MINUTES
STATE
OF
The Henderson County
Board of Commissioners met for a regularly scheduled meeting at
Those present were: Commissioner Bill Moyer, Commissioner Charlie
Messer, Commissioner Larry Young, Commissioner Shannon Baldwin, Commissioner
Chuck McGrady, County Manager
Also present were:
Budget and Management Director
CALL TO ORDER/WELCOME
Elizabeth Corn called
the meeting to order.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Elizabeth Corn led the
Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag.
INVOCATION
David Nicholson gave the
invocation.
ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN
Mrs. Corn informed those
in attendance that according to the General Statutes, the first order of
business was to elect a Chairman. She
opened the floor for nominations.
Commissioner Messer
nominated Bill Moyer.
Commissioner Baldwin
nominated Larry Young.
Commissioner McGrady made the motion that nominations cease.
All voted in favor and the motion carried.
The Clerk polled the
Board with the following outcome:
Commissioner Baldwin Larry Young
Commissioner McGrady Bill Moyer
Commissioner Moyer Bill Moyer
Commissioner Messer Bill Moyer
Commissioner Young Larry Young
Commissioner Moyer was
the high vote getter and therefore will be the Chairman for the next year.
Mrs. Corn congratulated the Chairman and turned the meeting over to him.
ELECTION OF VICE-CHAIRMAN
Chairman Moyer opened
the floor for nominations for Vice-Chairman.
Commissioner McGrady
nominated Charlie Messer.
Commissioner Young
nominated Shannon Baldwin
Commissioner McGrady made the motion that nominations cease.
All voted in favor and the motion carried.
The Clerk polled the
Board with the following outcome:
Commissioner Baldwin Shannon Baldwin
Commissioner McGrady Charlie Messer
Chairman Moyer Charlie
Messer
Commissioner Messer Charlie Messer
Commissioner Young Shannon Baldwin
Commissioner Messer was
the high vote getter and therefore will be the Vice-Chairman for another year.
REVIEW OF PUBLIC OFFICIAL’S BONDS
Chairman Moyer reminded
those present that according to statute the next order of business was to
approve the bonds for the county public officials. The following are the county officials
required to be bonded and the current bond amounts:
George H. Erwin, Jr.,
Sheriff $25,000
(no new bond needed)
Nedra Whitlock Moles,
Register of Deeds $50,000
Terry F. Lyda, Tax
Collector $1,000,000
Darlene B. Burgess,
Deputy Tax Collector $250,000
J. Carey McLelland,
Finance Director $200,000
The
Commissioner Messer made the motion to approve the public
officials’ bonds as set forth. All voted
in favor and the motion carried.
INFORMAL PUBLIC COMMENTS
DISCUSSION/ADJUSTMENT OF AGENDA
Chairman Moyer requested
discretion to move the Mediacom Cable Franchise Agreement from C under
Discussion Items to first under Discussion Items.
He also asked to move
item “G – Rutledge Drive Scenic Byway Designation” to the Consent Agenda.
Chairman Moyer requested
three additions to Update on Pending Issues “I”:
1.
Sunflower
Special Use Permit
2.
3.
Chairman Moyer informed
those present that due to a family problem, the petitioner had requested that
the Public Hearing be pulled from the agenda, to be placed on the agenda at a
later date.
Commissioner McGrady made the motion to approve the agenda
as revised. All voted in favor and the
motion carried.
CONSENT AGENDA
Commissioner McGrady made the motion to approve the Consent
Agenda, with the addition of “
The Consent Agenda
consisted of the following:
Tax Collector’s Report
Terry F. Lyda, Henderson
County Tax Collector, had provided the Tax Collector’s Report dated December 2
for the Board’s information.
Financial Report – October 2005
Cash Balance Report – October 2005
These reports were
presented for information and consent approval.
Non-departmental
expenses are for Property/Liability and Workman’s Compensation insurance
coverage that have been or will be allocated out to each department during the
fiscal year.
The YTD deficit in the
Emergency 911 Communications Fund is due to FY2006 approved appropriations for
the purchase of Emergency Medical Dispatch software, necessary replacement of
the 911 Center’s dated Un-interruptible Power Supply-Battery Backup System and
a GIS software application update that links GIS data with the Computer Aided Dispatch
(CAD) system in the 911 Center.
