as the mayor of the town of Clayton, I'd
like to call this Clayton Town Council
meeting to order. Uh, I'd like to ask
you to stand for the pledge of
allegiance, which tonight will be led by
the Scouting America Troop 58. So we
welcome you to the Clayton Town Council
meeting and remain standing forward the
invocation and also for an observance
for a moment of silence for the Wilson
Mills Mayor Fleeter Bird who passed away
on Sunday August the 16th
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.
Most gracious and heavenly father, we
pause to give you thanks for the many
blessings of this day. And we ask Lord
now that you be with us as we proceed
with the business for the town of
Clayton. For it's in Jesus name I pray.
Amen.
Are there any adjustments to the agenda?
>> No adjustments.
» All right. Hearing none, I'll entertain
a motion to adopt the agenda as
presented. Motion to adopt. Second.
>> We have a motion and second to adopt the
agenda as presented. Any further
discussion? All in favor say I.
>> I.
>> Opposed like sign. Motion carries. Up
next is your consent agenda.
>> Motion to adopt.
>> Second.
>> We have a motion and a second to adopt
the consent agenda. Is there any further
discussion?
All in favor say I.
>> I.
>> Oppose like signs. And motion carries.
Up next under administrative items is
the Clayton for you.
» Good evening, Mr. Mayor Council. Tonight
we have the pleasure to bring you
another episode of Clayton for You.
Tonight's episode is on annexations and
what that means for the town.
You may hear the word annexation during
a town council meeting, but what does it
actually mean for a property and the
people who live nearby? In this episode
[music] of Clayton for You, we're
breaking down what annexation is and
what changes when a property becomes
part of [music] the town of Clayton.
>> Annexation is a process of bringing
existing property that is outside
Clayton's town limits into the [music]
town limits. In most cases, it starts
with the property owner petitioning the
town to annex their property. Annex
properties benefit from access to town
[music] services and infrastructure,
including opportunities for electric,
water, and sewer service. They also are
subject to [music] town property taxes
and all town ordinances and regulations.
There are two types of annexations,
contiguous and non-ontiguous. A
contiguous annexation involves
properties that directly touches
Clayton's existing town limits, while a
non-ontiguous annexation involves
property that is separate from the main
or primary [music] town limits. That
distinction is especially important with
non-ontiguous annexations [music]
because bringing one property into
Clayton does not change the services or
jurisdiction for the properties around
it. [music] For example, an address that
falls within the jurisdiction of the
Johnson County Sheriff's Office would
remain [music] in that jurisdiction even
if a neighboring property is annexed.
>> That's a quick look at how annexation
works in the [music] town of Clay. You
can follow annexation requests and other
town business [music] by attending town
council meetings or watching live on
YouTube.
Thank you, sir. Perfect. Thank you.
Up next, under introduction and special
presentations will be a retirement
recognition for Mr. Robert Mai. So, good
evening.
Tonight
we have the opportunity to recognize a
very special member of the Clayton Town
[clears throat] of Clayton
family as he's preparing to retire and
uh following an extraordinary career of
professional leadership and public
service. He's built a career defined by
integrity and commitment to doing things
the right way. Clayton has been
fortunate to benefit from that
experience as he has helped guide our
town through a period of tremendous
evolution and change. Much of his work
has happened behind the scenes, but its
impact can be seen throughout our
organization and across our community.
Tonight, we'd like to take a few minutes
to reflect on that remarkable career and
celebrate a lifetime of service to the
people of North Carolina. At this time,
I'd like to invite town manager Rich
Capola to share a few remarks.
>> Robert, if I could ask you to go stand
at the podium there, sir. I know you
love this kind of stuff.
» So, thank you, Mayor. Um, it's been a
privilege working alongside Robert here
the last several years. Uh, I've been
able to witness firsthand Robert's
knowledge, professionalism, dedication,
uh, and and just overall zest for for
the world of finances here at the town
of Clayton. Uh since 2009, Robert has
served as our finance director,
overseeing every ma every major aspect
of the time town's financial as uh
operations. That includes budgeting,
accounting, investments, debt
management, purchasing, financial
reporting, and compliance. Uh to fully
appreciate Robert's contributions, I
think everybody here needs to really
think about what it looked like 17 years
ago when Robert started. Uh since then,
our population has more than doubled. Uh
we've seen extremely uh large uh service
demands put on our all the different
services across the board. Uh we've had
expanded infrastructure demands
including a small $280 million what
Robert has routinely referred to
generational project with our Sam's
branch water reclamation facility which
he was instrumental in getting uh off
the ground. Uh and we've made
significant investments to be able to
prepare for the future here in the town
of Clayton. Uh through that growth,
Robert has provided the steady financial
leadership that helped keep Clayton
fiscally strong, transparent, and
prepared for the opportunities and
challenges that came with being one of
the fastest growing communities in our
region.
Under his leadership, the town has
repeatedly earned national recognition
from the Government Finance Officers
Association for Excellence in Financial
Reporting and Budgeting, something I
know Robert is very proud of and this
organization as a whole is. Those awards
are certainly something to celebrate,
but they also reflect the standards that
Robert has consistently brought to the
finances here at the town of Clayton.
Uh, responsible stewardship of the
public funds is is of the utmost
importance to us, and that commitment to
transparency and accountability shows in the work that Robert has provided
over the years. Robert has become a very
trusted resource to our employees, our
department directors, our elected
officials, finance professionals, and
public administrators alike. uh he's
always been willing to share his
knowledge, explain these complex issues
and putting some investment back into
the people that he works with uh to help
us understand some very very complex
math sometimes.
Uh we will certainly remember all the
balanced budgets and the clean audits,
the award-winning financial reports, the
strong financial systems, and the many
projects, investments he made possible.
Uh but just as importantly, we want to
remember the guidance, the wisdom, the
experience that he's shared with us all
along the way. Um, Robert, for me
personally and from the organization, I
want to thank you for all of your your
commitment to this town, uh, seeing us
through some of the most challenging
times, but also having some of the most
rewarding impact on the organization as
a whole. Uh, so on behalf of town of
Clayton, I would like to thank you for
all you've done and for the people you
served throughout your career. Thank
you.
>> Awesome. Thank you, Rich. So, Robert,
tonight we've heard about an
extraordinary career spanning more than
four decades and the impact that you've
had here in Clayton and throughout North
Carolina. But we're here not only
tonight to recognize your retirement,
but we're here to recognize a lifetime
of service. For decades, you've
dedicated your talents and experience to
public service in North Carolina. And
throughout that time, you have been
entrusted with an enormous
responsibility. Making sure that public
resources are managed wisely and that
government operates responsibly and
transparently on behalf of the people it
serves. Clayton has been has Clayton has
benefited tremendously from that
commitment. Your guidance has helped our
community make important investments in
its future and build a strong financial
foundation for the years ahead.
And tonight, that lifetime of service is
being recognized by the state of North
Carolina.
The Order of the Longleaf Pine is
awarded by the Governor of North
Carolina, and it's widely regarded as
one of the highest state honors for
exemplary service and exceptional
contributions to North Carolina and its
communities.
Robert, it is my honor, a great honor,
to announce that Governor Josh Stein has
bestowed upon you the Order of the
Longleaf Pond.
» [applause]
>> Thank you.
So on behalf of the governor of the
state of North Carolina, the town
council, and the town citizens of
Clayton, North Carolina,
congratulations. It's my privilege to
present to you the order of the long
leaf pine.
And we also want to excuse me uh say a
special thank you to Robert and his
family uh for all that you have allowed
him to do and been so supportive of his
actions. What a true difference uh that
he has completely made with time. So on
behalf of time we thank all of your
family and your friends. All right. And
at this time because I know you can't
wait to get in front of that microphone
and say I'm going to give the floor to
you. All right. [laughter] All right.
Thank you.
All right. Um Mr. Mayor, Council Rich,
uh it's been a true honor,
been a great ride. Came here in February
2009. I remember one of the first things
we did out of the gate was we had our
first GL bond offering. Mr. Mayor, you
probably remember we went up on that
trip to New York and met with Moody's
and S&P. Uh that was quite a quite an
experience. And uh you know since then
things just taken off. Um I've really
loved everything I do as a finance
director. I've taken that role very
seriously. Um felt like I've always been
a good steward of the town's finances
and it its assets. Um, probably one of
the biggest things I'm most proud of is
probably the collaborative effort we did
to get the Sams branch project off the
ground and see that to fruition. That
was uh quite a challenge. That was one
of those I call I always refer to the
generational construction project.
