Mayor Town Council David Phillips Amelia Stinson-Wesley Mayor Pro Tem Chris McDonough Ed Samaha Danielle Moore Town Manager Town Clerk Pineville Ryan Spitzer NORTH CAROLINA Lisa Snyder TOWN COUNCIL MINUTES OF MAY 13, 2025 CALL TO ORDER Mayor David Phillips called the meeting to order @ 6:30 pm. Mayor: David Phillips Mayor Pro Tem: Ed Samaha Council Members: Amelia Stinson-Wesley, Chris McDonough, Danielle Moore Town Manager: Ryan Spitzer Town Clerk: Lisa Snyder Town Attorney: Janelle Lyons PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG Town Manager Ryan Spitzer led everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance. MOMENT OF SILENCE Mayor David Phillips asked for a moment of silence for our first responders and all of our employees and that they stay safe. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Mayor Phillips said that there is one correction on the agenda, which is to move New Business item #19 to the top oft the list to get the presenter in and out. She has another event to attend. Council Member Stinson-Wesley made a motion to adopt the agenda with a second was made by Council Member Moore. All ayes. (Approved 4-0). APPROVAL OF MINUTES The Minutes of the April 7, 2025, Budget Meeting, the. April 8, 2025, Town Council Meeting, the April 17, 2025, Budget Meeting, and the April 28, 2025, Work Session were submitted for approval. Council Member Moore moved to approve the minutes as presented with a second made by Council Member Stinson-Wesley. All Ayes. (Approved 4-0) AWARDS AND RECOGNITION There were no awards at this meeting. BOARD REPORTS Airport Update (Stuart Hair/Katie McCoy). Katie McCoy and her colleague, Stuart Hair, gave a presentation on the Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLTA). Katie is the Strategy Director at the airport. Stuart Hair is responsible for the community outreach and commercial development of the airport. They shared their vision. CLTA has been recently ranked as the 6th busiest airport worldwide in arrivals and departures. They ranked 7th busiest in North America in total passengers. CLTA sees 1,400 daily arrivals and departures through their 124 gates. The airport sees 118,000 daily passengers and has 100 + concessions. CLTA has 21,000 parking spaces with three total runways. Their economic impact annually is $39.7 billion dollars and supports 184,400 airport jobs in North Carolina and South Carolina. Their local passenger traffic is outpacing our total passenger traffic. They have added more gates, a skybridge and a new overlook. For future needs, they are focusing on growth, efficiency and safety. They are reviewing ramp expansions and adding space for aircraft to maneuver more easily. The new 4th runway is anticipated to be ready in the Fall of 2027 and will increase airport capacity by about 30%. Their legislative priorities include maintaining federal grants, State AIP funds, preserving Federal Partner Resources (e.TSA, CBP, ATC), and avoiding conflict between Federal and State mandates. You can connect with CLT via Facebook and their CLTA app. PCAA (Jeremy Poole, PCAA President). Jeremy stated that he replaced CJ Norman in October of last year. He has been al Pineville resident for 10 years. He and his team has seen a decline in registrations several years in a row, but he is happy to announce that they have seen a reversed trend this year and now have increase registrations. They have 30 baseball teams and 6 challenge teams. They just completed their Spring Fling which is their biggest fundraiser. The Town granted access to Jack Hughes for the day and they really appreciate that. They raised $24,000 for their program and will go directly into their capital improvement plan. They are looking for shade or cover for the fans. Financially, their books are very healthy and their investments are doing well. He would like to present a proposal fori increased funding in the future. Sponsorship growth has been phenomenal. They are starting up a bilingual program. Volunteerism is at an all-time low and they are always looking for practice space. Parks & Recreation (Christine Turner). Ms. Turner provided an athletics update. Most notable is the girls' volleyball group. They have over 100 participants in this inaugural season. The fields are busy from March through September. Special events coming up include this Saturday, May 17th at Belle Johnston Lake Park, from 10:00 to 5:00 pm, for Arts in the Park, and Music on Main (which runs April through May and returns in the Fall). The Conçert Series runs June 26th through August. The Splash Pad opened May 3d and will be open until September 1st. Ms. Turner recognized and praised all those who enhance the beauty of our parks and the dedication they bring to their efforts. CONSENT AGENDA Mayor Phillips listed the Consent Agenda items including Resolution 2025-07 for Public Surplus items, Proclamations for Police Week, Public Works Week, and for Autism Month, Resolution 2025-08 Opposing HB 765 and SB 688, and Budget Amendment. 