[0:00] Mr. Mayor, well, you snuck in. I didn't see you.

[0:03] » I did. >> Was late today.

[0:08] » That's Robin's job. >> Oh, something like that.

[0:15] » That's the 194

[0:42] Hey, warm.

[0:47] » All right, let's go ahead and we're going to

[0:57] Thank you.

[1:01] All right. This meeting is called the water.

[1:05] All right. Let's let's start off with the um

[1:11] let's let's start off with a prayer. I'm going to go ahead and pray for us. God,

[1:15] thank you for another day. Lord God, we love you. We thank you for all of you

[1:20] that bless us. We thank you for what you're doing here

[1:23] in Rando, Lord God. We thank you for what you're doing here in the United

[1:27] States, Lord God. I thank you for what you're doing all over the world. Thank

[1:31] you for bringing people together, Lord God, helping us to work even though we

[1:38] may be different. Work together even though we may be different. Lord God, we

[1:42] ask you to help us to be a successful meeting. Lord God, a productive meeting

[1:47] that's going to uh edify the people here in Random and also so that we may do

[1:56] what you want us to do. We ask these things in Jesus name. Amen.

[2:00] » Amen. >> Amen.

[2:03] » All right, let's start off with a roll call. Reagan.

[2:09] » Mayor Cody >> here.

[2:11] » Mayor Pro Roman Con >> here. Commissioner Doug

[2:15] » here. >> Commissioner Ronnie Walls

[2:17] » here. >> Commissioner

[2:18] » here. >> Commissioner Hill.

[2:23] » All right. Um, let's uh do we have a motion to

[2:29] adopt the agenda? >> I like motion.

[2:32] » I'll second. >> All right. All in favor?

[2:37] Okay.

[2:41] Agenda is adopted. Um, okay. Uh, let's go to the, uh, public comments. We do

[2:47] have one.

[2:52] » Shardia. That's correct. I said right. All right.

[2:57] So, just state your name and address. >> Sharding 5217

[3:03] Road. Thank you. And >> your title. State your title.

[3:06] » Chair for Revo Resource Network. >> Okay.

[3:12] You had the the chair on which which board was it?

[3:14] » Resources network. >> Resource network.

[3:17] » Okay. That committee and the landlord experience met last week and elected

[3:21] chairs. >> Yes.

[3:22] » Mr. G is the chair of the Randler Resource Network.

[3:34] » So what I am presenting today is a um budget proposal for this new committee.

[3:40] Um in our meeting last week, we um were enlightened that this is a um committees

[3:47] that does not have prior existence in the town. So there's no budget line for

[3:52] it. So we want to be able to be included in the budget um in the next fiscal year

[3:57] so that we have funding for some of the things that we have lined up or that we

[4:01] will have lined up. Keep in mind that this is very preliminary. We are about 6

[4:07] days into committee. So, um, what we have right now is the vision. So, I just

[4:12] want you guys to keep that in mind as we go through the proposal that I've

[4:16] presented to you. So, um, the first three pages is just a, um, sort of a

[4:22] table of contents of the budget and the thank you letter for allowing me to um,

[4:26] have your time today. If we could go to the third page for the

[4:31] introduction for the committee.

[4:37] The Rena The Reno Resource Network will empower residents by connecting them

[4:41] with essential programs, supportive services, and community partnerships. We

[4:45] promote access to health care, mentoring, housing assistance, and

[4:49] neighbor to neighbor support to strengthen the well-being, resilience,

[4:53] and unity of the Rambo community. what the resource network will do. We will

[4:58] connect residents to health care, support mentoring and youth programs,

[5:02] assist with rent and utility navigation, strengthen the community partnership,

[5:07] and provide senior support and child focused resources. Why RLow needs this?

[5:13] Many residents are unaware of available programs, growing need for senior

[5:18] support and youth engagement. there's an increased demand for navigation and

[5:21] application assistance for these programs and also to have the

[5:25] opportunity to strengthen the community um unity now resilience.

[5:30] We do have a very preliminary 90-day action plan um that we that I've kind of

[5:37] lined out for you. Our focus is going to be to tap into resources that are

[5:43] already existing. Um we're not trying to create a new wheel. We're just trying to

[5:48] grab onto the wheel that's already spinning and take advantage of a lot of

[5:51] the um county resources that are available and connecting rental

[5:56] residents to them and make sure that they are aware of what's available, how

[6:00] to get into them, a pathway to get those applications done and basically to

[6:05] assist them through those processes and make sure that we're being able um to

[6:09] benefit from them. So some of the things that we will um be doing in our next

[6:15] meeting um in our first 30 days is we'll be finalizing our mission, our scope and

[6:21] the committee structure. We'll build an initial resource directory meeting that

[6:25] we're going to reach out to different organizations within the county. See

[6:29] what um resources are available. Build us a directory. Take that directory.

[6:35] Make it something that can be distributable to residents. um maybe

[6:39] have highlights in the newsletter that Charlie sends out um in with the utility

[6:44] bills every month and things like that just so that everybody's aware of what's

[6:48] available. Um we will begin volunteer on boarding because of course with our um

[6:54] seven committee members we can't do everything. So we will be enlisted in

[6:58] the help of other residents to be able to volunteer to help us out and reach

[7:02] our neighbors. Um we will identify child focused and senior focused resource

[7:07] gaps. That is a lot of the focus. There's been a lot of speak about the um

[7:13] disparity between children and seniors and the resources that are available to

[7:18] them. Um and hopefully by the um second phase we'll be entering into engagement.

[7:25] We'll be meeting with um Department of Social Services, schools, churches,

[7:30] nonprofit organizations, county resource providers, healthc care advocates, and

[7:35] organizations focused on service safety and security so that we can implement

[7:39] those into our communities. Our engagement actions will include

[7:43] evaluating community needs, recruiting and training volunteers, finalizing and

[7:49] releasing the resources directive, identifying programs for children and

[7:53] seniors. Um phase three we should be in our launch. We'll be posting our first

[8:00] application help um launching healthcare navigation dropin hours planning

[8:06] community connect days started with neighborhood initiative and begin senior

[8:10] outreach and youth engagement. So we're hoping that by third quarter we

[8:15] will be able to take action that um following the 90-day action plan. I

[8:23] have a proposed annual budget. This is very preliminary. Um, so these are some

[8:29] of the things that I can see that we will need to make happen to bring the

[8:34] awareness to the programs that be available to be able to host things that

[8:39] we need um for the community um administrative and operational

[8:45] which we will be able to use some of the resources that the county um that the

[8:49] town already has available for these um as well. But we may need extra resources

[8:54] on top of what they're already using it for because if they already have a

[8:58] budget for printing materials, office supplies, they have an administrative

[9:01] contingency and things like that. Then of course with our network um using

[9:05] them, then it'll increase their budget. So we want to be able to have some um

[9:10] specific funds allocated for us to be able to do those things. Um we are also

[9:15] requesting funds for community events and programs, community connect day, and

[9:19] we see that as a live event. um really haven't put the vision together for that

[9:24] yet, but maybe something at the ball field, maybe something here where we'll

[9:28] have um some light catering just to create some engagement and let the

[9:32] community know that we are here and to be able to introduce those services to

[9:36] them. um application helps where we may have um specific events where people can

[9:42] come in and discuss utilities um more rent child care resources

[9:49] um just different things like that is what we'll be doing for the um community

[9:53] event that's programs also healthcare navigation where we have health fairs um

[9:59] full-blown health fairs with the providers blood pressure checks diabetes

[10:03] checks and things like that we'll be asking some of the community positions

[10:07] and tradition are offices to assist us with that and get them to volunteer but

[10:12] um more than likely we will have to provide we have entertainment to keep

[10:16] them engaged or light food and things like that. We um also for our good

[10:22] neighbor initiative sometimes even just be going out my front doors if we have a

[10:26] particular neighborhood they may despair get there seeing what's going on how can

[10:30] we help and what resources are available um volunteer support and training we may

[10:35] need training materials um volunteer appreciation that will be a small so

[10:41] important to keep people engaged and to encourage them to be able to continue to

[10:45] volunteer with the program in years going forward and then background ground

[10:50] checks. I did put that on there because when I think about servicing seniors and

[10:56] children, we may be doing something with that. We want to know who we have

[11:00] involved in that and we, you know, just if we were doing um just a big

[11:05] neighborhood program or something like that, we would want to know who these

[11:08] people are, make sure that it's a safe environment for our children or our

[11:11] seniors to be in. So, that's not something that we've put um a lot of

[11:15] discussion into at this point, but I thought that that would be something

[11:18] that we would definitely want to take into consideration if we have something

[11:22] like that. Um marketing and outreach, so social media ads. Like, you know, we

[11:27] have a Facebook um page, but just to kind of push some ads so the people know

[11:32] what is doing to put it in front of their face for people who don't follow

[11:36] us. You know, we've been sucking in the back for a little while now and it's

[11:40] time to let people know that is here. um banners and signage so that we can

[11:44] have professional appearance at our events. Um we can also use any other

[11:49] materials or decorations to anything that the town already has. There's just

[11:54] something that says resource network on it to be incorporated into that break.

