TOWN OF COATS Board of Commissioners Thursday, March 14, 2024 Official Minutes The Town of Coats Board of Commissioners met in regular session on Thursday, March 14, 2024 at 7:00 p.m, in the Board of Commissioners' Meeting Room at Coats Town Hall. Members Present: Mayor Chris Coats Mayor Pro Tem Marc Powell Commissioner Jerry Beasley Commissioner, Kelvin Gilbert Commissioner Shirley Allen Others Present: Nick Holcomb, Town Manager Connie Lassiter, Finance Director/Town Clerk Rodney Pleasant, Public Works Director Ken Storicks, Police Chief Mike Collins, Parks & Recreation Director Brian Taylor, Attorney I. CALLTOORDER A quorum being present, Mayor Chris Coats called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. A. Invocation & Pledge Mayor Coats delivered thei invocation and led those in attendance in the Pledge of Allegiance. B. Approval of Agenda RESOLVED, to approve agenda. MOTION BY: Commissioner Kelvin Gilbert SECOND BY: Commissioner Shirley Allen APPROVED: Unanimously. Approved II. PUBLICFORUM Mayor Chris Coats opened the Public Forum. Vikki Ingersoll of3 301 N Railroad St spoke as the business owner of Abby & Bella's and as Coats Chamber of Commerce President with concern for the future ofl Main St and noted that a decline in foot traffic had affected sales and more businesses were needed. She expressed her beliefthat the poor condition of Main St was to blame. She suggested adding trees, trash cans, painting the parking lot lines as improvements. She requested that something be done about the unused rundown buildings on Main St for safety reasons due to broken windows and rusted locks that prevented the doors to remain closed. She stated that she appreciated Farmer's Corner and the Brandy Babnaw, owner ofTime Honored Tattoos at 461 EI Main St, echoed concern regarding the broken glass and unsecured abandoned buildings on Main St and added that animals and people pergola with benches but that more was needed. 1 were entering those buildings and posed a safety risk. She requested that a portion oftl the revitalization grant go toward the exteriors ofs small businesses for paint, signage and accessibility Ryan Pope, owner of Pope Financial Services at 1401 N McKinley St and Coats Chamber of Commerce Treasurer, presented each Commissioner with a written letter requesting that $9,940 be budgeted for Chamber funding to be used to cover insurançe for parade at Farmersl Day and Christmas, bands for Crank Up Coats, candy for Treat Street and portable restrooms at events. He conveyed that the Chamber) Board was disappointed when funding was cut from $2,000 to $800 last year, and after reviewing the matter, the Chamber Board determined that not carrying forward Debbie Cann of8122 Maude Stewart Rd, Fuquay Varina, NC stated that she was the current Coats Chamber of Commerce Vice-President and owner of Santa and Friends which had been serving as an outreach ministry in the Coats community for thirty years. She stressed that she was an example that you do not have to live in the city limits and pay taxes to love and support the community and asked that the Board provide the requested financial support as proposed from Lynn Plessinger of 202 Remington Dr indicated that the current' Town website was difficult to navigate and find information and lacked updated information. She also requested that Town Joan Harmon of 1390 Abattoir Rd reiterated the previous concern regarding the Town website and added ai request that events be on calendar, Planning Board meeting agenda be shown and the entire agenda packet for meetings be added to website. She noted that the website was especially Don Plessinger of202 Remington! Dr expressed interest in the agenda item regarding food trucks. He offered his experience as a food truck owner in assisting thel Board ift they were going to Daniel Thornton of 1936 Chic Ennis Rd announced the ribbon cutting ceremony for Herring Residential at 320 E Stewart St tomorrow morning from 11:00am to 1:00pm. Ben Dixon of 1052 Old Stage Rd responded to the comments regarding the delinquent properties int town and stated that they were moving forward trying to clean stuff up and get it back to where Adam Dean of 105 E Washington St added that there were issues with some oft the tenants, but they were in the process and served two eviction notices today. He noted that he and his wife, Leeann Westbrook of 225 Jeepl Ln, Angier NC: shared that she just put a new blessing box near ramps. with the events and activities would be a disservice to the community. the Chamber, meetings be livestreamed. difficult to view on aj phone. consider food trucks in town. itv was supposed to be. Alicia, were working on this full-time. the Community Center. 