Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the June tenth meeting of the Chapel Hill Town Council.

We're very glad to have you join us.

Um, as a note to the clerk, um, Councilmember Sharp will not be joining us tonight.

Um, this evening we have two items on our agenda for discussion or action.

The first is to consider adoption of the final twenty twenty-six, twenty twenty-seven budget and related items.

The second is to hold a public hearing related to the downtown municipal services district contracted services.

Um to get us started this evening, we have two proclamations to announce.

The first is for Pride Month, and I'd like to invite members of the town's LGBTQ plus employee resource group and members of the LGBT plus community to please join me up front for the announcement and to receive this year's proclamation.

Each June, we join communities across the nation in celebrating Pride Month, a time to honor the courage, resilience, and contributions of LGBTQ plus people, reflect on the progress made since the Stonewall Uprising of 1969, and recommit ourselves to the work that remains.

Chapel Hill has long been committed to fostering a welcoming and inclusive community where all people are treated treated with dignity, respect, and belonging.

This year, we are pleased to join with our neighbors in Carborough to celebrate small town pride and the vibrant LGBTQ plus community that helps make our town stronger, more diverse, and more welcoming places to live.

Tonight, we'd like to take a moment to recognize June as Immigrant Heritage Month in Chapel Hill.

Our community is enriched by residents from many different countries, cultures, and backgrounds.

Immigrants, refugees, and newcomers contribute every day to our schools, businesses, health care systems, neighborhoods, and civic life, helping make Chapel Hill the vibrant and welcoming community it is.

This month is an opportunity to celebrate their contributions, honor their resilience, and reaffirm our commitment to inclusion, dignity, and belonging for all residents.

As such, we encourage everyone to join in recognizing and celebrating the rich heritage and lasting impact of immigrant communities in Chapel Hill.

Now, if our immigrant neighbors and friends and supporters want to come up here, we will read a proclamation making June immigrant heritage month.

Whereas the town of Chapel Hill recognizes that immigrants and their descendants have contributed significantly to the cultural, civic, economic, and social fabric of our community, bringing diverse languages, cultures, skills, perspectives, and traditions that enrich our shared identity, and whereas immigrant communities have helped shape and sustain local institutions, including schools, universities, businesses, healthcare systems, and civic organizations.

And whereas refugees, asylum seekers, and other newcomers who have come to the United States in search of safety, freedom, and opportunity embody resilience and determination and contribute meaningfully to the life of our community.

And whereas Immigrant Heritage Month provides an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the journeys, resilience, and enduring impact of immigrants, while reaffirming reaffirming our commitment to inclusion, dignity, and belonging for all residents.

And whereas the town of Chapel Hill remains committed to fostering a welcoming community that values equity, mutual respect, and cultural diversity.

Now, therefore, we, the Chapel Hill Mayor, and Town Council do hereby proclaim June twenty twenty-six as immigrant heritage month and encourage everyone to recognize and celebrate the rich heritage experiences and lasting impact of immigrants in our community.

Thank you.

Thank you all for joining us tonight.

And you are such an important part of our community.

We are grateful you are here, and we are very proud to celebrate with you.

Up next, uh that brings us to announcements.

Um I have three quick things to share.

Um, first is that the town will be holding um two stormwater open houses next Tuesday, June 16th at the Chapel Hill Library.

This is an opportunity to learn about our stormwater management plan, find out what stormwater projects are happening around town, and share your ideas.

Um building resilience starts with community involvement.

So we encourage residents, businesses, and neighborhood leaders to attend, share their experiences, and help guide efforts to mitigate future flooding throughout Chapel Hill.

Uh, please check out our weekly Our Town e-newsletter or the town calendar for more information.

Um, second is an invitation to join us for Juneteenth, um, which is a celebration on Friday, June 19th, um, from four to eight at the Hargraves Community Center.

This year's event will feature live performances, history exhibits, local food, art vendors, music, dancing, and activities for children.

Um, please come out to honor black history, culture, and freedom while celebrating the spirit and diversity of our community.

And third, our next town council meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 17th, here in town hall at 6 p.m.

Um, this will be our last council meeting of the spring session.

We will be discussing our complete community implementation along with the land use management ordinance rewrite.

Um both will shape how the town grows and changes in the future, and we encourage members of the community to join us in person or virtually and to be engaged in these important conversations.

Uh council members, does anyone else have something to share?

Uh Mayor Pro Temberry.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

I just want to do an underscore for Juneteenth.

It is not just black history, it is our history.

It is when the enslaved folks in Texas finally learned that they were indeed free.

And we'll take that meeting loosely there.

But I I want to underscore that that is all of our history, and we share it just as we share today's um proclamation for LGBTQ month and also for immigrant month.

We are really proud to be in a part of this community.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Okay.

Um next up, we invite members of the public to comment on items not on the printed agenda.

Um for members of the public in attendance and wishing to speak, um, please sign up with the town clerk um at the table on the left side of the chamber toward the front of the room.

Um if you're here to speak on a specific agenda item, there'll be a presentation on the item, followed by council qu clarifying questions and then public comment.

Um to help keep things running smoothly, uh, Mayor Pro Temberri will call two names at a time.

The first should come on down to the podium, and the second, if you'll please come down to the front and sit and wait up there on deck.

Um finally, public input input is important to us, and I just want to remind our audience, as always, that we want everyone to be heard, and we want to hear you most of all.

Um, so please refrain from commenting or clapping when folks are speaking.

All right.

We'll get it started with uh Jasmine Cathoria and also followed by Tisha Abdul.

Welcome.

Good evening, everyone.

Thank you so much for having me and for giving me the opportunity to speak with you all today.

My name is Jasmine Catherine, and I am Ms.

Chapel Hill's teen under the Miss America Opportunity.

The Miss America Opportunity is one of the nation's leading achievement programs for young women focused on scholarship, service, leadership, and personal growth.

Through this organization, I have been fortunate to represent Chapel Hill while pursuing meaningful service through our community.

So for my community service initiative is called Film Mentality, where film meets feeling, and it uses film as a tool to create conversations around mental health when it can be really difficult.

I've taken film mentality into places all over Chapel Hill, like the YMC in Chapel Hill and the UNC Mental Health Hospital.

I'm so proud to be able to serve this community, and it's truly honestly a blessing, honestly.

Just hearing the first part of this town council meeting, I was just so like I was in tears.

It was absolutely beautiful and amazing, and thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to serve this wonderful city.

I will come be competing for Miss North Carolina's teen in June, and I'm so happy to have Chapel Hill behind me.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, and congratulations.

Next, Tisha Abdul, followed by Alexandra Sheeves.

