HIGHLIGHTS
- Typical issues with transparency. Meeting start time initially reported at 1pm, then 12noon, then livestream was supposed to start at 12:40. It actually started at 1:18pm. Apparently a panel discussion occurred when they weren’t filming and no details were shared. Saturday morning start time was similarly misleading.
- Councilor Branch will miss Saturday session due to a death in his family.
- Budget & Financial Outlook presentation moved to Saturday.
- Strategic Plan Update seems to have been skipped.
- Discussed many ideas about public comment process. Staff will come back with options in two weeks.
- City of Raleigh lobbyist shared his perspective on having a legislative agenda. It’s worth listening to his entire presentation.
- Slightly less revenue collection than prior year and slight trend of increasing expenses.
- Unprecedented growth is slowing.
- A revenue neutral tax rate probably would go from 43.3 cents per $100 valuation to 31.7 cents per $100 valuation, with additional 6.8 cents for Downtown MSD (Municipal Service District) and additional 12 cents for Hillsborough MSD. This does not include Wake County tax rate.
- Median home valuation has gone from $258,915 to $391,705, resulting in a $121 annual impact when revenue neutral rate is applied, for a total of $1242 property tax, excluding Wake County Property Tax.
- Key cost drivers and priorities
- Affordable Housing
- Compensation Study implementation
- Ongoing employee benefits
- Dix campus
- Fire Master Plan
- Alternative Response Program
- Capital & Deferred Maintenance Needs (in addition to new Civic Tower)
- Growth & Annexation Needs
- Budget work sessions will be held on 2/19, 3/11, and 4/8, Balanced proposed budget will be presented on 5/21, Public hearing scheduled for 6/4, More budget work sessions on June 3, 10, 17, & 24, Budget must be adopted between 6/10 and 6/24.
- Council priorities from pre-work and discussion during meeting
- Multimodal Transit
- Community engagement and resident voice/empowerment
- Worker pay (frontline workers in City)
- Affordable Housing
- Homelessness
- Small Business Support
- Planning for future growth, especially in terms of infrastructure for sustainable growth (environmental stewardship, water quality, stormwater management, tree canopy, green energy) and public/community safety (including gun violence and stabbings and Alternative Response Program and mental health and substance use, including partnerships with other organizations, e.g., Wake County and School Board, and grants to organizations) and capital expenses
- Discussed measures of success for priorities
- Potential Strategies to address Affordable Housing/Homelessness
- Direct voucher program
- Flexible funding for homelessness prevention and diversion
- Encampment strategy for people living unsheltered
- City has produced 3439 units towards 5700 unit goal – but this doesn’t seem to take into account the loss of NOAH (Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing) or address whether the 5700 unit goal is at all meaningful or whether this includes 80% AMI which really doesn’t address the issue
- Homelessness is a housing problem, and especially in Raleigh as opposed to throughout Wake County (so why does the City keep saying it’s a County responsibility)
- Lengthy discussion about CACs. Consensus seems to be that CACs should become part of the City’s engagement effort and should have monthly access to community centers, access to technology, and marketing support. City Manager says she will bring back options in a couple of months.
- Meeting ended with video showcasing staff accomplishments in 2023.
- Group left for Construction Site Tour of Healing Transitions Site and Gipson Play Plaza
A. FRIDAY, JANUARY 26 – 12:00 PM
1. Lunch and Learn with Town of Cary and NC Women in Soccer
- This portion of the meeting was not livestreamed.
- It apparently included a panel discussion, but no details were shared.
2. Opening Remarks
3. Public Comment Discussion
- The presentation removed the info from the comparison chart that showed that several other municipalities allow hybrid public comments while Raleigh maintains that is illegal.
- Only Charlotte limits public comments to City issues, but has a problem enforcing it. Charlotte also only allows a speaker to come once a quarter.
- Might be unconstitutional to limit public comment to residents only. Non-residents may own businesses or work in the City.
