Hey, Greenville, welcome to
another episode of
Greenville Eats.
My name is Ashley.
I'm your host, and we are here
with Jonathan Bryant from the
Community Engagement Division.
How are you, Jonathan?
I'm doing great.
Yay! I'm so excited
to have you here.
So welcome to the show.
Tell us first and foremost a
little bit about what you do
for the city of Greenville.
Okay. So for the city of
Greenville, I'm the community
engagement specialist.
And I go out in the community
and engage with citizens,
business owners and community
leaders to help figure out
their point of view and to see
different ways that those can
be implemented within the city.
Yes, you're out and
about all the time.
All the time.
That's like matches your
personality like perfectly.
Because you I just never
see you without a smile.
And you never you don't
ever ignore people.
Like, if you see somebody,
you're gonna stop
and talk to them.
You have to speak.
No, I don't have to.
No.
That's true, that's true.
No. But that's just so
great for your personality.
I love it so much.
So, um, and how long
have you been doing that?
For now.
So I've been doing
that since JANUARY.
Okay. Yep.
And and I really love it.
Yeah. That's so cool.
So let's get into this
because it smells amazing.
So what have you
made for us today.
So this is a Korean beef bowl.
Uh, it's made with ground beef
and rice, spring onions and a
couple spices.
Okay, nice.
That's awesome.
So before we dig into this,
we're gonna go sit down and
have a chat with J.B.,
and we'll be right back.
All right.
Welcome back.
So we are still here with jb.
We are getting ready to dig
into this delicious meal.
Um, before we do that.
No. Jb so let's talk a little
bit about your personal life.
So let people relate to
you on a personal level.
So you recently just brought
a little bundle of joy?
I did.
I did a little
baby, Jordan Grace.
She's wonderful.
Yep. Yep.
She decided to come
a little early.
Uh, her her original birthday
was going to be FEBRUARY 14th.
Mhm. Uh, she came DECEMBER 21st.
What girl come down?
Right.
What are you doing?
She traded one
holiday for another.
Um, yeah.
She was.
She was excited about Santa.
She was.
And she was here.
Um, it's been a great
time, a great journey.
Yeah. Uh, the first, you know,
real challenge was like, you
know, having her go to daycare
and be away from
us initially, so.
Yeah. Um, but it's been great.
She's been loving it.
Yeah. They sent her pictures
of us, her smiling and all
different types of stuff.
So.
She's so cute.
Yeah. She's having
a great time, so.
That's so awesome.
Well, congratulations.
Thank you.
Um, and just to, you know,
I know this is a, you know,
that's a great part of it, but
I know you like
this part to golf.
Oh, golf.
Yes.
Brian always makes fun of me
because sports go
sports, and so.
Okay. So tell us about
your love of golf.
Okay.
Um, I got into golf for my dad.
Uh, so there's a
huge size difference.
So he was like basketball.
Football? None of that.
So, uh, he decided on golf.
Okay. You know, it takes a lot
of technique, a lot of skill.
And he figured because I was
big and strong on that, I
wouldn't be willing
to put in the time.
But Covid happened, and I had
nothing but time all the time.
So I practiced all the time.
And now I'm a
seven handicap, so.
I know what that means.
Yeah. So so it's just in
relationship to, uh, par, which
is 72.
So on average, the lowest score
I've ever shot is a 78 or 79.
And so it's seven seven
numbers between 72 and 79.
And so that's how you your
handicap over 20 rounds.
Is that is that the
same in putt putt.
We can add putt putt.
Uh, we can make a whole new
handicap system for putt putt.
And you should
put that together.
And then also we can do that.
I mean, I think you'll see
that, but um, but also putt
putt and mini golf
are typically dance.
Really?
Oh, okay.
I know more.
Oh, definitely.
Um, okay.
Well, I was going to ask you if
you knew anything about that,
but I had always heard that,
like, putt putt mini golf were
started separately and
or slightly different.
But obviously that is
not real golf at all.
So.
Well, you know, the interesting
part is, you know, they both,
you know, if they are both
different, they both share a
common thing in putting.
Yeah. So uh, that in itself
is a really big skill in golf
because that's where a lot
of your score comes from.
Yeah. So they say if you can
get really good at putting,
you'll be really good.
You'll be at least
decent at golf.
Oh, okay.
I don't know how true
that's actually true.
Me. Well, how good
are you at one?
But, I mean, I like to
think I'm good, but.
Well, I mean, if
that's the case, then.
But it's also like, you know,
beach town putt putt places, so.
Well, I mean, that's also the
best place to play golf goes to
the beach.
Best weathered
sailor's new hobby.
Activated that part.
You can do both.
All right, let's jump into this
because I'm excited to give
this a try.
All right, let's see.
And I haven't even had
lunch as I'm so excited.
Okay.
Mhm. Mhm.
Mhm.
Yep.
I'd love to see you soon.
And this is good.
You can mix it with uh
different vegetables.
Or even if you want to use
different ground meats you
could as well.
Oh okay.
Yeah. Could you use ground beef.
Right. Mhm.
But you can use ground
turkey or ground chicken.
I like that.
This is delicious.
And luckily there's enough
leftover for me to
take back to them.
Okay. Okay.
Well thank you so much.
I love having you on.
This has been great.
It's been great.
Sorry. You can take a breath.
You can.
But. Yes.
Thank you so much
for joining us.
So I'm very happy to have you.
So thank you all for watching
and we will see you on the next
episode of everybody.
Hey what's up Greenville?
Welcome to another episode
of Greenville Eats.
My name is Ashley and today we
have Dominique from our human
resources department.
Idomeneo. How are you doing?
Good. How are you?
I'm excited to have you on
because you are one of my top
three human resources people
that I'm just obsessed with.
Don't tell anybody.
Well, yeah, well, I said top
three for a reason, but I
didn't want to like anyway, so.
Okay, so first and foremost,
welcome to the show.
I'm so, so excited to have
you before we jump into this,
because I'm super excited about
this, let's talk real quick
about what you do in hr
for the city of Greenville.
Yeah.
So I'm an hr specialist three
I've been with the city for
seven years now, which
doesn't feel like it at all.
Um, I do a lot of recruitment,
especially supporting
recreation and parks with
their part time staff.
I do a lot of employee
programs, such as computer
purchase, tuition assistance,
as well as like gift cards and
wellness incentives.
Shout out!
Use all of those.
Yes, and.
Now they do help employees
with their fmla as well.
So I kind of have a
mix of everything.
Okay. All right.
Cool okay.
So that's awesome.
And when do you when
did you hit seven years.
I will be seven years in AUGUST.
Oh is it right around
the corner there.
Okay, cool I love that.
Congrats. Um, so let's jump
into this because
I'm so excited.
I love a good empanada.
So tell us what you're making.
Why did you decide
on this recipe?
And then, like, I guess
about your ingredients.
Because I eat so good.
Well, my family is
Puerto Rican, so.
But I'm also, I joke and say I
don't speak Spanish, so I'm a
no sabo child, unfortunately.
Well, it's the same.
So my little Domingo
every once in a while.
Um, but this is one of the
things that my mom used to
make, and my dad used to make
every single time when it was,
like, a quick meal.
Um, so empanadas was kind of
dear to my heart
because of that.
Um, so I do a lot of people
can do the dough from scratch.
I like to do quick and
easy, so this is better.
But I have the dough.
I do adobo sauce on and then I
made my own sofrito, which is
more like onions, peppers, a
little bit of salsa flavoring
and vinegar.
And then I can do ground beef.
I usually do ground turkey
because my boyfriend likes
turkey more than beef.
Um, fry it in some oil.
And then I made a mayo
ketchup dipping sauce.
Cool. Awesome.
I'm so excited.
This place is about
to smell amazing.
So. Okay, so let's we're gonna
jump into cooking, and we'll be
back in just a
little bit with more.
Perfect.
Okay, so as I predicted,
it smells amazing in here.
Dominique has made us some beef
empanadas, and we've got you.
So this is ketchup and
mayonnaise and adobo.
Yeah.
Mayo, ketchup.
I love it.
So we are gonna go sit down and
have a chat and enjoy empanadas.
I'm so excited.
Me too.
Let's go.
Hey.
All right.
It's the moment of truth.
Let's dig in to these empanadas.
I'm so excited.
You first.
Wait. Which ones
were this was I.
Doesn't matter.
I don't care.
Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. And then we
have your sauce.
We got to get a little sauce.
And so while we are
digging into this that I know
is going to be amazing because
it smells amazing.
Let's talk a little
bit about you.
So like, tell me
something about yourself.
Like what do you like to
do in your spare time?
It's funny, I'm actually I'm a
people person at work, but I'm
really reserved at home, so I
usually like to chill with a
nice little book.
I'm a nerd for Nintendo Switch.
Disney Dreamlight is my game,
my little cozy game
or Animal Crossing?
Oh my GOD, really?
That's amazing.
Um, and then I do
like planting also.
And other things too.
Like like just plants, like in.
Or do you like garden?
Like fruits, veggies or not?
That's really good.
But I have a few plants.
Like I have a monster plant
that's surprisingly growing
really good.
Okay, but I kill everything
else, so that's crazy.
I just do succulents because
it's really hard to kill them.
I've killed succulents.
I have to I'm not
saying I haven't.
But I have.
But yeah, so surprisingly, my
my share is still doing good.
I've had her for five years,
so she's really big, growing
really well, and I'm
about to propagate her.
So that way I can
make another plant.
Oh my GOD, that's so exciting.
So I'm excited for that.
That's awesome I love that.
Um, what kind of books
do you like to read?
We are in book club together.
I do, yeah.
So we have we've read a lot
of like really random stuff in
book club, but like, what's
your go to outside of book club?
Well, it's funny, I'm since I'm
an avid reader, I don't have
really a genre that I like.
So what I do is you guys
always make fun of me.
If the title and the book cover
gets me, I'll pick it up and
read it.
The cover opens me up to other
things that I like to read.
The cover is yeah,
that's the thing.
Now I'm a big like
rom com girly,
but you know, the
cover does get me.
If the cover is cute, I'm
gonna I'm gonna pick it up.
So I do love a good mystery.
Oh, really?
Yeah, I like history.
I like the ones that when you
read it till the end, you don't
realize that the end is
going to be that way.
Yeah, like those
type of mysteries.
Like the one Frieda McFadden
book we read in book club.
That got me.
That twist at the end.
That got me.
That was crazy.
I feel like the book Silent
Patient is also one of those
books by her.
Was it by Frida McFadden?
I can't remember the author,
but it was also another one
that at the end you're
like, what in the world?
Never would have thought of it.
Thrown for a loop.
That's so crazy.
I love that.
That's exciting though.
Let's let's dig in.
Let's see.
Let's see about this.
I'm. I'm so pumped.
i also haven't eaten
lunch yet, so that helps.
Me neither.
Okay.
Mm
mm mm mm.
Happy dance.
Yeah.
Mm.
That's amazing.
Thank you.
Very quick.
Easy to make.
So just.
I'm gonna just take
this for, uh, leftovers.
Thank you.
You're more than
welcome to take it.
I can make plenty more at home.
There's a lot of beef
leftover, too, so I might just.
You know, take some extra.
Oh, my GOD, that's so good.
Thank you.
So thank you so much for
coming on and chatting.
Of course, telling us a little
bit about your job,
extracurriculars.
Sorry, I'm trying to not be
gross, but also, um, okay.
So thank you.
I appreciate you so much.
Also, again, top
three, top three hr.
Humans I love you.
Thank you for having me.
Yes.
Okay.
Um, thank you guys so much for
joining us for another episode
of Greenville Eats, and we
will be back soon to bring you
something sweet.
Bye bye.
No bloopers.
Okay.
Whatever you need to do to.
Cause, you know, I'm gonna be a
little intense because I'm not
used to it.
You're good.
You will.
Be like, okay, now.
Be like Dom.
Come on, lighten
up a little bit.
We'll give you a bonus.
I'll give you my
biometric screen.
I'll give you my gift card.
There you go.
Okay. I'm trying.
What is she used to do
with high school music?
Okay, now I
m going to call the
meeting to order, and we
re
going to do roll call. Andrew
Morehead. Present.
David Dennard present. Matthew
Cox, Wiley. Handcock. Susan
Daughtry. Sir Sidney McLeod.
Rebecca smith. Kamari. Carter.
Green. We have quorum.
All right, so as I looked at
the agenda, do we have an
approval? Are you ready?
Approval.
I
ll move. Approval.
I
ll.
Okay. Thank you. Um.
We have to vote on that.
Uh, so everybody agreed.
I.
Um, thanks for that. Um, Scott.
See?
No.
He
s not here.
He sent us. I
ll step in for
him.
Okay.
You don
t have anything for ex
parte. So.
Okay.
You
re on. Okay. Move forward.
We don
t have to close.
Okay. So, is there anybody have
time to look at the minutes?
And do we have approval for the
minutes for APRIL 28th?
I
ll vote approval. I
ll
second.
Uh, is there anybody in
accordance?
I.
Okay. So we
re gonna have a
public comment, period. Uh, the
public comment period is a
period reserved for comments by
the public. Items that are
subject of a public hearing
this week shall not be
discussed. A total of 30
minutes is allocated for each
individual being allowed no
more than three minutes.
Individuals who register to
speak will speak in the order
Register until the allotted 30
minutes expires. If time
remains after all, persons who
registered have spoken,
individuals who did not
register will have an
opportunity to speak into the
allocated 30 minutes. Expires.
We have.
Rushing forward.
So new business.
Good afternoon. Commission. Um.
Today I am going to talk to you
about the rules of procedure.
We, um. In APRIL, we had our
first reading of the Rules of
procedure. And, um, spoke about
the revisions. I
ll go over
those again today. Um, but your
rules of procedure for hpc set
your agenda item order. They
set how you conduct business
and how you approve CEOs. Um,
these were last revised in
2023. Um, so not too long ago,
but we had a couple updates.
Um, those updates, I know we
went over them last time, but
I
ll just refresh your memory.
Um, the Planning and
Development Services department
has now changed their name to
the Community and Development
Services Department. So that
will be a change that will need
to be made. Um, with the
advancement of our public
information office and the way
that they are able to get
information out to the public.
Um, we are dissolving the
public Publicity Committee due
to the changes in the city
s
expectations for our board and
commission members. Um, and
lastly, we want to move the
public comment period to the
top so that if people want to
come and speak, um, that they
don
t have to necessarily sit
through COAs and other items of
business. Um, and, and they can
speak at the beginning of the
meeting, just like we just did.
Um, so if there are any
questions, please. Now is the
time to ask. Um, since is this
since this is the second
reading, there will need to be
a vote for adoption of the edit
of the or the revision of these
rules of procedure. Okay.
Um, do have that. All in favor?
I.
Um. I
ll move approval.
I move approval. Do we have a
vote?
No, we need a second. Okay,
okay.
Then. Everybody.
Yes. Hi.
All right.
Okay. Fantastic. Thank you very
much.
Okay.
Are there any more?
Um, yes. Our next item is
committee reports. So I
ll go
ahead and share that with you.
Um, so our design review
committee has not met. The
selection committee also has
not met. Um, but we previously
or we I wanted to go over our
membership for those two
committees. Um, as we have a
new member. Um, city council
recently appointed two new
members to hpc and, um, and
right now we currently have
Susan Daughtry, Rebecca Smith,
Sidney McLeod, um, David
Dennard and David Dennard on
the Design Review Committee.
There is one vacant position on
that committee. Um, the
selection committee members
have three slots open. Please
excuse that. Um, that Mistype,
um, and Matthew Cox and Kamari
Carter are currently on those
committees. So if we have any
volunteers for a committee, uh,
that would be fantastic.
Okay.
Is there any, um, like,
timeline or for those
committees? Um.
Timeline. How so? Like a
monthly meeting?
Like, should we have me? Should
we meet before the next
meeting? I mean, you know, or..
Design review committee meets
as needed. So. So when there
s
a Coa application, um, that for
a major work, for example, um,
that will need the approval of
the design review committee
before coming to hpc. That
s
when they
ll meet. So that
s a
case by case basis. Okay. Um,
the selection committee has not
met. Um, they don
t necessarily
have a monthly meeting time.
And that
s something that the
selection committee would, um,
do themselves. Okay.
I thought we were limited to
four.
So we were limited to four
people on each. Um, committee.
With the change of the rule
procedure. Rule of procedure?
Um, we now no longer have the
publicity committee. So
initially there were four to
each committee. Now there are
five to each committee. Um, as
our, uh, hpc typically has ten
members, the amount is ten
members. Um, so those spots
will be filled once we are a
full commission. Again.
And.
Oh, and yes, the fifth. The
fifth person on the, um, on
each committee is the
alternate. Right. Um, of that
committee. So that person will
not necessarily attend every
committee meeting. They will
attend ones where there might
be somebody who MAY not be able
to attend. Um, because there
needs to be at least two people
at each committee meeting in
order for it to be a committee
meeting. But we cannot have
five, as that is quorum.
That is a quorum of the.
Historic.
Hpc. Commission for our new
member. So we can
t if we do
that, we
d have to advertise
and do those things.
Thank you.
And that makes sense. Sure.
Yes.
Okay.
So.
What
s our working definition
of a full committee?
A full committee would be full.
Four people. Yes. Okay. And
then? And then there would be
one alternate.
That
s our working definition.
Yes. And then there would be
one alternate who would fill
that? That fifth position as as
somebody who would, um, come to
either committee meeting when
as needed.
Would you say either committee?
Do you mean the design review
committee or the selection
committee? Yes. Thank you.
No, they would pick a
committee.
Sure.
All right. Great. Thank you
very much. Um, if we have any,
um, volunteers for committees,
um, please let me know whether
it be at this meeting or after.
Thank you very much.
Uh, the selection committee.
Okay.
Fantastic.
I will talk to you down for
that. All right. Fantastic. Um,
so, on to minor works updates.
We have had one minor work
since our last meeting. Um, at
the, I believe the Proctor
Young house. Um, for routine
maintenance, for restoring
peeling paint. Um, and I have
one announcement for you. Uh,
the historic window
preservation and restoration
workshop that is happening on
Saturday, JULY 11th. You should
have received an email from me
or several, um, and we are
advertising on all platforms.
Um, website. Um, social media
and, um, we have shared this
with adjoining, um, communities
as well with their hpc and, and
their staff. Um, to let them
know that this is an
opportunity, a learning
opportunity for window
preservation. Um, if you are
interested, please join us.
This does, um, count towards
your training opportunities as
as commission members? Um, I
sent I sent an email with
detailed information on that.
Um, so please let me know if
you have any questions on this
workshop. And this qr code here
on the screen is is for
registration.
Is this capped at a certain
number? No. So it
s just.
Yep, yep. We just have
registrations that we are aware
of how many we might.
Have.
And where.
The time.
Yeah. It is at 9 A.M. On
Saturday.
Right in front of me. No
worries.
It helps to read.
Yeah.
No worries at all. I
ll let you
know. It
s, um. It
s Saturday,
JULY 11th, from 9 A.M. To 12
P.M.. Okay. Um, we have
Colliers Engineering and Design
has partnered with us, and
they
ve hired, um, uh, David,
who does, um, who is an expert
in his field for for window
preservation. He
s with double
hung window preservation. Um,
and and it will be at the Eppes
Recreation Center in the
multi-purpose room. And, uh,
there will be some hands on
learning opportunities as well
as educational presentations.
So, um, please join us if you
can.
For any member, you might
explain why the training
matters.
Oh, absolutely. Ah, we had we
had an orientation yesterday.
Never mind. So so all good on
that on that end. Um, but yes,
the window workshop, I believe
MR. Hitchcock is looking
forward to it. Um, and I just I
did want to I did want to also
mention the Design Standards
task force. Um, we have had
four meetings up until this
point, and we have two left.
Um, it
s been going great. Um,
Andrew can speak on it if you
d
like to, but, um, but yeah, our
next two meetings are AUGUST
19th and SEPTEMBER 9th. The
next one will be on our last
section of the design
standards. And our last one on
SEPTEMBER 9th will be the
review of the finished draft.
Um, and once that is complete,
that final draft should come to
hpc in the OCTOBER NOVEMBER
timeline. That
s what we are
looking at right now.
I want to confirm you said our
next meeting was AUGUST 19th
with us.
No, not with us. Our meeting
will still be our routine
monthly. Gotcha. This is, um.
This is for the Design
Standards Task Force.
Gotcha. Thank you.
Yeah, absolutely.
Then the consultants are, I
think, doing a very good job of
making it more readable,
clarifying. Mhm. Moving.
Clarifying what our standards
and what our best practices.
But I encourage the commission
when that comes to them to read
those carefully because there
s
some interesting questions
there. Well I mean about what
s
the standard. What
s the best
practice. What what
s a hill
will die on. What
s something
we don
t.
Yes. And that will be sent out
before the meeting. So there
will be um, there will be due
time for you to to review the
standards and come back with
any questions, comments or
concerns. That
s good.
That
s good. Also, the the
email that you mentioned that
we can be a part of the review
or. No.
If you would like to join the,
the, um, the task force. Yes,
absolutely. Um, so feel free
to. I know we had spoken about
that. Um, so if you
re
interested in, in coming to the
next two task force meetings.
Absolutely.
Sure.
Thank you. Um.
Thank you. Great. That
s all I
have.
Anything else? Uh, well, do I
have a ready for adjournment?
Motion?
Uh. Yes. Sorry for adjournment.
I
ll move to adjourn.
Second.
I
ll second.
Anybody in approval?
Aye. All right.
All right. Thank you for your
time.
All right. Good evening. I
d
like to call the AUGUST 10th,
2026 meeting of Greenville City
Council to order. I
m Mayor pj
Conley. I
ll be presiding over
tonight
s meeting. First, I
d
like to call on Council Member
Jones for the invocation,
followed by the Pledge of
Allegiance.
If you join me in prayer, dear
Lord, we come before you with
gratitude for the opportunity
to serve our community. We ask
you for your wisdom, guidance,
and discernment as we consider
the matters before us today.
Help us to listen with open
minds. Speak with respect and
take this this discussion with
fairness, integrity and
compassion. Remind us that our
responsibility is to serve all
members of our community, and
to work together for the common
good. Give us patience,
humility, and courage to do
what is right. MAY our
decisions promote peace,
safety, opportunity, and the
well-being of every person and
family we represent. Bless our
city, its residents, its
leaders, and all those who work
to make our community a better
place. MAY we leave this
meeting committed to serving
others with wisdom, honesty and
grace. In your name we pray.
Amen.
Amen. Amen. Please stand for
the Pledge of Allegiance.
Pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of
America. And to the Republic
for which it stands. One nation
under GOD, indivisible, with
liberty and justice for all.
MADAM Clerk, will you please
call the roll?
Yes, sir. Mayor Conley here.
Mayor Pro tem Forman. Council
member. Jones here. Council
member. Hardy. Here. Council
member Scalise, let us know. He
will not be attending this
evening. Council member
Robinson here. Council member
Wallace here. All right. Mayor
Connolly, have a quorum.
Thank you very much. We
ll now
move on to approval of
tonight
s agenda. MISTER
Manager, any recommend changes?
No changes. Do I have a motion
to approve the agenda?
Motion to approve. Second.
All right. Motion to be made by
Council. Jones. Second by
Councilmember Robinson. All
those in favor say aye.
Aye, aye.
Those opposed say nay.
Motion passes five zero.
Thank you.
Move on to special recognitions.
Good evening. Um, tonight we
would like to recognize our
newest junior fire marshal
Academy graduates. So if you
guys would come on up and join
us on the stage. So while
they
re while they
re coming
up, um, this is our 12th year
of the junior fire marshal
Academy. Uh, we
re really
excited. It
s an exciting week
for us. And it
s an exciting
week for our staff because we
get to bring in these bright,
beautiful faces in from the
outside and teach them some
very important topics, such as
fire prevention, water safety.
We teach them how to use fire
extinguishers, different first
aid topics, and how to do cpr
and which, uh, you don
t think
that that really makes a
difference to the kids this
age, but it does, because what
they do is they go home and
they teach other people and
other friends how to do it, and
it prepares them in the event
of an emergency. So we
re super
excited. We had a really great
week this year. Again, this is
our 12th year and it just gets
better and better every year.
But we just want to recognize
these cadets. Um, Chief Bedford
and Grace, they do a great job
through our life Safety
division of putting this on
every year. And there
s a lot
of city staff. It
s no one
department that does this.
It
s, um, you know, all the
departments come together to
help us out with the different
things we need during that
week. So, chief, better than
anything you
d like to add or.
No, I.
Just want to thank all the
parents that got them there.
Uh, every day during the week.
I know there was a week to get
them there, but we really had a
great time with all.
Of you.
So thank you.
All.
Okay. I
m going to let them
tell you their names.
So.
Levi.
DeAndre.
Hey then Josh, Charlie, Gabe.
Collier, Carson. Wyatt,
Matthew. Nolan.
All right, one more big round.
Of applause to our newest
graduates. And hopefully
they
ll they
ll.
Be looking for a job here soon.
And we
ll get them ready to go.
Oh, in the payroll.
Volunteer.
Fire station.
Eight.
Staffing for fire station
eight.
That
s right.
All the phones.
About two stars.
I heard one of them say I
thought the city manager was a
lot cooler.
Did you see him.
Leave me hanging my hands.
Hi, stranger. Danger. Smart
kids.
Huh?
All right, we
ll move on now to
the public comment period. The
public period is a period
reserve for comments by the
public. Items that were or
scheduled to be subject to a
public hearing conducted this
meeting or other meeting during
the same week shall not be
discussed. A total of 30
minutes is allocated, with each
individual being allowed no
more than three minutes.
