I'll call the meeting to order.

If the uh clerk will please read the roll or take the roll.

Chair person, councilman Clark.

Here.

Mayor Pertim Adams.

Councilmember Scipio, President, and Councilmember Taylor.

Mayor Pro Tim Adams is under the weather today, but is look watching us on TV.

And I don't think the Zoom is working.

Is that correct?

So she said if I do anything she wants to say, she'll email me or text me.

We'll see.

See if I want to recognize her or not.

See what's going on here.

Okay, we will now get going on our monthly meeting.

Consent items.

We have three consent items.

Is there any item anyone would want to pull?

C one.

C one.

Any others?

I make a motion to approve the balance.

We have a motion to second approve the ballots.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

It is approved.

Mr.

Rao, you have C1.

Item C one report from the Film Partnership of North Carolina on use of city grant funds to support intern.

Should I should I make a comment before this?

Oh yeah, hang on a minute.

Okay.

Ms.

Hippie will pull if she'd like to make a comment.

Um I just wanted to say this is just uh one of those emerging industries that we have been uh supporting for many many years in Weston Salem, and it really started as I can recall when the school yards film school came to town, and that was somewhere back in the 90s, I believe.

And to see where we are today is just another testament of how our community underwrites uh unique initiative.

So Mr.

Raoult, just an overview of what we've done, what we're doing, and how this has impacted us so far.

Good afternoon, Chairman Clark, mayor joins members of City Council.

So back in uh September of 2022, uh the City Council authorized a grant of a hundred thousand dollars to the film partnership of North Carolina to support an intern program to help uh really grow the production workforce here in the triad.

Um the uh more union-based workforce exists in Wilmington and and Charlotte, and there's been efforts you know to try to help uh you know bolster the production workforce here so that more film and television and even streaming uh productions could could locate here.

Um so it's been a couple years since that grant was awarded.

Uh they have provided us a report on the their use of the grant, and that was included in the uh item uh on the finance committee agenda.

Just very briefly, uh they were able to place 70 interns uh in 10 productions, and if you see there on the report, the uh the interns come from various zip codes throughout the city.

They've also established a number of partnerships uh locally with uh once the same state university for site technical community college.

Uh so uh I think we've really have seen the you know the productions here lately uh continue to grow.

Uh a couple you know recent ones, uh a little prayer, which is actually I think playing right now at Aperture, and then uh the most recent production that wrapped up was the Bard.

They have another production.

There's another production that's scheduled to start uh at the end of this month.

So uh I would like to just recognize Lauren Vilchik, who's a uh professor on the faculty at the School of Filmmaking, and also a producer who is involved in these projects.

Uh she's here as well as Rebecca Clark with the PMO Triad Film Commission, Bernice Miller, and I'm sorry, sir.

I've uh all folks who are involved with our local uh film industry.

Uh so they're they're here if you have any questions you'd like to ask of them.

Okay, Ms.

Clark, would you like to come up and say anything?

Um come up that wasn't a question.

I was in the I was in the other group.

It felt very very lonely, didn't you?

I thought I was early, but I'm like sorry.

Okay, hi everyone.

Um just general comment, how's the film industry doing?

So it's it's actually doing great.

Uh a lot of you have heard that for the last 10 years since the film incentive changed at the state level.

Um, you know, most of the projects are going to just Wilmington and Charlotte because those are the two union crew bases.

And so to film here, it actually costs productions more money because they have to house out of town union crew and uh pay per DM for them, you know, travel them in, you know, pay for housing.

So with all that being said, I'm really pleased that Lauren with the film partnership, she um has been working as a producer on the bard and this current film that's getting ready to start, and um and has asked me to help make sure that they find everything they need here, and we've done that.

So for this for the second film, this is the second film in 10 years that has benefited from the state film grant.

So I am over the moon because I want to see this industry grow, I want to see it continue.

We have everything to offer, nothing to lose, and um, so we're on an upward trajectory, definitely, and I want to appreciate I appreciate all you're doing to support film to support the Piedmont Tribe Film Commission to support what Lauren and Bernice are doing with North Carolina Film Partnership and the Tri-City Film Consortium.

Um, it's just we're building such a strong community right now, and it's it's very exciting.

So is there anything we could do to get around this disunion issue?

Well, I have talked a lot to the city managers about some sort of local incentive, but I think even if we worked with through economic development to get some sort of local incentive, there has to be some sort of buy-in from the state legislators, it's something about the bill.