- Challenges discussed ahead of time by council
- Unpredictable, onfusing process
- Environment reduces accessibility for all residents
- Short turn-around to communicate changes
- Reduces ability to govern community needs
- Council not in agreement at the table
- Pressure on mayor to adapt structure
- Proximity/length near council meeting reduces effectiveness of both
- Very few guardrails – any topic, any one
- Decorum not being enforced
- Broke up into small groups for discussion about how to improve public comments. Some suggestions include:
- Maximum of 3 hours total (run time or speaking time?) allowed for second Tuesday public comment period with time allotted based on number of sign-ups. If more than 180 speakers signed up, they would be rolled over first for next opportunity (but that could cause problems since one meeting is in afternoon and next is in evening). Need to build in buffer time for people walking to and from the podium. But they don’t seem to be taking into account that often people sign up, but don’t show up. Now talking about 2.5 hours speaking time.
- On third Tuesday, a maximum of 30 minutes or one hour, similar to above. Or re-open after other business finished for a set amount of time.
- Prohibit character assassination, prohibit calling out specific people, limiting violent/grotesque videos and photos, check presentations ahead of time. This could lead to censorship concerns. Maybe don’t allow videos at all.
- Reinforcing rules of engagement
- Prioritize direct constituent services, but will people be misleading when they sign up? Prioritize people who sign up to discuss an agenda item.
- Add a spokesperson option on the sign-up form.
- Allow second time for council concerns after public comment.
- Staff respond in advance when appropriate and get quick resolution, but requires topic be filled out. Ask Clerk’s office to follow up to get specifics.
- Intimidating environment.
- Acknowledge whether or not action will be taken.
- Move sign-up deadline to 5pm Friday.
- Public comment is not the only option for communicating to Council, but it is significant and the only way the public can hear what is being said.
- Move public comment time on agenda.
- Staff will take these ideas and come back with options in two weeks.
4. Legislative Agenda
- Lobbyist Philip Isley emphasized make-up of NC General Assembly where Republicans have a veto-proof majority. But there will be a brand new General Assembly in 2025.
- Entering short session which will probably start late April. Short sessions often go long. Casino legislation is still open which could take a lot of time and energy.
- Most of the House and Senate leaders are from very small counties. Their total population combined is smaller than Wake County.
- Isley doesn’t like legislative agendas because they’re usually too long and often unrealistic. Isley plays defense more than anything for City of Raleigh. To make it relevant and successful, he recommends not having a legislative agenda for the short session.
- Legislative agendas should be broad and should impact all citizens of Raleigh.
- Legislative agendas should ask for things when you want something to happen (on offense) that NCGA is talking about. It can take years to get a bill passed. (But, of course, the previous council got election changes done in record time.)
- Legislative agendas should include issues the NCGA members care about.
- Members of NCGA experience Raleigh when they are living here. They sometimes envy our resources and might not want to help us because they think we have so much already. They can be vindictive if they don’t like things we do or say.
- HB 140 passed regarding civilian crash investigations which was what Raleigh wanted. It met all three criteria but took almost four years to get done, even with partners with Mayors and Police Chiefs across the state. Law enforcement issues usually pass.
- Read a list about issues we are constantly fighting about, mostly taking power away from municipalities – to regulate trees, building permits, short-term rentals, ADUs, etc.
- Wake County’s 2024 legislative agenda has three items and they all are do-able. Often include things to monitor or be prepared to address if they come up.
- Need to be short, sweet, and easy to explain.
- Councilor Patton says reason this topic is on the agenda is because of public trust and transparency, standing in the gap with our residents, and to show that we pay a lobbyist mostly to run defense for us versus offense.
- Councilor Harrison asks if we can influence federal legislation on things like housing.
- Rivalries not only between Democrats and Republicans, but between House and Senate.
- Councilor Melton asks for updates on Wake County legislative agenda.
- Councilor Black asks for regular updates from Isley.
- Isley suggests Council get input from department heads for legislative agenda issues.
