Wilmington City Council Agenda Briefing - April 14, 2025
Wilmington City Council Agenda Briefing - April 14, 2025
The Wilmington City Council held an Agenda Briefing meeting on April 14, 2025 at 8:30 AM at City Hall to review items for the April 15, 2025 regular council meeting. Present were Mayor Bill Saffo, Mayor Pro-Tem Clifford Barnett Sr., Councilmembers Luke Waddell, David Joyner, Salette Andrews, and Kevin Spears (via video conference). Councilmember Rivenbark was absent due to a Cape Fear Public Utilities Authority meeting, and City Manager Tony Caudle was absent. Deputy City Manager Thom Moton and other staff attended.
Consent Calendar
- Item C2: Resolution to transfer current and formerly loaned helicopters and related equipment obtained through the Law Enforcement Support Office (LESO) Program. Deputy Police Chief Alex Sotelo confirmed the transfer incurs no cost to the city; the receiving agency assumes costs.
- Item C4: Resolution authorizing the purchase of one tracked aerial lift from Altec Industries Incorporated for $188,041. City Arborist Aaron Reese explained the unit replaces a bucket truck, provides greater versatility with a 35-inch width and under 9,000 lbs, and can access tight areas. Fleet Manager John Fortuin noted it is $100,000 to $150,000 cheaper than a comparable bucket truck. (Note: The meeting minutes incorrectly attribute this discussion to Item C5, but the transcript confirms it is Item C4.)
- Item C5: Resolution authorizing the purchase of two mini packer trash trucks from Amick Equipment Co., Inc. of Lexington, NC for $292,112.
- Item R2: Resolution amending City Council's Rules of Order, Rule 6 (Public Comment Period). Councilmember Andrews proposed reducing speaker time from five to three minutes and allowing same-day sign-ups for overflow speakers when reserved speakers are absent, still limiting overall comment to 30 minutes. Councilmember Waddell expressed support.
Discussion Items
America 250 Presentation Retired U.S. Navy Captain Wilbur Jones requested $216,000 from the city for the Fiscal Year 2026 budget to support America 250 activities highlighting Wilmington's role in World War II as America's first WWII Heritage City. Key planned events include a weeklong visit of the Liberty Ship John W. Brown (May 11–18, 2026) and WWII war bird aircraft, with activities starting August 14, 2026 (80th anniversary of WWII's end). Jones emphasized economic and tourism value but said he cannot provide precise visitor estimates, calling himself a historian. He has not started an official fundraising campaign but is exploring corporate sponsors and grants. Councilmember Joyner asked about tourism tracking; Jones deferred to others. Councilmember Waddell asked about income sources; Jones explained the budget is a mock-up with contingency costs. Councilmember Andrews clarified the full request is $216,000 from both city and county combined. Jones also invited council to a sign dedication at Halyburton Park on May 20, 2025.
YMCA Midtown Expansion Presentation Dick Jones, President & CEO of the YMCA of Southeastern North Carolina, requested $1 million from the city over multiple years for the $15 million expansion of the Midtown YMCA on George Anderson Drive. The project will expand the facility from 16,000 to 48,000 square feet, adding fitness and recreational space, three multi-sport courts, expanded childcare, a new indoor aquatic center, and meeting spaces. Anticipated outcomes include 6,000 new members (30% seniors), 50% growth in childcare, and 2,000 additional swim lessons annually. Jones highlighted community needs: one in three adults obese, increased mental unhealthy days, high accidental drowning rates, and 7,700 children needing after-school care in the Midtown area. The YMCA also aligns with the city's strategic plan. Funding is more than halfway raised; the YMCA is also seeking $1.5 million from New Hanover County and $2 million from the state via a House bill. Groundbreaking is planned for July 2025 with completion by November 2026. In response to questions: Mayor Pro-Tem Barnett asked about transportation—Jones noted 30–35 buses serve children and teens, with discussions about expanding to seniors. Councilmember Spears asked about profit from the city pool management partnership—Jones reported a $10,000 to $20,000 bottom-line profit split 50/50 with the city. Councilmember Waddell requested examples of other municipalities funding YMCA capital projects; Jones promised to provide details.
Additional Funding Requests Deputy City Manager Thom Moton advised that two other entities—LINC and former District Attorney Ben David—have submitted funding requests for the FY26 budget process. No presentations were made; written materials were provided to council.
Key Outcomes
- No votes were taken; this was a briefing meeting for the April 15 regular council meeting.
- Council will consider the proposed public comment rule change (Item R2) at the April 15 meeting.
- All funding requests (America 250, YMCA, LINC, and Ben David's program) will be considered during the Fiscal Year 2026 budget process.
- Councilmember Waddell requested additional information from the YMCA regarding examples of municipal funding for similar projects in other North Carolina cities.
- The meeting adjourned at 9:15 AM.
Meeting Transcript
We'll call this council agenda briefing um meeting to order. I'm gonna do a roll call at this time. Mayor Pro Tem is here. Council Mr Ravenmark is um at a committee meeting. We have Councilmember Spears. Are you here? Councilmember Spears, can you hear me? Here we're here. Thank you. Councilmember Wadell. Councilmember Andrews. Here. Councilmember Joyner. Here. And the chairs here. We have a quorum, so we will now begin. We have uh several presentations tomorrow night. Consent agenda. C one is an approval of the minutes of the special council meeting. C two is a resolution to transfer current and formerly loan helicopters and related equipment obtained through the law enforcement support office program. Yes, sir. Just out of curiosity, is there any any cost associated with this transfer? Call uh deputy chief Alex Satello. She can respond to that question. Good morning. We just talk us, just talk us through the process just of just a little bit. So it's a government program. The same thing when we got it, and it was transferred over, and the agency that takes it over is in charge of all costs, so it's no cost associated. Excellent. Thank you so much. Okay. C three is a resolution authorizing the purchase of equipment for 23 police vehicles from Mobile Communications America Incorporated for eight 287,771 dollars. C4 is a resolution authorizing the purchase of one tracked aerial lift from Altec Industries Incorporated for 188,041. Um can we see a picture of this thing? I know that please pictures. So this is what we're gonna be using to trim trees. Who who's who the arborist here? Aaron, come here real quick. Just just curious. I know that I know that's one of the things that we always have a concern about is how we maintain and take care of our trees. So this piece of equipment here is replacing what? Uh what have you been replaced? What are you replacing it with? Yes, uh, this piece of equipment is replacing one of our bucket trucks. Um being just a mobile track lift, um, this would actually be moved around the city on the trailer um and set up. It'll be used, it'll function the same way as a bucket truck, uh, but it gives us more versatility. Uh being a track unit, we can actually drive it down into a parts, or if we're street side, if we need to get on the back side of a power line, like on the private property side of a power line and work that way, we can do it without uh you know risking getting into lines. It just gives us a lot more versatility on access to trees. Uh the whole unit weighs a little less than 9,000 pounds, so it's real out footprint. So there's very very few places we can uh not get it.
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