The Winston-Salem City Council met on Monday, November 17, 2025, at 6:00 PM. The meeting began with a moment of silence, pledge of allegiance, and recognition of the sergeant-at-arms. Mayor Allen Joines presided. All eight council members present voted unanimously on all items. The meeting included an honorarium, consent agenda, nine general agenda items, a presentation on the Southeast Supply Enhancement Project, a public comment period with 12 speakers, and a closed session.
Twelve speakers addressed the council during the public comment period (limited to 30 minutes, with two additional speakers allowed by unanimous consent):
Good evening. I'm Alan Joins, Mayor of Winston Salem. It's my pleasure to call to order this November 17th meeting at the Winston Salem City Council and ask the city clerk to call the roll, please. Councilmember Joyner. Present. Councilmember Clark. Here. Councilmember Andrew Bowen. Here. Councilmember Sipio. Present. Mayor Pro Tim Adams. Here. Councilmember Taylor. Present. Councilmember Hall. Present. And Councilmember Burke. Here. Thank you all very much. Would you please join the City Council and meeting in a moment of silence? Thank you. Would you please join the City Council meeting the Pledge of Allegiance? Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. One nation under God with the justice. Thank you. Our surgeon at arms tonight is Lieutenant Joshua Caffey. Coffee, excuse me, and our fire marshal is Peter Geit. Thank you both for being with us tonight. We're televising this meeting live tonight on the CV 13 as well as the city's YouTube page. And it will be replayed tomorrow at 9 a.m. and again Wednesday at 9 p.m. Callers says you know copies of our agenda as well as videos of previous meetings are always available on the city's website, and just click on the watch meetings online option. I can recognize our uh city manager for uh his update. Uh thank you, uh Mayor. Uh a couple of just items tonight. When there has been some questions uh are come back from uh generally from the public about uh the WISTA rides during extreme cold conditions. So just as a reiteration for council of of what's been approved, there is a threshold which is any consecutive four hours where the apparent temperature in the wind chill is at or below 20 degrees Fahrenheit. And then if the forecasted apparent temperature in Winston-Salem, this is based on the forecasted apparent temperature in Winston-Salem as published by the National Weather Service. And once that is in effect, any operational hour of minimum of four hours that the apparent temperature is going to remain at or below 20 degrees Fahrenheit, we will be operating free bus allowing free bus rides to get people to uh heating shelters um and other uh facilities that may be open. And we did uh do uh uh one uh operational already the this year. With the federal government reopened now, we are starting to get some regular updates on the status of some of our grants uh that are moving forward. Uh we know that federal agencies have begun this process of addressing a huge backlog of grant payments, contract approvals, and program reviews that were delayed during the shutdown. So we're expecting those uh to continue for the next couple of months before they return to normal. Federal agencies are expected to issue some updated guidance over the coming weeks outlining any revised grant deadlines, reporting schedules, and contract timelines affected by the lapse and funding. And uh and I just uh spoke with uh Councilmember Andre Bowen as amongst others. There is because of the the amount of SNAP benefits and other things that were delayed. There is still a huge issue with food security in our community. So we still encourage folks to think about donating to uh appropriate food banks and and other folks that may be in need during this season. As a reminder, city offices will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday, November 27th and 28th.