The Fayetteville City Council on Monday will hear from staff about the next steps related to the $97 million in general obligation bonds approved by city voters in November.
The projects include $60 million in public safety improvement bonds, $25 million in streets, sidewalks and connectivity improvement bonds and $12 million in housing bonds.
The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. at City Hall.
The housing bond budget and goals call for spending $9 million for rental development and $1 million each for repairs and rehabilitation, down payment assistance and single-family development, according to items in the agenda package.
The goal is to provide funds for community development programs to rehabilitate multifamily and single-family housing, principally for the benefit of persons of low- and moderate-income, the city states in agenda materials.
Staff also has recommendations for the $25 million in streets, sidewalks and connectivity improvement bonds. Of that, $15 million would be used for street resurfacing, according to agenda materials.
The city would use $8 million for sidewalks and $750,000 for the bike plan, according to agenda materials.
The prioritized project list for the public safety bonds is: a 911 dispatch facility for the Police Department and replacing fire stations #16, #9 and #2, according to the agenda materials.
Staff will review the proposals with the council and get input on how to proceed.
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Jodi Phelps, the city of Fayetteville’s chief of staff, said staff developed “a sort of committee to look at how to proceed” with the funding.
“How to implement the $97 million,” she said. “We’re coming to council for what their next steps are. There are several staff members where each one has a different activity area. So each one of them will talk about what they do, what their priorities are and formulate a timeline.”
According to Phelps, they will come back to the City Council in subsequent months with more details from each project area.
“They will do a deep dive, fleshing out comprehensive plans in terms of construction projects and really implement those things,” said Phelps. “We will plan appropriately to implement.”
The city, too, said it will communicate with the public about moving through the expenditures.
Those city staff members governing the different areas include Rob Stone, the construction management director who oversees public safety projects; Sheila Thomas-Ambat, the public services director overseeing public infrastructure projects; Chris Cauley, the director over the city’s Economic and Community Development; and Brook Redding, special projects manager in the city manager’s office.
Michael Futch covers Fayetteville and education for CityView. He can be reached at mfutch@cityviewnc.com.
