MINUTES
STATE
OF
The Henderson County
Board of Commissioners met for a regularly scheduled meeting at
Those present were: Chairman Bill Moyer, Commissioner
Also present were:
Planning Director Anthony Starr, Fire Marshal Rocky Hyder, Finance Director J.
Carey McLelland, Deputy Clerk to the Board Terry Wilson, Research/Budget
Analyst Amy Brantley, Code Enforcement Services Director Toby Linville,
Engineering and Facility Services Director Marcus Jones, Associate County
Attorney Sarah Zambon, Internal Auditor Darlene Burgess, and Communications
Officer Pam Brice.
Absent was Commissioner
Charlie Messer.
CALL TO ORDER/WELCOME
Chairman Moyer called
the meeting to order and welcomed all in attendance.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Commissioner McGrady led
the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag.
INVOCATION
Steve Wyatt gave the
invocation.
INFORMAL PUBLIC COMMENTS
DISCUSSION/ADJUSTMENT OF AGENDA
There were none.
Commissioner Williams made the motion to approve the agenda
as presented. All voted in favor and the
motion carried.
CHAIRMAN ANNOUNCEMENT – Commissioner Messer’s absence
Chairman Moyer explained
that Commissioner Messer is absent because his daughter is in the hospital
giving birth to a child. He was hopeful
to be here but he may be there for awhile.
CONSENT AGENDA
Chairman Moyer asked
that the September 4 meeting minutes be pulled for some revision.
Commissioner McGrady moved the adoption of the consent
agenda minus the September 4 minutes. All voted in favor and the motion
carried.
Consent Agenda included
the following:
Minutes
Draft minutes were
presented of the following meeting(s) for the Board’s review and approval:
Tax Collector’s Report
Terry F. Lyda, Tax
Collector, had provided the Tax Collector’s Report dated September 21 for the
Board’s review and consent approval.
Financial Report/Cash Balance Report – August 2007
Included for the Board’s
review and approval were the August 2007 County Financial Report and Cash
Balance Report.
Non-Departmental costs
include insurance premiums paid to date for Property and Liability insurance
coverage and Worker’s Compensation costs.
These costs will be allocated out to all departments on a pro rata basis
during the fiscal year.
The YTD deficit in the
CDBG Scattered Site Housing Program Fund and the Public Transit Fund is
temporary due to timing differences in the expenditure of funds and the
subsequent requisition and receipt of Federal and State grant funds. The CDBG Program should be closed out within
the next 30 days.
The YTD deficit in the
Mills River Elementary School and Hillandale Elementary School Projects include
architectural fees and construction project services that have been paid on the
projects to date and will be reimbursed from new school financing debt issued
in FY2008. The County adopted a reimbursement resolution in the prior fiscal
year to allow reimbursement from future financing proceeds for these two
projects.
Staff requested that the Board consider approving the County’s August 2007
Financial Reports as presented.
The suggested motion: I move that the Board of Commissioners
approve the August 2007
Henderson County Public Schools Financial Reports – August
2007
Included in the agenda
packet was the Henderson County Public Schools August 2007 Financial Reports
for the Board’s information and consent approval.
Included in the agenda
packet was the EMS Accounts Receivable Report as information for the
Board. An aging analysis of accounts
receivable and total revenues received to date for the current fiscal year has
been included in the report.
The billing process for
Staff requested that the
Board consider approving the EMS Accounts Receivable Report as presented.
The suggested motion: I move the Board of Commissioners approve
the
Ended
NCGS 122C-117© requires
the staff of the local area mental health authority to provide the County
Finance Officer with the quarterly Fiscal Monitoring Report (FMR) within 30
days of the end of the quarter. The County Finance Officer is then required to
provide the FMR to the Board of Commissioners at the next regularly scheduled
meeting of the board. The FMR (included in the agenda packet) for Western
Highlands Area Authority was received by the County Finance Officer on
Staff requested that the
Board consider approving the Fiscal Monitoring Report of Western Highlands Area
Authority for the period ended
The suggested motion: I move that the Board of Commissioners
approve the
NOMINATIONS
Notification of Vacancies
The Board was notified
of the following vacancies which will appear for nominations on the next
agenda:
1.
Animal
Services Committee – 1 vac.
2.
