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 who are watching us at home.

Thank you for taking an interest in your government.

At this time, I'd like to introduce uh Sergeant Ronald Evans of the Wilmington Police Department.

If you'll please come forward to give our invocation and we'll ask if everyone will stand, remain standing afterwards for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Sergeant, welcome.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Town Council.

Let us pray.

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day.

We thank you for your continued grace and mercy that you bestow upon us day in and day out.

We thank you for your protection, your protection from the seen and the unseen.

Lord, I ask that you continue to bless this council, touch them and guide their minds and their hearts as they prepare to make decisions that would be beneficial for every citizen of Wilmington.

We pray this prayer in your son's precious name.

Amen.

This year, we adopted a 129.35 million dollar budget designed to address our aging infrastructure challenges and retain essential services.

We have an unprecedented 112 capital projects underway, valued at 789.5 million dollars.

We had a groundbreaking for the Southside Reclamation Facility, a generational investment in our community, and we've completed the first utility consolidation with another entity since CFPA was initially formed.

This summer we welcomed graduate students from UNC Wilmington's Cameron School of Business and the School of Business in Surrey, United Kingdom, to help us improve our organizational efficiencies and find new effectiveness.

And finally, we ended the calendar year with national award recognition for our reclamation treatment facilities, our water treatment facilities, and the highest honor provided by our industry for water system utility management.

Now your water and wastewater utility continues to grow, although at a slightly slower pace than last year.

We received and set 1,147 meters, which is slightly down from the 1,213 from the previous year.

But the value of the infrastructure conveyed to us by the development community was 14,155,000.

That's an increase of almost $3 million over the previous year.

And despite a rate increase that was necessitated by the inflationary pressures that we all observed and costs associated with replacing the South Side Reclamation Facility.

Our water and wastewater services are still the most affordable in the region, with an average amount of customer income spent on water and sewer with our authority below that of Brunswick County, Fayetteville, and Pinder County.

Our system development charges also remain some of the lowest in the region, demonstrating our commitment to the economic vitality of our community.

Now, as this city council knows so well, consolidations of local government services is a difficult and labor-intensive work.

Such consolidations are not taken lightly, but when they're done right, bring the value for all for decades to come.

I'm pleased to report that we did it right this year.

Our authority completed its consolidation with the town of Wrightsville Beach in September.

A merger that meets the needs of our new partners and ensures the cost of consolidation is not borne by city or county customers.

Multiple infrastructure projects are underway right now to bind our utilities closely together, and our new customers have received their last bill from the town and their first bill from CFPA.

In addition to the 1,147 meters that were set through orderly growth, we now have an additional 2,0800 metered connections to share the cost burden of operational expenditures with all.

Our board has begun the work necessary to provide the next 50 years through the award of two major contracts under progressive design build philosophies.

Final costs are expected to be known by March of this year, and our board will vote on the largest and most important of the final contracts as early as May of 2026 at the same meeting where they will approve our next budget.

Our end goal though remains the same.

It's unchanged.

We'll replace this existing facility and we'll add additional capacity to support orderly growth.

And we will achieve this goal and we will open this new facility by 2029.

Now good governance is the hallmark of a well-run local government.

Our utility continues to receive national recognition for operational and management policies of our board.

Our strategic plan was formed from the goals and objectives of our board and is based upon the effective utility management principles, our industry's primary guidance for best governance practice and continuous improvement.

Last year, we were invited along with a handful of other utilities to be part of the update to this national guidance, all based on our success and experience recently.

And this year we received our industry's highest award for water system utility management, the Association of Metropolitan Water Agency's Platinum Award for Utility Excellence.

We've been recognized by our peers, the largest and most complex utilities in the nation, as a national utility of note.

Now the burden falls upon us to maintain that status and to drive forward through innovation and positive change for our utility and our industry.

And I want to recognize our board members, past and present, for their vision, foresight, and discipline, and unwavering commitment to public service.

And I want to thank our staff for translating that board's vision into reality.

Now, ongoing maintenance of our water infrastructure is critically important from projects designed to sustain our community to projects designed to support tomorrow.

Your utility continues to put its board strategic capital improvement plan into action.

We work hard to leverage technology and gain new efficiencies, and we're undertaking some important economic development projects to the north and south of New Hanover County to serve the customers of tomorrow.

But it's important to note that these projects will leverage those new customers and their new revenue to ease the burdens on our most vulnerable current customers, many of which are within the city.

And it's our job to ensure the city of Wilmington in New Hanover County continues to have the best utility possible, operated and maintained at the lowest possible cost while remaining responsible and responsive to our community needs now and in the future.

Finally, as a special purpose unit of local government, we honor the public trust to hold ourselves to the highest fiduciary standards.

As established in our latest annual comprehensive financial report, your authority is healthy and well managed with revenues to cover expenditures as well as fund this robust and growing capital improvement plan.

Our board has taken prudent steps to ensure our financial needs are met through measured, well-thought-out financial policies and community investments.

So I want to acknowledge that we could not accomplish any of this without the steadfast support that we have received from the city for so many years, and for the hard work that your staff puts in to make that a reality.

So, on behalf of our customers, our staff, and our stakeholders, we would like to thank you and your staff for that support.

Are there any questions?

Any questions?