Little bit south of $300 million. That
was that was a big one. Um, but again,
I'm very appreciative of all the support
I've received over the years. Uh my
staff, these are a great group of
people, very knowledgeable, dedicated,
professional. Um without them, you know,
I wouldn't have got been able to do some
of the things I've been able to do. Um
so I'm very appreciative. This this is
like uh icing on the cake, so to speak.
Uh didn't expect that. Um but I'm I'm
very appreciative and uh it's been a
hell of a ride. Um, and uh, you know,
it's bittersweet. I'm going to miss
everybody. Uh, but it is time to move on
to the next uh, chapter, so to speak,
which is retirement. [laughter]
So, again, I appreciate everybody's uh,
recognition and it it's it's very
heartfelt. Thank you so much.
>> Thank you, Robert. We uh, we appreciate
that. Uh, I want to take a point of per
personal privilege right now to let you
know just how much your service to the
town of Clayton and to me as a mayor has
been. You know, when uh back in the late uh '9s, that would be 1996,
the uh town of Clayton was not in very
good financial standing. And as a
council member at that time, we were
called into the local government
commission by the state of North
Carolina. And it was not a pretty
picture. Uh but some good things
happened from that. And one good thing
that happened from that was a lady who
worked for local government commission.
Her name was Nancy Medlin. And when she
was asked would she consider coming to
Clayton and being our finance director
and help us get Clayton back on the
right track, she agreed. And from that
point on, that's when she later uh found
Robert Mai. And when Nancy retired, we
had Robert. So, I continued to breathe
easily and did not have heart
palpitations, right? Because I knew we
were going to be in good hands. And I'm
sure that we're going to be in good
hands moving forward. But I just want
you to know how much it means to me and
really to all the Clayton's and
especially in today's environment to to
model the way on how finances should be
conducted in a municipality. And I thank
you for that.
[applause]
Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thank
you.
All right. So, up next on the agenda
will be a public hearing. It's the town
pub conventional reszoning 2026-081-RZ.
This is continued from the July 20th
meeting
and the public hearing does remain open.
Good evening, [clears throat] mayor,
members of council. Conrad, planning
director for the town of Clayton. Um,
before you is a a request for three
properties to be reszoned to public
facilities, PUB. Um the couple slides
are from your prior presentation that
were delivered by Lori Bryant, our
planner one. Um and I've added some
additional slides to the presentation.
I'll spend a little more time on. So
I'll just kind of do a recap for benefit
of um just a refresher. So there are
three parcels that were recently
processed for annexation. um they are
townowned and in interest of
consolidating the town owned properties
into the PUB zoning district um this is
a reasonzoning request to fulfill that desire. Um so there are three uh
these three are totaling um 143 acres.
They're located off of Short Johnson.
Let me see.
This one is off of um Veterans Parkway
and Shore Johnson Road. And this
property to the north is the upcoming
public safety center for PD and for fire
department.
Parcel one and parcel two are currently
undeveloped as you can see with the
aerial off of Jack Road. This is a
terminus of Corbett Road and this is the
extent of the Clayton planning area.
This area right here is was annexed. Um
it was in the county's jurisdiction but
with annexation we now are going to be
required to reszone it. So hence the two
PUB um requests for this facility. This
property was reszoned to PUB um a couple
months ago. So this is in alignment with
that request. Also
the properties were noticed
um for the planning meeting, the
planning board meeting. So we have the
same public noticing um policy for the
planning board that we use for town
council. So, we uh sent property owner
letters to 300t radiuses for both both
these properties
and we have the our our signs are posted
on the property. So, this is along I
want to say this looks like um Jack
Road,
some of the terminuses of Corbett and
Essex Lane and also Short Johnson right
here. Sorry if my flashlight is
distracting there, but I like to use it.
Um so moving on
here are the three the the two
properties on Jack Road and Corbett
Road. You can see their existing and
their proposed PUB
and then parcel 3 existing and proposed
with respect to the future land use map.
Um parcel one and parcel two are looking
to um a revision from prior dis
discussion was we wanted to update these
to be feature land use map designation
of agricultural slash
I'm sorry be recreation and open space.
So that would be this feature land use
map designation
for these two properties.
Um therefore that's why you would find a
motion for inconsistency um for these
two properties. Um by you all adopting a
motion of inconsistency allows us to
change the future land use map to be
recreation and open space.
There's no need to change the future
land use map for this proposed resoning.
So it would be staying the same um
consistent with the property adjacent to
the north that was also zone PUB. So
this would be medium density residential
with neighborhood center.
Now for the update since council's
meeting on the July the 20th.
So with respect to the neighborhood
meeting um the UDO is looking we're
looking to update the language in the
current UDO to indicate some
clarification when and when and if and
how the town would initiate a
neighborhood meeting. So at the time of
the this project coming forth for
consideration, staff's direction was to
not conduct a neighborhood meeting. Um
resulting from the public hearing of the
planning board process. Um staff decided
to hold at council's direction the
neighborhood meeting and that meeting
was held on August 10th. So shortly
following the direction from council,
staff went ahead and moved forward with
um the notifications that were sent. We
expanded that geography to include
several of the property owners outside
of the normal 300t radius. So we've sent
notices of the neighborhood meeting to
about 331 property owners. That would
include both those in um Short Johnson
Oh, I'm sorry. This would be the folks
off of Corbett Road and and Jack and
Jack Road.
So, the meeting was held here in the
council chambers on August 10th at 6
p.m. Um, we had about 22 signed in
attendees, a good number of
participants. Um, we were able to obtain
um
the park study that was provided um
earlier to council that highlighted some
of the concepts that were intended or
conceptualized for Jack Road and Corbett
Road property as well as um poster board
showing the comprehensive transportation
plan um which shows an extension of
Corbett Road connecting to Jack Road and
also the terminus court road at some
point to connect to government code.
So these materials were provided um for
the public to observe. It generated some
good conversation with staff. We also
printed out some materials including the
entire list of the table 4.25 of the UDO
which shows all the list all the
principal uses that would be allowed in
the PUB zoning district.
Some good questions were raised. Um
would Corbett Road be extended? Um,
could the CTP be modified, amended to
reflect any changes to the existing
road? Um, is there an opportunity for
public input um for later development?
Um, more pointedly, would is this going
to be a wastewater treatment plant?
And what uses would be allowed on the
properties? kind of speaking of the town
was to uh suddenly put up um a use that
was not intended to I don't know to
[clears throat] to occur on that on that
project or sell the property to a
private developer for a more intense
development. Um
more than happy to answer some of these
questions um in the staff report and the
presentation. And um Corbett Road is
conceptualized to be a CTP. The
alignment of that road and how it plays
out future plans for the town. Um
I have some of the excerpts and maybe we
can talk about that in my next slides.
So um some of the answers were for
parcel 3. Um this was the property up by
um by Shore Johnson Road and Veterans
Parkway. It was communicated this
property would serve as an extension of
the upcoming public safety center for
the Clayton Fire and PD. Um really the
site plan there shows us having a
driveway connecting the property to
Short Johnson. So the obtaining of this
property allows that connectivity to
both Veterans Parkway and Short Johnson
Road.
Not a lot of discussion at the
neighborhood meeting about this pro of
this parcel. More discussion did occur
with parcels one and two. So the staff
communicated the adopted CTP and park
review study. And I could add that when
the CTP was adopted, it was a standard
of protocol to assume that when those
private developers were to come or
obtain property, then we would acquire
right away for the roads that are
designated on the CTP, which is the comp
transportation plan. Um, in this case,
it's likely that we didn't anticipate
the properties on Jack Road and Coral
Road to be obtained by the town. So, if
this was a private development that was
seeking to annex and obtain services
from the town, then we would definitely
be requiring this road, this right away
to be placed to connect um to Jack Road.