Juvenile
Crime Prevention Council – 1 vac.
Nominations
Chairman Moyer reminded
the Board of the following vacancies and opened the floor to nominations:
1.
Apple Country Greenway
Commission – 2 vac.
Currently serving and
willing to be reappointed are: Dixie Gibbs Dellinger to position #1 and Colette
Summitt to position #2. Commissioner McGrady nominated both for
reappointment.
Chairman Moyer made the motion to accept both by
acclamation. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
2.
Child Fatality
Prevention Team – 1 vac.
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
3.
Community Child
Protection Team (CCPT) – 5 vac.
Commissioner McGrady had
spoken to the current Chair who doesn’t wish to be reappointed. She is working
on finding a replacement for herself and recruiting a Chair. Commissioner McGrady nominated Paula Delorenzo
for reappointment to position #4 and Robert Danos for reappointment to position
#5 and upon the recommendation of the Sheriff appointment of Charles McDonald
to position #6 which is a Law Enforcement Position. Chairman Moyer made the motion to accept Delorenzo, Danos, and McDonald
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.
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
6.
Hospital Corporation
Board of Directors – 1 vac.
During the September 19
Board Meetings we had two nominations: Fielding Lucas and Jack Swanson.
Chairman Moyer nominated Sherry Brewer.
Chairman Moyer asked the Clerk to poll the Board.
The Clerk to the Board
polled the Board and the votes were as follows:
Commissioner Chuck McGrady – Sherry Brewer
Commissioner Mark Williams – Fielding Lucas
Chairman Bill Moyer – Sherry Brewer
Commissioner Larry Young – Fielding Lucas
The vote was two and
two. The vote was rolled to the next meeting, hoping to have a full Board at
that meeting.
7.
Juvenile Crime
Prevention Council – 6 vac.
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
8.
Nursing/Adult Care Home
Community Advisory Committee – 1 vac.
Commissioner McGrady
nominated Nuala Fay for reappointment to position #8. Chairman Moyer made the motion to accept Ms.Fay by acclamation. All
voted in favor and the motion carried.
9.
Planning for Older
Adults Block Grant Advisory Committee – 2 vac.
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
10.
Senior Volunteer
Services Advisory Council – 2 vac.
There were no nominations
at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
11.
Solid Waste Advisory
Committee – 1 vac.
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
CODE ENFORCEMENT PERFORMANCE REPORT
Steve Wyatt reminded the
Board that it had been about a year since the Nuisance Ordinance came into
“full effect”. We started with an educational period and then we went live
about this time last year. Staff thought
it would be useful for the Board and the public to see how we’ve done in the
first 12 months of this enforcement period. Toby Linville is responsible for
the day to day operations and looking over his shoulder (at the
Darlene Burgess stated
that the
Darlene Burgess
explained that the scope of the audit was limited to an assessment of the
Department’s reported performance with regard to the handling of nuisance
complaints from
Ms. Burgess was
impressed by the electronic records system the department uses. She stated that
they strive to investigate a complaint within a week. If it is a health
violation, they investigate that same day. They try to get voluntary compliance
from the property owner. If they can’t they must go through the court system. Ms.
Burgess stated that for the month of August 2007 they addressed 47 complaints.
In July 2007 they addressed an average of 21 complaints. The reason they were
able to up their performance was a simple staff change.
Since the ordinance took
effect there has been 384 complaints received. Seventy-two percent of these
have been resolved meaning that the department has investigated the complaint
and have brought the property into compliance. Two percent have been referred
to the proper authorities. Sometimes they encounter a problem that is outside
their realm of authority and they have to forward to other agencies who have
authority over it, like the health department or DEHNR. One percent are
inactive such as a vehicle under restoration. Twenty-five percent (95
complaints) are still in different stages of resolution. Of the 95 pending
complaints there are fourty-one percent of them that have been issued notices
of violation. In twenty percent of them the department is working with the
owner on voluntary compliance, sixty percent are in the court system, three
percent have been forwarded to the appropriate authorities and twenty percent
have had site visits conducted but no formal action yet (in many cases,
officers are trying to locate the owner of the property).