Individuals who are registered
with City Clerk will speak in
the order Register until the
allotted 30 minutes expires. If
time remains. After all persons
have registered have spoken,
individuals who do not register
will have an opportunity to
speak until the allotted 30
minutes expires. MADAM Clerk,
our first Speaker..
Yes, sir. MR. Don Cavallini,
you have three minutes to
address the mayor and council.
Good evening.
Good evening, good evening.
You know, while I was walking
from the G.K. Butterfield bus
station through downtown to
come here tonight, uh, I kind
of marveled how beautiful the
city is and how fortunate I am
to live in this city for the
last 41 years. Um, truly
blessed. Uh. Tonight, I
m not
talking for anybody but myself.
Even though I am a member of
the Cambridge Neighborhood
Association of the road. And in
fact, a past PRESIDENT Of that
association. And I
m presently
the co-chair of the Pike County
Coalition Against Racism. I
attended the workshop, the
working session prior to this,
uh, city council meeting, and
they talked about a critical a
criteria point system for
placing of traffic calming
devices. You know, uh, speed
bumps, uh, speed mitigation of
some kind. And I noticed I, um,
I kind of wondered what it
includes incidents when people
have died by vehicle. I didn
t
hear that mention, but I might
have missed something in my
neighborhood, which is
overwhelmingly
African-American. We
ve noticed
when someone loses their life,
uh, in the university
neighborhood, for example, on
10th Street, traffic stops for
pedestrian signs are placed.
Whereas when two people were
run over in my hookah road
neighborhood in the last five
years, all we got was rumble
stick signs and rumble strips.
I think they call them. So I
m
wondering about this disparity.
Um, and I also wonder sometimes
when things like curfews are
recommended downtown for people
who are less than 18 years old,
what are we trying to do? I can
understand the threat that a
teen takeover might pose, but
to have a curfew from Thursday
to Saturday from 11 to 6 on all
18 year olds, I mean, all of
those under 18, I wonder how
that will be enforced and
whether that too will be a
disparity. Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay. Thank you, MADAM Clerk.
Our next speaker.
Yes, sir. Next speaker is MR.
Matthew Greenview. I
m very
sorry if I got that wrong, but
you have three minutes to
address the mayor and council.
I just wanted to express my
concern about flock safety. Um,
you know, when I first heard
about flock, uh, they said they
were said to have located
10,000 missing children. And
then I looked into it a little
further, and the numbers are
provided from an internal
database provided by Flock
Safety, which is the company
that runs flock cameras. Um,
flock cameras have already been
proven to be abused by police
officers in 50 proven
instances. Uh, we don
t know
how many more have not been
documented. Uh, it
s an $8.4
billion industry. And my main
concern is that flock cameras
are going to be used to survey
and track ordinary citizens.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, MADAM
Clerk. Our next speaker.
We do not have any additional
registered speakers.
Anyone else like to speak to
the public? Comment here.
Please come forward. State your
name. For the record, the first
person has three minutes. None.
We
ll close public comment
period. We
ll move on to the
consent agenda, MR. Manager.
Thank you. Mayor.
Consent agenda, item number
two. Approval of minutes. Item
number three, approval of the
amended general record schedule
for local government agencies.
Item number four conveyance of
right of way in easements for
the North Carolina Department
of Transportation project. Us
5917. State road 1704 East 14th
Street. Widening from Red Banks
Road to State Road 1708. East
Fire Tower Road. Item number
five. Resolution authorizing
the conveyance of city owned
real property located at 710
Fleming Street. Parcel number
06335 and 817 Fleming Street.
Parcel number ten 824 to
habitat for Humanity of Pitt
County, I. Number six
resolution approving lease
agreements for Hazard
Mitigation grant program
properties. Item number seven
renewal of municipal agreements
with the North Carolina
Department of Transportation
for traffic Signal Maintenance,
item number eight.
Authorization to apply for
assistance to Firefighters.
Grant to fund ems equipment and
training. Item number nine
authorization to apply for
assistance to firefighters.
Grant to purchase a firefighter
fighting vehicle. Item number
ten contract award to Allied
Universal Security Services for
security and risk mitigation
services at gk Butterfield
Transportation Center. Item
number 11 construction contract
award for Woodland Park
improvements. Item number 12
purchase of water feature
equipment for a town common
bulkhead. Project I, number 13
construction contract award for
the Wildwood Park West Side
Parking and Pier project. Item
number 14. Requests by police
department to utilize asset
forfeiture funds to purchase
equipment and item number 15.
Various tax refunds greater
than $100.
All right.
I
d like to pull item number
11.
Motion to. Approve items two.
Through 15 minus item 11,
pursuant. COUNCILMAN, of
course.
Right.
That
s a motion been made by
Councilmember Robinson. Second
by Councilmember Willis. All
those in favor say aye. Aye,
aye. Those opposed say nay.
Motion passes five zero.
Move on to item number 11.
Thank you. Mayor. Item number
11. Construction contract award
for Woodland Park improvements.
I now call forward executive
director Don Octagon to answer
any questions.
Mayor Marion Hardy. Good
evening, good evening, good
evening. Yes, sir.
Glad to answer any question you
MAY have.
Uh, know that when we first
talked about this project,
there was some different
features that were up for
consideration due to their are
with funding, uh, rollover from
the Town Common project. And I
was just wondering if there was
an exact, you know, detailed
scope of work that is going to
be completed over there at, uh,
Woodland Park.
Sure. Yeah. So, uh, this
project is, uh, we received a
$500,000 Ada grant from the
state. Uh, so it
ll be
enhancing the Ada access, uh,
in the park. Uh, we
ll have
improvements to the shelter,
have a multi-use, uh, sports
court on site. We have two Ada
parking spots, uh, new
playground equipment. Uh,
that
s for ages. Um, for
teenagers. So that it
s it
s
for the ages that live in the
in the area. Um, also, we have
other, um, elements such as a
foosball table and also
cornhole, uh, which was
requested in the, in the, uh,
input meeting that we had on
site. Uh, so nothing was cut
from the, from the project. Um,
the city itself performing some
of the items which help lower
the cost. Um, but we were able
to move forward with the full
project design.
Perfect.
Thank you.
Cool.
Motion to approve.
Second.
All right. Motion.
Councilmember. Already signed
by Councilmember Robinson. All
those in favor say aye.
Aye, aye.
Opposed.
Motion passes five zero.
Hey, before we move into, uh,
new business. Do you want to
highlight some of the great
things that we
re in that, I
mean, even though we didn
t
talk about it, we didn
t pull.
Those.
Yeah. So I tell you, I
ll tell
you what. Yeah. You know, uh,
thank you, mayor, for that,
because normally many of these
items would have actually been
presented as presentations, but
we just have so many great
projects on this council agenda
tonight that we had to
abbreviate the agenda. But not
only do we have the
improvements to Woodlawn Park,
which have been years in the
making, we also have a water
feature that
s been installed
down at the town common
bulkhead. It
s a water feature
centered around stormwater
retention and clean energy that
will be available for kids to
enjoy. There
s a contract award
for Wildwood Park to, uh, to
build a fishing pier and a and
a parking lot on the west side.
That is a project that is, uh,
been put into place through a
collaboration with with, um,
golly bridge, Baton Rouge
ballot is, uh, he is funding
that project for us. And so
just some, some great projects
that we have that are over
there in the on the town common
side.
Excellent. Yes. All right.
Let
s move on to new business.
All right. Under new business,
item number 16, presentation by
boards of commissions. The
first presentation will have is
the Multimodal Transportation
Commission. I will now call
forward on multimodal
transportation chair James Byrd
for the presentation.
MISTER Manager, it looks like,
um, Doctor Byrd has maybe
walked out. Is he on the way?
I think he assumed it was
longer than that.
That
s all right. We can go
back to him. You want to. Do
you want to skip? We
ll go.
Next to the plan.
That
s fine.
We
ll move on to the second
presentation. The planning and
zoning Commission. I
ll call
for the pnc CHAIRMAN, John
Collins, for the presentation.
All right. Well, I have the
text. All right. So, uh, good
evening, council members.
I
m John Collins, I
m the.
I
m sorry. You just got to
scroll through the PRESIDENT.
Sure.
I don
t really. Let
s see. All
right.
You got this, John.
Mine
s a little shorter. We
ll
get there. All right.
So I
m John Collins. I
m the
chair of the city of Greenville
Planning and Zoning Commission,
planning and zoning Commission
is composed of seven regular
members and two alternate
members that reside inside the
corporate limits of the city
and are appointed by the city
council and two of the regular
members and one alternate
member reside in the limits of
the extraterritorial
jurisdiction of the city, and
are appointed by the Pitt
County Commissioners.
The purpose.
Of the Commission is to review
and make recommendations to
City Council for rezoning its
extensions. Text amendments.
Comprehensive plan adoption or
amendments. Street closings,
street name changes, and to
review and make final decisions
on preliminary subdivision
plats. All meetings are open to
the public. Our activity over
the past year be considered 32
applications. 14 of them were
rezoning requests, five were
text amendments, ten
preliminary plats, one future
land use and Character Map
amendment, and two street
closings. Now, there are
significant item of activity
was the consideration of the
Unified Development Ordinance,
or Udo, in preparation, a
special public meeting was held
to give the commissioners a
preliminary view of the major
changes for the proposed Udo
and to provide an opportunity
to ask questions and give
comments. At the SEPTEMBER
16th, 2025 Planning and Zoning
Commission meeting, the
Commission unanimously
recommended approval of the
Udo. I
d like to thank city
staff for the preparation of
the report. Are there any
questions?
Any questions?
Great work.
Yeah.
Thank you, thank you, thank you
for what you do. Thanks. Okay.
Thank you, mayor. And we
ll
move back up to the Multimodal
Transportation Commission. And
now call for a multimodal
transportation chairperson,
James Burke, for the
presentation.
Thank you folks.
Thank you. So have everybody.
Doing here tonight. I
ve had a
bit of a health issue, so I had
to step out. So, uh, so I
m
happy. Are these my slides?
Looks like it.
Yes, sir. Okay.
My slides next.
Let
s see.
Thank you. Any of you know
Mona? She
s the co-chair of my
committee. And she attends a
lot of meetings, so thankfully,
she can help me here. Uh, so
this is the Greenville
Multimodal Transportation
Commission, our 2025 annual
report. And we want people to
join us. Several people do join
us regularly. We meet every
third Wednesday of every of the
month. And the months are
listed here. Uh, we meet at 530
in the conference room. A great
conference room at the
Butterfield Transportation
Center. So our purpose is to
advance and encourage
multimodal options for
community members and visitors
for Greenville. I think in some
ways, we
re looking at what are
the ways to get around town,
enjoy getting around town
safely, not in automobiles. So
whether it be by walking,
biking, riding, taking a bus.
Uh, we think there need to be
other options. And then
driving. Uh, we hope to provide
advice and recommendations to
the city council and issues
about public transportation,
micromobility bikes and
pedestrians. Uh, part of this
you
re going to see is very
similar to last year. Uh, I am
now the chair. Mona is the
co-chair. Uh, and the following
people, uh, three people are
the new members. Uh, last year
we came to you and, uh, we had
five members. We
re two short
of what the full commission
would be. The only two people
remaining from last year are
MISS Epps and myself. So we
ve
had fairly dramatic turnover.
Uh, we
ve had at least two of
our meetings where we didn
t
have a quorum, so we got a lot
more done through 2025. And we
just introduced MISTER Nichols,
MISTER Ramsey and MR. Ruffin at
our last meeting. So in
activities, uh, I think one of
the big ones that we will be
involved with is the nct dot
Pedestrian Safety Grant. I
think that was headed up by
the, uh, by Kat Dale, who
previously was the co-chair of
our committee. Uh, there she
is. Um, and we, I think are
excited. And we
ll see in just
a minute that we have been
quite excited about the micro
transit. Uh, uh, launch. I
presume you folks have heard
about that and and given
updates on the, uh, the, uh,
the rideshare and the
opportunities to call in for
rides and the, uh, area one
about north of the river has
been pretty exciting with the
growth from that. And while
they
ve continued to maintain
ridership on the fixed routes
in that area. So and these are
the things that have been
addressed and I think are being
worked on on a regular basis.
Uh, funding for sidewalk infill,
uh, working on Ada
noncompliance, uh, looking at
we just talked about the Ido,
uh, but street tree and
sidewalk ordinances. Um, I am
going to get a I thought I had
five minutes, but somebody told
me I have ten. Uh, at the end
of my talk, I just have some
slides of some streets in the
city. I was going to focus a
little bit on my street. Why is
it my street? Because I
ve
driven it for at least twice a
day for the past 25 years,
coming down Arlington
Boulevard. It
s not really my
street. Um, but it is a street
this 5.3 miles long, and it has
a continuous sidewalk for
99.8%. If anybody up here can
tell me the 200ft that there
s
not a sidewalk, you win a bag
of candy that I brought with
me. So does anybody know where
it is? Okay, well, think about
it. Uh, historically, my
teaching partner and I at the
School of Medicine, we take
either cookies or candy with
our group, and sometimes we
give it out freely, and
sometimes they have to answer
questions properly to win a
prize. Uh, I think that we
ve
been interested in curb
extensions issue of using
billed funds. Uh, and we
ve had
great help from agencies in the
city, individuals, the city.
And we wanted to highlight Lisa
Kirby, who I spoke with at
length today. Uh, Sergeant Erin
Lemon, Major Montane, Jeff
Rasco, and again, I think the
micro transit pilot of some of
the bus stop upgrades. Um, I
will point on my road now,
Arlington Boulevard, between
the fire tower and, uh, and
there are now six new, uh,
benches that were not there
before, which is pretty
exciting that people waiting
for buses don
t have to stand,
but they can sit. Um, since we
have three new members I left
up and read here that we have
not changed our priorities from
last year and our first
meeting. We did not have the
opportunity to get the input
from the three new members
about what they would like to
do with our group over the next
year, so we stayed with these
priorities. So, and I think
that we
re clearly interested
in adding bike and pedestrian
facilities. Um, and I will talk
a little bit if we look like we
will get to my slides about how
we stripe roadways, how we
stripe the crosswalks that we
have in the city. And I think,
uh, looking for uniformity. So
pedestrians and people who are
driving understand when they
come to a corner, uh, what
these crosswalks mean. Um,
center lines, um, bike lanes
are a real challenge. Uh, I was
originally, uh, approached to
join this, uh, committee
because I lived for 20 years in
Milwaukee, in Minneapolis,
which are two of the most bike
friendly, walking friendly
cities in the United States.
And there
s a tremendous number
of bike lanes, and I
d love to
see them here. Uh, again, I
visited crosswalks and unmarked
intersections and high
pedestrian areas. Right now,
most of our crosswalks will be
where we have a traffic light
rather than an unmarked
intersection. Um, slower
speeds, safer roads. Uh, this
past year, you guys lowered the
speed limit on 10th Street,
which was a great idea by ecu.
And I think there
s other
opportunities to lower our
speeds. And then another one is
we
d love to get new people
here. I think that was a pretty
audacious goal when we said
that. But I think people like
to come where they can
recreate, where they can move
around the city safely. Uh,
when I was in Minneapolis going
to medical school, I could bike
about seven miles across the
city safely to and from school.
I
d love to be able to have our
medical students be able to do
that here in green. So, um, and
you can read that. So I think
there
s a lot going on. There
s
a lot left to be done. And then
we have other opportunities
that MAY come our way. So I
ll
stop there. That
s what we did.
And this is sort of extra
credit to show you guys a few
things that have caught my
attention. Yes, I go along
Arlington Boulevard over the
past few days, a few weeks, 25
years. Okay, let me move on.
This is, uh, if you take a look
across the road just below the
American flag, there is a new
crossing signal there. And this
is at Arlington and Red banks.
And that
s pretty exciting. We
haven
t had one of those in a
long time. I will point out
that between, uh, uh, Fire
Tower Road and, uh, and Red
banks, there is no way to cross
Arlington. And this is the
first place where we can cross
the cross Street. And that
s
1.3 miles. So please take a
look at the crosswalk there.
This is at Arlington and Red
Bank. Um, this is at, uh, the
next place you can cross a
street on Arlington is at
Greenville Boulevard. This is
you can see at the Greenville
Mall. You can see we have a
different type of crosswalk
here. We have one where we have
the horizontal lines across.
Uh, I did, and speaking to MISS
Kirby, uh, apparently this is
going to be the preferred way
that we will mark our
crosswalks in the future. And
even though they have the brand
new, uh, hand up to, uh, allow
you to come across the street
at Red banks, we don
t have the
crosshatch at. And hopefully
that could be coordinated by
the time that is going. Now, I
mixed up on putting a slide in
here. This was supposed to be
the next place you can cross
the street, which was at Evans.
Uh, this happens to be a
crossing at, uh, I think at,
um, Memorial in Arlington. But
the picture is the same. And
what you have here, can you see
the crosswalk on this side of
the street? The crosswalk is a
couple of white dots. There.
It
s missing. It
s been gone.
It
s been gone for a long time.
Uh, that same thing exists when
you walk across, uh. Uh, Evans,
when you
re on Arlington. And
so we have three consecutive
crosswalks, ones the brand new
crosswalks is plain. We
ve got
the one, the next one, which is
a crosswalk, fairly well
painted. It
s got the the
horizontal lines. And then we
have another one that is
horizontal lines but basically
not painted. And there
s a
question as to how do we get
around to fixing these things.
And you know, in this case,
when I talked to Lisa Kirby,
she was appreciative. The fact
that I brought it up and she
said it could then be by my
call, be put on the list to be
put hopefully higher up in the
queue to be taken care of. So.
Uh, so this is one of these
great new benches that we have,
uh, in Arlington that go from
fire tower to, to Red banks.
There
s six of them over that
1.3 mile stretch. This is at
Turtle Creek, and I want to
step back a little bit. We have,
um, just before that, we have
a, uh, a charter school, the
Walden School, which is
adjacent to this daycare on
Arlington. Oh, now, this slide,
this. Oh, well, and what we
have there is so we have a
school. We have we have six
benches. And then that whole
stretch on either side of the
road, if you
re down there, you
know, there are businesses. I
will say that on the sidewalk
that goes from.
Uh.
From Fire Flower to fifth
Street, every street, every
business, there is an
appropriate cut out for
wheelchairs and other wheeled
ability to get down. That
s
pretty awesome. It
s absolutely
uniform. Uh, but we now have
buses and we have six benches,
and we have many people who
reside on either side of
Arlington. But the people who
are on the west side of
Arlington, the question is, how
do they get across the street
to be able to access the bus to
go where? If they would like to
go? And I think to me, as you
know, somebody who
s lived here
for a long time, who
s an older
guy, MR. Cavallini, who
s been
here 41 years, I
ve only been
here 31 years. Uh, I think part
of being on a, citizen
commission is to say we
re just
use common sense. If we want
people to ride the buses and
we
ve got a busy road that is
extremely hard to cross. You
know, we have three delineated
cars that are on the roads
between fire Tower and Red
banks because there are so many
challenges with people turning
left either off Arlington, onto
Arlington, and we
ve had many
accidents. Um, so yes, we move
ahead. Those are some of the
things that we would like to
discuss. We would like to bring
back to your attention at at
future dates. So that was my
extra credit.
To them.
All right. So anybody would
know where the 200ft that we
don
t have a sidewalk. And MISS
Kirby said they
ll look into
it. So one of the delineations
that comes off Wimbledon, if
you turn right on Wimbledon and
start heading south on on
Arlington at the end of the
delineated, they created a
u-turn area and they created
the u-turn area. They cut out
and took away the, uh, the
sidewalk there. So that
s the
only spot where we don
t have
it. And it
s and I will say in
my time, the number of people
who walk on the sidewalk along
Arlington has increased quite
dramatically over time. Uh,
both for the people who live in
the area. There
s a lot of
people pushing their kids out
there. So it
s become popular.
And that
s that
s very good. So.
And Mona Epps is with me today.
We
re the people who will carry
on for the next year with some
of our new members. If few
people have folks who you could
send our way. Uh, with cattail
leaving, we really need
somebody from the biking
community. And we
d like to
have somebody who walks or runs.
And, uh, I have approached
three people without success so
far.
If I MAY, mayor.
Uh, I just wanted to make a
comment and ask a question as
well. Um, first, my comment is
that it sounds like this
commission is doing exactly
what it was designed to do, and
that you have found areas of
improvement and been able to
communicate with city staff.
And as you said, she
s MISS
Kirby is taking it. And we can
now respond to the request. So
I think that
s a great thing.
Um, I appreciate your
willingness to serve. Number
two, the question is, um, have
you had an opportunity to talk
with MISS Kirby about calming
mechanisms, mechanisms within
neighborhoods? Because we just
had a conversation about that.
And I
m just curious if you MAY
be able to help.
Yeah, that has not been
anything that we have
discussed. No.
Okay. I think there
s
opportunity there for their
input. Michael, um, we talked
about calming mechanisms within
neighborhoods and how there are
disparities in different
districts that we
ve seen. We
just received that information
in our workshop. And so as
we
re looking forward to just
kind of see how the it wasn
t a
formula, it was a rubric. What
was the proper term point
system? There we go. Um, as we
look at a point system as to
how different neighborhoods in
the city get calming
mechanisms, we need a little
help on trying to figure out
how we can more evenly disperse
those mechanisms. Based on the
requests that we get from
neighborhoods. So I think
that
s an opportunity where you
might be able to help us.
i agree with you some of the
calming things that we use
aren
t very expensive. And
sometimes you want you want a
fairly inexpensive fix to a
simple problem. It
s common
sense.
While keeping people safe.
So keeping people safe for
sure.
Awesome. If we can make sure
that we make that happen.
Michael, I think that would be
beneficial to us.
We can take care of it. So
we
ll ask Donna to put it on
the agenda. We will, for our
second, not the next meeting.
Right?
Yes.
Ma
am.
She
s taking care of me
tonight. Thanks.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you
for coming out.
All right. We
ll move on to
item number 17.
Thank you. Mayor. Item number
17. Construction contract award
for a boardwalk to connect
Wildwood Park to River Park
North. I
ll call it our
projects manager, Mark
Nottingham, with the
presentation.
Council.
It
s a good timing. Uh, since
we
ve.
Just fallen off the multimodal
commission and talk about a
multimodal project here at our
park. Um, just to remind
everybody where this project is
located, showing the Wildwood
Park map that shows the network
of trails there. Um, on your
consent agenda was also the
fishing pier that Michael
mentioned. Um, you can see
that, uh, location on the
northern part of the lake
there. So I
ll provide that
first, you know, uh, improved
access to that side of Wildwood
Park, and then you can see the
location of the boardwalk
project here, connecting to the
easternmost portion of the
existing trail at River Park,
North. Uh, this is just a
zoomed out, uh, map of our park
and River Park. North York
City
s two largest parks. River
Park North is over 400 acres,
while it
s about 365. Um, and
they they touch each other. So
this boardwalk will really
connect those those two parks,
uh, and their trail networks.
River Park North has like five
miles of existing trails.
Wildwood has five miles of
trails, in addition to six
miles of mountain bike trails.
Um, so this really connects,
uh, quite a network of existing
trails. And then, uh, you can
see the proposed north south
connector that, um, our
engineering department
s
working on with ncdot that will
connect Town Common in the
South Tar River Greenway. Uh,
two Rear Park North, which
will, you know, with this
project being completed,
connect to Wildwood.
Park.
Um, so, just as a reminder, the
city, uh, in FEBRUARY, uh, got
notified that we did receive a
great, great, great trail state
grant. Um, or $500,000 to go
towards this project. Uh, this
project has been designed
since, um, like 2022. I mean,
it
s been in the works for a
while. We completed some of the
other elements of the project,
like the boardwalk on the east
side of Wildwood Park. Uh, so
this is, uh, 685ft, uh, to
connect Wildwood to River Park,
North. Um, this was, you know,
recommended in the Walmart.
Wildwood Park master plan. And
the city
s, uh, recreation park
master plan as well. So, uh, we
received three bids, um, for
construction and td, your
marine construction, uh, came
in with the lowest bid. We did
have to remove an overlooked
portion of the project to get
it closer to budget. Um, so our
recommendation is to award the
construction contract to tdo or
marine construction in the
amount of $1,505,000. We
re
glad to answer any questions
you might have.
Any questions? Anybody want to
make a motion.
To approve? Second.
All right. Motion made by
Councilmember Hardy. Second.
Councilmember Robinson. Any
other discussion? All those in
favor say aye. Aye, aye. Those
opposed say nay.
Motion passes five zero.
Thank you very much. Move on.
Item 18.
Thank you. Mayor. Item number
18. Construction contract award
for the site work at the North
Recreational Complex. You can
call forward our executive
director, Don Octagon, for the
presentation.
Hi.
Good evening again.
Good evening.
All right, so, um, this, uh,
this is actually a two, two
part item. Item 18 is for the
site work for this, uh,
construction project. And item
19 is the synthetic turf
purchase. Uh, but first we
ll
talk about the, uh,
construction contract, which
includes all site work. This is
a quick reminder of the review
of ecu and city lease. Uh,
timeline. Uh, so back in
SEPTEMBER, uh, City council
approved the proposed lease
terms. SEPTEMBER 2025, uh, City
Council approved the proposed
lease terms with ecu to operate
on the Rec. Um, city staff will
be, uh, operating that complex
fully in JANUARY. Uh, the
transition is still going
smooth with ecu, so we
re
looking forward to that. Uh,
back in NOVEMBER, um, City
Council approved the design
service agreement for nrc
improvements, which got us here
tonight for the, uh, consider
approval of the construction
contract.
For site.
Work.
Uh, this is also a reminder
that the sports complex task
force recommendation, uh, in
JANUARY 2025, included, uh, the
successful, if successful
negotiation with ecu, uh, that
we move forward with the
design. Uh, that design, of
course, is complete. So tonight
we
re reviewing the
construction contract. So the
focus area work is seen here.
