HAMLETCITY COUNCIL WORK: SESSION COUNCIL CHAMBERS ROOM 201 MAIN: STREET, HAMLET, NC2 28345 TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2024 5:30 PM MINUTES  Governing Body Present: Mayor Mayor Pro-Tem Council Member Council Member Council Member Council Member Staff Present: City Manager Finance Director  Amy Guinn Jessie McQueen Eddie Martin Oscar Sellers Abbie Covington Maurice Stuart Matthew Christian Ednal Miles  Others Present: Mackenzie Webb 1. Call to Order  Mayor Guinn called the meeting to ordera at 5:30 pm. 2. Adoption oft the Agenda motion passed unanimously. 3. Work Session a. FY25 Draft Budget Update  Council Member Covington motioned, seconded by Council Member Stuart to adopt the agenda. The  City Manager Christian provided the City Council with context for several changes to the budget worksheets including a 4% Cost-of-Living (COLA) increase fori full-time employees and an 8.2% Health Insurance increase, with estimates currently being negotiated. City! Manager Christian also noted that the managerr recommendations do not yeti include Capital Outlay allocations, service fee increases, or utility ratei increasesa and information regarding workers compensation insurance renewala and property Mayor Pro-Tem McQueen commented that thei increases in healthi insurance cost does not seem sustainable, noting past increases. Finance Director Miless statedi thatt there has beenani increase of 2-3% everyyearforthe past3 3 years. Mayor Pro-Tem McQueenaskedi ifthere were any plans of looking into a newi insurance carrier. He noted that insurance is al big draw for potential andi retention of current employees. Mayor Pro-Tem McQueens suggestedat trying to band together with other cities and join the statei insurance policy as some cities have previously done. He also suggested the idea of using a similar model that Wilmington, NC uses, where new employees pay as set amount to the insurance.  andl liability insurance renewal is stillp pending.    City Manager Christian noted that al long-term healthi insurance expense comes from paying retirees health insurance before they are eligible for Medicare. He stated thati the city'si insurance broker will shopt the market and give the best options to choose from. He stated that we are currently ina al large pool that should allow the city to have competitive rates, buti insurance costs have increased across the Council Member Covington asked how many people actually felli int the gapl between retirement and eligibility for Medicare. Finance Director Miles stated that the city actually also covers theirs supplement plan oncet theyjoin Medicare, with the city currently covering approximately 16retired employees. She noted that most employers stop coverage once the employee reaches Medicare age. Mayor Pro-Tem suggest the councils Iseriously consider making changes andi instilling these changesf for employees hired  country.  aftera designated hire date.  b. WastewaterTreatment Plant Update - Adam Kiker, LKC  Adam Kikerwithl LKCengineeringgaves al brief presentationtother city council about potentialupdates to the WastewaterTreatment Plant. The plan fore expansion of the Wastewaterlreatment Plant has been in the wonsforseveralyear.Recenty,ACDEQadved staffthat the permit fort thei increased discharge Kiker discussed the current permit capacity oft the facility at 1million gallons per day, during the CY 2018-CY2020 the average was 831,000gallons pero day. Several monthly average flows exceeded the 1 million daily capacity. Recently, from October 2021-September 20231 the average was 602,000gallons per day and no months exceeded the 1million gal/day average. This has been attributed to: several factors including drierweatherand: staffi fixes of some known deficiencies. In. January 2024, the DEQ lifted the moratorium placed on sewer connections, relievings some urgency: for expansion, Kiker explainedt that the goali fort the project ist to expand the WWTP capacity to: 2r million per day, A critical stepi in the process would be obtaining a new discharge permit (NPDES), allowing the authority to discharge to surface waters and expand from 1 million to 2r million gal/day. The application fori the Currently where the WWTP discharges into Marks Creek is on the state impaired list for dissolved oxygen. NPDES permit writers gave the city the options of accepting more stringent permit limits, approaching limits of current technology, or model the segment of Marks Creek to demonstrate the stream's ability to accept thei increase in discharge volume. Modeling the stream flow could demonstrate the stream can receive less stringent discharge limitations. The streamf flow modelwould bea a omputatonalimodelusing standardized! PApotwar,aibratedbased tor reflectactual conditions and: seasonal changes. The NCI DEQ modeling group will review and approve the process andi results. Council MemberCwngtonasked Kikerwhatwould: happenift the modelwas conducted, and the results showed that the City would not be able to increase their discharge volume. However, Kiker stated that would be highly unlikely, buti it could be likely that the limit would be close to the limit of current technology. Kikerstatedthat ift the model showed thei increase could not be done, the discharge would havet to ber moved down stream about 2 miles to get below the segment that is impaired. Alternatively, regionalization with the City of Rockingham is stilla ap potential option. Council Member Covingtons stated  needs additionalstudy.  permit expansion was submitted in April 2022.  Kikerstated the estimated budget for the stream model would be $77,000.  that this was the option she was seriously considering.    