[0:01] uh so had everybody can show up for the
[0:05] June meeting if you would
[0:12] [Music]
[0:15] everybody United States of
[0:18] America
[0:19] the stands
[0:23] na
[0:25] indivisible andice for all
[0:30] [Music]
[0:45] thing on the agenda
[0:47] [Music]
[0:48] tonight approval of the
[0:51] agenda is there any addition changes to
[0:54] the
[0:56] agenda and there's going to be one for
[0:58] me
[1:07] John Brady called me this evening and
[1:10] John asked me
[1:12] to turn his resignation
[1:21] in
[1:24] John great
[1:27] guy come on
[1:39] ask
[1:43] be okay I need the approval of the
[1:50] minutes motion to approve agend approve
[1:53] the agenda
[1:56] [Music]
[2:09] okay need to approval of the minutes for
[2:11] the reg meeting May
[2:13] 4 and budget meeting session
[2:31] uh public
[2:32] comment agenda
[2:35] item somebody needs to
[2:41] excuse uh citizens are encouraged to
[2:44] comment at this time on any item
[2:47] specifically listed as an agenda meeting
[2:50] agenda this common TI will limit to 3
[2:55] minutes so
[2:58] anybody agenda
[3:08] [Music]
[3:20] agenda uh number five we got the
[3:23] rezoning
[3:25] request uh following by the public hear
[3:30] got P Woody
[3:33] request
[3:37] 38-6
[3:39] D15 58 Lo off the Southside
[3:44] Drive reone from neighborhood business
[3:47] to R12 single family and two family
[3:51] residents and I think I've got two
[3:55] people wants to speak on
[4:06] excuse
[4:08] me it's really great that we all we have
[4:10] microphones but if you don't talk into
[4:12] them they don't do any good
[4:15] okay thank you open up thank you public
[4:20] hearing on this
[4:23] matter and we've got two people there
[4:26] that's going to speak on behal of the re
[4:34] got car
[4:36] BR and
[4:50] L first let me understand uh has the
[4:55] property been resigned or just
[4:57] recommended by the
[5:09] I can speak to that Mike if you would
[5:11] like yes the planning board did hear the
[5:15] request that two weeks ago and the
[5:18] planning board makes a recommendation to
[5:21] the Town Council now planning board did
[5:24] recommend approval but it is for the
[5:28] council to make
[5:31] okay thank you because there's a
[5:33] vertical voice and I thought that's the
[5:37] way
[5:39] should so it's my understanding that
[5:42] you're hearing this tonight
[5:44] to accept or
[5:48] Den
[5:52] recomendation yes okay um again my name
[5:55] is Le wats and I live
[6:02] field up
[6:05] South take a ride then go into a
[6:09] subdivision called men subdivision
[6:11] that's been there for a number of
[6:14] years Southside Drive is
[6:17] a
[6:19] road we thought it was for the 22 years
[6:22] that we've lived there until the sewer
[6:25] project came along and and to drive
[6:30] through 100 acres of pumpkins and then
[6:34] through the funeral home parking
[6:39] lot
[6:41] experience
[6:48] never all right thanks for tuning in
[6:50] everybody this video number of people
[6:53] live up there as I said it's a dead
[6:56] road now
[6:59] way we can get in and get out and and
[7:03] more than our personal travels up and
[7:06] down southide it's the only way that the
[7:10] uh police or fire or
[7:14] ambulance or any
[7:23] emergeny we have
[7:27] pum Town Police fire and all and make
[7:31] sure they knew were up
[7:35] there
[7:37] still the uh Southside Drive is a on
[7:41] Lane dirt gravel
[7:44] road for the sewer
[7:48] project the part in front of the
[7:51] property that's in question was down
[7:53] near the creek there was nothing but a
[7:57] and through the miracle of fil the lot
[8:01] is now some 20 ft
[8:05] higher than it was before the sewer
[8:08] project and what's that's what that's
[8:10] done to the road is in front of that the
[8:14] property that's in question you can't
[8:16] see it's a slope up and you can't see
[8:20] over the slope and there's a curve right
[8:25] there and you can't see around the curve
[8:27] so we you go up there doing this trying
[8:29] to look over the over the hill and
[8:32] you're doing list trying to see around
[8:33] it because Southside rout has a history
[8:36] of front front end
