consideration for
[11:00] the abatement ordinance for 507 Finley
[11:03] Avenue. Any other discussion
[11:06] at all? And I'll entertain a motion
[11:09] whenever you're ready.
[11:11] » Mr. Mayor, I make a motion we um
[11:15] approve the abatement as presented.
[11:17] » Okay. Have a motion from council member
[11:19] Bill that we approve the abatement
[11:22] ordinance for 507 Finley Avenue as
[11:24] presented by city staff. No other
[11:27] questions or comments. All in favor,
[11:29] please say I.
[11:30] » I. All opposed.
[11:33] » Thank you, Mr. Hillbrand.
[11:35] » The next item before you is the
[11:38] ordinance to vacate and close uh 1011
[11:41] West Avenue Northwest. Uh planning staff
[11:44] request council adopt the vacate
[11:46] enclosure ordinance directing staff to
[11:48] abate the non-residential structure
[11:49] violations by vacating and uh securing
[11:52] the building located at 1011 West
[11:54] Avenue. Um the city over the last
[11:57] several months has met with the property
[11:59] owners attempted to to go back and get
[12:00] the building secured uh because it's
[12:02] unsafe and after a period of 90 days and
[12:05] with no corrective action uh they're
[12:07] requesting this ordinance be adopted
[12:09] this evening. I know planet director
[12:10] Williams can speak to that because she's
[12:12] worked on this for several months. Um
[12:14] but the intent is not to go back and and
[12:17] um demolish the building. The intent to
[12:19] go back and secure the building, make it
[12:21] safe, and hopefully in the next year,
[12:23] two years, month that work begins to go
[12:26] back and renovate and bring that
[12:27] building back into productive reuse. But
[12:29] I'll let Miss Williams speak to that the
[12:32] process so far.
[12:37] » Hey there. Um yes uh 1011 West Avenue um
[12:44] we are requesting this ordinance to
[12:46] vacate and close the building. Vacate
[12:48] and close means make sure that nobody is
[12:50] in there or staying in there and to
[12:52] close it so that no one can access it.
[12:54] Um it's also to make sure any immediate
[12:57] dangers over um public space, public
[13:00] sidewalk, uh anything that could harm
[13:03] the public by brushing up against it
[13:05] like broken glass. um make sure that all
[13:07] of those are secured. There have been
[13:10] attempts to close the building. We just
[13:12] want to make sure that everything is
[13:14] closed about it. And there appears to be
[13:16] a gap at the top that we want to make
[13:18] sure is secured and make sure that that
[13:20] marquee is also secure.
[13:23] Um if do you have any questions in
[13:25] particular about this property?
[13:28] » Questions?
[13:30] Obviously, we we want to see this
[13:34] usable at some at some point and that's
[13:37] always been the goal of that, but it's
[13:39] got to be made safe at this point until
[13:43] we can get to that level is what
[13:46] » Yeah, absolutely. Um I believe everybody
[13:49] in Lenor wants to see productive use at
[13:51] this property, active use at this
[13:53] property. We believe that the building
[13:55] is an asset to downtown. Um it was part
[13:58] of the reason why the National Register
[14:00] Historic District was expanded in 2013.
[14:03] Uh this building kind of being an um you
[14:07] know pretty iconic to downtown Lenor and
[14:09] West Avenue. And um we just want to see
[14:14] uh want to make sure that it is safe. Um
[14:17] this ordinance does not prevent um
[14:19] repairs to the building. It doesn't
[14:21] prevent the owners from making repairs
[14:22] to the building. Doesn't m prevent
[14:24] transfer of the property. Um, so it's
[14:28] just step one in the right direction
[14:32] » To keep try to keep it safe as we can
[14:35] forbody.
[14:39] » All right. Any other questions for
[14:41] council?
[14:44] All right. I will turn it over to
[14:46] council for any if you have comments,
[14:49] questions, or whenever you're ready to
[14:50] for a motion on it.
[14:54] » Mr. Mayor, I I [clears throat] think as
[14:57] a longtime Lenor resident and having
[15:00] seen Star Wars in that theater for the
[15:02] first time and whenever it came out, I
[15:04] remember that quite vividly. Um, love to
[15:08] see this property and all of our
[15:10] properties in Uptown Lenor back into to
[15:13] service. That's really the goal of all
[15:15] of these ordinances is safety, but
[15:18] hopefully to get things back into
[15:19] service. Um, so this does allow some
[15:22] some time for the property owner to to
[15:25] find the the right path for the
[15:27] building. Um, so I make a motion that we
[15:31] approve the ordinance to vacate and
[15:33] close the property for safety reasons as
[15:37] much as anything else.
[15:38] » Okay.
[15:40] Thank you. Any other
[15:43] comments before we go to the motion?
[15:47] All right. We have a motion from council
[15:48] member Bill that we approve the
[15:50] ordinance to vacate and close for 1011
[15:53] West Avenue Northwest.
[15:55] As we hope it will continue to move
[15:57] forward from this, but uh we want to
[15:59] make it safe. So if nothing else, I'll
[16:02] call for the vote. All in favor, please
[16:04] say I. I.
[16:05] » I. All opposed.
[16:07] » Thank you. That carries unanimously.
[16:09] Thank you very much. Thank you, Hannah,
[16:11] for your work on this and your staff and
[16:14] for what's going on there.
[16:16] All right, we'll move on to uh report
[16:19] recommendations of our city attorney,
[16:20] Mr. War.
[16:21] » Nothing to report, sir.
[16:22] » Okay.
[16:24] And um I don't have anything from the
[16:27] mayor's office at this time to report.
[16:30] Like I say, we have a lot of good things
[16:32] coming up over the next few weeks and I
[16:35] hope it will come out and support them.
[16:37] U tattoo gathering. Uh I don't forget
[16:40] not what number we're on there that's
[16:42] been coming. It's been a quite a few. Uh
[16:45] but it's always a fun event in downtown
[16:47] Lenor and they enjoy being able to come
[16:49] here and be a part of it. So and then uh
[16:52] next weekend is the uh u
[16:57] council
[16:58] » Sculpture.
[16:58] » Sculpture fest. Thank you. Sculpture
[17:01] fest. So hope everyone can come out to
[17:03] that. That's always and that's been
[17:05] around for quite quite a number of
[17:07] years.
[17:08] » Huh?
[17:08] » 40
[17:09] » 40 That's right. 40 years. One more
[17:11] thing, Mayor Joe, is the uh Happy Valley
[17:14] the music festival's coming up this
[17:16] weekend.
[17:17] » Okay, that's right.
[17:18] » That's I think always a great event.
[17:20] » It is. That's another one that's been
[17:21] around for a long time. So, so that so a
[17:25] lot of lot of fun things happening in
[17:26] September.
[17:28] So, anyway, I hope everybody can get out
[17:30] and be a be a part of that any way they
[17:32] can.
[17:33] Any reports from any of our council
[17:35] members
[17:37] come up?
[17:39] Okay, seeing none,
[17:42] any of our staff, anything else you want
[17:44] to throw out while we're here?
[17:46] Thank you. If not, we stand ajourned.