Good evening, Commissioners.

My name is Tisha Abdul, and I'm your Miss Chapel Hill 2026.

I am a proud immigrant to the United States.

And sitting at the first part of this meeting and hearing June be proclaimed as, I believe, was it national or what was the name?

Immigrant and refugees.

Yes, immigrant refugee month.

That meant the world to me.

This past May I graduated the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Bachelor's of Science in Neuroscience and a minor in chemistry.

And I'm pursuing a Master's of Biomedical Science this fall.

I'm competing for the title of Miss North Carolina at the end of this month, and I am head over heels to say that I am proud to represent the town of Chapel Hill.

It also feels like such a full circle moment to me to be able to stand in front of you today.

Because just eight years ago, I was the president of the Cavaras County Youth Commission, where every other Monday after school I would sit in the Board of Commissioners meetings.

I actually had a spot right there in Cavaras County with my name on it for two years.

And needless to say, I am eternally grateful and thank you for your support.

I'm very excited to continue serving the town of Chapel Hill, and thank you for your time this evening.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Kate.

Sure.

Come on, Council.

We'll do a quick picture.

One second, Miss Sheeves.

Okay, they love the picture too, but we mess them up.

So this is dangerous here having me to take the pictures.

Anyone younger, want to volunteer to take the picture?

I always do that.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

Okay.

Next, we will have Alexandra Sheeves and Ms.

Sheeves will receive Jane Stutz time.

Yeah, and Jane is here as a neighbor.

We're we're speaking on the same topic and for great that I'll actually just give all our comments.

But I'm sure another neighbor, Neil Sprubecker, is here.

Um so thank you so much for letting me address you.

Um I'm here on behalf of a group of neighbors in Kingsmill Morgan Creek, Highland Woods, and a few other neighborhoods who have organized to advocate for self-safe multimodal access, rolls right off the tongue, at Odi's Road at Fordham.

We have a request with about 175 signatures from town residents expressing support for the goal that I'm here to talk about today.

And I think the council is broadly aware of our interests and concerns already.

Um just to highlight, there's more and more traffic on Fordham.

I imagine you've noticed.

Um respect the speed limit.

Um, and crashes are common on the stretch of Fordham that we live adjacent to.

Um, with plans for the Greenway connecting the Morgan Creek Trail to our neighborhood, we're anticipating Greenway users wanting to be able to access downtown Chapel Hill and the University and Hospital Complex.

With the improvements that we're proposing, ODI's is clearly the closest safe possible crossing to connect not only Morgan Creek East Greenway, but also other southern greenways and neighborhoods to Chapel Hill and UNC.

And it has the advantage of minimizing hills, which we know can be a challenge for bikers and walkers.

Um, as everywhere to everywhere gets operationalized, and we were delighted to see some information about that.

Um, we want to make sure that the focus on greenways, which we are very supportive of, um, doesn't neglect the connectors that are going to make those greenways accessible and useful and allow safe crossing at major barriers like Fordham Highway.

We also know that for residents who live north of Fordham, there's no way to access the wonderful Merritt's pasture other than getting in a car and driving to the parking lot adjacent to the Kingswood apartments that um, as I'm sure you know, often overflows on weekends.

Um today I basically have two goals.

Um, one is just keeping this concern on the town's radar.

Um, we know you're aware of it, and we also know that there are a lot of competing priorities, um, which we respect, but we do have a couple of requests.

The first is that town staff work with regional planners and the NC Department of Transportation to identify the best solution to improve safety and access across Fordham and to plan and identify what kind of funding makes the most sense to address this long time barrier in our community.

We know we need to partner with and not work against or around the DOT in order to get the changes that we envision.

Uh our second request is to learn what criteria the town uses in considering and selecting improvements to advance.

We'd like information about how the town weighs the many factors it must consider and determining what to prioritize.

Despite being in the 2020 mobility plan, providing a convenient connection between Morgan Creek East and downtown and UNC, and the fact that that segment of highway is on Chapel Hills High Injury Network.

A crossing at ODIs never quite makes it into the short list of projects, despite different possible sources of funding, including state safety funds, raise grants, and others.

We know the short list for the town is short.

Um I take minutes and keep talking.

She has two sides.

I believe that since she's uh speaking for two, that she can have a little more time.

Okay.

It's just a little.

Um so we know the short list is short.

Um and we would like to learn how the town weighs the many factors that it has to consider in determining basically what to prioritize, what actually gets on the short list, um, just so that we can advocate effectively.

Um, in conclusion, I'd like to note a crossing at ODIs seems to align with many town goals.

It corrects a connectivity gap gap that thwarts everywhere to everywhere.

Um, and OD's Road Crossing would connect Kingsmill Morgan Creek, Southern Village, Culbert Road neighborhoods, Kingsmill Apartments, and South Creek via the planned Greenway Network, giving access to Chapel Hill Downtown UNC campus and the hospital complex.

Um it also supports Vision Zero by addressing core problems that I think we're all aware of, um, including high speeds, dangerous left turns and U-turns on that section of Fordham, numerous crashes, and unsafe pedestrian and bike crossings.

So many thanks um for listening and also to my neighbors for joining me today.

Thank you.

Um, while the town no longer has a formal petition process, sharing your concerns and ideas is incredibly um important and it's a valued First Amendment right.

Um it's something we continue to value and support.

Um council doesn't take immediate action on these requests, but they're carefully reviewed by the town manager and staff who then will review the matter and they'll respond to us and to you.

Okay.

And if you have anything that you would like to leave like signatures or anything else, you're welcome to leave with them with the clerk.

I think I think we may actually need to get those to the clerk maybe tomorrow.

You can get them whenever you want.

Okay.

Super.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And that's it.

All righty.

Um that is our last uh speaker for items not on the printed agenda.

So that brings us to our consent agenda.

Uh council, do I have a motion to approve consent?

Move consent.

Moved by council member Ryan, seconded by Councilmember Miller Fushi.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, please say nay.

Motion is unanimous, 8-0.

Um to item number 10, um, which is to consider the final budget and related items for fiscal year 2026-2027.

And I believe we have our town manager, our director of business management, and all the associated friends that you may need.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

We reach the end of the road on our budget process.

I'm excited to say, and before we um do the presentation, I just want to acknowledge uh Amy and Matt for their uh excellent work and support during the process.

Um Lauren and Mary Jane for their support of me as well and all the department heads and their staff that uh need to do a lot of work to put this information together so that we can consider it and get you a good proposal.

So thanks, team.

I'm very proud of the work we've done, and I'm proud of the work that council you did uh last year to set us up in good stead so that this year's process is a little less uh painful.