Given that the town has that um
approved in the CTP and we own the
property, there is possibility that we don't have any commitments to
that extension of the road. It's a
possibility to amend the CTP, but that's
not um subject at discussion right now.
That's just something for uh for us to
consider it later on down the road
should we want to do that. Um that would
require town council separate action to
amend the CTP. Um there is no express we
expressed that there are no projects
known to date. So uncommitted with
respect to extending Corbett Road other
than what's designated on the CTP, but
also not committing to any um awareness
of current projects outside of what was
provided with the park study. Um and
also communicated that the existing
plans are conceptual only. They're not committed to really this is
a standard process that we experience
with private development where there's a
sought to do a conventional resoning
from one district to the other. we're in the same um boat there.
What was communicated was there would be
a public process for future development
of the property into a park um as well
as any capital improvements that would
occur on the properties um for
allocation of funding would require a
council's review and approval submitt
through our own review process of
prioritizations of capital improvement
projects. So administration would be
involved in that process but it would be
a public process um that would come
before to the public to know what was
going to be occurring on those
properties at a future date.
[snorts]
The the current transportation plan that
was approved by council or adopted by
council just last year does show that
extension of corporate road and jack
road. project key number 36. And there's
also an extension of Corporate Road to
Government Road, project key number 37.
[clears throat]
And the road improvements and extensions
are yet to be determined. Just as if we
had a private developer that was looking
to reszone this property, we would
inform them about these future plans on
the property as well.
Um, this is a
look at the the busy CTP that we have,
but there's a highlight that shows
number 37 and 36 that I just um
discussed,
and I'll go ahead and point those out.
So, this is the southern part of the
town,
and here's a blow up of the those two
extensions that are shown on the
comprehensive transportation plan.
And this would provide connectivity um
going all the way up to Amelia Church
which would be shown um if I can show
that right here. I don't like right
there. So connecting
oops connecting down here. I should
probably have too much fun with this.
[laughter]
Okay. Um so some some great um other
discussion was with regards to the parks
review study that was provided in 2020
on July 2026. Um there was a work
session where the park study was
provided to the council and there's some
conceptual park and recreation
programming and the park study
identifies identifies nature trails
greenways and trails open space
playground nature play native plant
gardens community gardens like
pollinator gardens and meadows mountain
biking and pump tracks maintenance area
storage dog park disc golf shelter and
picnic areas parking shelter and
restrooms. Um, but these improvements to
the property have are yet to be
determined. They're really conceptual.
So, here's [snorts] a concept of that
design that is in the park study. That's
um as a concept. So, this helps us
visualize what might occur. In talking
with our engineering department, um, if
we were to align Corbett Road to Jack
Road and we were to maintain this, uh,
park concept, the idea would probably be
to push it to one side of the property
versus going directly down the middle.
Um, but yet to be determined right now.
The timing of the road to be placed is
also subject to discussion. So if it's a
park or if it if the town commits to
having it a park when that project when
the road gets built or not um is up to
future future discussion.
What we do know is that the CTP shows
corporate road and we do know that the
park study has this um and again
non-committal but just as a concept
there were other properties identified
throughout town and this happened to be
one of those that was ident that was um
related to this project.
» [snorts]
>> So um a matter of zoning um uses in the
UDO42
uh table 4.25
lists several uses or principal uses and
are designated in this table with a P.
That means a use permitted by right.
When a use is permitted by right, that
use does not require further town
council action. So that's something that
a project can move forward with um
administrative reviews. So if this was a
private developer, they would reszone
the property and come back to council or
they wouldn't have to come back to
council. But in this case, for the
allocation of spending of money, it
would be going back to council since
we're a public entity. Um, in any case,
the you the permitted use table also has
use has standards for specific principal
uses and it's important to know that
these standards cannot be modified
through a conditional reasoning.
[snorts] So, in the example of a
wastewater treatment plant, which was
brought up at the neighborhood meeting,
um went ahead and did a quick analysis
that shows
that type of use falls within a major
utility per the definitions of the UDO.
And you can see that the UDO table has a
row that shows all the principal uses
and the columns are the zoning
districts. And if there's a blank space
in there, it's not permitted. If there's
an S, it would be a special use permit.
If it was a C, it would be a conditional
reszoning. If it's a P, then it's a
permitted use. And so when you look at
the major utility, it would be a
permitted use in the light industrial
districts, the heavy industrial
district, and also in the public
facilities district. So on the furthest
right there is a UDO standards 4.3.134.
And that gives us the use specific
standards for a major utility. So this
definition just kind of tells you where
the waste treatment plant would fall in
a utility major and then the use
specific standards that would be
applicable to that use and the town
would be abiding by these standards
should this occur.
So right there you can see um letter A,
it talks about the distance from a
residentially zoned lot would be 300
foot.
Going back to the history of where we're
here and that concludes the neighborhood
meeting component of the pro of my
presentation. Um planning board
unanimously recommended approval of
these motions. There are two separate
motions for the two different um kinds
of consistency for the projects
with parcels one and two um having the
feature land use map update to be
recreation and open space.
And in your consistency statement
sheets, these are getting designated
with the color red and blue so you can
understand which one um to apply for or
to make the motion for. [sighs]
And again, it's a it's a conventional
reasonzoning plans show concepts. Timing
of those implementation of those plans
is unknown. There is a participatory
process for those pro for those
properties to be built with pound funds.
And I'm available for any questions
council may have.
>> All right. Thank you, Conrad. Any
questions or comments?
>> All right. Thank you, sir. This is still
noted as a public hearing and the public
hearing is still open. If anyone wishes
to speak on this matter, please step
forward and state your name.
>> Good evening.
>> Uh Jason Meadows, 1285 Corbett Road. So
immediately abuing uh parcel one. Um
yeah, I just have I have trouble kind of
getting along with this um unknown. I
think we're at a private developer up
here pursuing a conventional reszoning.
Um that's generally looked at in a
negative light. Um just saying we don't
know what it's going to be. Not
consistent with the future land use map.
Can't commit to whether there's going to
be a road there. Not going to commit to
a park or any use restrictions.
Um this seems incredibly premature.
Without a plan, why reszone? Um, if you
have to reszone, then let's put some
conditions on this and make it
palatable. Uh, it just it it doesn't sit
well to
throw, you know, a park would be great,
but a park is not even a handshake
agreement. A park is just a talking
point. Um, there's a whole host of other
uses that are allowable. One that we,
you know, probably hit on the worst,
which would be a wastewater treatment
plant. We understand you probably won't
do that. Maybe we don't need that. Um,
but on the same token, if we don't need
that, then why not strike it off the
list? So, if this needs more time for
the town to come up with what they
really want to do here, we're willing to
wait. Most of us have uh have lived
there for quite a while. I'll probably
be one of the newest residents next to
this uh property, but um it just feels
premature and unnecessary at this point
until you guys have a little bit better
sense of what you'd like to do. Uh but
you know, eventually I understand, you
know, the comprehensive plan would need
to be revised. If there is a park here,
it makes sense to take the road off.
But, uh in general, you know, we
appreciate the neighborhood meeting. I
hate that we had to get it the way we
got it, but um it is what it is. Uh that
was all positive and and good
conversation, but I just think there's
too many unknowns to to continue to push
forward um with really no no need for
the rush that we see from our end. So we
just appreciate your consideration to
either further refine this or put some
use restrictions on it or allow us to
just continue to uh let this evolve over
time. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> Anyone else?
All right. No one else wishing to speak.
I'll close the public hearing and turn
it over to council for their discussion.
» Mr. Casey. So my understanding is we're
reszoning this obviously because town of
Clayton land and so we wanted to just be
public like we've done all the other
parcels.
um you know,
you would not recommend or ever want to
have to go through a whole another
wastewater treatment facility and know
we don't need to do one. Um so with that
being said, I mean even if we
conditionalized it and said it's not
going to be used for a wastewater
treatment facility. I know one council
can't find another. Would that just mean
we would just have to if you
hypothetically again it's there's no way
in probably my lifetime it'll it'll ever
be anything like that. Hopefully, it's a
park and I think that's obviously that's
the intent. But I mean, if we did
conditionalize that, would it just
require another council to take that
condition off the table? I don't know.
