Gastonia City Council Meeting June 4 2024: Budget, Ward 1, and Storm Response
Gastonia City Council Meeting – June 4, 2024
The Gastonia City Council met on June 4, 2024, at 6:00 PM in the City Council Chamber. The meeting included the adoption of the FY 2025 budget, a public hearing on a street closure, updates on storm response from the May tornadoes, and the process to fill the vacant Ward 1 council seat. The council also approved a $300,000 budget amendment for mutual aid storm costs and voted 5–1 to place a referendum on the November ballot to restore at-large voting for all council seats.
Consent Calendar
- Approved Proclamation recognizing National Pollinator Week (June 17-23, 2024).
- Approved Resolution to recognize additional hotel occupancy tax ($150,000) to the Gastonia Tourism Development Authority with budget amendment.
- Awarded contract to Willis Engineers for Duhart Pump Station and Force Main Project (not to exceed $490,000).
- Adopted resolutions directing the clerk to investigate a petition and setting a public hearing for annexation of 229.3 acres on Camp Rotary Road (June 18, 2024).
- Accepted April 2024 Monthly Financial Report.
- Supported grant application to U.S. DOT Active Transportation Infrastructure Investment Program for the Garrison LEARNS Project.
- Voted to cancel the July 2, 2024 City Council meeting.
Public Comments & Testimony
Eight citizens spoke during the public expression period (limited to four minutes each).
- Clark Simon: Expressed concern about State Representative Donnie Loftus's letter influencing the Ward 1 appointment, calling it inappropriate and urging the council to make an independent decision.
- Mark Sollers: Criticized the proposed FY2025 budget, citing a $50 million increase, higher utilities and trash fees, and excessive spending on city government expansion. Proposed cuts to non-essential spending and economic development grants.
- Roberta Fail: Advocated for appointing Robert King to the Ward 1 seat, noting he won the majority of votes in the 2021 election and is highly qualified. Argued Mr. King is not being given a fair chance.
- Mike Tamborella: Stated citizens cannot afford the $50 million budget increase and called the budget proposal shameful.
- Jack Kaiser: Urged the council to follow the process for the Ward 1 appointment without outside political pressure, and highlighted that the charter change reduced his voting power by 83%.
- Jessica Torres (Bessemer City resident): Complained about predatory towing from her mobile home park, high fees ($1,910 to retrieve vehicles), lack of water quality, and tornado damage not being addressed by management.
- Ashland Holland (Hickory Village resident): Detailed similar towing issues, raw sewage, dirty water, 50% rent increases, and lack of repairs. Said vehicles are towed to South Carolina and charged exorbitant fees.
- Raquel Vargas (Hillside Village resident): Described towing harassment, high cash-only payments (up to $3,500), threats of eviction from management, and inadequate parking. Urged the council for help.
Discussion Items
- Street Closure (H.1): Public hearing on closing an unopened portion of West Harrison Avenue. No public comments. Staff recommended approval. The council approved unanimously.
- FY 2025 Budget Adoption (H.2): City Manager Michael Peoples presented the $346 million budget, noting a general fund increase of about 6%, no tax rate increase (rate reduced to 47 cents), and a 7.5% water/sewer fee increase and $3/month solid waste fee increase. Council discussed the complexity of the budget and that the $50 million increase includes capital projects and pass-through grants. The budget for operating, capital projects, and CDBG was approved unanimously.
- Consolidated Fee Schedule (H.3): Approved the FY2025 fee schedule, including water/sewer (7.5% increase), solid waste ($3/month), parks and recreation increases, and utility deposit changes. Council noted fees remain competitive. Approved unanimously.
- Storm Response Update & Budget Amendment (H.4): City Manager presented drone footage and photos of tornado damage from May storms. Over 18,000 electric customers were without power; 30+ poles broken; Bradley Park and Sims Park severely damaged. A budget amendment of $300,000 was approved to pay mutual aid costs from Rock Hill, Gaffney, and Concord electric departments. Approved unanimously.