[8:39] collisions it's happened up there before
[8:42] and it's going to happen again and if
[8:44] anything's built on this property it's
[8:46] about to happen for sure because you
[8:49] can't see and your choices are three now
[8:54] that the property is raised it's almost
[8:56] straight down almost a vertical drop 20
[9:00] Sun feet in of
[9:02] Creek on the right on the other side
[9:05] there's a big rock so your three choices
[9:08] are roll over into blo Creek which is
[9:11] three M sure death slam into the big
[9:15] rock or to have a head on collision so
[9:17] your best choice is a head on
[9:20] [Music]
[9:24] collision so I'm here to say that uh if
[9:30] you uh change the zone or better yet if
[9:34] you allow building to be put there
[9:36] whether it be residential commercial or
[9:39] whatever then without
[9:42] improving Southside Drive so that you
[9:46] could at least back in and out of a
[9:48] driveway that there's going to be a lot
[9:50] of problems so I'm not I'm not saying
[9:54] don't do it I'm just saying make it safe for the people that live up
[10:00] and make it safe for the people that are
[10:02] going to use new facility if
[10:07] tode so I would ask that this decision
[10:10] not be made in without assurance that
[10:14] Southside Drive will be to a
[10:17] point minimum
[10:19] sa it's
[10:22] not a stre SC somebody's going to
[10:31] structures allow together secondly uh I
[10:36] used to work for planning organization
[10:38] we
[10:39] did zoning all the time for three to
[10:43] areas and I can tell you that in zoning
[10:46] the commercial Zoning for that piece of
[10:50] property is correct is correct because
[10:54] it's right right across the street from
[10:57] Highway 21
[11:00] through the state and through the
[11:03] town and it needs to stay that way you
[11:07] have to look at the future think about
[11:09] it now it doesn't seem to be a big deal
[11:12] but in the future a couple of years from
[11:14] now Highway 21 bridge is going to be
[11:17] rebuilt so that's going to be a major
[11:20] construction uh for our town and when
[11:23] that bridge is finished uh the few
[11:26] houses that are around there are going
[11:27] to be gone because they're already planed to be removed
[11:34] before they do the bridge and that area
[11:36] is going to become a very viable
[11:38] commercial
[11:40] area just think into the future it
[11:43] wouldn't be unusual that for someone to
[11:45] come and ask that would be put place on
[11:49] and paid all the way
[11:52] 2 I'd hate to see that but I expect it
[11:56] to happen
[11:57] some so that some caution prevailed here
[12:03] tonight and not go forward with
[12:07] this
[12:09] outside the next speakers talk about the
[12:12] stability of
[12:14] the and as I said it used to be a low L
[12:18] now it's got hundreds of cubic feet fill
[12:22] that was just put in last the last few
[12:26] months when the project was finished
[12:30] uh there's enough reason that believe
[12:33] that the filder that was put in there is
[12:36] not very stable and I would Al I would
[12:40] also ask that before you allow anything
[12:43] to be built on that site at a geot
[12:46] technical State done some borings to to
[12:50] find out how stable that is because you
[12:53] don't want to allow a building to be
[12:55] built there that's going to fall off
[12:57] into place of because if you do if you approve that Z you approve that
[13:03] building and it falls off into the creek
[13:06] somebody's going to get sick it's going
[13:09] to be the
[13:10] to and then you're going to have to
[13:15] pay you're going to have to pay you
[13:18] settlement fees attorney fees court fees
[13:22] and your insurance to Sky High and
[13:25] that's my taxone and that's their tax
[13:29] it's all our tax it would be very
[13:31] foolish to put yourself in a
[13:34] position knowing that there are
[13:37] questions about the stability of that
[13:39] site and allow building to be put there
[13:42] that has a lik
[14:02] I am
[14:03] a
[14:05] enger I've been practicing engineering
[14:07] for almost 50 years doing
