Good evening everyone, and welcome to the july 8th, 2025 new board of alderman
meeting. Prayer tonight will be given by alderman royal. Good evening,
let us pray. Heaven and father,
we ask for your wisdom as we begin this meeting.
we acknowledge this evening that we have need of your wisdom,
and we welcome your presence among us. Guide us
in our deliberations and decisions. Help us
to seek what is best for all involved
and that you direct our meeting according to your will.
I pray that you will not only give us wisdom, but that you will also give us grace
to respect those whose views are different, that we
will minimize our differences and rally around our commonalities
in order to advance what is best for our citizens.
let this board be mindful that every voice has value,
and every citizen has a fundamental right to be heard,
and that this will be our belief and serve as a guiding principle.
it is my prayer that we do our work in a spirit of kindness and
justice. Help us to use our authority to serve faithfully
and promote the general welfare of all of our citizens,
whether they are poor, wealthy, or homeless.
I pray that each member of this board and every person on staff
be mindful that we are called to serve our citizens with
fairness, compassion, and humility.
and now, heavenly father, we pause to pray for the families in texas
who have suffered the devastating loss of over 100 people.
it is my prayer that they be competent by your peace and your
presence. I ask this in jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
if you're able to stand, please do so. And pledge allegiance to the flag of our country.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america
and to the republic stands, one nation
under god, individual with liberty in justice
for all. Madam clerk, if
you would please call the roll
alderman kri. Here. Alderman royal. Here.
alderman aster. Here. Mayor odom. Here. Alderman kenzie.
alderman. Best present. Uh, next step is item number three. Approve the
agenda. Are there any changes the board would like to make to the agenda? Yes, ms. Mayer? Um,
my agenda won't come up. What number is the item concerning
the raising electric base?
um, 16. You won't vote. What is it? 16. Six 16.
mayor, I'd like to make a, a motion that we, um,
full item number 16 for consideration at
a later date. There's some unlimited
pca in there that I would like to have more information about before
we put this burden on our customers.
okay. I have a motion. Do we have a second?
uh, well, I'll make a second for discussion purposes. Okay. I have a
motion a second to approve the agenda. Less. Item number 16. Is
there a further discussion question?
yes, ma'am. It was item number. What again?
16. Is that part of the consent agenda? No, no,
it is not just approving the agenda. Number
three, it's the electric rate schedule. Okay. Alright. Thank you.
foster by holman off until, presumably the august
meeting. Does that present any issues for the city?
no, sir. Okay. That'll still give us plenty
of time and opportunity.
any further discussion? I, I'm,
I'm, I'm confused. What, what, what's missing? Alderman, um, aster
that, well, it's that mr. Bouchard hasn't already addressed us with
it. It, it's an unlimited pca and I, I mean, I'm just concerned
and I would like to know some more information about it. I mean, I don't, I don't want an unlimited
pca and then our, some of the electric bills,
that's what he is asking for, and some of the electric bills
go skyrocket.
um, well, I would like to, since we're discussing this, I would like to have mr.
bachar come up and tell me his opinion of what you're
saying. Uh, mr. Davis, could you just clarify, we're in, we've got a motion, a second
to approve the agenda. Um, we probably need to take action on that, correct? Yes, sir.
you're, you're, you're in the discussion, but at some point someone can call the question on the vote.
so we're still in questioning discussion. Yes, ma'am.
so, mr. Shar can come forward, excuse me.
you can make that motion to invite department head up and we can proceed that way.
okay. Do we have to, uh, go ahead and close the first motion
on the floor? No, ma'am. Okay. During the discussion, if the board wants
more information from anybody in the audience, the board can make that motion. Um,
and if approved, take that information. Well, I make that motion
to, for mr. Bihar to come forward to give,
uh, work information on the pca.
okay. We have a motion. And a second. Second was all repri.
any further discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye.
any opposed? Okay. Mr. Bouchard,
did you have a specific question in mind? Uh, good
evening, sir. And I, I hate to put you on the spot like this, but you have come before
us years too many times for us to and express
to us about the pca, and now we're wanting to
hold to table this until we can get more information.
and I just want to know, is there any additional information that you have that
you haven't already shared with us? No, ma'am. It, it's
pretty much the same information that I shared during the workshops that we had. There
is an option that I am presenting that keeps our pca the way
it is, but it requires a higher, uh, rate increase. So
I'm presenting basically three different options tonight. My recommendation is
the 3% rate increase with a balancing factor
on the pca. So some changes to the pca. What was the
amount of the rate increase? 3%. 3% with a, with
a balanced pca 4.5%. If we leave a pca
as it is,
that's your recommendation. My recommendation is
for the 3% rate increase with the balancing factor
on the pca.
there's also another item in the agenda to, um,
adjust the credit for our schedule 60, um, renewable
energy credit that we provide, uh, customers that,
uh, produce solar power and we credit them for the solar that,
for the energy that we receive from them. So that, that's also in the presentation
tonight and in the amendment.
any other questions for mr. Bouchard?
thank you, sir. You're welcome. Okay. Uh, I'll go back to the
motion that is on the table to approve the agenda. Pooling item number
16. We had a motion in a second.
we were in discussion. If there's no other discussion on that, we'll
have a roll call vote starting with alderman prill.
alderman pll. Yeah. What do we, yeah, what's yesterday?
clarify what we're, what we're voting on is to approve the agenda less
tabled. Item number 16. Okay.
no alder memorial. Let
me ask, was your question resolved? Mine? No, I don't.
I I mean, I just think I'd like to have some more time I
to, to review it. I'm just concerned about the
rates. But you do what you have to do. Yes,
sir. No
derman astro. No, I'm sorry. That's a no.
yes. Wait a minute. It's your motion that you made to approve the agenda.
less. Item number 16. Okay. Yes,
alderman best? No. Mayor odom? No.
so now we need to approve the agenda. Item number three. Do
we have a motion to do so? So moved. Second. Have a motion and
a second. Any further discussion? Hearing
none. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Agenda
is approved as is. Next is request and petition of citizens. Madam clerk.
thank you. First up is karen sullivan.
good evening. Members of the board of alderman, mayor odom, and city officials.
I'm karen sullivan, executive director of swiss fair, and I am
here tonight to let you know what swiss fair has been working on for the last few months.
swiss fair's interest as the north carolina main street organization
for the city of new bern is to promote development of a vital downtown
district that continues to thrive. We believe that when our
downtown is successful at offering employment opportunities,
attractions, and investment, all awards can benefit.
in february, we hired mary hannah parker, our new event specialist.
mary hannah comes to us with event planning experience and a strong network
of connections in new bern. In march, mary hannah and I, along
with several of our board members, attended the north carolina main street conference
in morrisville. At the conference, lynn au was
recognized as a main street champion for her years of service,
uh, to swiss bear and to the downtown development of new bern.
we also took that opportunity to announce that new bern and swiss bear will
be hosting the 2026 north carolina main street conference,
march 10th through 12th at the riverfront convention center.
this conference will welcome between 800 and 900 attendees
to our city. We consider this not only an honor, but a great revenue
driver for new bern. We've already started planning for this conference,
and we'll begin meeting monthly to work on breakout sessions, tours
and logistics. We are pleased to share that we've had several
new businesses open in downtown in the last few months, and we hope you've had the
opportunity to welcome those business owners and frequent those shops
and restaurants. Planning for month fest 2025 is
well underway. The dates are october 11th and 12th. We'll be making some
changes this year, like moving the main music stage to the county
lot at the end of broad street. This year, the month fest concert
will be combined with the festival offering a free music experience
for our community on saturday at the waterfront. We also
will have a kid zone this year offering free activities for children who may
be too small to ride amusement rides and fun for kids of all ages.
last year, we had over 70,000, 75,000 people attend
mum fest, and we hope that that number just continues to grow.
in june, swiss bear received notification that we had once again been accredited
by main street america as a main street community. Newburn has been
part of the main street program since 1980 and remains one of its longest
standing communities. Since 1980, our downtown
has seen 259 building rehabs and over $360 million
in public and private investment. Downtown newburn is a proven example
of long-term revitalization success. We look forward
to the next chapter of swiss bay and downtown revitalization with
your support and help. Thank you for your leadership, vision and
commitment to our community and the future of you. Thank
you. Thank you.
next is soraya bliss.
hello, alderman. My name is soraya bliss from ward one.
I would like to know, are you okay with raising taxes while
spending money on outdated hpc guidelines? Should
newburn pay for unnecessary consultants are the alderman
comfortable with an hpc who has operated out of legal compliance
since 2021? Withholds information from the public
and don't seem to know the rules that they are appointed to uphold.
have all of your constituents received their end core funding?
you have extensive documentation highlighting serious deficits
in the new bern hpc, along with the draft plan for correction.
you have the power, and I respectfully say the responsibility
to act. While city departments support the hpc,
only the alderman can mandate change. The buck stops
with you. These three immediate changes to the
hpc rules of procedure are needed to ensure legal compliance
and promote transparency, which you have the authority to make tonight.
currently, the hpc can amend rules with zero oversight.
the ability to make changes in the dark of night is a bad idea.
alderman approval should be required for all future hpc changes.
the hpc rules of procedures state, they supersede those in the guidelines.
this invites inconsistency and unchecked power, which is
dangerous. This should be stricken. The enabling statutes are
four years out of compliance. They
need to be updated. You have a red line document that annotates
the above requests, and I offer any support needed for implementation.
you simply need to decide to make the change. I'll also reiterate
my request for the alderman to initiate a public led process to revise
the hpc guidelines as the oversight board for the hpc.
according to statute, this is fully within your power.
you have heard or will hear excuses for delaying none
are valid. Excuse one. It takes time and money. We
don't have false. The alderman can initiate the process to create
a public work group. We will work for free. And existing meetings
can be leveraged. You can drive this action with or without. The
hpc two work is planned for next
year's budget maybe, but that hasn't been approved yet. And
unnecessary expenses. Given the state of and given the state of the a
pc, it is unfair to expect the public to wait.
excuse three. Revising the guidelines took years last time.
true, but it absolutely does not have to. A phased
plan can deliver meaningful changes by years end and set up
a better process for the future. Excuse four hpc
work groups are on hold, so they can't do any work. Partially
true, but grossly misleading. The hpc had been
holding illegal meetings, and when called out, rather than make the meetings
public and producing required minutes, they decided to cancel
the meetings. Now they're using this as an excuse for not doing the work
they signed up to do. As a reminder, the hpc has made
zero guideline changes for more than four years. Now, they say they've
been working on it, but when asked to provide legally required documentation of the
guideline work, they show nothing more recent than 2021.
this doesn't seem to pass the sniff test. I always keep two things
in mind. It's not a plan if it's not on paper, and do not
confuse effort with results. You appoint the hpc, you
provide its primary oversight, and you can course correct your
action, can save money, protect the public, and rebuild trust. Let's get
a plan on paper. Thank you. Thank you.
mr. Hughes. Is there a path forward to
address this? There he is. We have been working with development services staff.
they have been working with hpc on updating the rules and procedures, which I believe
is gonna be, um, um, uh, brought up at the next hpc
meeting. Uh, and we are also working with staff on how the hpc
guidelines will be updated. Just a
reminder to the board, uh, we typically don't engage. Uh, I've
been fairly lenient on that over the past couple years. Uh, but
as far as rules and procedures, um, we can address all of these issues
if someone brings it up in a new business. So, next up is minister tyrone brown.
good evening. Evening. My name is tyron brown, and I currently
live at 1414 harrison street, new bern, north carolina, 2 8 5 6 0.
today, I stand before you, not with just words, but with the weight of too many names,
too many candles and too many dreams. Cut. Short gun
violence is tearing through our communities, our streets, our schools,
and our homes. And in many african american neighborhoods,
it's become a daily reality. But let me be clear, this is not normal. It
is unacceptable, and it must end. Behind every
statistic is a life, a child who won't graduate, a mother who won't
stop grieving. A community that keeps asking why we cannot afford to
grow, numb to the sound of gunshots or the site of yet another
memorial. This crisis is not just about guns. It's
about poverty, lack of opportunity, broken trust, and generations
of pain. But we are more than our struggles. We are
resilient, powerful, and united. We have the right to live without
fear. Our children deserve to go to school and not have to worry about, am
I gonna get shot? Today? Our elders deserve to sit on
their porches in peace. Change starts with us demanding
better, standing together and refusing to stay silent. So to every
life lost, we remember you. And to every life still, here, we fight for you. Enough
is enough. It's time to heal, to rebuild, and to rise.
thank you.
next is jesse morris, jr.
uh, good evening board. Uh, good evening. Good evening. City of new bern citizens.
I'm the president of juneteenth of new bern. We're just coming to give you guys a big thanks
for all of your support, uh, during our festivities. Uh, first we want
to thank, uh, the mayor and all of his support. Uh, we want to thank parks and rec
and ms. Carey. They, they did a wonderful job helping us with everything that we needed help with.
um, also the facility and maintenance team, we, we want to give a, a big shout out to them
as well. Uh, the fire department, uh, mr. Johnny gaskins, he
helped us tremendously when it came to our, our fireworks show. Uh, the
police department, they helped us a lot as well. And, uh, the chamber of
commerce with miss melissa and her team, um, we, we thank them. Uh, and just,
just wanted to show our, our appreciation for all that you guys have done for us.
um, the only other thing that we would like to
see moving forward, um, is the, the attendance of the board
for our events. Um, there were a lot of faces that weren't seen throughout
the two weeks. Um, so, and I think it would, it would mean a lot to us and also to the community
as well, to, to see the faces that, that represent us. Um,
did I miss anyone? Um, the, the, the event has, all of our events
have grown tremendously. Um, from, from year to year,
we've seen how we've increased and been able to better serve our communities.
uh, so it's, it is, thanks to you guys. Um, so, um, that's,
that's pretty much it. Thank you. And, uh, for the, the voting for
the uhhon, uh, city, sister city,
uh, just wanted to, to speak with you guys to see if, if you can, vote in on
behalf of that to make sure that's something that we can make happen for our city. Uh, thank
you much and we appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you.
next is patricia to
hi, um, patricia toth. I live
here in new bern, and a couple of weeks ago I went to
a, um, carolina nature coalition
meeting. Uh, they have one every month. It's a free
presentation, and they had an unusual one.
it was on artificial intelligence, which I knew very little about,
but I was struck. And so were the other participants in the room.
we saw a film on ai, artificial intelligence,
and what it is going to do to our environment, what
it actually is starting to do with our environment and
being the leaders of our community. I wanted to just
bring this to your attention. So it's five pages. I've
given it to the clerk. It will be given to you, and I hope that
you will look at it and maybe even watch one of
the videos because it's frightening.
but the main impact I wanted to let you know about
was the consumption of power and the consumption
of water to cool these massive machines.
they are coming. There's no stopping it. But I wanted you to know,
to be proactive for the environment, because our environment
is where we live, and that's a huge, huge thing to
consider. So, I know it's a little bit out of your realm, maybe, I'm not
sure, but I did want you to be aware of it,
and I put together some good information for you,
um, just as a lay person. But there's some really
good sites that you can go to, to learn more, and I hope you will.
so thank you. Thank you, thank you.
next is edward toth.
thank you for letting me speak. Uh, I heard that there's a trap door if I overextend
my time and go down to basic and fill the alligators. So, uh, I'll make a
brief or as brief as I can. Uh, thursday night
is the fifth. It's a candlelight vigil for the fifth anniversary
of john lewis's death, a leader and a hero. And one of the
things he says is, make good trouble. So tonight I'm gonna try to make some good trouble.
