THROUGHU la SALUDA,N.C. SHEGNAB  City of Saluda BOC Meeting Board of Commissioners  Minutes  8  Date Time Location  5/13/2024 07:00PM  Saluda Library Chambers Room  1-Call to Order  Mayor Morgan called the meeting to order on May 13th, 2024 at 7:00 pm.  2-Invocation  A moment of silence was observed. 3-Pledge of Allegiance The pledge of allegiance was recited.  4-Roll Call  Attendance was taken, and those present were Mayor Tangie Morgan, Commissioner Walker, Commissioner Talbot, Commissioner Marion, Commissioner Oxtoby City Attorney Jana Berg, City Manager Steven Orr, Assistant City Manager & Finance Officer Julie Osteen, City Clerk Pam Waters Absent was Chief Price.  5-A Agenda Additions and Deletions  Delete #14 SDF Report and also the property disbursement. Which was deleted from book before meeting  6-Approval or Correction of Minutes Walker seconded and all were in favor.  Commissioner Marionmade amotion to accept the minutes as written for April gth 2024 Commissioner  7-Consent. Agenda None BOC Meeting- - 5/13/2024    8-Public Comment  Tom Hutto thanked thel Mayor, Commissioners and the City for them putting up stop signs on Charles Street and East Columbia making ital three way stop. Said they have helped slow traffic making its safer. Het thanked them for being responsive and taking care ofitr may seem like al little thing but thel little things that make al big difference.  9-Budget and Financial Report  Assistant City Manager & Finance Officer. Julie Osteen went over the March Budget Report Commissioner Walker made a motion to approve all 6 amendments listed' below  Amendment for Police toi increase maintenance & repair Budget by 10,000.00taking 8,500.00from] Investment Earnings and BUDGETREPORT Amendment Toi increase the budget for Police Toi increase thel budget for IT Support costs for Body Cameras BUDGET REPORT Amendment for transportation To increase sidewalk material cost that doubled from the July quote 40,000.00 BUDGET REPORT Amendment for Water toi increase the! budget for additional costsi incurred thruJ June 30th 5,000.00 professional fees, 15,000.00 Repairs and Maintenancel Equipment, 75,000.00Waterl Purchases repairs andi maintenance, 2,000.00 Gasoline, BUDGET REPORT Amendment for Sewert to increase the budget for additional costs fors survey costs and Gasoline 3,000.00 BUDGET REPORT Amendment to increase the! budget for McCreery Park phase onei for 32,150.00t taking 22,650.00f from Transfer  1,500.00f from Contingency.  Etc.. by 3,000.00t taking 3,000.001 from Investment Earnings.  takingi itf from Investment Earnings  Taking 2,000.001 Training, 170,000.00from Retained Earnings Appropriated  Professional Fees, 750.00 Gasoline Taking 3,750.00 from Repairs and Maintenance Equipment.  from General Fund and 9,500.001 from Contingency Commissioner Marion seconded all werei ini favor  Commissioner Marion made amotion to approve the Professional Services Agreement Between City of Saluda and Raftelis Financial Consultants INC. As presented Commissioner Seconded Walker all were in Commissioner Oxtoby made ar motion to approve the Amendment for Akaisha Hayes training at thel NÇAOZ Conference fora  favor.  budget increase of 400.00 Commissioner Walker Seconded all werei inf favor.  10-Public Safety Report Participated: Clay Price  BOC Meeting- 5/13/2024  2    City Manager Orr went over his April report. Total Miles 5554 Total Events 1539  State citations: 58 City Citations: 1, Waring Tickets: 22, Written' Warning 1, Verbal: 21, Expired Registration 8,No Operators License 3,Drug paraphernalia 0, Possession of Narcoticl, Alcoholic Beverage 0, Registration Violation 120, Careless and Reckless Driving: Speeding 29,Faulty Equipmento, Driving' While Impaired 1, Driving while license revoked 13,Inspection Violation 5, Concealed' Weapon 0, Stop sign violation 0, No Insurance 3, Open Container 0, Arrest 3, Warrants Served 3, Order for arrest served 2,Business Checks: 694, Church Checks: 82, House Checks: 68, Total Monthly Checks: 844, Written Reports/ Calls answered, Vehicle Accident 2, Larceny:2, Breaking and Entering 0, Welfare Check 2, Alarm calls 1, Open Door, Suspicious PersonWehicle calls 5, Assault 0, Vandalism 0 Fraud 0, Communicating Threats 0, Hit & Run, Calls Thrul Police Department Phone: 80, Information only 5, Walk In Calls at the Saluda Police Department: 1, Total Monthly Written Reports: 6, Total Patrol Calls 102  11- Outside Resources and Funds  City Manager Orr, spoke on the Polk County Appearance Commission Grant for 500.00 matching grant we were awarded that for Pace Park. With that Dennis willl bep putting in a couple dwarf type trees to replace the ones that died  int the containers. We will apply fort the reimbursement when wet finish that.  12-Zoning and Planning Department Report  City Manager spoke about 918 Louisiana Avel Pace property update wel have been talking with an Architect that has been in contact with Mr. Pace andi trying to negotiate the purchase oft the property. Ift that weret tot take place then we would back off of any code enforcement howeveri don't thinki it willl bes successful sO we will probably go through with the code enforcement within the next month or sO. Out of respect fori the individuals request as well as trying to save  the City money without going through that expense. 