[14:11] exactly this type of projects I did make
[14:16] visit a few weeks ago
[14:20] and get started I realiz it's already
[14:23] neighood
[14:25] business means building up about 5,000
[14:36] it's R 12 or where there's any other
[14:39] type
[14:40] of the problem
[14:43] is this side is unsuitable instru
[14:48] anything
[14:51] Park I Vis the site and I've looked
[14:54] about 30 years of aial photos on both
[14:57] Earth and Al count
[15:02] system the EMB the embankment on BL Sal
[15:06] Creek Side is anywhere 15 to 18 ft above
[15:10] the
[15:11] creek I measure the slope various
[15:15] locations
[15:18] along I'll try to
[15:21] explain a one to one slope everybody
[15:24] understands is basically for every one
[15:26] foot you go out it drops one foot
[15:29] the slopes that I measure say I measure
[15:32] sever of
[15:34] 1.3 to one go 1.3 ft we drop one foot
[15:39] which is I wonder one slope if you're
[15:42] standing at the top of it looking down
[15:44] you're thinking straight up and down
[15:48] D 1.3 one is also it did get as shallow
[15:53] as
[15:54] one shallow it's 1.75
[16:01] a little bit improv as you get towards
[16:03] the New River little Rivers side for the
[16:07] new
[16:12] flat the FI material if you got down on
[16:15] the slope I walk
[16:18] SL side cover with grass right now you
[16:22] got down the red Sal Creek Side and look
[16:25] back into the
[16:27] embankment the
[16:29] material very random had a bunch of
[16:33] folders in it which in itself creates a
[16:36] problem some
[16:41] soil and it was obvious that this
[16:44] material was in up and that the top of
[16:47] the slope is larly pushed out towards
[16:50] the all Creek to increase the
[16:55] slope in a like this
[17:01] we NC
[17:05] do other organization see short a 3 to
[17:09] one slope is for uncontrolled field
[17:13] which that's what this is a 3:1 slope is
[17:17] the maximum slope that you're allowed
[17:20] to build
[17:23] anything for this site that's the 18 ft
[17:27] High
[17:30] the nearest building needs to be placed
[17:32] no closer than 30.6 ft from the top of
[17:37] the now I didn't know this until just a
[17:39] few minutes ago CU I did not measure the
[17:41] width of the this particular lock I was
[17:44] told a
[17:45] few wide so as I said you guys can Z it
[17:50] anything you want I don't care about
[17:53] that but it needs to be built within 20
[17:56] ft of Southside Drive outside that 20t
[18:00] zone you're placing a structure on
[18:02] unstable slope and just to make the
[18:06] point it is my professional
[18:10] opinion building not any type of
[18:12] structure where his neighborhood
[18:14] business or is hard 12 or anything yet
[18:16] any permanent structure not be
[18:19] constructed on this
[18:25] side unless a a complete geot and I
[18:29] going to be one
[18:30] with that ain't going to happen because
[18:34] it's type of field plac there to do a
[18:37] soil test
[18:39] boring would probably you probably need
[18:42] five borings along that side they need
[18:44] to go at least 25 ft deep each boring
[18:47] going to cost you somewhere around 500
[18:50] per running foot and the reason being
[18:54] with all the rock and the
[18:56] embankments you can't go out there a do
[19:00] the whole so we're talking about
[19:03] spending close to
[19:05] $100,000 to do a geot evaluation on this
[19:09] side so that was one of the
[19:12] recommendations earlier it ain't going
[19:14] to Happ nobody in the right mind
[19:20] $100,000 that's pretty much all I have
[19:22] to say somebody's got a question this F
[19:26] is this pce of
[19:31] unable okay thank you
[19:36] appreci anybody else want to speak on
[19:42] the come
[19:59] finish Road out
[20:01] there actually um what I had mentioned
[20:06] to counil before was inaccurate you know
[20:09] I had said that the do had wanted us to
[20:12] pay that room that that was not
[20:15] correct no more what is
[20:18] already they have asked that the TA inst
[20:22] a g along about the first 50 ft or so
[20:28] at the most narrow
[20:30] point so there will be some improvement
[20:34] we're still in discussion with the folks