Mayor Pro-Tem McQueen asked Mr. Kikerwhyt the discharge had changed overt time. He stated thati it was could have been fora ar number of complex reasons including additional people connected to the sewer, agingand deteroratingsewerines, and drainage featuresand events. Mayor Pro-Tem.McQueen. also asked int this project could be affected by political changes at the state level. Mr. Kikeranswered that the project should not be affected by political changes as all of the data is quantitative. Mayor Pro- Tem McQueen echoed Council Member Covington, asking whyt this projecti is being considered when Hamlet was moving toward regionalization. City Manager Christian stated that regionalization is still very much an option to consider, however, it would be more expensive. Funding would be highly affected! by budgeting and capital allocation fromi the state. legislature. He stated thati if he had to give a recommendationtoday it would bet to spendi thet time andmoney to do the modeland; potentially make Mayor Pro-Tem McQueen asked that if the city was only going to be handling residential wastewater, without industry increases, is it cost-effective to pursue anyi improvements over choosing the do- nothing alternative. Mr. Kikers stated thati if nothing is done, ini the next! 5-10yearst there willl be noticeable expenses needed at the plant, whereas the current plani fore expansion covers the replacement ofs several structures in disrepair at the plant. City! Manager Christian stated that as longa as planning and research continues, the council can make a more informed decision about the WWTP in thef future, but! he urgedt the council that we needt to leavet the plant in al better condition than we found  agenerational investment in improving the WWTP int the long run.  itt for our successors.  C. Hamlet Fire & Rescue Discussion - Trey Goodwin, Fire Chief (53min)  Hamlet EMS currently have 3 paramedicyhowever, one is leaving the organization, and anotheris eligible to retire soon. FirstHealth is payingparamedics: significantly more than the City, therefore, the pay gap presents as significant challenge in recruiting and restaffing the Rescue squad. These staffing issues have highlighted the significant cost of providing the current levelofservice toi the City and Fire Chief Trey Goodwin was present to discuss the issue with the City Council and answer their questions. He: statedt that the pay difference posedasignificant issuei in staffing the Fire Departmentand the Rescue Squad. In! his three years as Chief, he has had 6 people leave for higher paya atanother organization. He stated that the starting salary fora ar new paramedic would be around $38,000.0 City Manager Christian: stated thati the average salaryf fora al Hamlet EMS paramedic was in the $40,000- $50,000 range. To put the pay difference into context, Chief Goodwin: stated that starting paramedic salary at FirstHealth is around: $70,000, Moore County EMS is about $75,000-$80,000, Scotland County Council Member Covington asked ift there was any other agency in Richmond County that was functioningi in any kind ofr rescue capacity, othert than Hamlet. Chief Goodwin stated that Ellerbe, Hoffman, Rockingham, and Cordova alll have squads, but they do not do transportation as they are ata a basic level. Therefore, ankthbrpaamirpeny when FirstHealth is not available within and The contract withthe Hamlet Rescue! Squadi is aurentyuplorrenewa. However, these significant costs that would come with hiring new paramedics and continuing the Hamlet EMS at its current levelof  County residents.  EMSi is around $56,000.  outside of Hamleti in Richmond County.    service would require the county ort the rescue squad to increase their funding as wellase establishing The Council discussed their options moving forward, including Council Member Covington's suggestion of moving Hamlet EMS to al basici leveland only offers services within the city limits or hand over Hamlet EMS tol FirstHealth. Despite her desire to not lose the Hamlet EMS, the costi is not sustainable. at the current level of reimbursement. Mayor Guinn expressed that noi longerhaving Hamlet EMS at their current level ofs service is a major concern as it could result inl longerresponse times for Hamlet Council Member Martin stated that it was time for the Cityt to issue an ultimatum tot the Richmond County, to increase the reimbursement to Hamlet EMS. The Council decided to have City Manager Christian call forameeting with Richmond County Government leadership to issue the ultimatum that the County increase reimbursement or the City will pulli its services to within the Hamlet Cityl limits within 60 days. Providing EMSservice is a countylevelreponsbily, nota city-mandatedi responsibility. Mayor Guinn asked how many calls Hamlet EMSI responds to ina ayear and roughly how many oft those calls are outside of Hamlet. Chief Goodwin approximated 3,000EMS calls per year with about half of those being outside of the city limits. Hamlet Fire and Rescue has the largest response areai int the county. City Manager Christian was charged with draftinga al letter to send to County leadership, tol be 4. Closed Session per NC655145311101010) fora attorney-client privilege and personnel. Council Memberselersmotiones, seconded by Mayor Pro-Tem McQueen to goi into closed: session for  feest forservices.  residents.  reviewed at the following City Council meeting on Aprilgth,  attorney-client privilege and personnel. The motion passed unanimously.  5. Motion to Adjourn passed unanimously: at 7:20pm.  Council Member Sellers motioned, seconded by Mayor Pro-Tem! McQueent to adjourn. The motion  HAMLE OFFICIAL SEAL MCEINS CAR