That's a question for Jim or or what.
>> I I can comment on that, Councilman
Casey.
>> Thank you. Sorry.
>> So, the if we were to reinitiate this as
a conditional resoning, we would need to
go through the process again. We can't
swap conventional to conditional during
the process. to answer your question.
» Yeah, that I think [clears throat] your
question is it is it permanent once it's once
it's conditioned and um it another
council could change it? Absolutely.
It'd be another it'd be an amendment
process or a re or reasonzoning process.
>> Okay. So with that being said, I mean I respect the comment, but I guess even
if we conditionalize it is not going to
be a wastewater treatment facility. I I
don't I mean it's not I think it's
beside the fact because it would
potentially, you know, who knows what 20
years ago now what their council has in
mind, but I mean they could just
conceivably just change it, you know,
just undo what we've done. Um, and
obviously we've already told you a
thousand times there's no intent for it
to be anything like a wastewater
treatment facility or anything like
that. So I hope that makes you feel a
little bit better, but
I'm sorry, but um I'll give you my
address if it ever comes to be a
wastewater treatment while I'm up here.
You can come uh uh talk to me. But
anyway, uh I'm have no other questions.
>> Thank you, sir. Anyone else? Uh I was
just going to say um so before anything
does get built there, there will be
another
decision on our part and another chance
to contribute before anything happens.
So even if somewhere when we're going to
propose building a wastewater treatment
plant there, which hopefully not, um
then you know we will still have some
discretion or whoever is on the council
at that point will be able to um hear
from the people and make sure that
they're not doing something that is ill
advised.
>> Absolutely. And I think that really the
intent will always be to have public
input on what's going to take place on
that acreage when it comes to developing
it as a park property. Right.
But it is true in the state of North
Carolina, one council is not legally
bound by another. So that's general
statute for North Carolina. It doesn't
have anything to do with what we're what
we can do. It just dictates what we can
do.
Mr. Casey.
>> Yeah. One other comment, too, and I and
I appreciate, you know, obviously you
dove dove into it and they're very
concerned. I'll say I've been up here
long enough now and I'm not a veteran by
no means, but I I've seen it enough that
like, you know, that's a a valuable
piece of land and, you know, any
developer would be foaming at the mouth
to get their hands on it to develop it.
And um, you know, I I think you you
know, for the people that live in that
area, um, you know, it's I think
hopefully you're you know, it's exciting
that here it's going to be a park or
something like that, not you know,
potentially another development. Um, so
anyway, just want to throw that two
cents in cuz a lot of people that come
here and they they they they're upset or
they, you know, they have feedback, they
they'd love for the town, they always
say, "Well, I wish the town would buy
it." And in this situation, we actually
did buy that land. And, you know, as
we've been discussing, you know, what
our intentions are for it. It's not
anything that um unfortunately some
other people you know you know get
frustrated about or disgruntled about um
in some of the areas other areas of of the area. But anyway, thank you. Now
I'll completely be quiet.
>> Anyone else? Miss Archer.
>> Uh yes, thank you for everyone who
attended the neighborhood meeting. I saw
there was 20ome folks there and
appreciate uh the town notifying the 300
or however many folks to let everybody
know that this was happening. So um and I thought from the neighborhood
meeting minutes that people asked very
good questions and uh as far as the
commenter this evening and I also
received your email. I understand the
desire for certainty. Personally, I
would love additional certainty as well.
I like the current proposal that to have
a connector road in there as well as a
park and that would be my hope that that
would come to fruition. Um, in terms of
certainty, you had mentioned you about
parcel one which I believe could have
been developed to residential large lot
standards which you would have had, you
know, minimal input on how that would
have unfolded as well. I I do think
having this be a town-owned parcel will
give the neighbors a better result
potentially, I hope, uh, compared to
residential development that could have
occurred there. But on in that term, in
terms of all that, I agree with the
comments that have already been made
that I do think that there will be
future opportunities for public input as
these plans come to fruition. So, thank
you and and thank you for participating.
» Anyone else?
All right.
Hearing no other um comments, I'll
entertain a motion.
» Mr. Mayor, I can go ahead and make a
motion.
>> Yes, sir.
And this motion would be for adoption of
ordinance 2026-07-03
with motion one and two and and the
consistency statement. And would I read
both of those motions into the record?
Okay.
Uh I see. So, we're recommending two
separate motions. Okay, I'm getting
there. I'm getting there. So, [laughter]
uh here is motion number one. And I make
a motion to approve the town PUB
conventional reszoning ordinance
2026-07-03
for parcel 3 identified as
NCIN16581-15-2514
based on the consistency with the future
land use map goals, policies, andor
strategies in the adopted 2045
comprehensive growth plan in that it is
consistent with the future land use map
designates the property as medium
density residential with a neighborhood
center overlay. LA goal LU1 which aims
to preserve Clayton's character while
allowing for growth and development in
appropriate areas. Goal SI7 which seeks
to ensure the capacity of emergency
services as the population increases.
This action is reasonable and in the
public interest in that the
comprehensive growth plan strives to
ensure sufficient capacity of civic and
emergency related services as the
population grows. the requested resoning
permits uses that allow for expansion
and continuation of civic and emergency
related services.
» Second.
>> We have a motion and a second for
approval. Is there any further
discussion?
>> All in favor say I.
>> I.
>> Oppose like sign. Motion carries.
» Mr. Mayor, I would like to go ahead and
make motion number two.
>> Yes, sir. which would be approval
inconsistent with the 2045 comprehensive
growth plan. I make a motion to approve
the town QB conventional reasonzoning
ordinance 2026-07-03
identified as parcels 1 and two of the
request and NC pins
164700-85-1743
and 164700-94-1412
respectively.
While the proposed resoning is generally
consistent with the adopted 2045
comprehensive growth plan in that it is
consistent with goal LU1 which aims to
preserve Clayton's character while
allowing for growth and development in
appropriate areas. Goal PR1 which
supports the development of Clayton as a
regional destination for recreation and
trailbased tourism. It is inconsistent
in that the property identified as
parcel one is designated as agricultural
and rural rural residential in the
future land use map which primarily
envisions residential development on the
subject property. The property
identified as parcel 2 in the undesated
is undesated in the future land use map.
This action is reasonable and in the
public interest in that the
comprehensive growth plan strives to
enhance recreational opportunities. the
requested reszoning permits uses that
allow for the connection of park systems
and encourage tourism.
All right, we have a motion. Do I hear a
second? Second.
>> We have a motion and a second for
approval of the second motion. Is there
any further discussion?
All in favor say I. I.
>> Oppose like sign. And the motion
carries. All right. Thank you all very
much.
Up next on the agenda is the
reimbursement resolution for the general
fund capa capital investment program.
» Oh, I'm sorry.
No.
» Oh, I'm sorry. It's the I'm sorry,
Robert. I'm so excited to get to get,
you know, get you back up here again. My
apologies. Under new business, the next
item on the agenda is East Main Street
Sidewalk Connector BL000050,
award of contract.
Hi, Shannon. [laughter]
>> That's just what my agenda says. It
doesn't necessarily mean
>> Yes. Good evening, mayor, members of the
town council, and town manager. I'm
Tucker Creech, uh, project manager with
the town, and I'll be presenting this on
behalf of Shannon tonight. Before you
tonight is a bid recommendation for the
East Main Street Sidewalk Connector
BL000050
and East Main Street public parking lot
along with a resolution authorizing
contract award and execution.
This project includes sidewalk
improvements along the East Main Street
corridor, including installation of new
sidewalks on both sides of the roadway,
drainage and hydraulic improvements,
traffic signal modifications, and
pavement markings. The sidewalk
connector was selected for funding by
Campo through the FHWA local assistance
program lap on May 30th, 2022. The
project was initially awarded $650,000
at a 70% federal and 30% local cost
share and approximately $534,839
remain for the construction phase. The
town has submitted a supplemental
funding request to Campo for $1,393,999
proposed at a 50% federal and a 50%
local cost share. The request remained
subject to Campo review and approval.