I've already handed out my writeup. It's called newburn, and it's black roots.
it basically, when I came here, I just had this feeling
that slavery in new bern was very low key existed,
but nobody really talked much about it. So I started digging into it. And
what you find out that slavery was very important in new bern. Not
only was it the foundation for new bern and the economic drive for new
bern, but new bern was one of the major ports for
the importation of slaves from africa.
they came into places like union point. They were sold,
um, at places like, uh, uh, edward, uh, uh,
bachelor's, uh, front. They were sold at the courthouse. They were sold on
the streets like you would sell. I don't know, taco bells, who knows? But
what you find out is also that this town does not have any
real memorials to the slaves or what they contributed to this
town. We have a good, good, wonderful memorial to the confederate soldiers
that I appreciate and I support because robert e. Lee was someone
I appreciated. Uh, but where is, where is the monument to
the thousands of people who died because of the southern cause?
we have the, uh, fort totten, which is a
fort that we show a little marker there. But where's the marker there for the thousands of
slaves that took refuge there during the civil war and
escaped from their, their masters. We have tyra, uh, tryon
palace, um, where across the street we have some kind
of a plaque to a lady who was a spy for the confederates.
where's the plaque for the people, the slaves that built trium palace?
we have the declaration of independence on the steps, and that
is something the declaration of independence, where people who built
the palace and who were, uh, servants at the palace were slaves.
we have the, um, junk kadu, uh, um,
celebration at christmas. What is that? It's not a celebration of slaves.
it's a celebration of slavery. It was a one day of the year
that a slave was allowed to celebrate. Not their weddings,
not a birth. And then we have the desecration of the cemeteries, and
you could go on and on. I think this town needs to start thinking about maybe putting up a
memorial where the slaves were landed, because we know where they landed.
we know where they were sold. There should be a memorial there of some sort. There should be a
memorials equivalent to the one for the confederate soldiers who died for their
cause to the people who died because of their cause.
so, that's it. I just want to say that I hope this town starts taking
it seriously and dig through and come to the surface
on its history of slavery. Slavery was not a passive thing in
new bern. It was an active thing. It was a business, and it was an international
business that we were part of. Thank you. Thank you. Thank.
next up is helen robinson.
good evening everybody. Good evening. My name's helen robinson.
I still live in ward six. So many of us
in ward six are still bewildered by the cavalier
response of this board toward resolving our lack of
representation in a way that people want.
I keep trying to make sense of the unwillingness of the leadership
to work for a timely solution about representation.
immediately after alderman brinson resigned last july, the
mayor said, we need a new alderman to go to work on day one.
the implication was that this was important enough to resolve quickly and
effectively fellow citizens.
today is day three hundred and forty two, three hundred and forty two.
civil in ward six will have been without representation in government
for 365 days, one whole year.
this shows a fundamental disregard for our form of government
through repeated efforts on the part of citizens in ward six. To support a new
aga,
a common response from some leaders has been, we need someone who's
qualified. At first, this was really a convincing
argument to me. Dana outlaw, the preferred candidate of three
members of this board, certainly has experience,
but you know, he's not really the only person in newburg qualified to do this
job. In may, our board presented to the board
a petition with nearly 200 signatures from voters in ward six
asking that darlene brown be appointed many people throughout
the city. Think darlene brown's resume shows a breadth
and depth of leadership experience that would equal that of anyone
else sitting on this board. The argument about only
wanting someone qualified just doesn't
hold water. So what is going on?
it seems that there may be personal motives for only wanting dana outlaw
in this job. It's worrisome when personal agendas
drive the decision making in government.
another confusing piece of the puzzle was the
statement made in may that ward six only has to go
four more meetings without an alderman. Since the new board doesn't
take office until december, that would've meant six more regular meetings.
what wasn't mentioned were called meetings, work sessions, and other
times when an alderman needs to show up, the failure
of the board to fill this vacancy trivializes
the right of citizens to be fully represented
before the vote on appointing darling ground to the seat in
may, the mayor expressed his strong opinion that he wanted to let the process
unfold after the october election, and that he was not
going to vote to appoint anyone. We would like to
hear tonight that the board, that everybody on this board at this point
is committed to that plan since we waited to hear, we're ready to
wait until december now, and we will not be pleased
if you use our discontent with your performance
as an excuse to give dana outlaw two extra months on the board
should he be elected. I spent a lot of time in my
life studying and observing healthy organizations
and healthy leadership styles. You know, good leaders are those
people who work to bring people together to find appropriate
and acceptable solutions to problems. Good leaders, good
leaders don't always have to get their own way. Thank you for your
conference. Maybe it's time for some fresh leadership in the city. Thank
you.
next is tracy dso.
good evening. Evening. Um, just want to bring attention to the,
uh, board, um, an issue regarding hpc.
at last month's meeting, our hpc became, it became apparent the hpc and
the board members and the staff are not well versed on preservation
best practices as defined by the national alliance preservation commissions
commission is a nonpartisan, um, non-profit organization whose
goal is to promote architectural preservation through education and mentoring
of hpc members. Um, and, uh, our
hpc board is actually members of this organization, of this alliance.
um, and even though the board does have membership, um,
as stated by the hpc staff administrator at last month's meeting,
they have not been able to participate in the extensive training the alliance offers
due to a lack of funding by the city and or planning
by development services. So my request to
you is, is to direct the development services to
investigate improving the training opportunities for the hpc board,
its members and the staff. Our city will benefit from the
hpc board that knowledgeable and preservations best practices
and fosters a culture found on helping property owners instead of entering
them. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
next is amy brigham.
hello, my name is amy brigham. As a citizen of downtown new
bern, I'm honored to be here and speak my peace. Thank you for this opportunity.
at the may boa meeting, the mayor stated that he did not plan to vote
for or appoint to appoint anyone to the empty ward six
meeting, and then he went and voted against darlene brown.
I'm confused about how this is supposed to work. I would like to understand the role
of the mayor better. When the mayor gets involved in taking a side on an
issue, isn't he supposed to turn over the gavel to someone else? Can someone
on the board clarify this for me?
I would like to speak to that. Now, what would you say in there, if we're, if
we're gonna do that, the board needs to make a motion to suspend our rules
and then the board can have discussion and deliberation. Is that correct, mr. Attorney? Yes, sir.
so we would need a motion and a second, a vote to suspend our rules to have conversation.
so moved. Second. We have a motion. Do we have a second?
is that good? Second, any further discussion?
all those in favor say aye. Aye. A aye. All those opposed? No
ayes have it go right. Thank you, sir.
I, I don't know if I need to direct this to our attorney.
you have, um, you're the expert in the room perhaps on
this issue, but I was asked the same question, uh, a number
of times. And so I need clarity, uh, as
our citizen, just as for clarity as to
protocol or ordinance or rules or regulations regarding
this question that she posed to the board. Yes, ma'am. We've
discussed this a number of times. There is not a bright line
test as to how far a chair can go
in, um, participating in a debate, I've used the word
robust discussion. Um, but the, the
policy for you to understand as board members is
the mayor who serves as your chair, is the referee of the
meeting. The mayor cannot use that power
to dominate a debate because he or she has a gavel.
so the principle is the referee can't run the game to their favor.
it does not mean that they can't participate in a discussion
otherwise, the gavel would just roll around the board for
hours, as everyone said something. So this
is a self-governing process where you as board members,
you call the balls and strikes. If any board member believes
that the chair, in this case, the mayor is misusing
the power of the gavel to dominate a debate,
then you can speak up, make a motion that the gavel be passed to
the mayor pro tem, and the same test would apply to the mayor pro
tem. If that person is engaging to robustly
and misusing that power, then it would pass to someone else.
I will tell you, and having done this for 30 years, not only in newburn, but in many
other jurisdictions, I have never seen a chair or a
mayor have to pass the gavel because they were misusing
that power in directing a discussion.
so it is not simply that a mayor or a chair cannot speak
or make a point without passing the gavel. The
question is, is the chair being an unfair referee
and not allowing others to participate because they have the gavel?
does that make sense? It's pretty commonsensical. It does, and I appreciate that
so much. And let me further, uh, ask a question then
with, uh, respect to mayor odom's
decision when he said he would not vote,
however, the city clerk counted
his response as a vote and it was said three
to three. Yes, ma'am. Let me, if I can,
um, my comments, I believe said I would not vote to support
anyone getting the position I'm legally obligated to vote.
is that correct, mr. Turner? Yes, sir. Yes. Thank you.
I'm trying to understand the thin line. Yes, ma'am. So, so what the mayor's
pointing out every board member has. Yeah, we, hold
on just a minute. I, I don't know that we've ever had this since I've been mayor, but
I love children, but it's becoming a distraction. So the, the child needs
to quiet down or needs to exit the courtroom, please.
so, as the mayor said, each of you
have a duty to vote on every issue before the board,
unless you have a legal conflict. So
you have to vote what the mayor was saying. And what I recall is that he was not going
to support any candidate since you were so close to the election.
so that that's, I I I don't see that as an abuse of the
gavel, if that's no, I didn't consider that abuse. I was just
trying to get clarity. And as our citizen so well pointed out,
I have been asked a question. So this is a proper time for our public.
yes, ma'am. If any other citizen has a question that we can get some answers tonight,
and, um, I, I appreciate that mayor odom. Um,
again, the clarity and we can make
informed decisions when we receive proper information. So thank you so
much, mr. Attorney. Yes, ma'am. Ley, did you have something to say? It has became,
um, a city, a city ordinance that the mayor can vote
along with the board that has been in place for 19 years.
and I have brought it up several times to ask,
is that something we want to change? And no one wanted to
vote on that. So it has remained what it is to today.
um, uh, attorney davis? Yes, ma'am. I need
a little bit more clarity too, because, um,
when it says by the mayor becoming engaged in debates,
and I'm looking at our rules of procedure here, and I'm not following
the conduct of debate presiding officer, it says,
if the presiding officer becomes actively involved in debate
on a particular matter, he or she may designate another board
member to preside over the debate. Yes, ma'am.
so what am I missing here? , you,
you, you're missing the area of when does a mayor or a chair cross
the line and become so active that the gavel
needs to be passed? Okay, so that's the ok word here. When it becomes
a, a problem and the mayor steps out of line, and then that's when the board
can I got yes, ma'am. If you read that, that's the word that I was looking for. Yes, ma'am. If you read that
any other way, it means the mayor, each time has to pass the gavel
to say anything during a discussion, which I think would be
a, a waste of time. Okay. Thank you so much, sir. Yes ma'am.
everybody satisfied? Okay, we will move on. The next
petition of citizen is
nat crosby.
good evening, y'all. Mayor, board of alderman. I'm nat mckellar
crosby, a resident in ward six. I appreciate the time to speak
to you this evening. I first wanna lend my support to the effort
to create a sister city agreement with hanta
g. During the past juneteenth uh, events, we had the honor of
hosting the junk new commandos and queen mother angelique
angelique mckay, who has done much of the initial work to establish
a sister city agreement between us here in uba and
ahan, we have the opportunity to make history
as the first si, uh, sister city to hanta and establish
a bridge between our shared legacies. This opportunity
also comes with funding opportunities to expand our cultural and tourism
program. This initiative honors the history
of new burning to provides funding to continue to tell
this important story. In my humble opinion, this is a win for
all parties and I support this endeavor.
next, I would like to, um, like to speak with you all about
the public bank of new bern initiative. I have emailed the city clerk,
uh, with the preliminary feasibility study, uh, outlining the
details of how we can get this done. Now, this is an
important initiative for new bern because it will be a true economic driver
in this city, helping working people improve
their wages. Retirees have a safe and reliable place to
deposit their savings at a much better rate than what they're receiving now,
and lending opportunities for our small businesses and organizations
to scale and grow. Not to mention, uh, mr. Mayor,
the low cost funding for this infrastructure needs of
this city. Our economy's growth is just 0.4%
in terms of the job rate and our poverty rate is above
14% in comparison to the state and
to national standards, we aren't where we could be.
with this in mind, we must consider resiliency measures like a public
bank to ensure our future and uplift the citizens of new bern.
since I do not have representation at this time, I look forward
to meeting with each of you to discuss this further.
I thank you for your time and I hope you have a great evening. Thank you. Thank you.
next is steve skiffington.
good evening, lord. Um, good evening. I come here to
let you know that I believe in transparency in government,
and part of that is open and very clear communication
both ways between citizens and elected officials
because of that belief. At the last meeting you held on june 10th,
I asked a question of the board. I was
not aware that you do not answer during
those times. And so what I did the next morning on the 11th,
I sent an email, uh, I offered her up to the court tonight.
uh, she explained very patiently to me that it would've
had to have been sent in in advance
for me to show it on the screen. Uh, but then she also
made it very clear that that does not mean that you would do so.
she then generously offered to take a copy of that email
and give it to all the board members. I don't know if you have it now or you'll receive
it after the meeting. So because, uh, that cannot
come up on the screen and because I do believe in transparency,
I am now gonna read that email. And I also want to
thank, uh, alderman royal during her prayer.
one of the things she said was, every citizen has a fundamental right
to be heard. So I'm claiming that right now.
the email was addressed to two people, which
will be clear when I start reading it. Gentlemen,
I am the gentleman who at last night's board meeting, which was june, june 10th,
who asked the question quote. It's my understanding
that's several months ago, councilman alderman and the mayor
agreed to hold a citywide town hall meeting.
can someone tell us when he been schedule four?
I understand. I continued, I understand that
portion of the meeting is only to tell the board something you do
not take or give answers. That being so
exactly when can the public ask
questions and receive answers? Continuing in my
email back to my question, please advise
if it's been scheduled and if it has not, why
not? So
I'm just gonna wait for the balance of my time because I know you're not going to answer me,
but I'm claiming my time.
do we need to do that motion again?
yes, ma'am. So moved. Second.
I have a motion to second to suspend the rules and engage in discussion. Is there further discussion?
hearing none. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed?
aye. After the discussion, I'm claiming my last 48 seconds.
okay. What was your question again, mr. Smith? The question was,
uh, first of all, I was told that at
a public meeting that, uh, councilman alderman and the mayor agreed
to hold a citywide wide town hall meeting. Now, it could
be that I was given that information incorrectly. I doubt it.
if I was given it incorrectly, then I expect them to tell me. So
my question is, question. When will we have a
citywide town hall meeting? That's it.
mayor matthew, you sure can. Um, I'm
not sure if I recall doing anything about a town
hall, citywide town hall meeting. I didn't ask the
mayor during one of our board meetings if he would contact
congressman murphy and ask the congressman to have a town hall meeting
with the citizens of duber. And I know since then
that the mayor, 'cause I have followed up with it, has sent that
request in to congressman murphy's office. Now, I'm not
sure if that's what you're thinking of or referring to or not,
but I don't, I never, and and unless somebody's, unless I'm
wrong. Have we discussed having a city board town hall meeting?
why are you even asking permission
of congressman murphy to have a town hall meeting
that is not his business's the point that's going to be holding the meeting? We've asked
congressman murphy to come here and have a
meeting through his office. We had a meeting
and there was a meeting here with congressman murphy. There was some conversations
about not everybody knew about it. Not everybody was invited to it.
so at that time, I asked the mayor to invite congressman murphy
here for him to have a meeting,
a citywide meeting to discuss the, um,
the issues on his level. That's the only meeting that
I recall or ever requesting for. Does anybody
recall anything any differently? Mr. Mr. Steve, are you referring
to a town hall for the upcoming election? Is that what you're
talking about? No, ma'am. I am a, I'm referring to a classic
town hall where all the board members are present
and members of the community can ask whatever they want to ask and they
receive some type of answer or guidance. It has
nothing to do with congressman murphy. Well,
I'm, I'm not sure if that request was ever made in this meeting. I know the, the
request was made to have a, a town hall meeting with congressman murphy.
'cause I was the one that made the request. That is not, not my question. So
my question now is, will this board
hold at some time in the near future
a citywide town hall meeting, which
will obviously have to be a bigger venue than here? That's
my request. I can only speak
for me. I am more than willing. Thank you, ma'am.
anything else from the board? So am I. Thank you.
I think it's zoning that the two women
on the board have no problem with it. Thank you, sir.
we appreciate your comment. Thank you.
thank you. Thank you.
uh, next is amanda mckowski.
hi. Good evening. Good evening. Evening. Have you ever been woken up in a panic at
2:00 am in the morning when the police are banging on your door? I have
twice, both within six months of each other, both times to alert
me and my ex-husband are that our car parked correctly on the street had been hit.
both of them hit and runs. I live on the 3,500 block of elizabeth
avenue. I have lived here for 16 years and I have watched the traffic
on this street get more and more reckless. Very few people are abiding
by the 25 mile per hour speed limit. I have two small children.
sometimes I need to load them in the car parked on the street. And to be honest, it's terrifying.
people don't even bother to slow down when you're getting in or out of the car
on the side of the road. I have learned that various hoas have requested
that a stop sign be installed or speed bumps be installed and have been
denied. Maybe a stop sign isn't the answer, but what other traffic control options
are available? Could speed pumps or humps work? I informally
requesting that there is some traffic control done on elizabeth avenue to help reduce
the speed of the drivers. With every new housing section added, the issue
has compounded. As a reminder, there are kids who live on elizabeth avenue
and the streets that branch off of, off that walk to school at h day mcdonald.
I know I'm not the only person who is concerned or who has asked for speed bumps
or stop signs or any other control measure that would help slow traffic down.
how many tickets need to be issued? How much property damage needs to be incured?
how many pets need to be injured? How many kids need to be hit? Or
does someone need to die before a requests are finally heard?
