STATE
OF
The Henderson County
Board of Commissioners met for a regularly scheduled meeting at 9:00 a.m. in
the Commissioners' Meeting Room of the Historic Courthouse on
Those present were: Chairman Bill Moyer, Vice-Chairman
Also present were: Finance
Director Carey McLelland, Tax Assessor Stan Duncan, Planning Director Anthony
Starr, Senior Planner Autumn Radcliff, Social Services Director Liston Smith, Environmental
Health Supervisor Seth Swift, Parks and Recreation Director Tim Hopkin, Engineer
Marcus Jones, Associate County Attorney Sarah Zambon, Deputy Clerk to the Board
Terry Wilson, Research/Budget Analyst Amy Brantley and Public Information
Officer Pam Brice.
CALL TO ORDER/WELCOME
Chairman Moyer called
the meeting to order and welcomed all in attendance.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Commissioner Mark
Williams led the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag.
INVOCATION
County Manager
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Chairman Moyer
recognized the birthdays of Commissioner
Chairman Moyer noted
that on the previous Saturday Commissioner of Agriculture Steve Troxler
attended a program by Commissioner Mark Williams and Bob Danos featuring local
growers, producers, and packers. This
was not a political gathering but a gathering with respect to the agricultural
industry of
On March 12, Governor Perdue
was in the Western part of the state and had a meeting with the chairs of the
various counties along with industry people.
The purpose of the session was to talk about how to generate jobs in the
present economy. Governor Perdue
basically said that she thought she was looking at a $2.2 million budget
deficit for this year; a million of which she hopes will be taken up by the
economic stimulus program which remains to be seen. There would need to be cuts in many other
areas to make up the difference. Her
budget for next year features new spending mainly in the area of education and
job growth but she also predicts a deficit next year of about $3 million. Ms. Purdue has directed departments to look
at possible decreases of 9 – 10% next year with the hopeful exclusion of
economic development and education.
Often these decreases are passed on to the counties and we are either
asked to make up the services that were provided or somehow make up the
cost. A number of the chairs attempted
to discuss issues of concern such as taking the education ADM and lottery
monies, issues of mental health and they were put aside as not the purpose of
the meeting. It continues to be a
concern of the chairs that they have heard no information in regards to money
being put into mental health.
Chairman Moyer complimented
the Board of Education as Governor Purdue had received a letter from the Board
of Education opposing the taking of the lottery & ADM money and the
implications that would have for education.
At this time no clarification has been received as to what the long term
answer will be in that area.
INFORMAL PUBLIC COMMENT
Chairman Moyer asked
each person who had signed up for informal public comments to please limit
their comments to about 3 minutes each.
1.
Bill
McKibbin – (Hand’s On! A Child’s
Gallery) Mr. McKibbin spoke in regards to a request from Hand’s On for funds
from the County. He realizes that there
is a budget short fall. Hand’s On is
located on
2.
Elisha
Freeman – (
3.
David
Adams – (County Employee Salary Freeze) Mr. Adams is the chair of the
Department of Social Services Board. The
Board met and had their regular monthly meeting the day before and they were
particularly concerned with the recent vote by the Board of Commissioners to
freeze all adjustments to current year salaries effective March 15, 2009. This issue affects fifty-six (56) of one
hundred and eighty-nine (189) Department of Social Services employees. Issues were considered such as management
consistency, supervisory complexities, and employee moral, both for not only
the fifty-six (56) employees denied their approval and anticipated salary
adjustments but also for the awkward feelings of the one hundred and
thirty-three (133) employees who received their pay increases while their
co-workers did not. The Social Services
Board recognizes the financial constraints faced by the county and understands
why freezing salaries for all county employees may be necessary. However to implement a partial year freeze
creates hardships not only on a select group of employees but can cause
perplexing management issues. Applying
personnel policies on a twelve (12) month budget cycle treats and affects all
employees the same way. At the Social
Services board meeting a motion was made and passed, with Commissioner McGrady
abstaining, to request the Board of Commissioners to reconsider the decision
for a partial year freezing and implement the freeze affective July 1, 2009
rather than March 15, 2009. He thanked
the Board for any consideration they may give to the request.
Chairman Moyer stated
that he understood from Commissioner McGrady that this letter had been sent to
Mrs. Corn and she would share the letter with each Commissioner.
DISCUSSION/ADJUSTMENT OF AGENDA
There were no
adjustments to the agenda. Commissioner Williams
made the motion to approve the agenda as submitted. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
CONSENT AGENDA
Chairman Moyer requested
the addition of item M – Extension of appeal deadline for Quality Rubber
Manufacturing Company and Grace IV, SA. Commissioner McGrady made the motion to
adopt the consent agenda with the addition of item M. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
Consent Agenda consisted
of the following:
Minutes
Draft minutes were
presented for board review and approval of the following meetings:
February 18, 2009 Regularly scheduled meeting
February 18, 2009 Budget workshop
Tax Collector’s Report
Deputy Tax Collector
Carol McCraw had presented the Tax Collector’s Report to the Commissioners
dated March 6, 2009 for information only. No action was required.
