MINUTES OF RETREAT OF THE CITY COUNCIL: - CITY OF SANFORD SANFORD, NORTH CAROLINA  The City Council met at The Mayton, located at 201 South Academy Street, Cary, NC, on Thursday, February 29, 2024, at 9:00 a.m., to hold the first day of its two-day annual retreat. The  following people were present: Mayor Rebecca Wyhof fSalmon Council Member Jean Dabbs Council Member Walter Ferguson Council Member Charles Taylor City Manager Hal Hegwer Assistant to the City Manager Holly Marosites Assistant City Manager Beth Kelly Council Member Byron Buckels  Mayor Pro Tem Mark Akinosho Council Member. James Williams Council Member Linda Rhodes Deputy City Clerk Vicki Cannady City Attorney Susan Patterson Assistant City Manager Vic Czar City Clerk Bonnie Davis  Absent: Call to Order  Mayor Salmon called the meeting to order and welcomed everyone to the retreat. She noted that Council has al lot ofissues to consider with the future growth coming to Sanford. Assistant to the  City Manager Holly Marosites presented the strategic framework.  Financial Overview - (Exhibit A)  Assistant City Manager Beth Kelly presented a financial overview of the general fund (Exhibit A). She gave a history of the tax rates over the past years and added that the City files an investment report every six months to make sure we are not investing in anything that is too risky. Heri investment policy does not allow her to invest out over two years because of cash flow purposes. A graph ofthe County's and City'ss sales tax revenue was displayed. Prior to year 2014, the state collected the sales tax and distributed them to the City of Sanford, Broadway and Lee County on the basis of per capita. The county switched the sales tax distribution method to ad valorem in lieu of per capita. Mrs. Kelly explained how this change affected the City. Broadway receives al little of Harnett and Lee County's sales taxes because part of Broadway is located in Harnett County. Mr. Hegwer added that it is sO unpredictable from year to year and the financial review is the basis for everything we do. The City  does not receive sales tax information until close to the end oft the year.  Mrs. Kelly noted that she received last year's sales tax numbers around May 11, 2023. Mr. Hegwer stated that the investment that is taking place now: isi inside the City. Assistant City Manager Vic Czar added that the services you provide to industries is different than what you service to the residents. It takes a lot more revenue to cover the expenses for services ofl home versus industries. Mrs. Kelly went over the state-shared revenue such as electricity sales tax, natural gas sales tax, telecommunications sales tax, disposal tax, and beer and wine tax. Sales tax figures are three months behind and we. are close to what was budgeted for this fiscal year. She explained the details ofl Fund Balance and the adjusted Fund balance as of. June 30, 2023 was $13,116,653. The rating agencies  require her to have a policy for Fund balance.  Oft the General Fund, 62 percent is for public safety. Mr. Hegwer added that the increase in public safety is the new fire station being built and employees to staff the station. Public safety costs    City Council Retreat Day One February 29, 2024  increase from the additional growth from homes/developments. Mrs. Kelly noted that we did not receive enough bids on1 the water treatment plant expansion; therefore, the project willl have to be rebid.  Streets (Exhibit B)  Assistant City Manager Vic Czar talked about the state oft the City's street system and presented an analysis ofs system facts from 2021. The City maintains 137.5 centerline road miles. A third party isl hired approximately every five years to perform an analysis on our streets andi iti is called a Pavement Condition Index (PCI) which gives you the condition of the streets. Staff is more interested in the structural integrity of the street. He presented a display of the life cycle of a street and how it deteriorates over time. Ane evaluation is done on al block-to-block basis and evaluated on seven failure types (Exhibit B). Ofthe evaluation performed, 14 percent are good; 48 percent arei fair and 38 percent isp poor. He displayed pictures of the problems with the streets such as rutting and roughness, block cracking, transverse cracking, fatigue/alligator cracking etc. When you design a street, you try to determine how many loads are going over it; streets are built to city standards. The PCI ofour street system in 2012 was 79.2 and if we keep going like we are, it is predicted to be 45 PCI in 2031. He addressed the options and cost to maintain the current condition and address current backlog. He advised that we are not doing enough with the streets. You determine which streets need to be resurfaced due to the life cycle ofas street (the condition oft the street). Mr. Czar noted that we need the $1.65 million toi maintain the current street system tol keep them at 61 PCI. This would keep the streets from worse deterioration. Mrs. Kelly learned that the Powell Bill income should be increased but at this time, we do not know how much. We budgeted $575,000 for resurfacing. The interest rate on installment financing is higher because you cannot take the street as collateral. She could get a limited bond obligation with al little lower rate than installment purchase but you are back to the $1.65 million  which is 2.5 cents on the tax rate.  