SANFORD CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION Tuesday, October 8, 2024 West End Conference Room 225 East Weatherspoon Street, Sanford, NC  The City Council held a work session on Tuesday, October 8, 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 Jean Dabbs Council Member Linda Rhodes Council Member. James Williams City Attorney Susan Patterson Deputy City Clerk Vicki Cannady Council Member Byron Buckels  Mayor Pro Tem Mark Akinosho Council Member Walter Ferguson Council Member Charles Taylor City Manager Hal Hegwer City Clerk Bonnie Davis  Absent: 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 explained that we are nearing completion of the Chatham County and Siler City Utility Mergers and noted that Siler City voted unanimously to merge with the City's utility system. Attorney Mac McCarley reviewed a fewis issues with Chatham County that differ from the Pittsboro merger, including a revenue share agreement; whereby, Chatham County will share 20 percent of the increased tax revenue on the non-residential development that is in their defined areas, including areas served by this merger, to the General Fund to offset expenses not covered by rates and compensate the City of Sanford for providing utility service. He explained that with the Chatham County merger, State funds in the amount of $75 million will also be available for a portion of capital projects required to make this merger successful. There is a Special Order by Consent (SOC) still in place for the Siler City system, largely due to one company (a chicken processing plant) that is out of compliance. Attorney McCarley noted that Mr. Czar has talked extensively with State representatives and other stakeholders, to come up with aj plan to bring thisi into compliance and amend the SOC to avoid future penalties. Hopefully, this will be all oft the penalties and the change to the SOC will accomplish compliance faster than the timetable that would otherwise be in the SOC, but would also avoid penalties for compliance with the SOC. The agreement with Siler City includes contingency for completing past due audits and bringing compliance and ifr not, they could be waived only by mutual agreement; this is critical, because if the City of Sanford goes to the market to borrow money, our audits must be current and when we assume their system, it is included with our audits. Attorney McCarley reminded Council that Siler City asked the City of Sanford tor maintain their current customer service location in Siler City, since they have a large number of clients who pay cash in person and we have agreed to do that with no rent being charged to Sanford. Assistant City Manager Beth Kelly explained that Chatham County is working to finalize the 2022 audit and submit it to the LGC, then they will work on the 2023 audit. She explained that ift the City of Sanford completes the merger by July 1,2025, Chatham County understands that their 2024 audit would have to be finalized in a timely manner sO as not to impair the City of Sanford audit. Attorney McCarley mentioned that Siler City wants a Righ-ot-Fis-Refusa" included within their merger agreement sO that if the City should decide to sell a part of the system, they would get-right-of-first refusal. Attorney McCarley explained that the Chatham County merger agreement contains revenue sharing; all oftheir assets will transfer. There are no major issues with the agreement and the City of Sanford will be able toj pay offany debts associated with the merger. One unique feature of the agreement is that they have formed three different water districts    City Council Work Session October 8,2 2024  within the area that the City of Sanford will be procuring. The governing board for each of those districts is the Board of County Commissioners. The agreement signature page for Chatham County will include four separate signature lines, one for Chatham County and one for each of the water districts. Chatham County and each water district will require separate Chatham County Commissioner meetings, which will be conducted sequentially. He added that everything within the Chatham County Merger Agreement is clean and simple. Once the three districts have signed the agreement and dissolved themselves, it will become the Chatham County Utility System. The City of Sanford will assume Chatham County's Utility System to include all of their assets and liabilities and it will become a part of TriRiver Water Utility System; the same will apply to the merger with Siler City. The water rates in Siler City will differ from the ratesi in Chatham County and the' Town of Pittsboro until parity is reached, which means that capital projects are paid and we are operating as one unified system. Rates will be based on costs, liability and assets of each. Over time, their rates will decrease to meet Sanford's rates, as opposed to Sanford's rates increasing to meet their rates. Assistant City Manager Vic Czar explained that Chatham County will finalize their agreement in October 2024, and Sanford City Council will finalize the agreement in November 2024. If approved, Siler City and Chatham County will transfer all of their utility assets and liabilities, including their water and wastewater facilities to Sanford by July 1,2025. Council Members were in agreement that there should be some type of guideline developed when these changesl havel beeni implemented and proactive  measures should bei in place to provide answers to public inquiries. Discussion on Bids and Funding for the Sanford Agricultural Marketplace  This item was removed from the agenda. Discussion Lead Service Line Inventory (Exhibit B)  Executive Director of Utilities Paul Weeks confirmed that this federally mandated project is underway and the findings will be shared with the public as soon as possible. Glynn Fleming with WithersRavenel reviewed the attached Exhibit B and explained that the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)established the Lead Copper Rule (LCR)in1 1991, toj protect public health and reduce exposure to lead in drinking water. Since implementation, the EPA reports that LCR action level exceedances have decreased 90 Percent. In accordance with North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) and the EPA all community and non-transient, non-community water systems must conduct an inventory of service line materials in their