The YTD deficit in the
CDBG-Howard Gap Waterline Project, the Mills River Watershed Protection
Project, the Mud Creek Watershed Restoration Fund, the Emergency Watershed
Protection Project and the Mills River Sewer Capital Project are all temporary
due to timing differences in the expenditure of funds and the subsequent
requisition of Federal and State grant funds or Cane Creek Water & Sewer
District funds for the Mills River Sewer Project to reimburse these expenditures.
Henderson County Public Schools Financial Report – October
2005
This report was
presented for information and consent approval.
Request for public hearing on January 3, 2006 on new roads
Staff requested that a
public hearing be set for
Petition for Addition to
Staff had received a
road petition for addition to the State Road System for the following:
1.
It has been the practice
of this Board to accept road petitions and forward them to NC DOT for their
review. It has also been the practice of the Board not to ask NC DOT to change
the priority for roads on the paving priority list.
Staff recommended the
Board accept the road petition mentioned above and forward it to NC DOT for
their review and action.
A draft agreement was
presented for the Board’s consideration.
The agreement is between the County and the private group from
Edneyville who have been working to have a county park located there.
The agreement would
require that the land, which is to be conveyed to the County at no cost to the
County, would revert to the group if no NC-Parks and Recreation Trust Fund
grant was obtained, or if construction on a park was not begun within
approximately 18 months.
The
Set Public Hearing for Property Address Number Changes
Staff requested that a
public hearing be set for
The
Property Lease
Staff recommended the
Board authorize the lease.
Engineering Services Contract Phase I – Mud Creek Sanitary
Sewer Interceptor
At the August 1
Commissioners’ Meeting the Board selected William G. Lapsley and Associates,
P.A. to provide engineering services for the Mud Creek Sanitary Sewer
Interceptor Phase I Project. A draft
contract for these engineering services was included for review and approval.
This item was added to
the Consent Agenda from Discussion Items.
In September, Historic
Flat Rock requested that nine-tenths of a mile of
Staff recommended the
Board approve the drafted letter of support and authorize the Chairman’s
signature.
NOMINATIONS
Notification of Vacancies
The Board was notified
of the following vacancies which will appear on the next agenda for
nominations:
1. Planning for Older Adults Block Grant
Advisory Committee – 1 vac.
Nominations
Chairman Moyer reminded
the Board of the following vacancies and opened the floor to nominations:
1.
Child Fatality
Prevention Team – 1 vac.
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
2.
Criminal Justice
Partnership Program Task Force – 6 vac.
Commissioner Baldwin
nominated Judge Mark Powell and Jeff Hunt. There were no other nominations.
Chairman Moyer made the motion to accept Powell and Hunt by
acclamation. All voted in favor and the
motion carried.
The other vacancies were rolled to the next meeting.
3.
Fire and Rescue Advisory
Committee – 2 vac.
Commissioner Baldwin
nominated Chip Gould and Rick Livingston to positions #1 and # 5 respectively.
Chairman Moyer made the motion to accept Gould and
Livingston by acclamation. All voted in
favor and the motion carried.
4.
Fire Commission – 3 vac.
Commissioner Messer
nominated Howard Norton and Phil Hyder.
Commissioner McGrady
nominated Martin Harris.
Chairman Moyer made the motion to accept all three nominees
by acclamation. All voted in favor and
the motion carried.
5.
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
6.
Commissioner Baldwin
nominated Janice Brown to # 7, Ann Pouch to # 5, Phillip Stanley to # 8, and
Suzanne Holbert to # 10. All are reappointments. Chairman Moyer made the motion to accept all four nominees by
acclamation. All voted in favor and the
motion carried.
7.
Hospital Corporation
Board of Directors – 3 vac.
Chairman Moyer nominated
Peter Goodfield to # 8.
Commissioner Young
nominated J.W. Davis to # 1 and William (Bill) Smith to # 10.
Commissioner Messer
nominated Kathy Watkins to # 1.
It was the consensus of
the Board to bring these nominees back at the next meeting and disregard the
position numbers and vote for three of the four to serve.
8.
Juvenile Crime
Prevention Council – 4 vac.