[20:37] G about the exact location and who
[20:42] should be paid for that either the town
[20:46] or the state because that is a state
[20:48] maintain
[20:51] Road another couple of points I'd like
[20:54] to make is the uh I have reviewed
[20:59] the ement agreement with these property
[21:02] owners and there was no guarantee about
[21:05] the suitability of the fill material
[21:08] that would be placed there so we're not
[21:10] in that sense under any obligation to
[21:14] say yes or no it's suitable to be built
[21:17] compl and Mary this may be something you
[21:20] can speak to but I'm not sure that's
[21:23] within the town's perview to say that it
[21:26] should or should not be
[21:29] based on the so characteristics I would
[21:33] assume that would be
[21:36] buildor in the building commits and
[21:39] those are the folks that as a town we
[21:42] depend on to have special training
[21:44] special abilities to decide if a piece
[21:49] of land can be used for the
[21:52] proposed building whether it be
[21:54] commercial or residential if Woodies
[21:58] anyone else in our community wanted to
[22:00] build a structure they would have to get
[22:02] a building permit it's going to look at
[22:06] so quality is going to look at whether
[22:09] something perks doesn't perk if it's
[22:12] going to be stable not stable so all of
[22:15] that's going to go under the building vs
[22:19] what this is looking at is whether it
[22:22] should be zoned residential or stay
[22:25] zoned where it's at now and from what I
[22:30] understand the structure could actually
[22:32] be larger if it was to remain Zone the
[22:35] way it's at and I went to the planning
[22:38] meeting and I believe that we're talking
[22:41] about tiny homes that the buies have
[22:44] proposed to build is that correct Mr
[22:45] Town
[22:47] manager and so we don't know if there
[22:51] will ever even be any buildings on it
[22:54] because for there to be buildings of any
[22:56] sorts there would have to
[22:59] perits but a tiny home is certainly
[23:01] going to be smaller than a commercial
[23:04] structure if the concern is that there's
[23:07] only so many feet that the property
[23:10] could have a building on but until
[23:14] somebody submits a plan somebody ask or
[23:17] something we just don't
[23:22] know I think the plan
[23:25] board we we went ahead and suggested it
[23:28] be
[23:29] changed and I don't see I don't see any
[23:35] difference commercial building
[23:38] neighborhood business or
[23:43] the
[23:45] resal they build they build
[23:49] a structure on it and they'll have to go
[23:52] through the process any
[24:01] how you going to build this structure
[24:03] man I mean right here in the next
[24:06] something I just don't understand if
[24:08] they going build it down there do they
[24:10] know where the new Bridger
[24:12] Go I mean looks like to
[24:15] me why would you want to build till you
[24:17] find that
[24:19] bridge if it's going to be in a
[24:21] condemnation
[24:24] action you have a structure on the piece
[24:26] of property that's getting
[24:30] might
[24:49] geten wither own I can't speak to their time
[25:11] it's not
[25:15] don't you ever been
[25:17] underneath no I don't think that I
[25:21] want I've done
[25:24] years I
[25:25] think wats made some good points about
[25:28] sa um I mean that's that I think that's
[25:30] where we need to focus at right now um
[25:33] whether it's us getting the do or it's
[25:36] us figuring out who's going to guard
[25:37] rail who's going to clear that rock
[25:39] whatever's going to make that visibility
[25:40] better um I think that'll be already my
[25:44] thought I just went through there the
[25:46] other day I know exactly what he was
[25:48] talking
[25:49] about I went through
[25:56] ELD I I mean think
[26:03] motion figure what Sol going to be guard
[26:08] not guard going to be I mean I I don't
[26:10] know what the options are there
[26:12] personally I have not been there there
[26:13] so I need to
[26:17] [Music]
[26:21] take motion second all in
[26:26] favorable okay
[26:31] we going into the second
[26:35] public this is