[11:59] Um so that puts us at just an estimated um budget request of about $8,000 a

[12:06] year. And what we want you to remember is that these on the next page that

[12:10] these efforts are going to have a huge impact in the community. It's going to

[12:14] increase access to health care for our residents. We'll have a stronger support

[12:19] for our children and seniors. It'll reduce crisis situations that will have

[12:24] um cost for our paramedics, for the fire department, for the police department

[12:28] because people will have resources that they haven't had previous access to. So

[12:34] we'll have an impact there. will create more um connected neighborhoods.

[12:38] Hopefully we can create more unity so um and make the neighborhoods and the um

[12:43] communities feel st safe and stable. So the resource network will provide

[12:48] meaning meaningful measurable support to residents by improving access to health

[12:52] care, mentoring, housing resources and community services. with the requested

[12:58] funds, we can reduce crisis situation, strengthen all of our families, and

[13:02] build a more connected and resilient. And I just wanted to thank you, mayor,

[13:07] and committee members for allowing me to um request this. I've also included a

[13:13] budget justification sheet that you guys can um take a moment and look over as

[13:18] you um look into, you know, how much you can allocate for our um efforts. And

[13:25] also we are open to suggestions and we are you know open to sharing budget and

[13:31] any other other committees that may have like non and things like that.

[13:37] » Can I ask a question? >> Yes ma'am.

[13:39] » Uh I see on here you got the background checks. We didn't get those for the

[13:44] committees. Do we need those for our committees to have background checks? Um

[13:50] well I will say because I think the committee members are appointing

[13:55] government officials and everyone's going to be held to the same standard

[13:59] and that's some not something that we can hold our volunteers to because that

[14:04] they can walk away from the event with no obligation. So I would say that I

[14:08] don't think it's necessary for the community members but I do think it

[14:11] would be necessary for people that we are not going to hold to the same

[14:14] standard that that we cannot hold the same

[14:17] standard. I praise that

[14:23] any other question

[14:27] that very good presentation. >> Yes. Thank you.

[14:34] » Okay. Um let's move down to the new business. Um

[14:42] the uh town hall and police station discussion. Uh we have a presentation by

[14:49] uh from uh Mosley architects. >> Yes, sir. Thank you very much for having

[14:54] me. Um Charlie, are you going to advance? How do we how do we

[14:57] » just point the the guy that blew the shirt back?

[14:59] » You got it. You got us covered. Okay, great. I'll stand over here with the

[15:02] podium. And do you want um do you want me to kind of set the table or do you

[15:06] want to kind of handle that? How do you want to roll with it?

[15:08] » I'm I'm happy to set the table. Yeah, you know what? Awesome. Well,

[15:12] » okay. Um also during your presentation, are you going to discuss the uh

[15:16] building, the sizing of the building, the future conceptual plans?

[15:20] » Yes, sir. Sure. All right. All right. >> Yep. So, we've got a presentation

[15:23] that'll be shown behind you there. Um my name is Josh Bennett, vice president

[15:28] with Mosley. I oversee our civic sector for our firm and that includes all of

[15:32] our public safety projects uh as well as town halls, social services, that kind

[15:38] of thing. Tonight we're going to focus on your town hall and police station.

[15:42] With me tonight is Craig Honeyut. He is our director of local government

[15:46] planning. Uh he's former town, city, and county manager. Did I cover all of them?

[15:54] » Great. Uh Greg brings great insight into our projects because he has sat on your

[15:59] side of the table for many years in many different capacities. So uh if I stumble

[16:04] at all, I'm sure he will be able to pick me up. So we'll go ahead and get started

[16:09] with the the first slide. I want to talk a little bit about the architectural

[16:13] process to kick this off. Um when we manage an architectural process, we want

[16:19] to determine what your need is and then design a solution that meets that need.

[16:25] So our first step with your project was to go through what we call a program

[16:29] verification phase. Uh we did data gathering. We h uh issued questionnaires

[16:35] to building users and occupants. Uh we then interviewed them in person and

[16:40] developed a building program. That program told us how big the building

[16:45] needed to be. Okay, this was a critical point because it allowed us to really

[16:50] drill down into what the users needed for the building, what the growth was

[16:56] projected to actually be and not just what they wanted. Okay? So, if the chief

[17:01] wanted a large office with a steam room in it and we said, "Do you really need a

[17:07] steam room, Chief? Or can you can you go to the gym? you have one in your

[17:11] basement. He said, "Yeah, you're right. I can use that one. I don't need it." We

[17:15] were able to pair that down and determine very early on how big the

[17:18] building is going to be. Okay. Then we moved into schematic design and we're

[17:23] about halfway through that process. Now, we've laid out several options for how

[17:27] the building could be configured. We're looking at are the spaces next to the

[17:31] correct spaces. Are they organized properly? Do we have proper security

[17:36] measures in the building? How does it fit on the site? What does the building

[17:40] look like? How massive is it? Is it tall? Is it wide? Is it um is it is it

[17:46] uh contextual to where it's going to be? Ramano is a very unique town. It has

[17:52] really unique houses and factories and and uh some architecture in it that

[17:58] deserves to be acknowledged in that process. So, we're working through that

[18:02] now. Eventually, we're going to move forward into additional phases. Design

[18:06] development where we look at what finishes go into the building. We

[18:11] finalize details on the site like where the fencing goes and how that's going to

[18:15] operate. And then construction documents where we will issue final specifications

[18:19] and talk about things like flashing and door locks and things like that. Once

[18:24] that's done, we'll go through a procurement phase where we'll bid the

[18:27] project to local contractors. And then once a contractor is selected, we can be

[18:31] begin construction. Okay. So, as of right now, we're still in the infancy of

[18:36] the project. So, everything we're going to show you guys now is still up for uh

[18:41] is still up for some work. So, can we go to the next slide, please? This is the

[18:45] summary sheet from our uh space needs assessment. And you'll see here on the

[18:50] the the left hand side, we've listed a police department, the administration,

[18:54] and then any space in the building that can be shared. Under current personnel,

[18:59] we're showing 14 people for the police department, seven people in

[19:03] administration. And then we have columns that are called

[19:07] 2031 needs, 2036 needs, and 2046 needs. And so we're looking at how this is

[19:14] going to grow over time. What we have projected is that in 2046 you'll have

[19:19] approximately 32 staff and 12,548 square ft of space will be required to

[19:26] support that staff. That is the number that we have designed to for today. So

[19:31] this building when it opens will have some empty offices in it because it's

[19:35] going to last us for 20 years before we need to do anything else. Does that make

[19:40] sense? >> Great.

[19:43] Now does do let me start that over. Does that

[19:49] projected need make sense given the relative growth of ramping? It's not one

[19:54] to one people moving in and services you

[19:58] provide because there's a scale to everything. But we went ahead and

[20:02] looked. We said your police are growing from 14 to 22 staff. That's a 57%

[20:07] increase. Given the growth around Ramblow and how that continues to impact

[20:13] you, that that seems consistent with what we've seen in other locations,

[20:18] administration is growing from 7 to 10. That doesn't sound like much, but that's

[20:21] a 42% increase. That's pretty significant. And with automation and and

[20:27] the way that the town hall is set up, which you'll see in a moment, there's

[20:32] some efficiency that will be gained that allows the town to continue to grow and

[20:36] operate very efficiently. your annual growth rate has been 1.3%

[20:41] since 2019. Uh, and so I looking back at that, I think it was around 4,400. Now

[20:47] we've grown to about 4750. And so if we project that out, your 20-year growth,

[20:53] you'll be uh right around 6,200 people. Uh, an increase of about 36.2%.

[20:59] So just numbers. I like numbers and data. Just kind of helps us get some

[21:03] perspective on things. Okay, we go to the next slide. This is a summary sheet.

[21:08] I want you guys just to see a little bit of what goes into those square footages

[21:12] so that you can have confidence that we've accounted for certain things. Uh

[21:16] you'll see here for the police department we're accounting for a chief,

[21:19] an assistant chief, captain, detective, patrol sergeants, patrol officers, admin

[21:24] assistants, and then we are also looking at all the support spaces, wellness

[21:29] rooms, code enforcement folks, evidence storage, interview rooms, interview

[21:34] toilets, all of that goes into building that square footage number that you saw

[21:39] on the previous page. Can we go to the next slide, please? Uh administration is

[21:44] the same way. We've got everything from the manager's office to the mayor's

[21:48] office to a records room. And then in the shared spaces, we're listing

[21:52] community room, kitchen, janitor's closet, that kind of thing. So, all of

[21:56] those numbers go into building up what is that 12,000 foot number. Next slide.