2 Allen Faircloth of Benson NC and business owner at 161 EI Main Sti in Coats pleaded that something be done about the website. He also asked in regards to the revitalization grant that the Board and citizens define revitalization with something that would give ai target now that could be aimed at and worked toward. Mayor Coats closed the Public Forum after hearing no one else. III. CONSENT AGENDA A. Approval ofMinutes - February 8, 2024 B. Approval of Attorney Bill - Services Rendered February 1-29, 2024 C. Review ofl Financial Statement RESOLVED, to approve Consent. Agenda. MOTION BY: Commissioner Jerry Beasley SECOND BY: Mayor Pro Tem Marc Powell APPROVED: Unanimously Approved IV. NEW BUSINESS A. Water Systems Improvement Project & GPO Budget Amendment Council voted to proceed with the entire replacement project and the Resolution ofTentative Award last month fort the amount of$1,275,5001 to TAI Loving Company and committed $542,525 ofl local funds which was the amount over budget, sO the Grant Project Ordinance needed to be Town Manager Nick] Holcomb noted that the numbers used last month regarding contingencies were best guessed based on being pretty certain there would not be any rock and less engineering Thel Notice to. Award had been given by the State and could now be executed by the Town to amended accordingly. and oversight would be necessary due to using a quality contractor. send to the Contractor along with all contract execution documents. RESOLVED, to approve transfer of $542,525: from the Water Fund to the Water Capital Project Fund and budget amendment. MOTION BY: Commissioner. Jerry Beasley SECOND BY: Mayor Pro Tem Marc Powell APPROVED: Unanimously Approved 3 B. Water Meter Project Town Manager Holcomb informed the Board that payment in the amount ofs $197,764.89 was due for meters that had been delivered throughout the month ofl February. He gave an update on the latest installation dates starting with the larger sized meters in mid-April and anticipating the start oft the three-quarter inch residential meters in May with an expectation of completion before. June 30 which meant the project could be completed within this budget year and could be run through the operational budget without the need to setup a capital project. A budget amendment in the amount of $487,561 from Water Fund Balance to the Operating Budget would be needed. Town Manager Holcomb relayed that he had been given a guarantee that 97% oft the project would be complete before. June 30 and would be covered by the requested budget amendment amount. He communicated that some loose ends could lagi into next fiscal year such as the need Mayor Pro Tem Marc Powell asked ifm meter installation would be done for all existing houses or all existing lots. Town Manager Holcomb explained that they worked off the data received from Harnett County's billing system which showed 1,350 accounts that had ever been created. Public Works worked off of that number takingi into account the lots that no longer had al house or places where meters had not been active in 15 years or more and arrived at a need of 1,259; but int terms ofhitting the exact number, it wasn'tpossible due to not knowing how many new accounts could Commissioner Jerry Beasley asked for confirmation that this money was already sittingi in the Water Fund account. Town Manager Holcomb reminded the Board that we. knew this was coming sO when the Board decided to transfer the portion ofr recognized revenue from the ARP funds forl LEO: revenue replacement to the Water Fund last April it was with the intent to fund this project. Commissioner Beasley inquired about what account it was in. Town Manager Holcomb explained that it was int the water fund balance and would be moved to the operating budget. Finance Director Connie Lassiter added that the specific Water Fund operating line items targeted would be Unappropriated Surplus (Revenue) and Capital Improvement Plan for labor for corrections and tweaking ofinstallation. come in the next three months. (Expenditure). Town Manager Holcomb mentioned that there would be future invoices for this project over the next three months that would be over the $5,000 threshold that required Board approval for payment and suggested that thei invoices be placed on the Consent Agenda since it was al known amount ofr money to cover the whole project. RESOLVED, to transfer of $487,561 for the budget amendment. MOTION BY: Commissioner Jerry Beasley SECOND BY: Commissioner Kelvin Gilbert APPROVED: Unanimously Approved RESOLVED, to pay the bill of$197,764.89. MOTION BY: Commissioner Jerry Beasley SECOND BY: Commissioner Kelvin Gilbert APPROVED: Unanimously Approved 4 Commissioner Kelvin Gilbert inquired ifa motion was needed for placing approval of future payments on the Consent. Agenda. Town Manager Holcomb responded that ifit was acceptable it could be placed on the Consent Agenda and thel Board would have the option to move it to an agenda item if discussion was needed. There was a general consensus oft the Board to place future invoices for the project on the Consent. Agenda. C. Strategy forl Downtown Revitalization Grant Town Manager Holcomb recounted a few of the details regarding the Downtown Streetscape Master Plan that was developed utilizing a $46,000 USDA grant that involved al lot ofs surveys and outreach at community events; talking to people walking down the street about what they cared about and wanted to see downtown; and meetings with property owners, business owners, Chamber of Commerce, Planning Board and Town Board which resulted in a good amount of public input. This professional plan allowed the Mayor to shop and promote with our elected officials to: receive an earmark of $500,000 through the State budget for al Downtown Revitalization Project based off the: streetscape plan. Estimated cost would be around $5 Million to complete the full blown streetscape project, and we were only awarded 10% oft that amount. Being that we were awarded a very large amount of money that wasn'tenough for the entire plan, we are forced toi find a bit oft the plan to get started on. Townl Manager Holcomb summarized the following potential options: Option 1- Aesthetic Improvements Intended to generate a cosmetic only plan to improve overall aesthetics of! Main St Includes benches, trash cans, planters, landscaping, lighting along Main St and edge of Town-owned building façade improvements (painting, lighting, signage) Downtown parking improvements $500,000 would go: a long way and be very visible. Would noti inhibit any major streetscape construction in the future. parking lot Option 2 - Square Renovation Objective would bet to generate construction documents and general contractor bids for renovation ofl Farmers Corner parking loti into at true downtown greenspace Would create pedestrian greenspace with a feature such as a fountain, sculpture or shelter Good standalone project that could be designed and implemented within the $500,000 budget Option: 3 - Streetscape Expansion Purpose to generate construction documents and general contractor bids fori implementing Would expand Railroad St (2-3 blocks from Main St) with curbing, parallel parking, asection ofthe downtown plan street trees and sidewalk infrastructure Most practical for long range planning Least exciting of thet three visually Would require the most money for design and engineering 5 Town Manager Holcomb emphasized the need for a plan that could be put out to bid to a general contractor that could produce a turnkey project andi noted that al halfn million dollar project was on Çommissioner Beasley inquired about time limit to complete project and mentioned that Option 3 was in keeping with the streetscape plan but expressed waterlines were going on Railroad St Town Manager Holcomb explained that the $500,000 was only an earmark and not a grant sO there was no official timeline yet. He noted that the survey data, underground data and utility data we would have for the waterline project would give al head start on paying for and producing Commissioner Beasley mentioned that Option 3 would add more parking and trees on both sides of Railroad for a couple of blocks. Hei inferred that a decision didn't have to be made tonight. Town Manager Holcomb clarified that he was looking for some direction from the Board sO that he could inform the producers oft the streetscape plan at WithersRavenel and ask how to approach Commissioner Kelvin Gilbert acknowledged and agreed with the commentary during thel Public Forum on this topic and opined that he would like to see something now; SO ifit was possible to have someone add beauty, let's doi it now. He was in favor of Option 1 because it would allow Commissioner Shirley Allen echoed the desire for Option 1 and added that it would make things Mayor Pro Tem Powell expressed that hel had leaned toward Option 3 for Railroad St but after hearing the! Public Forum comments from business owners the best bet would be Option 1 which Commissioner Beasley admitted all three options were good options. He warned