The East Main Street public parking lot
was bid concurrently as an alternate. If
approved, the parking lot is locally
funded. Bids were publicly opened on
July 23rd, 2026. Fred Smith Company
submitted the lowest responsive
responsible bid of $1,194,900
for the East Main Street sidewalk
connector and 222,200
for the East Main Street public parking
lot bid alternate. Construction duration
for this is 240 calendar days and award
of the sidewalk connector contract is
contingent upon a Campo approval of the
supplemental funding request. The bid
package was reviewed by the engineer of
record and the town's procurement and
contracts manager. Both recommend award
of the contract to Fred Smith company as
the lowest responsive responsible
bidder. Staff respectfully requests that
town council adopt the resolution
conditionally awarding the East Main
Street sidewalk connector construction
contract and awarding the East Main
Street public parking lot construction
contract to Fred Smith Company,
authorizing the town manager or his
designate to execute the construction
contract and any associated change
orders necessary to complete the project
within the approved budget. I'm happy to
answer any questions the council may
have.
>> Thank you, Tucker. Any questions or
comments? Mr. Case,
>> hey. Hey, Tucker. Uh, sorry, I had a
couple questions. So, um, obviously I'm
familiar with this project and it's been
uh drugg along for quite a while, but
are we also making some improvements
over there by the railroad too and the
signaling signal? Is that is this
capturing that too? The signal uh where
um
uh where it intersects to by the post
office as well or is this
>> central street?
>> Yeah, central street. Yeah, this is
separate separate.
>> All right. I just want I just getting
those two confused. And then then that's
okay. So the next question I did have
then is um regarding the phasing of
this. I know that there's that parking
lot you're talking about. Um is that
going to be is the intent to have that
parking lot kind of situated first and
then do the road improvements to best as
possible or
>> Yes, sir. So the the parking lot will
take place at the beginning on the front
end of the project and while the parking
lot is being built, those spaces will
not be destroyed until that parking lot
is ready to be used.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> Yes, sir.
Anyone else?
» All right. Thank you, sir.
>> Yes, sir.
>> Great job. Thank you, Tucker.
» Yeah. Yeah, I need a motion. I'll
entertain a motion.
>> I make a motion to
uh make a motion to um approval of
contract and agreement and then I um do
I have to make these motions separately
or can I make them all together?
or I need
to make them separately?
>> Contact.
>> Okay. I'll make a motion to approve
contract and agreement for the East Main
Street sidewalk connector BL000050.
>> Second.
>> We have a motion and a second for
approval of the contract agreement. Is
there any further discussion?
>> All in favor say I.
>> I.
>> Opposed. Motion carries.
>> And then I'll make a motion to adopt
resolution 2026-50
for the East Main Street sidewalk
connector.
>> Second. We have a motion and a second
for the adoption of resolution number
2026-50
for the East Main Street sidewalk
connector. Is there any further
discussion? All in favor say I.
>> I.
>> Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you.
Now up next is a reimbursement
resolution for the general fund capital
improvement program.
Good evening, Mayor, members of council.
Uh tonight we're asking council to
approve a uh reimbursement resolution
for the general fund capital improvement
program, an amount not to exceed $70
million. If uh council recalls back when
Davenport did their affordability
analysis, that 5-year period from 2027
to 2031,
uh there was projected about $65.8
million in new debt issuance. So, we're
adding a little bit of inflation factor
there. This will give the town
flexibility to reimburse itself for any
uh I'll refer to as soft costs,
engineering, design, so on before we
actually enter into a finance agreement
for a project. But by having this in
place, that allows us to reimburse ourel
for that. Um, so again, we're asking
council to approve that. Any questions?
I'll be happy to uh answer.
>> Questions or comments.
>> All right. Thank you, Robert. I'll
entertain a motion.
Mr. Mr. Mayor, I will make a motion for
adoption of the resolution for the
general fund capital improvement program
reimbursement.
>> Second.
>> We have a motion and a second for
adoption of the resolution. Is there any
further discussion? All in favor say I.
>> I.
>> Opposed. Motion carries.
>> Thank you.
>> Yes, sir. Thank you. Up next are budget
amendments.
>> Okay. Good evening again. Uh tonight we
have four budget amendments. Three of
them are for new capital project bud
budget ordinances and one is an
amendment to an existing capital project
budget ordinance. Uh the first one is
the uh capital project budget ordinance
to renovate and uh restore the Robertson
Muar building. Uh we're allocating $2
million for that project. uh 1.3 million
of town funds, payo funds, and the
remaining $700,000 is the uh grant award
we received from the re recent
legislative action.
Uh the second uh capital project
ordinance is for the uh East Main Street
pedestrian connector, which is the
project you just awarded the contract
for. Um, that's a $2.3 million total
cost project and not quite a 50/50 split
because there's some ineligible costs in
there that DOT won't reimburse. Uh, but
basically it's a million2 contribution
from the town and about a million one
from uh the TIP program.
The uh third capital project budget
ordinance is uh this is our capital
improvement program reserve. This is the
uh five pennies that council has
committed to fund the CIP program. Uh
right now that stands at about $6.1
million and represents three years
worth. It represents 2024, 2025, and
2026. That five that five penny reserve.
We're putting that into a capital
separate capital project uh fund. Help
us be able to keep track of that better
as we move forward. and uh when we need
it, we'll move money out of that fund to
the applicable
capital project that it's associated
with.
Uh the last one is an amendment to our
uh existing uh general governmental
program initiative fund. And what we're
doing there is taking uh $300,000 that
we had allocated in there for sidewalks
and improvements and we're going to
transfer that over to the East Main
Street uh pedestrian project to help
fund the town's contribution for that.
So, it's just a realignment in the
budget. We'll pull that out and transfer
that money over.
Any questions on any of those
>> questions or comments?
All right. Thank you, Robert. Um, any
further discussion?
If not, I'll entertain a motion.
» Mr. Mayor, I would like to make a motion
to adopt the ordinance for the budget
amendments.
» Second.
>> We have a motion and a second for the
adoption of the ordinance for the budget
amendments. [clears throat] Is there any
further discussion? All in favor say I.
>> oppose like sign. Motion carries. Thank
you. Thank you.
» I'll now open the floor for public
comment. Anyone wishing to speak, please
step forward and state your name for the
record.
Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of
council. My name is Mike Edwards
Twining. I live at 40 Red Crab Epo Court
here in Clayton and appreciate the
opportunity to follow up on the comments
I made at your last meeting regarding a
significant transportation issue that
deserves your attention and action now
before it becomes a much larger and more
expensive problem. With a retail
expansion along Clayton Boulevard,
specifically the construction of a new
Target department store in a Costco
warehouse adjacent to the existing
Walmart, it is undeniably clear that
traffic volumes will increase
substantially in that corridor.
Congestion already exists today and
these new developments will only
compound this issue. Anyone who travels
that stretch of road, especially between
3:00 and 6:30 on a weekday afternoon
feels my pain. They know what I'm
talking about. But before I go any
further, I would like to thank council
member Casey and planning director
Almeido for taking the time to speak
with me after that last council meeting
and for our follow-up email
conversations. I genuinely appreciate
the dialogue and the opportunity to
better understand what the town and DOT
are considering. So, thank you,
gentlemen. Adding an extended right turn
lane to access that new retail area is
part of the plan, and I certainly
understand how that could help traffic
getting into the new development. But
respectfully, I believe that makes only
a dent in a much larger problem. It
doesn't address the congestion that's
already happening on Clayton Boulevard
or the additional traffic the new
Target, Costco, and other retail
development will bring. Other measures
are being discussed to address
congestion. I certainly hope those
measures work, but given the growth
we're seeing, we also need to think
about additional capacity. I've seen
this movie before. The concern here is
that we already know how the movie can
end. Look at Capitol Boulevard between
Wake Forest and Raleigh. It serves much
the same purpose for that area that
Clayton Boulevard serves for us. A major
route in and out of town. Growth
continued, traffic increased, and road
improvements didn't keep pace. The
result, years of stopand go traffic. I
don't want Clayton Boulevard to become
our version of Capitol Boulevard. We
shouldn't wait until we're sitting in
bumper-to-bumper traffic every day,
watching the backups skid longer and the
delays get worse to finally decide we
needed more lanes earlier.