[22:04] Great. So, we took all those numbers and all those spaces and then we laid them

[22:08] out on a plan uh to try to start to develop what would be a good efficient

[22:13] layout. There are some rules that we set at the beginning which said we need the

[22:17] police and the town to be separate. We need the community spaces and the shared

[22:22] spaces for the public to be accessible without having to go through any of

[22:27] those spaces. And we want to share uh any areas that we possibly can to

[22:32] maximize building efficiency. So option one, we've got separate uh

[22:38] community room and or chambers and EOC. uh it makes for a very uh square

[22:44] footprint. It's very wide and deep uh which when when we set it on the site

[22:49] takes up a lot of room. It's not very efficient. Um this does get us a salad

[22:54] corn on the left for the police and then there is a drive-thru on the bottom of

[22:58] option one uh for administration. So vehicular circulation around that

[23:03] that site gets challenging. Option two is similar. We pushed the chambers and

[23:08] the EOCC outboard uh which which gave us a little breathing room to elongate the

[23:13] plan. Option three, which is what we've moved forward on the site, just for you

[23:18] to see, is an elongated footprint. We actually have a shared EOC chambers in

[23:24] the middle. That that pink space that you can see there. Uh that gives us a

[23:28] larger room with the ability to expand our town hall meetings to have uh even

[23:34] more people in them when the EOC is not active. Presumably those two spaces will

[23:38] not ever be active at the same time. Um this allows us to have that that larger

[23:44] combined chambers. uh we have good interior secure flow and we're able to

[23:49] separate the uh drive-thru space from the salad pool space. So if we go to the

[23:55] next slide, this is that that plan. You can see there the right you come right

[23:59] into the entrance and you come right into the chambers on the back side.

[24:02] You'll have secure access so that when you all come to a meeting, you can come

[24:06] in the back door. You don't have to come through the front door in case you've

[24:09] got something contentious going on. You guys are able to move around securely.

[24:14] Same with police. that door into their secure parking lot. Uh and then uh

[24:18] Charlie, you you're on your own. We'll put you up

[24:22] front. Everybody will know where you're coming from. So, we can go to the next

[24:26] slide. Um that's all in just because we do need to work out with you all where

[24:32] the secure parking needs to go. But this is how it could work. Now, this is

[24:35] option one. Option two is coming. Option one shows that the existing ball field

[24:39] remains in some capacity. In the upper right, you'll see there's a dashed black

[24:44] line that represents a fence. This is where we would say the police would come

[24:48] in. They would be able to park securely. Uh they would have their salt uh within

[24:54] that secure area so that we could circulate through there. On the southern

[24:57] end, you'll see bill pay window listed across the building and that allows the

[25:02] public to circulate up against the building so the driver's side can get to

[25:06] the window. Um, so this plan fits very nicely and snugly along Spencer Mountain

[25:11] Road and allows a lot of space left on the site to to be able to do other

[25:16] things. The next slide show us our other option where we reinvision what this

[25:21] site can be um if the ball field were to go away. We've heard talk about retail,

[25:27] amphitheater, green space, plazas, potentially even closing Park Drive at

[25:32] some point. Uh, I hope that's not a surprise.

[25:37] react to adversely. >> I have a question.

[25:40] » Go right ahead. >> On your previous slide.

[25:42] » Yes, ma'am. >> Well, the same area is right there. This

[25:46] is where our previous town hall was located

[25:48] » down on you. You can actually see it right out right there. That's your

[25:53] previous town hall. So, we're not rebuilding on that.

[25:55] » You're not going to build back on that town?

[25:57] » No, ma'am. That's a not a good spot to build as that would require some

[26:01] remediation. We understand there's the soils in the earth up where we're

[26:05] showing it now is much better for this type of house.

[26:08] » Okay. Thank you. >> Yes, ma'am.

[26:12] » So, here we're talking about the potential for retail and amphitheater.

[26:15] That would require us to maybe reorient or reposition the town hall a little

[26:20] bit. Um, but that's that's something that we can we can work through with

[26:24] you. The pink is showing your your pedestrian circulation and how we think

[26:27] that people um residents, citizens, visitors would move through that site.

[26:33] » How about the parking? >> So, the parking is indicated. You see

[26:37] those little numbers like 88866868. That's the number of parking spaces

[26:42] that'll fit in each of those areas.

[26:48] So, for this one in the upper right, you'll see we've got

[26:53] uh 24 spaces for the police. And that'll that'll last them for a while. I guess

[26:58] take them, right? Take home cars. Yeah. So, they have take home cars. So,

[27:01] they're they're coming in parking, briefing, and then going back out. Um

[27:07] and then for for staff and public out front there, you've got 18 24 26 spaces.

[27:15] And then for your green space, you've got those 32 spaces right there.

[27:20] » So, what would be the accommodation for the amphitheater? How many people would

[27:24] that come accommodate? >> I don't know that we've counted that

[27:28] right now. We haven't designed that or thought that through, but that's a great

[27:31] question. We can talk about that as we develop this.

[27:36] I think what we want to do is what our charge right now is is to focus on the

[27:41] town hall police station and then as the amphitheater becomes closer to reality,

[27:46] what we want to do is make sure that what we do here with the town hall

[27:49] police station doesn't impede your future vision for that. So we we may not

[27:54] fully resolve the retail space for example, but we want to make sure that

[27:59] we set you up so that you can do something in the future.

[28:06] So we go to the next one. Then this is what I was talking about with

[28:12] massing. So we're looking at how this building is going to sit potentially on

[28:17] site, how people are going to approach the front door. What what scale does

[28:24] this building bring as it gets a high roof, a pitched roof, a low roof, a flat

[28:29] roof? Are there any spaces that require twotory volume? So, if we think about

[28:34] your um chambers, your media room, that's going to want to have a higher

[28:39] ceiling than some of the other office spaces that are adjacent. So, it makes

[28:43] sense to bring that volume up and express that architecturally on the

[28:48] outside. That also gives us a little roof line relief. This is right against

[28:52] that residential area, and we want to be sensitive to that, right? We don't want

[28:56] to overpower, overwhelm those nearby homes. So, we want this to be contextual

[29:01] and to fit into that area. Um, so these are going to be further

[29:07] developed. The next ones will have brick, I promise. Um, so we'll be able

[29:12] to see that. And I think that's our last slide. Oh,

[29:16] so here's where we are. Thank you. Um, our next steps, we're going to go

[29:21] through plan reviews with all of the building occupants. We're going to look

[29:24] at our exterior materials and start to have discussions on how that building

[29:29] looks. Does it fit into the uh community and what are our systems in the

[29:34] building? How does the HVAC work, the electrical work, is it easy to maintain?

[29:38] Is it something your folks are familiar with? Um and and is it is it efficient?

[29:45] Once we're done with that, we'll wrap it up, submit it to you all to uh review

[29:50] and approve. we can come back and and meet with you guys and walk through

[29:53] those plans again. Uh and then we move forward into design. All told this

[29:59] timeline um from now on we can wrap up in anywhere between 4 and 6 months

[30:05] depending on basis we want to have.

[30:10] I've drowned on for quite a while. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it. Good

[30:14] presentation. Very good presentation. Um,

[30:20] really like what you have set up there. Um, I like what you have. Um, the way

[30:26] you position it. Um, I don't know about the the rest of the committee members.

[30:31] Um, like you put a lot of uh thought into it. Um, love the fact that you have

[30:39] um using the the designs on that third plan where you have the um the chambers

[30:46] area or whatever you call it right there. Then you have that extended area

[30:50] and also uh he also noted that he's going to have a petition there where we

[30:55] can actually um uh make that for shorter times.

[31:01] if it's only a small meeting, we'll just have that petition up. When it's not,

[31:05] the petitioner go down. Um he also made it um that would be phase two. He talked

[31:11] about his phase two. about that that you went ahead and included that phase two

[31:16] of adding the retail and the uh amphitheater because uh one of the

[31:22] things that uh I envision is bringing the town more money and the only way

[31:28] we're going to do that is going by having more businesses. If we have

[31:31] businesses in on our land, land that we already own, uh that will help bring in

[31:37] more money for the uh personnel and for other projects. Uh rent out in Gaston

[31:46] County is super high. I will tell you that right now. I told you that someone

[31:51] out here right on Hosart get some small bills pay over $4,000

[31:56] um for that their space. If you go down holes, walk right out here. These places

[32:01] don't look like much, but they're $4,000 a month. Over $4,000 a month. Um, I

[32:08] think we can get some business in here. Some some shops that we don't have,

[32:11] coffee shops and things. I think if we had amped, we can bring in

[32:17] singers and things of that nature. That's also going to generate money. So

[32:21] this is this is all about generating money so that we can uh support projects

[32:27] and actually make sure we have uh enough money to support the people uh that work

[32:32] here. >> That's all I'll say on that.

[32:35] » Are you going to go back to the design of the animal theater?

[32:39] » So when you say green space, what is the green space platform?

[32:44] » So that's up to our imagination. Um, we're reserving that space in our

[32:50] planning to suggest that that would be a good use for that. Um, you could do a

[32:56] splash pad. You could have a turf area to, you know, have some pick up soccer

[33:03] games or something. Um, it's a community space. It's just a space. Okay.

[33:09] » And how many square foot you don't know >> of green space?

[33:13] » Yes. >> I don't know, but I can find that out.

[33:17] And so the town hall on that side will still be the same as the other.

[33:23] » Yes, it's the same. We would just >> dimension

[33:26] » flip it, rotate it. Yes, ma'am. We would just kind of work work that in. If we

[33:30] have to make some plan changes to make something else work, we are

[33:34] » Do you know what the square footage is on that one?

[33:36] » You're roughly just under 13,000 ft for that building.

[33:47] Mr. Mayor, do you mind if I ask a quick question? Absolutely. CJ, can

[33:50] » you go to that um the steps page towards the end?

[33:57] You mind if I ask a quick question? >> By all means.