I'll end by asking questions that are not rhetoric, but I would like to be placed on a
record. What metric is going to be the trigger for adding traffic control measures?
what will it take for something to be done? I brought photos
of bulk our, that were totaled
outside our house in the middle of the night.
this car, this was the first one that was totaled. This
was parked on the very front of this photo and it got hit
so hard that it landed in our next door neighbor's driveway.
what happens if it hit my house? My daughter sleeps in
the front bedroom of our house. What if that had hit our house
and killed my daughter? I'm asking that something
be done to control the speed on elizabeth avenue. Thank you. Have a great night. Thank
you.
and our last petition of citizens this evening is anastasia
feal gates.
hello. I go by socially, uh, anna fagel and I live in
ward six. I work with easterseals port health,
which is partnered with trillium and one community
to support individuals with disabilities and mental health needs.
I'm also a special education student at east carolina
university focusing on adapted curriculum
as a citizen of ward six. I am speaking out because I
do not have an alderman to represent me.
uh, representation matters, especially for those of
us who support and serve vulnerable populations every
day. It's a beautiful day in
this neighborhood. A beautiful day for a
neighbor. Could you be my, would you
be mine? Please? Won't you be my neighbor.
these words aren't just a song, they are a reminder
of the kind of community we should strive to be
connected, compassionate, and held accountable
to one another. Thank you. Thank you.
okay, board. Next up is the consent agenda items five through 13. What's
the pleasure of the board? Mayor, I make a motion to approve the consent agenda as
is second. I have a motion to second.
is there further discussion? Mayor, I have a few questions,
um, with regards to item six, seven, and eight.
um, if the board is willing, I'm
happy to ask those questions before we vote on the consent agenda.
or I would ask that those three items be removed
from the consent agenda, um, at which time I could
ask the questions and then evoke could be taken on them.
mr. Davis, we have a motion and a second on the floor to approve the consent
agenda throughout the discussion. Uh, question has been raised on three items.
yes, sir. You, you need to entertain the motion on the floor. That's been second. If that fails,
then we can revert to alderman prills, um, request.
okay. So we have a motion on the floor to approve the consent agenda as is.
we'll have a roll call vote starting with alderman royal.
alderman royal in respect to alder mccrell. No.
alderman naster. Now if he wants to pull him, we'll pull up
alder mckenzie, we can pull him. Is that a no sir.
okay. Alderman best no
alderman. Creel? No. Mayor odom, no. Motion
fails an out. Its back open alderman per, uh,
mayor, I'll make a motion to, um, pull items
six, seven, and eight from the consent agenda
second, and otherwise approve it and
otherwise approve the consent agenda. Oh, yes. Uh,
yes. Okay. So we have a motion and a second to pull item number six, seven,
and eight from the consent agenda and prove what is or prove what is remaining
second. I already have a second. Any further discussion?
hearing none. Um, let's have a roll call starting with
alderman astor. Alderman astor. Yes.
alderman kenzie. Yes. Alderman best? Yes. Alderman krill.
yes. Alderman royal? Yes. Mayor odom? Yes. Motion carries.
alderman. Prill. Get right ahead, sir. Yes. On item six, just
a a quick question, um, uh, question for staff.
um, I'm curious as to, um, where
this request, um, originated.
is this, um, simply a part
of the land use ordinance update that we
are working through? Um, or was this a request
from some other entity? No, I asked for this request when reviewing
a very large project. It was asked of us, what is the density in that
zoning district in c four. Every other zoning
district we have, has it called out? This one does not. That's poor planning practice and
I wanted it fixed immediately. Okay.
I might have missed the first part of that. So was this a request
from, uh, an entity outside of staff or no, sir. This is
staff me recommending that we put better planning practice in and define
what the density is 'cause it's missing. And without that, uh, there is
potential to argue you can do what you want with density and that's not a good place
to be in. Okay. Thank you on that one.
well, on item seven,
uh, first question, uh, same, same question, um,
as to where this recommendation originated. Sure. Our assistant
city attorney was reviewing a project with us and how to
interpret it. And in going through that, we realize two things. There's
a very antiquated way of measuring height in an overlay district. It says
you can have stories. It doesn't define what a story is. Typically
ordinances require you to measure things in feet. So we're requesting to make
that change. Additionally, there is some antiquated language
that requires design standards in several of our overlay districts that
are inconsistent with current state law and have been since 2020.
and so we are removing those in that same section of the ordinance at her recommendation.
okay. Um,
um, given, given the fact that we're talking
about, uh, changing
the determination of changing stories to feet,
why is this change
only being directed, um, at specific
overlay zones versus city block? It's the only place it, it says you measure
in stories everywhere else. It uses feet, like is the preferred practice.
okay. So this would bring the overlay zones
into, into consistency with how we measure everything else. Okay. Yes, sir. Good
question. Okay. Um, third question. Um, there's
reference to the broad slash queen street
corridor singled out for a 60 foot limit.
why, why is that one corridor
specifically being mentioned for a 60 foot limit
as opposed to the 60 foot limit is consistent with the zoning there?
it's inconsistent. It is consistent. It would be consistent in changing the stories
to feed. And so there you'll see 60 feet and 30 feet respectively
in the amendment, which I'm happy to explain during the public hearing.
okay. I'm not sure I fully follow you on that one. Um,
so anywhere outside of this particular court or what, what is the
height limit? It's different for every zoning district. Okay. But here they're
saying stories right now and we need to be able to measure
when applying the standards to a project. Okay. So the
60 foot is just a recommended height
limit? It's pretty standard. That's yes, sir. That's based on the recommended change
that's being made. Yes, sir.
okay. Uh, last question on this one. Um,
uh, just real quick, what are the boundaries of that
broad queen street corridor? That's the redevelopment commission area.
oh. Oh, I just wondering where oh, I, I, we can show a map. Um,
scott, can you verbally on the fly, describe that boundary for me? I wanna say
ottoman prill that, um, it runs roughly from the intersection of broad and first
toward downtown. And I think it extends over to the rear
property lines of all of the, all of the properties
on broad street. That is a rough description. That's
all. It's the, that corridor does not actually go down
queen street. It is really a broad street corridor
or does, it does. I don't recall how far down broad it goes
if it goes very far. I just don't recall. Okay. Well, I would, I would just ask as
part of next month's presentation if that could just be
identified, um, just more for clarification.
uh, so that's it with item seven. Item eight.
um, and it, this may just be
my own confusion. Um, in, in the memo that the board
has received, um, from robert, um,
it, there's a statement that says the proposed amendment
seeks to expand the setback allowances to apply
more broadly to all single family residential duplex and multi-family
construction within the overlay district. I, I'm just a little confused
as to what that actually means. Sure. I'll put it in, in some,
uh, simple english right now in the rdc,
we have relaxed standards because there are so many non-conforming
lots that we want to have reused. And the way this ordinance was written
allowed very specifically residential setbacks,
lot sizes, things of that nature to be relaxed and
applied only in our six zoning. And
there was a question, well, what if you build residential uses
in the rdc boundary that are not zoned r six because
we allow by right for people to build residential
uses in other areas, but they're not afforded the more lenient, smaller
lot sizes and setbacks. This is a request
from the rdc that was discussed also and also recommended by
the planning and zoning board to allow those same standards if you're building residences,
residential uses to be in any, any zoning district within
that boundary. And that's what that changes and that is all this changes.
okay. And I guess the, um, the, the, the issue that
I just want to make sure that, um, we're addressing clearly,
um, if this gets approved, uh, it just came
across to me and I may, it just may be the way I'm reading it, that
we're not being real specific in terms of what
standards would be applied. That it, it would be left
in some way as an interpretation and I'm concerned if that's
the case. Okay. Uh,
absolute clarity and comfort moving forward. The minimum lot size would be
1500 square feet minimum lot with 25
feet setbacks, 15 from the front, 10 feet from the
rear, and five on the sides. And that would be consistent for residential uses in all
of those zoning districts. Okay. Even in the commercial zones. Okay. So,
so we're dealing with some very specific, and that is,
uh, how it is right now for residences in the r six district.
okay. But it doesn't allow that in the other districts. I think there has been
more interest in building residences in zoning districts within
that boundary outside of r six. And that was kind of the impetus
to have this discussion and public hearing. Okay. Um,
mayor, that's all I have. Thank you jessica. You're very welcome. Does anyone else have questions
on six, seven or eight? Sir?
if not, I will entertain a motion to approve items six, seven, and
eight. So moved. Discussion. I have a
motion and a second. Any further discussion?
uh, hearing none, let's have a roll call starting with alderman
kinzie. Alderman kinzie. Yes.
alderman vest. Yes. Alderman pri. Yes.
alderman royal. Yes. Alderman aster. Yes. Mayor
odom. Yes. Motions carried. Next is item number 14. Conduct a public hearing
and consider adopting a resolution approving an amendment to the development agreement with warehouser for
west newburn. Mr. Hughes. Mayor alderman. In october of 2018, the
city entered into a development agreement with warehouser for west newburn.
warehouser recently approached the city about amending the original agreement.
that information is, is in your packet. You are asked to conduct a public hearing
and then consider the the proposed changes.
does the board have questions before we open a public hearing?
hearing none at this time, we will consider the public hearing open if anyone would like
to speak regarding item number 14. Please come forward at this time.
thank you. Board cliff parson on behalf of warehouser. Uh, when we
agreed to this development agreement in 2018, we knew it was a living, breathing
document and that it would need to be addressed and potentially amended from time to time,
uh, based on changing circumstances and market conditions. And that's what
we're here doing hopefully tonight. Um, the amendment does a few things that,
uh, I believe mr. Hughes put in the agenda. We're reducing. We're
making a speed limit, communitywide 25 miles an hour. Uh, we're addressing the
connectivity of the development to 43 as it connects to elizabeth
avenue. Once that's extended, um, we're agreeing to comply with the electric
line policy. We're removing a 25 acre limitation on
multi-family uses within the development that was self-imposed
by the developer back when their vision for this was a little different.
um, and then we're revising street standards for the development just to give the developer
a little more flexibility when it comes to the internal roads in the development.
okay.
board, have questions for mr. Parsons? Will I stand in there? Yes, I do.
um, when you say, uh, connect the community to highway 43
at what route are you going? You are extending, coming down elizabeth avenue,
or is this on the 43
corridor area? It's gonna be a connect, it's gonna be a connection, uh, to
the 43 connector, um, through our development to where
elizabeth will ultimately, once that developer develops its sub subdivision,
uh, it'll connect to elizabeth as extended there. Um, I'm not
sure if any of the, the master development plan can be put up, but I can kind
of guide you through that. Um, the attachment c to the
amendment shows, uh, the connection points, and there's actually, we've
removed two connection points from highway from the 43 connector.
um, and the connection that we're talking about here,
um, which is gonna extend, uh, from charles avenue
to what we call bradham boulevard to 43, once the
new elizabeth is connected to us. Okay. So that
new elizabeth debt connection will be where the warehouse of
development is right now with the community of
homes? Is that where the elizabeth gonna tie into the 43?
yep. Where elizabeth dead ends now, it's gonna okay. Sort of jog, I believe,
sort of westerly, mostly westerly southwesterly to the development where,
uh, currently the dr. Horton has built many houses.
thank you. Yes, ma'am. I have a
question also, sir. Are you saying that currently
the elizabeth avenue is undeveloped?
it, it dead ends? Uh, currently, I'm not sure which development. It's not, it's not dead.
doesn't dead end. The property owned by warehouser that ends into our, into
adjacent property. And I understand that developer has plans
once that property gets developed to extend elizabeth avenue through
to west newburn. Thank you. Yes, ma'am.
on the, the self-imposed, um, density
limit that you mentioned, um, can, can you just expand
on that a little bit as to, um, what's changed in the market
and what that means for the proposed development that will happen in
the future? Yeah, you, you'll recall that when, when this development
was first, um, contemplated, uh, there were big box
developers, um, that were being sought out. Um,
there was a talk of a movie studio being there. Um,
all those have sort of come to pass. And, uh,
we are seeing more interest in residential. Um,
specifically multifamily. Uh, I believe this board or the, the planning board
just approved a town home unit, um, behind the
current apartments there. It's gonna be between that and the future school
that's gonna be there. Um, and so market conditions
is telling us that we do not need to limit ourselves
to just 25 acres. Um, at the time, our
potential buyers were interested in that, and now our potential buyers
and developers are just the opposite. They, they, they are hoping
for more land to be developed as multifamily and, and
it's all allowed in c3. So this is not doing anything that's not allowed
in c3. It's basically bringing the development consistent with the,
the c3 zoning designation. Thank you.
any other questions for mr. Parsons?
okay. Thank you sir. Thanks.
hi. Good evening everybody. Good evening. Evening. I live on elizabeth avenue.
and, um, I'm wondering a couple of things
because I've been here for a while and we were talking about eliminating the
public hearing portion, um, and being a person that
doesn't have technical expertise about developing, is this
one of those moments where whatever I say is not really
gonna affect every anything 'cause it's already been approved? Yes, ma'am. Because this is
that situation. Okay. Well, this is an
agreement between the city and a developer that simply locks in
the current rules so the developer can make large investments
and no, going forward that the city won't change the rules on them. So
it's a tool to lock in the rules that exist today. It doesn't give them any
special rights other than locking in the current rules.
okay. Um, thank you. Um, the, the major concern that I have
is that on elizabeth avenue where, um, amanda was talking earlier,
um, our roads are very narrow and people
park on both sides of the street and essentially only one person can drive
through at a time if both sides of the streets are being used for parking.
um, so it's concerning to me that the plan is to connect,
um, the, to be developed
land to elizabeth avenue and it becoming a cut through
and causing even more congestion, even more danger, um, for
the people that live on elizabeth avenue and the people driving on the
street as well. So, um, that really needs to be taken
into consideration. Um, I've, I've spoken to many people
in my ward, and it's
being able to walk safely on sidewalks, being able to
not be, um, terrorized by drunk drivers
by speeders. I just, I can't emphasize enough how important
that is to our community, especially on a list avenue. Um,
and then there was also one other
thing that I wanted to say that, um, I'm thrilled that the city is
using mixed use. Um, and what I understand about mixed use land
is that it goes hand in hand with walkability. And in
this drive home, the point again where the, the cars
on the street, the pedestrians, it's not gonna
work well if the planners and the developers are not taking this into
consideration. Um, and making sure that we,
I don't know if the planning for when my part, I live in derby
park, the streets are too narrow. Is this gonna be a consideration
for this upcoming development? Um, and that's,
that's all I have to bring to your attention. Thank you. Thank you.
good afternoon, board of alderman may name. Good afternoon.