This is a safety issue, an economic
issue, and a quality of life issue. So,
I'm asking the town council to please
formally petition NC DOT to make adding
a travel lane in both directions on this
stretch of Clayton Boulevard a priority.
The growth isn't coming, it's here,
[clears throat] and now is a time to
make sure Clayton Boulevard is ready to
handle it. I believe Clayton residents
deserve better than to spend the next 10
to 15 years sitting in traffic waiting
for the road to catch up. Don't you?
Thank you for your time, your service to
our community, and your consideration.
Good evening.
>> Thank you so much.
» I'mma tell you, Bruce is going to insist
on ladies first.
Good evening, town of Clayton. It's Kam
Fulwood from the Johnston County Public
Health Department again with your
quarterly update. I just wanted to make
sure that everybody in Clayton knew that
we had a medical facility, which is your
public health department. We have
services for adult health. Uh we have a
child health clinic. We have
epidemiology. Um we have health
promotion programs. We have an on-site
lab. We just want to make sure that
everybody who needs medical care in our
county can access it with no barriers.
We also want to make sure that our
rising seventh graders and 12th graders
are getting their vaccines for back to
school. We're taking appointments and
making appointments every day. So, let's
make sure that those who would like the
vaccine, they can access that. We also
have a chronic pain self-management
class that we're actually working with
your parks and wreck to offer. and we
are uber excited and uber thank you. Uh
we want to say thank you so much for
that opportunity. Um and that'll be
coming up here shortly. We have a
virtual smoking sessation class. So if
anyone who is interested in quitting
smoking um who's over 18, we would like
for you to participate if you like if it
fits into your schedule. We also have a
um community resource fair that is
coming up September the 11th if anyone
would like to stop by our behavioral
health division and pick up some
information and resources as it relates
to uh community resources, mental
health, and general health. We would
love for you to swing by. Um there may
be some food available.
[laughter]
Um, and we also have a diabetes
prevention program that will be starting
at the beginning of September. Believe
it or not, uh, we want to make sure that
we don't have everybody become, um, type
2 diabetic. So, any way that you can
prevent that, uh, please take advantage
of that free program. Um, I also want to
mention that we do have access to the
988 suicide and crisis lifeline. So, if
any of our residents in our county are
um you know, needing some resources as
it relates to mental health and suicide,
988 is the number they would call. Thank
you so much.
>> Thank you so much for the updates.
» Good evening, Mr. Mayor, council
members. I'm Bruce Neglin with the the
president of the Clayton Historical
Association. I'll take a break for just
a second.
» Thank you.
Congratulations,
Robert, by the way. I I enjoyed working
with you when I was working for the
town.
Although we had our disagreements, you
were usually always right. So,
[laughter]
what could I do, right? But anyway, um
we are having a celebration, America 250
celebration of uh of uh America and uh
in our little part here of America in
Clayton in Johnston County. It's the
America 250 Heritage Festival
celebrating Clayton's story on September
12th, um from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
And it's going to be at Town Square. And
first before anything else, I wanted to
mention that uh um Amy Sharon has been
just a gem to work with and getting uh
all the things worked out for there. So
I wanted to say say we appreciate that a
lot. The goal of this is to uh present
to the community a
I don't want to say a recreation because
it's not it's not even a replication but
something similar to show what a village
in the mid70s
would have been like in the area that
eventually became a 100 years later
Clayton North Carolina. And uh so we're
going to have all sorts of different uh
activities. We have about 15 uh
demonstrators. Uh that doesn't sound
right, does it? But it sort of sounds
right, but not really. I guess
demonstrations, let's put it that way.
Uh blacksmith, um beekeeping, historic
tools, candle making, uh Native American
display, uh some North Carolina
folklore, uh um let's see, this is only
a draft version, so I'm [laughter]
still making changes. Uh we're going to
learn about colonial clothing and um uh
we're going to have a birds of prey uh
demonstration too. So I think it's a red
tail hawk that's going to be be on the
thing. We're going to also have some
traditional foods including Brunswick
stew right there in the parking lot. Um
kids will be able to learn how to make
rag dolls. Um we're going to have some
period music and toys and games. Um,
we're going to have uh an emperic an
African apothecary. How do how did uh
those folks uh heal each heal
themselves? And uh and turns out it's a
lot like the way the life white folks
did, too. But um uh we're going to also
have a spinning wheel spinning cotton
and all that kind of stuff to show how
that works. And uh we're just real
excited about that. The other thing that
we're going to be doing is having um uh
Has anybody ever heard of an ordinary?
Back in the day, it was uh kind of like
a tavern, but it was almost more like a
gathering space um where uh folks uh who
were who were traveling would stop and
they would be lodging as well as care
for their horses. Um,
and of course a tavern and you had to
have that and um and other things like
that, but it was also like a town
gathering spot where uh people learn the
news of the day and and what was going
on everywhere else. Um, we're going to
have a little our own recreation of
Gregory's ordinance, which actually was
a real place uh at the east end far east
end of uh Front Street uh close by near
in the area of Highway 42 in Front
Street. Um
and um uh so we're going to have one of
those in order to be able to
um debut a commemorative
beer um Gregory's Ordinary uh that uh
Deep River is doing for us uh that will
be available from that day to the rest
through the rest of 2026.
So uh is that the right way? 2026.
Anyway, and um so it was also the spot
of our own little regulator uh uprising
where some a bunch of residents, a
number of residents in the area uh were
upset at the king's taxes and the uh way
some of his figures and subjects were uh
were not were were behaving with in
their eyes mismanaging and that kind of
thing. And uh of course those uprisings
led ultimately to our uh independence.
Um and let's see. So we're also going to
have Camp Flintlock here with us. Um uh
they're going to do a drum and fore,
have a musket demonstration, have a
colonial store, so you get to see other
things like that. And then the the thing
that I'm really excited about in
addition to all the other stuff that
we're doing is we're going to have two
readings of the Declaration of
Independence that day. and listening to
one person read the declaration could be
a little tedious and for the person as
well as for the listeners. So, we're
going to shake it up and have multiple
people reading uh the declaration both
times. And uh we're going to extend
invitations to each of you if you're
available to come out and uh read a few
lines of the declaration. So, we hope
that everybody will come out for that.
And what else do we need to say? We
still need some volunteers. Um, so
anybody can reach me if you want to join
us that day. And I do want to thank our sponsors uh Duke Energy Foundation
signed on real early with us and we
appreciate that. A major uh uh grant for
that from them and um Hometown Realy HTR
and the town of Clayton as well and the
Clayton Historical Association. So, uh,
we appreciate all that you all do
daytoday and hope that you'll come out
on September 12th for the America 250
Heritage Festival, uh, celebrating
Clayton's story at Town Square. So,
>> sounds very exciting.
>> It's going to be I like it.
>> Yeah. Well, good.
>> Thank you.
>> Are you going to be in town?
>> I think so. On September 12th. I got to
look at that calendar. I would love to.
>> And then mark it up.
>> Yes. Okay. Good deal. Thank you. Thank
you, Bruce. Anyone
else?
All right. No one else wishing to speak.
I'll close public comment.
Uh now we'll jump down to staff reports
beginning with the town manager.
Uh two quick items. One, I did want to
uh address the the questions about
Clayton Boulevard. uh it's a few years
old and so we were going to have to
check with DOT in terms of the status
but uh one of their the plan that they
had had for that corridor was to convert
it to a reduced conflict intersection.
