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TO: Mayor and Members of the City Council FROM: Rich Olson, City Manager REF: City Manager’s Weekly FYI ~ November 22, 2019 COPY: Email Distribution

1. On Wednesday, I attended the North Carolina North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency (NCEMPA) meeting in Wilson. The agency’s primary discussion was on the approval of the fiscal year 2020 budget. The NCEMPA budget is a calendar year budget, while the City’s budget year runs from July 1st to June 30th. The Board of Commissioners approved a $544.7 million; $474.4 million or 87% of the budget went to the purchase of our power supply, while $51 million or 9.4% was earmarked to retire the debt associated with the sale of our generating assets. The Board members received a Legislative update, which dealt with both federal and state issues. Timothy Tunis, the agency’s CFO, provided an overview of our financial standing. The agency continues to be in a strong financial position. Our existing rate plan calls for us to continue to spend down our working capital funds. Depending on the final cost projects we receive from Duke Energy Progress in December, we are still hoping to defer the proposed 3% rate increase scheduled for April 2020 until April 2021. If we are able to accomplish this, our citizens will save about $1,000,000 over the next year.

2. Also on Wednesday, Bob Vannoy and Ricky Albertson of the Electrical

department joined me in Wilson, NC. to look at their Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). The BESS technology is somewhat of a new concept of using stored battery energy during peak demand times, what we refer to as load management, when energy prices are high. The batteries are then recharged off peak. Wilson’s BESS is comprised of 8704 3.2-volt battery cells arranged in battery packs connected in series, together with a charging system, fire suppression, and air conditioning system enclosed in two container trailers approximately 40 feet long. It also has an inverter system to convert the D/C voltage to 480 volts A/C and step up transformer, that increases the 480 A/C voltage to 12,470 A/C volts connected to their existing distribution system. The total A/C output

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is 1000 kW or 1 MW. During the Duke Progress Energy (DEP) peak demand time, the Coincident Peak Demand charge (CP Demand) is $22.46; all other times the KWH charge is $0.0253. By dispatching the BESS during the CP time and recharging the batteries during off peak times, the City will save $22,400 per month. The recharge time is approximately four hours or less depending on the condition of the batteries. The ROI is about five years. The BESS is monitored, controlled, and dispatched remotely by their Supervisory control and Data Accusation system (SCADA). Due to its relatively small footprint, the BESS would fit in many of the City’s existing substations and would be used in conjunction with our existing load management efforts.

3. On Thursday, we received word from Electricities of North Carolina that the City's Aviation Research and Development Commerce Park (Airpark) made it through the first round for competition in the Smart Site Program. Recently, the Economic Development Commission launched the Smart Site initiative to ensure, prepare, and brand the Airpark as shovel-ready. This program was created in 2014 by Electricities, and has helped certify dozens of industrial parks across the state of NC. Many of those sites have seen major job announcements since receiving certification. This shovel-ready strategy has become one of the best and most aggressive forms of economic development across the country. With the absence of available industrial buildings, shovel-ready parks have become the next best thing to compete for new jobs and investment. The Smart Site certification process will identify the specific location of infrastructure, ensuring that all utility lines are in close proximity to the site. This process also ensures that any phase 1 environmental testing is complete. Some site certification efforts require communities to navigate additional grant processes to extend water and sewer lines closer to the site to qualify. However, in the case of the City's Airpark, we anticipate the process to be more of a "pass through" verifying the infrastructure and environmental work is already in place. The Smart Site Program is free to member communities. Further communication with the City Council will take place as the Airpark continues this certification process.

4. On Wednesday, Telephonics Corporation held two informational sessions

at College of the Albemarle (COA) to discuss the hiring process. As you may recall, Telephonics Corporation will be hiring 75 new full-time workers over the next five years as part of a recently launched expansion. The two events were attended by upwards of 180 of our community's citizens who were interested in seeking employment. Jack Enright, Vice President of Operations at Telephonics, discussed the company, while COA representative, Rachelle Gunter, discussed the training and applicant process. This process includes interested parties connecting with our local NC Works Career Center (252-331-4798) to take a course and eventually an exam to gain a Career Readiness Certificate (CRC). The CRC is a

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standard industry certificate that helps prepare and vet potential industrial job candidates. The CRC class is offered every other Friday at our local NC Works office and offered at COA. Connecting with NC Works for the class will ensure that interested parties are on the right path for consideration. After prospective applicants take the CRC class and test, the next step is for Telephonics to review the scores and place qualified candidates into their pre-hire training slated for early 2020. Three items of importance are the cost of the CRC class, CRC test, and the Pre-Hire training; all will be covered by grants that COA has obtained via their state partnerships. Therefore, there will be NO COST to our citizens. In addition, there are many free resources on the internet that help people practice and elevate their scores to be competitive in taking the CRC test.

