Sunday, November 3, 2024

City council terse over Skyline Center upfit, money diverted to city debt would have saved $1.5M

One council member’s request to delay a vote on $6.3 million of renovations to the City of Wilmington’s Skyline Center was tamped down Tuesday. (Port City Daily/file photo)

WILMINGTON — One council member’s request to delay a vote on $6.3 million of renovations to the City of Wilmington’s Skyline Center was tamped down Tuesday when the majority of council approved the appropriation and construction contracts. 

READ MORE: Skyline Center to get $6.3M upfit for council chambers, customer service hub, more

ALSO: City considers 2.5-cent tax increase, as Skyline Center makes up 10% of budget

Wilmington City Council held a second reading on appropriating funds to several Skyline Center upfits, almost half going toward crafting city council chambers in the recently acquired building. Council member Luke Waddell motioned to continue the item until Nov. 19 though received no support and the upfits ultimately passed 6-1. 

The contract covers a customer service center on the first floor, to include a planning and community development counter, cashier’s office, space for the SafeLight program, as well as Cape Fear Public Utility Authority. The third floor will undergo office and suite modifications, including for the city clerk, fire marshal, Wilmington Police Department STING Center and police administration.

At the last council meeting, Waddell said greenlighting the renovations were premature, as the council does not have a full picture of next fiscal year’s budget. He stood by the statement on Tuesday. 

“For us to appropriate this amount of money to upfit the Skyline Center prior to having any idea of what the landscape of this budget is, the shape it’s going to be, what major constraints we may have … that’s a little bit hasty and potentially irresponsible,” Waddell said. 

Oct. 3 emails between Waddell and city staff — the rest of council is also CC’d — show the council member inquired about applying the $6.3 million to the Skyline Center’s variable debt, totaling $23.8 million for seven years in July 2023. The current balance is $17.3 million. 

Jennifer Maready, deputy chief financial officer, concluded applying the $6.3 million in upfit money to the debt would result in estimated interest savings of $1.5 million (assuming the interest rate stays at 5.484%) for the duration of the loan.

Waddell didn’t bring this data point up on Tuesday, though he suggested council prioritize raises to the city’s fire and police departments.

For several months, city council have fielded requests and met with police officers and firefighters to discuss pay increases. 

Emails to city staff obtained by Port City Daily show Jordan Pettid, Wilmington firefighter and president of the local chapter of the International Association of Firefighters, has submitted a pay increase proposal to be discussed at council’s first budget workshop on Nov. 7.

According to WECT, council members met to discuss the Wilmington Police Department  behind closed doors on Oct. 11. Council has also contracted with U.S. ISS, a public safety consultant, to investigate management practices at the WPD. 

On Tuesday, Mayor Bill Saffo reminded the public the upfits were a one-time cost and the price tag would likely rise the longer it was put off. By contrast, first-responder pay is a recurring cost and would potentially trigger a tax increase to fund indefinitely. 

“What we’re talking about here is an improvement, fixing up the building once and for all, and moving everybody in there and getting it done once and for all,” Saffo said.

Council member Kevin Spears called Waddell’s characterization of the budget misleading, as there was only one item — council chambers — that solely benefitted them. Later in the discussion, Waddell responded it makes up 44% of the contracted work.

The improvements to council spaces in the Skyline Center were postponed last budget cycle, at the behest of Waddell, as the city evaluated its new $74-million capital improvement plan. Because it had maxed out its debt capacity on the Skyline Center purchase, the city could not issue more debt to cover its long list of capital needs, which totals $487 million. 

Waddell suggested council postpone the city-occupied space improvements to shore up the $3 million in FY24, which would cover half the annual amount generated by a 2.5 cents added to the new property tax. 

Ultimately, council voted in a 2.5-cent increase to the property tax, a year after purchasing the Skyline Center after insisting to constituents taxes would not go up to pay for it.

Staff said one-time funding for the projects has been identified within the current FY25 budget through various opportunities that recently became available. These include money freed up due to FEMA reimbursements for Hurricanes Isaias and Florence totaling $6 million, of which $1.8 million can be used for the upfits. The city is also recovering $508,000 from the Wilmington Housing Authority, unused money from a city-issued loan. 

Council member Charlie Rivenbark pushed back on Waddell’s motion to continue the item, claiming he couldn’t do that under Robert’s Rules of Order. He said only a person that voted in favor of the appropriation’s first reading would be able to reconsider. 

After a recess to study the matter, city attorney Meredith Everhart said the rules do not provide specific guidance, but she interpreted them to mean Waddell could motion to continue the item. Waddell would only be barred from changing the item.

“I disagree with you wholeheartedly, and here’s why: His motion is a motion to reconsider the vote by which the item was approved, and the person who makes the motion has to be from a person who voted in the affirmative and who now wants to reconsider the vote by which it was approved,” Rivenbark said. 

Everhart said Waddell was not asking to reconsider the first vote, but rather move the second, to which Rivenbark said he would like to see where Everhart pulled the information. When Everhart said the rules don’t specifically lay out what she’s saying, Rivenbark told her the UNC School of Governments could give a clear interpretation; Everhart said she wasn’t sure if the organization got that granular either. 

“I’m sure that Wilmington City Council is not the first body to ever come up with something like this, Meredith,” Rivenbark said. 

Everhart said she would give them a call. 

Monteith Construction, hired to complete the bulk of the upfits, estimates the timelines of construction from six to nine months with an occupancy date in July, August or September of 2025.


Reach journalist Brenna Flanagan at brenna@localdailymedia.com 

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