MINUTES
STATE
OF
The Henderson County
Board of Commissioners met for a regularly scheduled meeting at
Those present were: Chairman Bill Moyer, Vice-Chairman Charlie
Messer, Commissioner Larry Young, Commissioner Shannon Baldwin, Commissioner
Chuck McGrady, Interim County Manager
Also present were:
Planning Director Judith Frances, Public Information Officer Chris S. Coulson,
Fire Marshal Rocky Hyder, Finance Director J. Carey McLelland, County Engineer
Gary Tweed, Animal Services Director Morgan Woodward, and Development and
Enforcement Director Toby Linville. Deputy Clerk to the Board Amy Brantley was
present through nominations.
CALL TO ORDER/WELCOME
Chairman Moyer called
the meeting to order and welcomed all in attendance.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Herdis Nichols, a scout
who was present, led the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag. He is part of Troop #628 at
INVOCATION
Commissioner Shannon
Baldwin gave the invocation.
INFORMAL PUBLIC COMMENTS
He
volunteered to meet with the county revenue officer and offer his help. He
stated that part II of that would be an impact tax on all new vehicles brought
into the area.
Chairman Moyer responded
that as part of developing our strategic plan for this coming year, that is
listed as one of the items to study. We
are calling it an impact fee and will see if it appears to be right for
of
planning for a wave of aging baby boomers bound for retirement in the next two
decades. They have developed a survey for older adults in
Beginning
this month, they are inviting older adults to a series of focus groups in order
to hear more about the issues which concern them. The developed survey is very broad and will
dive deeper into senior’s responses to find out what they think are the best
ways to age well and remain independent. She shared a schedule of up-coming
focus groups and invited Board attendance, time permitting. In May the
The next two speakers
were asked to wait until discussion of the Animal Ordinance Amendment since
that was the issue they wished to address – Jim Scherbarth and Mike Cervini.
DISCUSSION/ADJUSTMENT OF AGENDA
Chairman Moyer stated
that since Jack Lynch and others from the DOT were present, he asked to move
the US Hwy. 64 West Project up to the first item under Discussion Items. There were no other requested changes to the
agenda.
Commissioner McGrady made the motion to approve the agenda
with the one requested change. All voted
in favor and the motion carried.
CONSENT AGENDA
Commissioner McGrady made the motion to approve the consent
agenda. All voted in favor and the
motion carried.
The Consent Agenda
consisted of the following:
Minutes
Draft minutes of the
Tax Collector’s Report
No report was received.
Tax Releases
Stan Duncan, Assessor,
had provided a list of 19 tax release requests for the Board’s approval.
Tax Refunds
Stan Duncan, Assessor,
had provided a list of 10 tax refund requests for the Board’s approval.
Pending Tax Discoveries
Stan Duncan, Assessor,
had provided a list of 20 pending tax discoveries for the Board’s
approval.
Twenty (20) Notices of
Discovery had been prepared and mailed to property owners. All are presently within the statutory
challenge period. While the Notices of
Discovery have been prepared following a thorough review by the
The current assessed
value of these discoveries is $4,449,214 resulting in a principal amount of
taxes due of $20,721.52. The Assessor’s
Office will provide an updated report detailing the unchallenged and challenged
discoveries in the March report.
The discovery
information is not being submitted for approval by the Henderson County Board
of Commissioners at this time. This was
for information only.
Policy on newspaper notice advertising process
Current policy has
notice advertisements placed in The
Times-News by the sponsoring department of
The proposed policy
would clarify procedure, so that simultaneously with notification to The Times-News a notice be sent by the
Department to the Clerk to the Board of Commissioners, for scheduling and other
purposes.
Resolution Authorizing the Disposition of Personal Property
by Private Sale to a Local Government Unit
A draft resolution had
been prepared for the Board’s consideration and approval, authorizing the
private sale of these voting machines to another local government unit as
allowed under N.C.G.S. 160A-274.