So if anybody's driven on NC Highway 55
in the Holly Springs area in western
Wake County effectively uh it reduces
the number of actual leftovers or full
access intersections. uh from a safety
perspective, it eliminates uh some of
the most uh uh uh detrimental uh
movements that could cause accidents. Uh
but also from a traffic flow, it allows
you to get a lot more capacity up and
down the road with the existing lanes
that are there um as opposed to having
to just continue to add lanage. Um it's
been a few years. I do know that some of
those conversations uh kind of revived
slightly when we were discussing the
Hebner property with them and and the
turn lanes that ultimately ended up
being required, but uh we can certainly
look at what their plan was to that. I
don't believe it was in the the late
most recent stip, but I'll certainly um
work with staff to have conversations to
see how we can bring that back to the uh
back to the top. Uh the second item I
wanted to give you all a quick update on
um I think might have been two meetings
ago. We had some residents come uh from
the Carolina Overlook area with some
concerns with regards to uh storm water
runoff and and retaining walls uh out
there. Um since then, I just wanted to
uh give you all an update. Our staff
have been out there several times. I
believe several of you have been out
there meeting with uh various residents
as well as um we've met with the
developer multiple times. I've spoken
with them directly as well. uh PY has
been uh committed to uh resolving or
addressing the issues. I know talking to
our staff. Um part of this has been um
for a couple of those rain events that
we had. You know, one of the notes I
have here was that we did receive 5 in
of rainfall in a 72-hour period. That is
a very overwhelming storm, particularly
when it comes to these uh intermittent
measures that are designed for erosion
control while construction project is
underway. Uh and so uh that has uh
probably uh added to uh the the the the
cons the impact or at least exasperated
it for the time being for the phase of
construction that we're in. Um you know
some of the other items there um uh the
last inch of asphalt has not been placed
on. That is a typical construction
technique for us. Uh that goes on
effectively when most of the home
building is already complete. That way
we're not damaging brand new pavement.
Um the converse of that is when we get
these large rain events because that
last inch of rainfall is not there. All
of the rain that hits the roadway cannot
make its way into the catch basin. So
effectively it bypasses and it collects
and and makes a much larger um mar you
know larger amount of quantity of water
that that that collects uh lower down in the drainage area. So u those couple
things um added to you know the fact
that the lots had not been built yet.
So, we've got bare dirt that that that
allows for more runoff to come off, more
erosion. Um, all of those items uh
believe our staff uh have worked with PY
to get them addressed. Um they they've
added a lot of check dams. U basically
uh ways to slow the water down as it's
coming, so less erosion again and
hopefully more infiltration as it's
coming. Um so fence was added along all
the fronts and rears of the undeveloped
lots. So again, that should hopefully
reduce the amount of rain coming uh
excuse me, drainage uh leaving the
leaving those sites
as well as they added some silt bags in
the roadway catch basins and removed
some of the hardware cloth that was that
was diverting water away from the catch
basins and getting into those systems.
So um from a erosion control perspective
um those are I think I've mentioned it
to you all before but uh just as a
reminder um the measures that are
approved with those types of uh uh
permits um they are performance-based so
as rain patterns may or may not change
during a season or construction phases
change. our staff do do meet routinely
with developers out in the field to
require them to either do maintenance of
or in some cases addition to whatever
was previously approved uh to to address
any issues while they're while they're
working. And so uh I know our staff has
had several com conversations with them
and and required some additional
measures and uh PY has been um willing
to put all those in and and operate
excuse me and maintain them uh moving
forward. Um, with regards to walls, um,
all of those retaining walls do require
professional engineers, uh, to not only
design them, but to also inspect them,
uh, as well as give us final acceptance.
Um, they've gone back to their engineers
to make sure that any of these walls
that have had that have seen a
significant amount of runoff that was
not maybe originally intended just
because of the phase in this
construction like I mentioned. Uh, but,
uh, as of right now, they are continuing
to to to monitor those and any
actionable items. Uh the note I've got
here is that any action items that were
recommended uh by the licensed engineer
uh have been or will be completed. So u
just want to give you an update on that.
Um you know the the
this is going to sound bad. The sooner
they're able to complete their
construction out there hopefully the the
less uh uh likelihood there's going to
be to have any of these events that are
going to be affecting either the
retaining walls themselves or any of the
neighboring lots or or roadways around
them. So we will continue to monitor it. uh staff will be out there
uh under major rain events like we are
typically as already and um certainly
provide any additional uh updates as
that comes forward. So um but just
didn't want to leave that out there and um let you know that we're on it.
That's it for me tonight.
>> All right. Thanks, Rich. Town attorney,
>> town clerk,
>> no report.
>> Other staff
Mr. Mayor, council, uh, wanted to take
an opportunity to, uh, let you guys know
about a special event we're having on
September 14th, uh, in partnership with
the Clayton Center. It will be a um
event that begins at 7 pm, runs to 8:30,
and one of the biggest portions of that
will be the viewing of a documentary on
the Robertson Mule building. Um that
documentary, uh I know none of you guys
have had a chance to see it yet, but
we're very excited to be able to
premiere it that night. It captures the
building at a very, um unique point in
its history. It's the end of one era and
the beginning of another. And um it
really sells the um potential of what
that place could be and we're very
excited to be able to show that to you
guys and the community. We have the
Robertson family coming in to view it.
Uh all those that participated, the
stakeholder groups, the boards uh will
be coming in that night. Uh,
additionally, we'll have Jacob's
Engineering coming in to give the uh,
adaptive reuse study presentation so uh,
the public can kind of see, you know,
what are the possibilities for the
building and then we will um, have a few
giveaways and an opportunity for public
feedback at the end of the event. But we
just wanted to have you guys that on
your calendar. It's September 14th at
7:00 p.m. in the Clayton Center.
We hope to see you.
Thank you.
Yep. It's already on our calendar. Thank
you.
Uh other business, mayor and council
comments. Mayor Pro March.
>> Thank you, Mayor. Um thank you for to
the Girl Scouts for being here this
evening. It was really lovely to chat
with all of you and I really see each of
you as a future leader in our town. you
asked fantastic questions and I can tell
you're thinking about your community and
your heart is in the right place. So,
thank you for being here and taking time
to speak with us as well. Um, and then
just in general looking out in the room,
it's so awesome. There's so many
familiar faces here and so glad for
everybody that came to speak on
something or represent an issue that you
believe in. Good to see you all out
there from health to parks to roadways.
And then I wanted to speak and I didn't
catch your name. I'm sorry. I was not
writing fast enough. Transportation
fella. Yes, Mike. Um, and I know I
believe you came to our last council
meeting as well and I really appreciated
your comments about Clayton Boulevard
and I wanted to throw out there uh that
we do have that Clayton transportation
plan and it is available online and that
was a lengthy process to come up with
that document. there was a large
stakeholder and steering committee that
gave a lot of input to that. And one
idea that's in there, and I don't know
the status of it currently, but it
pertains to what you're talking about at
Clayton Boulevard that really caught my
attention at the time, is there's kind
of two philosophies for dealing with
that road. And one is, as we all would
make sense to us logically, add more
lanes, get more cars through more
quickly so we're not sitting in the
road. and the Girl Scouts and I were
talking about, you know, the the traffic
and the consequences of the growth and
how it clogs up the roads and things
like that. The philosophy that the
consultant presented to us as part of
that plan was actually having redundancy
and it involved fortifications being
made to old 70 and certain improvements
on that street. and they actually ran
the models and they compared adding
lanes to Clayton Boulevard versus having
redundancy so you get an alternative.
Um, and they presented a really in my in
my opinion compelling case for that
because you think of for example if if
all the traffic is concentrated on
Clayton Boulevard and there's an
accident there, you potentially shut
down that entire road. Whereas, if you
have redundancy, if you have an
alternative that is fortified, that
maybe has additional lanes or at least a
turn lane or right turn lanes or things
like that, that it's a much more
efficient idea. And so, I don't really
know where that stands. And then I
remember the other obstacle that was
involved with that was it was maybe a
little bit more of a forwardthinking
idea or novel idea than what our DOT
would generally have accepted or wanted
to do. I'm trying to say that as
politely as I possibly can. But um
anyway, I just would encourage I'm I'm
really glad you brought it up. it's
going to motivate me to go back to the
plan and find those pages and bring it
here and maybe there's something we can
do politically or in the broader scope
to revive that idea or get it
popularized if you know the people that
are smarter than I am actually think
it's a good idea. Thank you for
listening.
Um, I just want to add to that because
you took the words right out of my mouth
that that old 70 U possibility. It
sounded like a great idea to your point.
If there's a wreck and even if there's
not a wreck, people may choose to take
that way and it allows more flow on that
road that that takes flow off of 70. So,
I thought that was pretty innovative
idea. And I also enjoyed talking to the
Girl Scouts. I was very impressed with
your questions. They were thoughtful
questions. It's clear you had thought
about those. It was just not what is it
like to be a town council person. It was
about litter. It was about conservation.