I'm okay. I'm wendy card. We burn out. And I have a few
questions for the board. So
the traffic will be coming from maybe racetrack or
elizabeth, has this plan been discussed with the mpo
or anything like that? Um,
have you talked about this plan before? And if this plan is not approved,
can this change happened? The sense of locking in the
rules, what does that mean?
um, I'd like to ask jessica ru to come
up. What, what I can't answer is whether or not the, the developer
of the proposed property that would connect to elizabeth avenue has, has he's even
come to, to staff to even present that plan yet.
yes. Some answer. Deanna has been at the table with me and george and looking
at all of these street connections and with talking with tim er's representative
with us. Yes. I didn't get that.
what did you say again? Deanna trouble is our mpo administrator and
she has been at the table along with george chiles looking at all of these street connections.
yes, thank you. And
part two, I understand streets sidewalks
are gonna be considered in this bond, um,
referendum proposal. Is there a possibility
that the money that could be for the streets and
sidewalks is could be used for this development
since I think there's a payment in lieu of, um, sidewalks?
am I making any sense? I'm, I'm just, I'm just trying to
absorb this information. Mr. Davis. I think it's safe to say the city doesn't
build roads or sidewalks. Um, developers do that and then the city accepts
those. Uh, and the rare occasion where the city has accepted the development,
where there are no sidewalks, the city will sometimes go in and add sidewalks, but
we would not use bond money or taxpayer monies
to build roads or sidewalks in new developments. Is that fair? Correct.
thank you. Thank you for clarifying that. Thank you.
as a reminder, this is a public hearing for item number 14. If anybody would like to come forward and
say anything
you like to make a motion to close the public hearing. Okay. Have
a motion and a second close the public hearing. All those in favor
say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Public hearing is now closed.
uh, I have a question for, uh, mr. Parsons or any representative
for ser. This original agreement was signed what
year? December of 2018. Okay. Um,
I don't believe it was part of that agreement that there would be land
provided or compensated to the city for a fire station, but I know there
was a lot of discussion around that. Are you familiar with any of those conversations? There is, but
it's not on this parcel. Okay. Yeah. So, mr. Hughes,
any recent conversations, uh, with auer about this? Yes, sir.
we have been having discussions with warehouser and we're working on, on something
with that. Alright. Does board have any further
questions on item number 14?
what's the pleasure of the board on item number 14, I'd like to make a motion to
the development agreement with warehouser of west new bern.
second. I have a motion a second. Is there further discussion?
hearing none. Let's have a roll call starting with alderman vest.
alderman bes? Yes. Alderman prill. Yes.
alderman royal. Yes. Alderman naer. Yes. Alder mckenzie?
yes. Mayor odom. Yes. Motion carries. Next is item number
15. Conduct a public hearing on the community development block grant that are known as
c-d-v-g-f-y 2025 annual action plan. Ms. Ru,
um, it's a pleasure to present to you our 2025
proposal for how we're going to spend our cdbg funds this year. As we
do every year, we are required to go through and develop an annual
action plan. That annual action plan has to connect to our broader,
longer range five year consolidation plan. So this will be
the second annual action plan of that consolidated larger plan you all
approved the last year. What we're going to do this evening is go through
a a quick summary of why we're here doing this. Go through our community engagement
efforts, show you the highlights from the plan, walk through
the budget, and then what to expect next. Our annual action
plan, really, I want you to think of this as a budget. We set very
broad priorities that we would like to fulfill throughout five
years in the longer range consolidated plan. And the annual plan
is an actual project list with a budget connected to it
of how we're going to fill those priorities. And so
in order to do this cyclical every year, we go through very similar process.
we have two big public input steps. We're in one right now,
but this project actually started back when we advertised
our community needs hearing and discussion that took place in february, which
we are required to advertise in january. And we had very robust
attendance at that meeting this year. And if there's specific questions on
that, we have our subject matter expert to answer those for you.
but there was a discussion on how, uh, to fit
goals for our, um, needs areas in
and fulfill needs of the community while meeting the, the parameters
set in the five year consolidated plan. And so that took place.
and once that takes place, we also go through and are required to advertise
if non-profits would like to participate and be a part of the plan.
when we get those non-profit applications in, they are looked at, they
are put through a scoring method through hud and that's how we determine
who is the best fit to do those projects. And we do have two community
groups that, that are listed in this year's budget, which I'll walk through momentarily.
and so in our consolidated plan, we have our
various strategies. And the strategies that are being addressed this year in
the annual action plan are the homeless strategy, the community development,
and of course the administration. I'm gonna walk
through the six separate projects that are included in the annual action plan.
as you see in every annual action plan, there is an administration
project. What that is, is the budget for, uh, you
know, these plans don't run themselves. We have a staff member who is partially paid
from the administration budget, as well as paying a consultant
who helps design these plans and facilitate that. We are meeting
all of the hud requirements. There are many of 'em as well as to pay for the
advertising and our public meetings that we are required to have.
our second proposal in this year for $107,723
is for streets and sidewalks and cdbg eligible areas.
the third is for demolition. We also have this in last year's plan.
we are allowed to use a certain percentage, I believe up to 30% for
demolition of substandard structures. So frequently when
patrick or I are up here asking you to approve demolition
orders, and we have exhausted all efforts to get a homeowner or
a property owner to bring something into compliance and it remains dilapidated
and is bringing negative impacts to the area within our cdbg
boundary, we can use this funding to remove those homes and not need to
use funding from the general fund to do so
at listening to the community, both at the meeting and at that meeting. At
at these meetings, we have heard a lot of interest in setting up scholarships
to be able to use our recreation facilities and camps and things of
that nature. This does include $10,000 of funding for
up to a hundred scholarships to be able to participate in programs in this area.
my sister's house is, is in this budget year for
$14,000, which would fund two aides to work
with them. And then catholic charities is
also in this year's budget for $15,000 to
continue to provide low income food assistance. And that wraps
up pretty much the entire budget, very simply of what
is proposed to take place in this year's annual action plan.
and so our whole budget allocated to us from the federal government
this year for this is at the bottom of the screen of about $261,000.
that came out a little bit later than it normally does just due to
holdups in the federal government this year. Typically, you're seeing this presentation
a few months ago, like in may, april or may this year. You'll notice it's
a little bit late. That's not on staff, that is on the federal government delay
on issuing what our funding would be. And so they would withhold this
funding from us until we have an approved annual action plan.
I will pause here just for a moment because one thing that we talk
about quite a bit is, um, assistance for home
repairs and things of that nature. And you will not see that in this
budget. That does not mean that that money is not still available.
we have found that it is very difficult to spend that
money down in a timely fashion, and we are audited on how fast
we spend this money. We still have in our 2022
annual action plan budget, $87,400,
a few extra dollars. I'm pretty close, I think, but we did just check that number
to be used for programs from that year. However, due
to the fact that you have to have an owner occupied
residency, you have to go through for
verification income and other background checks to receive this money.
and that takes about three months to take place. There's a $10,000
limit on the project. And in order to fulfill those projects, you
have to have bids from three separate contractors that meet federal government
guidelines. It has been very difficult to spend that money
down on projects that fulfill all of those things. It takes
a very long time. And so in the previous
annual action plan, you'll recall staff stood before you and
we moved some money around because we were concerned with the timeliness and we had
several projects that were costing a little extra and you all made the amendment
and be able to draw that money down. But to be very clear, this program
still exists. It is still spendable if you can fulfill
those criteria I just explained. But I want to, to everyone
watching at home and here to understand, we still support that program. It is still
funded for this particular budget. We did have a particular
goal set to have projects that we were very confident we could
get fulfilled by june 30th, even with the delay that we're in.
and so to start summarizing, our annual action plan
is a budget. It connects to the larger five year plan this particular
year. And moving forward, we are making an effort to make sure we have very realistic
projects and are working with partners that are able to meet our deadlines and
fulfill all of the many requirements that hud sets out to be eligible
to use this program. And so what will happen next,
just as a reminder, the plan that has been included in the agenda,
I hope you've looked at, will be on display until august 11th, that fulfills
a hud um, requirement. And then a
resolution will be brought before you on august 12th, be to fulfill
voting on our resolution to adopt the plan. This is just one of those
strange nuance things in a hud public hearing. We don't vote on the plan the
same night we have the public hearing. We will do that at the next meeting
and with that, uh, staff, or I'll be happy to answer any questions you may
have. Ms. Board have questions? Yes. Um, ms. Ru, I have
one question for you. The home ownership that you're saying that the
programs, the money's still there, $10,000 per home, is
that where a citizen will go to your office to start the
process? Absolutely. Or do you have a developer just handling that? Nope. The
citizen would initiate the request to be a part of the program and then we
would sit down and have an application meeting with them and explain all of these, uh, requirements
to them. Okay. And sometimes they are very overwhelming just explaining
them to you all. The list got kind of long and felt overwhelming. Um,
like I said, it is sometimes difficult not necessarily to find people
in need that they're, they're out there. It's the difficult part is working
with the limited budgets and then finding people that can do the
work locally that are interested in doing the work and bid
on the work and then do the work. And so we've got the three month application
process for the background to be looked at and make sure that we're
crossing all our t's and dotting our I's. And then we add on that, having to find those three contractors,
um, and get those bids in. And you have, you're
at probably six or seven months then, and then you have to get that work done. And it is
very difficult to draw that money down in a timely fashion.
thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? Yes, I
have a couple of questions in regards to what you said earlier about
the paperwork and the bureaucracy, the red tape, all of the above.
uh, when our citizens make application for
home, we rehab, do we have in place any type of,
um, I don't know if we want to say counseling or assistance
to help our citizens meet all of those requirements?
do we have, so if they come in and meet the
requirements of the home ownership and a project that is outlined in the
program for a home repair, dea will start working with them on
a program. They are not responsible for going out and finding the people to do the
work. We walk them through that and facilitate it and make that happen
when, when possible. Frequently. Also,
this is just notable, if this program can't help them, we do try to work
with them and find out what their issue is and what they need
assistance with and connect them with sometimes religious groups
or community groups that work and can do these projects with far less
red tape than we can necessarily spend this money by doing. So
I think that's a wonderful opportunity for whoever the applicants are because
again, we're, we, we're talking about a tremendous understanding
of whatever the rules and regulations are and is it,
um, reader friendly. So I, I appreciate that.
if, um, there's someone on staff such as ms. Who
can assist the, uh, applicants to work through the paperwork, the,
uh, other question that I have for you is regarding the streets and sidewalks improvement.
um, are those sidewalks and streets already
designated or will that be forthcoming? No, ma'am. They will
have to be within the cdbg foundry, however,
they have not been determined yet. And the absolute, uh, kind
of workings of how our scholarship program also has not been
completely worked through yet. In, in full disclosure, the area budgeted,
it's being developed, but we don't have a street sidewalk plan. We do not
have direct number of, of structures
identified to use this money to demolish, nor do we have the,
uh, how the scholarship program will work because this is
edbg money. There will be a similar background, uh, requirements
of income and things of that nature to qualify for it. Thank you so
much. Final question is, I see my sister's house,
$14,000 for staff salaries along with catholic charities,
$15,000. Did you receive applications from
any other nonprofits? We did. I believe ms. Told
me we received a total of five applications and
these two scored the highest when you run them through hud
scoring on, if you can fulfill the mission, um, meet the
criteria and do it in a timely fashion, they are proven partners that have been successful
previously and they scored the highest this year. Thank you very much. You're welcome.
so, um, ms. Ru, let me, um, ask one
question, um, to clear up my mind about
the streets and sidewalks for the cdbg monies. Okay.
so that $107,000, um, we'll
go back into the low and moderate income areas.
yes, absolutely. We are nothing that was not within the
boundary in the maps, which are included in the actual plan, everyone can look
at and see. It has to be spent within that area. And so typically
if we have a shovel ready project ready to go on one of those areas, we'd look to that first
because we could get something done very quickly. And so, um, if this
plan gets adopted, we will coordinate and figure out, um, where the highest
need is with a project that we can execute most efficiently and quickly
in that area. Good question. Thank you,
jessica. Jumping back to the, just the housing rehab,
um, issue that you outlined, uh, is,
is the, the biggest challenge finding qualified
applicants or finding qualified contractors?
qualified contractors? That's what I thought. Um,
willing to do those small projects at $10,000 or less right.
with the federal requirements. Right. No, I understand that
hud has a lot of requirements and regulations that
a contractor has to meet and for a small project, it's
not worthwhile to them. Um, so no, I fully understand
that. Um, does is what,
what happens to the money if, if we are unsuccessful
in spending it the way we want to spend it?
typically we'll come to you and ask for amendment and ask for you to, to
reallocate it to something else. Alright. So there will come a time when that 2022
pot of money needs to be spent. And I will probably be standing before
this board asking you so we don't get punished by hud for
a timely this issue. We're not being efficient in spending our money down on a project.
we wanted to put that money towards something else. Okay. If that, if
that comes, would have five years, I'm not sure when the 2020
we're not at that point yet, but it'll be in a year or two where we've got to have that money spent
or move it somewhere else where we can spend it efficiently. So a
a future board will address that, that issue. Correct.
as far as reallocation. Um, thank you.
any other questions for ms. Ruth? No, sir.
okay. At this time, I will open a public hearing on
the community development block grant, c-d-b-g-f-y 2025
annual action plan. If you'd like to ask a question or make a comment, please come
forward at this time.
hey, y'all, I was, uh, I was just looking at this and I,
it seems like this would be a good opportunity for investment. I
was looking at the past several, uh, budgets that have been
approved over the years, and there is no money, uh,
allocated towards just the general, uh, community development budget
or the grants budget. And there hasn't been for at least five
or six years. And so I know that these monies are specific to a
a certain region, um, but
it seems like it's not really filling the gaps the way that it could.
and I think that those gaps could be filled if we started to put a little bit more attention,
excuse me, into our community development budget in
our grants budget to help fill those gaps. Now, in particular to this
not having the contractors, uh, available for our, our citizens who need this
work, is it possible to use some of these funds to,
um, help contractors meet those requirements?
like I said, we have students here at the vote center, uh, in the trades.
maybe some of them may come from these designated areas. Is it, is
it possible to pass through these funds to help those, uh,
uh, students or those community members to, to be able to get qualified, to
be able to be approved by hud, uh, for, to make those projects, you
know, folks in these areas, you know, $10,000 might not be, you know, good enough for some,
but I bet you it'd be plenty good for for others. And so is
there a way for us to, to reallocate these funds to be a better benefit towards
the community? Ms. Fillmore, could you
answer that question on whether the funds could be used for training contractors
to become eligible? Good
evening, everyone. Good evening. Good evening. Um, that answer is no.
um, you have to already be licensed and bonded. Um, according
to hud, it is not, um, that funding could not be used to
do training to assist contractors, unfortunately. I'm sorry.
those funds have been available since 2022, correct? Mm-hmm .
and, and I, I don't know how long those funds will be available. I know she mentioned that there, that it will
come a time, but if, if we have the time, is
it possible to, if we had money in our community
development budget, then we can take it upon ourselves to
fund these, uh, lower income or me, uh, medium income folks
to do this job and get them to a place where they could be certified
and then join in with the time that we've had already and maybe the time coming up
to be able to have them approved, uh, for these projects. It'd
be a great opportunity for, uh, the city to partner, uh, with
its citizens to kind of fill these gaps and get this job done. If
we have community members who need this work, excuse me, and we have community
members who can do this work, or at least be trained to do this work,
this is a great opportunity to make that bridge, uh, so that we can fulfill these needs and,
and fulfill these, uh, uh, hud requirements.
are, are you, are you advocating that the funding come from cdbg or the general
fund to pay for that? I am, uh, for the initial part, I'm, I'm
advocating for our, uh, community development budget that's within
our, uh, budget now to have funds allocated to it. At the current time,
there are $0 allocated to the community development, uh, budget.
and so I think if we, if you were to allocate funds to that budget,
you may be able to fill gaps better.
thank you. So the piece that you're speaking on is,
um, certification. And that would probably be something more
so with the vault center to help, um, get some funds over there to
maybe assist, but it comes down to a contractor sitting down for their, for
their license, which is something we can't aid them in. Um, but
if, if they are licensed and they are bonded, they can bid on our projects,
it's just a matter of them sitting for the test, which is more so on the workforce development
side of things. So we wouldn't be able to pay for it with the cdbg funds
or maybe even the community development fund because that has to go into the community.
but maybe we could start a conversation with the vote center and talk about some opportunities
there to assist these contractors with sitting for their exams.
um, no, I think that would be great. Again, uh, community partnerships
is, uh, something I think we could focus on. So a partnership with the vote center, uh, that,
that could help us train these students and, and train community, uh,
members to do this work and then escalating that partnership to join
in with, uh, the, uh, community development block brand.
you know, to me it just sounds like a good way to get the job done. You know, if
we take the necessary steps and the time to do it and to create those partnerships,
uh, with the bowl center, these are resources that we already have, right? So
why not do the best to use them?
thank you. Thank you.
hello? Uh, I just wanted to say that I'm very grateful that we've
chosen to do the scholarship programs for parks and rec as part of this year's community
development block grant. Um, I've been here supporting people that have talked
about the expense of programs, and I've been here myself being critical of the parks
and rec budget. So I wanted to come here and say something nice instead and say,
I'm really excited to see that. Um, I appreciate the transparency about the process
not being worked out yet. Um, I'm looking forward to hearing more about it.
and now hearing that there's money from so long ago that hasn't been able to be spent, I'm
also looking forward to hearing how this scholarship program shakes out in a year
and here if the money was able to be spent and if it all worked out, or if need
to go a different road. So, thank you all. Thank you.
does anyone else like to speak on item number 15?
if no one wants to speak, um, may I make a motion to close the public
hearing? Second, uh, motion to second close the public hearing. Is there
further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say
aye. A a aye. Any opposed? Public hearing is now closed. There's no act
further action needed on this item. So we'll move on to item number 16,
conduct the public hearing and consider adopting an ordinance to amend the
electric rate schedules. Mr. Bouchard,
good evening, mayor o I'm board of alderman. Good evening. I'd like to take a few minutes to
discuss, uh, the proposed amendments to the electric grade ordinance.