Tax Releases
A list of 54 tax release
requests was presented for the Board of Commissioners review and approval.
Suggested Motion:
I move the Board
approves the Tax Release Report as presented.
Tax Refund
A list of 3 refund
requests was presented for the Board of Commissioners review and approval.
Suggested Motion:
I move the Board
approves the Tax Refund Report as presented.
Noise Ordinance Update
Lieutenant Ben McKay
provided an update to the Board regarding the status of the Noise Ordinance for
2008.
Barking
Dogs Other Noise Citations
1st quarter 132 144 3
2nd quarter 176 251 22
3rd quarter 133 301 15
4th quarter 114 140 11
Total 555 836 51
HAC Contract Amendment
Suggested Motion:
I move the approval of the amendment to
the 2007 HOME funds contract with the Housing Assistance Corporation to allow
them to reincorporate repayments into future HOME funds activities.
CDBG Small Business and
Entrepreneurial Assistance, Funding Approval, Resolutions, Policies, and
related Grant Acceptance for Warm Company Project
Planning Staff and the Partnership for Economic
Development proposes the acceptance of grant award for a Small Business &
Entrepreneurial Assistance (SBEA) grant from the N.C. Division of Community
Assistance in the amount of $200,000.00. The Warm Company located on
No County funds are required. The project is 100% CDBG funded.
The Planning Staff and Partnership for Economic
Development request approval of the provided resolutions, policies and
documents.
Suggested Motion:
I move that the Board approve the acceptance of the $200,000
Division of Community Assistance Small Business & Entrepreneurial
Assistance grant for the Warm Company Project on Sunset Hill Road and that the
Board approve all attached documents. I further move that the Board authorize
the Chairman and Planning Director to sign and submit required documents for
proper grant administration.
Water Line Extensions – Pained Woods/Old
The City of
Details for each request were provided and both
requests are consistent with the 2020 Comprehensive Plan.
Action
by the Board of Commissioners is needed to either grant or deny these requests.
Suggested
Motion:
I move that the Board approve the Painted Woods & Old
Surplus Equipment
A resolution (Exhibit A) was provided for the
Board’s consideration declaring the provided list (Exhibit B) of Equipment no
longer used by the County as surplus property. The resolution also
authorizes staff to advertise the surplus equipment for sale by electronic
public auction at www.govdeals.com
after the required advertisement of the sale.
Suggested Motion:
I move
that the Board approve the resolution provided declaring the list of equipment presented
as surplus and authorizes Staff to sell the surplus equipment via electronic
public auction using GovDeals auction services.
Exhibit A
RESOLUTION
DECLARING PERSONAL PROPERTY AS SURPLUS
AND
AUTHORIZING THE
BY
ELECTRONIC PUBLIC AUCTION
WHEREAS,
WHEREAS, the Henderson County Board of Commissioners is desirous of
declaring the equipment as surplus and selling at a public auction as
authorized by NCGS 160A-270; and
WHEREAS, it is the intent of the County to sell said surplus equipment
by electronic public auction at www.govdeals.com.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, by the Henderson County Board of
Commissioners as follows:
1.
The equipment itemized on the attached Exhibit B is hereby
declared to be surplus property.
2.
The Finance Director is hereby authorized to sell by electronic
auction at www.govdeals.com the
surplus property described above to the highest bidder.
3.
All surplus property will be sold “as is”, all sales final, cash,
certified check or money order only.
4.
A notice summarizing this Resolution and the sale of the surplus
property by electronic public auction shall be advertised by the Finance Director
on the County’s website at www.hendersoncountync.org
at least ten (10) days prior to the public auction.
THIS the 18th day March, 2009
Exhibit
B
List
of Surplus Equipment
Year
/ Make /
Model
SN
#
(A.R.E)
Truck Bed
Cap
00-N52933 None
Plat
Storage Cabinets (3) w/400 Storage Envelopes 74,
75, 1045
Goodyear
Tractor Tires (2), rear, wheel size 14.9-24 N/A
Firestone
Tractor Tires (2), rear, wheel size 12.4-24 N/A
Firestone Tractor Tires
(2), front, wheel size 7-14
Petition for Addition to
Petition for Portion of
It has been the practice of this Board to accept
road petitions and forward them to NC Department of Transportation for their
review. It has also been the practice of
the Board not to ask NCDOT to change the priority for roads on the paving
priority list.
Suggested Motion:
I move that the Board
approve the petitions and forward them to NCDOT for action.