Maybe Ben can talk more about that, but that's one thing I was gonna say because if we could get a local incentive, um it would it would definitely change change things and level the playing field a lot and get us more of the television projects too, like television series that spend a longer time here.

Okay, well, you and band keep talking.

Okay, yeah.

I sent them an article just earlier today about Jacksonville, Florida offering um uh I think a 20% additional incentive, but they have a pot of money that they use to help.

And I I know there's some ways that we can we could work together to make sure it goes to a good project that's gonna provide longer-term job opportunities.

Um, so I I definitely will keep y'all posted and keep talking to Ben.

Okay, thank you very much.

You're welcome, thank you.

Yes, ma'am.

Um, just another question.

The new the production that's going to be coming and starting here.

Is there anything you would like from our residents in how they can get connected to that production or not?

Well, I would like maybe Lauren to come up and speak to that as the producer of this film, but I would say on the Piedmont Triad Film Commission Facebook page, I have listed um where crew members can get work on that, and they have lots of opportunities for extras, uh, paid extras.

So please like my Facebook page.

And and your is your Facebook page, give us the identity.

Oh, I'm sorry.

It's Piedmont Film, uh, the Piedmont Triad Film Commission, but my website and the Facebook page is Piedmont Film.

Piedmont Film.com.

And here's Lauren.

She can give you more information about the partnership specifically.

Uh thank you all for having.

Lauren Lauren Vilchick and 2524 Walker Avenue.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um, so I am the producer of A Little Prayer.

I'm the producer of the Bard, and I'm a I'm producer of widow.

Also an educator in the area.

So I'm committed to the area.

Also the treasurer of the film partnership.

So the goal is to grow the crew base statewide, but specifically, I'm partial to this area.

So this program has been instrumental.

I did want to make the comment that the way the funds are utilized, we pay directly.

The interns are paid to train.

So the money goes directly to them, it doesn't go to the production.

So I think that that's that's an important nuance.

As far as how the community can get involved with casting, we've taken over Metropolitan Village as our housing, and they are really thrilled about facilitating space where we can conduct casting from that area.

Not only housing, they're talking about building on and having it be a partnership and in more creative involvement in the area.

So we're really seriously considering that.

They're talking about a podcast center in those buildings.

So those kinds of conversations are starting.

And we just held a workshop through uh our partnership with Tri-City Consortium just this weekend where we pulled in another 20 interns.

Some of our crew members are so committed to the training that they were donating their services, pulled out all the equipment, trained more and more people in the community.

And I think we have another 20% of the participants who are interested in actually their first placement.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

I just wanted to uh thank you for that and thank and and congratulate Rebecca for her perseverance.

We had a film that was coming here uh early this summer and uh they needed historic site, and she was they were turned down twice for at two locations, but Rebecca instead of giving up had a brainstorm and said, Let's just film it at yesterday village at the fairgrounds, which turned out to be a double good use for that for that facility.

So, Rebecca, thank you for continuing to push on.

I'm happy to do that.

Thank you, everybody.

Okay.

Thank you.

We might go to the general agenda to see the current three G1.

Item G1 resolution authorizing the purchase of 29 2026 Ford Maverick compact hybrid pickup trucks.

Good.

Good evening, Chair Clark, members of the committee, mayor, members of the council at large.

Uh the item before you is uh a motion to approve a resolution to award um a purchase order for 29 compact pickup trucks.

These are going to be pool vehicles that are used by our fleet.

Um we did a competitive bid for this, received five bids, which you can see on your item here.

Six bids actually.

Um the low bidder is parks Ford.

Their delivery date is 180 days, and we do need to award to the lowest bidder who's responsive, meaning they submitted all the proper bid forms and they meet our specifications, which they do.

So we're asking for uh an award in the total cost of 866,404 dollars to Parks Ford.

Any questions or comments?

Well uh this versus second item is also trust.

It sure is.

We'll vote on this now.

Can I get a motion to approve G1?

So move.

So motion and a second approve G1.

Are we voting orally?

Yes.

Okay, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

That is approved.

If the city clerk will read G2 item G2 resolution authorizing the purchase of 83 2026 Ford Interceptor PPVs, good.

Uh the item before you is to purchase off of state contract, um 83 total um PPV uh police pursuit vehicles.

There are 52 gas-powered V6 vehicles and 31 hybrid vehicles on this.

The total cost is 3,547, 64905.

Uh Deacon Jones is the state contract holder.

So any questions or comments?

Can I get a motion to approve?

So move.

I have a motion second approve.

G2.