Commissioner Williams
raised the question of cost and hardship, if an owner is economically unable to
take care of the problem how are we handling those cases. Mr. Linville stated that there are lots of
social groups, churches, some local non-profit housing agencies that can help
them. Those that are truly in need can find help fairly easy. Following some
discussion on this issue, it was recommended that staff create a list of
hardship cases if help cannot be found for them.
Toby Linville, Code
Enforcement Services Director, then distributed a hand-out and updated the
Board on some cases, showing before and after pictures of some successes. Mr. Linville stated that since
Commissioner McGrady
asked if there were any particular impediments in regards to the ordinance
itself. Mr. Linville stated that the blanket exemptions for businesses and for
farms lets some things ride that would probably be considered a nuisance if it
were in a residentially zoned area. He stated that they run into some sites
where the owner has a business or has a farm or has enough land to constitute a
farm and staff can’t touch them. Usually
there are things there that aren’t related to the business or the farm but the
ordinance exempts them totally. Mr. Linville stated that typically they run
into mechanics or garages that have junked vehicles and parts lying around that
make it look like a nuisance even though they are supplies or parts of that
business.
Steve Wyatt stated that
he hoped the Board found this useful. There will be an occasional report on
this because it is something of interest. He asked that if the Board thought of
other things they would like to get similar reports on, to just let him know.
COST OF COMMUNITY SERVICES STUDY UPDATE
Anthony Starr reminded
the Board that the 2007 Strategic Plan outlined the creation of a Cost of
Community Services Study as a goal of the Board. What the study will encompass
will be to look at where we are spending our dollars in terms of how it relates
to the various land use categories, residential, commercial, industrial,
agriculture, etc. and will give us a snapshot in terms of how development
impacts our budget in a general sense. Some use categories pay for themselves.
Typically industrial uses pay more in taxes than it costs the county in terms
of services provided. Residential is usually the opposite. It usually costs
local governments more money to provide service to a residence than they get
back in tax revenue. He stated that we can make more informed decisions about
how development impacts
Mr. Starr stated that we
will contract with Dr. Mitch Wrencow, a professor at the Department of
Agriculture and Resource Economics a NC State University, and he does these
studies on a frequent basis. He has done
these studies for Chatham, Wake,
Chairman Moyer stated
that one thing that Mr. Starr is going to try to do is take the methodology and
watch how this is being put together and hopefully understand the methodology
enough so that he can apply it to questions we have and build on it and make it
more sophisticated as time goes on.
2007 STRATEGIC PLAN & CAPITAL PROJECTS
UPDATE
Selena Coffey gave the
Board a quarterly update. They received the Strategic Plan and CIP updates
monthly. She touched on a few things of note:
·
Staff
has begun some initial meetings with the Board of Education regarding
developing
funding formulas and looking at how we fund the public school
system
in the future. Those meetings will continue.
·
The
Land Development Code (LDC) has been adopted and is now being
Enforced
by our Code Enforcement Department.
·
The
Board was just updated on the Costs of Community Services Study and
Staff
will begin that process.
·
Staff
will be conducting the final of the six input meetings tomorrow and a
formal
report will be presented to Board in December on that process and where
to
go from here.
·
Staff
is looking at promoting a diverse range of home ownership and rental
opportunities,
through the enforcement of a minimum housing code. Staff is
looking
at the draft of that ordinance as well.
·
Animal
Control Services – one objective is to develop and implement a spay/neuter
program.
The Animal Services Advisory Committee met last week and will meet
again
this week to further discuss spay/neuter and come up with some options.
She
expects to see a program that will have some outreach and educational compo-
nents
to it as well as strengthening our ordinance to address the issues.
The
second objective is the development of a formal volunteer program. Staff hopes
to
begin looking at the volunteer program, policies, and guidelines after we get
through
the spay/neuter program.
Ms. Coffey stated that
the Strategic Plan actually covers from 2007 – 2011. Sometimes folks get the
fiscal year confused but a fiscal year is July 1 through June 30 of the next
year. She stated that in regards to the
spay/neuter program we’re looking at this past July 1 to June 30 of this upcoming
calendar year. So we’re looking at going into half of the calendar year. She
stated that we hope to have both the spay/neuter program developed and ready to
implement as well as the volunteer program ready no later than the end of June
2008.
·
Sedimentation
and Erosion Control Enforcement began today (October 1).
Natalie
Berry has been busy today.