5. Budget and Financial Outlook
- Moved to Saturday
6. First Day Wrap-Up
- Councilor Melton’s goal for Saturday is to use a similar process that was used to discuss public comments, especially around community engagement, CACs, and Boards & Commissions. Other councilors agreed.
- Councilor Branch will miss session tomorrow for personal reasons.
B. RECESS
1. Recess Meeting and Reception with Wake County Officials
C. SATURDAY, JANUARY 27 – 9:00 A.M.
1. Recap of Previous Day’s Activities
5. Budget and Financial Outlook
- Moved from Friday due to agenda over-run.
- Slightly less revenue collection than prior year (down ~2%)
- Property tax is strong, reflecting 4 cent Parks Bond tax increase.
- Sales tax is flat.
- Small increases in user fees
- Expenses in Q2 for FY2024 is trending higher than previous year.
- Salaries and benefit expenses continue to trend upwards. Increase in staffing citywide, yet vacancy rates remain high compared to pre-pandemic years.
- Increased reserve threshold.
- Not anticipating excess capital reserve balances at the level of prior years.
- Enterprise funds mostly on track (Water, Stormwater, Solid Waste, Convention Center) but monitoring Parking and Transit.
- Unprecedented growth is slowing.
- Impact of rising interest rates can help us earn money but also cost us more when we borrow.
- Significant property revaluation (52% in residential and 43% in Commercial), shows Residential going from 57% to 59% of base while Commercial went from 43% to 41% of base.
- A revenue neutral tax rate probably would go from 43.3 cents per $100 valuation to 31.7 cents per $100 valuation, with additional 6.8 cents for Downtown MSD (Municipal Service District) and additional 12 cents for Hillsborough MSD.
- Median home valuation has gone from $258,915 to $391,705, resulting in a $121 annual impact when revenue neutral rate is applied, for a total of $1242 property tax, excluding Wake County Property Tax.
- Recommending Steady State Long Term Financial Planning.
- Staff have two budget notes already — $25k increase for Oak City Cares and separation pay applied to Emergency Communication Center and Fire.
- Key cost drivers and priorities
- Affordable Housing
- Compensation Study implementation
- Ongoing employee benefits
- Dix campus
- Fire Master Plan
- Alternative Response Program
- Capital & Deferred Maintenance Needs (in addition to new Civic Tower)
- Growth & Annexation Needs
- Staff will work on priorities heard at retreat.
- Budget work sessions will be held on 2/19, 3/11, and 4/8.
- Balanced proposed budget will be presented on 5/21.
- Public hearing scheduled for 6/4.
- More budget work sessions on June 3, 10, 17, & 24.
- Budget must be adopted between 6/10 and 6/24.
- Councilor Harrison expresses concern about impact of property tax increase on residents, but also supports a penny tax increase for affordable housing as well as expressing support for alternative response program and salaries and benefits for employees.
- Councilor Black asks for more visibility for public, e.g., interactive dashboard. Staff is looking into that. Also expresses support for increasing salaries and benefits. City Manager says this is being worked on. Compensation study will not be completed in time for FY 2025 budget, but the plan is to allocate extra money to help phase in implementation of anticipated results.
- Councilor Patton asks about decrease in revenue collection. Staff explains some could be from a lag in receiving taxes. Patton asks about participatory budget status. Staff explains that this takes time and resource. Patton also asks if there could be breakdowns of individual property tax bills showing what the money funds.
- Councilor Jones ask for current staff vacancy rates – 15.6% or 693 positions (22 of which are permanent part-time).
- Councilor Patton asks for benchmarking info on property tax rates from peer cities.
