Wilmington City Council postpones projects amid coronavirus outbreak

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Wilmington’s City Council met on Friday morning to discuss the budget for the year.

The meeting looked different than typical council meetings. A minimum amount of staff gathered for the meeting, the rest of the council members logged in for the meeting from home.

The council discussed the changes to certain projects due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Projects like the Masonboro Loop trail and Wrightsville Avenue sidewalk and roundabout are being postponed for about 4 to 6 weeks.

This is because they involve right of way acquisition and purchase of property.

City Manager Sterling Cheatham says they do not want to add to any stress people are experiencing right now.

“Those conversations with residents at this point in time, it had been in our plan to do it now,” Cheatham said. “So we’re going to defer that until we have a better understanding of where we are with COVID-19. We think people are wrestling with enough issues at this time.”

Another big discussion surrounded the Transportation Bond to improve roadways.

It prompted the council members to ask tough questions.

“Are we really asking people to look far into the future when their immediate concerns are how they’re going to pay rent this year?” Councilman Kevin O’Grady asked.

Originally supposed to be on the 2020 ballot, the $44M to $58M project would take 4 to 5 years to complete and require a $.02 increase to property taxes.

In the midst of an outbreak severely impacting the local economy, O’Grady asked another question.

“Is this the year to ask for 2 more cents?” he asked.

He proposed waiting until 2020 to move forward.

Allowing for more time to create plans, the economy to recover, and people to get back on their feet.

Councilman Clifford Barnett seemed to agree.

“No one’s really looking 5 years down the line if I can’t find toilet paper in the stores now,” he said.

The council passed various amendments to employee leave policies to follow along with the new federal rules.

They also scheduled a special meeting Monday at 9AM to discuss a possible shelter-in-place order.