It being 6:00 p.m., I will call this meeting to order as the mayor pro tem
for the town of Clayton. I ask that you stand as you are able for the pledge of
allegiance and remain standing for the invocation.
» I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
» Let us pray. Lord, we thank you for this day and for
another opportunity to continue the work at hand.
We thank you for the town of Clayton and for all who live here.
Yes, we pray for our town, our mayor, each council member, town manager, and
every staff member who serve our community.
Continue to give us wisdom to make fair choices
that would be the best for our town and each resident. Help us to work together
with peace and unity as we seek common goals.
Bless this meeting tonight that we will be pleasing unto you and
bring you glory. For it is in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
» Do we have any adjustments to the agenda?
» Uh yes, we'd like to add a closed session pursuant to General Statute
143-318.11.A.3 for a legal matter and five for a real
estate matter.
» Any other adjustments?
I have those adjustments noted and I can entertain a
motion to adopt the agenda. >> Motion.
» Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any
further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say I.
» I. >> Opposed like signed. Motion carries.
Up next is your consent agenda.
» Motion to approve. >> Second.
» We have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion?
Hearing none, all in favor say I. Opposed like signed.
Motion carries. Up next we have Mr. Shelton presenting
our most recent episode of Clayton for you.
» Mayor Pro Tem, Town Council. Tonight we bring another episode of
Clayton for you. Um tonight's episode is about 811 call
before you dig. Uh coming up is August 11th, which is National Call Before You
Dig Day. And our star of the video is in the audience. She probably doesn't want
any attention, but she's back there, Ms. Lynette. So uh
we'll get this keyed up.
» Today on Clayton for you, we're talking about something small that makes a big
difference. [music] Calling 811 before you dig. Whether you're planting a tree,
installing [music] a fence, or starting a home project, there's one step you
should never skip. August 11th is National 811 Day, and it's a great
reminder to keep your project [music] safe and on track.
» Calling 811 is a free and easy way to protect yourself, your property, and
your [music] community. When you contact 811 at least 3 days before digging,
[music] local crews come out to mark underground lines like water, sewer,
» [music] >> electric, communications, and gas.
Those markings show you where it's safe to dig and where it's not.
Hitting a utility line can cause serious injuries, [music] costly repairs, and
even service outages for your neighborhood. In fact, across the
country, a utility line [music] is damaged every few minutes because
someone did not call before digging. Once your property is [music] marked,
you can move forward with your project. Just be sure to dig carefully and avoid
those marked areas. >> It's a simple step that helps keep
everyone [music] safe. So, before you break ground, remember to call 811 or
submit a request online. Learn more about safe digging at nc811.org.
» Thank you, guys. >> Great message.
» And in case you're wondering, those hydrants had to be flushed anyway, so
that water needed to be poured out. >> I want to see you digging with the
shovel next time.
Good job on that. Thank you. Good message.
From there, we jump all the way to item number 10, public comment. So, at this
time, I will open the floor for public comment.
Anyone wishing to speak may come to the podium. Please state your name and
address for the record. Per the instructions published in the agenda,
each speaker has 3 minutes to offer comment. Thank you.
» Hey, good evening, my mayors. My name is Mike Edwards Twining. I live
at 40 Red Crabapple Court here in Clayton.
And I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you tonight.
I'd like to address what I believe is a significant transportation issue that
deserves attention now before it becomes a much larger and more expensive
problem. With the retail expansion along Business
Highway 70 or Clayton Boulevard, specifically the construction of a new
Target department store and a Costco warehouse adjacent to the existing
Walmart, it is clear that traffic volumes will
increase substantially in this corridor. This is not a concern about future
traffic alone. The congestion already exists today. And
these new developments will only compound an issue that many Clayton
residents deal with every weekday. Anyone who travels that stretch of road,
especially between 3:00 and 6:30 on a weekday afternoon,
knows what I'm talking about. It's already congested. And it's a daily
reality. The addition of two major destination
retailers will only intensify those delays, creating longer travel times,
more difficult access for local businesses,
and increased safety concerns. Rather than waiting until this corridor
becomes gridlocked, I urge you to please take a proactive approach. Since the DOT
has full maintenance responsibility for Clayton Boulevard, I respectfully ask
the Town Council to formally petition North Carolina DOT to evaluate and
prioritize a roadway widening project. Specifically,
I recommend adding one additional travel lane in each direction from
approximately 900 ft west of Town Center Boulevard to approximately 700 ft west
of the Culvers restaurant. If appropriate,
I also encourage the town to explore an encroachment agreement with the DOT if
that provides a more timely path toward improving this corridor.