[33:59] » Um just so that I can also as a town manager wrap my head around how we can

[34:04] keep us moving uh advantageously, I guess maybe would be the word. So when

[34:09] we're sitting here in schematic design, I think what's nice about

[34:14] speaking on behalf of myself as a manager, not as a voting person, what I

[34:17] think is nice about how you've designed it is it's right now it's built to where

[34:22] it could be made into phases, right? Which I think some of the board members

[34:25] have expressed that to me where um you know it could be it could lead to phase

[34:30] one is town hall police station, phase two is retail, phase three is whatever

[34:35] the board kind of comes up with, right? But it seems like, and just I want to

[34:39] make sure I'm getting this. When we're in the schematic design step so that we

[34:42] don't stop, is what you would be looking for, not to put you in a bad spot, is

[34:47] what you're looking for as far as site configuration. Does that have to be

[34:52] buttoned up in this step? And I guess the reason I said all the schematic

[34:55] stuff or the phase stuff is really what the board just needs to decide is where

[34:59] it's sitting and how it's rotated. Is that kind of right?

[35:03] » Essentially, yes. >> Yeah. because we'll tweak it through

[35:06] design development, but at some point we need to do go through planning

[35:11] department submissions to make sure we stay on schedule. Uh so you're you're

[35:15] absolutely right. At this phase, the closer we can get the dean in the right

[35:18] spot, the easier it's going to be for us to submit for planning department

[35:22] approval and that's usually the long goal of intent. You know, that they take

[35:26] the longest to review and get back to us. We want that review to be wrapped up

[35:31] by the time we finish construction documents so that we can submit the

[35:35] permit, go to bid, be ready to go. Um, I don't ever want the town to feel though

[35:40] like you're locked in. We will try to keep you apprised of critical milestones

[35:46] such as that. If you're sitting there and you're like, you know, Josh, mayor's

[35:50] office, you know, I want to paint paint the wall in there orange. Tell me now.

[35:56] We'll write it down. will make sure it happens. There's never too early to tell

[36:00] me. There never is too late to tell me something. There will become a point

[36:04] where that starts to become um an impediment. And I think what's so

[36:08] beneficial about you guys coming here and thank you all for being here is that

[36:11] you know we had heard from this board you know hey we want to have an

[36:14] opportunity for input which is exactly what this opportunity is but also to

[36:18] know that really the just the direction could just be that the layout almost the

[36:23] end. because that gives you enough running room so that we can make this

[36:26] thing happen and and start generating that revenue or start you know have get

[36:30] out of the trade right so it's good to know kind of you know there are a lot of

[36:34] different options here but but having that kind of that okay I think this is

[36:38] kind of the direction that this board is is thinking would would make it that

[36:42] much faster >> right

[36:43] » yes >> and I also um requested that we keep in

[36:47] touch >> yes

[36:48] » um monthly bi-weekly or what bimonthly

[36:53] » Mhm. uh meetings um however you guys want to set up that schedule. Great.

[36:58] » Um just to kind of tell us where you are in the uh process.

[37:02] » Yes, sir. >> I think major milestones make make good

[37:05] sense when we get ready to make critical decisions and we'll coordinate those

[37:10] with uh the manager. Make sure we get get together for that.

[37:15] » Great. My my biggest um

[37:19] thing is we have an opportunity to really lay this out for 50 years, 100

[37:27] years. And so taking this opportunity to really think about what we want it to

[37:32] look like, not just in 20 years, but in 50 years that I was up long.

[37:40] Um, so >> that was only,

[37:43] » right? And so I I personally really want to see us not just think 20 years, but

[37:51] more down the line of what the potential possibility could be because again,

[37:56] building town halls are expensive. So we're not doing this every 20 years.

[38:00] » That's right. >> And I'm not disagreeing with that. I

[38:04] think that's a great I think it's awesome idea. Uh the only thing is is we

[38:08] we're limited on money. We're limited on funds. So uh we'll we'll have to see

[38:13] what we can build for now and then um hopefully

[38:19] that building can be updated. Like you said earlier said maybe uh we

[38:26] can add another floor. I don't know how that'll work with the

[38:30] elevated ceilings, but we that would be happy somewhere out there.

[38:33] » Adding I have had the distinct privilege of um helping towns who have reached

[38:41] that 50-year mark and said um it's time for us to grow again. How do we do it?

[38:46] And in doing that, I've seen for the stakes of the past and um adding a

[38:54] floor, Lexington Police Department, city of

[38:58] Lexington, their police department was designed to add a floor for um the

[39:02] building code changed. Now they can't have a foreign police department. So all

[39:07] the effort and the money that went into that was was forgotten. So we look at

[39:13] things strategically different now and we can come up with some different

[39:16] options on how we'll grow in 20 years. Um so what what is the next board going

[39:22] to be thinking about when they get there? Will they be wanting to grow on

[39:26] that site enough parking and infrastructure? Will police want to be

[39:30] there anymore given how the town has grown? Does it make more sense for them

[39:34] to move out into a building that is wholly their own and for you all to

[39:39] expand in that same building? I think working through those scenarios, and I

[39:44] appreciate you all hearing me out on that because I think working through

[39:49] those scenarios is important. Your plan doesn't have to be perfect. As long as I

[39:53] think we can tell future generations, here's what we thought we would do. So,

[39:57] we set you up like this. We might be wrong. We all know how what God does

[40:04] while they he runs them under, but we can try. And I think that's that's her

[40:11] that's over. >> I think that's

[40:14] » and I I kind of beg to differ um with you, mayor, because I think money is out

[40:19] there. We just got to admit it. We got to find it. But money is out there and I

[40:23] don't think we should limit ourselves because money.

[40:31] » No problem. But we Anybody else have anything you want to add?

[40:37] We rotate it for the option of building businesses and everything.

[40:44] » No, it uh didn't take >> Let me check. Can I check? I I want to

[40:49] check and make sure. I know the first option would not if we rotate it and

[40:53] push it more north along Spencer Mountain there, it may it may impact

[40:58] that score right up. So, let me look at that. Way off the ball field.

[41:04] » Okay. >> Yeah. all the way that

[41:08] we find another location. We're going to do that.

[41:11] Baltimore places

[41:16] right the strategy. I would say my opinion is going rotating for future

[41:23] growth for business. Even if we don't build business now, 20 years from now,

[41:28] they got room to build up that way. If we set it up for we build it, they'll

[41:33] come on halfway. We don't need to do anything until we

[41:39] have a replacement right now.

[41:44] » We build a better field off

[41:49] Charlie and I joke that we could build this like can of yards and we could just

[41:53] put you guys on the outfield hitters in his office.

[41:57] » Yeah. And that was a that's a that's a great point that Commissioner Moore

[42:00] brought up that uh we know we the town loves the ball field and uh that um

[42:07] Commissioner Moore came up with the idea of possibly looking for a new spot.

[42:12] » Where where would that be? I mean,

[42:17] would you take the water plant, put the ball field down there? Take uh I mean it

[42:22] cost a little money. You take the job track and houses on side jog track

[42:26] person houses that run the back of jog track there and have a good soccer field

[42:31] and all combination and a walking track all the spot

[42:35] » ain't already a ball field back there >> going back to Dallas

[42:39] » that's the old me

[42:45] » there is a place there

[42:52] » used to be small field over the the bar meal down

[42:59] but I think that they fed a bunch of hazardous stuff down here so that rules

[43:06] that out called Berton had a ball field

[43:11] with their softball team

[43:18] » I think you gave a good presentation a great one

[43:21] » thank I appreciate that.

[43:26] » Excellent. Um, do we need to vote on this plan or anything like that with him

[43:32] moving on with uh plan C cuz that's what it looks like he's moving on right now.

[43:38] » Yeah. Unless there's I don't even think it necessarily needs a straw poll. I

[43:43] think if the board kind of get semi-aggreeing on at least move in one

[43:47] of the plan directions that would give our our architects and engineers at

[43:51] least some running. Is that a fair assessment?

[43:54] » Yes sir. >> Um but I think you know if it's going to

[43:57] be a if it's going to be a pick one or two I think and the board can do

[44:01] whatever you want. So opt option three is the one he's building for. So I think

[44:08] that's our best option for me, but I'm not

[44:12] good choice. >> Well, can can I just can we just

[44:17] brainstorm? >> That was the point of this whole

[44:20] communication. >> Thank you. Thank you.

[44:23] In my mind, if I could try something different, I would I would thought it'

[44:29] been a great idea for where we are right now to be a town

[44:34] hall and the lodge and move over there.

[44:39] single family. >> I mean, I just when I look at the space

[44:44] that we have here, >> I think this would be an awesome spot

[44:49] for a town hall and then we could take a smaller building and put it over there

[44:53] and still keep the ball field and all that. I just see this I just see this is

[44:58] a lot of space right here. That's just me in my head.

[45:05] Yeah. >> What do you think?

[45:08] » You know, I had I had to talk about it. >> No, I seriously had

[45:14] » Well, you you do you do rent this facility out quite often.

[45:18] » We do. >> So, there would be loss of potential

[45:20] loss of revenue. >> Not if we moved to another.

[45:23] » Not if you built a new lodge somewhere else, right?

[45:26] » And just use this space right here. I love the way it sits up on the hill. It

[45:31] sits off the road. and our town hall were here,

[45:35] » I think we would be about four times this size.

