SANFORD CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION Tuesday, August 13, 2024 West End Conference Room 225 East Weatherspoon Street, Sanford, NC  The City Council held a work session on Tuesday, August 13, 2024, at 1:00 p.m. in the West End  Conference Room at City Hall. The following people were present:  Mayor Rebecca Salmon Council Member Byron Buckels Council MemberI Linda Rhodes City Manager Hal Hegwer City Clerk Bonnie Davis Absent: Council Member Jean Dabbs Council Member Charles Taylor  Mayor Pro Tem Mark Akinosho Council Member James Williams City Attorney Susan Patterson Deputy City Clerk Vicki Cannady  Council Member Walter Ferguson (left at 3:00 p.m.)  Call to Order  Mayor Salmon called the meeting to order.  Discussion on Chatham County/Siler City Utility Merger (Exhibit A)  Assistant City Manager Vic Czar reminded Council that the City of Sanford is progressing with the potential Siler City merger, and introduced Charles Archer, Account Director for Infrastructure Consulting and Engineering Firm, Freese and Nichols. Mr. Archer reviewed a power point presentation, Exhibit A, detailing the highlights ofTriRiver Water utility mergers with Chatham County and Siler City, including a map oft the regionalized water and wastewaterinfrasnucture ofthe utility system. He presented an overview of the strategic economic values to the City of Sanford, Chatham County and Siler City. Mr. Archer reviewed a map included in Exhibit A, outlining the area of proposed revenue sharing with Chatham County, which consists of a total of 3,886 acres and includes Chatham Advanced Manufacturing (CAM) Site (Wolfspeed) and the surrounding acreage. He presented a summary ofthe progress ofthe mergers and noted that the adoption of the Merger Agreements would be presented to Siler City and Chatham County in October 2024 and the Merger Agreements would be presented to City Council for adoption inl November  2024.  The consensus of Council was to move forward with the current utility merger proposal with Attomey Mac McCarley with McCarley Law, PLLC, explained that most ofthei issues with the Siler City merger have been worked through; however, there are: some issues that have not been resolved, one is whether or not to have a local office to accept cash payments for utility services within the Town of Siler City, because there are many individuals in this town who prefer toj pay theiri invoices with cash. He added that there are also some issues concerning rates, as well as maintenance and repair issues. Attorney Mac  Chatham County and Siler City.  McCarley noted that there are some issues that need to be addressed in Closed Session.  Council Member Rhodes made the motion to go into Closed Session in accordance with North Carolina General Statute 143-318.11 (a)(3) to consult with an attorney employed or retained by the public body in order to preserve the attorney-client privilege and to discuss handling of a claim or administrative procedure and (5), to instruct the public body's staff regarding the position to be taken in negotiating the    City Council Work Session August 13,2024  price or other material terms of a contract or proposed contract for the acquisition of real property.  Seconded by Council Member Williams, the motion carried unanimously.  Council Member Buckels, asked if the Sanford Cares' Program had been considered in the Siler City Merger proposal. Assistant City Manager Beth Kelly çonfirmed that there are discussions inj progress  to obtain non-profits to assist with this type of! program.  Mayor Salmon called for a vote to go into Closed Session, the motion carried unanimously.  Returned to Regular Sesson  Discussion on Bids for Depot Park Renovation Exhibit B  Executive Director of Utilities Paul Weeks reviewed the certified bid tabulation for the Sanford Train Depot Restoration project as described in Exhibit B and verified that based on the six bids submitted, the apparent low bidder is Critical Path Solutions, LLC, Fayetteville, North Carolina, with a bid of $917,343. Upon review of bids and the required qualifications, Architect Terry Traub, with Traub Architecture + Design, Inc., is recommending award of the Depot Park project to Critical Path Solutions, LLC. Mr. Weeks explained that the City currently has approximately $1,075,000 budgeted for this project, which provides approximately $150,000 for contingency. Mr. Weeks explained that the renovation project can commence, as soon as the required asbestos remediation has been completed and the contractor has received the contract. Weather permitting, staffi is estimating that the project will begin late fall or early winter, with an approximate twelve months for completion. However, because this is a renovation, staffis Discussion on Design/Cost Options for NCDOT Project to Transform a Portion of Carthage Street via "Road Diet" Project (Section between Intersection ofWicker Street and Chatham Street Railroad Long Range Planning Administrator David Montgomery gave a slide presentation of the Carthage Street Road Diet (EB-5863) Project, which is