Council Member Taylor was in support of the options but he felt we need to go back to the development standard in the Unified Development Ordinance with the developer to build the streets at a higher standard and give us a better product that will last longer. Mr. Hegwer said the developer will come back and say it is an additional cost and will add it to the home. Mr. Taylor added that Holly Springs is initiating a parks and recreation tax on every door. He is not advocating to raise  taxes.  Mr. Czar presented five cost options to bring the streets PCI up to 97 by 2031.  Transportation Planning (Exhibit C)  Community Development Director Marshall Downey introduced the topics of discussion related to transportation planning that inçluded roads, bike and pedestrian, aviation, the S-Line rail  system, and microbility (transit, Last Mile), as described in Exhibit C.  Long Range Planning Administrator David Montgomery spoke on the roads. Because there are no county-maintained roads, new roads in Sanford and Lee County are either driven by North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), the private sector or the local funding. Most large-scale transportation projects in the state are funded through a process known as the State Transportation Improvement program (STIP). There are a few grants, but they are more focused on a spot basis. The State of North Carolina created Rural Planning Organizations (RPOs) around the year 2000 to fund transportation improvements. Lee County is located within Central Pines RPO, (Formerly TARPO), along with portions of Orange, Chatham and Moore County. Each RPO has al Lead Planning Agency that serves as the administrative and technical staff for the RPO, which in our region is the Central Pines Council of Governments (CPRPO), and Karyl Fuller serves as the primary staff support person  2    City Counçil Retreat Day One - February 29, 2024  for CPRPO. Each RPO also has a Rural Technical Coordinating Committee (RTCC) and a Rural Transportation Advisory Committee (RTAC). Lee County Transportation Committee is composed of local governing representativesoflee: County, City of Sanford and Broadway, as well as transportation advocacy staff (Raleigh Jetport Director, SAGA President and COLTS Director). Lee County Transportation Committee meets with NCDOT and CPRPO on an as-needed-basis. The Comprehensive Transportation Plan (CTP) is the basis on which state-funded transportation projects are submitted every two to three years to NCDOT for construction through or the Strategic Transportation Investment process (STI). CIP maps are adopted by the local governing bodies as applicable and by the North Carolina Board ofTransportation and endorsed by the RPO. Central Pines RPO is working with NCDOT to develop a new Lee County CTP Plan. The STIP identifies transportation projects that will receive funding during a ten-year period. Federal law requires it to be updated at least ever four years; however, NCDOT updates its plan every two years. Counties submit projects in various transportation methods for prioritization, which include highway, bicycle and pedestrian, rail, aviation, transit and ferry. Projects within the first five years oft the STIP are generally considered committed projects and beyond five years are considered subject to reprioritization. The City of Sanford has adopted both a pedestrian plan and a bicycle plan that were funded through the NCDOT Program. The pedestrian plan was adopted in 2011 and the bicycle plan was adopted in 2014. Mr. Montgomery reviewed the City of Sanford 2009 Comprehensive Pedestrian Plan map and a Comprehensive Bicycle Network Recommendations Map, which were included in! Exhibit C. roads and congestion problems and how to mitigate the issues as the city grows.  City Manager Hal Hegwer commented that we need to consider ways to improve connectivity, Mr. Montgomery explained that the S-Line TOD: study has been completed and we are working with NCDOT to initiate in applying for State-Federal Partnership Grant. The City has received the Microtransit (RAISE) Planning Grant to initiate the mobility hub or Multi-Modal Center. Mr. Montgomery mentioned that staffis currently working on the Transit Oriented Development Study and Downtown Small Area Plan through the FTA Grant. Mr. Montgomery mentioned that there have been discussions related to two locally funded roads, which are Ashby Village and the extension of  Commerce Drive to. Lee Avenue.  Consultant Matt Peach, an engineer with Stantec Consulting Services, reviewed Exhibit C-2 and explained that works with municipalities to help push transportation projects. NCDOT is the second largest in road maintenance, behind Texas. NCDOT has to comply with federal regulations. There are two things that determine the price ofroad, which are the price ofoil, al large component in asphalt and right-of-way land costs. Iti is hard to plan when there are sO many factors that are subject to change. Mr. Peach discussed some things other communities are doing, such as planning, leveraging development and other sources as illustrated in Exhibit B-2. The CTP determines the transportation that will be needed for the future growth of our city and the requirements needed for the development. CTP's will produce a list of primary projects, as well as help communicate to the development community the requirements of