It was about growth. So I I was very
impressed by your thoughtful questions
and for sure as uh my colleague said,
you guys are our future leaders and I'm
excited to see what you pay attention to
and um if you watch our meetings on
YouTube. So thank you uh for coming. And
I quickly wanted to add um to our town
manager's statement. I am one of the
council folks who went out to Carolina
Overlook after um the video and talked
to a lot of people and um I appreciate
them coming out and talking and what I
talking to me and sharing their
concerns, but what I also appreciate is
how fast the town jumped on it and how
quickly they reached out to Carolina
Overlook and PY and the response from PY
has been um rapid and they have
addressed every concern we've had and
I've also heard from homeowners out
there who have said they've seen changes
and they saw um action out there pretty
quickly and just know that it's ongoing
and the conversations I did say to a
couple of people that called just
because you're not seeing immediate
action sometimes doesn't mean that the
conversations aren't happening because I
can assure you and based on what our uh
town manager said the conversations are
ongoing and there were conversations
actually today um I know for a fact that
happened. So continue to let us know and
we love your feedback and just know that
it is going directly to the source and
the and and PY and the town and our
staff are reacting. So thank you for
that.
>> Awesome Mr. Case.
>> Thank you. Um I wanted to add to Miss
Archer and uh Miss uh Anderson. Thank
you. Um, not lost for words tonight, but
Mike, you know, you brought up some good
points about um, you know, the the
Clayton Boulevard. Uh, Miss Archer and I
were um on the steer the liaison on the
steering committee for the uh,
comprehensive transportation plan. And,
you know, I'm not as eloquent, but if
the DOT had it their way, they'd
probably make it a sixlane road. And
what we don't want is, you know, this
Clayton Boulevard to be a thorough fair
for everybody that's wanting to go from
point A to point B. Uh, and if I
remember correctly, when we did that,
uh, CTP, uh, our vision was it to be,
you know, a [clears throat] a road
that's more kind of integrated into the
town and all these ancillary roads, you
know, the bypass and some of this other
stuff. The people that are trying to go
through Clayton, they take those
alternate routes. So, you know, we don't
want, you know, Clayton Boulevard to be
a a sixlane road. We want it to be a uh
a place where people are intentionally
driving to go somewhere, hopefully going
somewhere in Clayton and not going to
Smithfield or Wilson Mills or somewhere
else like that. But I appreciate your
feedback and um to Miss Archer's point,
I mean that that's a very extensive and
that CTP was done about 2 years ago. Um
and a lot of smart people way smarter
than me were in the room and had a lot
of good ideas and um you know it is an
evolving process and we may need your
help some when you know that six lane
road or whatever eight lane road they
try to put there at some point in time
um maybe tries to happen. But anyway
want to thank you for that. Other two
other comments um obviously um for the
people that go to public schools uh
schools start back on Monday. So, I know
uh former council member did this, but
if we could just I know our public
safety and our staff is on on point and
prepared, but if we could just maybe
drive around the the uh schools in town
and just to make sure you there's
nothing that's blaring or obvious or any safety issues or concerns with what
our responsibility is or if there's
something maybe that's been overlooked
by the county, we could reach out to
them or the school system. So, anyway,
excited about that. I'll um I don't know
if my daughter is, but um school is
starting whether we like it or they like
it or not next week. Um last thing is
and I didn't get the chance to do this
cuz I was really looking to roast Robert
uh during his retirement. And Robert, I
must say you have made finance
not very exciting and very boring ever
since I've been here. And anytime I see
you coming up to talk about something, I
always make sure I need to get a cup of
coffee. But you know what? You do a damn
good job at it and I would not be able
to do what you do and you know you're a
great person. You tell great stories and
you're just all around a good guy. Enjoy
your retirement. Have fun. Don't think
about us. If we call you, please answer
though cuz we're probably going to have
a question or we're going to need some
help. But have a great retirement, man.
And congratulations. Really really
I appreciate that very much.
>> Yeah. Thank you.
>> Very kind.
>> Okay. I just like to say a few words
myself. I want to thank all of those
that came out and gave your public
comments. I really appreciate you taking
the time out and you have been heard.
That's that's one of my favorite
sayings, but we do appreciate those are
guests that observing tonight. We thank
you for coming as well. I do want to
give a shout out to the Girl Scouts. I
didn't get a chance to come talk to you
personally, but woman power. So stand
tall, seek your dreams, and you can get
there. Whatever you desire, you can do that. And I too would like to
say a few words to Mr. Robert.
I want to say that you leave behind a
legacy of hard work and your care. Mr.
Robert, I'm talking to you. Is he there?
Talking to you. But I want to thank you
and I have observed your work abilities
and the things you have done for the
town of Clayton. I appreciate that. So I
want to say to you, I wish you joy,
health, and peace in your years to come
and cheers to you for your next chapter.
We appreciate all that you do. Thank
you.
>> Thank you. Very appreciate.
>> And I forgot to thank Robert, so I'm
going to do that now. Um I had it all
written down what I was going to say. Um
I wanted to thank you for your attention
to detail and as the mayor said, your
always transparent response to anything
we ask you. you've left us in goodstead
with your records and your um
accountability piece and and I as a town
council person appreciate that and it's
going to serve the person who comes in
to try to fill your shoes well. Thank
you for everything you've done.
>> Thank you. I appreciate the kind words.
You did.
>> Okay. Um so this is what happens as
mayor when you allow your council
members to speak first. because I just
have to say I just want to reiterate
what my council members have said. We're
so excited to have all of you here
tonight and thank you for what you do
for our community. Uh the one thing that
hasn't been said or acknowledged and I
wasn't privy to conversations with these
two and with you all. But I want you to
get this. Uh the first time in Clayton's
history, the very first time in
Clayton's history that this governing
board is women. The majority are women.
It has and you can and and when we
break, you can look at all these
pictures up here on the right. You're
going to see there's a bunch of men and
one or two women. Most of those women
were always staff. Uh at some point, one
woman may have been elected to a council
member with a bunch of men. But this is
the first time in Clayton's history that
women on the town that women are the
majority on the town council. And it
doesn't mean that the Porter doesn't do
a great job because he and I both do.
But I'm just saying I think that really
speaks volumes to women in leadership,
right? So, thank you all for being here
tonight. Uh, I want to send out a
congratulations to Joe Stallings cuz Joe
is going to be our new deputy town
manager. He's our former uh, director of
economic development and I am sad to see
him leave that position. Uh, but he will
be extremely well suited for this new
job and congratulations to you. to make
a correction. He's not going to be He is
>> He's not going to be what?
>> Our our new deputy town manager. He is
our new deputy.
>> I was I was thinking I was referring to
he wasn't going to be in economic
development anymore, but uh I I think he
can cook two pots on the same stove, so
I'm not worried at all. No pressure.
Um, and I also want to uh express uh on
behalf of the town of Clayton our
deepest sympathies to the town of Wilson
Mills who lost Mayor Fleeter Bird uh on
Saturday. And Mayor Bird was an
exceptional leader. She was a kind and
gentle spirit. I never heard her raise
her voice. Always listened to her make
her point. Cool, calm, and collected.
and the world is a better place because
of her. The town of Wilson Mills um was
a great loss for them and I want to
acknowledge that during our meeting that
uh how much the town of Clayton
appreciates the relationship that we
have with the little old town of Wilson
Mills and while they may be a small town
they are really filled with good
everyday people. So, our sincerest
sympathies to Lita and her family and to
the town of Wheels and Mills. All right.
And that's all that I have. So, uh, with
that, I would like to I will entertain a
motion to go into close session, uh, to
discuss a legal matter and to discuss
the purchase of real property.
>> Mayor, Mayor, could we add to that a
personnel matter under section A6? and a
personnel matter under section A6.
>> Motion.
>> We have a motion and a second to go into
close session. Any further discussion?
All in favor say I.
>> I.
>> Opposed? Motion carries. Please clear
the room. Thank you.
There anything else to come before this
council? Hearing nothing, I'll entertain
a motion to adjurnn.
>> Motion.
>> Second.
>> All in favor say I.
>> I.
>> Motion carries. Good night. Thank you.