2025-06. Council Member Stinson-Wesley moved to approve the Consent Agenda with a second provided by Council Member McDonough. All ayes. (Approved 4-0) PUBLIC COMMENT There were no public comments. PUBLIC HEARING Council Member Moore moved to enter the first public hearing followed by a second made by Mayor Pro Tem Samaha. All ayes. Text Amendment for Indoor Sports (Travis Morgan). Mr. Morgan advised that the applicant requests this use be added as permitted by righti in the Industrial Zoning and higher ceiling heights here. Parking requirements have been amended and are proposed. This has already gone in front of the Planning Board and their main concem was parking. Mayor Pro Tem Samaha moved to close the first public hearing with a second made by Council Member Stinson-Wesley. All ayes. Council Member Moore moved to enter the second public hearing with a second made by Council Member McDonough. All ayes. Budget FY 25-26 (Ryan Spitzer). Town Manager Spitzer noted that this is the official public hearing for the FY25-26 Budget. The Manager's Recommended Budget was provided at the April 28th Work Session and it was advertised for 10 days per State Statute. Mr. Spitzer began the presentation by reviewing Council's priorities: support of downtown businesses, transit accessibility, work with State and Federal legislatures, College Street and Cone Mill developments, traffic, competitive salaries, Public Safety staffing, and Downtown investment. The manager's budgetary goals include: Advance Compensation Study done in FY25, Public Safety, follow the financial model, offer al high level of service and amenities, and staffing. Mr. Spitzer outlines Pressures, which include: Fire Department debt, meals and sales tax will be flat (this is al big part of our revenue that we won't see growth in), competitive salaries in the market, health insurance (up 22% this year as we've seen more claims this year and the workforce is getting older), Expenditure mix, Electric fund, and the PCS fund. He continued reviewing the General Fund Overview. This year its a $23, 125,000 budget, which is a 14.6% increase from last year). Debt service has increased by 85% due to the construction of the new Fire Department. The tax rate is proposed at 30 cents. This increase will go toward the Fire Department for the Fire Department Debt Service and a new firefighter. Fees will remain the same. The Town will continue to pay for all trash service (this equals about $800,000). COLA will be 3.5% and merit will be an average of2.5%. Public Safety will add a co-responder and the Fire Department will have added personnel. This year they will give our Communications Specialist $25,000 for marketing. Sponsorships will remain the same. General Fund Operations were reviewed and include PD staffing (restructuring), the addition of a Co-Responder for the PD, Asset Forfeiture in the amount of $450,000, Fire Department staffing (2 positions will allow for 3 people on each apparatus, with 1 floating), Salaries (COLA), Non-profit contributions will remain the same, and dedicated allotment to marketing and downtown. General Fund Capital was reviewed and includes the Fire Department building debt, an ADA playground, vehicles for the Police Department and Public Works, paving on Cone, Eden, Marine, etc., paving lower lots at Lake Park, the concession stand roof, mobility (sidewalks), and a message board to be shared between the PD and Tourism and Culture). Other funds reviewed were the Electric Fund, Electric Fund Capital, and PCS. Mr. Spitzer provided al Recap and announced that there will be a $0.015 tax rate increase (30 cents). This increase will go toward the Fire Department debt payment, and one Fire Department employee. Reducing PD: staff from 46 to 41 will pay for PD command restructuring, Co-responder and a Fire Department employee. There is $1.4 million in Capital. The salary study includes a 3% COLA and a 2.5% merit. An Electric rate increase will cover wholesale increases and approval for debt for the substation. There are no changes from FY25 for PCS. The next step is the final vote at the June Town Council meeting. Council Member Stinson-Wesley moved to leave the public hearing with a second provided by Council Member Moore. All ayes. Council Member Stinson-Wesley moved to enter the third public hearing with Maor Pro Tem Samaha providing the second. All ayes. Solicitation Ordinance (Ryan Spitzer). Mr. Spitzer said that at the April Work Session Council reviewed al letter from Moxie Pest Services that challenged the constitutionality of our solicitation ordinance. Janelle Lyons gave a presentation on that. We decided at that meeting to hold a public hearing to see what the public has to say, whether to get rid of the solicitation ordinance, amend our solicitation ordinance, or keeping our solicitation ordinance. The letter alleges that we are preventing their freedom of speech. They also say that the surety bond that we require is unconstitutional, and that the $51 fee for licensing is arbitrary. This is the basis of their claims for our solicitation ordinance. If the courts reviewed this, there are three ways to review: strict scrutiny, intermediate scrutiny and rational and basis scrutiny. Moxie is arguing that the courts should use strict scrutiny. Another option is to eliminate all solicitation. A: survey was done recently and we received 27 responses; 24 said they do not want solicitation and 3 people said they are for solicitation. The decision for council is to keep the ordinance as it is written now, edit the ordinance, or eliminate all forms of solicitation. Mayor Pro Tem Samaha would like to eliminate all solicitation and stated that most people do not want someone knocking on