So good evening.

And after months of conversation, I'm here tonight with the final version of your uh of your 26-27 budget uh for your consideration and adoption.

Uh so included with this item to be clear is the budget ordinance.

That's the legal document that we use to implement the budget, the pay plan, and our fee schedule.

Uh I've got seven slides.

It'll take a couple of minutes to get through them.

Please stop me if you have questions.

Budget highlights, you've seen this before.

The total budget is 170 million dollars, a 3.6% increase over prior years.

There is no property tax increase, which leaves our rate at 50 cents per 100 dollars of assessed valuation.

It includes a 4% of market pay increase for our excellent employees.

And there are $2.4 million totaled up in your focus areas.

Our priorities in creating this budget were grounded in our commitment to supporting our employees with competitive compensation and sustainable benefits, funding and strengthening our core municipal services, advancing your strategic priorities, and progressing towards fiscal sustainability guided by our five-year budget outlook.

The changes between the draft uh proposed budget that you considered are very small.

We essentially received two additional grants.

AARP is supporting a grant for Vision Zero crosswalk project on Legion Road at $20,000.

And then we've received the actual amounts for the $5303 grant, which we get annually to support the MPO.

We usually get an estimate, and now we have the final numbers, so that's now plugged in.

And that's $274,500 additional.

So the total adopted budget is the number that I mentioned previously, $170 million $13,308.

That's the new number differentiated from the original proposal at $169 million.

And so those will be included in the budget ordinance.

We are stewards of multiple funds and multiple budgets.

This slide shows the final totals across all of our annually budgeted funds.

If you have any questions, certainly let me know.

For those watching at home, we have discussed this in detail, so we're not uh unfamiliar with these funds and these numbers.

And so in summary, this budget provides resilience resiliency to handle uh an unpredictable future, reduces our reliance on budgeting fund balance on an annual basis.

We brought that down to only half a million, makes significant progress in funding the operational priorities outlined in our five-year budget outlook, makes workforce investments in market pay, benefits, and adds three new positions, which have been discussed, addresses the needs of our enterprise funds and advances council strategic priorities.

We also maintain our funding commitment to outside agencies as we've done in previous years.

So we recommend that council consider an acting ordinance zero or 01 reass are establishing the town budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1st, 2026 and extending through June 30th, of 27.

Thank you for your careful consideration and deliberation on this year's discussions.

We know you've all given the budget a lot of thought over the last uh several weeks.

We appreciate the time and effort you've put into that and to understanding our challenges, but also our opportunities as we move forward together.

Are there questions?

Thank you.

Council questions?

I have one.

Um could you talk a little bit about the um the greenways funding and using fund balance and how that will kind of fit into this?

I know that we're doing it kind of outside of the regular budget cycle.

Be happy to do that.

Uh so annually, when we get to the end of the year, uh the budget is a spending plan.

Um it's a limitation on our expenditures, but the revenue side is only an estimate.

Uh and so that is based on the best information we have at the time.

Invariably, when we get to the end of the fiscal year, the estimate's not quite right, and often uh we do our best to spend less than were appropriated.

So you put those two factors together and you get um on the good side of fund balance.

On the bad side, you might get a deficit.

We really try to avoid a deficit, uh, and we'll take actions during the year to try to prevent that from happening.

But when we have a fund balance, then uh our policies uh suggest that any overage beyond our required uh policy-based uh savings, that's what most people call a fund balance, uh, are available for reappropriation.

And so this last year we had approximately three million dollars to consider, and so the council considered that and made some allocations, and we we look like we're gonna be in the same boat this year.

And so we'll be bringing you some recommendations uh when you return from the summer hiatus.

And during that consideration, our top recommendation will be to consider appropriating some of those funds uh to an internal effort to build some uh what we call sort of quick wins greenway projects.

So these would be smaller projects that connect existing greenways with other greenways or uh a missing segment of sidewalk or crosswalk and that sort of thing.

Uh we hope to gain real-world experience uh by doing this work with our own forces.

Uh they'll need to rent some equipment, buy materials uh, and contract for some services to make this happen.

And from that experience over the course of this uh fall and maybe next spring, depending on how fast we get things done.

We hope to inform how we approach building even more greenways in the future fiscal years.

Uh so that's how we propose to jump start uh implementing more E2E um projects, even as we're still working on the master planning uh that some council members got to learn a little bit about um this evening before the meeting.

Uh so that's how we're proposing to do that.

There'll there'll be some additional recommendations uh as well for use of fund balance.

Um that comes to mind is um there's some uh land south of town uh that's been designated as potential um park or trail conservation easement land and um an outside parties putting that together and have come to us to see if there's a way to help um match that uh project.

We we we haven't put that in the budget yet, but that's the kind of thing that's a one-time need that sort of lines up with um other plans we have, and so we might sort of put something like that in our proposal to you uh along with the uh with the greenway uh effort.

So that's how I might address that topic.

Anything else?

Um Mayor Pro Temberry?

Thank you.

That prompted a thought.

How would you like to um help the public to understand how we as a town respond to the changes in our funding partners?

So how can they stay?

What can they expect?

That how we'll respond.

So Mayor Pro Tem, I'm gonna uh presume we're speaking mostly about uh support for our library.

It could be that it could be anything.

Anything else?

Right.

Uh one of the challenges there is we have um other entities that have their budget process ongoing.

We don't always know what that's gonna look like uh upon adoption, and so indeed uh the initial proposal from Orange County was to reduce library funding over a two-year period.

We understand there's an amendment uh to reduce it over a three-year period, so that does sort of change that number a bit.

Uh there's also an amendment that looks like they'll be uh reducing support for parks and recreation services.

Uh at this point, our approach is to uh not take any drastic measures, understanding that the decisions aren't final, uh, but we do have contingency plans uh for how we might address these things.

Some of those plans have been shared informally uh with council during work sessions.

Ideas include uh fees that might be charged to non-town residents, uh changes in service levels such as hour reductions or days when things are operated or availability of programs, um additional ideas are increasing room rentals or uh on the parks and rec side, it could be team or field rental charges.

Um additional ideas are increasing room rentals or uh on the parks and rec side, it could be team or field rental charges.

All of those things would be typically on the table for any kind of uh budget cut scenario, but we don't want to rush into any of this.

Um we just know these are options, we'll await the final decisions, and then we'll take a look at what we might need to do uh to recommend to council some adjustments as we move into the fiscal year.

In the meantime, uh one example of something that we'll probably uh defer action on the additional staff member uh that's approved in this budget for the library.