So this is east, uh, east north
recreational complex. Uh, it
s
128 acre complex located on
highway 264. Has currently has
eight rectangle natural grass
fields with lights. Uh, to host
soccer, lacrosse, tackle, flag
football and other rectangle
sports. Uh, the scope of work
for this contract will include
grading and subgrade
preparation, installation of
new stormwater infrastructure,
uh, and drainage improvements
necessary to support the
reconstructed athletic fields
and improve on site stormwater.
Again, the focus area here is
in that red is outlined there.
The four fields outlined will
be the ones that will be part
of the construction. Uh JULY
2028 JULY 28th, 2026. The city
received four bids for the
construction of the site
working nrc, uh, Fred Smith
Company has the lowest
responsive and responsible bid.
Uh, one site work is complete
in 2027. Charlotte Sports Turf
will install the synthetic
turf, which is the next item.
Uh, shown here is the
construction site plan, uh,
shows the four fields, uh, two
of the fields. We focus on
soccer. Uh, and then the two
other fields will be focused on
lacrosse. Um, grass fields. And
these fields can usually be can
be used for other sports. But
the main sports that the lines
will hold. Uh, the permanent
lines will be soccer and
lacrosse. Uh, so our
recommendation is to award the
construction contract to Fred
Smith Company in the amount of
$4,032,876 and authorize the
city manager and mayor to
execute the acquired contract
documents. I
ll be glad to
answer any questions.
Any questions?
I have a question, mayor. Um,
what other sports can be can be
played on those fields. You
mentioned about that primarily
would be soccer and lacrosse,
but what other sports?
Uh, flag football. Uh, ultimate
frisbee. Um, there
s some other
sports, uh, and events that are
our cvb and, uh, uh, sports
commissioner trying to recruit
to Greenville. Uh, so really,
the if he can fit on the
rectangle field, we can make it
happen.
We can do it.
I remember, uh, Andrew Schmitt
at one time saying something
about the Harry Potter.
Yeah, exactly.
Guess that
s real.
Big, too.
Out there, he said, that
s like
a big traveling thing now, too.
I had no idea.
Quit it. Quidditch is what it
s
called. Twister on.
What
s it called?
Quidditch. Ball. Quad ball. Oh,
there you go. It
s like.
So the size of the fields.
Will be.
Conducive to football games.
Yes, ma
am.
Yeah.
And rugby and rugby. Also
another sport. Pretty much any
man.
I
m sorry.
And the proximity of those
fields. Are there. So where
would spectators be?
So spectators would be, uh, see
if field one. There
ll be
bleachers in between field one,
field two, and then field two
and three. Uh, most of these
tournaments, they will bring,
uh, spectators will bring their
chairs, but we will have some
bleachers out there. Uh, the
same thing between 3 and 4. And
then the grass fields will also
have bleachers.
If you
re on field 2 or 3 as a
spectator, you better bring a
helmet.
And as we bring in tournaments,
we
ll be able to explain and
add bleachers as as needed.
Good question.
Any other questions? I want to
make a motion.
Motion to approve.
Second.
All right. Motion made by
COUNCILMAN Robinson. Second by
Council member. Hardy. Any
other discussion? All those in
favor say aye. Aye. Opposed?
Say nay.
Motion passes five zero.
Then. Item number 19. Purchase
of Shore Sports Turf for the
North Recreational Complex was
the second part of this agenda.
Again, I
ll turn it over to Don
Ogden.
All right. So scene here is
the, uh. Again, same outline,
that we, uh, same layout we
showed before. Uh, the city has
selected Shaw Sports Turf to
supply the synthetic turf, uh,
and infield material. Uh, due
to their product and
performance achieved with their
game on technology. And I
ll
talk a little bit about the the
benefits, um, in this lap, but
also other slides coming up.
Uh, a couple of the benefits
include warranty and
maintenance. The fields we have
will have an eight year
warranty and maintenance, uh,
reduces seam tape. So the the
turf that we have, we have seen
tape, um, installed at the
factory. So they went out with
a saw that when it comes in,
that means the the seam table
last longer, uh, which will
help with long term maintenance
and requirements. Uh, which
reduces cost. Uh, game on
minimum turf is cradle to
cradle certified, which, uh,
we
ll talk about in the next
slide. And then another
important component is the turf
includes Geo field topper
infield product, uh, which will
significantly reduce the
temperature of plant service.
So a lot of synthetic fields,
uh, that don
t include this,
uh, could be hotter because of
the sun. Uh, this infield that
is included in this purchase,
uh, will help reduce the
temperature. And that way, it
will be the same as a normal
grass field. Uh, so no change
there, which ensures we have a
safe playing surface. Uh, so,
overview of synthetic turf
benefits. Um, several items are
here. Uh, it
s cheaper to
maintain annually compared to
grass fields. Uh, stable
playing surface for athletes.
Uh, play can resume quicker in
the event of inclement weather.
So in a downpour, uh, it takes
less time for these, uh, for a
turf synthetic turf field to
drain, uh, which means we have
unlimited playing hours, which
is very important. We
re trying
to recruit the type of
tournaments that we offer North
Rec, but also the minimal
preparation, uh, which helps
tournament play and also
decreases staffing needs. So
play can continue quicker. But
also, we don
t have to have
staff out there to prepare the
field. The games can keep going
on. Also want to talk about the
Cradle cradle certified? Uh, so
trusted third party
verification that ensures
products are safe for both
people and the planet. Uh, a
couple of those areas. Uh, the
certification covers, uh,
including material health,
ensuring the materials are safe
for humans and the environment,
and also clean air and climate
protection, generating clean
energy and protecting the
environment. Um, not every
company offers this type of
certification, and we feel it
s
very important, uh, for this
project. And so our
recommendation is to approve
the purchase of gaming minimum
2.25 synthetic turf and geo
fuel infield from Shell Sports
Turf and authorize the city
manager and or mayor to execute
any required documents. And
I
ll be glad to answer any.
Questions.
Any questions?
My question goes back to the
previous vote.
Yes, ma
am.
So we
ve talked about the
possibility of putting tracks
around the rectangular fields,
but they
re in such close
proximity, I don
t see where
that would ever be an option.
So for nrc, um, they felt agree
with me. I
ll go back to one of
the other maps. That
s okay.
Um, for nrc, we would have to
look at the entire complex to,
to, to kind of take us. If you
look at the north west portion
of that complex, there is
opportunity for other
development there. Uh, for
either more rectangle fields.
Uh, but also it could be a
potential to have a track right
there potentially, or some type
of, of, uh, running amenity.
Um, so we have to look at the
whole entire complex. Not not
really the, the certain, but
that
s we can certainly, uh,
take a look at that. Yes, ma
am.
Let
s do a.
Question.
Of course. My questions are
related to diversifying the.
Possibilities. Yes, ma
am. Yes,
ma
am.
All right. Any other questions?
Anybody to entertain a motion.
Motion to approve.
Second.
All right. All right. We
re
mixing it up. I like that. Must
have been made by Councilor
Robinson, second by
Councilmember Willis. All those
in favor say aye.
Aye.
Opposed?
Say nay. Motion passes five
zero.
All right. Number 20.
Thank you. Mayor. Item number
20, first amendment to enter
local agreement with Pitt
County for sale of property
located at 2815 East 10th
Street. Parcel number 29072.
And zero East fifth Street.
Parcel number 283 ten. I
ll now
call for the Assistant City
attorney, Scott Dixon, for the
presentation.
MR. Mayor, members of the
council. Um, this should be
about your shortest item
tonight, but it
s important and
related to the item that comes
right after this. The Don will
be presenting about the
proposed exchange. So tonight
before you, you guys previously
entered into an intellectual
agreement with Pitt County in
SEPTEMBER 20th, 2024, for the
sale of property located at
2815 East 10th Street and zero
East fifth Street. The
substantive components of the
previous agreement, provided
the city would facilitate the
sale of the property,
administer administration
services, and, upon
finalization of the sale of
property, provide accounting
and disburse the proceeds as
determined by the ownership
interest. Parties now desire to
amend that previously under
interlocal agreement, so that
in lieu of a sale to a third
party only, the city MAY also
exchange the property together
with monetary compensation.
Upon completion of any
exchange, the county shall be
either reimbursed in an amount
proportional to its percentage
interest in the property or the
county. Interest shall be
treated as a contribution
towards the development of a
planned sports complex. City
will continue to provide
administration and oversight.
Um. It should appear a mere
agreement should appear on the
commissioners meeting. And from
conversations with Matt and
Janice, all of them seem to
think it
s going to be a
donation. So we should get that
answer later. We can update you
guys, but all indications have
been they
re going to donate it
for the possibility of a sports
complex. They
ve both been
great. Don
s been working a lot
on this. So basically in order
for you guys to enter into the
proposed exchange or provide
authorization, we gotta amend
this to just allow that
opportunity. So in 2024, you
guys, when you, um, entered
into the initial agreement, it
was going to be sale to a
private party through an upset
bid process. That deal didn
t
really work out. I don
t think
the parties found interest in
how that was going to be worked
out. So this just changes one
thing, essentially allowing us
to do an exchange. And it also
allows us for the county to
treat their interest as a
contribution. So I
m happy to
answer any questions.
All right. Any questions for
MISTER Dixon? You weren
t
lying. This could be the
shortest one.
I tried my best. I know you all
had a long one.
All right. Anybody want to
entertain a.
Motion? Motion? Second.
All right. Motion made by
Councilmember Robinson. Second
by Councilmember Willis. All
those in favor say aye.
Aye.
Opposed?
Any motion passes five zero.
Let
s move on to item number
21.
So item number 21, resolution
approving the exchange of
property with j. B holding,
llc. Call for Executive
Director Don Octagon for the
presentation.
All right. Good evening again.
Good evening.
All right. So, um, to Scott
s
point, uh, this is part of his
item two. As far.
As the there
s going to be. Are
you gonna try to beat him.
For sure. He wins here. Come
on, try do it.
Um, however, I
ll try to get
this as efficiently as I can.
Um, so this is over. Overview
of the proposed property
exchange. Uh, property to be is
4055 us 64 Highway East, which
is adjacent to ecu North
complex. Uh, in exchange for
two a one five 10th Street, the
old highway patrol building and
cash. So over the next couple
slides, I
ll go in detail about
the properties, um, and the and
the exchange. Uh, first of all,
we
ll cover the old State
Highway Patrol building, which
again is located on 10th Street
there at the corner of fifth
Street and 10th Street. It
s
approximately two acres. Uh, in
SEPTEMBER of 2025, the city
received a, uh, appraisal, uh,
stating the market value,
current market value for this
property was 909,000, which is
the value that we used as part
of this presentation. In
exchange, other property, uh,
as the adjacent to is is
adjacent to Rec North
Recreational Complex. So parcel
23342, uh, approximately 160
acres available for economic
development. Uh, in JANUARY,
when the sports complex uh Task
force first um recommended this
property, the asking price was
about 5.5 million, which
oversees our exceeded our
budget at the time. Uh, since
then, the current asset price
has come down to 3.2 million
for this property. A little bit
more about this property. Um,
and excuse me, an appraisal
received, uh, in MARCH of 2026
that stated the current market
value for the property was
3,318,000, which is about
21,000 per acre. Um, important
to note that a potentially
acquiring acquiring this
parcel, uh, would give the city
ownership of all the property
outlined in red. So of course,
we take over management of
Acres North Recreation Complex,
which is, uh, parcel 58471. And
then, of course, we have this
parcel we
re talking about now.
And then in JANUARY, uh, the
city acquired parcels two, two,
five, zero five and 2123 south
of 264. That
s, uh, also
outlined in red. And also the
city already owns and operates
uh, Bradford Creek Soccer
Complex, which is uh, parcel
59120. So this would have in
control of all these properties
or ownership. All these
properties would, um, give the
city significant control of
what is development around the
sports complex, uh, sports,
commercial, retail,
hospitality, uh, and housing,
uh, supporting the note that we
started due diligence process,
uh, on this property. Uh, the
due diligence ends AUGUST 31st,
2026. Uh, so far, the report
returned, uh, no issues with
the property. Uh, and it
s
suitable for constructing
constructing a future sports
complex. So this is a little
outline or overview of the
property exchange in more
detail. So the first step would
be a private party purchase.
The property located adjacent
to Northgate. Uh jv Holdings
llc has offered to purchase the
property. Uh, second step would
be the city entered into an
agreement to exchange, uh, the
10th Street property, plus cash
for the property, uh, now owned
by ghb Holdings, uh, which will
be, of course, the property
adjacent to East North
Recreation Complex. And third
step will be ghb Holdings. Uh,
receives old state highway
patrol property and $2,341,000
cash from the city. Then the
city within acquire property
adjacent to the North.
Rock.
Location.
264 East.
Uh. Summary of total cash
payout. Uh, the city acquires
the parcel. Uh, so there is no
exchange? Uh, it
ll be $3.2
million. This is the selling
price. Um, if the exchange for
East 10th Street property plus
cash is approved, uh, the value
will be 2,395,538. Uh, cash
savings of five 854,000 for the
city. Uh, funding details. Uh,
total cash payout will be
2,395,000. Uh, funding source
is hotel tax capital fund. And
there
s no sufficient capacity
in the fund to acquire property
through combination of private
exchange, cash and financing.
And recommendation city Council
adopt the resolution
authorizing the exchange of
property with ghb Holdings, llc
and the city Manager Mayor to
execute any documentation
needed to effectuate the
transaction. And I
ll be glad
to answer any.
Questions.
Any questions. Anybody wanna
make a motion?
So.
Second.
All right. Motion made by
Councilmember Hardy, saved by
COUNCILMAN Robinson. Any other
discussion? All those in favor
say aye.
Aye, aye.
Those opposed say nay.
Motion passes five zero.
All right. We
ll move on to
item number 22.
Item number 22. Contract award
for the update and
implementation of the
comprehensive plan. I call for
Assistant Director Shanti Guppy
for the presentation.
Are you going to compete for
the shortest presentation?
I
m going to try. So this is
fairly straightforward. Um,
this is to update and implement
a comprehensive plan. Last
year, the city issued a request
for proposals or an rfp for
this project. Uh, Bolton Mink
was selected out of ten firms.
We do have a member of their
staff here tonight. In 2016,
the city adopted Horizon
s
2026. You hear me say all that?
As the name implies, there was
a ten year gap, which means we
are at that point where we need
to update. Um, maybe almost
completely rewrite and adopt a
new comp plan. So the main
goals and objectives for this
project obviously is to do
goals, objectives,
implementation strategies. This
is based on technical review as
well as public input. Um, some
of the main items would be
housing, land use, economic
development, mobility and city
facilities. It would also have
alignment with the goals and
objectives in our Udo alignment
with um, North Carolina General
Statutes, as well as well as
other applicable laws and then
robust and intentional public
participation. Uh, there would
be a task force that would be
established. This board would
have a device, of a group of
citizens, stakeholders and
representatives from the boards
and commissions of the city, as
well as city council members
and any others that MAY be
needed. There will be a
significant amount of public
engagement with multiple
in-person virtual meetings and
task force meetings, and then
there will be a centralized
project website, much like we
have with the Udo, which is if
you don
t go to any of the
meetings, you can still go
online to find out what
s going
on and also give input. There
will be three open houses with
three themes, and each of those
open houses will be held at
four different locations in the
city. So essentially 12
different open houses. Um, the
first cluster will be
Greenville today. The second
will be where do we want to go?
And the last one will be how
will we get there? Um, they
ll
also be a virtual open house
For each of these, and there
ll
be a presentation for those
that if you haven
t been to any
of the meetings, you can watch
the presentation and it will
bring you up to the current
information. Um, for the
adoption, there
ll be a
presentation of the
comprehensive plan at the
Planning and Zoning Commission.
They
ll make a recommendation
to council, and then it will
come to council for final
adoption. As always, these are
public hearings. This project
is expected to last
approximately 18 to 24 months.
And with that, staff is asking
you to approve the contract.
And I
ll be happy to answer any
questions.
All right. Any questions from
Scooby?
Thank you.
Anyone would like to entertain
a motion.
Second.
All right. Motion been made by
Councilmember Harris. Second by
Councilmember Willis. All those
in favor say aye.
Aye, aye.
Those opposed say nay.
Motion passes five zero.
Hey, you. Hey, you were quick.
You were there. That was.
All right, let
s move on to
item number 23.
All right. Number 23, selection
of developers and allocation of
city owned lots for the 50 and
ten affordable housing
initiative. I call forward our
program coordinator, Tony
Parker, for the presentation.
Good evening, MR. Mayor. And
city council.
Good evening Tony.
This is a selection of
developers and allocation of
city owned plots for a 1510
program. We the purpose is to
continue the implementation of
the 50 and ten affordable
housing initiative to allocate
nine city owned lots for
affordable construction and to
select qualified development
partners. Excuse me. Um, this
is kind of a timeline here. Rfp
was issued in APRIL 2026. MAY
2026. Proposals were due. We
received three proposals, uh,
MAY through JUNE 2026. Staff
evaluation. We evaluated the
qualifications, experience,
capacity, design, approach,
schedule and affordability
requirements. AUGUST 10th. Um,
tonight we
re asking for your
consideration and staff
recommendation. Um, this is
what we
re recommending for the
three construction. The three
developers. We at that, we
chose all Joy studio, Bernie
and Bernie construction.
Strictly business. Uh,
builders. Um, each will have
three plots to build on our map
right here shows where these
locations are read. Is all joy
studio, Bernie and Bernie.
Construction is in the blue and
strictly business is in the
gold or yellow. Um, we really
picked these to be
strategically located through
West Greenville. Um, the
community benefits are working
on nine new affordable
homeownership opportunities.
Um, we
re going to return some
of this vacant property to, uh,
productive use. It supports our
neighborhood revitalization of
West Greenville and also
supports our city
s affordable
housing goals and employ small
businesses, local small
businesses. So development
process is the follows. Um,
city conveys the approved lots
to selected developers. The
developers received no notice
to proceed and they had 12
months to complete the
construction. The developers
are responsible for the
financing, constructing,
marketing, and selling of the
homes. Um, each developer
market the homes through their
own real estate, professional,
and all homes will be subject
to the city
s long term
affordable affordability
requirement. Staff
recommendation is to approve
the selection of all Joy,
Bernie and Bernie and strictly
business builders and, um,
authorized city manager
negotiate and execute the
necessary paperwork. I
d be
glad to answer any questions.
All right. Any questions for
MR. Parker? I
m sorry if I
missed this, but is there,
like, a target square footage
for the houses, or is that
just. Is that coming later?
That
s coming later.
Okay. All right. Any other
questions? Anybody entertain a
motion?
Motion. To second.
Hey, I was just getting ready
to say I needed two people to
get involved, make some motion.
So I appreciate that motion
made by Councilmember Jones,
second by Mayor Pro Tem Forman.
And the discussion.
I just want to say that, um, I
know this has been a little bit
of a process, but I really
appreciate it.
It
s been it
s been a
gratifying process.
Thank you.
All right. Any other
discussion? All those in favor
say aye. Aye. Those opposed say
nay.
Motion passes five zero.
All right, let
s move. Tony.
Yes. Thank you. Tony. Um, we
ll
move on to 24.
All right. Item number 24,
memorandum of understanding
with the North Carolina Housing
Finance Agency and Pitt
Community College for the
Revive and restore a pilot
program. Again, I have a
project coordinator, Tony
Parker, to, um, with
presentation.
So we
re really excited about
this partnership. This is going
to be a great partnership, not
only for the city, but probably
for the state eventually. Um,
this is a memorandum of
understanding with the North
Carolina Housing Finance Agency
and Pitt Community College for
the Revive and Restore pilot
program. What is Revive and
restore? This is a proposed
partnership between the city,
pcc and the Finance Agency.
Will be revitalizing distressed
areas with a two pronged
approach. One is acquisition
and rehabilitation. The other
is external enhancement for
owner occupied housing. Um,
this is a scaled effort to
enhance our workforce
development. This really aligns
with our 15 and ten affordable
housing initiative. It
s funded
by the financing agency with a
$200,000 grant. So Greenville
is on the move. We
ve done good
things. 50 and ten. Affordable
housing initiative has been
very successful. As Council
Member Forman says, it
s been a
process, but it
s been a
gratifying process. Um, Lincoln
Park has been done. We
ve built
several houses over there. Um,
pcc house Relocation
Partnership. It took a lot of
work to move this house. Um,
existing city rehab programs,
um, very much involved in that.
And, um, the ongoing code
enforcement efforts are
happening. We have affordable
housing investments across West
Greenville. And the key point,
the key reality is we have all
the apparatus ready to go on
this. And the next one is a
little.
Success story.
We just want to show you that
we
re.
Moving towards.
Um, it seems like it
s been a
long time coming, but it really
is. It
s been a great process.
So what is the collaborative
structure? We
re going to have
city Greenville. We
ll do the
property identification and
acquisition, project management
assistance. Community College
will do the city engagement and
continuing continuing education
programming. The finance agency
will pilot funding, will pilot
the fund, will fund the pilot
for us and the strategic
guidance. Um, this is our
proposed timeline this year. In
JUNE of JULY, we did the
planning and funding approvals.
Then in AUGUST, SEPTEMBER,
we
re going to do the launch of
the pilot program. Pcc student
engagement begins and
rehabilitation work will be
initiated this coming fall
through spring. We
re going to
see ongoing rehabilitation
activity, exterior neighborhood
improvements, and the workforce
training implementation. This
spring, we should see initial
pilot completion. There will be
a before and after evaluation
of this and scalability
assessment and year two
expansion of the model. Staff
recommends that City Council
approved the memorandum with
the North Carolina Housing
Finance Agency for reviving the
restored pilot program and
authorize the City Manager, or
his designee to execute the Mou
and any related agreements. Et
cetera. One thing I do would
like to say also, is that this
is looked at as possibly a
pilot for the state. Um, it
s a
good program, good partnership.
And I
ll take any questions..
No questions. But I will say
this the 15 and ten and the
rehabilitation projects, it is
truly transformative for our
city. But I
m absolutely, 100%
sure it
s going to be copied by
others in our state and maybe
probably even outside. So thank
for all the partnership and
particularly those at pcc and
the person who started us off
with a vision about doing this
and everybody
s coming
together. This is an amazing
project. And Tony, I appreciate
your help and everybody that
works with you to make all this
happen.
Well, we appreciate your
support. Also. It
s been
partnership with us all.
All right.
Move to approve second.
All right.
Thank you. All right. Motion
down there. I know.
I like it. All right. Most of
them are made by Mayor Pro Tem
Forman. Second by Councilmember
Jones. Any other discussion?
All those in favor say aye.
Aye.
Those opposed say nay.
Motion passes five zero.
Thank you very much. We
ll now
move on to item number 25.
Item number 25, budget
ordinance number one, on many
of the 20, 2627 General Fund
Ordinance. Number 26035
Inspections Fund ordinance
number 26035, capital Project
Management Fund. Ordinance
Number 240410. Engineering
Capital Project Fund. Ordinance
Number 22019. Street
Improvement Bond Fund.
Ordinance Number 17024.
Greenways Capital Project Fund,
or number 122007. And Special
Revenue Grants Fund Ordinance
Number 11003. And now ask our
Chief Financial Officer, Jacob
Joyner, to provide the
presentation.
All right. Good evening.
Council members. MR. Mayor,
good evening. Uh, we got budget
amendment number one for fiscal
year 27. Uh, will be impacting
the general fund inspection
fund, capital project fund,
greenways engineering capital
project fund, street
improvement bond fund, and
special revenue grant fund. We
have item a which is
appropriate fund balance for
the comprehensive land use plan
that will increase the general
fund $400,000. Item b
recognizes expenditures and
revenues for code enforcement
arising from city
revitalization, reorganization.
Uh, that
s going to increase
the inspections fund by
$800,000. Uh, item c will be
closing the Greenways Project
Fund. Uh, that
s one that
s
been around since about 2015, i
believe. Um, and using the
remaining balances to, uh, fund
the Wildwood Boardwalk project,
uh, that will be increasing the
capital project fund by
$252,000 and decreasing the
Greenways Fund 6.6 million,
which is what the total budget
for that fund was at the time.
So there
s about $400,000 left
over. Uh, once all the projects
were completed, item d would be
appropriating fund balance and
recognizing revenues for the
ShotSpotter program that will
increase special revenue. Grant
fund $169,000. And be
recognizing federal forfeiture
funds that will be in the
general fund and increasing
that $139,000. Item f
reallocating funds from the
Stream Permanent Bond Fund to
the North South Connector
project. Uh, that
ll be
increasing the Engineering
Capital Project fund by
$250,000, and there
ll be no
overall change to the Street
Improvement Bond fund. Um, and
item g, recognizing donation
for the Wildwood West Fishing
Access project. And that
ll be
increasing the capital project
fund by $125,000. Although that
brings the operating fund
budget, uh, to just over 200
million. And we recommend the
council approved budget
ordinance amendment number one.
Any questions?
Motion to.
Approve. Second.
All right. Most of them have a
Councillor Willis. Second by
Councilmember Jones. Any other
discussion? All those in favor
say aye.
Aye.
Those opposed say nay.
Motion passes five zero.
Shall move on to review of the
AUGUST 13th, 2026 City Council
agenda.
MR. Maddox.
The for that agenda be put on
the screen for the public
s
viewing. We
ll give that a few
seconds.
All right, all right. Move on
to the city manager report.