[26:40] for I hope I'm pronouncing this right
[26:44] [Music]
[26:46] rero uh request
[26:49] partial
[26:51] 3070 88-
[26:54] 3437 be res from neighborhood business
[26:59] to residential
[27:05] mul we got anybody St on that I'll just
[27:09] comment briefly if you don't mind uh
[27:12] this is the property it's on Memorial
[27:13] Park Drive just over here it was the
[27:18] hardware
[27:24] store and my understanding the the
[27:27] gentle to turn that
[27:30] into duplex SL report something to that
[27:34] effect and I know it was spoken at about
[27:38] at the public hearing at the planning
[27:41] board meeting that that property
[27:43] formerly was used for that purpose in
[27:46] the past so we basically asking to
[27:49] revert it to a previous use I'll make
[27:53] that motion so I see
[28:02] [Music]
[28:05] excuse
[28:07] okay so I think the planning board has
[28:11] recommended this to do
[28:15] this it
[28:23] backal he now I'll make a motion okay
[28:27] got a motion there
[28:36] motion second all in
[28:39] favor four of okay that
[28:48] pass okay we got another public
[28:52] he this is
[28:54] for public hearing for 2024
[28:59] 2025 Town part of
[29:04] budget speak to that yes sir as we
[29:08] discussed previously prior to adopting
[29:11] the fiscal year 2425 budget U State
[29:15] Statute requires the uh holding of a
[29:19] public hearing with any person with any
[29:22] interest uh is allowed to make comment
[29:25] which the council would take into
[29:29] consideration prior to adopting that
[29:32] budget the budget itself budget
[29:36] ordinance may be adopted at any point
[29:39] following the conclusion of the public
[29:41] hearing uh be it at this meeting or if
[29:46] there's a need to have another special
[29:48] meeting prior to the end of the month
[29:52] just keep in mind that the fiscal year
[29:54] does conclude on June 30 and a budget
[29:58] being
[29:59] adopted basically Town operations would
[30:02] cease so I'm not trying to put any
[30:06] urgency upon the council if you feel the
[30:08] need to have future meetings to discuss
[30:13] however time is growing somewhat short
[30:17] so conduct the public hearing and then
[30:21] consider whether or not you need to have
[30:24] fut me
[30:28] to
[30:51] speak I've been in sarta since
[30:54] 2008 um I continued my career
[30:58] Administration and that of historic
[31:00] properties and teaching history at the
[31:02] college level once
[31:05] here um I noticed that on your budget
[31:09] propos budget you have an allocation for
[31:12] the alls Cil the allig Arts Council was
[31:18] reconstituted um some years ago six
[31:21] seven years ago um with the blessing of
[31:24] the North Carolina Arts Council which
[31:28] gives funding to those qualified arts
[31:32] councils in their site um which is
[31:37] matched in the
[31:39] community um our particular Arts Council
[31:44] has uh succeeded in raising private
[31:46] funds as well as receiving public funds
[31:50] from the state the county and from the
[31:53] town and I just wanted to encourage you
[31:57] to
[31:58] approve give your final approval to
[32:01] thatst
[32:02] now some years ago back right after I
[32:07] came here in 2009 we had that major
[32:10] recession and we lost almost all of our
[32:14] art teachers in the uh public schools
[32:17] now we have regained a number of them
[32:20] but number of our local organizations
[32:23] and um private nonprofit organizations
[32:28] in the Arts Council who more and more is
[32:31] working with individual artists
[32:34] musicians um working with um literary
[32:38] interest in books clubs and other
[32:42] aspects bringing programs into the
[32:46] schools programs into the community has
[32:49] done a marvous job when I was teaching
[32:53] of history at the college level I always
[32:56] included
[32:58] uh the Arts
[33:00] architecture
[33:02] um the um
[33:04] literature um and the sciences and
[33:09] technology and they really help to uh
[33:14] make life in a community wor living we
[33:18] have our traditional Hearts here and we
[33:20] are also required to um provide