Resolution Authorizing the Disposition of Personal Property
by Private Sale
Included for the Board’s
consideration and approval was a draft resolution authorizing the private sale
of this vehicle to this company as allowed under N.C.G.S. 160A-267.
NOMINATIONS
Notification of Vacancies
The Board was notified
of the following vacancies which will appear for nominations on the next
agenda:
1.
Historic
Courthouse Corporation – 1 vac.
2.
Solid
Waste Advisory Committee – 4 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.
Equalization and Review
Board – 2 vac.
Chairman Moyer reminded
the Board that there were two nominees for position #2 – Dutch Burdette and
Richard Sheldrick and one nominee for position #6 – Franklin Carland.
There were no other
nominations for position #6. Chairman Moyer made the motion to appoint
Mr. Carland by acclamation. All voted in
favor and the motion carried.
There were no other
nominations for position # 2. The Clerk
polled the Board with the following outcome:
Commissioner Young Dutch
Burdette
Commissioner Messer Dutch
Burdette
Chairman Moyer Dutch
Burdette
Commissioner McGrady Richard
Sheldrick
Commissioner Baldwin Dutch
Burdette
Dutch Burdette received
four of the five votes so he is the new appointee to position #2.
3.
Fire and Rescue Advisory
Committee – 1 vac.
Chairman Moyer stated
that the committee nominee for position #7 is Richard Barnwell, currently
serving on the committee. Chairman Moyer made the motion to accept the
committee’s recommendation and appoint Richard Barnwell to position #7 by
acclamation. All voted in favor and the
motion carried.
4.
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
5.
Commissioner Young
nominated Joe Cox.
Commissioner Baldwin
nominated James Phelps.
Robert Danos and David
Lowles’ names were removed as they were both recently appointed to other
committees. There were no other nominees.
The Clerk will poll the Board at the next meeting.
6.
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
7.
Hospital Corporation
Board of Directors – 1 vac.
Commissioner Young
nominated Joseph Bill Smith. There were no other nominations. Chairman Moyer made the motion to accept Mr.
Smith by acclamation. All voted in favor
and the motion carried.
8.
Juvenile Crime
Prevention Council – 3 vac.
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
9.
Mountain Area Workforce
Development Board – 1 vac.
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
Commissioner McGrady will contact those who have applied to see if they are
still willing to serve.
10.
Nursing/Adult Care Home
Community Advisory Committee – 8 vac.
Chairman Moyer stated
that we have one recommendation from the Chair of the committee – Barbara
Nicholls. Commissioner McGrady nominated
Barbara Nicholls for position # 13.
Chairman Moyer made the motion to appoint Ms. Nicholls by acclamation. All
voted in favor and the motion carried.
11.
Solid Waste Advisory
Committee – 2 vac.
Gary Tweed reminded the
Board of the discussion regarding the number and make-up of this committee. He
has met with the Advisory Committee and they would like to step back from 11
members to 9. The Board currently has
two vacancies due to resignation. There are four positions under “notification
of vacancies” that will be coming up for appointments on April 1. Two of those four have expressed an interest
in continuing on the committee, two have not. If the Board fills the two
vacancies today (due to resignation) and two of the four that will be open in
April, then we will be at nine members.
Commissioner McGrady
nominated Stan Kumor. Mr. Kumor has an engineering degree and has shown a lot of
interest in the committee. Chairman Moyer
made the motion to appoint Mr. Kumor to an open slot. All voted in favor and
the motion carried.
Mr. Tweed also pointed
out that Bill Ramsey, the current Chair of the committee, is one who will be
rotating off in April and he has expressed that he is not interested in serving
again. The Board of Commissioners will
have to appoint a new Chair.
Chairman Moyer stated
that the
Jack Lynch stated that
they’ve been working on the 64 West project for years, since about 2001. It’s
been a combined project between the County and NCDOT with City involvement. He
recognized Jamie Wilson, Division Construction Engineer for 64 West. He asked Jamie to give an update on the
project.