Just a couple things I would
like to welcome all of our ecu
students back for the semester
they have returned. You might
have seen a little bit of
change in the traffic that we
are excited for them to be
back. Sure, we will get to know
some of them. Real person over
the next. Over the next few
weeks. And then finally, I
ll
tell you what, I just have to
give a big shout out to the
city and staff for another
great little League softball
World Series. You will never
understand the amount of effort
that goes into that behind the
scenes from our fire Rescue
police, the miraculous work
that Recreation and Parks does
are solid waste department. And
then our special events
department as well. They just
absolutely no pun intended.
Knock it out of the park. And
you know, it has an opportunity
to show all the great things
that we have here in Greenville
and the comments from people
all around the country and the
world about our, our community.
It really feels good. You know,
when you put that much effort
into it to to know that people
really appreciate what we have
here, right here in Greenville.
So again, I
d like to say thank
you. Uh, to the best staff in
the whole wide world. The staff
of this evening. Thank you. So
I.
Have a.
All right. City attorney
s
report.
Thank you, MR. Mayor. I
ll just
say quickly. Um, the council
had two good meetings tonight.
The workshop and this meeting.
And, um, also a shout out to
the city attorney
s office. Get
to find assistant city attorney
sitting over there with a
strong, silent type of a lot of
the background work gets done.
And, um, so, uh, kudos and
thanks to to the staff, I have
two assistants sitting right
there, two that.
Were absolutely awesome.
I.. I gonna say, you
re lucky
you said that. I could see
both.
Of them a little. I don
t.
Know.
What he
s trying to do right
here.
Okay? I
m trying to do. Yeah.
Nope. Hey, no pressure during
the city clerk
s.
Report.
You guys already know my staff.
A one, as always. Thank you.
Back there.
Hey, one of them laughed.
I think.
It
s okay in spirit. She
s.
She knows.
She
s doing the dirty work
behind the scenes.
Okay. That
s right, I gotcha.
And last thing is, just welcome
back, students. All right.
All right. Thank you very much.
Let
s start with the okay.
Councilmember Robinson.
Thank you, MR. Mayor.
Um.
Glad to have the students back.
I
m asking everybody in
Greenville have a little more
patience. Take a little more
careful look at intersections
and whatnot, because we
probably got a lot of kids
coming to Greenville for the
first time. They
ve not been
here. And their first time out
of the house, they
re probably
going to be distracted. So take
a little more caution, be a
little more attentive to what
you
re doing, and be patient as
they move in and get settled
in, because there are benefit
to our community. We look
forward to seeing them. Uh,
number two, I
m so, so excited
about the sports complex is
coming to fruition. It
s been a
long time coming, but we
re
making that progress now and
starting to turn over dirt and
putting down the fields. And
that
s exciting. And I think if
any of you watch what happened
the last nine days, take that
and put it, uh, somewhat on a
every weekend basis for 45
weekends a year and see what
that
s going to do for our
community, because it
s going
to do great things. Uh, I
m
excited about the boardwalk,
Wildwood Park connecting the
two. I hope we
ll look at maybe
trying to figure out how to
utilize the mobile home parks
that, you know, to perhaps
figure out a way to connect
that, because that would give
us some additional land to put
more hiking trails in or nature
viewing or whatnot. I mentioned
that last time, but I
m so
excited about that. Um, really,
really want to give some kudos
out to Rich ballot. Uh, you
know, it
s just another example
of one of our local business
people stepping up and not just
doing his business in
Greenville, but giving back to
Greenville. He helped negotiate
the land deal for us. He put
the pier in at Wildwood Park,
and that
s just touching on
some of the things that that
man is doing. So rich, I hope
you see this, and I hope you
understand how much we
appreciate what you and your
family are doing for
Greenville, because I do know
you give back to to those who
help you. So I appreciate
everything you do. Um. This
past weekend, uh, Brandon Kraft
at the very back. Brandon,
thank you for doing what you
re
doing. There was a fly in at
Greenville Airport, and I
m
told 1143 people attended that
event, which was amazing. I
think y
all didn
t quite expect
that many, but I think that
says what you
re doing to to
create a new, uh, atmosphere
for the airport. And I look
forward to seeing what more
you
re going to do, because I
have great ideas that you
re
going to do a wonderful things
at airport, and we
re going to
keep moving it in the right
direction. Finally, um, I don
t
think we know how big the the
World Series. Of Softball is. I
mean, people from all over the
world were watching Greenville,
North Carolina for nine days.
But more importantly, I don
t
think we really understand the
manpower and the woman power
that has to go in to make this
thing go off as the way it did
from our volunteers to our
staff workers to our employees,
to ems, fire, police. I mean,
the field was absolutely
gorgeous. Everything like it
was. Well, and we
re seeing
it
s like we do it every
weekend. I
m just amazed at
that. And I think it
s amazing
to see what we do on the world
stage, because we were on the
world stage for nine days. And,
uh, it
s cool to see that and
to hear people just listen when
you
re in the stands. And the
council member Willis was up
there with her family and just
listening to people talk about
rambling. Wow, this is such a
big event and seeing the pro
players coming here. Oh man,
that is so special. Uh, and we
need to keep doing that, that
program, because it is very
unique. And the cool thing
about is when you look in the
dugouts, whether they were from
Japan or from Italy or Canada
or Florida or Kentucky or North
Carolina, all these kids have
the same faces and motivation
to try and play softball and
win. And I
m so happy that
North Carolina or as they say,
Jocko, that
s what they call
it. Jocko. Um, my wife has some
relatives that know a lot of
these players, and they came
down. So, uh, congratulations
to North Carolina. I hope that
we can perhaps get them in
here. Uh, and one of our future
meetings to recognize them. And
those young ladies who put hard
work in. And I think something
that
s telling is that if you
talk to these young ladies and
my wife is talking to her
relatives, a lot of these young
girls and the mayor knows this,
they
ve been playing travel
ball for 3 or 4 years before
they even come up to a stage
like this. And so, again, I
think that illustrates the
importance of a sports complex.
I
m so proud of our city for
putting us on the world stage
and as a diamond to be seen and
be shown and brag about some
super proud of our city. And
everybody helped put that on.
And, uh, I just can
t say
enough words. I
m very happy
about that. And I look forward
to next year. Uh, and first, I
want to thank Margo. Margo, I
hope you
re watching for
getting me from my car to the
stands and all that special
attention you gave me and my
wife. I appreciate all that.
Um, with that mayor, thank you
very much. Those are my
comments.
All right. Thank you,
Councilmember Willis.
Thank you. Mayor. Uh, so
congratulations to the junior
fire marshals who are
recognized this evening. Um,
they, um, seemed so excited.
And I know they were able to
learn a lot through the
program. So congratulations to
them. Um, and also the life
skills that they were able to
learn. I think that has to to
be noted that you never know
what could be the impact of
that. Also, again, to the
winners of the, uh, Softball
World Series, a Little League
Softball World Series, I
believe the ladies were from
Clayton. Um, and so just the
immense sense of pride being in
Greenville, hosting them, um,
but also to cheer on the North
Carolina team was great. Um,
the games were wonderful and it
was something for our families
to enjoy. Uh, over this past
week. So congratulations to
them, to the partners and the
staff who made it happen, like
Council Member Robinson said,
it was phenomenal. And just
know the work that happened
behind the scenes is
incredible. So kudos to all
those who had a part to play in
it. I also had written down the
Greenville um, airport or the
Greenville airport, and they
re
flying in. Recently. I thought
that was, um, really cool to
see. Uh, we
re already seeing
innovative ways to think and to
showcase our airport, and I
think that
s the direction that
we should be going in. So I
wanted to make mention of that.
Also, thank you to the clerk
s
office and to Director Gooby
for hosting Camp Playground
this summer. They were able to
come in and learn what their
city government does for them.
They are a rec and park summer
camp, and they were able to
come in there at the Barnes
Building and were able to come
in and learn, um, about how
their city serves them. And so
that was an awesome opportunity
for them. This past summer. Um,
also, I think. Um, nope, nope.
That
s it. That
s all. Thank
you mayor.
Thank you, Councilmember Hardy.
Uh, just to echo some of the
comments on the flying day, uh,
as a board member of the
airport, we really appreciate
everything that the staff does
to, uh, boost our airport and
put it in a better life for the
community. And I thought that
was a really cool, uh, day and
initiative to let the community
come in and see what the
airport is all about. Then I
just got some other things.
Some good things happening in
the district. Three. Uh, our
students will be coming back
and they start school on the
17th. Uh, this is kind of weird
for me not to be getting ready
to go out of school, but I
m
excited to have all my friends
back in town. Uh, we are
continuing to push students to
get parking permits with our
fine forgiveness and warning
programs. Uh, we really just
want to get them, uh, the
parking passes. They
re
eligible for us so they can
park illegally and correctly,
uh, to, you know, give some
relief to our permanent
residents that, uh, can
sometimes understandably be
frustrated by the parking
situation down in that Cerna
grid neighborhood. Uh, the
reword with code enforcement
for efficiency is going to, uh,
greatly help our efforts to
tackle the minimal housing
standards. Uh, in my district,
as well as the education piece
that we will be, uh, working
with ecu landlord and property
managers, as well as the hoa
group. Uh, we
ll be doing some
sessions at ecu to educate
students on their rights and
responsibilities as renters.
Uh, we
ve got Woodlawn Street
Construction that has started
this past week as well as we
just approved the contract for
the Woodland Park. So it
s good
to see that, uh, the Cerna grid
area is getting a nice
facelift. Slowly but surely.
Uh, a great more great things
will continue to come. Uh, and
then how can I forget about the
Little League World Series
happening on Elm Street? Uh,
that is another great event for
the district. That is my
comment. Thank you. Mayor.
All right. Thank you very much,
Councilmember Jones.
And thank you for starting out
the way, um, mayor. So I do
want to I also agree with the,
um, congratulations to the
junior fire marshals, the
Little League, um, pit area,
um, pit airport. And I also
want to say in district one, we
had the Jackie Robinson League.
And I want to say
congratulations to all the
winners of the Jackie Robinson
League. Of course, I had to
shout out the Red Sox, I have
to, um, and I also want to
thank the city for helping with
the pool party that they had on
yesterday. Um, and also for
cutting the trees back. So now
we really do need those
bleachers because it was hot
and we need them covered. It
was really hot. But we do thank
you for the trees down, cutting
the trees back. But if we could
look into those bleachers, I
appreciate it. Y
all have a
great day.
Thank you. All right. Mayor Pro
Tem Forman.
Um, I mirror everyone else
s
comments. Um, also, I want to
highlight again, uh, what was
said by, uh, Seth as it relates
to addressing substandard
housing and really excited
about the efforts that we are
being made with code
enforcement to, um, remedy the
situations that we
re
experiencing in our community.
Um, as well as what, uh, the
Jackie Robinson Baseball League
and, uh, Little League Softball
World Series. Uh, seeing those
athletes, uh, the level of
commitment that they have, um,
and I don
t know that everyone
realizes that they have to go
through four levels to get
here. Um, and so the commitment
from them and their families is
very impressive. Um, I also
want to highlight again, um, I
know we
re talking a lot about
curfew downtown. Um, but, uh,
that is a symptom. Um, when we
have teen takeovers of the fact
that we do not have enough for
our teens to do. And, uh,
there
s a lot of things going
on in our community to help
remedy that. Uh, there
s some
wave. There have been some
other community, um, events
that have been put together to
remedy that. And, um, and would
like to see us continue to
support those efforts from
within the community that are
offered by people that
understand the needs and
interests at a different level
to make things culturally
relevant. Um, and then I also
see Brandon in the back, back
there. And, uh, I was at the
airport event, um, with, uh, my
grandson and, uh, and a cousin.
Uh, um. That
s awesome.
And, um, and we had an
absolutely awesome time. Um, it
was nice to see something like
that with our airport, and it
was a reflection of the fact
that we
re moving in a better
direction. So, uh, one of the
highlight that they enjoyed the
planes, and I think they voted
on one of the, the yellow
helicopters, if I remember
correctly, was their, uh, their
favorite. Um, that day. And,
um, and so meeting Stewart and
his wife and the their jet was
his, their favorite jet that
they got to sit in and act like
they were driving. So, um, want
to elevate that. That was a
very good event and looking
forward to more of that. And
that
ll.
Be all. All right. I would like
to I don
t know if we
ve done
this yet or not, but, uh, I
d
like to publicly congratulate
Rachel Whitten here, who is now
the, uh, new PRESIDENT And ceo
of the cvb. She takes over for
Andrew Schmidt, who is with the
cvb. For how many years?
32.
32 years. Wow. Big shoes to
fill. But if anybody can do it,
you can do it. I know it, and
we want to say thank you to you
for all that you did during the
Little League Softball World
Series. Also, I saw, uh, Rachel
out there braving the heat. Um,
and I can just tell by the end,
when I was walking away after
the last game, I could tell
that Rachel, as well as all of
our staff members and all the
volunteers. We
re glad that it
happened, but I think we
re
glad to see it in two also,
because we appreciate all that
you do. Thank you to our city
staff. Thank you to all the
volunteers. Thank you to eku,
uh, who
s also an integral
partner in being able to put on
the Little League Softball
World Series. They offer up
their dorms. Um, I know that,
uh, they clean all the jerseys
and uniforms of the girls. Uh,
throughout the week. Uh, and I
know they provide a whole bunch
of resources, too. I think as
far as, like, probably
transportation, I think. And
and food, uh, throughout the
entire week. So thank you to
them for doing that. And, you
know, most importantly, thank
you to Little League
International for giving us a
chance. What was it six years
ago? Six years ago, they made
the decision to come and host
the Little League Softball
World Series in our community.
They took a chance on us and I
feel like we did pretty good.
Um, I think over the last six
years, we
ve continued to see
the Little League Softball
World Series continue to grow.
Um, it was pretty awesome to
see over 3000 fans out there
for the championship game. The
city of Greenville was lucky to
be able to be on, uh, national
and international tv for over a
week. We got a tremendous
amount of publicity off of
that. And even leading up to
that, they play all the
regional games throughout the
entire country. And one of the
taglines is The Road to
Greenville. So we get a
tremendous amount of publicity
for hosting the Little League
Softball World Series. So I
just want to say thank you so
much to the Little League
International for entrusting us
and giving us the opportunity
to be able to show that we can
host it. I feel like we are
both dedicated partners. The
city of Greenville, as well as
Little League International, to
continuing to grow the, uh, the
softball World Series here in
our community, making it better
and ultimately making it a
better experience for all the
girls that participate in it. I
was fortunate enough. I know
one of the girls, uh, family
members that, uh, uh, was on
the Johnson County team, and I
was able to talk to them
before. And I said, you have no
idea what you
re getting into.
Like I said, you have no idea
the experience that your
daughter is about to to have,
uh, here in Greenville, North
Carolina. And I got to see them
after they won the
championship. I said, I told
you it was going to be good,
and I knew it probably exceeded
the expectations that they had.
I mean, they were treated like
absolute royalty all week long,
which they they deserve because
they have worked very, very
hard. Like Council Member
Robinson had said, a lot of
those girls have been playing
travel ball for 5 to 6 years,
and they put in a tremendous
amount of work. They
re showing
up on Saturday mornings at
10:00 in the morning. I don
t
know how many 13 year old kids
are, uh, getting practicing at
10 A.M. On Saturday morning and
trying to get the work in to be
able to get to play at that
level. So congratulations to
all the girls, not just North
Carolina. We
re we
re
thankful that they won, but all
the girls that came throughout
the entire country, throughout
the entire world to come to
Greenville, North Carolina. And
thank you to all the citizens
of Greenville that were so
welcoming to everybody that
came and visited us. Every year
I get to hear really cool and
exciting comments from people
that visit. I gotta say, I
think the funniest one was this
last, uh, this I think it was
on Sunday or Friday. Uh, we
were sitting there and one of
the, uh, the people said, man,
these concession stands are
awesome. So I
ve never heard
that before. So we must have
some really good food here in
Eastern Paradise. So with that,
I need a motion to adjourn.
Motion to adjourn. Second.
All right. Motion been made by
Councilmember Robinson. Second
by Councilmember Hardy. All
those in favor say aye. Aye.
Opposed. Say nay.
Motion passes five zero.
We are adjourned.
All right. Good evening.
I
d like to welcome everyone to
the AUGUST 13th, 2026 meeting
of the Greenville City Council.
I
m mayor P.J. Connelly for
presiding over tonight
s
meeting. First, I
d like to
call on Mayor Pro Tem Forman
for the invocation, followed by
the Pledge of Allegiance.
Thank you. Mayor. Um, I was
reminded this week of my wife.
And oftentimes that, uh, we
don
t remember what the reason
is that we do this work. And so
I was led to share with us
tonight, uh, first Corinthians
13. And it goes as if I speak
in tongues of men or of angels,
but do not have love. I
m only
a resounding gong or cymbal
clanging. If I have the gifts
of prophecy and can fathom all
mysteries and all knowledge.
And if I have faith and can
move mountains, but do not have
love, I am nothing. If I give
all I possess to the poor, and
give over my body to hardship,
that I MAY boast only, but do
not have love, I
ve gained
nothing. Love is patient. Love
is kind. Love does not envy. It
does not boast. It is not
proud. It does not dishonor
others. It is not self-seeking.
It is not easily angered. It
keeps no record of wrongs. Love
does not delight in evil, but
rejoices in truth. It always
protects, always trust, always
hopes. And it always
perseveres. And my favorite
part of this is verse eight
that says, love never fails.
Amen.
Please stand for the Pledge of
Allegiance.
And allegiance to the flag of
the United States of America,
and to the Republic for which
it stands. One nation under
GOD, indivisible, with liberty
and justice for all.
MADAM Clerk, will you please
call the roll?
Yes, sir. Mayor Connolly here.
Mayor Pro Tem Forman. Here.
Council member Jones. Here.
Council member. Hardy. Here.
Um, Councilmember Sculley has
let us know he will not be
attending this evening. Council
member Robinson here. Council
member Willis here. All right.
Mayor Connolly of.
Thank you very much. We
ll now
move on to approval of
tonight
s agenda. MISTER
Manager, any recommended
changes?
I have no changes.
All right. Do I have a motion
to approve?
Motion to approve. Second.
All right. Motion has been made
by Councilmember Jones and by
Councilmember Robinson. All
those in favor say aye. Aye,
aye. Opposed. Say nay.
Motion passes five zero.
Move on to special recognitions.
I
d like to ask Glen Wooten to
come forward. Family.
Sorry.
So it is my honor to recognize
Glen Wooten for his retirement
from the city of Greenville.
And I
d just like to take a few
minutes to read some comments
that came directly from some of
your coworkers. Just about you.
All right, Glen, you, uh, you
began your work with the city
right out of high school, and,
uh, started when the Public
Works Department spent several
years there and then
transitioned over to the
Recreation and Parks Department
over the course of your career.
Glen, you a valuable member of
the team and built a reputation
for doing things the right way.
Now, they say, if you know
Glen, you know that his truck
and his tools retrieve like
Fort Knox and everything was
always locked up, organized,
and exactly where it belonged.
Glen is an incredibly skilled
welder and craftsman, and
someone who takes pride in his
work as a building facilities
technician and the department
s
chief playground inspector. He
made sure the facilities were
safe, clean and ready for the
use by the public. Glen also
spent his time mentoring
younger employees throughout
his career, passing on his eye
for detail and workplace
knowledge. The attention to
detail and willingness to teach
others are some of Glen
s
greatest qualities as an
employee. And Glen, we, uh, we
were fortunate enough to spend
some time together a couple of
weeks ago, and I told you at
that point in time that that I
felt that there was no greater,
you know, gift in your life
than to serve others. And
clearly, that number of years
you have gone above and beyond
to serve this community and
touched the lives of people
that you
ll never know. But
now, after reading all the
great things that your your
department had to say about
you, I
d say also with that,
there
s no greater honor than
to have individuals that you
have worked around for years
talk so great about what type
of person you are, not just
worker, but what kind of person
you are. So on behalf of the
City Council and the city
manager
s office and
recreation, parks,
congratulations and GOD bless
you. Thank you for everything
you
ve done for the City of
Greenville. Try to get this
right without dropping it and
breaking it, okay? Because it
s
got the mayor in my name and my
name on it says in recognition
of 29 years and eight months of
outstanding service, we extend
our sincere appreciation to
Ronald Glen Wooten.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
All right.
Now, if I could ask the members
of the impact generates
influence basketball team, both
the 12 you and the high school
team to come forward. Any
members that we MAY have.
Congratulations, guys. Bring
your.
Oh.
Hell yeah. There. You got it.
I said earlier, I was I if I
just had a little bit more
time, I would have set that
basketball gold up on the first
floor. So we could have had the
game before the meeting
started. It is also, uh, my
honor to recognize the igi. And
that
s what I will say. The the
impact generates influence
basketball team. Both the 12
team and the high school team.
They are local aew program with
both a 12 year team again and a
high school team all year long.
Teams go head to head with
tough competition and always
bringing their best. They have
some awesome wins lately. Let
me tell you about those. The 12
u team took home the 2025
National Championship, and the
high school team grabbed second
place at nationals this year.
But iga is about more than just
basketball. They really focus
on teaching their players to
work hard, make good choices
and stay true to themselves.
The lessons learned on the
court help shape what these
athletes are and prepare them
for whatever comes next in
life. And now, what I
d like to
do is it might not be everyone
here, but I would like to to
recognize those with you where
the certificates.
Right here. So.
I
m going to.
Let.
So I
m going to start with the
12 u team. And council member
Tonya Foreman would like to
present you with a certificate.
Well, let me see if I can get
this going right here. So we
have, uh, Cruz Arrington.
Domini Byram.
Congratulations.
Amari Smith.
Congratulation.
Jj Jones. Kamari. Farmer.
Carter. Smith. Jordan. Smith.
Zion. Cherry. Kaden. Taft.
Troy. Harris and Jeremiah
Williams. What a great honor.
Guys, let
s give them a. Now we
have the high school kids.
Okay.
Let
s try to double team this.
We have Brenden Porter.
Christian Eisler.
Not here.
Uh, Jackson Foster. Jalen Rasco.
Keyon Beal. Keyshawn farmer.
Landon. Ashley. Loyalty. Fuller.
Enrique. Beal. Bonham. Ty.
Daniels. And where
s coach at?
Where
s Antoine.
At?
Come on up, dude. And, uh,
Coach Smith. Tony.
Amari.
And Kamari. I
d like to
recognize Kamara as well. So
now I
ll turn it over to
council members.
I just want to make sure that
these teams are acknowledged
for their hard work, their
commitment and excellence, as
well as the coaches and the
families that have supported
them to accomplish these goals.
These are great accomplishments
that they work very hard for.
I
m proud of you guys.
Also, I want to echo that too.
Congratulations, guys. It
s
awesome to be able to see you
guys competing at such a high
level, representing our
community, going out there and
showing good sportsmanship.
Thank you to the coaches. Uh,
the coaches, uh, are they pour
a lot of their time and effort
into making sure that they
teach you the game, but they
re
also teaching you other things,
too, that you
re going to take
the rest of your life. So thank
you for doing that and stepping
up. It
s not easy. It
s a huge
time commitment. I know that.
It
s, uh, it
s tough sometimes
you have to take off work. Uh,
but it
s good. And I think
these guys will appreciate
everything that you
ve done
over this season. And they
re
going to continue to look back
at you as a good role model for
making them better in life as
they get older. So thank you.
Okay. All right.
For. All right.
Now i
d like to invite the 252
ladies warms up here. Come on
ladies. All right. These young
ladies are swarming the stage.
All right. Again, it is my
honor to recognize the two,
five, two ladies swarm. This is
a local, uh, a local aew team
that has achieved remarkable
success in their inaugural
inaugural year of competition.
The team is made up of players
from Pitt County, many of whom
have previously played together
in all star leagues and
tournaments, with a regular
season record of 16 and five,
they earned the opportunity to
compete at Nationals in
Virginia Beach. They came
second to a more seasonal and
experienced team, just shy of
the championship by one point,
which is basically basically
winning. Their outstanding
performance is a tournament to
their strong work ethic,
determination and discipline.
Now, I would also like to
recognize each of you young
ladies and present you with a
certificate. We have scholar
Zachary.
All.
London Pierce. Eva. Kate
Stilton. Chelsea. Wilkes.
Brielle. Little. Zoe. Watts.
Jory. Morgan. Shayna. Heath. I
love this name. Carmen. Cordon.
Oh.
I have to get. I have to get my
spell checker. Get on my spell.
Checker. Uh.
Uh, Levy. Mia. Perry. And we.
Let
s all give them another
round of.
Applause.
Anything else? What are you.
Did?
Yeah. Fumbling. So I want to
reiterate the congratulations
that I have for these young
ladies. I have seen them play.
And these are some real
ballers. You all. Um, also, I
want to elevate Mia Perry
because I understand that she
was the highest scorer as well
as, um, had the most rebounds.
Is that correct? Huh? She
s
acting shy. Alrighty. Okay, so
we
re gonna elevate her for
that and, um, and congratulate
the coaches also, thank you
guys for everything you do in
our community.
Congratulations, ladies. Again.
Um, I
m not going to say that I
who it was, but I talked to one
of the ladies up here, and I
asked them if they could take
the guys, and they gave me a.
Yeah. So, hey, I
m just saying.
So if something. Hey, if
something takes place in the
parking lot down there, I get
it, okay. Hey. Congratulations,
lady. We
re really proud of
you. I think it
s awesome the
accomplishment that you, uh,
you were able to to accomplish
with, uh, coming in second
place. That
s awesome. Hey, the
one thing I always tell my
girls. I
m a coach. I coach
softball. One thing I always
tell them is, is when you lose,
make sure you take that the
next game that you play and
make you work even harder. So
that that next time you
re the
one celebrating, you
re not the
one with your heads down,
crying and upset that you
didn
t win. Make sure that you
always work as hard as you
possibly can, because it will
translate from what you do on
the basketball court into life.