[45:39] That that new building would would have to quadruple the size of this building.

[45:43] » Okay. Thank you. I'm just I I would rather us know that we thought

[45:49] about it and and understand why we didn't do it again so that other people

[45:55] know that we've explored all the options. So, thank you.

[46:03] So I guess what are the objections?

[46:08] » Are you looking for May in both? >> I'm just waiting for the final thank you

[46:15] so in reality I I've heard some good

[46:19] things. I think there's consensus that we we like the option with the

[46:24] amphitheater. We want to maximize the usable space on the site. We will work

[46:29] with town staff to review the floor plans to maximize the efficiency of the

[46:35] operation of the building so that it's what they need. And then we will come

[46:39] back at the end of schematics and present those plans as to what was

[46:43] decided. Your overarching vision is a town hall, police station, the

[46:48] amphitheater, potential retail. >> And just just just think about this as

[46:52] well. Um if I mean it's a great idea. I think we

[46:57] should use our minds to uh bring up all all of the ideas. Um like you said that

[47:03] would quadruple if we can do it here. Now just my thoughts um just because of

[47:09] the fact that if you do that you would lose that revenue here. You would have

[47:14] to take this building down or do something with it and then build

[47:19] something else. I think that hikes our cost up quite a bit.

[47:23] » You're going to build a new lodge. >> Yeah. Well, this is what I was thinking.

[47:26] » And this one just got renovated. >> This one just got renovated. So, this

[47:30] place is charming. I hate to lose that. >> Yeah, it is. And I guess what it is is I

[47:35] was thinking because I I heard a little bird tweet in my ear that the church may

[47:41] consider selling their parsonage on the other side.

[47:45] And that's when I'm thinking, wow, this would be a great to come around the

[47:49] curve, have a town hall here. >> But it has a center of town.

[47:54] » Center of town.

[47:57] I just don't want to spend more money than we have to spend. You know, we do

[48:00] that. We got to pay this bill, pour down all the grades going require a lot more

[48:04] gra. And then you got to build another

[48:08] building down there. It's going to cost anywhere from a million million build.

[48:15] » On slab. >> Okay.

[48:18] » I just the forward vision of it. That's a good

[48:21] idea. Be great to have one sitting on the hill. They look good, but then

[48:26] what's it going to cost in the long run to do it?

[48:30] » Be nice to have a lot down there with all the the parts and everything else.

[48:33] But >> I'm just

[48:37] we got we got the I only know way to get rid of this bill. I don't know. We had

[48:41] to go way back, look at the agreement with the mills that give us the

[48:45] property. >> And it was funded to be renovated by the

[48:49] general assembly. We probably wouldn't make our delegates very happy if

[48:53] it say >> and we do own the parcel right here

[48:59] that's next to it that butts up to the parsonage because we had talked about um

[49:03] and I think it was one of our CPF requests to the congressman was money

[49:06] for a trail head for us to be able to connect to the Carolina thread trail. So

[49:10] we kind of had some ideas about you know because this kind of feels like a

[49:13] mountain cabin you're right here in the shadow of the mountain board can do what

[49:16] it wants. Um, but I know we had tossed around the idea of uh of running

[49:20] sidewalk here uh to connect to the Carolina Thread Trail. There's half a

[49:24] million to 800,000 people are going to come out. We have a place for someone to

[49:28] come. We put some local art exhibits where people can come paint murals. I

[49:32] know we're trail, right? I think I'm not a vote. I realize I'm I'm speaking a

[49:37] lot, but um I think it's just worth considering that we kind of already

[49:41] talked about the possibility of trail head and some other ideas there.

[49:45] » Yeah. Uh yeah, I'm going go ahead and let you speak. What was your input on

[49:50] this? >> Uh so my name's Jessica um 20

[49:55] drive. Um so uh we already have you said this

[50:00] space here. You already got this nice little platform there. So, my thought

[50:03] was, well, we can even just turn this big grassy spot here into this

[50:09] amphitheater and then in that amphitheater area right there, you could

[50:12] turn it into something else that would be multiuse. Um, so that's one of my

[50:17] concerns is having this prime location here being dedicated to single use um

[50:24] positioner activities. And like you got your ring there. Then

[50:30] you got an amphitheater, which is only useful when you're having,

[50:34] you know, specific events or like music or something. There are ways to set that

[50:40] up to be constantly

[50:43] useful to different parties. Um that that's always been my that's become like

[50:49] my big thing is how do you make something multi- multi-purpose? Um like

[50:55] retail is a great idea where it's right in there. That way you constantly have

[51:00] um like traffic.

[51:04] When I say traffic, I mean people in this area cuz that actually will make it

[51:07] safer as well. You won't have it clear out like your central business districts

[51:12] after you know your 9 to5. That way it just it keeps that area really lively

[51:16] for a very long time uh throughout the day. Um, as well as with the parking, if

[51:23] there were a way to have it

[51:29] basically be focused on pedestrians and have the traffic, the the parking

[51:37] less of the focus so that it's it's not so carcentric.

[51:42] there be a way to smoosh things together in a way that

[51:47] makes the public transportation cost and encourages especially if we're going to

[51:52] be having retail. Um that would and combining it in with the thread trail so

[51:59] that you have more of the making that like a hub area where people

[52:04] can catch the bus drive up to the thread trail areas instead of focusing in so

[52:10] much of your car parking cuz again that just ends up being a lot of waste cars

[52:15] are sitting there. Yeah, that's valuable space into green space or do more

[52:20] buildings for retail or put in more amphitheater space.

[52:25] » I like it. I like it. That sounds great. That's and I like your idea as well. U

[52:32] so all those all those ideas that's why we come together so we get great ideas.

[52:37] Um nobody's the know it all and I love that. Uh I

[52:42] love this idea as well. Um, adding the amp data here sounds great, but we're

[52:47] not we're not going to focus on that right now. We're going to focus on the

[52:50] the main thing uh that uh Josh came here to talk about. So, um the police

[52:57] department, but now you kind of know where we thinking at for phase phase

[53:02] two, >> the retail question. Is the town hall

[53:05] one level or will it be two levels? >> We're showing one level.

[53:14] Yeah, if you have a followup question see

[53:25] » and this is what accommodated the growth.

[53:30] » Yes, this plan will have empty offices the

[53:35] day.

[53:46] You want to visual the size? You said it was 13,000,

[53:50] » right? >> The new fire station is 14,000. So

[53:55] that's the size of the building if you look at the size of it.

[53:58] » Let me let me let Diane speak on this one. Um can you say the name and address

[54:04] again? I'm sorry. >> Diana Palmer. Um 325 down.

[54:12] You gave us three options on the building itself. Two flat roofs and one

[54:17] pitched. >> Oh, on the Massie. Yes, ma'am. That's

[54:21] those are initial explorations. >> Okay.

[54:24] » We're not we're not picking from those today.

[54:28] My my thought thinking ahead in what John has said as far as growth or space,

[54:36] if you had pitched roof, if it was pitched enough and built so that you

[54:44] could do so, you could layer or have stairways already up to that

[54:52] attic. One, it could be storage for the time being. two, it could be converted

[54:58] later into some office space in the meeting.

[55:04] » Elevator

[55:07] potential. Yes, sir. Could could be, but we've we've we've seen that done before.

[55:13] We've done it before. >> Well, he he was he that that's a great

[55:17] idea as well. I was also going to say that I'm going to in just a second, but

[55:21] um you also said that what what made a whole lot of sense to me is that we

[55:27] don't know how the times are going to change. We don't know how the codes are

[55:31] going to change. Um so do we really want to build for that now?

[55:40] Well, I also >> have the current town hall and the

[55:45] leakage problems we have and the roof issues with being a flat roof.

[55:51] » Yeah. >> You I don't know what the potential is,

[55:54] but I would think a pitch roof, even a small pitch,

[55:59] » Yeah. >> would be

[56:04] I want to say economical. maybe less issues or problems with water

[56:13] settling because as the I don't care what building you build or where you

[56:19] build it and how secure you try to make it, you're going to have settling

[56:25] and as you settle with a flat roof, I would think you

[56:30] would have more places where water is. >> Yeah, that that makes a lot of sense.

[56:36] Does a black roof that sound like you're a good expert?

[56:40] » Um, you you are right. A metal roof will typically leak less than a membrane

[56:46] roof. Since your former town hall was built, the codes and uh construction

[56:51] methods for membrane roofs has changed significantly. Um, so we don't have as

[56:58] much of an issue as we used to with that. It is an economical. It is a

[57:04] decision of economics to some degree because a pitch group will cost more

[57:08] than a membrane. So, we want to make sure we're balancing all of those

[57:12] things. >> Okay. Sorry. Go ahead.

[57:16] » Just going up to your 21 sunset. >> Um,

[57:21] so you said with the code changes and your idea of expanding how they were in

[57:27] the future. So, what if instead of wrong and flat to begin with, we go up right

[57:35] away and it's uh we make it a twostory building immediately. And then that way

[57:42] it's already geared for, you know, coded for twotory and then you have a chunk of

[57:47] space that would need to be left or green space, not trees, like bushes and

[57:54] stuff. And then if the time comes to either choose to uh move or expand it,

[58:01] then you're already coded for two stories and you can just boom open it.