- Ward 1 Vacancy Appointment Process (H.5): City Attorney Ashley Smith outlined the process. Each council member submitted their top four choices. The top five candidates were selected for interviews: Robert King, Chad Gorley, Pierre Crawford, Joe Raimi, and Demetrius Kay. The interview order was drawn: 1) Robert King, 2) Chad Gorley, 3) Joe Raimi, 4) Pierre Crawford, 5) Demetrius Kay. The special meeting for interviews was set for June 17, 2024, at 5:30 PM in the council chamber. Council also set a June 12, 2024, at 5:00 PM deadline for submitting interview questions to the city attorney.
- City Attorney's Report - Referendum on Voting System: Discussion on placing a referendum to restore at-large voting for all council seats on the November ballot. Council members expressed concerns about the state delegation's actions. A motion to proceed with the referendum passed 5–1. Council directed the city attorney to prepare a resolution of intent for the next meeting.
Key Outcomes
- Unanimously adopted the FY 2025 annual budget (operating, capital projects, and CDBG).
- Unanimously approved the FY 2025 consolidated fee schedule with water/sewer and solid waste fee increases.
- Unanimously approved a $300,000 budget amendment for storm-related mutual aid costs.
- Selected five candidates to interview for the Ward 1 council vacancy; interviews set for June 17, 2024.
- Voted 5–1 to place a referendum on the November ballot to change the city council election system back to at-large voting.
- Directed the city attorney to draft a letter to county commissioners and the state delegation regarding predatory towing issues raised by public speakers.
- Council directed staff to explore alternative payment methods (cash) at the Urban Center pool after children were turned away due to cashless policy.
Meeting Transcript
On behalf of the city council and myself, I'd like to welcome you to our June 4th, 2024 meeting. Uh I will now call the meeting to order. At this time, we'll have the invocation, and Councilman uh Charles Odom will uh say the invocation. If you're inclined to bow with us, Father Cod, in your precious name we come today. Thank you for so many blessings, oh Heavenly Father, life, health, and strive, a reasonable portion of mine, oh Heavenly Father. We just so grateful and so thankful. Thankful that you have brought us to this appointed place at this time, oh Heavenly Father. For the business of this city, oh Heavenly Father. We pray that we would just act accordingly as you would have direct us to O Heavenly Father, and your will be done as always, O Heaven Father. Lord, I pray that you would just guide us and lead us as you lead this city, O Heaven and Father, and as we govern this city, oh heaven and father, we ask that we we will always keep our citizens in mind and those who are most important, Lord. I pray that you would just protect our firefighters, uh policemen, uh staff members of Heaven and Father, and just all citizens, and just thank you for those that survived the storms that we had in the past few weeks of Heaven and Father. A lot of damage was done, a lot of uh things happened during that time, but Lord, you gave us strength to survive, and we're grateful, and Lord, we just pray that you just bless and keep us in Jesus' name. We do pray, Amen. Councilwoman Steph will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the five of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Each of you should have your agenda in front of you. Are there any corrections, additions, or deletions to the agenda as presented? Motion to adopt is presented. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Okay, we have a second by councilman odom. All those in favor. It's unanimous. Next on the agenda is approval of the minutes from the regular city council meeting on May the 21st, 2024. Do we have a motion to approve the minutes? I move that we approve the May 21st minutes. Second. We have a second by Councilwoman Step. All those in favor. It's unanimous. Next up, we have presentations. And the first one I'm gonna call Adrian Miller, Assistant City Manager up to uh carry this out. But I would like to uh read something before he starts. We're all excited about each of you being here, and this is from myself and the city council. We are all excited about each of you being here and hope that your experience with the city is productive and rewarding. I would ask that you come to the podium and introduce yourself, which Adrian is gonna do, and we'll go from there. And we all thank y'all for interning with us this summer. So thank you, Mr. Mayor and members of the council. Uh it's my pleasure to introduce our seven summer interns. These are a fantastic group of students uh from a variety of colleges. Uh they started about two weeks ago or so and already just hit the ground running and and working in cohorts and doing some great research projects for us. So we're looking forward to working with them over the summer. Uh and we're going to take advantage of them and certainly get our money's worth, and then hopefully uh hopefully they get a valuable internship. So I will let them introduce themselves to you. Yes. Good evening. I am Lenatia Adams. I am a rising senior at North Carolina State University studying political science and criminology, go pack. And um, I chose to uh apply for this internship so that I can learn more about uh local government day-to-day operations, as it might be something that I'm interested in later in my career aspirations.
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