It wouldn't make a lot of sense to proceed with hiring that position only to have the need to do some service cuts or hour reductions.

Uh so that would that would not be something we would move forward with until we kind of get a handle on where this is all headed.

Is that responsive to your That is?

And so I'm asking you to to go on record just so that the public can follow along.

They have followed along closely with the county, and I want to make sure that they understand they have a sense, right of how your team will respond.

Not the details of it, but what I'm hearing is a, you're going to be patient and wait until the county has passed a budget or any other funding partner, how it impacts ours.

I also am inferring that it you don't expect it to be so drastic that we need to change anything in this budget, that this budget accommodates can accommodate that.

And I think that's important for our public to hear.

Yeah, I think what I would say is our budget is sufficient for us to not have to take any immediate or drastic actions in at this point in time.

Uh depending on how things go, we may need to do something though in the fiscal year.

Okay.

Um but we'll keep a monitor on that.

Okay.

Thank you so much.

Oh go ahead, Councilmember Miller Fushi.

Yeah, I wasn't going to say anything, but I have to ask the question because I think it's along some of the same line, similar line rather, as Councilmember Barry.

Um messaged me saying that the posture is that with this three million dollar fund balance that we can pay for our own library.

Um how do we reconcile that?

What would what is our response to that posture?

Well, I think I would frame it in in an sort of an equity um framework where town residents uh are also county residents.

And so whenever we're looking at the services delivered, uh we need to think about who pays and who benefits.

Um we've tried to operate the library as a community asset when we receive funds from uh other funding partners that other non-town residents uh pay into, then that um gives us the opportunity to share those uh benefits more widely and feel comfortable that that we're equitably uh sharing that resource because other than town residents are paying for it.

But at some point, if that changes so that only town residents are paying for something, then I think we owe it to our taxpayers to make sure that uh we're not subsidizing non-town residents with um free services essentially.

And it's a tough uh thing to have to tell folks who might be benefiting from a service that that uh situation has changed and through no fault of their own, we're gonna have to perhaps consider fees.

Um it's not something that they chose to do, but uh when that circumstance changes, we we need to consider it and and think hard about it and try to be responsible to the folks who pay the bills in this community.

So as the it wherever they land on the county lands two years, three years in terms of um reducing funding for the library.

own we're gonna have to perhaps consider fees um it's not something that they chose to do but uh when that circumstance changes we we need to consider it and and think think hard about it and try to be responsible to the folks who pay the bills in this community so as the it wherever they land on the county lands two years three years in terms of um reducing funding for the library um at which point will we be able to um charge those fees because I think councilmember Noller um you mentioned that state law does not permit us to charge fees if the county is contributing funding in any kind of way and so would it be when all funding completely ceases that that would be on the table so that's a uh legally complex question that I'll defer to the town attorney a bit on but we'll we'll have to uh evaluate that because one one could certainly um well let me let me let me s let me say how we had potentially uh thought this might go uh if the county were to do it over two years do the elimination of funding over two years one thought we had was that we would um that that's 50% less money that we might implement something in January because that's half a year and they've eliminated half of the funding if they do it over three years that sort of changes that calculus um but assuming that uh any amount of funding allow uh would require free service to be provided uh that would change things as well but I might posit this question if the county were to pay us one dollar is that sufficient to gain free services for non-town residents I I don't think so I think we've got some complexity there and the amount of money involved I think must apply to this and we also could choose not to accept the money it's and and and say that that's just not enough and so we're gonna have to go to the fees.

So that those those are the kinds of things we're gonna have to think through over the next few months.

We'll wait to see what the county budget is and then council will need to weigh in once we give you the analysis so you can decide how we're gonna implement this.

Thank you so much for your responses I think is so important the first question that I asked and then this one as well for our community to be able to hear your responses to those so thank you.

I have a question that came from Mayor Pro Tem's question as happens but um the the shift in hours in some of our parks and rec facilities is that something that's happening as part of our new budget or is that in anticipation of the county cutting funding or how did that happen?

No that's really just a service optimization approach that you know staff did some analysis they're in a mind of thinking about these things as they work on their master planning.

They've got some data that help them make some adjustments more adjustments would would be needed if we if we had significant cuts the amount of cuts that are being proposed at this point by the county are fairly nominal it's it's we we would welcome more help so that we can provide service to uh folks who live in the area we we do have several thousand Orange County residents who take advantage of our parks and rec system and they are treated as town residents because of the the subsidy relationship but we are in town also county residents.

Yes we are but the amount of money that we're getting from the county is is is not a lot and again if we we're not really getting anything then we we're probably gonna have to change how non-town residents are treated with with respect to fees.

They'll always be treated courteously but they might have to pay a fee or a different fee.

Okay.

Thank you.

Are any members of the public wishing to speak?

Never signed up okay.

Council any final comments Councilmember Ryan Yeah uh so first I'd like to thank you Ted and to staff for all your hard work I know this is a massive massive job every year and one of the most important things that we do.

So I appreciate all your hard work I support the philosophy behind this budget.

I'll be voting to support it, but I agree with the opinion Councilmember Rivers expressed at our last meeting.

And I personally don't support the added FTE for the library historian position.

And I understand the strategy you're using as it's aligned with the county funded cuts, but with budgets tightening, tightening and core services more expensive than ever, I worry about mission creep away from essential library services, especially in light of our very inadequate budget for acquisitions.

So but that aside, uh I think it's a solid budget.

It's not a reason for me to vote against it.

Um and I think this budget is good stewardship of our community's tax dollars.

Mayor Mayor Pro Tembiri.

Thank you.

I also will be voting to support this.

I so appreciate all of the effort that went into coming up with this budget, and then the ability to explain it to us.

Thank you very much for your patience and for um your fortitude and once again.

This is it.

And I do want to, and I'm I'm grateful that I got to go after Councilmember Ryan, because I appreciate Manager Forez that you are going to look at how to reinvest those resources, what's happening with the library.

Um do we put in a new FTE there or not?

I also know that you're considering how do we manage our human resources.

How do we we have one person who is doing that?

So I want to acknowledge the preciousness of our human resources.

And so as you weigh the fiscal and the human, um, I want to say I recognize that those are both considerations for you.

So thank you.

And if we can't provide another full-time employee, how else can we support that one individual in that um in that section?

Uh burnout is a real thing.

And um we are we are a compassionate group, and so I don't think it'll be easy, but I want to say that I support you at looking at that.

Thank you.

Thank you all.

Um thank you, Amy, and your team for um all the excellent work as always.