And make sure that you work as
hard as you possibly can,
because anything that you want
to do in life, you can
accomplish and never forget
that. Congratulations.
I sounds great.
You know, I
m used to it.
That
s all that. Hey.
It happens, man.
You got.
I try to give a hand.
To shrug it off. I
ll sit right
here. All right?
I won
t be the last time.
I hear the Lady Swarm team is
they got a team. I
ve heard
there
s some ballers. That
s a
really good place, I really do.
I got the inside track.
You would be surprised.
I probably about 30, huh? So
first, here
s, you know. Can
you imagine? So I
d love to see
it. I
d love to see it.
And they
re at various schools
around the city. So..
Yeah.
Can you play basketball?
I was a point guard.
Oh. Are you.
Where are you? Good shooter.
I was yeah, I was.
I could imagine.
You know.
Did you break some ankles?
I was a Dennis Rodman a
rebound. Oh, I was pretty good.
No good. Hi.
I
m. I
m pretty good.
I
m gonna have to.
I
m gonna have to look up some
of that.
Footage. All right.
Okay, good. All right, we
ll
move on to the public comment.
Period of time periods. Period.
Reserve for comments to public
items that were scheduled to be
a subject of a hearing.
Conducted this meeting or
another meeting in the same
week shall not be discussed. A
total of 30 minutes is
allocated, with each individual
being allowed no more than
three minutes. Individuals who
register will speak or register
with the City Clerk will speak
in the order registered until
the allotted 30 minutes
expires. If time remains after
all persons have registered
have spoken, individuals did
not register will have an
opportunity to until the lot of
30 minutes expires. MADAM
Clerk, our first speaker.
Yes, sir. First speaker is MISS
Gwen Green. You have three
minutes to address the mayor
and council at that podium
right there.
Today
s date.
Mayor Conley, Mayor Pro Tem
Forman, city council members,
city staff and members of the
community. Good evening.
Good evening.
I
m Gwen Green. I
m a
Greenville resident. And I
think of myself as being a
vested and involved community
member. I serve in
organizations like Delta Sigma
Theta sorority. I serve on many
community committees. The
National Council of Negro Women
where I serve on the Budget and
Finance Committee. I
m a
regular volunteer at my church,
Koinonia Christian Center. I
also volunteered with the West
Greenville Health Council,
where I co-wrote the proposal
that brought face masks, hand
sanitizer and other supplies to
nonprofits, community
organizations, and churches,
along with now volunteering
with Pastor Rodney Coles of the
church
s outreach network to
establish children
s book clubs
and afterschool programs, we
re
hoping to disrupt the school to
prison pipeline. And before I
moved here some 12 years ago, I
volunteered with a number of
other volunteer organizations,
including a community
development board and a
redevelopment board. In total
transparency. I also serve as a
commissioner on the Housing
Authority of Greenville and in
fact serve as its chair
tonight. However, in the time I
have left, I
d like to allay
the fears of some of the city
councilors. The Housing
Authority staff truly are
working every day to provide
safe, decent housing for our
residents. I will concede to
you that they
re working under
some very difficult
circumstances. Most of our
facilities are some 4050 years
old. It gets real hard to fix
those up and clean them up to
the standard that we would all
like to live in. However. I
d
like to address a couple of
other issues that were raised
in your work session, one of
which was the inspire report.
As it was presented. It truly
was pretty alarming. However, I
want you to know the Housing
Authority staff was responsive
to all the issues that were
outlined in the inspire reports.
Life threatening issues as
defined by hud include smoke
detectors, gfci replacements,
rust on electrical panels, all
of which have to be repaired or
replaced within 24 hours. While
non-threatening issues must be
corrected within 30 days.
That
s time.
You keep going.
So the reports for 2024 were
corrected within 24 hours for
things like smoke detectors and
gfci units, including a water
heater flute that had a
downward slope. They were they
were corrected. I
ve got the
details here for you. And a box
back there in case someone here
would like to see the paperwork
itself. As to the finances,
financial reports are provided,
presented and accepted at every
meeting. Reports on rent
collection and defaults are
discussed because that too is a
key responsibility of the
Housing authority to collect
the rents and by federal
mandate and outside audit is
conducted annually by a
reputable financial
organization that is actually
switched out every three years
to ensure that we are going to
get fair representation of the
work that we
re doing. The
latest audit was conducted by
Rector, Lofton and Reeder for
the fiscal year 2025, and I
ll
read very quickly their
opinion. In our opinion, the
accompanying financial
statements referred to above
present fairly in all material
respects, the respective
financial position of the
business type activities of the
Housing Authority of the City
of Greenville. As of SEPTEMBER
30th, 2025, and the respective
changes in financial position
and where applicable, cash
flows thereof for the year then
ended in accordance with
accounting principles generally
accepted in the United States
of America as to a work order
process, none of us are
satisfied with the existing
process. The. The board
receives a work order report
every month it gets discussed.
If not every meeting, then
every other meeting. The need
for a better system is, without
question, needed. However, the
Housing Authority is going
through a total software
transition. The transition is
being phased in so that we want
to make sure that things like
grant funding is being
accounted for properly, that
our, um, accounts receivables
and account payables, that it
s
working. And so if you will,
the deadline for all of this
phased phasing in will be
completed by DECEMBER of 2026.
But you got to give us time.
We
re not satisfied with the
processes it currently is. We
want tenants. We want our
residents to be able to know
that their work order has been
accepted. Finally, as I know
I
m running out of time, I
ve
reached out to our Mayor Pro
Tem at our last board meeting,
I stated that we needed to get
into a better relationship with
the city, that it would not be
possible to easily build brand
new structures, brand new homes
without support from the city.
Members of City Council. I
stand here this evening telling
you I suffer with housing
authority envy. I envy the
Denver, the Durham Housing
Authority because right now
they
ve got three developments
in process various stages of
development, one of which
includes the Hey Ty village,
which some of you MAY remember
and recall. That
s Durham
s
black market. Black Wall
Street, i
m sorry. There are
many phrases that come to mind
to describe the current
situation. I think a failure to
communicate at this point in
time probably says it best. And
so it is that I ask that a
meeting be held with the
Housing Authority to better
understand not only what is
being done, but what has been
accomplished and what we
d like
to see going forward. Though
there have been some quarterly
managers meeting with city
staff, clearly there needs to
be more so that respectful and
respected lines of
communication can be
established. I thank you all
for listening. Thank you.
Thank you.
MR. Green.
Thank you.
MADAM Clerk, our next speaker.
We do not have any additional
registered speakers.
Anyone else would like speak
during the public period.
Please come forward. State your
name. For the record, you have
three minutes. All right. See
you now. We
ll close the public
hearing. We
ll move on to our
appointments. MADAM Clerk.
Okay?
Yes, sir. First appointment
that we have is to the Invest
Greenville Board. That
s, um, a
nomination made by you, Mayor
Connolly.
I would like to reappoint, uh,
MR. Robert Cherry.
Okay. They
ll need some help.
Make a motion.
Motion to.
Appoint Robert Cherry second.
All right. Motion by MAY. By
Councilmember Robinson. Second
by Councilmember Jones. All
those in favor say aye.
Aye, aye.
Those opposed? Nay.
Motion passes five zero.
Congratulations, MR. Cherry.
Okay. And that concludes
appointments from West
Greenville.
All right.
Can you roll right on the.
Number five. Okay.
Um, boards and commissions,
board of adjustment. Um,
Councilmember Jones.
I would like to, um, nominate
the Lewis.
All right. Is there a second?
Second? All right. Motion
s
been made by Councilmember
Jones. Thank you, Councilmember
Hardy. All those in favor say
aye.
Aye, aye.
Those opposed. Nay, nay.
Motion passes five zero.
Congratulations. And the Geo.
Jones.
Um.
Hello.
Lewis. Lewis.
Yeah. That
s Thursday.
Uh, next we have the
Environmental Advisory
Commission. Um, that that, uh,
appointment is assigned to
Councilmember Skelly, so we
will check with him next month.
Um, next we have the Historic
Preservation Commission.
Council member Hardy.
Uh, let
s continue that,
please.
Okay. Um, we do have the
Housing Authority appointment,
however, that is for the
resident Commissioner seat, and
we are still waiting on a
nomination from the residents
Council, so I don
t have one to
give to you tonight. Um,
multimodal Transportation
Commission. Council member
Jones.
I
ll let you continue that one.
Okay. Um, also, multimodal
Transportation Commission Mayor
Pro Tem Forman.
I would like to nominate
Jonathan Metellus.
Second.
All right. Motion
s been made
by Mayor Pro Tem Forman. Second
by Councilmember Robinson. All
those in favor say aye. Aye,
aye. Those opposed say nay.
Motion passes five zero.
Congratulations, MR. Metellus.
Okay.
Um. Next. Well, no. So
multimodal. Transportation
Commission Council member.
Hardy.
I like to continue that as
well.
Okay. Um, next we have the
Greenville Convention and
Visitors Authority.
Councilmember Robinson.
Um.
Intend to meet with Rachel
Whitten before I make that
decision. And she just got in,
so I want to do that. So I
d
ask that be tabled.
Okay. Yes, sir. Um, next we
have the planning and Zoning
Commission. Mayor Pro Tem
Forman.
i
ll continue that one. Okay.
Um, police community relations
committee, Councilmember
Robinson.
Uh, continue that, please.
Okay. Yes, sir. Recreation and
parks. Also, Councilmember
Robinson.
I would nominate Brian Fields.
Okay.
All right. Is there a second? I
think I heard of this. I think
I heard a split second there.
Um, motion has been made by
Councilmember Robinson, second
by Councilmember Jones. All
those in favor say aye.
Aye, aye.
Opposed? Say nay.
Motion passes five zero.
Congratulations, MR. Fields.
All right, Mayor Conley, that
concludes appointments.
Thank you very much. We will
now move on to new business,
which are the public hearings.
This is the policy of public
hearings adopted by the City
Council, petitioner or
representative of the
petitioner and a leader of
those in opposition. We
ll each
have ten minutes Persis
following. Then we
ll have up
to three minutes each with a
total for each side, no more
than 30 minutes. Additionally,
we will remind those in
attendance to extend the
courtesy to person speaking
during the public hearing and
to the City Council during
discussions. Comments made by
members of the public are to
occur only during the public
hearing is allowed by the mayor
in accordance with the adopted
policy of the City Council.
There should be no
interruptions of speakers or
council members, including
expressions of support or
disagreements or earlier by
applause. As this is
distracting and makes
discussion difficult, we ask
for your cooperation. Thank
you, MR. Manager. Our first
public hearing.
Thank you. Mayor. Item number
six ordinance to annex
Cobblestone South involving
2.2168 acres located east of
Allen Road and at the current
terminus of Quail Drive. I
ll
now call forward our city
planner, Deon Hodge, for the
presentation.
Yeah.
Good evening, Mayor and
Council.
Good evening. I like it, I like
it.
This property is located in the
southwestern quadrant of the
city. More specifically, this
property is located east of
Allen Road and at the current
terminus of Quail Drive. The
current city limits are shown
in green. The subject property
is shown in red. This property
is located in the Green Mill
Run watershed. This property is
located in the primary service
area on the tiered growth map,
and would be located in City
Council voting district number
two. This property is
anticipated to yield 1010
single family lots, with an
estimated tax value of $3.25
million. And that
s. This
property is located in the itj.
It is important to note that
under section six of Goose
s
charter, the development can
still be provided. Sanitary
sewer. If the annexation is
denied, and I
d be happy to
answer any questions.
Any questions?
Uh, can you go back to the
first. Uh, move forward? I
m
sorry. The map. The first map?
No, it
s the second map. Move
forward with the red one. Yes.
I just want to look at it again.
Okay.
All right.
Any questions? Thank you very.
Much.
All right. The public hearing
is now open. Those who speak on
behalf, the applicant MAY come
forth. Please state your name
for the record. Your first
person has ten minutes. All
others have three minutes.
Seeing none, those in
opposition to the applicant
come forward. Please state your
name. For the record. The first
person has ten minutes. All
others have three minutes. I
see none. Public hearing is now
closed up for a board
discussion or motion.
Motion to approve. Second. All
right.
Motion for MAY by Councilmember
Willis. Second by Councilmember
Robinson. Any other discussion?
All those in favor say aye.
Aye, aye.
Those opposed say nay.
Motion passes five zero.
Item number seven.
All right. Thank you. Mayor.
Item number seven. Ordinance to
annex Lyndale East. Section
five, phase two, involving
10.79 acres located at the
current terminus of Remington
Drive and Stonehenge Drive.
Again, call for our city
planner, Deon Hodge for the
presentation.
So this property is located in
the southeastern quadrant of
the city. More specifically,
this property is located at the
current termini of Remington
Drive and Stonehenge Drive. The
current city limits are shown
in green. The subject property
is shown in red. This property
is located in the Fork Swamp
watershed. This property is
located in the primary service
area on the tiered growth map,
and will be located in City
Council voting district number
four. This property is
anticipated to yield 21 single
family lots, with an estimated
tax value of $14.7 million. And
as this property is located in
the itj. It is important to
note that under section six of
gcs charter, the development
can still be provided. Sanitary
sewer. If the annexation is
denied, and I
d be happy to
answer any questions.
All right.
Any questions for MR. Hodge?
Just one. Do you anticipate
that when they
re built out,
that they will connect to
Stonehenge so they can exit out
to Arlington?
Exactly. Thank you. That seems
to be the.
Their goal.
There. All right.
Any other questions? Thank you
very much. Public hearing is
now open. Those to speak on
behalf of the applicant MAY
come forward. Please state your
name for the record, the first
person has ten minutes. All
others have three minutes.
Good evening. Good evening.
I
m Dwight.
Nelson with Rivers and
Associates. We
re the agent for
the owner. And, uh, be glad to
answer any questions you MAY
have. That
s all.
All right. Any questions? Thank
you very much. Thank you. That
was a great presentation.
That
s my.
Favorites.
All right. Anyone else is here
to speak on behalf? The
applicant MAY come forward.
Please state your name for the
record, you have three minutes.
Seeing none, those in
opposition to the applicant
come forward. Please state your
name for the record. The first
person has ten minutes. All
others have three minutes.
Seeing none. Public hearing is
now closed for a board
discussion or motion.
Motion to approve. Second.
All right. Motion for MAY by
Councilmember Hardy. Second by
Councilmember Robinson. Any
other discussion? All those in
favor say aye. Aye. Those
opposed say nay.
Motion passes five zero.
All right. Let
s move on to
item number eight.
Thank you. Mayor. Item number
eight. Ordinance requested by
pobo llc to rezone a total of
56.3694 acres from ra 20
residential agriculture to
industry to industry for tract
one, 47.5795 acres to o dash a
office Conservation overlay for
track 28.6062 acres and to o
office for tract 3-0.1837 acres
for the property, located at
the northeast corner of the
intersection of Old Creek Road
and Tram Road. Costs for
forward, our Assistant
Director, Shanti Gubbi for the
presentation.
All right. Good evening.
Good evening.
Um, this property is located in
the northeast quadrant of the
city. Um, it
s more
specifically located along Old
Creek Road. So just sort of to
the top left. That would be
Heister. Yale. This rezoning is
divided into three different
tracks. I
ll go through them,
but then I have a survey. I
ll
give you a little bit more
detail. Um, but track one is
the bulk of the property. You
have tract two, which goes
around the perimeter and then
track three. I have a blow up
of that. So it
s just a teeny
tiny little piece there. Um,
and we
ll talk about why that
s
been, um, uh, proposed for just
office. So again, this is the
breakdown of the different, uh,
zoning that they
re asking for.
Track one is for industry.
Track two is office with a
conservation overlay, and track
three is for plain office. This
is a photograph of the
property. So, um, Old Creek
Road would be, uh, you know,
sort of behind you. There is an
activity center located along
North Creek Road. Activity
centers are where, um,
commercial and even industrial
is encouraged and expected
under the current zoning, which
is already 20 at full build
out, the number of trips would
be roughly 1600 and at full
build out under the proposed
zoning, the trips would be
about 1548. So you have a net
decrease of 48 or 43 trips. So
because of that, um, when they
did the initial analysis and it
is a reduction in trips, then
they don
t go further with the
staff report that you normally
see. Um, the property is
located in the second, the
Johnson Mill Parkers Creek
watershed. If stormwater is
required, it will require ten
year detention. The property is
not located in a special flood
hazard area, and there are no
potential wetlands, buffers or
streams. Again, the property is
currently zoned are a 20. Um, I
want to briefly talk about
tract two because that
s a
conservation area overlay that
is typically not, uh, a or a, a
zoning that we have. Um, this
is a zoning that we
ve had for
years. This is not something
under the new Youdo. And the
reason it
s used, and this is
straight out of our Udo, is
when property is zoned with
that ca overlay, then that
means that, um, you
re
prohibited from having
buildings, structures, parking
and drives, etc. On that piece
of property. So it essentially
acts as a buffer. And then just
a little bit further, it says
it shall remain undeveloped,
vacant. And again, you can
t
put building structures or
parking on it. And then one
other requirement is as it has
to be at least 100ft wide. And
so that
s essentially why you
have tract two at that, um,
with that surrounding tract
one. And the reason why is
because the future land use
plan recommends industrial or
logistics in grey. And then you
have the green. And that
s
potential conservation open
space. And we talk about that.
Green serves two purposes. It
can either serve as a purpose
for um, potential environmental
constraints. But it can also
show that there should be some
sort of a buffer between the
industrial and then the yellow
is residential. So in this
case, the request is to put the
conservation, at the
conservation area overlay
around the perimeter of the
property, track three is that
little tiny piece. And they
have left that as part of an
access. So that
s why the track
three is just office by itself.
So again the land, the Future
land use plan recommends, uh,
industrial. The request is for
industrial with again some
conservation area overlay
around the periphery and
staff
s opinion. The request is
in compliance with the comp
plan with the future land use
and character map. Therefore,
staff recommends approval. And
at the JULY 21st, 2026 Planning
and Zoning meeting, the
Commission voted unanimously to
recommend approval of the
request and I will be happy to
answer any questions.
All right. Thank you very much.
Any questions for MISS Scooby?
I just have one. Is it my
understanding that there
s an
additional buffer or, um,
between that and the properties
surrounding.
It?
Do you mean for tract two or
tract two? Is the buffer.
Tract to is the buffer? But
that
s more than what is
normally required.
Yes.
Does that make sense?
Yes. It will stay in its
natural state. So whatever
trees are there, those have to
stay there. Right. And again
you can
t put parking and you
can
t put buildings in it. But
you will still have the normal
buffers that would be required
as well. Okay. So let
s say
extra 100ft of no buildings and
no parking lot is essentially
what that accomplishes.
And that is near Dnipro where
Dnipro is being.
Yeah, that
s just kind of to
the south of it along North
Creek Road. Mhm.
Can you tell me a little bit
more about why there
s a cookie
cutter track three.
I let the applicant but again
okay. The, the tiny piece is so
there can be access ingress and
ingress and egress because you
cannot put that through the
conservation area overlay. But
again we have a representative
here who can talk a little bit
more about it. But it was
purposeful.
All right. Any other questions.
Thank you very much. All right.
The public hearing is now open.
Those who speak on behalf of
the applicant MAY come forward.
Please state your name for the
record, the first person has
ten minutes. All others have
three minutes.
Uh. Good evening. Mayor.
Council member. My name is Ken
Malpass, representing Po Bow.
Um, to address your question,
MR. Robertson, what it is is
there
s an existing gravel
drive that provides access to a
couple, um, owners in the back.
This, uh, old tram lane that
s
been there for probably 75 or
80 years. And because of the
way the conservation, um, you
cannot put a private drive
through it. So we had to
separate out that so they could
still keep that access is what
it is. And we met with the
neighbors. And that
s how this
conservation overlay came
about. Um, we had a 50 foot
originally that would match the
vegetation, and they asked for
another 50ft. And I think
everybody was in agreement
that, um, with the compromise,
that that would be okay. We had
to leave that or that would
have negated the. Access by
doing the overlay.
That was kind of my
supposition.
Right. Thank you.
Any other questions?
All right. Any other questions
for MISS Malpass? Thank you
very much. Thank you. Anyone
else that is here to speak on
behalf of the applicant MAY
come forward. Please state your
name for the record. You have
three minutes. Seeing none.
Those in opposition to the
applicant MAY come forward.
Please state your name. For the
record. The first person has
ten minutes. All others have
three minutes. Seeing none. The
public hearing is now closed.
Open for board discussion or a
motion.
Motion to approve. Second.
All right. Motion was made by
Councilmember Willis. Second by
Council Jones. All those in
favor say aye.
Aye.
Those opposed say nay.
Motion passes five zero.
I
ll move on to item number
nine.
Thank you. Mayor. Item number
nine. Ordinance. Ordinance
requested by the Community
Development Services Department
to amend the Unified
Development Ordinance. Udo, to
add definitions and standards
for short term rentals,
homestay and short term rental.
Whole house lodging uses in
adding these uses to section
313. Table of uses as permitted
uses in the following zoning
districts are a 20 residential
agriculture r-1 five s
residential single family r9s
residential single family are
six residential single family
or non residential or six
residential or six a
residential or six mh
residential mobile home th10
tiny home community. MR..
Medical. Residential. MRS..
Medical. Residential. Single
family or office. Residential
cd downtown commercial and cdf
downtown commercial fringe. Now
call for an Assistant Director.
Shanti Gooby for the
presentation.
I don
t want to say anything,
but after you read that, our
whole crowd.
Left.
Almost our whole crowd. The the
three in the back.
Are here.
We
re here for the long run.
Right?
We
ll try to make it as
interesting as possible. Um, so
again, um, short term rentals.
Um, those can come on many
different platforms. The most
popular ones are Airbnb and
Burbank, and generally you have
two types of, um, short term
rentals. You have what we
re
calling the home state, which
is where you have a host on
site with you, whether it be an
apartment or a house of some
sort. And then we have what
s
called, in the second
definition, whole house
lodging. And it
s exactly what
it sounds like. You get the
whole dwelling to yourself. So
we
re just basically referring
to it with the host and without
a host. Uh, um, several months
ago, city staff was, um, able
to use some software that deals
with short term rentals. Uh,
this was done back in APRIL of
this year, and we were able to
identify some with certainty
and some with not exact
specificity of short term
rentals that are in Greenville.
So we
ve shown those all with
the blue dots. And then we
broke those out into what
zoning district they
re in. And
so at that time we had um,
roughly 270 short term rentals
in the city. So now to talk
about the new standards that
come with this, um, I
m going
to go through the homestay or
with host first. Um, and one of
one of the reasons why I
m
doing this is because a lot of
these carryover to the second
type of short term rental. Um,
so again, with a host, um, the
owner or operator does have to
receive a zoning compliance
permit. Um, it
s a one time
permit. Uh, there is no
exterior advertising that
s
allowed. So no outdoor outside
signage. The owner operator
does have to supply a
certificate of insurance. Uh,
in the amount of $1 million in
liability insurance for the
property. And that has to be
submitted with the permit
application. Also, no special
events or gatherings in excess
of the registered guests and
then any existing short term
rentals as of tonight, if this
is passed, has a year to get
their permit with us. Right. So
these are the existing ones.
And then any new ones,
obviously we
ll go ahead and
ideally
Do their permit before they
establish themselves as a short
term rental. Um, we do
recognize that we
re going to
have to do, um, a little bit of
publicity to to bring awareness
to them. Some people probably,
um, MAY not even know that they
have to do this. So that
ll
come if we, um, if you approve,
uh, text amendment. Another
thing that we added is that
any, um, short term rental that
receives either three citations
or warnings for ordinance
violations. Um, some examples
would be noise, trash and
debris or illegal parking. Um,
within a 12 month period. MAY
have their zoning compliance
permit revoked. Um, again, the
intent is to not be punitive,
but the intent is to make sure
that the Airbnb owner operator
is a good neighbor. And so
that
s what we
re really after.
Um, it is subject to citations.
And a little bit further, I
ll
tell you, um, the schedule of
of the the amounts of the
citations. This is for whole
house. These are the same ones
I
ve went through. So i
m going
to jump ahead to whole house
lodging. So whole house lodging
means that the owner, the host
is not on site. So we
ve added
two additional requirements.
Um, if, uh, the person who owns
or operates, um, the Airbnb
does not live in Pitt County,
then they
re going to designate
someone in Pitt County who will
be a local contact. That could
be a local contact or planning
staff, local contact for even
the police department. Um, so
that that agent can accept any
kind of issues or complaints
and be able to respond to them.
And again, this could be
something as like an excessive
amount of parking noise,
perhaps trash and debris that
s
been left in the yard. But
ideally that would be a local
contact, easy for us to get in
contact with than someone
perhaps in Ohio that MAY not
have an idea. Any of these
things are going on again.
Um.
We already have the forms and
everything set up to go so that
if if this is approved, we
ll
be ready to go. So the form,
um, for the agent is very
short. It does lay out the
responsibilities of that agent
so they understand if they are
going to be an agent for
someone. What that means,
again, that they
re going to
have to receive and respond to
complaints.
Um.
This last section basically
just again, not to be punitive.
It does give a grace period
that if you are, uh, you have
an agent and that agent says,
actually, I
m moving to Texas.