13-Administration Department Report City Manager Orr, spoke on  McCreery Park- Phase II- Design and Cost analysis to begineRaleigh, NC Legislative Visit- May 7th-8thWWTP- Mayor Morgan thanked Julie Osteen fors stepping up: and! helping while Steve was away Bys getting people here to help from Columbus and Hendersonville when our public works hadi issues that kept them from being here.  Bar Screen Project to Finishi in Next 45 days-Adcressing-7h12024-Addressing Ordinance  14- Discussion of Coon Dog Day Festival  Commissioner Marion gave an update things are going good but we still need Vendors and' Volunteers. Wel have 4  sponsors the next meeting ist this Wednesday 530 at City Hall.  15-1 Planning Board Application  Commissioner Marion made a motion to approve the Application for thel Planning Board for. James  Hrynyshyn as presented Commissioner Talbot seconded all were in favor.  BOC Meeting 5/13/2024  3    16-BOC-Special Motion-C-H District Retail Task Force  Participated: Melanie Talbot  Commissioner Talbot on the C-H District Task Force. What started this was the! business owners on Main St. coming to me about the BBQ place being closed and business being opened or having consistent hours so Laural Fields andl held ar meeting at the visitor center would have to say al bunch of the! business owners were there. Wel had a session on whatt to do abouti it, How retail was effected, How Airbnb. Walter Hoover stopped me and had concerns about guest coming tol his BNB there's note enough restaurants Not enough retail here tol keep people here. People are having to got to Tryon andl Hendersonville. Hei is afraid thati they will stop coming here and start going elsewhere which would lose moret funds. Concerns are too many service business taking ups space on Main St. That could be a shop that is bringing people tot town and could bes sales tax dollars that we're not collecting. Empty store fronts, Types ofr retail business. remember years agot that this was big antiquing area Saluda, Tryon and Landrum were known as the string of pearls start at one end and got tot the other. They would shop for antiques and oddities. They thought that would be al big help tol bring ins sales tax. The other ist the property owners getting together with the owners of these buildings or landlords tol be mindful of whati rent would be to! keep these business here so they can thrive. Thisi is still ac concern about thel business on Main Sta andy we: need to do something so iti isn't like ity was when moved here 40  years again there was nothing open on Main St. 17-Tourism Development Authority- Update Scott Cardais gave a mid-year Update.  Commissioner Marion turnedi it overt to Scott Cardais he is one oft the three board members of the TDA. Scott went over their Mission. Grow tourism in Saluda, especially overnight tourism. Went overt thel board members. Paul Marion Chairman & City Commissioner. Ken Graham, Vice Chair and owner of three vacation rentals and Scott Cardais, Secretary. He gave al little bit oft their Finances. They willl have advertising! in The Atlanta Joumal-Consitution, Our State, Our State Outdoors about hiking and cycling in Saluda. Outreach to the property owners, Build relationships with the property owners, share what) we've been spending the occupancy taxes they collect, Share changes we're making, Discuss ideal toi increase tourism, get their ideas. Getting involved Monthly meetings, Follow DiscoverSaludaNC on Instagram and FB/Meta, Share our posts and comments, Volunteers. Feedback from property owners, Don't spend money on printed ads, Digital marketing isi the way to go. Find a way to get the camps to promote local short-term rentals in Saluda. Contact other TDA's to learn what they're doing that works fort them. Build ane email campaign in addition to social media. Do something aboutt the closed businesses on Main St. Changes coming, Assuming full responsibility fort the visitor center June 1st. Continued collaboration with the SBA. Shifting to digital marketing and away from print. The visitor center, The TFA assumes full financial & operating responsibility starting June 1st. Comes with increased rent expense, offset by poster advertising, Assumption of operating duties. Working closely with the SBA. Coordination to maximize impact, Wel have as similar goal: toi increase Tourism, Emily Glenn Franklin made as suggestion that would get the volunteers to ask the visitors what they would like to see in Saluda that not here. That might start to give us an idea of what type of business we need to encourage. Commissioner Oxtoby ito could go either way with rails toi trailsi itd could bring in retail ori it could bring inr real-estate, Gleen Franklin and Commissioner Talbot say they get asked al lot about antique shops and we have to say no, Glenn Franklin when I moved here there was ab beauty shop, florist and they disappeared that doesn't attract tourist. we don't want al business to come in and fail. We need tot find out what thet tourist want. Commissioner Oxtoby they can't fail! because rent is so high. It's hard fors someone to come in and do crafty things and make at thousand dollar rent or whatever the going ratei is fors seasonal 6r months out of they year.  