[33:24] programming through the art coun for
[33:28] Hispanic and African groups is part of
[33:32] that so I would just like to encourage
[33:36] you as private citizen to continue your
[33:39] support
[33:40] thearts than you very thank
[33:48] you okay coming out of public care
[33:52] now all
[33:55] right we got uh
[34:01] 24 or 25 public car
[34:04] coordinates can you speak on
[34:07] that yes sir as
[34:14] we job position I just wanted to c a
[34:17] couple of things um the respons it's
[34:20] responsible for 25 fulltime employees
[34:23] parttime employees and a 2.1 million
[34:26] Town budget
[34:28] uh you're talking about the $15 million
[34:31] sewer
[34:32] project and other grants and whatever so
[34:35] there a lot more money than that to be
[34:38] managed and spent and procured in proper
[34:42] way uh the minimum requirements for a ba
[34:46] or BS degree referred with the NPA
[34:49] national uh Masters in public
[34:53] administration experience in local
[34:56] government knowled of federal state and
[34:58] local laws regarding town government the
[35:01] background in Planning and Zoning human
[35:08] resources and finance are great greatly
[35:11] desired candidates should possess the
[35:13] abilities in areas of budgeting Planning
[35:16] and Zoning Economic Development grant
[35:19] writing public works
[35:22] consens very important Community
[35:25] involvement internal extend term team
[35:28] building and the town manager is
[35:30] considered the budget officer for the
[35:33] town I urge you to hire the most
[35:36] qualified candidate don't make a mistake
[35:39] please like the county did in hiring
[35:42] someone following Don Adams years ago
[35:45] it's an important position budget
[35:48] responsibilities is the key factor
[35:50] Sparta has a very competent finance
[35:52] officer py show in place right now but
[35:55] she will answer to the p
[35:58] there are two sides to a budget some
[36:00] think it's only expense management but
[36:04] equally important is the managing of
[36:06] Revenue sources including grants
[36:09] applications and procuring state and
[36:12] federal money and all state and federal
[36:15] funded
[36:17] grants require properly documented
[36:20] applications with detailed descriptions
[36:22] of the project and the cost of
[36:25] projections sales tax is your
[36:28] largest piece of your
[36:30] revenue for the town of Spartan it's
[36:33] almost
[36:34] 30% and exceeds that of property tax we
[36:38] all know that the expense size of the
[36:40] budget as you talked about here will
[36:42] continue to go up as we keep up with the
[36:44] cost of
[36:46] L the new town manager M needs to work
[36:51] in
[36:52] increasing the sales tax revenue that
[36:55] the County residents
[36:58] those from surrounding counties and
[37:00] those who visit the counties pay sales
[37:02] tax Town Spa members don't pay a lot of
[37:06] that so Town residents we don't want
[37:09] them to have to pay all Community
[37:11] projects that increase sales revenue
[37:15] include supporting small businesses and
[37:18] activities that bring people to
[37:21] Sparta that should be a priority top
[37:25] priority for our new town manager
[37:28] this is the biggest decision you all
[37:29] will have to make in this 10 10 year of
[37:33] your office uh whatever time your
[37:36] service
[37:37] is don't make a hiring Mistake by not
[37:41] getting the most qualified candidate
[37:45] the thank
[37:55] youest this is
[37:58] a little
[38:00] unusual I want to bring it up front of
[38:03] the council I've never
[38:06] been uh they're W some people that want
[38:09] to have a small
[38:12] wedding at the stage CR
[38:16] Park uh told me it's be just about six
[38:20] people there it's on
[38:22] Monday and I couldn't say yay or n there
[38:28] I know bring see what
[38:32] they
[38:43] personally let use well we we did set up
[38:47] R schedu for everybody to rent
[38:49] facilities I don't think we said they
[38:52] couldn't could could or could not have a
[38:54] wedding assume that if they comfortable
[38:57] they pay the fee then don't have problem