from Park. Avenue to Chatham Street as described in Exhibit C.M Mr. Montgomery noted that North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) has completed an Express Design with a third-party consultant with local input from City Departments in an effort to get a better cost estimate. Costs for projects submitted to NCDOT several years ago are not currently accurate, and the City will need to request additional funding from NCDOT than was originally forecasted. He noted that this project is al localy-administered project and that the City is still responsible for a 20 percent local match of the cost. Mr. Montgomery reminded Council of the purposes for this project and why it was submitted to NCDOT, which was to slow traffic by narrowing the road, giving the driver visual cues; encourage pedestrian and bicycle traffic; provide on-street parking; allow connection between the eastern and western sections of downtown that are bisected by Horner Boulevard and allow connection of adjacent neighborhoods to both sides of downtown. Mr. Montgomery reviewed concepts and street designs of two options for the project: Option Iisai full corridor plan without planted medians, with the City Local Match cost of $8,500,000. Option IIi is a full corridor plan with planted medians with the City'sLocal Match cost of $9,000,000, as described in Exhibit C. Mr. Montgomery asked Council, in moving forward with the project, fora a consensus ofwhich street design to be used for the Carthage Street Road Diet Project (Option Ior Option II) asi illustrated in Exhibit C. Mr. Montgomery noted that the realistic timeframe for this project ist three toi four years. The consensus of Council was to use Option II Street Design for this project (planted  planning for twelve to eighteen months to completion.  Crossing(Exhibit C)  medians).  2    City Council Work Session August 13,2024  Update on Micre-Tramit/Ridehare Pilot Program Grant and Discussion re: City Council Resolution Long Range Planning Administrator David Montgomery presented as slide presentation ofthe micro- transit project and gave an overviewo ofthe technology-enabled transit service, which typically uses shuttles, vans and cars to provide pooled, on-demand transportation with dynamic routing. Mr. Montgomery reviewed the service models: Software as a Service (Saas) and Transportation as a Service (TaaS) and provided examples of existing North Carolina Micro-Transit programs. He noted that North Carolina was one of twelve recipients nationwide to be awarded grant funding through the NCDOT Rural Service Transportation Grant cycle. North Carolina was awarded $10.4 million and Sanford was awarded $3.4 million over ai three-year period for aj pilot project. Mr. Montgomery reviewed the City of Sanford service description as depicted in Exhibit C, as well as service characteristics, operations plan and operating costs. Mr. Montgomery explained that NCDOT has finalized a procurement plan for respective communities receiving funding and because they are the recipient of federal funds, they have developed an application process. As a result, the City will have until August 31, 2024, to apply for funding and one of those requirements is for Council to adopt ai resolution in accordance with requirements described in Exhibit D. Discussion on Resolution Amending the Sanford Tourism Development Authority (Exhibit E) City Attorney Susan Patterson referenced the resolution described in Exhibit Ei tol keep membership appointments at nine members and the resolution lists the seven "pillars" for categories an individual must  Required to Move Forward with Next Steps (Exhibit D)  be active in to serve on the TDA.  Tourism Development Authority Executive Director Wendy Bryan shared that she received notification that Sanford was featured in an article "Thirteen 'Must Visit' Halloween Destinations in the United States" and Gross Farms was listed at number four as a corn maze to visit, specifically, because it has the Sanford 150 birthday celebration theme in its corn maze this year. In addition, Mrs. Bryan mentioned that in 2022 Sanford's tourism spending was $96.3 million; 2023 our tourism spending was $104.59 million and Sanford is listed as number 12 in North Carolina for increased tourism funds out of  100 counties. Other Business Closed Session  There was no other business  Council Member Buckels made a motion to go into closed session in accordance with N.C.G.S. 143.318. 11 (a) (3), to consult with an attorney employed by the public body in order to preserve the attorney-client privilege; and (5), to instruct the public body's staff or negotiating agent concerning the position to be taken by or on behalf oft the public body in negotiating the price and other material terms of acontract or proposed contract fort the acquisition ofreal property. Seconded by Council Member Williams, ALL EXHIBITS CONTAINED HEREIN ARE HEREBY INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE  the motion carried unanimously.  AND MADE. A PART OF THESE MINUTES.  Attest:  Respéctfully Submitted,  Cil  4L  3