The Fayetteville City Council held a regular meeting on February 9, 2026, at 6:30 PM in the Council Chamber. The meeting began with an invocation, pledge of allegiance, and special recognitions for the E.E. Smith Golden Bull swim team (Eastern Sand Hills Conference champions), the Fairville Guard 6U Titans (national youth football champions ranked 5th), and Dr. Aaron Johnson (founder of the ministerial council and former council member). The agenda included a public forum, consent agenda with multiple pulled items, reports, public hearings, and staff presentations.
910-222. The council had a close session discussion upstairs and it caused us to be delayed, but we appreciate your patience. We have a full house tonight. Glad to see you in the midst with us. Glad those who are joining us remotely. I see the little baby wants to come up and run to meetings. Glad to hear that. Let you know we're still alive and hear when you hear baby voices. So with that, we'll ask Reverend Gail Tabor from Crossroads Church if uh Reverend Tabor will come. If we could all please stand for the invocation. Uh immediately following the invocation, we ask that we repeat the Pledge of Allegiance. Good evening, Reverend Taylor. Good evening. Tabor. Pray with me, y'all. Holy one. As we gather to do the work of governance, we pause in gratitude for the gift of living in this community that we call home for all of its people, its neighborhoods and its rivers and green spaces, and for the responsibility we share to care for one another. Grant this body wisdom as they steward the resources of this city. Guide in moments of challenge and uncertainty, that decisions may be made with integrity, courage, and compassion. May vision always be shaped by the common good, with particular care to those who are most vulnerable among us. When opinions differ, grant a spirit of unity. Help us to listen deeply, to speak respectfully, and to work together, not as competing interests, but as partners committed to the well-being of Fayetteville and the surrounding community. May a spirit of cooperation and mutual respect fill this room and ripple outward into our city and into our country and around the world. In a changing world, we pray for these council members for all those who serve our community at every level. Grant them wisdom and leadership, steadfastness and commitment to justice, fairness, and joy for their work, along with personal peace. Bless the conversations and decisions before us today that they may serve all who live, work, and serve in greater fateable area in all the names of the one we call holy. Amen. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. Thanks to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God and indivisible with liberty and justice all. Reverend Tabor, uh, you want to tell us a little bit about yourself and your ministry at Crossroads. Absolutely. So I'm Gail Tabor. I am the pastor of uh Crossroads. We are right off of uh Ramsey Street on MacArthur, and uh we worship at 10 a.m. each Sunday morning. We are a church dedicated to justice, dedicated to serving God and serving our community. We have a food pantry that we run um a couple of times a month to for to serve those who are in need of um of food. We believe in grace. We believe that uh we're a United Methodist Church, which is generally rooted in grace. Well, we thank you for that. We all can stand a little bit of that. Let's give Reverend Tabor around applause. Thank you. Thank you for joining us. Uh Council, with that, we have some special recognition. So we uh have I'll go over to Councilmember Jones. Could I have the E.E. Smith swim team come up, please? All right. Look at these golden bulls here.