The Wilmington City Council met in regular session on Tuesday, February 18, 2025, at 6:30 PM at City Hall in Wilmington, North Carolina. The meeting included consent agenda approvals, public comment on dog leash law enforcement, three public hearings for unfit dwellings all owned by the same family heirs, approval of a Justice Assistance Grant, and council appointments. All votes were unanimous (7‑0).
Three properties owned by the heirs of George Benjamin Age Sr. were considered. Staff recommended 90‑day compliance periods; the family requested 180 days to resolve heir disputes through a partition action.
PH1: 804 Russell Alley – Estimated repair cost $34,945 (59% of tax value). The property was recently vacated; dogs had been removed. Heirs Pamela Age, Keisha Millett, and Timothy Age spoke about challenges with a non‑cooperative heir and their efforts to obtain legal partition. Council approved the ordinance with a 180‑day extension (motion by Spears, second by Andrews) and waived second reading.
PH2: 905 Wooster Street – Estimated repair cost $79,318 (156% of tax value). The property is vacant with a collapsed roof and no utilities. Heirs acknowledged demolition is likely. Council approved the ordinance with the staff‑recommended 90‑day period (motion by Rivenbark, second by Andrews) and waived second reading.
PH3: 909 Wooster Street – Estimated repair cost $67,136 (188% of tax value). The property has been vacant for about 10 years; extensive roof and water damage. Heirs requested 180 days. Council approved the ordinance with a 180‑day extension (motion by Mayor Pro‑Tem Barnett, second by Spears) and waived second reading.
Okay. Call the meeting to order the Wilmington City Council. I'd like to welcome all those who are with us here this evening and all those are watching us at home. Thank you for taking an interest in your government. This time I'd like to introduce Chaplain Leona Jones of the Wilmington Police Department for the invocation and ask everyone to stand and remain standing afterwards for the Pledge of Allegiance. Chaplain Jones. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you. For this is the day that you have made. I pray for the meeting on tonight. Thank you, O Lord God. Give our council members wisdom and guidance as they deliberate on the issue before them. That it will be done in decent and order. We thank you for this great city. We thank you for the peace in the city, and we thank you for keeping this city safe. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We have no presentations this evening, so our first order of business is our consent agenda, items one through four. Are there any items that any council member would like to hear separately? If not, what are the wishes of this council? We have a motion to approve by Councilmember Waddell, second by council member joyner. Discussion. All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed, item passes unanimously. That brings us to our next item business, which is our public information segment. Uh we have three speakers that have signed up to speak with us this evening. Um each speaker will be allotted five minutes. Our first speaker is Mr. Dawson Gage, who will be speaking to us about Save the Telephone Exchanges. Mr. Gage here. Okay. Our second speaker is Mr. Kahn from out east. Talk about make Wilmington great again. It's Mr. Kahn here. Okay. Don't see Mr. Kahn. Our next speaker is Mr. Joshua Trader, who speaks to us about lack of following and enforcing dog leash laws. Mr. Trader, welcome. Okay. Good evening, Mr.