distribution system. In North Carolina, there are approximately 2,300 water systems which are required to meet Lead Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR) standards. All water systems with one or more problematic service lines in their distribution system must submit a lead service line replacement plan to the state. Common sources ofl lead in drinking water are lead pipes and brass or bronze faucets and fixtures. Mr. Fleming explained that the first step for the City of Sanford staff, along with WithersRavenel, is to locate and catalog each and every service line in the water systems (both the City side of the meter and the customer side oft the connection) in order to submit to the state by the end of October 2024. We will have three years to continue to refine the preliminary inventory, with the ultimate goal being that we develop and implement a plan to replace all problematic connections ini the City's distribution system over the next ten years. Mr. Fleming explained that the service line is the connection from the distribution main to an individual residence or business. All systems are required to make their inventories publicly available. The City of Sanford will mail notifications to all citizens with connections served by lead, galvanized (requiring replacement), or unknown service line within 30 days of inventory completion and notices must be repeated annually. Mr. Weeks explained that a map showing public/private side will be included ini the customer notifications in order to provide additional information and clarity to residents. He added that the City of Sanford will have more information posted on its website for public review, defining individual connection substances (lead, galvanized or unknown) with contact information, should they have questions. He confirmed that the City will have a standard (non-lead, non-  2    City Council Work Session October 8, 2024  problematic) plan for steps to confirm compliance. He confirmed that the City has a standard ofc compliant materials that are enforced in the Unified Development Ordinance for new construction; the focus of this campaign is for installations prior to the 1980's. Mr. Fleming noted that moving forward, this effort will be measured in years and we expect to receive better clarity from the state and federal agencies for both compliance requirements and funding and responsibilities of utility providers and owners. Mr. Fleming noted that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is investing $15 billion nationwide over five years towards Lead Service Line replacement and that the North Carolina Drinking Water Infrastructure (NCDWI) is accepting funding applications on a rolling basis. He added that to date, the City of Sanford hasi received $1,000,000 in grant and loan funding to assist LCRR compliance. Mr. Fleming noted that City staffh has been diligent on this issue and they are ahead of other providers across the state. Discussion on Computerized Maintenance Management System (Exhibit C)  Executive Director of Utilities Paul Weeks explained that we currently have two work order systems, Mobile 311 (used by Street, Solid Waste, Coletions/Distribution, Horticulture and Parks Departments) and Antero (used by Water Filtration Facility/Water Reclamation Facility/Lift Stations) but both of these systems are obsolete and will soon not be supported; therefore, we are transitioning to a new system. Staff advertised a request for proposals in June 2023 and responses were received from Mobile 311, Utility Cloud and VUEWorks. It became apparent to the Evaluation Team that staff needed guidance int this transitioning effort and Raftelis was hired to assist in February 2024. The Evaluation Team included a wide-range ofs staff members who use the system. Working with Raftelis, they asked all three companies to present their proposed software and Raftelis helped develop a script for uniform comparison. After consideration, VUEWorks was selected unanimously at a cost of $361,400. The City will own all components but all ofthe components would not bei implemented initially. The Evaluation Team also want toc contract with Raftelis to manage the implementation at a cost of$158,612. Raftelis will be in constant communication with VUEWorks and our staff to ensure: information is exchanged at defined timelines and they will facilitate training (a major component) for users and administrators to ensure we can manage our system. Mr. Weeks noted that data will be extracted from the old systems and integrated into VUEWorks System and added that the implementation period is twelve months. Assistant City Manager Beth Kelly explained that $230,000 has already been budgeted and al budget amendment will put $82,204 into the' Town of Pittsboro and the balance of approximately $65,000 will be pulled from Sanford's cost center and approximately $277,000 will come from General Fund and allocated to the other entities, effective July 1, 2025. The ongoing maintenance of$60,000 for licensing and support willl be split between all cost centers. The consensus ofCouncil was affirmative to place this item on the Council Consent Agenda, October 15,  2024. Recess  A recess was taken at 2:10 p.m. and the meeting was reconvened at 2:20 p.m.  Discussion on Draft Feasibility Study from the NC Department ofTransportation and Consultants Community Development Director Marshall Downey reminded everyone that the Feasibility Study is an ongoing project, and the City of Sanford has partnered with North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT). He reminded Council that Phase I of the grant to conduct a Transit Orient Development Feasibility Study has been completed, and we are at Phase II ofthe study, whichistoi identify the site. Mr. Downey explained that staff would move forward with the plan upon direction from City  (Exhibit D)  Council as to which site they choose.  