I will reiterate that I really am pleased that we're I think um relying less on fund balance and getting on, you know, really um taking additional steps to create a um a sustainable budget for the future is um exciting to me, even if it's not maybe the sexiest topic, but I think it's um I think it is really exciting.

Um we do know how much work goes into all of this and how many questions we have and how many times you get to explain things to us again when we forget.

Um and so um much appreciation to you, Manager Voorhees, and all the staff.

Um and I know that also all the departments have to put in a lot of information in order to um to share their needs and requests.

So I know it's uh it's a full team effort, and um you all uh make it look easy.

So um thank you very much.

And um council, do I have a motion to enact a one with attachments?

So moved uh motion by uh council member Miller Fushi, seconded by Mayor Pro Temberry.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, please say nay.

Motion passes eight to zero.

We have a budget.

Thank you, Mayor Council.

Hey.

Not even the state has been.

We are ahead of the state yet again in passing a budget.

We lapped them.

We literally lapped them.

Yeah.

They are still uh working on last year.

Um they did have a book juggle competition today.

Oh, super.

Well, glad they're taking their work seriously.

Um item number 11 is to open the public hearing regarding the downtown municipal services district, contracted services, and our economic development manager, David Putnam is here to walk us through.

This is the perfect height this time.

John Richardson has been nowhere near that.

That's right.

He's not in the room.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

My name is David Putnam.

I'm your economic development director.

Apologies for the raspiness in my voice.

I'm getting over something.

It's what happens when you got a 16-month-old at home.

She's okay, thankfully.

And I'm here to talk to y'all about the municipal services district this evening.

And we have a public hearing schedule for the contracted services of that district.

And I'm here to get into a little bit of about what that means.

And so, as y'all might have questions that come up towards the end of this, we'll both be able to readily respond to those types of questions so that we can best address them.

So what I'm gonna do is uh talk about the recommended action in the front end, and then I'm gonna bookend it in the back end, and that way you know we stay pretty grounded.

But in between, throughout this presentation, uh I'm gonna share with you kind of big picture what is the municipal services district, and then we'll zoom in to the specific request because I'm sure that is of interest to the public as well.

Uh they probably want to know what this whole thing is and why we're meeting about it today.

Uh so the recommended action that uh I'm asking y'all to do is to open and close the public hearing for the municipal services district, uh contracted services.

So a little bit about this district.

It's a special tax paid by businesses and/or property owners to fund enhanced services in certain areas, specifically of our downtown.

Uh and you are authorized to do this through the general statutes, specifically this provision 16A536, which places restrictions also on the uses of those funds that are generated.

A little bit about our MSD and our municipal services district.

It was approved in 1989, again under the auspice of providing enhanced services to the folks within the district.

And it covers Franklin and Rosemare Streets, and then between Henderson and Merritt Mill.

And if you're like me, I'm a visual person, and so I kind of have to see it.

Uh so I included a map here for uh everybody to look at because when we talk about the municipal services district and our downtown, they're really two different things that coincide.

And so this is the official map of the downtown services district.

Um, and that's important because the if you're inside this box, you pay a special service tax.

If you're not inside the box, you do not pay that tax.

So, how much revenue do we collect from this?

Um, the current MSC tax rate.

I like to break down our tax rate into sort of a plain language.

You know, most we assess properties based on the per 100 dollar value.

Most people don't think per 100 value, people think per dollar.

And so this is that per dollar tax rate that's applied to the MSD.

Um, and then for the fiscal year 27, what we're forecasting is that the total revenues are expected to yield 427,000 dollars.

So we did a ton of engagement um September to December.

We reached, we're actually really proud to say that we reached every business possible, and we did a ton of efforts to try and reach everybody.

Um we came up with these results on what do the stakeholders want to see.

They want a downtown community safety, is their number one first priority.

Cleanliness is their second priority, activation and experience is the third, fourth is landscaping, and fifth is town coordination and communications.

And the cleanliness is bolded because that is the basically the scope of services that we have that's gonna be contracted out and that we're proposing to be contracted out.

So you guys just passed the budget, and big round of applause for that.

That's a heavy lift, and I appreciate all of y'all's leadership.

And when we think about the municipal services district, it sort of has its own micro budget, and this is how um we're planning to budget those revenues.

So we have a portion of it going to landscape and maintenance, which is actually a position inside parks and rack department that's dedicated to providing those services downtown.

We have downtown community safety, and our police department is doing a lot of that work, and this is a very reliable and needed infusion of resources for them to continue doing great work with our downtown and the increased patrol presence.

Contracted services, which we've got parenthesized by cleaning, and that's what we'll get into a little bit more today, and then operations, which is 15,000.

So in total, it's about 427,000.

So about uh we did a competitive bid process for actually selecting the contracted services provider, and we got three respondents.

Uh of those three, we invited two for interviews, and then we uh issued a kind of a preferred vendor notice to the final lowest and best offer, um, which was the downtown Chapel Hill Partnership.

Uh and they are the prime contractor that we would like to select, and then block by block is the subcontractor that they are using to provide some of these enhanced services.

So the scope of that contract, that's that bold, you know, 220,000 in the budget, um, includes sanitation and cleaning of business district, uh modeling our respect values in service delivery, coordinating and collaborating with town staff, and then offering regular performance reports and progress reports for the stakeholders of the district and for the town.

And so again, I would like to uh ask you all to open and close the public hearing for the municipal services district contracted services tonight.

Thank you for your time.

Council, do I have a motion to open the public hearing?

So moved.

Second.

Moved by council member Ryan, seconded by council member Miller Fushi.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, please say nay.

Uh motion is eight to zero.

Unanimous.

Um council questions?

Councilmember Nollert, followed by Councilmember Ryan.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um two brief questions.

One, um, what makes it cheaper to contract externally for cleaning than to perform those activities internally?

And second question, um three bids for this contract doesn't seem like a lot.

Um can you help us understand why that's the number we end up with?

Yeah.

Great question.

So in terms of like why we might be deciding to contract for these services, um, it's a good question.

We take an existing stock of what our capacity levels are internally, what services we have the bandwidth to deliver, versus what services we could maybe optimize with a private contract provider.

And this is one of those services that we've just found to be more enhanced and easily streamlined with a contracted services provider while also providing us the best thing for our buck.

And so through a contract, we're able to really, you know, again, just offer the really uh leverage the town's um fiscal position in a lot better manner than if we were to do it in-house.

Can you be more specific?

Yeah, so what we get with this contract is full-time presence in downtown.

I believe we're up to two.

Um we get two full-time people downtown that are offering these services.

They bring equipment and inventory that the town doesn't have to manage or maintain.

Um, and then we're also not having to you know carry those positions on with this work.

