Council authorizes MSD study, debates nonprofit ARPA allocations and hears eviction-mediation, EPA grant and water-quality updates

The High Point City Council discussed multiple FY2025-26 budget matters, voted to authorize staff to prepare a Municipal Service District (MSD) report for downtown, and reviewed funding requests and infrastructure issues tied to ARPA and an EPA grant appeal.

Steven Haverluch, the city's budget and performance director, summarized responses to council questions about capital projects, personnel costs and debt strategy. Haverluch said the Gallimore Dairy Road widening contract was approved in March with an estimated completion date of November 2027. He said the Johnson Street/Sandy Ridge Road project contract is expected to be approved in June 2025; a completion date was not specified in his remarks.

Haverluch also provided cost detail for proposed civilian investigator positions in the police department. Each investigator would be placed at grade 27 in the city's salary plan (minimum $45,631), and the budget includes salary, benefits, operating costs and a one-time equipment and vehicle budget that the staff described as a $50,000 one-time cost per vehicle (lighting and striping included). He said a comparable Charlotte position has a minimum salary of $46,088.

On information-technology staffing, Haverluch said an IT cybersecurity analyst would be grade 35 with a minimum salary listed as $67,423.

Haverluch summarized the city's debt strategy and metrics: the council's debt-to-assessed-value policy limit is 2.5%, and the city's net tax-supported debt-to-assessed-value was 0.8% as of June 30 of the prior year; debt service as a percentage of government expenditures was about 10%, under the 15% policy cap.

MSD authorization vote

Mayor Cyril Jefferson moved to "authorize staff to move forward with preparing the information and preparing the report" for a downtown MSD; Councilmember Cook seconded. The motion carried on a voice vote. The council and staff clarified that the vote authorized staff to begin the multi-month MSD study and public-notice process, not to set an MSD rate or adopt a district. Staff said the MSD process would include identifying proposed boundaries, describing services to be provided, producing a publicly available report and holding public hearings; that process can take eight to nine months and any levy would not go into effect until a subsequent budget cycle.

Nonprofit, ARPA and agency funding discussion

Council members discussed three funding requests: (1) High Point Schools Partnership asked for $150,000 to continue a youth-mentoring coordinator position (the organization also submitted a standard agency-allocation application); (2) a TEAM program (tenant education/advocacy/mediation) proposed additional courthouse days and eviction-mediation services; and (3) Southwest Renewal Foundation had previously been considered for funding tied to a community-change grant that was not included in the draft budget.

Mayor Jefferson recused himself from the financing discussion involving High Point Schools Partnership because his spouse works for that nonprofit; the recusal motion was seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Moore and approved by voice vote.

Councilmember Cook proposed funding the High Point Schools Partnership position at $75,000 (half of the $150,000 request) from remaining ARPA-enabled funds; several council members supported sending the item to the finance committee for further review. Staff noted approximately $154,000 of ARPA-enabled funds remained unallocated and said the finance committee would make a recommendation as part of its next agenda.

Eviction-mediation and TEAM

Staff described a tenant-education/advocacy/mediation (TEAM) program run jointly by UNCG's Center for Housing and Community Studies and Legal Aid of North Carolina. That program began with Guilford County funding from federal/state emergency rental assistance and has additional participation from Greensboro and other partners. Staff said a separate rental-assistance request had been received and that the TEAM proposal (if funded at $150,000) would provide two additional days of service at the High Point courthouse; rental-assistance funding would require a separate funding source.

EPA grant, infrastructure and Richland Creek updates

Councilmembers raised concerns about a terminated $18.5 million EPA community-change grant that had included an estimated $5.1 million for Southwest-area water and sewer work; staff said an appeal process was underway. Councilmembers asked staff for an estimate of what it would cost to test sewer lines in the Richland Creek vicinity and the costs of additional inspections; staff agreed to develop that estimate.

Assistant City Manager Damon Duquesne described the city's water-quality monitoring program for Richland Creek, saying the stream was placed on an impaired list and a total maximum daily load (TMDL) plan was enacted in 2016. Duquesne said the city's quarterly sampling and reporting indicates chloroform and related organic-loading measures have declined over a multi-year period and that, on average, results have fallen below the EPA's stated threshold in recent years, but staff continue monitoring. The city agreed to provide more detailed sampling and testing cost information to the council on request.

Other procedural items and next steps

Council voted to authorize staff to begin MSD reporting, directed finance to consider ARPA-enabled allocations (including the High Point Schools Partnership request) and agreed to discuss TEAM and rental-assistance funding in committee. Mayor Jefferson had earlier moved to adopt the meeting agenda; that motion (mover Councilmember Holmes; second Mayor Pro Tem Moore) was approved by voice vote. The council later approved a motion to adjourn (mover Councilmember Holmes; second Councilmember McKeever).

Why it matters: The MSD study, nonprofit ARPA allocations, eviction-mediation proposals and the fate of the EPA grant affect near-term capital projects, housing stability work and how the city allocates limited federal and one-time funds during the FY25-26 budget process.

What happens next: Staff will prepare the MSD report and return it for public comment, the finance committee will address the ARPA allocation requests, and staff will provide cost estimates for sewer-line assessment and additional Richland Creek sampling.