It gives you some time to
appoint a new agent and get
their information to us. As far
as the citations, these are the
same citations for any kind of
zoning violation. And that is
the first violation. Um, is
$100 a second violation is a
second violation within 365
days of the first. That amount
is 250, and the third, again is
within 365 days of the first
violation. And that amount is
$500. This is the table of
uses. And so what this is
showing is that, um, all of the
districts that allow
residential, uh, we have added,
you
ll see the red piece. So
that means it
s a permitted
use, does not require a special
use permit. Um, this will be
for both of those uses. So both
uses will be allowed in the
very same districts. In staff
s
opinion, the request is in
compliance with the
comprehensive plan,
specifically. Chapter five
Creating Complete Neighborhoods
Goal 5.1 strong Existing
neighborhoods Greenville will
have strong established
neighborhoods with the support
for neighbors, with support for
neighborhood organizations,
high quality housing, unique
character, and robust
integration with the rest of
the community. Um. Therefore,
staff recommends approval. And
at the JULY 21st, 2026 Planning
and Zoning Commission, the
Commission voted unanimously to
recommend approval of the
request, and I
ll be happy to
answer any questions.
Right.
Any questions?
MISS.
Uh.
Shante, can you remind me of
the period of time that an
owner would have to replace an.
Agent?
We have said ten days.
Ten days? Yes.
And then you said it was a
year. They have a year to get
the permit. This is.
Past for existing or
preexisting ones. Yes. And
again, that
s probably going to
take a little bit of word of
mouth, um, to make people aware
of that. But we
ve given a
grace period of a year.
Okay. And then I can
t remember
if we, uh, finalize this, but
what was the legality of this?
I know we had discussed that in
the workshop.
The city attorney
s office is
of the view that this is a
legally defensible, and it
s,
um, will be in compliance.
Okay.
Are there any other peer cities
that are doing something
similar to this?
Yeah, there
s several cities
that have a short term
ordinance, short term rental
ordinances. Um, Raleigh.
Asheville.
So are they similar to what
we
re proposing?
I think Raleigh was very
similar.
To. Okay.
And there has been any case law.
Nobody
s tried to sue the city
over it.
Well, there hasn
t been some
legislation out of litigation
out of Wilmington dealing with
the rental registration
challenge. But, um, we believe
this is not a rental
registration program. This is a
regulation of short term
rentals, but it
s not a rental
registration program. So we
think this is legally
defensible. And.
Um. Can you go back to the
citations again?
Sure.
And this would be, um, a notice
of violation. So, uh, a parking
through the police department
MAY be a little different than
if it makes its way to us.
Let
s say it is a parking
issue. Um, and we would be
notified as part of having the
permits. 123 Main Street had a,
you know, a kegger, and they
had 25 cars. And we had to send
the police out there and have
them dispersed.
Sure.
And then as far as, like the
complaints are concerned, um,
are those complaints that are
sent to directly to the city
and then the city investigates
to see if it
s a legitimate
complaint. And I guess where
I
m going with this is, is that
each person
s idea of quiet and
peaceful is different in their
and their type of nuisance is
all always different. So people
don
t want to see any of it.
Some of them could just be
calling in, complaining just
because they know what
s going
on inside the dwelling and know
that it
s something they don
t
want to see, but they just
might be complaining. And so I
guess my idea is, is I want to
make sure that whoever
s making
the complaint is being vetted
by the city, and the city can
go ahead and say, well, this is
a legitimate complaint. This
isn
t just somebody that
s
angry and just doesn
t like
that particular neighbor and
their property.
We deal with that a lot. Again,
one person
s tolerance is much
higher or lower than their
neighbors. Um, so along with
the permit, we we have an index
where we would keep track of
the properties. Um, that would
allow, uh, pd or even code
enforcement to be able to
cross-reference that. We would
essentially be the the keeper
of the information. Someone
could still go on the city. Uh,
compass. We would probably need
to add that as a new issue from
the dropdown box. And I would
think that that would probably
come through planning first.
Um, if it is more of a of.
A.
A lot of parking, let
s say.
Um.
The best solution would be to
go through pd. Obviously it
s
not an emergency, but pd is 24
hours. We
re 8 to 5. Um, but it
will basically the the
different tentacles will still
rest within the planning
department is how it would
work.
So and I guess I think of the
situation where you could have
a neighbor that
s just not
happy. Right. And they find out
that within a certain amount of
complaints they could, you
know, get the, the, the
neighboring property that
they
re not happy with multiple
citations and potentially get
them into some legal issues. So
I guess like my thought is, is
if the police departments
called out to, let
s say, one
of the short term rentals and
they just say it was because of
loud noise, they go out there
and say it
s it
s nothing.
Well, they call them again. It
happens again. Let
s say they
come out there 4 or 5 times,
and then the neighbor says, I
m
doing all these hypothetical
things. Um, but this is
probably a realistic situation.
Um, they go out there and they
say, well, they call the
planning department. Say, well,
the police have been out there
five times. You know, I don
t
understand why we
re not doing
anything with it. How is that
going to be handled? I guess as
far as the complaint, because
it
s going to be law that the
police were out there five
times, but how legitimate were
those five phone calls as far
as an actual nuisance, right?
Well, we would get the
disposition right. So we would
know if it was founded, if they
showed up and it was quiet and
everyone were being good
listeners. So we as the
planning department would have
some idea. Yes. You have five
calls for service, but actually
only one time was there
actually in an issue. So it
will put on staff. Um, as
sometimes there are of
threading the needle of taking
those different complaints,
figuring out which really do
hit a mark and which of those
or maybe someone losing
patience and they
re calling
every 15 minutes. Um, so that
happens in other things as well
when we get complaints. And
what do you know, it
s already
disappeared by the time that we
get there. But what will happen
or what will at least give us
some way of communicating
directly is that either we
ll
have the person on the permit,
or we will have a local
contact, and if that local
contact says, listen, this is
my sister
s place, great. Can
you tell us who your sister is?
And that is a way that staff
can directly communicate with
someone that we MAY not be able
to reach. Um, they MAY have a
run of bad guests, you know,
and that happens as well. Um,
but the other thing is that at
least Verbo and Airbnb have a
system themselves for if you
live beside the property and
you have issues, you can log
those complaints with Airbnb
and Verbo as well. Okay, so
there
s a couple of things. Is
is a completely fail safe note.
And there is going to take, um,
some, some discretion of how we
deal with issues that come up.
Okay.
Um, and then the other question
I have to is as far as somebody
that is in deciding about doing
like a short term rental, let
it be one of the two scenarios.
What is there a penalty if they
do not file? And I guess my
thought process is you
re going
to have a lot of people that
have been have not been used to
it. There
s never been a filing
period. What type of penalty
would be if somebody operating
one and then staff is notified
that so-and-so and my
neighborhood is has an Airbnb
and you say, well, it
s not
logged, we don
t have them
there. You send them a letter.
Is there a penalty or is it
just a requirement that within
a certain period of time, they
need to go ahead and file?
Yeah. The first letter is
always this has been brought to
our attention. Again, we could
be wrong. You MAY not be an
Airbnb, but it starts with a
letter. If you have any
questions, please contact us.
Um, and the other. And in these
cases, we can direct them back
to the planning site because
the fillable forms will be
there and they can go, oh, I
didn
t know I was supposed to
do that. Click, click, click.
And they send us what they
need. Um, generally we give
folks about ten days to respond.
If we don
t hear anything,
we
ll do a second. And of. We
can do citations, which is what
is in front of you. We can do
that. Schedule of citations.
Um, but obviously we want to
make very sure that we are
actually trying to track a
short term rental. And it
s not
something else. But the very
first thing would be a nice,
firm letter. We believe you
might be operating short term
rental, and we would need you
to apply for the permit.
Final question. I see we got
first, second and third. What
s
the fourth?
There is, of course, that
s
where I
m going to call MR.
McGirt and say, MISTER McGirt,
we do not have a good listener.
What would we like?
That
s that
s what I
m going to
say. And so then I then that
turns my attention to is, I
guess, probably revocation
maybe of a permit. And I guess
from a legal standpoint, how
does the city defend removing
somebody
s legal permit to be
able to operate a short term
rental.? Right. As a property
owner?
We could bring a civil action
to to collect the penalties and
also bring an injunction action
to revoke the permit. And, um,
they will have to cease
operating if we had a court
order.
So but I guess from a legal
standpoint, how do we where do
we stand if somebody says,
well, you
re taking away my
property rights by allowing me
to be able to operate a
business out of the property
that I own. Do do we have any
case law that says that we have
the right to be able to do
something like that, where we
can prevent somebody from
actually having a rental?
Well, the case law says that
cities that have the authority
to zone to zone buildings and
land, um, the short term rental
case that I was talking about
out of Wilmington, it said that
they had a Wilmington
s program
was illegal because it was a
rental registration program.
But the court said that the
cities could still zone use
zoning to regulate short term
rentals. And we drafted this
ordinance in light of that case
so we could bring a civil
action to to revoke the permit
and cease them from operating.
So so essentially, there
s
nothing I guess it would just
be if somebody decided to just
kind of like they could sue for
any other reason that they
would establish a case law.
For it.
They could try to sue and say,
we
re.
Taking away their.
Property rights.
The case law is clear. Cities
have the authority to his own
property and to, um, enact
short term rental zoning
ordinances as well. You have to
make sure that it doesn
t. It
s
not a rental registration
program or it
s not a down
zone, but the city has
authority to to zone. So.
We can zone. We also can put
reasonable time, place and
circumstances restrictions.
We
re not taking away their
property, right. We
re
regulating it. And if they
don
t comply that
s on them.
Right. So we
re not taking away
if they comply. Nothing
s
taken. I mean they gotta do is
comply with the and this is
very reasonable. Probably it
s
a lot less than what I would
like to say, but it
s a
starting point.
Yeah.
And I
m not arguing that.
I just don
t understand. I
m
just saying I.
Just want to see from the
situation. If we get into that,
because you
ve got a lot of
people that are operating right
now, and I
m sure they
re not
going to be real happy about
the changes and having to to
register and go through the
process. And having this. My
thought is you probably have
some angry people, and I want
to make sure it
s defensible
from a city standpoint.
And again, it
s not a
registration. It
s requiring
them to get a zoning permit.
And we
re giving them one year.
Those existing short term
rentals are giving, given one
year to obtain the permit.
Okay.
It would be the same thing as a
homeowner who
s subject to
nuisance. We have a nuisance
ordinance in the city of
Greenville that has homeowners
or people who live in a home.
We
re all subject to, and so
it
s no different. We
re just
putting in here like you
re
subject to these types of
violations. If you don
t run
your business appropriately. I
don
t see any problem with it
from a standpoint, because I
look into this pretty heavily.
I mean, I think it
s a good
starting point, and maybe we
can even look further down the
road, but I don
t see any legal
problems with it in terms of
what we
ve done, because it
s
so minor and it puts the onus
on them that you
re only paying
any fees or anything if you
violate what are typically
reasonable standards. It
s a
nuisance and and use of drugs
or controlled substances or
noise ordinances and parking
violations that we regulated
for centuries in this city are
not centuries, but a long time.
Thank you, MR. Attorney.
Thank you, MR. Attorney. You
re
welcome.
I had the same questions, but
it was from the other end of
the spectrum that if somebody
consistently violates, you
know, what would happen
because, you know, it affects
citizens quality of life. So
that was where my concern was,
is what would happen at that
point. So I appreciate you
answering that question.
All right.
And then, uh, did you say that
we don
t know the exact
location of all short term
rentals?
Yeah. The website that we used
is more of a more of a website
for an investor, but we were
able to download that
information. Some of the
things, some of the properties
we were able to identify,
because people actually put the
picture of the house on it. So
we
re like, oh, that
s the one.
Some, for whatever reason,
don
t put the picture out of
the house. So the pen just sort
of sits in the middle of the
street. So we have a pen, we
know about where it is so we
can put it together. But but
some of them are a little
fuzzier. Um, so we had to do
some sleuthing of our own to
try to, uh, take out some of
the static.
So let
s say potentially for
one of the properties that we
don
t know the exact location
of when the 365 day mark, uh,
comes across, how are we going
to ensure that all short term
rentals are in compliance if we
don
t know the exact locations?
Or is it going to be like an
honor system for the operators?
Somewhat of an honor system,
but also we as a staff will
still have to keep track
because you come you you could
have some people who fall out
of the market who decide they
don
t want to do it anymore,
but, you know, we did this
about a year or so ago. I think
we added maybe 80 more units
since that time. So it will
constantly be where staff will
have to go in harvest as do as
best as we can. And some of
them MAY be, um, from phone
calls and someone reporting.
It
s an Airbnb. Okay, so it is
not a perfect science. Uh,
Airbnb again, doesn
t require
you to put the picture of the
property because that is a
security issue. So it will be a
little sleuthing on our side as
well.
So some properties could
potentially slip through the
cracks, which is.
That.
Well, yes. However, um, if they
are good listeners, we MAY not
know that they
re there. And
that
s the intention is to be a
good neighbor.
And then one more question. Do
they how often does the permit
need to be renewed? Is it every
year. One time, just one time?
Did we say that I can
t
remember. Did we say the the
amount for the permit? Is there
amount?
Uh.
We have not. It
s not in the
manual of fees. So.
That was about. Okay.
I mean is it something that we
should have, you know, you have
to renew every year so we can
keep better track of which ones
are still operating and which
ones are new.
That would be something for the
whole council to to think
about. We have just put it as
a, as a one time permit.
I think, I think one of our
attorneys over here has
something to say. MISTER,
MISTER Birch.
What up, MISTER Birch?
The answer to.
That would be no. Um, because
that would be. Tantamount to
the registration.
Yeah.
And in order to be compliant
with state law, we would need
to avoid that. And the way to
do that is, at one time, um,
uh, registration or one.
But using that.
Word, don
t say that. Yeah.
Perfect.
Thank you.
Yeah. I appreciate how tactful
MISS Gooby is. The reality of
it is, is our our code of
ordinances is about six inches
thick. And we have individuals
that are violating those
ordinances every single day.
And if you have bad neighbors
out there, uh, our experience
has been we
re going to know
about it.
You find out sooner or later.
Yes. All right. If no other
questions, public hearing is
now open. Those who speak on
behalf of applicant MAY come
forward. Please state your name
for the record, first person
has ten minutes. All others
have three minutes.
Hello?
Hello.
Uh. Good evening Council. I am
Venus Diamond. I have been a
resident of Greenville for two
and a half years. Resident of
North Carolina for eight years.
Um, I would like to show my
appreciation for this
ordinance. I think this is a
very good step, and I would
like to see. I loved your
comment about wanting to see
more pushes. Um, I would love
to see more pushes, uh, and
more restrictions on Airbnbs
and other short term leases. I
think as a whole, this is going
to be very good for the
community, especially given a
time where the housing market
is inflating way more than it
should be. And at the same
time, uh, I think this would
potentially bring down a lot
of, you know, the threshold for
people to be able to rent or,
you know, mortgage in the city.
Um, I
m sorry. Um, this would
also bring more business to our
local hotel industry, which
would be very nice for us to
have. Um, though I would like
to see more pushes, uh, notably
in a lot of the zoning, such as
r6, which does include a lot of
apartments. And I feel like if
that is included, it does run
the risk of somebody
potentially using an Airbnb to
try to undercut our hotels. And
I know there are a lot of
people, particularly people in
Greenville Power, who can
utilize this if they. So please
not. I
m saying anybody will,
but it is a possibility that
could be worrying. But as a
whole, I like this ordinance.
This, uh, feels like it will be
good, uh, for the community.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Anyone else would like to speak
on behalf of the applicant MAY
come forward. Please state your
name for the record. You have
three minutes. See none. Those
in opposition to the applicant
MAY come forward. Please state
your name for the record. First
person has ten minutes. All
others have three minutes. See,
now the public hearing is now
closed. And for board
discussion or motion. Motion to
approve. Second motion was made
by Council member Hardy. Second
by Mayor Pro Tem Forman. Any
other discussion? All those in
favor say aye. Aye. Those
opposed say nay.
Motion passes five zero.
Move on to item number ten. Our
final public hearing.
Thank you. Mayor. Item number
ten. Ordinance requested by the
Community and Development
Services Department to clarify
the required number of
professional security personnel
and alcohol establishments.
Bah. Bar 2022. Microbrewery and
micro distillery that provide
amplified entertainment. After
11 P.M. Again, call forward or
Assistant Director Shanti Gubbi
for the presentation.
Hopefully this is very short.
Uh, this is just an item to
clarify, we
ve kind of talked
about this a little bit. Um,
this first deals with what
staff considers alcohol
establishments. Um, we have or
excuse me, we have four
different uses in the city that
we, um, sort of categorize
under that umbrella. Um, a bar
bar, 2022 microbrewery, micro
distillery, um, primary
activity, obviously cell
consumption of alcohol on site.
All of these establishments
have the ability to have a
mixed beverage permit a little
different than just wine and
beer. Um, in MAY of this year,
city staff brought a text
amendment to clarify the number
of, um, professional security
personnel that are required at
alcohol establishments with,
uh, amplified entertainment
after 11 P.M., so it only
counts after 11 P.M.. Um, at
that meeting, there was some
discussion that requiring
security personnel MAY be
burdensome, um, to small
businesses. After there was
some discussion staffs bringing
this back, um, with the text
amendment and it same version
as far as amplified
entertainment or udo says
amplified entertainment shall
shall mean any type of music or
other entertainment delivered
through and by an electronic
system. So that could be music.
It could be bingo. So the
proposed language again, is
based on the occupancy of the
building. So it
s not based on
the number of people that are
there at that night. And so
what this says is if you have
an occupancy between 1 and 200,
you will have two security
personnel required to be on
site. And then for every 100
people, essentially you add one
more person. So 2 to 300 would
be three. Um, and then it goes
a bit further to say, um, again
after 11 P.M., um shall employ
no less than two security
guards in order for one
security guard to be inside,
and then one security guard to
be able to patrol private
parking lot. So if they
re
downtown and they don
t
actually have a parking lot,
then both of the security
personnel can be inside. Um,
and then staff
s opinion this
request is in compliance with
the comprehensive plan. Uh,
chapter four, Growing the
Economic hub, which is goal
4.3, modernize and Diversify
the local economy. Support the
growth of a variety of
employment opportunities and
businesses that diversify
Greenville
s economy. Provide
workers with a range of skill
sets and training, and
encourage business growth
within the incorporated areas
and diversify Greenville
s tax
base. And then further, we also
have a second one in here. This
is from chapter one. And this
is growing the economic hub.
1.4 a vibrant uptown support
and control uptown nightlife.
Uptown is Greenville
s vibrant
and walkable nightlife district
that supports a variety of high
quality, responsible drinking
and restaurant establishments.
A thriving nightlife that can
attract and retain young
professionals that, in turn,
attract high quality employers.
This does not mean nightlife
activities need to be allowed
to run out of control.
Appropriate standards for these
businesses should be enforced
so that uptown can be enjoyed
safely and responsible.
Therefore, staff recommends
approval of the proposed
amendment. This one
s a little
different. Uh, at the JULY
21st, 2026 Planning and Zoning
Commission, um, they voted
unanimously with a motion. Um,
but the motion had a little
tweak to it. So they, uh, did
recommend approval, but they
went further and said while the
commission, um, did recommend
approval of the amendment,
there was language included in
the motion that there should be
consideration given to the
economic impact on small
businesses to consider the use
of bouncers as a substitute for
professional security personnel.
And with that, I
ll be glad to
answer any questions.
Any questions?
One question on your proposed
language. If you go back to it.
There is says 1200. You really
mean 1 to 200, don
t you
establish.
Oh, I
m sorry, there
s a
hyphen.
I
m sorry. Yeah.
Okay. Just that and that
s it.
And what? Why? Or, staff
bringing back the same version
of the text.
That.
When I brought it to you in
MAY, um, there was some
discussion. I don
t want to
call names, but there was some
discussion that perhaps, um,
this was expensive and that it
could be overly burdensome, uh,
to some of the establishments.
We had a council work session.
I don
t know if you were at
that one. And so the decision
was to go with the professional
security as opposed to the
bouncers, because security,
professional security personnel
would include off duty cops or
actual professional, um,
security personnel, as opposed
to bouncers have less training
and bouncers. Purview. If you
will stop at the door of the
establishment so they can
t go
any further. So you
re going to
get, um, a person with more
training and the ability to.
Provide service outside of the
establishment.
And then are the just to make
sure that I
m clear, are the
current, um, bars whatever you
want to call grandfathered into
this is.
Yes. This does not affect any
pre-existing.
So it would include any
business that opens up with a
special use permit under for
2022. Correct.
Microbrewery. Micro distillery
bar 2022. Yes. Any of the four?
Me personally, I still have the
same opinion as, uh,
Councilmember Scully when this
was last brought up. I do think
that this will be burdensome to
some small businesses. And I
also think that it will, uh,
keep some college students out
of, uh, some jobs because those
are who mainly staff and
balance, uh, the, the clubs and
the nightlife down here. Um, so
I just want to make that be
done. For the record.
All right. Any other comments?
Questions?
Uh, I have one in, uh, I don
t
even drink. And I
m swimming in
alcohol after all this
conversation. Um, about this,
but, um, has there been any
conversation, uh, with, uh,
businesses or bar owners
outside of downtown?
No, because the ones that we
have now are under the old the
old rules. So, uh, so the
answer is, is no. But we also
don
t have very many of them
either. The microbreweries and
the micro distilleries. We have
are really downtown. Um, and,
and they
re not going to be
affected because they already
have a special use permit. So
they were ahead of this. So my
point is, is it is, um, it
s
only going to affect those that
would walk in the door and we
would say, oh, by the way, this
is a new requirement. Mm.
Can I ask our deputy chief a
question about this. Does the
police department feel that
this is something that is
necessary? Y
all want to see?
I
m sorry to put you on.
No pressure.
Well, um.
Have you had have you all had
problems.
With the officers about that?
They actually work the area.
Um, I haven
t got a lot of
feedback from that. Yes, I, I,
i would have to believe that.
Get some feedback from the
officers that are actually on
the street working.
Thank you.
That
s a good politician answer
right there. I like that. All
right. Any other questions
comments. Thank you very much.
Public hearing is now open.
Those speak on behalf of the
outcome MAY come forward.
Please state your name. For the
record. The first person has
ten minutes. All others have
three minutes. None of those in
opposition to the applicant MAY
come forward. Please state your
name. For the record. The first
person has ten minutes. All
others have three minutes. The
public hearing is now closed.
Open for a board discussion or
a motion.
So if one makes a motion and I
don
t have a motion, but if one
makes a motion, would that be
with the suggestion of.
You could make whatever motion
you want.
To make. I don
t want.
To make.
A motion.
You can take their motion. You
can take the staff
s motion.
You can make up a motion.
Okay.
I don
t have.
A motion.
Did I answer your question?
Did.
Mayor, if I MAY. This to me is
really interesting. Um, because
I feel like at the core of it,
um, our conversations have been
centered around safety. Um, and
so looking at the request of
planning and zoning to opt to
use bouncers, but if they have
to stop at the door, then I
don
t know that that achieves
the safety that we were looking
for, for inside the
establishment and then out, but
then also, um, for the
establishments that are already
in business, this doesn
t
affect them. It
s not
retroactive. So this is going
forward. So you don
t want to
implement something that
s cost
prohibitive to a new business.
That
s, um, that
s starting
their business. Uh, it
s it
s
an interesting proposition. I
think, um.
Do you have a motion?
Oh.
You know, I don
t mind making a
motion. Um, gosh.
And, I mean, I don
t think this
is at least from my point of
view. I
m not, you know,
against safety. Um, around
these establishments, but I
just I just really think it
would be cost prohibitive and
kind of restrict what these
businesses could do on a night
to night basis. Um, they really
have to be mindful of, you
know, what day is they decide
to provide amplified music past
11:00. Um, yeah. That
s my only
concern.
I
ll make a motion to approve
the text as tendered. And the
reason why is because I
ve
dealt with downtown for 40
years as a criminal lawyer, and
I
ve seen the carnage caused by
people in the bars who
ve
consumed way too much. They
weren
t just drinking, they
were intoxicated and served by
bars. And I think if you talk
to the officers on the streets,
they will tell you that
oftentimes the people come out
of the bars are not just
drinking, they are completely
intoxicated and just drunk. And
today, uh, had to read, uh,
because of a case of a very
serious injury that occurred in
a bar. And no bouncers were
around, and they MAY have
probably prevented it had they
been. And when you use the word
bouncer, what does that really
mean? It means you go hire a
college kid to come in and
provide security, who
oftentimes is a workout
fanatic, who wants to go bully
people and use that power.
That
s what my experience has
been. All those watching on tv.
You MAY have harsh words, but
you can have all the harsh
words you want. It
s the truth,
and I
ve seen it for 40 years.
Mm. So I don
t want some 20
year old kid. I
m not trying to
crack on a 20 year old
providing security when
something goes south, because
people have had too much
alcohol to drink, because
they
ve been in the bar for a
while. And so if you
ve got
some professional security
level of it, then you
ve got
better training about how to
de-escalate, because what I
find in the past is what
bouncers do. The first thing
they want to do is to strike.
And I represented bars who
ve
been sued because their
bouncers have struck an even
though they
ve been trained.
Don
t strike. People grapple
and escort. But that doesn
t
say so for for for that
experience. That
s why I do
this. And it
s not going to
affect any of our bars that are
currently in because they
re
grandfathered in. So you
re
lucky. But going forward, I
think if you
re going to be in
the business of serving alcohol
late at night and people tend
to imbibe because how do you
get drunk if you
re in the bar,
if they
re not serving you when
they probably shouldn
t be
serving you? Uh, they
re
serving you too much alcohol.
And then when you get too much
alcohol, people bounce into
each other or see somebody,
girl. And there
s comments back
and forth and you and you got
to fight. And then when
somebody gets hit, it
s not the
strike that hurts them. It
s
when they fall on the concrete
and hit their head and get a
brain bleed and get brain
damage. And I
ve seen hundreds
of cases like that in 40 years.
So I
m a little tough on this.
I know. Um, but again, a
balance. There
s nothing more
that I see as a college kid
that
s just working on their
part time for 13, $14 an hour.