And we still get the oversight that we want, and we get progress reporting and their infrastructure with data collection and other things that they're offering for us.

So, in a way, we're really getting more than if we invest for that services ourselves right now.

Yeah, sure.

Hi, everyone, good evening.

Sarah Potter, you guys all know me.

Um, one thing I was gonna mention too.

I think for the purpose of this fund, contracting out can sometimes make sense because the needs of the district might change over time.

So investing in facilities or equipments and stuff that we might not need in five years doesn't always make sense.

Where a contractor can be a little bit more flexible.

Um, and part of that engagement commitment is to always come back to the folks in that district and ask them if their needs have changed.

Councilmember Ryan.

Yeah, so um I'm having a little bit of a hard time understanding exactly what is in the contract.

So I get that we are going to contract with the downtown partnership.

They will subcontract to block and block for the cleaning services.

We the con and other than that, out of the budget, we spend money for our police.

And there was one other, there were two other items, one of which is operations.

I don't know if that's our operations or if that's the partnership.

That's ours.

Okay.

So presumably the is the partnership getting any money, or are they just a pass through?

So what we do is we package that contract, the 220 to the bidder, and then they um they are providing services as a pass-through, but they're keeping some for administrative functions and operational needs.

And then it's not entirely cleaning services.

Um they're also checking in with the stakeholders of the downtown district.

Um they're providing us with progress reports.

There's some administrative capacity built into the contract that they're able to leverage.

Okay, yeah, and I like the fact that you had metrics on that um on the progress reports.

I think that's that's very useful.

Um again, I know that in the past when we've kind of talked about the municipal services district, there's been there's been some feeling that things were very general, that there wasn't we didn't have a strong direction for the things that we wanted them to do, and sometimes that made having a partner difficult because there wasn't a lot of clarity about what was going on.

I'm still kind of feeling that here.

I don't know what the intent is.

Um I know that when you reached out, you got a lot of different uh different responses, and I see that we're addressing some of those, but and I'll talk about more of this in the comments later, but those other interests I think are important too, and I'm just not seeing them happen in here.

So yeah, so the contract that we're that we've bid out is just for the cleanliness services, and then the town is taking on the rest of the services that are provided here or that are requested here.

So downtown community safety, our police department, and then the collaborations that they have with other entities, we feel pretty adequate to being able to provide those services.

Um activation and experience is offered through uh partnerships like community arts and culture, um, the economic development department, uh collaborating with UNC, those sorts of things, um, landscaping with that one position.

And then town coordination and communications, that's specific to just being able to like call and activate the town and have a ready, reliable person who's available.

And while it's not being addressed in the budget, we do have that person, and that's Sarah Potter, our business vitality manager, and we're constantly you know updating and maintaining and also building those relationships with downtown business stakeholders and the resident stakeholders, the property stakeholders to make sure that their needs are being met.

Yeah, so do you guys get any extra money for say the activation experience?

Does the town get any money out of the MSD for that?

Uh no, we're rolling that into just our current capacity levels of what we can provide.

Um can you explain it in that in a different way?

Sorry.

Yeah.

So when like what we're doing is uh rather than assigning funds from the district, because it's a resource scarce fund, right?

It's only generating 427,000 dollars.

And to address all these needs, we're trying to do that by leveraging the capacities that we've already got internally, that being things like working with community arts and culture a little bit more closely.

So we have regular check-in meetings with them now as a department where we bring together other stakeholders and interests so that we can help meet their needs and help meet the business interest needs.

Um we're regularly checking in with folks from the university to try and do that same thing, and then we're constantly boots on the ground, getting out in front of the businesses and making sure that we're responding to their requests, especially as it relates to activation.

Yeah, but there but you did but there's no extra money in here for you guys for those efforts.

Yeah.

Okay.

Thank you.

Mayor Pro Timberry.

Uh Councilmember Ryan addressed what I was curious about.

And I'm just gonna go with it.

You did a great job of listing what the stakeholders want.

And then on the next slide, you told us um the accounting for the resources, the capital resources that we have.

Are you going to in a different manner articulate how those wants are being addressed, if they'll have to be paused or not?

Because I think it's important.

And this is going to go into our comment.

But I are you going to share it with the stakeholders of how you're addressing their desires, their wants.

And it could be we don't have the capacity for it, but these are the ones that we are addressing.

I'm just curious because it it doesn't necessarily line up with this.

Yeah, it's a good question.

I mean we try our best to communicate how we're achieving these interests through some of the things that we're doing, like the downtown newsletter that we send out.

We're asking this contracted service provider to do uh regular check-ins and engagement with the stakeholders too.

And the intent is to work collaboratively with them so that we can make sure that these things are being reported out on for accountability, right?

And transparency.

And then through those engagements, we're hoping that we collect feedback from the downtown stakeholders and saying, hey, you're not doing enough in this area, or we would really like to see this optimized.

And that's really where more of the collaboration scope of work comes out of that private services contract than just the cleanliness.

Okay.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Um I had a couple questions, David.

Um the first is that it looks like it's a year contract, and I think the previous, well, I don't know what the previous contract was, but I know it was three years, maybe two years, I don't know.

Um, but I'm just wondering why we're doing a year contract.

If well, I I I can really get into a comment, but I'll try to hold it.

Yeah, our uh business, our best business practice is to only do year-by-year contracts.

Um and so this contract that we've currently got drafted is to do one year and then four options of renewal for a year each.

The general statutes allow units of government to contract for up to five years, options included.

And so it's just the practice that the town does to do one year contracts.

Um, but it's not because the previous contract was not a year, right?

I can't speak to the duration of the prior contract, but the way this is structured is while it's a one-year contract with the additional options to renew, we could view it as a five-year, up to a five-year contract, depending on if we were happy with the services.

Sarah, you were I see.

Yeah, the the language is is the same.

So how we've always done it is the bid essentially is valid for five years, and then every year we that the contract gets essentially the partnership would issue a letter to the manager asking to renew that contract and then renew it.

Oh, I see.

So it's not like they're having to correct do much of any.

Yeah, so they don't have to submit a newer proposal or any of that, like administrative work.

It's just the letter, and that's how we've been done in the past too.

Okay, thank you.

That's helpful.

Um I guess the other question is um about what this public hearing is.

I uh I thought that this was coming back on consent or there was something that we were approving, but then maybe not.

So I guess I'm not really clear on what we're doing.

Yeah, so this public hearing is explicitly about the scope of services that are being proposed as offered in the contract, not the vendor, it's not about anything like that.

Yeah, yeah, I understood.