3    City Council Work Session October 8,2024  Michael Stafford, Project Manager for Integrated Mobility Division of NCDOT noted that this opportunity was created through the award of the RAISE grant and explained that NCDOT has adopted a definition oft thel Mobility Hub as, aj place ofc connectivity with regional and local multi-modal transportation options, offering integrated facilities, amenities, technologies, and services. He noted that this involves going into the communities and getting public involvement and information on amenity expectations, then determining how these modal options can be confluenced into one area, such as AMTRAK, rail stops and transit opportunities. He explained that thel RAISE Grant funded three things: al Feasibility Study(including apublic involvement portion), the Environmental documentation from the Federal government (NEPA)and aj preliminary (30 percent) design of a potential site. He introduced Mike Rotkowski, Senior Principal of Stantec. Mr. Rotkowski, reviewed the attached Exhibit D. and stated that he has knowledge that Sanford has had conversation with. Julie White with] NCDOT. Mayor Salmon noted that she talked with. Julie White last week and they will support our inquiry to Amtrak to consider Sanford as an Amtrak stop; NCDOT will issue a support letter along with the City of Sanford's letter. Mr. Rotkowski commented that this could be acatalyst for a rail station and supplement economic development. He noted that they had more than 400 participants at their recent open house and pop-ups, which was a great opportunity to provide context, use, access, and they also conducted workshops. He added that there are additional workshops scheduled for November 18, 19,20, 2024, and noted that there will be planners, architects and designers attending who will assist with feedback. He reviewed the top four mobility challenges identified by the public: lack of infrastructure (first/last mile options), maintenance and long-term cost, preservation of culture and history and displacing businesses. Mr. Rotkowski reviewed the pros and cons for the two sites that are being considered for the Mobility Hub site: "Northern Site Evaluation Matrix"and "Southern Site Evaluation. He reviewed the matrix being considered for the mobility hub; priorities and evaluation criteria provided by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), and noted that both sites scored within one point of each other. Mr. Rotkowski reiterated that the goal is for Council to make a decision on the site then we will move: forward with the workshops scheduled for November 18, 2024. Mr. Downey noted that staffwill get copies of this presentation to Council. Mr. Rotkowski added that cost estimates will be provided once a  decision is reached on the site.  Mayor Salmon noted that iti isi important to decide how we want Sanford to grow. There will be pros  and cons for either site to be considered.  Affordable Housing Grant Policy Program for System Development Fees/(SDF)and Connection Fees City Attorney Susan Patterson explained that the Community Development Department considered thisi issue in order toj promote, encourage and incentivize the production and preservation ofmore affordable housing development for individuals and families. The City of Sanford has established a grant program to reimburse developers an amount equivalent to the system development fees (including water and sewer tap fees) for affordable housing development within the City limits, subject to funds available. Any organization which develops affordable housing owner-occupied or renter-occupied housing) at or below 80 percent of Area Median Income, may be eligible for this grant. Attorney Patterson reviewed the current System Development Fee schedule included in the attached Exhibit E, including criteria for eligibility and procedures. She explained that affordable housing is defined as housing for which the monthly mortgage/rent payment does not exceed 30 percent of the monthly gross income of the household. This grant would be ai reimbursement, sO the applicant would have to pay the fees upfront and apply for the grant within fifteen days of applying for a permit. City Manager Hegwer noted that this grant would be funded as funds are available and that the grant will be seeded through ARPA-enabled funds. Attorney Patterson clarified that ift these properties were sold after obtaining grant funding, the property would either have to be sold to another low-income housing individual or grant funds would have to be repaid. There will be  (Exhibit E)  4    City Council' Work Session October 8, 2024  deed restrictions on the property specifying the requirements of the grant. Community Development Planner II Tradell Atkins stated that Habitat for Humanity and Brick Capital typically construct about four homes annually, so there would likely be no more than ten grants. A budget amendment will be placed on  the October 15, 2024, City Council Meeting Agenda. Discussion on Sewer Petition Assessment Funding (Exhibit F)  City Manager Hal Hegwer reminded Council that recommendations were requested for the sewer petition assessment funding. He recommended City participation up to 50 percent ($100,000) of the cost of the project, which will be seeded through an upcoming budget amendment through the Utility Fund. Some funds remain from an existing project ini the que ofapproximately $80,000 and as funds are available, he would like to go beyond the normal petition process and have perhaps a contractual relationship with residents in ai neighborhood that may not fit within al loan or very large assessment process. This would be as simple contract with fewer owners and it would be a shorter process. This issue would be considered annually and prioritized as necessary. Mr. Hegwer believes there is some, but not an excessive amount of interest in these smaller sewer petitions; however, ift there are people that are interested and make inquires, they will be informed oft the available funding. Staffcould inform the public about this funding, along with the rules, through the City's website. Mr. Hegwer mentioned that there is existing funding for existing  projects that are in the que. Other Business  Council Members expressed concern for the recent hurricane victims, as well as the potential hurricane that is forecasted to affect Florida residents. Council Members also encouraged everyone to attend the various events in Sanford on Saturday, October 13,2024, and to donate to the hurricane victims  ifpossible. Adjournment carried unanimously.  Council Member Dabbs made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Council Member Williams and it  ALL EXHIBITS CONTAINED HEREIN ARE HEREBY INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE  AND MADE. A PART OF THESE MINUTES.  Resp)ctfulySubmited, Lel  Rebecca  ttest:  City Clerk  Glai  5