Selena Coffey stated
that these are the big issues she wanted to cover with the Board as far as the
Strategic Plan.
Ms. Coffey quickly
reviewed the CIP projects, stating that the Historic Courthouse Rehab. is
coming along. Gary Tweed and Ms. Coffey met today with Architect Alan Antoine
on landscaping issues as well as audio-visual issues. She saw the building today. Sheetrock is
being put up as we speak and they’re working on the electrical. That project is
moving along well. The building at the
Etowah Branch Library is in the dry now. We are on schedule there. Finally Edneyville Park Phase I – staff has
had a number of meetings with the Community Club in Edneyville and are working
on determining what to do with the septic sewer to make the project go forth.
Steve Wyatt expanded on
the Edneyville Project, stating that they have been working very closely with
the community group and working within budget looking at the options. Bid documents are being drafted to go to the
concept of an open air type gymnasium with a community building and parking and
then there would be some outdoor amenities, walking trails, etc. Staff is in the process of drafting up the bid
documents. Marcus Jones stated that the
timeframe is January 1 to go to bid.
Chairman Moyer stated
that the folks in that community were hopeful of getting a lot more for the $1
million than $1 million is able to produce.
Together they have finally come to the realization and agreement as to
what can be done for the money that is available. The PARTF grant monies need to be used. They will continue to work on raising money.
There will be continuing discussions.
Commissioner Young
raised a question regarding the bidding of the
Chairman Moyer stated
that they (the School Board) are looking at that. Steve Wyatt stated that the
School Board voted to accept the apparent low bid and also prioritized
alternates.
Commissioner McGrady
mentioned Strategy 3.5: Address the needs of children within the community.
A. Coordinate children
and family services via support for the United Agenda for Children. He noted
that the project is on the calendar for October 20. Various departments and agencies seem to be
fully engaged. Public officials are asked if they want to participate in any
fashion but in a neutral fashion, not as full participants, more as
observers. He stated that there have
been some advertisements in the newspaper regarding this. As best he can tell,
three weeks from now that project will move forward.
LAND TRANSFER TAX REFERENDUM UPDATE
Chairman Moyer stated
that it is hard to believe we are in October already and the referendum will
be November 6. A lot is going on. Mr.
Moyer, two realtors, Ervin Bazzle, Ron Stephens, and Steve Dozier were on the radio
this morning for an hour. They got 3-4
questions with respect to issues on people’s mind regarding the land transfer
tax (LTT). Commissioner Young has spoken
to the Board of Realtors. Mr. Moyer – “We will be speaking to any groups that
we can help get the message out, there are a lot of misconceptions there, we’ll
try to at least give the people the facts so they can make an educated decision
so they know what they’re voting on when the time comes.” Staff has prepared a fact sheet and a brochure.
There was nothing
further.
Steve Wyatt reminded the
Board of the formation and start up of a public defenders office here in this
judicial district that has been approved and funded by the General
Assembly. He thinks they want to begin
that about January. That will require that the county provide office space for
that. He also referred to a letter that
the Board had received from the District Attorney regarding work space needs in
that department. Staff will be working
with stakeholders to flesh out what the options are and bring those options to
the Commissioners as soon as possible in anticipation of the startup. Mr. Wyatt stated that as Russell Burrell has
explained to him, the public defender’s office space and the district attorney’s
office space have to be essentially equivalent.
The public defender is to be appointed within the next few weeks.
Chairman Moyer took this
time to comment on the following:
NCDOT is going to terminate funding
for the “
CLOSED SESSION
Commissioner McGrady made the motion for the Board to go
into closed session as allowed pursuant to NCGS 143-318.11 for the following
reason(s):
1.(a)(4) To discuss matters relating to the location or
expansion of industries or
other
business in the area served by the public body.
All voted in favor and the motion carried.
PUBLIC HEARING – 2005 Community Development
Block Grant (CDBG) Close-out
Commissioner McGrady made the motion for the Board to go
into public hearing. All voted in favor
and the motion carried.
Anthony Starr informed
the Board that we’ve just completed the 2005 Community Development Block Grant
project. We rehabbed five homes in
Karen Kiehna, Housing
Senior Planner with Land-of-Sky Regional Council, explained that the timeline
was June 2005 through October 2007. The total amount of grant funds expended
were $419, 916.35. Those are real dollars. There were two funding sources in
this project: North Carolina Department of Commerce Division of Community
Assistance and some USDA dollars that were procured two years ago.