I'm just getting my recommendations up front and we'll try to, I'll try to drive into
a few more details. I'm recommending a 3% rate increase for all metered
and unmetered electric rates, uh, modifying our current
pca to recover uncollected power supply costs by
adding a balancing factor to the pca and removing the one and a half
cent per kilowatt hour cap from the pca. Also included
in the proposed amendment is, um, our schedule 60,
which is our renewable resource facility credit, adjusting that energy
credit on a monthly basis as opposed to a fixed credit that's
only adjusted at the time of rate setting.
just a quick re recap. As you recall, we had two workshops,
um, earlier this year in april and june. We discussed,
uh, operational updates that I had at the time. Our
operating budget from fiscal year 26, fiscal year ending 26,
our capital by capital five year plan, our wholesale
power supply, uh, rate plan, which is a five year forecast.
we reviewed electrical financial study with presentations by
utility financial systems, as well as myself identified
under recovery of power supply costs. Since the time of the pca
was approved december 1st, 2025 until now,
it's about $2 million that we've under recovered in our power supply costs
over the last 12 months. It's about $2.5 million, and if you go back
further 24 months, it's about $4 million in under recovery power supply
costs. Also recommended rate adjustments during
those conversations and recommended modernizing our our
current rate designs and moving away from volumetric rates and unbundling
our variable and fixed costs out of our wholesale power supply costs
and out of our, um, our retail rates, and trying to
get in a position where we could pass forward wholesale costs directly to our customers
considering rate modernization. Schedule
60 is a credit that we give to our customers that provide solar
energy to our part of the system. And that credit is a fixed amount
that, um, is adjusted at the time of rate setting.
the recommendation is to allow that energy credit to be a variable, um,
and for it to be adjusted monthly. Um, and that credit would equal
utilities monthly avoided cost for energy using a
12 month rolling and two month lagging cycle, very similar to how
we're doing the pca. If I'm saying if our power supply costs
change on a monthly basis, then I should recognize that
as well on the credit that I'm buying solar energy for, um,
and to maintain that. So it tracks the equivalent cost of energy that we're not
buying from the chemical and our power supply costs and our power supply contract, I should say,
considering the electric department's financial health
and looking out over the next few years, you've seen this slide before.
um, here is, uh, an option,
um, that includes a 0%, uh, rate adjustments.
it includes the capital plans that I have recommended.
and as you can see, the debt coverage ratio is unfavorable.
it goes negative. System depreciation is in the 40 to 50%
range due to the capital investments. Um, adjusted operating income
is unfavorable and goes negative next year. Cash balance
continues to decline and go negative in the days of working capital cash
on the hand with low minimum policy and is expected to go
negative in three years. So overall, I don't think this is a very favorable plan.
if we look at an option to go 0% rate increase, take out the capital
improvements, not do those, um,
your debt coverage ratio temporarily inflates, but before declining
and going negative. Um, your system depreciation approaches 75%
and that's due to the lack of a capital investment. And your system, your
adjusted operating in income, uh, looks good for a year. Uh,
'cause spending has been artificially cut, but then rapidly starts to decline,
um, at large losses. And your projected cash balances look good,
but it's artificial as you need to. You eventually need to start drying it down to
maintain the system. Um, annual dates of working capital
are near policy requirements, but again, those will start to decrease as soon spending
occurs. So overall, I don't think this is a favorable plan.
this slide is an option for a four and a half percent rate
increase. Um, the pca stays the same. There's no changes
to the pca and includes the recommended five year, uh, capital
investment. Um, your debt coverage ratio is favorable
and stays well above one. Your system depreciation is in the 40 to 50%
range, and that's due to your capital investments. Adjusted operating
income can support your operational costs. Projected cash balance
keeps pace with targeted cash requirements. Your days of working capital
stay above the minimum policy requirements. Um,
and it also approaches, uh, industry recommendations. Overall, I think this
is a very favorable plan. Looking at another
option, which is the one I recommend, I I
like this one a little better. Um, this is a 3% rate increase.
uh, however we're adding a balancing, uh, factor to our power cost
adjustment charge. It also includes the five year capital plan. And overall,
this achieves the very similar results as the four point half percent
option. But the method of collecting that is different. Um,
some through more through rates, and in this case
more through the pca. Um, your debt coverage ratio is favorable
and well above one. Your system depreciation is 40 to 50%.
do your capital expenditures. Adjusted operating income supports your operating
expenses, projected cash balance maintains targeted operating levels
and your days of cash on hand meets minimum requirements and trends
towards in industry recommendations. Um,
I'd like this plan, um, particularly because,
um, you're, you're adding
1.5% less to your base rates, uh, compared to the four point half percent
methodology and then going down the road, future rate changes will
compound by that amount, um, on top of that. So I think this is
better all overall for the utility and for the customer. I think it's a nice blend.
um, diving into the balancing factor a little more,
um, this is included in the 3% option
and would be added to the, uh, power custom adjustment charge.
uh, presently the power customer customer charge has, our cost
adjustment charge has been under collecting since the time it was
approved december 1st, 2024. We've under collected about two point
or $2 million over the past, uh, 12 months, $2.5 million.
and if we would've had a pca, um, it would've been about 4 million under
collected. Um, so adding a balancing factor to the pca,
um, to recover those undercover undercovered power supply expenses,
uh, the balancing factor would be recalculated each fiscal year.
the amount would be fixed for the entire fiscal year,
um, and then recalculated at the start of each new fiscal
year to maintain recovery of last year's under
recovered power supply expenses.
this is a comparison of the rate track options that I discussed.
um, the, the I, the one that's highlighted
is the 3% option, um, with, uh, the balancing
factor on the pca, it attempts to collect
the $2 million of under recovery since december.
um, I think if you compare those across, um,
you'll see over a three year rate plan
using this option. You'll under, you'll, you'll cost the customer
less per month over the course of three years
as compared to the four and a half percent rate increase with the pca
as it is. And then that middle option I threw in there for you just to see
if you wanted to go back and try to collect all 24 months of under recovery, what
that would look like for you.
so in conclusion, I'm recommending that you adopt the, uh, amendments
to electric coordinates, which includes the 3% rate increase,
all metered and unmetered rate for all meter and unmetered grades. Uh, the
changes to, uh, rider number one, our power cost adjustment charge,
it adds a balancing factor and removes to 1.5%, one point half percent
per kilowatt hour cap and changes to the schedule 60
or renewable resource facilities credit by adjusting that
credit on a monthly basis. I'd be happy to answer any questions you may
have. This board have questions. How many
utility cu uh, customers are within the city?
pardon me? How many utility customers are within
the city? Total electric across all, all right. Classes, about
24,000 meters right now. Thank you.
any other questions? Yes, I do. Um,
I'm gonna direct this to, um, I, I heard
your presentation, you've given us the facts here.
we as almond, our citizens needs
to know what they're facing and you have delivered
that information to us. Now, moving down the line,
um, as the city manager
has said before in the past, he recommends,
um, this rate increase. Am I correct mr. Use? Because
of the agent infrastructure we have, um, we
know that it's going to affect our customers. Um,
it always does. When we have these just regular storms come
through here, citizens are out of power.
um, and I just feel that
maybe I'm missing something here. Why are we
continuously, um, debating this and you coming
here before us and discussing this when we know that this is something that we
need to do. We need to, to do this rate adjustment.
and I don't want to impose a rate adjustment on any customer, but
I would prefer my customer to have some electricity when needed.
and you're, you are talking about, you know, we got three transfer
formers that needs to be replaced. You know,
I don't know what else is missing here. Am I missing a, a piece here about,
you know, I did hear a rumor that, uh, several rumors that the
city was thinking about, uh, selling the electric department.
now I don't know how true that is, but it's, like I said, that's rumor mill, but
is that the reason why we're we all here, you know, this
board and we're not wanting to move forward with this? What, what is going on?
I mean, mr. Bouchard has come through us so many times and letting us
know our citizens need
. They don't want this rate increase. I wouldn't want a rate increase, but if it's
needed, if it's a dire need so that we need power, our citizens need power,
and I'm all for approving this 3%
rate increase in what he has recommended to us.
and I feel like I've been kicking a dead horse. So I'm,
I'm done with it. I just want the citizens to know that I agree with mr. Rashard
and ask him for this rate increase.
tell me one, one more time, what is the, the max or is there
a cap on the, is it tca currently a cap of one and a half
cent per kilowatt hour. And with the balancing factor
in doing the modeling that I have, we'll get close to it again going
a couple months in the future. It's all, you know, it's all forecasted,
but I don't expect this to be much over the cap. Now it needs to be removed in case we
do touch over that, um, in a month or two
on the average bill, what is that? That's, that would be $15,
$15 just for the pca if it reached a cap. Okay.
correct. I just don't see it reaching that.
but isn't it within a three year period, the $15?
no ma'am. If, if the cap was, the cap is
1.50 cents per kilowatt hour, and I'm speaking, the average residential customer
uses a thousand kilowatt hours, so they couldn't see a $15
pca charge. Okay. Because the reason why I asked that, because I said you had it broken out
here for 2026 is $6 and 61 cents. So am
I and then the 2027 is that that's what, yes.
lemme see if I can find my way back.
that's what I expect. The, the rate and the
pca to look like in 2026. Okay,
at $6 and 61 cents, I think that would be equivalent,
um, increase to the customer's bill. You'll notice in 2027
that drops off. That's because we recovered that money that
was under recovered since december of this year. And then it starts
to stable out. And as long as we keep consistent with that under
recovery, I think it flattens off. I like that better than, than a fixed
four and a half percent rate increase. That just will compound, um,
time and time again.
any more questions for mr. Bouchard? Not necessarily
a question for mr. Bouchard, but charlie, feel free to jump
in and answer it if you can, but, um, alderman astor
had previously expressed concern about the kind of the open-ended
power, uh, cost adjustment. Um,
what, um,
not sure how best to answer this or ask the question,
what do we need to do to ensure that
this issue gets revisited
in a year's time? Because,
you know, this board with the upcoming elections,
there may be more than one new face on this board.
um, and they need
to have an opportunity to wrestle with this
issue, um, I think sooner rather
than later. So one, I guess one
question for city manager or city
attorney, is there any way of putting
a sunset provision in the ordinance addressing,
you know, the pca charge to ensure that this
issue will be revisited, um, in a specific
time period? Well, one thing we started doing this is, this is this
budget process. This was the second year in a row as part of the budget.
we had the utility director make this presentation on why he
felt there was a need for a rate increase. And so the goal is to continue doing
that. Um, if, if the board
votes on this increase, it's gonna be interesting to see one
year from now if that increase meant, meant
what the expectations were based on the director's, um, presentation
and also the consultants. Uh, it kind of fell flat the previous year.
but I will say we do need to increase the rates.
and the main reason why is because we do have an infrastructure that we have to maintain with
our electric utility. And I said this during the budget process,
however, I cannot recommend allocating any funds
toward those capital items until we can meet our policy of
meeting the minimum days of cash on hand to be able to go to the lgc
for additional funding. Can I add to
your comment? Sure. I I would say that
in the electric rate ordinance, all of
the rates excluding the
pca and the proposed changes to schedule 60
have no requirement to adjust them.
it adjusted whenever, um, the board elects to
adjust them in the language for the
pca with the balancing factor. And in the language for the
schedule 60 adjust the monthly credit, it's to be reviewed annually
and adjusted on an annual basis at the time of, um,
the start of the fiscal year. And
that would coincide with all of our wholesale power supply
forecasts and, and that process. So we do our best to
engage that in the city's budgeting process. But as I've said before,
wholesale power supply, um, forecasts and
adjustment period is not in cycle with our
process in cycle. Am I answering the question? Well, I, I
think so. I don't know whether, uh, alderman, astor,
you know, feels any more comfortable, um, with that or not.
um, and, and again, we have been,
over the last couple of years we have been, uh, faced
with, um, digging ourselves out of a difficult financial
hole with the electric utility. Uh, and this is the latest,
um, iteration of that, that ongoing effort.
um, but if alderman masters concern is
that, you know, we we're building in or you know, if
this gets approved, um, sort of an unlimited
power adjustment charge and, and that may
not be the right way of of wording it. Um, I just want
to try to figure out how do we ensure that this
issue will be revisited in a year's time?
and alderman prill, to answer your initial question, yes, there could
be a sunset put in with this on pca
if that's what the board, so choose chose. And the other part of that, as I'm
monitoring the pca monthly, um, paying very,
very close attention to that. And if it starts to trend up and I'm
forecasting, I have modeling tools, I'm looking years ahead. If I see it
getting outta whack, I'm sure I sure you, I'll be back before you talking about
should we do a base rate change and lower the pca
and make that a more stable cost for our customers.
and I appreciate that, um, ,
but we, we found ourselves in a financial
hole because
passports chose not to address
the issue. And I'm sure you and your predecessors,
and I may be wrong on this, um, brought the issues
to the boards at that time, but the decisions were made
not to address those issues. And unfortunately
it led us to where we were a couple of years ago of
a very difficult financial situation. I'm just trying to address
that issue and, and address alderman astor's
concern. Uh, don't know whether or not a sunset provision does
anything for alderman astor, but it's just a suggestion.
charlie, I have a question for you. Um, how long have you been the
utility director in newburn? Seven years. Seven years. How
many rate increases have you requested from the board during your seven
year tenure? None. Well, uh, as of
an exception to last january and last july, none.
okay. My recommendation is go to the city manager and I'm up
here at the request of the city manager. Thank you.
so if the city manager tells you no, we're not taking, uh,
a recommended rate increase to the board, then it doesn't get to this
board. I'm only here by the invitation of the city manager. Right?
so all due respect to what the,
I think what the mayor was suggesting by that question.
if, if the issue is
put to bed before it gets to this board, then no action
is gonna happen because this board is not being
advised that there is a potential problem ruling
itself. I don't know that bias by incorporating
a sunset provision, it sort of forces the issue to
this board or the future board.
and that's all I'm suggesting. Interesting.
any more questions for mr. Bouchard? Yes.
I just want to sum this up. Uh, mr. Bachar. So if
we do nothing, we're still currently under collecting,
uh, $2 million you said a year, correct? Yes.
in power. In power of power, exactly. Yes. So we're under collecting that.
so the way that it, it stands right
now, um, the city is not financially
solvent to, at this point with the electric department
in the, in the condition that is in where you can, even if you wanted
to request whatever to go out and try to get a geo bond,
I believe I'd have to refer to our finance department. But looking at the slides that I
looked at, I don't think, I think people would laugh at us . Okay. You think we,
we asked them for lending right now, given if we do nothing to your,
your original comment. That's why I just, why I just made that statement. 'cause that's
what ms. Kim told us the, at the last work electoral
workshop we had. Yeah, I think she's accurate. Yes. So
I, that's all I have.
any more questions? Okay. This time I
will open a public hearing to consider adopting the ordinance to amend
the electric rate schedules. If you'd like to come forward, please do so at this time.
hello again. Um, and city manager, I, I left you out 'cause
you're part of this council manager
form of government. If, if things are according to charter,
the board of alderman is the board of alderman and you vote
as one and the mayor presides on the meeting and directs
people. And then the city manager used to sit next
to the mayor, but he was lowered sometime after
2009. Thank you ms. Carr. But it needs to be relevant to the public hearing for
electric rates. Well, I'm, I'm going back in the history in,
in nine in the 1970s, it was,
it was initiated by the board of alderman to seek,
uh, funding for carolina power
and light and power cpl to get a bond.
and that was a revenue bond at the time. I mean, who
knows how much the city paid. 'cause I just can't, the details are sketchy,
but, but the, the utility has been paying for that
and the payment ends this year.
so going back to 2015 ish,
the mayor was on the board and alderman kinsey was on the board when
there was a deal when duke and progress merged
and a deal was made, something to deal with the rates, I don't know, it was closed session
and I haven't sought through the city
clerk 'cause there's just too much information. So I'm just asking
you simply
in may of 2024,
this floor derman four of you voted for
to support mr. Bouchard's electric rate and
a pca, then that was during
the budget talks, then it came to
the board making a final decision on rates. And charlie had presented
all the information. I was there. I so I'm not like imagining
this, right? He presented the board all this information
and the rates and they were set and it was a public hearing and then
the mayor said, I wanna match duke's rates.
everything changed. That was last june
or july. It was around then. So then the
mayor's like, no, we're going to give you whatever percent, 3%,
whatever the amount was. So that's not,
you know, going with whatever the department of public utilities director's
telling him. Like he's been in an engineer for I, I have no idea. Right? That's his
job. That's what he does. That's instead
he keeps revising to try to catch up with duke's
rates. So I guess my question is,
I know I got a lot of them. The board
has the legal authority to take 5% of the gross revenues from the
electric fund. Y'all have that power through state statute.
so as, I don't know if that's what mr. Bachar was referring
to, but it appears to me that these rates are being raised.