2. Council Priorities for the Upcoming Year
- Key cost drivers and priorities from budget presentation
- Affordable Housing
- Compensation Study implementation
- Ongoing employee benefits
- Dix campus
- Fire Master Plan
- Alternative Response Program
- Capital & Deferred Maintenance Needs (in addition to new Civic Tower)
- Growth & Annexation Needs
- Council priorities from pre-work and discussion during meeting
- Multimodal Transit
- Community engagement and resident voice/empowerment
- Worker pay (frontline workers in City)
- Affordable Housing
- Homelessness
- Small Business Support
- Planning for future growth, especially in terms of infrastructure for sustainable growth (environmental stewardship, water quality, stormwater management, tree canopy, green energy) and public/community safety (including gun violence and stabbings and Alternative Response Program and mental health and substance use, including partnerships with other organizations, e.g., Wake County and School Board, and grants to organizations) and capital expenses
- Discuss what success looks like in small groups
- Community Safety
- Seeing an operational independent crisis unit (Alternative Response Unit)
- Partnerships and programs to keep teens out of trouble
- Increased pay and benefits for first responders
- Mental health and substance abuse support
- Incentives for community policing (live where they work)
- Complete Fire Master Plan and begin implementing
- Financial support for interceptor program to decrease gun violence
- Multimodal Transport
- Increase bus frequency, efficiency, reliability, and accessibility
- Increase protected bike lanes and sidewalks
- Free bus fares/fare equity and increased bus driver pay
- Increase in % transit budget allocated to non-car initiatives
- Implementation of BRT, including Northern BRT and Wilmington Street BRT, and increased transit options outside downtown, e.g., ride shares
- More bus shelters and seating
- Converting Person Street and Blount Street to two-way
- Paratransit services needs better rider satisfaction
- Community Engagement and Resident Empowerment
- Community Engagement van officially up and running
- Obtain consensus on a CAC model; expansion of CACs and commensurate resource support; revitalization of CACs, especially those which have gone defunct
- Hybrid Boards and Commissions, including tools and training
- Growing existing initiatives for resident engagement and training like Raleigh Neighborhood College
- Engagement Network up and running (Councilor Melton says this encompasses CACs)
- Provide non-profit groups with access to community centers and technology
- Young adult opportunities for Boards
- Worker pay (frontline workers in City)
- Public utilities and public safety and transit workers
- Employee satisfaction survey
- Measuring vacancy rate trends
- Getting creative in expanding benefits
- Completion of compensation study
- Development of a workers rights commission if law allows (use existing Civil Rights Commission)
- Affordable Housing
- Doubling down on rental production
- Housing needs assessment
- Continued focus on AH partnerships on BRT lines
- Moving forward on DMV property and other properties on New Bern Avenue
- Create an enhanced incentive program to help people build ADUs
- Affordable Housing at Dix with some percentage dedicated to City employees
- More public/private partnership incentives to work with low-income community
- Look into allowing boarding houses/co-living/single-room occupancy
- Surveying City-owned land and partnering for AH on it
- Support Wake County request regarding income discrimination
- Stronger partnerships for tiny home communities
- Partner with private land owners
- Everyone double their commitment to AH, including all levels of government, private entities, non-profits
- AH summit in August
- Partner with Wake County
- Homelessness
- Many items repeated from above AH discussion
- Rental vouchers to help housed people from entering homelessness
- Work with County and other partners on sufficient, permanent, emergency shelter spaces as well as transitional housing
- Implementing/improving public restroom access
- Mobile services – information, showers
- Partner with NCDOT on encampment management plan to address public health concerns
- Actions from joint Wake County Task Force
- County has to lead
- Small Business Support
- Finding more spaces for folks to open small businesses, especially micro-retail
- Accessory Commercial units
- Expansion of grant programs and rent subsidization and other programs, especially for businesses serving minorities as well as minority-owned
- Campaign to promote small businesses across the City
- Campaign to improve image of Downtown, working with DRA
- Infrastructure for Sustainable Future Growth
- Continue preservation work through Raleigh Water