Good planning means anticipating growth, not simply reacting to it after
residents are already experiencing unacceptable congestion.
The rapid pace of development should be matched by equally thoughtful
transportation planning. Roads, intersections, and traffic capacity
should keep pace with the growth. Waiting until this corridor becomes a
traffic bottleneck is not in the public interest. Taking action now will help
preserve mobility, improve public safety, support our local businesses,
and demonstrate that Clayton is committed to responsible, coordinated
growth. Will you, our town council, commit to
formally requesting and advocating that the DOT widen this highway before
today's congestion becomes tomorrow's gridlock?
Thank you for your time, your service to our community, and your consideration.
Have a good evening.
» Thank you very much, sir.
» Hey, Micah Patterson, 215 Vincent Ridge Lane. I've been up here multiple times
at this point. You guys probably know me a little bit by now that I've been
talking multiple times about the flood camera issue. Here with a couple of
friends of mine today that will be able to talk a little bit more than I can
because they haven't done it before. Um,
it's a good thing to be able to do this, obviously, but um,
what more can I can on some of these issues, you know, there's so many
citizens, there's the pros and cons of these cameras. Of course, they can be
used to help stopping crimes and catching criminals.
Um, but for a lot of people, it's pretty much tracking without a warrant
constantly every single vehicle that passes by. The Supreme Court recently
ruled almost a couple years ago in the case of Chatrie versus the United States
that collecting geofence data pretty much from your GPS on your phone of
every single person in a small area was deemed unconstitutional under the Fourth
Amendment. I'm hoping here soon, of course, that the Supreme Court would be
able to do something like that for these technologies that there can at least be
guardrails in place like requiring a warrant for obtaining data on these
plates. Because it's more of the mosaic issue where
you can sit on a public road and kind of write down whatever plates that you see
on the vehicle passes by, and that's just one person. It's in a public view
where it makes sense, but for a connected system to be all around the
entire country, it's not just in our little town. It shares that data with
this company that goes across the globe essentially.
By compiling all that information over hundreds of miles in different areas,
you could effectively find and track the movements of every single person that's
going on, and that data can be kept for a permanent, you know, a long amount of
time. So,
again, just airing concerns about this. You know, I've advocated before, at
least previously, that we can at least just get an audit at first to see what
is going on with these cameras so that that way they are being used responsibly
and that we are not having issues like other places have been having in the
country. Thank you, guys. >> Thank you, sir.
» Hello, my name is Nicholas Picorello. I live at 308 Waterford Drive.
My issues today come up with the flock cameras also
with a concern of safety for the community with data collection.
As person before me noted,
it's owned by people that are not even part of the United States.
Owned by very rich powerful people, which can
uh of course be used on a federal level
eventually. Could be used for things in the future
we're not sure about. We need to understand this more before it's
introduced to our community. And also they're located in locations
which I think are very concerning, such as two are next to the hospital on
on Veteran Parkway, and then there's another one near the
what's it called? The Neuse River Trail on I believe it's Covered Bridge Road.
Which can be concerning to me cuz you can even go on a walk with your family
with your family or with friends, have a good time, and
without having your data being collected,
license plate. And the entire idea, which I understand, is being proactive
about crime. But the entire problem I personally have
with this is we're giving up freedoms in exchange for safety,
which yes, of course safety's nice, but freedom is more beautiful than that.
There's been multiple cases in the past outside of
Clayton, but I don't it could extend over here one day of police using it
to track exes, personal family members, and I
want these people to feel safe without a concern
that they'll have someone just watching over their daily life.
So, I just want I just want to uh I just want to bring attention to y'all
this matter that people do people do feel unsafe with this. But I appreciate
everything y'all do. I believe y'all are very nice people, but it's just my
personal opinion that I believe that there needs to be more looked into this.
Thank you. >> Thank you, sir.
Anyone else wishing to speak this evening?
Okay.
I will go ahead then and close public comments and move on to staff reports
starting with the town manager. >> No report this evening.
» Town attorney? Town clerk?
» No report. >> Other staff?
Okay. Thank you all. Uh the next item on the agenda then is a
closed session and that is to discuss a legal matter and a real estate matter
and at this time I will ask for the room to be cleared. Thank you.
Oh, my apologies. Motion. We need a motion to go into closed session for
both of those. I didn't have it in my notes originally
cuz I wasn't in the uh agenda. I will entertain a motion.
» I make a motion we go into closed session.
» We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion?
Hearing none, all in favor say I. Opposed like sign. Motion carries and
now we can clear the room. Thank you all.
» Mhm.