Greensboro City Council Special Meeting: December 8, 2025
Greensboro City Council Special Meeting: December 8, 2025
The Greensboro City Council convened a special meeting on December 8, 2025, in the Katie Dorset Council Chambers. The council immediately voted unanimously to enter a closed session to review a recording release. Upon returning to open session, the agenda included arts presentations, a One City, One Book segment, the Women's Equality Day luncheon and Ruth Wicker Tribute to Women inductions, a water resources budget overview, a Veterans Day recognition, a local business feature, and the 118th Police Academy graduation. The meeting was adjourned following a motion made by Councilmember Holston, seconded by Councilmember Crawford.
Consent Calendar
- The council held a single action item prior to the open session, which was a unanimous vote to enter closed session.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments from citizens outside of the presented agenda items are recorded in the transcript.
Presentation Items and Recognitions
Closed Session Motion
- Councilmember Thurms moved, and Councilmember Black seconded, a motion to enter closed session pursuant to NCGS 143-318.11(a)(10) to view a recording release. The motion passed unanimously.
Arts and Culture: Grow Residency
- Janita Chase and Hassan Pitts of the collective Signal to Noise presented the upcoming Grow Residency (November 6 – December 15). The project is an immersive video installation remixing archival footage from the Greensboro History Museum with contemporary city footage.
One City, One Book: My Father's List
- Author Laura Carney, featured as part of the community read program, presented her book My Father's List. She discussed losing her father to a distracted driving crash, finding his 60-item bucket list, and completing it over six years. She advocated for intentional living and "bucket listing" as a way to heal from grief.
Women's Equality Day and Ruth Wicker Tribute Inductions
- The meeting featured the annual luncheon and induction ceremony. Commission on the Status of Women Chair Pam McAdoo Rogers highlighted the commission's key initiatives and the “2022 Women of Greensboro Report.”
- Four inductees were honored for their contributions to the community: Starlina Green (founder of Real Life Inc., supporting families and single parents), Mayor Nancy Vaughan (recognized for her 12 years as Mayor and economic development advocacy), Julia Walker (estate planning attorney developing community resources), and Rachel Wilson (recording artist and founder of Girl Talk International, a faith-based nonprofit).
- Keynote speaker Pastor Leah McNair delivered an address focused on resilience and creating local impact, telling inductees to “change your zip code” before trying to change the world.
Water Resources Budget Overview
- City staff presented a detailed breakdown of water services revenue allocation. Statistics highlighted include more than 490,772 water quality tests performed annually and management of over 1,500 miles of pipe. Per dollar spent: 30% goes to water supply, 29% to water reclamation, 6% to stormwater management, and 18% to loan repayment.
Veterans Day Recognition
- The meeting featured the Veterans Day Parade and the American Legion's call for the community to conduct “buddy checks” with veterans, especially during the holiday season.
Local Small Business Highlight
- Chef Net, founder of Elica Treats, presented her non-dairy frozen dessert business. The business uses Middle Eastern and Indian-inspired flavors (cardamom, saffron, pistachio) and sources local produce. Chef Net highlighted her participation in the Greensboro Chamber’s accelerator program.
118th Police Academy Graduation
- Police Chief John Thompson presided over the graduation of 25 recruits from the 118th Police Academy.
- Awards presented:
- Highest Academic Achievement: Recruit Pickett (92.99% overall average)
- Captain Dan Moore Memorial Physical Fitness & SCAT (Subject Control Arrest Techniques) Awards: Recruit Irkson
- Instructor Award: Detective Gregory Lehman
- Michael G. Winslow Memorial Award (highest honor, peer-selected): Recruit Marlowe Wood
- Recruit Peppers delivered the class address, emphasizing duty, the brotherhood forged through significant personal and physical adversities, and a commitment to service. He specifically acknowledged recruit Tate, who was injured and could not graduate, as being at the heart of the class.
Key Outcomes
- The council voted unanimously to enter closed session.
- Four women were inducted into the Ruth Wicker Tribute to Women.
- 25 recruits graduated from the 118th Police Academy and received various awards.
- A motion to adjourn open session was made by Councilmember Holston, seconded by Councilmember Crawford, and carried.
Meeting Transcript
Welcome to the special meeting of the Greensboro City Council. Today is Monday, December 8th, 2025. We are in the Katie Dorset Council Chambers. And I will ask someone to read the motion for closed session. I move that the council enter closed session pursuant to NCGS 143-318.11 a 10 to view recording release pursuant to GS 132-1.4. Do you want to hear a second? A second. That is moved by Miss Thurms, seconded by Miss Black. All in favor, please say aye. Thank you. We shall return after the closed session. My name is Janita Chase. And I am Hassan Pitts, and together we have been working underneath the moniker of SN for many years as an interdisciplinary multimedia artist sound video and everything else. And we look forward to inviting you into the Grow Residency from November 6th until December 15th. Well, we're trying to um do an immersive video-based uh installation that we hope will um connect largely with movement and uh remix a little bit of archival footage from the Greensboro History Museum and contemporary everyday Greensboro footage that we've been collecting for the last several months. I think there's that that dual duality of being able to like replicate reality, but then also be able to like play manipulate create with the lens through the lens. Uh that's always been particularly interesting. You can find us online at signal to noise.com, and we are signal to noise on Instagram as well. It kind of sounds like the premise of a book, right? Well, it is, but it's also a whole lot more than just printed pages. Laura Carney is a journalist and author, and she's finishing up a two-week stay in Greensboro as part of one city one book community read. Hello, and welcome. Hi, it's so nice to be here. Good to have you with us. Okay, let's start by just talking a little bit about you. What were you like as a little girl? Oh gosh, I was very shy, very pensive. Um, I was in um accelerated classes from a young age and very academic, and I just love to draw all day long, basically. And I played a lot of sports. I was a tomboy too. A reader and writer as a child. Oh, big time. I started reading my mom claims I was three, but I don't remember. Okay, wow, that's impressive. I'm guessing that your parents read to you as a child a lot. Yes, a lot. Yeah, my grandmother too. Oh, that's great. All right, so tell us about your dad, because this is this is leading somewhere. Tell us about your dad. Um, oh, my dad uh was uh a writer himself, and he was a salesman by day, and he actually uh sits he sung and he was a comedian in nightclubs. That night's a lot, yeah. What was that like uh growing up with him like doing all those things? Oh he you know, he just was one of those people who uh sang more than he spoke and was always on, always entertaining everybody, always always making jokes all the time. Yeah, very charismatic. I I'm picturing him making up songs uh about you guys when it you know, just the getting ready song or the breakfast song. Yeah, well, you know, there actually wasn't a lot of that because my parents divorced when I was six. So I would see him twice a week. But it was always very um undivided attention from him when we did see him. I love that.
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