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WILMINGTON, N.C. | Renovating city hall, funding public art and creating a network of walking trails took center stage during Conway City Council's budget discussions Friday.

Officials began their budget retreat in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Thursday and wrapped up those talks there Friday. The estimated cost of the retreat was $7,000, city officials said.

Here's a snapshot of the topics they've discussed:

Pathways and trails master plan

The city began working in January to create a master plan for its pathways and trails to better connect the city and provide a place for recreational activities. Last month, Conway held a public input session and launched a survey so the community could give feedback about what it would like to see.

Emily McCoy with Design Workshop said the survey has received about 160 responses, and she hopes to collect more.

Trends from the survey show the public would like more natural features, restroom facilities, better destinations to downtown Conway and scenic views, McCoy said. There's also a recreational desire for exercise.

After receiving public input and interviewing stakeholders, the city will have a draft plan by May and a final plan is expected to be finished by June.

The survey, which will conclude March 9, can be found .

Council also heard a presentation about the downtown master plan. Here's the latest on the downtown plan.

Annexations

The city's goal is to fill in existing donut holes, or unincorporated areas within the city that are surrounded by incorporated areas.

City officials would also like to annex areas like Red Hill, an area between U.S. 501 and south of S.C. 90, and some homes near Coastal Carolina University, said June Wood, the city's spokeswoman.

Part of the reason for annexing these areas is to offer city services to all of these places, not just a few properties. For example, trash trucks could be going out of their way to pick up trash at two homes within a neighborhood. If the area is annexed, it could be more worthwhile for the trash trucks to visit those areas.

Part of the city's restrictive covenant states the city could turn off water and stop services if people do not want their property to be annexed.

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However, unwillingness to annex isn't always an issue — many new businesses and developments have recently filed petitions to be part of the city.

"We’ve gotten a reputation now that people would like to be in the city limits," said Adam Emrick, Conway's city administrator.

Council members have expressed concerns about the reach of fire and police with more annexations, and that's something city leaders are keeping in mind as the requests arrive.

Renovations to city hall

Emrick shared with council concerns about city hall's condition, some upgrades being cosmetic, while others are not. Those include repair to the walls in council chambers, refinishing the floors in council chambers, making the court area more secure and likely one of the most costly projects: repointing and mortaring the exterior of the building. 

City hall's elevator is broken, which will cost $65,000 to upgrade, Emrick added.

"We gotta maintain this building," said councilman William Goldfinch. "We can’t allow what happened there (old Whittemore building) to happen here."

Recreation department

The city is having a hard time hiring part-time employees at its recreation department, Emrick said, proposing the department raising the hourly pay from $8 to $10.

"We would at least be more competitive," he said, adding the recreation department has a pool of funds that pays for part-time employees. The increase in pay would continue to come from the same fund.

Councilman Alex Hyman added the department is also having difficulties finding coaches with the increase in children signing up to play rec sports. Hyman said people want to referee because they are paid, while the coaches jobs are volunteer.

The rec department is trying to find creative ways to get people to coach, he said.

Discussion about other possible spendings

Public art was another topic of discussion among city staff and council Friday. Council plans to allocate about $50,000 to public art — which includes murals and fountains — per year from the hospitality fund. 

"There are a lot of things we can do that we’re not doing," Emrick said.

Mayor Barbara Blain-Bellamy said she would like to see fountains.

"A real fountain is public art," she said. "A little one is puny art and it doesn’t speak to the people."

Staff also brought up replacing sidewalks downtown, which are cracked from tree roots and have been cut during construction projects. The sidewalks have been ground down to smooth out the places where the concrete is not level, and cannot be ground down any further without creating holes or without further damaging the sidewalks.

Deputy city administrator John Rogers said the sidewalks could be replaced with pervious concrete or pervious pavers. He added the pavers could be easily removed and replaced for construction projects.

The city plans to pledge $250,000 toward replacing sidewalks, and that would likely start on Laurel Street, which appears to be the worst, Emrick said. Next would be Main Street and then Fourth Avenue.

The city will continue to work on the budget for the upcoming fiscal year and is expected to finalize the budget ahead of July 1, the beginning of the next fiscal year.