5. On Thursday, Deputy

Chief James Avens attended the Boys to Men: The Journey to Becoming a Man breakfast meeting at J.C. Sawyer Elementary School. The Deputy Chief was invited by Exceptional Children’s Teacher, Mr. Jenairo Thornton, and the theme of the meeting was “R.A.R.E” (Respect, Accountability, Responsibility, and Enthusiasm). Twelve young men attended the meeting, along with approximately 10 others, including teachers and staff of J.C. Sawyer Elementary School. Each speaker was designated to discuss one of the letters in the acronym, R.A.R.E. Deputy Chief spoke on Enthusiasm and shared traits of enthusiastic people, including being devoted, having the ability to create and produce, daring to take risks, and understanding how dreams and passions can be the engine for success. Deputy Chief was honored to be a part of this event and enjoyed meeting all the young men in the program.

6. On Friday, November 15th, the City's annual Workers’ Compensation audit

was completed by Steve Hulme of the NC League of Municipalities. The audit was performed using our WC claim reports, payroll reports, correct WC job codes, federal quarterly reports, Employment Security Commission Reports, and our General Ledger/Trial Balance Report from our last fiscal year 2018-2019. After successful completion of the audit, City staff received great news about the outcome: we are expected to receive a credit of approximately $23,820.00. The League’s Finance Department will submit a check to the City for this reimbursement within the next couple of months. Factors that lead to this refund included minimizing loss of

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time of claims, safety training sessions, and estimating WC payroll higher than the League’s estimation for the last fiscal year. We did receive more great news, which was that our Experience Modifier would be decreasing. Our highest paid out year of WC claims of 2015 will be dropping off. This is a huge factor with the formula the League uses to calculate our Experience Modifier. They are also waiting on the Rate Bureau to send their figures to provide us with our actual Experience Modifier number for the next fiscal year. I would like to commend Anna Spence and Monica Cole of our Human Resources Department for working together each year on the WC renewal in order for us to continue to receive this credit from the League. This will be the fourth year in a row that the City has received a credit from the WC audit.

7. On Thursday, members of the Elizabeth City Police Department attended an appreciation luncheon at The Citadel-Elizabeth City on Halstead Boulevard. Employees were treated to a delicious meal and also presented with a Certificate of Appreciation which read, “On September 5, 2019, The Citadel-Elizabeth City was facing a daunting task of moving its residents to safer locations away from Hurricane Dorian. Due to your department’s kindness and bravery, our residents were safely relocated to various Accordius Health Centers. Thank you for your service.” Chief Buffaloe and members were most appreciative of this kind gesture and thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful time of food and fellowship with Citadel administrators and staff.

8. On Tuesday, Assistant City Manager

Angela Cole was guest speaker for the Northeast Academy for Aerospace and Advanced Technologies (NEAAAT) School Middle Grades FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Robotics Team. FLL is an international competition that challenges middle grades students to solve real-world problems. This year's theme is "City Shapers"- the challenge asks, "What if we could build a better world?" Students have to identify a problem that their city or town is facing and propose a solution. The NEAAAT FFL Project is the rising of sea-levels as a threat to the existence of coastal cities, including our own Elizabeth City. Team Coach Dr. Tonya Little invited Angela to share a discussion of her role in city planning and administration, particularly the

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students were interested in learning how the different specialization and professionals within local government work as a team to affect area flooding, human expansion, coastal flooding, global warming and other challenges associated with our built environment. The session was a rewarding experience for Angela also – she was invited to premier some of the early robot designs and futuristic models being created by our leaders of tomorrow. The FFL will travel in December to their national competition. We wish them much success!

9. On Tuesday, Mayor Bettie Parker, was invited to speak to students,

faculty, and staff at Mid-Atlantic Christian University (MACU). Her speech included important points in her life story - the circumstances of her birth and upbringing that determined her, the trials that tried to defeat her, and the hopes and dreams and triumphs that defined her. At the conclusion of her presentation, she entertained a Q & A session, which afforded the people in the audience the opportunity to ask her questions related to the information in her speech. In further discussions during lunch at MACU with President John Maurice, President for Student Life, Jay Banks, and other faculty and staff, the Mayor indicated the importance of the City and the Institutions of Higher Learning within the city to collaborate and work together on mutual interests. She also talked about the newly formed Student Council created by the City Council that includes student representatives from MACU. They acknowledged that this formation was a good idea and look forward to any other relevant relationships between the City and MACU.

10. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! On Tuesday of this week, a

group of volunteers including myself, my wife Gayle, Ray and Maureen Donnelly, Corrina Ferguson and Deborah Malenfant met Interim Utilities Director Bob Vannoy and the City Utilities crew at the Pasquotank County Courthouse to screw in 2000 individual light bulbs for the 2,000 feet of holiday lights installed at that location for the upcoming Grand Illumination event. It was a clear, crisp, cool night and was a fun activity

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to participate in. The City Utilities crew has worked diligently over the last few weeks installing the holiday pole lights on Main Street, Elizabeth Street, Poindexter Street, Water Street, Colonial Avenue, and Fearing Street. The Parks and Recreation staff pitched in by installing 1,000 bulbs on a 500-foot strand of lights at Veterans Park. Tim Williams and ECDI volunteers are also working with City Utilities staff on a 25’ lighted tree element to be erected at Moth Boat Park. Thank you to all City staff and volunteers who have worked hard to make downtown festive for the upcoming holidays. Thanks to City Council, Pasquotank County Commissioners, ECDI and Visit Elizabeth City for contributing to purchase additional holiday decorations and lighting this year.

11. Today was another day for our

students to interview with City leadership. River Road Middle School 2019-2020 Student Government Association representatives visited City Hall this morning and received presentations from Mayor Bettie Parker, Assistant City Manager Cole and me. We shared with the 15-member delegation, an overview of the regular governing sessions held by the Mayor and City Council, a discussion of the City Charter, annual budgeting and auditing, and highlighted the experienced talent that our organization has among its 315 employees. The best part of the morning’s event was the interview period Angela and I held, listening to their experiences as young leaders and providing them feedback and encouragement on how their challenges have “real world” applications. Thank you Club Advisor Denita Whitfield and School Counselor Endi Simpson for sharing the SGA experience today.

12. The Christmas in Elizabeth City promotion has officially begun. For

information about the many holiday activities happening throughout downtown as well as throughout our entire city, visit www.ChristmasInElizabethCity.com. There are so many holiday events and activities, there are too many to list! Visit Elizabeth City has curated them in one location at the website and has begun promotions for our community as well as to potential visitors to our community. If you are a business or organization and want your holiday event/activity listed, it’s not too late. Contact Visit Elizabeth City at 252-335-5330 or email Carrie Barker at carrie@visitElizabethCity.com.

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13. Look for ECDI Director Deborah Malenfant on

national TV during the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City on Thanksgiving Day. She got a gig as a balloon handler as part of the team carrying the Pokémon Pikachu balloon. Pikachu will be making its 19th consecutive parade appearance this year. The balloon is 53 feet tall (as high as a 4-story building), 36 feet long, and 29 feet wide. Deborah will be one of 90 handlers (dressed from head to toe in bright yellow) carrying the balloon on its three-mile parade route. The parade will be aired from 9:00 a.m. until noon on NBC, or you can watch the parade activity via the Verizon 360 Live Cam.

UPCOMING EVENTS Please plan to come downtown on Friday, November 29th for the Downtown Holiday Celebration and Grand Illumination event beginning at 6:00 p.m. at the Pasquotank CountyCourthouse at 206 E. Main Street. A short lighting ceremony will take place at the Courthouse, followed by lots of festivities and family-oriented events throughout the retail and business area of downtown. Councilman Horton will be giving the invocation for the lighting ceremony and Mayor Parker and County Commissioner Chair Dixon will welcome the community and bestow holiday wishes. The Albemarle Youth Choir will sing carols, followed by the official “flipping of the switch” for the lighting of the lights. After the lighting at the Courthouse, many downtown businesses will host events and activities for the kids, the Fire Department will be on hand with a fire truck; there will be a Hay Ride/Sleigh Ride through downtown; free cookies, sweets, and hot cocoa; visit with Santa and his Elves; say hi to Buddy the Elf, Elsa, and other princesses; and so much more. For more information about this event, contact Elizabeth City Downtown, Inc. at 252-338-4104 or elizabethcitydowntown@embarqmail.com.

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In observance of the Thanksgiving Holiday, the City of Elizabeth City Public Utilities Department, Solid Waste Division will not be collecting solid waste and recycling on Thursday, November 28, 2019 and Friday, November 29, 2019. Thursday and Friday’s solid waste and recycling routes will be collected on Monday, December 2, 2019. Monday and Tuesday’s solid waste and recycling routes will be collected on Tuesday, December 3, 2019. Please have your trash cans and recycling carts at the curb by 8:00 a.m. on the day of collection. In observance of Thanksgiving, City offices will be closed on Thursday, November 28th and Friday, November 29th.