it was a 6% rate and then the 6% rate, but it
wasn't a pca, um, was not added or
it was restricted. So this
authority to take 5% of the gross revenue,
the money is just going up. That's being taken out of the electric department
and it's being put into general fund. And I'm not saying anything shady going
on 'cause that's a legal issue, but you're not addressing the
actual problem that the consultant
said during the financial study that there
was an aging system. It's affecting reliability.
and I don't know if there's an n one contingency or not, but
there's a situation going on with the system and by
keep funding it with funding the utility
without or, uh, keep taking money out, transferring it
to the general fund. What is this about
the, the, the duke energy or the carolina light power
bought the assets that the city owns, the whole electric system or
I'm sorry, I apologize. The plant, the generating plant that they paid
this revenue bond for. And I know I'm, I'm, I'm
really confused. Sounds confusing, but I'm bringing this home
right now. So by taking
the money out of the general fund, keep raising the rates without adjusting
the power cost, you're not
collecting natural cost of the power.
so is there something in that closed session which
may be, um, available to the public?
now that was said that when the
contract ends, then we can,
that the 5% will be lifted or something. Was there a deal made
that nobody is aware of except for the mayor? 'cause he was there
and, and possibly, uh, mckenzie, mr.
mr. Davis. Um, I I typically don't want to go down
rabbit holes, but let let's be clear, anything that took
place from negotiations in closed sessions during the empa
and duke buyout was made public because
this board or previous board, board of ottman voted to accept that agreement,
which became public, correct? That is correct. The city was not a direct
party to that settlement between duke and in kemba.
and any rates or any deals would be evidenced by a
document that the board would approve.
and and every time the city changes our rates, there's
a public hearing yes sir. By law. And it's voted on by the full board
and the majority of the board determines the rates. Correct. Okay, sir,
thank you. Okay. Are is the city of new
bern, not a member of, of one of the 32 members are part of
mpa and the city of new bern has actually, I think al my masters
part of the current board for mpa.
is that true or not? Yes. Yes ma'am. So how
is the city not involved with the bio? We were not
a direct party to that bio in kemba. I think the city's one of 32
or 36 members. So the city's one
32nd of that entity. So in that sense, the
city has a vote within kemba, but the city's not
in charge of the negotiations or that global resolution between
those two entities. Charlie, feel free. So
issue, but I'll try to add some clarity.
kemba, which is a power supply agency that we're a member
of, has a contract with duke to
buy wholesale power. Yes sir. That's between the kemba
and duke new bern has a separate contract
between the city of new bern and the kemba.
does that help the two different matters? I mean, then
the rates kind of follow each other. They're pretty much similarly aligned, but they're,
yeah. The, the, the issue that's being raised is, is there are some
unknown deal between the city and in kemp or
the city and duke that has not been disclosed. And the
legal issue we're making is that all those documents, records,
agreements are in writing and were approved in public. So there could
not possibly be a secret deal between new vern and
duke or anyone else.
and I haven't looked at all of those public, the closed session
meetings, 'cause basically a closed session meeting just said this happened. So I don't,
I wasn't there. No one can, there was no transcript of closed sessions. So I'm
just trying to get to the bottom up. How did this board be fully, totally
on board? And then mayor says, no, we're gonna match duke's rates.
and now, and, and mayor, you're shaking your head, but
you said that right? I'm shaking my head because you're inferring that I
overruled the board and made a suggestion. And the, the staff
followed that direction, which did not happen. I simply made a suggestion that instead
of coming back every six months or every year, asking for more money
to close the gap between where we are and where duke is, if the city would mirror duke's
rates, we wouldn't be having this discussion tonight. The board didn't go along with that, unless
I'm completely losing my mind. The board didn't go along with that. The board took other action.
okay. Three members of the board, which is the majority of the board,
two, no, four, four members is a majority of the board.
you have four members on the board. So the
majority of four is you have two aldermen,
alderman kinzie, and asked her. And then you have three
people that aman, that voted to raise a raise. So
then at the very end on our
mayor, you voted and you, you blocked that. Right.
um, charlie, could you clarify the last time? You, you well, I, no, no, no. I apologize. I,
excuse me. It's, excuse the la the last time you asked for a rate increase, it was
voted on, if I remember correctly, it was four to two. And I supported
your request to raise the rates along with alderman pr, alderman, royal,
and alderman best. Is that what you recall? I was saying I was
apologizing for misspeaking. So, and
I guess the bottom line is all of the alderman
were on board with the power rate
increase and a pca and then that meeting when
it was all brought in front of the board at the for
sign off, the mayor said, no, we're, you know, I think we need
to do this. And then alderman asked her, and alman kinzie
said, yes, let's raise the, or adjust to
duke's like a penny underneath duke's race. Is
that addressing the issue with the city electric department, or
is that a political move? Number one. And there was discussions made
behind closed doors. I can address that. So I guess the bottom line
is, I'm just trying to figure out what, what is going on here. Yes, ma'am. Let, let me address
the behind closed doors to help everybody understand
governing bodies in north carolina cannot take any legal action
in a closed session. That that's legal rule one, they can't
take secret actions. They can approve a settlement,
a legal settlement in a closed session, provided that the settlement is
released thereafter. So to the extent there was a discussion
in 2015 about the duke and kea settlement,
there would've been discussions about that settlement. There may well have been a recommendation,
but thereafter, in a public meeting on the
agenda, those documents would've been approved in broad daylight
by the board. So there is never any secret action that can legally
be taken, ever. Okay. I, I totally understand that.
so getting back to 2015 or whenever that happened,
it was a deal made with duke saying that it, once the contract's over,
then something's gonna happen. Or,
I mean, do you, can you tell me what happened in a public meeting that you, you
were a part of?
I, I don't even know where to start, to be honest with you. I mean, you, you're asking about something
from 10, 11 years ago. I can tell you this,
that when we signed the agreement and the city had to sign on with the 31
other agencies to accept the buyout from duke to nampa,
we always said in 2025 or 2026,
the remaining debt that had essentially been refinanced by duke
through this wholesale power sale would come off
of our book. So essentially we wouldn't owe it anymore. Therefore,
whatever we were paying, charlie, I believe it was $3 million a year roughly,
would no longer be obligated by all of the 32 cities a part of
that. That is the only thing that I can try to make a connection with what you're
trying to infer tonight. And I don't know if that's what you're talking about or not. So why are you
asking to match duke's rates when duke is providing
the power? And there's all these costs for charlie to be at the meeting
and for new bern 1 0 1 and all these things, they cost money.
but if you're, you want to , I'm
just confused. So meeting wholesale
issues confused with charlie, can you please come to the mic?
thank you. Are, are we getting do wholesale issues confused with duke retail
issues? Mm-hmm . And
I think the mayor simply requested it the time it, I, correct me
if I'm wrong there, that instead of keep coming back to this board asking for
3% or 6% or 3%, he just
made a recommendation that we match
our either due, it seems like a penny aachi kilowatt
hour cheaper than duke's rate, retail rate. Retail rate.
correct. Not, we would still be either at the same rate as
duke, or we would be one penny a kilowatt
hour cheaper than duke. That was best. I recall
his recommendation. I recommended, I recommended we
match duke's rate, and I believe you said, well, can we come in a little bit cheaper so we
can say we're below it? If I recall that correctly. And, and just mayor, for, for a
bit of history, for decades, duke's rates were lower
than the city rates. And the citizens were very upset about
the city's lack of competitiveness with its electric rates because it was saddled
with very large debts. And once that buyout took
place, the tide turned and new bern's rates
over time became lower and they were never raised.
and because of that, we are now under recovering, which puts
the mayor's comments in context. We've,
we've beat duke now for a decade and we've paid a price for that.
wouldn't it be easier to match their rate so that we stay
on the same tide? And, and I heard that and although
I didn't put anything formally together because I didn't sense the board was asking
me to do that. Staff and myself, we did, we did look at duke's
retail rates and I can't, I can't match
them. I don't have the tools to match all their rate designs. There's a lot of details. I can
try to match their costs. And just speaking of the re
average residential customer, I'd have to increase
our rates 14%, including
the unrestricted pca. If we don't, if we keep the pca
restricted, it would be about a 16% rate increase to get rid of kids today.
so getting back to all this, you lost $2 million
la or it's, it's gonna be at the end of the year, it's gonna be $2 million have
not been recovered because the rates
weren't, the, the 3% plus the pca was not added
in may of 2024. So here, here
we are, and then that $2 million is being transferred to the general
fund. How do you ever catch up? And that's it. Thank you. I
thank you everyone for being so patient. I'm just trying to fill in the dots because
the mayor has not responded to any of my requests for comment
information, but he, he goes on, on the media and talks
about this situation. So here we are.
would anyone else like to come forward and make comments on item number
16? Hey, I ain't gonna take up too much
of your time. Uh, but I did have a couple of questions I saw on the chart.
it said bond issue with fees included, uh, one year
was about 28 million. The next was 29. The next of 27 is
that, is that money that we are paying out over the next three years
slide? It was a slide that had
that, that's, is that money coming in or that that's what I'm asking for.
if you look at the column on the left of the capital improvement plan, those dollars
should match what I'm asking in bonding
request. In this, essentially
alone, in this group, percent we'll be getting there. That match well is
that I believe we be financially qualified, but we still have to
go to the market. And that falls more aligned with our finance department. Can
you're ask asking, use the microphone. You're asking to issue those bonds
over the next few years. I'm not asking to issue bonds at this point
in time. All I'm trying to do is get the money so that we're in a position that we
get asked for lending the most likely in the form of
a revenue bond in those amounts.
yes. Okay. I think maybe to help answer
your question at the present time with the electric utility
is not in a position to be able to issue revenue
bonds. The state will not allow that to happen because
of our financial condition in, in the electric utility.
so what mr. Bouchard has been, uh,
recommending to the board is that we have to increase the rates to
generate more revenue, to put the utility into
a position that would allow us to request
the state's approval to issue revenue bonds. Okay.
okay. I I, I appreciate that clarity. I just wanna take a few more moments to say
that, uh, the, the public banking initiative could
also be, uh, another recourse for this issue. Y'all have,
uh,
just sitting here and listening to you this conversation.
and I was also at the budget meeting, um, at the rec center,
what, two months ago probably. And so, and I've been paying
attention to the electric thing. It concerns
me, if we're going to run a utility business,
we're going to have to charge for that.
we can't go in the red. So it's
hard to raise rates. It's
hard to raise taxes, but you guys gotta have
the courage to do it. 'cause we can't just be without
electricity. That's all I have. Thank you.
thank you. Thank you.
anyone else?
mayor, make a motion to close the public hearing. Second, I have a motion to
second to close the public hearing. Is there further discussion? Hearing
none. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Public hearing is
now closed. What is the pleasure of the board? On item number 16, I
mayor, I'll make a motion to, um, adopt an ordinance to
amend the electric rate schedules, um, and,
um, to include a sunset provision,
uh, in that ordinance. Um,
so that this issue is revisited, um, a year from this,
um, tonight. Second. I have a motion a second.
are you clear? No, sir. If we could unpack that a little bit. Altman pri um,
are, are you thinking of the rate itself or the pca rider? Well,
yes, and and thank you for that clarification. The, the sunset
provision would be with regards to the pca and, and
that would, uh, expire six 30, uh, 26
next, the end of next fiscal year at this current fiscal year.
charlie, is that the cycle you were thinking? I'm trying
to understand mr. S head. We would this sunset, the pca rider,
the removing the cap with the new language, that new rider, that new amended
rider would terminate, would self terminate. So all
of the pca would go away. Yes.
is that what you want, uh, to revisit it? I, I
am looking for this, that pca issue to
be revisited approximately a year from tonight
by the, the board that's sitting here at that time. And if, if, if the
intent is to take action on it and stop it and cycle
with our budgeting process, then we probably need to do that
in advance of july 1st,
um, rated, um, rates being effective or de
effective? So probably sometime in
this has a two month lag. Um, probably sometime in may.
uh, if I, if I may, I, I, am I getting close? Close,
uh, for simplicity, if it expires on six 30 at the end of the fiscal year,
you will have had your whole budget season to talk about it. Think about it
so that as part of the budget that rider is addressed.
okay. I think that will make it easier to keep up with.
I need it simple. And secondly, ottoman. If that, if that
was your clarification. The other issue was the rate increase. Are I was presuming
that you were suggesting to take the director's recommendation?
yes. The 3% yes.
is, is is the board, is everyone clear the 3% rate
increase with the unrestricted pca? Yes, ma'am. That expired with the, with
the rider to, to expire. 6 30 26.
any further discussion? Hearing none? Let's
have a roll call starting with alderman prill.
alderman prill. Yes. Alderman royal? Yes.
alderman aster? Yes. Alderman kenzie? Yes.
alderman best? Yes. Mayor odom. No.
motion passes the stop to one.
anything else on item number 16?
okay. Moving on to item number 17. Conduct a public hearing on the proposed general obligation
bonds and consider document a resolution calling for a bond referendum.
ms. Ostrom
there, why? She's getting her side up. The mayor. Uh, can
I make an announcement please? Sure. Someone lost some tickets out in
the area by the lady's bathroom. I have 'em if
they're still here. Okay, I see. But someone lost some tickets. Gotcha.
parking ticket or no, these are, I can't say what tickets
they are because anybody can say what these are. Those are my tickets. Okay.
I can say those are my tickets. An event ticket tickets for an event? Yes. An event ticket. Okay,
. Okay. After discussion over the past year
or so, the board is pursuing general obligation bonds
for streets and sidewalks, parks and recreation and stormwater projects, totaling
24 million with an estimated tax rate impact of 2.75 cents
per over 20 years. The estimated annual cost is $27
and 50 cents, which is $2 and 29 cents per month for every a
hundred thousand dollars of assessed property value. So an assessed
value of $200,000 would cost about $55 annually,
which is $4 and 58 cents per month. $300,000
of assessed value would cost $82 and 50 cents annually, which
is $6 and 88 cents per month. And 400,000
of assessed property value would cost $110 annually, which
is $9 and 17 cents per month in additional annual taxes.
at the last board meeting, the board approved the first reading and called for a public hearing.
after the public hearing tonight, you'll be asked to approve the second reading
of the three bond orders and adopt resolution calling for bond referendum,
which is needed to present the referendum to the voters to, to decide
on in october.
okay. Does board have questions for staff on item number 17, before we open
a public hearing?
hearing none at this time, I will open a public hearing
on the proposed general obligation bonds and consider adopting a resolution for calling a bond referendum.
so the public hearing is now open. If anyone would like to speak, please come forward.
hey, y'all, just me again. Um, in, in regards to these,
uh, bonds, it was mentioned in, it was mentioned in the
workshop that a bank could possibly, uh, take
the issue of these bonds without you having to go through the steps of,
um, getting your bond rated that you might be able to, um,
uh, issue these without, without those additional steps that incur
additional fees. Um, I would like to suggest,
as I have a few times this evening, uh, that a public bank could
be a bank that, uh, takes on those bonds at a favorable
rate to the city. Uh, that way we can get these infrastructure needs taken care
of properly. Thank you,
mayor. Hearing no further comments, make a motion to close the public hearing.
second, I have a motion, a second to close the public hearing. Is there further discussion?
hearing none. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed?
public hearing is now closed. What is the pleasure of the board? On item number
17, mayor, I'd like to make a motion to
approve the three bond orders on second reading and adopt
the resolution calling for a bond referendum on the three orders.