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
9.
Laurel Park Zoning Board
of Adjustment – 1 vac.
Commissioner McGrady
nominated James Patrick for reappointment to # 1.
Chairman Moyer made the motion to accept Patrick by
acclamation. All voted in favor and the
motion carried.
10.
Library Board of Trustees
– 1 vac.
Chairman Moyer nominated
Commissioner McGrady to continue to represent the Board on the Library Board of
Trustees. There were no other nominees.
Chairman Moyer made the motion to accept McGrady by
acclamation. All voted in favor and the
motion carried.
11.
Nursing/Adult Care Home
Community Advisory Committee – 2 vac.
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
12.
Planning for Older
Adults Block Grant Advisory Committee – 6 vac.
Commissioner Baldwin nominated
Wes Davis, Mae Harter, Lee Anne Tucker, William Crisp, and Joe Connelly.
Chairman Moyer made the motion to accept all five nominees
by acclamation. All voted in favor and
the motion carried.
13.
Senior Volunteer
Services Advisory Council – 1 vac.
Commissioner Messer
nominated James Phelps to # 4. There
were no other nominations.
Chairman Moyer made the motion to accept Phelps by
acclamation. All voted in favor and the
motion carried.
14.
Travel & Tourism
Committee – 4 vac. + Appointment of the Chairman
Commissioner Young
nominated Scott Surrette to #2 and Lucy King to #3.
Commissioner Messer
nominated Mehmet Ozelsel to #1 and Larry Young to #4.
Commissioner Baldwin
nominated Kathy Griffin to # 2.
Shannon Baldwin
suggested that the Board go ahead and appoint to positions 1, 3, and 4 and roll
the two nominees to the next meeting for position #2.
Chairman Moyer made the motion to accept Ozelsel, King, and
Young by acclamation. All voted in favor
and the motion carried.
Commissioner McGrady
nominated John Shiery to serve as the Chairman of the Travel & Tourism
Committee. Chairman Moyer made the motion
to accept Shiery by acclamation. All
voted in favor and the motion carried.
GOVERNMENT CHANNEL #11/WHKP --- item 2 from
Update on Pending Issues
Chairman Moyer informed
those present that some roadblocks had been encountered regarding this issue so
he felt it would be good for the whole Board to hear from Richard Rhodes as to
what the situation is and to get direction from the Board.
Richard Rhodes referred
to a letter he had written to the Board.
The only fresh news he had to report on was that about
Chairman Moyer asked Mr.
Rhodes to keep
Commissioner Baldwin
asked to be placed on record that we are trying to resolve the issues and work
the bugs out.
David Nicholson reminded
the Board that as was noted during the meeting on
#1 It was proposed that the siding/metal
panels for the entrance areas of the building be upgraded to a higher quality
product. A letter from CJMW dated
#2 It was proposed that several changes be
made to the parking/driveway area on the side and rear of the building. This change is required due to a change in
the approval of the project from Duke Power.
This change order would constitute an “add” of $68,259 to the project.
Staff recommended
approval of both these change orders.
Allen McQuinn and Mike
Derreck from CJMW addressed the Board and showed the plans of the changes. Following much discussion, Commissioner McGrady made the motion to
approve the two proposed change orders.
All voted in favor and the motion carried.
Commissioner Young made the motion to authorize the Chairman
to write a letter to Ruth Shaw, President of Duke Power, expressing the Board’s
concern over how the Duke Power part of the project was handled. All voted in
favor and the motion carried. Duke Power had not
communicated between their engineering department and their tower maintenance
department. The maintenance department
had requested additional work to protect their towers and to remove what they
considered potential problems within the right-of-way if they have to maintain those
towers. We will gain 12 additional
parking spaces.
HISTORIC COURTHOUSE – ALTERNATIVES
Chairman Moyer explained
that at the workshop on the Historic Courthouse, the Board had asked the
architect, Alan Antoine, to develop some alternatives for the west side of the
facility.
Mr. Antoine showed a
model of the structure and discussed with the Board new ideas for the west side
of the building. He stated they were asked to come up with a number of
alternatives to provide a better view to the west from the existing
courtroom. They developed a number of
alternatives and discussed them with the Historic Courthouse Committee. He discussed the favorite of the options with
the Board.