So what level of
professionalism do you get? You
get what you pay for. So that
s
why I make the motion that we
should adopt it as tendered and
without the, uh, the bouncers
as a substitute. Because I just
think what you
re really saying
is let us hire somebody cheap
who
s a college kid. And
usually professional security
has liability in place on
insurance. So if something does
go south, you
ve got a
liability insurance policy that
can that somebody can go after.
If this, uh, security personnel
went too far. And again, you
see it, I
ve seen it time and
time again. Multiple bars have
been sued down, down over.
So you
re making a motion for
the staff sergeant?
Yeah. The staff
s
recommendation that tracking
that language.
Does anybody got a second?
I
ll second the motion.
All right.
Any other discussion? Speak
now. Forever. Hold your peace.
All right. Motion been made by
Councilmember Robinson and
second by Councilmember Willis.
All those in favor say aye.
Aye, aye. Those opposed say
nay.
Motion passes, five zero.
Oh.
All right. That was it for the
public hearings. We
ll move on
to other items of business
number 11.
All right. Thank you, mayor.
Item number 11, resolution
approving an interlocal
agreement with Pitt County.
Pitt Area Transit System
relating to providing
paratransit transportation
services within the territorial
jurisdiction of the City of
Greenville. I
ll call forward
our transit manager with
Davidson for short presentation.
Thank you. Good evening. Good
evening, good evening. Evening.
I look forward to your short
presentation.
A yes, sir, i
m going to give
you a brief update on where we
are with our Ada paratransit
service. So just a reminder,
Ada paratransit is the
mandatory point to point
transportation that we have to
provide for qualifying
customers with disabilities in
which a disability affects
their access to fixed route
bus. Um, this is curb. Curb.
And it
s, uh, reimbursed at 80%
of operating costs, 85% of
capital cost. Um, pleased to
announce, since we were here
talking about paratransit last,
that, uh, the city of
Greenville and Pitt County were
selected to receive $200,000
each as part of a coordinated
public transportation grant to
continue our partnership effort
to provide the transportation
service. Um, great will use the
funds to pay for trips that the
county will provide, and pets
will purchase vehicles. I
believe with their funds. So we
have been able to negotiate a
renewed partnership for fy
2627. Uh, pets went through a
fully allocated cost model, uh,
exercise with ncdot staff to
set their trip rate so their
new trip rate at a break even
point is $27 per trip. Um, the
city is still on track. We
re
scheduled to begin, uh,
partial, uh, Ada paratransit
service that we will provide,
uh, in OCTOBER. Uh, the service
is is going to be provided with
four, four vans. Three, uh,
which will be Ada accessible.
One is a minivan. Uh, we
re in
the process of creating the new
positions, working with hr, uh,
to get that finalized. Uh, we
have trip booking software
that
s going to manage all of
the, uh, clients bookings, um,
customers can book via mobile
app or by calling our office a
picture of what, what the
vehicles will look like that
will provide the service that
we have. Minivan. And then the
high roof, uh, vans with a
transit style door. It has an
Ada lift in the back. So great.
Will be the primary provider
once we began service, uh, in
in OCTOBER. Uh, like I said,
great. We
ll run four vans.
Pat
s will provide, uh, 2 to 3,
uh, and we
re still talking
about about 2250 rides per
month, right. For this program,
the hours of operation. I know
this was a point, uh, we spoke
about back in FEBRUARY. We were
able to go back and negotiate
with, with pets that they will
continue to provide the trips
from 4 A.M. To 6 A.M., mainly
dialysis patients. Uh, great.
And pets will provide service
from 6 to 6 and then great will
provide the service from six
until 830. Uh, on weekdays.
Saturdays, same thing. Pets
will provide the early morning,
4 to 9. Uh, we have different
hours on Saturday, so the hours
will match the service that
great provides. 9 to 430 great.
And pets? Pets if needed. And
then pets will do 430 to 6 on
Saturday. All right. We will
notify customers, uh, of the
change. That rate will be the
primary provider. Pets will be
the secondary provider, uh,
through electronic mail, usps,
uh, starting in SEPTEMBER, uh,
all existing customers data
will be exported into our new
system. Uh, eligible
eligibility requirements will
not change. All right. Um,
request that council would
approve the fy 2627 interlocal
agreement with Pitt County.
All right, any questions?
I did have a question. Did I
understand you correctly to say
that the new assessed cost is
$27 per ride? Previously, it
was $9. It was 18. It was 18.
So $9 both ways. It was or was
it $18? One way.
, each way, one way.
And so the increase to $27. Now
one way.
Correct.
Um, and there
s nothing that is
there anything that we can do
to, um, affect that cost for
citizens.
So the 27 the citizen won
t pay
that. So that
s the cost that
the city will pay the county
per trip.
City pays the county patrol.
Okay. And so then for the
actual rider, what does that
look like with the actual.
Rider today? That is still
free? When when the city begins
charging a fair and that
s
slated for at some point in
OCTOBER. Okay. Then what the
federal government allows is
twice the normal fare. So if we
were charging $1 for a bus
fare, then the fare for a pet
ride would be $2.
It would be $2. Okay, so i
m
not thinking about the cost for
a citizen. That
s an outside of
a particular program or
whatnot. I was told that it was
$9 per trip. I think that.
Cost that a citizen of county
pays to ride pets. Versus the
city. They were riding it as a
county. As a county citizen,
riding the county system, not a
Greenville resident using the
Ada paratransit system. Because
we work with the county to
provide our Ada paratransit
system within the city limits.
Right. Okay, okay. So within
the city limits, it
s free.
It
s it is what you did.
It went from $27 to free. Just
like.
Just like that.
Yeah. In the does not pay. A
customer does not pay today
okay.
That is what we are paying.
We pay the county.
The county.
We will pay the county 27 per
trip that they provide.
Which previously was 18.
Correct? Okay, I got it now.
Okay.
All right.
Just like that. You got.
It free.
All you gotta do is ask.
I think I got an understanding.
Thank you.
All right. Any other questions?
Comments?
No. I do.
Want to say, um, I
m so
grateful and thankful that
y
all did make it. Um, the time
change so that we can make sure
that all of our citizens, um,
can get to any appointments
they MAY need to be. And with
that, I move that we approve.
Um, and I second that you
re
going with, um, being specific
about those citizens that are
impacted by, um, dialysis and
need to get to their
appointments. Yes. So we
re
greatly appreciative.
Of that.
Thank you. So we second in the
motion or second in the
comment..
Second and.
Both awesome.
I like that. All right. Motion
been made by Councilmember
Jones. Second by uh, Mayor Pro
Tem Forman any other
discussion?
I did want to ask mayor if we
could get an update at our
next, um, workshop about the
rollout of the shelters. Um, I
would love to be able, for all
of us to know together where we
are with that rollout and how
many more we have to go. Um,
just to get some clarity.
On that.
We
ll do. Thank you.
All right. Any other
discussion.
When you say shelter, don
t
offer the benches.
That for.
Sure.
And the bars that need to be
removed.
We have we
ve already started
removing those bars. Right.
Yes, yes, yes.
Okay.
Thank you.
I want.
Welcome those. And I
ve only
seen a couple that are left.
We put we put a few in the
middle of our chairs.
At one. This time we were
walking. All right. Any other
discussion? All those in favor
say aye. Aye. Those opposed say
nay.
Motion passes five zero.
Let
s move on to item number
12. Number 12. Final real item.
Approval to purchase 188
vehicle for the City of
Greenville and the Transit
Division. Turn it back over to
MR. Davidson.
Thank you. All right. Request
to purchase 188 paratransit
van. So this would be a van
matching the hot top van that
we saw. Council previously
approved the purchase of three
back in FEBRUARY. So this would
be adding, uh, another Ada van.
So cost of that van,
$123,371.76. Funding will come
from 85% from our fta funding,
15% from general fund. That
s
what the van will look like.
Um, we request that council
approve the purchase of one Ada
accessible paratransit van
using fta and general funds.
All right. Any questions?
Motions.
I
ll move.
All right. Most of you MAY, but
Council Jones, second by
Councilmember Robison. Any
other discussion? All those in
favor say aye. Aye, aye. Those
opposed say nay.
Motion passes five zero.
Now what? Everybody
s been
waiting for. Everybody in the
audience has been waiting for
the city manager
s report.
Uh, you know, it was going to
be a long one tonight, but I
will make it quick. I just want
to wish my wife a happy
anniversary. We
ll be
celebrating our 34th wedding
anniversary on Sunday, and I
can
t wait to have a nice,
quiet meal together at Taco
Bell. Yes.
Hey, has anybody nominated her
as a saint yet? Saint Pam.
Saint.
Pam.
34 years. Yeah. Make some else.
Yeah.
Oh, man.
Holy cow.
She likes punishment, doesn
t
she?
Yes. We
ll be enjoying our
nacho Bell Grande. Uh, Sunday
evening.
What
s up? What
s the drink
that they have? Like they
ve
had like an orange drink or
something. Baja blast or
something. Get her a hey, get
her a bar blast to go with
that..
Free refills. That
s all I got,
man.
We
re going south quick. All
right, our city city attorney
s
report quickly.
Mayor and council, shout out to
MR. Scott Dixon. Uh, he was
reappointed to serve on the
North Carolina League of
Municipalities. Uh, Legislative
Policy Committee. So shout out
to Scott for that.
Congratulations.
Congratulations, Scott.
All right. Maybe this might be
the most anticipated, uh,
comment of the night. Our city
clerk
s report.
I
m gonna keep this really
short. Happy birthday to my
baby sister, Frannie. She
s 38,
but still a baby to me.
My baby sister. Oh, okay.
Happy birthday. Thank you.
That
s awesome. Where are we
going? Are we. Are we gonna
start tonight? Okay.
Um, MAY I rehearse this
earlier? I have no comment.
Uh, just, uh, congratulations
to our three teams that we
recognized earlier, and
everybody have a great rest of
your week.
Awesome. Councilmember wills.
Thank you. Mayor. Um, I
attended the Chamber of
Commerce
s, um, leadership
conference earlier today. That
was wonderful to see all the
ladies come together. It was
very empowering. Uh, so kudos
to them. They do such good
work. And so it was a wonderful
event to attend. And, uh,
praying for a safe, um, school
year for all of the teachers
and administrators and students
going back to school with pay
county schools. Um, and I think
that
s all I have. Mayor.
Thank you. All right. Thank you
very much, Councilmember
Robinson.
Uh, I just want to echo the
comments earlier. First,
congratulations to Glen Wooten
for serving us for three
decades. That
s amazing.
Congratulations to those three
teams. I mean, I really hear
the Lady Swarm are just
incredible players and coaches.
I appreciate you volunteering
your time and being a role
model for these kids. It means
more than you probably ever
know in your lifetime, but
they
ll carry those lessons
forward with them. And if
you
re watching and you have a
team that
s doing well, please
let us know so we can have them
down here at City Hall. Um, uh,
let
s see. Also, thank you to
everybody and staff and Valerie
for a smiley mug of flowers
and, uh, a gift certificate out
to Boa. I mean, because that
first two weeks, I was not
smiling after knee replacement,
and I looked up and my wife put
it right in front of me. She
said. She said, do what the cup
says and smile. And so thank
y
all for doing that because I
was not smiling the first two
weeks. But thank you all for
thinking of me during that
time.
Good. All right. Mayor Pro tem
for me.
Uh.
I will mirror the comments that
were made and elevate again.
The teams that were here and
the many teams that we have in
this city on all sides that are
functioning in excellence and
putting in hard work to make
these accomplishments. So
that
s all.
All right. I echo what everyone
else said. Now I need a motion
to adjourn.
Motion to adjourn.
Second.
I need a motion been made by
Councilmember Robinson. Second
by Mayor Pro Tem Forman. All
those in favor say aye. Aye.
Those opposed. Nay, nay.
Passes five zero.
We are adjourned.
More ways to save.
Good. All right.
All right.
Good afternoon.
I'd like to welcome everyone to
the AUGUST 10th, 2026 workshop.
I'm mayor pj Connolly for
presiding over today's workshop.
First I call on our city
clerk for the roll call.
Yes, sir.
Mayor Connolly here.
Mayor Pro Tem Forman here.
Councilmember Jones here.
Councilmember Murray here.
All right.
Councilmember Sculley has let
us know and you will not be
attending this evening.
Councilmember Robinson here.
Councilmember Willis here.
All right.
Here.
Come on.
Thank you very much.
We'll now move on to
approval of the agenda.
Any recommendations?
No changes.
All right.
Do I have a motion to
approve the agenda?
So moved.
Thank you.
All right.
Motion's been made by
Councilmember Erickson.
Mayor Pro Tem Forman, seconded
by Councilmember Jones.
All those in favor say aye.
Aye. Opposed.
Any motion passes five zero.
All right, we move
on to new business.
Item number one.
Thank you.
Mayor. Item number
one is an overview of.
The relationship between the
city of Greenville and the
housing authority for
the city of Greenville.
And the assistant city manager,
Danny Alexander, will come
forward to give
the presentation.
Good afternoon, mayor
and city council.
As the city manager said, I am
standing before you today to
provide an overview of our
relationship with the Housing
Housing Authority of
the City of Greenville.
And so we just want to kind of
set the stage in terms of why
we're here.
Um, the city has seen a large
influx in complaints that have
required a lot of involvement
from city staff to ultimately
get to resolution.
Um, and in JUNE of 2026,
we actually received
correspondence from the
Department of Housing and Urban
Development regarding some
noncompliance with inspections
dating back to 2024.
Um, these were life
threatening, um, deficiencies
that could lead to a high risk
of death if they
weren't resolved.
And we were able to get
confirmation from hud in JULY
of this year that the Housing
Authority is now in compliance
with all of those
outstanding violations.
Um, based on that background,
in JUNE, City Council requested
that we provide some
information about our
relationship with the housing
authority and how, um, there
might be some overlap
or how we collide.
Uh, they wanted to learn about
elevated concerns regarding
substandard housing conditions,
and also wanted to talk about
tools where we could mitigate
maybe some of the issues we
were seeing and how we might
be able to get more involved to
get our arms around that.
Um, so just want to kind of set
some, um, foundation in terms
of the purpose of the
housing Authority.
It is to promote safe and
sanitary public housing here in
the city.
The housing authority is a
creature of statute
and local resolution.
So chapter 157 of the North
Carolina General Statutes, um,
really lays the authority in
terms of this particular,
um, allowance.
And so within that law, either
the city can run the housing
authority, the redevelopment
Commission can run the housing
authority, or we can have
an actual housing authority.
Um, and so in MAY of 1961, the
then city Council adopted a
resolution creating
the housing authority.
It was a three two vote amongst
the council members
at that time.
Um, and they there have been
some subsequent resolutions
that have come out from
council, um, solely increasing
the membership on the board of
up to now we're up
to seven members.
Um, another layer in terms of
the housing Authority is the
oversight from the us
Department of Housing
and Urban Development.
They provide the majority of
the Housing Authority funding
to be able to function.
They do have some regulation
over the housing authority.
I mentioned the, um, inspire
inspections at the beginning,
and then they've got some
regulation over their
programming that they're
implementing for the residents,
some additional information
about the structure.
They do have a
seven member board.
As I mentioned, that board was
created by the city council.
City Council is selecting or
appointing membership based on
a rotation.
Um, their board members are
eligible for a single
five year term.
This was a recent update in
our rules of procedure, the
council's Rules of procedure,
in FEBRUARY of 2024.
Up until that point, they were
allowed an unlimited number of
terms, and we were seeing
people sit on the board, um,
for multiple stints, um, many
decades in some instances.
Um, so like I said, that rule
did change in FEBRUARY of 2024.
There is one exception to the
rule in terms of the authority
for the city council to
appoint, and that is the
resident commissioner.
They are first elected by the
Resident Council, which is
solely run by the
Housing Authority.
And once they are selected,
then the City Council moves
forward with the appointment
of that particular individual.
Um Commissioner cannot be a
city official and that is by
state statute.
They are.
Once they are seated, they are
then responsible for hiring a
qualified executive director to
really be able to handle those
day to day operations.
And as of right now, their
Board of commissioners
meets monthly.
It's the last Tuesday
of each month at 6:00.
So a little bit of background
about the residents council.
As I mentioned, this is
facilitated completely by the
housing authority.
Um, the city does not have
anything to do with this
particular body.
Um, at this point in time,
it is not operational.
Um, each, um, like I said,
resident Commissioner is
elected by this particular body.
The term for our current
resident commissioner expired
in 2025.
Um, and we requested for a
nomination for an additional,
um, resident commissioner.
And as of today, we have not
received that, um,
that that nomination.
And the current commissioner
is holding over there in a
holdover pattern unless
and until somebody else is
appointed in sworn in.
Their membership includes
people throughout
their communities.
Everybody who is named on a
lease as a head of household is
a member of this particular
body, and they're able to vote.
And then outside of that
head of household, those are
non-voting members, but they
still have a voice in terms of
that particular council.
These are just an overview of
the initial goals of why the
residents Council was created
to be able to create employment
opportunities, promote job
training, education, healthy
lifestyles, provide an
opportunity for public housing
residents to learn skills and
the operation of businesses,
foster pride in public
neighborhoods, and then combat
community deterioration
and juvenile delinquency.
Like I said, these were just
the foundational goals in which
that particular
council was created.
There's one other major
component in terms of how the
housing authority operates,
and that is through their
Greenville Housing
Development Corporation.
It is exactly what
it says it is.
It's an opportunity for them
to hold a nonprofit that is
intended to assist homeowners,
homebuyers and renters to be
able to acquire and retain
a home of their own.
But I think one of the core
principles of this is it allows
the housing authority, the
development corporation, to
borrow money without it working
against the actual housing
authority such that it's
a liability in debt.
It gives them coverage
essentially, for them to be
able to go out and get money,
loan money, what have you.
So in terms of their portfolio,
this information is provided to
their commissioners at each of
their monthly meetings, based
on their most recent report
that they submitted to the city.
They've got 714 units in the
public housing portfolio, about
156 units in their non-public
housing portfolio, 920 units
with private landlords.
Those are their their contracts
where they allow for, um,
private landlords to be in the
business and provide housing
under the section eight program
and then 110 units for project
based rental assistance.
So typically you see those
when you've got these large
development projects and they
attach vouchers to units, um,
allowing low moderate income
individuals to, to stay in
those particular units.
Um, they, they as you can see,
they've got a large portfolio.
A lot of their properties are
in need of significant repairs.
They're dating back to being
built in the 60s when the
housing authority
started in 1961.
Um, and so a lot of them,
unfortunately, are, um, dealing
with substandard conditions and
they do not meet the minimum
housing standards that the city
applies through its ordinances.
Um, as of right now,
we've got 43 active cases.
Um, they're initiated
throughout many of
the neighborhoods.
Uh, a lot of them are tied to
ac issues, electrical issues,
smoke detectors, leaks, uh,
pest infestations, mold really,
really issues that you see
across the board in terms of
what they have going on.
So kind of shifting gears,
wanted to give, like I said,
that foundational background
piece, uh, to talk really
through the regulation
and the authority.
And as I mentioned at the
beginning of the presentation,
the core authority for the
housing authority comes from
chapter 5157 of the North
Carolina General Statutes.
Um, and they've got about 30
or so powers that are laid out
within that statute.
And I've gone through and
you'll see them in
the next few threads.
I'm not going to go through
each of them in detail.
Um, but I will
highlight some of them.
And so first and foremost,
investigate into living
dwelling housing conditions and
into the means and methods of
improving such conditions.
That's their core.
Um, one of their core
principles determining unsafe,
insanitary dwelling or housing
conditions, um, exercising
functions for housing projects.
so they should be in the
business of development to be
able to provide affordable
housing, low income
opportunities.
They've got the ability to
construct and prove alter all
those things that come
along with with development.
Um, arrange cooperation
with local governments.
I've highlighted this because,
um, a little bit later in the
presentation, I will make
mention of a cooperation
agreement that we signed with
the Housing Authority in 1961
when it was initiated.
Um, that really deals with
us cooperating for public
infrastructure, public
services, land use, um, what
have you.
Um, and then the other bullet
I'll highlight, um, that's
really tied to them making
information available to us,
um, in terms of conditions, um,
existing, which are dangerous
to public health, safety,
welfare, morals, what have you.
And so, like I said, they're
they are required to provide us
with information regarding
those types of conditions, um,
when we request it.
Um, in terms of, um, I
mentioned development, they're
able to conduct property
transactions, and then they are
able to exercise a slew of
administrative functions along
the lines of making
bylaws, borrowing money.
They've got subpoena powers.
They can sue and be sued.
Um, so all those really
administrative functions that
come along with you running,
uh, an entity or, or
organization that's really
quasi judicial in nature.
So in terms of where the
city fits in with the housing
authority, first and foremost,
the city council liaison is
appointed after each
municipal election.
Um, this appointment
is made by the mayor.
Uh, the current liaison
is Mayor Pro Tem Forman.
We engage with residents who
are experiencing experiencing
challenges with their
housing conditions.
Um, as I mentioned, the, uh,
many issues with ac heat.
We've gotten a lot of
complaints recently about bills
and rent statements, mold
issues, pest infestations, and
we really are in the business
of trying to work through
solutions for those particular
clientele because first and
foremost, they are members of
our community, and they deserve
the same access to resources
and assistance that anybody
else in the community would
be eligible to receive.
So when we get calls, we really
do try to pass that information
along to their boards so that
we can raise some awareness and
ultimately get to a place where
we can get it resolved in the
best interest of the citizen.
Um, I mentioned the
cooperation agreement earlier.
Um, like I said, the
original was signed in 1961.
Really dealing with public
infrastructure, public services.
We have since had 3 or 4
amendments solely tied to
increasing the number of units.
So I think we started with
about 225 units in
the 1961 agreement.
Um, and they steadily increased
over the years as they continue
to build public
housing neighborhoods.
And so that is, like I said,
that is the one thing that was
changing amongst
all the amendments.
Um, and ultimately, like I
said, the last amendment was in
1981, I believe.
Um, so we have not evaluated
that agreement since that time.
Um, we, we meet as
managers, um, as necessary.
So with their leadership team
and the city's leadership team
as things come up.
Um, we, like I said, we'll
schedule meetings, talk through
it, see if we can't find
a workable solution.
Um, I typically attend
the monthly board meetings
alongside Mayor Pro Tem Forman
just so we can stay in the
loop, provide information both
ways, and really be able to
keep our finger on the pulse in
terms of what's what's going on
at the Housing authority.
Um, I've mentioned
code enforcement.
There's been a lot of
engagement in that, that
particular arena recently.
Um, especially with that notice
we received from hud and Judon
that that really, um,
increased awareness for us.
Um, when the feds reached out
to us to let them let us know
what was going on.
Um, affordable housing
development, our most recent
development would have been the
Arlington Trace, where council
actually had to approve bonds
for that particular project.
There are project vouchers
connected to that, um,
development as well.
Um, and so we are having
additional conversations now in
terms of some additional
affordable housing development
that we're trying to
to move down the pike.
Um, we approve their
consistency statements.
Um, they're required to be in
line with the city's annual
action plan and five
year consolidated plan.
Um, and so their plan has to
come through us in terms of us
signing off on it, to say that
it is consistent with what we
have laid out in
terms of, um, housing.
Um, and then the the last piece
up there is actually
it's bond issuance.
Um, and like I said, the most
recent one would have been for
Arlington Trace.
And that all comes
through City Council.
Some additional
involvement in 2024.
I did an extensive evaluation
of the support that we were
providing to the
Housing Authority.
Um, just to understand what
types of in-kind services we
were providing them and be able
to attach monetary
amounts to it.
Um, the largest piece that
came out of this is within the
cooperation agreement
that was signed in 1961.
There is some language in there
that has been interpreted to be
able to provide rescue services
at no charge to all of the
housing authorities units.
Um, that has since
been in re-interpreted.
Um, and we're evaluating that,
but that's costing us annually
around $163,000.
There are.
Things.
Costing us around $163,000
annually in terms of us
providing that, that
particular service to them.
Um, information
technology services.
They use our fiber systems,
our telephone lines.
Um, and.
They're paying for it in some
instances, but it
is not at a cost.
That would be, um, more
expensive because they're
tacked into our particular
services that we're providing.
When you break down like the
rescue services, is that like,
is that individual, individual
services for each of the units,
or is this like a larger
complex where we're offering
like dumpster dumpster services
and typically and and typically
those tenants do they still
get individual bills for
electricity for those units.
They do so.
So essentially it's just
saving the tenants money.
It's not really being a benefit
to the I mean, I guess the
tenants I mean the housing
authority will benefit because
they can, I guess, advertise
that they have unless the
housing authority.
Works to choose to pick it up
on behalf of their tenants.
But typically it's not like
they would be charged directly
for that fee.
That's being passed along to
the people that are living in
the actual units.
Um, in terms of public safety,
there are two officers that
cover the housing
authorities neighborhoods.
The city covers the cost of
one, and the housing authority
covers the cost of the other.
There are roughly about
$80,000 per officer.
Um, one of the other
angles is the ShotSpotter.
We recently renewed that
contract, and the Housing
Authority is paying about 25%
of the total overall cost, and
that's roughly about 65, $66,000
that they're paying for that
cost amongst, um, the city ecu
Housing Authority and then
Pitt County Public Schools.
So it's for individuals or for
entities that are helping to
cover the cost of that
particular contract.
Um, they've got access to our
fuel station at our public
services complex.
They pay the same cost that
the city pays in terms of being
able to fuel their vehicles.
And up until JANUARY of this
year, they were, um, using our
health insurance.
And so they have now gone out
and secured their own plan, um,
in terms of that
particular component.