Western
Highlands Area Authority – Quarterly Fiscal Monitoring Report (FMR) for the
period ended December 31, 2008
G.S. 122C-117(c) 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 provided FMR for Western Highlands Area Authority was received by
the County Finance Officer on March 5, 2009
Suggested Motion:
I move that the Board of Commissioners approve the
Resolution
of Support for the
The Board of Commissioners was requested to
adopt a resolution in support of the Blue Ridge Book & Arthur
Showcase. The inaugural Showcase, in
celebration of authorship, creative writing and the joy of reading is scheduled
for Saturday, May 9, 2009 in the new Technical Education and
Suggested Motion:
I move the Board of Commissioners adopts the
Resolution of Support for the
Extension
of appeal deadline, Quality Rubber Mfg Co. and Grace IV, SA
Grace IC, SA, on behalf of itself, Quality
Rubber Mfg. Co., Inc., Landforce, LLC, Highflight Management, LLC and ChW
Enterprises, LLC seeks an individual extension of the listing period for
property taxes until 15 April 2009. A
correspondence between the applicants’ attorney and the Assessor’s office was
provided.
Under N.C. Gen. Stat. §105-307(c), the Board may
extend an individual listing time until 15 April of each year if the Board
finds “good cause shown”.
Suggested Motion:
I move that the listing period for the applicants in this
agenda item be extended to April 15, under the terms of Section 05-307 of the
General Statutes.
NOMINATIONS
Notification of Vacancies
The Board was notified
of the following vacancies which will appear on the next agenda for
nominations:
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.
CJPP (Criminal Justice
Partnership Program) – 2 vac.
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
3.
Equalization and Review,
Commissioner McGrady
nominated John Bell for reappointment to position #7. Commissioner Young nominated Tommy Thompson
for appointment to position #3.
Commissioner Williams nominated Don Dalton for appointment to position
#5. It was the consensus of the Board to
roll the election of a Chairperson until all people on the Board have been
considered. Chairman Moyer made the motion to accept the reappointment of John Bell to position #7, the appointment of
Tommy Thompson to position #3, and the appointment of Don Dalton to position #5
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.
Industrial Facilities
and Pollution Control Financing Authority – 1 vac.
Commissioner Young
nominated Ronnie Edwards for appointment to position #1. Chairman
Moyer made the motion to accept the appointment of Ronnie Edwards to position
#1 by acclamation. All voted in favor
and the motion carried.
6.
Juvenile Crime
Prevention Council – 9 vac.
Commissioner Messer
recognized that Erik Summey works for the Fletcher Police Department as a
detective and could possibly fill position #2, Chief of Police in the County as
a designee. He further felt that the two
other applicants on file may be considered for the two at large positions 24
& 25. There were no nominations at
this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
7.
Nursing/Adult Care Home
Community Advisory Committee -– 1 vac.
Chairman Moyer noted
that Chair Nuala Fay recommends the appointment of Lesley Ann Jones for
position #22. Commissioner McGrady made the motion to appoint Lesley Ann Jones to
position #22. All voted in favor and the
motion carried.
8.
Senior Volunteer
Services Advisory Council – 1 vac.
There were no
nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.
9.
Solid Waste Advisory Committee
(SWAC) – 5 vac.
Chairman Moyer stated
that a response had been received from Katie Breckheimer and that she was
willing to serve again if reappointed.
Commissioner nominated for reappointment Stan Kumor to position #3,
Katie Breckheimer to position #4, Joseph McGuth to position #7 and Terry Lee
Maybin to position #8. Chairman Moyer made the motion that the
reappointments be accepted by acclamation.
All voted in favor and the motion carried.
Chairman Moyer noted
that a citizen had asked when the County would have another toxic chemical and
electronics collection.
Engineer Marcus Jones
stated that he had been notified by phone the previous day that the County had
been awarded a $25,000 grant to purchase a permanent HHW building. They anticipate getting this facility up and
running and hold the first regularly scheduled HHW event soon.
Alan House, Kris Hose, of
Kris Hose referred to Tab 1, Section A (Joint
Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization) of the
Chairman Moyer noted that this was not as a
result of any problems with the Joint Commission.
Mr. Hose then referred to Tab 1, Section E
(Patient Satisfaction Scores by Year) and a graph was shown which detailed the
improvement in patient satisfaction over the last three years in five areas;
ambulatory surgery, emergency department, inpatient, outpatient and home
health.
Tab 2, Section A (Henderson County Hospital
Corporation 2009 System Goals) These goals have been developed from a thorough
review of the proposed Strategic Plan 2009-2012 for HCHC. The System Goals also include specific
measures that will facilitate the Board’s oversight on the execution of key
Strategic Initiatives in the Strategic Plan.
Tab 2, Section B (Healthcare Needs) From the
analysis completed during the development of the Strategic Plan the following
five (5) healthcare priorities were identified for 2009: Mental Health, Primary Care Physicians,
Medical Specialties, Uncompensated Care and Information Technology.
Tab 2, Section C (Physician Integration) Pardee
will continue to dedicate resources to insure the community has the
appropriated number of providers to meet our healthcare need.