Lamar participates in our monthly meetings.  contractors but you still may end up with retail.  there's not one.  BOC Meeting- - 5/13/2024  4    Scott Cardais ifl can comment on thatt the renti is ar relevant thing based ont the number of visitors we have. Ifv we had al lotr more traffic itv would be worth a thousand dollars. Thati is a Challange thatl I'm looking at as the TDAI it's ourj jobt to bring in morei tourist. How do you gett them here when there's not enough to do. Thati is thet type of challenge we are Commissioner Talbotl have worked the visitors center and that is the biggest complaint is whyi is everything closed. Scott Cardais when thet trail is approved Ithink we will be seeing some parallel reactions. Ithink we wil have to! be careful of what type ofbusiness that will ruin the character oft the community. We don't want cheap souvenir shops.  faced with.  There nothing opened sot they move on to Hendersonville. It's always the biggest complaint.  That would ruint the character ofi the community. Commissioner Walker you can't stopi it. Mayor Morgan thati is up to thel landlord.  Commissioner Oxtoby how doy yous stopi iti if they can pay the rent.  Commissioner Oxtoby we're all expressing what we like but we have no control.  Tom Hutto as a property owner Thave tos suggestions Barbara andl because of our engagement with thet town we wouldn'ti rent the Wakey Monkey out to a realty group. We want ar retail there. We're not going to turn the apartment into an Airbnb.' We have tol have place for people around here to live. Wel lost a great craftsman because thel landlord went up on ther rent more than what he could pay. The landlords havet to make a conscious decision toi invest int the community. Barbara andl are invested we wanted to and wet think iti is best tol have retaili in our buildings and an apartment. The second isl Ididn't catchr much of thet funding of the Saluda grade trail. The closing will probably be nexty year. Then the questioni is how doy your raise the money to develop the trail itv will be al lot. Big industries will get behind it. You're all correct iti is going to change thet town. How can) you work this toi the benefit oft thet town?1 Ithink someone will set up a Saluda Grade bike race 15kr race 50kr race your name it. It will be nationally recognized. My wife andl are going to the Virigina creeper trail in. July. This one will be famous because oft that grade. Whichever town grabs the! bull byt the homa and say we are going to have the Saluda Grade 100k whateveri the length. Ity will be the center of attention and bring lots of attention tot the community. It could be any town along the way to grab ith but Saluda makes ther most since it's the Saluda Grade. Somebody has to geti ini front oft that because ity willl happen. You can startt the race before thet trail ist finished by using public roads. We need to geti itb before someone else does.  18- - Farmers Market Agreement Participated: analberg@gmal.com City Attorney Berg went overt the agreement  Commissioner Oxtoby made ar motion to approve the agreement commissioner Walker seconded ally were in 19-Schedule al Public Hearing for the City of Saluda E911 Addressing Ordinance June 10th, 2024,  favor.  Saluda Public Library, 2nd floor Meeting Room. 7:00 pm.  City Manager Orr read the Resolution  Commissioner Marion made the motion to approve the Resolution as read for a public hearing for the City of Saluda addressing Ordinance E911June 10th Commissioner Walker Seconded all were in favor.  20. Closed session  City Manager Orr read the Closed session Resolution  BOC Meeting 5/13/2024  5    Commissioner Talbot made a motion to accept the Resolutioni to enter closed session as. read for personnel matters and Attorney Client privilege Commissioner Oxtoby seconded and ally werei in favor, Commissioner Walker made a motion to leave closed session Commissioner Talbot seçonded and all were in  Time entered Closed Session 8:08 pm  favor.  Time out of closed session and back to regular session 8:37pm  21-Adjourn  Out of closed session at 8:37 pm Back to Regular session at8:37 pm Commissioner Marion seconded all werei ini favor With not further business to discuss,  Aftert the closeds session commissioner Talbot made a motion to! hire Gary! Heisey fors strategic planning witht the BOC Budget workshop May 28th 5:30 andJ June 10th 5:30: Saludal Library City Clerkt toa advertiset the Workshop  Commissioner Talbot made a motion to adiourn the meeting Commissioner Walker seconded and all were in  favor.  The meeting adjourned at 8:39 pm May 13th, 2024.  Respectfully submitted by Pamela S. Waters, City Clerk. Adopted this 10th day of. June 2024.  ehugi angie Morgan,  Pamela S. Waters, City Clerk Bmhli  Moagu  BOC Meeting 5/13/2024  6