- Rainwater rewards program
- Additional crew for maintaining Green Stormwater Infrastructure
- Tree plan, especially for urban heat islands
- Limit sprawl (15-minute City)
- Green Growth Toolbox
- Invasive Species Program
- More action on Community Climate Action Plan
- Education on sanitation changes
- Flooding issues, especially in low-wealth communities
- 2050 Water Plan
- Dashboard regarding road infrastructure improvements
- Assessment of best practices regarding shade
- Incentives for tree conservation on less than two acres of land in partnership with HomeBuilders Association
- Walkable Communities concept
- Impact of climate change on low-wealth communities – partnership to be announced
- Community Safety
3. Affordable Housing Update at City Council Retreat
- Potential Strategies
- Direct voucher program
- Flexible funding for homelessness prevention and diversion
- Encampment strategy for people living unsheltered
- City has produced 3439 units towards 5700 unit goal – but this doesn’t seem to take into account the loss of NOAH (Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing) or address whether the 5700 unit goal is at all meaningful or whether this includes 80% AMI which really doesn’t address the issue
- Homelessness is a housing problem, and especially in Raleigh as opposed to throughout Wake County (so why does the City keep saying it’s a County responsibility)
- Encampments are increasing in Raleigh
- Transitional housing is not as effective as permanent housing
- Need effective crisis response system to get people into permanent housing
- Potential Strategies
- Need for Flexible Rent Assistance
- Move to Direct Voucher Program Process
- Displacement Preference
- A person experiencing chronic homelessness costs the taxpayer an average of $35,578 per year (can be up to $1m)
- Right to Counsel model has been shown to save money
4. Affordable Housing Project Exercise
- Pro Forma exercise with Mark Shelburne, Housing Policy Consultant
- Housing Credits are important; Congress may increase by 12.5% annually
5. Strategic Plan Update
- This seemed to have been skipped
6. Community Engagement Update
- Department has grown and held lots of marketing efforts on behalf of the City
7. Citizen Advisory Councils, Boards and Commissions Discussion
- Preliminary conversation indicates 5 councilors want to bring back CACs, 2 want more discussion, 1 doesn’t want to bring them back
- Mayor Pro Tem Melton acknowledges this was a factor in the last election, but CACs should not be the entire community engagement pie, just a piece of the pie
- Mayor Baldwin not comfortable with going back to the way CACs were before
- Mayor Pro Tem Melton says he is fine with giving CACs meeting space, technology, and marketing
- Councilor Black mentions importance of CACs for learning about development and rezonings
- Councilor Jones points out that CACs were an information conduit between the City and the residents
- Councilor Harrison sees CACs as partners with the City and that they need resources and pointed out that the ones who went defunct need help
- Councilor Jones suggests building on community centers to grow the effort
- Councilor Harrison suggests that CACs can be a partner rather than being embedded
- Councilors Jones and Harrison touted Raleigh Neighborhood College and Citizen Leadership Academy and Harrison asked for a dedicated web page for CACs
- Councilor Patton supports technology for hybrid meetings and use all 28 community centers to host a CAC and de-emphasize regional boundaries
- Melton asks for monthly meeting access and technology at all the centers
- Not sure if CACs should stay within Community Engagement or back to Housing and Neighborhoods
- Misleading information on staff support. There were 2 Full-Time Equivalent staff allocated to support CACs
- Purpose – two-way communication
- Filling gaps – predictable and consistent, neighbor-led
- City Manager asks about role in rezoning. Councilor Jones says CACs provide learning opportunity regarding land use. Melton says separate process for rezonings (neighborhood meetings) happens in addition to CACs, so good to expand access. “It’s a plus!”
- Patton says it should not be a requirement for rezonings to be heard and should share anecdotal notes rather than a vote.
- Monthly access to Community Centers, recognition on City website, education and training opportunities for additional capacity building, and access to technology.
- Staff will present proposal for next steps. City Manager says options will be brought back in a couple of months.
8. Operational Update
- Showed video showcasing 2023 staff accomplishments
- City Manager presented 2023 Raleigh Awards
9. Closing Remarks
10. Construction Site Tour – Healing Transitions Site and Gipson Play Plaza
D. ADJOURN
1. Adjourn Meeting