Chairman Moyer stated that in respect to the
Information Technology and in light of what is being put out on the stimulus
program we have to move forward with this as it can help with errors and
quality of care. Chairman Moyer stated that in the past there
were issues of individuals being brought to the hospital and dropped off
without any type of protection (i.e., sheriff or hospital staff) and this again
seems to be a problem.
Tab 3, Section A - Pardee serves Henderson
County Community that consists of:
· Proportionately more
Medicare, Medicaid and Uninsured patients than the state average:
77.1% - for Pardee
67.4% - for
· Proportionately more Bad
Debt than the state average:
7.3% - for Pardee
3.9% - for
Section B – Community Benefits and
Accountability
Hospitals, their associates and their physicians
positively affect almost every aspect of community life. Hospitals provide the funding for nursing
educators which enables people in our community to step toward careers in
healthcare. Hospitals loan executives
and staff to lead worthwhile community causes such as
Alan House discussed the financials and pointed
out that in spite of all the difficulties in 2008 it was a very positive
year.
Mr. House was questioned if there were any
capital improvements near term in which the hospital would have to borrow. He responded that they have no plans of any
new borrowing. The hospital has kept
their options open on retroactive potential financing of the approximate $3
million worth of building with the Commissioners support if interest rates
would make this meaningful.
Mr. Hose explained that in their long term
strategic plan process issues were identified on the facility side that go out
in the next four or five years but nothing in the next three to five years that
would require outside funding.
PROPOSED INTAKE ON THE
Planning Director
Anthony Starr stated the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources
(DENR) Division of Water Quality (DWQ) is considering a new proposed surface water
intake for the City of Hendersonville on the French Broad River north of the
confluence of Mills River (refer to attachments 1). The proposed intake will allow the City to
continue to supply water to customers during drought conditions that might deplete
the amount of surface water available on
In addition to this
expansion, the DWQ has discovered an error with the existing Water Supply
Watershed boundary based on the location of the existing intakes. The boundaries are set by the DWQ. As a
result, the boundaries of our current WS-II watershed will need to be corrected. We are waiting on GIS layers to determine the
parcels that may be impacted by this correction. Staff anticipates that these corrections can
be adopted by the Board at the same time the expanded reclassification area for
the new proposed intake is adopted. Both
of these amendments require a public hearing by the Board of Commissioners upon
approval by the State.
The Environmental
Management Commission (EMS) approves any new intakes and
reclassifications. Once approved by the
EMC, the Rules Review Commission reviews the document. At that point, the State is complete and the
local jurisdictions have 270 days to adopt the watershed map and
regulations. It is uncertain what the
expected timeframe for adoption is at this point. The State requests that the Board provide a
resolution for support, opposition, or neutral stance for the State to proceed
to the Water Quality Committee. A
resolution for the Town of Mills River will also be needed before the State can
proceed with the request.
Staff is actively
working to contact the State in regards to the timeframe of adoption and obtain
additional information on the existing WS-II boundaries to be corrected.
If the Board supports the proposed intake on the
City of Hendersonville Utilities Director Lee
Smith stated the reason for the request is because it has been determined that
Mills River will not be an adequate supply under abnormal (drought) conditions
and an additional intake will be necessary in order for a supply to be built to
adequately supply Henderson County in the future. A letter received by the Board of
Commissioners from the Town of Mills River was discussed. Mr. Smith commented that the only property
owner between the confluents of the two rivers and the proposed intake was the
City of
Discussion followed.
RECREATION FEES
Assistant County Manager
Selena Coffey stated that several years prior the Board of Commissioners’
determined that there should be a policy regarding the assessment of recreation
fees.
Recreation Director Tim
Hopkin stated that staff had been asked to present information regarding how fees
are assessed to the various athletic programs managed by the County Recreation
Department, as well as those programs managed by other organizations.
Purpose – To evaluate
Board fee policies for facility use
Policy on Supplementing
Programs
§ BOC policy to subsidize
youth programs
§ Revenues / fees for
adult sports programs are assessed to assist with expenses for the programs
Programs managed by
Recreation
§ Youth Soccer (fall /
spring program)
§ Youth Basketball (winter
program)
§ Adult Softball (spring /
summer / fall program)
§ Senior Games (spring
program)
Programs not managed by
Recreation
§ Youth Baseball
§ Youth Softball
§ USTA Team Tennis
§ Soccer Association
§ WNC Lacrosse
§ Senior Men’ Softball
§ WNC BMX
Youth Baseball &
Youth Softball
§ Youth Baseball and Youth
Softball use the fields at Jackson Park and
§ Both organizations
collect their own fees and administer their own programs
§ Both organizations are
assessed a $10/player/season fee for field usage by the County
What’s included in the
fee?
§ Fields reserved for
exclusive use by Youth Baseball and Youth Softball for practices and games
§ Fields prepared and
maintained f or optimal play daily
§ Game cancellation phone
line provided
§ Lights provided for
night time practices and games
§ Assistance provided with
scheduling
§ Programs promoted by the
County via e-mail, website, mailers, etc.