[58:06] Um and then that way you are all you're temporarily having all that extra land

[58:11] to be able to be used by the town. Um you're kind of planning for the

[58:16] future of already being two stories, which is always nice as the area grows.

[58:21] Um and you take up vertical space which is

[58:26] something you can't you can't build like as a wide open free what's

[58:34] for tears going oh not at home. Um, so that way you kind of like plan for

[58:40] everything all at once. go with immediately if you have let's

[58:45] say um

[58:48] I would almost you almost want to put town hall stuff and like town office

[58:54] we're not up top and then the police and the fire station and all that stuff they

[58:59] can go down so they can get out then go do emergency stuff quicker or you know

[59:05] you have them have the drone down hole if they need it Um

[59:12] yeah, just having that expandability in the future built in.

[59:19] » So why was the decision to make it one level versus two?

[59:24] » It's an economical decision at this point. We find the tipping point for

[59:30] two stories to be somewhere around 35,000 to 40,000 ft. At that point, by

[59:36] stacking the building, you're saving land area uh and you're offsetting the

[59:41] cost of the elevator and stairs by reducing the amount of foundation.

[59:47] Um on a building this size, if you were to go twotory and say you have an empty

[59:52] shell for the second floor, uh which is a good idea for expansion, that would

[59:57] double the size of the building. Um however you would end up incurring the

[1:00:02] cost of the shell as well as the cost of the infrastructure to meet the shell.

[1:00:07] Those being uh additional bathrooms uh elevator and uh at least two sets of

[1:00:13] stairs. So at this for this size building we

[1:00:18] typically recommend a singlestory building uh and then we look at

[1:00:23] alternative methods for space.

[1:00:28] Okay. Do a brainstorm. Okay.

[1:00:34] How probable could it be the town could purchase

[1:00:41] old meals and have it renovated for a town hall.

[1:00:46] The ones that are already here. Um

[1:00:51] I I don't I don't believe they're for sale. But have you ever done renovations

[1:00:56] like that? >> Yes.

[1:00:58] Is that cheaper >> for a police station? No.

[1:01:03] » For police station? No. >> For an admin building potentially.

[1:01:06] » Okay. >> For a police station, no. Because a

[1:01:09] police station is what we call a risk category 4 building. Is what we call an

[1:01:14] essential facility. Meaning it is built to a higher structural standard than a

[1:01:20] typical office building. In order to accomplish that in a uh existing

[1:01:25] building, you typically have to provide some level of reinforcement, structural

[1:01:29] reinforcement. Um, and on older masonry buildings like those mills, that can be

[1:01:35] somewhat challenging because they're usually all brick exterior walls.

[1:01:41] I feel bad because you're coming up with really great ideas and I keep

[1:01:46] » No, no, no. You're good. Come on, man. I bring, you know, bring the ideas,

[1:01:52] challenge it. Um, you know, we make assumptions on your behalf all day long

[1:01:57] and and I don't want you guys to feel like we made one that you don't like.

[1:02:01] So, this is not my building. This is this is your building. This is your

[1:02:06] building. >> Well, you you got the experience. You've

[1:02:10] got the the knowhow. So, uh we >> Could they be separate buildings? Sorry.

[1:02:15] Oh yeah. >> Could it be separate buildings?

[1:02:17] » Yes. >> So like like for example what Robin was

[1:02:20] saying if like across the street like that building could be the admin

[1:02:28] building that could be upfitted versus building the police

[1:02:33] station across the street. >> Yes.

[1:02:37] You know, I I recall a few years ago they had considered

[1:02:41] well it's been more than a few years ago, but they had considered moving the

[1:02:45] police station beside the mill over there in the L going towards the L. Do

[1:02:49] you you remember that Chief Musford? There's an empty building sitting there

[1:02:56] and they were considering purchasing it just to solely be police department. I

[1:03:02] don't think it was town hall. Am I right, Kimmy? you I think it was just

[1:03:06] for police >> and they were going to keep the the town

[1:03:10] hall in the same place >> but they wor

[1:03:15] » the building was in bad shape >> bad shape they wanted way more than

[1:03:18] » right okay >> I mean you can build you that's the way

[1:03:24] you build on that land build 20

[1:03:32] look out Well, also they're not even for sale,

[1:03:38] » you know. >> That makes it more expensive, too.

[1:03:43] » It does. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. >> Okay.

[1:03:48] » If I could say operational wise would respect with a small town like Ranlo to

[1:03:54] have all your uh administration and police in one site really makes it

[1:03:59] simple for everybody in town to know where to go.

[1:04:04] Um, and and I I will say I do love what you're trying to do with retail. Uh,

[1:04:09] when I was in Fletcher, we did the same thing. Uh, we built the town hall first

[1:04:14] and then it came because as long as you had good pedestrian access, as long as

[1:04:19] you had good parking, uh, good visibility, you control the property.

[1:04:25] Um, you know, I would maybe even suggest reaching out to developers now to see if

[1:04:30] there was an interest >> and then that way you could do it all at

[1:04:34] one time. It should be cheaper as well. >> I like that idea.

[1:04:40] » It's great. >> Commissioner, we can get this together

[1:04:45] more. I mean, I don't want to want to make sure you say everything you need

[1:04:48] to. >> I've said it except I think we need to

[1:04:51] just go on and do our business tonight. I think we've covered everything that we

[1:04:56] could possibly cover tonight. >> Thank you, ma'am.

[1:05:00] » You know, I I like it that you guys were open to the questions and and I like the

[1:05:04] input that I got from every we got from everybody. Um small group, but I was but

[1:05:10] man, that was powerful. Uh so uh if if everybody's in agreement, we we would

[1:05:16] ask Josh and uh um u Craig here uh honey that to uh move forward with option

[1:05:25] three of this. Okay. >> Well, I just got one thing is is the

[1:05:29] takeaway Doug, you wanted to know the cost to ship. Correct.

[1:05:34] » Not the cost. I also want to know how much if we build it right now, how much

[1:05:39] the ball field really affect right now, >> right?

[1:05:41] » Cuz I want to take that away from the kids until we have a place to replace

[1:05:45] it. >> Right. But I think about shifting it for

[1:05:50] what we will want. >> Right. Yeah. Right. Build it for the

[1:05:53] future. But while they're working on building it, drawing it up, we need to

[1:05:58] be working on a different space for the sports complex.

[1:06:02] » For sure. >> Right. I mean, like I said earlier, you

[1:06:05] know, there they have softball tournaments all the time around the

[1:06:07] county, but we can't have one there now cuz the bats they make now are way

[1:06:13] different than the bats they make long time ago. People be bouncing off people

[1:06:16] winners on Maple Avenue. So, we can bring them into town, we can get

[1:06:21] a different ball field, deer size, less stuff to hit.

[1:06:26] I'd like to see a survey done of towns our size with an amphitheater to see

[1:06:33] what kind of profits or people it draws. >> I'd like to see that.

[1:06:40] » What I could always do is reach out to some of our neighbors. As you know, in

[1:06:43] Cass County, we have a really strong relationship. All the managers in the

[1:06:46] county, the 13 14 of them. Uh I I know a lot do a very good job of uh recreation.

[1:06:53] Gilgaston, you know, Mount Ali Knights, you name it. Even Lincoln, you know, in

[1:06:57] Lincoln County, they do a lot of great stuff. I can reach out to and I know I

[1:07:00] named a lot of towns that are bigger than us, but what I can do is reach out

[1:07:03] and even LOL to a similar size and ask ask

[1:07:06] » for that would be interesting to see our

[1:07:11] size. Now, I would like to also say that the

[1:07:15] amphitheater is not just going to attract people and random.

[1:07:20] » Oh, I agree. >> You're going to get money from people

[1:07:23] coming outside cuz Gaston County to me, I don't think has a lot of

[1:07:29] entertainment. So, that would be a draw for us.

[1:07:33] » Yeah, >> that would make money for the town of

[1:07:36] Random. Um, we got the new trail coming in. like having their that pavilion that

[1:07:43] they have where they have all of their events. So making something like that

[1:07:48] » and that and that trail that's coming through, the new trail is coming

[1:07:51] through, that's what's going to make people see it even more. I'm sorry.

[1:07:55] Could you >> just want to make a point on

[1:07:57] amphitheater? So in some of the other towns, they don't just use it for

[1:08:01] entertainment as far as like, you know, having bands and nights and things like

[1:08:04] that. A lot of people rent those for like weddings and things like you know

[1:08:08] have outdoor perfect parties and things like that. So they have my friends out

[1:08:14] of those things as well. Um, and just since I'm talking, oh, and surely that's

[1:08:19] me. I was still 57. Um, just sitting here looking at the

[1:08:23] plans of the building, the flat roof. I was just imagining with the retail in

[1:08:28] that area, just some rooftop activities, maybe just like sit areas um places

[1:08:34] where people can have uh chairs and tables during the parade and things like

[1:08:38] that. I think that would be just amazing to be able to sit on the roof in Reno

[1:08:42] and enjoy the scenery and some of the mix that we already have coming through.

[1:08:47] » The stairs in your office

[1:08:53] that all plaza is just my office.