All in favor say aye.

Ah.

Any opposed?

That is approved.

Thank you very much.

We will now go to G3.

If the clerk will read that, please.

Item G3 resolution awarding construction contract for Helen Nichols Park walking trail.

I'll start it off again.

Oh, that's okay.

This is a resolution asking to award a construction contract for Helen Nichols walking trail.

Uh, this is to create a loop around the Carl Russell uh community center.

Um you can see pieces of that on the colored exhibit there.

Um there's gonna be a fitness station under a shade structure expanding the asphalt to allow better access back to the rentable picnic shelter.

Uh we did bid this back in early 2024, but we had a failed effort.

Our low bidder failed their good faith effort, and the next bid was over the budget that we had at the time.

So um parks look worked to get some more funding.

We put this back out for bid.

We received only one bid from Hodgin Construction Company.

1,069,550.

They were actually our number three better the first time, and their price is very close to what they gave us the previous year.

So it was very happy about that number there.

However, that was still over the funds we had available.

So we did um staff worked with the uh contractor and and as well as the consultant to uh remove part of the project in order to get down to the budgeted funds.

So I'll I don't know what details William wants to speak to about that.

But let me ask you a question first.

I'm surprised looking at the drawing why we didn't get more bids.

That doesn't look to be the most complicated thing in the world.

Any thoughts on that?

No, uh, we super received four bids the first time that we bidd.

I'm not sure why we didn't get more the second go-round.

It may have been just a timing issue.

It was bid late, late in 23.

So, Mr.

You want to come up, please?

And offer any comments you'd like.

Uh good afternoon, Chair, uh, mayor joins members of the committee.

No, we uh, as Darren mentioned, um went through several bid processes.

Um there'll be the motion in front of you is sort of uh approve and not to exceed amount of 992,000 dollars.

Uh we feel confident through um use of the using the contractor as well as using some government uh contract uh purchasing options to purchase some of the equipment that will be um able to get this within budget and get this bill.

Okay, Mississippi.

Has this a particular uh vendor done other work for us in the past?

Yes, we've worked with Hodgins on several several projects, in particular recreations uh projects, and they've been very good to work with.

We develop a great relationship with them over the years, so we feel confident uh working with them.

So because you you've had to reduce your cost, does that mean you had to change the design as well?

The design was altered slightly.

The wood originally the path that you see on the east side of the site went up through the uh paved asphalt area, which is just north of the recreation center.

Um that was a little over a tenth of a mile.

Uh that portion of it was eliminated as well as we're buying some things ourselves as opposed to having the contract to buy them and then just charge us a markup on them.

So that's how we were able to get it within budget.

And then what happens with change orders?

The change orders have to stay within the budget.

Yes, change orders typically have to stay within the budget.

Um, but we work with the contractor, um, any engineers, landscape architects, uh, to kind of figure out the best uh in field solution, um, the best most efficient way to move forward.

Um they don't always necessarily uh require a large dollar amount to be successful, but we feel more than confident that we'll be to complete this project based on the information that we already have about this particular site.

Thank you.

Okay, Mr.

Taylor?

Mr.

Royston, thanks for the presentation.

The trail to the southeast of the property leading over to Carver High School, does that currently exist or is that new a new trail or path that needs to be established?

The one that's just south?

Yes, sir, south uh east.

So that that trail goes down to um we have a ball field uh that the city owns, which is down at the base of that hill.

Um that trail goes down there, provide us maintenance access to that hill.

There's also a set of stairs that um goes down there, but the school's field is right adjacent to it to ours.

Thank you.

Okay.

So moved.

Second.

We have a motion second.

All in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

That is approved.

We will now go to the last item.

G4, if the city clerk will please read this one.

Item G4 update on the funding status of the city's defined benefit pension plans.

Winston-Salem police officers retirement system and the Winston-Salem police officers separation allowance.

I'm I'm gonna give a a brief sermon here.

Um other folks in the community have not done a good job of stewarding their financial responsibilities.

I consider this a very important presentation.

Uh that will cover both to a certain degree, both pension plans that ensure all are not sure cover all our employees.

The police one, which uh we we actively run, uh, is what Ms.

Latham is going to talk about mostly, but she's gonna comment a little bit on the state pension plan that covers the other employees.

So um Ms.

Latham, with that introduction, you have the floor.

Good afternoon, Chair Clark, mayor joins members of committee and council.

Um, this is just an information item to bring you up to speed on the financial status of our two pension plans that we fund.