Jamie Wilson explained
that the 64 West project is a three-lane, typical section curb and gutter with
a five foot sidewalk on each side with a 2.5 foot utility strip behind the
sidewalk so the overall proposed right-of-way is going to be 60-70 feet. The project went to right-of-way about 2
weeks ago, authorized right-of-way. NCDOT went with the alternate of just
widening the existing
ANIMAL ORDINANCE AMENDMENT – Public Input
This item was scheduled
to get public input with respect to the ordinance. The Board reviewed this ordinance at the last
meeting. Staff has made some changes.
Rocky Hyder reviewed the
changes with the Board. Per the Board’s
instruction, staff mailed a letter to the various animal service organizations
in the community advising them of the proposed amendment and encouraging
comment on the same. As yet they have received no formal comments back from
those organizations. It has been a short timeframe from the last meeting to
this one though.
The changes were
associated with Section D of the Restraint/Confinement section regarding the discussion
at the last meeting concerning hunting dogs.
The exception for hunting dogs has been changed to say “dogs used or
trained for hunting as long as said animal is in the process of being trained
by a trainer or owner, participating in a field trial or other similar
competition, or on a legal hunt in the presence of the owner.”
There was some
discussion regarding the complicated nature of the definition of a domestic
animal and ideas regarding making a change to it. There was discussion
regarding registration of hunting dogs.
Public Input
He
stated that they are asking for some help.
They work with the animal control folks who have been very courteous and
very helpful.
Rocky Hyder explained
that this is a complaint driven ordinance.
It will allow some teeth in the ordinance to address problems that occur
in a community but they certainly will not go out and police animals that live
in harmony with the community.
It was the consensus of
the Board for Rocky to make some suggested changes and come back to the Board
at the mid-March meeting. The Board will likely set a public hearing on the
issue at that time.
METROPOLITAN SEWERAGE DISTRICT OF
Following discussion, Commissioner McGrady made the motion to
appoint Commissioner Messer as the Commissioner’s representative on the MSD
(Metropolitan Sewerage District) Planning Committee with the understanding that
if he is unable to attend any of the meetings another Commissioner may
substitute for him in attendance. All
voted in favor and the motion carried.
Commissioner Young
stated that he would try to make the meetings if Commissioner Messer cannot.
UNDERWRITING SERVICES/SENIOR MANAGER REQUEST FOR
QUALIFICATIONS (RFQ)
Carey McLelland stated
that in preparation for the issuance of Certificates of Participation (COPs)
before the end of the current fiscal year to finance the four major school,
community college and county capital projects, staff issued a Request for
Qualification (RFQ) to provide underwriting services and serve as senior
manager for the County on this debt issue.
Five financial
institutions responded to the County’s RFQ for underwriting services by the
February 10th deadline. They
were Bank of America Securities, Wachovia Securities, BB&T Capital Markets,
SunTrust Capital Markets and Citigroup.
First Citizens Bank was also invited to submit a proposal, but indicated
that they did not provide underwriting services and declined.
After reviewing all five
of the proposals in detail, Staff believes that Wachovia Securities gives the
County the best option to underwrite our Series 2006 COPs debt issue and to
assist the County in managing the debt issuance process due to their extensive
North Carolina COPs experience and their knowledge of the County. In Staff’s opinion, their retail distribution
network, which is the largest in
Over the past five
years, Wachovia has senior managed over 30 North Carolina COPs issues totaling
in excess of $1 billion. Wachovia is
currently working on six North Carolina COPs issues totaling in excess of $320
million that are primarily for school facility needs.
In working with the
County on the Series 2005A COPs issue last May, Wachovia Securities was
instrumental in helping the County lock in a bond insurance commitment for the
County at a premium compared to recent quotes that will result in a savings of
over $70,000 on our upcoming 2006 COPs debt issue.
Based on review of the
proposals submitted, it is Staff’s recommendation that Wachovia Securities be
chosen by
Management concurred
with Staff that Wachovia Securities would be the best option to market our
upcoming Series 2006 COPs debt issue.
Wachovia Securities knows the County and has a great deal of experience
in issuing COPs in the State. Management
knows the professionals who will be handling our debt issue and the Board can
be assured that the County will be getting the best service available.