Sr. Men’s Softball /
Team Tennis / Soccer Association / Lacrosse / Others
§ Fields and courts
reserved for exclusive use and guaranteed time slots
§ Fees charged for
reservations
§ County maintains and
provides equipment for fields and tennis courts (i.e. bases, tennis nets,
fences, lights, mowing, preparing and maintaining fields)
What are other
jurisdictions charging?
§ City of
§ Town of
Chairman Moyer stated
that there have been issues over the years and requested Commissioner Messer to
provide an overview followed by a presentation by the Youth Baseball League.
Commissioner Messer
stated that discussions had been held concerning youth league in the County and
he recommended that all involved with the league continue because with the
economic situation the County could not do so.
The Recreation Advisory Board had been involved and was aware of the
concerns of the league.
Mike Wood, VP for the
Henderson County Youth Baseball League provided an overview of the league’s
history and requested that the Board consider fully recognizing concession monies
made at Jackson Park field two (2) concessions stand in lei of payment for
Henderson County Parks & Recreation uses fees. In addition HC Youth Baseball League would be
recognized as part of the HC Parks & Recreation Department. Currently boys' baseball, girls' soccer, boys'
basketball, girls' basketball and mens’ softball are recognizably supported by
HC Parks & Recreation Department. HC
Parks & Recreation Department vision is to provide an environment for quality,
wholesome, leisure and recreation activities that will benefit
Chairman Moyer
questioned “If you get the concessions back at field two (2) will that enable
you to pay the fees and operate your league going forward?”
Mr. Wood responded that
it would.
Commissioner Messer
inquired that HC Youth Baseball League had the concessions up until 2006.
Mr. Wood responded
yes.
Commissioner Messer
stated that the revenues from the concession were somewhere between $8-10
thousand.
Mr. Wood responded that
this figure was correct. The HC Youth
Baseball League, prior to 2006, had an excess and have now gone into their
coffers.
Commissioner Messer was
in favor of allowing the HC Youth Baseball League to run field two (2)
concessions as an income measure to pay user fees for a one year trial
period.
County Manager
Mr. Wood responded that
if they received concessions from field two (2), they would run concessions and
add additional items for additional fund raising (i.e. chick filet, t-shirts,
etc). They have folks Monday through Friday from 5:00 on that can run the
concession stand and they are willing to take it over.
Chairman Moyer asked how
they would distribute the revenues.
Mr. Wood responded that
someone from their board would be over the concession area and they would take
the profit and invest it back into the Youth Baseball League and possibly even
consider lowering the costs to families.
County Manager Steve
Wyatt stated that the Youth Baseball League would basically be “leasing the
facility for that limited part of time” transferring the liability to them.
Chairman Moyer made the motion with respect to the Youth
Baseball League that for the period of the season, the County will turn over
concessions at field two (2) to the League and it will be their responsibility
to run, manage and carry the liability and further be responsible for paying
the fees associated with the field usage which are currently on record of $7,000
(or $10 per participant) for this year and that any additional profit monies
would be reinvested in the Youth Baseball League and/or the field as they
deemed appropriate to the benefit of the youth of the county. Chairman Moyer further motioned that an
agreement between the County and the Youth Baseball League be prepared
incorporating the terms discussed for execution by the parties. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
Commissioner McGrady made the motion that the Board waives
the 2008 fall season usage fee of $2990.00 billed to the Youth Baseball
League. All voted in favor and the
motion carried.
IDENTITY THEFT PROTECTION PROGRAM ORDINANCE
A copy of the ordinance is hereto attached and
incorporated as a part of the minutes.
The ordinance is a model ordinance proposed for local governments who
fall under the Red Flags Rule. It has been adapted for
Chairman Moyer made the motion that the Board adopts the Identity Theft
Protection ordinance as presented. All
voted in favor and the motion carried.
PUBLIC
HEARING – TO CONSIDER OFFIER OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INCENTIVES TO MORRIS
COMMUNICATIONS GROUP, LLC
Commissioner Messer made the motion for the Board to go into
public hearing with respect to economic Development incentives for Morris
Communications. All voted in favor and
the motion carried.
To be heard are public
comments on a proposal for the award of economic development incentives to
Morris Communications Group, LLC, for the location of a call center in
Henderson County, for the company’s Cable television operations. The proposed call center would bring 41-46
new jobs, with average annual wages of $29,180.
Proposed are an award of
incentives for three years, at $6,652.80 per year (total award $19,958.40). The award of incentives would likely be
contingent during the period of incentives on no sale of the operation of the
cable system by the recipient, and on the call center serving cable operations
in
At the conclusion of the
public hearing, the Board may choose to take action, delay action to a
subsequent meeting, or take no action.
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
Notice is hereby given pursuant to N.C. Gen.
