Aldermen 11/28 scorecard: 78 yes votes, 0 no votes

Counting down the days before a largely new Board of Alderman convenes in mid-December, the 2017-vintage board met on Tuesday for a routine meeting in which most agenda items received no discussion and everything passed unanimously.
Mayor Dana Outlaw was absent from the meeting while he attended a funeral. (Sorry for your loss, Mayor Outlaw.) Had he been at the aldermen meeting, he could have been counted on for at least one or two no votes, as is his custom.
Meanwhile, Mayor Pro Tem Jeffrey Odham presided over the meeting and kept things tame and orderly, with minimal shenanigans and tomfoolery while the boss was away. The meeting lasted less than an hour.
Items 3 and 4, consent agenda. Besides approval of minutes, it also allows closure of part of Trent Boulevard, most of Broad Street and most of Craven Street for a Christmas parade between 1-6 p.m. on Dec. 2.
Passed unanimously.
Item 5 – Update on Grassroots Leadership Academy.
Presentation. No vote. I’ll be working on a separate story.
Item 6 – Resolution dedicating Martin Marietta Park.
Taylor motion, Blackiston second, vote 6-0 with one absent. No discussion.
Item 7 – Install more street lights on Goldsboro Street and at the intersection of Queen and Roundtree streets.
Mitchell motion, Taylor second, vote 6-0 with one absent. No discussion.
Item 8 – Memorandum of understanding with Craven Community College for a police simulator
Kinsey motion, Mitchell second, vote 6-0 with one absent. Light discussion. (I’ll be working on a story at some point, assuming they let me try out their simulator).
Item 9 – Agreement for Phase III of Township 7 sewer improvements due to a snag: the project conflicts with another project at Coastal Carolina Regional Airport.
Mitchell motion, Kinsey second, vote 6-0 with one absent. No discussion.
Item 10 – More on Township 7 sewer project, increasing the budget from $400,000 to $450,000 to pay added costs described in Item 9.
Mitchell motion, Kinsey second, vote 6-0 with one absent. No discussion.
Item 11 – Union State Train Depot increasing expense to replace doors and windows, after project hit a snag, from $187,500 to $218,000. Zero impact on city budget.
Blackiston motion, Taylor second, vote 6-0 with one absent. No discussion.
Item 12 – Closes out 2012 Community Development Block Grant NC Catalyst Grant for work done at City Market – Workforce Development Training Center.
Taylor motion, Mitchell second, vote 6-0 with one absent. No discussion.
Item 13 – Project for the city to spend $260,000 (plus $540,000 from N.C. DOT and $54,843 in Block Grant money left over from Item 12) to spruce up First Street around City Market. This project calls for reducing First Street from four to two lanes with a center turn lane (a scheme believed to calm traffic and enhance safety), plus add bike lanes and sidewalks.
Taylor motion, Kinsey second, vote 6-0 with one absent. No discussion.
Item 14 – Authorization to add $5,503 in additional expenses to the $170,000 budget to build Alexander Thalmann Field at Lawson Creek Park. The football/soccer/multipurpose field includes bleachers on both sides and a small public restroom. It honors New Bern Police Officer Alexander Thalmann, who was killed in the line of duty in March 2014. 
Kinsey motion, White second, vote 6-0 with one absent. No discussion.
Item 15 – Budget adjustments: Authorization to spend $60,000 for four emergency electric generators for four city buildings to replace aging generators already at those locations. Also pays for $78,475 for lighting upgrades at Craven Terrace, offset by revenue from renters there. Also authorizes expenditures described in items 10, 13 and 14. 
Mitchell motion, Kinsey second, vote 6-0 with one absent. Question about how many generators (four, with the old generators sold as surplus).
Item 16 – Adjust capital purchase budget from $1.2 million to pay for generators described in item 15.
Taylor motion, Kinsey second, vote 6-0 with one absent.
Item 17 – Turns out the city didn’t have any rules about fire lanes — where to establish them and where to put them, and what they would look like. This fixes that.
Mitchell motion, Kinsey second, vote 6-0. No discussion.