January 12, 2016 Manager’s Report

All supporting documents for the January 12 board of commissioners’ pre-meeting and work session are available here: http://davidson.novusagenda.com/agendapublic/

If you are interested in watching a video of our meetings, please visit: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/davidson-town-board-meetings. We now live stream our board meetings and work sessions, and encourage you to tune in to this link on meeting days if you are unable to attend in person. After each meeting, a video is saved to this link so you can watch when convenient to keep abreast of projects and issues.

A brief summary of the 4:00 p.m. pre-meeting:

• The mayor and commissioners met in a closed session to discuss economic development and a legal matter.

A brief summary of the 6:00 p.m. board meeting:

• Mayor John Woods and Economic Development Manager Kim Fleming presented the Davidson Main Street Grant Awards. Main Street Books and The Upper Crust received $5,000 each to make improvements to their buildings.

photo of grant recipients (Main Street Books and Upper Crust)

• The consent agenda was approved. It included:

minutes from past meetings,
a budget ordinance amendment for the purchase of a dump truck for the public works department,
resolutions for the town to take over street maintenance for John Ross Way and Lake Park Drive,
staffing and market study recommendations,
and tax levy adjustments for a solid waste adjustment refund from the Mecklenburg County Assessor’s Office.

• Planner Travis Johnson reviewed a prior circulation and connectivity plan and Public Works and Projects Director Doug Wright presented a traffic congestion analysis update. They proposed to update the circulation plan in FY2017 to include current and future development, minimize dependence on the car, and disperse traffic through a network of streets and non-vehicular connections.

• The board of commissioners approved text amendments to the planning ordinance.

• The mayor and commissioners discussed the upcoming vote of the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization (CRTPO) who will meet on January 20 to guide the state on the I-77 managed lanes project. Commissioner Brian Jenest represents the Town of Davidson on the CRTPO and he was directed to vote in support of the managed lanes concept (not the I-77 project) if applied fairly across the state. For many reasons, the Davidson Board of Commissioners oppose the current contract with Cintra, the vendor selected by the North Carolina Department of Transportation to construct the managed lanes on I-77. If the contract moves forward as a result of the vote on January 20, our commissioners have a list of suggestions to improve the contract and project that they will share with CRTPO and NCDOT.

Retreat

On Wednesday, January 13 and Thursday, January 14, the mayor, commissioners, and town staff had a retreat to discuss Davidson’s comprehensive plan and start a strategic plan – we’re calling it the Davidson Game Plan – filled with action items for the next two years. It was extremely productive and we look forward to continuing our work to benefit the citizens of Davidson.

Announcements

•   The AAA of the Carolinas Foundation for Traffic Safety named the Town of Davidson a winner in their 2015 NC Traffic Safe Communities program. We appreciate the Davidson Police Department for keeping our community safe.

•   Town offices will be closed Monday, January 18 in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. We encourage citizens to visit the Davidson College Library to see their exhibit about King and their public screening of If These Halls Could Talk on Tuesday, January 19 at 6:00 p.m. in the 900 Room in the union.

•   The next Davidson Coffee Chat is Monday, January 25 at 9:00 a.m. at The Egg. The commissioners have invited Assistant Town Manager Dawn Blobaum, Planner Travis Johnson, and Public Works and Projects Director Doug Wright to discuss mobility. The February Coffee Chat will be February 22.

•   The next pre-meeting and work session are January 26.