Mr. Antoine stated that
the purpose of the annex addition was to accommodate all the needs of a modern
functioning building without placing those items in the historic
courthouse. The items included were an
elevator, men and women restrooms, janitor’s room, storage room, mechanical
rooms, electrical rooms and a proper exit path to the new stairs. All these items had been provided in the new
annex. The problem with that is the new annex is blocking the view from the
existing courtroom. They looked at
removing the second floor of the annex addition to provide a proper view from
the three arched windows of the courtroom; however, these spaces were part of
the program requirements of the original building. They then looked at moving the toilet rooms,
elevator, janitor room, and some corridor space to other parts of the building. They had planned a pre-function space (a
lobby) right outside of the courtroom which was an integral part of the
program. They placed the toilet rooms,
elevator, and janitor room in the pre-function space and adjusted the plan to
have an open pre-function area out on the roof with similar arched windows.
There would be a view from the Board Room through the arched windows of the
pre-function room so that the mountains beyond could be viewed. This solution
provides an additional community room with 1200 feet of meeting space. The cost is approx. $100,000. They think they can work out all the interior
changes to accommodate this new plan.
George Jones came forward
and addressed the Board, speaking in favor of the revised plan. He served on the
Historic Courthouse Committee. The entire Board was in attendance and they
reviewed the revised plan and unanimously recommended it to the Board of
Commissioners for approval.
Following discussion and
a review of the most current site plan for the project, Chairman Moyer made the motion to direct Alan Antoine to proceed, that
the Board support and adopt the concept he has developed with the support of
the Historic Courthouse Corporation and that he get back to the Board with more
detail at the December 15 meeting with respect to a timetable and any problems
he would envision with moving forward and implementing this as part of the
overall concept. All voted in favor and
the motion carried unanimously.
RESOLUTION ADOPTING HANCOCK COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
AS A SISTER COMMUNITY
Commissioner Baldwin had
first introduced the idea which was discussed during the meeting on November
16, of adopting a resolution establishing a formal relationship between
Staff recommended
adoption of the prepared resolution.
Following discussion, Commissioner Baldwin made the motion to
adopt the resolution as written. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
RECESS
Chairman Moyer called a
brief recess.
MEDIACOM CABLE FRANCHISE AGREEMENT
John Crook, Chairman of
the Cable Franchise Renewal Advisory Committee (CFRAC), distributed a two page
hand-out entitled “CFRAC History to date (
Mr. Crook stated that
besides customer service there are two categories of cable services that the
FCC permits a franchise agreement to address.
One is an I-Net or optical fiber which is intended to reduce public
sector communication costs. After
considerable research, the Cable Committee decided that because of our low
density and because of our relatively low number of subscribers, that I-Net could
best be addressed separately from the franchise renewal agreement. To pursue that, an I-Net Team led by Dr.
Hutto and Sam Blythe of Fletcher is in the process of assembling a map of high
potential public and private areas for broadband communications in
1.
“We
need your comments on draft 7.1 so that if it needs to be adjusted it can be
adjusted and then at some point released to Mediacom for their review and
comment.
2.
To
begin the actual negations, they need each of the franchising authorities to
decide who will represent them in the formal negotiations with Mediacom.
3.
It
does us no good to build in stringent liquidated damages and performance
criteria if we don’t have some way to monitor Mediacom’s performance on an
on-going basis and for this reason the committee is strongly recommending that
an interlocal function be established to monitor Mediacom’s performance and to
ensure their compliance with liquidated damages this function would include a
piece that we’re referring to as a second call help desk so that subscribers
who experience problems in achieving reconciliation or achieving satisfaction
with Mediacom could make a call to this help desk and this group would then
become involved in interfacing directly with Mediacom in its resolution. This is a function that traditionally is
handled directly by the franchising authorities but it frankly hasn’t been
handled. The County has a call, an individual, sometimes its David, sometimes
its Avalina, sometimes its whoever they are able to hand the call off to. But essentially the subscribers have no place
to go that they’re aware of. This would
address that problem and to the best of our knowledge it would cost about
$35,000 a year to be spread over all the six franchising authorities.
4.