So with all of that
information, one of the big
things that council requested
was for us to be able to
evaluate any additional places
where we could provide some,
some oversight, um, and be able
to keep our fingers
on the pulse.
Um, and so statutorily out of
chapter 157, there are a couple
of angles that I want to
provide you all
for consideration.
Discussion. Um, for us to be
able to determine what next
steps look like.
Um, so first and foremost,
the statute requires that they
provide an annual report.
And I will say that the annual
reports have been
fairly consistent.
Um, they're filing those
with the city regularly.
There was a time in 2008 when
there board at the time voted
to in the practice of coming
before council and just simply
submitting a written report.
Um, and so, like I said,
they've been consistent in
submitting those reports.
Last report we
received was in 2025,
and we anticipate receiving
another one in SEPTEMBER,
OCTOBER of this year in terms
of their annual activities.
I've talked a lot about
the cooperation agreement.
This is another opportunity
that we have, and that is to
look at the language and
the cooperation agreement.
Like I said, it was
first signed in 1961.
So being able to look at
that agreement and adjust
accordingly for where we
are, make sure we have the
appropriate interpretations
for how we're implementing, um,
activities between us.
Um, some of the other um,
examples in terms of those
amendments, I mentioned that it
of course included increasing
the number of units.
Um, but it allowed for the
making of loans and the
facilitation of the
rehabilitation program, and
that facilitation of the
rehabilitation program came up
in 1981.
That was that was one of the
reasons for that particular,
um, amendment.
Um, one of the other um,
statutory allowances deals with
the budgeting and
accounting piece.
And essentially the state
law provides that the housing
authorities, um, budget,
finances, all of those
activities can function as a
public enterprise of the city.
Um, and so what that would look
like is all of their finances
would essentially be running
through the city and managed by
our financial
services department.
Um, in terms of budget
spending, what have you.
And so we have evaluated
this provision.
Um, I think there's absolutely
additional room to evaluate
further, um, to see what that
would really look
like logistically.
But that is, like I said,
one of the allowances that's
written out in the state law.
Removal of commissioners.
This this particular authority
belongs solely to the mayor.
Um.
And, uh, the mayor would
be permitted to remove a
commissioner for inefficiency
or neglect of duty or
misconduct in office.
Those particular terms are
not defined in state statute.
Um, so we would apply an
ordinary, reasonable person
definition to what
might qualify.
i see y'all given eyeballs, uh,
for what might qualify, um, in
terms of those
particular definitions.
Um, the only key here is that
we would follow the statutory
process that is laid out.
And essentially it's a
due process procedure.
Um, that you would have
to follow in terms of the
commissioner being made aware
of what the charges are based
on a set timeline and then
giving them an opportunity to
respond in the event
they do not respond.
It's considered acquiescing to
whatever the the allegation or
charge might be and
ultimately subject to removal.
Um, I know of one instance, um,
decades ago where this actually
came up, but the individual
ultimately was not removed, and
that charge was actually coming
from the Housing
Authority board.
They were requesting for
somebody to be removed.
Um, like I said, I don't I
don't I was not aware of or
could not find any other
instances where this statutory
authority has actually
had to be utilized.
And last but certainly not
least, this is really the
nuclear option.
And that's, that's, that's to
be able to abolish
the housing authority.
We created them.
We've got the authority
to abolish them.
Um, and it's a matter of simply
following the procedures that
are laid out in the rules.
Um, and so if that became the
case, either the city would
have to take on their
responsibilities or a
redevelopment commission would
have to take on the
responsibilities.
And another option is a council
of governments to be able to
take on the responsibilities,
um, of the housing authority.
And I think for this one,
you're in a place where it's
just absolutely egregious.
Um, this is probably
not the first step.
Um, but it's an option.
It's a tool in the
toolbox that is out there.
So with that being said, I want
to give council an opportunity
to discuss, provide any
feedback for any tools, um,
that you all might be
interested in or any questions
that you might have regarding
our relationship with the
Housing Authority.
So the 714 units, the
money is paid to rent.
Those are paid to the
housing authority.
Correct.
That's correct.
And that's their
operational budget.
In addition to any grants they
MAY get from the federal or
state government.
That's correct.
They're running a business.
And when we say they give us a
report, what's in that report?
When they give it to us.
It typically consists of their
activities over the course of
the year.
So a lot of times they're
talking about, um, capital
improvement plans.
They're talking about their
portfolio in terms of how much.
Um, Charlie was processed.
Right?
Yep.
Oh, did.
They're 20.
You MAY not know the answer to
this, but the 2025 report they
gave to the City council
disclosed all these bad housing
issues they had.
No.
So is that an innocent mistake?
Is it neglect or is intentional?
Do we know that answer?
Um, I would say, Council Member
Robinson, that that is those
deficiencies when they came
to to the city staff is what
really raised this
to a higher level.
That's what my concern.
Is because, you know, clearly
over the last two years, the
the city manager's office has
spent a lot of time addressing
some of the deficiencies that
are happening within the units.
I know Council Member Forman
has also spent a lot of time
with with with with contacts.
We got it's got to the point
where when we have those
efficiencies we are, we are
alerting the full entire board
to make sure that not just the
the administrator knows that
the full board does.
But when we receive the
deficiencies that date back to
2024, that's where we asked for
the information to to so that
we could dive into it to the
point that we have opened up
Covid cases amongst all the
different neighborhoods and
where the rubber hit the road
was in the last report from hud
that basically gave the housing
authority like three days, or
they were going to suspend,
uh, several million dollars in
capital funding.
But I guess what, I'm
really not in the city.
What I'm getting at is, number
one is there should be a
mechanism for the tenant
to complain to the housing
authority for conditions
that are not up to par.
And there should be a protocol
for the Housing Commission to
deal with that problem, just
like a landlord would deal with
the problem.
And then there should be, okay,
we dealt with it so it doesn't
backlog to the point where
it catches so much attention.
The federal government comes
in and all of a sudden we're
having to go do some of the
work that the Housing Authority
should be doing.
So I'm kind of, you know,
from my standpoint from here.
Councilmember Forman said the
other things about all these
horrendous complaints it got
to the boiling point is that I
think we really need to take a
hard, close look at the housing
authority and look at the
financial side of
what they're doing.
Um, and look at the protocols
that have in place, because
none of these problems should
get to the level they got to.
And because,
again, we're dealing with
people in these conditions
that, you know, all those kinds
of problems, it's unacceptable.
And and quite frankly, the
picture that's being painted
for me to look at is like the
Housing authority
is doing nothing.
I think that when I say doing
nothing that didn't do anything
for two years because
it got that bad.
And I know this is not anywhere
on the city because we're
having to clean some
of this mess up.
But I think it's so much like
we need to go in and have a
house clean.
Like what's going
on financially?
Are your books in order?
Are you spending
your money wisely?
I mean, when the money gets
doled out, we have to have some
accounting back.
And this report that doesn't
even talk about that.
And then, number two, I'd like
to know about the protocols for
how complaints get received,
how a tenant can complain, uh,
what's the time frame from
trying to fix that problem?
And the financial
side is not there.
What do they do to
try and mitigate that?
Because if somebody's getting
too much money in the federal
government, because as many
problems it seems
like they've had.
I mean, if this were an
ordinary business and people
had already been fired and
gotten rid of a long time ago,
I think and I think
one of the tools.
In the toolbox that
Alexander went through.
Is the ability.
If council would like for us to
pursue more information about
this is what it would take
to actually, um, Transition
Housing Authority to be such as
an enterprise fund of the city
or basically the city would
maintain that fund budget, that
fund control the revenues, the
expenses coming in and out of
the door.
That would give more oversight
and give us more input into
those day to day internal
controls with concerns to not
only the work orders with what
you speak of is the processing
workforce, how they are
handled, but also a major
component of their financial
operations is the rent piece.
And in we we have many examples
of how there's a significant
amount of confusion and how
rents are applied and and how
payments are applied to
individual accounts that make
it very difficult for not only
the tenants to understand what
their balances are, but even
from the outside looking in the
city of Greenville, being
able to understand those.
That's why that's that's
ability is in the state law is
to allow the city to have more
oversight into the financial
operations, and if it would
be the will of the council, we
would we would look further
into that and see what that
would look like.
I'd like to go in and just look
and see what the problems are.
I mean, we know what the
symptoms are, but what causes
those symptoms?
I mean, you know, get in there.
And I'm like, did you have a
protocol for addressing, uh,
complaints that the
tenants knew about?
And then once it would receive,
what happened to that complaint?
Who was it delivered
to to get remedied?
And third, if there was a money
issue, how do you
deal with that?
I mean, because from what I,
I MAY be wrong about this.
It doesn't sound
like any report.
We don't have enough money
to fix all these issues.
That's why we hadn't fixed them.
And that's where it's
unsettling to have hud come in
and say, we were one step away
from from freezing and taking
away all your capital funds,
which I don't want to believe
was up to the tune
of like 5.5 million.
Yeah, it was, and
that's embarrassing.
You know, we're not the
one that's doing it, but.
We.
Have oversight.
This is not a big.
Spreadsheet full of new.
Nickels and Penny.
Not just for.
A practical standpoint.
You know, if I were in the
private business and had 714
units as a landlord, I
mean, that's a lot of units.
And you got to be organized.
You would have a mechanism to
collect the rents and have a
way to deal with the complaints.
Otherwise, your tenants, you
lose business because you're
tenants that were in the
real world could leave and go
somewhere else.
But these tenants don't
have that financial ability.
Now to interject real quick,
um, because, uh, unless I
appreciate everything you
just said, because you have
described everything that I've
been dealing with for the last
two and a half years, and, um,
and that that is more than 714
units, that's 714 families that
have been, most of them living
in substandard conditions.
And we do not have
answers about financials.
There has not been a lot of
transparency as it relates to
your question about
the work order process.
I've been questioning
that for over two years.
It is a paper process.
Um, the citizens fill out a
paper form that goes into some
kind of abyss and, um.
A black box.
That's why.
That's right.
They do not get a, uh, any type
of written confirmation that
the form was received.
That gives any timeline of how
things might be remedied, and
then any follow up to
see if it was done.
You know, to, uh, any
satisfaction or if it was
brought back up to
standard or code.
Um, in addition to that, there
is a great deal of
fear factor there.
Uh, we're dealing with, uh,
some of the and I would say
the, uh, people on the lowest
socioeconomic rung of the
ladder in our community, um,
that has been aiding in the
process of us dealing with
homelessness in our community,
because when when these
families lose housing, they
don't have anywhere else to go.
That's why I've been
so passionate about it.
Um, and so we have got to
take the reins in some type
of fashion because people are
struggling and suffering
families and children, when we
talk about the crime rate and
things that we're experiencing
in our community, that
is a byproduct of that.
That's a byproduct of that.
When they're when they're
housing and food insecure and
living in these conditions.
I've taken Michael out.
Um, the in 2024, I realized
that I was putting so many
hours every week into answering
housing authority calls that me
just sharing information
was not going to work, so I
personally started pointing
them to the city so that city
management would feel
what I was feeling.
And this is where how we got to
this place, because all of us
have been putting in work
monthly that other people are
getting paid for.
And I would complain about that.
Yes, because it has
taken a lot of my time.
But what hurts me the most is
that I know from what I have
seen and felt, and so have
council, um, Council Member
Jones, that these people are
struggling and suffering and
oftentimes inhumane conditions.
And yes, there's a limited
amount of capital improvement
funds that are
allocated each year.
However, if you're very
intentional in how you use
capital improvement funds.
Then you can fix
things in a rotation,
fix a certain number of units,
move in, or move people into
those units.
Fix the next section of units.
If things have been managed in
some type of, uh, fashion with
some level of intent.
I think we would at least
be in a better place.
We might not be in an ideal
position, but we would be in a
lot better position
than what we're in now.
And this is not right.
What goes on in the Housing
Authority impacts
the entire community.
And so we have a responsibility.
And I'm saying this to everyone.
I ask them to do this overview,
because I want all of us to be
abreast on what's going on
and what our citizens are
struggling and suffering
through, but you hear every
single point in your questions.
So with that being said,
Councilmember Forman's Comments.
I would ask council if didn't
the thumbs up for half of our
Financial services department
research further what it would
what it would look like with it
into for the AlphaTauri to be
an enterprise fund and as a
part of that would probably be
a very strong financial review,
not only of their finances, but
also of their procedures, their
internal controls, are they not
only to work orders, but also
to the application of rent
payments as well?
I would like to see the
financial audit and also a
critical analysis of their
operating procedures.
That and that MAY require.
We'll we'll direct our our
chief financial officer Jacob
Joiner to to start putting the
thoughts together what that
would look like.
It MAY require an outside
review of the of the financial
statements and the
internal controls.
But I think this is the you
know, I will echo
those of the council.
I think we've got an obligation
to the citizens of those
communities because first and
foremost, they're they're not.
They're not citizens of
the Housing Authority.
They're they're
sent by the city.
Absolutely. That's
where we're here.
So we owe the same amount of
due diligence for for those
individuals as we
do anyone else.
And that would be the first
step to bring back an overview
of what that would look like.
The council.
Thank you.
If you give a thumbs up.
Yeah.
Had a good one.
Oh, absolutely.
Okay.
All right.
We will move on
to the next item.
We have a second item is a
code enforcement update of the
internet over to
City manager domain.
Okay.
I thought that was posted.
Nope.
Switch it out.
Oh, it's going down right.
All right, so as the manager,
Callahan said, this will be an
update on our code enforcement.
And so just some background
staff last came to you all in
MAY to talk about a new
direction for our Code
Enforcement division, and laid
out a plan of action in terms
of what that would look like.
Simply based on Council's
goals and priorities that are
enumerated here.
Proactively enhancing
our community engagement.
Most importantly, building
a thriving and attractive
community by creating
meaningful access to
affordable, habitable, and
quality housing for all
citizens, and then make
Greenville a destination
community in place for
all people to call home.
So, like I said, moving forward
with those those goals and
priorities in mind.
Um, we presented a, an action
plan to you all that was
essentially based upon
three, three prongs proactive
compliance and enforcement,
outreach and education, and
then case management.
So really working towards
getting to a place where we are
consistently addressing our
minimum housing issues, um,
throughout the city.
So this is just
the three prongs.
Um, within that proposed action
plan came some short term goals.
Um, focus on evaluating our
city ordinances, building out
and implementation of updated
technology solutions, training
and development, some
outreach and engagement.
And then we saw some
opportunity for
council direction.
Um, additionally, we had some
long term goals that came along
with the plan of action, uh, to
really get us to a place where
we were evaluating our
resources and being able to
make informed decisions and
getting in a consistent cycle
of us, um, evaluating
our processes.
So we are back today to talk
about how we have moved our
action plan forward.
Um, in terms of the case
management piece with our
technology, we have completed
our evaluation of our city code
of ordinances.
We are looking at moving
forward with our
outreach and engagement.
Um, and we have also
implemented a, um, an
additional initiative really
focused on vacant and abandoned
structures and being able
to overlay those with public
safety issues to be able to
start cases and move those
along to clean up some of
the blight in the community.
So first and foremost, with our
case management piece, one of
the biggest pieces of this
is the the technology piece.
Um, and so we have, like
I said, move forward with
evaluating that.
I do have, um, William
Mills who is in the room.
He is our assistant director.
Uh, with our community and
development services department.
And he has worked very closely
with our teams in the use of
Inner Grove.
We've got a system internally
that we use called Inner Grove.
Um, to really get that to
a place where it is, um,
enhanced, our
workflows are updated.
Um, what have you.
I'm going to switch
to the next slide.
Yeah, to the back.
Sure. Okay.
All right.
So make sure our
workflows are updated.
And then really being able to
implement some Automation for
those system functions to
create more effectiveness
amongst our teams
and more efficiency.
Along with this came the
deployment of tablets that our
officers are now able to use
in the field to initiate cases
versus them having to come back
to the office and really do
that administrative piece.
They're not able to do all of
that in the field, start the
case, take the pictures, log
any necessary information in
terms of contact, what have you.
Like I said, on site
with with the violation.
Um, another important piece
that comes with case management
management is the
reporting piece.
And so I do want to acknowledge
that the request that council
made in MAY, um, for you all
to be able to receive monthly
reports as it relates to all
of our cases in the system.
Um, and so we have moved
forward with some significant
data cleanup in terms of
our inner Grove system.
Um, and then recognizing that
that is the reporting is really
tied to us getting up
and running efficiently.
Um, and so I do know that the
team has had meetings today and
within the last week with Inner
Growth to really get those
workflows written, how they
should be written, and be able
to get to a place where we are
implementing those so we can
get to consistent case
management and reporting.
Um, this is just a snapshot
in time of reporting.
Like I said, we last
came to you all in MAY.
Um, and so I want to point
out the JUNE and JULY piece in
terms of the minimum housing,
and that there has been a
significant increase in terms
of the caseloads as it relates
to that particular case type.
And that is really attributable
to, um, three instances, one
being what I mentioned earlier
with the Housing Authority, and
that notice we got from hud,
where we did a full court press
to start cases, um, on
all units within certain
neighborhoods that were
identified within
that hud report.
Um, and so that has
led to a large influx.
Um, one of the other points in
time is the vacant abandoned
structure piece that
I mentioned earlier.
And so we have taken, um, about
70 or 80 properties, and we
have overlaid those with public
safety calls for service to be
able to prioritize, um, those
particular units throughout the
community, um, that we can run
through the, the processes.
And like I said, it's
tied to public safety.
So it's beyond just being
a minimum housing issue.
We're now talking about,
um, breaking and entering.
We're talking about, um, drug
issues, just just
criminal activity.
Um, that unfortunately, is
continuing to perpetuate the
blight in the community.
Um, one of the other things is
we had a lot of activity around
Club Way.
Um, a lot of those cases
have now been closed out.
Um, the three major cases that
are outstanding with that are
the units in which required
some additional, um, activity
in terms of bracing those
particular properties.
And they're currently going
through construction, um, to be
able to repair those particular
units so we can get people back
in them.
Um, so one of the other
components for our plan of
action was proactive and
consistent enforcement.
Um, and so with that came the
need to evaluate all of our
code related ordinances.
So we looked at minimum housing.
We looked at
nonresidential structures.
We looked at, um, everything
across the board to determine
where we could gain time.
Um, and so that has now been
completed, and we are planning
to come back to you all in
SEPTEMBER proposing adoption
for that.
Um, so I want to talk through
some of those, um, components
related to that
particular, um, initiative.
And so overall, this these are
really going to highlight the
major, um, things we evaluated
and what we're proposing to
change in front of you all.
You do have a notebook that
contains all of the proposed
changes, um, that you can can
review at your leisure, um, and
be able to provide any
feedback that you might have.
Like I said, with us proposing
adoption, um, at you all
SEPTEMBER meeting.
Um, so we did general cleanup.
We had to verify we were
in alignment with our North
Carolina General Statutes.
You'll see an update to the
structure for civil penalties
related to code enforcement
cases, updates to
some timelines.
In some places, we were able
to reduce the some timelines.
Some places we had to extend
the timeline just based on
statutory law.
Um, we are proposing an
implementation of a 48 hour
life safety repair policy, and
we evaluated the determination
of unfit for human habitation
and what that that would look
like moving forward.
And then last but not least,
the implementation
of a mold protocol.
And that would be specific
to an internal practice.
That's not something that would
be written out in the ordinance.
So that would be something
staff would would
be implementing.
Um, like I said, just based off
an internal standard
operating procedure.
Um, these are all the, the
codes and the sections
that we evaluated.
And like I said, in their
totality, anything related to
code enforcement issues.
Um, and so first component,
when we looked at the alignment
with the North Carolina General
Statutes, first and foremost,
chronic violators.
So what chronic violators
provides for is that if we're
giving notice to the same
property owner, same property,
at least three times within the
same 12 month period, we can
designate that individual
or that property owner as a
chronic violator.
We're moving forward.
We're only required to
give notice, and then we're
permitted to abate the property
and bring it into compliance.
Um, previously it was written
out that we had to actually
abate the the nuisance that was
identified at least three times
within a 12 month period
prior to us deeming somebody a
chronic violator.
So this is a this was an
opportunity for us to, to gain
some time in terms of how we
implement that
particular process.
Um, I did.
Everyone's.
On the same page.
Can you define and
describe what that is?
Yes. And so typically when
we're talking about a chronic
violator, we are dealing
with public nuisances only.
So not tied to minimum housing
is simply public nuisances.
So issues with tall grass
weeds, issues with um trash and
debris or issues with junked
abandoned nuisance cars
typically are the types of
public nuisances, um, that that
we're dealing with.
And so if we're talking about
actually moving forward with
abatement, it might mean we go
out and we cut the grass, um,
to bring the property
back into compliance.
We might go out and clean up
the trash and debris that's
scattered, um, over property.
And so that's what we mean when
we're talking about abatement
under the chronic
violators rules.
Um, the next one on the list
is dealing with the vacate
enclosed dwellings.
I mentioned at the beginning
there were some unfortunate
instances where we had to
increase our timelines.
Even though we were trying to
gain efficiencies, but we had
to be in compliance
with the state law.
The ordinance historically was
written out that we could move
forward with the process
after six months of a property
sitting vacant and abandoned.
Statutorily, you've
got to sit for a year.
So that is one of the places,
like I said, where we had to
increase the timeline
everywhere else we
were able to decrease.
Previously it said, um, not
less than 30 days and not more
than 90 for everywhere
that was written out.
We have now decreased the 90 to
60 days, and there still might
be some flexibility just based
on what the, um, on a case by
case basis.
But the rule, like I said, will
be written out not less than 30.
Um, and no more than 60 days
before we would be able to move
forward with, with our process.
Um, methods of service was
another place in which we came
into alignment.
A lot of places we were doing
more than what we needed to do.
Meaning we were requiring
certified or registered mail
where the statute only required
personal delivery, first class
mail, or posting before we
could move forward
with any activity.
So anywhere where we were
able to remove certified or
registered mail.
Um, we have done that.
Um, and so the two I've
identified here are dealing
with the weeds and vegetation
and then abandoned junk
nuisance vehicles is where we
were able to dial that back.
Um, and last but not least, in
terms of the appeals
method and periods.
Um, so we evaluated
that in its entirety.
And in a lot of places, we had
a lot of layers and levels to
the appeals process, um, that
weren't necessarily reasonable.
Um, and so we have dialed
those back to where, um, it's a
shorter period of time.
I mean, because some stuff is,
is is it's very clear if you've
got grass that's ten inches
or higher, that's very clear.
There's not really room for
negotiation necessarily.
And so now we've got it set to
where you might have 15 days to
file a written appeal.
And that appeal goes to
the Board of Adjustment.
Previously it went through the
the assistant director, the
director to the assistant city
manager to the city manager to
everybody had to had
to check the box.
And so we have removed that
that drawn out process to, to
make it easier, I think
for everybody involved.
Um, so I mentioned the
determination of being unfit
for human habitation.
Historically, we have relied
on property value and cost of
repairs to make this
particular determination.
And so what we are proposing
is a tiered, um, methodology
wherein if you're meeting
these, these certain
thresholds, and the first
one up there in terms of a
dilapidated structure would
require, um, you to meet at
least one of the
enumerated conditions.
And those conditions listed are
those that are really dealing
with life safety issues.
Um, so anything like
threatening life safety, you
only have to have one of those
identified for your property to
be deemed unfit for
human habitation.
The next layer is would be
classified as a deteriorated
property, wherein you would
have to have seven or more of
the conditions that are
identified before you could
designate a dwelling as
being unfit for habitation.
And then the last tier
is, um, less than seven.
So a very low, low level, um,
all you've got to have is, is
violations identified.
And so it's not going to
result in it being unfit for
habitation, but it would be a
violation in which you would be
required to repair or be
subject to civil penalties in
the event you did not.
Um, one of the other components
is looking at our structure for
civil penalties.
Um, to really be able to, um,
ease the implementation of this.
We are proposing to go from
what's currently a tiered
process to a flat fee.
Um, and but every day's
violation would still be a
separate and
continuing violation.
So civil penalties
would still accrue.
They would just be accruing at
a flat fee versus you having to
deal with with tiers.
So better for accounting
purposes, better for city staff
to be able to, to keep up
and be able to implement.
Um, and so you see the, the
tiers where we currently are.
And we would go to $100
per each violation.
Um, and one note I will
make here is this is solely
applicable to code enforcement.
So there will be some other
places still in the code where
it'll be the tiered process.
Not to say we might not
evaluate that in the future to
to level set and make
everything consistent.
Um, but right now it'll just be
focused on the code, um, code
enforcement sections.
Um, one other component we
are proposing is that we would
implement a 48 hour life safety
repair um ordinance and it
would require landlords,
property managers, what have
you to fix any of the
identified violations
within 48 hours?
Um, in the event they were not
resolved, they would be subject
to civil penalties.
Um, we have evaluated the
opportunity of what it would
look like for staff to abate.
Um, and we are trying
to stay away from that.
We don't want to be in the
business of being an hvac
contractor or trying to to, um,
be an electrician
or what have you.
And so the the route to go at
this point in time would be us
applying, like I said, civil
penalties and then evaluating
on a a a case by case basis.
If we had to take
it, take it further.
Um, up to and including
requiring the dwelling
to be vacated.
Um, so I mentioned the mold
protocol at the beginning.
Like I said, this will not
be based in the ordnance.
This will solely be something
tied to standard operating
procedures that our staff
would implement within our code
Enforcement division.
We've seen an increase in
complaints tied specifically to
mold, and we did evaluate a
lot of options in terms of what
this could look like for city
staff to be able to to run the
ball on this, but it's it's
extremely cost prohibitive for
us to be able to consistently
implement any type of testing
and or remediation.
And so what we have decided to
do, or we're proposing to do,
is be able to document the mold
like substances that that has
been identified, taking the