It's um it's just about really I mean this, the contract scope.

Mm-hmm.

And is to provide it's to collect comment on that scope and to see if the public and especially the stakeholders feel like the scope is in accordance with what they had asked us to do.

And so how would you know if they I mean, I guess I'm not I guess I'm from a process standpoint, I'm not really understanding why, like is it that if a bunch of them showed up and said that's wrong, you got it wrong, that's not what I said, or you know, whatever, which I wouldn't anticipate, but then it would somehow change, or I mean I would imagine the council is the partially the vehicle to the public, right?

So if the council is not approving it, then I guess what are we how are we what would be a point at which we would change this?

That's correct, Madam Mayor.

So uh pursuant to the statute, our our town clerk has actually sent out notice to folks within the district to let them know of this public hearing if they wanted to come and ask for a change in scope.

Um the way our delegation resolution of authority is set up is that the town manager has the authority to enter into this contract after this public hearing has occurred.

So if this body were interested in expanding the scope of the contract, or perhaps some of the services we internally provide with staff to expand that to have that scope, we could rebid that out.

Um but this is the current recommendation for that.

Um if we would to want it to change within that next five-year period, the statute also allows for council to expand the scope of the contract to renegotiate.

Um so this is just an opportunity to really double check because there is this special tax for the district to make sure that we're doing what it is uh that the body wants us to do.

And that's okay.

Um give me one second.

And so I guess my only other question is in terms of obviously and I I I think Councilmember Ryan asked this, but I'm not sure I totally understood the answer.

So in terms of the um the things that aren't being contracted for, and some of those are then coming in-house.

I understood that.

Um how do we I guess understand how much effort, how much, how many resources are going to our downtown, given that some are kind of being funneled into our current capacity, some are being contracted with um the downtown partnership and the clean and green, and obviously the you know, 127,000 or whatever is not even close to what the police department actually spends downtown.

Um so I guess partially from you know, a communication standpoint, but also to understand like how are we supporting downtown and vibrancy and and all the things that we all want, you know, how much are we actually investing?

And I guess there are pieces to me where our arts and culture department is not like heavily funded either.

So it doesn't seem like that's gonna just magically happen by having meetings with them.

So where are the you know, how is it all coming together that we're achieving these goals and how much are we actually spending to the how much we're spending question?

I I don't have that number for you all right now, but what I could commit to is working with my peers and try and get a sense for how much we are actually spending.

I can tell you it's well above and beyond the 427 number.

Um yeah, I mean, this is the perplexity of this resource, right?

Like we have a very I mean small downtown district.

And it compared to some of our peers, like Wilmington and you know, Winston Salem, it does not generate the same amount of resources that those districts do.

Um so we we feel like what we're offering is just the way that we can best achieve all those interests, um, especially through this contracted services.

But I you know, I think we're I I think you know this is the ultimate team support.

I hate to fall back on that, but it really is.

I mean, we reach this further together and through those collaborations and just working with this private services contractor, um, the university, community arts and culture, and just trying to find new ways to be innovative and achieve the interests of this district.

I strongly believe that's how we're gonna help to achieve that.

And so what would be the process for enlarging the district?

Because we've talked about many times having it go down.

Um okay, right?

I mean that's been over the years something that we've talked about, and especially with Carolina North, now there's kind of this, you know, so how do we broaden the tax base of of this district?

Yeah, so there's a few ways.

Um you can grow the district and the general statute spell out a specific process and how to do that.

And it involves like engagement with those property owners, petitioning, and then you know, pretty strong um approval lift from this board.

Uh and we can follow up with more specificities on how to do that after this meeting.

But the other way that you can do it is to uh approve more projects in downtown, increase the tax base.

Um and then this has a specific tax rate attributed to it.

It's that 0.00055 number.

And um places in the past have, especially peer communities in North Carolina have looked at we need to right size that number to meet the interests of the downtown or the municipal service district stakeholders.

I see.

Because it's not always downtown.

Some places use it for other business districts, some use it for water and sewer sanitary districts, all sorts of stuff.

Yeah.

I see.

Okay, and I guess then my final final question is in terms of the town coordination and communications, which like obviously Sarah's amazing and is doing is everywhere all the time.

So it's not I get you know, my question is more about how or I think one of the functions that it used to serve, maybe when it was working a little better before we had the like dip and now hopefully we're on the upswing was being able to advocate to the town as opposed to like talking to ourselves.

And so I I'm wondering like who does that then if if Sarah, if the if the team of one who's like, you know, pounding the pavement all the time, which is amazing, but like us talking to ourselves is not quite the idea, right?

So how does that happen?

Well, it's impossible to advocate against yourself, right?

Like that's tough.

Um yeah, I think uh this downtown organization in particular has been through quite a bit of changes, and I think you're right.

I think we're on the uphill climb, which is great.

Um we have two relationships with that group.

One is this private contract relationship, one is as a nonprofit in our downtown area that's representing the interests of some of those merchants and the property owners in that downtown.

And so, you know, I know they're and I say that because they have to have the capacity to handle that type of advocacy work, and I think they're building that right now.

They just put out um a job posting for an executive director style role.

I think they've identified a few people that could take that on, and we would work very closely with that person, but I think they're you know, sort of at that period of rebirth and trying to get their legs stabled again, and um, then they could be in that position to advocate more strongly for the interests of that district.

Um but right now to answer your question about who's doing that work, I think it's a hodgepodge of all of us.

I think the chamber gets involved sometimes.

I think independent merchants get involved.

I think the board members of that group get involved on occasion.

Um and so it's you know, it's gonna be of increasing interest for us to work together and collaboratively with them so we can best meet that interest.

Thank you.

Um are there any members of the public?

There are not.

Okay.

Um council comments?

Uh Mayor Pro Tembi, followed by Councilmember Ryan.

Yeah.

Thank you very much.

Um what I'm hearing is that this was um a step to make sure that we've made it available to the public as opposed to being on the consent.

Um you've answered a lot of our you've answered all the questions that we've posed.

Thank you.

And one thing that I would just stress is help us help you communicate.

Uh that's one concern that I think is shared by all of us.

Communicate the wonderful things that you all are able to do with the investment that the MSD represents, and then the investment that the town puts in as well.

Thank you for this.

Uh council member Ryan.

Yeah, thank you.

Um yeah, thanks to you guys for this good engagement with the district.

Um I think that's that's very useful.

I don't know that I couldn't have told you that that's what they wanted, but it's good to it's good to confirm that.

Um I think for things like this, I think there's a bigger conversation we need to be having at some point.

Um, and this seems to be a time to talk about it.