Ms. Kiehna said there
were three primary areas of activities:
1.
Clearance,
simply removing any dilapidated blighted housing units - $7,044.00.
2.
Relocation,
replacement of the new units on those same sites (modular on frame)
-$200,816.35.
3.
Rehabilitation
- $168,616.00.
4.
Planning
- $3,500.00.
5.
Administration
- $40,000.00.
She stated that under
rehabilitation there were some specific things they tried to hit very hard such
as abatement of any lead or asbestos, upgrading of the entire electrical
systems with current code, bringing the plumbing up to current code, repairing
all interior walls and ceilings, rebuilding bathroom systems and kitchen
systems, bringing the insulation in the attic up to the current code of R-38,
bringing the floor and crawl space insulation up to R-19 and installing a vapor
barrier and then any reparging and repainting, repairs around the foundation
walls and piers, repairing front porch ceilings and making the houses
accessible for independent living. Mrs.
Kiehna explained that in this case all the projects were either for elderly
citizens or elderly and disabled or disabled citizens.
House #1 Ms.
Kiehna showed a picture of the first housing unit stating that this elderly
lady was also disabled and the rehabilitation really made the house accessible
for her and her caretaker. Roof leaks were eliminated and the house was made
sound so she is safe and sound for the next several years.
House #2 This
unit was for another elderly woman in Gerton.
Her husband had built this house for her. She has some brain damage and
she now knows that she is safe and her grandchildren can come visit. Before the
side porch area was open and any child could have fallen off the side deck and
now everything is safe about her house again. Her roof leaked significantly and
that has been resolved with a new roof.
House #3 This
unit was a multi-generational house from grandchildren to grandfather all
living in this house. It was in
desperate need of multiple areas of repairs.
He is disabled, had started working on his own chimney. He was injured
and was unable to finish the work but he showed the contractors how to complete
good sound stonework. It was a great
opportunity for him to participate in the rehabilitation of his house by
helping them learn how to do what was his master craft.
House #4 This
unit was a replacement. An elderly lady
lives here. The floors were actually
falling through on this house. The house
was completely removed and replaced with a modular 2-bedroom.
House #5 This
unit was also a replacement and the floors had completely fallen through. The
carpeting had fallen through and the house was in a total state of disrepair.
There was no way to have gotten your dollar value if it had been renovated.
Again it was replaced with a full modular. She is in her early nineties so
rehab. installed handicapped ramps as well as in the master bathroom, it is
handicap accessible.
Ms. Kiehna stated that
the outcome was three owner occupied housing units that have been
rehabilitated, two are elderly, one is disabled. Two blighted housing units were cleared with
the relocation of two modular units, both for elderly. Ms. Kiehna asked what is
next for
Commissioner Young
mentioned the Home Builders Association to Ms. Kiehna. She was not familiar
with them working on elderly and disabled person’s homes. They are going to do about a 2 –week deal where
they furnish all the material and all the labor. They came before the Commissioners to get an
exemption so that they can haul building materials to the landfill without
charge. You told Ms. Kiehna that she
might want to call them and see if they need any names that she might furnish
for anybody that might need some repairs done to their house for the winter.
That’s what they do is try to get these ready for the winter, people who need
roofs or whatever.
Ms. Kiehna stated
that they have approximately 40 families that they are doing internal
assessments on so that they can get the nine for the Housing Finance Agency.
She stated that they have a very current list of families.
Public Input
There was none.
Commissioner McGrady
made the motion for the Board to go out of public hearing. All voted in favor and
the motion carried.
IMPORTANT DATES
Farm/City Day
Commissioner Williams
mentioned that this Saturday, October 6th, beginning at
Annual Volunteer Appreciation Banquet
Commissioner Young
reminded everyone that on October 23 would be the volunteer appreciation
banquet at the
CANE CREEK WATER & SEWER DISTRICT
No business.
ADJOURN
Commissioner McGrady made the motion to adjourn the meeting
at
Attest:
Elizabeth W. Corn, Clerk to the Board William L. Moyer, Chairman