The
fourth item is access channels and the possible expansion of our government
channel and possibly the establishment of an education channel. The reason we
need to look at this now is because as franchising authorities we’re able to
require the inclusion of capital expenditures as contributions by the cable
provider as a condition of renewal. In
this case, our thinking so far has involved
Mr. Crook stated that
the real hemorrhaging of Mediacom customers began when their customer service
went to pot. At that same time the satellite companies stepped in and conducted
an aggressive campaign to get subscribers.
Long term there is probably greater potential for cable service than
there is satellite service. Mediacom has
to fix their customer service problems.
They need to get their reliability up.
Long term there is a potential for packaging of services which they may
begin to offer.
Discussion followed with
many questions from the Commissioners.
Dr. Dean Hutto, a member
of the CFRAC, distributed a several page hand-out entitled “Education and
Governmental Channels for
Following discussion, it
was the consensus of the Board to add this to the December 15 agenda for some
additional discussion on this matter.
Recess – Chairman Moyer called a short technical recess,
for changing videotapes.
LEGAL ADVERTISEMENTS – CHOICE OF NEWSPAPERS
Russell Burrell informed
the Board that The Hendersonville Tribune
was recently admitted to use for legal notice advertisement publication
pursuant to Article 50 of Chapter I of the North Carolina Statutes. The Hendersonville
Tribune had approach
He reviewed the
following rates with the Board:
Legal notice
advertisement rates from The Times-News:
First insertion, per
line $1.60
Subsequent insertions, per line $1.20
Legal notice
advertisement rates from The
First insertion, per
line $1.20
Subsequent insertions, per line $1.10
Legal notice
advertisements are broadly used by
Understanding the
differences in cost, but understanding the potential other differences
regarding coverage, the Board was requested to direct staff as to the placement
of future legal notice advertisements.
Following some
discussion, Commissioner McGrady made the
motion to maintain the publication of legal notices with The Times-News. He
felt it was the Board’s duty to think about more than just the costs, to think
about whether notices that get published get any circulation. A vote
was taken and the motion passed unanimously.
2005/2006 MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT FUNDS FOR MENTAL
HEALTH SERVICES
Grant applications for
2005/06 maintenance of effort funds were made available in October 2005. Three applications were received and were
summarized as follows:
The
Henderson County Partnership for Health, Inc. has requested $25,000 to assist
with the activities of the Community Health Network (CHN) Mental Health Project
in
The
Healing Place, Inc. has requested $25,000 to assist with providing trauma
focused mental health counseling to victims of sexual assault and felonious
child abuse in
Mountain
Laurel Community Services has requested $528,000 for the continuation of
programs established through 2004/05 maintenance of effort funds for the
residents of
The County has $528,342
in maintenance of effort funds for mental health services for 2005/06. Grant
requests for 2005/06 total $578,000.
Fortunately, each proposed grant program would assist in meeting the
mental health need of
The Healing Place, Inc. $9,855
Mountain Laurel Community Services
$508,632
Staff recommended the
Board approve this funding plan and authorize staff to develop funding
agreements with each agency.
Following discussion, Commissioner Messer made the motion to
approve the funding for the three agencies as recommended by staff above and to
authorize staff to develop the necessary agreements. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
VETERANS MEMORIAL AT MEMORIAL STADIUM
Staff recommended the
Board of Commissioners authorize staff to work with the County’s Veterans
Services Officer, Mike Murdock, to identify a veteran for this recognition,
draft his/her ‘personal story’ as explained in the letter and to present this
for the Board’s approval at the December 15 regular Board meeting. Ms. Coffey
stated that staff would work with Mr. Murdock to identify a veteran and to
write up that story and provide it to the Board at the December 15 meeting for
approval.
Commissioner McGrady made the motion to authorize staff to work
with Mike Murdock to identify a veteran for this recognition, draft their
personal story, and to present this back for the Board’s approval at our next
regular meeting. All voted in favor and
the motion carried.
UPDATE ON PENDING ISSUES
Strategic Plan Development Process
Management
Team will begin with a review of the 2005 Strategic Plan, including discussion
of completed action steps and outstanding issues. We will then move into the development of the
2006 Strategic Plan draft, to include revisions based on the impending action
steps within the County’s Comprehensive Plan and staff’s proposed goals,
strategies, and action steps for the next two fiscal years.