Um we have the um the WISPers, which is for our sworn officers who were hired before January 1, 2014.

So this is a closed plan.

Um it is meant to replace Social Security because our sworn officers are not eligible for Social Security as this plan replaces that.

Um for those hired after 2014, um, we have a defined contribution plan, which is a little bit different than the WISPers plan.

The WISPers plan is structured very similarly to the state, the local government retirement system plan for our general employees, and um it has been the WISPers plan has been in act of active since 197.

Um we do um bring to you as part of the benefits rate every year to fund this plan as well as the separation allowance plan.

The separation allowance plan is also for sworn officers and it is um required by the state, it's a statutory requirement.

So we have to um ensure that both of these plans are funded adequately so that we can pay the future benefits when our when our employees, when our sworn officers retire.

Um I wanted to mention that our WISPers plan as of January is 84 percent funded, and as of June, um we just got the June report this week is 90 percent funded.

The um the national average for state and local pension plans is 77.7 percent.

So there we are doing better than the average plan.

Um the elders plan, which is structured very similarly to our WISPers plan.

Um, the most recent data I have there is from June of 2024, where it was 83 percent funded, and on that date we were 87 percent funded.

So that's favorable in that we are we are keeping up with the the pension funding and the plan as we should be to make sure that we're we're well funded.

On the separation allowance side, we are 45 percent funded, which means we have 45 percent of the funds we'll need over the years to to make all those payments, and that may seem low, however, it's important to note that most of our peers are funding that just yearly on a pay as you go basis, and the city has made the decision to set aside funds for that to make sure that we are we are planning for that proactively.

Um at any rate, we are um we are looking very good.

The actuary comes and does a study.

Um he does the study every year in January, and then they also look at it again in June.

So we're keeping a close eye on that.

Um the the funded rates are um are component of several factors, so different things affect that, such as our investment earnings, how many people are retiring, what age they're retiring.

Um so it can fluctuate up and down, especially um as the market fluctuates.

We may have a strong year and we may have a year that's not quite as strong.

So you will see that go up and down at any point in time, but over the years we've been very consistent with our funding ratio.

Um the second page in your packet does show kind of a graphical representation of the funding.

So the top graph there is our WISPers plan.

So that shows that our total our total actuarial liability.

So what the actuaries would say that we need over time is 250 million, whereas we have set aside 210 million.

So that's where the 84 percent funded amount comes from.

So our unfunded amount, which is that red line.

So you see that dropping over time, and they're projecting that we'll be fully funded by 2038.

And then on the separation allowance, similarly, we will be fully funded around 2038 or 2039 as well, and that just shows that our total liability we have is 32 million.

We have about 15 million in assets currently set aside.

Um, so we'll need an additional 17 and a half million.

But we have a plan to continue to fund these plans each year so that we can achieve that status of being fully funded.

If you look at your graphs, the top one is the red numbers going up the left side.

What those numbers don't look that's the unfunded amount.

So that 40 million, that's currently as of January.

What's not funded?

What the money that we don't have in the bank that we're gonna need in the future.

That's the unfunded because the 84 percent is what 180 million or something like that.

Uh 210.

210.

Okay.

Thank you.

Any questions?

Yes, ma'am.

With these funds, they are assumed first those who've already retired, and they're in here, and it anticipates current staff members or employees.

And going forward, is there a projection for an a certain number of employees that we would need to fund, or is this representing where we are with our current retirees and our current staff?

Is this a projection of that?

Yes.

So the number as of January is based on our current numbers.

So for instance, right now in Whispers, we have 780 in total, but 508 of those are retired.

Around 185 are current employees, and then we have about 87% who are vested but are no longer with the city, so they'll draw in the future.

Since that's a closed plan, the actuary can more accurately determine how much we're going to need over time because there's no new employees coming into the plan.

So when a person say they expire as opposed to retiring, it it how does it impact this?

Um well it's it's structured similarly to the elders plan.

So the employees name a beneficiary who who received their funds, and then there's a number of different funding um when they retire.

There's there's different options they can choose from in terms of beneficiary and um like what percentage they want to make sure that their beneficiary receives after their death.

Good.

Okay.

Thank you so much.

Correct, which the folks in this will not leave the plan until they expire.

Yeah, but but their beneficiaries receive the funds that were set aside.

And yeah.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you very much.

Thank you.

Any questions from this other member?

Okay.

Thank you.

All righty.

Staff comments.

Nothing today.

All right, we will stand adjourned.

Thank y'all very much.

I did not hear that.