that Main St was as State maintained street and nothing could be done to the actual street, but we could do some things to the sidewalk as well as plant trees and add trash cans as long as we: stay out oft the street. Town Manager Holcomb pointed out that building facade improvements on town owned buildings was included in Option 1. He alluded to the comment made in the Public Forum and stressed that this State earmark could not be used for improvements to private property. He went on1 to say that there were grant processes that at town could implement using public funds. Commissioner Beasley called attention to aj piece of town-owned property further down on Main St that was overgrown and suggested potential use as aj picnic area park space ifc cleaned up. Mayor Coats asked if WithersRavenel would have to be used for the project. Town Manager Holcomb indicated that he was open to the Boards input. Option 1 was much less intensive on as scale that he could not bet the head designer and contractor. which would have two projects going on there. construction documents for Option 3 on Railroad St. and proceed with the option of choice. something that could be seen this year. look neater and cleaner. provided to dos something we could get now. 6 design and engineering, but some type of general layout site plan by aj professional would be important tol have. Mayor Chris Coats called for ai five minute: recess. RESOLVED, to recess for five minutes. MOTION. BY: Commissioner Jerry Beasley SECOND BY: Mayor Pro Tem Marc Powell APPROVED: Unanimously Approved Recessed at 8:10 p.m. and reconvened at 8:15 p.m. D. McKinley Point Fee - Consideration of Food' Trucks McKinley Point and ifso, establishing associated rules. Town Manager Nick Holcomb introduced thei idea ofi food trucks being allowed to operate at Discussion included the following: Effect on established restaurants Potential for more food options Concern for lack of parking at that location Alternate location at the park No: action was taken. V. MANAGER & COMMITTEE REPORT Town Manager Nick Holcomb updated the Board on the following: CAMPO still sought comments from the town regarding updates to the MOU; final Public Hearing for requested rezoning would be April 11; signage and mailings would go out next week; Planning Board met last week to follow up on their motion to deny with a written consistency statement that focused on traffic carrying capacity concerns and access for traffic as well asi increasing collaboration with) DOT to work on transportation plans for different corridors to make sure it lined up with our: future land use plan Order to demolish 166EJSty would be carried forth prior to April Ista as legally it could have been done back in November; very dangerous situation now; original proposal would change, depending on increase and availability in the line item a special meeting might be needed before the April meeting ori if close to original it could be an update in Budget Work Session would bel March 21 at 6:30 p.m. for FY24-25 operating budget Mayor Chris Coats read aloud a letter of resignation from Commissioner Allen Mosby. approved copy was expected to be completed next month the Consent Agenda 7 Public Works Director Rodney Pleasant informed the Board that they had worked on cleaning out Police ChiefKen Storicks recognized Officer Kolaya and Officer Hawkins for their fundraising efforts with the Special Olympics. He displayed thet two plaques received for raising over $7,000 and for being the top new agency for Special Olympics fund raising. He reported that a Coffee with a Cop event would be held Saturday: from 9:00 a.m. until 11 a.m. at Cornerstone. Parks & Recreation Director Mike Collins referred to the monthly report submitted to thel Board regarding youth participants and noted that the amount received from the County would be much larger this year. He commented on the issue oflack of parking and the need for an officer at the Mayor Chris Coats encouraged everyone to participate int the Harnett County Street Sweep in April and noted that information was available on thel Harnett County website. culvert pipes. park to direct traffic during events. VI. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Chris Coats called for a motion to adjourn. RESOLVED, to adjourn. MOTION BY: Mayor Pro Tem Marc Powell SECOND BY: Commissioner Kelvin Gilbert APPROVED: Onanimously Approved Meeting adjourned at 9:01 p.m. The attached documents of reference are incorporated herewith and are hereby made aj part oft these minutes. C1l Connie Lassiter, Town Clerk Chris Coats, Mayor 8