Target
date for receiving the Board’s comments regarding potential strategic issues,
goals, strategies, and action steps.
Management
Team will continue development of the 2006 Strategic Plan draft, incorporating
pertinent new goals, strategies, and action steps provided by the Board of Commissioners.
Staff
will present the initial draft of the 2006 Strategic Plan at the Board’s
regular mid-month January meeting. In
addition, staff will propose a plan for board review, adoption, and
implementation of the 2006 Strategic Plan.
It was the consensus of
the Board to follow the recommended schedule.
Government Channel #11/WHKP
This was covered earlier
on the agenda.
Chairman Moyer stated
that obviously there has been a lot in the paper and we have all heard a
lot. He asked that this be placed on the
agenda.
Mr. Hembree stated that
our Finance Director, Carey McLelland, has conducted an internal audit of
EMS billing operations in
It
could be put in the Finance Department, which was done here before. Other counties use that method.
Contract
this service out. There’s lots of
ambulance agencies, ambulance service counties that use ambulance billing
companies, that’s all they do.
Staff’s goal is to make
a decision or come back to the Board quickly with a recommendation if it’s
something that requires Board action. We realize corrective actions will have
to be taken and they will be taken in the short term and the long term.
Mr. Hembree stated that
two of the items the Board will see in the upcoming strategic plan will deal
directly with this issue. One is doing
an analysis of the county’s billing systems. The
In summary,
Terry Layne, EMS
Director, apologized to the Board for the inconvenience caused to them. He thanked the public for providing their
insurance information, for cooperating and help in this matter. But most of all, he apologized to the public
for the frustration and inconvenience this has caused them.
Carey McLelland and his
staff are working on these bills and have a deadline of December 31 to get the
2003 bills to Medicare so we can get reimbursement.
Sunflower Special Use Permit
Chairman Moyer stated
that he added this item because
The
Chairman Moyer stated
that at the Joint Facilities meeting for the schools there was some discussion
of the
Commissioner McGrady
stated that the cost of continuing to keep up the school building throughout
the year was just in excess of $20,000 with the major part of that being the
heating costs in the winter months.
Commissioner Messer
informed all that next Monday at
IMPORTANT DATES
Chairman Moyer asked
that the time for David Nicholson’s retirement reception be changed to reflect
the new times of
He also asked that the
December 13 meeting at
Chairman Moyer informed
the Commissioners that Ann Tate, from NC DOT, had called the Clerk wanting to
set up a Secondary Road Public Hearing with the Board of Commissioners in
January. They would like to have it
sometime the week of January 16th, which is a holiday.
Secondary Road Public Hearing
Following discussion,
the Commissioner preferred to have this as a special called meeting, not along
with another regular meeting. Chairman Moyer made the motion to set the
Schedule of Regular Meeting Dates
Chairman Moyer presented
a “Schedule of Regular Meeting Dates” for the Board’s consideration and
adoption. Following review and discussion, Commissioner
McGrady made the motion to approve the list as presented and circulated. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
Reschedule Hearing for Assigned Address Appeal
Chairman Moyer stated
that this appeal has been postponed twice.
Mr. Feldman will get with staff regarding new dates for the
hearing. The Board will set that hearing
at the December 15 meeting.
Annual Employee
David Nicholson reminded
the Board of the Annual Employee Holiday Luncheon scheduled for this Wednesday
and Thursday at Highland Lake Inn, starting at
Power Outage
David Nicholson informed
the Board that tomorrow morning,
CANE CREEK WATER & SEWER DISTRICT – no
business
CLOSED SESSION
Chairman Moyer made the motion that the Board go into closed
session for purposes of preventing disclosure of information that is privileged
and not a public record, to discuss personnel, to consult with an attorney, and
to consult and direct an attorney
regarding the case Bellsouth Carolina PCH vs. Henderson County Zoning Board
of Adjustment, all as set out more fully in the materials accompanying the
Board’s agenda packet. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
The Chairman informed the
media and others present that the Board would not be back in open session.
Attest:
Elizabeth W. Corn, Clerk
to the Board
William L. Moyer, Chairman