[1:08:57] » If I say this, and I'm not going to say nothing else, but this is the one thing

[1:09:02] that I would like to see. I would like to see this town expand what you

[1:09:08] consider central Rambo. We've got some beautiful land moving

[1:09:13] this way. >> Oh yes.

[1:09:15] » And you know instead of crowd it all up in one little area. Stretch Rambo out.

[1:09:21] You know the prettiest things in Ramlow. We don't highlight

[1:09:25] our mountain and the South Pole River back there. We do nothing with that. And

[1:09:31] I think it's the prettiest things in Ramano other than some of the

[1:09:34] recommends. But I would love to see us move out. You know what I'm saying? Move

[1:09:40] out. Move down. Come up with something else. Have everything just sit right in

[1:09:44] the central part which then you got the track that you have to contend with

[1:09:50] because we just all like to one little spot of Rambo instead of just spread it

[1:09:55] out. >> Only the only thing going down the hill

[1:09:57] that's in Rambo is the mountain. Hey, I think we got really that's that's that's

[1:10:02] another phase I had presented for yet, but yeah, we got some

[1:10:06] » we got land. >> We got some great ideas. Uh we talked

[1:10:10] about doing some things with that um the old water plan. Um

[1:10:17] » because I mean later on, but we'll talk about it.

[1:10:19] » Yeah. >> But this it's great ideas. Great ideas.

[1:10:23] » We'll get we'll continue to work. Do you have any more questions? Please pass

[1:10:28] them on through Charlie. We'll coordinate on that. We look forward to

[1:10:31] seeing you guys again soon. >> Thank you. Thank you very much.

[1:10:36] » Did we did we have a number or no? >> For what it's worth, that was staff's

[1:10:43] well I want to say favorite cuz obviously we'll tailor some different

[1:10:46] things, but three was the one that the department heads and I sat down and said

[1:10:50] that makes operationally the most sense cuz I'm going to look great and now

[1:10:53] these guys doing amazing job halls work great. You know, we had a little nuances

[1:10:57] in the way that we work and three was our favorite.

[1:10:59] » Yeah. Is that okay with for the board? If it's not

[1:11:08] » and I have a big pronouncing office if anybody ever wants to stop, feel free to

[1:11:12] come. >> All right. Thank you all very much.

[1:11:16] Appreciate you. >> Appreciate it.

[1:11:18] » All right, guys. Let's go to item number

[1:11:28] we want to get started here soon.

[1:11:39] » Thank you guys. All right guys, we're going to move on

[1:11:43] to item number six. um the uh general fund line item discussion. Uh Charlie,

[1:11:51] you want to bring us in on this one? >> How do we do it? I'll go kind of fast. I

[1:11:54] know we're already at an hour. Um what I just wanted to kind of set the stage for

[1:11:58] with this board um is kind of how we normally do things and how at least in

[1:12:04] local government normally kind of shakes out, right? So most of the time um every

[1:12:08] time what happens is the the manager will bring a manager's essentially

[1:12:13] proposed budget to this board based on things that this group has come up with

[1:12:18] either workshops or having conversations. Um, so the thing I want

[1:12:23] to kind of just mention on uh is kind of my and our finance director's kind of

[1:12:30] take on what next year's will look like, including kind of the conversation that

[1:12:34] we had with um that regional economic forecast. And then two, I wanted to just

[1:12:39] walk through the general fund and our budget just so that you can see budget

[1:12:43] so that you can see exactly how we pay for every single thing that we pay for

[1:12:47] because there's a lot of requests that got brought in this year and we have

[1:12:50] this board has a lot of different ideas on different things to potential fund or

[1:12:54] different ideas but um with the way that at least the shape of the world is right

[1:12:59] now I'm not foreseeing any major increases to necessarily any of our

[1:13:04] revenues. Right. So, and if we're operating at a at a balanced budget, if

[1:13:09] our revenues aren't changing, our our expenditures shouldn't necessarily

[1:13:12] change either, right? Like we wouldn't want to say like, and I've always used

[1:13:17] this metaphor like I don't if I want to go buy a car, I don't go to the Ferrari

[1:13:21] dealership, look at a car, and then say, "Okay, well, how much money do I make?"

[1:13:24] It's backwards, right? How much money do I make? Okay, now maybe I should go to

[1:13:27] this dealership because I can afford a car here, not a Ferrari, right? So, we

[1:13:31] wouldn't want to start with expenditure. We wouldn't want to start by saying we

[1:13:35] want to buy this, we want to buy this, we want to buy this, and how we make it

[1:13:37] all work. We should say, okay, what historically have we gotten in

[1:13:41] revenue-wise, and how can we still deliver a high level of service knowing

[1:13:45] that we're going to generate this much revenue? That make sense?

[1:13:48] » Yeah. Um, okay, perfect. So, when we went to the uh regional economic kind of

[1:13:53] forecasts, um, let me actually get you to a page. If you look in the budget

[1:13:58] that's in your, this is last year, the current fiscal year budget. Uh you can

[1:14:03] look at our revenues on our general fund revenues on this too. I won't do the

[1:14:09] utility fund or the enterprise fund rather. Go to page 10.

[1:14:15] » Page 10 in the budget. It'll look like this. Teacher hat on for a second. Uh

[1:14:20] and at the top there that shows all of our general fund revenues. So everything

[1:14:24] that our general fund is, it pays money toward administration, this governing

[1:14:28] board, recreation, public works, police, uh, sanitation, garbage, all those

[1:14:33] things come from the general fund revenues. Um, I don't see

[1:14:40] uh, so what we've done kind of in the past 2 years is taken kind of like a

[1:14:45] strategic initiative to start stepping up some of our equipment, right? We've

[1:14:49] spent a decent amount of money, whether it be out of pow or out of the general

[1:14:52] fund over the past two years to say, you know, we need this new equipment. We

[1:14:56] kind of been running things to the side of the road to get our finances back in

[1:15:00] into a good standing. You know, it's time we get some new vehicles. It's time

[1:15:03] we get a new tractor. It's time we get some new chainsaws, whatever it may be,

[1:15:06] right? Kind of taking we added a new police officer, we added a part-time

[1:15:10] park attendant. Um, and we've kind of made some of those decisions over the

[1:15:13] past two years. knowing what's going on in the world right now and by that I

[1:15:17] mean the major uncertainty whether it be the conflict obviously happening in Iran

[1:15:21] which and this is not meant to be a political discussion but obviously

[1:15:25] tonight there's a deadline for conversations on Iran all of those

[1:15:29] things I'm sure you've seen the price at the pump our fleet is on wheels all of

[1:15:33] our police cars all of our public works vehicles garbage trucks all on wheels

[1:15:38] all run on gasoline or diesel fuel so that has an impact on us even if it

[1:15:42] feels like it's a million years or miles away in a different planet, it has an

[1:15:46] impact on right. Also, the things to be considered in proposing what I'm going

[1:15:51] to propose essentially a very conservative budget is we have other

[1:15:54] things to think about like the new committees like potentially a finance

[1:15:59] payment uh for a new town hall, right? If if we hope to get financing from

[1:16:04] either uh the state general assembly or from Congress, no avenue is going to pay

[1:16:08] for 100%. Everybody always wants some money in, right? But now we can earmark

[1:16:13] money. we have a healthy fund balance for stuff like that. Um, but you know,

[1:16:16] there's we've already talked with the USDA who would be happy to uh have

[1:16:20] conversations with us about what financing the building would look like

[1:16:22] and that's going to be a conversation we have once we now that we kind of have an

[1:16:26] idea of what the size of the building is or what it's going to kind of look like.

[1:16:28] That was the importance of tonight's conversation. All those things on top of

[1:16:32] the fact that inflation is still a very real a very real thing. You know, that

[1:16:35] that impacts a lot of our sales tax numbers. You know, we had heard from a

[1:16:39] an economist out of Clemson that said they expect either a consistent or maybe

[1:16:44] even a slight decline in sales tax from a local government standpoint just

[1:16:48] because, you know, everything's a little bit more expensive. Everybody's kind of

[1:16:51] just holding on a little bit more tight be included. Everybody probably included

[1:16:54] to, you know, what you go get from the grocery store or maybe I shouldn't Door

[1:16:57] Dash this or what it may be, right? So, those kind of things have an impact on

[1:17:01] our on our on our budget. Um, so knowing all of that, um, my plan after we have

[1:17:08] these conversations and I kind of hear from this board about, you know, hey, we

[1:17:11] just let's make sure that we add this in there. Let's make sure that this is

[1:17:14] considered. Uh, is I'm I'm not going to bring you a monumentally different

[1:17:18] budget than from last year. It's going to almost be exactly the same unless if

[1:17:21] this board says really this is a priority. We want to have this funded.

[1:17:24] want to do this because if we're not going to see

[1:17:28] a major increase, which I don't foresee happening in our revenues, I'm

[1:17:33] absolutely not going to propose to this board, let's have a major jump in

[1:17:36] expenditure as well, right? Because the last thing we want to have is come this

[1:17:39] time next year. We spent X and we thought we were going to collect Y, but

[1:17:45] we didn't collect Y, right? and we we do a very good job now of running very lean

[1:17:50] on still being conservative in our estimates for revenues, but not so much

[1:17:55] that we're putting a billion dollars away every year because we're just so uh

[1:18:00] healthy in that, right? We've kind of come off of that in the past year and a

[1:18:03] half because we know we've established a healthy fund balance. We've committed to

[1:18:08] some positions into some new equipment. Now, let's see how lean we can run,

[1:18:12] right? Kind of makes sense. I know it's taking me a while to set the table.