their door. Pineville residents that attending the public hearing shared that they are not in support of the door-to-door solicitation. Mayor Phillips added that the businesses can use social media to share their business. Jim Knowles, Pineville resident, spoke with regard to the security issues associated with door-to-door solicitation. The two men wanted to come into his house. They had his name, address, his email address, and phone number in their database. He did not see any company name on their vehicle. Mayor Pro Tem Samaha said there are crazy people out there on the news. You have to be safe. Council Member Moore moved to leave the public hearing with a second provided by Council Member Stinson-Wesley. All ayes. OLD BUSINESS There was no Old Business. NEW BUSINESS Downtown Merchants Event Update (Sara Longstreet). Sara Longstreet, owner of Carolina Scoops, gave a presentation to council requesting support and permission to plan and execute a community Pride event on Town property using remaining Downtown Merchants funds. The proposed event is a Silent Disco to be held in June. She noted other surrounding communities who celebrate Pride including Hickory, Gastonia, Newton, Monroe, Davidson, Charlotte, Indian Trail and Rock Hil, SC. She highlighted that Gen Zi is the most identifying audience (those born 1997 to 2012). Mayor Pro Tem Samaha asked ift the other downtown merchants are on board, as well. Sara replied that some are and some are not. Council Member McDonough added that he is concemed that she's setting a precedent and it may not be the best use of town money. Mayor Phillips reiterated that he and council were not elected to promote the downtown merchants. They were voted to represent the residents of the town. Council Member Moore asked if we require a vote, from this point forward, to require a vote for every event. Town Manager Spitzer replied that they can do that. Mayor Pro Tem Samaha moved to approve the event and the use of town sponsorship funds with a second made by Council Member Stinson-Wesley. (Approved 3-1) Award of contract for Substation Underground Feeder Construction (Tammy Vachon). PCS Director Tammy Vachon presented a contract for Huss Boring, for the substation in the amount of $1,231,26. This work will install the high voltage and distribution voltage lines to serve the new electrical substation on Nations Ford Road. Formal bids were solicited and staff received 4 bids. Huss Boring was the most responsive and responsible bidder. Council Member McDonough made a motion to approve the contract with Huss Boring with Council Member Stinson-Wesley providing a second. (Approved 4-0) VAD Agreement (Ryan Spitzer). Town Manager Spitzer advised that Mecklenburg County would like to have VADs in the county, but to do sO they need an MOU with the Town. The property owner would get a county tax rebate. The town attorney has reviewed the documents and does not see any issues. Council Member Stinson-Wesley moved to approve the VAD Agreement with Council Member Moore providing a second. (Approved 4-0) * At this point there was a 5-minute recess* Permits for front lawn events at Town Hall (Riley George). Communications Relations & Communications Specialist, Riley George, introduced our new intern, Juniper, who will be with us through June and will be working with Riley. Riley is proposing a permit to be used for any events held on town property. It will ensure any safety concers, liability, utilize scheduling protocol, ensure that town property is taken care of and ensure that our spaces are kept clean and returned to their original condition afterwards. Approval would fall under herself, Ryan or Matt, dependent upon which space they want to reserve. Town Manager Spitzer added that this is being done because we are seeing more events now and this form is needing for allocating and planning purposes. He will need the perimeters of the form from council. This item is just for discussion and decide ift the form is wanted by council. Mayor Pro Tem Samaha moved to start the process of creating the form with a second made by Council Member Stinson-Wesley. All ayes. Solicitation Ordinance (Ryan Spitzer). Council Member Stinson-Wesley moved to table this discussion until the next council meeting. Council Member Moore provided the second. All ayes. Text Amendment for indoor sports (Travis Morgan). Council Member Stinson-Wesley moved to approve the text amendment for indoor sports with Council Member Moore providing a second. All ayes. (Approved 4-0) MANAGER'S REPORT Town Manager Spitzer reported that Arts in the Park is this Saturday from 10:00 to 5:00 pm. There will be lots of vendors. The Greenway to McCullough is progressing and the boardwalk work will begin this month and hopefully finished in July. Council took a brief break before entering Closed Session. Council Member Moore moved to enter Closed Session with a second made by Council Member Stinson-Wesley. All ayes. CLOSED SESSION Pursuant to NCGS 143.318-11(6) - a personnel matter. Council Member Moore moved to leave Closed Session with a second made b Council Member McDonough. All ayes. ADJOURNMENT Council Member Stinson-Wesley made a motion to adjourn followed by a second made by Council Member Moore. All ayes. The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 pm. Mayor David Phillps ATTEST: &onde Town Clerk Lisa Snyder