development. Mr. Peach stressed focusing on connectivity and letting developers know sO they can incorporate it into their plans because connectivity factors into good scoring. Regulatory includes the development of ordinances with connectivity requirements, along with traffic impact analysis and road widening requirements. The goal is to ensure that an individual development will not disrupt the system of roads and intersections. Mr. Peach discussed funding sources, which include NCDOT State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) and the development community. Grants are a source oft funding which include Locally Administered Projects (LAPP), Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ), Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A), Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE), Strengthening Mobility  3    City Council Retreat Day One - February 29, 2024  and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) Grants Program and Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation for Economic Success (ROUTES). Another source offunding is Bonds, whichared often  packaged with park projects.  Mr. Peach explained that a local throughfare plan could be considered in order to determine  where connections need tol be made, because they will focus on a specific groupofroads.  Strategic Framework Presentation (Exhibit] D)  Assistant to the City Manager Holly Marosites reviewed the Strategic Framework Annual Report as described in Exhibit D and she highlighted the City's accomplishments, milestones and the  goals that were met.  Recess and Tour ofDowntown Cary Park attendees toured the new Downtown Cary Park. Legislative Updates (Exhibit E)  The meeting was recessed at approximately 2:30 p.m., at which time Council and other  The meeting was reconvened at 5:00 p.m.  Mayor Salmon welcomed State Representative Sauls and State Senator Burgin and thanked them for working as champions for our community to better it for citizens. Assistant to the City Manager Holly Marosites displayed a video (Exhibit E) for Representative Sauls and Senator Burgin  oft the projects accomplished through the State's financial support.  TriRiver Water Re-Branding (Exhibit tF)  Assistant City Manager Vic Czar gave an update on the utility's merger with the Town of Pittsboro, which will be effective July 1,2 2024, and noted that there are ongoing discussions of utility consolidation with the Town of Siler City. Mr. Czar explained the proposed re-branding ofthe City of Sanford logo to TriRiver Water as described in Exhibit F, which represents the Cape Fear River, Haw River, and Deep River. There re-branding will assist ini making the Town of Pittsboro more inclusive in the merged utility system, as well as any future growth. TriRiver Water will be the logo for staff work uniforms, vehicles and communication letterheads. The City of Sanford will be interconnected with the Town of Pittsboro, with the connection of the wastewater treatment plants, which will be key to future development. The TriRiver brand will enhance the quality-of-life efforts and empower economic growth in Central North Carolina. TriRiver service to our customers' needs will come first and our goal is reliability in supplying safe drinking water and efficient wastewater management. We need to ensure that growth is sustainable and in balance with the environment and the community needs  and always pursue innovative strategies that secure the future. Regionalization ofInfrastructure (Exhibit G)  Charles Archer With Freese and Nichols gave an overview of the Carolina Core future I-685 corridor and the proposed projects that arei needed as described in Exhibit G. Hereviewed the estimated 75,300 manufacturing, jobs that are proposed through Toyota, Wolfspeed, VinFast and Chatham Park with a tax base of $50.6 billion. This development will spur additional development. Mr. Archer commented that the State has already invested $600 million toward the projects that are underway as  described in Exhibit G.  Mr. Czar added that the General Assembly provided funds for us to conduct a study that would support the City of Sanford merging other groups. To: maximize the ability for this area to grow, it is  4    City Council Retreat Day One February 29, 2024  estimated that $21 billion will bei needed to fund the projects that will need tol be completed over aj period of time for the City of Sanford to become ai regional provider. He noted that $600 million has already been funded. Water and Wastewater Utility Regionalization is a slow, deliberate process, requiring vision, leadership, patience and persistence, experience and planning in water and wastewater utilities and incentives for local governments; regionalization requires a lot of capital. There are many policy  implications and local government challenges as noted in Exhibit G.  Mayor Salmon commented that the big perspective is howi to meet the these needsi sin al beneficial way while providing excellent service to our citizens. It was noted that Representative John Sauls helped get money incrementally for the airport, which is al huge draw for other companies.  Mayor Salmon recessed the meeting at approximately 8:15 p.m.  ALL EXHIBITS CONTAINED HEREIN ARE HEREBY INCORPORATED BY  REFERENCE AND MADE. Al PART OF THESE MINUTES.  Respectfully Submitted,  CBpika  ATTEST:  Tiluia BONNIE DAVIS, CITY CLERK  5