The Fayetteville City Council held its regular meeting on Monday, January 12, 2026, at 6:30 PM in the Council Chamber. The meeting opened with an invocation and recognitions, followed by the city manager's report, a public forum, approval of the consent agenda (with two items pulled for separate discussion), and reports on the audit committee and strategic performance. Key decisions included a loan subordination for an affordable housing project, issuance of $40 million in general obligation bonds, and acceptance of annual and quarterly performance reports.
Good evening, everyone. We would like to call our January twelfth, twenty twenty-six meeting order. Welcome those who are joining us uh back for our first official city council meeting of the year of twenty twenty-six. Thank you for your patience. But we appreciate you hanging in there with us. Uh with that, we'll get right star. We'll get started right away with the invocation. Look at Rabbi Stein. Welcome, sir. Thank you for uh joining us this evening. Exit all would please stand for the prayer by Rabbi, and then uh immediately following, we'll repeat the Pledge of Allegiance together. Thank you. Of those from every corner of the globe and every walk of life, may we always see this diversity, not as a challenge to be managed, but as a divine spark that fuels our innovation and our empathy. Grant the members of this council the wisdom to remember that every person, regardless of their role, their title, or their origin, possesses the power to make a substantial difference for good in this brand new year. From the citizen voicing a concern to the leader casting a vote, remind us that small acts of integrity and kindness are the foundation of a great city. Speak with the intent to heal, and decide with the intent to uplift the most vulnerable among us. Bless the city, its residents, and those who protect its peace. So, family full of service. Thank you for your service to the nation and to our community. So let's give Rabbi a round of applause, please. All right, council. Moving to our announcements, uh, we do have a uh congratulations is in order for Mr. Alex Baker. Where is Alex? Mr. Baker. He's not here. He's gonna step out on us and we're gonna give him a little give him his flowers. But uh, Mr. Baker, uh, who is uh uh he's assistant director of our uh economic and community development, uh, is being sworn in as a district representative for the Lumby uh tribal council uh on Thursday, and so we want to uh give him our congratulations for this. And we know uh Lumby Tribe, we recognized uh their compassments last week um about the federal recognition. So uh Mr. Baker, we thank him for representing us. We thank him for his representation on the tribal council and look forward to uh great things and continued collaboration uh as the Lumbies move into their federal federal position for this region. So thank you if y'all can pass that along. Let's give Mr. Baker in his absence a round of applause. All right, and counsel with that. I will uh we'll move to our recognitions. I'll go to Councilmember Jones and ask that Miss Caitlin Shepherd would come to the podium. Good evening, Ms. Shepherd. Good evening. All right, Councilmember Jones, I'll turn it over to you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I have a special young lady uh that's standing here with me on tonight. I have a great respect for all of our educators, and I want to definitely express that on tonight. So, in recognizing the importance of education in our community and the great work that our educators do, it is part of my responsibility to demonstrate my sincere appreciation for such. And tonight is one of those times.