Commissioner McGrady made the motion to accept
Staff/Management’s recommendation that Wachovia Securities be chosen by the
County to serve as the underwriter and senior manager on the County’s Series
2006 COPs debt issue. All voted in favor
and the motion carried.
INTRODUCE DRAFT NUISANCE ORDINANCE
Toby Linville stated that
as part of the recently adopted County Strategic Plan, the Board of
Commissioners made enhanced code enforcement a priority. As part of this effort, the adoption of a new
Nuisance Ordinance is proposed. A draft
Nuisance Ordinance was included for the Board’s review. When compared to the
current Nuisance Ordinance, the proposed draft makes the following adjustments:
Staff requested feedback
from the Board of Commissioners concerning the implementation of this document
and recommended that public input sessions concerning the proposed ordinance be
scheduled.
There was suggested
language to change the first bullet to read no more than two vehicles without
license and insurance on them.
Following much
discussion, it was the consensus of the Board that an evening public hearing
needs to be set on this issue to receive public comments. The Board gave Toby
Linville some direction regarding changes. The Board will set a public hearing
under “Important Dates.”
Selena Coffey distributed
the February 2006 version of the
Justin Hembree called
the Board’s attention to the fact that many of the items in this report were
checked off as being complete. Staff will be updating the report next month to
reflect the new Strategic Plan that the Board recently adopted. It will have
the new goals in it.
Historic Courthouse
The contractor continues
to make good progress on the
Mr. Nicholson stated
that there are a few relatively small change orders that are being considered
in the areas of the guttering and roof drains.
He has focused his work on the owner-provided furniture, fixtures, and
equipment. He has also scheduled a joint
meeting concerning network connectivity with all of the involved departments to
make a decision as to the different alternative methods.
He shared some
interesting facts about the building:
The Building is 97,500 square feet.
There is approximately 15,700 square feet of future
space.
There are 30 restrooms.
There will be 26,100 square feet of carpet and 2,300 feet
of tile in the restrooms.
The balance of the building is vinyl tile and sealed
concrete in the future areas.
Animal Shelter
The construction
continues at the Shelter at or slightly ahead of schedule with the exception of
the installation of drywall. The
sub-contractor plans to work weekends to catch up on their work. There seems to be no major problems in
meeting schedule and finishing the building on time on the other areas of the
building. There are a couple of deduct
change orders for signage and allowances that are being prepared.
Mr. Nicholson has been
working with staff on the furniture, interior and exterior signage, and owner-provided
appliances. They are discussing the purchase of the telephone and paging
system. The building is scheduled to be completed in March. Plans will need to be developed for an open
house in the weeks to come.
UPDATE ON PENDING ISSUES
Chairman Moyer stated
that several Commissioners had talked with him concerning the Land Development
Code along with whether the arrival of the new
The Board had originally
planned a special called meeting to discuss the new Land Development Code on
Thursday, March 16. Following much discussion, Commissioner McGrady made the motion to: 1) postpose those discussions
(that special called meeting) for 2-3 weeks so the new County Manager can be
present, 2) to direct the Planning Board through it’s Land Development Code
Subcommittee to continue work on revisions to the current draft of the Land
Development Code, and 3) to direct the Interim County Manager and the Planning
Director to continue with any already scheduled meetings and presentations
regarding the “Draft” Land Development Code to various groups which have an
interest in this ordinance such as service organizations, i.e. Rotary. A vote
was taken and the motion passed unanimously.
There was discussion
regarding holding community meetings on this Land Development Ordinance.
IMPORTANT DATES
Chairman Moyer made the motion to set Thursday, March 16 @
CANE CREEK WATER & SEWER DISTRICT – no
business
CLOSED SESSION – none
ADJOURN
Commissioner McGrady made the motion to adjourn the
meeting. All voted in favor and the
motion carried.
Attest:
Elizabeth W. Corn, Clerk
to the Board William L.
Moyer, Chairman