Stat. §158-7.1 that the Henderson County Board of Commissioners (“the Board”)
will hold a public hearing on 18 March 2009 at 11:00 a.m., or as soon
thereafter as the Board can consider the matter, to consider the request of
Morris Communications Group, LLC (“the Company”), for economic development
incentives to assist in investment resulting in the location of a call and
customer service center in Henderson County, expanding its current operations
in the County, and the addition of new jobs.
The Company owns a cable television operation
serving areas of Western North Carolina, including most of
The Board will consider granting assistance
toward actual expenditures incurred in the Company’s plan to construct its
operation up to a maximum payment of Nineteen Thousand Nine Hundred Fifty-Eight
Dollars and Forty Cents ($19,958.40), to be paid over a period of three (3)
years. Each year’s incentive payment
would be no greater than Six Thousand Six Hundred Fifty-Two Dollars and Eight
Cents ($6,652.80).
If approved, the request would be funded through
the general property tax revenue. The hearing will be held in the Meeting Room
of the
President of the Partnership for Economic
Development Andrew Tate spoke on behalf of the project. He stated that the 41-46 jobs would be in
addition to the current 54 employees with Morris Communication. The taxable investment associated with the
project is $1.8 million which is primarily in facilities and upgrades to
accommodate an operations and call center.
Those operations and call center would employ a variety of different
positions including network operating, customer service dispatch, supervisory,
and sales positions with Morris Broadband.
This project is consistent with one of the primary target markets of the
Lockwood Greene economic development master plan identified with
Randy Hughes, General Manager of Morris
Communications thanked the Board for consideration of the incentive. Morris Communications looks forward to the
growth of the company and with the Board’s support of incentives it will be
easy to bring the jobs to
Commissioner Messer inquired the timeframe of the
project.
Mr. Hughes stated that the architect is already
on board and has started the design. He
anticipated having the call center up in place by August, 2009.
Commissioner Young questioned if this would be
strictly new jobs within
Mr. Hughes stated that they would try to fill
the positions locally and did not feel that they would have a problem doing so.
Customer Service Supervisor Maggie Blythe -
“just certainly want to let you know that that is indeed our intention. Certainly from our prior history with these
operations we felt very strongly that it was important to bring that call
center here to Henderson County…so I look forward to heading up the customer
service operations hopefully bringing some good, solid, convenient service to
our customers and getting through those issues that I know that you know that
have been issues in the past. That’s
certainly our goal and we look forward to doing that and certainly appreciate
the support that the county is considering giving us. If there are any questions specific
questions, I’ll try to answer those.
Chairman Moyer – “Well if either you are Randy…I
think you know…and this is certainly not anything with respect to Morris but
there have been questions and issues with respect to the handling of calls in
the past and the promptness etc. and I don’t really want to go back over that
but obviously the issues will be raised by the citizens of if we are going to
give incentives, what have we built into this to be sure that we do get to sees
improved service for our citizens. Do
you have any suggestions with respect to that?”
Maggie Blythe – “Of course under the new
legislation…recent legislation in the state we are operating under a state
franchise. Those do of course require
you to meet FCC standards. Now is there
anything the county can do…I guess certainly Morris does plan to be very
community oriented. I think that you will
find that they are more specifically involved in the community and much more
likely to listen to what customers are saying.
I guess I can tell you from your past experience with me, you know that
I try to meet customer demands. I’ve
always treated all of my government officials as my customers. I look forward to bringing that same level of
service to all of our customers. We have
spent many weeks now going through the call volumes and looking at what
staffing needs we would have to ensure that we can meet those FCC standards and
I guess I can give you my personal word that that is our goal, that I have put
together a plan that I think will enable us to do that and that I’m looking
forward to the day that we’re kind of like the Maytag repair man and we’re
sitting back wondering you know who we can call today to talk to. So…is there anything specific that you can
do…certainly I think open communications is the best thing. When you hear issues are going forward that
aren’t getting resolved…you know give us a call and let us know and we will make
every attempt we can to meet that as quickly as possible.”
Chairman Moyer – “It is a tricky area because as
the Board knows and you people certainly know we do not grant the franchise
anymore, Maggie’s one hundred percent right.
A lot of the complaints go directly to the state or to the FCC but on
the other hand we are granting the incentives and we are putting out the county
money to do that and how we bring those two things together is a tricky issue.”
Commissioner Chuck McGrady – “Well I found the
Times-News editorial this morning to be an interesting one; raising that
issue. I guess I’m a little bit
surprisingly averse to going there for two reasons. One, the incentive here is really rather
small. I mean we’re not paying a massive
amount, again it’s our funds but it’s not like (in size) some of the incentives
that we have elsewhere so it’s what do you get for a relatively small
investment. Then I think it sort of puts
us on a bed of a slippery slope…I mean I’m an environmental leader…if we were
to try to mix job incentives with service incentives with respect to this
company, why wouldn’t we mix job incentives with respect to environmental
improvements with respect to the next company.