[1:18:15] » No, that makes absolute sense. Uh we we don't want to start buying a new car, a

[1:18:20] new house uh without having the money to pay for it.

[1:18:24] » So absolutely makes sense. Although I give me a bigger house, I got to already

[1:18:29] have revenue to be able to support it. Um but having said that, having said

[1:18:36] that, um those guys Craig here made a very um

[1:18:43] profound statement. uh we should start looking at developers for that retail

[1:18:49] space >> because

[1:18:52] developers come in they owe

[1:18:56] that money will start coming to us >> 100%. So there's

[1:18:59] » so you partner with them they build it on their dime uh it's our space they pay

[1:19:06] us immediately. So that's what we want to start looking at

[1:19:10] » and I'm happy to do that. So that P3 that public private partnership is what

[1:19:13] it's commonly called across local governments that work with developers.

[1:19:16] Uh we in working with our engineers whether driving and mostly we can start

[1:19:20] having conversations with that private sector about who may be interested in

[1:19:24] helping you know to develop this. That's something I'm happy to do. It's very

[1:19:27] common actually across >> Hey let's let's just go ahead go ahead.

[1:19:32] » Just level 23 21 sunset turn >> with uh putting in the developer

[1:19:38] requests and all that. One thing um I have been learning about or brushing up

[1:19:43] on is essentially you want to make sure any like retailer businesses that you

[1:19:47] put in, you don't want big heavy hitters coming in. You want to make sure

[1:19:51] whatever they develop are like the smaller businesses because the smaller

[1:19:56] buildings are actually a lot easier to convert and grow and you know if one

[1:20:02] business fails which unfortunately businesses fail at all then it's a lot

[1:20:06] easier for a new business to just move right in rather than trying to figure

[1:20:10] out okay how do I fit into a big giant box store.

[1:20:14] » Yeah. So making sure developers coming in

[1:20:19] many businesses instead of like one. >> Absolutely.

[1:20:23] » Yeah. We I think we more focused on getting in the the space the retail

[1:20:28] space for now. >> Uh and that's where we're talking I

[1:20:32] think me and Charles are on the same page, right? We're talking about getting

[1:20:35] the retail space in and then whoever wants to put a coffee shop in there or

[1:20:40] whoever wants to put whatever in that space then that's who

[1:20:45] » Yeah, I think y'all saying the same thing because you want smaller spaces to

[1:20:49] be able. >> I'm sorry. Let me stop.

[1:20:54] » I I have a question. I might have missed this but in his we showed us number

[1:21:00] three for the building. I saw no dollar signs for each of the

[1:21:05] buildings. How much about how much was he talking about?

[1:21:09] » Yeah, we I think we gave him a budget of around 10 million.

[1:21:14] » 10 million. >> Yeah. So,

[1:21:17] » this was this was this was the key here though. This was the key.

[1:21:22] They have to get the designs together so that we can go out looking for more

[1:21:29] grant money >> and and how we're going to pay for it.

[1:21:32] Cuz this should come to no surprise that it's going to be grant money, but some

[1:21:38] of it's going to come from a long get a long loan. All right. So,

[1:21:45] that's that's going that's that should that I'm not going to surprise you on

[1:21:48] that. So, we've already we already know that uh and and other other counties,

[1:21:56] other municipalities have done this. So, hopefully the loan load is long out

[1:22:02] there, fairly long. Uh we don't have to pay a whole lot on it. And then as we

[1:22:07] get these new retail shops and things of that nature in there, that would also

[1:22:10] help us pay that pay it off early. So, those are those are some things you

[1:22:15] should definitely think about. You're not going to get out of this

[1:22:19] that day. >> That's just that's his key.

[1:22:22] » And if I may, so on Friday, I know I told this board, we're meeting I'm

[1:22:26] meeting with a wealth advisor who does this for municipalities all over the

[1:22:29] place to help leverage and best use our money in the in in the smartest way

[1:22:33] possible. So once I meet with that person, we've already kind of hit it

[1:22:37] off. He's great. uh we'll get an agreement going and then Pete will come

[1:22:40] and speak before this board to make some suggestions on down and on this on how

[1:22:45] to finance this and wealth and we we are not

[1:22:51] very very very rich. We're not sitting on mountains and piles of money but we

[1:22:55] can be smart with what money that we do have. And that's what this person is

[1:22:58] going to do for us. I think it's going to be a great help for us because we're

[1:23:00] in a position where um we would benefit from that help. So that'll be this and

[1:23:05] I'll make sure that conversation gets And we we we're being we're being

[1:23:09] realistic. We're being realistic. That's why we said, "Hey, we're just going to

[1:23:13] focus on the town hall right now. That other stuff will come after."

[1:23:20] » So, you want me to jump back in keep us on track. So, if you jump to page 14, uh

[1:23:24] this is also something I'm proud of. The state only requires us to publish

[1:23:28] essentially a department based budget that shows kind of like nice whole

[1:23:31] numbers. what we always do uh in the sake of transparency and good government

[1:23:35] is providing a line item budget. So you can see on page 14 that begins the

[1:23:39] expenditures for the general fund and we'll go all the way through to page 16.

[1:23:45] Um and then after that page 17 and then the future or the rest of the document

[1:23:49] rather that's the utility fund, storm water fund and how fund. So, if you have

[1:23:53] any questions about that, uh, or if you have anything that's as compelling that

[1:23:58] this board says, I, you know, Charlie, hey, you're here to do the math, make

[1:24:01] this work, add these numbers in, I will do that. But just know that this year

[1:24:05] I'm going to be putting forth a very, very conservative uh, proposal or

[1:24:11] proposed budget to this board uh, with just the amount of uncertainty that we

[1:24:14] see. And on top of that, not only worldly, but uh, with in house, right?

[1:24:19] We're in trailers. You know, things are different now. You never know what could

[1:24:22] happen with the trailer. You hope for the best, but when it comes to financing

[1:24:25] bill, we try to plan for the worst, right? And then if by December we're

[1:24:28] building, you know, I think this is a good opportunity for us to kind of hold

[1:24:32] tight, be a little bit conservative. But obviously, this board can make whatever

[1:24:35] decision. The board can say to me, you know, include a $600,000 line for XYZ,

[1:24:42] and I'll give you the math and tell if it makes sense or not.

[1:24:45] » Yeah. Um, we don't like to say conservative cuz everybody wants to

[1:24:50] spend and die. But unfortunately, you you're making the smart decision, smart

[1:24:57] statements by saying we're going to be conservative as you can on the budget so

[1:25:02] that we can u be prepared for what's coming. Yes, sir. That's something that

[1:25:09] you employ me to do here and that's something I take very seriously. Um, so

[1:25:12] that's all I think for the general front line of discussion. I just wanted you to

[1:25:15] see if you know if you if if we say, "Hey, let's fund this or let's do that."

[1:25:20] You can take a look now and say, "Oh, okay. You know, if we wanted to do this

[1:25:24] $300,000 program, great. If it's a onetime thing, we can maybe possibly

[1:25:28] have discussion around funding it out of a onetime appropriation fund balance,

[1:25:32] but if it's a recurring general operating cost, we have to find it

[1:25:35] within that general fund. And that's, you know, no easy task. I'm here to help

[1:25:40] make all the things work. I just wanted you to kind of see how it all comes

[1:25:43] together so that when when you see it next month at the May meeting, the

[1:25:48] regular board meeting, it'll be my essentially budget proposal. Uh based on

[1:25:52] things I've heard from this board, it will look very similar to the past year.

[1:25:55] » Yeah. And I want to challenge every board member here uh to go back look at

[1:25:59] this budget to very close pay very close attention

[1:26:04] to make some notes for next meeting if we have um any questions or any

[1:26:10] improvements that you think could be made that's that's bringing it back.

[1:26:14] » All right. Uh can we move on uh to item number seven,

[1:26:21] » water and sewer rate discussion on path four.

[1:26:25] » Okay. So Charles, have been taken. Mr. Mayor, this actually I thought it was

[1:26:31] going to take a long time, but I think we're actually in in pretty decent shape

[1:26:34] and our rate study proved that. So at the back of your packet, you'll have a

[1:26:37] sheet that looks like this. Uh if you would just take a look at it. If you've

[1:26:40] been on the Jordan before, you're like, "Dang it, I hate these. I don't want to

[1:26:43] see this again." And these are our rate studies that show us what we uh what

[1:26:47] what the differences and things uh are we do or don't make changes. So I'll be

[1:26:52] very very fast about this. As the board knows, we are a purchased system. So we

[1:26:56] buy water from the city of Gastonia and then when our waste water runs out of

[1:26:59] our town, it's metered that we paid for that waste water to be treated. Uh

[1:27:03] because we are a purchased system, um we pay the wholesale rate for Two River.

[1:27:07] We've had this conversation a million times. Um, one thing that happened to

[1:27:11] this board last year is that Two Rivers said that they had a five-year plan to

[1:27:15] do 5% on water

Town of Ranlo Board Budget Workshop Meeting April 2026

Transcript