So I know it's not related to the contract specifically, but I think the scope needs to be not just what the district is interested in, right?

I think council as part of our complete community and as part of just making sure that Chapel Hill in general is a thriving place, has a big interest in what happens downtown as well.

So I'd really like at some point to have that larger conversation about where in terms of a policy direction we really want to go, um, and that can have implications for funding.

So for instance, I clearly, if we want to really do activation downtown and experience, we're gonna need to find money somewhere.

I know it's always been a it's been a dream for a long time to get locked two uh up and running in a different way to be kind of an activated space.

Maybe there's a chance to talk about that in the fall when we talk about fund balance.

But but I'd really like the opportunity at some point for um us to talk with staff and council together and to say, hey, we're what are we really trying to do down here?

Um clearly we want a police presence, we want we want it to be clean, like those, yes, absolutely.

But I think there's there's some bigger things involved.

So uh the only other thing it would have been helpful to me to see a contract, just I think it would have helped me understand the specifics of how you're scoping this a little bit better.

Thank you.

Uh Councilmember Nollard.

Yeah, I want to echo Councilmember Ryan in that uh, you know, these goals are not super surprising.

Um there's a lot of tactics and strategies to reach them, and I I think that things like wayfinding, arts and culture investment, the our development strategy inside of the boundaries of the district to create more money.

Um I think I think we need a much we need to devote more attention to that.

We need to get a plan, we need to be able to broadcast what the plan is.

We need it to look pretty and be simple to explain.

Um, but we I think are are really not optimizing and maximizing the value we can get out of the downtown that we can create for residents who live in it and don't live in it and for businesses that operate in it and don't operate in it.

And I know that we have a statutory requirement that this money be spent primarily to benefit things inside of that boundary, but I I really don't think that we are fully meeting the opportunity we have to be creative about that and to invest in things that meet these goals in uh perhaps slightly less intuitive ways, but that's a communication challenge that it's on us as a as a board and as an organization to uh rise to the occasion of and get creative.

Um so I just want to really say I've in total agreement that we need to we need to dig in on this, and we I think we have a huge opportunity here to create a lot of value uh by a lot of different metrics and definitions, and um I hope this conversation will will stay um at a at a rolling boil.

Uh council member McMahon, followed by Councilmember Miller Fushi.

I want to add my voice to this uh uh my council members who are saying the same thing.

You know, downtown uh has a lot of opportunity, it's the heartbeat here.

A lot of our residents have fond memories of downtown.

They're wondering how downtown can be a place for them again.

Um I'm excited to have this conversation in the future to get at some of the bigger picture things that are exciting for everybody in town and also opportunities for us.

So yes to this conversation.

Thank you.

Councilmember Miller Fushi.

Thank you, Mayor.

I know we're we've passed the question, we're in comments, but I just wanted to refresh my memory a little bit when we returned back from Ann Arbor.

Um, I believe as a council, we had a little bit of an opportunity with you, working with you, um, to talk about um what we saw on that inner city visit um and to express um some of our interests and what that meant for our own downtown.

And so um while the purpose of this um presentation from you this this afternoon was to discuss um this this contract and to allow the public to come and speak to it.

What may have potentially been helpful is to um alongside what stakeholders have have presented and what they wanted, um, how that um ducktails with what you've and what we as a board have talked about in the past about what we wanted to see in our downtown.

And so I think being able to thread that needle would have been helpful as I'm listening to my colleagues and some of their interests or whatever, and having two new council members who I don't believe you all were on involved in those conversations, and so um potentially being able to revisit um some of the interests that council has had um been able to express that we have talked about and threading that needle and how that drives with um the stakeholders um would have maybe been um helpful.

I don't know.

Um, but I understand the purpose of you know what the presentation was intended to do this evening.

Um so thank you for providing this and presenting to us.

I especially appreciate it.

The extra um the added materials that came in later for us to take a look at.

So thanks.

Yes.

Okay, I'll uh I'll add on to that.

I think um council member Miller Fushi is absolutely right.

We we did some really good, we started some good work um in our council committee on economic sustainability, and we started.

I remember um and I asked for it at some point a while ago, and you sent it to me.

The the white boards that had people's ideas, and I I thought that was um a really great start, and I think um pulling continuing that and pulling that together and creating again.

I think I've said strategic plan in the past because that's the way my mind works, or I guess that's the the word that I think is appropriate, but I don't necessarily mean like a full-blown, you know, weeks and weeks of engagement with us on a strategic plan.

But I just think it's really, really important that we kind of pull it together and create that vision and strategic path forward, or however we want to talk about it with you.

Um, so that we can also, yeah, figure out how we want to move forward, where are their opportunities?

Because I think it it's a really good reminder that I didn't think of myself.

Like, yes, of course, we can increase the tax rate, we can also um increase density downtown, we can go around the corner, like those things all have you know merits and challenges, right?

But like I think generally thinking about how are we moving forward, and then this is kind of a small piece of that, right?

Is this not they can't do it all, and but I think you know what I'm really hoping is they can take on more in the future.

Umce I I think that really exciting downtowns often do have a really strong external group, and then of course they get to work with our very strong internal group, so it's not that it's you know, it needs both.

And so I'm really hoping in the fall that we can have a bigger conversation about where we're going downtown and signal that to people and help people inside and outside of downtown understand where we're trying to go and how they can be part of that and how kind of what we want them to come to us with if they're interested in doing something more exciting with their property or you know, whatever the case may be.

Um, I think there's just so much opportunity down there, and it is um it's it needs to be a really exciting place.

Um, and I I think with all the activity happening with Carolina Sports and all the other things going on, there's a really I think it's a good time for us to um dig in and figure out really like what does this look like and how are we gonna get people to to you know engage and do the things we need them to do for it to be the place that it should be.

Um so thank you.

I um I think this is uh you've heard from us, nobody from the public.

I guess we are the public.

Um but uh thank you very much for this, and um we are looking forward to continuing to work with um the downtown partnership and hope uh even though they're not here, I'm sure we're all uh cheering for them and ready to um continue to work on making downtown a really great place.

So thank you very much.

Yes.

Uh do I have a motion to close the public hearing?

Yes, I'm uh moved by council member McMahon.

Uh woo, seconded by Mayor Pro Temberry.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, please say nay.

Those two are definitely a yes down there.

Uh motion passes eight to zero.

Um council, it's still light outside.

We are done with our agenda, which is very exciting.

Thank you for all your hard work and our budget is the most important thing we do all year.

So well done, everybody, and congratulations.

And we will see you one more time before summer break next week here.

Same time, same place.

Have a great night.

Meeting is adjourned.