MINUTES OF THE APRIL30, 2024 CITY COUNCILSPECIALMEETING A SPECIAL meeting ofthe Hopewell City Council was held on Wednesday April  30, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.  PRESENT:  John B. Partin, Mayor Jasmine Gore, Vice Mayor Rita Joyner, Councilor Michael Harris, Councilor (Virtual) Janice Denton, Councilor Brenda Pelham, Councilor (Late) Dominic Holloway, Councilor (Absent)  Councilor Joyner makes a motion to allow Councilor Harris to participate  remotely. Vice Mayor Gore seconds the motion.  ROLL CALL  Councilor Pelham- Councilor Holloway- Councilor Joyner - Councilor Harris- Mayor Partin - Vice Mayor Gore - Councilor Denton -  Absent Absent Yes Abstain Yes Yes Yes  Motion Passes 4-0  Councilor Denton makes a motion to adopt the special meeting agenda, Councilor  Joyner seconds the motion.    ROLL CALL  Councilor Pelham- Councilor Holloway- Absent Councilor. Joyner - Councilor Harris- Mayor Partin - Vice Mayor Gore - Councilor Denton -  Absent Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes  Motion Passes 5-0  Dr. Hackney begins speaking with council in regard to why they are having the joint meeting tonight. She mentions the school board is already made a few cuts and is aware ofthe situation within the city currently related to budgets and budget cuts. Vice Mayor Gore asks when the bus fund was removed, was the capital projects not included in council capital budget? Dr. Hackney gives the response that the funds have not been there. Vice Mayor Gore requests that Dr. Manker get the capital project list from Dr. Hackney to provide to council. Councilor Joyner asked how much was the bus fund, Dr. Hackney answered it varied, but last she remembered it was roughly 6 million. Mayor Partin goes over budget improvement plans, and he encouraged Dr. Hackney to look into consolidating savings and if they have enough to cover any oft their projects to apply their savings to the projects. He also suggests they get with the public works director. Dr. Hackney states she has reached out to outside resources for assistance and has received assistance from other departments sO far, and she is trying to get the assistance anywhere they can get it to ensure money is spent where it is needed the most. Councilor Joyner then asks is there a not a tax that can be implemented in the city to fund school projects. The response given was yes there is an existing tax for school funding for building replacements. Councilor Pelham asked about their salary savings and can it be used on small projects. Russ answered in detail stating in depends on what needs attention. Council and the school board bounce ideas off ofe each other for ways to help increase funds to get these projects taken care of sooner than later. Dr. Hackney states she appreciates everything council has done sO far to assist, and she was not looking for any action tonight with the budget request, she just wanted to have a conversation with everyone to get an idea of where things were. She spoke further to the handout she gave to each council member, stating the red column was the column that needed the attention the most    and the soonest. She mentioned some ofthe projects on this list she will be able to have taken care of with savings and salary savings but the bigger projects would be needing assistance. There were final comments from council and from the school  board.  Councilor Joyner makes a motion to adjourn.  Yes: 6 No: 0  Respectfully Submitted,  E  donw  Brittani Williams, City Clerk