Who is joining us by phone?

Councilmember, can you hear us?

Councilmember Hare, can you hear us?

Yes, sir.

All right.

Good good to hear you.

All right, Council, with every meeting we start typically after the call to order with the invocation, we ask that we would please stand.

Ask the Pastor Chris Covington of Country Club Drive Church of Christ.

Come.

I know got my brother in instead.

So Pastor will get you to lead us.

Yes, sir.

Shall we pray?

Mighty and merciful Father in heaven, we're grateful and thankful that you allowed us to be here tonight.

We're thankful for everyone that has come out here, Father, with an interest in this community.

We're praying tonight, Father, for the mayor.

We're praying for the council that they will work together, Father, for the betterment of this community here.

We're praying that their efforts will be fruitful, that they will be productive.

We're praying, Father, that they will be united together as one as they have a vision for this community here.

We pray uh, Father, that we as a people, as diverse as we are, different backgrounds and different places where we come from, Father, we pray that we will stand behind them, rally behind them and support them in this effort that we might make the city of Fayetteville a thriving community once again.

And it is in the Jesus' name that we do humbly pray this prayer.

Amen.

Amen.

Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God, individual with liberty and justice for us.

Thank you for that.

Uh Pastor, you want to give us a few words about you.

I know you guys are doing some great work in the community over there at the church of Christ.

You want to tell us a little bit about yourself and your ministry in the ministry.

Uh yes, is it okay if I turn and face her?

Yes, sir.

Yeah, probably I'll say about three, four years ago, we had a vision to actually build a community center.

Uh many of you know that during that time COVID came, the social distancing, many people didn't know what was going on, shutting down businesses, schools closing, even some church doors was closing.

So people didn't think it was a wise decision, but we were trusting God in the process.

And lo and behold, four years later, we got the center up, and we do have a strong commitment to the community, especially our youth.

So there's a lot of things that we have going on there.

We have showers in that community center.

Uh we have partnered with the boys and girls club there.

As a result of partnering with them, we were able to actually start a summer program.

So we started it last year.

Uh, and we uh actually got 54 kids uh last year.

The parents were so excited about that, they loved it, and so we're looking forward to it again this year to have even more kids.

We also have an open gym night on Wednesday nights where we bring the youth in off the streets, uh at risk kids, and they come in there and they play ball and things of that nature.

So we just have quite a few things that are going on.

God is really blessing that work there, and we're just looking to do greater things for the community of Fayetteville, and so that's our story.

And uh, you know, he was a bit modest.

Uh I actually had opportunity to go over there and to see it in action.

And not only do they have a gymnasium where these kids are playing, they have a game room for kids who don't play, so it's full of computers.

They have computers that they do their homework, they have classrooms, and they have a whole plethora of uh services.

And so I just want to commend you all for what you're doing.

They they stepped out on faith on their own dime and and uh we tried to marry them up with some of the city programs for for some of that, and I hope that's going well, so we'll check in with you.

But we we thank you for what you're doing.

So all right, council, as we move to the next item, announcements.

This one is a little tough, so uh I will ask our illustrious clerk, Miss Pam McGill, to meet me at the podium, please.

Well, council and to to the public.

Um, you know, if you really want to know who runs the city government, it's this lady right here and Jennifer.

Um for the last 12 years, uh, when I came here, um, Miss Pam has been the same.

She's professional every day, she takes her job seriously.

Um the the historical notes and minutes that come out of everything that we say that's into the history of the city.

public um you know if you really want to know who runs the city government is this lady right here and jennifer and uh for the last 12 years uh when i came here um this pam has been the same she's professional every day she takes her job seriously um the the historical notes and minutes that come out of everything that we say that's into the history of the city uh she's responsible for certifying that that is the case and we're gonna miss her she certainly put her time in uh I'm gonna miss her because tonight's weekends or or whenever you need her um she's always there and she's done an excellent job in city first and making sure that we have one of the best administrative teams uh in in the country I I would I would dare to say uh highly certified and and so I don't want to take this moment but I do want to give council opportunity to speak because I know all of you have your individual uh relationships with Ms.

Pam and then we will turn over to her but before we do that uh Miss Pam you make sure everybody is taken care of all the time and so the highest honor and the the way that we can say thank you on behalf of the city council and and all the citizens of this city that have been taken care of for oh actually how many years later so but uh a lot there on behalf of the Federal City Council um and the citizens of Fairville North Carolina our city key and cohen are proudly presented to Pamela McGill and grateful recognition of her dedicated interest and untiring commitment to the citizens of Fayetteville thank you for dedicating over 13 years of service in the city of Fairville as the city clerk from September 12th 2011 to January 31st of 2025 so we say thank you.