I have a motion. Do we have a second? I second
motion a second. Is there further discussion?
hearing none. Let's have a roll call starting with alderman royal.
alderman royal, yes. Alderman aster. Yes.
alderman kenzie. Yes. Alderman. Best. I just want the
citizens to know before I cast my vote, that by no means
am I not for this bond referendum, but I do not
approve of some of the wants that are
included in this bond referendum. I, um, think I could
approve for the storm water, but parks and recs, those
are amenities and upgrades. Streets and sidewalks. We have
funding within our public works department for streets and
sidewalks and other resident sources from the city. So I cannot
support this bond referendum at this time. And I vote no.
alderman krill. Yes. Mayor odom. Yes. Motion
carries. Item number 18, update from new bern housing authority on cni
status and consider adopting a resolution to certify a choice neighborhood's partnership
with the housing authority of the city of new bern. Mr. Hughes. Mayor, at this time, I'd like to ask
mr. Rigie barner with the housing authority to give us a brief update on the status
of, of the cni process, and then he's gonna go into a discussion
on his request for the mou with the city.
uh, good evening, mayor and alder. Thank you all for the opportunity
for myself, board, chair, and staff to be able to be present,
uh, this evening to kind of give you an update. Uh, we've given an update
on several other occasions and this evening, uh, want to
let you know that we're almost complete, uh, with the, uh, master
plan, uh, process that we've been going through for over the last year.
uh, we will culminate that and we're inviting you, uh,
as we've done before. We're inviting each of you, uh, to come to
a, uh, culmination presentation, uh, on
september 16th at the stanley white center at 5:30 pm
uh, we will, our consultants will be in town to present the
final, uh, presentation. Some of you all, alderman pri
uh, the mayor and others have attended, uh, some of those work
sessions that we've had, uh, over the last, uh, year. And
we will, uh, present the final presentation at that time. The flyer
that's, uh, presented up, uh, on the board, uh, focuses
on that. And, and, and again, we, we invite you all, uh, to do that.
uh, before I get into the, uh, uh, cni,
uh, partnership, are there any questions thus far
on anything that we've been involved in that we've kind of tried to keep you all abreast
of? Uh, but we do look forward to seeing you on september 16th.
so since your meeting in april that you came before us, nothing has changed
with the actual planning of, or anything has changed with within
the cni grant. Nothing has changed as of right now. Okay. Uh, the biggest
thing that we're focused on, uh, ultimate best is focused on working with
the city and staff on zoning changes, making sure that
we in compliance and making sure that the proposed unit mix that we're
proposing on each of the sites. If you, as you all know, the three main
sites that we're focused on at this time is one, the trent court
location naturally, two, the days in site, and three, uh,
f the west street school site. So those are our three main,
uh, targets right now. Let me be clear again tonight. We do
not own the school. We're in consultation and
communication, uh, with the state district. We're working to get the environmental
reviews. We're in negotiations with the school district, but just
like today's in site that you all own, we do not own that site. So I
don't want to mislead anybody when I mention that location. It is only
for planning purposes and it, it is our desire if things
work out to move forward, but currently we do not own that site
being no other, uh, questions related to, uh,
to the cni process that we've been going through. As you all have before
you this evening, uh, the partnership,
uh, agreement between, uh, the city, uh, and new
bern housing authority, and let me kind of go back in history you all,
before my, my time in the city, uh, partnered
with this, with the housing authority to receive a planning grant
back in 20 14, 20 15. So that was a partnership between the
city and the house of authority at that time. It is a generally a
two phase process. First you get a planning grant, so you received
a planning grant of a little over $400,000 that you do community
charettes and community involvement, and then get the input of the community
to create this transformation plan. You all created that.
uh, since, uh, since myself being here and working with
fema, uh, we're required in order to develop a, to receive the
fema funds, fema has allocated and set aside about $40 million
for us. They released 8.9 million for me to be able to do a master
plan, uh, process. And that's the funds that we're using to do
the cni process and we use to do the grant application. And
so when we got involved in that, the consultants that we
selected that have experience that we've shared with you all before, uh,
they have been, uh, they have every application that they've applied
for with cni, they've received an award for. So they've
never lost an application on cni before. So we
did a good job of selecting, uh, one of the best firms in the country
to help us with this application. But with that being said, uh,
we had to update. And that whole year process that we've been involved in,
we've been updating that previous transformation plan
to make sure it's in line with what we need to go forward with that, with the application.
but in order to do the application, just like you all did when you did
the planning grant, it has to be a partnership between the
city and the house of authority. And so then the question is, why would the
city be the lead versus the house of authority? As lead, we
want to be competitive. And so keep in mind that
newburn is competing against cities like
dallas, san antonio, los angeles, seattle.
so generally speaking, it is a very, very, very competitive
application. We're applying for almost $50 million. And so when
you have a small community like newburn, our chances
are already slim. And so we've assembled the best of the best
on our team. And let me be clear, you all, as a community, have
been great to work with. The community, community partners
have been engaged. Uh, marvin, uh, foster and others have
seen that in the, in, in live, uh, ultimate pri has
been there and seen other where the community partners have come out
and supported this. So we feel like that we got an excellent chance
whenever that nofa comes out. But we want to win. We don't wanna spend all
of this money and lose. And so in order to win, we gotta make sure that
we put forth the best application that we can do. And in order to do that,
we want the city because of infrastructure, because of
the management, because of recreation and, and electricity
and roads and bridges and all of those things. When we look at the holistic nature
of how the city operate operates versus the smallness
of the housing authority, when we present that to hud and say, we
want to spend $50 million, they're gonna look and look beyond.
while I bring 30 years of experience to new bern and to
the housing authority, they're still gonna look at the capacity of a small agency
like that. And so having the city service at lead, we get to
prove to hud and the reviewers that we, through this application
have the capacity to manage a $50 million grant. You
all are serving as that you would be that responsible party
know, even though hud has the ability, once that award
is given to come back and say, hey, you're default of not
managing that in the right manner. Uh, they've not taken one back. So
to date, they've not taken a grant back from a city that may have fallen in
default. They give you a chance to have a cure period to get
yourself back together and move forward. But we feel like by having the city
serve as the lead partner in that application process, it it,
it positions us better to be able to receive the award. And that's
why we're asking, uh, you all to do that. And so when we also look at
a part of that $50 million, you say, okay, well, reggie, if we take on that responsibility,
there's a cost associated, we got staff time, we got other
expenses associated from a staff standpoint, please keep in mind that 5%
of the award can be utilized internally for that cost.
so if we got $50 million grant, 5% of that, so
$2.5 million of that can be utilized by the city
to help administer and handle the responsibilities that come along with it.
so it's not a, it's not a freebie from that standpoint. You're not doing this
and not getting reimbursed for staff time and cost. There isn't allowed
cost that's associated with it.
so I'd like to open it up for any, any questions. I think the resolution
that's been presented, uh, our attorney, uh, scott, uh,
both worked on it. We're comfortable with it. And so the resolution that's being
presented, uh, puts us, uh, in position.
we want to make sure that we we're hoping that the notice of funding availability
comes out, uh, this fall. And so our whole plan right now
is to complete the master plan. Uh, by the end of, uh,
july, I will take it, my goal is to take it to my board,
uh, by the end of, uh, august. And then when we have the presentation
on september 16th, uh, we will be presenting a fully
baked and board approved final plan. And so then therefore,
whenever the nofa comes out, that is why we have to be ready when the nofa
comes out. Hud only gives you 90 days to submit your application.
and so that is why we want to make sure that all of these pieces are
in place. Any questions or have questions?
reginald? Um, I know from the previous,
um, public presentation you had indicated
that the consultants, um, you know, have
been meeting with representatives of hud, um,
with regards to the application that's being put together.
has hud given anybody any indication
as to whether this program is even
going to be funded? So I may answer it two
ways. One, uh, the previous two budgets cycles
of funding, uh, was, uh, in both of those budgets,
those funds are still there. Uh, because it went from
140 million to 75 million, a decision was made
not to issue a nofa because previously they issued nofa
at about 140 million. Uh, this administration has money
in its budget, uh, for this program. So hopefully the answer
is yes, there's previous money from the previous administration, and there's
money in the administration currently that is going towards this program.
and that's why we think that we'll be on track sometime in the fall for hopefully
a note for the come. Okay. Um, you, you just
mentioned, um, that the, uh,
resolution that, uh, we have a copy of, um,
has been a, a joint effort between, um,
the housing author's attorney and the city's attorney. Um,
in reading that resolution, I was a little surprised
to see a reference to establishing an
implementation advisory committee.
um, that I, I, that's, it is sort of adding another
layer and I'm kind of questioning as to why do we need
an advisory committee when the city would be the
lead applicant. The housing authority is a co-applicant.
why do we need an advisory committee? It's just an advisory
as you indicated. Uh, it gives you all the authority and us authority,
uh, to be able to, uh, place people, uh, from representing
both agencies. Let's just say our board chair and someone from here, you
may have someone from stat that's attending, is sitting on that advisory committee.
for us, this is a template, uh, alderman prill that we're using from
other cities. So the information, while they looked at it, we
still with our consultants are utilizing a template and some of
the requirements that hud requires that we've built into
this resolution. Uh, so that that implementation committee
is built upon what has been done in other cities. But also,
uh, as an example, uh, you all
change, you make a decision not to run for
election. And so when we put people on this implementation
committee, whether you all are here today or next year,
we gotta be able to be consistent with who is
representing that $50 million in funding. And so when hud does
that, we want to make sure that we got a collective group of individuals,
whether I'm at the house of authority, you all are sitting here
on as alderman, we've now put together a core
group of individuals that will help make sure that the ship is
steered in the right direction, kept on track, regardless of
internal issues at the housing authority or political issues here. Once those funds
are granted, we want to make sure that we keep things on track.
mond prill, in addition to that. Excellent answer. Another more practical answer
is that in scoring these applications,
there will be a box about community involvement, community input, et cetera.
and this committee can help check that box aside from the, the
solid, you know, practical implications of it. Okay.
no, and I appreciate that. Um,
so this is, um, an advisory committee
is not a requirement of hud,
it's not necessarily a requirement. It may be a requirement within the nofa. It is,
but it is a template. And what we are trying to do, alderman kri, it is put
those things in place that are best practices of those cities
that have won awards. And so this is one of those things as well,
just like let, there is not an option. If
you all say, as a city, we don't want to be a part of it, there is no
award that can be given to any community. If the city
is not an integral part of it or the housing authorities are not a
part of it, it is a partnership between the two. Now, who serves as the lead
can be up in discussion, but those two entities have to be a part
of the, uh, application process. Okay.
um, but again, I, I, I think if I, if I'm
not mistaken, um, it's not a requirement of how to
have an advisory me committee, but as you've indicated,
as the city attorney has indicated, um,
having an advisory committee will add another
check absolutely. For the application. And as I said,
you all are, I hate to say it, and I'm not trying to be disrespectful.
you're voting in, in and out, depending upon if you
decide to run for election, not run for election. This puts us
in a position to have a, an advisory board
that's focused on this program that enables us to keep track
regardless of the political whims of any party, group or interest.
this keeps us, greg, on track. Mm-hmm . And that is one of the key components
that we're trying to focus. Um, and, and I don't have any problem with that. Um,
where, where I'm a little bit uncomfortable with this,
um, is that this is, this is a new issue that has
been presented. I don't recall ever hearing or seeing
anything about an imp you know, an implementation advisory
committee would be a part of this whole process. Um,
but where, where I'm uncomfortable is
it's not fleshed out very well in this resolution. So
we're being asked to approve a resolution that includes,
um, establishing, uh, an implementation advisory
committee. And
all it really says is that a chairperson will be appointed,
um, the housing authority and the new bern redevelopment commission
will have membership on, on the advisory
committee. And then the advisory committee
would decide who else to invite
to be, uh, participants on the advisory committee.
I'm uncomfortable with that because that
doesn't really tell me a lot. And the word invite
in there raises a red flag in my mind.
um, the purpose of the
advisory committee is not outlined in,
in this resolution. So again, we're being asked to
approve something blind, and I don't like that.
I would rather see a a, a more
fleshed out proposal
of what the, in the advisory committee, um,
who would be on it specifically more than just the housing authority
and redevelopment commission. What other entities
might be participants? I would think it would be to our benefit
to highlight that. So hud sees it
and sees that the community involvement piece of it is
there, but that's not done here.
um, what the, the role
of this advisory committee would be is not identified,
if I'm gonna vote on it, I'd like to understand that. Um,
the last item, um, it indicates
that the mayor would appoint the chairperson.
I would like to see the board of alderman,
including the mayor, would make that decision, not
just the mayor. So
this may be the way that other cities have developed
a template. I would like to see this
expanded further. In all due respect, you can make a motion, I'm sure that
you can modify this resolution as you, as you deem necessary.
uh, I, I think that what's been presented to you all
has been well thought out. Uh, the modification that you talked about,
whether it's the alderman make a recommendation to who serves on this committee
versus the mayor, that's ultimately up to, to you all as
alderman to make that decision. And I'm comfortable with whatever you all want
to recommend as it relates to that. But I think otherwise, I think what has
been presented in the moui think has been well thought out.
and I, from my perspective, needs the requirements of the authority. And, and you're
the one standing at the podium, so I'm addressing this to you, but I'm,
I'm really addressing it to the city manager and city attorney.
um, because, um, at least the city attorney has been involved
in the drafting of this, I don't know how much the city manager has. Um,
so I'm expressing concern sure.
um, about us, the board being
asked to approve this resolution
that includes this implementation, you know, advisory committee
where that entity has not been really fully described
the way I think it should be, so that the board
understands what the role of that advisory
committee would be. Um, and, and what is
purpose is, is really for, so, and
again, I'm, I'm just focusing my comments to you because
you're standing at the podium. I'm really focused to, uh,
staff. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I don't know whether or
not anybody else on the board has that same concern,
but I just wanted to express that. And I,
I don't know whether I am prepared to vote
in favor of this resolution because of that
uncomfortable is, and I, and, and I,
I fully support this effort. And it'd be unfortunate if I feel
it would be unfortunate, you know, that, that I need to vote no. Because
of how this is currently framed,
uh, attorney davis. Yes, ma'am. If, if the
language within this document has changed, so highlight
me is when we're saying where the city, or are we talking about
the city as a whole, or how are we using that
work city? Is that including the board of tn or is
how is that yes, ma'am. It would refer to the board of altman broadly. Um,
so in trying to find a solution, um, reggie refresh me is,
do we have a hard deadline on this? We, we, we don't, I mean, we,
we got some time. Um, 'cause I, I'm very happy derman prill to, to take your
notes and, um, and, and revise that language
to overcome any objections. I'm very happy to do that as long as we don't have any time constraints. And if
that's the only issue that's causing us pause, then we can address that
for sure. Okay. Yeah. The only, only thing that's
our goal. When, when do you have next, next month.
one month from today. Yeah. Our goal is to try to complete our final
by the end of this month. Their, their goal is to give me a final draft,
uh, on the 21st of this month. And that's, so when we talk,
so going back to your question from the timing standpoint, our goal
is to try to have the final draft, uh, completed by the end of
this month.
um, another option would be to, um,
approve the proposed draft,
um, subject to my final revisions, subject
to the city attorney's final revisions, which of course I would run by the board,
um, to make sure everybody is happy with that, that way we could adopt
it tonight. Subject to my approval with our understanding
that I will take alderman prills notes, modify that
paragraph, circulate that, um, for comment back to me
directly, not among yourselves, um, as a way to get
on firmer ground. Let me add, I
do agree with alderman creel. Um,
I'd like to see as he so well pointed out, um,
this language more defined and I know that's what you're
recommending. I'd like to see a better cross section
of our community represented in this
implementation advisory committee. Um,
I see that again, the housing authority and the new bern redevelopment
commission will be part of the stakeholders. I'd like to see how broad
that will end up looking how you would change the language to be
inclusive of the city. Uh,
I'd like to see also, uh, again, I know our mayor appoints
the commissions, uh, to the, um,
housing authority. I know that you said that was a
template that you were following from other cities. I'd like to see
if that is not a rule from hud
those appointments, what it would look like to appoint the chair as
our alderman pri appointed out that it could be done by the board of alderman.
that is my recommendation and that's what I'd like to see. Mr. Davis,
how long would it take you to draft a resolution with these updates
this week? So I could call for a special hearing or a special meeting,
um, on july the 22nd
at six o'clock at city hall to discuss this one topic.
yes sir. Would you like the board to vote on that tonight? Or do you want
me to send the clerk? That would be great. That would be great. Um, in fact, you could do that now or under new
business, but, um, it'd be a motion to call a, uh, a special
meeting for tuesday the 22nd at six o'clock
here. We would, we would take up that issue.
I'll, I'll be outta the town. I'll be out of the . Alright, so let
me ask you this. What day does everyone have between now
and the end of the month that we can have a special meeting next, next tuesday can work
if, as was pointed out, that there are not any time constraints
by hud, it's a time constraint by the application. I'm sorry, right to
interrupt you. We we're trying to complete the master plan. It's a twofold
process. We have to submit in order to get fema to
release the 40 million that they have, we have to submit
the master plan to them. So we have a twofold process. And
so I, I did revise alderman roy, I did revise my initial
statement. There is a timeframe because they're trying to get the, the
consultants are trying to complete the complete master plan by the
end of this month. Thank you
again. I I to avoid having to call a special
meeting just on this item, uh, I mean I will,
you know, go along with the city attorney's suggestion
that we take action tonight to approve it subject to
his revisions. Just dealing
with the implementation advisory committee. Um,
may not be everything that, that I'm looking for, but I trust that
he will do his best to incorporate, um, the
comments that, that that's great and I appreciate it. But wouldn't we have to have a printed resolution to actually
vote? This would work, mayor, but I, I, I'm, I'm like you, I'd prefer,
I'd prefer that, that the board touch it. I'd prefer that
if we, if we can accommodate that, um, because if not,
we're just gonna bounce it around. That's, that's my fear. Mm-hmm . Um, I,
I've heard your notes. I've got it. I feel like we can draft that. Um,
are we precluded that if the board took action
tonight, subject to right. Your revisions.
are we precluded from re
readopting the resolution in august? If there was something in there
that needed to be tweaked further? I,
the question is for the consultants. I I, my understanding is they
would like a final, a final draft signed by the mayor and,
and done. Yeah, but let me answer it this way.
