The Fayetteville City Council met on September 23, 2024, at 6:30 PM in the Council Chamber. The meeting included proclamations, reports from commissions, a public hearing on annexation, a budget ordinance amendment for a French exchange program, and a discussion on renewing the ShotSpotter gunshot detection contract. The council approved the annexation, tabled the exchange funding, and approved a one-year renewal of ShotSpotter.
Who join us in person, those who are tuning in remotely. With every meeting, we always start with the invocation. We're honored to have the Bishop E. B. Herman himself here with us to give give the prayer. So if we wouldn't mind if we could all please stand as uh Bishop Herman praise, immediately following the prayer if we could do the Pledge of Allegiance in unison. Bishop. How are you? Thank you, Pastor. First of all, I want to say good evening to the Honorable Mayor and to the esteemed members of this council. Thank you very much to all honored guests that are present and to the residents of our vibrant community. Father, we are assemble here this evening from diverse backgrounds and unique perspectives. And we acknowledge that we're we're assembled here not just to dialogue but to formulate and implement the governing decisions that only affect this present generation, this present residents, but also respective communities and the future that's coming as well. I ask you tonight that you help us as we all approach not only tonight's meeting, but also all future meetings with open minds, compassionate hearts for all people, irrespective of our gender, ethnicity, or even economic status, and that you grant to this council the wisdom, the foresight, the courage, and the strength that's needed to make the right decisions that will first of all glorify you and continue to uplift our communities and the future generation in what seems to be very challenging times that we're living in. May this meeting be guided by the spirit of integrity, unity, and respect and collaboration as we seek solutions for any present or future challenges that we may face as a community. Again, I thank you for granting and gracing this team of exceptional gifted leaders, the ability to work together in collaboration and maintaining the necessary respect for each other towards the continued fulfillment and successful advancement of our communities. May our efforts be blessed with success and continued growth and advancement. And we thank you for this and we petition you, dear God, in the name that's above every name. Amen. Thank you, Bishop Herman. And uh many of us know you, but do you mind telling us a little bit about yourself and your ministry at Harvest? Oh, I'm I'm honored to be the senior pastor, the bishop at Harvest Family Church, and our church is in district number six under the guidance of great Derek Thompson there. We've been in existence uh a little over 30 30 plus years, and we're here just not to be a church, but we're here to serve our community and serve this entire wonderful neighborhood. Thank you, Bishop. Thank you. Appreciate your work that you're doing in this community. Thank you for joining us tonight. Council, as we move to the announcements, uh asked that uh Miss Terry Thomas of the Vision Resource Center. Is she present? Hey. Okay, all right. Well, good evening, sir and and ma'am and and sir. Good evening, good evening, good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Okay. Ready? Okay. Uh how you doing there, Mr. Mayor, City Council. My name is Quincy Hamford. I reside at 714 and will drive in the beautiful neighborhood of Tiffany Pines. Yes, sir. Um coming here with uh Vision Resource Center with Terry Thomas is the director. We are the visionaries, and um we come before you to let you know that uh October is uh uh blindness awareness month, and it just lets you know that um some of the things that we go through as blind people and let you know that we are here and we're on the map. Um on October 15th, we'll be um down at the uh Fairville Rafert Road VA represent uh uh having um it's gonna be White Cain Day, and so we're gonna be there um at the VA. Yours truly gonna be the DJ, so we ask that you come out there and uh have a good time, listen to some good music and uh interact with some of uh us so you know uh y'all can you know realize that we are uh people you know and that you know, and that we come from various um backgrounds and we have a lot to offer. Um also we have what you call the um and uh Terry and uh Paco stand up, visionaries. Um also um the we have a braille trail out there, walking trail out there at the VRC, and we want to thank uh city council for making donations. We ask that y'all come out there sometime, coordinate with Terry, and come out there and uh walk the braille trail.