I’m just concerned about getting into social policy through what is
strictly a jobs program. I guess I’m
glad we asked the question and I’m glad we got the response we and Maggie I
thoroughly enjoyed working with you for the short period of time and found you
personally very responsive and if our customers (one of which is me) gets that
level of service then we’ll be in a better place than we have been at some
points in the past. I’m hopeful that
having this call center right here as opposed to somewhere else is going to
help us be there. I mean you’re going to
be talking to people that actually know where Kanuga Road is as opposed to
talking to somebody that you’re trying to describe on a map where they
live. I’m hoping that just the geography
is going to work in our favor. I glad we had the discussion but I don’t want to
go any further other than the contingencies that Russ had appropriately pointed
out in the proposed motion.”
Chairman Moyer – “I guess I would like to go a
little further. I would like to see a
paragraph in there along the lines of what Maggie has said…that they are
committed to quality service, that they are going to work to improve the
service to the best of their ability, and that if there are issues that arise
that there will be communications between the Commissioners and the company to
resolve those issues in a constructive manner.”
Commissioner Chuck McGrady – “I think that is on
the record here but I don’t know that you know how we would resolve an
ambiguity between what one of our citizens think about service and the
incentive that we’ve got here…and I just think that…”
Chairman Moyer – “I certainly understand that
but I think it’s something that we can show in the agreement that we’ve
addressed the issue and we’re trying to do with it to the extent we can. I agree with you, we can’t go too far but I
think they’ve offered that and I think that would be a good thing for us to
have in the agreement with respect to granting incentives. How would you feel about that Maggie?”
Maggie Blythe – “I will let Randy, as the
General Manager, speak to that issue.”
Randy Hughes – “I don’t think I would have a
problem with it because we intend to provide an excellent service and meeting
all the FCC specifications. So…language
of that sort wouldn’t bother me at all.”
Chairman Moyer – “Alright…if it’s the Board’s
pleasure…let us write up (you would have to see the wording obviously and see
whether you’re okay with it)…other questions or comments from the Board.”
Commissioner Young – “I think that creating a
local…for three or four county or whatever…is going to increase service and
provide better service. I think you’re
going to be as Mr. McGrady said you’re going…the geography is just that much
better than calling
Commissioner Williams – “I think we have to be
cautious…I mean we don’t want to associate you with past problems…I mean you’ve
got an opportunity now. Our concern is
largely protecting citizens who feel like they’ve not got very good service in
the past and that’s the biggest concern I here publicly. We’re giving you that chance and we don’t
want to accuse you of bad service from the starting point. You’ve not had the opportunity to prove
yourself. We’re just letting you know
kind of what the expectations are of the community.”
Commissioner Messer – “I commend the
Chairman
Moyer made the motion that the Board offers the economic incentives to Morris
along the lines set forth in our resolution with the addition of a paragraph as
indicated before and that Mr. Hughes indicated subject to seeing the wording
would be acceptable to them and further authorize proceeding with preparation
agreement and entering into it on behalf of the County. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
Public Input
There was none.
Commissioner Messer made the motion for the Board to go out
of public hearing. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
PUBLIC HEARING – DEBT REFINANCING; SERIES 1999
Commissioner McGrady made the motion for the Board to go into
public hearing with respect to debt refinancing; Series 1999
A public hearing to hear
comments on the proposed financing documents is required by the State of
EXTRACTS FROM MINUTES OF BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
The Board
of Commissioners of the
Present: Chairman Bill Moyer, Vice-Chairman
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Absent: None
The Chairman announced that this was the hour,
day and place fixed for the public hearing for the purpose of considering
whether the Board of Commissioners for the County (the “Board”) should: approve a proposed installment financing
contract and certain related documents under which the County would obtain
financing pursuant Section 160A‑20 of the North Carolina General
Statutes, as amended, to provide for the refinancing of the acquisition,
construction, installation and equipping of the County detention facilities
located at 375 First Avenue, East in Hendersonville, North Carolina (the
“Detention Facilities”), which includes the refunding of the outstanding
$9,065,000 Certificates of Participation, Series 1999 (Henderson County
Project) Evidencing Proportionate Undivided Interests in Rights to Receive
Revenues Pursuant to an Installment Financing Contract with the County, as
described in the notice of public hearing that was published on March 6, 2009
in the Times-News and under which the County would secure the repayment
by it of moneys advanced pursuant to such installment financing contract by
granting a security interest in the Detention Facilities and certain related
property.
The Finance Director then described the
Detention Facilities and presented a draft of an Installment Financing Contract
between the County and Branch Banking and Trust Company, as well as certain
other related documents, including a draft of a Deed of Trust and Security
Agreement between the County and a deed of trust trustee. Copies of these and other related documents
have been on file with the Finance Director.
The Finance Director presented a refunding analysis that showed the
County realizing approximately $240,000 in net present value savings.
The Chairman then announced that the Board would
immediately hear anyone who might wish to be heard on such matters.
[Attached hereto is a summary of the comments of
anyone who appeared, either in person or by attorney, to be heard on such matters.] [The Clerk to the Board of Commissioners
announced that no written statement related to such matters had been received.]
Thereupon,
the Chairman asked for a motion to close the public hearing. Commissioner McGrady moved that the public
hearing be closed and the installment financing approved. The motion was adopted by the following vote:
AYES: 5
NAYS: 0
Public Input
There was none.
Commissioner McGrady made the motion that the Board approves
the installment re-financing of the Series 1999 Detention Center Certificates
of Participation (COPs) with Board action to approve the final financing
documents to be taken at the April 6, 2009 regularly scheduled meeting. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
Commissioner McGrady made the motion that the Board go out
of public hearing. All voted in favor
and the motion carried.
STAFF REPORTS
There was nothing
further at this time.
Steve Wyatt reminded the
Board that April 6th a third quarter comprehensive financial report
would be available for the Board. The
Board had received two days prior the latest sales tax information; December
proved to be an improvement in the receipts over November. We remain cautious however as one of the
issues is accuracy of the information we’re receiving from the state, as other
counties have voiced also.
IMPORTANT DATES
Chairman Moyer reminded
the public that on March 26, 2009 at 7:00 p.m., the Board of Commissioners will
be holding a special meeting, a workshop with no public input at that time, on
the Etowah / Horse Shoe Community Plan.
All citizens interested are welcome to attend to hear the
discussion. At some point in the future
there will be a meeting for public input / public comment before the
Board.
Commissioner McGrady
informed the Board that a function was being held this Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at
a local restaurant and each Commissioner had received an invitation. The invitation had the incorrect date of May instead
of March. This relates to youth housing
and unemployment. Please respond to Mary
Murray as soon as possible.
CANE CREEK WATER & SEWER DISTRICT - no business
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
reasons:
1. Pursuant
3. Pursuant
to N.C. Gen. Stat. §143-318.11(a)(6), to discuss issues concerning personnel.
Chairman Moyer noted
that the Board may possibly return to open session.
All voted in favor and the motion carried.
Commissioner McGrady made the motion to go out of closed
session. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
Chairman Moyer noted
that the Board was back in open session.
There was an issue that the Board wished to address in respect to the
wage and salary freeze that was instituted by the Board at the last
meeting. The DSS Board and others have
raised a couple of issues particularly with respect to certain classification
of people that are hired on a probationary period that would step up into a
full position automatically and they get their wage adjusted; were these
intended to be frozen. Also in Planning
or certain areas people are at a certain grade and if they meet certain
qualifications they would step to the next higher grade; were these intended to
be frozen. Finally the issue with
respect to the fairness of implementing the freeze mid year affective March 15,
2009 rather than July 1, 2009; Chairman Moyer felt this should be re-opened for
discussion. When the Board took a look
at this at the last meeting Chairman’s Moyer projections based on the affect on
the budget for the remainder of the year was roughly $700-750 thousand. Since then Selena Coffey working with Jan
Pritchard under Steve Wyatt took a closer look at this based on each individual
and what it might mean. Because of the
way people are hired through the year and the different weighting of the people
it appears that the figure would be more in the range of $150,000 if the freeze
were taken off and implemented July 1, 2009.
The figures still do not quite add up with the budget, $300-400 thousand
is still missing but assuming this figure is right one of the things the Board
can do as a Board is lift the freeze for the remainder of the year on the basis
that the total of all additional payments through that period do not exceed
$160,000 and implement the freeze affective July 1, 2009.
Commissioner McGrady
explained that this had been a concern of his as the Commissioners did not know
the actual financial impact, had he known the financial impact was $150
thousand versus the $750 thousand he would have voted differently. He did not feel that the motion was meant to
catch probationary period or changes in grade based on experience.
Commissioner Williams
stated that the Board had acted rightfully with a sense of urgency. We are facing very uncertain economic times
and drastic measures had to be taken. He
feels it is appropriate to remove the freeze during the last quarter of the
year and start the freeze affective July 1, 2009.
Commissioner Young was
in agreement and felt good about making the correction. He felt it had been a mistake to cut it off
before July 1, 2009. This would be fair
to all county employees.
Chairman Moyer stated
that at a procedural standpoint, he made
the motion that the Board reconsiders the previous resolution. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
Chairman Moyer made the motion that the Board approves the
resolution that lifts the freeze from now until the end of the year, June 30,
2009 or the first pay period going into July and would continue in affect for
next years budget for all aspects of the salary plan for the next fiscal year
and that for the remainder of this year people on probation or in-grade
movement are not affected. All voted in
favor and the motion carried.
ADJOURN
There being no further business Commissioner McGrady made
the motion to adjourn at 1:20 p.m.
ATTEST:
Teresa L. Wilson, Deputy
Clerk to the Board
William L. Moyer, Chairman