I'm with that approval,
let's say yes. Mm-hmm . Okay. Let's say yes because
the final is going to my board
at the august board meeting with the full packet
to be adopted, adopted at my august board meeting,
which is the third monday in august.
so what we're saying is, is idealistic to have this
document, this resolution, uh, approved,
that's idealistic. However, we have some issues with the
language. And so there
you have time constraints. But you said that your board
full approval is august, what? The third? Monday in august.
third monday. So we've got time. Yeah. That gives
us a small window that we can still,
uh, receive, uh, attorney's, um, david's
recommendations. Yes, ma I'm thinking that we can, we can accomplish
both things. Let me redraft this with those notes.
I will circulate it to reggie and the consultants, get their
comfort level with it. And, um, and then I'll and then of course you two,
um, and the board. And, and then once I have a sense that we're on the same
page, the consultants can put that unsigned copy in their package.
this board can approve it at your meeting on august 12th
before their monday sounds good. And then everybody's happy.
that's doable. Okay. Got it. Alright.
thank you mr. Barner. Alright. Thank you all. Thank you, sir.
alright, mayor. Yes. Excuse, excuse me. Can we take a,
uh, recess please? , we, we can, if
the board wants to, but I don't think these next
few items are gonna be very long. Do you mr. Hughes? Do we got,
they, they should not take very long. I think we could grind
it out in 10 minutes to keep from taking a 15 minute break, but that's up.
do oh, you talking to finish and conclude in 10 minutes well get, get to, get
to where we go to closed session is what I was thinking. So
is the board okay with pushing through or do you want, unless she has some
urgency, if that's what y'all want to do, fine. Okay.
okay. And obviously you can get up if you need to, um,
and leave. Okay. Item number 19, consider dock
resolution approving a water and sewer use agreement with st. Bartholomew and anglican
catholic church for 29 60 old airport road. Mr. Hughes.
mr. Jordan hughes.
uh, good evening mayor. Members of the board, uh, the owners of 29 60 old airport
road have recently reached out to the sea of newman requesting connection to the city's
water and sewer system for the development of a church facility on the subject
property. As is parcel is currently outside of newbury municipal, uh, limits,
they're required to enter into a water and sewer agreement to establish a, before
establishing service to the site, a copy of the agreement included in
the agenda pack along with a, a brief description of what they're doing, along
with a map of the, the property. Is that a four ac parcel? It's
directly across from the entrance of bryce's crossing on old airport road near
the area. Happy to answer any questions regarding the, the project or
us or you agreement. Does the board have questions? Do you have
any inkling that they are moving
to a new site or, or you don't have that information?
the, the best I understand in talking with representatives from the church, this is actually
a property that has been consumed by, or their current church property
has been consumed by some of the highway 70 construction and they
have acquired this site as a place to relocate their church to. Thank
you.
it's pleasure of the board on item number 19. Is this building already
under construction? It, it is not already. Actually, this is still a vacancy. I
saw one being built back off the road a little bit. I didn't know.
mayor. I would like to make a res, make a motion to approve a resolution
approving a water and sewer use agreement with st. Bar
bartholomew and anglican catholic church for 29 60
old airport room. Second. I have a motion to second. Is there further discussion?
hearing none unless have a roll call. Starting with alderman astor.
alderman astro. Yes. Alderman kenzie.
alderman best? Yes. Alderman reel. Yes.
alderman royal. Yes. Mayor odom? Yes. Motion carries. Thank you jordan.
next is item number 20. Consider ing resolution. Appro of memorandum of understanding
for the croatan area fire she partnership chief locklear.
good evening. Good evening. Um, we respect the time. I'm just gonna give you
the quick highlights. Um, croton area fire shift partnership
is basically followed up from the april 19th, 2023
fires that took place in croatan. As far as the lake, the, um,
the fire that took place then, uh, actually you had 32, I
think it was approximately 30,000 acres that were burned and endangered.
some of the areas local to , when we talk about the water rise within a mile
of that location. So over time, that's been just, uh, something
that's come about as far as the different agencies and organizations we meet on a quarterly, and
this was something that put in more formal, um, it
is not any funding or requirements by the city, but it is
very beneficial when we talk about educating, um, our community, our
citizens. Um, as far as wildlife, um, with the
local, uh, I would say in recent, uh,
we've had pretty good conditions as far as fires in the area, but
at, at any given time, when you talk about dry low humidity, um,
that's something that could endanger property. So basically, uh, over
the last year since I've been here, meeting with them on the quarterly, a couple things that we
highlight is the community and the reporting and the public relations and the outreach.
one of the things that we were working on was surveying some of the areas, uh, that are close
to that, uh, particular area that that was .
so again, just from a highlight standpoint, it's a good
partnership. There's grant funding that will most likely come down the pipe as far as assisting
us with that and working along with the other agencies. And I'd be glad to answer any
questions, start for kind of rushing through that. But if you have any questions,
I just wanted to be respectful of the time. Thank you. Any questions for the chief?
if there are no questions, I'd like to make a motion to adopt a
resolution proven an mou with the croatan area.
is that fire? She fire? Fire? She, that's correct. Thank you. Partnership
for the fire mitigation and resilience. Second.
I have a motion a second. Is there further discussion on item number 20?
hearing none. Let's have roll call starting with alderman kenzie. Alderman kenzie?
yes. Alderman best? Yes. Alderman reel.
yes. Alderman royal. Yes. Alderman aster. Yes. Mayor
odom. Yes. Motion carries. Thank you chief. Thank you. Next up is item number 21.
consider adopting a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute amendment to the service agreement with
hansen. Banner, llc mr. Bouchard.
good evening again. I'm here requesting that you authorize the city manager the
authority to execute an amendment to our existing customer
information and billing service agreement. The amendment adds necessary
meter data management functionality to our complex billing and metering
process. The mdm also enhances our data analytics
and aids in the prevention of lost revenue. The cost of
the amendments $399,500. There
are service and support fees of 30 cents per meter. However, that will be accounted
for in future budgets and would not be necessary
at this time. Expense of the mdm was previously
approved in the fiscal year ending 2024, uh, budget period.
however, the purchasing process extended beyond that fiscal year.
and this was largely due to excessive, I should
say, extensive evaluation and scoping functionality
of, um, the deliverables. Um, the mdm
integrates in between our a mi system and our customer information system,
the mi being our advanced metering infrastructure and our customer information system.
and it's the system of record for all raw meter data,
meter reads, meter validation estimates, as well as billing
determinants. So we have thousands and thousands and thousands of
meter reads that we take on a daily basis. Um, it
effectively, effectively acts as a central hub for all of that
meter data, and this enables the utility to provide metering and billing
efficiency. Um, accuracy, uh, gives us the
ability to, to use that data to do analytics and also aid in the,
in the prevention of lost revenues. Um, additionally,
uh, without the mdm, the utility has very limited
capacity to evolve any of our rates, um, to modernized
standards. Um, and I'd be happy to discuss any questions you may have. Board have
questions. Um, one question.
um, it, it's really, I guess a, a question for either foster
or kim. Um, if I'm not mistaken, uh,
in the, in the backup information that we received, uh,
it indicated that, um, this
system might also be used for the water utility.
that's correct. The water utility customers. But the, uh,
the money that is being, uh, appropriated is all coming
out of the electric utility. I'm just curious as to
if, if it's gonna be potentially used for by a couple
of different utilities, why wouldn't both of them participate in the cost
or they will? Um, water and wastewater will also
benefit from this and through our accounting process, correct
me if I'm wrong, um, the,
there's contributions from those other enterprise service funds
to account for those budgetary expenses. So it's typically done
at the end of the evening, which screwed up that way.
I'm not sure that I followed that part. But meter we can metering, uh, water and wastewater pay
a portion of customer service. Yeah. So that can get recouped
back. Yes. But as for the meter charges moving forward,
um, into next year, that'll be allocated based on water and
electric, correct? Mm-hmm . Correct. Okay. Does that answer your
question? Yep. Charlie, can you talk about the implementation timeframe?
um, if we get this, uh, going right now, uh, they'll
give us a slot to kick it off the first of, uh, um,
august. Take about a year to get it up and running tested.
we want to, um, run it in parallel with our billing system to
make sure you know, it's all working good. Staff needs to get familiar with it. Um,
concurrently we'll be working on, um, modernizing rate
designs for us to consider so that when the system's implemented, we're
ready to go and be more advanced, um, down the road. Does
that answer your question?
okay. What's the pleasure of board on item number 21? Mayor,
I'd like to make a motion to approve a resolution authorizing the city manager
to execute an amendment to the service agreement with hanson banner,
llc. Second, I have a motion and a second. Is there further discussion?
hearing none. Let's have roll call starting with alderman best? Alderman best,
yes. Alderman cre. Yes. Alderman royal.
yes. Alderman aster. Yes. Alderman kenzie. Yes. Mayor
ota? Yes. Motion carries. I think charlie. Next up is item number 22.
consider adopting, adopting an ordinance to amend section 70 78. One way streets
established in 70 98 through streets enumerated to adjust
kilmarnock street, mr. Chops
evening board. Um, we were contacted by a business owner through
city hall that, uh, they're requesting us look at kilmarnock
street to transition it to a two-way. Currently it's a one-way.
we did, uh, did have an inspection of that, the
dimensional features of that roadway and found no issues
with vehicular pedestrian conflict with a request to
transition to a two-way for that 200 feet of kilmer oak street
from broad street north to the intersection of kraver drive.
we're, um, recommending to the board adopt an ordinance which would amend the traffic
chapter 70 of the traffic vehicle section 70 dash 7 8 1
way streets established, which would remove kilman from that current listing
and also amend 70 dash 98 through streets enumerated
to include kilman knot street as a stop street at the broad
street intersection. So that would be to add a stop sign within the
ordinance at broad. Does the board have questions?
so this, this can be accomplished just basically with some signage.
we can have it done before lunch tomorrow morning. Okay.
it's a pleasure of the board. On item number 22, may I make a
motion to consider adopting an ordinance to amend section 70
through 78? One way streets established in 70 through 98 through,
through streets enumerated to adjust cuman
knot street. Second, I have a motion to second. Is there further discussion?
hearing none unless have a roll call starting with alderman prill. Alderman prill.
yes. Alderman royal. Yes. Alderman astor. Yes. Alderman
kenzie. Yes. Alderman best? Yes. Mayor odom. Yes.
motion carries. Okay. Board, uh, items 2324
and 25 can all be done together. Uh, if it's, uh, unanimous,
I'll read, uh, each one of those now. Item number 23 is consider adopting an ordinance
to close the american rescue plan fund. Item number 24
is to consider adopting a budget ordinance amendment for fy 26 electric
fund and item number 25 is considered adopting a budget ordinance amendment for
physical year 2026 ms. Strom. Okay. The city was
eligible for standard allowance category for the american rescue plan funds,
which allowed the city to offset general fund expenditures for public
safety salaries and benefits in the amount of $6,704,351.
the award was exhausted and is requested that the board approve closure of the fund
at this time. Um, number 24 earlier under
the agenda item number 21, mr. Bachar discussed the software agreement
for the meter data management system. This budget amendment transfers $399,500
from fund balance for the purchase of that software system, which
covers the implementation costs only.
and number 25 last month,
the board approved various downtown projects within the msd, the
municipal service district. The budget amendment appropriates 1,155,000
from msd fund balance for those projects, the employee's
benefit insurance fund is amended to appropriate $17,628
from fund balance to cover the increase of medicare supplement
premium rates for retirees in the emergency
telephone system fund is amended to recognize the north carolina 9 1 1 board public
safety answering point, also known as psap distribution for $60,900.
does board have questions on any of those items?
if not, I would entertain a motion to approve items 23, 24 and 25.
may I make a motion to adopt an ordinance to close the american rescue plan
fund? Also adopt a budget ordinance amendment of
physical year 2026 electric fund and also adopt
a budget ordinance amendment for physical year 2026. Second. I
have a motion to second. Is there further discussion? Hearing none unless have a roll call
during with alderman royal. Alderman royal, yes.
alderman aster. Yes. Alderman kenzie. Yes. Alderman de yes.
derman? Yes. Mayor odom. Yes. Motion carries. Next up is
appointments. Does the board have any appointments to make tonight
hearing none. Number 27 attorney's report nothing. Report tonight, mayor 28.
city manager's report a few updates for you on this. This past friday, we, we,
um, celebrated the 4th of july celebration, uh, that occurred at
lawson creek park. 6,100 were in attendance at the park. 1400
were attended in attendance at union point park for the fireworks display. I want to thank parks
and recreation for coordinating the event police, fire, rescue and public
works for their part as help. It was a great event that evening. Also,
general update on the peg channel. We anticipate the peg channel if all
goes well, being live again at our next meeting. Excited about that.
also, we received a letter from craven county and forming us that as part of
their budget process, they did allocate $5,000 toward, uh, upgrades
at, uh, samson park. So we're working with parks and recreation staff
on what that upgrade will be. Uh, and finally, uh,
we appreciate the support on the geo bond that we will be having
drop-in style meetings, uh, in august and september in various parts
of the city to, in inform the public of, of, of the bonds itself.
uh, and we'll also be updating the website, uh, to pro, uh, to provide additional
information as well as we go through this process this summer. Happy to answer any other
questions you may have. Court have questions for the manager.
hearing none new business. Alderman frill, nothing ahead, your honor.
thank you. Alderman royal. Not tonight. Alderman astor. Nothing. Fair. Alder
mckenzie? Yes. I'd like for the chief to come up to talk about this program
been we have in the community in contact on the citizens,
the elderly citizens to assure their families that they
are looked after. And it's called
care the program? Yes, the acronym is care, care,
which stands for call, answer, respond, and empower.
this is a great opportunity and uh, I think it's an underused,
um, asset to our community. Um,
those residents that live in the city of new bern, uh,
specifically the elderly or those that have some kind
of, uh, disability, have the option to, uh, participate
in a program in which we have an automated system that would call
them every day if they pick up the phone. Um,
that is a positive response that they are. Okay.
um, if they do not pick up the phone, a second
call will be sent to the same number. If nobody answers
that phone, then that would dispatch a police officer to go and check on that
individual to make sure that they're okay. Is it
a number that we, they can call to find out how they
can become involved with this, with that, uh, program?
yes. The easiest way would be just to go on the new bern police department
website and we have specific information about care, but
any call to the new bern police department, we'll get, uh, any citizen hooked
up with that program. Thank you so very much. Chief.
yes sir. Anything else on mckenzie? That is it, sir. I'll run best.
um, yes, I do have, uh, one thing I would like to, um,
take. I know I've already, um,
allocated my a rp funds to the stormwater project and
I'm wanting to ask the board that I would like to take an, uh,
have that money move back around and take
a $273,000 out to do some paving
of streets within the ward. Five within the,
um, community. Um, I've
already talked with, um, mr. Hughes, mr. Childs, and that's where I got
that, um, dollar amount, um, of $273,304.
so you, you made a motion to reallocate a
rp funds from ward five from stormwater projects
to paving projects and the dollar amount of $273,304.
okay. And so let me, lemme see what that was a motion. Let's
see if we get a second. Second. Second. Okay. We have a motion and a second discussion.
and so that would come from the north hills project. Okay.
has that project been completed and, and funding left over or
no? It's really been tied up in, in trying to get approvals from, uh, dot
and the north carolina railroad course.
any other discussion? Are we okay with your voice vote on this,
kim? Yes. Okay. Uh, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye.
any opposed? Okay. Unanimous. Anything else? Um,
no, that's it. Okay. I believe we do need a closed session, mr. Attorney?
yes, sir. Briefly, uh, pursuant to 1 43 13 11 a three. To
maintain our attorney-client privilege, shouldn't take long. Can I have a motion?
second, I I need a motion. Make a motion to go. Enc. Closed session
second. A motion a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those
in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed?